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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4, by Richard F. Burton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4
+
+Author: Richard F. Burton
+
+Release Date: June 12, 2001 [EBook #3438]
+Last updated: May 24, 2019
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS ***
+
+
+
+
+This etext was scanned by J.C. Byers and proofread by Doris Ringbloom
+
+
+
+
+THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
+
+A Plain and Literal Translation
+
+of the Arabian Nights Entertainments
+
+
+Translated and Annotated by Richard F. Burton
+
+VOLUME FOUR
+
+To Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.
+
+My Dear Arbuthnot,
+
+I have no fear that a friend, whose friendship has lasted nearly a
+third of a century, will misunderstand my reasons for inscribing his
+name upon these pages. You have lived long enough in the East and, as
+your writings show, observantly enough, to detect the pearl which lurks
+in the kitchen-midden, and to note that its lustre is not dimmed nor
+its value diminished by its unclean surroundings.
+
+                    Ever yours sincerely,
+
+
+                    Richard F. Burton.
+
+
+
+Athenжum Club, October 1, 1885
+
+
+Contents of the Fourth Volume
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+ Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman (continued) a.   Ni'amar Bin Al-Rabi'a and
+ Naomi His Slave-girl b.   Conclusion of the Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman 22.
+  Ala Al-Din Abu Al-Shamat 23.  Hatim of the Trive of Tayy 24.  Ma'an
+ the Son of Zaidah 25.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah and the Badawi 26.  The
+ City of Labtayt 27.  The Caliph Hisham and the Arab Youth 28.  Ibrahim
+ Bin Al-Mahdi and the Barber-Surgeon 29.  The City of Many-Columned
+ Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah 30.  Isaac of Mosul 31.  The
+ Sweep and the Noble Lady 32.  The Mock Caliph 33.  Ali the Persian 34.
+  Haru Al-Rashid and the Slave-Girl and the Iman Abu Yusuf 35.  The
+ Lover Who Feigned Himself A Thief 36.  Ja'afar the Barmecide and the
+ Bean-Seller 37.  Abu Mohammed Hight Lazybones 38.  Generous Dealing of
+ Yahya Bin Khбlid The Barmecide with Mansur 39.  Generous Dealing of
+ Yahya Son of Khбlid with a Man Who Forged a Letter in his Name 40. 
+ Caliph Al-Maamum and the Strange Scholar 41.  Ali Shar and Zumurrud
+ 42.  The Loves of Jubayr Bin Umayr and the Lady Budur 43.  The Man of
+ Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls 44.  Harun Al-Rashid and the Damsel
+ and Abu Nowas 45.  The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog
+ Ate 46.  The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police 47. 
+ Al-Malik Al-Nasir and the Three Chiefs of Police a.   Story of the
+ Chief of Police of Cairo b.   Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police
+ c.   Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police 48.  The Thief and the
+ Shroff 49.  The Chief of the Kus Police and the Sharper 50.  Ibrahim
+ Bin Al-Mahdi and the Merchant's Sister 51.  The Woman Whose Hands were
+ Cut Off For Giving Alms to the Poor 52.  The Devout Israelite 53.  Abu
+ Hassan Al-Ziyadi and the Khorasan 54.  The Poor Man and His Friend in
+ Need 55.  The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream 56. 
+ Caliph Al-Mutawakkil and His Concubine Mahbubah 57.  Wardan the
+ Butcher; His Adventure With the Lady and the Bear 58.  The King's
+ Daughter and the Ape
+
+
+
+The Book of the Thousand Nights and A Night
+
+
+
+Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a and Naomi his Slave-girl.
+
+There lived once in the city of Cufa[FN#1] a man called Al-Rabн'a bin
+Hбtim, who was one of the chief men of the town, a wealthy and a
+healthy, and Heaven had vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Ni'amah
+Allah.[FN#2] One day, being in the slave-brokers' mart, he saw a woman
+exposed for sale with a little maid of wonderful beauty and grace on
+her arm. So he beckoned to the broker and asked him, "How much for this
+woman and her daughter?" He answered "Fifty dinars." Quoth Al-Rabi'a
+"Write the contract of sale and take the money and give it to her
+owner." Then he gave the broker the price and his brokerage and taking
+the woman and her child, carried them to his house. Now when the
+daughter of his uncle who was his wife saw the slave, she said to her
+husband, "O my cousin, what is this damsel?" He replied, "Of a truth, I
+bought her for the sake of the little one on her arm; for know that,
+when she groweth up, there will not be her like for beauty, either in
+the land of the Arabs or the Ajams." His wife remarked, "Right was thy
+rede", and said to the woman "What is thy name?" She replied, "O my
+lady, my name is Tauflнk.[FN#3]" "And what is thy daughter's name?"
+asked she? Answered the slave, "Sa'ad, the happy." Rejoined her
+mistress; "Thou sayst sooth, thou art indeed happy, and happy is he who
+hath bought thee." Then quoth she to her husband, "O my cousin, what
+wilt thou call her?"; and quoth he, "Whatso thou chooses"; so she said,
+"Then let us call her Naomi," and he rejoined "Good is thy device." The
+little Naomi was reared with Al-Rabi'a's son Ni'amah in one cradle, so
+to speak, till the twain reached the age of ten and each grew handsomer
+than the other; and the boy used to address her, "O my sister!" and
+she, "O my brother!", till they came to that age when Al-Rabi'a said to
+Ni'amah, "O my son, Naomi is not thy sister but thy slave. I bought her
+in thy name whilst thou wast yet in the cradle; so call her no more
+sister from this day forth." Quoth Ni'amah, "If that be so, I will take
+her to wife." Then he went to his mother and told her of this, and she
+said to him, "O my son, she is thy handmaid." So he wedded and went in
+unto Naomi and loved her; and two[FN#4] years passed over them whilst
+in this condition, nor was there in all Cufa a fairer girl than Naomi,
+or a sweeter or a more graceful. As she grew up she learnt the Koran
+and read works of science and excelled in music and playing upon all
+kinds of instruments; and in the beauty of her singing she surpassed
+all the folk of her time. Now one day as she sat with her husband in
+the wine chamber, she took the lute, tightened the strings, and sang
+these two couplets,
+
+"While thou'rt my lord whose bounty's my estate, * A sword
+
+
+     whereby my woes to annihilate,
+
+
+Recourse I never need to Amru or Zayd,[FN#5] * Nor aught save
+
+
+     thee if way to me grow strait!"
+
+
+
+Ni'amah was charmed with these verses and said to her, "By my life, O
+Naomi, sing to us with the tambourine and other instruments!" So she
+sang these couplets to a lively measure,
+
+"By His life who holds my guiding rein, I swear * I'll meet on
+
+
+     love ground parlous foe nor care:
+
+
+Good sooth I'll vex revilers, thee obey * And quit my slumbers
+
+
+     and all joy forswear:
+
+
+And for thy love I'll dig in vitals mine * A grave, nor shall my
+
+
+     vitals weet 'tis there!"
+
+
+
+And Ni'amah exclaimed, "Heaven favoured art thou, O Naomi!" But whilst
+they led thus the most joyous life, behold! Al-Hajjбj,[FN#6] the
+Viceroy of Cufa said to himself, "Needs must I contrive to take this
+girl named Naomi and send her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd
+al-Malik bin Marwбn, for he hath not in his palace her like for beauty
+and sweet singing." So he summoned an old woman of the duennas of his
+wives and said to her, "Go to the house of Al-Rabi'a and foregather
+with the girl Naomi and combine means to carry her off; for her like is
+not to be found on the face of the earth." She promised to do his
+bidding; the next morning she donned the woollen clothes of a devotee
+and hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the thousand; and,
+henting in hand a staff and a leather water bottle of Yamani
+manufacture.— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old woman
+promised to do the bidding of Al-Hajjaj, and whenas it was morning she
+donned the woollen clothes of a devotee[FN#7] and hung around her neck
+a rosary of beads by the thousand and hent in hand a staff and a
+leather water bottle of Yamani manufacture and fared forth crying,
+"Glory be to Allah! Praised be Allah! There is no god but the God!
+Allah is Most Great! There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
+Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" Nor did she leave off her lauds and
+her groaning in prayer whilst her heart was full of guile and wiles,
+till she came to the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a at the hour of noon
+prayer, and knocked at the door. The doorkeeper opened and said to her,
+"What dost thou want?" Quoth she, "I am a poor pious woman, whom the
+time of noon prayer hath overtaken, and fief would I pray in this
+blessed place." Answered the porter, "O old woman, this is no mosque
+nor oratory, but the house of Ni'amah son of al Rabi'a." She replied,
+"I know there is neither cathedral-mosque nor oratory like the house of
+Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a. I am a chamberwoman of the palace of the Prince
+of True Believers and am come out for worship and the visitation of
+Holy Places." But the porter rejoined, "Thou canst not enter;" and many
+words passed between them, till at last she caught hold and hung to him
+saying, "Shall the like of me be denied admission to the house of
+Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a, I who have free access to the houses of Emirs
+and Grandees?" Anon, out came Ni'amah and, hearing their loud language,
+laughed and bade the old woman enter after him. So she followed him
+into the presence of Naomi, whom she saluted after the godliest and
+goodliest fashion, and, when she looked on her, she was confounded at
+her exceeding seemliness and said to her, "O my lady, I commend thee to
+the safeguard of Allah, who made thee and thy lord fellows in beauty
+and loveliness!" Then she stood up in the prayer niche and betook
+herself to inclination and prostration and prayer, till day departed
+and night darkened and starkened, when Naomi said to her, "O my mother,
+rest thy legs and feet awhile." Replied the old woman "O my lady, whoso
+seeketh the world to come let him weary him in this world, and whoso
+wearieth not himself in this world shall not attain the dwellings of
+the just in the world to come." Then Naomi brought her food and said to
+her, "Eat of my bread and pray Heaven to accept my penitence and to
+have mercy on me." But she cried, "O my lady, I am fasting. As for
+thee, thou art but a girl and it befitteth thee to eat and drink and
+make merry; Allah be indulgent to thee!; for the Almighty saith: All
+shall be punished except him who shall repent and believe and shall
+work a righteous work."[FN#8] So Naomi continued sitting with the old
+woman in talk and presently said to Ni'amah, "O my lord, conjure this
+ancient dame to sojourn with us awhile, for piety and devotion are
+imprinted on her countenance." Quoth he, "Set apart for her a chamber
+where she may say her prayers; and suffer no one to go in to her:
+peradventure, Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall prosper us by
+the blessing of her presence and never separate us." So the old woman
+passed her night in praying and reciting the Koran; and when Allah
+caused the morn to dawn, she went in to Ni'amah and Naomi and, giving
+them good morning, said to them, "I pray Allah have you in His holy
+keeping!" Quoth Naomi, "Whither away, O my mother? My lord hath bidden
+me set apart for thee a chamber, where thou mayst seclude thee for thy
+devotions." Replied the old woman, "Allah give him long life, and
+continue His favour to you both! But I would have you charge the
+doorkeeper not to stay my coming in to you; and, Inshallah! I will go
+the round of the Holy Places and pray for you two at the end of my
+devotions every day and night." Then she went out (whilst Naomi wept
+for parting with her knowing not the cause of her coming), and returned
+to Al-Hajjaj who said to her, "As thou do my bidding soon, thou shalt
+have of me abundant good." Quoth she, "I ask of thee a full month;" and
+quoth he "Take the month." Thereupon the old hag fell to daily visiting
+Ni'amah's house and frequented his slave-wife, Naomi.— And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old hag fell
+to visiting daily Ni'amah's house and frequenting his slave wife,
+Naomi; and both ceased not to honour her, and she used to go in to them
+morning and evening and all in the house respected her till, one day,
+being alone with Naomi, she said to her, "O my lady! by Allah, when I
+go to the Holy Places, I will pray for thee; and I only wish thou wert
+with me, that thou mightest look on the Elders of the Faith who resort
+thither, and they should pray for thee, according to thy desire." Naomi
+cried, "I conjure thee by Allah take me with thee!"; and she replied,
+"Ask leave of thy mother in law, and I will take thee." So Naomi said
+to her husband's mother, "O my lady, ask my master to let us go forth,
+me and thee, one day with this my old mother, to prayer and worship
+with the Fakirs in the Holy Places." Now when Ni'amah came in and sat
+down, the old woman went up to him and would have kissed his hand, but
+he forbade her; so she invoked blessings[FN#9] on him and left the
+house. Next day she came again, in the absence of Ni'amah, and she
+addressed Naomi, saying, "We prayed for thee yesterday; but arise now
+and divert thyself and return ere thy lord come home." So Naomi said to
+her mother-in-law, "I beseech thee, for Allah's sake, give me leave to
+go with this pious woman, that I may sight the saints of Allah in the
+Holy Places, and return speedily ere my lord come back." Quoth
+Ni'amah's mother, "I fear lest thy lord know;" but said the old woman,
+"By Allah, I will not let her take seat on the floor; no, she shall
+look, standing on her feet, and not tarry." So she took the damsel by
+guile and, carrying her to Al-Hajjaj's palace, told him of her coming,
+after placing her in a lonely chamber; whereupon he went in to her and,
+looking upon her, saw her to be the loveliest of the people of the day,
+never had he beheld her like. Now when Naomi caught sight of him she
+veiled her face from him; but he left her not till he had called his
+Chamberlain, whom he commanded to take fifty horsemen; and he bade him
+mount the damsel on a swift dromedary, and bear her to Damascus and
+there deliver her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin
+Marwan. Moreover, he gave him a letter for the Caliph, saying, "Bear
+him this letter and bring me his answer and hasten thy return to me."
+So the Chamberlain, without losing time, took the damsel (and she
+tearful for separation from her lord) and, setting out with her on a
+dromedary, gave not over journeying till he reached Damascus. There he
+sought audience of the Commander of the Faithful and, when it was
+granted, the Chamberlain delivered the damsel and reported the
+circumstance. The Caliph appointed her a separate apartment and going
+into his Harim, said to his wife, "Al Hajjaj hath bought me a
+slave-girl of the daughters of the Kings of Cufa[FN#10] for ten
+thousand dinars, and hath sent me this letter."— And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph
+acquainted his wife with the story of the slave-girl, she said to him,
+"Allah increase to thee His favour!" Then the Caliph's sister went in
+to the supposed slave-girl and, when she saw her, she said, "By Allah,
+not unlucky is the man who hath thee in his house, were thy cost an
+hundred thousand dinars!" And Naomi replied, "O fair of face, what
+King's palace is this, and what is the city?" She answered, "This is
+the city of Damascus, and this is the palace of my brother, the
+Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan.[FN#11]" Then she
+resumed, "Didst thou not know all this?" Naomi said, "By Allah, O my
+lady, I had no knowledge of it!"; when the other asked, "And he who
+sold thee and took thy price did he not tell thee that the Caliph had
+bought thee?" Now when Naomi heard these words, she shed tears and said
+to herself, "Verily, I have been tricked and the trick hath succeeded,"
+adding to herself, "If I speak, none will credit me; so I will hold my
+peace and take patience, for I know that the relief of Allah is near."
+Then she bent her head for shame, and indeed her cheeks were tanned by
+the journey and the sun. So the Caliph's sister left her that day and
+returned to her on the morrow with clothes and necklaces of jewels, and
+dressed her; after which the Caliph came in to her and sat down by her
+side, and his sister said to him, "Look on this handmaid in whom Allah
+hath conjoined every perfection of beauty and loveliness." So he said
+to Naomi, "Draw back the veil from thy face;" but she would not unveil,
+and he beheld not her face. However, he saw her wrists and love of her
+entered his heart; and he said to his sister, "I will not go in unto
+her for three days, till she be cheered by thy converse." Then he arose
+and left her, but Naomi ceased not to brood over her case and sigh for
+her separation from her master, Ni'amah, till she fell sick of a fever
+during the night and ate not nor drank; and her favour faded and her
+charms were changed. They told the Caliph of this and her condition
+grieved him; so he visited her with physicians and men of skill, but
+none could come at a cure for her. This is how it fared with her; but
+as regards Ni'amah, when he returned home he sat down on his bed and
+cried, "Ho, Naomi!" But she answered not; so he rose in haste and
+called out, yet none came to him, as all the women in the house had
+hidden themselves for fear of him. Then he went out to his mother, whom
+he found sitting with her cheek on her hand, and said to her, "O my
+mother, where is Naomi?" She answered, "O my son, she is with one who
+is worthier than I to be trusted with her, namely, the devout old
+woman; she went forth with her to visit devotionally the Fakirs and
+return." Quoth Ni'amah, "Since when hath this been her habit and at
+what hour went she forth?" Quoth his mother, "She went out early in the
+morning." He asked, "And how camest thou to give her leave for this?";
+and she answered, "O my son, 'twas she persuaded me." "There is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
+exclaimed Ni'amah and, going forth from his home in a state of
+distraction, he repaired to the Captain of the Watch to whom said he,
+"Doss thou play tricks upon me and steal-my slave-girl away from my
+house? I will assuredly complain of thee to the Commander of the
+Faithful." Said the Chief of Police, "Who hath taken her?" and Ni'amah
+replied, "An old woman of such and such a mien, clad in woollen raiment
+and carrying a rosary of beads numbered by thousands." Rejoined the
+other, "Find me the old woman and I will get thee back thy slave-girl."
+"And who knows the old woman?" retorted Ni'amah. "And who knows the
+hidden things save Allah (may He be extolled and exalted!)?" cried the
+Chief, who knew her for Al-Hajjaj's procuress. Cried Ni'amah, "I look
+to thee for my slave-girl, and Al-Hajjaj shall judge between thee and
+me;" and the Master of Police answered, "Go to whom thou wilt." So
+Ni'amah went to the palace of Al-Hajjaj, for his father was one of the
+chief men of Cufa; and, when he arrived there, the Chamberlain went in
+to the Governor and told him the case; whereupon Al-Hajjaj said,
+"Hither with him!" and when he stood before him enquired, "What be thy
+business?" Said Ni'amah, "Such and such things have befallen me;" and
+the Governor said, "Bring me the Chief of Police, and we will commend
+him to seek for the old woman." Now he knew that the Chief of Police
+was acquainted with her; so, when he came, he said to him, "I wish thee
+to make search for the slave-girl of Ni'amah son of Al-Rabi'a." And he
+answered, "None knoweth the hidden things save Almighty Allah."
+Rejoined Al-Hajjaj, "There is no help for it but thou send out horsemen
+and look for the damsel in all the roads, and seek for her in the
+towns."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-First Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Al-Hajjaj said to
+the Captain of the Watch, "There is no help for it but thou send out
+horsemen, and look for the damsel on all the roads and seek for her in
+the towns." Then he turned to Ni'amah and said to him, "And thy
+slave-girl return not, I will give thee ten slave-girls from my house
+and ten from that of the Chief of Police." And he again bade the
+Captain of the Watch, "Go and seek for the girl." So he went out, and
+Ni'amah returned home full of trouble and despairing of life; for he
+had now reached the age of fourteen and there was yet no hair on his
+side cheeks. So he wept and lamented and shut himself up from his
+household; and ceased not to weep and lament, he and his mother, till
+the morning, when his father came in to him and said, "O my son, of a
+truth, Al-Hajjaj hath put a cheat upon the damsel and hath taken her;
+but from hour to hour Allah giveth relief." However grief redoubled on
+Ni'amah, so that he knew not what he said nor knew he who came in to
+him, and he fell sick for three months his charms were changed, his
+father despaired of him and the physicians visited him and said, "There
+is no remedy for him save the damsel." Now as his father was sitting
+one day, behold he heard tell of a skillful Persian physician, whom the
+folk gave out for perfect in medicine and astrology and geomancy. So
+Al-Rabi'a sent for him and, seating him by his side, entreated him with
+honour and said to him, "Look into my son's case." Thereupon quoth he
+to Ni'amah, "Give me thy hand." The young man gave him his hand and he
+felt his pulse and his joints and looked in his face; then he laughed
+and, turning to his father, said, "Thy son's sole ailment is one of the
+heart."[FN#12] He replied, Thou sayest sooth, O sage, but apply thy
+skill to his state and case, and acquaint me with the whole thereof and
+hide naught from me of his condition." Quoth the Persian, "Of a truth
+he is enamoured of a slave-girl and this slave-girl is either in
+Bassorah or Damascus; and there is no remedy for him but reunion with
+her." Said Al-Rabi'a, "An thou bring them together, thou shalt live all
+thy life in wealth and delight." Answered the Persian, "In good sooth
+this be an easy matter and soon brought about," and he turned to
+Ni'amah and said to him, "No hurt shall befall thee; so be of good
+cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear." Then quoth he to Al-Rabi'a,
+"Bring me out four thousand dinars of your money;" so he gave them to
+him, and he added, "I wish to carry thy son with me to Damascus; and
+Almighty Allah willing, I will not return thence but with the damsel."
+Then he turned to the youth and asked, "What is thy name?"; and he
+answered "Ni'amah." Quoth the Persian, "O Ni'amah, sit up and be of
+good heart, for Allah will reunite thee with the damsel." And when he
+sat up the leach continued, "Be of good cheer for we set out for
+Damascus this very day: put thy trust in the Lord and eat and drink and
+be cheerful so as to fortify thyself for travel." Upon this the Persian
+began making preparation of all things needed, such as presents and
+rarities; and he took of Al-Rabi'a in all the sum of ten thousand
+dinars, together with horses and camels and beasts of burden and other
+requisites. Then Ni'amah farewelled his father and mother and journeyed
+with the physician to Aleppo. They could find no news of Naomi there so
+they fared on to Damascus, where they abode three days, after which the
+Persian took a shop and he adorned even the shelves with vessels of
+costly porcelain, with covers of silver, and with gildings and stuffs
+of price. Moreover, he set before himself vases and flagons of glass
+full of all manner of ointments and ups, and he surrounded them with
+cups of crystal—and, placing astrolabe and geomantic tablet facing him,
+he donned a physician's habit and took his seat in the shop. Then he
+set Ni'amah standing before him clad in a shirt and gown of silk and,
+girding his middle with a silken kerchief gold-embroidered, said to
+him, "O Ni'amah, henceforth thou art my son; so call me naught but
+sire, and I will call thee naught but son." And he replied, "I hear and
+I obey." Thereupon the people of Damascus flocked to the Persian's shop
+that they might gaze on the youth's goodliness and the beauty of the
+shop and its contents, whilst the physician spoke to Ni'amah in Persian
+and he answered him in the same tongue, for he knew the language, after
+the wont of the sons of the notables. So that Persian doctor soon
+became known among the townsfolk and they began to acquaint him with
+their ailments, and he to prescribe for them remedies. Moreover, they
+brought him the water of the sick in phials,[FN#13] and he would test
+it and say, "He, whose water this is, is suffering from such and such a
+disease," and the patient would declare, "Verily this physician sayeth
+sooth." So he continued to do the occasions of the folk and they to
+flock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and into the
+houses of the great. Now, one day as he sat in his-shop, behold, there
+came up an old woman riding on an ass with a stuffed saddle of brocade
+embroidered with jewels; and, stopping before the Persian's shop, drew
+rein and beckoned him, saying, "Take my hand." He took her hand, and
+she alighted and asked him "Art thou the Persian physician from Irak?"
+"Yes," answered he, and she said, "Know that I have a sick daughter."
+Then she brought out to him a phial—and the Persian looked at it and
+said to her, "O my mistress, tell me thy daughter's name, that I may
+calculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will befit her
+to drink medicine." She replied, "O my brother the Persian,[FN#14] her
+name is Naomi."— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Persian
+heard the name of Naomi, he fell to calculating and writing on his hand
+and presently said, "O my lady, I cannot prescribe a medicine for her
+till I know what country woman she is, because of the difference of
+climate: so tell me in what land she was brought up and what is her
+age." The old woman replied "She is fourteen years old and she was
+brought up in Cufa of Irak." He asked, "And how long hath she sojourned
+in this country?" "But a few months," answered she. Now when Ni'amah
+heard the old woman's words and recognised the name of his slave- girl,
+his heart fluttered and he was like to faint. Then said the Persian,
+"Such and such medicines will suit her case;" and the old woman
+rejoined, "Then make them up and give me what thou hast mentioned, with
+the blessing of Almighty Allah." So saying, she threw upon the shop
+board ten gold pieces, and he looked at Ni'amah and bade him prepare
+the necessary drugs; whereupon she also looked at the youth and
+exclaimed, "Allah have thee in his keeping, O my son! Verily, she
+favoureth thee in age and mien." Then said she to the physician, "O my
+brother the Persian, is this thy slave or thy son?" "He is my son,"
+answered he. So Ni'amah put up the medicine and, placing it in a little
+box, took a piece of paper and wrote thereon these two couplets,[FN#15]
+
+"If Naomi bless me with a single glance, * Let Su'adб sue and
+
+
+     Juml joy to
+
+
+They said, "Forget her: twenty such thou'lt find." * But none is
+
+
+     like her—I will not forget!"
+
+
+
+He pressed the paper into the box and, sealing it up, wrote upon the
+cover the following words in Cufic characters, "I am Ni'amah of
+al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Then he set it before the old woman who took it and
+bade them farewell and returned to the Caliph's palace, and when she
+went up with the drugs to the damsel she placed the little box of
+medicine at her feet, saying, "O my lady, know that there is lately
+come to our town a Persian physician, than whom I never saw a more
+skilful nor a better versed in matters of malady. I told him thy name,
+after showing him the water-bottle, and forthwith he knew thine ailment
+and prescribed a remedy. Then he bade his son make thee up this
+medicine; and there is not in Damascus a comelier or a seemlier youth
+than this lad of his, nor hath anyone a shop the like of his shop." So
+Naomi took the box and, seeing the names of her lord and his father
+written on the cover, changed colour and said to herself, "Doubtless,
+the owner of this shop is come in search of me." So she said to the old
+woman, "Describe to me this youth." Answered the old woman, "His name
+is Ni'amah, he hath a mole on his right eyebrow, is richly clad and is
+perfectly handsome." Cried Naomi, "Give me the medicine, whereon be the
+blessing and help of Almighty Allah!" So she drank off the potion (and
+she laughing) and said, "Indeed, it is a blessed medicine!" Then she
+sought in the box and, finding the paper, opened it, read it,
+understood it and knew that this was indeed her lord, whereas her heart
+was solaced and she rejoiced. Now when the old woman saw her laughing,
+she exclaimed, "This is indeed a blessed day!"; and Naomi said, "O
+nurse, I have a mind for something to eat and drink." The old woman
+said to the serving women, "Bring a tray of dainty viands for your
+mistress;" whereupon they set food before her and she sat down to eat.
+And behold in came the Caliph who, seeing her sitting at meat,
+rejoiced; and the old woman said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+I give thee joy of thy hand maid Naomi's recovery! And the cause is
+that there is lately come to this our city a physician than whom I
+never saw a better versed in diseases and their remedies. I fetched her
+medicine from him and she hath drunken of it but once and is restored
+to health." Quoth he, "Take a thousand dinars and apply thyself to her
+treatment, till she be completely recovered." And he went away,
+rejoicing in the damsel's recovery, whilst the old woman betook herself
+to the Persian's house and delivered the thousand dinars, giving him to
+know that she was become the Caliph's slave and also handing him a
+letter which Naomi had written. He took it and gave the letter to
+Ni'amah, who at first sight knew her hand and fell down in a swoon.
+When he revived he opened the letter and found these words written
+therein: "From the slave despoiled of her Ni'amah, her delight; her
+whose reason hath been beguiled and who is parted from the core of her
+heart. But afterwards of a truth thy letter hath reached me and hath
+broadened my breast, and solaced my soul, even as saith the poet,
+
+"Thy note came: long lost hungers wrote that note, * Till drop
+
+
+     they sweetest scents for what they wrote:
+
+
+Twas Moses to his mother's arms restored; * 'Twas Jacob's eye-
+
+
+     sight cured by Joseph's coat!"[FN#16]
+
+
+
+When Ni'amah read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the
+old woman said to him, "What maketh thee to weep, O my son? Allah never
+cause thine eye to shed tears!" Cried the Persian, "O my lady, how
+should my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her
+lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and her health dependeth on her
+seeing him, for naught aileth her but loving him.—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian cried
+out to the old woman, "How shall my son not weep, seeing that this is
+his slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and
+the health of this damsel dependeth on her seeing him and naught aileth
+her but loving him. So, do thou, O my lady, take these thousand dinars
+to thyself and thou shalt have of me yet more than this; only look on
+us with eyes of rush; for we know not how to bring this affair to a
+happy end save through thee." Then she said to Ni'amah, "Say, art thou
+indeed her lord?" He replied, "Yes," and she rejoined, "Thou sayest
+sooth; for she ceaseth not continually to name thee." Then he told her
+all that had passed from first to last, and she said, "O youth, thou
+shalt owe thy reunion with her to none but myself." So she mounted and,
+at once returning to Naomi, looked in her face and laughed saying, "It
+is just, O my daughter, that thou weep and fall sick for thy separation
+from thy master, Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Quoth Naomi,
+"Verily, the veil hath been withdrawn for thee and the truth revealed
+to thee." Rejoined the old woman, "Be of good cheer and take heart, for
+I will assuredly bring you together, though it cost me my life." Then
+she returned to Ni'amah and said to him, "I went to thy slave- girl and
+conversed with her, and I find that she longeth for thee yet more than
+thou for her; for although the Commander of the Faithful is minded to
+become intimate with her, she refuseth herself to him. But if thou be
+stout of purpose and firm of heart, I will bring you together and
+venture my life for you, and play some trick and make shift to carry
+thee into the Caliph's palace, where thou shalt meet her, for she
+cannot come forth." And Ni'amah answered, "Allah requite thee with
+good!" Then she took leave of him and went back to Naomi and said, "Thy
+lord is indeed dying of love for thee and would fain see thee and
+foregather with thee. What sayest thou?" Naomi replied, "And I too am
+longing for his sight and dying for his love." Whereupon the old woman
+took a parcel of women's clothes and ornaments and, repairing to
+Ni'amah, said to him, "Come with me into some place apart." So he
+brought her into the room behind the shop where she stained his hands
+and decked his wrists and plaited his hair, after which she clad him in
+a slave-girl's habit and adorned him after the fairest fashion of
+woman's adornment, till he was as one of the Houris of the Garden of
+Heaven, and when she saw him thus she exclaimed, "Blessed be Allah,
+best of Creators! By Allah, thou art handsomer than the damsel.[FN#17]
+Now, walk with thy left shoulder forwards and thy right well behind,
+and sway thy hips from side to side."[FN#18] So he walked before her,
+as she bade him; and, when she saw he had caught the trick of woman's
+gait, she said to him, "Expect me tomorrow night, and Allah willing, I
+will take and carry thee to the palace. But when thou seest the
+Chamberlains and the Eunuchs be bold, and bow thy head and speak not
+with any, for I will prevent their speech; and with Allah is success!"
+Accordingly, when the morning dawned, she returned and, carrying him to
+the palace, entered before him and he after her step by step. The
+Chamberlain would have stopped his entering, but the old woman said to
+him, "O most ill omened of slaves, this is the handmaid of Naomi, the
+Caliph's favourite. How durst thou stay her when she would enter?" Then
+said she, "Come in, O damsel!"; and the old woman went in and they
+ceased not faring on, till they drew near the door leading to the inner
+piazza of the palace, when she said to him, "O Ni'amah, hearten thyself
+and take courage and enter and turn to the left: then count five doors
+and pass through the sixth, for it is that of the place prepared for
+thee. Fear nothing, and if any speak to thee, answer not, neither
+stop." Then she went up with him to the door, and the Chamberlain there
+on guard accosted her, saying "What damsel is this?"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Chamberlain accosted the old woman, saying, "What damsel is this?";
+quoth the ancient dame, "Our lady hath a mind to buy her;" and he
+rejoined, "None may enter save by leave of the Commander of the
+Faithful; so do thou go back with her. I can not let her pass for thus
+am I commanded." Replied the old woman, "O Chief Chamberlain, use thy
+reason. Thou knowest that Naomi, the Caliph's slave-girl, of whom he is
+enamoured, is but now restored to health and the Commander of the
+Faithful hardly yet crediteth her recovery. She is minded to buy this
+hand maid; so oppose thou not her entrance, lest haply it come to
+Naomi's knowledge and she be wroth with thee and suffer a relapse and
+this cause thy head to be cut off." Then said she to Ni'amah, "Enter, O
+damsel; pay no heed to what he saith and tell not the Queen-consort
+that her Chamberlain opposed thine entrance." So Ni'amah bowed his head
+and entered the palace, and would have turned to the left, but mistook
+the direction and walked to his right; and, meaning to count five doors
+and enter the sixth, he counted six and entering the seventh, found
+himself in a place whose floor was carpeted with brocade and whose
+walls were hung with curtains of gold- embroidered silk. And therein
+stood censers of aloes-wood and ambergris and strong-scented musk, and
+at the upper end was a couch bespread with cloth of gold on which he
+seated himself, marvelling at the magnificence he saw and knowing not
+what was written for him in the Secret Purpose. As he sat musing on his
+case, the Caliph's sister, followed by her handmaid, came in upon him;
+and, seeing the youth seated there took him for a slave-girl and
+accosted him and said, "Who art thou O damsel? and what is thy case and
+who brought thee hither?" He made no reply, and was silent, when she
+continued, "O damsel! if thou be one of my brother's concubines and he
+be wroth with thee, I will intercede with him for thee and get thee
+grace." But he answered her not a word; so she said to her slave-girl,
+"Stand at the door and let none enter." Then she went up to Ni'amah and
+looking at him was amazed at his beauty and said to him, "O lady, tell
+me who thou art and what is thy name and how thou camest here; for I
+have never seen thee in our palace." Still he answered not, whereat she
+was angered and, putting her hand to his bosom, found no breasts and
+would have unveiled him, that she might know who he was; but he said to
+her, "O my lady, I am thy slave and I cast myself on thy protection: do
+thou protect me." She said, "No harm shall come to thee, but tell me
+who thou art and who brought thee into this my apartment." Answered he,
+"O Princess, I am known as Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a of Cufa and I have
+ventured my life for the sake of my slave-girl, Naomi, whom Al-Hajjaj
+took by sleight and sent hither." Said she, "Fear not: no harm shall
+befall thee;" then, calling her maid, she said to her, "Go to Naomi's
+chamber and send her to me." Meanwhile the old woman went to Naomi's
+bedroom and said to her, "Hath thy lord come to thee?" "No, by Allah!"
+answered Naomi, and the other said, "Belike he hath gone astray and
+entered some chamber other than thine and lost himself." So Naomi
+cried, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
+Glorious, the Great! Our last hour is come and we are all lost." And
+while they were sitting and sadly enough pondering their case, in came
+the Princess's handmaid and saluting Naomi said to her, "My lady
+biddeth thee to her banquet." "I hear and I obey," answered the damsel
+and the old woman said, "Belike thy lord is with the Caliph's sister
+and the veil of secrecy hath been rent." So Naomi at once sprang up and
+betook herself to the Princess, who said to her, "Here is thy lord
+sitting with me; it seemeth he hath mistaken the place; but, please
+Allah, neither thou nor he has any cause for fear." When Naomi heard
+these words, she took heart of grace and went up to Ni'amah; and her
+lord when he saw her.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ni'amah saw
+his handmaid Naomi, he rose to meet her and strained her to his bosom
+and both fell to the ground fainting. As soon as they came to
+themselves, the Caliph's sister said to them, "Sit ye down and take we
+counsel for your deliverance from this your strait." And they answered,
+"O our lady, we hear and obey: it is thine to command." Quoth she, "By
+Allah, no harm shall befall you from us!" Then she bade her handmaids
+bring meat and drink which was done, and they sat down and ate till
+they had enough, after which they sat drinking. Then the cup went round
+amongst them and their cares ceased from them; but Ni'amah said, "Would
+I knew how this will end." The Princess asked, "O Ni'amah, dost thou
+love thy slave Naomi?"; and he answered, "Of a truth it is my passion
+for her which hath brought me to this state of peril for my life." Then
+said she to the damsel, "O Naomi, dost thou love thy lord Ni'amah?";
+and she replied, "O my lady, it is the love of him which hath wasted my
+body and brought me to evil case." Rejoined the Princess, "By Allah,
+since ye love each other thus, may he not be who would part you! Be of
+good cheer and keep your eyes cool and clear." At this they both
+rejoiced and Naomi called for a lute and, when they brought it, she
+took it and tuned it and played a lively measure which enchanted the
+hearers, and after the prelude sang these couplets,
+
+"When the slanderers cared but to part us twain, * We owed no
+
+
+     blood-debt could raise their ire
+
+
+And they poured in our ears all the din of war, * And aid failed
+
+
+     and friends, when my want was dire:
+
+
+I fought them hard with mine eyes and tears; * With breath and
+
+
+     sword, with the stream and fire!"
+
+
+
+Then Naomi gave the lute to her master, Ni'amah, saying, "Sing thou to
+us some verse." So he took it and playing a lively measure, intoned
+these couplets,
+
+"Full Moon if unfreckled would favour thee, * And Sun uneclipsed
+
+
+     would reflect thy blee:
+
+
+I wonder (but love is of wonders full * And ardour and passion
+
+
+     and ecstasy)
+
+
+How short the way to my love I fare, * Which, from her faring, so
+
+
+     long I see."
+
+
+
+Now when he had made an end of his song, Naomi filled the cup and gave
+it to him, and he took it and drank it off; then she filled again and
+gave the cup to the Caliph's sister who also emptied it; after which
+the Princess in her turn took the lute and tightened the strings and
+tuned it and sang these two couplets,
+
+"Grief, cark and care in my heart reside, * And the fires of love
+
+
+     in my breast
+
+
+My wasted form to all eyes shows clear; * For Desire my body hath
+
+
+     mortified."
+
+
+
+Then she filled the cup and gave it to Naomi, who drank it off and
+taking the lute, sang these two couplets,
+
+"O to whom I gave soul which thou tortures", * And in vain I'd
+
+
+     recover from fair Unfaith
+
+
+Do grant thy favours my care to cure * Ere I die, for this be my
+
+
+     latest breath."
+
+
+
+And they ceased not to sing verses and drink to the sweet sound of the
+strings, full of mirth and merriment and joy and jollity till behold!
+in came the Commander of the Faithful. Now when they saw him, they rose
+and kissed the ground before him; and he, seeing Naomi with the lute in
+her hand, said to her, "O Naomi, praised be Allah who hath done away
+from thee sickness and suffering!" Then he looked at Ni'amah (who was
+still disguised as a woman), and said to the Princess, "O my sister,
+what damsel is this by Naomi's side?" She replied, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, thou hast here a handmaid, one of thy concubines and the
+bosom friend of Naomi who will neither eat nor drink without her." And
+she repeated the words of the poet,
+
+"Two contraries, and both concur in opposite charms, * And charms so
+contraried by contrast lovelier show."
+
+Quoth the Caliph, "By Allah Omnipotent, verily she is as handsome as
+Naomi, and to-morrow I will appoint her a separate chamber beside that
+of her friend and send her furniture and stuffs and all that befitteth
+her, in honour of Naomi." Then the Princess called for food and set it
+before her brother, who ate and made himself at home in their place and
+company. Then filling a cup he signed to Naomi to sing; so she took the
+lute, after draining two of them and sang these two couplets,
+
+"Since my toper-friend in my hand hath given * Three cups that
+
+
+     brim and bubble, e'er since
+
+
+I've trailed my skirts throughout night for pride * As tho',
+
+
+     Prince of the Faithful, I were thy Prince!"
+
+
+
+The Prince of True Believers was delighted and filling another cup,
+gave it to Naomi and bade her sing again; so after draining the cup and
+sweeping the strings, she sang as follows:—
+
+"O most noble of men in this time and stound, * Of whom none may
+
+
+     boast he is equal-found!
+
+
+O matchless in greatness of soul and gifts, * O thou Chief, O
+
+
+     thou King amongst all renowned:
+
+
+Lord, who dealest large boons to the Lords of Earth, * Whom thou
+
+
+     vexest not nor dost hold them bound
+
+
+The Lord preserve thee, and spoil thy foes, * And ne'er cease thy
+
+
+     lot with good Fortune crowned!"
+
+
+
+Now when the Caliph heard these couplets, he exclaimed, "By Allah,
+good! By Allah, excellent! Verily the Lord hath been copious[FN#19] to
+thee, O Naomi! How clever is thy tongue and how dear is thy speech!"
+And they ceased not their mirth and good cheer till midnight, when the
+Caliph's sister said to him, "Give ear, O Commander of the Faithful to
+a tale I have read in books of a certain man of rank." "And what is
+this tale?" quoth he. Quoth she "Know, O Prince of the Faithful that
+there lived once in the city of Cufa a youth called Ni'amah, son of
+Al-Rabi'a, and he had a slave-girl whom he loved and who loved him.
+They had been reared in one bed; but when they grew up and mutual-love
+get hold of them, Fortune smote them with her calamities and Time, the
+tyrant, brought upon them his adversity and decreed separation unto
+them. Thereupon designing and slanderous folk enticed her by sleight
+forth of his house and, stealing her away from his home, sold her to
+one of the Kings for ten thousand dinars. Now the girl loved her lord
+even as he loved her, so he left kith and kin and house and home and
+the gifts of fortune, and set out to search for her and when she was
+found he devised means to gain access to her".—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph's
+sister said, "And Ni'amah ceased not absenting himself from his kith
+and kin and patrial-stead, that he might gain access to his handmaid,
+and he incurred every peril and lavished his life till he gained access
+to her, and her name was Naomi, like this slave-girl. But the interview
+was short; they had not been long in company when in came the King, who
+had bought her of her kidnapper, and hastily ordered them to be slain,
+without doing justice by his own soul and delaying to enquire into the
+matter before the command was carried out. Now what sayest thou, O
+Commander of the Faithful, of this King's wrongous conduct?" Answered
+the Caliph; "This was indeed a strange thing: it behoved that King to
+pardon when he had the power to punish; and he ought to have regarded
+three things in their favour. The first was that they loved each other;
+the second that they were in his house and in his grasp; and the third
+that it befitteth a King to be deliberate in judging and ordering
+between folk, and how much more so in cases where he himself is
+concerned! Wherefore this King thus did an unkingly deed." Then said
+his sister, "O my brother, by the King of the heavens and the earth, I
+conjure thee, bid Naomi sing and hearken to that she shall sing!" So he
+said "O Naomi, sing to me;" whereupon she played a lively measure and
+sang these couplets,
+
+"Beguiled us Fortune who her guile displays, * Smiting the heart,
+
+
+     bequeathing thoughts that craze
+
+
+And parting lovers whom she made to meet, * Till tears in torrent
+
+
+     either cheek displays:
+
+
+They were and I was and my life was glad, * While Fortune often
+
+
+     joyed to join our ways;
+
+
+I will pour tear flood, will rain gouts of blood, * Thy loss
+
+
+     bemoaning through the nights and days!"
+
+
+
+Now when the Commander of the Faithful heard this verse, he was moved
+to great delight and his sister said to him, "O my brother, whoso
+decideth in aught against himself, him it behoveth to abide by it and
+do according to his word; and thou hast judged against thyself by this
+judgement." Then said she, "O Ni'amah, stand up and do thou likewise up
+stand, O Naomi!" So they stood up and she continued, "O Prince of True
+Believers, she who standeth before thee is Naomi the stolen, whom
+Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi kidnapped and sent to thee, falsely
+pretending in his letter to thee that he had bought her for ten
+thousand gold pieces. And this other who standeth before thee is her
+lord, Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a; and I beseech thee, by the honour of
+thy pious forebears and by Hamzah and Ukayl and Abbas,[FN#20] to pardon
+them both and overlook their offence and bestow them one on the other,
+that thou mayst win rich reward in the next world of thy just dealing
+with them; for they are under thy hand and verily they have eaten of
+thy meat and drunken of thy drink; and behold, I make intercession for
+them and beg of thee the boon of their blood." Thereupon quoth the
+Caliph, "Thou speakest sooth: I did indeed give judgement as thou
+sayst, and I am not one to pass sentence and to revoke it." Then said
+he, "O Naomi, say, be this thy lord?" And she answered "Even so, O
+Commander of the Faithful." Then quoth he, "No harm shall befall you, I
+give you each to other;" adding to the young man, "O Ni'amah, who told
+thee where she was and taught thee how to get at this place?" He
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, hearken to my tale and give ear
+to my history; for, by the virtue of thy pious forefathers, I will hide
+nothing from thee!" And he told him all that had passed between himself
+and the Persian physician and the old nurse, and how she had brought
+him into the palace and he had mistaken the doors; whereat the Caliph
+wondered with exceeding wonder and said, "Fetch me the Persian." So
+they brought him into the presence and he was made one of his chief
+officers. Moreover the King bestowed on him robes of honour and ordered
+him a handsome present, saying, "When a man hath shown like this man
+such artful management, it behoveth us to make him one of our chief
+officers." The Caliph also loaded Ni'amah and Naomi with gifts and
+honours and rewarded the old nurse; and they abode with him seven days
+in joy and content and all delight of life, when Ni'amah craved leave
+to return to Cufa with his slave-girl. The Caliph gave them permission
+and they departed and arrived in due course at Cufa, where Ni'amah was
+restored to his father and mother, and they abode in all the joys and
+jollities of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights
+and the Sunderer of societies. Now when Amjad and As'ad heard from
+Bahram this story, they marvelled with extreme marvel and said, "By
+Allah, this is indeed a rare tale!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad and
+As'ad heard this story from Bahram the Magian who had become a Moslem,
+they marvelled with extreme marvel and thus passed that night; and when
+the next morning dawned, they mounted and riding to the palace, sought
+an audience of the King who granted it and received them with high
+honour. Now as they were sitting together talking, of a sudden they
+heard the towns folk crying aloud and shouting to one another and
+calling for help; and the Chamberlain came in to the King and said to
+him, "Some King hath encamped before the city, he and his host, with
+arms and weapons displayed, and we know not their object and aim." The
+King took counsel with his Wazir Amjad and his brother As'ad; and Amjad
+said, "I will go out to him and learn the cause of his coming." So he
+took horse and, riding forth from the city, repaired to the stranger's
+camp, where he found the King and with him a mighty many and mounted
+Mamelukes. When the guards saw him, they knew him for an envoy from the
+King of the city; so they took him and brought him before their Sultan.
+Then Amjad kissed the ground before him; but lo! the King was a Queen,
+who was veiled with a mouth-veil, and she said to Amjad, "Know that I
+have no design on this your city and that I am come hither only in
+quest of a beardless slave of mine, whom if I find with you, I will do
+you no harm, but if I find him not, then shall there befall sore
+onslaught between me and you." Asked Amjad, "O Queen, what like is thy
+slave and what is his story and what may be his name?" Said she, "His
+name is As'ad and my name is Marjanah, and this slave came to my town
+in company of Bahram, a Magian, who refused to sell him to me; so I
+took him by force, but his master fell upon him by night and bore him
+away by stealth and he is of such and such a favour." When Amjad heard
+that, he knew it was indeed his brother As'ad whom she sought and said
+to her, "O Queen of the age, Alhamdolillah, praised be Allah, who hath
+brought us relief! Verily this slave whom thou seekest is my brother."
+Then he told her their story and all that had befallen them in the land
+of exile, and acquainted her with the cause of their departure from the
+Islands of Ebony, whereat she marvelled and rejoiced to have found
+As'ad. So she bestowed a dress of honour upon Amjad and he returned
+forthright to the King and told him what had passed, at which they all
+rejoiced and the King went forth with Amjad and As'ad to meet Queen
+Marjanah. When they were admitted to her presence and sat down to
+converse with her and were thus pleasantly engaged, behold, a dust
+cloud rose and flew and grew, till it walled the view. And after a
+while it lifted and showed beneath it an army dight for victory, in
+numbers like the swelling sea, armed and armoured cap-а-pie who, making
+for the city, encompassed it around as the ring encompasseth the little
+finger;[FN#21] and a bared brand was in every hand. When Amjad and
+As'ad saw this, they exclaimed, "Verily to Allah we belong and to Him
+we shall return! What is this mighty host? Doubtless, these are
+enemies, and except we agree with this Queen Marjanah to fight them,
+they will take the town from us and slay us. There is no resource for
+us but to go out to them and see who they are." So Amjad arose and took
+horse and passed through the city gate to Queen Marjanah's camp; but
+when he reached the approaching army he found it to be that of his
+grand sire, King Ghayur, father of his mother Queen Budur.—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad
+reached the approaching host, he found it to be that of his grandsire,
+Lord of the Isles and the Seas and the Seven Castles; and when he went
+into the presence, he kissed the ground between his hands and delivered
+to him the message. Quoth the King, "My name is King Ghayur and I come
+wayfaring in quest of my daughter Budur whom fortune hath taken from
+me, for she left me and returned not to me, nor have I heard any
+tidings of her or of her husband Kamar al-Zaman. Have ye any news of
+them?" When Amjad heard this, he hung his head towards the ground for a
+while in thought till he felt assured that this King was none other
+than his grandfather, his mother's father; where upon he raised his
+head and, kissing ground before him, told him that he was the son of
+his daughter Budur; on hearing which Ghayur threw himself upon him and
+they both fell a weeping.[FN#22] Then said Ghayur, "Praised be Allah, O
+my son, for safety, since I have foregathered with thee," and Amjad
+told him that his daughter Budur was safe and sound, and her husband
+Kamar al-Zaman likewise, and acquainted him that both abode in a city
+called the City of Ebony. Moreover, he related to him how his father,
+being wroth with him and his brother, had commended that both be put to
+death, but that his treasurer had taken pity on them and let them go
+with their lives. Quoth King Ghayur, "I will go back with thee and thy
+brother to your father and make your peace with him." So Amjad kissed
+the ground before him in huge delight and the King bestowed a dress of
+honour upon him, after which he returned, smiling, to the King of the
+City of the Magians and told him what he had learnt from King Ghayur,
+whereat he wondered with exceeding wonder. Then he despatched
+guest-gifts of sheep and horses and camels and forage and so forth to
+King Ghayur, and did the like by Queen Marjanah; and both of them told
+her what chanced; whereupon quoth she, "I too will accompany you with
+my troops and will do my endeavour to make this peace." Meanwhile
+behold, there arose another dust cloud and flew and grew till it walled
+the view and blackened the day's bright hue; and under it they heard
+shouts and cries and neighing of steeds and beheld sword glance and the
+glint of levelled lance. When this new host drew near the city and saw
+the two other armies, they beat their drums and the King of the Magians
+exclaimed, "This is indeed naught but a blessed day. Praised be Allah
+who hath made us of accord with these two armies; and if it be His
+will, He shall give us peace with yon other as well." Then said he to
+Amjad and As'ad, "Fare forth and fetch us news of these troops, for
+they are a mighty host, never saw I a mightier." So they opened the
+city gates, which the King had shut for fear of the beleaguering
+armies, and Amjad and As'ad went forth and, coming to the new host,
+found that it was indeed a mighty many. But as soon as they came to it
+behold, they knew that it was the army of the King of the Ebony
+Islands, wherein was their father, King Kamar al-Zaman in person. Now
+when they looked upon him, they kissed ground and wept; but, when he
+beheld them, he threw himself upon them weeping, with sore weeping, and
+strained them to his breast for a full hour. Then he excused himself to
+them and told them what desolation he had suffered for their loss and
+exile; and they acquainted him with King Ghayur's arrival, whereupon he
+mounted with his chief officers and taking with him his two sons,
+proceeded to that King's camp. As they drew near, one of the Princes
+rode forward and informed King Ghayur of Kamar al-Zaman's coming,
+whereupon he came out to meet him and they joined company, marvelling
+at these things and how they had chanced to foregather in that place.
+Then the townsfolk made them banquets of all manner of meats and
+sweetmeats and presented to them horses and camels and fodder and other
+guest-gifts and all that the troops needed. And while this was doing,
+behold, yet another cloud of dust arose and flew till it walled the
+view, whilst earth trembled with the tramp of steed and tabors sounded
+like stormy winds. After a while, the dust lifted and discovered an
+army clad in coats of mail and armed cap-а-pie; but all were in black
+garb, and in their midst rode a very old man whose beard flowed down
+over his breast and he also was clad in black. When the King of the
+city and the city folk saw this great host, he said to the other Kings,
+"Praised be Allah by whose omnipotent command ye are met here, all in
+one day, and have proved all known one to the other! But what vast and
+victorious army is this which hemmeth in the whole land like a wall?"
+They answered, "Have no fear of them; we are three Kings, each with a
+great army, and if they be enemies, we will join thee in doing battle
+with them, were they three times as many as they now are." Meanwhile,
+up came an envoy from the approaching host, making for the city. So
+they brought him before Kamar al-Zaman, King Ghayur, Queen Marjanah and
+the King of the city; and he kissed the ground and said, "My liege lord
+cometh from Persia-land; for many years ago he lost his son and he is
+seeking him in all countries. If he find him with you, well and good;
+but if he find him not, there will be war between him and you and he
+will waste your city." Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, "It shall not come to
+that; but how is thy master called in Ajam land?" Answered the envoy,
+"He is called King Shahriman, lord of the Khбlidan Islands; and he hath
+levied these troops in the lands traversed by him, whilst seeking his
+son." No-vv when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he cried out with a
+great cry and fell down in a fainting fit which lasted a long while;
+and anon coming to himself he wept bitter tears and said to Amjad and
+As'ad, "Go ye, O my sons, with the herald, salute your grandfather and
+my father, King Shahriman and give him glad tidings of me, for he
+mourneth my loss and even to the present time he weareth black raiment
+for my sake." Then he told the other Kings all that had befallen him in
+the days of his youth, at which they wondered and, going down with him
+from the city, repaired to his father, whom he saluted, and they
+embraced and fell to the ground senseless for excess of joy. And when
+they revived after a while, Kamar al-Zaman acquainted his father with
+all his adventures and the other Kings saluted Shahriman. Then, after
+having married Marjanah to As'ad, they sent her back to her kingdom,
+charging her not to cease correspondence with them; so she took leave
+and went her way. Moreover they married Amjad to Bostan, Bahram's
+daughter, and they all set out for the City of Ebony. And when they
+arrived there, Kamar al-Zaman went in to his father-in-law, King
+Armanus, and told him all that had befallen him and how he had found
+his sons; whereat Armanus rejoiced and gave him joy of his safe return.
+Then King Ghayur went in to his daughter, Queen Budur,[FN#23] and
+saluted her and quenched his longing for her company, and they all
+abode a full month's space in the City of Ebony; after which the King
+and his daughter returned to their own country.—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say,
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Ghayur set
+out with his daughter and his host for his own land, and they took with
+them Amjad and returned home by easy marches. And when Ghayur was
+settled again in his kingdom, he made his grandson King in his stead;
+and as to Kamar al-Zaman he also made As'ad king in his room over the
+capital of the Ebony Islands, with the consent of his grandfather, King
+Armanus and set out himself, with his father, King Shahriman, till the
+two made the Islands of Khбlidan. Then the lieges decorated the city in
+their honour and they ceased not to beat the drums for glad tidings a
+whole month; nor did Kamar al-Zaman leave to govern in his father's
+place, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of societies; and Allah knoweth all things! Quoth King
+Shahryar, "O Shahrazad, this is indeed a most wonderful tale!" And she
+answered, "O King, it is not more wonderful than that of
+
+
+
+ALA AL-DIN ABU AL-SHAMAT.[FN#24]
+
+"What is that?" asked he, and she said, It hath reached me that there
+lived, in times of yore and years and ages long gone before, a merchant
+of Cairo[FN#25] named Shams al-Din, who was of the best and truest
+spoken of the traders of the city; and he had eunuchs and servants and
+negro-slaves and handmaids and Mame lukes and great store of money.
+Moreover, he was Consul[FN#26] of the Merchants of Cairo and owned a
+wife, whom he loved and who loved him; except that he had lived with
+her forty years, yet had not been blessed with a son or even a
+daughter. One day, as he sat in his shop, he noted that the merchants,
+each and every, had a son or two sons or more sitting in their shops
+like their sires. Now the day being Friday, he entered the Hammam-bath
+and made the total-ablution: after which he came out and took the
+barber's glass and looked in it, saying, "I testify that there is no
+god but the God and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger of God!"
+Then he considered his beard and, seeing that the white hairs in it
+covered the black, bethought himself that hoariness is the harbinger of
+death. Now his wife knew the time of his coming home and had washed and
+made herself ready for him, so when he came in to her, she said, "Good
+evening," but he replied "I see no good." Then she called to the
+handmaid, "Spread the supper-tray;" and when this was done quoth she to
+her husband "Sup, O my lord." Quoth he, "I will eat nothing," and
+pushing the tray away with his foot, turned his back upon her. She
+asked, "Why dost thou thus? and what hath vexed thee?"; and he
+answered, "Thou art the cause of my vexation."—And Shahrazed perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams al-Din said
+to his wife, "Thou art the cause of my vexation." She asked,
+"Wherefore?" and he answered, "When I opened my shop this morning, I
+saw that each and every of the merchants had with him a son or two sons
+or more, sitting in their shops like their fathers; and I said to
+myself:—He who took thy sire will not spare thee. Now the night I first
+visited thee,[FN#27] thou madest me swear that I would never take a
+second wife over thee nor a concubine, Abyssinian or Greek or handmaid
+of other race; nor would lie a single night away from thee: and behold,
+thou art barren, and having thee is like boring into the rock."
+Rejoined she, "Allah is my witness that the fault lies with thee, for
+that thy seed is thin." He asked, "And what showeth the man whose semen
+is thin?" And she answered, "He cannot get women with child, nor beget
+children." Quoth he, "What thickeneth the seed? tell me and I will buy
+it: haply, it will thicken mine." Quoth she, "Enquire for it of the
+druggists." So he slept with her that night and arose on the morrow,
+repenting of having spoken angrily to her; and she also regretted her
+cross words. Then he went to the market and, finding a druggist,
+saluted him; and when his salutation was returned said to him, "Say,
+hast thou with thee a seed-thickener?" He replied, "I had it, but am
+out of it: enquire thou of my neighbour." Then Shams al-Din made the
+round till he had asked every one, but they all laughed at him, and
+presently he returned to his shop and sat down, sore troubled. Now
+there was in the bazar a man who was Deputy Syndic of the brokers and
+was given to the use of opium and electuary and green hashish.[FN#28]
+He was called Shaykh Mohammed Samsam and being poor he used to wish
+Shams al-Din good morrow every day. So he came to him according to his
+custom and saluted him. The merchant returned his salute, but in
+ill-temper, and the other, seeing him vexed, said, "O my lord, what
+hath crossed thee?" Thereupon Shams al-Din told him all that occurred
+between himself and his wife, adding, "These forty years have I been
+married to her yet hath she borne me neither son nor daughter; and they
+say:—The cause of thy failure to get her with child is the thinness of
+thy seed; so I have been seeking a some thing wherewith to thicken my
+semen but found it not." Quoth Shaykh Mohammed, "O my lord, I have a
+seed-thickener, but what wilt thou say to him who causeth thy wife to
+conceive by thee after these forty years have passed?" Answered the
+merchant, "If thou do this, I will work thy weal—and reward thee."
+"Then give me a dinar," rejoined the broker, and Shams al-Din said,
+"Take these two dinars." He took them and said, "Give me also yonder
+big bowl of porcelain." So he gave it to him and the broker betook
+himself to a hashish-seller, of whom he bought two ounces of
+concentrated Roumi opium and equal-parts of Chinese cubebs, cinnamon,
+cloves, cardamoms, ginger, white pepper and mountain skink[FN#29]; and,
+pounding them all together, boiled them in sweet olive-oil; after which
+he added three ounces of male frankincense in fragments and a cupful of
+coriander-seed; and, macerating the whole, made it into an electuary
+with Roumi bee honey. Then he put the confection in the bowl and
+carried it to the merchant, to whom he delivered it, saying, "Here is
+the seed-thickener, and the manner of using it is this. Take of my
+electuary with a spoon after supping, and wash it down with a sherbet
+made of rose conserve; but first sup off mutton and house pigeon
+plentifully seasoned and hotly spiced." So the merchant bought all this
+and sent the meat and pigeons to his wife, saying, "Dress them deftly
+and lay up the seed-thickener until I want it and call for it." She did
+his bidding and, when she served up the meats, he ate the evening meal,
+after which he called for the bowl and ate of the electuary. It pleased
+him well, so he ate the rest and knew his wife. That very night she
+conceived by him and, after three months, her courses ceased, no blood
+came from her and she knew that she was with child. When the days of
+her pregnancy were accomplished, the pangs of labour took her and they
+raised loud lullilooings and cries of joy. The midwife delivered her
+with difficulty, by pronouncing over the boy at his birth the names of
+Mohammed and Ali, and said, "Allah is Most Great!"; and she called in
+his ear the call to prayer. Then she wrapped him up and passed him to
+his mother, who took him and gave him the breast; and he sucked and was
+full and slept. The midwife abode with them three days, till they had
+made the mothering-cakes of sugared bread and sweetmeats; and they
+distributed them on the seventh day. Then they sprinkled salt against
+the evil eye and the merchant, going in to his wife, gave her joy of
+her safe delivery, and said, "Where is Allah's deposit?" So they
+brought him a babe of surpassing beauty, the handiwork of the Orderer
+who is ever present and, though he was but seven days old, those who
+saw him would have deemed him a yearling child. So the merchant looked
+on his face and, seeing it like a shining full moon, with moles on
+either cheek, said he to his wife, "What hast thou named him?" Answered
+she, "If it were a girl I had named her; but this is a boy, so none
+shall name him but thou." Now the people of that time used to name
+their children by omens; and, whilst the merchant and his wife were
+taking counsel of the name, behold, one said to his friend, "Ho my
+lord, Ala al-Din!" So the merchant said, "We will call him Ala al-Din
+Abъ al-Shбmбt."[FN#30] Then he committed the child to the nurse, and he
+drank milk two years, after which they weaned him and he grew up and
+throve and walked upon the floor. When he came to seven years old, they
+put him in a chamber under a trap-door, for fear of the evil eye, and
+his father said, "He shall not come out, till his beard grow." So he
+gave him in charge to a handmaid and a blackamoor; the girl dressed him
+his meals and the slave carried them to him. Then his father
+circumcised him and made him a great feast; after which he brought him
+a doctor of the law, who taught him to write and read and repeat the
+Koran, and other arts and sciences, till he became a good scholar and
+an accomplished. One day it so came to pass that the slave, after
+bringing him the tray of food went away and left the trap door open: so
+Ala al-Din came forth from the vault and went in to his mother, with
+whom was a company of women of rank. As they sat talking, behold, in
+came upon them the youth as he were a white slave drunken[FN#31] for
+the excess of his beauty; and when they saw him, they veiled their
+faces and said to his mother, "Allah requite thee, O such an one! How
+canst thou let this strange Mameluke in upon us? Knowest thou not that
+modesty is a point of the Faith?" She replied, "Pronounce Allah's
+name[FN#32] and cry Bismillah! this is my son, the fruit of my vitals
+and the heir of Consul Shams al-Din, the child of the nurse and the
+collar and the crust and the crumb."[FN#33] Quoth they, "Never in our
+days knew we that thou hadst a son"; and quoth she, "Verily his father
+feared for him the evil eye and reared him in an under-ground
+chamber;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din's
+mother said to her lady-friends, "Verily his father feared for him the
+evil eye and reared him in an underground chamber; and haply the slave
+forgot to shut the door and he fared forth; but we did not mean that he
+should come out, before his beard was grown." The women gave her joy of
+him, and the youth went out from them into the court yard where he
+seated himself in the open sitting room; and behold, in came the slaves
+with his father's she mule, and he said to them, "Whence cometh this
+mule?" Quoth they, "We escorted thy father when riding her to the shop,
+and we have brought her back." He asked, "What may be my father's
+trade?"; and they answered, "Thy father is Consul of the merchants in
+the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs." Then he went in
+to his mother and said to her, "O my mother, what is my father's
+trade?" Said she, "O my son, thy sire is a merchant and Consul of the
+merchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His
+slaves consult him not in selling aught whose price is less than one
+thousand gold pieces, but merchandise worth him an hundred and less
+they sell at their own discretion; nor cloth any merchandise whatever,
+little or much, leave the country without passing through his hands and
+he disposeth of it as he pleaseth; nor is a bale packed and sent abroad
+amongst folk but what is under his disposal. And "Almighty Allah, O my
+son, hath given thy father monies past compt." He rejoined, "O my
+mother, praised be Allah, that I am son of the Sultan of the Sons of
+the Arabs and that my father is Consul of the merchants! But why, O my
+mother, do ye put me in the underground chamber and leave me prisoner
+there?" Quoth she, "O my son, we imprisoned thee not save for fear of
+folks' eyes: 'the evil eye is a truth,'[FN#34] and most of those in
+their long homes are its victims." Quoth he, "O my mother, and where is
+a refuge-place against Fate? Verily care never made Destiny forbear;
+nor is there flight from what is written for every wight. He who took
+my grandfather will not spare myself nor my father; for, though he live
+to day he shall not live tomorrow. And when my father dieth and I come
+forth and say, 'I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams al-Din the merchant',
+none of the people will believe me, but men of years and standing will
+say, 'In our lives never saw we a son or a daughter of Shams al-Din.'
+Then the public Treasury will come down and take my father's estate,
+and Allah have mercy on him who said, 'The noble dieth and his wealth
+passeth away, and the meanest of men take his women.' Therefore, O my
+mother, speak thou to my father, that he carry me with him to the bazar
+and open for me a shop; so may I sit there with my merchandise, and
+teach me to buy and sell and take and give." Answered his mother, "O my
+son, as soon as thy sire returneth I will tell him this." So when the
+merchant came home, he found his son Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat sitting
+with his mother and said to her, "Why hast thou brought him forth of
+the underground chamber?" She replied, "O son of my uncle, it was not I
+that brought him out; but the servants forgot to shut the door and left
+it open; so, as I sat with a company of women of rank, behold, he came
+forth and walked in to me." Then she went on to repeat to him his son's
+words; so he said, "O my son, to-morrow, Inshallah! I will take thee
+with me to the bazar; but, my boy, sitting in markets and shops
+demandeth good manners and courteous carriage in all conditions." Ala
+al-Din passed the night rejoicing in his father's promise and, when the
+morrow came, the merchant carried him to the Hammam and clad him in a
+suit worth a mint of money. As soon as they had broken their fast and
+drunk their sherbets, Shams al-Din mounted his she mule and putting his
+son upon another, rode to the market, followed by his boy. But when the
+market folk saw their Consul making towards them, foregoing a youth as
+he were a slice of the full moon on the fourteenth night, they said,
+one to other, "See thou yonder boy behind the Consul of the merchants;
+verily, we thought well of him, but he is, like the leek, gray of head
+and green at heart."[FN#35] And Shaykh Mohammed Samsam, Deputy Syndic
+of the market, the man before mentioned, said to the dealers, "O
+merchants, we will not keep the like of him for our Shaykh; no, never!"
+Now it was the custom anent the Consul when he came from his house of a
+morning and sat down in his shop, for the Deputy Syndic of the market
+to go and recite to him and to all the merchants assembled around him
+the Fбtihah or opening chapter of the Koran,[FN#36] after which they
+accosted him one by one and wished him good morrow and went away, each
+to his business place. But when Shams al-Din seated himself in his shop
+that day as usual, the traders came not to him as accustomed; so he
+called the Deputy and said to him, "Why come not the merchants together
+as usual?" Answered Mohammed Samsam, "I know not how to tell thee these
+troubles, for they have agreed to depose thee from the Shaykh ship of
+the market and to recite the Fatihah to thee no more." Asked Shams
+al-Din, "What may be their reason?"; and asked the Deputy, "What boy is
+this that sitteth by thy side and thou a man of years and chief of the
+merchants? Is this lad a Mameluke or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think
+thou lovest him and inclines lewdly to the boy." Thereupon the Consul
+cried out at him, saying, "Silence, Allah curse thee, genus and
+species! This is my son." Rejoined the Deputy, "Never in our born days
+have we seen thee with a son," and Shams al-Din answered, "When thou
+gavest me the seed-thickener, my wife conceived and bare this youth;
+but I reared him in a souterrain for fear of the evil eye, nor was it
+my purpose that he should come forth, till he could take his beard in
+his hand.[FN#37] However, his mother would not agree to this, and he on
+his part begged I would stock him a shop and teach him to sell and
+buy." So the Deputy Syndic returned to the other traders and acquainted
+them with the truth of the case, whereupon they all arose to accompany
+him; and, going in a body to Shams al-Din's shop, stood before him and
+recited the "Opener" of the Koran; after which they gave him joy of his
+son and said to him, "The Lord prosper root and branch! But even the
+poorest of us, when son or daughter is born to him, needs must cook a
+pan-full of custard[FN#38] and bid his friends and kith and kin; yet
+hast thou not done this." Quoth he, "This I owe you; be our meeting in
+the garden."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+
+Her sister Dunyazad said to her, "Pray continue thy story for us, as
+thou be awake and not inclined to sleep." Quoth she:—With pleasure and
+goodwill: it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Consul of the
+merchants promised them a banquet and said "Be our meeting in the
+garden." So when morning dawned he despatched the carpet layer to the
+saloon of the garden-pavilion and bade him furnish the two. Moreover,
+he sent thither all that was needful for cooking, such as sheep and
+clarified butter and so forth, according to the requirements of the
+case; and spread two tables, one in the pavilion and another in the
+saloon. Then Shams al-Din and his boy girded themselves, and he said to
+Ala al-Din "O my son, whenas a greybeard entereth, I will meet him and
+seat him at the table in the pavilion; and do thou, in like manner,
+receive the beardless youths and seat them at the table in the saloon."
+He asked, "O my father, why dost thou spread two tables, one for men
+and another for youths?"; and he answered, "O my son, the beardless is
+ashamed to eat with the bearded." And his son thought this his answer
+full and sufficient. So when the merchants arrived, Shams al-Din
+received the men and seated them in the pavilion, whilst Ala al-Din
+received the youths and seated them in the saloon. Then the food was
+set on and the guests ate and drank and made merry and sat over their
+wine, whilst the attendants perfumed them with the smoke of scented
+woods, and the elders fell to conversing of matters of science and
+traditions of the Prophet. Now there was amongst them a merchant called
+MahmÑŠd of Balkh, a professing Moslem but at heart a Magian, a man of
+lewd and mischievous life who loved boys. And when he saw Ala al-Din
+from whose father he used to buy stuffs and merchandise, one sight of
+his face sent him a thousand sighs and Satan dangled the jewel before
+his eyes, so that he was taken with love-longing and desire and
+affection and his heart was filled with mad passion for him. Presently
+he arose and made for the youths, who stood up to receive him; and at
+this moment Ala Al-Din being taken with an urgent call of Nature,
+withdrew to make water; whereupon Mahmud turned to the other youths and
+said to them, "If ye will incline Ala al-Din's mind to journeying with
+me, I will give each of you a dress worth a power of money." Then he
+returned from them to the men's party; and, as the youths were sitting,
+Ala al-Din suddenly came back, when all rose to receive him and seated
+him in the place of highest honour. Presently, one of them said to his
+neighbour, "O my lord Hasan, tell me whence came to thee the
+capital—whereon thou trades"." He replied, "When I grew up and came to
+man's estate, I said to my sire, 'O my father, give me merchandise.'
+Quoth he, 'O my son, I have none by me; but go thou to some merchant
+and take of him money and traffic with it; and so learn to buy and
+sell, give and take.' So I went to one of the traders and borrowed of
+him a thousand dinars, wherewith I bought stuffs and carrying them to
+Damascus, sold them there at a profit of two for one. Then I bought
+Syrian stuffs and carrying them to Aleppo, made a similar gain of them;
+after which I bought stuffs of Aleppo and repaired with them to
+Baghdad, where I sold them with like result, two for one; nor did I
+cease trading upon my capital till I was worth nigh ten thousand
+ducats." Then each of the others told his friend some such tale, till
+it came to Ala al-Din's turn to speak, when they said to him, "And
+thou, O my lord Ala al-Din?" Quoth he, "I was brought up in a chamber
+underground and came forth from it only this week; and I do but go to
+the shop and return home from the shop." They remarked, "Thou art used
+to wone at home and wottest not the joys of travel, for travel is for
+men only." He replied, "I reck not of voyaging and wayfaring cloth not
+tempt me." Whereupon quoth one to the other, "This one is like the
+fish: when he leaveth the water he dieth." Then they said to him, "O
+Ala al Din, the glory of the sons of the merchants is not but in travel
+for the sake of gain." Their talk angered him; so he left them
+weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted and mounting his mule returned home. Now
+his mother saw him in tears and in bad temper and asked him, "What hath
+made thee weep, O my son?"; and he answered, "Of a truth, all the sons
+of the merchants put me to shame and said, 'Naught is more glorious for
+a merchant's son than travel for gain and to get him gold.'"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din said
+to his mother, "Of a truth all the sons of the merchants put me to
+shame and said, 'Naught is more honourable for a merchant's son than
+travel for gain.'" "O my son, hast thou a mind to travel?" "Even so!"
+"And whither wilt thou go?" "To the city of Baghdad; for there folk
+make double the cost price on their goods." "O my son, thy father is a
+very rich man and, if he provide thee not with merchandise, I will
+supply it out of my own monies." "The best favour is that which is
+soonest bestowed; if this kindness is to be, now is the time." So she
+called the slaves and sent them for cloth packers, then, opening a
+store house, brought out ten loads of stuffs, which they made up into
+bales for him. Such was his case; but as regards his father, Shams
+al-Din, he looked about and failed to find Ala al-Din in the garden and
+enquiring after him, was told that he had mounted mule and gone home;
+so he too mounted and followed him. Now when he entered the house, he
+saw the bales ready bound and asked what they were; whereupon his wife
+told him what had chanced between Ala al-Din and the sons of the
+merchants; and he cried, "O my son, Allah's malison on travel and
+stranger-hood! Verily Allah's Apostle (whom the Lord bless and
+preserve!) hath said, 'It is of a man's happy fortune that he eat his
+daily bread in his own land', and it was said of the ancients, 'Leave
+travel, though but for a mile.'" Then quoth he to his son, "Say, art
+thou indeed resolved to travel and wilt thou not turn back from it?"
+Quoth the other, "There is no help for it but that I journey to Baghdad
+with merchandise, else will I doff clothes and don dervish gear and
+fare a-wandering over the world." Shams al-Din rejoined, "I am no
+penniless pauper but have great plenty of wealth;" then he showed him
+all he owned of monies and stuffs and stock-in-trade and observed,
+"With me are stuffs and merchandise befitting every country in the
+world." Then he showed him among the rest, forty bales ready bound,
+with the price, a thousand dinars, written on each, and said, "O my son
+take these forty loads, together with the ten which thy mother gave
+thee, and set out under the safeguard of Almighty Allah. But, O my
+child, I fear for thee a certain wood in thy way, called the Lion's
+Copse,[FN#39] and a valley highs the Vale of Dogs, for there lives are
+lost without mercy." He said, "How so, O my father?"; and he replied,
+"Because of a Badawi bandit named Ajlan." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Such is
+Allah's luck; if any share of it be mine, no harm shall hap to me."
+Then they rode to the cattle bazar, where behold, a cameleer[FN#40]
+alighted from his she mule and kissing the Consul's hand, said to him,
+"O my lord, it is long, by Allah, since thou hast employed us in the
+way of business." He replied, "Every time hath its fortune and its
+men,[FN#41] and Allah have truth on him who said,
+
+'And the old man crept o'er the worldly ways * So bowed, his
+
+
+     beard o'er his knees down flow'th:
+
+
+Quoth I, 'What gars thee so doubled go?' * Quoth he (as to me his
+
+
+     hands he show'th)
+
+
+'My youth is lost, in the dust it lieth; * And see, I bend me to
+
+
+     find my youth.'"[FN#42]
+
+
+
+Now when he had ended his verses, he said, "O chief of the caravan, it
+is not I who am minded to travel, but this my son." Quoth the cameleer,
+"Allah save him for thee." Then the Consul made a contract between Ala
+al-Din and the man, appointing that the youth should be to him as a
+son, and gave him into his charge, saying, "Take these hundred gold
+pieces for thy people." More-over he bought his son threescore mules
+and a lamp and a tomb-covering for the Sayyid Abd al-Kadir of
+Gнlбn[FN#43] and said to him, "O my son, while I am absent, this is thy
+sire in my stead: whatsoever he biddeth thee, do thou obey him." So
+saying, he returned home with the mules and servants and that night
+they made a Khitmah or perfection of the Koran and held a festival—in
+honour of the Shaykh Abd al-Kadir al-Jilбni. And when the morrow
+dawned, the Consul gave his son ten thousand dinars, saying, "O my son,
+when thou comest to Baghdad, if thou find stuffs easy of sale, sell
+them; but if they be dull, spend of these dinars." Then they loaded the
+mules and, taking leave of one another, all the wayfarers setting out
+on their journey, marched forth from the city. Now Mahmud of Balkh had
+made ready his own venture for Baghdad and had moved his bales and set
+up his tents without the walls, saying to himself, "Thou shalt not
+enjoy this youth but in the desert, where there is neither spy nor
+marplot to trouble thee." It chanced that he had in hand a thousand
+dinars which he owed to the youth's father, the balance of a
+business-transaction between them; so he went and bade farewell to the
+Consul, who charged him, "Give the thousand dinars to my son Ala
+al-Din;" and commended the lad to his care, saying, "He is as it were
+thy son." Accordingly, Ala al-Din joined company with Mahmud of
+Balkh.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din joined
+company with Mahmud of Balkh who, before beginning the march, charged
+the youth's cook to dress nothing for him, but himself provided him and
+his company with meat and drink. Now he had four houses, one in Cairo,
+another in Damascus, a third in Aleppo and a fourth in Baghdad. So they
+set out and ceased not journeying over waste and wold till they drew
+near Damascus when Mahmud sent his slave to Ala al-Din, whom he found
+sitting and reading. He went up to him and kissed his hands, and Ala
+al-Din having asked him what he wanted, he answered, "My master
+saluteth thee and craveth thy company to a banquet at his place." Quoth
+the youth, "Not till I consult my father Kamal al-Din, the captain of
+the caravan." So he asked advice of the Makaddam,[FN#44] who said, "Do
+not go." Then they left Damascus and journeyed on till they came to
+Aleppo, where Mahmud made a second entertainment and sent to invite Ala
+al-Din; but he consulted the Chief Cameleer who again forbade him. Then
+they marched from Aleppo and fared on, till there remained between them
+and Baghdad only a single stage. Here Mahmud prepared a third feast and
+sent to bid Ala al-Din to it: Kamal-al-Din once more forbade his
+accepting it, but he said, "I must needs go." So he rose and, slinging
+a sword over his shoulder, under his clothes, repaired to the tent of
+Mahmud of Balkh, who came to meet him and saluted him. Then he set
+before him a sumptuous repast and they ate and drank and washed hands.
+At last Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din to snatch a kiss from him, but
+the youth received the kiss on the palm of his hand and said to him,
+"What wouldest thou be at?" Quoth Mahmud, "In very sooth I brought thee
+hither that I might take my pleasure with thee in this jousting ground,
+and we will comment upon the words of him who saith,
+
+'Say, canst not come to us one momentling, * Like milk of ewekin
+
+
+     or aught glistening
+
+
+And eat what liketh thee of dainty cake, * And take thy due of
+
+
+     fee in silverling,
+
+
+And bear whatso thou wilt, without mislike, * Of spanling,
+
+
+     fistling or a span long thing?'"
+
+
+
+Then Mahmud of Balkh would have laid hands on Ala al-Din to ravish him;
+but he rose and baring his brand, said to him, "Shame on thy gray
+hairs! Hast thou no fear of Allah, and He of exceeding awe?[FN#45] May
+He have mercy on him who saith,
+
+'Preserve thy hoary hairs from soil and stain, * For whitest colours
+are the easiest stained!'"
+
+And when he ended his verses he said to Mahmud of Balkh, "Verily this
+merchandise[FN#46] is a trust from Allah and may not be sold. If I sold
+this property to other than thee for gold, I would sell it to thee for
+silver; but by Allah, O filthy villain, I will never again company with
+thee; no, never!" Then he returned to Kamal-Al-Din the guide and said
+to him, "Yonder man is a lewd fellow, and I will no longer consort with
+him nor suffer his company by the way." He replied, "O my son, did I
+not say to thee, 'Go not near him'? But if we part company with him, I
+fear destruction for ourselves; so let us still make one caravan." But
+Ala al-Din cried, "It may not be that I ever again travel with him." So
+he loaded his beasts and journeyed onwards, he and his company, till
+they came to a valley, where Ala al-Din would have halted, but the
+Cameleer said to him, "Do not halt here; rather let us fare forwards
+and press our pace, so haply we make Baghdad before the gates are
+closed, for they open and shut them with the sun, in fear lest the
+Rejectors[FN#47] should take the city and throw the books of religious
+learning into the Tigris." But Ala al Din replied to him, "O my father,
+I came not forth from home with this merchandise, or travelled hither
+for the sake of traffic, but to divert myself with the sight of foreign
+lands and folks;" and he rejoined, "O my son, we fear for thee and for
+thy goods from the wild Arabs." Whereupon the youth answered "Harkye,
+fellow, art thou master or man? I will not enter Baghdad till the
+morning, that the sons of the city may see my merchandise and know me."
+"Do as thou wilt," said the other "I have given thee the wisest advice,
+but thou art the best judge of thine own case." Then Ala al-Din bade
+them unload the mule; and pitch the tent; so they did his bidding and
+abode there till the middle of the night, when he went out to obey a
+call of nature and suddenly saw something gleaming afar off. So he said
+to Kamal-al-Din, "O captain, what is yonder glittering?" The Cameleer
+sat up and, considering it straitly, knew it for the glint of spear
+heads and the steel of Badawi weapons and swords. And lo and behold!
+this was a troop of wild Arabs under a chief called Ajlбn Abъ Nбib,
+Shaykh of the Arabs, and when they neared the camp and saw the bales
+and baggage, they said one to another, "O night of loot!" Now when
+Kamal-al-Din heard these their words he cried, "Avaunt, O vilest of
+Arabs!" But Abu Naib so smote him with his throw spear in the breast,
+that the point came out gleaming from his back, and he fell down dead
+at the tent door. Then cried the water carrier,[FN#48] "Avaunt, O
+foulest of Arabs!" and one of them smote him with a sword upon the
+shoulder, that it issued shining from the tendons of the throat, and he
+also fell down dead. (And all this while Ala Al-Din stood looking on.)
+Then the Badawin surrounded and charged the caravan from every side and
+slew all Ala al-Din's company without sparing a man: after which they
+loaded the mules with the spoil and made off. Quoth Ala al-Din to
+himself, "Nothing will slay thee save thy mule and thy dress!"; so he
+arose and put off his gown and threw it over the back of a mule,
+remaining in his shirt and bag trousers only; after which he looked
+towards the tent door and, seeing there a pool of gore flowing from the
+slaughtered, wallowed in it with his remaining clothes till he was as a
+slain man drowned in his own blood. Thus it fared with him; but as
+regards the Shaykh of the wild Arabs, Ajlan, he said to his banditti,
+"O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad or from Baghdad
+for Egypt?"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Badawi
+asked his banditti, "O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for
+Baghdad or from Baghdad for Egypt?"; they answered, "'Twas bound from
+Egypt for Baghdad;" and he said, "Return ye to the slain, for methinks
+the owner of this caravan is not dead." So they turned back to the
+slain and fell to prodding and slashing them with lance and sword till
+they came to Ala al-Din, who had thrown himself down among the corpses.
+And when they came to him, quoth they, "Thou dost but feign thyself
+dead, but we will make an end of thee," and one of the Badawin levelled
+his javelin and would have plunged it into his breast when he cried
+out, "Save me, O my lord Abd al-Kadir, O Saint of Gilan!" and behold,
+he saw a hand turn the lance away from his breast to that of
+Kamal-al-Din the cameleer, so that it pierced him and spared
+himself.[FN#49] Then the Arabs made off; and, when Ala al-Din saw that
+the birds were flown with their god send, he sat up and finding no one,
+rose and set off running; but, behold! Abu Nбib the Badawi looked back
+and said to his troop, "I see somewhat moving afar off, O Arabs!" So
+one of the bandits turned back and, spying Ala al-Din running, called
+out to him, saying, "Flight shall not forward thee and we after thee;"
+and he smote his mare with his heel and she hastened after him. Then
+Ala al-Din seeing before him a watering tank and a cistern beside it,
+climbed up into a niche in the cistern and, stretching himself at full
+length, feigned to be asleep and said, "O gracious Protector, cover me
+with the veil of Thy protection which may not be torn away!" And lo!
+the Badawi came up to the cistern and, standing in his stirrup irons
+put out his hand to lay hold of Ala al-Din; but he said, "O my lady
+Nafнsah[FN#50]! Now is thy time!" And behold, a scorpion stung the
+Badawi in the palm and he cried out, saying, "Help, O Arabs! I am
+stung;" and he alighted from his mare's back. So his comrades came up
+to him and mounted him again, asking, "What hath befallen thee?"
+whereto he answered, "A young scorpion[FN#51] stung me." So they
+departed, with the caravan. Such was their case; but as regards Ala
+al-Din, he tarried in the niche, and Mahmud of Balkh bade load his
+beasts and fared forwards till he came to the Lion's Copse where he
+found Ala al-Din's attendants all lying slain. At this he rejoiced and
+went on till he reached the cistern and the reservoir. Now his mule was
+athirst and turned aside to drink, but she saw Ala al-Din's shadow in
+the water and shied and started; whereupon Mahmud raised his eyes and,
+seeing Ala al-Din lying in the niche, stripped to his shirt and bag
+trousers, said to him, "What man this deed to thee hath dight and left
+thee in this evil plight?" Answered Ala alDin, "The Arabs," and Mahmud
+said, "O my son, the mules and the baggage were thy ransom; so do thou
+comfort thyself with his saying who said,
+
+'If thereby man can save his head from death, * His good is worth him
+but a slice of nail!'
+
+But now, O my son, come down and fear no hurt." Thereupon he descended
+from the cistern-niche and Mahmud mounted him on a mule, and they fared
+on till they reached Baghdad, where he brought him to his own house and
+carried him to the bath, saying to him, "The goods and money were the
+ransom of thy life, O my son; but, if thou wilt hearken to me, I will
+give thee the worth of that thou hast lost, twice told." When he came
+out of the bath, Mahmud carried him into a saloon decorated with gold
+with four raised floors, and bade them bring a tray with all manner of
+meats. So they ate and drank and Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din to
+snatch a kiss from him; but he received it upon the palm of his hand
+and said, "What, dost thou persist in thy evil designs upon me? Did I
+not tell thee that, were I wont to sell this merchandise to other than
+thee for gold, I would sell it thee for silver?" Quoth Mahmud, "I will
+give thee neither merchandise nor mule nor clothes save at this price;
+for I am gone mad for love of thee, and bless him who said,
+
+'Told us, ascribing to his Shaykhs, our Shaykh * Abъ Bilбl, these
+
+
+     words they wont to utter:[FN#52]
+
+
+Unhealed the lover wones of love desire, * By kiss and clip, his
+
+
+     only cure's to futter!'"
+
+
+
+Ala al-Din replied, "Of a truth this may never be, take back thy dress
+and thy mule and open the door that I may go out." So he opened the
+door, and Ala al-Din fared forth and walked on, with the dogs barking
+at his heels, and he went forwards through the dark when behold, he saw
+the door of a mosque standing open and, entering the vestibule, there
+took shelter and concealment; and suddenly a light approached him and
+on examining it he saw that it came from a pair of lanthorns borne by
+two slaves before two merchants. Now one was an old man of comely face
+and the other a youth; and he heard the younger say to the elder, "O my
+uncle,, I conjure thee by Allah, give me back my cousin!" The old man
+replied, "Did I not forbid thee, many a time, when the oath of divorce
+was always in thy mouth, as it were Holy Writ?" Then he turned to his
+right and, seeing Ala al-Din as he were a slice of the full moon, said
+to him, "Peace be with thee! who art thou, O my son?" Quoth he,
+returning the salutation of peace, "I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams
+al-Din, Consul of the merchants for Egypt. I besought my father for
+merchandise; so he packed me fifty loads of stuffs and goods."—And
+Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+continued, "So he packed me fifty loads of goods and gave me ten
+thousand dinars, wherewith I set out for Baghdad; but when I reached
+the Lion's Copse, the wild Arabs came out against me and took all my
+goods and monies. So I entered the city knowing not where to pass the
+night and, seeing this place, I took shelter here." Quoth the old man,
+"O my son, what sayest thou to my giving thee a thousand dinars and a
+suit of clothes and a mule worth other two thousand?" Ala al-Din asked,
+"To what end wilt thou give me these things, O my uncle?" and the other
+answered, 'This young man who accompanieth me is the son of my brother
+and an only son; and I have a daughter called Zubaydah[FN#53] the
+lutist, an only child who is a model of beauty and loveliness, so I
+married her to him. Now he loveth her, but she loatheth him; and when
+he chanced to take an oath of triple divorcement and broke it,
+forthright she left him. Whereupon he egged on all the folk to
+intercede with me to restore her to him; but I told him that this could
+not lawfully be save by an intermediate marriage, and we have agreed to
+make some stranger the intermediary[FN#54] in order that none may taunt
+and shame him with this affair. So, as thou art a stranger, come with
+us and we will marry thee to her; thou shalt lie with her to-night and
+on the morrow divorce her and we will give thee what I said." Quoth Ala
+al-Din to himself, "By Allah, to bide the night with a bride on a bed
+in a house is far better than sleeping in the streets and vestibules!"
+So he went with them to the Kazi whose heart, as soon as he saw Ala
+al-Din, was moved to love him, and who said to the old man, "What is
+your will?" He replied, "We wish to make this young man an intermediary
+husband for my daughter; but we will write a bond against him binding
+him to pay down by way of marriage-settlement ten thousand gold pieces.
+Now if after passing the night with her he divorce her in the morning,
+we will give him a mule and dress each worth a thousand dinars, and a
+third thousand of ready money; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay
+down the ten thousand dinars according to contract." So they agreed to
+the agreement and the father of the bride-to-be received his bond for
+the marriage-settlement. Then he took Ala al-Din and, clothing him
+anew, carried him to his daughter's house and there he left him
+standing at the door, whilst he himself went in to the young lady and
+said, "Take the bond of thy marriage-settlement, for I have wedded thee
+to a handsome youth by name Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: so do thou use
+him with the best of usage." Then he put the bond into her hands and
+left her and went to his own lodging. Now the lady's cousin had an old
+duenna who used to visit Zubaydah, and he had done many a kindness to
+this woman, so he said to her, "O my mother, if my cousin Zubaydah see
+this handsome young man, she will never after accept my offer; so I
+would fain have thee contrive some trick to keep her and him apart."
+She answered, "By the life of thy youth,[FN#55] I will not suffer him
+to approach her!" Then she went to Ala al-Din and said to him, "O my
+son, I have a word of advice to give thee, for the love of Almighty
+Allah and do thou accept my counsel, as I fear for thee from this young
+woman: better thou let her lie alone and feel not her person nor draw
+thee near to her." He asked, "Why so?"; and she answered, "Because her
+body is full of leprosy and I dread lest she infect thy fair and seemly
+youth." Quoth he, "I have no need of her." Thereupon she went to the
+lady and said the like to her of Ala al-Din, and she replied, "I have
+no need of him, but will let him lie alone, and on the morrow he shall
+gang his gait." Then she called a slave-girl and said to her, "Take the
+tray of food and set it before him that he may sup." So the handmaid
+carried him the tray of food and set it before him and he ate his fill:
+after which he sat down and raised his charming voice and fell to
+reciting the chapter called Y. S.[FN#56] The lady listened to him and
+found his voice as melodious as the psalms of David sung by David
+himself,[FN#57] which when she heard, she exclaimed, "Allah disappoint
+the old hag who told me that he was affected with leprosy! Surely this
+is not the voice of one who hath such a disease; and all was a lie
+against him."[FN#58] Then she took a lute of India-land workmanship
+and, tuning the strings, sang to it in a voice so sweet its music would
+stay the birds in the heart of heaven; and began these two couplets,
+
+"I love a fawn with gentle white black eyes, * Whose walk the
+
+
+     willow-wand with envy kills:
+
+
+Forbidding me he bids for rival-mine, * 'Tis Allah's grace who
+
+
+     grants to whom He wills!"
+
+
+
+And when he heard her chant these lines he ended his recitation of the
+chapter, and began also to sing and repeated the following couplet,
+
+"My Salбm to the Fawn in the garments concealed, * And to roses in
+gardens of cheek revealed."
+
+The lady rose up when she heard this, her inclination for him redoubled
+and she lifted the curtain; and Ala al-Din, seeing her, recited these
+two couplets,
+
+"She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow wand, * And
+
+
+     breathes out ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.
+
+
+Meseems as if grief loved my heart and when from her *
+
+
+     Estrangement I abide possession to it fell."[FN#59]
+
+
+
+Thereupon she came forward, swinging her haunches and gracefully
+swaying a shape the handiwork of Him whose boons are hidden; and each
+of them stole one glance of the eyes that cost them a thousand sighs.
+And when the shafts of the two regards which met rankled in his heart,
+he repeated these two couplets,
+
+"She 'spied the moon of Heaven, reminding me * Of nights when met
+
+
+     we in the meadows li'en:
+
+
+True, both saw moons, but sooth to say, it was * Her very eyes I
+
+
+     saw, and she my eyne."
+
+
+
+And when she drew near him, and there remained but two paces between
+them, he recited these two couplets,
+
+"She spread three tresses of unplaited hair * One night, and
+
+
+     showed me nights not one but four;
+
+
+And faced the moon of Heaven with her brow, * And showed me two-
+
+
+    fold moons in single hour."
+
+
+
+And as she was hard by him he said to her, "Keep away from me, lest
+thou infect me." Whereupon she uncovered her wrist[FN#60] to him, and
+he saw that it was cleft, as it were in two halves, by its veins and
+sinews and its whiteness was as the whiteness of virgin silver. Then
+said she, "Keep away from me, thou! for thou art stricken with leprosy,
+and maybe thou wilt infect me." He asked, "Who told thee I was a
+leper?" and she answered, "The old woman so told me." Quoth he, "'Twas
+she told me also that thou wast afflicted with white scurvy;" and so
+saying, he bared his forearms and showed her that his skin was also
+like virgin silver. Thereupon she pressed him to her bosom and he
+pressed her to his bosom and the twain embraced with closest embrace,
+then she took him and, lying down on her back, let down her petticoat
+trousers, and in an instant that which his father had left him rose up
+in rebellion against him and he said, "Go it, O Shayth Zachary[FN#61]
+of shaggery, O father of veins!"; and putting both hands to her flanks,
+he set the sugar-stick[FN#62] to the mouth of the cleft and thrust on
+till he came to the wicket called "Pecten." His passage was by the Gate
+of Victories[FN#63] and therefrom he entered the Monday market, and
+those of Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday,[FN#64] and, finding the
+carpet after the measure of the dais floor,[FN#65] he plied the box
+within its cover till he came to the end of it. And when morning dawned
+he cried to her, "Alas for delight which is not fulfilled! The
+raven[FN#66] taketh it and flieth away!" She asked, "What meaneth this
+saying?"; and he answered, "O my lady, I have but this hour to abide
+with thee." Quoth she "Who saith so?" and quoth he, "Thy father made me
+give him a written bond to pay ten thousand dinars to thy
+wedding-settlement; and, except I pay it this very day, they will
+imprison me for debt in the Kazi's house; and now my hand lacketh
+one-half dirham of the sum." She asked, "O my lord, is the
+marriage-bond in thy hand or in theirs?"; and he answered, "O my lady,
+in mine, but I have nothing." She rejoined, "The matter is easy; fear
+thou nothing. Take these hundred dinars: an I had more, I would give
+thee what thou lackest; but of a truth my father, of his love for my
+cousin, hath transported all his goods, even to my jewellery from my
+lodging to his. But when they send thee a serjeant of the
+Ecclesiastical Court,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady
+rejoined to Ala al-Din, "And when they send thee at an early hour a
+serjeant of the Ecclesiastical-Court, and the Kazi and my father bid
+thee divorce me, do thou reply, By what law is it lawful and right that
+I should marry at nightfall and divorce in the morning? Then kiss the
+Kazi's hand and give him a present, and in like manner kiss the
+Assessors' hands and give each of them ten gold pieces. So they will
+all speak with thee, and if they ask thee, 'Why dost thou not divorce
+her and take the thousand dinars and the mule and suit of clothes,
+according to contract duly contracted?' do thou answer, 'Every hair of
+her head is worth a thousand ducats to me and I will never put her
+away, neither will I take a suit of clothes nor aught else.' And if the
+Kazi say to thee, 'Then pay down the marriage-settlement,' do thou
+reply, 'I am short of cash at this present;' whereupon he and the
+Assessors will deal in friendly fashion with thee and allow thee time
+to pay." Now whilst they were talking, behold, the Kazi's officer
+knocked at the door; so Ala al-Din went down and the man said to him,
+"Come, speak the Efendi,[FN#67] for thy fatherinlaw summoneth thee." So
+Ala al-Din gave him five dinars and said to him, "O Summoner, by what
+law am I bound to marry at nightfall and divorce next morning?" The
+serjeant answered, "By no law of ours at all, at all; and if thou be
+ignorant of the religious law, I will act as thine advocate." Then they
+went to the divorce court and the Kazi said to Ala al-Din, "Why dost
+thou not put away the woman and take what falleth to thee by the
+contract?" Hearing this he went up to the Kazi; and, kissing his hand,
+put fifty dinars in it and said, "O our lord the Kazi, by what law is
+it lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall and divorce in the
+morning in my own despite?" The Kazi, answered, "Divorce as a
+compulsion and by force is sanctioned by no school of the Moslems."
+Then said the young lady's father, "If thou wilt not divorce, pay me
+the ten thousand dinars, her marriage-settlement." Quoth Ala al-Din,
+"Give me a delay of three days;" but the Kazi, said, "Three days is not
+time enough; he shall give thee ten." So they agreed to this and bound
+him after ten days either to pay the dowry or to divorce her. And after
+consenting he left them and taking meat and rice and clarified
+butter[FN#68] and what else of food he needed, returned to the house
+and told the young woman all that had passed; whereupon she said,
+"'Twixt night and day, wonders may display; and Allah bless him for his
+say:—
+
+'Be mild when rage shall come to afflict thy soul; * Be patient
+
+
+     when calamity breeds ire;
+
+
+Lookye, the Nights are big with child by Time, * Whose pregnancy
+
+
+     bears wondrous things and dire.'"
+
+
+
+Then she rose and made ready food and brought the tray, and they two
+ate and drank and were merry and mirthful. Presently Ala al-Din
+besought her to let him hear a little music; so she took the lute and
+played a melody that had made the hardest stone dance for glee, and the
+strings cried out in present ecstacy, "O Loving One!'';[FN#69] after
+which she passed from the adagio into the presto and a livelier
+measure. As they thus spent their leisure in joy and jollity and mirth
+and merriment, behold, there came a knocking at the door and she said
+to him; "Go see who is at the door." So he went down and opened it and
+finding four Dervishes standing without, said to them, "What want ye?"
+They replied, "O my lord, we are foreign and wandering religious
+mendicants, the viands of whose souls are music and dainty verse, and
+we would fain take our pleasure with thee this night till morning cloth
+appear, when we will wend our way, and with Almighty Allah be thy
+reward; for we adore music and there is not one of us but knoweth by
+heart store of odes and songs and ritornellos."[FN#70] He answered,
+"There is one I must consult;" and he returned and told Zubaydah who
+said, "Open the door to them." So he brought them up and made them sit
+down and welcomed them; then he fetched them food, but they would not
+eat and said, "O our lord, our meat is to repeat Allah's name in our
+hearts and to hear music with our ears: and bless him who saith,
+
+'Our aim is only converse to enjoy, * And eating joyeth only
+cattle-kind.'[FN#71]
+
+And just now we heard pleasant music in thy house, but when we entered,
+it ceased; and fain would we know whether the player was a slave-girl,
+white or black, or a maiden of good family." He answered, "It was this
+my wife," and told them all that had befallen him, adding, "Verily my
+father-in-law hath bound me to pay a marriage-settlement of ten
+thousand dinars for her, and they have given me ten days' time." Said
+one of the Dervishes, "Have no care and think of naught but good; for I
+am Shaykh of the Convent and have forty Dervishes under my orders. I
+will presently collect from them the ten thousand dinars and thou shalt
+pay thy father-in-law the wedding settlement. But now bid thy wife make
+us music that we may be gladdened and pleasured; for to some folk music
+is meat, to others medicine and to others refreshing as a fan." Now
+these four Dervishes were none other than the Caliph Harun al-Rashid,
+his Wazir Ja'afar the Barmecide, Abu al-Nowбs al-Hasan son of
+Hбni[FN#72] and Masrur the sworder; and the reason of their coming to
+the house was that the Caliph, being heavy at heart, had summoned his
+Minister and said, "O Wazir! it is our will to go down to the city and
+pace its streets, for my breast is sore straitened." So they all four
+donned dervish dress and went down and walked about, till they came to
+that house where, hearing music, they were minded to know the cause.
+They spent the night in joyance and harmony and telling tale after tale
+until morning dawned, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces under
+the prayer-carpet and all taking leave of Ala al-Din, went their way.
+Now when Zubaydah lifted the carpet she found beneath it the hundred
+dinars and she said to her husband, "Take these hundred dinars which I
+have found under the prayer-carpet; assuredly the Dervishes when about
+to leave us laid them there, without our knowledge." So Ala al-Din took
+the money and, repairing to the market, bought therewith meat and rice
+and clarified butter and all they required. And when it was night, he
+lit the wax-candles and said to his wife, "The mendicants, it is true,
+have not brought the ten thousand dinars which they promised me; but
+indeed they are poor men." As they were talking, behold, the Dervishes
+knocked at the door and she said, "Go down and open to them." So he did
+her bidding and bringing them up, said to them, "Have you brought me
+the ten thousand dinars you promised me?" They answered, "We have not
+been able to collect aught thereof as yet; but fear nothing: Inshallah,
+tomorrow we will compound for thee some alchemical-cookery. But now bid
+thy wife play us her very best pieces and gladden our hearts for we
+love music." So she took her lute and made them such melody that had
+caused the hardest rocks to dance with glee; and they passed the night
+in mirth and merriment, converse and good cheer, till morn appeared
+with its sheen and shone, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces
+under the prayer-carpet and all, after taking leave of Ala al-Din, went
+their way. And they ceased not to visit him thus every night for nine
+nights; and each morning the Caliph put an hundred dinars under the
+prayer carpet, till the tenth night, when they came not. Now the reason
+of their failure to come was that the Caliph had sent to a great
+merchant, saying to him, "Bring me fifty loads of stuffs, such as come
+from Cairo,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince of
+True Believers said to that merchant, "Bring me fifty loads of stuffs
+such as come from Cairo, and let each one be worth a thousand dinars,
+and write on each bale its price; and bring me also a male Abyssinian
+slave." The merchant did the bidding of the Caliph who committed to the
+slave a basin and ewer of gold and other presents, together with the
+fifty loads; and wrote a letter to Ala al-Din as from his father Shams
+al-Din and said to him, "Take these bales and what else is with them,
+and go to such and such a quarter wherein dwelleth the Provost of the
+merchants and say, 'Where be Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat?' till folk
+direct thee to his quarter and his house." So the slave took the letter
+and the goods and what else and fared forth on his errand. Such was his
+case; but as regards Zubaydah's cousin and first husband, he went to
+her father and said to him, "Come let us go to Ala al-Din and make him
+divorce the daughter of my uncle." So they set out both together and,
+when they came to the street in which the house stood, they found fifty
+he mules laden with bales of stuffs, and a blackamoor riding on a she
+mule. So they said to him, "Whose loads are these?" He replied, "They
+belong to my lord Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; for his father equipped him
+with merchandise and sent him on a journey to Baghdad-city; but the
+wild Arabs came forth against him and took his money and goods and all
+he had. So when the ill news reached his father, he despatched me to
+him with these loads, in lieu of those he had lost; besides a mule
+laden with fifty thousand dinars, a parcel of clothes worth a power of
+money, a robe of sables[FN#73] and a basin and ewer of gold." Whereupon
+the lady's father said, "He whom thou seekest is my son-in-law and I
+will show thee his house." Meanwhile Ala al-Din was sitting at home in
+huge concern, when lo! one knocked at the door and he said, "O
+Zubaydah, Allah is all-knowing! but I fear thy father hath sent me an
+officer from the Kazi or the Chief of Police." Quoth she, "Go down and
+see what it is." So he went down; and, opening the door, found his
+father-in-law, the Provost of the merchants with an Abyssinian slave,
+dusky complexioned and pleasant of favour, riding on a mule. When the
+slave saw him he dismounted and kissed his hands, and Ala al-Din said,
+"What dost thou want?" He replied, "I am the slave of my lord Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, son of Shams al-Din, Consul of the merchants for
+the land of Egypt, who hath sent me to him with this charge." Then he
+gave him the letter and Ala al-Din opening it found written what
+followeth:[FN#74]
+
+"Ho thou my letter! when my friend shall see thee, * Kiss thou
+
+
+     the ground and buss his sandal-shoon:
+
+
+Look thou hie softly and thou hasten not, * My life and rest are
+
+
+     in those hands so boon.
+
+
+
+"After hearty salutations and congratulations and high estimation from
+Shams al-Din to his son, Abu al-Shamat. Know, O my son, that news hath
+reached me of the slaughter of thy men and the plunder of thy monies
+and goods; so I send thee herewith fifty loads of Egyptian stuffs,
+together with a suit of clothes and a robe of sables and a basin and
+ewer of gold. Fear thou no evil, and the goods thou hast lost were the
+ransom of thy life; so regret them not and may no further grief befall
+thee. Thy mother and the people of the house are doing well in health
+and happiness and all greet thee with abundant greetings. Moreover, O
+my son, it hath reached me that they have married thee, by way of
+intermediary, to the lady Zubaydah the lutist and they have imposed on
+thee a marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars; wherefore I send
+thee also fifty thousand dinars by the slave Salнm."[FN#75] Now when
+Ala al-Din had made an end of reading the letter, he took possession of
+the loads and, turning to the Provost, said to him, "O my
+father-in-law, take the ten thousand dinars, the marriage-settlement of
+thy daughter Zubaydah, and take also the loads of goods and dispose of
+them, and thine be the profit; only return me the cost price." He
+answered, "Nay, by Allah, I will take nothing; and, as for thy wife's
+settlement, do thou settle the matter with her." Then, after the goods
+had been brought in, they went to Zuhaydah and she said to her sire, "O
+my father, whose loads be these?" He said, "These belong to thy
+husband, Ala al-Din: his father hath sent them to him instead of those
+whereof the wild Arabs spoiled him. Moreover, he hath sent him fifty
+thousand dinars with a parcel of clothes, a robe of sables, a she mule
+for riding and a basin and ewer of gold. As for the marriage-settlement
+that is for thy recking." Thereupon Ala al-Din rose and, opening the
+money box, gave her her settlement and the lady's cousin said, "O my
+uncle, let him divorce to me my wife;" but the old man replied, "This
+may never be now; for the marriage tie is in his hand." Thereupon the
+young man went out, sore afflicted and sadly vexed and, returning home,
+fell sick, for his heart had received its death blow; so he presently
+died. But as for Ala al-Din, after receiving his goods he went to the
+bazar and buying what meats and drinks he needed, made a banquet as
+usual—against the night, saying to Zubaydah, "See these lying
+Dervishes; they promised us and broke their promises." Quoth she, "Thou
+art the son of a Consul of the merchants, yet was thy hand short of
+half a dirham; how then should it be with poor Dervishes?" Quoth he,
+"Almighty Allah hath enabled us to do without them; but if they come to
+us never again will I open the door to them." She asked, "Why so,
+whenas their coming footsteps brought us good luck; and, moreover, they
+put an hundred dinars under the prayer carpet for us every night?
+Perforce must thou open the door to them an they come." So when day
+departed with its light and in gloom came night, they lighted the wax
+candles and he said to her, "Rise, Zubaydah, make us music;" and
+behold, at this moment some one knocked at the door, and she said, "Go
+and look who is at the door." So he went down and opened it and seeing
+the Dervishes, said, "Oh, fair welcome to the liars! Come up."
+Accordingly they went up with him and he seated them and brought them
+the tray of food; and they ate and drank and became merry and mirthful,
+and presently said to him, "O my lord, our hearts have been troubled
+for thee: what hath passed between thee and thy father-in-law?" He
+answered, "Allah compensated us beyond and above our desire." Rejoined
+they, "By Allah, we were in fear for thee".—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and and Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Dervishes
+thus addressed Ala al-Din, "By Allah, we were in fear for thee and
+naught kept us from thee but our lack of cash and coin." Quoth he,
+"Speedy relief hath come to me from my Lord; for my father hath sent me
+fifty thousand dinars and fifty loads of stuffs, each load worth a
+thousand dinars; besides a riding-mule, a robe of sables, an Abyssinian
+slave and a basin and ewer of gold. Moreover, I have made my peace with
+my father-in-law and my wife hath become my lawful wife by my paying
+her settlement; so laud to Allah for that!" Presently the Caliph rose
+to do a necessity; whereupon Ja'afar bent him towards Ala al-Din and
+said, "Look to thy manners, for thou art in the presence of the
+Commander of the Faithful " Asked he, "How have I failed in good
+breeding before the Commander of the Faithful, and which of you is he?"
+Quoth Ja'afar, "He who went out but now to make water is the Commander
+of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and I am the Wazir Ja'afar; and this
+is Masrur the executioner and this other is Abu Nowas Hasan bin Hani..
+And now, O Ala al-Din, use thy reason and bethink thee how many days'
+journey it is between Cairo and Baghdad." He replied, "Five and forty
+days' journey;" and Ja'afar rejoined, "Thy baggage was stolen only ten
+days ago; so how could the news have reached thy father, and how could
+he pack thee up other goods and send them to thee five-and-forty days'
+journey in ten days' time?" Quoth Ala al-Din, "O my lord and whence
+then came they?" "From the Commander of the Faithful," replied Ja'afar,
+"of his great affection for thee." As they were speaking, lo! the
+Caliph entered and Ala al-Din rising, kissed the ground before him and
+said, "Allah keep thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and give thee long
+life; and may the lieges never lack thy bounty and beneficence!"
+Replied the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, let Zubaydah play us an air, by way
+of house-warming[FN#76] for thy deliverance." Thereupon she played him
+on the lute so rare a melody that the very stones shook for glee, and
+the strings cried out for present ecstasy, "O Loving One!" They spent
+the night after the merriest fashion, and in the morning the Caliph
+said to Ala al-Din, "Come to the Divan to-morrow." He answered,
+"Hearkening and obedience, O Commander of the Faithful; so Allah will
+and thou be well and in good case!" On the morrow he took ten trays
+and, putting on each a costly present, went up with them to the palace;
+and the Caliph was sitting on the throne when, behold, Ala al-Din
+appeared at the door of the Divan, repeating these two couplets,
+
+"Honour and Glory wait on thee each morn! * Thine enviers' noses
+
+
+     in the dust be set!
+
+
+Ne'er cease thy days to be as white as snow; * Thy foeman's days
+
+
+     to be as black as jet!"
+
+
+
+"Welcome, O Ala Al-Din!" said the Caliph, and he replied, "O Commander
+of the Faithful, the Prophet (whom Allah bless and assain!)[FN#77] was
+wont to accept presents; and these ten trays, with what is on them, are
+my offering to thee." The Caliph accepted his gift and, ordering him a
+robe of honour, made him Provost of the merchants and gave him a seat
+in the Divan. And as he was sitting behold, his father-in-law came in
+and, seeing Ala al-Din seated in his place and clad in a robe of
+honour, said to the Caliph, "O King of the age, why is this man sitting
+in my place and wearing this robe of honour?" Quoth the Caliph, "I have
+made him Provost of the merchants, for offices are by investiture and
+not in perpetuity, and thou art deposed." Answered the merchant, "Thou
+hast done well, O Commander of the Faithful, for he is ours and one of
+us. Allah make the best of us the managers of our affairs! How many a
+little one hath become great!" Then the Caliph wrote Ala al-Din a
+Firman[FN#78] of investiture and gave it to the Governor who gave it to
+the crier,[FN#79] and the crier made proclamation in the Divan saying,
+"None is Provost of the merchants but Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and his
+word is to be heard, and he must be obeyed with due respect paid, and
+he meriteth homage and honour and high degree!" Moreover, when the
+Divan broke up, the Governor went down with the crier before Ala
+Al-Din!" and the crier repeated the proclamation and they carried Ala
+al-Din through the thoroughfares of Baghdad, making proclamation of his
+dignity. Next day, Ala al-Din opened a shop for his slave Salim and set
+him therein, to buy and sell, whilst he himself rode to the palace and
+took his place in the Caliph's Divan.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din rode
+to the palace and took his place in the Caliph's Divan. Now it came to
+pass one day, when he sat in his stead as was his wont, behold, one
+said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the Faithful, may thy head survive
+such an one the cup-companion!; for he is gone to the mercy of Almighty
+Allah, but be thy life prolonged!"[FN#80] Quoth the Caliph, "Where is
+Ala al-Din Abu al-al-Shamat?" So he went up to the Commander of the
+Faithful, who at once clad him in a splendid dress of honour and made
+him his boon-companion; appointing him a monthly pay and allowance of a
+thousand dinars. He continued to keep him company till, one day, as he
+sat in the Divan, according to his custom attending upon the Caliph, lo
+and behold! an Emir came up with sword and shield in hand and said, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, may thy head long outlive the Head of the
+Sixty, for he is dead this day;" whereupon the Caliph ordered Ala
+al-Din a dress of honour and made him Chief of the Sixty, in place of
+the other who had neither wife nor son nor daughter. So Ala al-Din laid
+hands on his estate and the Caliph said to him, "Bury him in the earth
+and take all he hath left of wealth and slaves and handmaids."[FN#81]
+Then he shook the handkerchief[FN#82] and dismissed the Divan,
+whereupon Ala al-Din went forth, attended by Ahmad al-Danaf, captain of
+the right, and Hasan Shъmбn, captain of the left, riding at his either
+stirrup, each with his forty men.[FN#83] Presently, he turned to Hasan
+Shuman and his men and said to them, "Plead ye for me with the Captain
+Ahmad al-Danaf that he please to accept me as his son by covenant
+before Allah." And Ahmad assented, saying, "I and my forty men will go
+before thee to the Divan every morning." Now after this Ala al-Din
+continued in the Caliph's service many days; till one day it chanced
+that he left the Divan and returning home, dismissed Ahmad al-Danaf and
+his men and sat down with his wife Zubaydab, the lute-player, who
+lighted the wax candles and went out of the room upon an occasion.
+Suddenly he heard a loud shriek; so he rose up and running in haste to
+see what was the matter, found that it was his wife who had cried out.
+She was lying at full length on the ground and, when he put his hand to
+her breast, he found her dead. Now her father's house faced that of Ala
+al-Din, and he, hearing the shriek, came in and said, "What is the
+matter, O my lord Ala al-Din?" He replied, "O my father, may thy head
+outlive thy daughter Zubaydah! But, O my father, honour to the dead is
+burying them." So when the morning dawned, they buried her in the earth
+and her husband and father condoled with and mutually consoled each
+other. Thus far concerning her; but as regards Ala al-Din he donned
+mourning dress and declined the Divan, abiding tearful-eyed and
+heavy-hearted at home. After a while, the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O
+Watir, what is the cause of Ala al-Din's absence from the Divan?" The
+Minister answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, he is in mourning for
+his wife Zubaydah; and is occupied in receiving those who come to
+console him;" and the Caliph said, "It behoveth us to pay him a visit
+of condolence." "I hear and I obey," replied Ja'afar. So they took
+horse, the Caliph and the Minister and a few attendants, and rode to
+Ala al-Din's house and, as he was sitting at home, behold, the party
+came in upon him; whereupon he rose to receive them and kissed the
+ground before the Caliph, who said to him, "Allah make good thy loss to
+thee!" Answered Ala Al-Din, "May Allah preserve thee to us, O Commander
+of the Faithful!" Then said the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, why hast thou
+absented thyself from the Divan?" And he replied, "Because of my
+mourning for my wife, Zubaydah, O Commander of the Faithful." The
+Caliph rejoined, "Put away grief from thee: verily she is dead and gone
+to the mercy of Almighty Allah and mourning will avail thee nothing;
+no, nothing." But Ala al-Din said "O Commander of the Faithful, I shall
+never leave mourning for her till I die and they bury me by her side."
+Quoth the Caliph, "In Allah is compensation for every decease, and
+neither device nor riches can deliver from death; and divinely gifted
+was he who said,
+
+'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the
+
+
+     bulging bier some day.[FN#84]
+
+
+How then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks
+
+
+     shall rest the dust and clay?'"
+
+
+
+When the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged him
+not to absent himself from the Divan and returned to his palace. And
+Ala Al-Din, after a last sorrowful night, mounted early in the morning
+and, riding to the court, kissed the ground before the Commander of the
+Faithful who made a movement if rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet
+and welcome him; and bade him take his appointed place in the Divan,
+saying, "O Ala al-Din, thou art my guest to-night." So presently he
+carried him into his serraglio and calling a slave-girl named KÑŠt
+al-KulÑŠb, said to her, "Ala al-Din had a wife called Zubaydah, who used
+to sing to him and solace him of cark and care; but she is gone to the
+mercy of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air upon
+the lute,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph said
+to the damsel Kut al-Kulub, "I would have thee play him upon the lute
+an air, of fashion sweet and rare, that he may be solaced of his cark
+and care." So she rose and made sweet music; and the Caliph said to Ala
+al-Din, "What sayst thou of this damsel's voice?" He replied, "Verily,
+O Commander of the Faithful, Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is
+skilled in touching the lute cunningly and her playing would make a
+rock dance with glee." The Caliph asked, "Doth she please thee?'' and
+he answered, "She doth, O Commander of the Faithful;" whereupon the
+King said, "By the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, she
+is a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting- women!" Ala al-Din
+fancied that the Caliph was jesting with him; but, on the morrow, the
+King went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to her, "I have given thee to Ala
+Al-Din, whereat she rejoiced, for she had seen and loved him. Then the
+Caliph returned from his serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling
+porters, said to them, "Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her
+waiting-women in a litter, and carry them to Ala al-Din's home." So
+they conducted her to the house and showed her into the pavilion,
+whilst the Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose of day,
+when the Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;
+but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in Ala
+al-Din's mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides the
+eunuchry, she called two of these caponised slaves and said to them,
+"Sit ye on stools, one on the right and another on the left hand of the
+door; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home, both of you kiss his hands and
+say to him, "Our mistress Kut al-Kulub requesteth thy presence in the
+pavilion, for the Caliph hath given her to thee, her and her women."
+They answered, "We hear and obey;" and did as she bade them. So, when
+Ala al-Din returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs sitting at
+the door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, "Surely,
+this is not my own house; or else what can have happened?" Now when the
+eunuchs saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his hands, said to him,
+"We are of the Caliph's household and slaves to Kut al-Kulub, who
+saluteth thee, giving thee to know that the Caliph hath bestowed her on
+thee, her and her women, and requesteth thy presence." Quoth Ala
+al-Din, "Say ye to her, 'Thou art welcome; but so long as thou shalt
+abide with me, I will not enter the pavilion wherein thou art, for what
+was the master's should not become the man's;' and furthermore ask her,
+'What was the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's palace?'" So
+they went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, "An hundred
+dinars a day;" whereupon quoth he to himself, "There was no need for
+the Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be put to such
+expense for her; but there is no help for it." So she abode with him
+awhile and he assigned her daily an hundred dinars for her maintenance;
+till, one day, he absented himself from the Divan and the Caliph said
+to Ja'afar, "O Watir, I gave not Kut al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that
+she might console him for his wife; why, then, doth he still hold aloof
+from us?" Answered Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, he spake
+sooth who said, 'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his friends.'"
+Rejoined the Caliph, "Haply he hath not absented himself without
+excuse, but we will pay him a visit." Now some days before this, Ala
+al-Din had said to Ja'afar, "I complained to the Caliph of my grief and
+mourning for the loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut al-Kulub;"
+and the Minister replied, "Except he loved thee, he had not given her
+to thee. Say hast thou gone in unto her, O Ala al-Din?" He rejoined,
+"No, by Allah! I know not her length from her breadth." He asked "And
+why?" and he answered, "O Wazir, what befitteth the lord befitteth not
+the liege." Then the Caliph and Ja'afar disguised themselves and went
+privily to visit Ala al-Din; but he knew them and rising to them kissed
+the hands of the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs of sorrow in
+his face. So he said to him, "O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow
+wherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?" He
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord
+befitteth not the thrall. No, as yet I have not gone in to visit her
+nor do I know her length from her breadth; so pray quit me of her."
+Quoth the Caliph, "I would fain see her and question her of her case;"
+and quoth Ala al-Din, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful."
+So the Caliph went in,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph went
+in to Kut al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and kissed the
+ground between his hands; when he said to her, "Hath Ala al-Din gone in
+unto thee?" and she answered, "No, O Commander of the Faithful, I sent
+to bid him come, but he would not." So the Caliph bade carry her back
+to the Harim and saying to Ala Al-Din, "Do not absent thyself from us,"
+returned to his palace. Accordingly, next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted
+and rode to the Divan, where he took his seat as Chief of the Sixty.
+Presently the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the Wazir Ja'afar
+ten thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, "I charge thee
+to go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy Ala Al-Din,
+a slave-girl with this sum." So in obedience to the King, Ja'afar took
+Ala al-Din and went down with him to the bazar. Now as chance would
+have it, that very day, the Emir Khбlid, whom the Caliph had made
+Governor of Baghdad, went down to the market to buy a slave-girl for
+his son and the cause of his going was that his wife, Khбtъn by name,
+had borne him a son called Habzalam Bazбzah,[FN#86] and the same was
+foul of favour and had reached the age of twenty, without learning to
+mount horse; albeit his father was brave and bold, a doughty rider
+ready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it happened that
+on a certain night he had a dream which caused nocturnal-pollution
+whereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and said to his father, "I
+want to find him a wife, as he is now ripe for wedlock." Quoth Khбlid,
+"The fellow is so foul of favour and withal-so rank of odour, so sordid
+and beastly that no woman would take him as a gift." And she answered,
+"We will buy him a slave-girl." So it befell, for the accomplishing of
+what Allah Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala
+al-Din, the Governor Khбlid and his son went down to the market and
+behold, they saw in the hands of a broker a beautiful girl, lovely
+faced and of perfect shape, and the Wazir said to him, "O broker, ask
+her owner if he will take a thousand dinars for her." And as the broker
+passed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam Bazazah cast at her one
+glance of the eyes which entailed for himself one thousand sighs; and
+he fell in love with her and passion got hold of him and he said, "O my
+father, buy me yonder slave-girl." So the Emir called the broker, who
+brought the girl to him, and asked her her name. She replied, "My name
+is Jessamine;" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, "O my son, as she
+please thee, do thou bid higher for her." Then he asked the broker,
+"What hath been bidden for her?" and he replied, "A thousand dinars."
+Said the Governor's son, "She is mine for a thousand pieces of gold and
+one more;" and the broker passed on to Ala al-Din who bid two thousand
+dinars for her; and as often as the Emir's son bid another dinar, Ala
+al-Din bid a thousand. The ugly youth was vexed at this and said, "O
+broker! who is it that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?" Answered the
+broker, "It is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat." And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her
+price up to ten thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell
+her for that sum. Then he took the girl and said to her, "I give thee
+thy freedom for the love of Almighty Allah;" and forthwith wrote his
+contract of marriage with her and carried her to his house. Now when
+the broker returned, after having received his brokerage, the Emir's
+son summoned him and said to him, "Where is the girl?" Quoth he, "She
+was bought for ten thousand dinars by Ala al-Din, who hath set her free
+and married her." At this the young man was greatly vexed and cast down
+and, sighing many a sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel;
+and he threw himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing
+were sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she
+said to him, "Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?" And he
+answered, "Buy me Jessamine, O my mother." Quoth she, "When the
+flower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of jessamine." Quoth
+he, "It is not the jessamine one smells, but a slave-girl named
+Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me." So she said to her
+husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not buy him the girl?" and he
+replied, "What is fit for the lord is not fit for the liege and I have
+no power to take her: no less a man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief
+of the Sixty." Then the youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he
+gave up sleeping and eating, and his mother bound her head with the
+fillets of mourning. And while in her sadness she sat at home,
+lamenting over her son, behold, came in to her an old woman, known as
+the mother of Ahmad Kamбkim[FN#88] the arch-thief, a knave who would
+bore through a middle wall and scale the tallest of the tall and steal
+the very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest years he had
+been given to these malpractices, till they made him Captain of the
+Watch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief of Police, coming
+upon him in the act, carried him to the Caliph, who bade put him to
+death on the common execution-ground.[FN#90] But he implored protection
+of the Wazir whose intercession the Caliph never rejected, so he
+pleaded for him with the Commander of the Faithful who said, "How canst
+thou intercede for this pest of the human race?" Ja'afar answered, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, do thou imprison him; whoso built the first
+jail was a sage, seeing that a jail is the grave of the living and a
+joy for the foe." So the Caliph bade lay him in bilboes and write
+thereon, "Appointed to remain here until death and not to be loosed but
+on the corpse washer's bench;" and they cast him fettered into limbo.
+Now his mother was a frequent visitor to the house of the Emir Khбlid,
+who was Governor and Chief of Police; and she used to go in to her son
+in jail and say to him, "Did I not warn thee to turn from thy wicked
+ways?''[FN#91] And he would always answer her, "Allah decreed this to
+me; but, O my mother, when thou visitest the Emir's wife make her
+intercede for me with her husband." So when the old woman came into the
+Lady Khatun, she found her bound with the fillets of mourning and said
+to her, "Wherefore dost thou mourn?" She replied, "For my son Habzalam
+Bazazah;" and the old woman exclaimed, "Heaven assain thy son!; what
+hath befallen him?" So the mother told her the whole story, and she
+said, "What thou say of him who should achieve such a feat as would
+save thy son?" Asked the lady, "And what feat wilt thou do?" Quoth the
+old woman, "I have a son called Ahmad Kamakim, the arch-thief, who
+lieth chained in jail and on his bilboes is written, 'Appointed to
+remain till death'; so do thou don thy richest clothes and trick thee
+out with thy finest jewels and present thyself to thy husband with an
+open face and smiling mien; and when he seeketh of thee what men seek
+of women, put him off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By Allah,
+'tis a strange thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth
+her till she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he
+will not grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?';
+and do thou answer, 'First swear to grant my request.' If he swear to
+thee by his head or by Allah, say to him, 'Swear to me the oath of
+divorce', and do not yield to him, except he do this. And whenas he
+hath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him, 'Thou keepest in
+prison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a poor old mother, who
+hath set upon me and who urgeth me in the matter and who saith, 'Let
+thy husband intercede for him with the Caliph, that my son may repent
+and thou gain heavenly guerdon.'" And the Lady Khatun replied, "I hear
+and obey." So when her husband came into her—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Governor came
+in to his wife, who spoke to him as she had been taught and made him
+swear the divorce-oath before she would yield to his wishes. He lay
+with her that night and, when morning dawned, after he had made the
+Ghusl-ablution and prayed the dawn- prayer, he repaired to the prison
+and said, "O Ahmad Kamakim, O thou arch-thief, dost thou repent of thy
+works?"; whereto he replied, "I do indeed repent and turn to Allah and
+say with heart and tongue, 'I ask pardon of Allah.'" So the Governor
+took him out of jail and carried him to the Court (he being still in
+bilboes) and, approaching the Caliph, kissed ground before him. Quoth
+the King, "O Emir Khбlid, what seekest thou?"; whereupon he brought
+forward Ahmad Kamakim, shuffling and tripping in his fetters, and the
+Caliph said to him, "What! art thou yet alive, O Kamakim?" He replied,
+"O Commander of the Faithful, the miserable are long-lived." Quoth the
+Caliph to the Emir, "Why hast thou brought him hither?"; and quoth he,
+"O Commander of the Faithful, he hath a poor old mother cut off from
+the world who hath none but this son and she hath had recourse to thy
+slave, imploring him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains,
+for he repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him Captain of the
+Watch as before." The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, "Doss thou repent of
+thy sins?" "I do indeed repent me to Allah, O Commander of the
+Faithful," answered he; whereupon the Caliph called for the blacksmith
+and made him strike off his irons on the corpse- washer's bench.[FN#92]
+Moreover, he restored him to his former office and charged him to walk
+in the ways of godliness and righteousness. So he kissed the Caliph's
+hands and, being invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch, he
+went forth, whilst they made proclamation of his appointment. Now for a
+long time he abode in the exercise of his office, till one day his
+mother went in to the Governor's wife, who said to her, "Praised be
+Allah who hath delivered thy son from prison and restored him to health
+and safety! But why dost thou not bid him contrive some trick to get
+the girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah?" "That will I,"
+answered she and, going out from her, repaired to her son. She found
+him drunk with wine and said to him, "O my son, no one caused thy
+release from jail but the wife of the Governor, and she would have thee
+find some means to slay Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl
+Jessamine for her son Habzalam Bazazah." He answered, "That will be the
+easiest of things; and I must needs set about it this very night." Now
+this was the first night of the new month, and it was the custom of the
+Caliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah, for the setting free
+of a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the sort. Moreover, on
+such occasions he used to doff his royal-habit, together with his
+rosary and dagger-sword and royal-signet, and set them all upon a chair
+in the sitting- saloon: and he had also a golden lanthorn, adorned with
+three jewels strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great store; and
+he would commit all these things to the charge of the eunuchry, whilst
+he went into the Lady Zubaydah's apartment. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakin
+waited till midnight, when Canopus shone bright, and all creatures to
+sleep were dight whilst the Creator veiled them with the veil of night.
+Then he took his drawn sword in his right and his grappling hook in his
+left and, repairing to the Caliph's sitting-saloon planted his scaling
+ladder and cast his grapnel on to the side of the terrace-roof; then,
+raising the trap-door, let himself down into the saloon, where he found
+the eunuchs asleep. He drugged them with hemp-fumes;[FN#93] and, taking
+the Caliph's dress; dagger, rosary, kerchief, signet-ring and the
+lanthorn whereupon were the pearls, returned whence he came and betook
+himself to the house of Ala al-Din, who had that night celebrated his
+wedding festivities with Jessamine and had gone in unto her and gotten
+her with child. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim climbed over into his
+saloon and, raising one of the marble slabs from the sunken part of the
+floor,[FN#94] dug a hole under it and laid the stolen things therein,
+all save the lanthorn, which he kept for himself. Then he plastered
+down the marble slab as it before was, and returning whence he came,
+went back to his own house, saying, "I will now tackle my drink and set
+this lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its light."[FN#95] Now as
+soon as it was dawn of day, the Caliph went out into the
+sitting-chamber; and, seeing the eunuchs drugged with hemp, aroused
+them. Then he put his hand to the chair and found neither dress nor
+signet nor rosary nor dagger-sword nor kerchief nor lanthorn; whereat
+he was exceeding wroth and donning the dress of anger, which was a
+scarlet suit,[FN#96] sat down in the Divan. So the Wazir Ja'afar came
+forward and kissing the ground before him, said, "Allah avert all evil
+from the Commander of the Faithful!" Answered the Caliph, "O Wazir, the
+evil is passing great!" Ja'afar asked, "What has happened?" so he told
+him what had occurred; and, behold, the Chief of Police appeared with
+Ahmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup, when he found the Commander of
+the Faithful sore enraged. As soon as the Caliph saw him, he said to
+him, "O Emir Khбlid, how goes Baghdad?" And he answered, "Safe and
+secure." Cried he "Thou liest!" "How so, O Prince of True Believers?"
+asked the Emir. So he told him the case and added, "I charge thee to
+bring me back all the stolen things." Replied the Emir, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, the vinegar worm is of and in the vinegar, and no
+stranger can get at this place."[FN#97] But the Caliph said, "Except
+thou bring me these things, I will put thee to death." Quoth he, "Ere
+thou slay me, slay Ahmad Kamakim, for none should know the robber and
+the traitor but the Captain of the Watch." Then came forward Ahmad
+Kamakim and said to the Caliph, "Accept my intercession for the Chief
+of Police, and I will be responsible to thee for the thief and will
+track his trail till I find him; but give me two Kazis and two
+Assessors for he who did this thing feareth thee not, nor cloth he fear
+the Governor nor any other." Answered the Caliph, "Thou shalt have what
+thou wantest; but let search be made first in my palace and then in
+those of the Wazir and the Chief of the Sixty." Rejoined Ahmad Kamakim,
+"Thou sayest well, O Commander of the Faith ful; belike the man that
+did this ill deed be one who hath been reared in the King's household
+or in that of one of his officers." Cried the Caliph, "As my head
+liveth, whosoever shall have done the deed I will assuredly put him to
+death, be it mine own son!" Then Ahmad Kamakim received a written
+warrant to enter and perforce search the houses;—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ahmad Kamakim got
+what he wanted, and received a written warrant to enter and perforce
+search the houses; so he fared forth, taking in his hand a rod[FN#98]
+made of bronze and copper, iron and steel, of each three equal-parts.
+He first searched the palace of the Caliph, then that of the Wazir
+Ja'afar; after which he went the round of the houses of the
+Chamberlains and the Viceroys till he came to that of Ala al-Din. Now
+when the Chief of the Sixty heard the clamour before his house, he left
+his wife Jessamine and went down and, opening the door, found the
+Master of Police without in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. So he
+said, "What is the matter, O Emir Khбlid?" Thereupon the Chief told him
+the case and Ala al-Din said, "Enter my house and search it." The
+Governor replied, "Pardon, O my lord; thou art a man in whom trust is
+reposed and Allah forfend that the trusty turn traitor!" Quoth Ala
+al-Din, "There is no help for it but that my house be searched." So the
+Chief of Police entered, attended by the Kazi and his Assessors;
+whereupon Ahmad Kamakim went straight to the depressed floor of the
+saloon and came to the slab, under which he had buried the stolen goods
+and let the rod fall upon it with such violence that the marble broke
+in sunder and behold something glittered underneath. Then said he,
+"Bismillah; in the name of Allah! Mashallah; whatso Allah willeth! By
+the blessing of our coming a hoard hath been hit upon, wait while we go
+down into this hiding-place and see what is therein." So the Kazi and
+Assessors looked into the hole and finding there the stolen goods, drew
+up a statement[FN#99] of how they had discovered them in Ala al-Din's
+house, to which they set their seals. Then, they bade seize upon Ala
+al-Din and took his turban from his head, and officially registered all
+his monies and effects which were in the mansion. Meanwhile, arch-thief
+Ahmad Kamakim laid hands on Jessamine, who was with child by Ala
+al-Din, and committed her to his mother, saying, "Deliver her to
+Khatun, the Governor's lady:" so the old woman took her and carried her
+to the wife of the Master of Police. Now as soon as Habzalam Bazazah
+saw her, health and heart returned to him and he arose without stay or
+delay and joyed with exceeding joy and would have drawn near her; but
+she plucks a dagger from her girdle and said, "Keep off from me, or I
+will kill thee and kill myself after." Exclaimed his mother, "O
+strumpet, let my son have his will of thee!" But Jessamine answered "O
+bitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry two men; and how
+shall the dog be admitted to the place of the lion?" With this, the
+ugly youth's love-longing redoubled and he sickened for yearning and
+unfulfilled desire; and refusing food returned to his pillow. Then said
+his mother to her, "O harlot, how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for
+my son? Needs must I punish thee with torture, and as for Ala al-Din,
+he will assuredly be hanged." "And I will die for love of him,"
+answered Jessamine. Then the Governor's wife arose and stripped her of
+her jewels and silken raiment and, clothing her in petticoat-trousers
+of sack-cloth and a shift of hair-cloth, sent her down into the kitchen
+and made her a scullery-wench, saying, "The reward for thy constancy
+shall be to break up fire-wood and peel onions and set fire under the
+cooking-pots." Quoth she, "I am willing to suffer all manner of
+hardships and servitude, but I will not suffer the sight of thy son."
+However, Allah inclined the hearts of the slave-girls to her and they
+used to do her service in the kitchen. Such was the case with
+Jessamine; but as regards Ala al-Din they carried him, together with
+the stolen goods, to the Divan where the Caliph still sat upon his
+throne. And behold, the King looked upon his effects and said, "Where
+did ye find them?" They replied, "In the very middle of the house
+belonging to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat;" whereat the Caliph was filled
+with wrath and took the things, but found not the lanthorn among them
+and said, "O Ala al-Din, where is the lanthorn?" He answered "I stole
+it not, I know naught of it; I never saw it; I can give no information
+about it!" Said the Caliph, "O traitor, how cometh it that I brought
+thee near unto me and thou hast cast me out afar, and I trusted in thee
+and thou betrayest me?" And he commanded to hang him. So the Chief of
+Police took him and went down with him into the city, whilst the crier
+preceded them proclaiming aloud and saying, "This is the reward and the
+least of the reward he shall receive who doth treason against the
+Caliphs of True Belief!" And the folk flocked to the place where the
+gallows stood. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Ahmad al-Danaf,
+Ala al-Din's adopted father, he was sitting making merry with his
+followers in a garden, and carousing and pleasuring when lo! in came
+one of the water-carriers of the Divan and, kissing the hand of Ahmad
+al-Danaf, said to him, "O Captain Ahmad, O Danaf! thou sittest at thine
+ease with water flowing at thy feet,[FN#100] and thou knowest not what
+hath happened." Asked Ahmad, "What is it?" and the other answered,
+"They have gone down to the gallows with thy son Ala al-Din, adopted by
+a covenant before Allah!" Quoth Ahmad, "What is the remedy here, O
+Hasan Shuuman, and what sayst thou of this?" He replied, "Assuredly Ala
+al-Din is innocent and this blame hath come to him from some one
+enemy."[FN#101] Quoth Ahmad, "What counsellest thou?" and Hasan said,
+"We must rescue him, Inshallah!" Then he went to the jail and said to
+the gaolor, "Give us some one who deserveth death." So he gave him one
+that was likest of men to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; and they covered
+his head and carried him to the place of execution between Ahmad
+al-Danaf and Ali al-Zaybak of Cairo.[FN#102] Now they had brought Ala
+al-Din to the gibbet, to hang him, but Ahmad al-Danaf came forward and
+set his foot on that of the hangman, who said, "Give me room to do my
+duty." He replied, "O accursed, take this man and hang him in Ala
+al-Din's stead; for he is innocent and we will ransom him with this
+fellow, even as Abraham ransomed Ishmael with the ram."[FN#103] So the
+hangman seized the man and hanged him in lieu of Ala al-Din; whereupon
+Ahmad and Ali took Ala al-Din and carried him to Ahmad's quarters and,
+when there, Ala al-Din turned to him and said, "O my sire and chief,
+Allah requite thee with the best of good!" Quoth he, "O Ala al-Din"—
+And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Calamity Ahmad
+cried, "O Ala al-Din, what is this deed thou hast done? The mercy of
+Allah be on him who said, 'Whoso trusteth thee betray him not, e'en if
+thou be a traitor.' Now the Caliph set thee in high place about him and
+styled thee 'Trusty' and 'Faithful'; how then couldst thou deal thus
+with him and steal his goods?" "By the Most Great Name, O my father and
+chief," replied Ala al-Din, "I had no hand in this, nor did I such
+deed, nor know I who did it." Quoth Ahmad, "Of a surety none did this
+but a manifest enemy and whoso doth aught shall be requited for his
+deed; but, O Ala al-Din, thou canst sojourn no longer in Baghdad, for
+Kings, O my son, may not pass from one thing to another, and when they
+go in quest of a man, ah! longsome is his travail." "Whither shall I
+go, O my chief?" asked Ala al-Din; and he answered, "O my son, I will
+bring thee to Alexandria, for it is a blessed place; its threshold is
+green and its sojourn is agreeable." And Ala al-Din rejoined, "I hear
+and I obey, O my chief." So Ahmad said to Hasan Shuuman, "Be mindful
+and, when the Caliph asketh for me, say, 'He is gone touring about the
+provinces'." Then, taking Ala al-Din, he went forth of Baghdad and
+stayed not going till they came to the outlying vineyards and gardens,
+where they met two Jews of the Caliph's tax-gatherers, riding on mules.
+Quoth Ahmad Al-Danaf to these, "Give me the black-mail."[FN#104] and
+quoth they, "Why should we pay thee black mail?" whereto he replied,
+"Because I am the watchman of this valley." So they gave him each an
+hundred gold pieces, after which he slew them and took their mules, one
+of which he mounted, whilst Ala al-Din bestrode the other. Then they
+rode on till they came to the city of Ayбs[FN#105] and put up their
+beasts for the night at the Khan. And when morning dawned, Ala al-Din
+sold his own mule and committed that of Ahmad to the charge of the
+door-keeper of the caravanserai, after which they took ship from Ayas
+port and sailed to Alexandria. Here they landed and walked up to the
+bazar and behold, there was a broker crying a shop and a chamber behind
+it for nine hundred and fifty dinars. Upon this Ala al-Din bid a
+thousand which the broker accepted, for the premises belonged to the
+Treasury; and the seller handed over to him the keys and the buyer
+opened the shop and found the inner parlour furnished with carpets and
+cushions. Moreover, he found there a store-room full of sails and
+masts, cordage and seamen's chests, bags of beads and cowrie[FN#106]-
+shells, stirrups, battle-axes, maces, knives, scissors and such
+matters, for the last owner of the shop had been a dealer in
+second-hand goods.[FN#107]ook his seat in the shop and Ahmad al-Danaf
+said to him, "O my son, the shop and the room and that which is therein
+are become thine; so tarry thou here and buy and sell; and repine not
+at thy lot for Almighty Allah blesseth trade." After this he abode with
+him three days and on the fourth he took leave of him, saying, "Abide
+here till I go back and bring thee the Caliph's pardon and learn who
+hath played thee this trick." Then he shipped for Ayas, where he took
+the mule from the inn and, returning to Baghdad met Pestilence Hasan
+and his followers, to whom said he, "Hath the Caliph asked after me?";
+and he replied, "No, nor hast thou come to his thought." So he resumed
+his service about the Caliph's person and set himself to sniff about
+for news of Ala al-Din's case, till one day he heard the Caliph say to
+the Watir, "See, O Ja'afar, how Ala al-Din dealt with me!" Replied the
+Minister, "O Commander of the Faithful, thou hast requited him with
+hanging and hath he not met with his reward?" Quoth he, "O Wazir, I
+have a mind to go down and see him hanging;" and the Wazir answered,
+"Do what thou wilt, O Commander of the Faithful." So the Caliph,
+accompanied by Ja'afar, went down to the place of execution and,
+raising his eyes, saw the hanged man to be other than Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat, surnamed the Trusty, and said, "O Wazir, this is not Ala
+al-Din!" "How knowest thou that it is not he?" asked the Minister, and
+the Caliph answered, "Ala al-Din was short and this one is tall " Quoth
+Ja'afar, "Hanging stretcheth." Quoth the Caliph, "Ala al-Din was fair
+and this one's face is black." Said Ja'afar "Knowest thou not, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that death is followed by blackness?" Then
+the Caliph bade take down the body from the gallows tree and they found
+the names of the two Shaykhs, Abu Bakr and Omar, written on its
+heels[FN#108] whereupon cried the Caliph, "O Wazir, Ala al Din was a
+Sunnite, and this fellow is a Rejecter, a Shi'ah." He answered, "Glory
+be to Allah who knoweth the hidden things, while we know not whether
+this was Ala al-Din or other than he." Then the Caliph bade bury the
+body and they buried it; and Ala al-Din was forgotten as though he
+never had been. Such was his case; but as regards Habzalam Bazazah, the
+Emir Khбlid's son, he ceased not to languish for love and longing till
+he died and they joined him to the dust. And as for the young wife
+Jessamine, she accomplished the months of her pregnancy and, being
+taken with labour-pains, gave birth to a boy-child like unto the moon.
+And when her fellow slave-girls said to her, "What wilt thou name him?"
+she answered, "Were his father well he had named him; but now I will
+name him Aslбn."[FN#109] She gave him suck for two successive years,
+then weaned him, and he crawled and walked. Now it so came to pass that
+one day, whilst his mother was busied with the service of the kitchen,
+the boy went out and, seeing the stairs, mounted to the
+guest-chamber.[FN#110] And the Emir Khбlid who was sitting there took
+him upon his lap and glorified his Lord for that which he had created
+and fashioned then closely eyeing his face, the Governor saw that he
+was the likest of all creatures to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat. Presently,
+his mother Jessamine sought for him and finding him not, mounted to the
+guest-chamber, where she saw the Emir seated, with the child playing in
+his lap, for Allah had inclined his heart to the boy. And when the
+child espied his mother, he would have thrown himself upon her; but the
+Emir held him tight to his bosom and said to Jessamine, "Come hither, O
+damsel." So she came to him, when he said to her, "Whose son is this?";
+and she replied, "He is my son and the fruit of my vitals." "And who is
+his father?" asked the Emir; and she answered, "His father was Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, but now he is become thy son." Quoth Khбlid, "In
+very sooth Ala al-Din was a traitor." Quoth she, "Allah deliver him
+from treason! the Heavens forfend and forbid that the 'Trusty' should
+be a traitor!" Then said he, "When this boy shall grow up and reach
+man's estate and say to thee, 'Who is my father?' say to him, 'Thou art
+the son of the Emir Khбlid, Governor and Chief of Police.'" And she
+answered, "I hear and I obey." Then he circumcised the boy and reared
+him with the goodliest rearing, and engaged for him a professor of law
+and religious science, and an expert penman who taught him to read and
+write; so he read the Koran twice and learnt it by heart and he grew
+up, saying to the Emir, "O my father!" Moreover, the Governor used to
+go down with him to the tilting-ground and assemble horsemen and teach
+the lad the fashion of fight and fray, and the place to plant
+lance-thrust and sabre-stroke; so that by the time he was fourteen
+years old, he became a valiant wight and accomplished knight and gained
+the rank of Emir. Now it chanced one day that Aslan fell in with Ahmad
+Kamakim, the arch-thief, and accompanied him as cup- companion to the
+tavern[FN#111] and behold, Ahmad took out the jewelled lanthorn he had
+stolen from the Caliph and, setting it before him, pledged the wine cup
+to its light, till he became drunken. So Aslan said to him, "O Captain,
+give me this lanthorn;" but he replied, "I cannot give it to thee."
+Asked Aslan, "Why not?"; and Ahmad answered, "Because lives have been
+lost for it." "Whose life?" enquired Aslan; and Ahmad rejoined, "There
+came hither a man who was made Chief of the Sixty; he was named Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat and he lost his life through this lanthorn." Quoth
+Aslan, "And what was that story, and what brought about his death?"
+Quoth Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou hadst an elder brother by name Hahzalam
+Bazazah, and when he reached the age of sixteen and was ripe for
+marriage, thy father would have bought him a slave-girl named
+Jessamine." And he went on to tell him the whole story from first to
+last of Habzalam Bazazah's illness and what befell Ala al-Din in his
+innocence. When Aslan heard this, he said in thought, "Haply this
+slave-girl was my mother Jessamine, and my father was none other than
+Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat." So the boy went out from him sorrowful, and
+met Calamity Ahmad, who at sight of him exclaimed, "Glory be to Him
+unto whom none is like!" Asked Hasan the Pestilence, "Whereat dost thou
+marvel, O my chief?" and Ahmad the Calamity replied, "At the make of
+yonder boy Aslan, for he is the likest of human creatures to Ala al-Din
+Abu al-Shamat." Then he called the lad and said to him, "O Aslan what
+is thy mother's name?"; to which he replied, "She is called the damsel
+Jessamine;" and the other said, "Harkye, Aslan, be of good cheer and
+keep thine eyes cool and clear; for thy father was none other than Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat: but, O my son, go thou in to thy mother and
+question her of thy father." He said, "Hearkening and obedience," and,
+going in to his mother put the question; whereupon quoth she, "Thy sire
+is the Emir Khбlid!" "Not so," rejoined he, "my father was none other
+than Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat." At this the mother wept and said, "Who
+acquainted thee with this, O my son?" And he answered "Ahmad al-Danaf,
+Captain of the Guard." So she told him the whole story, saying, "O my
+son, the True hath prevailed and the False hath failed:[FN#112] know
+that Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat was indeed thy sire, but it was none save
+the Emir Khбlid who reared thee and adopted thee as his son. And now, O
+my child, when thou seest Ahmad al-Danaf the captain, do thou say to
+him, 'I conjure thee, by Allah, O my chief, take my blood-revenge on
+the murderer of my father Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat!'" So he went out
+from his mother,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aslan went out
+from his mother and, betaking himself to Calamity Ahmad, kissed his
+hand. Quoth the captain, "What aileth thee, O Aslan?" and quoth he, "I
+know now for certain that my father was Ali al-Din Abu al-Shamat and I
+would have thee take my blood-revenge on his murderer." He asked, "And
+who was thy father's murderer?" whereto Aslan answered, "Ahmad Kamakim
+the arch-thief." "Who told thee this?" enquired he, and Aslan rejoined,
+"I saw in his hand the jewelled lanthorn which was lost with the rest
+of the Caliph's gear, and I said to him, 'Give me this lanthorn!' but
+he refused, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this'; and told
+me it was he who had broken into the palace and stolen the articles and
+deposited them in my father's house." Then said Ahmad al-Danaf, "When
+thou seest the Emir Khбlid don his harness of war, say to him, 'Equip
+me like thyself and take me with thee.' Then do thou go forth and
+perform some feat of prowess before the Commander of the Faithful, and
+he will say to thee, 'Ask a boon of me, O Aslan!' And do thou make
+answer, 'I ask of thee this boon, that thou take my blood-revenge on my
+father's murderer.' If he say, 'Thy father is yet alive and is the Emir
+Khбlid, the Chief of the Police'; answer thou, 'My father was Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and the Emir Khбlid hath a claim upon me only as
+the foster-father who adopted me.' Then tell him all that passed
+between thee and Ahmad Kamakim and say, 'O Prince of True Believers,
+order him to be searched and I will bring the lanthorn forth from his
+bosom.'" Thereupon said Aslan to him, "I hear and obey;" and, returning
+to the Emir Khбlid, found him making ready to repair to the Caliph's
+court and said to him, "I would fain have thee arm and harness me like
+thyself and take me with thee to the Divan." So he equipped him and
+carried him thither. Then the Caliph sallied forth of Baghdad with his
+troops and they pitched tents and pavilions without the city; whereupon
+the host divided into two parties and forming ranks fell to playing
+Polo, one striking the ball with the mall, and another striking it back
+to him. Now there was among the troops a spy, who had been hired to
+slay the Caliph; so he took the ball and smiting it with the bat drove
+it straight at the Caliph's face, when behold, Aslan fended it off and
+catching it drove it back at him who smote it, so that it struck him
+between the shoulders and he fell to the ground. The Caliph exclaimed,
+"Allah bless thee, O Aslan!" and they all dismounted and sat on chairs.
+Then the Caliph bade them bring the smiter of the ball before him and
+said, "Who tempted thee to do this thing and art thou friend or foe?"
+Quoth he, "I am thy foe and it was my purpose to kill thee." Asked the
+Caliph "And wherefore? Art not a Moslem?" Replied the spy; "No' I am a
+Rejecter.''[FN#113] So the Caliph bade them put him to death and said
+to Aslan, "Ask a boon of me." Quoth he, "I ask of thee this boon, that
+thou take my blood-revenge on my father's murderer." He said, "Thy
+father is alive and there he stands on his two feet." "And who is he?"
+asked Aslan, and the Caliph answered, "He is the Emir Khбlid, Chief of
+Police." Rejoined Aslan, "O Commander of the Faithful, he is no father
+of mine, save by right of fosterage; my father was none other than Ala
+al-Din Abu al Shamat." "Then thy father was a traitor," cried the
+Caliph. "Allah forbid, O Commander of the Faithful," rejoined Aslan,
+"that the 'Trusty' should be a traitor! But how did he betray thee?"
+Quoth the Caliph, "He stole my habit and what was therewith." Aslan
+retorted, "O Commander of the Faithful, Allah forfend that my father
+should be a traitor! But, O my lord, when thy habit was lost and found
+didst thou likewise recover the lanthorn which was stolen from thee?"
+Answered the Caliph, "We never got it back," and Aslan said, "I saw it
+in the hands of Ahmad Kamakim and begged it of him; but he refused to
+give it me, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this.' Then he
+told me of the sickness of Habzalam Bazazah, son of the Emir Khбlid, by
+reason of his passion for the damsel Jessamine, and how he himself was
+released from bonds and that it was he who stole the habit and the
+lamp: so do thou, O Commander of the Faithful, take my blood-revenge
+for my father on him who murdered him." At once the Caliph cried,
+"Seize ye Ahmad Kamakim!" and they seized him, whereupon he asked,
+"Where be the Captain, Ahmad al-Danaf?" And when he was summoned the
+Caliph bade him search Kamakim; so he put his hand into the thief's
+bosom and pulled out the lanthorn. Said the Caliph, "Come hither, thou
+traitor: whence hadst thou this lanthorn?" and Kamakim replied, "I
+bought it, O Commander of the Faithful!" The Caliph rejoined, "Where
+didst thou buy it?" Then they beat him till he owned that he had stolen
+the lanthorn, the habit and the rest, and the Caliph said "What moved
+thee to do this thing O traitor, and ruin Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the
+Trusty and Faithful?" Then he bade them lay hands on him and on the
+Chief of Police, but the Chief said, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+indeed I am unjustly treated thou badest me hang him, and I had no
+knowledge of this trick, for the plot was contrived between the old
+woman and Ahmad Kamakim and my wife. I crave thine
+intercession,[FN#114] O Aslan." So Aslan interceded for him with the
+Caliph, who said, "What hath Allah done with this youngster's mother?"
+Answered Khбlid, "She is with me," and the Caliph continued, "I command
+that thou order thy wife to dress her in her own clothes and ornaments
+and restore her to her former degree, a lady of rank; and do thou
+remove the seals from Ala al-Din's house and give his son possession of
+his estate." "I hear and obey," answered Khбlid; and, going forth, gave
+the order to his wife who clad Jessamine in her own apparel; whilst he
+himself removed the seals from Ala al-Din's house and gave Aslan the
+keys. Then said the Caliph, "Ask a boon of me, O Aslan;" and he
+replied, "I beg of thee the boon to unite me with my father." Whereat
+the Caliph wept and said, "Most like thy sire was he that was hanged
+and is dead; but by the life of my forefathers, whoso bringeth me the
+glad news that he is yet in the bondage of this life, I will give him
+all he seeketh!" Then came forward Ahmad al-Danaf and, kissing the
+ground between his hands, said, "Grant me indemnity, O Commander of the
+Faithful!" "Thou hast it," answered the Caliph; and Calamity Ahmad
+said, "I give thee the good news that Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the
+Trusty, the Faithful, is alive and well." Quoth the Caliph "What is
+this thou sayest?" Quoth Al-Danaf, "As thy head liveth I say sooth; for
+I ransomed him with another, of those who deserved death; and carried
+him to Alexandria, where I opened for him a shop and set him up as a
+dealer in second hand goods." Then said the Prince of True
+Believers,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+ordered Calamity Ahmad, saying, "I charge thee fetch him to me;" and
+the other replied, "To hear is to obey;" whereupon the Caliph bade them
+give him ten thousand gold pieces and he fared forth for Alexandria. On
+this wise it happed with Aslan; but as regards his father, Ala al-Din
+Abu al-Shamat, he sold in course of time all that was in his shop
+excepting a few things and amongst them a long bag of leather. And
+happening to shake the bag there fell out a jewel which filled the palm
+of the hand, hanging to a chain of gold and having many facets but
+especially five, whereon were names and talismanic characters, as they
+were ant-tracks. So he rubbed each face; but none answered him[FN#115]
+and he said to himself, "Doubtless it is a piece of variegated onyx;"
+and then hung it up in the shop. And behold, a Consul[FN#116] passed
+along the street; and, raising his eyes, saw the jewel hanging up; so
+he seated himself over against the shop and said to Ala al-Din, "O my
+lord, is the jewel for sale?" He answered, "All I have is for sale."
+Thereupon the Frank said, "Wilt thou sell me that same for eighty
+thousand dinars?" "Allah open!" replied Ala al-Din. The Frank asked,
+"Wilt thou sell it for an hundred thousand dinars?", and he answered,
+"I sell it to thee for a hundred thousand dinars; pay me down the
+monies." Quoth the Consul, "I cannot carry about such sum as its price,
+for there be robbers and sharpers in Alexandria; but come with me to my
+ship and I will pay thee the price and give thee to boot a bale of
+Angora wool, a bale of satin, a bale of velvet and a bale of
+broadcloth." So Ala al-Din rose and locked up his shop, after giving
+the jewel to the Frank, and committed the keys to his neighbour,
+saying, "Keep these keys in trust for me, whilst I go with this Consul
+to his ship and return with the price of my jewel. If I be long absent
+and there come to thee Ahmad al-Danaf, the Captain who stablished me in
+this shop, give him the keys and tell him where I am." Then he went
+with the Consul to his ship and no sooner had he boarded it than the
+Prank set him a stool and, making him sit down, said to his men, "Bring
+the money." So they brought it and he paid him the price of the jewel
+and gave him the four bales he had promised him and one over; after
+which he said to him, "O my lord, honour me by accepting a bite or a
+sup." And Ala al-Din answered, "If thou have any water, give me to
+drink." So the Frank called for sherbets and they brought drink drugged
+with Bhang, of which no sooner had Ala al-Din drunk, than he fell over
+on his back; whereupon they stowed away the chairs and shipped the
+shoving-poles and made sail. Now the wind blew fair for them till it
+drove them into blue water, and when they were beyond sight of land the
+Kaptбn[FN#117] bade bring Ala al-Din up out of the hold and made him
+smell the counter-drug of Bhang; whereupon he opened his eyes and said,
+"Where am I?" He replied, "Thou art bound and in my power and if thou
+hadst said, Allah open! to an hundred thousand dinars for the jewel, I
+would have bidden thee more." "What art thou?" asked Ala al-Din, and
+the other answered, "I am a sea-captain and mean to carry thee to my
+sweetheart." Now as they were talking, behold, a strip hove in sight
+carrying forty Moslem merchants; so the Frank captain attacked the
+vessel and made fast to it with grappling-irons; then he boarded it
+with his men and took it and plundered it; after which he sailed on
+with his prize, till he reached the city of Genoa. There the Kaptan,
+who was carrying off Ala al-Din, landed and repaired to a palace whose
+pastern gave upon the sea, and behold, there came down to him a damsel
+in a chin-veil who said, "Hast thou brought the jewel and the owner?"
+"I have brought them both," answered he; and she said, "Then give me
+the jewel." So he gave it to her; and, returning to the port, fired his
+cannon to announce his safe return; whereupon the King of the city,
+being notified of that Kaptan's arrival, came down to receive him and
+asked him, "How hath been this voyage?" He answered, "A right
+prosperous one, and while voyaging I have made prize of a ship with
+one-and-forty Moslem merchants." Said the King, "Land them at the
+port:" so he landed the merchants in irons and Ala al-Din among the
+rest; and the King and the Kaptan mounted and made the captives walk
+before them till they reached the audience-chamber, when the Franks
+seated themselves and caused the prisoners to pass in parade order, one
+by one before the King who said to the first, "O Moslem, whence comest
+thou?" He answered, "From Alexandria;" whereupon the King said, "O
+headsman, put him to death." So the sworder smote him with the sword
+and cut off his head: and thus it fared with the second and the third,
+till forty were dead and there remained but Ala al-Din, who drank the
+cup of his comrades' sighs and agony and said to himself, "Allah have
+mercy on thee, O Ala al-Din Thou art a dead man." Then said the King to
+him, "And thou, what countryman art thou?" He answered, "I am of
+Alexandria," and the King said, "O headsman, strike off his head." So
+the sworder raised arm and sword, and was about to strike when behold,
+an old woman of venerable aspect presented herself before the King, who
+rose to do her honour, and said to him, "O King, did I not bid thee
+remember, when the Captain came back with captives, to keep one or two
+for the convent, to serve in the church?" The King replied, "O my
+mother, would thou hadst come a while earlier! But take this one that
+is left." So she turned to Ala al-Din and said to him, "Say, wilt thou
+serve in the church, or shall I let the King slay thee?" Quoth he, "I
+will serve in the church." So she took him and carried him forth of the
+court and went to the church, where he said to her, "What service must
+I do?" She replied, "Thou must rise with the dawn and take five mules
+and go with them to the forest and there cut dry fire-wood and saw it
+short and bring it to the convent-kitchen. Then must thou take up the
+carpets and sweep and wipe the stone and marble pavements and lay the
+carpets down again, as they were; after which thou must take two
+bushels and a half of wheat and bolt it and grind it and knead it and
+make it into cracknels[FN#118] for the convent; and thou must take also
+a bushel of lentils[FN#119] and sift and crush and cook them. Then must
+thou fetch water in barrels and fill the four fountains; after which
+thou must take three hundred and threescore and six wooden bowls and
+crumble the cracknels therein and pour of the lentil-pottage over each
+and carry every monk and patriarch his bowl." Said Ala al-Din,[FN#120]
+"Take me back to the King and let him kill me, it were easier to me
+than this service." Replied the old woman, "If thou do truly and
+rightly the service that is due from thee thou shalt escape death; but,
+if thou do it not, I will let the King kill thee." And with these words
+Ala al-Din was left sitting heavy at heart. Now there were in the
+church ten blind cripples, and one of them said to him, "Bring me a
+pot." So he brought it him and he cacked and eased himself therein and
+said, "Throw away the ordure." He did so, and the blind man said, "The
+Messiah's blessing be upon thee, O servant of the church!" Presently
+behold, the old woman came in and said to him, "Why hast thou not done
+thy service in the church?" Answered he, "How many hands have I, that I
+should suffice for all this work?" She rejoined, 'Thou fool, I brought
+thee not hither except to work;" and she added, "Take, O my son, this
+rod (which was of copper capped with a cross) and go forth into the
+highway and, when thou meetest the governor of the city, say to him, 'I
+summon thee to the service of the church, in the name of our Lord the
+Messiah.' And he will not disobey thee. Then make him take the wheat,
+sift, grind, bolt, knead, and bake it into cracknels; and if any
+gainsay thee, beat him and fear none." "To hear is to obey," answered
+he and did as she said, and never ceased pressing great and small into
+his service; nor did he leave to do thus for the space of seventeen
+years. Now one day as he sat in church, lo! the old woman came to him
+and said, "Go forth of the convent." He asked, "Whither shall I go?"
+and she answered, "Thou canst pass the night in a tavern or with one of
+thy comrades." Quoth he, "Why dost thou send me forth of the church?"
+and quote she, "The Princess Husn Maryam, daughter of Yohannб,[FN#121]
+King of this city, purposeth to visit the church and it befitteth not
+that any abide in her way." So he made a show of obeying her orders and
+rose up and pretended that he was leaving the church; but he said in
+his mind, "I wonder whether the Princess is like our women or fairer
+than they! At any rate I will not go till I have had a look at her." So
+he hid himself in a closet with a window looking into the church and,
+as he watched, behold, in came the King's daughter. He cast at her one
+glance of eyes that cost him a thousand sighs, for he found her like
+the full moon when it cometh swimming out of the clouds; and he saw
+with her a young lady,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ala al-Din
+looked at the King's daughter, he saw with her a young lady to whom he
+heard her say, "Thy company hath cheered me, O Zubaydah." So he looked
+straitly at the damsel and found her to be none other than his dead
+wife, Zubaydah the Lutist. Then the Princess said to Zubaydah, "Come,
+play us an air on the lute." But she answered, "I will make no music
+for thee, till thou grant my wish and keep thy word to me." Asked the
+Princess, "And what did I promise thee?"; and Zubaydah answered, "That
+thou wouldst reunite me with my husband Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the
+Trusty, the Faithful." Rejoined the Princess, "O Zubaydah, be of good
+cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear; play us a piece as a
+thank-offering and an ear-feast for reunion with thy husband Ala
+al-Din." "Where is he?" asked Zubaydah, and Maryam answered, "He is in
+yonder closet listening to our words." So Zubaydah played on the lute a
+melody which had made a rock dance for glee; and when Ala al-Din heard
+it, his bowels yearned towards her and he came forth from the closet
+and, throwing himself upon his wife Zubaydah, strained her to his
+bosom. She also knew him and the twain embraced and fell to the ground
+in a swoon. Then came forward the Princess Husn Maryam and sprinkled
+rose water on them, till they revived when she said to them, "Allah
+hath reunited you." Replied Ala al-Din, "By thy kind of offices, O
+lady." Then, turning to his wife, he said to her, "O Zubaydah, thou
+didst surely die and we tombed thee in the tomb: how then returnedst
+thou to life and camest thou to this place?" She answered, "O my lord,
+I did not die; but an Aun[FN#122] of the Jinn snatched me up and dew
+with me hither. She whom thou buriedst was a Jinniyah, who shaped
+herself to my shape and feigned herself dead; but when you entombed her
+she broke open the tomb and came forth from it and returned to the
+service of this her mistress, the Princess Husn Maryam. As for me I was
+possessed[FN#123] and, when I opened my eyes, I found myself with this
+Princess thou seest; so I said to her, 'Why hast thou brought me
+hither?' Replied she, 'I am predestined to marry thy husband, Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat: wilt thou then, O Zubaydah, accept me to
+co-consort, a night for me and a night for thee?' Rejoined I, 'To hear
+is to obey, O my lady, but where is my husband?' Quoth she, 'Upon his
+forehead is written what Allah hath decreed to him; as soon as the
+writing which is there writ is fulfilled to him, there is no help for
+it but he come hither, and we will beguile the time of our separation
+from him with songs and playing upon instruments of music, till it
+please Allah to unite us with him.' So I abode all these days with her
+till Allah brought us together in this church." Then Husn Maryam turned
+to him and said, "O my lord, Ala al-Din, wilt thou be to me baron and I
+be to thee femme?" Quoth he, "O my lady, I am a Moslem and thou art a
+Nazarene; so how can I intermarry with thee?" Quoth she, "Allah forbid
+that I should be an infidel! Nay, I am a Moslemah; for these eighteen
+years I have held fast the Faith of Al-Islam and I am pure of any creed
+other than that of the Islamite." Then said he, "O my lady, I desire a
+return to my native land;" and she replied, "Know that I see written on
+thy forehead things which thou must needs accomplish, and then thou
+shalt win to thy will. Moreover, be fief and fain, O Ala al-Din, that
+there hath been born to thee a son named Aslan; who now being arrived
+at age of discretion, sitteth in thy place with the Caliph. Know also
+that Truth hath prevailed and that Falsehood naught availed; and that
+the Lord hath withdrawn the curtain of secrecy from him who stole the
+Caliph's goods, that is, Ahmad Kamakim the arch-thief and traitor; and
+he now lieth bound and in jail. And know further 'twas I who sent thee
+the jewel and had it put in the bag where thou foundest it, and 'twas I
+who sent the captain that brought thee and the jewel; for thou must
+know that the man is enamoured of me and seeketh my favours and would
+possess me; but I refused to yield to his wishes or let him have his
+will of me; and I said him, 'Thou shalt never have me till thou bring
+me the jewel and its owner.' So I gave him an hundred purses and
+despatched him to thee, in the habit of a merchant, whereas he is a
+captain and a war-man; and when they led thee to thy death after
+slaying the forty captives, I also sent thee this old woman to save
+thee from slaughter." Said he, "Allah requite thee for us with all
+good! Indeed thou hast done well." Then Husn Maryam renewed at his
+hands her profession of Al-Islam; and, when he was assured of the truth
+of her speech, he said to her, O my lady, tell me what are the virtues
+of this jewel and whence cometh it?" She answered, "This jewel came
+from an enchanted hoard, and it hath five virtues which will profit us
+in time of need. Now my lady grandmother, the mother of my father, was
+an enchantress and skilled in solving secrets and finding hidden
+treasures from one of which came the jewel into her hands. And as I
+grew up and reached the age of fourteen, I read the Evangel and other
+books and I found the name of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!)
+in the four books, namely the Evangel, the Pentateuch, the Psalms and
+the Koran;[FN#124] so I believed in Mohammed and became a Moslemah,
+being certain and assured that none is worship worth save Allah
+Almighty, and that to the Lord of all mankind no faith is acceptable
+save that of Al-Islam. Now when my lady-grandmother fell sick, she gave
+me this jewel and taught me its five virtues. Moreover, before she
+died, my father said to her, 'Take thy tablets of geomancy and throw a
+figure, and tell us the issue of my affair and what will befal-me.' And
+she foretold him that the far off one[FN#125] should die, slain by the
+hand of a captive from Alexandria. So he swore to kill every prisoner
+from that place and told the Kaptan of this, saying, 'There is no help
+for it but thou fall on the ships of the Moslems and seize them and
+whomsoever thou findest of Alexandria, kill him or bring him to me.'
+The Captain did his bidding until he had slain as many in number as the
+hairs of his head. Then my grandmother died and I took a geomantic
+tablet, being minded and determined to know the future, and I said to
+myself, 'Let me see who will wed me!' Whereupon I threw a figure and
+found that none should be my husband save one called Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful. At this I marvelled and waited
+till the times were accomplished and I foregathered with thee." So Ala
+al-Din took her to wife and said to her, "I desire to return to my own
+country." Quoth she, "If it be so, rise up and come with me." Then she
+took him and, hiding him in a closet of her palace, went in to her
+father, who said to her, "O my daughter, my heart is exceeding heavy
+this day; sit down and let us make merry with wine, I and thou." So she
+sat down with him and he called for a table of wine; and she plied him
+till he lost his wits, when she drugged a cup with Bhang and he drank
+it off and fell upon his back. Then she brought Ala al-Din out of the
+closet and said to him, "Come; verily thine enemy lieth prostrate, for
+I made him drunk and drugged him; so do thou with him as thou wilt."
+Accordingly Ala al-Din went to the King and, finding him lying drugged
+and helpless, pinioned him fast and manacled and fettered him with
+chains. Then he gave him the counter-drug and he came to himself,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din gave
+the antidote of Bhang to King Yohanna, father of Husn Maryam, and he
+came to himself and found Ala al-Din and his daughter sitting on his
+breast. So he said to her, "O my daughter, dost thou deal thus with
+me?" She answered "If I be indeed thy daughter, become a Moslem, even
+as I became a Moslemah, for the truth was shown to me and I attested
+it; and the false, and I deserted it. I have submitted myself unto
+Allah, The Lord of the Three Worlds, and am pure of all faiths contrary
+to that of Al-Islam in this world and in the next world. Wherefore, if
+thou wilt become a Moslem, well and good; if not, thy death were better
+than thy life." Ala al-Din also exhorted him to embrace the True Faith;
+but he refused and was contumacious; so Ala al-Din drew a dagger and
+cut his throat from ear to ear.[FN#126] Then he wrote a scroll, setting
+forth what had happened and laid it on the brow of the dead, after
+which they took what was light of load and weighty of worth and turned
+from the palace and returned to the church. Here the Princess drew
+forth the jewel and, placing her hand upon the facet where was figured
+a couch, rubbed it; and behold, a couch appeared before her and she
+mounted upon it with Ala al-Din and his wife Zubaydah, the lutist,
+saying, "I conjure thee by the virtue of the names and talismans and
+characts engraver on this jewel, rise up with us, O Couch!" And it rose
+with them into the air and flew, till it came to a Wady wholly bare of
+growth, when the Princess turned earthwards the facet on which the
+couch was figured, and it sank with them to the ground. Then she turned
+up the face where on was fashioned a pavilion and tapping it said, "Let
+a pavilion be pitched in this valley;" and there appeared a pavilion,
+wherein they seated themselves. Now this Wady was a desert waste,
+without grass or water; so she turned a third face of the jewel towards
+the sky, and said, "By the virtue of the names of Allah, let trees
+upgrow here and a river flow beside them!" And forthwith trees sprang
+up and by their side ran a river plashing and dashing. They made the
+ablution and prayed and drank of the stream; after which the Princess
+turned up the three other facets till she came to the fourth, whereon
+was portrayed a table of good, and said, "By the virtue of the names of
+Allah, let the table be spread!" And behold, there appeared before them
+a table, spread with all manner of rich meats, and they ate and drank
+and made merry and were full of joy. Such was their case; but as
+regards Husn Maryam's father, his son went in to waken him and found
+him slain; and, seeing Ala al-Din's scroll, took it and read it, and
+readily understood it. Then he sought his sister and finding her not,
+betook himself to the old woman in the church, of whom he enquired for
+her, but she said, "Since yesterday I have not seen her." So he
+returned to the troops and cried out, saying, "To horse, ye horsemen!"
+Then he told them what had happened, so they mounted and rode after the
+fugitives, till they drew near the pavilion. Presently Husn Maryam
+arose and looked up and saw a cloud of dust which spread till it walled
+the view, then it lifted and flew, and lo! stood disclosed her brother
+and his troops, crying aloud, "Whither will ye fly, and we on your
+track!" Then said she to Ala al-Din, "Are thy feet firm in fight?" He
+replied, "Even as the stake in bran, I know not war nor battle, nor
+swords nor spears." So she pulled out the jewel and rubbed the fifth
+face, that on which were graven a horse and his rider, and behold,
+straightway a cavalier appeared out of the desert and ceased not to do
+battle with the pursuing host and smite them with the sword, till he
+routed them and put them to flight. Then the Princess asked Ala al-Din,
+"Wilt thou go to Cairo or to Alexandria?"; and he answered, "To
+Alexandria." So they mounted the couch and she pronounced over it the
+conjuration, whereupon it set off with them and, in the twinkling of an
+eye, brought them to Alexandria. They alighted without the city and Ala
+al-Din hid the women in a cavern, whilst he went into Alexandria and
+fetched them outer clothing, wherewith he covered them. Then he carried
+them to his shop and, leaving them in the "ben"[FN#127] walked forth to
+fetch them the morning-meal, and behold he met Calamity Ahmad who
+chanced to be coming from Baghdad. He saw him in the street and
+received him with open arms, saluting him and welcoming him. Whereupon
+Ahmad al-Danaf gave him the good news of his son Aslan and how he was
+now come to the age of twenty: and Ala al-Din, in his turn, told the
+Captain of the Guard all that had befallen him from first to last,
+whereat he marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then he brought him to his
+shop and sitting room where they passed the night; and next day he sold
+his place of business and laid its price with other monies. Now Ahmad
+al-Danaf had told him that the Caliph sought him; but he said, "I am
+bound first for Cairo, to salute my father and mother and the people of
+my house." So they all mounted the couch and it carried them to Cairo
+the God-guarded; and here they alighted in the street called
+Yellow,[FN#128] where stood the house of Shams al-Din. Then Ala al-Din
+knocked at the door, and his mother said, "Who is at the door, now that
+we have lost our beloved for evermore?" He replied, " 'Tis I! Ala
+al-Din!" whereupon they came down and embraced him. Then he sent his
+wives and baggage into the house and entering himself with Ahmad
+al-Danaf, rested there three days, after which he was minded to set out
+for Baghdad. His father said, "Abide with me, O my son;" but he
+answered; "I cannot bear to be parted from my child Aslan." So he took
+his father and mother and fared forth for Baghdad. Now when they came
+thither, Ahmad al-Danaf went in to the Caliph and gave him the glad
+tidings of Ala al-Din's arrival—and told him his story whereupon the
+King went forth to greet him taking the youth Aslan, and they met and
+embraced each other. Then the Commander of the Faithful summoned the
+arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim and said to Ala al-Din, "Up and at thy foe!"
+So he drew his sword and smote off Ahmad Kamakim's head. Then the
+Caliph held festival for Ala al-Din and, summoning the Kazis and
+witnesses, wrote the contract and married him to the Princess Husn
+Maryam; and he went in unto her and found her an unpierced pearl.
+Moreover, the Caliph made Aslan Chief of the Sixty and bestowed upon
+him and his father sumptuous dresses of honour; and they abode in the
+enjoyment of all joys and joyance of life, till there came to them the
+Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. But the tales of
+generous men are manifold and amongst them is the story of
+
+
+
+HATIM OF THE TRIBE OF TAYY.
+
+It is told of Hбtim of the tribe of Tayy,[FN#129] that when he died,
+they buried him on the top of a mountain and set over his grave two
+troughs hewn out of two rocks and stone girls with dishevelled hair. At
+the foot of the hill was a stream of running water, and when wayfarers
+camped there, they heard loud crying and keening in the night, from
+dark till daybreak; but when they arose in the morning, they found
+nothing but the girls carved in stone. Now when Zъ 'l-Kurб'a,[FN#130]
+King of Himyar, going forth of his tribe, came to that valley, he
+halted to pass the night there,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zu 'l-
+Kura'a passed by the valley he righted there, and, when he drew near
+the mountain, he heard the keening and said, "What lamenting is that on
+yonder hill?" They answered him, saying, "Verily this be the tomb of
+Hatim al-Tбyy, over which are two troughs of stone and stone figures of
+girls with dishevelled hair; and all who camp in this place by night
+hear this crying and keening." So he said jestingly, "O Hatim of Tayy!
+we are thy guests this night, and we are lank with hunger." Then sleep
+overcame him, but presently he awoke in affright and cried out, saying,
+"Help, O Arabs! Look to my beast!" So they came to him, and finding his
+she-camel struggling and struck down, they stabbed her in the throat
+and roasted her flesh and ate. Then they asked him what had happened
+and he said, "When I closed my eyes, I saw in my sleep Hatim of Tayy
+who came to me sword in hand and cried, 'Thou comest to us and we have
+nothing by us.' Then he smote my she- camel with his sword, and she had
+surely died even though ye had not come to her and slaughtered
+her."[FN#131] Now when morning dawned the King mounted the beast of one
+of his companions and, taking the owner up behind him, set out and
+fared on till midday, when they saw a man coming towards them, mounted
+on a camel and leading another, and said to him, "Who art thou?" He
+answered, "I am Adi,[FN#132] son of Hatim of Tayy; where is Zu
+'l-Kura'a, Emir of Himyar?" Replied they, "This is he;" and he said to
+the prince, "Take this she-camel in place of thy beast which my father
+slaughtered for thee." Asked Zu 'l Kura'a, "Who told thee of this?" and
+Adi answered, "My father appeared to me in a dream last night and said
+to me, 'Harkye, Adi; Zu 'l Kura'a King of Himyar, sought the guest-rite
+of me and I, having naught to give him, slaughtered his she-camel, that
+he might eat: so do thou carry him a she-camel to ride, for I have
+nothing.'" And Zu 'l-Kura'a took her, marvelling at the generosity of
+Hatim of Tayy alive and dead. And amongst instances of generosity is
+the
+
+
+
+TALE OF MA'AN THE SON OF ZAIDAH.[FN#133]
+
+It is told of Ma'an bin Zбidah that, being out one day a-chasing and
+a-hunting, he became athirst but his men had no water with them; and
+while thus suffering behold, three damsels met him bearing three skins
+of water;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-first Night,[FN#134]
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that three girls met
+him bearing three skins of water; so he begged drink of them, and they
+gave him to drink. Then he sought of his men somewhat to give the
+damsels but they had no money; so he presented to each girl ten golden
+piled arrows from his quiver. Whereupon quoth one of them to her
+friend, "Well-a-day! These fashions pertain to none but Ma'an bin
+Zaidah! so let each one of us say somewhat of verse in his praise."
+Then quoth the first,
+
+"He heads his arrows with piles of gold, * And while shooting his
+
+
+     foes is his bounty doled:
+
+
+Affording the wounded a means of cure, * And a sheet for the
+
+
+     bider beneath the mould!"
+
+
+
+And quoth the second,
+
+"A warrior showing such open hand, * His boons all friends and
+
+
+     all foes enfold:
+
+
+The piles of his arrows of or are made, * So that battle his
+
+
+     bounty may not withhold!"
+
+
+
+And quoth the third,
+
+"From that liberal-hand on his foes he rains * Shafts aureate-
+
+
+    headed and manifold:
+
+
+Wherewith the hurt shall chirurgeon pay, * And for slain the
+
+
+     shrouds round their corpses roll'd."[FN#135]
+
+
+
+And there is also told a tale of
+
+
+
+MA'AN SON OF ZAIDAH AND THE BADAWI.
+
+Now Ma'an bin Zбidah went forth one day to the chase with his company,
+and they came upon a herd of gazelles; so they separated in pursuit and
+Ma'an was left alone to chase one of them. When he had made prize of it
+he alighted and slaughtered it; and as he was thus engaged, he espied a
+person[FN#136] coming forth out of the desert on an ass. So he
+remounted and riding up to the new- comer, saluted him and asked him,
+"Whence comest thou?" Quoth he, "I come from the land of Kuzб'ah, where
+we have had a two years' dearth; but this year it was a season of
+plenty and I sowed early cucumbers.[FN#137] They came up before their
+time, so I gathered what seemed the best of them and set out to carry
+them to the Emir Ma'an bin Zaidah, because of his well-known
+beneficence and notorious munificence." Asked Ma'an, "How much dost
+thou hope to get of him?"; and the Badawi answered, "A thousand
+dinars." Quoth the Emir, "What if he say this is too much?" Said the
+Badawi, "Then I will ask five hundred dinars." "And if he say, too
+much?" "Then three hundred!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then two
+hundred!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then one hundred!" "And if he
+say yet, too much?" "Then, fifty!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then
+thirty!" "And if he say still, too much?" asked Ma'an bin Zaidah.
+Answered the Badawi, "I will make my ass set his four feet in his
+Honour's home[FN#138] and return to my people, disappointed and empty-
+handed." So Ma'an laughed at him and urged his steed till he came up
+with his suite and returned to his place, when he said to his
+chamberlain, "An there come to thee a man with cucumbers and riding on
+an ass admit him to me." Presently up came the Badawi and was admitted
+to Ma'an's presence; but knew not the Emir for the man he had met in
+the desert, by reason of the gravity and majesty of his semblance and
+the multitude of his eunuchs and attendants, for he was seated on his
+chair of state with his officers ranged in lines before him and on
+either side. So he saluted him and Ma'an said to him "What bringeth
+thee, O brother of the Arabs?" Answered the Badawi, "I hoped in the
+Emir, and have brought him curly cucumbers out of season." Asked Ma'an,
+"And how much dost thou expect of us?" "A thousand dinars," answered
+the Badawi. "This is far too much," quoth Ma'an. Quoth he, "Five
+hundred." "Too much!" "Then three hundred." "Too much!" "Two hundred."
+"Too much!" "One hundred." "Too much!" "Fifty." "Too much!" At last the
+Badawi came down to thirty dinars; but Ma'an still replied, "Too much!"
+So the Badawi cried, "By Allah, the man who met me in the desert
+brought me bad luck! But I will not go lower than thirty dinars." The
+Emir laughed and said nothing; whereupon the wild Arab knew that it was
+he whom he had met and said, "O my lord, except thou bring the thirty
+dinars, see ye, there is the ass tied ready at the door and here sits
+Ma'an, his honour, at home." So Ma'an laughed, till he fell on his
+back; and, calling his steward, said to him, "Give him a thousand
+dinars and five hundred and three hundred and two hundred and one
+hundred and fifty and thirty; and leave the ass tied up where he is."
+So the Arab to his amazement, received two thousand one hundred and
+eighty dinars, and Allah have mercy on them both and on all generous
+men! And I have also heard, O auspicious King, a tale of
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF LABTAYT.[FN#139]
+
+There was once a royal-city in the land of Roum, called the City of
+Labtayt wherein stood a tower which was always shut. And whenever a
+King died and another King of the Greeks took the Kingship after him,
+he set on the tower a new and strong lock, till there were
+four-and-twenty locks upon the gate, according to the number of the
+Kings. After this time, there came to the throne a man who was not of
+the old royal-house, and he had a mind to open these locks, that he
+might see what was within the tower. The grandees of his kingdom
+forbade him this and pressed him to desist and reproved him and blamed
+him; but he persisted saying, "Needs must this place be opened." Then
+they offered him all that their hands possessed of monies and treasures
+and things of price, if he would but refrain; still he would not be
+baulked,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the grandees
+offered that King all their hands possessed of monies and treasures if
+he would but refrain; still he would not be baulked and said "There is
+no help for it but I open this tower." So he pulled off the locks and
+entering, found within the tower figures of Arabs on their horses and
+camels, habited in turbands[FN#140] hanging down at the ends, with
+swords in baldrick-belts thrown over their shoulders and bearing long
+lances in their hands. He found there also a scroll which he greedily
+took and read, and these words were written therein, "Whenas this door
+is opened will conquer this country a raid of the Arabs, after the
+likeness of the figures here depicted; wherefore beware, and again
+beware of opening it." Now this city was in Andalusia; and that very
+year Tбrik ibn Ziyбd conquered it, during the Caliphate of Al-Walнd son
+of Abd al-Malik[FN#141] of the sons of Umayyah; and slew this King
+after the sorriest fashion and sacked the city and made prisoners of
+the women and boys therein and got great loot. Moreover, he found there
+immense treasures; amongst the rest more than an hundred and seventy
+crowns of pearls and jacinths and other gems of price; and he found a
+saloon, wherein horsemen might throw the spears, full of vessels of
+gold and silver, such as no description can comprise. Moreover, he
+found there the table of food for the Prophet of Allah, Solomon, son of
+David (peace with both of them!), which is extant even now in a city of
+the Greeks, it is told that it was of grass-green emerald with vessels
+of gold and platters of jasper. Likewise he found the Psalms written in
+the old Ionian[FN#142] characters on leaves of gold bezel'd with
+jewels; together with a book setting forth the properties of stones and
+herbs and minerals, as well as the use of characts and talismans and
+the canons of the art of alchymy; and he found a third volume which
+treated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and other precious
+stones and of the preparation of poisons and theriacks. There found he
+also a mappa mundi figuring the earth and the seas and the different
+cities and countries and villages of the world; and he found a vast
+saloon full of hermetic powder, one drachm of which elixir would turn a
+thousand drachms of silver into fine gold; likewise a marvellous
+mirror, great and round, of mixed metals, which had been made for
+Solomon, son of David (on the twain be peace!) wherein whoso looked
+might see the counterfeit presentment of the seven climates of the
+world; and he beheld a chamber full of Brahmini[FN#143] jacinths for
+which no words can suffice. So he despatched all these things to Walid
+bin Abd al-Malik, and the Arabs spread all over the cities of Andalusia
+which is one of the finest of lands. This is the end of the story of
+the City of Labtayt. And a tale is also told of
+
+
+
+THE CALIPH HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.
+
+The Caliph Hishбm bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, was hunting one day,
+when he sighted an antelope and pursued it with his dogs. As he was
+following the quarry, he saw an Arab youth pasturing sheep and said to
+him, "Ho boy, up and after yonder antelope, for it escapeth me!" The
+youth raised his head to him and replied, "O ignorant of what to the
+deserving is due, thou lookest on me with disdain and speakest to me
+with contempt; thy speaking is that of a tyrant true and thy doing what
+an ass would do." Quoth Hisham, "Woe to thee, dost thou not know me?"
+Rejoined the youth, "Verily thine unmannerliness hath made thee known
+to me, in that thou spakest to me, without beginning by the
+salutation."[FN#144] Repeated the Caliph, "Fie upon thee! I am Hisham
+bin Abd al-Malik." "May Allah not favour thy dwelling-place," replied
+the Arab, "nor guard thine abiding place! How many are thy words and
+how few thy generous deeds!" Hardly had he ended speaking, when up came
+the troop from all sides and surrounded him as the white encircleth the
+black of the eye, all and each saying, "Peace be with thee, O Commander
+of the Faithful!" Quoth Hisham, "Cut short this talk and seize me
+yonder boy." So they laid hands on him; and when he saw the multitude
+of Chamberlains and Wazirs and Lords of State, he was in nowise
+concerned and questioned not of them, but let his chin drop on his
+breast and looked where his feet fell, till they brought him to the
+Caliph[FN#145] when he stood before him, with head bowed groundwards
+and saluted him not and spoke him not. So one of the eunuchs said to
+him, "O dog of the Arabs, what hindereth thy saluting the Commander of
+the Faithful?" The youth turned to him angrily and replied, "O
+packsaddle of an ass, it was the length of the way that hindered me
+from this and the steepness of the steps and the profuseness of my
+sweat." Then said Hisham (and indeed he was exceeding wroth), "O boy,
+verily thy days are come to their latest hour; thy hope is gone from
+thee and thy life is past out of thee." He answered, "By Allah, O
+Hisham, verily an my life-term be prolonged and Fate ordain not its
+cutting short, thy words irk me not, be they long or short." Then said
+the Chief Chamberlain to him, "Doth it befit thy degree, O vilest of
+the Arabs, to bandy words with the Commander of the Faithful?" He
+answered promptly, "Mayest thou meet with adversity and may woe and
+wailing never leave thee! Hast thou not heard the saying of Almighty
+Allah?, 'One day, every soul shall come to defend itself.'"[FN#146]
+Hereupon Hisham rose, in great wrath, and said, "O headsman, bring me
+the head of this lad; for indeed he exceedeth in talk, such as passeth
+conception." So the sworder took him and, making him kneel on the
+carpet of blood, drew his sword above him and said to the Caliph, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, this thy slave is misguided and is on the
+way to his grave; shall I smite off his head and be quit of his blood?"
+"Yes," replied Hisham. He repeated his question and the Caliph again
+answered in the affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time; and the
+youth, knowing that, if the Caliph assented yet once more, it would be
+the signal of his death, laughed till his wisdom-teeth showed;
+whereupon Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him, "O boy, meseems
+thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the world?
+Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?" He replied, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, if a larger life-term befell me, none can
+hurt me, great or small; but I have bethought me of some couplets,
+which do thou hear, for my death cannot escape thee." Quoth Hisham,
+"Say on and be brief;" so the Arab repeated these couplets,
+
+"It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow
+
+
+     driven by destiny;
+
+
+And held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E'en as the hawk
+
+
+     rose ready home to hie:—
+
+
+'Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly
+
+
+     food poor morsel I.
+
+
+Then smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the
+
+
+     sparrow free to fly.
+
+
+
+At this Hisham smiled and said, "By the truth of my kinship to the
+Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken this
+speech at first and asked for aught except the Caliphase, verily I
+would have given it to him. Stuff his mouth with jewels,[FN#147] O
+eunuch and entreat him courteously;" so they did as he bade them and
+the Arab went his way. And amongst pleasant tales is that of
+
+
+
+IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.
+
+They relate that Ibrahнm, son of al-Mahdн,[FN#148] brother of Harun
+al-Rashid, when the Caliphate devolved to Al-Maamun, the son of his
+brother Harun, refused to acknowledge his nephew and betook himself to
+Rayy[FN#149]; where he claimed the throne and abode thus a year and
+eleven months and twelve days. Meanwhile his nephew, Al-Maamun, awaited
+his return to allegiance and his accepting a dependent position till,
+at last, despairing of this, he mounted with his horsemen and footmen
+and repaired to Rayy in quest of him. Now when the news came to
+Ibrahim, he found nothing for it but to flee to Baghdad and hide there,
+fearing for his life; and Maamun set a price of a hundred thousand gold
+pieces upon his head, to be paid to whoso might betray him. (Quoth
+Ibrahim) "When I heard of this price I feared for my head"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim
+continued, "Now when I heard of this price I feared for my head and
+knew not what to do: so I went forth of my house in disguise at
+mid-day, knowing not whither I should go. Presently I entered a broad
+street which was no thoroughfare and said in my mind, 'Verily, we are
+Allah's and unto Him we are returning! I have exposed my life to
+destruction. If I retrace my steps, I shall arouse suspicion.' Then,
+being still in disguise I espied, at the upper end of the street, a
+negro-slave standing at his door; so I went up to him and said to him,
+'Hast thou a place where I may abide for an hour of the day?' 'Yes,'
+answered he, and opening the door admitted me into a decent house,
+furnished with carpets and mats and cushions of leather. Then he shut
+the door on me and went away; and I misdoubted me he had heard of the
+reward offered for me, and said to myself, 'He hath gone to inform
+against me.' But, as I sat pondering my case and boiling like cauldron
+over fire, behold, my host came back, accompanied by a porter loaded
+with bread and meat and new cooking-pots and gear and a new jar and new
+gugglets and other needfuls. He made the porter set them down and,
+dismissing him, said to me, 'I offer my life for thy ransom! I am a
+barber-surgeon, and I know it would disgust thee to eat with me'
+because of the way in which I get my livelihood;[FN#150] so do thou
+shift for thyself and do what thou please with these things whereon no
+hand hath fallen.' (Quoth Ibrahim), Now I was in sore need of food so I
+cooked me a pot of meat whose like I remember not ever to have eaten;
+and, when I had satisfied my want, he said to me, 'O my lord, Allah
+make me thy ransom! Art thou for wine?; for indeed it gladdeneth the
+soul and doeth away care.' 'I have no dislike to it,' replied I, being
+desirous of the barber's company; so he brought me new flagons of glass
+which no hand had touched and a jar of excellent wine, and said to me,
+'Strain for thyself, to thy liking;' whereupon I cleared the wine and
+mixed me a most delectable draught. Then he brought me a new cup and
+fruits and flowers in new vessels of earthenware; after which he said
+to me, 'Wilt thou give me leave to sit apart and drink of my own wine
+by myself, of my joy in thee and for thee?' 'Do so,' answered I. So I
+drank and he drank till the wine began to take effect upon us, when the
+barber rose and, going to a closet, took out a lute of polished wood
+and said to me, 'O my lord, it is not for the like of me to ask the
+like of thee to sing, but it behoveth thine exceeding generosity to
+render my respect its due; so, if thou see fit to honour thy slave,
+thine is the high decision.' Quoth I (and indeed I thought not that he
+knew me), 'How knowest thou that I excel in song?' He replied, 'Glory
+be to Allah, our lord is too well renowned for that! Thou art my lord
+Ibrahim, son of Al-Mahdi, our Caliph of yesterday, he on whose head
+Al-Maamun hath set a price of an hundred thousand dinars to be paid to
+thy betrayer: but thou art in safety with me.' (Quoth Ibrahim), When I
+heard him say this, he was magnified in my eyes and his loyalty and
+noble nature were certified to me; so I complied with his wish and took
+the lute and tuned it, and sang. Then I bethought me of my severance
+from my children and my family and I began to say,
+
+'Belike Who YÑŠsuf to his kin restored * And honoured him in goal,
+
+
+     a captive wight,
+
+
+May grant our prayer to reunite our lots, * For Allah, Lord of
+
+
+     Worlds, hath all of might.'
+
+
+
+When the barber heard this, exceeding joy took possession of him. and
+he was of great good cheer; for it is said that when Ibrahim's
+neighbours heard him only sing out, 'Ho, boy, saddle the mule!' they
+were filled with delight. Then, being overborne by mirth, he said to
+me, 'O my lord, wilt thou give me leave to say what is come to my mind,
+albeit I am not of the folk of this craft?' I answered, 'Do so; this is
+of thy great courtesy and kindness.' So he took the lute and sang these
+verses,
+
+'To our beloveds we moaned our length of night; * Quoth they,
+
+
+     'How short the nights that us benight!'
+
+
+'Tis for that sleep like hood enveils their eyes * Right soon,
+
+
+     but from our eyes is fair of flight:
+
+
+When night-falls, dread and drear to those who love, * We mourn;
+
+
+     they joy to see departing light:
+
+
+Had they but dree'd the weird, the bitter dole * We dree, their
+
+
+     beds like ours had bred them blight.'
+
+
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), So I said to him, 'By Allah, thou hast shown me a
+kindness, O my friend, and hast done away from me the pangs of sorrow.
+Let me hear more trifles of thy fashion.' So he sang these couplets,
+
+'When man keeps honour bright without a stain, * Pair sits
+
+
+     whatever robe to robe he's fain!
+
+
+She jeered at me because so few we are; * Quoth I:—'There's ever
+
+
+     dearth of noble men!'
+
+
+Naught irks us we are few, while neighbour tribes * Count many;
+
+
+     neighbours oft are base-born strain:
+
+
+We are a clan which holds not Death reproach, * Which A'mir and
+
+
+     SamÑŠl[FN#151] hold illest bane:
+
+
+Leads us our love of death to fated end; * They hate that ending
+
+
+     and delay would gain:
+
+
+We to our neighbours' speech aye give the lie, * But when we
+
+
+     speak none dare give lie again.'
+
+
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard these lines, I was filled with huge
+delight and marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then I slept and awoke not
+till past night-fall, when I washed my face, with a mind full of the
+high worth of this barber-surgeon and his passing courtesy; after which
+I wakened him and, taking out a purse I had by me containing a number
+of gold pieces, threw it to him, saying, 'I commend thee to Allah, for
+I am about to go forth from thee, and pray thee to expend what is in
+this purse on thine requirements; and thou shalt have an abounding
+reward of me, when I am quit of my fear.' (Quoth Ibrahim), But he
+resumed the bag to me, saying, 'O my lord, paupers like myself are of
+no value in thine eyes; but how, with due respect to my own generosity,
+can I take a price for the boon which fortune hath vouchsafed me of thy
+favour and thy visit to my poor abode? Nay, if thou repeat thy words
+and throw the purse to me again I will slay myself.' So I put in my
+sleeve[FN#152] the purse whose weight was irksome to me."—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of
+Al-Mahdi continued, "So I put in my sleeve the purse whose weight was
+irksome to me; and turned to depart, but when I came to the house door
+he said, 'O my lord, of a truth this is a safer hiding-place for thee
+than any other, and thy keep is no burden to me; so do thou abide with
+me, till Allah be pleased grant thee relief.' Accordingly, I turned
+back, saying, 'On condition that thou spend of the money in this
+purse.' He made me think that he consented to this arrangement, and I
+abode with him some days in the utmost comfort; but, perceiving that he
+spent none of the contents of the purse, I revolted at the idea of
+abiding at his charge and thought it shame to be a burthen on him; so I
+left the house disguised in women's apparel, donning short yellow
+walking- boots[FN#153] and veil. Now as soon as I found myself in the
+street, I was seized with excessive fear, and going to pass the bridge
+behold, I came to a place sprinkled with water,[FN#154] where a
+trooper, who been in my service, looked at me and knowing me, cried
+out, saying, 'This is he whom Al-Maamun wanteth.' Then he laid hold of
+me but the love of sweet life lent me strength and I gave him and his
+horse a push which threw them down in that slippery place, so that he
+became an example to those who will take example; and the folk hastened
+to him. Meanwhile, I hurried my pace over the bridge and entered a main
+street, where I saw the door of a house open and a woman standing upon
+the threshold. So I said to her, 'O my lady, have pity on me and save
+my life; for I am a man in fear.' Quoth she, 'Enter and welcome;' and
+carried me into an upper dining-room, where she spread me a bed and
+brought me food, saying 'Calm thy fear, for not a soul shall know of
+thee.' As she spoke lo! there came a loud knocking at the door; so she
+went and opened, and suddenly, my friend, whom I had thrown down on the
+bridge, appeared with his head bound up, the blood running down upon
+his clothes and without his horse. She asked, 'O so and so, what
+accident hath befallen thee?'; and he answered, 'I made prize of the
+young man whom the Caliph seeketh and he escaped from me;' whereupon he
+told her the whole story. So she brought out tinder[FN#155] and,
+putting it into a piece of rag bandaged his head; after which she
+spread him a bed and he lay sick. Then she came up to me and said,
+'Methinks thou art the man in question?' 'Even so,' answered I, and she
+said, 'Fear not: no harm shall befall thee,' and redoubled in kindness
+to me. So I tarried with her three days, at the end of which time she
+said to me, 'I am in fear for thee, lest yonder man happen upon thee
+and betray thee to what thou dreadest; so save thyself by flight.' I
+besought her to let me stay till nightfall, and she said, 'There is no
+harm in that.' So, when the night came, I put on my woman's gear and
+betook me to the house of a freed-woman who had once been our slave.
+When she saw me she wept and made a show of affliction and praised
+Almighty Allah for my safety. Then she went forth, as if she would go
+to market intent on hospitable thoughts, and I fancied all was right;
+but, ere long, suddenly I espied Ibrahim al-Mosili[FN#156] for the
+house amongst his troopers and servants, and led by a woman on foot;
+and looking narrowly at her behold, she was the freed-woman, the
+mistress of the house, wherein I had taken refuge. So she delivered me
+into their hands, and I saw death face to face. They carried me, in my
+woman's attire, to Al-Maamun who called a general-council and had me
+brought before him. When I entered I saluted him by the title of
+Caliph, saying, 'Peace be on thee, O Commander of the Faithful!' and he
+replied, 'Allah give thee neither peace nor long life.' I rejoined,
+'According to thy good pleasure, O Commander of the Faithful!; it is
+for the claimant of blood- revenge[FN#157] to decree punishment or
+pardon; but mercy is nigher to piety; and Allah hath set thy pardon
+above all other pardon, even as He made my sin to excel all other sin.
+So, if thou punish, it is of thine equity, and if thou pardon, it is of
+thy bounty.' And I repeated these couplets,
+
+'My sin to thee is great, * But greater thy degree:
+
+
+So take revenge, or else * Remit in clemency:
+
+
+An I in deeds have not* Been generous, generous be!
+
+
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), At this Al-Maamun raised his head to me and I hastened
+to add these two couplets,
+
+'I've sinned enormous sin, * But pardon in thee lies:
+
+
+If pardon thou, 'tis grace; * Justice an thou chastise!'
+
+
+
+Then Al-Maamun bowed his head and repeated,
+
+'I am (when friend would raise a rage that mote * Make spittle
+
+
+     choke me, sticking in my throat)
+
+
+His pardoner, and pardon his offense, * Fearing lest I should
+
+
+     live a friend without.'
+
+
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these words I scented mercy, knowing
+his disposition to clemency.[FN#158] Then he turned to his son Al Abbas
+and his brother Abu Ishak and all his chief officers there present and
+said to them, 'What deem ye of his case?' They all counselled him to do
+me dead, but they differed as to the manner of my death. Then said he
+to his Wazir Ahmad bin al-Khбlid, 'And what sayest thou, O Ahmad?' He
+answered, 'O Commander of the Faithful, an thou slay him, we find the
+like of thee who hath slain the like of him; but an thou pardon him, we
+find not the like of thee that hath pardoned the like of him.'"— And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al Maamun,
+Prince of the Faithful, heard the words of Ahmad bin al-Khбlid, he
+bowed his head and began repeating,
+
+"My tribe have slain that brother mine, Umaym, * Yet would shoot
+
+
+     back what shafts at them I aim:
+
+
+If I deal-pardon, noble pardon 'tis; * And if I shoot, my bones
+
+
+     'twill only maim."[FN#159]
+
+
+
+And he also recited,
+
+"Be mild to brother mingling * What is wrong with what is right:
+
+Kindness to him continue * Whether good or graceless wight:
+
+
+Abstain from all reproaching, * An he joy or vex thy sprite:
+
+
+Seest not that what thou lovest * And what hatest go unite?
+
+
+That joys of longer life-tide * Ever fade with hair turned
+
+
+     white?
+
+
+That thorns on branches growing * For the plucks fruit catch thy
+
+
+     sight?
+
+
+Who never hath done evil,* Doing good for sole delight?
+
+
+When tried the sons of worldli-* ness they mostly work upright."
+
+
+
+Quoth Ibrahim, "Now when I heard these couplets, I withdrew my woman's
+veil from my head and cried out, with my loudest voice, 'Allah is Most
+Great! By Allah, the Commander of the Faithful pardoneth me!' Quoth he,
+'No harm shall come to thee, O uncle;' and I rejoined, 'O Commander of
+the Faithful, my sin is too sore for me to excuse it and thy mercy is
+too much for me to speak thanks for it.' And I chanted these couplets
+to a lively motive,
+
+'Who made all graces all collected He * In Adam's loins, our
+
+
+     Seventh Imam, for thee,[FN#160]
+
+
+Thou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled, * Enguarding
+
+
+     all with heart-humility
+
+
+Rebelled I never by delusion whelmed * For object other than thy
+
+
+     clemency ;[FN#161]
+
+
+And thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne'er * Pardoned before,
+
+
+     though no man pled my plea:
+
+
+Hast pitied little ones like Katб's[FN#162] young, * And mother's
+
+
+     yearning heart a son to see.'
+
+
+
+Quoth Maamun, 'I say, following our lord Joseph (on whom and on our
+Prophet be blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast on you
+this day. Allah forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful of those who
+show mercy.[FN#163] Indeed I pardon thee, and restore to thee thy goods
+and lands, O uncle, and no harm shall befall thee.' So I offered up
+devout prayers for him and repeated these couplets,
+
+'Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed, and ere * So didst,
+
+
+     thou deignиdest my blood to spare:
+
+
+Then if I shed my blood and wealth, to gain * Thy grace, till
+
+
+     even shoon from foot I tear,
+
+
+Twere but repaying what thou lentest me, * And what unloaned no
+
+
+     man to blame would care:
+
+
+Were I ungrateful for thy lavish boons, * Baser than thou'rt
+
+
+     beneficent I were!'
+
+
+
+Then Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me, 'O uncle,
+Abu Ishak and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to death.' So I
+answered, 'And they both counselled thee right, O Commander of the
+Faithful, but thou hast done after thine own nature and hast put away
+what I feared with what I hoped.' Rejoined Al Maamun, 'O uncle, thou
+didst extinguish my rancour with the modesty of thine excuse, and I
+have pardoned thee without making thee drink the bitterness of
+obligation to intercessors.' Then he prostrated himself in prayer a
+long while, after which he raised his head and said to me, 'O uncle,
+knowest thou why I prostrated myself?' Answered I, 'Haply thou didst
+this in thanksgiving to Allah, for that He hath given thee the mastery
+over thine enemy.' He replied, 'Such was not my design, but rather to
+thank Allah for having inspired me to pardon thee and for having
+cleared my mind towards thee. Now tell me thy tale.' So I told him all
+that had befallen me with the barber, the trooper and his wife and with
+my freed-woman who had betrayed me. So he summoned the freed-woman, who
+was in her house, expecting the reward to be sent to her, and when she
+came before him he said to her, 'What moved thee to deal thus with thy
+lord?' Quoth she, 'Lust of money.' Asked the Caliph 'Hast thou a child
+or a husband?'; and she answered 'No;' whereupon he bade them give her
+an hundred stripes with a whip and imprisoned her for life. Then he
+sent for the trooper and his wife and the barber-surgeon and asked the
+soldier what had moved him to do thus. 'Lust of money,' quoth he;
+whereupon quoth the Caliph, 'It befitteth thee to be a
+barber-cupper,'[FN#164] and committed him to one whom he charged to
+place him in a barber-cupper's shop, where he might learn the craft.
+But he showed honour to the trooper's wife and lodged her in his
+palace, saying, 'This is a woman of sound sense and fit for matters of
+moment.' Then said he to the barber-cupper, 'Verily, thou hast shown
+worth and generosity which call for extraordinary honour.' So he
+commanded the trooper's house and all that was therein to be given him
+and bestowed on him a dress of honour and in addition fifteen thousand
+dinars to be paid annually. And men tell the following tale concerning
+
+
+
+THE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[FN#165]
+
+It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilбbah went forth in quest of a
+she-camel which had strayed from him; and, as he was wandering in the
+deserts of Al-Yaman and the district of Sabб,[FN#166] behold, he came
+upon a great city girt by a vast castle around which were palaces and
+pavilions that rose high into middle air. He made for the place
+thinking to find there folk of whom he might ask concerning his
+she-camel; but, when he reached it, he found it desolate, without a
+living soul in it. So (quoth he) "I alighted and, hobbling my
+dromedary,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah bin Abi
+Kilabah continued, "I dismounted and hobbling my dromedary, and
+composing my mind, entered into the city. Now when I came to the
+castle, I found it had two vast gates (never in the world was seen
+their like for size height) inlaid with all manner of jewels and
+jacinths, white and red, yellow and green. Beholding this I marvelled
+with great marvel and thought the case mighty wondrous; then entering
+the citadel in a flutter of fear and dazed with surprise and affright,
+I found it long and wide, about equalling Al-Medinah[FN#167] in point
+of size; and therein were lofty palaces laid out in pavilions all built
+of gold and silver and inlaid with many-coloured jewels and jacinths
+and chrysolites and pearls. And the door-leaves in the pavilions were
+like those of the castle for beauty; and their floors were strewn with
+great pearls and balls, no smaller than hazel nuts, of musk and
+ambergris and saffron. Now when I came within the heart of the city and
+saw therein no created beings of the Sons of Adam I was near swooning
+and dying for fear. Moreover, I looked down from the great roofs of the
+pavilion-chambers and their balconies and saw rivers running under
+them; and in the main streets were fruit-laden trees and tall palms;
+and the manner of their building was one brick of gold and one of
+silver. So I said in myself, 'Doubtless this is the Paradise promised
+for the world to come.' Then I loaded me with the jewels of its gravel
+and the musk of its dust as much as I could carry and returned to my
+own country, where I told the folk what I had seen. After a time the
+news reached Mu'бwiyah, son of Abu Sufyбn, who was then Caliph in
+Al-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'б of Al-Yaman to send
+for the teller of the story and question him of the truth of the case.
+Accordingly the lieutenant summoned me and questioned me of my
+adventure and of all appertaining to it; and I told him what I had
+seen, whereupon he despatched me to Mu'awiyah, before whom I repeated
+the story of the strange sights; but he would not credit it. So I
+brought out to him some of the pearls and balls of musk and ambergris
+and saffron, in which latter there was still some sweet savour; but the
+pearls were grown yellow and had lost pearly colour."—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah son of
+Abu Kilabah continued, "But the pearls were grown yellow and had lost
+pearly colour. Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and, sending for Ka'ab
+al-Ahbar[FN#168] said to him, 'O Ka'ab, I have sent for thee to
+ascertain the truth of a certain matter and hope that thou wilt be able
+to certify me thereof.' Asked Ka'ab, 'What is it, O Commander of the
+Faithful?'; and Mu'awiyah answered, 'Wottest thou of any city founded
+by man which is builded of gold and silver, the pillars whereof are of
+chrysolite and rubies and its gravel pearls and balls of musk and
+ambergris and saffron?' He replied, 'Yes, O Commander of the Faithful,
+this is 'Iram with pillars decked and dight, the like of which was
+never made in the lands,'[FN#169] and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad
+the Greater.' Quoth the Caliph, 'Tell us something of its history,' and
+Ka'ab said, 'Ad the Greater[FN#170] had two sons, Shadнd and Shaddбd
+who, when their father died, ruled conjointly in his stead, and there
+was no King of the Kings of the earth but was subject to them. After
+awhile Shadid died and his brother Shaddad reigned over the earth
+alone. Now he was fond of reading in antique books; and, happening upon
+the description of the world to come and of Paradise, with its
+pavilions and galleries and trees and fruits and so forth, his soul
+moved him to build the like thereof in this world, after the fashion
+aforesaid. Now under his hand were an hundred thousand Kings, each
+ruling over an hundred thousand chiefs, commanding each an hundred
+thousand warriors; so he called these all before him and said to them,
+'I find in ancient books and annals a description of Paradise, as it is
+to be in the next world, and I desire to build me its like in this
+world. Go ye forth therefore to the goodliest tract on earth and the
+most spacious and build me there a city of gold and silver, whose
+gravel shall be chrysolite and rubies and pearls; and for support of
+its vaults make pillars of jasper. Fill it with palaces, whereon ye
+shall set galleries and balconies and plant its lanes and thoroughfares
+with all manner trees bearing yellow-ripe fruits and make rivers to run
+through it in channels of gold and silver.' Whereat said one and all,
+'How are we able to do this thing thou hast commanded, and whence shall
+we get the chrysolites and rubies and pearls whereof thou speakest?'
+Quoth he, 'What! weet ye not that the Kings of the world are subject to
+me and under my hand and that none therein dare gainsay my word?'
+Answered they, 'Yes, we know that.'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges
+answered, "Yes, we know that;" whereupon the King rejoined, "Fare ye
+then to the mines of chrysolites and rubies and pearls and gold and
+silver and collect their produce and gather together all of value that
+is in the world and spare no pains and leave naught; and take also for
+me such of these things as be in men's hands and let nothing escape
+you: be diligent and beware of disobedience." And thereupon he wrote
+letters to all the Kings of the world and bade them gather together
+whatso of these things was in their subjects' hands, and get them to
+the mines of precious stones and metals, and bring forth all that was
+therein, even from the abysses of the seas. This they accomplished in
+the space of 20 years, for the number of rulers then reigning over the
+earth was three hundred and sixty Kings, and Shaddad presently
+assembled from all lands and countries architects and engineers and men
+of art and labourers and handicraftsmen, who dispersed over the world
+and explored all the wastes and words and tracts and holds. At last
+they came to an uninhabited spot, a vast and fair open plain clear of
+sand-hills and mountains, with founts flushing and rivers rushing, and
+they said, "This is the manner of place the King commanded us to seek
+and ordered us to find." So they busied themselves in building the city
+even as bade them Shaddad, King of the whole earth in its length and
+breadth; leading the fountains in channels and laying the foundations
+after the prescribed fashion. Moreover, all the Kings of earth's
+several-reigns sent thither jewels and precious stones and pearls large
+and small and carnelian and refined gold and virgin silver upon camels
+by land, and in great ships over the waters, and there came to the
+builders' hands of all these materials so great a quantity as may
+neither be told nor counted nor conceived. So they laboured at the work
+three hundred years; and, when they had brought it to end, they went to
+King Shaddad and acquainted him therewith. Then said he, "Depart and
+make thereon an impregnable castle, rising and towering high in air,
+and build around it a thousand pavilions, each upon a thousand columns
+of chrysolite and ruby and vaulted with gold, that in each pavilion a
+Wazir may dwell." So they returned forthwith and did this in other
+twenty years; after which they again presented themselves before King
+Shaddad and informed him of the accomplishment of his will. Then he
+commanded his Wazirs, who were a thousand in number, and his Chief
+Officers and such of his troops and others as he put trust in, to
+prepare for departure and removal to Many-columned Iram, in the suite
+and at the stirrup of Shaddad, son of Ad, King of the World; and he
+bade also such as he would of his women and his Harim and of his
+handmaids and eunuchs make them ready for the journey. They spent
+twenty years in preparing for departure, at the end of which time
+Shaddad set out with his host.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin Ad
+fared forth, he and his host, rejoicing in the attainment of his desire
+till there remained but one day's journey between him and Iram of the
+Pillars. Then Allah sent down on him and on the stubborn unbelievers
+with him a mighty rushing sound from the Heavens of His power, which
+destroyed them all with its vehement clamour, and neither Shaddad nor
+any of his company set eyes on the city.[FN#171] Moreover, Allah
+blotted out the road which led to the city, and it stands in its stead
+unchanged until the Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement." So
+Mu'awiyah wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to him,
+"Hath any mortal ever made his way to that city?" He replied, "Yes; one
+of the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!) reached
+it, doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this man here
+seated." "And (quoth Al-Sha'abi[FN#172]) it is related, on the
+authority of learned men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that Shaddad, when
+destroyed with all his host by the sound, was succeeded in his Kingship
+by his son Shaddad the Less, whom he left vice-regent in
+Hazramaut[FN#173] and Saba, when he and his marched upon Many-columned
+Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his father's death on the road, he
+caused his body to be brought back from the desert to Hazramaut and
+bade them hew him out a tomb in a cave, where he laid the body on a
+throne of gold and threw over the corpse threescore and ten robes of
+cloth of gold, purfled with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head
+he set up a tablet of gold whereon were graven these verses,
+
+     'Take warning O proud, * And in length o' life vain!
+
+
+     I'm Shaddбd son of Ad, * Of the forts castellain;
+
+
+     Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,
+
+
+     Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane
+
+
+     And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.
+
+
+     He preached me salvation * Whom God did assain,[FN#174]
+
+
+     But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'
+
+
+     When a Cry on us cried * From th' horizon plain,
+
+
+     And we fell on the field * Like the harvested grain,
+
+
+     And the Fixt Day await * We, in earth's bosom lain!'"
+
+
+
+Al-Sa'alibi also relateth, "It chanced that two men once entered this
+cave and found steps at its upper end; so they descended and came to an
+underground chamber, an hundred cubits long by forty wide and an
+hundred high. In the midst stood a throne of gold, whereon lay a man of
+huge bulk, filling the whole length and breadth of the throne. He was
+covered with jewels and raiment gold-and-silver wrought, and at his
+head was a tablet of gold bearing an inscription. So they took the
+tablet and carried it off, together with as many bars of gold and
+silver and so forth as they could bear away." And men also relate the
+tale of
+
+
+
+ISAAC OF MOSUL.
+
+Quoth Isaac of Mosul,[FN#175] "I went out one night from Al Maamun's
+presence, on my way to my house; and, being taken with a pressing need
+to make water, I turned aside into a by-street and stood in the middle
+fearing lest something might hurt me, if I squatted against a
+wall.[FN#176] Presently, I espied something hanging down from one of
+the houses; so I felt it to find out what it might be and found that it
+was a great four-handled basket,[FN#177] covered with brocade. Said I
+to myself, 'There must be some reason for this,' and knew not what to
+think; then drunkenness led me to seat myself in the basket, and
+behold, the people of the house pulled me up, thinking me to be the
+person they expected. Now when I came to the top of the wall; lo! four
+damsels were there, who said to me, 'Descend and welcome and joy to
+thee!' Then one of them went before me with a wax candle and brought me
+down into a mansion, wherein were furnished sitting- chambers, whose
+like I had never seen save in the palace of the Caliphate. So I sat
+down and, after a while, the curtains were suddenly drawn from one side
+of the room and, behold, in came damsels walking in procession and
+hending hand lighted flambeaux of wax and censers full of Sumatran
+aloes-wood, and amongst them a young lady as she were the rising full
+moon. So I stood up to her and she said, 'Welcome to thee for a
+visitor!' and then she made me sit down again and asked me how I came
+thither. Quoth I, 'I was returning home from the house of an intimate
+friend and went astray in the dark; then, being taken in the street
+with an urgent call to make water, I turned aside into this lane, where
+I found a basket let down. The strong wine which I had drunk led me to
+seat myself in it and it was drawn up with me into this house, and this
+is my story.' She rejoined, 'No harm shall befall thee, and I hope thou
+wilt have cause to praise the issue of thine adventure.' Then she
+added, 'But what is thy condition?' I said, 'A merchant in the Baghdad
+bazar' and she, 'Canst thou repeat any verses?' 'Some small matter,'
+quoth I. Quoth she 'Then call a few to mind and let us hear some of
+them.' But I said, 'A visitor is bashful and timid; do thou begin.'
+'True,' replied she and recited some verses of the poets, past and
+present, choosing their choicest pieces; and I listened not knowing
+whether more to marvel at her beauty and loveliness or at the charm of
+her style of declamation. Then said she, 'Is that bashfulness of thine
+gone?' and I said, 'Yes, by Allah!' so she rejoined, 'Then, if thou
+wilt, recite us somewhat.' So I repeated to her a number of poems by
+old writers, and she applauded, saying, 'By Allah, I did not think to
+find such culture among the trade folk, the sons of the bazar!' Then
+she called for food" Whereupon quoth Shahrazad's sister Dunyazad, "How
+pleasant is this tale and enjoyable and sweet to the ear and sound to
+the sense!" But she answered, "And what is this story compared with
+that which thou shalt hear on the morrow's night, if I be alive and the
+King deign spare me!" Then Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eightieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul
+continued, "Then the damsel called for food and, when it was served to
+her, she fell to eating it and setting it before me; and the sitting
+room was full of all manner sweet-scented flowers and rare fruits, such
+as are never found save in Kings' houses. Presently, she called for
+wine and drank a cup, after which she filled another and gave it to me,
+saying, 'Now is the time for converse and story-telling.' So I
+bethought myself and began to say, 'It hath reached me that such and
+such things happened and there was a man who said so and so,' till I
+had told her a number of pleasing tales and adventures with which she
+was delighted and cried, ''Tis marvellous that a merchant should bear
+in memory such store of stories like these, for they are fit for
+Kings.' Quoth I, 'I had a neighbour who used to consort with Kings and
+carouse with them; so, when he was at leisure, I visited his house and
+he hath often told me what thou hast heard.' Thereupon she exclaimed
+'By my life, but thou hast a good memory!' So we continued to converse
+thus, and as often as I was silent, she would begin, till in this way
+we passed the most part of the night, whilst the burning aloes-wood
+diffused its fragrance and I was in such case that if Al-Maamun had
+suspected it, he would have flown like a bird with longing for it. Then
+said she to me, 'Verily, thou art one of the most pleasant of men,
+polished, passing well-bred and polite; but there lacketh one thing.'
+'What is that?' asked I, and she answered, If thou only knew how to
+sing verses to the lute!' I answered, 'I was passionately fond of this
+art aforetime, but finding I had no taste for it, I abandoned it,
+though at times my heart yearneth after it. Indeed, I should love to
+sing somewhat well at this moment and fulfil my night's enjoyment.'
+Then said she, 'Meseemeth thou hintest a wish for the lute to be
+brought?' and I, 'It is thine to decide, if thou wilt so far favour me,
+and to thee be the thanks.' So she called for a lute and sang a song in
+a voice whose like I never heard, both for sweetness of tone and skill
+in playing, and perfection of art. Then said she, Knowest thou who
+composed this air and whose are the words of this song?'"No," answered
+I; and she said, The words are so and so's and the air is Isaac's.' I
+asked 'And hath Isaac then (may I be thy sacrifice!) such a talent?'
+She replied, 'Bravo![FN#178] Bravo, Isaac! indeed, he excelleth in this
+art.' I rejoined, 'Glory be to Allah who hath given this man what he
+hath vouchsafed unto none other!' Then she said 'And how would it be,
+an thou heard this song from himself?' This wise we went on till break
+of day dawn, when there came to her an old woman, as she were her
+nurse, and said to her, 'Verily, the time is come.' So she rose in
+haste and said to me, 'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself; for
+such meetings are in confidence;'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel
+whispered, "'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself, for such
+meetings are in confidence;' and I replied, 'May I be thy ransom! I
+needed no charge to this.' Then I took leave of her and she sent a
+handmaid to show me the way and open the house door; so I went forth
+and returned to my own place, where I prayed the morning prayer and
+slept. Now after a time there came to me a messenger from Al-Maamun, so
+I went to him and passed the day in his company. And when the night
+fell I called to mind my yesternight's pleasure, a thing from which
+none but an ignoramus would abstain, and betook myself to the street,
+where I found the basket, and seating myself therein, was drawn up to
+the place in which I had passed the previous night. When the lady saw
+me, she said, 'Indeed, thou hast been assiduous;' and I answered,
+'Meseemeth rather that I am neglectful.' Then we fell to discoursing
+and passed the night as before in general-conversation and reciting
+verses and telling rare tales, each in turn, till daybreak, when I
+wended me home; and I prayed the dawn prayer and slept. Presently there
+came to me a messenger from Al-Maamun; so I went to him and spent my
+day with him till nightfall, when the Commander of the Faithful said to
+me, 'I conjure thee to sit here, whilst I go out for a want and come
+back.' As soon as the Caliph was gone, and quite gone, my thoughts
+began to tempt and try me and, calling to mind my late delight, I
+recked little what might befal me from the Prince of True Believers. So
+I sprang up and turning my back upon the sitting-room, ran to the
+street aforesaid, where I sat down in the basket and was drawn up as
+before. When the lady saw me, she said, 'I begin to think thou art a
+sincere friend to us.' Quoth I, 'Yea, by Allah!' and quoth she, 'Hast
+thou made our house thine abiding-place?' I replied, 'May I be thy
+ransom! A guest claimeth guest right for three days and if I return
+after this, ye are free to spill my blood.' Then we passed the night as
+before; and when the time of departure drew near, I bethought me that
+Al Maamun would assuredly question me nor would ever be content save
+with a full explanation: so I said to her, 'I see thee to be of those
+who delight in singing. Now I have a cousin, the son of my father's
+brother, who is fairer than I in face and higher of rank and better of
+breeding; and he is the most intimate of Allah's creatures with Isaac.'
+Quoth she, 'Art thou a parasite[FN#179] and an importunate one?' Quoth
+I, 'It is for thee to decide in this matter;' and she, 'If thy cousin
+be as thou hast described him, it would not mislike us to make
+acquaintance with him.' Then, as the time was come, I left her and
+returned to my house, but hardly had I reached it, ere the Caliph's
+runners came down on me and carried me before him by main force and
+roughly enough."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul
+continued, "And hardly had I reached my house ere the Caliph's runners
+came down upon me and carried me before him by main force and roughly
+enough. I found him seated on a chair, wroth with me, and he said to
+me, 'O Isaac, art thou a traitor to thine allegiance?' replied I, 'No,
+by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful!' and he rejoined, 'What hast
+thou then to say? tell me the whole truth;' and I, 'Yes, I will, but in
+private.' So he signed to his attendants, who withdrew to a distance,
+and I told him the case, adding, 'I promised her to bring thee,' and he
+said, 'Thou didst well.' Then we spent the day in our usual-pleasures,
+but Al-Maamun's heart was taken up with her, and hardly was the
+appointed time come, when we set out. As we went along, I cautioned
+him, saying, 'Look that thou call me not by my name before her; and I
+will demean myself like thine attendant.' And having agreed upon this,
+we fared forth till we came to the place, where we found two baskets
+hanging ready. So we sat down in them and were drawn up to the
+usual-place, where the damsel came forward and saluted us. Now when Al
+Maamun saw her, he was amazed at her beauty and loveliness; and she
+began to entertain him with stories and verses. Presently, she called
+for wine and we fell to drinking she paying him special attention and
+he repaying her in kind. Then she took the lute and sang these verses,
+
+'My lover came in at the close of night, * I rose till he sat and
+
+
+     remained upright;
+
+
+And said 'Sweet heart, hast thou come this hour? * Nor feared on
+
+
+     the watch and ward to 'light:'
+
+
+Quoth he 'The lover had cause to fear, * But Love deprived him of
+
+
+     wits and fright.'
+
+
+
+And when she ended her song she said to me, 'And is thy cousin also a
+merchant?' I answered, 'Yes,' and she said, 'Indeed, ye resemble each
+other nearly.' But when Al-Maamun had drunk three pints,[FN#180] he
+grew merry with wine and called out, saying, 'Ho, Isaac!' And I
+replied, 'Labbayk, Adsum, O Commander of the Faithful,' whereupon quoth
+he, 'Sing me this air.' Now when the young lady learned that he was the
+Caliph, she withdrew to another place and disappeared; and, as I had
+made an end of my song, Al-Maamun said to me, 'See who is the master of
+this house', whereupon an old woman hastened to make answer, saying,
+'It belongs to Hasan bin Sahl.'[FN#181] 'Fetch him to me,' said the
+Caliph. So she went away and after a while behold, in came Hasan, to
+whom said Al-Maamun 'Hast thou a daughter?' He said, 'Yes, and her name
+is Khadijah.' Asked the Caliph, 'Is she married?' Answered Hasan, 'No,
+by Allah!' Said Al-Maamun, Then I ask her of thee in marriage.' Replied
+her father, 'O Commander of the Faithful, she is thy handmaid and at
+thy commandment.' Quoth Al-Maamun, 'I take her to wife at a present
+settlement of thirty thousand dinars, which thou shalt receive this
+very morning, and, when the money has been paid thee, do thou bring her
+to us this night.' And Hasan answered, 'I hear and I obey.' Thereupon
+we went forth and the Caliph said to me, 'O Isaac, tell this story to
+no one.' So I kept it secret till Al-Maamun's death. Surely never did
+man's life gather such pleasures as were mine these four days' time,
+whenas I companied with Al-Maamun by day and Khadijah by night; and, by
+Allah, never saw I among men the like of Al-Maamun nor among women have
+I ever set eyes on the like of Khadijah; no, nor on any that came near
+her in lively wit and pleasant speech! And Allah is All knowing. But
+amongst stories is that of
+
+
+
+THE SWEEP AND THE NOBLE LADY.
+
+During the season of the Meccan pilgrimage, whilst the people were
+making circuit about the Holy House and the place of compassing was
+crowded, behold, a man laid hold of the covering of the Ka'abah[FN#182]
+and cried out, from the bottom of his heart, saying, 'I beseech thee, O
+Allah, that she may once again be wroth with her husband and that I may
+know her!' A company of the pilgrims heard him and seized him and
+carried him to the Emir of the pilgrims, after a sufficiency of blows;
+and, said they, 'O Emir, we found this fellow in the Holy Places,
+saying thus and thus.' So the Emir commanded to hang him; but he cried,
+'O Emir, I conjure thee, by the virtue of the Apostle (whom Allah bless
+and preserve!), hear my story and then do with me as thou wilt.' Quoth
+the Emir, 'Tell thy tale forthright.' 'Know then, O Emir,' quoth the
+man, 'that I am a sweep who works in the sheep- slaughterhouses and
+carries off the blood and the offal to the rubbish-heaps outside the
+gates. And it came to pass as I went along one day with my ass loaded,
+I saw the people running away and one of them said to me, 'Enter this
+alley, lest haply they slay thee.' Quoth I, 'What aileth the folk
+running away?' and one of the eunuchs, who were passing, said to me,
+'This is the Harim[FN#183] of one of the notables and her eunuchs drive
+the people out of her way and beat them all, without respect to
+persons.' So I turned aside with the donkey'"—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the man,
+"So I turned aside with the donkey and stood still awaiting the
+dispersal of the crowd; and I saw a number of eunuchs with staves in
+their hands, followed by nigh thirty women slaves, and amongst them a
+lady as she were a willow-wand or a thirsty gazelle, perfect in beauty
+and grace and amorous languor, and all were attending upon her. Now
+when she came to the mouth of the passage where I stood, she turned
+right and left and, calling one of the Castratos, whispered in his ear;
+and behold, he came up to me and laid hold of me, whilst another eunuch
+took my ass and made off with it. And when the spectators fled, the
+first eunuch bound me with a rope and dragged me after him till I knew
+not what to do; and the people followed us and cried out, saying, 'This
+is not allowed of Allah! What hath this poor scavenger done that he
+should be bound with ropes?' and praying the eunuchs, 'Have pity on him
+and let him go, so Allah have pity on you!' And I the while said in my
+mind, 'Doubtless the eunuchry seized me, because their mistress smelt
+the stink of the offal and it sickened her. Belike she is with child or
+ailing; but there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah,
+the Glorious, the Great!' So I continued walking on behind them, till
+they stopped at the door of a great house; and, entering before me,
+brought me into a big hall—I know not how I shall describe its
+magnificence—furnished with the finest furniture. And the women also
+entered the hall; and I bound and held by the eunuch and saying to
+myself, 'Doubtless they will torture me here till I die and none know
+of my death.' However, after a while, they carried me into a neat
+bath-room leading out of the hall; and as I sat there, behold, in came
+three slave-girls who seated themselves round me and said to me, 'Strip
+off thy rags and tatters.' So I pulled off my threadbare clothes and
+one of them fell a-rubbing my legs and feet whilst another scrubbed my
+head and a third shampooed my body. When they had made an end of
+washing me, they brought me a parcel of clothes and said to me, 'Put
+these on'; and I answered, 'By Allah, I know not how!' So they came up
+to me and dressed me, laughing together at me the while; after which
+they brought casting-bottles full of rose-water, and sprinkled me
+therewith. Then I went out with them into another saloon; by Allah, I
+know not how to praise its splendour for the wealth of paintings and
+furniture therein; and entering it, I saw a person seated on a couch of
+Indian rattan"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the sweep
+continued, "When I entered that saloon I saw a person seated on a couch
+of Indian rattan, with ivory feet and before her a number of damsels.
+When she saw me she rose to me and called me; so I went up to her and
+she seated me by her side. Then she bade her slave-girls bring food,
+and they brought all manner of rich meats, such as I never saw in all
+my life; I do not even know the names of the dishes, much less their
+nature. So I ate my fill and when the dishes had been taken away and we
+had washed our hands, she called for fruits which came without stay or
+delay and ordered me eat of them; and when we had ended eating she bade
+one of the waiting-women bring the wine furniture. So they set on
+flagons of divers kinds of wine and burned perfumes in all the censers,
+what while a damsel like the moon rose and served us with wine to the
+sound of the smitten strings; and I drank, and the lady drank, till we
+were seized with wine and the whole time I doubted not but that all
+this was an illusion of sleep. Presently, she signed to one of the
+damsels to spread us a bed in such a place, which being done, she rose
+and took me by the hand and led me thither, and lay down and I lay with
+her till the morning, and as often as I pressed her to my breast I
+smelt the delicious fragrance of musk and other perfumes that exhaled
+from her and could not think otherwise but that I was in Paradise or in
+the vain phantasies of a dream. Now when it was day, she asked me where
+I lodged and I told her, 'In such a place;' whereupon she gave me leave
+to depart, handing to me a kerchief worked with gold and silver and
+containing somewhat tied in it, and took leave of me, saying, 'Go to
+the bath with this.' I rejoiced and said to myself, 'If there be but
+five coppers here, it will buy me this day my morning meal.' Then I
+left her, as though I were leaving Paradise, and returned to my poor
+crib where I opened the kerchief and found in it fifty miskals of gold.
+So I buried them in the ground and, buying two farthings' worth of
+bread and 'kitchen,'[FN#184] seated me at the door and broke my fast;
+after which I sat pondering my case and continued so doing till the
+time of afternoon, prayer, when lo! a slave-girl accosted me saying,
+'My mistress calleth for thee.' I followed her to the house aforesaid
+and, after asking permission, she carried me into the lady, before whom
+I kissed the ground, and she commanded me to sit and called for meat
+and wine as on the previous day; after which I again lay with her all
+night. On the morrow, she gave me a second kerchief, with other fifty
+dinars therein, and I took it and going home, buried this also. In such
+pleasant condition I continued eight days running, going in to her at
+the hour of afternoon prayer and leaving her at daybreak; but, on the
+eighth night, as I lay with her, behold, one of her slave-girls came
+running in and said to me, 'Arise, go up into yonder closet.' So I rose
+and went into the closet, which was over the gate, and presently I
+heard a great clamour and tramp of horse; and, looking out of the
+window which gave on the street in front of the house, I saw a young
+man as he were the rising moon on the night of fulness come riding up
+attended by a number of servants and soldiers who were about him on
+foot. He alighted at the door and entering the saloon found the lady
+seated on the couch; so he kissed the ground between her hands then
+came up to her and kissed her hands; but she would not speak to him.
+However, he continued patiently to humble himself, and soothe her and
+speak her fair, till he made his peace with her, and they lay together
+that night."—And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the scavenger
+continued, "Now when her husband had made his peace with the young
+lady, he lay with her that night; and next morning, the soldiers came
+for him and he mounted and rode away; whereupon she drew near to me and
+said, 'Sawst thou yonder man?' I answered, 'Yes;' and she said, 'He is
+my husband, and I will tell thee what befell me with him. It came to
+pass one day that we were sitting, he and I, in the garden within the
+house, and behold, he rose from my side and was absent a long while,
+till I grew tired of waiting and said to myself: Most like, he is in
+the privy. So I arose and went to the water-closet, but not finding him
+there, went down to the kitchen, where I saw a slave-girl; and when I
+enquired for him, she showed him to me lying with one of the cookmaids.
+Hereupon, I swore a great oath that I assuredly would do adultery with
+the foulest and filthiest man in Baghdad; and the day the eunuch laid
+hands on thee, I had been four days going round about the city in quest
+of one who should answer to this description, but found none fouler nor
+filthier than thy good self. So I took thee and there passed between us
+that which Allah fore ordained to us; and now I am quit of my oath.'
+Then she added, 'If, however, my husband return yet again to the
+cookmaid and lie with her, I will restore thee to thy lost place in my
+favours.' Now when I heard these words from her lips, what while she
+pierced my heart with the shafts of her glances, my tears streamed
+forth, till my eyelids were chafed sore with weeping, and I repeated
+the saying of the poet,
+
+'Grant me the kiss of that left hand ten times; * And learn it
+
+
+hath than right hand higher grade;[FN#185]
+
+
+For 'tis but little since that same left hand * Washed off Sir
+
+
+Reverence when ablution made.'
+
+
+
+Then she made them give me other fifty dinars (making in all four
+hundred gold pieces I had of her) and bade me depart. So I went out
+from her and came hither, that I might pray Allah (extolled and exalted
+be He!) to make her husband return to the cookmaid, that haply I might
+be again admitted to her favours.' When the Emir of the pilgrims heard
+the man's story, he set him free and said to the bystanders, 'Allah
+upon you, pray for him, for indeed he is excusable.'" And men also tell
+the tale of
+
+
+
+THE MOCK CALIPH.
+
+It is related that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was one night restless
+with extreme restlessness, so he summoned his Wazir Ja'afar the
+Barmecide, and said to him, "My breast is straitened and I have a
+desire to divert myself to-night by walking about the streets of
+Baghdad and looking into folks' affairs; but with this precaution that
+we disguise ourselves in merchants' gear, so none shall know us." He
+answered, "Hearkening and obedience." They rose at once and doffing the
+rich raiment they wore, donned merchants' habits and sallied forth
+three in number, the Caliph, Ja'afar and Masrur the sworder. Then they
+walked from place to place, till they came to the Tigris and saw an old
+man sitting in a boat; so they went up to him and saluting him, said,
+"O Shaykh, we desire thee of thy kindness and favour to carry us a-
+pleasuring down the river, in this thy boat, and take this dinar to thy
+hire."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when they said to
+the old man, "We desire thee to carry us a-pleasuring in this thy boat
+and take this dinar;" he answered, "Who may go a- pleasuring on the
+Tigris? The Caliph Harun al-Rashid every night cometh down Tigris
+stream in his state-barge[FN#186] and with him one crying aloud: 'Ho,
+ye people all, great and small, gentle and simple, men and boys, whoso
+is found in a boat on the Tigris by night, I will strike off his head
+or hang him to the mast of his craft!' And ye had well nigh met him;
+for here cometh his carrack." But the Caliph and Ja'afar said, "O
+Shaykh, take these two dinars, and run us under one of yonder arches,
+that we may hide there till the Caliph's barge have passed." The old
+man replied, "Hand over your gold and rely we on Allah, the Almighty!"
+So he took the two dinars and embarked them in the boat; and he put off
+and rowed about with them awhile, when behold, the barge came down the
+river in mid-stream, with lighted flambeaux and cressets flaming
+therein. Quoth the old man, "Did not I tell you that the Caliph passed
+along the river every night?"; and ceased not muttering, "O Protector,
+remove not the veils of Thy protection!" Then he ran the boat under an
+arch and threw a piece of black cloth over the Caliph and his
+companions, who looked out from under the covering and saw, in the bows
+of the barge, a man holding in hand a cresset of red gold which he fed
+with Sumatran lign-aloes and the figure was clad in a robe of red
+satin, with a narrow turband of Mosul shape round on his head, and over
+one of his shoulders hung a sleeved cloak[FN#187] of cramoisy satin,
+and on the other was a green silk bag full of the aloes-wood, with
+which he fed the cresset by way of firewood. And they sighted in the
+stern another man, clad like the first and bearing a like cresset, and
+in the barge were two hundred white slaves, standing ranged to the
+right and left; and in the middle a throne of red gold, whereon sat a
+handsome young man, like the moon, clad in a dress of black,
+embroidered with yellow gold. Before him they beheld a man, as he were
+the Wazir Ja'afar, and at his head stood an eunuch, as he were Masrur,
+with a drawn sword in his hand; besides a score of cup-companions. Now
+when the Caliph saw this, he turned and said, "O Ja'afar," and the
+Minister replied, "At thy service, O Prince of True Believers." Then
+quoth the Caliph, "Belike this is one of my sons, Al Amin or
+Al-Maamun." Then he examined the young man who sat on the throne and
+finding him perfect in beauty and loveliness and stature and symmetric
+grace, said to Ja'afar, "Verily, this young man abateth nor jot nor
+tittle of the state of the Caliphate! See, there standeth before him
+one as he were thyself, O Ja'afar; yonder eunuch who standeth at his
+head is as he were Masrur and those courtiers as they were my own. By
+Allah, O Ja'afar, my reason is confounded and I am filled with
+amazement this matter!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph
+saw this spectacle his reason was confounded and he cried, "By Allah, I
+am filled with amazement at this matter!" and Ja'afar replied, "And I
+also, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful." Then the barge passed on
+and disappeared from sight whereupon the boatman pushed out again into
+the stream, saying, "Praised be Allah for safety, since none hath
+fallen in with us!" Quoth the Caliph, "O old man, doth the Caliph come
+down the Tigris-river every night?" The boatman answered, "Yes, O my
+lord; and on such wise hath he done every night this year past." "O
+Shaykh," rejoined Al-Rashid, "we wish thee of thy favour to await us
+here to-morrow night and we will give thee five golden dinars, for we
+are stranger folk, lodging in the quarter Al-Khandak, and we have a
+mind to divert ourselves." Said the oldster, "With joy and good will!"
+Then the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur left the boatman and returned to
+the palace; where they doffed their merchants' habits and, donning
+their apparel of state, sat down each in his several-stead; and came
+the Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Officers, and the Divan
+assembled and was crowded as of custom. But when day ended and all the
+folk had dispersed and wended each his own way, the Caliph said to his
+Wazir, "Rise, O Ja'afar, let us go and amuse ourselves by looking on
+the second Caliph." At this, Ja'afar and Masrur laughed, and the three,
+donning merchants' habits, went forth by a secret pastern and made
+their way through the city, in great glee, till they came to the
+Tigris, where they found the graybeard sitting and awaiting them. They
+embarked with him in the boat and hardly had they sat down before up
+came the mock Caliph's barge; and, when they looked at it attentively,
+they saw therein two hundred Mamelukes other than those of the previous
+night, while the link- bearers cried aloud as of wont. Quoth the
+Caliph, "O Wazir, had I heard tell of this, I had not believed it; but
+I have seen it with my own sight." Then said he to the boatman, "Take,
+O Shaykh' these ten dinars and row us along abreast of them, for they
+are in the light and we in the shade, and we can see them and amuse
+ourselves by looking on them, but they cannot see us." So the man took
+the money and pushing off ran abreast of them in the shadow of the
+barge,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun
+al-Rashid said to the old man, "Take these ten dinars and row us
+abreast of them;" to which he replied, "I hear and I obey." And he
+fared with them and ceased not going in the blackness of the barge,
+till they came amongst the gardens that lay alongside of them and
+sighted a large walled enclosure; and presently, the barge cast anchor
+before a postern door, where they saw servants standing with a she mule
+saddled and bridled. Here the mock Caliph landed and, mounting the
+mule, rode away with his courtiers and his cup-companions preceded by
+the cresset-bearers crying aloud, and followed by his household which
+busied itself in his service. Then Harun al-Rashid, Ja'afar and Masrur
+landed also and, making their way through the press of servants, walked
+on before them. Presently, the cresset-bearers espied them and seeing
+three persons in merchants' habits, and strangers to the country, took
+offense at them; so they pointed them out and brought them before the
+other Caliph, who looked at them and asked, "How came ye to this place
+and who brought you at this tide?" They answered, "O our lord, we are
+foreign merchants and far from our homes, who arrived here this day and
+were out a- walking to-night, and behold, ye came up and these men laid
+hands on us and brought us to thy presence; and this is all our story."
+Quoth the mock Caliph, "Since ye be stranger folk no harm shall befall
+you; but had ye been of Baghdad, I had struck off your heads." Then he
+turned to his Wazir and said to him, "Take these men with thee; for
+they are our guests to-night." "To hear is to obey, O our lord,"
+answered he; and they companied him till they came to a lofty and
+splendid palace set upon the firmest base; no Sultan possesseth such a
+place; rising from the dusty mould and upon the merges of the clouds
+laying hold. Its door was of Indian teak-wood inlaid with gold that
+glowed; and through it one passed into a royal-hall in whose midst was
+a jetting fount girt by a raised estrade. It was provided with carpets
+and cushions of brocade and small pillows and long settees and hanging
+curtains; it was furnished with a splendour that dazed the mind and
+dumbed the tongue, and upon the door were written these two couplets,
+
+"A Palace whereon be blessings and praise! * Which with all their
+
+
+     beauty have robed the Days:
+
+
+Where marvels and miracle-sights abound, * And to write its
+
+
+     honours the pen affrays."
+
+
+
+The false Caliph entered with his company, and sat down on a throne of
+gold set with jewels and covered with a prayer carpet of yellow silk;
+whilst the boon-companions took their seats and the sword bearer of
+high works stood before him. Then the tables were laid and they ate;
+after which the dishes were removed and they washed their hands and the
+wine-service was set on with flagons and bowls in due order. The cup
+went round till it came to the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who refused the
+draught, and the mock Caliph said to Ja'afar, "What mattereth thy
+friend that he drinketh not?" He replied, "O my lord, indeed 'tis a
+long while he hath drunk naught of this." Quoth the sham Caliph, "I
+have drink other than this, a kind of apple-wine,[FN#188] that will
+suit thy companion." So he bade them bring the cider which they did
+forthright; when the false Caliph, coming up to Harun al-Rashid, said
+to him, "As often as it cometh to thy turn drink thou of this." Then
+they continued to drink and make merry and pass the cup till the wine
+rose to their brains and mastered their wits;—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the false Caliph
+and his co sitters sat at their cups and gave not over drinking till
+the wine rose to their brains and mastered their wits; and Harun
+al-Rashid said to the Minister, "O Ja'afar, by Allah, we have no such
+vessels as these. Would to Heaven I knew what manner of man this youth
+is!" But while they were talking privily the young man cast a glance
+upon them and seeing the Wazir whisper the Caliph said, "'Tis rude to
+whisper." He replied, "No rudeness was meant: this my friend did but
+say to me, 'Verily I have travelled in most countries and have caroused
+with the greatest of Kings and I have companied with noble captains;
+yet never saw I a goodlier ordering than this entertainment nor passed
+a more delightful night; save that the people of Baghdad are wont to
+say, Wine without music often leaves you sick.'"When the second Caliph
+heard this, he smiled pleasantly and struck with a rod he had in his
+hand a round gong;[FN#189] and behold, a door opened and out came a
+eunuch, bearing a chair of ivory, inlaid with gold glittering fiery red
+and followed by a damsel of passing beauty and loveliness, symmetry and
+grace. He set down the chair and the damsel seated herself on it, as
+she were the sun shining sheen in a sky serene. In her hand she had a
+lute of Hindu make, which she laid in her lap and bent down over it as
+a mother bendeth over her little one, and sang to it, after a prelude
+in four-and-twenty modes, amazing all wits. Then she returned to the
+first mode and to a lively measure chanted these couplets,
+
+"Love's tongue within my heart speaks plain to thee, * Telling
+
+
+     thee clearly I am fain of thee
+
+
+Witness the fevers of a tortured heart, * And ulcered eyelid
+
+
+     tear-flood rains for thee
+
+
+God's fate o'ertaketh all created things! * I knew not love till
+
+
+     learnt Love's pain of thee."
+
+
+
+Now when the mock Caliph heard these lines sung by the damsel, he cried
+with a great cry and rent his raiment to the very skirt, whereupon they
+let down a curtain over him and brought him a fresh robe, handsomer
+than the first. He put it on and sat as before, till the cup came round
+to him, when he struck the gong a second time and lo! a door opened and
+out of it came a eunuch with a chair of gold, followed by a damsel
+fairer than the first, bearing a lute, such as would strike the envious
+mute. She sat down on the chair and sang to her instrument these two
+couplets,
+
+"How patient bide, with love in sprite of me, * And tears in
+
+
+     tempest[FN#190] blinding sight of me?
+
+
+By Allah, life has no delight of me! * How gladden heart whose
+
+
+     core is blight of me?"
+
+
+
+No sooner had the youth heard this poetry than he cried out with a loud
+cry and rent his raiment to the skirt: whereupon they let down the
+curtain over him and brought him another suit of clothes. He put it on
+and, sitting up as before, fell again to cheerful talk, till the cup
+came round to him, when he smote once more upon the gong and out came a
+eunuch with a chair, followed by a damsel fairer than she who forewent
+her. So she sat down on the chair, with a lute in her hand, and sang
+thereto these couplets,
+
+"Cease ye this farness; 'bate this pride of you, * To whom my
+
+
+     heart clings, by life-tide of you!
+
+
+Have ruth on hapless, mourning, lover-wretch, * Desire-full,
+
+
+     pining, passion-tried of you:
+
+
+Sickness hath wasted him, whose ecstasy * Prays Heaven it may be
+
+
+     satisfied of you:
+
+
+Oh fullest moons[FN#191] that dwell in deepest heart! * How can I
+
+
+     think of aught by side of you?"
+
+
+
+Now when the young man heard these couplets, he cried out with a great
+cry and rent his raiment, whereupon they let fall the curtain over him
+and brought him other robes. Then he returned to his former case with
+his boon-companions and the bowl went round as before, till the cup
+came to him, when he struck the gong a fourth time and the door
+opening, out came a page-boy bearing a chair followed by a damsel. He
+set the chair for her and she sat down thereon and taking the lute,
+tuned it and sang to it these couplets,
+
+"When shall disunion and estrangement end? * When shall my bygone
+
+
+     joys again be kenned?
+
+
+Yesterday we were joined in same abode; * Conversing heedless of
+
+
+     each envious friend:[FN#192]
+
+
+Trickt us that traitor Time, disjoined our lot * And our waste
+
+
+     home to desert fate condemned:
+
+
+Wouldst have me, Grumbler! from my dearling fly? * I find my
+
+
+     vitals blame will not perpend:
+
+
+Cease thou to censure; leave me to repine; * My mind e'er findeth
+
+
+     thoughts that pleasure lend.
+
+
+O Lords[FN#193] of me who brake our troth and plight, * Deem not
+
+
+     to lose your hold of heart and sprite!"
+
+
+
+When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried out with a loud
+outcry and rent his raiment,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
+
+She said, When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried with a
+loud outcry and rent his raiment and fell to the ground fainting;
+whereupon they would have let down the curtain over him, as of custom;
+but its cords stuck fast and Harun al-Rashid, after considering him
+carefully, saw on his body the marks of beating with palm-rods and said
+to Ja'afar, "By Allah, he is a handsome youth, but a foul thief!"
+"Whence knowest thou that, O Commander of the Faithful?" asked Ja'afar,
+and the Caliph answered, "Sawest thou not the whip-scars on his ribs?"
+Then they let fall the curtain over him and brought him a fresh dress,
+which he put on and sat up as before with his courtiers and cup-
+companions. Presently he saw the Caliph and Ja'afar whispering together
+and said to them, "What is the matter, fair sirs?" Quoth Ja'afar, "O my
+lord, all is well,[FN#194] save that this my comrade, who (as is not
+unknown to thee) is of the merchant company and hath visited all the
+great cities and countries of the world and hath consorted with kings
+and men of highest consideration, saith to me: 'Verily, that which our
+lord the Caliph hath done this night is beyond measure extravagant,
+never saw I any do the like doings in any country; for he hath rent
+such and such dresses, each worth a thousand dinars and this is surely
+excessive unthriftiness.'" Replied the second Caliph, "Ho thou, the
+money is my money and the stuff my stuff, and this is by way of
+largesse to my suite and servants; for each suit that is rent belongeth
+to one of my cup-companions here present, and I assign to them with
+each suit of clothes the sum of five hundred dinars." The Wazir Ja'afar
+replied, "Well is whatso thou doest, O our lord," and recited these two
+couplets,
+
+"Virtue in hand of thee hath built a house, * And to mankind thou
+
+
+     dost thy wealth expose:
+
+
+If an the virtues ever close their doors, * That hand would be a
+
+
+     key the lock to unclose."
+
+
+
+Now when the young man heard these verses recited by the Minister
+Ja'afar, he ordered him to be gifted with a thousand dinars and a dress
+of honour. Then the cup went round among them and the wine was sweet to
+them; but, after a while quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, "Ask him of the
+marks on his sides, that we may see what he will say by way of reply."
+Answered Ja'afar, "Softly, O my lord, be not hasty and soothe thy mind,
+for patience is more becoming." Rejoined the Caliph, "By the life of my
+head and by the revered tomb of Al Abbas,[FN#195] except thou ask him,
+I will assuredly stop thy breath!" With this the young man turned
+towards the Minister and said to him, "What aileth thee and thy friend
+to be whispering together? Tell me what is the matter with you." "It is
+nothing save good," replied Ja'afar; but the mock Caliph rejoined, "I
+conjure thee, by Allah, tell me what aileth you and hide from me
+nothing of your case." Answered the Wazir "O my lord, verily this one
+here saw on thy sides the marks of beating with whips and palm-fronds
+and marvelled thereat with exceeding marvel, saying, 'How came the
+Caliph to be beaten?'; and he would fain know the cause of this." Now
+when the youth heard this, he smiled and said, "Know ye that my story
+is wondrous and my case marvellous; were it graven with needles on the
+eye corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be warned." And
+he sighed and repeated these couplets,
+
+"Strange is my story, passing prodigy; * By Love I swear, my ways
+
+
+     wax strait on me!
+
+
+An ye desire to hear me, listen, and * Let all in this assembly
+
+
+     silent be.
+
+
+Heed ye my words which are of meaning deep, * Nor lies my speech;
+
+
+     'tis truest verity.
+
+
+I'm slain[FN#196] by longing and by ardent love; * My slayer's
+
+
+     the pearl of fair virginity.
+
+
+She hath a jet black eye like Hindi blade, * And bowиd eyebrows
+
+
+     shoot her archery
+
+
+My heart assures me our Imam is here, * This age's Caliph, old
+
+
+     nobility:
+
+
+Your second, Ja'afar highs, is his Wazir; * A Sahib,[FN#197]
+
+
+     Sahib-son of high degree:
+
+
+The third is called Masrur who wields the sword: * Now, if in
+
+
+     words of mine some truth you see
+
+
+I have won every wish by this event * Which fills my heart with
+
+
+     joy and gladdest greet"
+
+
+
+When they heard these words Ja'afar swore to him an ambiguous oath that
+they were not those he named, whereupon he laughed and said: "Know, O
+my lords, that I am not the Commander of the Faithful and that I do but
+style myself thus, to win my will of the sons of the city. My true name
+is Mohammed Ali, son of Ali the Jeweller, and my father was one of the
+notables of Baghdad, who left me great store of gold and silver and
+pearls and coral and rubies and chrysolites and other jewels, besides
+messuages and lands, Hammam-baths and brickeries, orchards and flower-
+gardens. Now as I sat in my shop one day surrounded by my eunuchs and
+dependents, behold, there came up a young lady, mounted on a she-mule
+and attended by three damsels like moons. Riding up to my shop she
+alighted and seated herself by my side and said 'Art thou Mohammed the
+Jeweller?' Replied I, 'Even so! I am he, thy Mameluke, thy chattel.'
+She asked, 'Hast thou a necklace of jewels fit for me?' and I answered,
+'O my lady, I will show thee what I have; and lay all before thee and,
+if any please thee, it will be of thy slave's good luck; if they please
+thee not, of his ill fortune.' Now I had by me an hundred necklaces and
+showed them all to her; but none of them pleased her and she said, 'I
+want a better than those I have seen.' I had a small necklace which my
+father had bought at an hundred thousand dinars and whose like was not
+to be found with any of the great kings; so I said to her, 'O my lady,
+I have yet one necklace of fine stones fit for bezels, the like of
+which none possesseth, great or small. Said she, Show it to me,' so I
+showed it to her, and she said, 'This is what I wanted and what I have
+wished for all my life;' adding, 'What is its price?' Quoth I, 'It cost
+my father an hundred thousand dinars;' and she said, 'I will give thee
+five thousand dinars to thy profit.' I answered, 'O my lady, the
+necklace and its owner are at thy service and I cannot gainsay thee.'
+But she rejoined, 'Needs must thou have the profit, and I am still most
+grateful to thee.' Then she rose without stay or delay; and, mounting
+the mule in haste, said to me, 'O my lord, in Allah's name, favour us
+with thy company to receive the money; for this thy day with us is
+white as milk.'[FN#198] So I shut the shop and accompanied her, in all
+security, till we came to a house, on which were manifest the signs of
+wealth and rank; for its door was wrought with gold and silver and
+ultramarine, and thereon were written these two couplets,
+
+'Hole, thou mansion! woe ne'er enter thee; * Nor be thine owner
+
+
+     e'er misused of Fate
+
+
+Excellent mansion to all guests art thou, * When other mansions
+
+
+     to the guest are strait.'
+
+
+
+The young lady dismounted and entered the house, bidding me sit down on
+the bench at the gate, till the money-changer should arrive. So I sat
+awhile, when behold, a damsel came out to me and said, 'O my lord,
+enter the vestibule; for it is a dishonour that thou shouldst sit at
+the gate.' Thereupon I arose and entered the vestibule and sat down on
+the settle there, and, as I sat, lo! another damsel came out and said
+to me, 'O my lord my mistress biddeth thee enter and sit down at the
+door of the saloon, to receive thy money.' I entered and sat down, nor
+had I sat a moment when behold, a curtain of silk which concealed a
+throne of gold was drawn aside, and I saw seated thereon the lady who
+had made the purchase, and round her neck she wore the necklace which
+looked pale and wan by the side of a face as it were the rounded moon;
+At her sight, my wit was troubled and my mind confounded, by reason of
+her exceeding beauty and loveliness, but when she saw me she rose from
+her throne and coming close up to me, said, 'O light of mine eyes, is
+every handsome one like thee pitiless to his mistress?' I answered, 'O
+my lady, beauty, all of it, is in thee and is but one of thy hidden
+charms.' And she rejoined, 'O Jeweller, know that I love thee and can
+hardly credit that I have brought thee hither.' Then she bent towards
+me and I kissed her and she kissed me and, as she caressed me, drew me
+towards her and to her breast she pressed me."—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Jeweller
+continued: "Then she bent towards me and kissed and caressed me; and,
+as she caressed me, drew me towards her and to her breast she pressed
+me. Now she knew by my condition that I had a mind to enjoy her; so she
+said to me, 'O my lord, wouldst thou foregather with me unlawfully? By
+Allah, may he not live who would do the like of this sin and who takes
+pleasure in talk unclean! I am a maid, a virgin whom no man hath
+approached, nor am I unknown in the city. Knowest thou who I am?' Quoth
+I, 'No, by Allah, O my lady!'; and quoth she, 'I am the Lady Dunyб,
+daughter of Yбhyб bin Khбlid the Barmecide and sister of Ja'afar, Wazir
+to the Caliph.' Now as I heard this, I drew back from her, saying, 'O
+my lady, it is no fault of mine if I have been over- bold with thee; it
+was thou didst encourage me to aspire to thy love, by giving me access
+to thee.' She answered, 'No harm shall befal-thee, and needs must thou
+attain thy desire in the only way pleasing to Allah. I am my own
+mistress and the Kazi shall act as my guardian in consenting to the
+marriage contract; for it is my will that I be to thee wife and thou be
+to me man.' Then she sent for the Kazi and the witnesses and busied
+herself with making ready; and, when they came, she said to them,
+'Mohammed Ali, bin Ali the Jeweller, seeketh me in wedlock and hath
+given me the necklace to my marriage-settlement; and I accept and
+consent.' So they wrote out the contract of marriage between us; and
+ere I went in to her the servants brought the wine-furniture and the
+cups passed round after the fairest fashion and the goodliest ordering;
+and, when the wine mounted to our heads, she ordered a damsel, a
+lute-player,[FN#199] to sing. So she took the lute and sang to a
+pleasing and stirring motive these couplets,
+
+'He comes; and fawn and branch and moon delight these eyne *
+
+
+     Fie[FN#200] on his heart who sleeps o' nights without repine
+
+
+Pair youth, for whom Heaven willed to quench in cheek one light,
+
+
+     * And left another light on other cheek bright li'en:
+
+
+I fain finesse my chiders when they mention him, * As though the
+
+
+     hearing of his name I would decline;
+
+
+And willing ear I lend when they of other speak; * Yet would my
+
+
+     soul within outflow in foods of brine:
+
+
+Beauty's own prophet, he is all a miracle * Of heavenly grace,
+
+
+     and greatest shows his face for sign.[FN#201]
+
+
+To prayer Bilбl-like cries that Mole upon his cheek * To ward
+
+
+     from pearly brow all eyes of ill design:[FN#202]
+
+
+The censors of their ignorance would my love dispel * But after
+
+
+     Faith I can't at once turn Infidel.'
+
+
+
+We were ravished by the sweet music she made striking the strings, and
+the beauty of the verses she sang; and the other damsels went on to
+sing and to recite one after another, till ten had so done; when the
+Lady Dunya took the lute and playing a lively measure, chanted these
+couplets,
+
+'I swear by swayings of that form so fair, * Aye from thy parting
+
+
+     fiery
+
+
+Pity a heart which burneth in thy love, * O bright as fullest
+
+
+     moon in blackest air!
+
+
+Vouchsafe thy boons to him who ne'er will cease * In light of
+
+
+     wine-cup all thy charms declare,
+
+
+Amid the roses which with varied hues * Are to the myrtle-
+
+
+    bush[FN#203] a mere despair.'
+
+
+
+When she had finished her verse I took the lute from her hands and,
+playing a quaint and not vulgar prelude sang the following verses,
+
+'Laud to my Lord who gave thee all of loveliness; * Myself amid
+
+
+     thy thralls I willingly confess:
+
+
+O thou, whose eyes and glances captivate mankind, * Pray that I
+
+
+     'scape those arrows shot with all thy stress!
+
+
+Two hostile rivals water and enflaming fire * Thy cheek hath
+
+
+     married, which for marvel I profess:
+
+
+Thou art Sa'нr in heart of me and eke Na'нm;[FN#204] * Thou agro-
+
+
+    dolce, eke heart's sweetest bitterness.'
+
+
+
+When she heard this my song she rejoiced with exceeding joy; then,
+dismissing her slave women, she brought me to a most goodly place,
+where they had spread us a bed of various colours. She did off her
+clothes and I had a lover's privacy of her and found her a pearl
+unpierced and a filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her and never in my
+born days spent I a more delicious night."—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed bin Ali
+the Jeweller continued: "So I went in unto the Lady Dunya, daughter of
+Yahya bin Khбlid the Barmecide, and I found her a pearl unthridden and
+a filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her and repeated these couplets,
+
+'O Night here stay! I want no morning light; * My lover's face to
+
+
+     me is lamp and light:[FN#205]
+
+
+As ring of ring-dove round his necks my arm; * And made my palm
+
+
+     his mouth-veil, and, twas right.
+
+
+This be the crown of bliss, and ne'er we'll cease * To clip, nor
+
+
+     care to be in other plight.'
+
+
+
+And I abode with her a whole month, forsaking shop and family and home,
+till one day she said to me, 'O light of my eyes, O my lord Mohammed, I
+have determined to go to the Hammam to day; so sit thou on this couch
+and rise not from thy place, till I return to thee.' 'I hear and I
+obey,' answered I, and she made me swear to this; after which she took
+her women and went off to the bath. But by Allah, O my brothers, she
+had not reached the head of the street ere the door opened and in came
+an old woman, who said to me, 'O my lord Mohammed, the Lady Zubaydah
+biddeth thee to her, for she hath heard of thy fine manners and
+accomplishments and skill in singing.' I answered, 'By Allah, I will
+not rise from my place till the Lady Dunya come back.' Rejoined the old
+woman, 'O my lord, do not anger the Lady Zubaydah with thee and vex her
+so as to make her thy foe: nay, rise up and speak with her and return
+to thy place.' So I rose at once and followed her into the presence of
+the Lady Zubaydah and, when I entered her presence she said to me, 'O
+light of the eye, art thou the Lady Dunya's beloved?' 'I am thy
+Mameluke, thy chattel,' replied I. Quoth she, 'Sooth spake he who
+reported thee possessed of beauty and grace and good breeding and every
+fine quality; indeed, thou surpassest all praise and all report. But
+now sing to me, that I may hear thee.' Quoth I, 'Hearkening and
+obedience;' so she brought me a lute, and I sang to it these couplets,
+
+'The hapless lover's heart is of his wooing weary grown, * And
+
+
+     hand of sickness wasted him till naught but skin and bone
+
+
+Who should be amid the riders which the haltered camels urge, *
+
+
+     But that same lover whose beloved cloth in the litters wone:
+
+
+To Allah's charge I leave that moon-like Beauty in your tents *
+
+
+     Whom my heart loves, albe my glance on her may ne'er be
+
+
+     thrown.
+
+
+Now she is fain; then she is fierce: how sweet her coyness shows;
+
+
+     * Yea sweet whatever cloth or saith to lover loved one!'
+
+
+
+When I had finished my song she said to me, 'Allah assain thy body and
+thy voice! Verily, thou art perfect in beauty and good breeding and
+singing. But now rise and return to thy place, ere the Lady Dunya come
+back, lest she find thee not and be wroth with thee.' Then I kissed the
+ground before her and the old woman forewent me till I reached the door
+whence I came. So I entered and, going up to the couch, found that my
+wife had come back from the bath and was lying asleep there. Seeing
+this I sat down at her feet and rubbed them; whereupon she opened her
+eyes and seeing me, drew up both her feet and gave me a kick that threw
+me off the couch,[FN#206] saying, 'O traitor, thou hast been false to
+thine oath and hast perjured thyself. Thou swarest to me that thou
+wouldst not rise from thy place; yet didst thou break thy promise and
+go to the Lady Zubaydah. By Allah, but that I fear public scandal, I
+would pull down her palace over her head!' Then said she to her black
+slave, 'O Sawбb, arise and strike off this lying traitor's head, for we
+have no further need of him.' So the slave came up to me and, tearing a
+strip from his skirt, bandaged with it my eyes[FN#207] and would have
+struck off my head;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed the
+Jeweller continued: "So the slave came up to me and, tearing a strip
+from his skirt, bandaged with it my eyes and would have struck off my
+head, but all her women, great and small, rose and came up to her and
+said to her, 'O our lady, this is not the first who hath erred: indeed,
+he knew not thy humour and hath done thee no offence deserving death.'
+Replied she, 'By Allah, I must needs set my mark on him.' And she bade
+them bash me; so they beat me on my ribs and the marks ye saw are the
+scars of that fustigation. Then she ordered them to cast me out, and
+they carried me to a distance from the house and threw me down like a
+log. After a time I rose and dragged myself little by little to my own
+place, where I sent for a surgeon and showed him my hurts; and he
+comforted me and did his best to cure me. As soon as I was recovered I
+went to the Hammam and, as my pains and sickness had left me, I
+repaired to my shop and took and sold all that was therein. With the
+proceeds, I bought me four hundred white slaves, such as no King ever
+got together, and caused two hundred of them to ride out with me every
+day. Then I made me yonder barge whereon I spent five thousand gold
+pieces; and styled myself Caliph and appointed each of my servants to
+the charge of some one of the Caliph's officers and clad him in
+official habit. Moreover, I made proclamation, 'Whoso goeth
+a-pleasuring on the Tigris by night, I will strike off his head,
+without ruth or delay;' and on such wise have I done this whole year
+past, during which time I have heard no news of the lady neither
+happened upon any trace of her." Then wept he copiously and repeated
+these couplets,
+
+"By Allah! while the days endure ne'er shall forget her I, * Nor
+
+
+     draw to any nigh save those who draw her to me nigh
+
+
+Like to the fullest moon her form and favour show to me, * Laud
+
+
+     to her All-creating Lord, laud to the Lord on high,
+
+
+She left me full of mourning, sleepless, sick with pine and pain
+
+
+     * And ceaseth not my heart to yearn her mystery[FN#208] to
+
+
+     espy."
+
+
+
+Now when Harun al-Rashid heard the young man's story and knew the
+passion and transport and love lowe that afflicted him, he was moved to
+compassion and wonder and said, "Glory be to Allah, who hath appointed
+to every effect a cause!" Then they craved the young man's permission
+to depart; which being granted, they took leave of him, the Caliph
+purposing to do him justice meet, and him with the utmost munificence
+entreat; and they returned to the palace of the Caliphate, where they
+changed clothes for others befitting their state and sat down, whilst
+Masrur the Sworder of High Justice stood before them. After awhile,
+quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, "O Wazir, bring me the young man'—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Two hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the Caliph
+to his Minister, "Bring me the young man with whom we were last night."
+"I hear and obey," answered Ja'afar and, going to the youth, saluted
+him, saying, "Obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful, the
+Caliph Harun al-Rashid." So he returned with him to the palace, in
+great anxiety by reason of the summons; and, going in to the King,
+kissed ground before him; and offered up a prayer for the endurance of
+his glory and prosperity, for the accomplishment of his desires, for
+the continuance of his beneficence and for the cessation of evil and
+punishment; ordering his speech as best he might and ending by saying,
+"Peace be on thee, O Prince of True Believers and Protector of the folk
+of the Faith!" Then he repeated these two couplets,
+
+"Kiss thou his fingers which no fingers are; * Keys of our daily
+
+
+     bread those fingers ken:
+
+
+And praise his actions which no actions are, * But precious
+
+
+     necklaces round necks of men."
+
+
+
+So the Caliph smiled in his face and returned his salute, looking on
+him with the eye of favour; then he bade him draw near and sit down
+before him and said to him, "O Mohammed Ali, I wish thee to tell me
+what befel thee last night, for it was strange and passing strange."
+Quoth the youth, "Pardon, O Commander of the Faithful, give me the
+kerchief of immunity, that my dread may be appeased and my heart
+eased." Replied the Caliph, "I promise thee safety from fear and woes."
+So the young man told him his story from first to last, whereby the
+Caliph knew him to be a lover and severed from his beloved and said to
+him, "Desirest thou that I restore her to thee?" "This were of the
+bounty of the Commander of the Faithful," answered the youth and
+repeated these two couplets.
+
+"Ne'er cease thy gate be Ka'abah to mankind; * Long may its
+
+
+     threshold dust man's brow beseem!
+
+
+That o'er all countries it may be proclaimed, * This is the Place
+
+
+     and thou art Ibrahim."[FN#209]
+
+
+
+Thereupon the Caliph turned to his Minister and said to him, "O
+Ja'afar, bring me thy sister, the Lady Dunya, daughter of the Wazir
+Yahya bin Khбlid!" "I hear and I obey," answered he and fetched her
+without let or delay. Now when she stood before the Caliph he said to
+her, "Doss thou know who this is?"; and she replied, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, how should women have knowledge of men?"[FN#210] So the
+Caliph smiled and said, "O Dunya this is thy beloved, Mohammed bin Ali
+the Jeweller. We are acquainted with his case, for we have heard the
+whole story from beginning to end, and have apprehended its inward and
+its outward; and it is no more hidden from me, for all it was kept in
+secrecy." Replied she, "O Commander of the Faithful, this was written
+in the Book of Destiny; I crave the forgiveness of Almighty Allah for
+the wrong I have wrought, and pray thee to pardon me of thy favour." At
+this the Caliph laughed and, summoning the Kazi and witnesses, renewed
+the marriage-contract between the Lady Dunya and her husband, Mohammed
+Ali son of the Jeweller, whereby there betided them, both her and him
+the utmost felicity, and to their enviers mortification and misery.
+Moreover, he made Mohammed Ali one of his boon-companions, and they
+abode in joy and cheer and gladness, till there came to them the
+Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. And men also
+relate the pleasant tale of
+
+
+
+ALI THE PERSIAN.
+
+It is said that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, being restless one night,
+sent for his Wazir and said to him, "O Ja'afar, I am sore wakeful and
+heavy-hearted this night, and I desire of thee what may solace my
+spirit and cause my breast to broaden with amuse meet." Quoth Ja'afar,
+"O Commander of the Faithful, I have a friend, by name Ali the Persian,
+who hath store of tales and plea sent stories, such as lighten the
+heart and make care depart." Quoth the Caliph, "Fetch him to me," and
+quoth Ja'afar, "Hearkening and obedience;" and, going out from before
+him, sent to seek Ali the Persian and when he came said to him, "Answer
+the summons of the Commander of the Faithful." "To hear is to obey,"
+answered Ali;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
+replied, "To hear is to obey;" and at once followed the Wazir into the
+presence of the Caliph who bade him be seated and said to him, "O Ali,
+my heart is heavy within me this night and it hath come to my ear that
+thou hast great store of tales and anecdotes; so I desire of thee that
+thou let me hear what will relieve my despondency and brighten my
+melancholy." Said he, "O Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee
+what I have seen with my eyes or what I have heard with my ears?" He
+replied, "An thou have seen aught worth the telling, let me hear that."
+Replied Ali: "Hearkening and obedience. Know thou, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that some years ago I left this my native city of Baghdad on
+a journey, having with me a lad who carried a light leathern bag.
+Presently we came to a certain city, where, as I was buying and
+selling, behold, a rascally Kurd fell on me and seized my wallet
+perforce, saying, 'This is my bag, and all which is in it is my
+property.' Thereupon, I cried aloud 'Ho Moslems,[FN#211] one and all,
+deliver me from the hand of the vilest of oppressors!' But the folk
+said, 'Come, both of you, to the Kazi and abide ye by his judgment with
+joint consent.' So I agreed to submit myself to such decision and we
+both presented ourselves before the Kazi, who said, 'What bringeth you
+hither and what is your case and your quarrel?' Quoth I, 'We are men at
+difference, who appeal to thee and make complaint and submit ourselves
+to thy judgment.' Asked the Kazi, 'Which of you is the complainant?';
+so the Kurd came forward[FN#212] and said, 'Allah preserve our lord the
+Kazi! Verily, this bag is my bag and all that is in it is my swag. It
+was lost from me and I found it with this man mine enemy.' The Kazi
+asked, 'When didst thou lose it?'; and the Kurd answered, 'But
+yesterday, and I passed a sleepless night by reason of its loss.' 'An
+it be thy bag,' quoth the Kazi, 'tell me what is in it.' Quoth the
+Kurd, 'There were in my bag two silver styles for eye-powder and
+antimony for the eyes and a kerchief for the hands, wherein I had laid
+two gilt cups and two candlesticks. Moreover it contained two tents and
+two platters and two spoons and a cushion and two leather rugs and two
+ewers and a brass tray and two basins and a cooking-pot and two water-
+jars and a ladle and a sacking-needle and a she-cat and two bitches and
+a wooden trencher and two sacks and two saddles and a gown and two fur
+pelisses and a cow and two calves and a she-goat and two sheep and an
+ewe and two lambs and two green pavilions and a camel and two
+she-camels and a lioness and two lions and a she-bear and two jackals
+and a mattress and two sofas and an upper chamber and two saloons and a
+portico and two sitting-rooms and a kitchen with two doors and a
+company of Kurds who will bear witness that the bag is my bag.' Then
+said the Kazi to me, 'And thou, sirrah, what sayest thou?' So I came
+forward, O Commander of the Faithful (and indeed the Kurd's speech had
+bewildered me) and said, 'Allah advance our lord the Kazi! Verily,
+there was naught in this my wallet, save a little ruined tenement and
+another without a door and a dog house and a boys' school and youths
+playing dice and tents and tent-ropes and the cities of Bassorah and
+Baghdad and the palace of Shaddad bin Ad and an ironsmith's forge and a
+fishing-net and cudgels and pickets and girls and boys and a thousand
+pimps who will testify that the bag is my bag.' Now when the Kurd heard
+my words, he wept and wailed and said, 'O my lord the Kazi, this my bag
+is known and what is in it is a matter of renown; for in this bag there
+be castles and citadels and cranes and beasts of prey and men playing
+chess and draughts. Furthermore, in this my bag is a brood-mare and two
+colts and a stallion and two blood-steeds and two long lances; and it
+containeth eke a lion and two hares and a city and two villages and a
+whore and two sharking panders and an hermaphrodite and two gallows
+birds and a blind man and two wights with good sight and a limping
+cripple and two lameters and a Christian ecclesiastic and two deacons
+and a patriarch and two monks and a Kazi and two assessors, who will be
+evidence that the bag is my bag.' Quoth the Kazi to me, 'And what sayst
+thou, O Ali?' So, O Commander of the Faithful, being filled with rage,
+I came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi!'"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
+continued: "So being filled with rage, O Commander of the Faithful, I
+came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi I had in this my
+wallet a coat of mail and a broadsword and armouries and a thousand
+fighting rams and a sheep-fold with its pasturage and a thousand
+barking dogs and gardens and vines and flowers and sweet smelling herbs
+and figs and apples and statues and pictures and flagons and goblets
+and fair-faced slave-girls and singing-women and marriage-feasts and
+tumult and clamour and great tracts of land and brothers of success,
+which were robbers, and a company of daybreak-raiders with swords and
+spears and bows and arrows and true friends and dear ones and Intimates
+and comrades and men imprisoned for punishment and cup-companions and a
+drum and flutes and flags and banners and boys and girls and brides (in
+all their wedding bravery), and singing-girls and five Abyssinian women
+and three Hindi maidens and four damsels of Al-Medinah and a score of
+Greek girls and eighty Kurdish dames and seventy Georgian ladies and
+Tigris and Euphrates and a fowling net and a flint and steel and
+Many-columned Iram and a thousand rogues and pimps and horse-courses
+and stables and mosques and baths and a builder and a carpenter and a
+plank and a nail and a black slave with his flageolet and a captain and
+a caravan leader and towns and cities and an hundred thousand dinars
+and Cufa and Anbбr[FN#213] and twenty chests full of stuffs and twenty
+storehouses for victuals and Gaza and Askalon and from Damietta to
+Al-Sawбn[FN#214]; and the palace of Kisra Anushirwan and the kingdom of
+Solomon and from Wadi Nu'umбn to the land of Khorasбn and Balkh and
+Ispahбn and from India to the Sudбn. Therein also (may Allah prolong
+the life of our lord the Kazi!) are doublets and cloths and a thousand
+sharp razors to shave off the Kazi's beard, except he fear my
+resentment and adjudge the bag to be my bag.' Now when the Kazi heard
+what I and the Kurd avouched, he was confounded and said, 'I see ye
+twain be none other than two pestilent fellows, atheistical-villains
+who make sport of Kazis and magistrates and stand not in fear of
+reproach. Never did tongue tell nor ear hear aught more extraordinary
+than that which ye pretend. By Allah, from China to Shajarat Umm
+Ghaylбn, nor from Fars to Sudan nor from Wadi Nu'uman to Khorasan, was
+ever heard the like of what ye avouch or credited the like of what ye
+affirm. Say, fellows, be this bag a bottomless sea or the Day of
+Resurrection that shall gather together the just and unjust?' Then the
+Kazi bade them open the bag; so I opened it and behold, there was in it
+bread and a lemon and cheese and olives. So I threw the bag down before
+the Kurd and ganged my gait." Now when the Caliph heard this tale from
+Ali the Persian, he laughed till he fell on his back and made him a
+handsome present.[FN#215] And men also relate a
+
+
+
+TALE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE SLAVE-GIRL AND THE IMAM ABU YUSUF.
+
+It is said that Ja'afar the Barmecide was one night carousing with Al
+Rashid, who said, "O Ja'afar, it hath reached me that thou hast bought
+such and such a slave-girl. Now I have long sought her for she is
+passing fair; and my heart is taken up with love of her, so do thou
+sell her to me." He replied, "I will not sell her, O Commander of the
+Faithful." Quoth he, "Then give her to me." Quoth the other, "Nor will
+I give her." Then Al-Rashid exclaimed, "Be Zubaydah triply divorced an
+thou shall not either sell or give her to me!" Then Ja'afar exclaimed,
+"Be my wife triply divorced an I either sell or give her to thee!"
+After awhile they recovered from their tipsiness and were aware of
+having fallen into a grave dilemma, but knew not by what device to
+extricate themselves. Then said Al-Rashid, "None can help us in this
+strait but AbÑŠ YÑŠsuf."[FN#216] So they sent for him, and this was in
+the middle of the night; and when the messenger reached him, he arose
+in alarm, saying to himself, "I should not be sent for at this tide and
+time, save by reason of some question of moment to Al-Islam." So he
+went out in haste and mounted his she-mule, saying to his servant,
+"Take the mule's nose-bag with thee; it may be she hath not finished
+her feed; and when we come to the Caliph's palace, put the bag on her,
+that she may eat what is left of her fodder, during the last of the
+night." And the man replied, "I hear and obey." Now when the Imam was
+admitted to the presence, Al-Rashid rose to receive him and seated him
+on the couch beside himself (where he was wont to seat none save the
+Kazi), and said to him, "We have not sent for thee at this untimely
+time and tide save to advise us upon a grave matter, which is such and
+such and wherewith we know not how to deal." And he expounded to him
+the case. Abu Yusuf answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, this is the
+easiest of things." Then he turned to Ja'afar and said, "O Ja'afar,
+sell half of her to the Commander of the Faithful and give him the
+other half; so shall ye both be quit of your oaths." The Caliph was
+delighted with this and both did as he prescribed. Then said Al-Rashid,
+"Bring me the girl at once,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun
+al-Rashid commanded, "Bring me the girl at once, for I long for her
+exceedingly." So they brought her and the Caliph said to Abu Yusuf, I
+have a mind to have her forthright, for I cannot bear to abstain from
+her during the prescribed period of purification; now how is this to be
+done?" Abu Yusuf replied, "Bring me one of thine own male slaves who
+hath never been manumitted." So they brought one and Abu Yusuf said,
+"Give me leave to marry her to him; then let him divorce her before
+consummation; and thus shall it be lawful for thee to lie with her
+before purification." This second expedient pleased the Caliph yet more
+than the first; he sent for the Mameluke and, whenas he came, said to
+the Kazi "I authorise thee to marry her to him." So the Imam proposed
+the marriage to the slave, who accepted it, and performed the ceremony;
+after which he said to the slave, "Divorce her, and thou shalt have an
+hundred dinars." But he replied, "I won't do this;" and the Imam went
+on to increase his offer, and the slave to refuse till he bid him a
+thousand dinars. Then the man asked him, "Doth it rest with me to
+divorce her, or with thee or with the Commander of the Faithful?" He
+answered, "It is in thy hand." "Then by Allah," quoth the slave, "I
+will never do it; no, never!" Hearing these words the Caliph was
+exceeding wroth and said to the Imam, "What is to be done, O Abu
+Yusuf?" Replied he, "Be not concerned, O Commander of the Faithful; the
+thing is easy. Make this slave the damsel's chattel." Quoth Al-Rashid,
+"I give him to her;" and the Imam said to the girl, "Say: I accept." So
+she said, I accept;" whereon quoth Abu Yusuf, "I pronounce separation
+from bed and board and divorce between them, for that he hath become
+her property, and so the marriage is annulled." With this, Al-Rashid
+rose to his feet and exclaimed, "It is the like of thee that shall be
+Kazi in my time." Then he called for sundry trays of gold and emptied
+them before Abu Yusuf, to whom he said, "Hast thou wherein to put
+this?" The Imam bethought him of the mule's nose-bag; so he sent for it
+and, filling it with gold, took it and went home. And on the morrow, he
+said to his friends, "There is no easier nor shorter road to the goods
+of this world and the next, than that of religious learning; for, see,
+I have gotten all this money by answering two or three questions." So
+consider thou, O polite reader,[FN#217] the pleasantness of this
+anecdote, for it compriseth divers goodly features, amongst which are
+the complaisance of Ja'afar to Al Rashid, and the wisdom of the Caliph
+who chose such a Kazi and the excellent learning of Abu Yusuf, may
+Almighty Allah have mercy on their souls one and all! And they also
+tell the
+
+
+
+TALE OF THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A THIEF.
+
+When Khбlid bin Abdallah al-Kasri[FN#218] was Emir of Bassorah, there
+came to him one day a company of men dragging a youth of exceeding
+beauty and lofty bearing and perfumed attire; whose aspect expressed
+good breeding, abundant wit and dignity of the gravest. They brought
+him before the Governor, who asked what it was and they replied, "This
+fellow is a thief, whom we caught last night in our dwelling-house."
+Whereupon Khбlid looked at him and was pleased with his
+well-favouredness and elegant aspect; so he said to the others, "Loose
+him," and going up to the young man, asked what he had to say for
+himself. He replied, "Verily the folk have spoken truly and the case is
+as they have said." Quoth Khбlid, "And what moved thee to this and thou
+so noble of port and comely of mien?" Quoth the other "The lust after
+worldly goods, and the ordinance of Allah (extolled exalted be He!)."
+Rejoined Khбlid, "Be thy mother bereaved of thee![FN#219] Hadst thou
+not, in thy fair face and sound sense and good breeding, what should
+restrain thee from thieving?" Answered the young man, "O Emir, leave
+this talk and proceed to what Almighty Allah hath ordained; this is
+what my hands have earned, and, 'God is not unjust towards
+mankind.'"[FN#220] So Khбlid was silent awhile considering the matter
+then he bade the young man draw near him and said, "Verily, thy
+confession before witnesses perplexeth me, for I cannot believe thee to
+be a thief: haply thou hast some story that is other than one of theft;
+and if so tell it me." Replied the youth "O Emir, imagine naught other
+than what I have confessed to in thy presence; for I have no tale to
+tell save that verily I entered these folks' house and stole what I
+could lay hands on and they caught me and took the stuff from me and
+carried me before thee." Then Khalid bade clap him in gaol and
+commended a crier to cry throughout Bassorah, "O yes! O yes! Whoso be
+minded to look upon the punishment of such an one, the thief, and the
+cutting-off of his hand, let him be present to- morrow morning at such
+a place!" Now when the young man found himself in prison, with irons on
+his feet, he sighed heavily and with tears streaming from his eyes
+extemporized these couplets,
+
+"When Khбlid menaced off to strike my hand * If I refuse to tell
+
+
+     him of her case;
+
+
+Quoth I, 'Far, far fro' me that I should tell * A love, which
+
+
+     ever shall my heart engrace;
+
+
+Loss of my hand for sin I have confessed * To me were easier than
+
+
+     to shame her face.'"
+
+
+
+The warders heard him and went and told Khбlid who, when it was dark
+night, sent for the youth and conversed with him. He found him clever
+and well-bred, intelligent, lively and a pleasant companion; so he
+ordered him food and he ate. Then after an hour's talk said Khбlid, "I
+know indeed thou hast a story to tell that is no thief's; so when the
+Kazi shall come to-morrow morning and shall question thee about this
+robbery, do thou deny the charge of theft and avouch what may avert the
+pain and penalty of cutting off thy hand; for the Apostle (whom Allah
+bless and keep!) saith, 'In cases of doubt, eschew punishment.'" Then
+he sent him back to prison,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khбlid, after
+conversing with the youth, sent him back to prison, where he passed the
+night. And when morning dawned the folk assembled to see his hand cut
+off, nor was there a soul in Bassorah, man or woman, but was present to
+look upon the punishment of that handsome youth. Then Khбlid mounted in
+company of the notables of the city and others; and, summoning all four
+Kazis, sent for the young man, who came hobbling and stumbling in his
+fetters. There was none saw him but wept over him and the women all
+lifted up their voices in lamentation as for the dead. Then the Kazi
+bade silence the women and said to the prisoner, "These folk avouch
+that thou didst enter their dwelling-house and steal their goods:
+belike thou stolest less than a quarter dinar[FN#221]?" Replied he,
+"Nay, I stole that and more." "Peradventure," rejoined the Kazi "thou
+art partner with the folk in some of the goods?" Quoth the young man;
+"Not so: it was all theirs, and I had no right in it." At this the
+Khбlid was wroth and rose and smote him on the face with his whip,
+applying to his own case this couplet,
+
+"Man wills his wish to him accorded be; * But Allah naught accords save
+what He wills."
+
+Then he called for the butcher to do the work, who came and drew forth
+his knife and taking the prisoner's hand set the blade to it, when,
+behold, a damsel pressed through the crowd of women, clad in tattered
+clothes,[FN#222] and cried out and threw herself on the young man. Then
+she unveiled and showed a face like the moon whereupon the people
+raised a mighty clamour and there was like to have been a riot amongst
+them and a violent scene. But she cried out her loudest, saying, "I
+conjure thee, by Allah, O Emir, hasten not to cut off this man's hand,
+till thou have read what is in this scroll!" So saying, she gave him a
+scroll, and Khбlid took it and opened it and read therein these
+couplets,
+
+"Ah Khбlid! this one is a slave of love distraught, * And these
+
+
+     bowed eye-lashes sent shaft that caused his grief:
+
+
+Shot him an arrow sped by eyes of mine, for he, * Wedded to
+
+
+     burning love of ills hath no relief:
+
+
+He hath avowed a deed he never did, the while * Deeming this
+
+
+     better than disgrace of lover fief:
+
+
+Bear then, I pray, with this distracted lover mine * Whose noble
+
+
+     nature falsely calls himself a thief!"
+
+
+
+When Khбlid had read these lines he withdrew himself from the people
+and summoned the girl and questioned her; and she told him that the
+young man was her lover and she his mistress; and that thinking to
+visit her he came to the dwelling of her people and threw a stone into
+the house, to warn her of his coming. Her father and brothers heard the
+noise of the stone and sallied out on him; but he, hearing them coming,
+caught up all the household stuff and made himself appear a robber to
+cover his mistress's honour. "Now when they saw him they seized him
+(continued she), crying:—A thief! and brought him before thee,
+whereupon he confessed to the robbery and persisted in his confession,
+that he might spare me disgrace; and this he did, making himself a
+thief, of the exceeding nobility and generosity of his nature." Khбlid
+answered, "He is indeed worthy to have his desire;" and, calling the
+young man to him, kissed him between the eyes. Then he sent for the
+girl's father and bespoke him, saying, "O Shaykh, we thought to carry
+out the law of mutilation in the case of this young man; but Allah (to
+whom be Honour and Glory!) hath preserved us from this, and I now
+adjudge him the sum of ten thousand dirhams, for that he would have
+given his hand for the preservation of thine honour and that of thy
+daughter and for the sparing of shame to you both. Moreover, I adjudge
+other ten thousand dirhams to thy daughter, for that she made known to
+me the truth of the case; and I ask thy leave to marry her to him."
+Rejoined the old man, "O Emir, thou hast my consent." So Khбlid praised
+Allah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly
+sermon and a prayerful;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khбlid praised
+Allah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly
+sermon and a prayerful; after which he said to the young man, "I give
+thee to wife the damsel, such an one here present, with her own
+permission and her father's consent; and her wedding settlement shall
+be this money, to wit, ten thousand dirhams." "I accept this marriage
+at thy hands," replied the youth; and Khбlid bade them carry the money
+on brass trays in procession to the young man's house, whilst the
+people dispersed, fully satisfied. "And surely (quoth he who tells the
+tale[FN#223]) never saw I a rarer day than this, for that it began with
+tears and annoy; and it ended with smiles and joy." And in contrast of
+this story is this piteous tale of
+
+
+
+JA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN SELLER.
+
+When Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja'afar the Barmecide[FN#224] he
+commended that all who wept or made moan for him should also be
+crucified; so the folk abstained from that. Now it chanced that a wild
+Arab, who dwelt in a distant word, used every year to bring to the
+aforesaid Ja'afar an ode[FN#225] in his honour, for which he rewarded
+him with a thousand dinars; and the Badawi took them and, returning to
+his own country, lived upon them, he and his family, for the rest of
+the year. Accordingly, he came with his ode at the wonted time and,
+finding that Ja'afar had been crucified, betook himself to the place
+where his body was hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and
+wept with sore weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he
+recited his ode and fell asleep. Presently Ja'afar the Barmecide
+appeared to him in a vision and said, "Verily thou hast wearied thyself
+to come to us and findest us as thou seest; but go to Bassorah and ask
+for a man there whose name is such and such, one of the merchants of
+the town, and say to him, 'Ja'afar, the Barmecide, saluteth thee and
+biddeth thee give me a thousand dinars, by the token of the bean.'" Now
+when the wild Arab awoke, he repaired to Bassorah, where he sought out
+the merchant and found him and repeated to him what Ja'afar had said in
+the dream; whereupon he wept with weeping so sore that he was like to
+depart the world. Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his
+side and made his stay pleasant and entertained him three days as an
+honoured guest; and when he was minded to depart he gave him a thousand
+and five hundred dinars, saying, "The thousand are what is commanded to
+thee, and the five hundred are a gift from me to thee; and every year
+thou shalt have of me a thousand gold pieces." Now when the Arab was
+about to take leave, he said to the merchant, "Allah upon thee, tell me
+the story of the bean, that I may know the origin of all this." He
+answered: "In the early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot
+beans[FN#226] about the streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went
+out one raw and rainy day, without clothes enough on my body to protect
+me from the weather; now shivering for excess of cold and now stumbling
+into the pools of rain-water, and altogether in so piteous a plight as
+would make one shudder with goose-skin to look upon. But it chanced
+that Ja'afar that day was seated with his officers and his concubines,
+in an upper chamber overlooking the street when his eyes fell on me; so
+he took pity on my case and, sending one of his dependents to fetch me
+to him, said as soon as he saw me, 'Sell thy beans to my people.' So I
+began to mete out the beans with a measure I had by me; and each who
+took a measure of beans filled the measure with gold pieces till all my
+store was gone and my basket was clean empty. Then I gathered together
+the gold I had gotten, and Ja'afar said to me, 'Hast thou any beans
+left?' 'I know not,' answered I, and then sought in the basket, but
+found only one bean. So Ja'afar took from me the single bean and,
+splitting it in twain, kept one half himself and gave the other to one
+of his concubines, saying, 'For how much wilt thou buy this half bean?'
+She replied, 'For the tale of all this gold twice-told;' whereat I was
+confounded and said to myself, 'This is impossible.' But, as I stood
+wondering, behold, she gave an order to one of her hand-maids and the
+girl brought me the sum of the collected monies twice-told. Then said
+Ja'afar, 'And I will buy the half I have by me for double the sum of
+the whole,' presently adding, 'Now take the price of thy bean.' And he
+gave an order to one of his servants, who gathered together the whole
+of the money and laid it in my basket; and I took it and went my ways.
+Then I betook myself to Bassorah, where I traded with the monies and
+Allah prospered me amply, to Him be the praise and the thanks! So, if I
+give thee every year a thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja'afar, it
+will in no wise injure me. Consider then the munificence of Ja'afar's
+nature and how he was praised both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah
+Almighty be upon him! And men also recount the tale of
+
+
+
+ABU MOHAMMED HIGHT LAZYBONES.
+
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid was sitting one day on the throne of
+the Caliphate, when there came in to him a youth of his eunuchry,
+bearing a crown of red gold, set with pearls and rubies and all manner
+of other gems and jewels, such as money might not buy; and, bussing the
+ground between his hands, said, "O Commander of the Faithful, the Lady
+Zubaydah kisseth the earth before thee"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. Whereupon quoth her
+sister Dunyazad, "How pleasant is thy tale and profitable; and how
+sweet is thy speech and how delectable!" "And where is this," replied
+Shahrazad, "compared with what I shall tell you next night an I live
+and the King grant me leave!" Thereupon quoth the King to himself, "By
+Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the end of her tale."
+
+When it was the Three Hundredth Night,
+
+Quoth Dunyazad, "favour us, O my sister, with thy tale," and she
+replied, 'With joy and good will, if the King accord me leave;"
+whereupon the King said, "Tell thy tale, O Shahrazad." So she pursued:
+It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth said to the
+Caliph, "The Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before thee and saith to
+thee, Thou knowest she hath bidden make this crown, which lacketh a
+great jewel for its dome-top; and she hath made search among her
+treasures, but cannot find a jewel of size to suit her mind." Quoth the
+Caliph to his Chamberlains and Viceregents, Make search for a great
+jewel, such as Zubaydah desireth." So they sought, but found nothing
+befitting her and told the Caliph who, vexed and annoyed thereat,
+exclaimed, "How am I Caliph and King of the Kings of the earth and
+cannot find so small a matter as a jewel? Woe to you! Ask of the
+merchants." So they enquired of the traders, who replied, "Our lord the
+Caliph will not find a jewel such as he requireth save with a man of
+Bassorah, by name AbÑŠ Mohammed highs Lazybones." Thereupon they
+acquainted the Caliph with this and he bade his Wazir Ja'afar send a
+note to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydн, Governor of Bassorah, commanding
+him to equip Abu Mohammed Lazybones and bring him into the presence of
+the Commander of the Faithful. The Minister accordingly wrote a note to
+that effect and despatched it by Masrur, who set out forthright for the
+city of Bassorah, and went in to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydi, who
+rejoiced in him and treated him with the high-most honour. Then Masrur
+read him the mandate of the Prince of True Believers, Harun al-Rashid,
+to which he replied, "I hear and I obey," and forthwith despatched him,
+with a company of his followers, to Abu Mohammed's house. When they
+reached it, they knocked at the door, whereupon a page came out and
+Masrur said to him, "Tell thy lord, The Commander of the Faithful
+summoneth thee." The servant went in and told his master, who came out
+and found Masrur, the Caliph's Chamberlain, and a company of the
+Governor's men at the door. So he kissed ground before Masrur and said,
+"I hear and obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful; but
+first enter ye my house." They replied, "We cannot do that, save in
+haste; even as the Prince of True Believers commanded us, for he
+awaiteth thy coming." But he said, "Have patience with me a little,
+till I set my affairs in order." So after much pressure and abundant
+persuasion, they entered the house with him and found the vestibule
+hung with curtains of azure brocade, purfled with red gold, and Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones bade one of his servants carry Masrur to the private
+Hammam. Now this bath was in the house and Masrur found its walls and
+floors of rare and precious marbles, wrought with gold and silver, and
+its waters mingled with rose-water. Then the servants served Masrur and
+his company with the perfection of service; and, on their going forth
+of the Hammam, clad them in robes of honour, brocade-work interwoven
+with gold. And after leaving the bath Masrur and his men went in to Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones and found him seated in his upper chamber; and over
+his head hung curtains of gold-brocade, wrought with pearls and jewels,
+and the pavilion was spread with cushions, embroidered in red gold. Now
+the owner was sitting softly upon a quilted cloth covering a settee
+inlaid with stones of price; and, when he saw Masrur, he went forward
+to meet him and bidding him welcome, seated him by his side. Then he
+called for the food-trays; so they brought them, and when Masrur saw
+the tables, he exclaimed, "By Allah, never did I behold the like of
+these appointments in the palace of the Commander of the Faithful!" For
+indeed the trays contained every manner of meat all served in dishes of
+gilded porcelain.[FN#227] "So we ate and drank and made merry till the
+end of the day (quoth Masrur) when the host gave to each and every of
+us five thousand dinars, and on the morrow he clad us in dresses of
+honour of green and gold and entreated us with the utmost worship."
+Then said Masrur to him, "We can tarry no longer for fear of the
+Caliph's displeasure." Answered Abu Mohammed Lazybones, "O my lord,
+have patience with us till the morrow, that we may equip ourselves, and
+we will then depart with you." So they tarried with him that day and
+slept the night; and next morning Abu Mohammed's servants saddled him a
+she mule with selle and trappings of gold, set with all manner of
+pearls and stones of price; whereupon quoth Masrur to himself, "I
+wonder, when Abu Mohammed shall present himself in such equipage, if
+the Caliph will ask him how he came by all this wealth." Thereupon they
+took leave of Al-Zubaydi and, setting out from Bassorah, fared on,
+without ceasing to fare till they reached Baghdad-city and presented
+themselves before the Caliph, who bade Abu Mohammed be seated. He sat
+down and addressed the Caliph in courtly phrase, saying, "O Commander
+of the Faithful, I have brought with me an humble offering by way of
+homage: have I thy gracious permission to produce it?" Al-Rashid
+replied, "There is no harm in that,"[FN#228] whereupon Abu Mohammed
+bade his men bring in a chest, from which he took a number of rarities,
+and amongst the rest, trees of gold with leaves of white
+emeraid,[FN#229] and fruits of pigeon blood rubies and topazes and new
+pearls and bright. And as the Caliph was struck with admiration he
+fetched a second chest and brought out of it a tent of brocade, crowned
+with pearls and jacinths and emeralds and jaspers and other precious
+stones; its poles were of freshly cut Hindi aloes-wood, and its skirts
+were set with the greenest smaragds. Thereon were depicted all manner
+of animals such as beasts and birds, spangled with precious stones,
+rubies, emeralds, chrysolites and balasses and every kind of precious
+metal. Now when Al-Rashid saw these things, he rejoiced with exceeding
+joy and Abu Mohammed Lazybones said to him, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, deem not that I have brought these to thee, fearing aught or
+coveting anything; but I knew myself to be but a man of the people and
+that such things befitted none save the Commander of the Faithful. And
+now, with thy leave, I will show thee, for thy diversion, something of
+what I can do." Al-Rashid replied, "Do what thou wilt, that we may
+see." "To hear is to obey," said Abu Mohammed and, moving his lips,
+beckoned the palace battlements,[FN#230] whereupon they inclined to
+him; then he made another sign to them, and they returned to their
+place. Presently he made a sign with his eye, and there appeared before
+him closets with closed doors, to which he spoke, and lo! the voices of
+birds answered him from within. The Caliph marvelled with passing
+marvel at this and said to him, "How camest thou by all this, seeing
+that thou art known only as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and they tell me
+that thy father was a cupper serving in a public Hammam, who left thee
+nothing?" Whereupon he answered, "Listen to my story" And Shahrazed
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and First Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed
+Lazybones thus spake to the Caliph: "O Prince of True Believers, listen
+to my story, for it is a marvellous and its particulars are wondrous;
+were it graven with graver-needles upon the eye-corners it were a
+warner to whose would be warned." Quoth Al-Rashid, "Let us hear all
+thou hast to say, O Abu Mohammed!" So he began "Know then, O Commander
+of the Faithful (Allah prolong to thee glory and dominion!), the report
+of the folk; that I am known as the Lazybones and that my father left
+me nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but a
+barber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the idlest
+wight on the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my sluggishness
+that, if I lay at full length in the sultry season and the sun came
+round upon me, I was too lazy to rise and remove from the sun to the
+shade. And thus I abode till I reached my fifteenth year, when my
+father deceased in the mercy of Allah Almighty and left me nothing.
+However, my mother used to go out a-charing and feed me and give me to
+drink, whilst I lay on my side. Now it came to pass that one day she
+came in to me with five silver dirhams, and said to me, 'O my son, I
+hear that Shaykh AbÑŠ al-Muzaffar[FN#231] is about to go a voyage to
+China.' (Now this Shaykh was a good and charitable man who loved the
+poor.) 'So come, my son, take these five silver bits; and let us both
+carry them to him and beg him to buy thee therewith somewhat from the
+land of China; so haply thou mayst make a profit of it by the bounty of
+Allah, whose name be exalted!' I was too idle to move for her; but she
+swore by the Almighty that, except I rose and went with her, she would
+bring me neither meat nor drink nor come in to me, but would leave me
+to die of hunger and thirst. Now when I heard her words, O Commander of
+the Faithful, I knew she would do as she threatened for her knowledge
+of my sluggishness; so I said to her, 'Help me to sit up.' She did so,
+and I wept the while and said to her, 'Bring me my shoes.' Accordingly,
+she brought them and I said, 'Put them on my feet.' She put them on my
+feet and I said, 'Lift me up off the ground.' So she lifted me up and I
+said, 'Support me, that I may walk.' So she supported me and I
+continued to fare a foot, at times stumbling over my skirts, till we
+came to the river bank, where we saluted the Shaykh and I said to him,
+'O my uncle, art thou Abu al-Muzaffar?' 'At thy service,' answered he,
+and I, 'Take these dirhams and with them buy me somewhat from the land
+of China: haply Allah may vouchsafe me a profit of it.' Quoth the
+Shaykh to his companions, 'Do ye know this youth?' They answered, 'Yes,
+he is known as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and we never saw him stir from
+his house till this moment.' Then said he to me, 'O my son, give me the
+silver with the blessing of Almighty Allah!' So he took the money,
+saying, 'Bismillah in the name of Allah!' and I returned home with my
+mother. Presently Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar set sail, with a company of
+merchants, and stayed not till they reached the land of China, where he
+and his bought and sold; and, having won what they wished, set out on
+their homeward voyage. When they had been three days at sea, the Shaykh
+said to his company, 'Stay the vessel!' They asked, 'What dost thou
+want?' and he answered, 'Know that I have forgotten the commission
+wherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones charged me; so let us turn back that
+we may lay out his money on somewhat whereby he may profit.' They
+cried, 'We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty turn not back with us; for
+we have traversed a long distance and a sore, and while so doing we
+have endured sad hardship and many terrors.' Quoth he, 'There is no
+help for it but we return;' and they said, 'Take from us double the
+profit of the five dirhams, and turn us not back.' He agreed to this
+and they collected for him an ample sum of money. Thereupon they sailed
+on, till they came to an island wherein was much people; when they
+moored thereto and the merchants went ashore, to buy thence a stock of
+precious metals and pearls and jewels and so forth. Presently Abu
+al-Muzaffar saw a man seated, with many apes before him, and amongst
+them one whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as their owner's
+attention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon the plucked
+one and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon the man rose
+and bashed them and bound them and punished them for this; and all the
+apes were wroth with the plucked ape on this account and funded him the
+more. When Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar saw this, he felt for and took
+compassion upon the plucked ape and said to his master, 'Wilt thou sell
+me yonder monkey?' Replied the man, 'Buy,' and Abu al-Muzaffar
+rejoined, 'I have with me five dirhams, belonging to an orphan lad.
+Wilt thou sell it me for that sum?' Answered the monkey-merchant, 'It
+is a bargain; and Allah give thee a blessing of him!' So he made over
+the beast and received his money; and the Shaykh's slaves took the ape
+and tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for another
+island, where they cast anchor; and there came down divers, who plunged
+for precious stones, pearls and other gems; so the merchants hired them
+to dive for money and they dived. Now when the ape saw them doing this,
+he loosed himself from his bonds and, jumping off the ship's side,
+plunged with them, whereupon quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, 'There is no
+Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
+The monkey is lost to us with the luck of the poor fellow for whom we
+bought him.' And they despaired of him; but, after a while, the company
+of divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was the ape, with
+his hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down before Abu
+al-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said, 'There is much
+mystery in this monkey!' Then they cast off and sailed till they came
+to a third island, called the Isle of the ZunÑŠj,[FN#232] who are a
+people of the blacks, which eat the flesh of the sons of Adam. When the
+blacks saw them, they boarded them in dug-outs[FN#233] and, taking all
+in the vessel, pinioned them and carried them to their King, who bade
+slaughter certain of the merchants. So they slaughtered them by cutting
+their throats and ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders passed
+the night in bonds and were in sore concern. But when it was midnight,
+the ape arose and going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed his bonds; and,
+as the others saw him free, they said, 'Allah grant our deliverance may
+be at thy hands, O Abu al-Muzaffar!' But he replied, 'Know that he who
+delivered me, by leave of Allah Almighty, was none other than this
+monkey'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Muzaffar
+declared, "None loosed me, by leave of Allah Al-mighty, save this
+monkey and I buy my release of him at a thousand dinars!" whereupon the
+merchants rejoined, 'And we likewise, each and every, will pay him a
+thousand dinars if he release us.' With this the ape arose and went up
+to them and loosed their bonds one by one, till he had freed them all,
+when they made for the vessel and boarding her, found all safe and
+nothing missing from her. So they cast off and set sail; and presently
+Abu al-Muzaffar said to them, 'O merchants, fulfil your promise to the
+monkey.' 'We hear and we obey,' answered they; and each one paid him
+one thousand dinars, whilst Abu al-Muzaffar brought out to him the like
+sum of his own monies, so that a great heap of coin was collected for
+the ape. Then they fared on till they reached Bassorah-city where their
+friends came out to meet them; and when they had landed, the Shaykh
+said, 'Where is Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' The news reached my mother,
+who came to me as I lay asleep and said to me, 'O my son, verily the
+Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar hath come back and is now in the city; so rise
+and go thou to him and salute him and enquire what he hath brought
+thee; it may be Allah Almighty have opened to thee the door of fortune
+with somewhat.' Quoth I, 'Lift me from the ground and prop me up,
+whilst I go forth and walk to the river bank.' After which I went out
+and walked on, stumbling over my skirts, till I met the Shaykh, who
+exclaimed at sight of me, 'Welcome to him whose money hath been the
+means of my release and that of these merchants, by the will of
+Almighty Allah.' Then he continued, 'Take this monkey I bought for thee
+and carry him home and wait till I come to thee.' So I took the ape and
+went off, saying in my mind, 'By Allah, this is naught but rare
+merchandise!' and led it home, where I said to my mother, 'Whenever I
+lie down to sleep, thou biddest me rise and trade; see now this
+merchandise with thine own eyes.' Then I sat me down and as I sat, up
+came the slaves of Abu al-Muzaffar and said to me, 'Art thou Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes' answered I; and behold, Abu al-Muzaffar
+appeared behind them. So I rose up to him and kissed his hands: and he
+said, 'Come with me to my home.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I
+and accompanied him to his house, where he bade his servants bring me
+what money the monkey had earned for me. So they brought it and he said
+to me, 'O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with this wealth, by way of
+profit on thy five dirhams.' Then the slaves set down the treasure in
+chests, which they had carried on their heads, and Abu al-Muzaffar gave
+me the keys saying, 'Go before the slaves to thy house; for in sooth
+all this wealth is thine.' So I returned to my mother, who rejoiced in
+this and said to me, 'O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with all these
+riches; so put off thy laziness and go down to the bazar and sell and
+buy.' At once I shook off my dull sloth, and opened a shop in the
+bazar, where the ape used to sit on the same divan with me eating with
+me when I ate and drinking when I drank. But, every day, he was absent
+from dawn till noon, when he came back bringing with him a purse of a
+thousand dinars, which he laid by my side, and sat down; and he ceased
+not so doing for a great while, till I amassed much wealth, wherewith,
+O Commander of the Faithful, I purchased houses and lands, and I
+planted gardens and I bought me white slaves and negroes and
+concubines. Now it came to pass one day, as I sat in my shop, with the
+ape sitting at my side on the same carpet, behold, he began to turn
+right and left, and I said to myself, 'What aileth the beast?' Then
+Allah made the ape speak with a ready tongue, and he said to me, 'O Abu
+Mohammed!' Now when I heard him speak, I was sore afraid; but he said
+to me, 'Fear not; I will tell thee my case. I am a Marid of the Jinn
+and came to thee because of thy poor estate; but today thou knowest not
+the amount of thy wealth; and now I have need of thee and if thou do my
+will, it shall be well for thee.' I asked, 'What is it?' and he
+answered, 'I have a mind to marry thee to a girl like the full moon.'
+Quoth I, 'How so?'; and quoth he, 'Tomorrow don thou thy richest dress
+and mount thy mule, with the saddle of gold and ride to the Haymarket.
+There enquire for the shop of the Sharif[FN#234] and sit down beside
+him and say to him, 'I come to thee as a suitor craving thy daughter's
+hand.' 'If he say to thee, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor
+family'; pull out a thousand dinars and give them to him, and if he ask
+more, give him more and tempt him with money.' Whereto I replied, 'To
+hear is to obey; I will do thy bidding, Inshallah!' So on the next
+morning I donned my richest clothes, mounted my she mule with trappings
+of gold and rode to the Haymarket where I asked for the Sharif's shop,
+and finding him there seated, alighted and saluted him and seated
+myself beside him"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed
+Lazybones continued: "So I alighted and, saluting him, seated myself
+beside him, and my Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood before me. Said the
+Sharif, 'Haply, thou hast some business with us which we may have
+pleasure of transacting?' Replied I, 'Yes, I have business with thee.'
+Asked he, 'And what is it?'; and I answered, 'I come to thee as a
+suitor for thy daughter's hand.' So he said, 'Thou hast neither cash
+nor rank nor family;' whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand
+dinars, red gold, and said to him, 'This is my rank[FN#235] and my
+family; and he (whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said, The best of
+ranks is wealth. And how well quoth the poet,
+
+'Whoso two dithams hath, his lips have learnt * Speech of all
+
+
+     kinds with eloquence bedight:
+
+
+Draw near[FN#236] his brethren and crave ear of him, * And him
+
+
+     thou seest haught in pride-full height:
+
+
+Were 't not for dirhams wherein glories he, * Hadst found him
+
+
+     'mid man kind in sorry plight.
+
+
+When richard errs in words they all reply, * "Sooth thou hast
+
+
+     spoken and hast said aright!"
+
+
+When pauper speaketh truly all reply * 'Thou liest;' and they
+
+
+     hold his sayings light.[FN#237]
+
+
+Verily dirhams in earth's every stead * Clothe men with rank and
+
+
+     make them fair to sight
+
+
+Gold is the very tongue of eloquence; * Gold is the best of arms
+
+
+     for might who'd fight!'
+
+
+
+Now when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse, he
+bowed his head awhile groundwards then raising it, said, 'If it must be
+so, I will have of thee other three thousand gold pieces.' 'I hear and
+I obey,' answered I, and sent one of my Mamelukes home for the money.
+As soon as he came back with it, I handed it to the Sharif who, when he
+saw it in his hands, rose, and bidding his servants shut his shop,
+invited his brother merchants of the bazar the wedding; after which he
+carried me to his house and wrote out my contract of marriage with his
+daughter saying to me, 'After ten days, I will bring thee to pay her
+the first visit.' So I went home rejoicing and, shutting myself up with
+the ape, told him what had passed; and he said 'Thou hast done well.'
+Now when the time appointed by the Sharif drew near, the ape said to
+me, 'There is a thing I would have thee do for me; and thou shalt have
+of me (when it is done) whatso thou wilt.' I asked, 'What is that?' and
+he answered, 'At the upper end of the chamber wherein thou shalt meet
+thy bride, the Sharif's daughter, stands a cabinet, on whose door is a
+ring-padlock of copper and the keys under it. Take the keys and open
+the cabinet in which thou shalt find a coffer of iron with four flags,
+which are talismans, at its corners; and in its midst stands a brazen
+basin full of money, wherein is tied a white cock with a cleft comb;
+while on one side of the coffer are eleven serpents and on the other a
+knife. Take the knife and slaughter the cock; cut away the flags and
+upset the chest, then go back to the bride and do away her maidenhead.
+This is what I have to ask of thee.' 'Hearkening and obedience,'
+answered I, and betook myself to the house of the Sharif. So as soon as
+I entered the bride-chamber, I looked for the cabinet and found it even
+as the ape had described it. Then I went in unto the bride and
+marvelled at her beauty and loveliness and stature and
+symmetrical-grace, for indeed they were such as no tongue can set
+forth. I rejoiced in her with exceeding joy; and in the middle of the
+night, when my bride slept, I rose and, taking the keys, opened the
+cabinet. Then I seized the knife and slew the cock and threw down the
+flags and upset the coffer, whereupon the girl awoke and, seeing the
+closet open and the cock with cut throat, exclaimed, 'There is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
+The Marid hath got hold of me!' Hardly had she made an end of speaking,
+when the Marid swooped down upon the house and, snatching up the bride,
+flew away with her; whereupon there arose a mighty clamour and behold,
+in came the Sharif, buffetting his face and crying, 'O Abu Mohammed,
+what is this deed thou hast done? Is it thus thou requiitest us? I made
+this talisman in the cabinet fearing for my daughter from this accursed
+one who, for these six years, hath sought to steal-away the girl, but
+could not. But now there is no more abiding for thee with us, so wend
+thy ways.' Thereupon I went forth and returned to my own house, where I
+made search for the ape but could not find him nor any trace of him;
+whereby I knew that it was he who was the Marid, and that he had
+carried off my wife and had tricked me into destroying the talisman and
+the cock, the two things which hindered him from taking her, and I
+repented, rending my raiment and cuffing my face. And there was no land
+but was straitened upon me; so I made for the desert forthright and
+ceased not wandering on till night overtook me, for I knew not whither
+I was going. And whilst I was deep in sad thought behold, I met two
+serpents, one tawny and the other white, and they were fighting to kill
+each other. So I took up a stone and with one cast slew the tawny
+serpent, which was the aggressor; whereupon the white serpent glided
+away and was absent for a while, but presently she returned accompanied
+by ten other white serpents which glided up to the dead serpent and
+tore her in pieces, so that only the head was left. Then they went
+their ways and I fell prostrate for weariness on the ground where I
+stood; but as I lay, pondering my case lo! I heard a Voice though I saw
+no one and the Voice versified with these two couplets,
+
+'Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, * Nor pass the
+
+
+     night with mind which cares an ace
+
+
+Between eye-closing and its opening, * Allah can foulest change
+
+
+     to fairest case.'
+
+
+
+Now when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern get
+hold of me and I was beyond measure troubled, and behold, I heard a
+Voice from behind me extemporise these couplets,
+
+'O Moslem! thou whose guide is Alcorбn, * Joy in what brought
+
+
+     safe peace to thee, O man.
+
+
+Fear not what Satan haply whispered thee, * And in us see a
+
+
+     Truth-believing
+
+
+
+Then said I, 'I conjure thee, by the truth of Him thou wore shippest,
+let me know who thou art!' Thereupon the Invisible Speaker assumed the
+form of a man and said, 'Fear not; for the report of thy good deed hath
+reached us, and we are a people of the true-believing Jinn. So, if thou
+lack aught, let us know it that we may have the pleasure of fulfilling
+thy want.' Quoth I, 'Indeed I am in sore need, for I am afflicted with
+a grievous affliction and no one was ever afflicted as I am!' Quoth he,
+'Perchance thou art Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' and I replied, 'Yes.' He
+rejoined, 'I, O Abu Mohammed, am the brother of the white serpent,
+whose foe thou slewest, we are four brothers by one father and mother,
+and we are all indebted to thee for thy kindness. And know thou that he
+who played this trick on thee in the likeness of an ape, is a Marid of
+the Marids of the Jinn; and had he not used this artifice, he had never
+been able to get the girl; for he hath loved her and had a mind to take
+her this long while, but he was hindered of that talisman; and had it
+remained as it was, he could never have found access to her. However,
+fret not thyself for that; we will bring thee to her and kill the
+Marid; for thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried out with a
+terrible outcry"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit
+continued, "'Verily thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried
+out with a terrible outcry in a horrible voice, and behold, there
+appeared a troop of the Jinn, of whom he enquired concerning the ape;
+and one of them said, 'I know his abiding- place;' and the other asked
+'Where abideth he?' Said the speaker 'He is in the City of Brass
+whereon sun riseth not.' Then said the first Jinni to me, 'O Abu
+Mohammed, take one of these our slaves, and he will carry thee on his
+back and teach thee how thou shalt get back the girl; but know that
+this slave is a Marid of the Marids and beware, whilst he is carrying
+thee, lest thou utter the name of Allah, or he will flee from thee and
+thou wilt fall and be destroyed.' 'I hear and obey,' answered I and
+chose out one of the slaves, who bent down and said to me, 'Mount.' So
+I mounted on his back, and he flew up with me into the firmament, till
+I lost sight of the earth and saw the stars as they were the mountains
+of earth fixed and firm[FN#238] and heard the angels crying, 'Praise be
+to Allah,' in heaven while the Marid held me in converse, diverting me
+and hindering me from pronouncing the name of Almighty Allah.[FN#239]
+But, as we flew, behold, One clad in green raiment,[FN#240] with
+streaming tresses and radiant face, holding in his hand a javelin
+whence flew sparks of fire, accosted me, saying, 'O Abu Mohammed,
+say:—There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God; or
+I will smite thee with this javelin.' Now already I felt heart-broken
+by my forced silence as regards calling on the name of Allah; so I
+said, 'There is no god but the God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.
+Whereupon the shining One smote the Marid with his javelin and he
+melted away and became ashes; whilst I was thrown from his back and
+fell headlong towards the earth, till I dropped into the midst of a
+dashing sea, swollen with clashing surge. And behold I fell hard by a
+ship with five sailors therein, who seeing me, made for me and took me
+up into the vessel; and they began to speak to me in some speech I knew
+not; but I signed to them that I understood not their speech. So they
+fared on till the last of the day, when they cast out a net and caught
+a great fish and they broiled it and gave me to eat; after which they
+ceased not sailing on till they reached their city and carried me to
+their King and set me in his presence. So I kissed ground before him,
+and he bestowed on me a dress of honour and said to me in Arabic (which
+he knew well), 'I appoint thee one of my officers.' Thereupon I asked
+him the name of the city, and he replied, 'It is called Hanбd[FN#241]
+and is in the land of China.' Then he committed me to his Wazir,
+bidding him show me the city, which was formerly peopled by Infidels,
+till Almighty Allah turned them into stones; and there I abode a
+month's space, diverting myself with viewing the place, nor saw I ever
+greater plenty of trees and fruits than there. And when this time had
+past, one day, as I sat on the bank of a river, behold, there accosted
+me a horseman, who said to me, 'Art thou not Abu Mohammed Lazybones?'
+'Yes,' answered I; whereupon, he said, 'Fear not, for the report of thy
+good deed hath reached us.' Asked I, 'Who art thou?' and he answered,
+'I am a brother of the white serpent, and thou art hard by the place
+where is the damsel whom thou seekest.' So saying, he took off his
+clothes and clad me therein, saying, 'Fear not, for the slave who
+perished under thee was one of our slaves.' Then the horseman took me
+up behind him and rode on with me to a desert place, when he said,
+'Dismount now and walk on between these two mountains, till thou seest
+the City of Brass;[FN#242] then halt afar off and enter it not, ere I
+return to thee and tell thee how thou shalt do.' 'To hear is to obey,'
+replied I and, dismounting from behind him, walked on till I came to
+the city, the walls whereof I found of brass. Then I began to pace
+round about it, hoping to find a gate, but found none; and presently as
+I persevered, behold, the serpent's brother rejoined me and gave me a
+charmed sword which should hinder any from seeing me,[FN#243] then went
+his way. Now he had been gone but a little while, when lo! I heard a
+noise of cries and found myself in the midst of a multitude of folk
+whose eyes were in their breasts; and seeing me quoth they, 'Who art
+thou and what cast thee into this place?' So I told them my story, and
+they said, 'The girl thou seekest is in this city with the Marid; but
+we know not what he hath done with her. Now we are brethren of the
+white serpent,' adding, 'Go thou to yonder spring and note where the
+water entereth, and enter thou with it; for it will bring thee into the
+city.' I did as they bade me, and followed the water-course, till it
+brought me to a Sardab, a vaulted room under the earth, from which I
+ascended and found myself in the midst of the city. Here I saw the
+damsel seated upon a throne of gold, under a canopy of brocade, girt
+round by a garden full of trees of gold, whose fruits were jewels of
+price, such as rubies and chrysolites, pearls and coral. And the moment
+she saw me, she knew me and accosted me with the Moslem salutation,
+saying, 'O my lord, who guided thee hither?' So I told her all that had
+passed, and she said, 'Know, that the accursed Marid, of the greatness
+of his love for me, hath told me what bringeth him bane and what
+bringeth him gain; and that there is here a talisman by means whereof
+he could, an he would, destroy the city and all that are therein; and
+whoso possesseth it, the Ifrits will do his commandment in everything.
+It standeth upon a pillar'—Whereat I asked her, 'And where is the
+pillar?' and she answered, 'It is in such a place.' 'And what manner of
+thing may the talisman be?' said I: said she, 'It is in the semblance
+of a vulture[FN#244] and upon it is a writing which I cannot read. So
+go thou thither and seize it, and set it before thee and, taking a
+chafing dish, throw into it a little musk, whereupon there will arise a
+smoke which will draw the Ifrits to thee, and they will all present
+themselves before thee, nor shall one be absent; also they shall be
+subject to thy word and, whatsoever thou biddest them, that will they
+do. Arise therefore and fall to this thing, with the blessing of
+Almighty Allah.' I answered, 'Hearkening and obedience' and, going to
+the column, did as she bade me, where- upon the Ifrits all presented
+themselves before me saying, 'Here are we, O our lord! Whatsoever thou
+biddest us, that will we do.' Quoth I, 'Bind the Marid who brought the
+damsel hither from her home.' Quoth they, 'We hear and obey,' and off
+they flew and bound that Marid in straitest bonds and returned after a
+while, saying, 'We have done thy bidding.' Then I dismissed them and,
+repairing to my wife, told her what had happened and said to her, 'O my
+bride, wilt thou go with me?' 'Yes,' answered she. So I carried her
+forth of the vaulted chamber whereby I had entered the city and we
+fared on, till we fell in with the folk who had shown me the way to
+find her." And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that he continued on
+this wise: "And we fared on till we fell in with the folk who had shown
+me the way to her. So I said to them, 'Point me out a path which shall
+lead me to my home,' and they did accordingly, and brought us a-foot to
+the sea-shore and set us aboard a vessel which sailed on before us with
+a fair wind, till we reached Bassorah-city. And when we entered the
+house of my father-in-law and her people saw my wife, they rejoiced
+with exceeding joy. Then I fumigated the vulture with musk and lo! the
+Ifrits flocked to me from all sides, saying, 'At thy service what wilt
+thou have us do?' So I bade them transport all that was in the City of
+Brass of monies and noble metals and stones of price to my house in
+Bassorah, which they did; and I then ordered them to bring me the ape.
+They brought him before me, abject and contemptible, and I said to him,
+'O accursed, why hast thou dealt thus perfidiously with me?' Then I com
+mended the Ifrits to shut him in a brazen vessel[FN#245] so they put
+him in a brazen cucurbite and sealed it with lead. But I abode with my
+wife in joy and delight; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, I have
+under my hand precious things in such measure and rare jewels and other
+treasure and monies on such wise as neither reckoning may express nor
+may limits comprise; and, if thou lust after wealth or aught else, I
+will command the Jinn at once to do thy desire. But all this is of the
+bounty of Almighty Allah." Thereupon the Commander of the Faithful
+wondered greatly and bestowed on him imperial gifts, in exchange for
+his presents, and entreated him with the favour he deserved. And men
+also tell the tale of the
+
+
+
+GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.
+
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous
+of the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Salih by name, and
+said to him, "O Sбlih, go to Mansъr[FN#246] and say to him: 'Thou owest
+us a thousand thousand dirhams and we require of thee immediate payment
+of this amount.' And I command thee, O Salih, unless he pay it between
+this hour and sundown, sever his head from his body and bring it to
+me." "To hear is to obey," answered Salih and, going to Mansur,
+acquainted him with what the Caliph had said, whereupon quoth he, "I am
+a lost man, by Allah; for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if sold
+for their utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred
+thousand dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine
+hundred thousand?" Salih replied, "Contrive how thou mayst speedily
+acquit thyself, else thou art a dead man; for I cannot grant thee an
+eye-twinkling of delay after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor
+can I fail of aught which the Prince of True Believers hath enjoined on
+me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some means of saving thyself ere the
+time expire." Quoth Mansur, "O Salih, I beg thee of thy favour to bring
+me to my house, that I may take leave of my children and family and
+give my kinsfolk my last injunctions." Now Salih relateth: "So I went
+with him to his house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and
+the house was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and
+calling for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, 'I have
+bethought me that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the hands of
+the Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yбhyб bin Khбlid.' So
+we went to Yahya's house, and Mansur told him his case, whereat he was
+sore concerned and bowed him groundwards for a while, then raising his
+head, he called his treasurer and said to him, 'How much have we in our
+treasury?' 'A matter of five thousand dirhams,' answered the treasurer,
+and Yahya bade him bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl,
+saying, 'I am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be
+laid waste; so send me somewhat of money.' Al-Fazl sent him a thousand
+thousand dirhams, and he despatched a mes senger with a like message to
+his son Ja'afar, saying, 'We have a matter of much moment and for it we
+want money;' whereupon Ja'afar at once sent him a thousand thousand
+dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides,
+till he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But
+Salih and the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, 'O my
+lord, I have laid hold upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look
+for the money but to thee, in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so
+discharge thou the rest of my debt for me and make me thy freed slave.'
+Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a page,
+'Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave- girl
+Danбnнr a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her send it to
+us.' The page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon
+quoth Yahya, 'O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the
+Commander of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand
+dinars,[FN#247] and he gave it to our slave-girl Dananir, the
+lute-player; and when he sees it with thee, he will know it and spare
+thy blood and do thee honour for our sake; and now, O Mansur, verily
+thy money is complete.' (Salih continued) So I took the money and the
+jewel and carried them to al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the
+way I heard him repeat this couplet, applying it to his own case,
+
+‘'Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; * 'Twas that I feared me
+lest they shoot their shafts!'
+
+Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity
+and mischief-making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning
+upon him, I said, 'There is none on the face of the earth better or
+more righteous than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous
+than thou; for they bought thee off from death and delivered thee from
+destruction, giving thee what should save thee; yet thou thankest them
+not nor praises" them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the
+noble; nay, thou meetest their benevolence with this speech.' Then I
+went to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed" And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih con tinued:
+"So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that passed and
+Al-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yahya and the
+vileness and ingratitude of Mansur, and bade restore the jewel to
+Yahya, saying, 'Whatso we have given it befitteth us not to take
+again.' After that Salih returned to Yahya and acquainted him with the
+tale of Mansur and his ill-conduct; whereupon replied he, 'O Salih,
+when a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to
+be blamed for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from the
+heart;' and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But
+Salih wept and exclaimed, 'Never shall the revolving heavens bring
+forth into being the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well- away, that
+one of such noble nature and generosity should be laid in the dust!'
+And he repeated these two couplets,
+
+'Haste to do kindness thou cost intend; * Thou canst not always
+
+
+     on boons expend:
+
+
+How many from bounty themselves withheld, * Till means of bounty
+
+
+     had come to end!'"
+
+
+
+And men tell another tale of the
+
+
+
+GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA SON OF KHБLID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER
+IN HIS NAME.
+
+There was between Yбhyб bin Khбlid and Abdullah bin Mбlik al-
+Khuzб'i,[FN#248] an enmity which they kept secret; the reason of the
+hatred being that Harun al-Rashid loved Abdullah with exceeding love,
+so that Yahya and his sons were wont to say that he had bewitched the
+Commander of the Faithful. And thus they abode a long while, with
+rancour in their hearts, till it fell out that the Caliph invested
+Abdullah with the government of Armenia[FN#249] and despatched him
+thither. Now soon after he had settled himself in his seat of
+government, there came to him one of the people of Irak, a man of good
+breeding and excellent parts and abundant cleverness; but he had lost
+his money and wasted his wealth and his estate was come to ill case; so
+he forged a letter to Abdullah bin Malik in the name of Yahya bin
+Khбlid and set out therewith for Armenia. Now when he came to the
+Governor's gate, he gave the letter to one of the Chamberlains, who
+took it and carried it to his master. Abdullah opened it and read it
+and, considering it attentively, knew it to be forged; so he sent for
+the man, who presented himself before him and called down blessings
+upon him and praised him and those of his court. Quoth Abdullah to him,
+"What moved thee to weary thyself on this wise and bring me a forged
+letter? But be of good heart; for we will not disappoint thy travail."
+Replied the other, "Allah prolong the life of our lord the Wazir! If my
+coming annoy thee, cast not about for a pretext to repel me, for
+Allah's earth is wide and He who giveth daily bread still liveth.
+Indeed, the letter I bring thee from Yahya bin Khalid is true and no
+forgery." Quoth Abdullah, "I will write a letter to my agent[FN#250] at
+Baghdad and command him enquire concerning this same letter. If it be
+true, as thou sayest, and genuine and not forged by thee, I will bestow
+on thee the Emirship of one of my cities; or, if thou prefer a present,
+I will give thee two hundred thousand dirhams, besides horses and
+camels of price and a robe of honour. But, if the letter prove a
+forgery, I will order thou be beaten with two hundred blows of a stick
+and thy beard be shaven." So Abdullah bade confine him in a chamber and
+furnish him therein with all he needed, till his case should be made
+manifest. Then he despatched a letter to his agent at Baghdad, to the
+following effect: "There is come to me a man with a letter purporting
+to be from Yahya bin Khбlid. Now I have my suspicions of this letter:
+therefore delay thou not in the matter, but go thyself and look
+carefully into the case and let me have an answer with all speed, in
+order that we may know what is true and what is untrue." When the
+letter reached Baghdad, the agent mounted at once,—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the agent of
+Abdullah, son of Malik al-Khuza'i, on receipt of the letter at Baghdad,
+mounted at once and repaired to the house of Yahya bin Khбlid, whom he
+found sitting with his officers and boon- companions. After the usual
+salute he gave him the letter and Yahya read it and said to the agent,
+"Come back to me tomorrow for my written answer." Now when the agent
+had gone away, Yahya turned to his companions and said, "What doth he
+deserve who forgeth a letter in my name and carrieth it to my foe?"
+They answered all and each, saying this and that, and every one
+proposing some kind of punishment; but Yahya said, "Ye err in that ye
+say and this your counsel is of the baseness of your spirits and the
+meanness of your minds. Ye all know the close favour of Abdullah with
+the Caliph and ye weet of what is between him and us of anger and
+enmity; and now Almighty Allah hath made this man the means of
+reconciliation between us; and hath fitted him for such purpose and
+hath appointed him to quench the fire of ire in our hearts, which hath
+been growing these twenty years; and by his means our differences shall
+be adjusted. Wherefore it behoveth me to requite such man by verifying
+his assertion and amending his estate; so I will write him a letter to
+Abdullah son of Malik, praying that he may use him with increase of
+honour and continue to him his liberality." Now when his companions
+heard what he said, they called down blessings on him and marvelled at
+his generosity and the greatness of his magnanimity. Then he called for
+paper and ink and wrote Abdullah a letter in his own hand, to the
+following effect: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionating' the
+Compassionate! Of a truth thy letter hath reached me (Allah give thee
+long life!) and I am glad to hear of thy safety and am pleased to be
+assured of thine immunity and prosperity. It was thy thought that a
+certain worthy man had forged a letter in my name and that he was not
+the bearer of any message from the same; but the case is not so, for
+the letter I myself wrote, and it was no forgery; and I hope, of thy
+courtesy and consideration and the nobility of thy nature, that thou
+wilt gratify this generous and excellent man of his hope and wish, and
+honour him with the honour he deserveth and bring him to his desire and
+make him the special-object of thy favour and munificence. Whatso thou
+dost with him, it is to me that thou dost the kindness, and I am
+thankful to thee accordingly." Then he superscribed the letter and
+after sealing it, delivered it to the agent, who despatched it to
+Abdullah. Now when the Governor read it, he was charmed with its
+contents, and sending for the man, said to him, "Whichever of the two
+promised boons is the more acceptable to thee that will I give thee."
+The man replied, "The money gift were more acceptable to me than aught
+else," whereupon Abdullah ordered him two hundred thousand dirhams and
+ten Arab horses, five with housings of silk and other five with richly
+ornamented saddles, used in state processions; besides twenty chests of
+clothes and ten mounted white slaves and a proportionate quantity of
+jewels of price. Moreover, he bestowed on him a dress of honour and
+sent him to Baghdad in great splendour. So when he came thither, he
+repaired to the door of Yahya's house, before he went to his own folk,
+and craved permission to enter and have audience. The Chamberlain went
+in to Yahya and said to him, "O my lord, there is one at the door who
+craveth speech of thee; and he is a man of apparent wealth, courteous
+in manner, comely of aspect and attended by many servants." Then Yahya
+bade admit him; and, when he entered and kissed the ground before him,
+Yahya asked him, "Who art thou?" He answered, "Hear me, O my lord, I am
+he who was done dead by the tyranny of fortune, but thou didst raise me
+to life again from the grave of calamities and exalt me to the paradise
+of my desires. I am the man who forged a letter in thy name and carried
+it to Abdullah bin Malik al-Khuza'i." Yahya asked, "How hath he dealt
+with thee and what did he give thee?"; and the man answered, "He hath
+given me, thanks to thy hand and thy great liberality and benevolence
+and to thy comprehensive kindness and lofty magnanimity and thine
+all-embracing generosity, that which hath made me a wealthy man and he
+hath distinguished me with his gifts and favours. And now I have
+brought all that he gave me and here it is at thy door; for it is thine
+to decide and the command is in thy hand." Rejoined Yahya, "Thou hast
+done me better service than I did thee and I owe thee a heavy debt of
+gratitude and every gift the white hand[FN#251] can give, for that thou
+hast changed into love and amity the hate and enmity that were between
+me and a man whom I respect and esteem. Wherefore I will give thee the
+like of what Abdullah bin Malik gave thee." Then he ordered him money
+and horses and chests of apparel, such as Abdullah had given him; and
+thus that man's fortune was restored to him by the munificence of these
+two generous ones. And folk also relate the tale of the
+
+
+
+CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE SCHOLAR.
+
+It is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of Abbas,
+there was none more accomplished in all branches of knowledge than he.
+Now on two days in each week, he was wont to preside at conferences of
+the learned, when the lawyers and theologians disputed in his presence,
+each sitting in his several-rank and room. One day as he sat thus,
+there came into the assembly a stranger, clad in ragged white clothes,
+who took seat in an obscure place behind the doctors of the law. Then
+the assembly began to speak and debate difficult questions, it being
+the custom that the various propositions should be submitted to each in
+turn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle addition or rare
+conceit, should make mention of it. So the question went round till it
+came to the strange man, who spake in his turn and made a goodlier
+answer than any of the doctors' replies; and the Caliph approved his
+speech.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+Al-Maamun approved his speech and ordered him to come up from his low
+place to a high stead. Now when the second question came to him, he
+made a still more notable answer, and Al-Maamun ordered him to be
+preferred to a yet higher seat; and when the third question reached
+him, he made answer more justly and appropriately than on the two
+previous occasions, and Al-Maamun bade him come up and sit near
+himself. Presently the discussion ended when water was brought and they
+washed their hands after which food was set on and they ate; and the
+doctors arose and withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to
+depart with them and, calling him to himself, treated him with
+especial-favour and promised him honour and profit. Thereupon they made
+ready the sйance of wassail; the fair-faced cup-companions came and the
+pure wine[FN#252] went round amongst them, till the cup came to the
+stranger, who rose to his feet and spake thus, "If the Commander of the
+Faithful permit me, I will say one word." Answered the Caliph, "Say
+what thou wilt." Quoth the man "Verily the Exalted Intelligence (whose
+eminence Allah increase!) knoweth that his slave was this day, in the
+august assembly, one of the unknown folk and of the meanest of the
+company; and the Commander of the Faithful raised his rank and brought
+him near to himself, little as were the wit and wisdom he displayed,
+preferring him above the rest and advancing him to a station and a
+degree where to his thought aspired not. But now he is minded to part
+him from that small portion of intellect which raised him high from his
+lowness and made him great after his littleness. Heaven forfend and
+forbid that the Commander of the Faithful should envy his slave what
+little he hath of understanding and worth and renown! Now, if his slave
+should drink wine, his reason would depart far from him and ignorance
+draw near to him and steal-away his good breeding, so would he revert
+to that low and contemptible degree, whence he sprang, and become
+ridiculous and despicable in the eyes of the folk. I hope, therefore,
+that the August Intelligence, of his power and bounty and
+royal-generosity and magnanimity, will not despoil his slave of this
+jewel." When the Caliph Al-Maamun heard his speech, he praised him and
+thanked him and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high
+honour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand silver pieces.
+Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel; and in
+every assembly he was wont to exalt him and show him favour over all
+the other doctors of law and religion till he became the highest of
+them all in rank. And Allah is All knowing.[FN#253] Men also tell a
+tale of
+
+
+
+ALI SHAR[FN#254] AND ZUMURRUD.
+
+There lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long gone
+before, in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd al-Dнn, who had
+great wealth and many slaves and servants, white and black, young and
+old; but he had not been blessed with a child until he reached the age
+of threescore, when Almighty Allah vouchsafed him a son, whom he named
+Alн Shбr. The boy grew up like the moon on the night of fulness; and
+when he came to man's estate and was endowed with all kinds of
+perfections, his father fell sick of a death-malady and, calling his
+son to him, said, "O my son, the fated hour of my decease is at hand,
+and I desire to give thee my last injunctions." He asked, "And what are
+they, O my father?"; and he answered, "O my son, I charge thee, be not
+over-familiar with any[FN#255] and eschew what leadeth to evil and
+mischief. Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked; for he is
+like the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his smoke shall bother
+thee: and how excellent is the saying of the poet,[FN#256]
+
+'In thy whole world there is not one,
+
+
+Whose friendship thou may'st count upon,
+
+
+Nor plighted faith that will stand true,
+
+
+When times go hard, and hopes are few.
+
+
+Then live apart and dwell alone,
+
+
+Nor make a prop of any one,
+
+
+I've given a gift in that I've said,
+
+
+Will stand thy friend in every stead:'
+
+
+
+And what another saith,
+
+'Men are a hidden malady; * Rely not on the sham in them:
+
+
+For perfidy and treachery * Thou'lt find, if thou examine them.'
+
+
+
+And yet a third saith,
+
+'Converse with men hath scanty weal, except * To while away the
+
+
+     time in chat and prate:
+
+
+Then shun their intimacy, save it be * To win thee lore, or
+
+
+     better thine estate.'
+
+
+
+And a fourth saith,
+
+'If a sharp-witted wight e'er tried mankind, * I've eaten that
+
+
+     which only tasted he:[FN#257]
+
+
+Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, * Their faith I
+
+
+     found was but hypocrisy.'"
+
+
+
+Quoth Ali, "O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee what
+more shall I do?" Quoth he, "Do good whereas thou art able; be ever
+kind and courteous to men and regard as riches every occasion of doing
+a good turn; for a design is not always easily carried out; and how
+well saith the poet,
+
+"Tis not at every time and tide unstable, * We can do kindly acts
+
+
+     and charitable:
+
+
+When thou art able hasten thee to act, * Lest thine endeavour
+
+
+     prove anon unable!'"
+
+
+
+Said Ali, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee."—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth
+replied, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?" And his
+sire continued, "Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be
+mindful of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou
+wilt come to want the least of mankind. Know that the measure of a
+man's worth is according to that which his right hand hendeth: and how
+well saith the poet,[FN#258]
+
+'When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, * And when
+
+
+     it waxeth all men friendship show:
+
+
+How many a foe for wealth became my friend, * Wealth lost, how
+
+
+     many a friend became a foe!'"
+
+
+
+Asked Ali, "What more?" And Majd al-Din answered, "O my son, take
+counsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy
+heart's desire. Have compassion on those who are below thee, so shall
+those who are above thee have compassion on thee; and oppress none,
+lest Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How well saith the poet,
+
+'Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, * For man's true
+
+
+     course hides not from minds of two
+
+
+Man is a mirror which but shows his face, * And by two mirrors he
+
+
+     his back shall view.'
+
+
+
+And as saith another,[FN#259]
+
+'Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,
+
+
+To gain the purpose that thou hast
+
+
+And be thou kindly to all men
+
+
+So kindly thou'lt be called again;
+
+
+For not a deed the hand can try,
+
+
+Save 'neath the hand of God on high,
+
+
+Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny,
+
+
+Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'
+
+
+
+And as saith yet another,[FN#260]
+
+'Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the
+
+
+     tyrannical-is in danger of revenges.
+
+
+Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down
+
+
+     curses on thee, and God's eye sleepeth not.'
+
+
+
+Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth
+away the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well
+saith the poet,
+
+'By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul * Join body,
+
+
+     nor while speech the words of me explain:
+
+
+No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[FN#261] *
+
+
+     Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfair.'
+
+
+
+This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah
+stand to thee in my stead." Then he swooned away and kept silent
+awhile; and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and
+pronounced the profession of the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy
+of the Almighty. So his son wept and lamented for him and presently
+made proper preparation for his burial; great and small walked in his
+funeral-procession and Koran readers recited Holy Writ about his bier;
+nor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they
+prayed over him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two
+couplets upon his tomb,
+
+'Thou west create of dust and cam'st to life, * And learned'st in
+
+
+     eloquence to place thy trust;
+
+
+Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though
+
+
+     ne'er taken from the dust."
+
+
+
+Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him
+with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep
+the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards,
+when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the
+shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah's
+creatures, in accordance with his father's injunction. This wise he
+continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to
+him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he
+turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of
+righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair
+women night and day; for he said to himself, "Of a truth my father
+amassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I
+leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,
+
+'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for
+
+
+     self;
+
+
+Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'"
+
+
+
+And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and
+all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his
+riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his
+shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his
+body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and
+thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day,
+when he had sat from day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his
+fast, he said in his mind, "I will go round to those on whom I spent my
+monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day." So he went the
+round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one's door of
+them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached
+with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling
+his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants' bazar
+where he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to
+himself, "I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By
+Allah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!"
+So he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for
+sale who was five feet tall,[FN#262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of
+cheek and high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time
+in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one,
+describing her,
+
+"As she willиd she was made, and in such a way that when * She
+
+
+     was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she:
+
+
+Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *
+
+
+     Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:
+
+
+The full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape,
+
+
+     * And the musk-pod is her scent—what like her can there be?
+
+
+'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in
+
+
+     every lovely limblet another moon we see!"
+
+
+
+And her name was Zumurrud—the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he
+marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, "By Allah, I will not stir
+hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!"
+So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he
+had a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his
+parents. Then the broker stood at the damsel's head and said, "Ho,
+merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for
+this damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the
+curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the
+desirous? Open the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame nor
+reproach for evermore." Thereupon quoth one merchant, "Mine for five
+hundred dinars;" "And ten," quoth another. "Six hundred," cried an old
+man named Rashнd al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of face. "And
+ten," cried another. "I bid a thousand," rejoined Rashid al-Din;
+whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace
+and the broker took counsel with the girl's owner, who said, "I have
+sworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her."
+Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, "O mistress
+of moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee." She looked at Rashid
+al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, "I will not be sold to
+a gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah
+inspired his saying who saith,
+
+'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My
+
+
+     hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd;
+
+
+She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:—
+
+
+     * 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath
+
+
+     made
+
+
+For hoary head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!
+
+
+     stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm
+
+
+     laid?'"
+
+
+
+Now when the broker heard her words he said, "By Allah, thou art
+excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!" So he told her
+owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said,
+"Consult her concerning another." Thereupon a second man came forward
+and said, "Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she
+would have none of;" but she looked at him and seeing that his beard
+was dyed, said "What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening
+of the hoary face?" And she made a great show of wonderment and
+repeated these couplets,
+
+"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *
+
+
+     A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]
+
+
+A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *
+
+
+     A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and
+
+
+     bite.[FN#267]
+
+
+O thou enravish" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so
+
+
+     translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
+
+
+Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And
+
+
+     hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!
+
+
+Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *
+
+
+     Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by
+
+
+     night.[FN#268]
+
+
+
+And how well saith another'
+
+Quoth she, 'I see thee dye thy hoariness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O
+
+
+     ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I:
+
+
+She roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so
+
+
+     lying e'en
+
+
+
+Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, "By Allah thou hast
+spoken sooth!" The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated
+the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was
+wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said,
+"Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;" but, when he did so,
+she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, "This man
+is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith,[FN#270]
+
+'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood
+
+
+     and his mischief fly:
+
+
+Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought
+
+
+     blindness to his eye!'"
+
+
+
+Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, "Wilt thou be sold to
+this man?" She looked at him and seeing that he was short of
+stature[FN#271] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, "This
+is he of whom the poet speaketh,
+
+'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length
+
+
+     unroll'd:
+
+
+'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and
+
+
+     darksome, drear and cold.'"
+
+
+
+Said the broker, "O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are
+present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him." So she looked
+round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies,
+till her glance fell on Ali Shar,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl's
+glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes,
+which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for
+that he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or
+northern air; and she said, "O broker, I will be sold to none but to
+this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet
+thus describeth,
+
+'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed
+
+
+Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'
+
+
+
+For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water
+of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a cure for the
+sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one
+of him,
+
+'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those
+
+
+     teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue:
+
+
+Rizwбn[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The
+
+
+     Houris lapse from virtue at the view
+
+
+Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full
+
+
+     moon sails, excuse is due.'
+
+
+
+Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of
+whom saith the poet,
+
+'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant
+
+
+     waxed and heart unstirred:
+
+
+His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their
+
+
+     languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'
+
+
+
+And as saith another,
+
+'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst
+
+
+     thou love him and a side-beard see?'
+
+
+Quoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be
+
+
+     letters 'tis a forgery:'
+
+
+Gather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those
+
+
+     Kausar[FN#276]-lips bear testimony.'"
+
+
+
+When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali
+Shar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of
+her beauty; but her owner said to him, "Marvel not at her splendour
+which shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the
+choicest verses of the poets; for besides this, she can repeat the
+glorious Koran, according to the seven readings,[FN#277] and the august
+Traditions, after ascription and authentic transmission; and she
+writeth the seven modes of handwriting[FN#278] and she knoweth more
+learning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are
+better than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth
+them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to
+make a curtain." Exclaimed the broker, "O happy the man who hath her in
+his house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!"; and her owner
+said to him, "Sell her to whom she will." So the broker went up to Ali
+Shar and, kissing his hands, said to him, "O my lord, buy thou this
+damsel, for she hath made choice of thee."[FN#279] Then he set forth to
+him all her charms and accomplishments, and added, "I give thee joy if
+thou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His
+giving." Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at
+himself and secretly saying, "Up to this hour I have not broken my
+fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money
+wherewith to buy her." The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said
+to the broker, "Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my
+beauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any
+but to him." So the broker took her hand and stationed her before Ali
+Shar, saying, "What is thy good pleasure, O my lord?" But he made him
+no answer, and the girl said to him, "O my lord and darling of my
+heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what
+thou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune." So he raised his eyes to
+her and said, "Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars."
+Said she, "Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred." He cried, "No,"
+and she rejoined, "Then for eight hundred;" and though he again said,
+"Nay," she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred
+dinars. Quoth he, "I have not by me a full hundred." So she laughed and
+asked, "How much dost thou lack of an hundred?" He answered, "By Allah,
+I have neither an hundred dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither
+white coin nor red cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for
+another and a better customer." And when she knew that he had nothing,
+she said to him, "Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by-
+lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily." He did so and she drew
+from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave
+him, saying, "Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred
+remain with thee by way of provision." He did as she bid him and,
+buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own
+purse and carried her to his house. When she entered it, she found a
+dreary desolate saloon without carpets or vessels; so she gave him
+other thousand dinars, saying, "Go to the bazar and buy three hundred
+dinars' worth of furniture and vessels for the house and three dinars'
+worth of meat and drink."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the
+slave-girl, "Bring us meat and drink for three dinars, furthermore a
+piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern
+thread and sewing silk of seven colours." Thus he did, and she
+furnished the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which
+they went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay
+the night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the
+poet,[FN#280]
+
+"Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,
+
+
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
+
+
+Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,
+
+
+     from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did
+
+
+     drain.
+
+
+Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And 'spite
+
+
+     the envier, thereto I surely will attain.
+
+
+There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than
+
+
+     when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
+
+
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,
+
+
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
+
+
+     enchain
+
+
+Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
+
+
+     on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
+
+
+Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou
+
+
+     assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?
+
+
+If in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede
+
+
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain."
+
+
+
+So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed
+firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the
+curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purpled it with
+silver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round
+about it all manner of birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a
+feral but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days,
+till she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and
+ironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, "Carry it to the bazar and
+sell it to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou
+sell it to a passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and
+thee, for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us." "I hear and I
+obey," answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a
+merchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for
+another curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as before and
+what they needed of food, and brought all this to her, giving her the
+rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain, which he
+sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the end
+of that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he
+gave to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him
+sixty dinars for it; but he refused, and the Christian continued
+bidding higher and higher, till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed
+the broker with ten ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told
+him of the proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell
+the article at the Nazarene's valuation, saying, "O my lord, be not
+afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt." The
+merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the
+Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off
+to return home. Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking
+behind him; so he said to him, "O Nazarene,[FN#281] why dost thou
+follow in my footsteps?" Answered the other "O my lord, I want a
+something at the end of the street, Allah never bring thee to want!";
+but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the Christian overtook
+him; so he said to him, "O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me
+wherever I go?" Replied the other, "O my lord, give me a draught of
+water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!"[FN#282] Quoth
+Ali Shar to himself, "Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute
+and claimeth our protection[FN#283] and he asketh me for a draught of
+water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to
+himself, "This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a
+draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!" So he entered the
+house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him
+and said to him, "O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?" He replied,
+"Yes;" and she asked, "To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart
+presageth a parting." And he answered, "To whom but to a merchant?"
+Thereupon she rejoined, "Tell me the truth of the case, that I may
+order my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?" And he, To give
+the broker to drink," upon which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and
+there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and she
+repeated these two couplets,[FN#284]
+
+"O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the
+
+
+     embrace of the beloved deceive thee!
+
+
+Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the
+
+
+     end of every union is disjunction.
+
+
+
+Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the
+vestibule and said to him, "How comest thou here and how darest thou, O
+dog, enter my house without my leave?" Answered he, "O my lord, there
+is no difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never
+intended to stir hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee
+for thy kindness and favour, thy bounty and generosity." Then he took
+the mug and emptying it, returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and
+waited for him to rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said
+to him, "Why dost thou not rise and wend thy way?"; and he answered, "O
+my lord, be not of those who do a kindness and then make it a reproach,
+nor of those of whom saith the poet,[FN#285]
+
+'They're gone who when thou stoodest at their door * Would for
+
+
+     thy wants so generously cater:
+
+
+But stand at door of churls who followed them, * They'd make high
+
+
+     favour of a draught of water!'"
+
+
+
+And he continued, "O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee
+give me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of
+bread or a biscuit with an onion." Replied Ali Shar, "Begone, without
+more chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in the house." He persisted,
+"O my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars
+and bring us something from the market, if but a single scone, that
+bread and salt may pass between us."[FN#286] With this, quoth Ali Shar
+to himself, "This Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred
+dinars and bring him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at
+him." And the Nazarene added, "O my lord, I want but a small matter to
+stay my hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food
+is that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands; and how well saith
+the poet,
+
+'Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, * How is it then[FN#287]
+
+
+     in woes of want I wone?
+
+
+Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard * For Caliph-king and
+
+
+     beggar woe-begone.'"
+
+
+
+Then quoth Ali Shar, "Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee
+somewhat from the market;" and quoth the Christian, "To hear is to
+obey." So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a
+padlock, put the key in his pocket: after which he went to market and
+bought fried cheese and virgin honey and bananas[FN#288] and bread,
+with which he returned to the house. Now when the Christian saw the
+provision, he said, "O my lord, this is overmuch; 'tis enough for half
+a score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me."
+Replied Ali, "Eat by thyself, I am full;" and the Christian rejoined,
+"O my lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a
+whore." Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat
+down and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his
+hand;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar sat down
+and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but
+the Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in
+twain, put into one half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm
+whereof would over throw an elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and
+gave it to Ali Shar, saying, "O my lord, by the truth of thy religion,
+I adjure thee to take this." So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him
+forsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in
+his stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though
+he had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, rose to
+his feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o'-mount[FN#289] at bay
+and, taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to
+rejoin his brother. And the cause of his so doing was that the
+Nazarene's brother was the same decrepit old man who purposed to buy
+Zumurrud for a thousand dinars, but she would none of him and jeered
+him in verse. He was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly,
+and had called himself Rashid al-Din;[FN#290] and when Zumurrud mocked
+him and would not accept of him, he complained to his brother the
+aforesaid Christian who played this sleight to take her from her master
+Ali Shar; whereupon his brother, Barsum by name said to him, "Fret not
+thyself about the business, for I will make shift to seize her for
+thee, without expending either diner or dirham. Now he was a skilful
+wizard, crafty and wicked; so he watched his time and ceased not his
+practices till he played Ali Shar the trick before related; then,
+taking the key, he went to his brother and acquainted him with what had
+passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din mounted his she mule and repaired with
+his brother and his servants to the house of Ali Shar, taking with him
+a purse of a thousand dinars, wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police,
+should he meet him. He opened the saloon door and the men who were with
+him rushed in upon Zumurrud and forcibly seized her, threatening her
+with death, if she spoke, but they left the place as it was and took
+nothing therefrom. Lastly they left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule
+after they had shut the door on him and laid the saloon key by his
+side. Then the Christian carried the girl to his own house and setting
+her amongst his handmaids and concubines, said to her, "O strumpet, I
+am the old man whom thou didst reject and lampoon; but now I have thee,
+without paying diner or dirham." Replied she (and her eyes streamed
+with tears), "Allah requite thee, O wicked old man, for sundering me
+and my lord!" He rejoined, "Wanton minx and whore that thou art, thou
+shalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth of the Messiah and the
+Virgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith, I will torture thee
+with all manner of torture!" She replied, "By Allah, though thou cut my
+flesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of Al-Islam! It may be
+Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief, for He cloth even as He is
+fief, and the wise say: 'Better body to scathe than a flaw in faith.'"
+Thereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women, saying, "Throw her
+down!" So they threw her down and he ceased not to beat her with
+grievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help came; then she
+no longer implored aid but fell to saying, "Allah is my sufficiency,
+and He is indeed all-sufficient!" till her groans ceased and her breath
+failed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his heart was
+soothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, "Drag her forth by the
+feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing to eat."
+And after quietly sleeping that night, on the morrow the accursed old
+man sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade the Castrato
+return her to her place. When the burning of the blows had cooled, she
+said, "There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!
+Allah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!" And she called
+for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud called
+for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). Such
+was her case; but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not sleeping till next
+day, when the Bhang quitted his brain and he opened his eyes and cried
+out, "O Zumurrud"; but no one answered him. So he entered the saloon
+and found the empty air and the fane afar;[FN#291] whereby he knew that
+it was the Nazarene who had played him this trick. And he groaned and
+wept and lamented and again shed tears, repeating these couplets,
+
+"O Love thou'rt instant in thy cruellest guise; * Here is my
+
+
+     heart 'twixt fears and miseries:
+
+
+Pity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way * Of Love, erst
+
+
+     wealthy now a beggar lies:
+
+
+What profits archer's art if, when the foe * Draw near, his
+
+
+     bowstring snap ere arrow {lies:
+
+
+And when griefs multiply on generous man * And urge, what fort
+
+
+     can fend from destinies?
+
+
+How much and much I warded parting, but * 'When Destiny descends
+
+
+     she blinds our eyes?'"
+
+
+
+And when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and repeated
+also these couplets,
+
+"Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot step wandering lone,
+
+
+     * Pines the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to
+
+
+     wane
+
+
+She turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view *
+
+
+     The spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown
+
+
+She stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case
+
+
+     * The mount replies, 'There is no path that leads to union,
+
+
+     none!
+
+
+'Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o'er the
+
+
+     camp * And died in darkling air no more to be for ever
+
+
+     shown.'"
+
+
+
+And he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and rent
+his raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round about the
+city, beating his breast with the stones and crying "O Zumurrud!"
+whilst the small boys flocked round him, calling out, "A madman! A
+madman!" and all who knew him wept for him, saying, "This is such an
+one: what evil hath befallen him?" Thus he continued doing all that day
+and, when night darkened on him, he lay down in one of the city lanes
+and sleet till morning On the morrow, he went round about town with the
+stones till eventide, when he returned to his saloon to pass therein
+the night. Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy
+old woman said to him, "O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long
+hast thou been mad?" And he answered her with these two
+couplets,[FN#292]
+
+"They said, Thou revest upon the person thou lovest. * And I
+
+
+     replied, The sweets of life are only for the mad.
+
+
+Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave *
+
+
+     If she cure my madness do not blame me."
+
+
+
+So his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his beloved and
+said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the
+Glorious, the Great! O my son, I wish thou wouldest acquaint me with
+the tale of thine affliction. Peradventure Allah may enable me to help
+thee against it, if it so please Him." So he told her all that had
+befallen him with Barsum the Nazarene and his brother the wizard who
+had named himself Rashid al-Din and, when she understood the whole
+case, she said, "O my son, indeed thou hast excuse." And her eyes
+railed tears and she repeated these two couplets,
+
+"Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: * By Allah,
+
+
+     lover ne'er in fire of Sakar fries:
+
+
+For, sure, they died of love-desire they never told * Chastely,
+
+
+     and to this truth tradition testifies."[FN#293]
+
+
+
+And after she had finished her verse, she said, "O my son, rise at once
+and buy me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy also bangles
+and seal-rings and bracelets and ear-rings and other gewgaws wherein
+women delight and grudge not the cash. Put all the stock into the crate
+and bring it to me and I will set it on my head and go round about, in
+the guise of a huckstress and make search for her in all the houses,
+till I happen on news of her— Inshallah!" So Ali Shar rejoiced in her
+words and kissed her hands, then, going out, speedily brought her all
+she required; whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and threw
+over her head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the
+basket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the houses.
+She ceased not to go from house to house and street to street and
+quarter to quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the house of the
+accursed Rashid al-Din the Nazarene where, hearing groans within, she
+knocked at the door,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old
+woman heard groans within the house, she knocked at the door, whereupon
+a slave-girl came down and opening to her, saluted her. Quoth the old
+woman, "I have these trifles for sale: is there any one with you who
+will buy aught of them?" "Yes," answered the damsel and, carrying her
+indoors, made her sit down; whereupon all the slave-girls came round
+her and each bought something of her. And as the old woman spoke them
+fair and was easy with them as to price, all rejoiced in her, because
+of her kind ways and pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at
+the ins and outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning,
+till her glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to
+show her customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that
+Zumurrud was laid prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls, "O my
+children, how cometh yonder young lady in this plight?" Then the
+slave-girls told her all what had passed, adding, "Indeed this matter
+is not of our choice; but our master commanded us to do thus, and he is
+now on a journey." She said, "O my children, I have a favour to ask of
+you, and it is that you loose this unhappy damsel of her bonds, till
+you know of your lord's return, when do ye bind her again as she was;
+and you shall earn a reward from the Lord of all creatures." "We hear
+and obey," answered they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to eat
+and drink. Thereupon quoth the old woman, "Would my leg had been
+broken, ere I entered your house!" And she went up to Zumurrud and said
+to her, "O my daughter, Heaven keep thee safe; soon shall Allah bring
+thee relief." Then she privily told her that she came from her lord,
+Ali Shar, and agreed with her to be on the watch for sounds that night,
+saying, "Thy lord will come and stand by the pavilion-bench and
+whistle[FN#294] to thee; and when thou hearest him, do thou whistle
+back to him and let thyself down to him by a rope from the window, and
+he will take thee and go away with thee." So Zumurrud thanked the old
+woman, who went forth and returned to Ali Shar and told him what she
+had done, saying, "Go this night, at midnight, to such a quarter, for
+the accursed carle's house is there and its fashion is thus and thus.
+Stand under the window of the upper chamber and whistle; whereupon she
+will let herself down to thee; then do thou take her and carry her
+whither thou wilt." He thanked her for her good offices and with
+flowing tears repeated these couplets,
+
+"Now with their says and saids[FN#295] no more vex me the chiding
+
+
+     race; * My heart is weary and I'm worn to bone by their
+
+
+     disgrace:
+
+
+And tears a truthful legend[FN#296] with a long ascription-chain
+
+
+     * Of my desertion and distress the lineage can trace.
+
+
+O thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, * Cut
+
+
+     short thy long persistency nor question of my case:
+
+
+A sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould
+
+
+     * Hath stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of
+
+
+     grace.
+
+
+No rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close *
+
+
+     These eyes, nor patience aloe scape the hopes I dare to
+
+
+     trace:
+
+
+Ye have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, * In squalid
+
+
+     state 'twixt enviers and they who blame to face:
+
+
+As for forgetting you or love 'tis thing I never knew; * Nor in
+
+
+     my thought shall ever pass a living thing but you."
+
+
+
+And when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and repeated
+also these couplets,
+
+"Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; *
+
+
+     For brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:
+
+
+Take he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe,
+
+
+     * My heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my
+
+
+     fete."
+
+
+
+He waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time, he
+went to the quarter she had described to him and saw and recognised the
+Christian's house; so he sat down on the bench under the gallery.
+Presently drowsiness overcame him and he slept (Glory be to Him who
+sleepeth not!?, for it was long since he had tasted sleep, by reason of
+the violence of his passion, and he became as one drunken with slumber.
+And while he was on this wise,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he lay
+asleep, behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night and
+prowled about the skirts of the city to steal-somewhat, happened by the
+decree of Destiny, on the Nazarene's house. He went round about it, but
+found no way of climbing up into it, and presently on his circuit he
+came to the bench, where he saw Ali Shar asleep and stole his turband;
+and, as he was taking it suddenly Zumurrud looked out and seeing the
+thief standing in the darkness, took him for her lord; whereupon she
+let herself down to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags full of
+gold. Now when the robber saw that, he said to himself, "This is a
+wondrous thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it."
+Then he snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his
+shoulders and made off with both like the blinding lightening. Quoth
+she, "Verily, the old woman told me that thou west weak with illness on
+my account; and here thou art, stronger than a horse." He made her no
+reply; so she put her hand to his face and felt a beard like the broom
+of palm-frond used for the Hammam,[FN#297] as if he were a hog which
+had swallowed feathers and they had come out of his gullet; whereat she
+took fright and said to him, "What art thou?" "O strumpet," answered
+he, "I am the sharper Jawбn[FN#298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad
+al-Danaf; we are forty sharpers, who will all piss our tallow into thy
+womb this night, from dusk to dawn." When she heard his words, she wept
+and beat her face, knowing that Fate had gotten the better of her and
+that she had no resource but resignation and to put her trust in Allah
+Almighty. So she took patience and submitted herself to the ordinance
+of the Lord, saying, "There is no god but the God! As often as we
+escape from one woe, we fall into a worse." Now the cause of Jawan's
+coming thither was this: he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, "O
+Sharper-captain,[FN#299] I have been in this city before and know a
+cavern without the walls which will hold forty souls; so I will go
+before you thither and set my mother therein. Then will I return to the
+city and steal-somewhat for the luck of all of you and keep it till you
+come; so shall you be my guests and I will show you hospitality this
+day." Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, "Do what thou wilt." So Jawan went forth
+to the place before them and set his mother in the cave; but, as he
+came out he found a trooper lying asleep, with his horse picketed
+beside him; so he cut his throat and, taking his clothes and his
+charger and his arms, hid them with his mother in the cave, where also
+he tethered the horse. Then he betook himself to the city and prowled
+about, till he happened on the Christian's house and did with Ali
+Shar's turband and Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have said. He
+ceased not to run, with Zumurrud on his back, till he came to the
+cavern, where he gave her in charge of his mother, saying, "Keep thou
+watch over her till I return to thee at first dawn of day," and went
+his ways.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Kurdish
+Jawan to his mother, "Keep thou watch over her till I come back to thee
+at first dawn of day," and went his ways. Now Zumurrud said to herself,
+"Why am I so heedless about saving my life and wherefore await till
+these forty men come?: they will take their turns to board me, till
+they make me like a water- logged ship at sea." Then she turned to the
+old woman, Jawan's mother, and said to her, "O my aunt, wilt thou not
+rise up and come without the cave, that I may louse thee in the
+sun?"[FN#300] Replied the old woman, "Ay, by Allah, O my daughter: this
+long time have I been out of reach of the bath; for these hogs cease
+not to carry me from place to place." So they went without the cavern,
+and Zumurrud combed out her head hair and killed the lice on her locks,
+till the tickling soothed her and she fell asleep; whereupon Zumurrud
+arose and, donning the clothes of the murdered trooper, girt her waist
+with his sword and covered her head with his turband, so that she
+became as she were a man. Then, mounting the horse after she had taken
+the saddle-bags full of gold, she breathed a prayer, "O good Protector,
+protect me I adjure thee by the glory of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
+preserve!)," adding these words in thought, "If I return to the city
+belike one of the trooper's folk will see me, and no good will befal
+me." So she turned her back on the town and rode forth into the wild
+and the waste. And she ceased not faring forth with her saddle-bags and
+the steed, eating of the growth of the earth and drinking of its
+waters, she and her horse, for ten days and, on the eleventh, she came
+in sight of a city pleasant and secure from dread, and established in
+happy stead. Winter had gone from it with his cold showers, and Prime
+had come to it with his roses and orange- blossoms and varied flowers;
+and its blooms were brightly blowing; its streams were merrily flowing
+and its birds warbled coming and going. And she drew near the dwellings
+and would have entered the gate when she saw the troops and Emirs and
+Grandees of the place drawn up, whereat she marvelled seeing them in
+such unusual-case and said to herself, "The people of the city are all
+gathered at its gate: needs must there be a reason for this." Then she
+made towards them; but, as she drew near, the soldiery dashed forward
+to meet her and, dismounting all, kissed the ground between her hands
+and said, "Aid thee Allah, O our lord the Sultan!" Then the notables
+and dignitaries ranged themselves before her in double line, whilst the
+troops ordered the people in, saying, "Allah aid thee and make thy
+coming a blessing to the Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah
+establish thee, O King of the time and union-pearl of the day and the
+tide!" Asked Zumurrud, "What aileth you, O people of this city?" And
+the Head Chamberlain answered, "Verily, He hath given to thee who is no
+niggard in His giving; and He hath been bountiful to thee and hath made
+thee Sultan of this city and ruler over the necks of all who are
+therein; for know thou it is the custom of the citizens, when their
+King deceaseth leaving no son, that the troops should sally forth to
+the suburbs and sojourn there three days: and whoever cometh from the
+quarter whence thou hast come, him they make King over them. So praised
+be Allah who hath sent us of the sons of the Turks a well-favoured man;
+for had a lesser than thou presented himself, he had been Sultan." Now
+Zumurrud was clever and well-advised in all she did: so she said,
+"Think not that I am of the common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the
+sons of the great, a man of condition; but I was wroth with my family,
+so I went forth and left them. See these saddle-bags full of gold which
+I have brought under me that, by the way, I might give alms thereof to
+the poor and the needy." So they called down blessings upon her and
+rejoiced in her with exceeding joy and she also joyed in them and said
+in herself, "Now that I have attained to this"—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Zumurrud to
+herself, "Now that I have attained to this case, haply Allah will
+reunite me with my lord in this place, for He can do whatso He
+willeth." Then the troops escorted her to the city and, all
+dismounting, walked before her to the palace. Here she alighted and the
+Emirs and Grandees, taking her under both armpits,[FN#301] carried her
+into the palace and seated her on the throne; after which they all
+kissed ground before her. And when duly enthroned she bade them open
+the treasuries and gave largesse to all the troops, who offered up
+prayers for the continuance of her reign, and all the townsfolk
+accepted her rule and all the lieges of the realm. Thus she abode
+awhile bidding and forbidding, and all the people came to hold her in
+exceeding reverence and heartily to love her, by reason of her
+continence and generosity; for taxes she remitted and prisoners she
+released and grievances she redressed; but, as often as she bethought
+her of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite her and him;
+and one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and calling to mind
+the days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with tears and she
+versified in these two couplets,
+
+"My yearning for thee though long is fresh, * And the tears which
+
+
+     chafe these eyelids increase
+
+
+When I weep, I weep from the burn of love, * For to lover
+
+
+     severance is decease."[FN#302]
+
+
+
+And when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and
+repairing to the palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she
+appointed to the slave-girls and concubines separate lodgings and
+assigned them pensions and allowances, giving out that she was minded
+to live apart and devote herself to works of piety. So she applied
+herself to fasting and praying, till the Emirs said, "Verily this
+Sultan is eminently devout;" nor would she suffer any male attendants
+about her, save two little eunuchs to serve her. And on this wise she
+held the throne a whole year, during which time she heard no news of
+her lord, and failed to hit upon his traces, which was exceeding
+grievous to her; so, when her distress became excessive, she summoned
+her Wazirs and Chamberlains and bid them fetch architects and builders
+and make her in front of the palace a horse-course, one parasang long
+and the like broad. They hastened to do her bidding, and lay out the
+place to her liking; and, when it was completed, she went down into it
+and they pitched her there a great pavilion, wherein the chairs of the
+Emirs were ranged in due order. Moreover, she bade them spread on the
+racing-plain tables with all manners of rich meats and when this was
+done she ordered the Grandees to eat. So they ate and she said to them,
+"It is my will that, on seeing the new moon of each month, ye do on
+this wise and proclaim in the city that no man shall open his shop, but
+that all our lieges shall come and eat of the King's banquet, and that
+whoso disobeyeth shall be hanged over his own door."[FN#303] So they
+did as she bade them, and ceased not so to do till the first new moon
+of the second year appeared; when Zumurrud went down into the
+horse-course and the crier proclaimed aloud, saying, "Ho, ye lieges and
+people one and all, whoso openeth store or shop or house shall straight
+way be hanged over his own door; for it behoveth you to come in a body
+and eat of the King's banquet." And when the proclamation became known,
+they laid the tables and the subjects came in hosts; so she bade them
+sit down at the trays and eat their fill of all the dishes. Accordingly
+they sat down and she took place on her chair of state, watching them,
+whilst each who was at meat said to himself, "Verily the King looketh
+at none save me." Then they fell to eating and the Emirs said to them,
+"Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the King." So they ate their
+fill and went away, blessing the Sovereign and saying, one to the
+other, "Never in our days saw we a Sultan who loved the poor as doth
+this Sultan." And they wished him length of life. Upon this Zumurrud
+returned to her palace,— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Zumurrud
+returned to her palace, rejoicing in her device and saying to herself,
+"Inshallah, I shall surely by this means happen on news of my lord Ali
+Shar." When the first day of the second month came round, she did as
+before and when they had spread the tables she came down from her
+palace and took place on her throne and commanded the lieges to sit
+down and fall to. Now as she sat on her throne, at the head of the
+tables, watching the people take their places company by company and
+one by one, behold her eye fell on Barsum, the Nazarene who had bought
+the curtain of her lord; and she knew him and said in her mind, "This
+is the first of my joy and the winning of my wish." Then Barsum came up
+to the table and, sitting down with the rest to eat, espied a dish of
+sweet rice, sprinkled with sugar; but it was far from him, so he pushed
+up to it through the crowd and, putting out his hand to it, seized it
+and set it before himself. His next neighbour said to him, "Why dost
+thou not eat of what is before thee? Is not this a disgrace to thee?
+How canst thou reach over for a dish which is distant from thee? Art
+thou not ashamed?" Quoth Barsum, "I will eat of none save this same."
+Rejoined the other, "Eat then, and Allah give thee no good of it!" But
+another man, a Hashish-eater, said, "Let him eat of it, that I may eat
+with him." Replied his neighbour, "O unluckiest of Hashish- eaters,
+this is no meat for thee; it is eating for Emirs. Let it be, that it
+may return to those for whom it is meant and they eat it." But Barsum
+heeded him not and took a mouthful of the rice and put it in his mouth;
+and was about to take a second mouthful when the Queen, who was
+watching him, cried out to certain of her guards, saying, "Bring me
+yonder man with the dish of Sweet rice before him and let him not eat
+the mouthful he hath read but throw it from his hand."[FN#304] So four
+of the guards went up to Barsum and haled him along on his face, after
+throwing the mouthful of rice from his hand, and set him standing
+before Zumurrud, whilst all the people left eating and said to one
+another, By Allah, he did wrong in not eating of the food meant for the
+likes of him." Quoth one, "For me I was content with this
+porridge[FN#305] which is before me." And the Hashish-eater said,
+"Praised be Allah who hindered me from eating of the dish of sugared
+rice for I expected it to stand before him and was waiting only for him
+to have his enjoyment of it, to eat with him, when there befel him what
+we see." And the general said, one to other, "Wait till we see what
+shall befal him." Now as they brought him before Queen Zumurrud she
+cried, "Woe to thee, O blue eyes! What is thy name and why comest thou
+to our country?" But the accursed called himself out of his name having
+a white turband[FN#306] on, and answered, "O King, my name is Ali; I
+work as a weaver and I came hither to trade." Quoth Zumurrud, "Bring me
+a table of sand and a pen of brass," and when they brought her what she
+sought, she took the sand and the pen, and struck a geomantic figure in
+the likeness of a baboon; then, raising her head, she looked hard at
+Barsum for an hour or so and said to him, "O dog, how darest thou lie
+to Kings? Art thou not a Nazarene, Barsum by name, and comest thou not
+hither in quest of somewhat? Speak the truth, or by the glory of the
+Godhead, I will strike off thy head!" At this Barsum was confounded and
+the Emirs and bystanders said, "Verily, this King understandeth
+geomancy: blessed be He who hath gifted him!" Then she cried out upon
+the Christian and said, 'Tell me the truth, or I will make an end of
+thee!" Barsum replied, "Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as
+regards the table, for the far one[FN#307] is indeed a Nazarene,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Barsum replied,
+"Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as regards the table, for
+thy slave is indeed a Nazarene." Whereupon all present, gentle and
+simple, wondered at the King's skill in hitting upon the truth by
+geomancy, and said, "Verily this King is a diviner, whose like there is
+not in the world." Thereupon Queen Zumurrud bade flay the Nazarene and
+stuff his skin with straw and hang it over the gate of the race-course.
+Moreover, she commended to dig a pit without the city and burn therein
+his flesh and bones and throw over his ashes offal and ordure. "We hear
+and obey," answered they, and did with him all she bade; and, when the
+folk saw what had befallen the Christian, they said, "Serve him right;
+but what an unlucky mouthful was that for him!" And another said, "Be
+the far one's wife divorced if this vow be broken: never again to the
+end of my days will I eat of sugared rice!"; and the Hashish-eater
+cried "Praised be Allah, who spared me this fellow's fate by saving me
+from eating of that same rice!" Then they all went out, holding it
+thenceforth unlawful to sit over against the dish of sweet rice as the
+Nazarene had sat. Now when the first day of the third month came, they
+laid the tables according to custom, and covered them with dishes and
+chargers, and Queen Zumurrud came down and sat on her throne, with her
+guards in attendance, as of wont, in awe of her dignity and majesty.
+Then the townsfolk entered as before and went round about the tables,
+looking for the place of the dish of sweet rice, and quoth one to
+another, "Hark ye, O Hбjн[FN#308] Khalaf!"; and the other answered, "At
+thy service, O Hбjн Khбlid." Said Khбlid, "Avoid the dish of sweet rice
+and look thou eat not thereof; for, if thou do, by early morning thou
+will be hanged."[FN#309] Then they sat down to meat around the table;
+and, as they were eating, Queen Zumurrud chanced to look from her
+throne and saw a man come running in through the gate of the
+horse-course; and having considered him attentively, she knew him for
+Jawan the Kurdish thief who murdered the trooper. Now the cause of his
+coming was this: when he left his mother, he went to his comrades and
+said to them, "I did good business yesterday; for I slew a trooper and
+took his horse. Moreover there fell to me last night a pair of
+saddle-bags, full of gold, and a young lady worth more than the money
+in pouch; and I have left all that with my mother in the cave." At this
+they rejoiced and repaired to the cavern at night-fall, whilst Jawan
+the Kurd walked in front and the rest behind; he wishing to bring them
+the booty of which he had boasted. But he found the place clean empty
+and questioned his mother, who told him all that had befallen her;
+whereupon he bit his hands for regret and exclaimed, "By Allah, I will
+assuredly make search for the harlot and take her, wherever she is,
+though it be in the shell of a pistachio-nut,[FN#310] and quench my
+malice on her!" So he went forth in quest of her and ceased not
+journeying from place to place, till he came to Queen Zumurrud's city.
+On entering he found the town deserted and, enquiring of some women
+whom he saw looking from the windows, they told him that it was the
+Sultan's custom to make a banquet for the people on the first of each
+month and that all the lieges were bound to go and eat of it.
+Furthermore the women directed him to the racing-ground, where the
+feast was spread. So he entered at a shuffling trot; and, finding no
+place empty, save that before the dish of sweet rice already noticed,
+took his seat right opposite it and stretched out his hand towards the
+dish; whereupon the folk cried out to him, saying, "O our brother, what
+wouldst thou do?" Quoth he, "I would eat my fill of this dish."
+Rejoined one of the people, "If thou eat of it thou wilt assuredly find
+thyself hanged to-morrow morning." But Jawan said, "Hold thy tongue and
+talk not so unpleasantly." Then he stretched out his hand to the dish
+and drew it to him; but it so chanced that the Hashish-eater of whom we
+have spoken, was sitting by him; and when he saw him take the dish, the
+fumes of the Hashish left his head and he fled from his place and sat
+down afar off, saying, "I will have nothing to do with yonder dish."
+Then Jawan the Kurd put out his hand (which was very like a raven's
+claws,[FN#311] scooped up therewith half the dishful and drew out his
+neave as it were a camel's hoof,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jawan the Kurd
+drew his neave from the dish as it were a camel's hoof and rolled the
+lump of rice in the palm of his hand, till it was like a big orange,
+and threw it ravenously into his mouth; and it rolled down his gullet,
+with a rumble like thunder and the bottom of the deep dish appeared
+where said mouthful had been. Thereupon quoth to him one sitting by his
+side, "Praised be Allah for not making me meat between thy hands; for
+thou hast cleared the dish at a single mouthful;" and quoth the
+Hashish-eater, "Let him eat; methinks he hath a hanging face." Then,
+turning to Jawan he added, "Eat and Allah give thee small good of it."
+So Jawan put out his hand again and taking another mouthful, was
+rolling it in his palm like the first, when behold, the Queen cried out
+to the guards saying, "Bring me yonder man in haste and let him not eat
+the mouthful in his hand." So they ran and seizing him as he hung over
+the dish, brought him to her, and set him in her presence, whilst the
+people exulted over his mishap and said one to the other, "Serve him
+right, for we warned him, but he would not take warning. Verily, this
+place is bound to be the death of whoso sitteth therein, and yonder
+rice bringeth doom to all who eat of it." Then said Queen Zumurrud to
+Jawan, "What is thy name and trade and wherefore comest thou to our
+city?" Answered he, "O our lord the Sultan, my name is Othman; I work
+as a gardener and am come hither in quest of somewhat I have lost."
+Quoth Zumurrud, "Here with a table of sand!" So they brought it, and
+she took the pen and drawing a geomantic scheme, considered it awhile,
+then raising her head, exclaimed, "Woe to thee, thou loser! How darest
+thou lie to Kings? This sand telleth me that of a truth thy name is
+Jawan the Kurd and that thou art by trade a robber, taking men's goods
+in the way of unright and slaying those whom Allah hath forbidden to
+slay save for just cause." And she cried out upon him, saying, "O hog,
+tell me the truth of thy case or I will cut off thy head on the spot."
+Now when he heard these words, he turned yellow and his teeth
+chattered; then, deeming that he might save himself by truth-telling,
+he replied, "O King, thou sayest sooth; but I repent at thy hands
+henceforth and turn to Allah Almighty!" She answered, "It were not
+lawful for me to leave a pest in the way of Moslems;" and cried to her
+guards, "Take him and skin him and do with him as last month ye did by
+his like." They obeyed her commandment; and, when the Hashish- eater
+saw the soldiers seize the man, he turned his back upon the dish of
+rice, saying, "'Tis a sin to present my face to thee!" And after they
+had made an end of eating, they dispersed to their several homes and
+Zumurrud returned to her palace and dismissed her attendants. Now when
+the fourth month came round, they went to the race-course and made the
+banquet, according to custom, and the folk sat awaiting leave to begin.
+Presently Queen Zumurrud entered and, sitting down on her throne,
+looked at the tables and saw that room for four people was left void
+before the dish of rice, at which she wondered. Now as she was looking
+around, behold, she saw a man come trotting in at the gate of the
+horse- course; and he stayed not till he stood over the food-trays;
+and, finding no room save before the dish of rice, took his seat there.
+She looked at him and knowing him for the accursed Christian who called
+himself Rashid al-Din, said in her mind, "How blessed is this device of
+the food,[FN#312] into whose toils this infidel hath fallen" Now the
+cause of his coming was extraordinary, and it was on this wise. When he
+returned from his travels,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+accursed, who had called himself Rashid al-Din, returned from travel,
+his household informed him that Zumurrud was missing and with her a
+pair of saddle-bags full of money; on hearing which ill tidings he rent
+his raiment and buffeted his face and plucked out his beard. Then he
+despatched his brother Barsum in quest of her to lands adjoining and,
+when he was weary of awaiting news of him, he went forth himself, to
+seek for him and for the girl, whenas fate led him to the city of
+Zumurrud. He entered it on the first day of the month and finding the
+streets deserted and the shops shut and women idling at the windows, he
+asked them the reason why, and they told him that the King made a
+banquet on the first of each month for the people, all of whom were
+bound to attend it, nor might any abide in his house or shop that day;
+and they directed him to the racing-plain. So he betook himself thither
+and found the people crowding about the food, and there was never a
+place for him save in front of the rice-dish now well-known. Here then
+he sat and put forth his hand to eat thereof, whereupon Zumurrud cried
+out to her guards, saying, "Bring me him who sitteth over against the
+dish of rice." So they knew him by what had before happened and laid
+hands on him and brought him before Queen Zumurrud, who said to him,
+"Out on thee! What is thy name and trade, and what bringeth thee to our
+city?" Answered he, "O King of the age, my name is Rustam[FN#313] and I
+have no occupation, for I am a poor dervish." Then said she to her
+attendants, "Bring me table of sand and pen of brass." So they brought
+her what she sought, as of wont; and she took the pen and made the dots
+which formed the figure and considered it awhile, then raising her head
+to Rashid al-Din, she said, "O dog, how darest thou lie to Kings? Thy
+name is Rashid al-Din the Nazarene, thou art outwardly a Moslem, but a
+Christian at heart, and thine occupation is to lay snares for the
+slave-girls of the Moslems and make them captives. Speak the truth, or
+I will smite off thy head." He hesitated and stammered, then replied,
+"Thou sayest sooth, O King of the age!" Whereupon she commanded to
+throw him down and give him an hundred blows with a stick on each sole
+and a thousand stripes with a whip on his body; after which she bade
+flay him and stuff his skin with herds of flax and dig a pit without
+the city, wherein they should burn his corpse and cast on his ashes
+offal-and ordure. They did as she bade them and she gave the people
+leave to eat. So they ate and when they had eaten their fill they went
+their ways, while Queen Zumurrud returned to her palace, saying, "I
+thank Allah for solacing my heart of those who wronged me." Then she
+praised the Creator of the earth and the heavens and repeated these
+couplets,
+
+"They ruled awhile and theirs was harsh tyrannic rule, * But soon
+
+
+     that rule went by as though it never were:
+
+
+If just they had won justice; but they sinned, and so * The world
+
+
+     collected all its bane for them to bear:
+
+
+So died they and their case's tongue declares aloud * This is for
+
+
+     that so of the world your blaming spare."
+
+
+
+And when her verse was ended she called to mind her lord Ali Shar and
+wept flowing tears; but presently recovered herself and said, "Haply
+Allah, who hath given mine enemies into my hand, will vouchsafe me the
+speedy return of my beloved;" and she begged forgiveness of Allah (be
+He extolled and exalted')—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen begged
+forgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!), and said, "Haply He
+will vouchsafe me speedy reunion with my beloved Ali Shar for He can do
+what He willeth and to His servants showeth grace, ever mindful of
+their case!" Then she praised Allah and again besought forgiveness of
+Him, submitting herself to the decrees of destiny, assured that each
+beginning hath his end, and repeating the saying of the poet,
+
+"Take all things easy; for all worldly things * In Allah's hand
+
+
+     are ruled by Destiny:
+
+
+Ne'er shall befal thee aught of things forbidden, * Nor what is
+
+
+     bidden e'er shall fail to thee!"
+
+
+
+And what another saith.
+
+"Roll up thy days[FN#314] and easy shall they roll * Through
+
+
+     life, nor haunt the house of grief and dole:
+
+
+Full many a thing, which is o'er hard to find,* Next hour shall
+
+
+     bring thee to delight thy soul."
+
+
+
+And what a third saith,[FN#315]
+
+"Be mild what time thou'rt ta'en with anger and despite * And
+
+
+     patient, if there fall misfortune on thy head.
+
+
+Indeed, the nights are quick and great with child by Time * And
+
+
+     of all wondrous things are hourly brought to bed."
+
+
+
+And what a fourth saith,
+
+"Take patience which breeds good if patience thou can learn; * Be
+
+
+     calm soured, scaping anguish-draughts that gripe and bren:
+
+
+Know, that if patience with good grace thou dare refuse, * With
+
+
+     ill-graced patience thou shalt bear what wrote the Pen."
+
+
+
+After which she abode thus another whole month's space, judging the
+folk and bidding and forbidding by day, and by night weeping and
+bewailing her separation from her lord Ali Shar. On the first day of
+the fifth month, she bade them spread the banquet on the race-plain,
+according to custom, and sat down at the head of the tables, whilst the
+lieges awaited the signal to fall to, leaving the place before the dish
+of rice vacant. She sat with eyes fixed upon the gate of the
+horse-course, noting all who entered and saying in her soul, "O Thou
+who restoredest Joseph to Jacob and diddest away the sorrows of
+Job,[FN#316] vouchsafe of Thy might and Thy majesty to restore me my
+lord Ali Shar; for Thou over all things art Omnipotent, O Lord of the
+Worlds! O Guide of those who go astray! O Hearer of those that cry! O
+Answerer of those who pray, answer Thou my prayer, O Lord of all
+creatures." Now hardly had she made an end of her prayer and
+supplication when behold, she saw entering the gate of the horse-plain
+a young man, in shape like a willow branch, the comeliest of youths and
+the most accomplished, save that his face was wan and his form wasted
+by weariness. Now as he entered and came up to the tables, he found no
+seat vacant save that over against the dish of sweet rice so he sat
+down there; and, when Zumurrud looked upon him, her heart fluttered
+and, observing him narrowly, she knew him for her lord Ali Shar, and
+was like to have cried out for joy, but restrained herself, fearing
+disgrace before the folk and, albeit her bowels yearned over him and
+her heart beat wildly, she hid what she felt. Now the cause of his
+coming thither was on this wise. After he fell asleep upon the bench
+and Zumurrud let herself down to him and Jawan the Kurd seized her, he
+presently awoke and found himself lying with his head bare, so he knew
+that some one had come upon him and had robbed him of his turband
+whilst he slept. So he spoke the saying which shall never shame its
+sayer and, which is, "Verily, we are Allah's and to Him are we
+returning!" and, going back to the old woman's house, knocked at the
+door. She came out and he wept before her, till he fell down in a
+fainting fit. Now when he came to himself, he told her all that had
+passed, and she blamed him and chid him for his foolish doings saying,
+"Verily thine affliction and calamity come from thyself." And she gave
+not over reproaching him, till the blood streamed from his nostrils and
+he again fainted away. When he recovered from his swoon,—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ali Shar
+recovered from his swoon he saw the old woman bewailing his griefs and
+weeping over him; so he complained of his hard lot and repeated these
+two couplets,
+
+"How bitter to friends is a parting, * And a meeting how sweet to
+
+
+     the lover!
+
+
+Allah join all the lovers He parteth, * And save me who of love
+
+
+     ne'er recover."[FN#317]
+
+
+
+The old woman mourned over him and said to him, "Sit here, whilst I go
+in quest of news for thee and return to thee in haste." "To hear is to
+obey," answered he. So she left him on her good errand and was absent
+till midday, when she returned and said to him, "O Ali, I fear me thou
+must die in thy grief; thou wilt never see thy beloved again save on
+the bridge Al-Sirбt;[FN#318] for the people of the Christian's house,
+when they arose in the morning, found the window giving on the garden
+torn from its hinges and Zumurrud missing, and with her a pair of
+saddle-bags full of the Christian's money. And when I came thither, I
+saw the Chief of Police standing at the door, he and his many, and
+there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious,
+the Great!" Now, as Ali Shar heard these words, the light in his sight
+was changed to the darkness of night and he despaired of life and made
+sure of death; nor did he leave weeping, till he lost his senses. When
+he revived, love and longing were sore upon him; there befel him a
+grievous sickness and he kept his house a whole year; during which the
+old woman ceased not to bring him doctors and ply him with ptisanes and
+diet-drinks and make him savoury broths till, after the twelve-month
+ended, his life returned to him. Then he recalled what had passed and
+repeated these couplets,
+
+"Severance-grief nighmost, Union done to death, * Down-railing
+
+
+     tear-drops, heart fire tortureth!
+
+
+Redoubleth pine in one that hath no peace * For love and wake and
+
+
+     woe he suffereth:
+
+
+O Lord, if there be thing to joy my soul * Deign Thou bestow it
+
+
+     while I breathe my breath."
+
+
+
+When the second year began, the old woman said to him, "O my son, all
+this thy weeping and wailing will not bring thee back thy mistress.
+Rise, therefore, gird the loins of resolution and seek for her in the
+lands: peradventure thou shalt light on some news of her." And she
+ceased not to exhort and hearten him, till he took courage and she
+carried him to the Hammam. Then she made him drink strong wine and eat
+white meats, and thus she did with him for a whole month, till he
+regained strength; and setting out journeyed without ceasing till he
+arrived at Zumurrud's city where he went to the horse-course, and sat
+down before the dish of sweet rice and put out his hand to eat of it.
+Now when the folk saw this, they were concerned for him and said to
+him, "O young man, eat not of that dish, for whoso eateth thereof,
+misfortune befalleth him." Answered he, "Leave me to eat of it, and let
+them do with me what they will, so haply shall I be at rest from this
+wearying life." Accordingly he ate a first mouthful, and Zumurrud was
+minded to have him brought before her, but then she bethought her that
+belike he was an hungered and said to herself, "It were properer to let
+him eat his fill." So he went on eating, whilst the folk looked at him
+in astonishment, waiting to see what would betide him; and, when he had
+satisfied himself, Zumurrud said to certain of her eunuchry, "Go to
+yonder youth who eateth of the rice and bring him to me in courteous
+guise, saying: 'Answer the summons of the King who would have a word
+with thee on some slight matter.'" They replied, "We hear and obey,"
+and going straightways up to Ali Shar, said to him, "O my lord, be
+pleased to answer the summons of the King and let thy heart be at
+ease." Quoth he, "Hearkening and obedience;" and followed the
+eunuchs,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar
+rejoined, "Hearkening and obedience;" and followed the eunuchs, whilst
+the people said to one another, "There is no Majesty and there is no
+Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I wonder what the King
+will do with him!" And others said, "He will do him naught but good:
+for had he intended to harm him, he had not suffered him to eat his
+fill." Now when the Castratos set him in presence of Zumurrud he
+saluted and kissed the earth before her, whilst she returned his
+salutation and received him with honour. Then she asked him, "What may
+be thy name and trade, and what brought thee to our city?"; and he
+answered, "O King my name is Ali Shar; I am of the sons of the
+merchants of Khorasan; and the cause of my coming hither is to seek for
+a slave-girl whom I have lost for she was dearer to me than my hearing
+and my seeing, and indeed my soul cleaveth to her, since I lost her;
+and such is my tale." So saying he wept, till he swooned away;
+whereupon she bade them sprinkle rose-water on his face, which they did
+till he revived, when she said, "Here with the table of sand and the
+brass pen." So they brought them and she took the pen and struck a
+geomantic scheme which she considered awhile; and then cried, "Thou
+hast spoken sooth, Allah will grant thee speedy reunion with her; so be
+not troubled." Upon this she commanded her head- chamberlain to carry
+him to the bath and afterwards to clothe him in a handsome suit of
+royal-apparel, and mount him on one of the best of the King's horses
+and finally bring him to the palace at the last of the day. So the
+Chamberlain, after saying "I hear and I obey," took him away, whilst
+the folk began to say to one another, "What maketh the King deal thus
+courteously with yonder youth?" And quoth one, "Did I not tell you that
+he would do him no hurt?; for he is fair of aspect; and this I knew,
+ever since the King suffered him to eat his fill." And each said his
+say; after which they all dispersed and went their ways. As for
+Zumurrud, she thought the night would never come, that she might be
+alone with the beloved of her heart. As soon as it was dark, she
+withdrew to her sleeping-chamber and made her attendants think her
+overcome with sleep; and it was her wont to suffer none to pass the
+night with her save those two little eunuchs who waited upon her. After
+a while when she had composed herself, she sent for her dear Ali Shar
+and sat down upon the bed, with candles burning over her head and feet,
+and hanging lamps of gold lighting up the place like the rising sun.
+When the people heard of her sending for Ali Shar, they marvelled
+thereat and each man thought his thought and said his say; but one of
+them declared, "At all events the King is in love with this young man,
+and to- morrow he will make him generalissimo of the army."[FN#319] Now
+when they brought him into her, he kissed the ground between her hands
+and called down blessings her, and she said in her mind, "There is no
+help for it but that I jest with him awhile, before I make myself known
+to him.''[FN#320] Then she asked him, "O Ali, say me, hast thou been to
+the Hammam?"[FN#321] and he answered, "Yes, O my lord." Quoth she,
+"Come, eat of this chicken and meat, and drink of this wine and sherbet
+of sugar; for thou art weary; and after that come thou hither." "I hear
+and I obey," replied he and did as she commanded him do. Now when he
+had made an end of eating and drinking, she said to him, "Come up with
+me on the couch and shampoo[FN#322] my feet." So he fell to rubbing
+feet and kneading calves, and found them softer than silk. Then said
+she, "Go higher with the massage;" and he, "Pardon me, O my lord, to
+the knee but no farther!" Whereupon quoth she, "Durst thou disobey me?:
+it shall be an ill-omened night for thee!"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud cried to
+her lord, Ali Shar, "Durst thou disobey me?: it shall be an ill-omened
+night for thee! Nay, but it behoveth thee to do my bidding and I will
+make thee my minion and appoint thee one of my Emirs." Asked Ali Shar,
+"And in what must I do thy bidding, O King of the age?" and she
+answered, "Doff thy trousers and lie down on thy face." Quoth he, "That
+is a thing in my life I never did; and if thou force me thereto, verily
+I will accuse thee thereof before Allah on Resurrection-day. Take
+everything thou hast given me and let me go from thy city." And he wept
+and lamented; but she said, "Doff thy trousers and lie down on thy
+face, or I will strike off thy head." So he did as she bade him and she
+mounted upon his back; and he felt what was softer than silk and
+smoother than cream and said in himself, "Of a truth, this King is
+nicer than all the women!" Now for a time she abode on his back, then
+she turned over on the bed, and he said to himself, "Praised be Allah!
+It seemeth his yard is not standing." Then said she, "O Ali, it is of
+the wont of my prickle that it standeth not, except they rub it with
+their hands; so, come, rub it with thy hand, till it be at stand, else
+will I slay thee." So saying, she lay down on her back and taking his
+hand, set it to her parts, and he found these same parts softer than
+silk; white, plumply-rounded, protuberant, resembling for heat the hot
+room of the bath or the heart of a lover whom love-longing hath wasted.
+Quoth Ali in himself, "Verily, our King hath a coynte; this is indeed a
+wonder of wonders!" And lust get hold on him and his yard rose and
+stood upright to the utmost of its height; which when Zumurrud saw, she
+burst out laughing and said to him, "O my lord, all this happeneth and
+yet thou knowest me not!" He asked "And who art thou, O King?"; and she
+answered, "I am thy slave- girl Zumurrud." Now whenas he knew this and
+was certified that she was indeed his very slave-girl, Zumurrud, he
+kissed her and embraced her and threw himself upon her as the lion upon
+the lamb. Then he sheathed his steel rod in her scabbard and ceased not
+to play the porter at her door and the preacher in her pulpit and the
+priest[FN#323] at her prayer niche, whilst she with him ceased not from
+inclination and prostration and rising up and sitting down,
+accompanying her ejaculations of praise and of "Glory to Allah!" with
+passionate movements and wrigglings and claspings of his member[FN#324]
+and other amorous gestures, till the two little eunuchs heard the
+noise. So they came and peeping from behind the curtains saw the King
+lying on his back and upon him Ali Shar, thrusting and slashing whilst
+she puffed and blew and wriggled. Quoth they, "Verily, this be no man's
+wriggle: belike this King is a woman.''[FN#325] But they concealed
+their affair and discovered it to none. And when the morrow came,
+Zumurrud summoned all the troops and the lords of the realm and said to
+them, "I am minded to journey to this man's country; so choose you a
+viceroy, who shall rule over you till I return to you." And they
+answered, "We hear and we obey." Then she applied herself to making
+ready the wants of the way, to wit provaunt and provender, monies and
+rarities for presents, camels and mules and so forth; after which she
+set out from her city with Ali Shar, and they ceased not faring on,
+till they arrived at his native place, where he entered his house and
+gave many gifts to his friends and alms and largesse to the poor. And
+Allah vouchsafed him children by her, and they both lived the gladdest
+and happiest of lives, till there came to them the Destroyer of
+delights and the Severer of societies and the Garnerer of graves. And
+glorified be He the Eternal without cease, and praised be He in every
+case! And amongst other tales they tell one of
+
+
+
+THE LOVES OF JUBAYR BIN UMAYR AND THE LADY BUDUR.
+
+It is related that the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid was
+uneasy[FN#326] one night and could not sleep; so that he ceased not to
+toss from side to side for very restlessness, till, growing weary of
+this, he called Masrur and said to him, "Ho, Masrur, find me some one
+who may solace me in this my wakefulness." He answered, "O Prince of
+True Believers, wilt thou walk in the palace-garden and divert thyself
+with the sight of its blooms and gaze upon the stars and constellations
+and note the beauty of their ordinance and the moon among them rising
+in sheen over the water?" Quoth the Caliph, "O Masrur, my heart
+inclineth not to aught of this." Quoth he, "O my lord, there are in thy
+palace three hundred concubines, each of whom hath her separate
+chamber. Do thou bid all and every retire into her own apartment and
+then do thou go thy rounds and amuse thyself with gazing on them
+without their knowledge." The Caliph replied, "O Masrur, the palace is
+my palace and the girls are my property: furthermore my soul inclineth
+not to aught of this." Then Masrur rejoined, "O my lord, summon the
+doctors of law and religion and the sages of science and poets, and bid
+them contend before thee in argument and disputation and recite to thee
+songs and verses and tell thee tales and anecdotes." Replied the
+Caliph, "My soul inclineth not to aught of this;" and Masrur rejoined,
+"O my lord, bid pretty boys and the wits and the cup-companions attend
+thee and solace thee with witty sallies." "O Masrur," ejaculated the
+Caliph, "indeed my soul inclineth not to aught of this." "Then, O my
+lord," cried Masrur, "strike off my head;"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur cried out
+to the Caliph, "O my lord, strike off my head; haply that will dispel
+thine unease and do away the restlessness that is upon thee." So
+Al-Rashid laughed at his saying and said, "See which of the
+boon-companions is at the door." Thereupon he went out and returning,
+said, "O my lord, he who sits without is Ali bin Mansur of Damascus,
+the Wag."[FN#327] "Bring him to me," quoth Harun: and Masrur went out
+and returned with Ibn Mansur, who said, on entering, "Peace be with
+thee, O Commander of the Faithful!" The Caliph returned his salutation
+and said to him, "O Ibn Mansur, tell us some of thy stories." Said the
+other, "O Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen
+with my eyes or what I have only heard tell?" Replied the Caliph, "If
+thou have seen aught worth telling, let us hear it; for hearing is not
+like seeing." Said Ibn Mansur, "O Commander of the Faithful, lend me
+thine ear and thy heart;" and he answered, "O Ibn Mansur, behold, I am
+listening to thee with mine ears and looking at thee with mine eyes and
+attending to thee with my heart." So Ibn Mansur began: "Know then, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that I receive a yearly allowance from
+Mohammed bin Sulaymбn al-Hбshimi, Sultan of Bassorah; so I went to him
+once upon a time, as usual, and found him ready to ride out hunting and
+birding. I saluted him and he returned my salute, and said, 'O son of
+Mansur, mount and come with us to the chase:' but I said, 'O my lord, I
+can no longer ride; so do thou station me in the guest-house and give
+thy chamberlains and lieutenants charge over me.' And he did so and
+departed for his sport. His people entreated me with the utmost honour
+and entertained me with the greatest hospitality; but said I to myself,
+'By Allah, it is a strange thing that for so long I have been in the
+habit of coming from Baghdad to Bassorah, yet know no more of this town
+than from palace to garden and from garden to palace. When shall I find
+an occasion like this to view the different parts and quarters of
+Bassorah? I will rise forthwith and walk forth alone and divert myself
+and digest what I have eaten.' Accordingly I donned my richest dress
+and went out a walking about Bassorah. Now it is known to thee, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that it hath seventy streets, each seventy
+leagues[FN#328] long, the measure of Irak; and I lost myself in its
+by-streets and thirst overcame me. Presently, as I went along, O Prince
+of True Believers, behold, I came to a great door, whereon were two
+rings of brass,[FN#329] with curtains of red brocade drawn before it.
+And on either side of the door was a stone bench and over it was a
+trellis, covered with a creeping vine that hung down and shaded the
+door way. I stood still to gaze upon the place, and presently heard a
+sorrowful voice, proceeding from a heart which did not rejoice, singing
+melodiously and chanting these cinquains,
+
+'My body bides the sad abode of grief and malady, * Caused by a
+
+
+     fawn whose land and home are in a far countrie:
+
+
+O ye two Zephyrs of the wold which caused such pain in me * By
+
+
+     Allah, Lord of you! to him my heart's desire, go ye
+
+
+           And chide him so perchance ye soften him I pray.
+
+
+
+And tell us all his words if he to hear your speech shall deign,
+
+
+     * And unto him the tidings bear of lovers 'twixt you twain:
+
+
+And both vouchsafe to render me a service free and fain, * And
+
+
+     lay my case before him showing how I e'er complain:
+
+
+          And say, 'What ails thy bounder thrall this wise to
+
+
+               drive away,
+
+
+
+Without a fault committed and without a sin to show; * Or heart
+
+
+     that leans to other wight or would thy love forego:
+
+
+Or treason to our plighted troth or causing thee a throe?' * And
+
+
+     if he smile then say ye twain in accents soft and slow,
+
+
+          'An thou to him a meeting grant 'twould be the kindest
+
+
+               way!
+
+
+
+For he is gone distraught for thee, as well indeed, he might *
+
+
+     His eyes are wakeful and he weeps and wails the livelong
+
+
+     night :'
+
+
+If seem he satisfied by this why then 'tis well and right, * But
+
+
+     if he show an angry face and treat ye with despite,
+
+
+          Trick him and 'Naught we know of him!' I beg you both
+
+
+               to say.'
+
+
+
+Quoth I to myself, 'Verily, if the owner of this voice be fair, she
+conjoineth beauty of person and eloquence and sweetness of voice.' Then
+I drew near the door, and began raising the curtain little by little,
+when lo! I beheld a damsel, white as a full moon when it mooneth on its
+fourteenth night, with joined eyebrows twain and languorous lids of
+eyne, breasts like pomegranates twin and dainty, lips like double
+carnelian, a mouth as it were the seal-of Solomon, and teeth ranged in
+a line that played with the reason of proser and rhymer, even as saith
+the poet,
+
+'O pearly mouth of friend, who set those pretty pearls in line, *
+
+
+     And filled thee full of whitest chamomile and reddest wine?
+
+
+Who lent the morning-glory in thy smile to shimmer and shine *
+
+
+     Who with that ruby-padlock dared thy lips to seal-and sign!
+
+
+Who looks on thee at early morn with stress of joy and bliss *
+
+
+     Goes mad for aye, what then of him who wins a kiss of
+
+
+     thine?'[FN#330]
+
+
+
+And as saith another,
+
+    'O pearl-set mouth of friend * Pity poor Ruby's cheek
+
+
+     Boast not o'er one who owns * Thee, union and unique.'
+
+
+
+In brief she comprised all varieties of loveliness and was a seduction
+to men and women, nor could the gazer satisfy himself with the sight of
+her charms; for she was as the poet hath said of her,
+
+'When comes she, slays she; and when back he turns, * She makes
+
+
+     all men regard with loving eyes:
+
+
+A very sun! a very moon! but still * Prom hurt and harmful ills
+
+
+     her nature flies.
+
+
+Opes Eden's garden when she shows herself, * And full moon see we
+
+
+     o'er her necklace rise.'
+
+
+
+How as I was looking at her through an opening of the curtain, behold,
+she turned; and, seeing me standing at the door, said to her handmaid,
+'See who is at the door.' So the slave-girl came up to me and said, 'O
+Shaykh, hast thou no shame, or do impudent airs suit hoary hairs?'
+Quoth I, 'O my mistress, I confess to the hoary hairs, but as for
+impudent airs, I think not to be guilty of unmannerliness.' Then the
+mistress broke in, 'And what can be more unmannerly than to intrude
+thyself upon a house other than thy house and gaze on a Harim other
+than thy Harim?' I pleaded, 'O my lady, I have an excuse;' and when she
+asked, 'And what is thine excuse?' I answered, 'I am a stranger and so
+thirsty that I am well nigh dead of thirst.' She rejoined, 'We accept
+thine excuse,' —And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When It was the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady
+rejoined, 'We accept thine excuse,' and calling one of her slave maids,
+said to her, 'O Lutf,[FN#331] give him to drink in the golden tankard.'
+So she brought me a tankard of red gold, set with pearls and gems of
+price, full of water mingled with virgin musk and covered with a napkin
+of green silk, and I addressed myself to drink and was long about my
+drinking, for I stole glances at her the while, till I could prolong my
+stay no longer. Then I returned the tankard to the girl, but did not
+offer to go; and she said to me, 'O Shaykh, wend thy way.' But I said,
+'O my lady, I am troubled in mind.' She asked me 'for what?' and I
+answered, 'For the turns of Time and the change of things.' Replied
+she, 'Well mayst thou be troubled thereat for Time breedeth wonders.
+But what hast thou seen of such surprises that thou shouldst muse upon
+them?' Quoth I, 'I was thinking of the whilom owner of this house, for
+he was my intimate in his lifetime.' Asked she, 'What was his name?';
+and I answered, 'Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller and he was a man of
+great wealth. Tell me did he leave any children?' Said she, 'Yes, he
+left a daughter, Budur by name, who inherited all his wealth?' Quoth I,
+'Meseemeth thou art his daughter?' 'Yes,' answered she, laughing; then
+added, 'O Shaykh, thou best talked long enough; now wend thy ways.'
+Replied I, 'Needst must I go, but I see thy charms are changed by being
+out of health; so tell me thy case; it may be Allah will give thee
+comfort at my hands.' Rejoined she, 'O Shayth, if thou be a man of
+discretion, I will discover to thee my secret; but first tell me who
+thou art, that I may know whether thou art worthy of confidence or not;
+for the poet saith,[FN#332]
+
+'None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of
+
+
+     mankind remaineth concealed.
+
+
+I have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost
+
+
+     and whose door is sealed.'
+
+
+
+Thereto I replied, 'O my lady, an thou wouldest know who I am, I am Ali
+bin MansÑŠr of Damascus, the Wag, cup-companion to the Commander of the
+Faithful, Harun al-Rashid.' Now when she heard my name, she came down
+from her seat and saluting me, said, 'Welcome, O Ibn Mansur! Now will I
+tell thee my case and entrust thee with my secret. I am a lover
+separated from her beloved.' I answered, 'O my lady, thou art fair and
+shouldest be on love terms with none but the fair. Whom then dost thou
+love?' Quoth she, 'I love Jubayr bin Umayr al-Shaybбni, Emir of the
+Banъ Shaybбn;[FN#333]' and she described to me a young man than whom
+there was no prettier fellow in Bassorah. I asked, 'O my lady, have
+interviews or letters passed between you?' and she answered 'Yes, but
+our love was tongue-love souls, not heart and souls- love; for he kept
+not his trust nor was he faithful to his troth.' Said I, 'O my lady,
+and what was the cause of your separation?', and she replied, 'I was
+sitting one day whilst my handmaid here combed my hair. When she had
+made an end of combing it, she plaited my tresses, and my beauty and
+loveliness charmed her; so she bent over me and kissed my
+cheek.[FN#334] At that moment he came in unawares, and, seeing the girl
+kiss my cheek, straightways turned away in anger, vowing
+eternal-separation and repeating these two couplets,
+
+'If another share in the thing I love, * I abandon my love and
+
+
+     live lorn of love.
+
+
+My beloved is worthless if aught she will, * Save that which her
+
+
+     lover doth most approve.
+
+
+
+And from the time he left me to this present hour, O Ibn Mansur, he
+hath neither written to me nor answered my letters.' Quoth I, 'And what
+purposes" thou to do?' Quoth she, 'I have a mind to send him a letter
+by thee. If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt have of me five
+hundred gold pieces; and if not, then an hundred for thy trouble in
+going and coming.' I answered, 'Do what seemeth good to thee; I hear
+and I obey thee.' Whereupon she called to one of her slave-girls,
+'Bring me ink case and paper,' and she wrote thereon these couplets,
+
+'Beloved, why this strangeness, why this hate? * When shall thy
+
+
+     pardon reunite us two?
+
+
+Why dost thou turn from me in severance? * Thy face is not the
+
+
+     face I am wont to know.
+
+
+Yes, slanderers falsed my words, and thou to them * Inclining,
+
+
+     madest spite and envy grow.
+
+
+An hast believed their tale, the Heavens forbid * Now thou
+
+
+     believe it when dost better bow!
+
+
+By thy life tell what hath reached thine ear, * Thou know'st what
+
+
+     said they and so justice show.
+
+
+An it be true I spoke the words, my words * Admit interpreting
+
+
+     and change allow:
+
+
+Given that the words of Allah were revealed, * Folk changed the
+
+
+     Torah[FN#335] and still changing go:
+
+
+What slanders told they of mankind before! * Jacob heard Joseph
+
+
+     blamed by tongue of foe.
+
+
+Yea, for myself and slanderer and thee * An awful day of
+
+
+     reckoning there shall be.'
+
+
+
+Then she sealed the letter and gave it to me; and I took it and carried
+it to the house of Jubayr bin Umayr, whom I found absent a hunting. So
+I sat down to wait for him; and behold, he returned from the chase; and
+when I saw him, O Prince of True Believers, come riding up, my wit was
+confounded by his beauty and grace. As soon as he sighted me sitting at
+the house-door, he dismounted and coming up to me embraced me and
+saluted me; and meseemed I embraced the world and all therein. Then he
+carried me into his house and, seating me on his own couch, called for
+food. They brought a table of Khalanj-wood of Khorasan with feet of
+gold, whereon were all manners of meats, fried and roasted and the
+like. So I seated myself at the table and examining it with care found
+these couplets engraved upon it:"[FN#336]—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali son of
+
+
+Mansur continued: "So I seated myself at the table of Jubayr bin
+
+
+Umayr al-Shaybani and, examining it with care, found these
+
+
+couplets engraved upon it,
+
+
+
+          'On these which once were-chicks,
+
+
+          Your mourning glances fix,
+
+
+Late dwellers in the mansion of the cup,
+
+
+          Now nearly eaten up!
+
+
+               Let tears bedew
+
+
+          The memory of that stew,
+
+
+          Those partridges, once roast,
+
+
+               Now lost!
+
+
+
+The daughters of the grouse in plaintive strain
+
+
+Bemourn, and still bemourn, and mourn again!
+
+
+          The children of the fry,
+
+
+               We lately saw
+
+
+          Half smothered in pilau
+
+
+With buttery mutton fritters smoking by!
+
+
+          Alas! my heart, the fish!
+
+
+               Who filled his dish,
+
+
+
+With flaky form in varying colours spread
+
+
+On the round pastry cake of household bread!
+
+
+          Heaven sent us that kabob!
+
+
+               For no one could
+
+
+          (Save heaven he should rob)
+
+
+Produce a thing so excellently good,
+
+
+          Or give us roasted meat
+
+
+With basting oil so savourily replete!
+
+
+
+But, oh! mine appetite, alas! for thee!
+
+
+          Who on that furmeaty
+
+
+So sharpset west a little while ago—
+
+
+That furmeaty, which mashed by hands of snow,
+
+
+          A light reflection bore,
+
+
+Of the bright bracelets that those fair hands wore;
+
+
+          Again remembrance glads my sense
+
+
+          With visions of its excellence!
+
+
+
+          Again I see the cloth unrolled
+
+
+          Rich worked in many a varied fold!
+
+
+          Be patient, oh! my soul, they say
+
+
+          Fortune rules all that's new and strange,
+
+
+          And though she pinches us to day,
+
+
+To-morrow brings full rations, and a change!'[FN#337]
+
+
+
+Then said Jubayr, 'Put forth thy hand to our food and ease our heart by
+eating of our victual.' Answered I, 'By Allah, I will not eat a
+mouthful, till thou grant me my desire.' He asked, 'What is thy
+desire?'; so I brought out the letter and gave it to him; but, when he
+had read it and mastered its contents, he tore it in pieces and
+throwing it on the floor, said to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee
+whatever thou askest save thy desire which concerneth the writer of
+this letter, for I have no answer to her.' At this I rose in anger; but
+he caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will tell thee
+what she said to thee, albeit I was not present with you.' I asked,
+'And what did she say to me?'; and he answered, 'Did not the writer of
+this letter say to thee, If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt
+have of me five hundred ducats; and if not, an hundred for thy pains?'
+'Yes,' replied I; and he rejoined, 'Abide with me this day and eat and
+drink and enjoy thyself and make merry, and thou shalt have thy five
+hundred ducats.' So I sat with him and ate and drank and made merry and
+enjoyed myself and entertained him with talk deep in to the
+night;[FN#338] after which I said to him, 'O my master, is there no
+music in thy house.' He answered, 'Verily for many a day we have drunk
+without music.' Then he called out, saying, 'Ho, Shajarat al-Durr?'
+Whereupon a slave- girl answered him from her chamber and came in to
+us, with a lute of Hindu make, wrapped in a silken bag. And she sat
+down and, laying the lute in her lap, preluded in one and twenty modes;
+then, returning to the first, she sang to a lively measure these
+couplets,
+
+'We have ne'er tasted of Love's sweets and bitter draught, * No
+
+
+     difference kens 'twixt presence-bliss and absence-stress;
+
+
+And so, who hath declined from Love's true road, * No diference
+
+
+     kens 'twixt smooth and ruggedness:
+
+
+I ceased not to oppose the votaries of love, * Till I had tried
+
+
+     its sweets and bitters not the less:
+
+
+How many a night my pretty friend conversed with me * And sipped
+
+
+     I from his lips honey of love liesse:
+
+
+Now have I drunk its cup of bitterness, until * To bondman and to
+
+
+     freedman I have proved me base.
+
+
+How short-aged was the night together we enjoyed, * When seemed
+
+
+     it daybreak came on nightfall's heel to press!
+
+
+But Fate had vowed to disunite us lovers twain, * And she too
+
+
+     well hath kept her vow, that votaress.
+
+
+Fate so decreed it! None her sentence can withstand: * Where is
+
+
+     the wight who dares oppose his Lord's command?'
+
+
+
+Hardly had she finished her verses, when her lord cried out with a
+great cry and fell down in a fit; whereupon exclaimed the damsel, 'May
+Allah not punish thee, O old man! This long time have we drunk without
+music, for fear the like of this falling sickness befal our lord. But
+now go thou to yonder chamber and there sleep.' So I went to the
+chamber which she showed me and slept till the morning, when behold, a
+page brought me a purse of five hundred dinars and said to me, 'This is
+what my master promised thee; but return thou not to the damsel who
+sent thee, god let it be as though neither thou nor we had ever heard
+of this matter.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and taking the
+purse, went my way. Still I said to myself, 'The lady must have
+expected me since yesterday; and by Allah there is no help but I return
+to her and tell her what passed between me and him: otherwise she will
+revile me and revile all who come from my country.' So I went to her
+and found her standing behind the door; and when she saw me she said,
+'O Ibn Mansur, thou hast done nothing for me?' I asked, 'Who told thee
+of this?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, yet another thing hath been
+revealed to me;[FN#339] and it is that, when thou handedst him the
+letter, he tore it in pieces. and throwing it on the floor, said to
+thee: 'O Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy
+desire which concerneth the writer of this letter; for I have no answer
+to her missive.' Then didst thou rise from beside him in anger; but he
+laid hold of thy skirts, saying: 'O son of Mansur, abide with me to
+day, for thou art my guest, and eat and drink and make merry; and thou
+shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So thou didst sit with him, eating
+and drinking and making merry, and entertainedst him with talk deep
+into the night and a slave- girl sang such an air and such verses,
+whereupon he fell down in a fit.' So, O Commander of the Faithful, I
+asked her 'West thou then with us?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur,
+hast thou not heard the saying of the poet,
+
+'The hearts of lovers have eyes I ken, * Which see the unseen by vulgar
+men.'
+
+However, O Ibn Mansur, the night and day shift not upon anything but
+they bring to it change.'—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady
+exclaimed, 'O Ibn Mansur, the night and the day shift not upon anything
+but they bring to it change!' Then she raised her glance to heaven and
+said, 'O my God and my Leader and my Lord, like as Thou hast afflicted
+me with love of Jubayr bin Umayr, even so do Thou afflict him with love
+of me, and transfer the passion from my heart to his heart!'[FN#340]
+Then she gave me an hundred sequins for my trouble in going and coming
+and I took it and returned to the palace, where I found the Sultan come
+home from the chase; so I got my pension of him and fared back to
+Baghdad. And when next year came, I repaired to Bassorah, as usual, to
+seek my pension, and the Sultan paid it to me; but, as I was about to
+return to Baghdad, I bethought me of the Lady Budur and said to myself,
+'By Allah, I must needs go to her and see what hath befallen between
+her and her lover!' So I went to her house and finding the street
+before her door swept and sprinkled and eunuchs and servants and pages
+standing before the entrance, said to myself, 'Most like grief hath
+broken the lady's heart and she is dead, and some Emir or other hath
+taken up his abode in her house.' So I left it and went on to the house
+of Jubayr, son of Umayr the Shaybani, where I found the benches of the
+porch broken down and ne'er a page at the door, as of wont and said to
+myself, 'Haply he too is dead.' Then I stood still before the door of
+his house and with my eyes running over with tears, bemoaned it in
+these couplets,
+
+'O Lords of me, who fared but whom my heart e'er followeth, *
+
+
+     Return and so my festal-days with you shall be renewed!
+
+
+I stand before the home of you, bewailing your abode; * Quiver
+
+
+     mine eyelids and my eyes with tears are ever dewed:
+
+
+I ask the house and its remains that seem to weep and wail, *
+
+
+     'Where is the man who whilom wont to lavish goods and
+
+
+good?''
+
+
+It saith, 'Go, wend thy way; those friends like travellers have
+
+
+     fared * From Springtide-camp, and buried lie of earth and
+
+
+     worms the food!'
+
+
+Allah ne'er desolate us so we lose their virtues' light * In
+
+
+     length and breadth, but ever be the light in spirit viewed!'
+
+
+
+As I, O Prince of True Believers, was thus keening over the folk of the
+house,[FN#341] behold, out came a black slave therefrom and said to me,
+'Hold thy peace, O Shaykh! May thy mother be reft of thee! Why do I see
+thee bemoaning the house in this wise?' Quoth I, 'I frequented it of
+yore, when it belonged to a good friend of mine.' Asked the slave,
+'What was his name?'; and I answered, 'Jubayr bin Umayr the Shaybani.'
+Rejoined he, And what hath befallen him? Praised be Allah, he is yet
+here with us in the enjoyment of property and rank and prosperity,
+except that Allah hath stricken him with love of a damsel called the
+Lady Budur;, and he is so whelmed by his love of her and his longing
+for her, that he is like a great rock cumbering the ground. If he
+hunger, he saith not, 'Give me meat;' nor, if he thirst, doth he say,
+'Give me drink.' Quoth I, 'Ask leave for me to go in to him.' Said the
+slave, 'O my lord, wilt thou go in to one who understandeth or to one
+who understandeth not?'; and I said 'There is no help for it but I see
+him whatever be the case.' Accordingly he went in to ask and presently
+returned with permission for me to enter, whereupon I went in to Jubayr
+and found him like a rock that cumbereth the ground, understanding
+neither sign nor speech; and when I spoke to him he answered me not.
+Then said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember aught of
+verse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be aroused by this
+and speak with thee.' So I versified in these two couplets,
+
+'Hast quit the love of Moons[FN#342] or dost persist? * Dost wake
+
+
+     o' nights or close in sleep thine eyes?
+
+
+If aye thy tears in torrents flow, then learn * Eternal-thou
+
+
+     shalt dwell in Paradise.'[FN#343]
+
+
+
+When he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome, O son
+of Mansur! Verily, the jest is become earnest.' Quoth I, 'O my lord, is
+there aught thou wouldst have me do for thee?' Answered he, 'Yes, I
+would fain write her a letter and send it to her by thee. If thou bring
+me back her answer, thou shalt have of me a thousand dinars; and if
+not, two hundred for thy pains.' So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to
+thee;'—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibn Mansur
+continued: "So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;' whereupon he
+called to one of his slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper;' and
+wrote these couplets,
+
+'I pray in Allah's name, O Princess mine, be light * On me, for
+
+
+     Love hath robbed me of my reason's sight'
+
+
+'Slaved me this longing and enthralled me love of you; * And clad
+
+
+     in sickness garb, a poor and abject wight.
+
+
+I wont ere this to think small things of Love and hold, * O
+
+
+     Princess mine, 'twas silly thing and over-slight.
+
+
+But when it showed me swelling surges of its sea, * To Allah's
+
+
+     hest I bowed and pitied lover's plight.
+
+
+An will you, pity show and deign a meeting grant, * An will you
+
+
+     kill me still forget not good requite.'[FN#344]
+
+
+
+Then he sealed the letter and gave it to me. So I took it and,
+repairing to Budur's house, raised the door-curtain little by little,
+as before, and looking in behold, I saw ten damsels, high-bosomed
+virgins, like moons, and the Lady Budur as she were the full moon among
+the stars, sitting in their midst, or the sun, when it is clear of
+clouds and mist; nor was there on her any trace of pain or care. And as
+I looked and marvelled at her case, she turned her glance upon me and,
+seeing me standing at the door, said to me, 'Well come, and welcome and
+all hail to thee, O Ibn Mansur! Come in.' So I entered and saluting her
+gave her the letter; and she read it and when she understood it, she
+said laughingly to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, the poet lied not when he sang,
+
+'Indeed I'll bear my love for thee with firmest soul, * Until from thee
+to me shall come a messenger.
+
+'Look'ye, O Ibn Mansur, I will write thee an answer, that he may give
+thee what he promised thee.' And I answered, 'Allah requite thee with
+good!' So she called out to a handmaid, 'Bring inkcase and paper,' and
+wrote these couplets,
+
+'How comes it I fulfilled my vow the while that vow broke you? *
+
+
+     And, seen me lean to equity, iniquity wrought you?
+
+
+'Twas you initiated wrongous dealing and despite: * You were the
+
+
+     treachetour and treason came from only you!
+
+
+I never ceased to cherish mid the sons of men my troth, * And
+
+
+     keep your honour brightest bright and swear by name of you
+
+
+Until I saw with eyes of me what evil you had done; * Until I
+
+
+     heard with ears of me what foul report spread you.
+
+
+Shall I bring low my proper worth while raising yours so high? *
+
+
+     By Allah had you me eke I had honoured you!
+
+
+But now uprooting severance I will fain console my heart, * And
+
+
+     wring my fingers clean of you for evermore to part!'
+
+
+
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, between him and death there is but the
+reading of this letter!' So I tore it in pieces and said to her, 'Write
+him other than these lines.' 'I hear and obey answered she and wrote
+the following couplets,
+
+'Indeed I am consolиd now and sleep without a tear, * And all
+
+
+     that happened slandering tongues have whispered in mine ear:
+
+
+My heart obeyed my hest and soon forgot thy memory, * And learnt
+
+
+     mine eyelids 'twas the best to live in severance sheer:
+
+
+He lied who said that severance is a bitterer thing than gall: *
+
+
+     It never disappointed me, like wine I find it cheer:
+
+
+I learnt to hate all news of thee, e'en mention of thy name, *
+
+
+     And turn away and look thereon with loathing pure and mere:
+
+
+Lookye! I cast thee out of heart and far from vitals mine; * Then
+
+
+     let the slanderer wot this truth and see I am sincere.'
+
+
+
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, when he shall read these verses, his
+soul will depart his body!' Quoth she, 'O Ibn Mansur, is passion indeed
+come to such a pass with him that thou sayest this saying?' Quoth I,
+'Had I said more than this verily it were but the truth: but mercy is
+of the nature of the noble.' Now when she heard this her eyes brimmed
+over with tears and she wrote him a note, I swear by Allah, O Commander
+of the Faithful, there is none in thy Chancery could write the like of
+it; and therein were these couplets,
+
+'How long shall I thy coyness and thy great aversion see? * Thou
+
+
+     hast satisfied my censurers and pleased their enmity:
+
+
+I did amiss and wot it not; so deign to tell me now * Whatso they
+
+
+     told thee, haply 'twas the merest calumny.
+
+
+I wish to welcome thee, dear love, even as welcome I * Sleep to
+
+
+     these eyes and eyelids in the place of sleep to be.
+
+
+And since 'tis thou hast made me drain th' unmixиd cup of love, *
+
+
+     If me thou see with wine bemused heap not thy blame on me!'
+
+
+
+And when she had written the missive,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Budur had
+written the missive, she sealed it and gave it to me; and I said, 'O my
+lady, in good sooth this thy letter will make the sick man whole and
+ease the thirsting soul.' Then I took it and went from her, when she
+called me back and said to me, 'O son of Mansur, say to him: 'She will
+be thy guest this night.' At this I joyed with exceeding great joy and
+carried the letter to Jubayr, whom I found with his eyes fixed intently
+on the door, expecting the reply and as soon as I gave him the letter
+and he opened and read it and understood it, he uttered a great cry and
+fell down in a fainting fit. When he came to himself, he said to me, 'O
+Ibn Mansur, did she indeed write this note with her hand and feel it
+with her fingers?' Answered I, 'O my lord, do folk write with their
+feet?' And by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I had not done
+speaking these words, when we heard the tinkle-tinkle of her anklets in
+the vestibule and she entered. And seeing her he sprang to his feet as
+though nothing pained or ailed him and embraced her like the letter L
+embraceth the letter A;[FN#345] and the infirmity, that erst would not
+depart at once left him.[FN#346] Then he sat down, but she abode
+standing and I said to her, 'O my lady, why dost thou not sit?' Said
+she, 'O Ibn Mansur, save on a condition that is between us, I will not
+sit.' I asked, 'And what is that?'; and she answered, 'None may know
+lovers' secrets,' and putting her mouth to Jubayr's ear whispered to
+him; where upon he replied, 'I hear and I obey.' Then he rose and said
+somewhat in a whisper to one of his slaves, who went out and returned
+in a little while with a Kazi and two witnesses. Thereupon Jubayr stood
+up and taking a bag containing an hundred thousand dinars, said, O
+Kazi, marry me to this young lady and write this sum to her
+marriage-settlement.' Quoth the Kazi to her, 'Say thou, I consent to
+this.' 'I consent to this,' quoth she, whereupon he drew up the
+contract of marriage and she opened the bag; and, taking out a handful
+of gold, gave it to the Kazi and the witnesses and handed the rest to
+Jubayr. Thereupon the Kazi and the witnesses withdrew, and I sat with
+them, in mirth and merriment, till the most part of the night was past,
+when I said in my mind, 'These are lovers and they have been this long
+while separated. I will now arise and go sleep in some place afar from
+them and leave them to their privacy, one with other.' So I rose, but
+she caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'What thinkest thou to do?'
+'Nothing but so and so,' answered I; upon which she rejoined, 'Sit thee
+down; and when we would be rid of thee, we will send thee away.' So I
+sat down with them till near daybreak, when she said to me, 'O Ibn
+Mansur, go to yonder chamber; for we have furnished it for thee and it
+is thy sleeping-place.' Thereupon I arose and went thither and slept
+till morning, when a page brought me basin and ewer, and I made the
+ablution and prayed the dawn-prayer. Then I sat down and presently,
+behold, Jubayr and his beloved came out of the bath in the house, and I
+saw them both wringing their locks.[FN#347] So I wished them good
+morning and gave them joy of their safety and reunion, saying to
+Jubayr, 'That which began with constraint and conditions hath ended in
+cordial-contentment.' He answered, 'Thou sayest well, and indeed thou
+deservest thy honorarium;' and he called his treasurer, and said,
+'Bring hither three thousand dinars.' So he brought a purse containing
+the gold pieces and Jubayr gave it to me, saying, 'Favour us by
+accepting this.' But I replied, 'I will not accept it till thou tell me
+the manner of the transfer of love from her to thee, after so huge an
+aversion.' Quoth he, 'Hearkening and obedience! Know that we have a
+festival-called New Year's day,[FN#348] when all the people fare forth
+and take boat and go a-pleasuring on the river. So I went out with my
+comrades, and saw a skiff, wherein were ten damsels like moons and
+amongst them, the Lady Budur lute in hand. She preluded in eleven
+modes, then, returning to the first, sang these two couplets,
+
+'Fire is cooler than fires in my breast, * Rock is softer than
+
+
+     heart of my lord
+
+
+Marvel I that he's formиd to hold * In water soft frame heart
+
+
+     rock-hard!'
+
+
+
+Said I to her, 'Repeat the couplets and the air!' But she would
+not:'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "Jubayr
+continued, 'So cried I to her, Repeat the couplets and the air!' But
+she would not; whereupon I bade the boatmen pelt her with oranges, and
+they pelted her till we feared her boat would founder Then she went her
+way, and this is how the love was transferred from her heart to mine.'
+So I wished them joy of their union and, taking the purse with its
+contents, I returned to Baghdad." Now when the Caliph heard Ibn
+Mansur's story his heart was lightened and the restlessness and
+oppression from which he suffered forsook him. And they also tell the
+tale of
+
+
+
+THE MAN OF AI-YAMAN AND HIS SIX SlAVE-GIRLS.
+
+The Caliph Al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace, surrounded by
+his Lords of the realm and Officers of state, and there were present
+also before him all his poets and cup- companions amongst the rest one
+named Mohammed of Bassorah. Presently the Caliph turned and said to
+him, "O Mohammed, I wish thee forthwith to tell me something that I
+have never before heard." He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+dost thou wish me to tell thee a thing I have heard with my ears or a
+thing I have seen with my eyes?" Quoth Al-Maamun, "Tell me whichever is
+the rarer; so Mohammed al-Basri began: "Know, then, O Commander of the
+Faithful that there lived once upon a time wealthy man, who was a
+native of Al-Yaman;but he emigrated from his native land and came to
+this city of Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased him that he transported
+hither his family and possessions. Now he had six slave-girls, like
+moons one and all; the first white, the second brown, the third fat,
+the fourth lean, the fifth yellow and the sixth lamp-black; and all six
+were comely of countenance and perfect in accomplishments and skilled
+in the arts of singing and playing upon musical-instruments. Now it so
+chanced that, one day, he sent for the girls and called for meat and
+wine; and they ate and drank and were mirthful and made merry Then he
+filled the cup and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde girl, 'O
+new moon face, let us hear somewhat of thy pleasant songs.' So she took
+the lute and tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet melody that
+the place danced with glee; after which she played a lively measure and
+sang these couplets,
+
+'I have a friend, whose form is fixed within mine eyes,[FN#349] *
+
+
+     Whose name deep buried in my very vitals lies:
+
+
+Whenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, * And when on him my
+
+
+     gaze is turned I am all eyes.
+
+
+My censor saith, 'Forswear, forget, the love of him,' * 'Whatso
+
+
+     is not to be, how shall's be?' My reply is.
+
+
+Quoth I, 'O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! * And make not
+
+
+     light of that on humans heavy lies.'
+
+
+
+Hereat their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the
+damsels to drink, after which he said to the berry-brown girl, 'O
+brasier-light[FN#350] and joy of the sprite, let us hear thy lovely
+voice, whereby all that hearken are ravished with delight.' So she took
+the lute and thereon made harmony till the place was moved to glee;
+then, captivating all hearts with her graceful swaying, she sang these
+couplets,
+
+'I swear by that fair face's life, I'll love but thee * Till
+
+
+     death us part, nor other love but thine I'll see:
+
+
+O full moon, with thy loveliness mantilla'd o'er, * The loveliest
+
+
+     of our earth beneath thy banner be:
+
+
+Thou, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness * May Allah,
+
+
+     Lord of worlds, be everywhere with thee!'
+
+
+
+The master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to drink;
+after which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his hand, signed
+to the fat girl and bade her sing and play a different motive. So she
+took the lute and striking a grief- dispelling measure, sang these
+couplets,
+
+'An thou but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! * I care not
+
+
+     wrath and rage to all mankind betide.
+
+
+And if thou show that fairest face which gives me life, * I reck
+
+
+     not an dimimshed heads the Kings go hide.
+
+
+I seek thy favours only from this 'versal-world: * O thou in whom
+
+
+     all beauty cloth firm-fixt abide!'
+
+
+
+The man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink. Then
+he signed to the thin girl and said to her, 'O Houri of Paradise, feed
+thou our ears with sweet words and sounds.' So she took the lute; and,
+tuning it, preluded and sang these two couplets,
+
+'Say me, on Allah's path[FN#351] hast death not dealt to me, *
+
+
+     Turning from me while I to thee turn patiently:
+
+
+Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, * And do me
+
+
+     justice wronged, mine enemy, by thee?'
+
+
+
+Their lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink.
+Then filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, O
+sun of the day, let us hear some nice verses.' So she took the lute
+and, preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang these couplets,
+
+'I have a lover and when drawing him, * He draws on me a sword-
+
+
+    blade glancing grim:
+
+
+Allah avenge some little of his wrongs, * Who holds my heart yet
+
+
+     wreaks o erbearing whim
+
+
+Oft though I say, 'Renounce him, heart!' yet heart * Will to none
+
+
+     other turn excepting him.
+
+
+He is my wish and will of all men, but * Fate's envious hand to
+
+
+     me's aye grudging him.'
+
+
+
+The master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he
+filled the cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black girl, saying,
+'O pupil of the eye, let us have a taste of thy quality, though it be
+but two words.' So she took the lute and tuning it and tightening the
+strings, preluded in various modes, then returned to the first and sang
+to a lively air these couplets,
+
+'Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal-tears go free; * This ecstasy
+
+
+     would see my being unbe:[FN#352]
+
+
+All ecstasies I dreefor sake of friend * I fondle, maugre
+
+
+     enviers' jealousy:
+
+
+Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, * Yet e'er inclines my
+
+
+     heart to rosery:
+
+
+Cups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting * In joy, what time
+
+
+     the lute sang melody,
+
+
+While kept his troth the friend who madded me, * Yet made me
+
+
+     rising star of bliss to see:
+
+
+But—with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; * Than such a turn
+
+
+     can aught more bitter be?
+
+
+Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, * Nay two, whereof
+
+
+     grant Allah one to me!
+
+
+An were prostration[FN#353] by our law allowed * To aught but
+
+
+     Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'
+
+
+
+Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord,
+said to him, 'Do thou justice between us, O our lord!' So he looked at
+their beauty and loveliness and the contrast of their colours and
+praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. Then said he, 'There is none
+of you but hath learnt the Koran by heart, and mastered the musical-art
+and is versed in the chronicles' of yore and the doings of peoples
+which have gone before; so it is my desire that each one of you rise
+and, pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her
+co-concubine; that is to: say, let the blonde point to the brunette,
+the plump to the slenderer and the yellow to the black girl; after
+which the rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like with the former;
+and be this illustrated with citations from Holy Writ and somewhat of
+anecdotes and,; verse, so as to show forth your fine breeding and
+elegance of your pleading.' And they answered him, 'We hear and we
+obey!;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the handmaids
+answered the man of Al-Yaman, "'We hear and we obey!' Accordingly the
+blonde rose first and, pointing at the black girl, said to her: 'Out on
+thee, blackamoor! It is told by tradition that whiteness saith, 'I am
+the shining light, I am the rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue
+is patent and my brow is resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet,'
+
+'White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl
+
+
+     concealed by Beauty's boon:
+
+
+Her stature Alif-like;[FN#354] her smile like Mнm[FN#355] * And
+
+
+     o'er her eyes two brows that bend like NÑŠn.[FN#356]
+
+
+'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to
+
+
+     shoot Death-dart eftsoon:
+
+
+If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose,
+
+
+     myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.
+
+
+Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths
+
+
+     thy stature-branch cloth own!'
+
+
+
+'So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly culled
+orange spray and the star of sparkling ray;[FN#357] and indeed quoth
+Almighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be
+peace!), Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white,
+without hurt.'[FN#358] And again He saith, But they whose faces shall
+become white, shall be in the mercy of Allah; therein shall they remain
+forever.'[FN#359] My colour is a sign, a miracle, and my loveliness
+supreme and my beauty a term extreme. It is on the like of me that
+raiment showeth fair and fine and to the like of me that hearts
+incline. Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the
+snow falleth white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the
+beautifullest of a colours white. The Moslems also glory in white
+turbands, but I should be tedious, were I to tell all that may be told
+in praise of white; little and enough is better than too much of
+unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black, O
+colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the raven
+which bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the poet saith in
+praise of white and blame of black,
+
+'Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a
+
+
+     dirham buy we coals in load?
+
+
+And while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd
+
+
+     Gehenna's black abode.'
+
+
+
+And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of
+devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with
+his sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and,
+lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and
+laughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him.
+Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his
+sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem's face was whitened and
+from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst
+Cham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia,
+and of his lineage came the blacks.[FN#360] All people are of one mind
+in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the
+adage, 'How shall one find a black with a mind?' Quoth her master, 'Sit
+thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.' Thereupon he
+signed to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde,
+said: Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and
+apostle, is transmitted the saying of God the Most High, 'By the night
+when it covereth all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth
+forth!'[FN#361] If the night were not the more illustrious, verily
+Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And
+indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Knowest thou not that
+black is the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon
+the head, delights pass away and the hour of death draweth in sight?
+Were not black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in
+the core of the heart[FN#362] and the pupil of the eye; and how
+excellent is the saying of the poet,
+
+'I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour,
+
+
+     tinct of eye and heartcore's hue;
+
+
+Nor are in error who unlove the white, * And hoary hairs and
+
+
+     winding-sheet eschew.'
+
+
+
+And that said of another,
+
+'Black[FN#363] girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I
+
+
+     see:
+
+
+Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[FN#364] * Whites, blotch of
+
+
+     leprosy.'
+
+
+
+And of a third,
+
+'Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes,
+
+
+     with purest shine and sheen they show;
+
+
+If I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile[FN#365] drives
+
+
+     melancholic-mad we know
+
+
+'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it
+
+
+     be, its splendours glow.
+
+
+
+Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night? Let
+this quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers from spies
+and censors like the blackness of night's darkness; and what causeth
+them to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn's brightness? So,
+how many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent
+is the saying of the poet,
+
+'I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding love, but
+dawn-white is mine enemy.'
+
+And that of another,
+
+'How many a night I've passed with the beloved of me, * While
+
+
+     gloom with dusky tresses veilиd our desires:
+
+
+But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I
+
+
+     to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!'[FN#366]
+
+
+
+And saith a third,
+
+'He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting
+
+
+     his steps as wended he in cautious plight.
+
+
+I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and
+
+
+     trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight;
+
+
+But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The
+
+
+     world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant
+
+
+     light:[FN#367]
+
+
+Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy
+
+
+     best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.
+
+
+Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's
+
+
+     a tittle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.'
+
+
+
+And a fifth,
+
+'I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The
+
+
+     maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.
+
+
+I'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and
+
+
+     set my friends upon the elephant.'
+
+
+
+And a sixth,
+
+My lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond
+
+
+     embrace;
+
+
+And lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest
+
+
+     pace.
+
+
+Now I pray Allah and my Lord * To reunite us of His grace
+
+
+And make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly
+
+
+     lace.'
+
+
+
+Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be
+tedious; but little and enough is better than too much of unfilling
+stuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine
+embrace is suffocation;[FN#368] and it is of report that hoar-frost and
+icy cold[FN#369] are in Gehenna for the torment of the wicked. Again,
+of things black and excellent is ink, wherewith is written Allah's
+word; and were it not for black ambergris and black musk, there would
+be no perfumes to carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention
+dwell in blackness, and how well saith the poet,
+
+'Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest
+
+
+     price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than
+
+
+     dirham bids?
+
+
+And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, *
+
+
+     Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from
+
+
+     their lids.'
+
+
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down
+and he signed to the fat girl, who rose"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the man of
+Al-Yaman, the master of the handmaids, signed to the fat girl who rose
+and, pointing her finger at the slim girl, bared her calves and wrists
+and uncovered her stomach, showing its dimples and the plump rondure of
+her navel. Then she donned a shift of fine stuff, that exposed her
+whole body, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created me, for that He
+beautified my face and made me fat and fair of the fattest and fairest;
+and likened me to branches laden with fruit, and bestowed upon me
+abounding beauty and brightness: and praised be He no less, for that He
+hath given me the precedence and honoured me, when He mentioneth me in
+His holy Book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fatted
+calf.'[FN#370] And He hath made me like unto a vergier full of peaches
+and pomegranates. In very sooth even as the townsfolk long for fat
+birds and eat of them and love not lean birds, so do the sons of Adam
+desire fat meat and eat of it. How many vauntful attributes are there
+not in fatness, and how well saith the poet,
+
+'Farewell thy love, for see, the Cafilah's[FN#371] on the move: *
+
+
+     O man, canst bear to say adieu and leave thy love?
+
+
+'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, * The gait
+
+
+     of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'
+
+
+
+Sawest thou ever one stand before a flesher's stall but sought of him
+fat flesh? The wise say, 'Joyance is in three things, eating meat and
+riding meat and putting meat into meat.'[FN#372] As for thee, O thin
+one, thy calves are like the shanks of sparrows or the pokers of
+furnaces; and thou art a cruciform plank of a piece of flesh poor and
+rank; there is naught in thee to gladden the heart; even as saith the
+poet,
+
+'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with
+
+
+     one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery:
+
+
+In every limb she hath a horn that butteth me whene'er * I fain
+
+
+     would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'
+
+
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down
+and he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand,
+or a rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and said: 'Praised be
+Allah who created me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of
+all desire and likened me to the branch, whereto all hearts incline. If
+I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit, I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at
+a jest and merrier-souled than mirth itself. Never heard I one describe
+his mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like
+a mountain long and broad;' but rather, 'My lady hath a slender waist
+and a slim shape.'[FN#374] Furthermore a little food filleth me and a
+little water quencheth my thirst; my sport is agile and my habit
+active; for I am sprightlier than the sparrow and lighter-skipping than
+the starling. My favours are the longing of the lover and the delight
+of the desirer; for I am goodly of shape, sweet of smile and graceful
+as the bending willow-wand or the rattan-cane[FN#375] or the stalk of
+the basil- plant; nor is there any can compare with me in loveliness,
+even as saith one of me,
+
+'Thy shape with willow branch I dare compare, * And hold thy
+
+
+     figure as my fortunes fair:
+
+
+I wake each morn distraught, and follow thee, * And from the
+
+
+     rival's eye in fear I fare.'
+
+
+
+It is for the like of me that amourists run mad and that those who
+desire me wax distracted. If my lover would draw me to him, I am drawn
+to him; and if he would have me incline to him, I incline to him and
+not against him. But now, as for thee, O fat of body, thine eating is
+the feeding of an elephant, and neither much nor little filleth thee.
+When thou liest with a man who is lean, he hath no ease of thee; nor
+can he anyways take his pleasure of thee; for the bigness of thy belly
+holdeth him off from going in unto thee and the fatness of thy thighs
+hindereth him from coming at thy slit. What goodness is there in thy
+grossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in thy coarseness? Fat
+flesh is fit for naught but the flasher, nor is there one point therein
+that pleadeth for praise. If one joke with thee, thou art angry; if one
+sport with thee, thou art sulky; if thou sleep, thou snorest if thou
+walk, thou lollest out thy tongue! if thou eat, thou art never filled.
+Thou art heavier than mountains and fouler than corruption and crime.
+Thou hast in thee nor agility nor benedicite nor thinkest thou of aught
+save meat and sleep. When thou pissest thou swishes"; if thou turd thou
+gruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant transmogrified. If
+thou go to the water closet, thou needest one to wash thy gap and pluck
+out the hairs which overgrow it; and this is the extreme of sluggish
+ness and the sign, outward and visible, of stupidity[FN#376] In short,
+there is no good thing about thee, and indeed the poet Title of thee,
+
+'Heavy and swollen like an urine-bladder blown, * With hips and
+
+
+     thighs like mountain propping piles of stone;
+
+
+Whene'er she walks in Western hemisphere, her tread * Makes the
+
+
+     far Eastern world with weight to moan and groan.'
+
+
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this sufficeth;' so she sat down and
+he signed to the yellow girl, who rose to her feet and praised Allah
+Almighty and magnified His name, calling down peace and blessing on
+Mohammed the best of His creatures; after which she pointed her finger
+at the brunette and said to her," And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
+
+She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the yellow
+girl stood up and praised Almighty Allah and magnified His name; after
+which she pointed her finger at the brown girl and said to her: 'I am
+the one praised in the Koran, and the Compassionate hath described my
+complexion and its excellence over all other hues in His manifest Book,
+where Allah saith, 'A yellow, pure yellow, whose colour gladdeneth the
+beholders.'[FN#377] Wherefore my colour is a sign and portent and my
+grace is supreme and my beauty a term extreme; for that my tint is the
+tint of a ducat and the colour of the planets and moons and the hue of
+ripe apples. My fashion is the fashion of the fair, and the dye of
+saffron outvieth all other dyes; so my semblance is wondrous and my
+colour marvellous. I am soft of body and of high price, comprising all
+qualities of beauty. My colour is essentially precious as virgin gold,
+and how many boasts and glories cloth it not unfold! Of the like of me
+quoth the poet,
+
+'Her golden yellow is the sheeny sun's; * And like gold sequins
+
+
+     she delights the sight:
+
+
+Saffron small portion of her glance can show; * Nay,[FN#378] she
+
+
+     outvies the moon when brightest bright.'
+
+
+
+And I shall at once begin in thy dispraise, O berry-brown girl! Thy
+tincture is that of the buffalo, and all souls shudder at thy sight. If
+thy colour be in any created thing, it is blamed; if it be in food, it
+is poisoned; for thy hue is the hue of the dung- fly; it is a mark of
+ugliness even in dogs; and among the colours it is one which strikes
+with amazement and is of the signs of mourning. Never heard I of brown
+gold or brown pearls or brown gems. If thou enter the privy, thy colour
+changeth, and when thou comest out, thou addest ugliness to ugliness.
+Thou art a non- descript; neither black, that thou mayst be recognised,
+nor white, that thou mayst be described; and in thee there is no good
+quality, even as saith the poet,
+
+'The hue of dusty motes is hers; that dull brown hue of hers * Is
+
+
+     mouldy like the dust and mud by Cossid's foot
+
+
+     upthrown:[FN#379]
+
+
+ I never look upon her brow, e'en for eye-twinkling's space, *
+
+
+     But in brown study fall I and my thoughts take browner
+
+
+     tone.'
+
+
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much sufficeth;' so she sat down
+and he signed to the brunette. Now she was a model of beauty and
+loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace; soft of skin, slim of shape,
+of stature rare, and coal-black hair; with cheeks rosy-pink, eyes black
+rimmed by nature's hand, face fair, and eloquent tongue; moreover
+slender-waisted and heavy-hipped. So she rose and said: 'Praise be to
+Allah who hath created me neither leper-white nor bile-yellow nor
+charcoal-black, but hath made my colour to be beloved of men of wit and
+wisdom, for all the poets extol berry-brown maids in every tongue and
+exalt their colour over all other colours. To 'brown of hue (they say)
+praise is due;' and Allah bless him who singeth,
+
+'And in brunettes is mystery, could'st" thou but read it right, *
+
+
+     Thy sight would never dwell on others, be they red or white:
+
+
+Free-flowing conversation, amorous coquettishness * Would teach
+
+
+     Hбrut himself a mightier spell of magic might.'
+
+
+
+And saith another,
+
+'Give me brunettes, so limber, lissom, lithe of sway, * Brunettes
+
+
+     tall, slender straight like Samhar's nut-brown
+
+
+     lance;[FN#380]
+
+
+Languid of eyelids and with silky down on either cheek, * Who
+
+
+     fixed in lover's heart work to his life mischance.'
+
+
+
+And yet another,
+
+'Now, by my life, brown hue hath point of comeliness * Leaves
+
+
+     whiteness nowhere and high o'er the Moon takes place;
+
+
+But an of whiteness aught it borrowed self to deck, * 'Twould
+
+
+     change its graces and would pale for its disgrace:
+
+
+Not with his must[FN#381] I'm drunken, but his locks of musk *
+
+
+     Are wine inebriating all of human race.
+
+
+His charms are jealous each of each, and all desire * To be the
+
+
+     down that creepeth up his lovely face.'
+
+
+
+And again another,
+
+'Why not incline me to that show of silky down, * On cheeks of
+
+
+     dark brunette, like bamboo spiring brown?
+
+
+Whenas high rank in beauty poets sing, they say * Brown ant-like
+
+
+     specklet worn by nenuphar in crown.
+
+
+And see I sundry lovers tear out others' eyne * For the brown
+
+
+     mole beneath that jetty pupil shown,
+
+
+Then why do censors blame me for one all a mole? * Allah I pray
+
+
+     demolish each molesting clown!'[FN#382]
+
+
+
+My form is all grace and my shape is built on heavy base; Kings desire
+my colour which all adore, rich and poor. I am pleasant, active,
+handsome, elegant, soft of skin and prized for price: eke I am perfect
+in seemlibead and breeding and eloquence; my aspect is comely and my
+tongue witty; my temper is bright and my play a pretty sight. As for
+thee, thou art like unto a mallow growing about the LÑŠk Gate;[FN#383]
+in hue sallow and streaked-yellow and made all of sulphur. Aroynt thee,
+O copper-worth of jaundiced sorrel, O rust of brass-pot, O face of owl
+in gloom, and fruit of the Hell-tree ZakkÑŠm;[FN#384] whose bedfellow,
+for heart-break, is buried in the tomb. And there is no good thing in
+thee, even as saith the poet of the like of thee,
+
+'Yellowness, tincturing her tho' nowise sick or sorry, *
+
+
+     Straitens my hapless heart and makes my head sore ache;
+
+
+An thou repent not, Soul! I'll punish thee with kissing[FN#385] *
+
+
+     Her lower face that shall mine every grinder break!'
+
+
+
+And when she ended her lines, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this
+much sufficeth!'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "when the yellow
+girl ended her recitation, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much
+sufficeth!' Then he made peace between them and clad them all in
+sumptuous robes of honour and hanselled them with precious jewels of
+land and sea. And never have I seen, O Commander of the Faithful, any
+when or any where, aught fairer than these six damsels fair." Now when
+Al-Maamun heard this story from Mohammed of Bassorah, he turned to him
+and said, "O Mohammed, knowest thou the abiding-place of these damsels
+and their master, and canst thou contrive to buy them of him for us?"
+He answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have heard that
+their lord is wrapped up in them and cannot bear to be parted from
+them." Rejoined the Caliph, "Take thee ten thousand gold pieces for
+each girl, that is sixty thousand for the whole purchase; and carry the
+coin to his house and buy them of him." So Mohammed of Bassorah took
+the money and, betaking himself to the Man of Al-Yaman, acquainted him
+with the wish of the Prince of True Believers. He consented to part
+with them at that price to pleasure the Caliph; and despatched them to
+Al-Maamun, who assigned them an elegant abode and therein used to sit
+with them as cup-companions; marvelling at their beauty and loveliness,
+at their varied colours and at the excellence of their conversation.
+Thus matters stood for many a day; but, after awhile, when their former
+owner could no longer bear to be parted from them, he sent a letter to
+the Commander of the Faithful complaining to him of his own ardent
+love-longing for them and containing, amongst other contents, these
+couplets,
+
+"Captured me six, all bright with youthful blee; * Then on all
+
+
+     six be best salams from me!
+
+
+They are my hearing, seeing, very life; * My meat, my drink, my
+
+
+     joy, my jollity:
+
+
+I'll ne'er forget the favours erst so charmed * Whose loss hath
+
+
+     turned my sleep to insomny:
+
+
+Alack, O longsome pining and O tears! * Would I had farewelled
+
+
+     all humanity:
+
+
+Those eyes, with bowed and well arched eyebrows[FN#386] dight, *
+
+
+     Like bows have struck me with their archery."
+
+
+
+Now when the letter came to the hands of Al-Maamun, he robed the six
+damsels in rich raiment; and, giving them threescore thousand dinars,
+sent them back to their lord who joyed in them with exceeding
+joy[FN#387] (more especially for the monies they brought him), and
+abode with them in all the comfort and pleasance of life, till there
+came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies.
+And men also recount the tale of
+
+
+
+HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE DAMSEL AND ABU NOWAS.
+
+The Caliph, Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, being one night
+exceedingly restless and thoughtful with sad thought, rose from his
+couch and walked about the by-ways of his palace, till he came to a
+chamber, over whose doorway hung a curtain. He raised that curtain and
+saw, at the upper end of the room, a bedstead whereon lay something
+black, as it were a man asleep, with a wax taper on his right hand and
+another on his left; and as the Caliph stood wondering at the sight,
+behold, he remarked a flagon full of old wine whose mouth was covered
+by the cup. The Caliph wondered even more at this, saying, "How came
+this black by such wine-service?" Then, drawing near the bedstead, he
+found that it was a girl lying asleep there, curtained by her hair; so
+he uncovered her face and saw that it was like the moon, on the night
+of his fulness.[FN#388] So the Caliph filled himself a cup of wine and
+drank it to the roses of her cheeks; and, feeling inclined to enjoy
+her, kissed a mole on her face, whereupon she started up from sleep,
+and cried out, "O Trusted of Allah,[FN#389] what may this be?" Replied
+he, "A guest who knocketh at thy door, hoping that thou wilt give him
+hospitality till the dawn;" and she answered; "Even so! I will serve
+him with my hearing and my sight." So she brought forward the wine and
+they drank together, after which she took the lute and tuning the
+strings, preluded in one-and-twenty modes, then returning to the first,
+played a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+
+"The tongue of love from heart bespeaks my sprite, * Telling I
+
+
+     love thee with love infinite:
+
+
+I have an eye bears witness to my pain, * And fluttering heart
+
+
+     sore hurt by parting-plight.
+
+
+I cannot hide the love that harms my life; * Tears ever roll and
+
+
+     growth of pine I sight:
+
+
+I knew not what love was ere loving thee; * But Allah's destiny
+
+
+     to all is dight."
+
+
+
+And when her verses were ended she said, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+I have been wronged!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel cried,
+"O Commander of the Faithful, I have been wronged!" Quoth he, "How so,
+and who hath wronged thee?" Quoth she "Thy son bought me awhile ago,
+for ten thousand dirhams, meaning to give me to thee; but thy wife, the
+daughter of thine uncle, sent him the said price and bade him shut me
+up from thee in this chamber." Whereupon said the Caliph, "Ask a boon
+of me," and she, "I ask thee to lie with me to-morrow night." Replied
+the Caliph, "Inshallah!" and leaving her, went away. Now as soon as it
+was morning, he repaired to his sitting-room and called for Abu Nowas,
+but found him not and sent his chamberlain to ask after him. The
+chamberlain found him in a tavern, pawned and pledged for a score of a
+thousand dirhams, which he had spent on a certain beardless youth, and
+questioned him of his case. So he told him what had betided him with
+the comely boy and how he had spent upon him a thousand silver pieces;
+whereupon quoth the chamberlain, "Show him to me; and if he be worth
+this, thou art excused." He answered, "Patience, and thou shalt see him
+presently.' As they were talking together, up came the lad, clad in a
+white tunic, under which was another of red and under this yet another
+black. Now when Abu Nowas saw him, he sighed a loud sigh and improvised
+these couplets,
+
+"He showed himself in shirt of white, * With eyes and eyelids
+
+
+     languor-digit.
+
+
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Though were thy greeting
+
+
+     a delight?
+
+
+Blest He who clothed in rose thy cheeks, * Creates what wills He
+
+
+     by His might!'
+
+
+Quoth he, 'Leave prate, forsure my Lord * Of works is wondrous
+
+
+     infinite:
+
+
+My garment's like my face and luck; * All three are white on
+
+
+     white on white.'"
+
+
+
+When the beardless one heard these words, he doffed the white tunic and
+appeared in the red; and when Abu Nowas saw him he redoubled in
+expressions of admiration and repeated these couplets,
+
+"He showed in garb anemone-red, * A foeman 'friend' entitulиd:
+
+
+Quoth I in marvel, 'Thou'rt full moon * Whose weed shames rose
+
+
+     however red:
+
+
+Hath thy cheek stained it red, or hast * Dyed it in blood by
+
+
+     lovers bled?'
+
+
+Quoth he, 'Sol gave me this for shirt * When hasting down the
+
+
+     West to bed
+
+
+So garb and wine and hue of cheek * All three are red on red on
+
+
+     red.'"
+
+
+
+And when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the red
+tunic and stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he redoubled
+in attention to him and versified in these couplets,
+
+"He came in sable-huиd sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to
+
+
+     rack:
+
+
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful
+
+
+     envious pack?
+
+
+Thy garment's like thy locks and like * My lot, three blacks on
+
+
+     black on black.'"
+
+
+
+Seeing this state of things and understanding the case of Abu Nowas and
+his love-longing, the Chamberlain returned to the Caliph and acquainted
+him therewith; so he bade him pouch a thousand dirhams and go and take
+him out of pawn. Thereupon the Chamberlain returned to Abu Nowas and,
+paying his score, carried him to the Caliph, who said, "Make me some
+verses containing the words, O Trusted of Allah, what may this be?"
+Answered he, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful."—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+
+She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Nowas
+answered, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful!" and
+forthwith he improvised these couplets,
+
+"Long was my night for sleepless misery; * Weary of body and of
+
+
+     thought ne'er free:
+
+
+I rose and in my palace walked awhile, * Then wandered thro' the
+
+
+     halls of Haremry:
+
+
+Till chanced I on a blackness, which I found * A white girl hid
+
+
+     in hair for napery:
+
+
+Here to her for a moon of brightest sheen! * Like willow-wand and
+
+
+     veiled in pudency:
+
+
+I quaffed a cup to her; then drew I near, * And kissed the
+
+
+     beauty-spot on cheek had she:
+
+
+She woke astart, and in her sleep's amaze, * Swayed as the
+
+
+     swaying branch in rain we see;
+
+
+Then rose and said to me, 'O Trusted One * Of Allah, O Amin, what
+
+
+     may this be?
+
+
+Quoth I, 'A guest that cometh to thy tents * And craves till morn
+
+
+     thy hospitality.'
+
+
+She answered, 'Gladly I, my lord, will grace * And honour such a
+
+
+     guest with ear and eye.'"
+
+
+
+Cried the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead! it is as if thou hadst been
+present with us.''[FN#390] Then he took him by the hand and carried him
+to the damsel and, when Abu Nowas saw her clad in a dress and veil of
+blue, he expressed abundant admiration and improvised these couplets,
+
+"Say to the pretty one in veil of blue, * 'By Allah, O my life,
+
+
+     have ruth on dole!
+
+
+For, when the fair entreats her lover foul, * Sighs rend his
+
+
+     bosom and bespeak his soul
+
+
+By charms of thee and whitest cheek I swear thee, * Pity a heart
+
+
+     for love lost all control
+
+
+Bend to him, be his stay 'gainst stress of love, * Nor aught
+
+
+     accept what saith the ribald fool.'"
+
+
+
+Now when he ended his verse, the damsel set wine before the Caliph;
+and, taking the lute, played a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+
+"Wilt thou be just to others in thy love, and do * Unright, and
+
+
+     put me off, and take new friend in lieu?
+
+
+Had lovers Kazi unto whom I might complain * Of thee, he'd
+
+
+     peradventure grant the due I sue:
+
+
+If thou forbid me pass your door, yet I afar * Will stand, and
+
+
+     viewing you waft my salams to you!"
+
+
+
+The Caliph bade her ply Abu Nowas with wine, till he lost his right
+senses, thereupon he gave him a full cup, and he drank a draught of it
+and held the cup in his hand till he slept. Then the Commander of the
+Faithful bade the girl take the cup from his grasp and hide it; so she
+took it and set it between her thighs, moreover he drew his scymitar
+and, standing at the head of Abu Nowas, pricked him with the point;
+whereupon he awoke and saw the drawn sword and the Caliph standing over
+him. At this sight the fumes of the wine fled from his head and the
+Caliph said to him, "Make me some verses and tell me therein what is
+become of thy cup; or I will cut off thy head." So he improvised these
+couplets,
+
+"My tale, indeed, is tale unlief; * 'Twas yonder fawn who play'd
+
+
+     the thief!
+
+
+She stole my cup of wine, before * The sips and sups had dealt
+
+
+     relief,
+
+
+And hid it in a certain place, * My heart's desire and longing
+
+
+     grief.
+
+
+I name it not, for dread of him * Who hath of it command-in-
+
+
+    chief."
+
+
+
+Quoth the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead![FN#391] How knewest thou
+that? But we accept what thou sayst." Then he ordered him a dress of
+honour and a thousand dinars, and he went away rejoicing. And among
+tales they tell is one of
+
+
+
+THE MAN WHO STOLE THE DISH OF GOLD WHEREIN THE DOG ATE.
+
+Sometime erst there was a man, who had accumulated debts, and his case
+was straitened upon him, so that he left his people and family and went
+forth in distraction; and he ceased not wandering on at random till he
+came after a time to a city tall of walls and firm of foundations. He
+entered it in a state of despondency and despair, harried by hunger and
+worn with the weariness of his way. As he passed through one of the
+main streets, he saw a company of the great going along; so he followed
+them till they reached a house like to a royal-palace. He entered with
+them, and they stayed not faring forwards till they came in presence of
+a person seated at the upper end of a saloon, a man of the most
+dignified and majestic aspect, surrounded by pages and eunuchs, as he
+were of the sons of the Wazirs.When he saw the visitors, he rose to
+greet them and received them with honour; but the poor man aforesaid
+was confounded at his own boldness, when beholding——And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the poor man
+aforesaid was confounded at his own boldness, when beholding the
+goodliness of the place and the crowd of servants and attendants; so
+drawing back, in perplexity and fear for his life sat down apart in a
+place afar off. where none should see him. Now it chanced that whilst
+he was sitting, behold, in came a man with four sporting-dogs, whereon
+were various kinds of raw silk and brocade[FN#392] and wearing round
+their necks collars of gold with chains of silver, and tied up each dog
+in a place set privy for him; after which he went out and presently
+returned with four dishes of gold, full of rich meats, which he set
+severally before the dogs, one for each. Then he went away and left
+them, whilst the poor man began to eye the food, for stress of hunger,
+and longed to go up to one of the dogs and eat with him, but fear of
+them withheld him. Presently, one of the dogs looked at him and Allah
+Almighty inspired the dog with a knowledge of his case; so he drew back
+from the platter and signed to the man, who came and ate till he was
+filled. Then he would have withdrawn, but the dog again signed to him
+to take for himself the dish and what food was left in it, and pushed
+it towards him with his fore-paw. So the man took the dish and leaving
+the house, went his way, and none followed him. Then he journeyed to
+another city where he sold the dish and buying with the price a
+stock-in-trade, returned to his own town. There he sold his goods and
+paid his debts; and he throve and became affluent and rose to perfect
+prosperity. He abode in his own land; but after some years had passed
+he said to himself, "Needs must I repair to the city of the owner of
+the dish, and, carry him a fit and handsome present and pay him the
+money-value of that which his dog bestowed upon me." So he took the
+price of the dish and a suitable gift; and, setting out, journeyed day
+and night, till he came to that city; he entered it and sought the
+place where the man lived; but he found there naught save ruins
+mouldering in row and croak of crow, and house and home desolate and
+all conditions in changed state. At this, his heart and soul were
+troubled, and he repeated the saying of him who saith,
+
+"Void are the private rooms of treasury: * As void were hearts of
+
+
+     fear and piety:
+
+
+Changed is the Wady nor are its gazelles * Those fawns, nor sand-
+
+
+    hills those I wont to see."
+
+
+
+And that of another,
+
+"In sleep came Su'adб's[FN#393] shade and wakened me * Near dawn,
+
+
+     when comrades all a-sleeping lay:
+
+
+But waking found I that the shade was fled, * And saw air empty
+
+
+     and shrine far away."
+
+
+
+Now when the man saw these mouldering ruins and witnessed what the hand
+of time had manifestly done with the place, leaving but traces of the
+substantial-things that erewhiles had been, a little reflection made it
+needless for him to enquire of the case; so he turned away. Presently,
+seeing a wretched man, in a plight which made him shudder and feel
+goose-skin, and which would have moved the very rock to rush, he said
+to him, "Ho thou! What have time and fortune done with the lord of this
+place? Where are his lovely faces, his shining full moons and splendid
+stars; and what is the cause of the ruin that is come upon his abode,
+so that nothing save the walls thereof remain?" Quoth the other, "He is
+the miserable thou seest mourning that which hath left him naked. But
+knowest thou not the words of the Apostle (whom Allah bless and keep!),
+wherein is a lesson to him who will learn by it and a warning to whoso
+will be warned thereby and guided in the right way, 'Verily it is the
+way of Allah Almighty to raise up nothing of this world, except He cast
+it down again?'[FN#394] If thou question of the cause of this accident,
+indeed it is no wonder, considering the chances and changes of Fortune.
+I was the lord of this place and I builded it and founded it and owned
+it; and I was the proud possessor of its full moons lucent and its
+circumstance resplendent and its damsels radiant and its garniture
+magnificent, but Time turned and did away from me wealth and servants
+and took from me what it had lent (not given); and brought upon me
+calamities which it held in store hidden. But there must needs be some
+reason for this thy question: so tell it me and leave wondering."
+Thereupon, the man who had waxed wealthy being sore concerned, told him
+the whole story, and added, "I have brought thee a present, such as
+souls desire, and the price of thy dish of gold which I took; for it
+was the cause of my affluence after poverty, and of the replenishment
+of my dwelling-place, after desolation, and of the dispersion of my
+trouble and straitness." But the man shook his head, and weeping and
+groaning and complaining of his lot answered, "Ho thou! methinks thou
+art mad; for this is not the way of a man of sense. How should a dog of
+mine make generous gift to thee of a dish of gold and I meanly take
+back the price of what a dog gave? This were indeed a strange thing!
+Were I in extremest unease and misery, by Allah, I would not accept of
+thee aught; no, not the worth of a nail-paring! So return whence thou
+camest in health and safety."[FN#395] Whereupon the merchant kissed his
+feet and taking leave of him, returned whence he came, praising him and
+reciting this couplet,
+
+"Men and dogs together are all gone by, * So peace be with all of them!
+dogs and men!'
+
+And Allah is All knowing! Again men tell the tale of
+
+
+
+THE SHARPER OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE CHIEF OF POLICE.
+
+There was once in the coast-fortress of Alexandria, a Chief of Police,
+Husбm al-Din highs, the sharp Scymitar of the Faith. Now one night as
+he sat in his seat of office, behold, there came in to him a
+trooper-wight who said, "Know, O my lord the Chief, that I entered your
+city this night and alighted at such a khan and slept there till a
+third part of the night was past when I awoke and found my saddle-bags
+sliced open and a purse of a thousand gold pieces stolen from them." No
+sooner had he done speaking than the Chief summoned his chief officials
+and bade them lay hands on all in the khan and clap them in limbo till
+the morning; and on the morrow, he caused bring the rods and whips used
+in punishment, and, sending for the prisoners, was about to flog them
+till they confessed in the presence of the owner of the stolen money
+when, lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came up to the Chief of
+Police,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Chief was
+about to flog them when lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came
+up to the Chief of Police and the trooper and said; "Ho! Emir, let
+these folk go, for they are wrongously accused. It was I who robbed
+this trooper, and see, here is the purse I stole from his saddle-bags."
+So saying, he pulled out the purse from his sleeve and laid it before
+Husam al-Din, who said to the soldier, "Take thy money and pouch it;
+thou now hast no ground of complaint against the people of the khan."
+Thereupon these folk and all who were present fell to praising the
+thief and blessing him; but he said, "Ho! Emir, the skill is not in
+that I came to thee in person and brought thee the purse; the
+cleverness was in taking it a second time from this trooper." Asked the
+Chief, "And how didst thou do to take it, O sharper?"; and the robber
+replied, "O Emir, I was standing in the Shroff's[FN#396] bazar at
+Cairo, when I saw this soldier receive the gold in change and put it in
+yonder purse; so I followed him from by-street to by- street, but found
+no occasion of stealing it. Then he travelled from Cairo and I followed
+him from town to town, plotting and planning by the way to rob him, but
+without avail, till he entered this city and I dogged him to the khan.
+I took up my lodging beside him and watched him till he fell asleep and
+I heard him sleeping; when I went up to him softly, softly; and I slit
+open his saddle-bags with this knife, and took the purse in the way I
+am now taking it." So saying, he put out his hand and took the purse
+from before the Chief of Police and the trooper, both of whom, together
+with the folk, drew back watching him and thinking he would show them
+how he took the purse from the saddle-bags. But, behold! he suddenly
+broke into a run and threw himself into a pool of standing
+water[FN#397] hard by. So the Chief of the Police shouted to his
+officers, "Stop thief!" and many made after him; but before they could
+doff their clothes and descend the steps, he had made off; and they
+sought for him, but found him not; for that the by-streets and lanes of
+Alexandria all communicate. So they came back without bringing the
+purse; and the Chief of Police said to the trooper, "Thou hast no
+demand upon the folk; for thou fondest him who robbed thee and
+receivedst back thy money, but didst not keep it." So the trooper went
+away, having lost his money, whilst the folk were delivered from his
+hands and those of the Chief of Police, and all this was of the favour
+of Almighty Allah.[FN#398] And they also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+AL-MALIK AL-NASIR AND THE THREE CHIEFS OF POLICE.
+
+Once upon a time Al-Malik al-Nбsir[FN#399] sent for the Wбlis or Chiefs
+of Police of Cairo, Bulak, and Fostat[FN#400] and said to them, "I
+desire each of you to recount me the marvellousest thing that hath
+befallen him during his term of office."—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Al-Malik
+al-Nasir to the three Walis, "I desire each of you to recount me the
+marvellousest thing which hath befallen him during his term of office."
+So they answered, "We hear and we obey." Then said the Chief of the
+Police of Cairo, "Know thou, O our lord the Sultan, the most wonderful
+thing that befel me, during my term of office, was on this wise:" and
+he began
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo.
+
+"There were in this city two men of good repute fit to bear
+witness[FN#401] in matters of murder and wounds; but they were both
+secretly addicted to intrigues with low women and to wine- bibbing and
+to dissolute doings, nor could I succeed (do what I would) in bringing
+them to book, and I began to despair of success. So I charged the
+taverners and confectioners and fruiterers and candle-chandlers and the
+keepers of brothels and bawdy houses to acquaint me of these two good
+men whenever they should anywhere be engaged in drinking or other
+debauchery, or together or apart; and ordered that, if they both or if
+either of them bought at their shops aught for the purpose of wassail
+and carousel, the vendors should not conceal-it from me. And they
+replied, 'We hear and obey.' Presently it chanced that one night, a man
+came to me and said, 'O my master, know that the two just men, the two
+witnesses, are in such a street in such a house, engaged in abominable
+wickedness.' So I disguised myself, I and my body-servant, and ceased
+not trudging till I came to the house and knocked at the door,
+whereupon a slave-girl came out and opened to me, saying, 'Who art
+thou?' I entered without answering her and saw the two legal-witnesses
+and the house-master sitting, and lewd women by their side and before
+them great plenty of wine. When they saw me, they rose to receive me,
+and made much of me, seating me in the place of honour and saying to
+me, 'Welcome for an illustrious guest and well come for a pleasant cup-
+companion!' And on this wise they met me without showing a sign of
+alarm or trouble. Presently, the master of the house arose from amongst
+us and went out and returned after a while with three hundred dinars,
+when the men said to me, without the least fear, 'Know, O our lord the
+Wali, it is in thy power to do even more than disgrace and punish us;
+but this will bring thee in return nothing but weariness: so we reck
+thou wouldest do better to take this much money and protect us; for
+Almighty Allah is named the Protector and loveth those of His servants
+who protect their Moslem neighbours; and thou shalt have thy reward in
+this world and due recompense in the world to come.' So I said to
+myself, 'I will take the money and protect them this once, but, if ever
+again I have them in my power, I will take my wreak of them;' for, you
+see, the money had tempted me. Thereupon I took it and went away
+thinking that no one would know it; but, next day, on a sudden one of
+the Kazi's messengers came to me and said to me, 'O Wali, be good
+enough to answer the summons of the Kazi who wanteth thee.' So I arose
+and accompanied him, knowing not the meaning of all this; and when I
+came into the judge's presence, I saw the two witnesses and the master
+of the house, who had given me the money, sitting by his side.
+Thereupon this man rose and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was
+it in my power to deny the debt; for he produced a written obligation
+and his two companions, the legal witnesses, testified against me that
+I owed the amount. Their evidence satisfied the Kazi and he ordered me
+to pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court till they had of me the three
+hundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the utmost wrath and shame,
+vowing mischief and vengeance against them and repenting that I had not
+punished them. Such, then is the most remarkable event which befel me
+during my term of office." Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak Police
+and said, "As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing
+that happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:" and he began
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.
+
+"I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand gold
+pieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all that was
+behind me and what was before me and all I hent in hand, but I could
+collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of Bulak
+continued: "So I sold all that was behind and before me, but could
+collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars and remained in great
+perplexity. Now one night, as I sat at home in this state, behold,
+there came a knocking; so I said to one of my servants, 'See who is at
+the door.' He went out and returned, wan of face, changed in
+countenance and with his side-muscles a- quivering; so I asked him,
+'What aileth thee?'; and he answered, 'There is a man at the door; he
+is half naked, clad in skins, with sword in hand and knife in girdle,
+and with him are a company of the same fashion and he asketh for thee.'
+So I took my sword and going out to see who these were, behold, I found
+them as the boy had reported and said to them, 'What is your business?'
+They replied, 'Of a truth we be thieves and have done fine work this
+night; so we appointed the swag to thy use, that thou mayst pay
+therewith the debts which sadden thee and deliver thee from thy
+distress.' Quoth I, 'Where is the plunder?'; and they brought me a
+great chest, full of vessels of gold and silver; which when I saw, I
+rejoiced and said to myself, 'Herewith I will settle all claims upon me
+and there will remain as much again.' So I took the money and going
+inside said in my mind, 'It were ignoble to let them fare away
+empty-handed.' Whereupon I brought out the hundred thousand dinars I
+had by me and gave it to them, thanking them for their kindness; and
+they pouched the monies and went their way, under cover of the night so
+that none might know of them. But when morning dawned I examined the
+contents of the chest, and found them copper and tin[FN#403] washed
+with gold worth five hundred dirhams at the most; and this was grievous
+to me, for I had lost what monies I had and trouble was added to my
+trouble. Such, then, is the most remarkable event which befel me during
+my term of office." Then rose the Chief of the Police of Old Cairo and
+said, "O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened
+to me, since I became Wali, was on this wise;" and he began
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police.
+
+"I once hanged ten thieves each on his own gibbet, and especially
+charged the guards to watch them and hinder the folk from taking any
+one of them down. Next morning when I came to look at them, I found two
+bodies hanging from one gallows and said to the guards, 'Who did this,
+and where is the tenth gibbet?' But they denied all knowledge of it,
+and I was about to beat them till they owned the truth, when they said,
+'Know, O Emir, that we fell asleep last night, and when we awoke, we
+found that some one had stolen one of the bodies, gibbet and all; so we
+were alarmed and feared thy wrath. But, behold, up came a
+peasant-fellow driving his ass; whereupon we laid hands on him and
+killed him and hanged his body upon this gallows, in the stead of the
+thief who had been stolen.'[FN#404] Now when I heard this, I marvelled
+and asked them, 'What had he with him?'; and they answered, 'He had a
+pair of saddle-bags on the ass.' Quoth I, 'What was in them?'; quoth
+they, 'We know not.' So I said, 'Bring them hither;' and when they
+brought them to me I bade open them, behold, therein was the body of a
+murdered man, cut in pieces. Now as soon as I saw this, I marvelled at
+the case and said in myself, 'Glory to God! The cause of the hanging of
+this peasant was none other but his crime against this murdered man;
+and thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants.'"[FN#405] And men also
+tell the tale of
+
+
+
+THE THIEF AND THE SHROFF.
+
+A certain Shroff, bearing a bag of gold pieces, once passed by a
+company of thieves, and one of these sharpers said to the others, "I,
+and I only, have the power to steal yonder purse." So they asked, "How
+wilt thou do it?"; and he answered, "Look ye all!"; and followed the
+money-changer, till he entered his house, when he threw the bag on a
+shelf[FN#406] and, being affected with diabetes, went into the chapel
+of ease to do his want, calling to the slave-girl, "Bring me an ewer of
+water." She took the ewer and followed him to the privy, leaving the
+door open, whereupon the thief entered and, seizing the money-bag, made
+off with it to his companions, to whom he told what had passed.—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the thief took
+the money-bag and made off with it to his companions to whom he told
+what had passed. Said they, "By Allah, thou hast played a clever trick!
+''tis not every one could do it; but, presently the money-changer will
+come out of the privy; and missing the bag of money, he will beat the
+slave-girl and torture her with grievous torture. 'Tis as though thou
+hast at present done nothing worthy of praise; so, if thou be indeed a
+sharper, return and save the girl from being beaten and questioned."
+Quoth he, ' Inshallah! I will save both girl and purse." Then the prig
+went back to the Shroff's house and found him punishing the girl
+because of the purse; so he knocked at the door and the man said, "Who
+is there?" Cried the thief, "I am the servant of thy neighbour in the
+Exchange;" whereupon he came out to him and said, "What is thy
+business?" The thief replied, "My master saluteth thee and saith to
+thee: 'Surely thou art deranged and thoroughly so, to cast the like of
+this bag of money down at the door of thy shop and go away and leave
+it.' Had a stranger hit upon it he had made off with it and, except my
+master had seen it and taken care of it, it had assuredly been lost to
+thee." So saying, he pulled out the purse and showed it to the Shroff
+who on seeing it said, "That is my very purse," and put out his hand to
+take it; but the thief said, "By Allah, I will not give thee this same,
+till thou write me a receipt declaring that thou hast received it! for
+indeed I fear my master will not believe that thou hast recovered the
+purse, unless I bring him thy writing to that effect, and sealed with
+thy signet-seal." The money changer went in to write the paper
+required; and in the meantime the thief made off with the bag of money
+and thus was the slave-girl saved her beating. And men also tell a tale
+of
+
+
+
+THE CHIEF OF THE KUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER.
+
+It is related that Alб al-Dнn, Chief of Police at Kъs,[FN#407] was
+sitting one night in his house, when behold, a personage of handsome
+appearance and dignified aspect came to the door, accompanied by a
+servant bearing a chest upon his head and, standing there said to one
+of the Wali's young men, "Go in and tell the Emir that I would have
+audience of him on some privy business." So the servant went in and
+told his master, who bade admit the visitor. When he entered, the Emir
+saw him to be a man of handsome semblance and portly presence; so he
+received him with honour and high distinction, seating him beside
+himself, and said to him, "What is thy wish?" Replied the stranger, "I
+am a highwayman and am minded to repent at thy hands and turn to
+Almighty Allah; but I would have thee help me to this, for that I am in
+thy district and under thine inspection. Now I have here a chest,
+wherein are matters worth some forty thousand dinars; and none hath so
+good a right to it as thou; so do thou take it and give me in exchange
+a thousand dinars, of thine own monies lawfully gotten, that I may have
+a little capital, to aid me in my repentance,[FN#408] and save me from
+resorting to sin for my subsistence; and with Allah Almighty be thy
+reward!" Speaking thus he opened the chest and showed the Wali that it
+was full of trinkets and jewels and bullion and ring-gems and pearls,
+whereat he was amazed and rejoiced with great joy. So he cried out to
+his treasurer, saying, "Bring hither a certain purse containing a
+thousand dinars,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali cried
+out to his treasurer, saying "Bring hither a certain purse containing a
+thousand dinars; and gave it to the highwayman, who took it and
+thanking him, went his way under cover of the night. Now when it was
+the morrow, the Emir sent for the chief of the goldsmiths and showed
+him the chest and what was therein; but the goldsmith found it nothing
+but tin and brass, and the jewels and bezel stones and pearls all of
+glass; whereat the Wali was sore chagrined and sent in quest of the
+highwayman; but none could come at him. And men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE MERCHANT'S SISTER.
+
+The Caliph Al-Maamъn once said to his uncle Ibrahim bin Al-Mahdн, "Tell
+us the most remarkable thing that thou hast ever seen." Answered he: "I
+hear and obey, O Commander of the Faithful. Know that I rode out one
+day, a-pleasuring, and my ride brought me to a place where I smelt the
+reek of food. So my soul longed for it and I halted, O Prince of True
+Believers, perplexed and unable either to go on or to go in. Presently,
+I raised my eyes and lo! I espied a lattice-window and behind it a
+wrist, than which I never beheld aught lovelier. The sight turned my
+brain and I forgot the smell of the food and began to plan and plot how
+I should get access to the house. After awhile, I observed a tailor
+hard by and going up to him, saluted him. He returned my salam and I
+asked him, 'Whose house is that?' And he answered, 'It belongeth to a
+merchant called such an one, son of such an one, who consorteth with
+none save merchants.' As we were talking, behold, up came two men, of
+comely aspect with intelligent countenances, riding on horseback; and
+the tailor told me that they were the merchant's most intimate friends
+and acquainted me with their names. So I urged my beast towards them
+and said to them, 'Be I your ransom! Abu Fulбn[FN#409] awaiteth you!';
+and I rode with them both to the gate, where I entered and they also.
+Now when the master of the house saw me with them he doubted not but I
+was their friend; so he welcomed me and seated me in the highest stead.
+Then they brought the table of food and I said in myself, 'Allah hath
+granted me my desire of the food; and now there remain the hand and the
+wrist.' After awhile, we removed for carousel to another room, which I
+found tricked out with all manner of rarities; and the host paid me
+particular attention, addressing his talk to me, for that he took me to
+be a guest of his guests; whilst in like manner these two made much of
+me, taking me for a friend of their friend the house-master. Thus I was
+the object of politest attentions till we had drunk several cups of
+wine and there came into us a damsel as she were a willow wand of the
+utmost beauty and elegance, who took a lute and playing a lively
+measure, sang these couplets,
+
+'Is it not strange one house us two contain * And still thou
+
+
+     draw'st not near, or talk we twain?
+
+
+Only our eyes tell secrets of our souls, * And broken hearts by
+
+
+     lovers' fiery pain;
+
+
+Winks with the eyelids, signs the eyebrow knows; * Languishing
+
+
+     looks and hand saluting fain.'
+
+
+
+When I heard these words my vitals were stirred, O Commander of the
+Faithful, and I was moved to delight, for her excessive loveliness and
+the beauty of the verses she sang; and I envied her her skill and said,
+'There lacketh somewhat to thee, O damsel!' Whereupon she threw the
+lute from her hand in anger, and cried, 'Since when are ye wont to
+bring ill-mannered louts into your assemblies?' Then I repented of what
+I had done, seeing the company vexed with me, and I said in my mind,
+'My hopes are lost by me'; and I weeted no way of escaping blame but to
+call for a lute, saying, 'I will show you what escaped her in the air
+she played.' Quoth the folk, 'We hear and obey'; so they brought me a
+lute and I tuned the strings and sang these verses,
+
+'This is thy friend perplexed for pain and pine, * Th' enamoured,
+
+
+     down whose breast course drops of brine:
+
+
+He hath this hand to the Compassionate raised * For winning wish,
+
+
+     and that on hearts is lien:
+
+
+O thou who seest one love-perishing, * His death is caused by
+
+
+     those hands and eyne!'[FN#410]
+
+
+
+Whereupon the damsel sprang up and throwing herself at my feet, kissed
+them and said, 'It is thine to excuse, O my Master! By Allah, I knew
+not thy quality nor heard I ever the like of this performance!' And all
+began extolling me and making much of me, being beyond measure
+delighted' and at last they besought me to sing again. So I sang a
+merry air, whereupon they all became drunken with music and wine, their
+wits left them and they were carried off to their homes, while I abode
+alone with the host and the girl. He drank some cups with me and then
+said, 'O my lord, my life hath been lived in vain for that I have not
+known the like of thee till the present. Now, by Allah, tell me who
+thou art, that I may ken who is the cup-companion whom Allah hath
+bestowed on me this night.' At first I returned him evasive answers and
+would not tell him my name; but he conjured me till I told him who I
+was, whereupon he sprang to his feet"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of
+Al-Mahdi continued: "Now when the housemaster heard my name he sprang
+to his feet and said, 'Indeed I wondered that such gifts should belong
+to any but the like of thee; and Fortune hath done me a good turn for
+which I cannot thank her too much. But, haply, this is a dream; for how
+could I hope that one of the Caliphate house should visit my humble
+home and carouse with me this night?' I conjured him to be seated; so
+he sat down and began to question me as to the cause of my visit in the
+most courteous terms. So I told him the whole affair, first and last,
+hiding naught, and said to him, 'Now as to the food I have had my will,
+but of the hand and wrist I have still to win my wish.' Quoth he, 'Thou
+shalt have thy desire of the hand and wrist also, Inshallah!' Then said
+he to the slave-girl, 'Ho, such an one, bid such an one come down.' And
+he called his slave-girls down, one by one and showed them to me; but I
+saw not my mistress among them, and he said, 'O my lord, there is none
+left save my mother and sister; but, by Allah, I must needs have them
+also down and show them to thee.' So I marvelled at his courtesy and
+large heartedness and said, 'May I be thy sacrifice! Begin with the
+sister;' and he answered, 'With joy and goodwill.' So she came down and
+he showed me her hand and behold, she was the owner of the hand and
+wrist. Quoth I, 'Allah make me thy ransom! this is the damsel whose
+hand and wrist I saw at the lattice.' Then he sent his servants without
+stay or delay for witnesses and bringing out two myriads[FN#411] of
+gold pieces, said to the witnesses, 'This our lord and master, Ibrahim
+son of Al-Mahdi, paternal-uncle of the Commander of the Faithful,
+seeketh in marriage my sister such an one; and I call you to witness
+that I give her in wedlock to him and that he hath settled upon her ten
+thousand dinars.' And he said to me, 'I give thee my sister in
+marriage, at the portion aforesaid.' 'I consent,' answered I, 'and am
+herewith content.' Whereupon he gave one of the bags to her and the
+other to the witnesses, and said to me, 'O our lord, I desire to adorn
+a chamber for thee, where thou mayst sleep with thy wife.' But I was
+abashed at his generosity and was ashamed to lie with her in his house;
+so I said, 'Equip her and send her to my place.' And by thy being, O
+Commander of the Faithful, he sent me with her such an equipage that my
+house, for all its greatness, was too strait to hold it! And I begot on
+her this boy that standeth in thy presence." Then Al-Maamun marvelled
+at the man's generosity and said, "Gifted of Allah is he! Never heard I
+of his like." And he bade Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi bring him to court, that
+he might see him. He brought him and the Caliph conversed with him; and
+his wit and good breeding so pleased him that he made him one of his
+chief officers. And Allah is the Giver, the Bestower! Men also relate
+the tale of
+
+
+
+THE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR.
+
+A certain King once made proclamation to the people of his realm
+saying, "If any of you give alms of aught, I will verily and assuredly
+cut off his hand;" wherefore all the people abstained from alms-deed,
+and none could give anything to any one. Now it chanced that one day a
+beggar accosted a certain woman (and indeed hunger was sore upon him),
+and said to her, "Give me an alms"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was Three Hundred and Forty-eighth Night
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, quoth the beggar
+to the woman, "Give me an alms however small." But she answered him,
+"How can I give thee aught, when the King cutteth off the hands of all
+who give alms?" Then he said, "I conjure thee by Allah Almighty, give
+me an alms;" so when he adjured her by the Holy Name of Allah, she had
+ruth on him and gave him two scones. The King heard of this; whereupon
+he called her before him and cut off her hands, after which she
+returned to her house. Now it chanced after a while that the King said
+to his mother, "I have a mind to take a wife; so do thou marry me to a
+fair woman." Quoth she, "There is among our female slaves one who is
+unsurpassed in beauty; but she hath a grievous blemish." The King
+asked, "What is that?" and his mother answered, "She hath had both her
+hands cut off." Said he, "Let me see her." So she brought her to him,
+and he was ravished by her and married her and went in unto her; and
+begat upon her a son. Now this was the woman who had given two scones
+as an alms to the asker, and whose hands had been cut off therefor; and
+when the King married her, her fellow-wives envied her and wrote to the
+common husband that she was an unchaste, having just given birth to the
+boy; so he wrote to his mother, bidding her carry the woman into the
+desert and leave her there. The old Queen obeyed his commandment and
+abandoned the woman and her son in the desert; whereupon she fell to
+weeping for that which had befallen her and wailing with exceeding sore
+wail. As she went along, she came to a river and knelt down to drink,
+being overcome with excess of thirst, for fatigue of walking and for
+grief; but, as she bent her head, the child which was at her neck fell
+into the water. Then she sat weeping bitter tears for her child, and as
+she wept, behold came up two men, who said to her, "What maketh thee
+weep?" Quoth she, "I had a child at my neck, and he hath fallen into
+the water." They asked, "Wilt thou that we bring him out to thee?" and
+she answered, "Yes." So they prayed to Almighty Allah, and the child
+came forth of the water to her, safe and sound. Then said they, "Wilt
+thou that Allah restore thee thy hands as they were?" "Yes," replied
+she: whereupon they prayed to Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) and
+her hands were restored to her, goodlier than before. Then said they,
+"Knowest thou who we are?"; and she replied, "Allah is all
+knowing;"[FN#412] and they said, "We are thy two Scones of Bread, which
+thou gayest in alms to the asker and which were the cause of the
+cutting off of thy hands.[FN#413] So praise thou Allah Almighty for
+that He hath restored to thee thy hands and thy child." Then she
+praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. And men relate a tale of
+
+
+
+THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.
+
+There was once a devout man of the Children of Israel,[FN#414] whose
+family span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell the yarn and
+buy fresh cotton, and with the profit he laid in daily bread for his
+household. One morning he went out and sold the day's yarn as wont,
+when there met him one of his brethren, who complained to him of need;
+so he gave him the price of the thread and returned, empty-handed, to
+his family, who said to him, "Where is the cotton and the food?" Quoth
+he, "Such an one met me and complained to me of want; whereupon I gave
+him the price of the yarn." And they said, "How shall we do? We have
+nothing to sell." Now they had a cracked trencher[FN#415] and a jar; so
+he took them to the bazar but none would buy them of him. However
+presently, as he stood in the market, there passed by a man with a
+fish,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took the
+trencher and jar to the bazar, but none would buy them of him. However
+there presently passed by a man with a fish which was so stinking and
+so swollen that no one would buy it of him, and he said to the Jew,
+"Wilt thou sell me thine unsaleable ware for mine?" "Yes," answered the
+Jew; and, giving him the wooden trencher and jar, took the fish and
+carried it home to his family, who said, "What shall we do with this
+fish?" Quoth he, "We will broil it and eat it, till it please Allah to
+provide bread for us." So they took it and ripping open its belly,
+found therein a great pearl and told the head of the household who
+said, "See ye if it be pierced: if so, it belongeth to some one of the
+folk; if not, 'tis a provision of Allah for us." So they examined it
+and found it unpierced. Now when it was the morrow, the Jew carried it
+to one of his brethren which was an expert in jewels, and the man
+asked, "O such an one! whence haddest thou this pearl?"; whereto the
+Jew answered, "It was a gift of Almighty Allah to us," and the other
+said, "It is worth a thousand dirhams and I will give thee that; but
+take it to such an one, for he hath more money and skill than I." So
+the Jew took it to the jeweller, who said, "It is worth seventy
+thousand dirhams and no more." Then he paid him that sum and the Jew
+hired two porters to carry the money to his house. As he came to his
+door, a beggar accosted him, saying, "Give me of that which Allah hath
+given thee." Quoth the Jew to the asker, "But yesterday we were even as
+thou; take thee half this money:" so he made two parts of it, and each
+took his half. Then said the beggar, "Take back thy money and Allah
+bless and prosper thee in it; I am a Messenger,[FN#416] whom thy Lord
+hath sent to try thee." Quoth the Jew, "To Allah be the praise and the
+thanks!" and abode in all delight of life he and his household till
+death. And men recount this story of
+
+
+
+ABU HASSAN AL-ZIYADI AND THE KHORASAN.
+
+Quoth Abъ Hassбn al-Ziyбdi[FN#417]: "I was once in straitened case and
+so needy that the grocer, the baker and other tradesmen dunned and
+importuned me; and my misery became extreme, for I knew of no resource
+nor what to do. Things being on this wise there came to me one day
+certain of my servants and said to me, 'At the door is a pilgrim wight,
+who seeketh admission to thee.' Quoth I, 'Admit him.' So he came in and
+behold, he was a Khorasбnн. We exchanged salutations and he said to me,
+'Tell me, art thou Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?'; and I replied, 'Yes, what is
+thy wish?' Quoth he, 'I am a stranger and am minded to make the
+pilgrimage; but I have with me a great sum of money, which is
+burdensome to bear: so I wish to deposit these ten thousand dirhams
+with thee whilst I make my pilgrimage and return. If the caravan march
+back and thou see me not, then know that I am dead, in which case the
+money is a gift from me to thee; but if I come back, it shall be mine.'
+I answered, 'Be it as thou wilt, an thus please Allah Almighty.' So he
+brought out a leather bag and I said to the servant, 'Fetch the
+scales;' and when he brought them the man weighed out the money and
+handed it to me, after which he went his way. Then I called the
+purveyors and paid them my liabilities"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Abu Hassan
+al-Ziyadi: "I called the purveyors and paid them my liabilities and
+spent freely and amply, saying to myself, 'By the time he returns,
+Allah will have relieved me with one or other of the bounties He hath
+by Him.' However, on the very next day, the servant came in to me and
+said, 'Thy friend the Khorasan man is at the door.' 'Admit him,'
+answered I. So he came in and said to me, 'I had purposed to make the
+pilgrimage; but news hath reached me of the decease of my father, and I
+have resolved to return; so give me the monies I deposited with thee
+yesterday.' When I heard this, I was troubled and perplexed beyond
+measure of perplexity known to man and wotted not what reply to make
+him; for, if I denied it, he would put me on my oath, and I should be
+disgraced in the world to come; whilst, if I told him that I had spent
+the money, he would make an outcry and dishonour me before men. So I
+said to him, 'Allah give thee health! This my house is no stronghold
+nor site of safe custody for this money. When I received thy leather
+bag, I sent it to one with whom it now is; so do thou return to us
+to-morrow and take thy money, Inshallah!'[FN#418] So he went away and I
+passed the night in great concern, because of his return to me; sleep
+visited me not nor could I close my eyes; so I rose and bade the boy
+saddle me the she-mule. Answered he, 'O my lord, it is yet but the
+first third of the night and indeed we have hardly had time to rest.' I
+returned to my bed, but sleep was forbidden to me and I ceased not to
+awaken the boy, and he to put me off, till break of day, when he
+saddled me the mule, and I mounted and rode out, not knowing whither to
+go. I threw the reins on the mule's shoulders and gave myself up to
+regrets and melancholy thoughts, whilst she fared on with me to the
+eastward of Baghdad. Presently, as I went along, behold, I saw a number
+of people approaching me and turned aside into another path to avoid
+them; but seeing that I wore a turband in preacher-fashion,[FN#419]
+they followed me and hastening up to me, said, 'Knowest thou the
+lodging of Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?' 'I am he,' answered I; and they
+rejoined, 'Obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful.' Then
+they carried me before Al-Maamun, who said to me, 'Who art thou?' Quoth
+I, 'An associate of the Kazi Abu YÑŠsuf and a doctor of the law and
+traditions.' Asked the Caliph, 'By what surname art thou
+known?'[FN#420] and I answered, 'Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi;' whereupon quoth
+he, 'Expound to me thy case.' So I recounted to him my case and he wept
+sore and said to me, 'Out on thee! The Apostle of Allah (whom Allah
+bless and assain!) would not let me sleep this night, because of thee;
+for in early darkness[FN#421] he appeared to me and said, 'Succour Abu
+Hassan al-Ziyadi.' Whereupon I awoke and, knowing thee not, went to
+sleep again; but he came to me a second time and said to me, 'Woe to
+thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.' I awoke a second time, but knowing
+thee not I went to sleep again; and he came to me a third time and
+still I knew thee not and went to sleep again. Then he came to me once
+more and said, 'Out on thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi!' After that
+I dared not sleep any more, but watched the rest of the night and
+aroused my people and sent them on all sides in quest of thee.' Then he
+gave me one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'This is for the Khorasani,' and
+other ten thousand, saying, 'Spend freely of this and amend thy case
+therewith, and set thine affairs in order.' Moreover, he presented me
+with thirty thousand dirhams, saying, 'Furnish thyself with this, and
+when the Procession-day[FN#422] is being kept, come thou to me, that I
+may invest thee with some office.' So I went forth from him with the
+money and returned home, where I prayed the dawn-prayer; and behold,
+presently came the Khorasani, so I carried him into the house and
+brought out to him one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'Here is thy money.'
+Quoth he, 'It is not my very money; how cometh this?' So I told him the
+whole story, and he wept and said, 'By Allah, haddest thou told me the
+fact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not
+accept aught of this money'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
+Khorasani to Al-Ziyadi, "'By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact at
+first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not accept
+aught of this money and thou art lawfully quit of it.' So saying, he
+went away and I set my affairs in order and repaired on the
+Procession-day to Al-Maamun's Gate, where I found him seated. When he
+saw me present myself he called me to him and, bringing forth to me a
+paper from under his prayer-carpet, said to me, 'This is a patent,
+conferring on thee the office of Kazi of the western division of
+Al-Medinah, the Holy City, from the Bab al-Salбm[FN#423] to the
+furthest limit of the township; and I appoint thee such and such
+monthly allowances. So fear Allah (to whom be honour and glory!) end be
+mindful of the solicitude of His Apostle (whom may He bless and keep!)
+on thine account.' Then the folk marvelled at the Caliph's words and
+asked me their meaning; whereupon I told them the story from beginning
+to end and it spread abroad amongst the people." "And" (quoth he who
+telleth the tale) "Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi ceased not to be Kazi of
+Al-Medinah, the Holy City, till he died in the days of Al-Maamun the
+mercy of Allah be on him!" And among the tales men tell is one of
+
+
+
+THE POOR MAN AND HIS FRIEND IN NEED.
+
+There was once a rich man who lost all he had and became destitute,
+whereupon his wife advised him to ask aid and assistance of one of his
+intimates. So he betook himself to a certain friend of his and
+acquainted him with his necessities; and he lent him five hundred
+dinars to trade withal. Now in early life he had been a jeweller; so he
+took the gold and went to the jewel-bazar, where he opened a shop to
+buy and sell. Presently, as he sat in his shop three men accosted him
+and asked for his father, and when he told them that he was deceased,
+they said, "Say, did he leave issue?" Quoth the jeweller, "He left the
+slave who is before you." They asked, "And who knoweth thee for his
+son?"; and he answered, "The people of the bazar whereupon they said,
+"Call them together, that they may testify to us that thou art his very
+son." So he called them and they bore witness of this; whereupon the
+three men delivered to him a pair of saddle- bags, containing thirty
+thousand dinars, besides jewels and bullion of high value, saying,
+"This was deposited with us in trust by thy father." Then they went
+away; and presently there came to him a woman, who sought of him
+certain of the jewels, worth five hundred dinars which she bought and
+paid him three thousand for them. Upon this he arose and took five
+hundred dinars and carrying them to his friend who had lent him the
+money, said to him, "Take the five hundred dinars I borrowed of thee;
+for Allah hath opened to me the gate of prosperity." Quoth the other,
+"Nay; I gave them to thee outright, for the love of Allah; so do thou
+keep them. And take this paper, but read it not till thou be at home,
+and do according to that which is therein." So he took the money and
+the paper and returned home, where he opened the scroll and found
+therein inscribed these couplets,
+
+"Kinsmen of mine were those three men who came to thee; * My sire
+
+
+     and uncles twain and Sбlih bin Ali.
+
+
+So what for cash thou coldest, to my mother 'twas * Thou soldest
+
+
+     it, and coin and gems were sent by me.
+
+
+Thus doing I desired not any harm to thee * But in my presence
+
+
+     spare thee and thy modesty."
+
+
+
+And they also recount the story of
+
+
+
+THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]
+
+There lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who lost
+all his substance and became so destitute that he could earn his living
+only by hard labour. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and
+heavy hearted, and saw in a dream a Speaker[FN#425] who said to him,
+"Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither and seek it." So he set out
+for Cairo; but when he arrived there evening overtook him and he lay
+down to sleep in a mosque Presently, by decree of Allah Almighty, a
+band of bandits entered the mosque and made their way thence into an
+adjoining house; but the owners, being aroused by the noise of the
+thieves, awoke and cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to
+their aid with his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered
+the mosque and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of
+him and beat him with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he was
+well-nigh dead. Then they cast him into jail, where he abode three
+days; after which the Chief of Police sent for him and asked him,
+"Whence art thou?"; and he answered, "From Baghdad." Quoth the Wali,
+"And what brought thee to Cairo?"; and quoth the Baghdadi, "I saw in a
+dream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither to it.
+But when I came to Cairo the fortune which he promised me proved to be
+the palm-rods thou so generously gavest to me." The Wali laughed till
+he showed his wisdom-teeth and said, "O man of little wit, thrice have
+I seen in a dream one who said to me: 'There is in Baghdad a house in
+such a district and of such a fashion and its courtyard is laid out
+garden-wise, at the lower end whereof is a jetting-fountain and under
+the same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go thither and take it.'
+Yet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy wit, hast journeyed
+from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an idle
+galimatias of sleep." Then he gave him money saying, "Help thee back
+herewith to thine own country;"— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali gave the
+Baghdad man some silver, saying, "Help thee back herewith to thine own
+country;" and he took the money and set out upon his homewards march.
+Now the house the Wali had described was the man's own house in
+Baghdad; so the wayfarer returned thither and, digging underneath the
+fountain in his garden, discovered a great treasure. And thus Allah
+gave him abundant fortune; and a marvellous coincidence occurred. And a
+story is also current of
+
+
+
+CALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL AND HIS CONCUBINE MAHBUBAH.
+
+There were in the palace of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ala'llah[FN#426]
+four thousand concubines, whereof two thousand were Greeks and other
+two thousand slave born Arabians[FN#427] and Abyssinians; and 'Obayd
+ibn Tбhir[FN#428] had given him two hundred white girls and a like
+number of Abyssinian and native girls. Among these slave-borns was a
+girl of Bassorah, hight MahbÑŠbah, the Beloved, who was of surpassing
+beauty and loveliness, elegance and voluptuous grace. Moreover, she
+played upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making verses and
+wrote a beautiful hand; so that Al-Mutawakkil fell passionately in love
+with her and could not endure from her a single hour. But when she saw
+this affection, she presumed upon his favour to use him arrogantly,
+wherefore he waxed exceeding wroth with her and forsook her, forbidding
+the people of the palace to speak with her. She abode on this wise some
+days, but the Caliph still inclined to her; and he arose one morning
+and said to his courtiers, "I dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled
+to Mahhubah." They answered, "Would Allah this might be on wake!"; and
+as they were talking, behold, in came one of the Caliph's maidservants
+and whispered him; so he rose from his throne and entered the
+Serraglio; for the whisper had said, "Of a truth we heard singing and
+lute-playing in Mahbubah's chamber and we knew not what this meant." So
+he went straight to her apartment, where he heard her playing upon the
+lute and singing the following verses,
+
+"I wander through the palace, but I sight there not a soul * To
+
+
+     whom I may complain or will 'change a word with me.
+
+
+It is as though I'd done so grievous rebel-deed * Wherefrom can
+
+
+     no contrition e'er avail to set me free.
+
+
+Have we no intercessor here to plead with King, who came * In
+
+
+     sleep to me and took me back to grace and amity;
+
+
+But when the break of day arose and showed itself again, * Then
+
+
+     he departing sent me back to dree my privacy?"
+
+
+
+Now when the Caliph heard her voice, he marvelled at the verse and yet
+more at the strange coincidence of their dreams and entered the
+chamber. As soon as she perceived him, she hastened to rise and throw
+herself at his feet, and kissing them, said, "By Allah, O my lord, this
+hap is what I dreamt last night; and, when I awoke, I made the couplets
+thou hast heard." Replied Al- Mutawakkil, "By Allah, I also dreamt the
+like!" Then they embraced and made friends and he abode with her seven
+days with their nights. Now Mahbubah had written upon her cheek, in
+musk, the Caliph's name, which was Ja'afar: and when he saw this, he
+improvised the following,
+
+"One wrote upon her cheek with musk, his name was Ja'afar highs;
+
+
+     * My soul for hers who wrote upon her cheek the name I
+
+
+     sight!
+
+
+If an her fingers have inscribed one line upon her cheek, * Full
+
+
+     many a line in heart of mine those fingers did indite:
+
+
+O thou, whom Ja'afar sole of men possesseth for himself, * Allah
+
+
+     fill Ja'afar[FN#429] stream full draught, the wine of thy
+
+
+     delight!"
+
+
+
+When Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him, all save
+Mahhubah,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
+Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him all save Mahbubah who
+ceased not to mourn for him, till she deceased and was buried by his
+side, the mercy of Allah be on them both! And men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+WARDAN[FN#430] THE BUTCHER; HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.
+
+
+There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-Hбkim bi'
+Amri'llah, a butcher named Wardбn, who dealt in sheep's flesh; and
+there came to him every day a lady and gave him a dinar, whose weight
+was nigh two and a half Egyptian dinars, saying, "Give me a lamb." So
+he took the money and gave her the lamb, which she delivered to a
+porter she had with her; and he put it in his crate and she went away
+with him to her own place. Next day she came in the forenoon and this
+went on for a long time, the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day,
+till at last he began to be curious about her case and said to himself,
+"This woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying
+ready money, and never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a strange
+thing!" So he took an occasion of questioning the porter, in her
+absence, and asked him, "Whither goest thou every day with yonder
+woman?"; and he answered, "I know not what to make of her for surprise;
+inasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the lamb of thee, she
+buyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and dried fruits and wax-candles
+a dinar's worth, and taketh of a certain person, which is a Nazarene,
+two flagons of wine, worth another dinar; and then she leadeth me with
+the whole and I go with her to the Wazir's Gardens, where she
+blindfoldeth me, so that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my
+feet; and, taking me by the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither.
+Presently, she sayeth, 'Set down here;' and when I have done so, she
+giveth me an empty crate she hath ready and, taking my hand, leadeth me
+back to the Wazir's Gardens, the place where she bound my eyes, and
+there removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver bits." "Allah be
+her helper!" quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in curiosity about her
+case; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in
+exceeding restlessness. And quoth the butcher, "Next morning she came
+to me as of custom and taking the lamb, for which she paid the dinar,
+delivered it to the porter and went away. So I gave my shop in charge
+to a lad and followed her without her seeing me;"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the
+butcher continued: "So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed
+her without her seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding
+behind her, till she left Cairo and came to the Wazir's Gardens. Then I
+hid myself whilst she bandaged the porter's eyes and followed her again
+from place to place till she came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped
+at a spot where there was a great stone. Here she made the porter set
+down his crate, and I waited whilst she conducted him back to the
+Wazir's Gardens, after which she returned and, taking out the contents
+of the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that stone and
+wrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone an open
+trap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading downwards. So I
+descended, little by little, till I came to a long corridor,
+brilliantly lighted and followed it, till I made a closed door, as it
+were the door of a saloon. I looked about the wall sides near the
+doorway till I discovered a recess, with steps therein; then climbed up
+and found a little niche with a bulls-eye giving upon a saloon. Thence
+I looked inside and saw the lady cut off the choicest parts of the lamb
+and laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big bear, who
+ate it all to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking,
+she ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections and
+brought out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and giving the
+bear to drink in a basin of gold. And as soon as she was heated with
+wine, she put off her petticoat-trousers and lay down on her back;
+whereupon the bear arose and came up to her and stroked her, whilst she
+gave him the best of what belongeth to the sons of Adam till he had
+made an end, when he sat down and rested. Presently, he sprang upon her
+and rogered her again; and when he ended he again sat down to rest, and
+he ceased not so doing till he had futtered her ten times and they both
+fell to the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then quoth
+I to myself, 'Now is my opportunity,' and taking a knife I had with me,
+that would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them and found
+them motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their hard swinking
+and swiving. So I put my knife to the bear's gullet and pressed upon
+it, till I finished him by severing his head from his body, and he gave
+a great snort like thunder, whereat the lady started up in alarm; and,
+seeing the bear slain and me standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so
+loud a shriek that I thought the soul had left her body. Then she
+asked, 'O Wardan, is this how thou requites me my favours?' And I
+answered, 'O enemy of thine own soul, is there a famine of men[FN#433]
+that thou must do this damnable thing?' She made no answer but bent
+down over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head
+divided from his body, said to me, 'O Wardan, which of the two courses
+wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means
+of thine own safety'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the lady, "
+'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me
+in what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety and competency
+to the end of thy days, or gainsay me and so cause thine own
+destruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, 'I choose rather to hearken unto
+thee: say what thou wilt.' Quoth she, 'Then slay me, as thou hast slain
+this bear, and take thy need of this hoard and wend thy ways.' Quoth I,
+'I am better than this bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty and
+repent, and I will marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the
+rest of our lives.' She rejoined, 'O Wardan, far be it from me! How
+shall I live after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly
+do away thy life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost
+man: this is all I have to say to thee and peace be with thee!' Then
+said I, 'I will kill thee, and thou shalt go to the curse of Allah.' So
+saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her throat; and she went to
+the curse of Allah and of the angels and of all mankind. And after so
+doing I examined the place and found there gold and bezel-stones and
+pearls, such as no one king could bring together. So I filled the
+porter's crate with as much as I could carry and covered it with the
+clothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and, going up out of the
+underground treasure- chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring
+on, till I came to the gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten
+of the bodyguard of Al-Hakim bi' Amri'llah[FN#435] followed by the
+Prince himself who said to me, 'Ho, Wardan!' 'At thy service, O King,'
+replied I; when he asked, 'Hast thou killed the bear and the lady?' and
+I answered, 'Yes.' Quoth he, 'Set down the basket from thy head and
+fear naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is thine, and
+none shall dispute it with thee.' So I set down the crate before him,
+and he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, 'Tell me their
+case, albe I know it, as if I had been present with you.' So I told him
+all that had passed and he said, 'Thou hast spoken the truth,' adding,
+'O Wardan, come now with me to the treasure.' So I returned with him to
+the cavern, where he found the trap-door closed and said to me, 'O
+Wardan, lift it; none but thou can open the treasure, for it is
+enchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436] Said I, 'By Allah, I cannot
+open it,' but he said, 'Go up to it, trusting in the blessing of
+Allah.' So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah and, advancing to
+the trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up as it had been
+of the lightest. Then said the Caliph, 'Go down and bring hither what
+is there; for none but one of thy name and semblance and nature hath
+gone down thither since the place was made, and the slaying of the bear
+and the woman was appointed to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with
+me and I was awaiting its fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth
+Wardan) I went down and brought up all the treasure, whereupon the
+Caliph sent for beasts of burden and carried it away, after giving me
+my crate, with what was therein. So I bore it home and opened me a shop
+in the market." And (saith he who telleth the tale) "this market is
+still extant and is known as Wardan's Market." And I have heard recount
+another story of
+
+
+
+THE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.
+
+There was once a Sultan's daughter, whose heart was taken with love of
+a black slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became passionately
+addicted to futtering, so that she could not do without it a single
+hour and complained of her case to one of her body women, who told her
+that no thing poketh and stroketh more abundantly than the
+baboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day, that an ape-leader passed
+under her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled her face and
+looking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he broke
+his bonds and chain and climbed up to the Princess, who hid him in a
+place with her, and night and day he abode there, eating and drinking
+and copulating. Her father heard of this and would have killed her;—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Sultan
+heard of this work he would have slain his daughter; but she smoked his
+design; and, disguising herself in Mameluke's dress, mounted horse
+after loading a mule with gold and bullion, and precious stuffs past
+all account; then carrying with her the ape, she fled to Cairo, where
+she took up her abode in one of the houses without the city and upon
+the verge of the Suez-desert. Now, every day, she used to buy meat of a
+young man, a butcher, but she came not to him till after noonday; and
+then she was so yellow and disordered in face that he said in his mind,
+"There must indeed hang some mystery by this slave." "Accordingly
+(quoth the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out
+after her secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to place,
+so as she saw me not, till she came to her lodging on the edge of her
+waste and entered; and I looked in upon her through a cranny, and saw
+her as soon as she was at home, kindle a fire and cook the meat, of
+which she ate enough and served up the rest to a baboon she had by her
+and he did the same. Then she put off the slave's habit and donned the
+richest of women's apparel; and so I knew that she was a lady. After
+this she set on wine and drank and gave the ape to drink; and he
+stroked her nigh half a score times without drawing till she swooned
+away, when he spread over her a silken coverlet and returned to his
+place. Then I went down in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming
+aware of me, would have torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out
+my knife and slit his paunch and his bowels fell out. The noise aroused
+the young lady, who awoke terrified and trembling; and, when she saw
+the ape in this case, she shrieked such a shriek that her soul well
+nigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a fainting-fit and when she
+came to herself, she said to me, 'What moved thee to do thus? Now Allah
+upon thee, send me after him!' But I spoke her fair for a while and
+pledged myself to stand in the ape's stead in the matter of much
+poking, till her trouble subsided and I took her to wife. But when I
+came to perform my promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this
+matter and could not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my
+case and mentioned her exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman
+who engaged to manage the affair and said to me, 'Needs must thou bring
+me a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar and a pound of the herb
+pellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her what she sought,
+and she laid the pellitory in the pot with the vinegar and set it on
+the fire, till it was thoroughly boiled. Then she bade me futter the
+girl, and I futtered her till she fainted away, when the old woman took
+her up (and she unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the
+cooking-pot. The steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from
+it somewhat which I examined; and behold, it was two small worms, one
+black and the other yellow. Quoth the old, woman, ''The black was bred
+of the strokings of the negro and the yellow of stroking with the
+baboon.' Now when she recovered from her swoon she abode with me, in
+all delight and solace of life, and sought not swiving as before, for
+Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man
+continued: "In truth Allah had done away from her this appetite;
+whereat I marvelled and acquainted her with the case. Thereupon I lived
+with her and she took the old woman to be to her in the stead of her
+mother." "And" (said he who told me the tale) "the old woman and the
+young man and his wife abode in joy and cheer till there came to them
+the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies; and glory be
+to the Ever-living One, who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of
+the world visible and invisible!''[FN#440] And another tale they tell
+is that of
+
+End of Arabian Nights Volume 4.
+
+                    Arabian Nights, Volume 4
+
+
+                           Footnotes
+
+
+
+[FN#1] The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the
+town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was
+founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Madбin (Ctesiphon)
+opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four
+days' march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffбh, the first
+Abbaside, made it his Capital—and it became a famous seat of Moslem
+learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as
+their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the "Cufic"
+characters which are, however, of much older date.
+
+[FN#2] "Ni'amat" = a blessing, and the word is perpetually occurring in
+Moslem conversation, "Ni'amatu'llбh" (as pronounced) is also a
+favourite P.N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the
+scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni'amatu 'llah, who had been sent to
+England by Nana Sahib. Nu'm = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N.
+like the Heb. "Naomi."
+
+[FN#3] i.e. "causing to be prosperous", the name, corrupted by the
+Turks to "Tevfik," is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt,
+to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification
+certainly does not apply.
+
+[FN#4] Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
+
+[FN#5] i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and
+Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have
+noted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the
+Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be
+taken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters in his name
+sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once
+capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the
+Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to
+Combermore for some time after the successful siege.
+
+[FN#6] BinYÑŠsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and
+eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az and Al-Irak under
+the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of
+the Moslems' Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled
+down the Ka'abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is.
+Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn
+Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet's
+companions by "sealing them in the necks and hands," that is he tied a
+thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he
+showed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required by the
+revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in
+rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners
+by Dahir of Debal (Tathб in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man
+the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi'ahs hates him
+and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly
+measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of
+our modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyбd
+bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu'awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of
+thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword
+and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden,
+under pain of teeth, to walk the streets after prayers, on the first
+night two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards.
+Compare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of
+brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have
+started up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where
+"Christian rule" has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.
+
+[FN#7] The old bawd's portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in
+the East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners
+are the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical-female ascetic in
+the Katha, p. 287) as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once
+recognise her and the prudent keep out of her way. She is found in the
+cities of Southern Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems to
+do her work not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment. In
+the text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of innocents.
+
+[FN#8] Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale's version.
+
+[FN#9] Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying "Thank you;"
+they express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to
+your surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they
+consider it their own. I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i.
+75-77, in opposition to those who declare that "gratitude" is unknown
+to Moslems.
+
+[FN#10] Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a "King,"
+
+
+but as the Hindu says, " Delhi is far" it is a far cry to Loch
+
+
+Awe. Here we can hardly understand "Malik" as Governor or
+
+
+Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zъ-mбl-(moneyed)?
+
+
+
+[FN#11] Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the "Sweat of a
+Stone," etc. He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and
+one of his sayings is still remembered. "He who desireth to take a
+female slave for carnal-enjoyment, let him take a native of Barbary; if
+he need one for the sake of children, let him have a Persian; and whoso
+desireth one for service, let him take a Greek." Moderns say, "If you
+want a brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an
+Abyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sбwahнli, or Zanzibar
+negroid."
+
+[FN#12] Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and
+
+
+Stratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.
+
+
+
+[FN#13] Arab, "Kбrъrah": the "water-doctor" has always been an
+institution in the east and he has lately revived in Europe especially
+at the German baths and in London.
+
+[FN#14] Lane makes this phrase "O brother of the Persians!" synonymous
+with "O Persian!" I think it means more, a Persian being generally
+considered "too clever by half."
+
+[FN#15] The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women's
+names, Naomi (the blessing) Su'adб or Su'бd (the happy, which Mr.
+Redhouse, in Ka'ab's Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml
+(a sum or total) the two latter, moreover, being here fictitious.
+
+[FN#16] "And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, 'O how I am grieved
+for Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning. … (Quoth Joseph to
+his brethren), 'Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father's
+face and he shall recover his sight.' . . . So, when the messenger of
+good tidings came (to Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and
+he recovered his eye-sight." Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators,
+by way of improvement, assure us that the shirt was that worn by
+Abraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chaps. xvi.) by Nimrod (!).
+We know little concerning "Jacob's daughters" who named the only bridge
+spanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb near
+Jewish "Safe" (North of Tiberias), one of the four "Holy Cities." The
+Jews ignore these "daughters of Jacob" and travellers neglect them.
+
+[FN#17] Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth
+that the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that "fair sex" is
+truly only of skin-colour. The same is the general-rule throughout
+creation, for instance the stallion compared with the mare, the cock
+with the hen; while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidae.
+
+[FN#18] The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of
+a woman who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the
+slightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful
+neck and looking from side to side at objects as she passes.
+
+[FN#19] Li'llбhi (darr') al-kбil, a characteristic idiom. "Darr"=giving
+(rich) milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration, "To Allah be
+ascribed (or Allah be praised for) his rich eloquence who said etc.
+Some Hebraists would render it, "Divinely (well) did he speak who
+said," etc., holding "Allah" to express a superlative like "Yah" Jah)
+in Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod was a hunter to the person (or presence) of
+Yah, i.e. mighty hunter.
+
+[FN#20] Hamzah and Abbбs were the famous uncles of Mohammed often
+noticed: Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Akнl, a son of the
+fourth Caliph, Ali.
+
+[FN#21] The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being that of a
+signet, it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians invented engraving
+hieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the
+process to the ring. Moses B. C. 1491 (Exod. xxviii. 9) took two
+onyx-stones, and graved on them the names of the children of Israel.
+From this the signet ring was but a step. Herodotus mentions an emerald
+seal-set in gold, that of Polycrates, the work of Theodorus, son of
+Telecles the Samian (iii. 141). The Egyptians also were perfectly
+acquainted with working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be seen
+in the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks
+borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g. Tryphon's in
+the Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the art to the Romans.
+We read in a modern book "Cameo means an onyx, and the most famous
+cameo in the world is the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus."
+The ring is given in marriage because it was a seal—by which orders
+were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and Esther iii. 10-12). I may note that
+the seal-ring of Cheops (Khufu), found in the Greatest Pyramid, was in
+the possession of my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of Auburn (U.S.), and
+was sold with his collection. It is the oldest ring in the world, and
+settles the Cheops-question.
+
+[FN#22] This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is
+customary, I have noted, amongst the American "Indians," the Badawin of
+the New World; they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost.
+Like most primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was Жneas or
+Shakespeare's saline personage,
+
+          "This would make a man, a man of salt
+
+
+            To use his eyes for garden waterpots."
+
+
+                                           (King Lear, iv. 6.)
+
+
+
+[FN#23] Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales the two
+adulterous Queens would have been put to death.
+
+[FN#24] Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shбmбt.
+
+[FN#25] Arab. "Misr," vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim the
+"two Misrs," Egypt, upper and lower.
+
+[FN#26] The Persians still call their Consuls "Shah-bander," lit. king
+of the Bandar or port.
+
+[FN#27] Arab. "DukhÑŠl," the night of going in, of seeing the bride
+unveiled for the first time, etcaetera.
+
+[FN#28] Arab. "Barsh" or "Bars," the commonest kind. In India it is
+called Ma'jÑŠn (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or young
+leaves, buds, capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva), poppy-seed and
+flowers of the thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and auger-candy, nutmegs,
+cloves, mace and saffron, all boiled to the consistency of treacle
+which hardens when cold. Several-recipes are given by Herklots
+(Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries are usually prepared with
+"Charas," or gum of hemp, collected by hand or by passing a blanket
+over the plant in early morning, and it is highly intoxicating. Another
+intoxicant is "Sabzi," dried hemp-leaves, poppy-seed, cucumber heed,
+black pepper and cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden
+pestle, and made drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish
+of Arabia is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows.
+Take of hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and of
+cloves, nutmeg and mace (which add to the intoxication) each 12 grains.
+Triturate in 8 ounces of water or the juice of watermelon or cucumber,
+strain and drink. The Egyptian Zabнbah is a preparation of hemp
+florets, opium and honey, much affected by the lower orders, whence the
+proverb: "Temper thy sorrow with Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz it is mixed with
+raisins (Zabнb) and smoked in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No. 73.)
+Besides these there is (1) "Post" poppy-seed prepared in various ways
+but especially in sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the
+produce of the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by
+dishonest confectioners; it is a dangerous intoxicant, producing
+spectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc., and (3) various preparations
+of opium especially the "Madad," pills made up with toasted betel-leaf
+and smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk in the shape of "Kusumba,"
+a pill placed in wet cotton and squeezed in order to strain and clean
+it of the cowdung and other filth with which it is adulterated.
+
+[FN#29] Arab. "SikankÑŠr" (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a lizard
+(S. officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an aphrodisiac
+in the East, and which in the Middle Ages was considered a
+universal-medicine. In the "Adja'ib al-Hind" (Les Merveilles de l'Inde)
+we find a notice of a bald-headed old man who was compelled to know his
+wife twice a day and twice a night in consequence of having eaten a
+certain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii. of the translation by M. L. Marcel
+Devic, from a manuscript of the tenth century, Paris Lemaire, 1878.)
+Europeans deride these prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they
+affect the fancy, that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily
+relieving impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only
+when it comes from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East; and
+about half of every medical-work is devoted to them. Many a quack has
+made his fortune with a few bottles of tincture of cantharides, and a
+man who could discover a specific would become a millionaire in India
+only. The curious reader will consult for specimens the Ananga-Ranga
+Shastra by Koka Pandit; or the "Rujъ 'al-Shaykh ila 'l-Sabбh fi Kuwwati
+'l-Bбh" (the Return of the Old Man to Youth in power of Procreation) by
+Ahmad bin Sulaymбn known as Ibn Kamбl-Bбshб, in 139 chapters
+lithographed at Cairo. Of these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.
+
+[FN#30] Alб al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the Faith, a
+name of which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like his own, would
+have highly disapproved. The most grateful names to Allah are Abdallah
+(Allah's Slave) and Abd al-Rahman (Slave of the Compassionate); the
+truest are Al-Hбrith (the gainer, "bread winner") and Al-Hammбm (the
+griever); and the hatefullest are Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah
+(bitterness, Abu Murrah being a kunyat or by-name of the Devil). Abu
+al-Shбmбt (pronounced Abushshбmбt)=Father of Moles, concerning which I
+have already given details. These names ending in -Din (faith) began
+with the Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri 'llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075), who
+entitled his Wazir "Zahнr al-Din (Backer or Defender of the Faith) and
+this gave rise to the practice. It may be observed that the
+superstition of naming by omens is in no way obsolete.
+
+[FN#31] Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his beauty
+as though it had been strong wine.
+
+[FN#32] i.e. against the evil eye.
+
+[FN#33] Meaning that he had been delicately reared.
+
+[FN#34] A traditional-saying of Mohammed.
+
+[FN#35] So Boccaccio's "Capo bianco" and "Coda verde." (Day iv.,
+
+
+Introduct.)
+
+
+
+[FN#36] The opening chapter is known as the "Mother of the Book" (as
+opposed to Yб Sнn, the "heart of the Koran"), the "Surat (chapter) of
+Praise," and the "Surat of repetition" (because twice revealed?) or
+thanksgiving, or laudation (Ai-Masбni) and by a host of other names for
+which see Mr. Rodwell who, however, should not write "Fatthah" (p.
+xxv.) nor "Fathah" (xxvii.). The Fбtihah, which is to Al-Islam much
+what the "Paternoster" is to Christendom, consists of seven verses, in
+the usual-Saj'a or rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows:
+
+In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise be to
+Allah who all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the Compassionate
+* King of the Day of Faith! * Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do
+we crave aid * Guide us to the path which is straight * The path of
+those for whom Thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they
+that deviate * Amen! O Lord of the World's trine.
+
+My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances of its
+application; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing
+from Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and
+other details,
+
+[FN#37] i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children.
+Strangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading
+by the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home
+will be changed to cloth of gold.
+
+[FN#38] Arab. "Asнdah" flour made consistent by boiling in water with
+the addition of "Same" clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than
+custard.
+
+[FN#39] Arab. "Ghбbah" = I have explained as a low-lying place where
+the growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it during the
+noon-heats
+
+[FN#40] Arab. "Akkбm," one who loads camels and has charge of the
+luggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or camel-hirer
+(Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre (Moucres) which, first
+used by La Brocquiиre (A.D. 1432), is still the only term known to the
+French.
+
+[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.
+
+[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma'i, the "Romance of Antar," and the episode
+of the Asafir Camels.
+
+[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the Kбdirн
+order (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally recognised), to
+which I have the honour to belong, teste my diploma (Pilgrimage,
+Appendix i.). Visitation is still made to his tomb at Baghdad. The
+Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter to "Jнlбn" the name of his
+birth-place "Gilan," a tract between the Caspian and the Black Seas.
+
+[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian "Mucuddum;" lit. "one placed before
+(or over) others"
+
+[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.
+
+[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to infamous
+proposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use their fists.
+
+[FN#47] Arab. "Rбfizн"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian schismatics
+who curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken from their own
+saying "Innб rafiznб-hum"=verily we have rejected them. The feeling
+between Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and Shi'ah is much like the
+Christian love between a Catholic of Cork and a Protestant from the
+Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any historian will show, this sect became
+exceedingly powerful under the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom
+conformed to it and adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the
+Azan or prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists.
+Even in the present day the hatred between these representatives of
+Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I have given
+sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the Persians attempt to
+pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.
+
+[FN#48] Arab. "Sakkб," the Indian "Bihishtн" (man from Heaven):
+
+
+Each party in a caravan has one or more.
+
+
+
+[FN#49] These "Kirбmбt" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists will
+readily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have half a
+dozen to tell, each of his "Pнr" or patron, including the Istidrбj or
+prodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)
+
+[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo and famed
+for "Kirбmбt." Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was imprisoned by
+Al-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She was married to a son
+of the Imam Ja'afar al-Sadik and lived a life of devotion in Cairo,
+dying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to
+her house, now her mosque and mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-SabÑŠa
+which formerly divided Old from New Cairo and is now one of the
+latter's suburbs. Lane (M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little
+more. The mention of her shows that the writer of the tale or the
+copyist was a Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the
+"Sitt."
+
+[FN#51] Arab. "Farkh akrab" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.
+
+[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his abomination as
+if it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet with due ascription.
+
+[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter, "creamkin."
+
+[FN#54] Arab. "Mustahall," "Mustahill' and vulg. "Muhallil" (=one who
+renders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose who marries pro
+forma and after wedding, and bedding with actual-consummation, at once
+divorces the woman. He is held the reverse of respectable and no
+wonder. Hence, probably, Mandeville's story of the Islanders who, on
+the marriage-night, "make another man to lie by their wives, to have
+their maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And
+there are certain men in every town that serve for no other thing; and
+they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of despair, because
+they believe their occupation is a dangerous one." Burckhardt gives the
+proverb (No. 79), "A thousand lovers rather than one Mustahall," the
+latter being generally some ugly fellow picked up in the streets and
+disgusting to the wife who must permit his embraces.
+
+[FN#55] This is a woman's oath. not used by men.
+
+[FN#56] Pronounced "Yб Sнn" (chaps. xxxvi.) the "heart of the
+
+
+Koran" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in
+
+
+Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for
+
+
+the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.
+
+
+
+[FN#57] Arab. "Бl-Dбъd"=the family of David, i.e. David himself, a
+popular idiom. The prophet's recitation of the "Mazбmir" (Psalter)
+worked miracles.
+
+[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy which at
+once betrays the hideous disease.
+
+[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote
+
+
+Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.
+
+
+
+[FN#60] Where the "Juzбm" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus sacrum, etc.
+etc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would alter the shape.
+Lane (ii. 267) translates "her wrist which was bipartite."
+
+[FN#61] Arab. "Zakariyб" (Zacharias): a play upon the term "Zakar"=the
+sign of "masculinity." Zacharias, mentioned in the Koran as the
+educator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and repeatedly referred to
+(chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known personage amongst Moslems and his
+church is now the great Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.
+
+[FN#62] Arab. " Ark al-Halбwat " = vein of sweetness.
+
+[FN#63] Arab. "FutÑŠh," which may also mean openings, has before
+occurred.
+
+[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.
+
+[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many rules are
+given in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly declares that
+discrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.
+
+[FN#66] Arab. "Ghurбb al-Bayn"= raven of the waste or the parting:
+hence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is also called
+Al-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat. Corvus, one of the
+prehistoric words) is supposed to be seen abroad earlier than any other
+bird; and it is entitled "Abu Zajir," father of omens, because lucky
+when flying towards the right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the
+(white) pigeon, the emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar
+declare that when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his
+pursuers, "Ghбr! Ghбr!" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet condemned
+him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the traitorous words.
+This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo (Ovid, lib. ii.).
+
+—————" who blacked the raven o'er And bid him prate in his white plumes
+no more."
+
+[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title "Efendi" being=our esquire, and
+inferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the copyist.
+
+[FN#68] Arab. "Samn"=Hind. "Ghi" butter melted, skimmed and allowed to
+cool.
+
+[FN#69] Arab. "Ya WadÑŠd," a title of the Almighty: the Mac.
+
+
+Edit. has "O David!"
+
+
+
+[FN#70] Arab. "Muwashshahah;" a complicated stanza of which specimens
+have occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a "ballad," which would be a "Kunyat
+al-Zidd."
+
+[FN#71] Arab. "Bahбim" (plur. of Bahнmah=Heb. Behemoth), applied in
+Egypt especially to cattle. A friend of the "Oppenheim" house, a name
+the Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as "Jack
+al-bahбim" (of the cows).
+
+[FN#72] Lit. "The father of side-locks," a nickname of one of the Tobba
+Kings. This "Hasan of: the ringlets" who wore two long pig-tails
+hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his
+name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest
+debauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch of his life is very meagre. His poetry
+has survived to the present day and (unhappily) we shall] hear more of
+"Abu Nowбs." On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt,
+chaps. iv.) has a strange remark that "Abu Dбъd i' not the Father of
+Dбъd or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Dбъd or
+Ali." Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a
+genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.
+
+[FN#73] Arab. "SamÑŠr," applied in slang language to cats and dogs,
+hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester)
+into "SamÑŠr."
+
+[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model even
+in the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but gentlemanly
+and courteous.
+
+[FN#75] Arab. "Salнm" (not Sй-lim) meaning the "Safe and sound."
+
+[FN#76] Arab. "Halбwah"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such as men
+give to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is technically
+called as above, "The Sweetmeat of Safety."
+
+[FN#77] Arab. "Salбt" which from Allah means mercy, from the
+
+
+Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.
+
+
+Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see
+
+
+Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man
+
+
+is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say " Bless the
+
+
+Prophet!" and he does so by ejaculating "Sa'am."
+
+
+
+[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a
+Wazirial-order as opposed to the " Irбdah," the Sultan's order.
+
+[FN#79] Arab. " Mashб'ilн" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before
+appeared as hangman.
+
+[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.
+
+[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.
+
+[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action
+suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to "throwing
+the kerchief," a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is
+generally understood in Europe.
+
+[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.
+
+[FN#84] Arab. "Hadbб," lit. "hump-backed;" alluding to the Badawi bier;
+a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the
+protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier which before was
+flat. The quotation is from Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem (Burdah v . 37), "Every
+son of a female, long though his safety may be, is a day borne upon a
+ridged implement," says Mr. Redhouse, explaining the latter as a "bier
+with a ridged lid." Here we differ: the Janбzah with a lid is not a
+Badawi article: the wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would
+translate the lines,
+
+          "The son of woman, whatso his career
+
+
+           One day is borne upon the gibbous bier."
+
+
+
+[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.
+
+[FN#86] "Khatun" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows
+the name, e.g. Fбtimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed to be a
+fanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word consisting of
+"Habb" seed, grain; and "Zalam" of Zulm=seed of tyranny. Can it be a
+travesty of "Absalom" (Ab Salбm, father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and
+Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and Hebezlem.
+
+[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.
+
+[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.
+
+[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.
+
+[FN#90] Arab. "Buka'at Ad-bum": lit. the "low place of blood" (where it
+stagnates): so Al-Bukб'ah = Cњlesyria.
+
+[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and
+self-esteem, "I told you so," is even more common in the naпve East
+than in the West. In this case the son's answer is far superior to the
+mother's question.
+
+[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.
+
+[FN#93] "Tabannuj; " literally "hemping" (drugging with hemp or
+henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our "anжsthetics." These
+have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before
+ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised West.
+
+[FN#94] Arab. "Durkб'ah," the lower part of the floor, opposed to the
+"liwбn" or daпs. Liwбn =Al-Aywбn (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including
+the daпs and the sunken parts)
+
+[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.
+
+[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and Fath
+Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible
+cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath
+and sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that he would be
+slain.
+
+[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one
+belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt
+being famous in those days. "Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis
+habebatur Жgyptum" (Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the
+Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions "must and vinegar." In Arab Proverbs, One
+mind by vinegar and another by wine"=each mind goes its own way, (Arab.
+Prov. . 628); or, "with good and bad," vinegar being spoilt wine.
+
+[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old "dowsing rod": the
+latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the United
+States.
+
+[FN#99] This is the procиs verbal always drawn up on such occasions.
+
+[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong
+drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.
+
+[FN#101] Arab. "Min wahid aduww " a peculiarly Egyptian or rather
+
+
+Cairene phrase.
+
+
+
+[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad
+the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan "Shuuman"=a
+pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see
+the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The
+Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.
+
+[FN#103] For the "Sacrifice-place of Ishmael" (not Isaac) see my
+Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the
+eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I have noted
+that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins
+the Hebrews.
+
+[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah
+
+
+(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.
+
+
+
+[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the
+
+
+Gulf of Scanderoon.
+
+
+
+[FN#106] Arab. " Wada'б" = the concha veneris, then used as small
+change.
+
+[FN#107] Arab. "Sakati"=a dealer in "castaway" articles, such es old
+metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.
+
+[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that the
+names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his
+slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema. It
+is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery in the
+house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside the Bab
+al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late Rogers Bey
+(Pilgrimage i. 123).
+
+[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslбn, in Turk. a lion, and in slang
+a piastre.
+
+[FN#110] Arab. "Maka'ad;" lit. = sitting-room.
+
+[FN#111] Arab. "Khammбrah"; still the popular term throughout Egypt for
+a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is,
+meaning the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.
+
+[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of its 360
+idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp.
+270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the
+ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84), "Truth is come, and
+falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth"
+(magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the "idols" are said to have been a
+statue of Abraham and the horns of the ram sacrificed in lieu of
+Ishmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that the Abrahamic
+legend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of Al-Islam.
+Hence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for
+the Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii. 295.)
+
+[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shн'ahs claim to
+be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It
+suggests the common question in the South of Europe, "Are you a
+Christian or a Protestant?"
+
+[FN#114] Arab. "Ana fн jнrat-ak!" a phrase to be remembered as useful
+in time of danger.
+
+[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to answer.
+
+[FN#116] Arab. "KunsÑŠl" (pron. "Gunsul") which here means a well-to-do
+Frank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it stands.
+
+[FN#117] From the Ital. "Capitano." The mention of cannon and other
+terms in this tale shows that either it was written during the last
+century or it has been mishandled by copyists.
+
+[FN#118] Arab. "Minнnah"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.
+
+[FN#119] Arab. "Waybah"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7
+
+
+English gallons.
+
+
+
+[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest а la fellah; and reminds us of
+
+
+"Hangman, drive on the cart!"
+
+
+
+[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is
+probably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea
+Khan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs "Yohannб"
+(contracted to "Hannб," Christian) and "Yбbyб" (Moslem). Prester
+(Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered and
+slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of "John" is
+very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and derivation'
+of the name. "Husn Maryam" the beauty (spiritual. etc.) of the B.V.
+
+[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant, etc.
+Also a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with "Mбrid," evil
+controuls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard them as
+polluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text insinuates
+that they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.
+
+[FN#123] Arab. "Sar'a" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always
+confounded with "possession" (by evil spirits) or "obsession."
+
+[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called "Sacred
+books." Here the Koran is called "Furkбn." Sale (sect. iii.) would
+assimilate this to the Hebr. "Perek" or "Pirka," denoting a section or
+portion of Scripture; but Moslems understand it to be the "Book which
+distinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true from the false." Thus Caliph
+Omar was entitled "Fбrъk" = the Distinguisher (between right and
+wrong). Lastly, "Furkбn," meanings as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance,
+revelation, is applied alike to the Pentateuch and Koran.
+
+[FN#125] Euphemistic for "thou shalt die."
+
+[FN#126] Lit. "From (jugular) vein to vein" (Arab. "Warнd"). Our old
+friend Lucretius again: "Tantane relligio," etc.
+
+[FN#127] As opposed to the "but" or outer room.
+
+[FN#128] Arab. "Darb al-Asfar" in the old Jamalнyah or Northern part of
+Cairo.
+
+[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and
+settled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before Mohammed's
+birth, was Al-Hatim (the "black crow"), a model of Arab manliness and
+munificence; and although born in the Ignorance he will enter Heaven
+with the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill called Owбrid: I have
+already noted this favourite practice of the wilder Arabs and the
+affecting idea that the Dead may still look upon his kith and kin.
+There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a book upon Arabia which does
+not contain the name of Hatim: he is mentioned as unpleasantly often as
+Aristides.
+
+[FN#130] Lord of "Cattle-feet," this King's name is unknown; but the
+Kбmъs mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kalб'a, the Greater and the Less.
+Lane's Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded Hatim's
+hospitality was one Abu'l-Khaybari.
+
+[FN#131] The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case of
+other animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered by the
+"nahr," i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the commissure of the
+chest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)
+
+[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the
+
+
+Prophet.
+
+
+
+[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising his
+patron's generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and dimmed that
+of Ma'an (D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the last Ommiade,
+Marwбn al-Himбr (the "Ass," or the "Century," the duration of Ommiade
+rule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750. Ma'an continued to
+serve under the Abbasides and was a favourite with Al-MansÑŠr. "More
+generous or bountiful than Ka'ab" is another saying (A. P., i. 325);
+Ka'ab ibn Mбmah was a man who, somewhat like Sir Philip Sidney at
+Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink while he was dying of thirst to
+a man who looked wistfully at him, whence the saying "Give drink to thy
+brother the Nбmiri" (A. P., i. 608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put
+garments over him to scare away the wild beasts and left him in the
+desert to die. "Scatterer of blessings" (Nбshir al-Ni'am) was a title
+of King Malik of Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabнl, eminent for his
+liberality. He set up the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed
+"Nothing behind me," as a warner to others.
+
+[FN#134] Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi. and
+ccxc., a tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) "The Sleeper and
+the Waker," i.e. the sleeper awakened; and he calls it: The Story of
+Abu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is interesting and founded upon
+historical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced here without breaking
+the sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr. Alexander J.
+Cotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an addition to the
+Breslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope eventually to make use
+of it.
+
+[FN#135] The first girl calls gold "Titer" (pure, unalloyed metal); the
+second "Asjad" (gold generally) and the third "Ibrнz" (virgin ore, the
+Greek {Greek letters}. This is a law of Arab rhetoric never to repeat
+the word except for a purpose and, as the language can produce
+1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the copiousness is somewhat painful
+to readers.
+
+[FN#136] Arab. "Shakes" before noticed.
+
+[FN#137] Arab. "Kussб'б"=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of the
+cheapest and the poorer classes eat it as "kitchen" with bread.
+
+[FN#138] Arab. "Haram-hu," a double entendre. Here the Barlawi means
+his Harem the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he makes it
+mean the presence of His Honour.
+
+[FN#139] Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington Irving. The
+"Land of Roum " here means simply Frank-land as we are afterwards told
+that its name was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a term still applied
+by Arabs to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.
+
+[FN#140] Arab. "Amбim" (plur. of Imбmah) the common word for turband
+which I prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got it through
+the Port. Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the (now obsolete)
+Persian term Dolband=a turband or a sash.
+
+[FN#141] Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from "Tбrik" we have
+
+
+"Gibraltar"=Jabal-al-Tбrik.
+
+
+
+[FN#142] Arab. "Yunбn" = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as
+
+
+"Roum" is to the Grжco-Roman Empire.
+
+
+
+[FN#143] Arab. "Bahramбni ;" prob. alluding to the well-known
+
+
+legend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by
+
+
+Mahmud of Ghazni. In the Ajб'ib al-Hind (before quoted) the
+
+
+Brahmins are called Abrahamah.
+
+
+
+[FN#144] i.e. "Peace be with thee!"
+
+[FN#145] i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness and
+plain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of the
+Koranic chapter "Inner Apartments" (No. xlix.) have always been
+favourite themes with Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen
+suavity and servility. Moreover the Badawi, besides saying what he
+thinks, always tells the truth (unless corrupted by commerce with
+foreigners); and this is a startling contrast with the townsfolk. To
+ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwalб is much like being
+suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of Mediterranean people
+to the bluff society of the Scandinavian North. And the reason why the
+Turk will never govern the Arab in peace is that the former is always
+trying to finesse and to succeed by falsehood, when the truth, the
+whole truth and nothing but the truth is wanted.
+
+[FN#146] Koran. xvi. 112.
+
+[FN#147] A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which
+"spoke poetry." The Jewels are often pearls.
+
+[FN#148] Ibrahim Abu Ishбk bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate
+of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence
+"Al-Tannнn"=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336),
+"Al-Tin"= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in Ibn
+Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
+
+[FN#149] The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha
+(Tobit, Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of
+government of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was
+built out of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the primeval-king
+who first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is called Rayy
+al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there. Harun al-Rashid was
+also born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by a host of authors and
+names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.
+
+[FN#150] Human blood being especially impure.
+
+[FN#151] Jones, Brown and Robinson.
+
+[FN#152] Arab. "Kumm ," the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his trousers)
+of ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by
+depositing small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in
+the hand. In this way carried the weight would be less irksome than
+hanging to the waist. The English of Queen Anne's day had regular
+sleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the saying, to have in one's
+sleeve.
+
+[FN#153] Arab. "Khuff" worn under the "Bбbъg" (a corruption of the
+Persian pб-push=feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). [Lane M. E. chaps.
+i.]
+
+[FN#154] Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for camels
+being left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping. The
+watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they
+are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia
+from the droppings of animals have, combined with other causes,
+seriously deteriorated the once charming climate. The only place in
+Lower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of 1850, is Suez.
+
+[FN#155] Arab. "Hurбk:" burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and
+steel, is a common styptic.
+
+[FN#156] Of this worthy, something has been said and there will be more
+in a future page.
+
+[FN#157] i.e. the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.
+
+[FN#158] Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One of
+his sayings is preserved "Odious is contentiousness in Kings, more
+odious vexation in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more odious is
+shallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are avarice in the
+rich, idleness in youth, jesting in age and cowardice in the soldier."
+
+[FN#159] The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane's
+
+
+Shaykh has supplied it (ii. 339)
+
+
+
+[FN#160] Adam's loins, the "Day of Alast," and the Imam (who stands
+before the people in prayer) have been explained. The "Seventh Imam"
+here is Al-Maamun, the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades being, as usual,
+ignored.
+
+[FN#161] He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which is
+poetical-and hardly practical-or probable.
+
+[FN#162] The Katб (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry because
+it is essentially a desert bird, and here the comparison is good
+because it lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it must
+drink morning and evening. Its cry is interpreted "man sakat, salam"
+(silent and safe), but it does not practice that precept, for it is
+usually betrayed by its piping " Kata! Kata!" Hence the proverb, "More
+veracious than the sand-grouse," and "speak not falsely, for the Kata
+sayeth sooth," is Komayt's saying. It is an emblem of swiftness: when
+the brigand poet Shanfara boasts, "The ash-coloured Katas can drink
+only my leavings, after hastening all night to slake their thirst in
+the morning," it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed. In Sind it is
+called the "rock pigeon" and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on
+the wing.
+
+[FN#163] Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives them his
+"inner garment" to throw over his father's face.
+
+[FN#164] Arab. "Hajjбm"=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs, a
+bleeder, a (blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to thrash,
+lick, wallop. (Burckhardt. Prov. 34.)
+
+[FN#165] The Bresl. Edit. (vii. 171-174) entitles this tale, "Story of
+Shaddбd bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ;" but it relates
+chiefly to the building by the King of the First Adites who, being
+promised a future Paradise by Prophet HÑŠd, impiously said that he would
+lay out one in this world. It also quotes Ka'ab al-Ahbбr as an
+authority for declaring that the tale is in the "Pentateuch of Moses."
+Iram was in al-Yaman near Adan (our Aden) a square of ten parasangs (or
+leagues each= 18,000 feet) every way, the walls were of red (baked)
+brick 500 cubits high and 20 broad, with four gates of corresponding
+grandeur. It contained 300,000 Kasr (palaces) each with a thousand
+pillars of gold-bound jasper, etc. (whence its title). The whole was
+finished in five hundred years, and, when Shaddad prepared to enter it,
+the "Cry of Wrath" from the Angel of Death slew him and all his many.
+It is mentioned in the Koran (chaps. Ixxxix. 6-7) as "Irem adorned with
+lofty buildings (or pillars)." But Ibn Khaldun declares that
+commentators have embroidered the passage; Iram being the name of a
+powerful clan of the ancient Adites and "imбd" being a tent-pole: hence
+"Iram with the numerous tents or tent-poles." Al-Bayzawi tells the
+story of Abdullah ibn Kilabah (D'Herbelot's Colabah). At Aden I met an
+Arab who had seen the mysterious city on the borders of Al-Ahkбf, the
+waste of deep sands, west of Hadramaut; and probably he had, the mirage
+or sun-reek taking its place. Compare with this tale "The City of
+Brass" (Night dlxv.).
+
+[FN#166] The biblical-"Sheba," named from the great-grandson of Joctan,
+whence the Queen (Bilkis) visited Solomon It was destroyed by the Flood
+of Mбrib.
+
+[FN#167] The full title of the Holy City is "Madinat al-Nab)" = the
+City of the Prophet, of old Yasrib (Yathrib) the Iatrippa of the Greeks
+(Pilgrimage, ii. 119). The reader will remember that there are two
+"Yasribs:" that of lesser note being near Hujr in the Yamбmah province.
+
+[FN#168] "Ka'ab of the Scribes," a well-known traditionist and
+religious poet who died (A.H. 32) in the Caliphate of Osman. He was a
+Jew who islamised; hence his name (Ahbбr, plur. of Hibr, a Jewish
+scribe, doctor of science, etc. Jarrett's El-Siyuti, p. 123). He must
+not be confounded with another Ka'ab al-Ahbбr the Poet of the (first)
+Cloak-poem or "Burdah," a noble Arab who was a distant cousin of
+Mohammed, and whose tomb at Hums (Emesa) is a place of pious
+visitation. According to the best authorities (no Christian being
+allowed to see them) the cloak given to the bard by Mohammed is still
+preserved together with the Khirkah or Sanjak Sherif ("Holy Coat" or
+Banner, the national oriflamme) at Stambul in the Upper Seraglio.
+(Pilgrimage, i. 213.) Many authors repeat this story of Mu'awiyah, the
+Caliph, and Ka'ab of the Burdah, but it is an evident anachronism, the
+poet having been dead nine years before the ruler's accession (A.H.
+41).
+
+[FN#169] Koran, lxxxix. 6-7.
+
+[FN#170] Arab. "Kahramбn" from Pers., braves, heroes.
+
+[FN#171] The Deity in the East is as whimsical-a despot as any of his
+"shadows" or "vice regents." In the text Shaddбd is killed for mere
+jealousy a base passion utterly unworthy of a godhead; but one to which
+Allah was greatly addicted.
+
+[FN#172] Some traditionist, but whether Sha'abi, Shi'abi or
+
+
+Shu'abi we cannot decide.
+
+
+
+[FN#173] The Hazarmaveth of Genesis (x. 26) in South Eastern Arabia.
+Its people are the Adramitae (mod. Hazrami) of Ptolemy who places in
+their land the Arabiж Emporium, as Pliny does his Massola. They border
+upon the Homeritж or men of Himyar, often mentioned in The Nights.
+Hazramaut is still practically unknown to us, despite the excursions of
+many travellers; and the hard nature of the people, the Swiss of
+Arabia, offers peculiar obstacles to exploration.
+
+[FN#174] i.e. the prophet Hud generally identified (?) with Heber. He
+was commissioned (Koran, chaps. vii.) to preach Al-Islam to his tribe
+the Adites who worshipped four goddesses, Sбkiyah (the rain-giver),
+Rбzikah (food-giver), Hбfizah (the saviouress) and Sбlimah (who healed
+sickness). As has been seen he failed, so it was useless to send him.
+
+[FN#175] Son of Ibraham al-Mosili, a musician poet and favourite with
+the Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Maamun. He made his name immortal-by
+being the first who reduced Arab harmony to systematic rules, and he
+wrote a biography of musicians referred to by Al-Hariri in the Sйance
+of Singar.
+
+[FN#176] This must not be confounded with the "pissing against the
+wall" of I Kings, xiv. 10, where watering against a wall denotes a man
+as opposed to a woman.
+
+[FN#177] Arab. "Zambнl" or "Zimbнl," a limp basket made of plaited
+palm-leaves and generally two handled. It is used for many purposes,
+from carrying poultry to carrying earth.
+
+[FN#178] Here we have again the Syriac ''Bakhkh -un-Bakhkh-un-''=well
+done! It is the Pers Бferнn and means "all praise be to him."
+
+[FN#179] Arab. "A Tufayli?" So the Arab. Prov. (ii. 838) "More
+intrusive than Tufayl" (prob. the P.N. of a notorious sponger). The
+Badawin call "Wбrish" a man who sits down to meat unbidden and to drink
+Wбghil; but townsfolk apply the latter to the "Wбrish."
+
+[FN#180] Arab. "Artбl"=rotoli, pounds; and
+
+               "A pint is a pound
+
+
+                All the world round;"
+
+
+
+except in highly civilised lands where the pint has a curious power of
+shrinking.
+
+[FN#181] One of Al-Maamun's Wazirs. The Caliph married his daughter
+whose true name was Bъrбn; but this tale of girl's freak and courtship
+was invented (?) by Ishak. For the splendour of the wedding and the
+munificence of the Minister see Lane, ii. 350-352.
+
+[FN#182] I have described this scene, the wretch clinging to the
+curtain and sighing and crying as if his heart would break (Pilgrimage
+iii. 216 and 220). The same is done at the place Al-Multazam'"the
+attached to;" (ibid. 156) and various spots called Al-Mustajбb, "where
+prayer is granted" (ibid. 162). At Jerusalem the Wailing place of the
+Jews" shows queer scenes; the worshippers embrace the wall with a
+peculiar wriggle crying out in Hebrew, "O build Thy House, soon,
+without delay," etc.
+
+[FN#183] i.e. The wife. The scene in the text was common at Cairo
+twenty years ago; and no one complained of the stick. See Pilgrimage
+i., 120.
+
+[FN#184] Arab. "Udm, Udum" (plur. of Idбm) = "relish," olives, cheese,
+pickled cucumbers, etc.
+
+[FN#185] I have noticed how the left hand is used in the East. In the
+second couplet we have "Istinjб"=washing the fundament after stool. The
+lines are highly appropriate for a nightman. Easterns have many foul
+but most emphatic expressions like those in the text I have heard a
+mother say to her brat, "I would eat thy merde!" (i.e. how I love
+thee!).
+
+[FN#186] Arab. "Harrбk," whence probably our "Carack" and
+
+
+"Carrack" (large ship), in dictionaries derived from Carrus
+
+
+Marinus.
+
+
+
+[FN#187] Arab. "Ghбshiyah"=lit. an йtui, a cover; and often a
+saddle-cover carried by the groom.
+
+[FN#188] Arab. "Sharбb al-tuffбh" = melapio or cider.
+
+[FN#189] Arab. "Mudawwarah," which generally means a small round
+cushion, of the Marocco-work well known in England. But one does not
+strike a cushion for a signal, so we must revert to the original-sense
+of the word "something round," as a circular plate of wood or metal, a
+gong, a "bell" like that of the Eastern Christians.
+
+[FN#190] Arab. "Tъfбn" (from the root tauf, going round) a storm, a
+circular gale, a cyclone the term universally applied in Al-lslam to
+the "Deluge," the "Flood" of Noah. The word is purely Arabic; with a
+quaint likeness to the Gr. {Greek letters}, in Pliny typhon, whirlwind,
+a giant (TyphÑšus) whence "Typhon" applied to the great Egyptian god
+"Set." The Arab word extended to China and was given to the hurricanes
+which the people call "Tee foong," great winds, a second
+whimsical-resemblance. But Sir John Davis (ii. 383) is hardly correct
+when he says, "the name typhoon, in itself a corruption of the Chinese
+term, bears a singular (though we must suppose an accidental)
+resemblance to the Greek {Greek letters}. "
+
+[FN#191] Plurale majestatis acting superlative; not as Lane supposes
+(ii. 224) "a number of full moons, not only one." Eastern tongues
+abound in instances beginning with Genesis (i. 1), "Gods (he) created
+the heaven," etc. It is still preserved in Badawi language and a
+wildling greatly to the astonishment of the citizens will address his
+friend "Yб Rijбl"= O men!
+
+[FN#192] Arab. "Hбsid" = an envier: in the fourth couplet "Azъl"
+(Azzбl, etc.) = a chider, blamer; elsewhere "Lawwбm" = accuser, censor,
+slanderer; "Wбshн,"=whisperer, informer; "Rakib"=spying, envious rival;
+"Ghбbit"=one emulous without envy; and "Shбmit"= a "blue" (fierce)
+enemy who rejoices over another's calamities. Arabic literature abounds
+in allusions to this unpleasant category of "damned ill-natured
+friends;" and Spanish and Portuguese letters, including Brazilian, have
+thoroughly caught the trick. In the Eastern mind the "blamer" would be
+aided by the "evil eye."
+
+[FN#193] Another plural for a singular, "O my beloved!"
+
+[FN#194] Arab. "Khayr"=good news, a euphemistic reply even if the
+tidings be of the worst.
+
+[FN#195] Abbбs (from 'Abs, being austere; and meaning the "grim faced")
+son of Abd al-Muttalib; uncle to Mohammed and eponym of the Abbaside
+Khalifahs. A.D. 749=1258.
+
+[FN#196] Katнl = the Irish "kilt."
+
+[FN#197] This hat been explained as a wazirial title of the time.
+
+[FN#198] The phrase is intelligible in all tongues: in Arabic it is
+opposed to "dark as night," "black as mud" and a host of unsavoury
+antitheses.
+
+[FN#199] Arab. "Awwбdah," the popular word; not Udнyyah as in Night
+cclvi. "Ud" liter.= rood and "Al-Ud"=the wood is, I have noted, the
+origin of our 'lute." The Span. 'laud" is larger and deeper than the
+guitar, and its seven strings are played upon with a plectrum of
+buffalo-horn.
+
+[FN#200] Arab. "Tabban lahu!"=loss (or ruin) to him. So "bu'dan
+lahu"=away with him, abeat in malam rem; and "Suhkan lahu"=Allah and
+mercy be far from him, no hope for him I
+
+[FN#201] Arab. "Бyah"=Koranic verses, sign, miracle.
+
+[FN#202] The mole on cheek calls to prayers for his preservation; and
+it is black as Bilal the Abyssinian. Fajran may here mean either
+"A.-morning" or "departing from grace."
+
+[FN#203] i.e. the young beard (myrtle) can never hope to excel tile
+beauties of his cheeks (roses).
+
+[FN#204] i.e. Hell and Heaven.
+
+[FN#205] The first couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. (ii. 171)
+
+
+which gives only a single couplet but it is found in the Bres.
+
+
+Edit. which entitles this tale "Story of the lying (or false kбzib)
+
+
+Khalнfah." Lane (ii. 392) of course does not translate it.
+
+
+
+[FN#206] In the East cloth of frieze that mates with cloth of gold must
+expect this treatment. Fath Ali Shah's daughters always made their
+husbands enter the nuptial-bed by the foot end.
+
+[FN#207] This is always done and for two reasons; the first humanity,
+that the blow may fall unawares; and, secondly, to prevent the sufferer
+wincing, which would throw out the headsman.
+
+[FN#208] Arab. "Ma'бni-hб," lit. her meanings, i.e. her inner woman
+opposed to the formal-seen by every one.
+
+[FN#209] Described in my Pilgrimage (iii. 168, 174 and 175): it is the
+stone upon which the Patriarch stood when he built the Ka'abah and is
+said to show the impress of the feet but unfortunately I could not
+afford five dollars entrance-fee. Caliph Omar placed the station where
+it now is; before his time it adjoined the Ka'abah. The meaning of the
+text is, Be thy court a place of pious visitation, etc. At the "Station
+of Abraham" prayer is especially blessed and expects to be granted.
+"This is the place where Abraham stood; and whoever entereth therein
+shall be safe" (Koran ii. 119). For the other fifteen places where
+petitions are favourably heard by Heaven see ibid. iii. 211-12.
+
+[FN#210] As in the West, so in the East, women answer an unpleasant
+question by a counter question.
+
+[FN#211] This "Cry of Haro" often occurs throughout The Nights. In
+real-life it is sure to colece a crowd. especially if an Infidel (non
+Moslem) be its cause.
+
+[FN#212] In the East a cunning fellow always makes himself the claimant
+or complainant.
+
+[FN#213] On the Euphrates some 40 miles west of Baghdad The word is
+written "Anbбr" and pronounced "Ambбr" as usual with the "n" before
+"b"; the case of the Greek double Gamma.
+
+[FN#214] Syene on the Nile.
+
+[FN#215] The tale is in the richest Rabelaisian humour; and the
+requisitions of the "Saj'a" (rhymed prose) in places explain the
+grotesque combinations. It is difficult to divine why Lane omits it:
+probably he held a hearty laugh not respectable.
+
+[FN#216] A lawyer of the eighth century, one of the chief pupils of the
+Imam Abu Hanifah, and Kazi of Baghdad under the third, fourth and fifth
+Abbasides. The tale is told in the quasi- historical-Persian work
+"Nigбristбn" (The Picture gallery), and is repeated by Richardson,
+Diss. 7, xiii. None seem to have remarked that the distinguished
+legist, Abu Yusuf, was on this occasion a law-breaker; the Kazi's duty
+being to carry out the code not to break it by the tricks of a cunning
+attorney. In Harun's day, however, some regard was paid to justice, not
+under his successors, one of whom, Al-Muktadir bi 'llбh (A.H. 295=907),
+made the damsel Yamika President of the Diwбn al-Mazбlim (Court of the
+Wronged), a tribunal which took cognizance of tyranny and oppression in
+high places.
+
+[FN#217] Here the writer evidently forgets that Shahrazad is telling
+the story to the king, as Boccaccio (ii. 7) forgets that Pamfilo is
+speaking. Such inconsequences are common in Eastern story-books and a
+goody-goody sentiment is always heartily received as in an English
+theatre.
+
+[FN#218] In the Mac. Edit. (ii. 182) "Al-Kushayri." Al-Kasri was
+
+
+Governor of the two Iraks (I.e. Bassorah and Cufa) in the reign of
+
+
+Al-Hisham, tenth Ommiade (A.D. 723-741)
+
+
+
+[FN#219] Arab. "Thakalata k Ummak!" This is not so much a curse as a
+playful phrase, like "Confound the fellow." So "Kбtala k Allah" (Allah
+slay thee) and "Lб abб lak" (thou hast no father or mother). These
+words are even complimentary on occasions, as a good shot or a fine
+recitation, meaning that the praised far excels the rest of his tribe.
+
+[FN#220] Koran, iii. 178.
+
+[FN#221] Arab. "Al-Nisбb"=the minimum sum (about half-a crown) for
+which mutilation of the hand is prescribed by religious law. The
+punishment was truly barbarous, it chastised a rogue by means which
+prevented hard honest labour for the rest of his life.
+
+[FN#222] To show her grief.
+
+[FN#223] Abъ Sa'нd Abd al-Malik bin Kurayb, surnamed Al-Asma'i from his
+grandfather, flor. A.H. 122-306 (=739-830) and wrote amongst a host of
+compositions the well-known Romance of Antar. See in D'Herbelot the
+right royal-directions given to him by Harun al-Rashid.
+
+[FN#224] There are many accounts of his death, but it is generally held
+that he was first beheaded. The story in the text is also variously
+told and the Persian "Nigбristбn" adds some unpleasant comments upon
+the House of Abbas. The Persians, for reasons which will be explained
+in the terminal-Essay, show the greatest sympathy with the Barmecides;
+and abominate the Abbasides even more than the latter detested the
+Ommiades.
+
+[FN#225] Not written, as the European reader would suppose.
+
+[FN#226] Arab. "Fъl al-hбrr" = beans like horsebeans soaked and boiled
+as opposed to the "FÑŠl Mudammas" (esp. of Egypt)=unshelled beans
+steamed and boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as "kitchen" or
+relish. Lane (M.E., chaps. v.) calls them after the debased Cairene
+pronunciation, Mudemmes. A legend says that, before the days of Pharaoh
+(always he of Moses), the Egyptians lived on pistachios which made them
+a witty, lively race. But the tyrant remarking that the domestic ass,
+which eats beans, is degenerate from the wild ass, uprooted the
+pistachio-trees and compelled the lieges to feed on beans which made
+them a heavy, gross, cowardly people fit only for burdens. Badawis
+deride "beaneaters" although they do not loathe the pulse like onions.
+The principal-result of a bean diet is an extraordinary development of
+flatulence both in stomach and intestines: hence possibly, Pythagoras
+who had studied ceremonial-purity in Egypt, forbade the use, unless he
+referred to venery or political-business. I was once sitting in the
+Greek quarter of Cairo dressed as a Moslem when arose a prodigious
+hubbub of lads and boys, surrounding, a couple of Fellahs. These men
+had been working in the fields about a mile east of Cairo and, when
+returning home, one had said to the other, "If thou wilt carry the hoes
+I will break wind once for every step we take." He was as good as his
+word and when they were to part he cried, "And now for thy bakhshish!"
+which consisted of a volley of fifty, greatly to the delight of the
+boys.
+
+[FN#227] No porcelain was ever, as far as we can discover, made in
+Egypt or Syria of the olden day; but, as has been said, there was a
+regular caravan-intercourse with China At Damascus I dug into the huge
+rubbish-heaps and found quantities of pottery, but no China. The same
+has lately been done at Clysma, the artificial-mound near Suez, and the
+glass and pottery prove it to have been a Roman work which defended the
+mouth of the old classical-sweet-water canal.
+
+[FN#228] Arab. "Lб baas ba-zбlik," conversational-for "Lб jaram"= there
+is no harm in it, no objection to it, and, sometimes, "it is a matter
+of course."
+
+[FN#229] A white emerald is yet unknown; but this adds only to the
+Oriental-extravagance of the picture. I do not think with Lane (ii.
+426) that "abyaz" here can mean "bright." Dr. Steingass suggests a
+clerical-error for "khazar" (green).
+
+[FN#230] Arab. "Sharбrif" plur. of Shurrбfah=crenelles or battlements;
+mostly trefoil-shaped; remparts coquets which a six-pounder would
+crumble.
+
+[FN#231] Pronounce Abul-Muzaffar=Father of the Conqueror.
+
+[FN#232] I have explained the word in my "Zanzibar, City, Island and
+Coast," vol. i. chaps. v There is still a tribe, the Wadoe, reputed
+cannibal-on the opposite low East African shore These blacks would
+hardly be held " sons of Adam." "Zanj " corrupted to "Zinj " (plur
+ZunÑŠj) is the Persian "Zany" or "Zangi," a black, altered by the Arabs,
+who ignore the hard g; and, with the suffixion of the Persian -bбr
+(region, as in Malabar) we have Zang- bar which the Arabs have
+converted to "Zanjibar," in poetry "Murk al-ZunÑŠj"=Land of the Zang.
+The term is old; it is the Zingis or Zingisa of Ptolemy and the Zingium
+of Cosmas Indicopleustes; and it shows the influence of Persian
+navigation in pre-Islamitic ages. For further details readers will
+consult "The Lake Regions of Central-Africa" vol. i. chaps. ii
+
+[FN#233] Arab. "Kawбrib" plur. of "Kбrib" prop. a dinghy, a small boat
+belonging to a ship Here it refers to the canoe (a Carib word) pop.
+"dug-out" and classically "monoxyle," a boat made of a single
+tree-trunk hollowed by fire and trimmed with axe and adze. Some of
+these rude craft which, when manned, remind one of saturnine Caliph
+Omar's "worms floating on a log of wood," measure 60 feet long and
+more.
+
+[FN#234] i.e. A descendant of Mohammed in general-and especially
+through Husayn Ali-son. Here the text notes that the chief of the bazar
+was of this now innumerable stock, who inherit the title through the
+mother as well as through the father.
+
+[FN#235] Arab. "Hasab" (=quaneity), the honour a man acquires for
+himself; opposed to "Nasab" (genealogy) honours inherited from
+ancestry: the Arabic well expresses my old motto (adopted by Chinese
+Gordon), "Honour, not Honours."
+
+[FN#236] Note the difference between "Takaddum" ( = standing in
+presence of, also superiority in excellence) and "Takбdum" (priority in
+time).
+
+[FN#237] Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this
+saying.
+
+[FN#238] A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep the
+earth in place. "And he hath thrown before the earth, mountains firmly
+rooted, lest it should move with you." (Koran, chaps. xvi.) The earth
+when first created was smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion,
+like the celestial-orbs; and, when the Angels asked who could stand on
+so tottering a frame, Allah fixed it the next morning by throwing the
+mountains in it and pegging them down. A fair prolepsis of the
+Neptunian theory.
+
+[FN#239] Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying "by God," but
+this common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples who are
+constantly using the word Allah Wallah, Billah, etc. The Koran
+expressly says, "Make not Allah the scope (object, lit. arrow-butt) of
+your oaths" (chaps. ii. 224), yet the command is broken every minute.
+
+[FN#240] This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet; when Ali
+appears, as a rule he is on horseback.
+
+[FN#241] The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we find
+that it was close to Jinn land. China was very convenient for this
+purpose: the medieval-Moslems, who settled in considerable numbers at
+Canton and elsewhere, knew just enough of it to know their own
+ignorance of the vast empire. Hence the Druzes of the Libanus still
+hold that part of their nation is in the depths of the
+Celestial-Empire.
+
+[FN#242] I am unwilling to alter the old title to "City of Copper" as
+it should be; the pure metal having been technologically used long
+before the alloy of copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City (Night
+dlxvi. et seq.) was of brass (not copper). The Hindus of Upper India
+have an Iram which they call Hari Chand's city (Colonel Tod); and I
+need hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint Borondon; Cape
+Fly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the effect of "looming."
+
+[FN#243] This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of
+Siegfried's Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of "Fortunatus' cap" is
+common in Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably arose from the venerable
+practice of inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic
+figures.
+
+[FN#244] Arab. "'Ukбb," in books an eagle (especially black) and P. N.
+of constellation but in Pop. usage= a vulture. In Egypt it is the
+Neophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dijбjat
+Far'aun or Pharaoh's hen. This bird has been known to kill the Bбshah
+sparrow-hawk (Jerdon i. 60); yet, curious to say, the reviewers of my
+"Falconry in the Valley of the Indus" questioned the fact, known to so
+many travellers, that the falcon is also killed by this "tiger of the
+air," despite the latter's feeble bill (pp. 35-38). I was faring badly
+at their hands when the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue.
+Falconicide is popularly attributed, not only to the vulture, but also
+to the crestless hawk-eagle (Nisжtus Bonelli) which the Hindus call
+Morбngб=peacock slayer.
+
+[FN#245] Here I translate "Nahбs"=brass, as the "kumkum" (cucurbite) is
+made of mixed metal, not of copper.
+
+[FN#246] Mansur al-Nimrн, a poet of the time and a protйgй of
+
+
+Yahya's son, Al-Fazl.
+
+
+
+[FN#247] This was at least four times Mansur's debt.
+
+[FN#248] Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid. The Bres. Edit.
+(vii. 254) begins They tell that there arose full enmity between
+Ja'afar Barmecide and a Sahib of Misr" (Wazir or Governor of Egypt).
+Lane (ii. 429) quotes to this purpose amongst Arab; historians Fakhr
+al-Din. (De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe i., p. 26, edit. ii.)
+
+[FN#249] Arab. "Armanнyah" which Egyptians call after their mincing
+fashion "Irminiyeh" hence "Ermine" (Mus Ponticus). Armaniyah was much
+more extensive than our Armenia, now degraded to a mere province of
+Turkey, and the term is understood to include the whole of the old
+Parthian Empire.
+
+[FN#250] Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a "Wakнl" in
+
+
+Constantinople to intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.
+
+
+
+[FN#251] The symbol of generosity, of unasked liberality, the "black
+hand" being that of niggardness.
+
+[FN#252] Arab. Rбh =pure (and old) wine. Arabs, like our classics,
+usually drank their wine tempered. So Imr al-Keys in his Mu'allakah
+says, "Bring the well tempered wine that seems to be saffron-tinctured;
+and, when water-mixed, o'erbrims the cup." (v. 2.)
+
+[FN#253] There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these
+"goody-goody" preachments; but they read and forget them as readily as
+Westerns.
+
+[FN#254] Lane (ii. 435) ill-advisedly writes "Sher," as "the word is
+evidently Persian signifying a Lion." But this is only in the debased
+Indian dialect, a Persian, especially a Shirazi, pronounces "Shнr." And
+this is how it is written in the Bresl. Edit., vii. 262. "Shбr" is
+evidently a fancy name, possibly suggested by the dynastic name of the
+Ghurjistan or Georgian Princes.
+
+[FN#255] Again old experience, which has learned at a heavy cost how
+many a goodly apple is rotten at the core.
+
+[FN#256] This couplet has occurred in Night xxi. I give Torrens (p.
+206) by way of specimen.
+
+[FN#257] Arab. "Zбka" = merely tasting a thing which may be sweet with
+a bitter after-flavour
+
+[FN#258] This tetraseich was in Night xxx. with a difference.
+
+[FN#259] The lines have occurred in Night xxx. I quote Torrens, p. 311.
+
+[FN#260] This tetrastich is in Night clxix. I borrow from Lane (ii.
+62).
+
+[FN#261] The rude but effective refrigerator of the desert Arab who
+hangs his water-skin to the branch of a tree and allows it to swing in
+the wind.
+
+[FN#262] Arab "Khumбsiyah" which Lane (ii. 438) renders "of quinary
+stature." Usually it means five spans, but here five feet, showing that
+the girl was young and still growing. The invoice with a slave always
+notes her height in spans measured from ankle-bone to ear and above
+seven she loses value as being full grown. Hence Sudбsi (fem.
+Sudбsiyah) is a slave six spans high, the Shibr or full span (9 inches)
+not the Fitr or short span from thumb to index. Faut is the
+interval-between every finger, Ratab between index and medius, and Atab
+between medius and annularis.
+
+[FN#263] "Moon faced" now sounds sufficiently absurd to us, but it was
+not always so. Solomon (Cant. vi. 10) does not disdain the image "fair
+as the moon, clear as the sun," and those who have seen a moon in the
+sky of Arabia will thoroughly appreciate it. We find it amongst the
+Hindus, the Persians, the Afghans, the Turks and all the nations of
+Europe. We have, finally, the grand example of Spenser,
+
+"Her spacious forehead, like the clearest moon, etc."
+
+[FN#264] Blue eyes have a bad name in Arabia as in India: the witch
+Zarkб of Al-Yamamah was noted for them; and "blue eyed" often means
+"fierce-eyed," alluding to the Greeks and Daylamites, mortal-enemies to
+Ishmael. The Arabs say "ruddy of mustachio, blue of eye and black of
+heart."
+
+[FN#265] Before explained as used with camphor to fill the dead man's
+mouth.
+
+[FN#266] As has been seen, slapping on the neck is equivalent to our
+"boxing ears," but much less barbarous and likely to injure the child.
+The most insulting blow is that with shoe sandal-or slipper because it
+brings foot in contact with head. Of this I have spoken before.
+
+[FN#267] Arab. "Hibбl" (= ropes) alluding to the A'akбl-fillet which
+binds the KÑŠfiyah-kerchief on the Badawi's head. (Pilgrimage, i. 346.)
+
+[FN#268] Arab. "Khiyбl"; afterwards called Kara Gyuz (= "black eyes,"
+from the celebrated Turkish Wazir). The mise-en-scиne was like that of
+Punch, but of transparent cloth, lamp lit inside and showing
+silhouettes worked by hand. Nothing could be more Fescenntne than Kara
+Gyuz, who appeared with a phallus longer than himself and made all the
+Consuls-General-periodically complain of its abuse, while the dialogue,
+mostly in Turkish, as even more obscene. Most ingenious were Kara
+Gyuz's little ways of driving on an Obstinate donkey and of tackling a
+huge Anatolian pilgrim. He mounted the Neddy's back face to tail, and
+inserting his left thumb like a clyster, hammered it with his right
+when the donkey started at speed. For the huge pilgrim he used a
+ladder. These shows now obsolete, used to enliven the Ezbekiyah Gardens
+every evening and explain Ovid's Words,
+
+"Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas!"
+
+[FN#269] Mohammed (Mishkбt al-Masбbih ii. 360-62) says, "Change the
+whiteness of your hair but not with anything black." Abu Bakr, who was
+two years and some months older than the Prophet, used tincture of
+Henna and Katam. Old Turkish officers justify black dyes because these
+make them look younger and fiercer. Henna stains white hair orange red;
+and the Persians apply after it a paste of indigo leaves, the result is
+successively leek-green, emerald-green, bottle-green and lastly
+lamp-black. There is a stage in life (the youth of old age) when man
+uses dyes: presently he finds that the whole face wants dye; that the
+contrast between juvenile coloured hair and ancient skin is ridiculous
+and that it is time to wear white.
+
+[FN#270] This prejudice extends all over the East: the Sanskrit saying
+is "Kvachit kбnб bhaveta sбdhus" now and then a monocular is honest.
+The left eye is the worst and the popular idea is, I have said, that
+the damage will come by the injured member
+
+[FN#271] The Arabs say like us, "Short and thick is never quick" and
+"Long and thin has little in."
+
+[FN#272] Arab. "Ba'azu layбli," some night when his mistress failed
+him.
+
+[FN#273] The fountain in Paradise before noticed.
+
+[FN#274] Before noticed as the Moslem St. Peter (as far as the keys
+go).
+
+[FN#275] Arab. "Munkasir" = broken, frail, languishing the only form of
+the maladive allowed. Here again we have masculine for feminine: the
+eyelids show love-desire, but, etc.
+
+[FN#276] The river of Paradise.
+
+[FN#277] See Night xii. "The Second Kalandar's Tale " vol. i. 113.
+
+[FN#278] Lane (ii. 472) refers for specimens of calligraphy to Herbin's
+"Dйveloppements, etc." There are many more than seven styles of writing
+as I have shown in Night xiii.; vol. i. 129.
+
+[FN#279] Amongst good Moslems this would be a claim upon a man.
+
+[FN#280] These lines have occurred twice already: and first appear in
+Night xxii. I have borrowed from Mr. Payne (iv. 46).
+
+[FN#281] Arab. "Ya Nasrбni", the address is not intrinsically slighting
+but it may easily be made so. I have elsewhere noted that when Julian
+(is said to have) exclaimed "Vicisti Nazarene!" he was probably
+thinking in Eastern phrase "Nasarta, yб Nasrбni!"
+
+[FN#282] Thirst is the strongest of all pleas to an Eastern, especially
+to a Persian who never forgets the sufferings of his Imam, Husayn, at
+Kerbela: he would hardly withhold it from the murderer of his father.
+There is also a Hadis, "Thou shalt not refuse water to him who
+thirsteth in the desert."
+
+[FN#283] Arab. "Zimmi" which Lane (ii. 474) aptly translates a
+"tributary." The Koran (chaps. ix.) orders Unbelievers to Islamize or
+to "pay tribute by right of subjection" (lit. an yadin=out of hand, an
+expression much debated). The least tribute is one dinar per annum
+which goes to the poor-rate. and for this the Kafir enjoys protection
+and almost all the civil rights of Moslems. As it is a question of
+"loaves and fishes" there is much to say on the subject; "loaves and
+fishes" being the main base and foundation of all religious
+establishments.
+
+[FN#284] This tetrastich has before occurred, so I quote Lane (ii.
+444).
+
+[FN#285] In Night xxxv. the same occurs with a difference.
+
+[FN#286] The old rite, I repeat, has lost amongst all but the noblest
+of Arab tribes the whole of its significance; and the traveller must be
+careful how he trusts to the phrase "Nahnu mбlihin" we are bound
+together by the salt.
+
+[FN#287] Arab. "Alбma" = Alб-mб = upon what ? wherefore ?
+
+[FN#288] Arab. "Mauz"; hence the Linnean name Musa (paradisiaca, etc.).
+The word is explained by Sale (Koran, chaps. xxxvii. 146) as "a small
+tree or shrub;" and he would identify it with Jonah's gourd.
+
+[FN#289] Lane (ii. 446) "bald wolf or empowered fate," reading (with
+Mac.) Kazб for Kattan (cat).
+
+[FN#290] i.e. "the Orthodox in the Faith." Rбshid is a proper name,
+witness that scourge of Syria, Rбshid Pasha. Born in 1830, of the Haji
+Nazir Agha family, Darrah-Beys of Macedonian Draina, he was educated in
+Paris where he learned the usual-hatred of Europeans: he entered the
+Egyptian service in 1851, and, presently exchanging it for the Turkish,
+became in due time Wali (Governor-General) of Syria which he plundered
+most shamelessly. Recalled in 1872, he eventually entered the Ministry
+and on June 15 1876, he was shot down, with other villains like
+himself, by gallant Captain Hasan, the Circassian (Yarham-hu 'llбh !).
+
+[FN#291] Quoted from a piece of verse, of which more presently.
+
+[FN#292] This tetrastich has occurred before (Night cxciii.). I quote
+Lane (ii. 449), who quotes Dryden's Spanish Friar,
+
+          "There is a pleasure sure in being mad
+
+
+           Which none but madmen know."
+
+
+
+[FN#293] Lane (ii. 449) gives a tradition of the Prophet, "Whoso is in
+love, and acteth chastely, and concealeth (his passion) and dieth,
+dieth a martyr." Sakar is No. 5 Hell for Magi Guebres, Parsis, etc., it
+is used in the comic Persian curse, "Fi'n-nбri wa Sakar al-jadd
+w'al-pidar"=ln Hell and Sakar his grandfather and his father.
+
+[FN#294] Arab. "Sifr": I have warned readers that whistling is
+considered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the
+Badawin, and that the traveller must avoid it. It savours of idolatry:
+in the Koran we find (chaps. viii. 35), "Their prayer at the House of
+God (Ka'abah) is none other than whistling and hand-clapping;" and
+tradition says that they whistled through their fingers. Besides many
+of the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths and their speech is
+whistling a kind of bird language like sibilant English.
+
+[FN#295] Arab. 'Kнl wa kбl"=lit. "it was said and he said;" a popular
+phrase for chit chat, tittle-tattle, prattle and prate, etc.
+
+[FN#296] Arab. "Hadis." comparing it with a tradition of the
+
+
+Prophet.
+
+
+
+[FN#297] Arab. "Mikashshah," the thick part of a midrib of a palm-frond
+soaked for some days in water and beaten out till the fibres separate.
+It makes an exceedingly hard, although not a lasting broom.
+
+[FN#298] Persian, "the youth, the brave;" Sansk. Yuvбn: and Lat.
+Juvenis. The Kurd, in tales, is generally a sturdy thief; and in
+real-life is little better.
+
+[FN#299] Arab. "Yб Shatir ;" lit. O clever one (in a bad sense).
+
+[FN#300] Lane (ii. 453) has it. "that I may dress thy hair'" etc.
+
+
+This is Bowdlerising with a witness.
+
+
+
+[FN#301] The sign of respect when a personage dismounts.
+
+
+(Pilgrimage i. 77.)
+
+
+
+[FN#302] So the Hindus speak of "the defilement of separation" as if it
+were an impurity.
+
+[FN#303] Lane (i. 605) gives a long and instructive note on these
+public royal-banquets which were expected from the lieges by Moslem
+subjects. The hanging-penalty is, perhaps, a tattle exaggerated; but we
+find the same excess in the priestly Gesta Romanorum.
+
+[FN#304] Had he eaten it he would have become her guest. Amongst the
+older Badawin it was sufficient to spit upon a man (in entreaty) to
+claim his protection: so the horse-thieves when caught were placed in a
+hole in the ground covered over with matting to prevent this happening.
+Similarly Saladin (Salбh al-Din) the chivalrous would not order a cup
+of water for the robber, Reynald de Chвtillon, before putting him to
+death
+
+[FN#305] Arab. "Kishk" properly "Kashk"=wheat-meal-coarsely ground and
+eaten with milk or broth. It is de rigueur with the Egyptian Copts on
+the "Friday of Sorrow" (Good Friday): and Lane gives the recipe for
+making it (M. E. chaps. xxvi.)
+
+[FN#306] In those days distinctive of Moslems.
+
+[FN#307] The euphemism has before been noticed: the Moslem reader would
+not like to pronounce the words "I am a Nazarene." The same formula
+occurs a little lower down to save the reciter or reader from saying
+"Be my wife divorced," etc.
+
+[FN#308] Arab, "Hбjj," a favourite Egyptianism. We are wrong to write
+Hajji which an Eastern would pronounce Hбj-jн.
+
+[FN#309] This is Cairene "chaff."
+
+[FN#310] Whose shell fits very tight.
+
+[FN#311] His hand was like a raven's because he ate with thumb and two
+fingers and it came up with the rice about it like a camel's hoof in
+dirty ground. This refers to the proverb (Burckhardt, 756), "He comes
+down a crow-claw (small) and comes up a camel-hoof (huge and round)."
+
+[FN#312] Easterns have a superstitious belief in the powers of food: I
+knew a learned man who never sat down to eat without a ceremonious
+salam to his meat.
+
+[FN#313] Lane (ii. 464), uses the vile Turkish corruption "Rustum,"
+which, like its fellow "Rustem," would make a Persian shudder.
+
+[FN#314] Arab. "Darrij" i.e. let them slide (Americanicи).
+
+[FN#315] This tetrastich has occurred before: so I quote Mr. Payne (in
+loco).
+
+[FN#316] Shaykh of Al-Butnah and Jбbiyah, therefore a Syrian of the
+Hauran near Damascus and grandson to IsÑŠ (Esau). Arab mystics (unlike
+the vulgar who see only his patience) recognise that inflexible
+integrity which refuses to utter "words of wind" and which would not,
+against his conscience, confess to wrong-doing merely to pacify the
+Lord who was stronger than himself. The Classics taught this noble
+lesson in the case of Prometheus versus Zeus. Many articles are called
+after Job e.g. Ra'arб' Ayyub or Ghubayrб (inula Arabica and undulata),
+a creeper with which he rubbed himself and got well: the Copts do the
+same on "Job's Wednesday," i.e. that before Whit Sunday O.S. Job's
+father is a nickname of the camel, etc. etc.
+
+[FN#317] Lane (in loco) renders "I am of their number." But "fн
+al-siyбk" means popularly "(driven) to the point of death."
+
+[FN#318] Lit. = "pathway, road"; hence the bridge well known as "finer
+than a hair and sharper than a sword," over which all (except Khadijah
+and a chosen few) must pass on the Day of Doom; a Persian apparatus
+bodily annexed by Al-Islam. The old Guebres called it Puli Chinбvar or
+Chinбvad and the Jews borrowed it from them as they did all their
+fancies of a future life against which Moses had so gallantly fought.
+It is said that a bridge over the grisly "brook Kedron" was called
+Sirбt (the road) and hence the idea, as that of hell-fire from
+Ge-Hinnom (Gehenna) where children were passed through the fire to
+Moloch. A doubtful Hadis says, "The Prophet declared Al-Sirбt to be the
+name of a bridge over hell- fire, dividing Hell from Paradise" (pp. 17,
+122, Reynold's trans. of Al-Siyuti's Traditions, etc.). In Koran i. 5,
+"Sirat" is simply a path, from sarata, he swallowed, even as the way
+devours (makes a lakam or mouthful of) those who travel it. The word
+was orig. written with Sнn but changed for easier articulation to Sбd,
+one of the four Hurъf al-Mutabbakбt, "the flattened," formed by the
+broadened tongue in contact with the palate. This Sad also by the
+figure Ishmбm (=conversion) turns slightly to a Zб, the intermediate
+between Sin and Sad.
+
+[FN#319] The rule in Turkey where catamites rise to the highest rank:
+C'est un homme de bonne famille (said a Turkish officer in Egypt) il a
+йtй achetй. Hence "Alfi" (one who costs a thousand) is a well-known
+cognomen. The Pasha of the Syrian caravan, with which I travelled' had
+been the slave of a slave and he was not a solitary instance.
+(Pilgrimage i. 90.)
+
+[FN#320] The device of the banquet is dainty enough for any old Italian
+novella; all that now comes is pure Egyptian polissonnerie speaking to
+the gallery and being answered by roars of laughter.
+
+[FN#321] i.e. "art thou ceremonially pure and therefore fit for
+handling by a great man like myself?"
+
+[FN#322] In past days before Egypt was "frankified" many overlanders
+used to wash away the traces of travel by a Turkish bath which mostly
+ended in the appearance of a rump wriggling little lad who offered to
+shampoo them. Many accepted his offices without dreaming of his
+usual-use or misuse.
+
+[FN#323] Arab. "Imбm." This is (to a Moslem) a most offensive
+comparison between prayer and car. cop.
+
+[FN#324] Arab. "Fi zaman-hi," alluding to a peculiarity highly prized
+by Egyptians; the use of the constrictor vaginж muscles, the sphincter
+for which Abyssinian women are famous. The "Kabbбzah" ( = holder), as
+she is called, can sit astraddle upon a man and can provoke the
+venereal-orgasm, not by wriggling and moving but by tightening and
+loosing the male member with the muscles of her privities, milking it
+as it were. Consequently the cassenoisette costs treble the money of
+other concubines. (Arranga-Ranga, p. 127.)
+
+[FN#325] The little eunuchs had evidently studied the Harem.
+
+[FN#326] Lane (ii. 494) relates from Al-Makrizi, that when Khamбrawayh,
+Governor of Egypt (ninth century), suffered from insomnia, his
+physician ordered a pool of quicksilver 50 by 50 cubits, to be laid out
+in front of his palace, now the Rumaylah square. "At the corners of the
+pool were silver pegs, to which were attached by silver rings strong
+bands of silk, and a bed of skins, inflated with air, being thrown upon
+the pool and secured by the bands remained in a continual-state of
+agreeable vacillation." We are not told that the Prince was thereby
+salivated like the late Colonel Sykes when boiling his mercury for
+thermometric experiments,
+
+[FN#327] The name seems now unknown. "Al-Khahн'a" is somewhat stronger
+than "Wag," meaning at least a "wicked wit." Properly it is the Span.
+"perdido," a youth cast off (Khala') by his friends; though not so
+strong a term as "HarfÑŠsh"=a blackguard.
+
+[FN#328] Arab. "Farsakh"=parasang.
+
+[FN#329] Arab. "Nahбs asfar"=yellow copper, brass as opposed to Nahбs
+ahmar=copper The reader who cares to study the subject will find much
+about it in my "Book of The Sword," chaps. iv.
+
+[FN#330] Lane (ii. 479) translates one stanza of this mukhammas
+(pentastich) and speaks of "five more," which would make six.
+
+[FN#331] A servile name. Delicacy, Elegance.
+
+[FN#332] These verses have occurred twice (Night ix. etc.): so I give
+Lane's version (ii. 482).
+
+[FN#333] A Badawi tribe to which belonged the generous Ma'an bin
+
+
+Za'idab, often mentioned The Nights.
+
+
+
+[FN#334] Wealthy harems, I have said, are hot-beds of Sapphism and
+Tribadism. Every woman past her first youth has a girl whom she calls
+her "Myrtle" (in Damascus). At Agbome, capital-of Dahome, I found that
+a troop of women was kept for the use of the "Amazons" (Mission to
+Gelele, ii. 73). Amongst the wild Arabs, who ignore Socratic and
+Sapphic perversions, the lover is always more jealous of his beloved's
+girl-friends than of men rivals. In England we content ourselves with
+saying that women corrupt women more than men do.
+
+[FN#335] The Hebrew Pentateuch; Roll of the Law.
+
+[FN#336] I need hardly notice the brass trays, platters and
+table-covers with inscriptions which are familiar to every reader:
+those made in the East for foreign markets mostly carry imitation
+inscriptions lest infidel eyes fall upon Holy Writ.
+
+[FN#337] These six distichs are in Night xiii. I borrow Torrens (p.
+125) to show his peculiar treatment of spinning out 12 lines to 38.
+
+[FN#338] Arab. "Musбmirah"=chatting at night. Easterns are inordinately
+fond of the practice and the wild Arabs often sit up till dawn, talking
+over the affairs of the tribe, indeed a Shaykh is expected to do so.
+"Early to bed and early to rise" is a civilised, not a savage or a
+barbarous saying. Samнr is a companion in night talk; Rafнk of the
+road; Rahнb in riding horse or camel, Kб'id in sitting, Sharнb and
+Rafнs at drink, and Nadнm at table: Ahнd is an ally. and Sharнk a
+partner all on the model of "Fa'нl."
+
+[FN#339] In both lover and beloved the excess of love gave them this
+clairvoyance.
+
+[FN#340] The prayer will be granted for the excess (not the purity) of
+her love.
+
+[FN#341] This wailing over the Past is one of the common-places of
+Badawi poetry. The traveller cannot fail, I repeat, to notice the
+chronic melancholy of peoples dwelling under the brightest skies.
+
+[FN#342] Moons=BudÑŠr
+
+[FN#343] in Paradise as a martyr.
+
+[FN#344] i.e. to intercede for me in Heaven; as if the young woman were
+the prophet.
+
+[FN#345] The comparison is admirable as the two letters are written. It
+occurs in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Ramlah).
+
+"So I embraced him close as Lбm cleaves to Alif:"
+
+And again;
+
+     "She laid aside reluctance and I embraced her close
+
+
+     As if I were Lam and my love Alif."
+
+
+
+The Lomad Olaph in Syriac is similarly colligated.
+
+[FN#346] Here is a double entendre "and the infirm letters (viz. a, w
+and y) not subject to accidence, left him." The three make up the root
+"Awi"=pitying, condoling.
+
+[FN#347] Showing that consummation had taken place. It was a sign of
+good breeding to avoid all "indecent hurry" when going to bed. In some
+Moslem countries the bridegroom does not consummate the marriage for
+seven nights; out of respect for (1) father (2) mother (3) brother and
+so forth. If he hurry matters he will be hooted as an "impatient man"
+and the wise will quote, "Man is created of precipitation" (Koran
+chaps. xxi. 38), meaning hasty and inconsiderate. I remark with
+pleasure that the whole of this tale is told with commendable delicacy.
+O si sic omnia!
+
+[FN#348] Pers. "Nauroz"(=nau roz, new day):here used in the Arab.
+plur.'Nawбriz, as it lasted six days. There are only four:
+universal-festivals; the solstices and the equinoxes; and every
+successive religion takes them from the sun and perverts them to its
+own private purposes. Lane (ii. 496) derives the venerable Nauroz whose
+birth is hid in the outer glooms of antiquity from the "Jewish
+Passover"(!)
+
+[FN#349] Again the "babes" of the eyes.
+
+[FN#350] i.e. whose glance is as the light of the glowing braise or
+(embers). The Arab. "Mikbбs"=pan or pot full of small charcoal, is an
+article well known in Italy and Southern Europe. The word is apparently
+used here because it rhymes with "Anfбs" (souls, spirits).
+
+[FN#351] i.e. martyrdom; a Koranic term "fi sabнli 'llahi" = on the way
+of Allah
+
+[FN#352] These rhymes in -y, -ee and -ie are purposely affected, to
+imitate the cadence of the Arabic.
+
+[FN#353] Arab. "SujÑŠd," the ceremonial-prostration, touching the ground
+with the forehead So in the Old Testament "he bowed (or fell down) and
+worshipped" (Gen. xxiv., 26 Mat. ii., 11), of which our translation
+gives a wrong idea.
+
+[FN#354] A girl is called "Alfiyyah " = A-shaped.
+
+[FN#355] i.e. the medial-form of m.
+
+[FN#356] i.e. the inverted n.
+
+[FN#357] It may also mean a "Sevignй of pearls."
+
+[FN#358] Koran xxvii. 12. This was one of the nine "signs" to wicked
+"Pharaoh." The "hand of Moses" is a symbol of power and ability (Koran
+vii. 105). The whiteness was supernatural-beauty, not leprosy of the
+Jews (Exod. iv. 6); but brilliancy, after being born red or black:
+according to some commentators, Moses was a negro.
+
+[FN#359] Koran iii. 103; the other faces become black. This explains I
+have noticed the use of the phrases in blessing and cursing.
+
+[FN#360] Here we have the naked legend of the negro's origin, one of
+those nursery tales in which the ignorant of Christendom still believe
+But the deduction from the fable and the testimony to the negro's lack
+of intelligence, though unpleasant to our ignorant negrophils, are
+factual-and satisfactory.
+
+[FN#361] Koran, xcii. 1, 2: an oath of Allah to reward and punish with
+Heaven and Hell.
+
+[FN#362] Alluding to the "black drop" in the heart: it was taken from
+Mohammed's by the Archangel Gabriel. The fable seems to have arisen
+from the verse ' Have we not opened thy breast?" (Koran, chaps. xciv.
+1). The popular tale is that Halнmah, the Badawi nurse of Mohammed, of
+the Banu Sa'ad tribe, once saw her son, also a child, running towards
+her and asked him what was the matter. He answered, 'My little brother
+was seized by two men in white who stretched him on the ground and
+opened his bellyl" For a full account and deductions see the Rev. Mr.
+Badger's article, "Muhammed" (p. 959) in vol. in. "Dictionary of
+Christian Biography."
+
+[FN#363] Arab. "Sumr," lit. brown (as it is afterwards used), but
+politely applied to a negro: "Yб Abu Sumrah!" O father of brownness.
+
+[FN#364] Arab. 'Lumб"=dark hue of the inner lips admired by the Arabs
+and to us suggesting most umpleasant ideas. Mr. Chenery renders it
+"dark red,' and "ruddy" altogether missing the idea.
+
+[FN#365] Arab. "Saudб," feminine of aswad (black), and meaning black
+bile (melancholia) as opposed to leucocholia,
+
+[FN#366] i.e. the Magians, Sabians, Zoroastrians.
+
+[FN#367] The "Unguinum fulgor" of the Latins who did not forget to
+celebrate the shining of the nails although they did not Henna them
+like Easterns. Some, however, have suggested that alludes to colouring
+matter.
+
+[FN#368] Women with white skins are supposed to be heating and
+unwholesome: hence the Hindu Rajahs slept with dark girls in the hot
+season.
+
+[FN#369] Moslems sensibly have a cold as well as a hot Hell, the former
+called Zamharir (lit. "intense cold")or AI-BarahÑŠt, after a well in
+Hazramaut; as Gehenna (Arab. "Jahannam") from the furnace-like ravine
+East of Jerusalem (Night cccxxv.). The icy Hell is necessary in
+terrorem for peoples who inhabit cold regions and who in a hot Hell
+only look forward to an eternity of "coals and candles" gratis. The
+sensible missionaries preached it in Iceland till foolishly forbidden
+by Papal-Bull.
+
+[FN#370] Koran ii. 26; speaking of Abraham when he entertained the
+angels unawares.
+
+[FN#371] Arab. "Rakb," usually applied to a fast-going caravan of
+dromedary riders (Pilgrimage ii. 329). The "Cafilah" is Arab.:
+"Caravan" is a corruption of the Pers. "Karwбn."
+
+[FN#372] A popular saying. It is interesting to contrast this dispute
+between fat and thin with the Shakespearean humour of Falstaff and
+Prince Henry.
+
+[FN#373] Arab. "Dalak" vulg. Hajar al-Hammam (Hammam-stone). The
+comparison is very apt: the rasps are of baked clay artificially
+roughened (see illustrations in Lane M. E. chaps. xvi.). The rope is
+called "Masad," a bristling line of palm-fibre like the coir now
+familiarly known in England.
+
+[FN#374] Although the Arab's ideal-of beauty, as has been seen and
+said, corresponds with ours the Egyptians (Modern) the Maroccans and
+other negrofied races like "walking tun-butts" as Clapperton called his
+amorous widow.
+
+[FN#375] Arab. "Khayzar" or "Khayzarбn" the rattan-palm. Those who have
+seen this most graceful "palmijuncus" in its native forest will
+recognize the neatness of the simile.
+
+[FN#376] This is the popular idea of a bushy "veil of nature" in women:
+it is always removed by depilatories and vellication. When Bilkis Queen
+of Sheba discovered her legs by lifting her robe (Koran xxvii.),
+Solomon was minded to marry her, but would not do so till the devils
+had by a depilatory removed the hair. The popular preparation (called
+Nъrah) consists of quicklime 7 parts, and Zirnнk or orpiment, 3 parts:
+it is applied in the Hammam to a perspiring skin, and it must be washed
+off immediately the hair is loosened or it burns and discolours. The
+rest of the body-pile (Sha'arat opp. to Sha'ar=hair) is eradicated by
+applying a mixture of boiled honey with turpentine or other gum, and
+rolling it with the hand till the hair comes off. Men I have said
+remove the pubes by shaving, and pluck the hair of the arm-pits, one of
+the vestiges of pre-Adamite man. A good depilatory is still a
+desideratum, the best perfumers of London and Paris have none which
+they can recommend. The reason is plain: the hair bulb can be
+eradicated only by destroying the skin.
+
+[FN#377] Koran, ii. 64: referring to the heifer which the Jews were
+ordered to sacrifice,
+
+[FN#378] Arab. "kallб," a Koranic term possibly from Kull (all) and lб
+(not) =prorsus non-altogether not!
+
+[FN#379] "Habбb" or "Habб," the fine particles of dust, which we call
+motes. The Cossid (Arab. "Kбsid") is the Anglo-Indian term for a
+running courier (mostly under Government), the Persian "Shбtir" and the
+Guebre Rбvand.
+
+[FN#380] Arab. "Sambari" a very long thin lance so called after Samhar,
+the maker, or the place of making. See vol. ii. p. 1. It is supposed to
+cast, when planted in the ground, a longer shadow in proportion to its
+height, than any other thing of the kind.
+
+[FN#381] Arab. "Sulбfah ;" properly prisane which flows from the grapes
+before pressure. The plur. "Sawбlif" also means tresses of hair and
+past events: thus there is a "triple entendre." And again "he" is used
+for "she."
+
+[FN#382] There is a pun in the last line, "Khбlun (a mole) khallauni"
+(rid me), etc.
+
+[FN#383] Of old Fustбt, afterwards part of Southern Cairo, a
+proverbially miserable quarter hence the saying, "They quoted Misr to
+Kбhirah (Cairo), whereon Bab al-Luk rose with its grass," in derision
+of nobodies who push themselves forward. Burckhardt, Prov. 276.
+
+[FN#384] Its fruits are the heads of devils; a true Dantesque fancy.
+Koran, chaps. xvii. 62, "the tree cursed in the Koran" and in chaps.
+xxxvii., 60, "is this better entertainment, or the tree of Al-ZakkÑŠm?"
+Commentators say that it is a thorn bearing a bitter almond which grows
+in the Tehamah and was therefore promoted to Hell.
+
+[FN#385] Arab. "Lasm" (lathm) as opposed to Bausah or boseh (a buss)
+and Kublah (a kiss,
+
+[FN#386] Arab. "JufÑŠn" (plur. of Jafn) which may mean eyebrows or
+eyelashes and only the context can determine which. [FN#387] Very
+characteristic of Egyptian manners is the man who loves six girls
+equally well, who lends them, as it were, to the Caliph; and who takes
+back the goods as if in no wise damaged by the loan.
+
+[FN#388] The moon is masculine possibly by connection with the
+
+
+Assyrian Lune-god "Sin"; but I can find no cause for the Sun
+
+
+(Shams) being feminine.
+
+
+
+[FN#389] Arab. "Al-Amin," a title of the Prophet. It is usually held
+that this proud name "The honest man," was applied by his
+fellow-citizens to Mohammed in early life; and that in his twenty-fifth
+year, when the Eighth Ka'abah was being built, it induced the tribes to
+make him their umpire concerning the distinction of placing in position
+the "Black Stone" which Gabriel had brought from Heaven to be set up as
+the starting-post for the seven circuitings. He distributed the honour
+amongst the clans and thus gave universal satisfaction. His Christian
+biographers mostly omit to record an anecdote which speaks so highly in
+Mohammed's favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)
+
+[FN#390] The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such being the
+prerogative of inspired poets in the East. His drunkenness and
+debauchery only added to his power. I have already noticed that "Allah
+strike thee dead" (Kбtala-k Allah) is like our phrase "Confound the
+fellow, how clever he is."
+
+[FN#391] Again said facetiously, "Devil take you!"
+
+[FN#392] In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs,
+morning and evening especially: otherwise they soon die of rheumatism
+and loin disease.
+
+[FN#393] =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.
+
+
+See also Night dcclxxxi.
+
+
+
+[FN#394] The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a "jealous God" from
+their kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity after the
+fashion of itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the Christian Theos
+is originally a Judжo-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi Arab. In this tale
+Allah, despotic and unjust, brings a generous and noble-minded man to
+beggary, simply because he fed his dogs off gold plate. Wisdom and
+morality have their infancy and youth: the great value of such tales as
+these is to show and enable us to measure man's development.
+
+[FN#395] In Trйbutien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to ex-Dives,
+"Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If thou art
+ignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee with it. Thou
+feddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the poor to die of
+hunger." A superstition, but intelligible.
+
+[FN#396] Arab. "Sarrбf" = a money changer.
+
+[FN#397] Arab. "Birkah," a common feature in the landscapes of Lower
+Egypt: it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of the Nile;
+or, as in the text, a built-up tank, like the "Tбlбb" for which India
+is famous. Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo itself; and
+some are mentioned in The Nights.
+
+[FN#398] This sneer at the "military" and the "police" might come from
+an English convict's lips.
+
+[FN#399] Lit. "The conquering King;" a dynastic title assumed by Salбh
+al-Dнn (Saladin) and sundry of the Ayyъbi (Eyoubite) sovereigns of
+Egypt, whom I would call the "Soldans."
+
+[FN#400] "Kбhirah" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo: Bulak
+is the port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined from the
+City; and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old Cairo. The latter
+term is generally translated "town of leathern tents;" but in Arabic
+"fustбt" is an abode of Sha'ar=hair, such as horse-hair, in fact any
+hair but "Wabar"=soft hair, as the camel's. See Lane, Lex.
+
+[FN#401] Arab. "Adl"=just: a legal-witness to whose character there is
+no tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law. Here "Adl"
+is evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal
+
+[FN#402] Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the figure in
+the Bres. Edit.) "a more probable sum." Possibly: but, I repeat,
+exaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The Nights.
+
+[FN#403] Calc. Edit. "Kazir:" the word is generally written
+
+
+"Kazdнr," Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek .
+
+
+
+[FN#404] This would have passed for a peccadillo in the "good old
+days." As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to "pot" any peasant
+who dared to ride (instead of walking) past their barracks. Life is
+cheap in hot countries.
+
+[FN#405] Koran, xii. 46 — a passage expounding the doctrine of free
+will: "He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own soul; and
+he who doth evil, doth it against the same; for thy Lord," etc.
+
+[FN#406] Arab. "Suffah"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised shelf
+generally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one or more
+arches. It is an elaborate variety of the simple "Tбk" or niche, a mere
+hollow in the thickness of the wall. Both are used for such articles as
+basin. ewer and soap; coffee cups, water bottles etc.
+
+[FN#407] In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced "Goos," the
+Coptic Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.
+
+[FN#408] This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.
+
+[FN#409] i.e. "the father of a certain person"; here the merchant whose
+name may have been Abu'l Hasan, etc. The useful word (thingumbob, what
+d'ye call him, donchah, etc.) has been bodily transferred into Spanish
+and Portuguese Fulano. It is of old genealogy, found in the Heb. Fulunн
+which applies to a person only in Ruth iv. I, but is constantly so
+employed by Rabbinic writers. The Greek use {Greek letters}.
+
+[FN#410] Lit. "by his (i.e. her) hand," etc. Hence Lane (ii. 507) makes
+nonsense of the line.
+
+[FN#411] Arab. "Badrah," as has been said, is properly a weight of
+10,000 dirhams or drachmas; but popularly used for largesse thrown to
+the people at festivals.
+
+[FN#412] Arab. "Allaho A'alam"; (God knows!) here the popular phrase
+for our, "I know not;" when it would be rude to say bluntly "M'adri"=
+"don't know."
+
+[FN#413] There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become
+incarnate and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave, to
+greet him when he enters Paradise and so forth. It was borrowed from
+the highly imaginative faith of the Guebre, the Zoroastrian. On
+Chinavad or Chanyud-pul (Sirбt), the Judgement bridge, 37 rods (rasan)
+long, straight and 37 fathoms broad for the good, and crooked and
+narrow as sword-edge for the bad, a nymph-like form will appear to the
+virtuous and say, "I am the personification of thy good deeds!" In Hell
+there will issue from a fetid gale a gloomy figure with head like a
+minaret, red eyeballs, hooked nose, teeth like pillars, spear-like
+fangs, snaky locks etc. and when asked who he is he will reply, "I am
+the personification of thine evil acts!" (Dabistan i. 285.) The Hindus
+also personify everything.
+
+[FN#414] Arab. "Banъ Israнl;" applied to the Jews when theirs was the
+True Faith i.e. before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, whose mission
+completed that of Moses and made it obsolete (MatrÑŠk) even as the
+mission of Jesus was completed and abrogated by that of Mohammed. The
+term "YahÑŠd"=Jew is applied scornfully to the Chosen People after they
+rejected the Messiah, but as I have said "Israelite" is used on certain
+occasions, Jew on others.
+
+[FN#415] Arab. "Kasa'ah," a wooden bowl, a porringer; also applied to a
+saucer.
+
+[FN#416] Arab. "RasÑŠl"=one sent, an angel, an "apostle;" not to be
+translated, as by the vulgar, "prophet." Moreover Rasul is higher than
+Nabн (prophet), such as Abraham, Isaac, etc., depositaries of Al-Islam,
+but with a succession restricted to their own families. Nabi-mursil
+(Prophet-apostle) is the highest of all, one sent with a book: of these
+are now only four, Moses, David, Jesus and Mohammed, the writings of
+the rest having perished. In Al-Islam also angels rank below men, being
+only intermediaries (= , nuncii, messengers) between the Creator and
+the Created. This knowledge once did me a good turn at Harar, not a
+safe place in those days. (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 349.)
+
+[FN#417] A doctor of law in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+
+[FN#418] Here the exclamation is= D.V.; and it may be assumed generally
+to have that sense.
+
+[FN#419] Arab. "Taylasбn," a turban worn hood-fashion by the "Khatнb"
+or preacher. I have sketched it in my Pilgrimage and described it (iii.
+315). Some Orientalists derive Taylasan from Atlas=satin, which is
+peculiarly inappropriate. The word is apparently barbarous and possibly
+Persian like Kalansuwah, the Dervish cap. "Thou son of a Taylasбn"=a
+barbarian. (De Sacy, Chrest. Arab. ii. 269.)
+
+[FN#420] Arab. " Kinyah" vulg. "Kunyat" = patronymic or matronymic; a
+name beginning with "Abu" (father) or with "Umm" (mother). There are so
+few proper names in Al-Islam that such surnames, which, as will be
+seen, are of infinite variety, become necessary to distinguish
+individuals. Of these sobriquets I shall give specimens further on.
+
+[FN#421] "Whoso seeth me in his sleep, seeth me truly; for Satan cannot
+assume my semblance," said (or is said to have said) Mohammed. Hence
+the vision is true although it comes in early night and not before
+dawn. See Lane M. E., chaps. ix.
+
+[FN#422] Arab. "Al-Maukab ;" the day when the pilgrims march out of the
+city; it is a holiday for all, high and low.
+
+[FN#423] "The Gate of Salutation ;" at the South-Western corner of the
+Mosque where Mohammed is buried. (Pilgrimage ii. 60 and plan.) Here
+"Visitation" (Ziyбrah) begins.
+
+[FN#424] The tale is told by Al-Ishбki in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+
+[FN#425] The speaker in dreams is the Heb. "Waggid," which the learned
+and angry Graetz (Geschichte, etc. vol. ix.) absurdly translates "Traum
+souffleur."
+
+[FN#426] Tenth Abbaside. A.D. 849-861
+
+[FN#427] Arab. "Muwallad" (fem. "Muwalladah"); a rearling, a slave born
+in a Moslem land. The numbers may appear exaggerated, but even the
+petty King of Ashanti had, till the last war, 3333 "wives."
+
+[FN#428] The Under-prefect of Baghdad.
+
+[FN#429] "Ja'afar," our old Giaffar (which is painfully like "Gaffer,"
+i.e. good father) means either a rushing river or a rivulet.
+
+[FN#430] A regular Fellah's name also that of a village
+
+
+(Pilgrimage i. 43) where a pleasant story is told about one Haykal.
+
+
+
+[FN#431] The "Mountain" means the rocky and uncultivated ground South
+of Cairo, such as Jabal-al-Ahmar and the geological-sea-coast flanked
+by the old Cairo-Suez highway.
+
+[FN#432] A popular phrase=our "sharp as a razor."
+
+[FN#433] i.e. are men so few; a favourite Persian phrase.
+
+[FN#434] She is a woman of rank who would cause him to be assassinated.
+
+[FN#435] This is not Al-Hakimbi' Amri'llah the famous or infamous
+founder of the Druze ((DurÑŠz)) faith and held by them to be, not an
+incarnation of the Godhead, but the Godhead itself in propriв personв,
+who reigned A.D. 926-1021: our Hakim is the orthodox Abbaside Caliph of
+Egypt who dated from two centuries after him (A.D. 1261). Had the
+former been meant, it would have thrown back this part of The Nights to
+an earlier date than is generally accepted. But in a place still to
+come I shall again treat of the subject.
+
+[FN#436] For an account of a similar kind which was told to me during
+the last few years see "Midian Revisited," i. 15. These hiding-places
+are innumerable in lands of venerable antiquity like Egypt; and, if
+there were any contrivance for detecting hidden treasure, it would make
+the discoverer many times a millionaire.
+
+[FN#437] i.e. it had been given to him or his in writing, like the book
+left to the old woman before quoted in "Midian," etc.
+
+[FN#438] Arab. "Kird" (pron. in Egypt "Gird"). It is usually the
+hideous Abyssinian cynocephalus which is tamed by the ape-leader
+popularly called Kuraydati (Lane, M.E., chaps. xx.). The beast has a
+natural-penchant for women ; I heard of one which attempted to rape a
+girl in the public street and was prevented only by a sentinel's
+bayonet. They are powerful animals and bite like greyhounds.
+
+[FN#439] Easterns attribute many complaints (such as toothache) to
+worms, visible as well as microscopic, which may be held a fair
+prolepsis of the "germ-theory" the bacterium. the bacillus, the
+microbe. Nymphomania, the disease alluded to in these two tales is
+always attributed to worms in the vagina.
+
+[FN#440] Bestiality, very rare in Arabia is fatally common amongst
+those most debauched of debauched races, the Egyptian proper and the
+Sindis. Hence the Pentateuch, whose object was to breed a larger
+population of fighting men, made death the penalty for lying with a
+beast (Deut. xxvii. 21). C. S. Sonnini (Travels, English translation,
+p. 663) gives a curious account of Fellah lewdness. "The female
+crocodile during congress is turned upon her back ( ?) and cannot rise
+without difficulty. Will it be believed that there are men who take
+advantage of the helpless situation of the female, drive off the male,
+and supplant him in this frightful intercourse ? Horrible embraces, the
+knowledge of which was wanting to complete the disgusting history of
+human perversity!" The French traveller forgets to add the
+superstitious explanation of this congress which is the sovereignest
+charm for rising to rank and riches. The Ajбib al-Hind tells a tale
+(chaps. xxxix.) of a certain Mohammed bin Bullishad who had issue by a
+she-ape: the young ones were hairless of body and wore quasi-human
+faces; and the father's sight had become dim by his bestial-practice.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4, by Richard F. Burton
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, V4
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+Title: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4
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+Author: Richard F. Burton
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+
+                        THE BOOK OF THE
+                  THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
+                A Plain and Literal Translation
+             of the Arabian Nights Entertainments
+
+                  Translated and Annotated by
+                       Richard F. Burton
+
+                          VOLUME FOUR
+
+                To Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.
+
+My Dear Arbuthnot,
+
+
+     I have no fear that a friend, whose friendship has lasted
+nearly a third of a century, will misunderstand my reasons for
+inscribing his name upon these pages. You have lived long enough
+in the East and, as your writings show, observantly enough, to
+detect the pearl which lurks in the kitchen-midden, and to note
+that its lustre is not dimmed nor its value diminished by its
+unclean surroundings.
+
+                    Ever yours sincerely,
+                    Richard F. Burton.
+
+Athenæum Club, October 1, 1885
+
+Contents of the Fourth Volume
+
+Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman (continued)
+     a.   Ni'amar Bin Al-Rabi'a and Naomi His Slave-girl
+     b.   Conclusion of the Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman
+22.  Ala Al-Din Abu Al-Shamat
+23.  Hatim of the Trive of Tayy
+24.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah
+25.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah and the Badawi
+26.  The City of Labtayt
+27.  The Caliph Hisham and the Arab Youth
+28.  Ibrahim Bin Al-Mahdi and the Barber-Surgeon
+29.  The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi
+     Kilabah
+30.  Isaac of Mosul
+31.  The Sweep and the Noble Lady
+32.  The Mock Caliph
+33.  Ali the Persian
+34.  Haru Al-Rashid and the Slave-Girl and the Iman Abu Yusuf
+35.  The Lover Who Feigned Himself A Thief
+36.  Ja'afar the Barmecide and the Bean-Seller
+37.  Abu Mohammed Hight Lazybones
+38.  Generous Dealing of Yahya Bin Khálid The Barmecide with
+     Mansur
+39.  Generous Dealing of Yahya Son of Khálid with a Man Who
+     Forged a Letter in his Name
+40.  Caliph Al-Maamum and the Strange Scholar
+41.  Ali Shar and Zumurrud
+42.  The Loves of Jubayr Bin Umayr and the Lady Budur
+43.  The Man of Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls
+44.  Harun Al-Rashid and the Damsel and Abu Nowas
+45.  The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate
+46.  The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police
+47.  Al-Malik Al-Nasir and the Three Chiefs of Police
+     a.   Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo
+     b.   Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police
+     c.   Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police
+48.  The Thief and the Shroff
+49.  The Chief of the Kus Police and the Sharper
+50.  Ibrahim Bin Al-Mahdi and the Merchant's Sister
+51.  The Woman Whose Hands were Cut Off For Giving Alms to the
+     Poor
+52.  The Devout Israelite
+53.  Abu Hassan Al-Ziyadi and the Khorasan
+54.  The Poor Man and His Friend in Need
+55.  The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream
+56.  Caliph Al-Mutawakkil and His Concubine Mahbubah
+57.  Wardan the Butcher; His Adventure With the Lady and the Bear
+58.  The King's Daughter and the Ape
+
+
+
+
+
+          The Book of the Thousand Nights and A Night
+
+
+
+
+        Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a and Naomi his Slave-girl.
+
+
+
+There lived once in the city of Cufa[FN#1] a man called Al-Rabí'a
+bin Hátim, who was one of the chief men of the town, a wealthy
+and a healthy, and Heaven had vouchsafed him a son, whom he named
+Ni'amah Allah.[FN#2] One day, being in the slave-brokers' mart,
+he saw a woman exposed for sale with a little maid of wonderful
+beauty and grace on her arm. So he beckoned to the broker and
+asked him, "How much for this woman and her daughter?" He
+answered "Fifty dinars." Quoth Al-Rabi'a "Write the contract of
+sale and take the money and give it to her owner." Then he gave
+the broker the price and his brokerage and taking the woman and
+her child, carried them to his house. Now when the daughter of
+his uncle who was his wife saw the slave, she said to her
+husband, "O my cousin, what is this damsel?" He replied, "Of a
+truth, I bought her for the sake of the little one on her arm;
+for know that, when she groweth up, there will not be her like
+for beauty, either in the land of the Arabs or the Ajams." His
+wife remarked, "Right was thy rede", and said to the woman "What
+is thy name?" She replied, "O my lady, my name is Tauflík.[FN#3]"
+"And what is thy daughter's name?" asked she? Answered the slave,
+"Sa'ad, the happy." Rejoined her mistress; "Thou sayst sooth,
+thou art indeed happy, and happy is he who hath bought thee."
+Then quoth she to her husband, "O my cousin, what wilt thou call
+her?"; and quoth he, "Whatso thou chooses"; so she said, "Then
+let us call her Naomi," and he rejoined "Good is thy device." The
+little Naomi was reared with Al-Rabi'a's son Ni'amah in one
+cradle, so to speak, till the twain reached the age of ten and
+each grew handsomer than the other; and the boy used to address
+her, "O my sister!" and she, "O my brother!", till they came to
+that age when Al-Rabi'a said to Ni'amah, "O my son, Naomi is not
+thy sister but thy slave. I bought her in thy name whilst thou
+wast yet in the cradle; so call her no more sister from this day
+forth." Quoth Ni'amah, "If that be so, I will take her to wife."
+Then he went to his mother and told her of this, and she said to
+him, "O my son, she is thy handmaid." So he wedded and went in
+unto Naomi and loved her; and two[FN#4] years passed over them
+whilst in this condition, nor was there in all Cufa a fairer girl
+than Naomi, or a sweeter or a more graceful. As she grew up she
+learnt the Koran and read works of science and excelled in music
+and playing upon all kinds of instruments; and in the beauty of
+her singing she surpassed all the folk of her time. Now one day
+as she sat with her husband in the wine chamber, she took the
+lute, tightened the strings, and sang these two couplets,
+
+"While thou'rt my lord whose bounty's my estate, * A sword
+     whereby my woes to annihilate,
+Recourse I never need to Amru or Zayd,[FN#5] * Nor aught save
+     thee if way to me grow strait!"
+
+Ni'amah was charmed with these verses and said to her, "By my
+life, O Naomi, sing to us with the tambourine and other
+instruments!" So she sang these couplets to a lively measure,
+
+"By His life who holds my guiding rein, I swear * I'll meet on
+     love ground parlous foe nor care:
+Good sooth I'll vex revilers, thee obey * And quit my slumbers
+     and all joy forswear:
+And for thy love I'll dig in vitals mine * A grave, nor shall my
+     vitals weet 'tis there!"
+
+And Ni'amah exclaimed, "Heaven favoured art thou, O Naomi!" But
+whilst they led thus the most joyous life, behold!
+Al-Hajjáj,[FN#6] the Viceroy of Cufa said to himself, "Needs must
+I contrive to take this girl named Naomi and send her to the
+Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwán, for he hath
+not in his palace her like for beauty and sweet singing." So he
+summoned an old woman of the duennas of his wives and said to
+her, "Go to the house of Al-Rabi'a and foregather with the girl
+Naomi and combine means to carry her off; for her like is not to
+be found on the face of the earth." She promised to do his
+bidding; the next morning she donned the woollen clothes of a
+devotee and hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the
+thousand; and, henting in hand a staff and a leather water bottle
+of Yamani manufacture.-- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old
+woman promised to do the bidding of Al-Hajjaj, and whenas it was
+morning she donned the woollen clothes of a devotee[FN#7] and
+hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the thousand and hent
+in hand a staff and a leather water bottle of Yamani manufacture
+and fared forth crying, "Glory be to Allah! Praised be Allah!
+There is no god but the God! Allah is Most Great! There is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
+Great!" Nor did she leave off her lauds and her groaning in
+prayer whilst her heart was full of guile and wiles, till she
+came to the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a at the hour of noon
+prayer, and knocked at the door. The doorkeeper opened and said
+to her, "What dost thou want?" Quoth she, "I am a poor pious
+woman, whom the time of noon prayer hath overtaken, and fief
+would I pray in this blessed place." Answered the porter, "O old
+woman, this is no mosque nor oratory, but the house of Ni'amah
+son of al Rabi'a." She replied, "I know there is neither
+cathedral-mosque nor oratory like the house of Ni'amah bin
+al-Rabi'a. I am a chamberwoman of the palace of the Prince of
+True Believers and am come out for worship and the visitation of
+Holy Places." But the porter rejoined, "Thou canst not enter;"
+and many words passed between them, till at last she caught hold
+and hung to him saying, "Shall the like of me be denied admission
+to the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a, I who have free access to
+the houses of Emirs and Grandees?" Anon, out came Ni'amah and,
+hearing their loud language, laughed and bade the old woman enter
+after him. So she followed him into the presence of Naomi, whom
+she saluted after the godliest and goodliest fashion, and, when
+she looked on her, she was confounded at her exceeding seemliness
+and said to her, "O my lady, I commend thee to the safeguard of
+Allah, who made thee and thy lord fellows in beauty and
+loveliness!" Then she stood up in the prayer niche and betook
+herself to inclination and prostration and prayer, till day
+departed and night darkened and starkened, when Naomi said to
+her, "O my mother, rest thy legs and feet awhile." Replied the
+old woman "O my lady, whoso seeketh the world to come let him
+weary him in this world, and whoso wearieth not himself in this
+world shall not attain the dwellings of the just in the world to
+come." Then Naomi brought her food and said to her, "Eat of my
+bread and pray Heaven to accept my penitence and to have mercy on
+me." But she cried, "O my lady, I am fasting. As for thee, thou
+art but a girl and it befitteth thee to eat and drink and make
+merry; Allah be indulgent to thee!; for the Almighty saith: All
+shall be punished except him who shall repent and believe and
+shall work a righteous work."[FN#8] So Naomi continued sitting
+with the old woman in talk and presently said to Ni'amah, "O my
+lord, conjure this ancient dame to sojourn with us awhile, for
+piety and devotion are imprinted on her countenance." Quoth he,
+"Set apart for her a chamber where she may say her prayers; and
+suffer no one to go in to her: peradventure, Allah (extolled and
+exalted be He!) shall prosper us by the blessing of her presence
+and never separate us." So the old woman passed her night in
+praying and reciting the Koran; and when Allah caused the morn to
+dawn, she went in to Ni'amah and Naomi and, giving them good
+morning, said to them, "I pray Allah have you in His holy
+keeping!" Quoth Naomi, "Whither away, O my mother? My lord hath
+bidden me set apart for thee a chamber, where thou mayst seclude
+thee for thy devotions." Replied the old woman, "Allah give him
+long life, and continue His favour to you both! But I would have
+you charge the doorkeeper not to stay my coming in to you; and,
+Inshallah! I will go the round of the Holy Places and pray for
+you two at the end of my devotions every day and night." Then she
+went out (whilst Naomi wept for parting with her knowing not the
+cause of her coming), and returned to Al-Hajjaj who said to her,
+"As thou do my bidding soon, thou shalt have of me abundant
+good." Quoth she, "I ask of thee a full month;" and quoth he
+"Take the month." Thereupon the old hag fell to daily visiting
+Ni'amah's house and frequented his slave-wife, Naomi.-- And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old hag
+fell to visiting daily Ni'amah's house and frequenting his slave
+wife, Naomi; and both ceased not to honour her, and she used to
+go in to them morning and evening and all in the house respected
+her till, one day, being alone with Naomi, she said to her, "O my
+lady! by Allah, when I go to the Holy Places, I will pray for
+thee; and I only wish thou wert with me, that thou mightest look
+on the Elders of the Faith who resort thither, and they should
+pray for thee, according to thy desire." Naomi cried, "I conjure
+thee by Allah take me with thee!"; and she replied, "Ask leave of
+thy mother in law, and I will take thee." So Naomi said to her
+husband's mother, "O my lady, ask my master to let us go forth,
+me and thee, one day with this my old mother, to prayer and
+worship with the Fakirs in the Holy Places." Now when Ni'amah
+came in and sat down, the old woman went up to him and would have
+kissed his hand, but he forbade her; so she invoked
+blessings[FN#9] on him and left the house. Next day she came
+again, in the absence of Ni'amah, and she addressed Naomi,
+saying, "We prayed for thee yesterday; but arise now and divert
+thyself and return ere thy lord come home." So Naomi said to her
+mother-in-law, "I beseech thee, for Allah's sake, give me leave
+to go with this pious woman, that I may sight the saints of Allah
+in the Holy Places, and return speedily ere my lord come back."
+Quoth Ni'amah's mother, "I fear lest thy lord know;" but said the
+old woman, "By Allah, I will not let her take seat on the floor;
+no, she shall look, standing on her feet, and not tarry." So she
+took the damsel by guile and, carrying her to Al-Hajjaj's palace,
+told him of her coming, after placing her in a lonely chamber;
+whereupon he went in to her and, looking upon her, saw her to be
+the loveliest of the people of the day, never had he beheld her
+like. Now when Naomi caught sight of him she veiled her face from
+him; but he left her not till he had called his Chamberlain, whom
+he commanded to take fifty horsemen; and he bade him mount the
+damsel on a swift dromedary, and bear her to Damascus and there
+deliver her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin
+Marwan. Moreover, he gave him a letter for the Caliph, saying,
+"Bear him this letter and bring me his answer and hasten thy
+return to me." So the Chamberlain, without losing time, took the
+damsel (and she tearful for separation from her lord) and,
+setting out with her on a dromedary, gave not over journeying
+till he reached Damascus. There he sought audience of the
+Commander of the Faithful and, when it was granted, the
+Chamberlain delivered the damsel and reported the circumstance.
+The Caliph appointed her a separate apartment and going into his
+Harim, said to his wife, "Al Hajjaj hath bought me a slave-girl
+of the daughters of the Kings of Cufa[FN#10] for ten thousand
+dinars, and hath sent me this letter."-- And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Two Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Caliph acquainted his wife with the story of the slave-girl, she
+said to him, "Allah increase to thee His favour!" Then the
+Caliph's sister went in to the supposed slave-girl and, when she
+saw her, she said, "By Allah, not unlucky is the man who hath
+thee in his house, were thy cost an hundred thousand dinars!" And
+Naomi replied, "O fair of face, what King's palace is this, and
+what is the city?" She answered, "This is the city of Damascus,
+and this is the palace of my brother, the Commander of the
+Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan.[FN#11]" Then she resumed,
+"Didst thou not know all this?" Naomi said, "By Allah, O my lady,
+I had no knowledge of it!"; when the other asked, "And he who
+sold thee and took thy price did he not tell thee that the Caliph
+had bought thee?" Now when Naomi heard these words, she shed
+tears and said to herself, "Verily, I have been tricked and the
+trick hath succeeded," adding to herself, "If I speak, none will
+credit me; so I will hold my peace and take patience, for I know
+that the relief of Allah is near." Then she bent her head for
+shame, and indeed her cheeks were tanned by the journey and the
+sun. So the Caliph's sister left her that day and returned to her
+on the morrow with clothes and necklaces of jewels, and dressed
+her; after which the Caliph came in to her and sat down by her
+side, and his sister said to him, "Look on this handmaid in whom
+Allah hath conjoined every perfection of beauty and loveliness."
+So he said to Naomi, "Draw back the veil from thy face;" but she
+would not unveil, and he beheld not her face. However, he saw her
+wrists and love of her entered his heart; and he said to his
+sister, "I will not go in unto her for three days, till she be
+cheered by thy converse." Then he arose and left her, but Naomi
+ceased not to brood over her case and sigh for her separation
+from her master, Ni'amah, till she fell sick of a fever during
+the night and ate not nor drank; and her favour faded and her
+charms were changed. They told the Caliph of this and her
+condition grieved him; so he visited her with physicians and men
+of skill, but none could come at a cure for her. This is how it
+fared with her; but as regards Ni'amah, when he returned home he
+sat down on his bed and cried, "Ho, Naomi!" But she answered not;
+so he rose in haste and called out, yet none came to him, as all
+the women in the house had hidden themselves for fear of him.
+Then he went out to his mother, whom he found sitting with her
+cheek on her hand, and said to her, "O my mother, where is
+Naomi?" She answered, "O my son, she is with one who is worthier
+than I to be trusted with her, namely, the devout old woman; she
+went forth with her to visit devotionally the Fakirs and return."
+Quoth Ni'amah, "Since when hath this been her habit and at what
+hour went she forth?" Quoth his mother, "She went out early in
+the morning." He asked, "And how camest thou to give her leave
+for this?"; and she answered, "O my son, 'twas she persuaded me."
+"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
+Glorious, the Great!" exclaimed Ni'amah and, going forth from his
+home in a state of distraction, he repaired to the Captain of the
+Watch to whom said he, "Doss thou play tricks upon me and
+steal-my slave-girl away from my house? I will assuredly complain
+of thee to the Commander of the Faithful." Said the Chief of
+Police, "Who hath taken her?" and Ni'amah replied, "An old woman
+of such and such a mien, clad in woollen raiment and carrying a
+rosary of beads numbered by thousands." Rejoined the other, "Find
+me the old woman and I will get thee back thy slave-girl." "And
+who knows the old woman?" retorted Ni'amah. "And who knows the
+hidden things save Allah (may He be extolled and exalted!)?"
+cried the Chief, who knew her for Al-Hajjaj's procuress. Cried
+Ni'amah, "I look to thee for my slave-girl, and Al-Hajjaj shall
+judge between thee and me;" and the Master of Police answered,
+"Go to whom thou wilt." So Ni'amah went to the palace of
+Al-Hajjaj, for his father was one of the chief men of Cufa; and,
+when he arrived there, the Chamberlain went in to the Governor
+and told him the case; whereupon Al-Hajjaj said, "Hither with
+him!" and when he stood before him enquired, "What be thy
+business?" Said Ni'amah, "Such and such things have befallen me;"
+and the Governor said, "Bring me the Chief of Police, and we will
+commend him to seek for the old woman." Now he knew that the
+Chief of Police was acquainted with her; so, when he came, he
+said to him, "I wish thee to make search for the slave-girl of
+Ni'amah son of Al-Rabi'a." And he answered, "None knoweth the
+hidden things save Almighty Allah." Rejoined Al-Hajjaj, "There
+is no help for it but thou send out horsemen and look for the
+damsel in all the roads, and seek for her in the towns."--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-First Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Al-Hajjaj
+said to the Captain of the Watch, "There is no help for it but
+thou send out horsemen, and look for the damsel on all the roads
+and seek for her in the towns." Then he turned to Ni'amah and
+said to him, "And thy slave-girl return not, I will give thee ten
+slave-girls from my house and ten from that of the Chief of
+Police." And he again bade the Captain of the Watch, "Go and seek
+for the girl." So he went out, and Ni'amah returned home full of
+trouble and despairing of life; for he had now reached the age of
+fourteen and there was yet no hair on his side cheeks. So he wept
+and lamented and shut himself up from his household; and ceased
+not to weep and lament, he and his mother, till the morning, when
+his father came in to him and said, "O my son, of a truth,
+Al-Hajjaj hath put a cheat upon the damsel and hath taken her;
+but from hour to hour Allah giveth relief." However grief
+redoubled on Ni'amah, so that he knew not what he said nor knew
+he who came in to him, and he fell sick for three months his
+charms were changed, his father despaired of him and the
+physicians visited him and said, "There is no remedy for him save
+the damsel." Now as his father was sitting one day, behold he
+heard tell of a skillful Persian physician, whom the folk gave
+out for perfect in medicine and astrology and geomancy. So
+Al-Rabi'a sent for him and, seating him by his side, entreated
+him with honour and said to him, "Look into my son's case."
+Thereupon quoth he to Ni'amah, "Give me thy hand." The young man
+gave him his hand and he felt his pulse and his joints and looked
+in his face; then he laughed and, turning to his father, said,
+"Thy son's sole ailment is one of the heart."[FN#12] He replied,
+Thou sayest sooth, O sage, but apply thy skill to his state and
+case, and acquaint me with the whole thereof and hide naught from
+me of his condition." Quoth the Persian, "Of a truth he is
+enamoured of a slave-girl and this slave-girl is either in
+Bassorah or Damascus; and there is no remedy for him but reunion
+with her." Said Al-Rabi'a, "An thou bring them together, thou
+shalt live all thy life in wealth and delight." Answered the
+Persian, "In good sooth this be an easy matter and soon brought
+about," and he turned to Ni'amah and said to him, "No hurt shall
+befall thee; so be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and
+clear." Then quoth he to Al-Rabi'a, "Bring me out four thousand
+dinars of your money;" so he gave them to him, and he added, "I
+wish to carry thy son with me to Damascus; and Almighty Allah
+willing, I will not return thence but with the damsel." Then he
+turned to the youth and asked, "What is thy name?"; and he
+answered "Ni'amah." Quoth the Persian, "O Ni'amah, sit up and be
+of good heart, for Allah will reunite thee with the damsel." And
+when he sat up the leach continued, "Be of good cheer for we set
+out for Damascus this very day: put thy trust in the Lord and eat
+and drink and be cheerful so as to fortify thyself for travel."
+Upon this the Persian began making preparation of all things
+needed, such as presents and rarities; and he took of Al-Rabi'a
+in all the sum of ten thousand dinars, together with horses and
+camels and beasts of burden and other requisites. Then Ni'amah
+farewelled his father and mother and journeyed with the physician
+to Aleppo. They could find no news of Naomi there so they fared
+on to Damascus, where they abode three days, after which the
+Persian took a shop and he adorned even the shelves with vessels
+of costly porcelain, with covers of silver, and with gildings and
+stuffs of price. Moreover, he set before himself vases and
+flagons of glass full of all manner of ointments and ups, and he
+surrounded them with cups of crystal--and, placing astrolabe and
+geomantic tablet facing him, he donned a physician's habit and
+took his seat in the shop. Then he set Ni'amah standing before
+him clad in a shirt and gown of silk and, girding his middle with
+a silken kerchief gold-embroidered, said to him, "O Ni'amah,
+henceforth thou art my son; so call me naught but sire, and I
+will call thee naught but son." And he replied, "I hear and I
+obey." Thereupon the people of Damascus flocked to the Persian's
+shop that they might gaze on the youth's goodliness and the
+beauty of the shop and its contents, whilst the physician spoke
+to Ni'amah in Persian and he answered him in the same tongue, for
+he knew the language, after the wont of the sons of the notables.
+So that Persian doctor soon became known among the townsfolk and
+they began to acquaint him with their ailments, and he to
+prescribe for them remedies. Moreover, they brought him the water
+of the sick in phials,[FN#13] and he would test it and say, "He,
+whose water this is, is suffering from such and such a disease,"
+and the patient would declare, "Verily this physician sayeth
+sooth." So he continued to do the occasions of the folk and they
+to flock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and
+into the houses of the great. Now, one day as he sat in his-shop,
+behold, there came up an old woman riding on an ass with a
+stuffed saddle of brocade embroidered with jewels; and, stopping
+before the Persian's shop, drew rein and beckoned him, saying,
+"Take my hand." He took her hand, and she alighted and asked him
+"Art thou the Persian physician from Irak?" "Yes," answered he,
+and she said, "Know that I have a sick daughter." Then she
+brought out to him a phial--and the Persian looked at it and said
+to her, "O my mistress, tell me thy daughter's name, that I may
+calculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will befit
+her to drink medicine." She replied, "O my brother the
+Persian,[FN#14] her name is Naomi."-- And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Persian heard the name of Naomi, he fell to calculating and
+writing on his hand and presently said, "O my lady, I cannot
+prescribe a medicine for her till I know what country woman she
+is, because of the difference of climate: so tell me in what land
+she was brought up and what is her age." The old woman replied
+"She is fourteen years old and she was brought up in Cufa of
+Irak." He asked, "And how long hath she sojourned in this
+country?" "But a few months," answered she. Now when Ni'amah
+heard the old woman's words and recognised the name of his slave-
+girl, his heart fluttered and he was like to faint. Then said the
+Persian, "Such and such medicines will suit her case;" and the
+old woman rejoined, "Then make them up and give me what thou hast
+mentioned, with the blessing of Almighty Allah." So saying, she
+threw upon the shop board ten gold pieces, and he looked at
+Ni'amah and bade him prepare the necessary drugs; whereupon she
+also looked at the youth and exclaimed, "Allah have thee in his
+keeping, O my son! Verily, she favoureth thee in age and mien."
+Then said she to the physician, "O my brother the Persian, is
+this thy slave or thy son?" "He is my son," answered he. So
+Ni'amah put up the medicine and, placing it in a little box, took
+a piece of paper and wrote thereon these two couplets,[FN#15]
+
+"If Naomi bless me with a single glance, * Let Su'adá sue and
+     Juml joy to
+They said, "Forget her: twenty such thou'lt find." * But none is
+     like her--I will not forget!"
+
+He pressed the paper into the box and, sealing it up, wrote upon
+the cover the following words in Cufic characters, "I am Ni'amah
+of al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Then he set it before the old woman who
+took it and bade them farewell and returned to the Caliph's
+palace, and when she went up with the drugs to the damsel she
+placed the little box of medicine at her feet, saying, "O my
+lady, know that there is lately come to our town a Persian
+physician, than whom I never saw a more skilful nor a better
+versed in matters of malady. I told him thy name, after showing
+him the water-bottle, and forthwith he knew thine ailment and
+prescribed a remedy. Then he bade his son make thee up this
+medicine; and there is not in Damascus a comelier or a seemlier
+youth than this lad of his, nor hath anyone a shop the like of
+his shop." So Naomi took the box and, seeing the names of her
+lord and his father written on the cover, changed colour and said
+to herself, "Doubtless, the owner of this shop is come in search
+of me." So she said to the old woman, "Describe to me this
+youth." Answered the old woman, "His name is Ni'amah, he hath a
+mole on his right eyebrow, is richly clad and is perfectly
+handsome." Cried Naomi, "Give me the medicine, whereon be the
+blessing and help of Almighty Allah!" So she drank off the potion
+(and she laughing) and said, "Indeed, it is a blessed medicine!"
+Then she sought in the box and, finding the paper, opened it,
+read it, understood it and knew that this was indeed her lord,
+whereas her heart was solaced and she rejoiced. Now when the old
+woman saw her laughing, she exclaimed, "This is indeed a blessed
+day!"; and Naomi said, "O nurse, I have a mind for something to
+eat and drink." The old woman said to the serving women, "Bring a
+tray of dainty viands for your mistress;" whereupon they set food
+before her and she sat down to eat. And behold in came the Caliph
+who, seeing her sitting at meat, rejoiced; and the old woman said
+to him, "O Commander of the Faithful, I give thee joy of thy hand
+maid Naomi's recovery! And the cause is that there is lately come
+to this our city a physician than whom I never saw a better
+versed in diseases and their remedies. I fetched her medicine
+from him and she hath drunken of it but once and is restored to
+health." Quoth he, "Take a thousand dinars and apply thyself to
+her treatment, till she be completely recovered." And he went
+away, rejoicing in the damsel's recovery, whilst the old woman
+betook herself to the Persian's house and delivered the thousand
+dinars, giving him to know that she was become the Caliph's slave
+and also handing him a letter which Naomi had written. He took it
+and gave the letter to Ni'amah, who at first sight knew her hand
+and fell down in a swoon. When he revived he opened the letter
+and found these words written therein: "From the slave despoiled
+of her Ni'amah, her delight; her whose reason hath been beguiled
+and who is parted from the core of her heart. But afterwards of a
+truth thy letter hath reached me and hath broadened my breast,
+and solaced my soul, even as saith the poet,
+
+"Thy note came: long lost hungers wrote that note, * Till drop
+     they sweetest scents for what they wrote:
+Twas Moses to his mother's arms restored; * 'Twas Jacob's eye-
+     sight cured by Joseph's coat!"[FN#16]
+
+When Ni'amah read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and
+the old woman said to him, "What maketh thee to weep, O my son?
+Allah never cause thine eye to shed tears!" Cried the Persian, "O
+my lady, how should my son not weep, seeing that this is his
+slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and
+her health dependeth on her seeing him, for naught aileth her but
+loving him.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
+cried out to the old woman, "How shall my son not weep, seeing
+that this is his slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of
+al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and the health of this damsel dependeth on her
+seeing him and naught aileth her but loving him. So, do thou, O
+my lady, take these thousand dinars to thyself and thou shalt
+have of me yet more than this; only look on us with eyes of rush;
+for we know not how to bring this affair to a happy end save
+through thee." Then she said to Ni'amah, "Say, art thou indeed
+her lord?" He replied, "Yes," and she rejoined, "Thou sayest
+sooth; for she ceaseth not continually to name thee." Then he
+told her all that had passed from first to last, and she said, "O
+youth, thou shalt owe thy reunion with her to none but myself."
+So she mounted and, at once returning to Naomi, looked in her
+face and laughed saying, "It is just, O my daughter, that thou
+weep and fall sick for thy separation from thy master, Ni'amah,
+son of Al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Quoth Naomi, "Verily, the veil hath
+been withdrawn for thee and the truth revealed to thee." Rejoined
+the old woman, "Be of good cheer and take heart, for I will
+assuredly bring you together, though it cost me my life." Then
+she returned to Ni'amah and said to him, "I went to thy slave-
+girl and conversed with her, and I find that she longeth for thee
+yet more than thou for her; for although the Commander of the
+Faithful is minded to become intimate with her, she refuseth
+herself to him. But if thou be stout of purpose and firm of
+heart, I will bring you together and venture my life for you, and
+play some trick and make shift to carry thee into the Caliph's
+palace, where thou shalt meet her, for she cannot come forth."
+And Ni'amah answered, "Allah requite thee with good!" Then she
+took leave of him and went back to Naomi and said, "Thy lord is
+indeed dying of love for thee and would fain see thee and
+foregather with thee. What sayest thou?" Naomi replied, "And I
+too am longing for his sight and dying for his love." Whereupon
+the old woman took a parcel of women's clothes and ornaments and,
+repairing to Ni'amah, said to him, "Come with me into some place
+apart." So he brought her into the room behind the shop where she
+stained his hands and decked his wrists and plaited his hair,
+after which she clad him in a slave-girl's habit and adorned him
+after the fairest fashion of woman's adornment, till he was as
+one of the Houris of the Garden of Heaven, and when she saw him
+thus she exclaimed, "Blessed be Allah, best of Creators! By
+Allah, thou art handsomer than the damsel.[FN#17] Now, walk with
+thy left shoulder forwards and thy right well behind, and sway
+thy hips from side to side."[FN#18] So he walked before her, as
+she bade him; and, when she saw he had caught the trick of
+woman's gait, she said to him, "Expect me tomorrow night, and
+Allah willing, I will take and carry thee to the palace. But when
+thou seest the Chamberlains and the Eunuchs be bold, and bow thy
+head and speak not with any, for I will prevent their speech; and
+with Allah is success!" Accordingly, when the morning dawned, she
+returned and, carrying him to the palace, entered before him and
+he after her step by step. The Chamberlain would have stopped his
+entering, but the old woman said to him, "O most ill omened of
+slaves, this is the handmaid of Naomi, the Caliph's favourite.
+How durst thou stay her when she would enter?" Then said she,
+"Come in, O damsel!"; and the old woman went in and they ceased
+not faring on, till they drew near the door leading to the inner
+piazza of the palace, when she said to him, "O Ni'amah, hearten
+thyself and take courage and enter and turn to the left: then
+count five doors and pass through the sixth, for it is that of
+the place prepared for thee. Fear nothing, and if any speak to
+thee, answer not, neither stop." Then she went up with him to the
+door, and the Chamberlain there on guard accosted her, saying
+"What damsel is this?"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Chamberlain accosted the old woman, saying, "What damsel is
+this?"; quoth the ancient dame, "Our lady hath a mind to buy
+her;" and he rejoined, "None may enter save by leave of the
+Commander of the Faithful; so do thou go back with her. I can not
+let her pass for thus am I commanded." Replied the old woman, "O
+Chief Chamberlain, use thy reason. Thou knowest that Naomi, the
+Caliph's slave-girl, of whom he is enamoured, is but now restored
+to health and the Commander of the Faithful hardly yet crediteth
+her recovery. She is minded to buy this hand maid; so oppose thou
+not her entrance, lest haply it come to Naomi's knowledge and she
+be wroth with thee and suffer a relapse and this cause thy head
+to be cut off." Then said she to Ni'amah, "Enter, O damsel; pay
+no heed to what he saith and tell not the Queen-consort that her
+Chamberlain opposed thine entrance." So Ni'amah bowed his head
+and entered the palace, and would have turned to the left, but
+mistook the direction and walked to his right; and, meaning to
+count five doors and enter the sixth, he counted six and entering
+the seventh, found himself in a place whose floor was carpeted
+with brocade and whose walls were hung with curtains of gold-
+embroidered silk. And therein stood censers of aloes-wood and
+ambergris and strong-scented musk, and at the upper end was a
+couch bespread with cloth of gold on which he seated himself,
+marvelling at the magnificence he saw and knowing not what was
+written for him in the Secret Purpose. As he sat musing on his
+case, the Caliph's sister, followed by her handmaid, came in upon
+him; and, seeing the youth seated there took him for a slave-girl
+and accosted him and said, "Who art thou O damsel? and what is
+thy case and who brought thee hither?" He made no reply, and was
+silent, when she continued, "O damsel! if thou be one of my
+brother's concubines and he be wroth with thee, I will intercede
+with him for thee and get thee grace." But he answered her not a
+word; so she said to her slave-girl, "Stand at the door and let
+none enter." Then she went up to Ni'amah and looking at him was
+amazed at his beauty and said to him, "O lady, tell me who thou
+art and what is thy name and how thou camest here; for I have
+never seen thee in our palace." Still he answered not, whereat
+she was angered and, putting her hand to his bosom, found no
+breasts and would have unveiled him, that she might know who he
+was; but he said to her, "O my lady, I am thy slave and I cast
+myself on thy protection: do thou protect me." She said, "No harm
+shall come to thee, but tell me who thou art and who brought thee
+into this my apartment." Answered he, "O Princess, I am known as
+Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a of Cufa and I have ventured my life for the
+sake of my slave-girl, Naomi, whom Al-Hajjaj took by sleight and
+sent hither." Said she, "Fear not: no harm shall befall thee;"
+then, calling her maid, she said to her, "Go to Naomi's chamber
+and send her to me." Meanwhile the old woman went to Naomi's
+bedroom and said to her, "Hath thy lord come to thee?" "No, by
+Allah!" answered Naomi, and the other said, "Belike he hath gone
+astray and entered some chamber other than thine and lost
+himself." So Naomi cried, "There is no Majesty and there is no
+Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Our last hour is
+come and we are all lost." And while they were sitting and sadly
+enough pondering their case, in came the Princess's handmaid and
+saluting Naomi said to her, "My lady biddeth thee to her
+banquet." "I hear and I obey," answered the damsel and the old
+woman said, "Belike thy lord is with the Caliph's sister and the
+veil of secrecy hath been rent." So Naomi at once sprang up and
+betook herself to the Princess, who said to her, "Here is thy
+lord sitting with me; it seemeth he hath mistaken the place; but,
+please Allah, neither thou nor he has any cause for fear." When
+Naomi heard these words, she took heart of grace and went up to
+Ni'amah; and her lord when he saw her.--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
+Ni'amah saw his handmaid Naomi, he rose to meet her and strained
+her to his bosom and both fell to the ground fainting. As soon as
+they came to themselves, the Caliph's sister said to them, "Sit
+ye down and take we counsel for your deliverance from this your
+strait." And they answered, "O our lady, we hear and obey: it is
+thine to command." Quoth she, "By Allah, no harm shall befall you
+from us!" Then she bade her handmaids bring meat and drink which
+was done, and they sat down and ate till they had enough, after
+which they sat drinking. Then the cup went round amongst them and
+their cares ceased from them; but Ni'amah said, "Would I knew how
+this will end." The Princess asked, "O Ni'amah, dost thou love
+thy slave Naomi?"; and he answered, "Of a truth it is my passion
+for her which hath brought me to this state of peril for my
+life." Then said she to the damsel, "O Naomi, dost thou love thy
+lord Ni'amah?"; and she replied, "O my lady, it is the love of
+him which hath wasted my body and brought me to evil case."
+Rejoined the Princess, "By Allah, since ye love each other thus,
+may he not be who would part you! Be of good cheer and keep your
+eyes cool and clear." At this they both rejoiced and Naomi called
+for a lute and, when they brought it, she took it and tuned it
+and played a lively measure which enchanted the hearers, and
+after the prelude sang these couplets,
+
+"When the slanderers cared but to part us twain, * We owed no
+     blood-debt could raise their ire
+And they poured in our ears all the din of war, * And aid failed
+     and friends, when my want was dire:
+I fought them hard with mine eyes and tears; * With breath and
+     sword, with the stream and fire!"
+
+Then Naomi gave the lute to her master, Ni'amah, saying, "Sing
+thou to us some verse." So he took it and playing a lively
+measure, intoned these couplets,
+
+"Full Moon if unfreckled would favour thee, * And Sun uneclipsed
+     would reflect thy blee:
+I wonder (but love is of wonders full * And ardour and passion
+     and ecstasy)
+How short the way to my love I fare, * Which, from her faring, so
+     long I see."
+
+Now when he had made an end of his song, Naomi filled the cup and
+gave it to him, and he took it and drank it off; then she filled
+again and gave the cup to the Caliph's sister who also emptied
+it; after which the Princess in her turn took the lute and
+tightened the strings and tuned it and sang these two couplets,
+
+"Grief, cark and care in my heart reside, * And the fires of love
+     in my breast
+My wasted form to all eyes shows clear; * For Desire my body hath
+     mortified."
+
+Then she filled the cup and gave it to Naomi, who drank it off
+and taking the lute, sang these two couplets,
+
+"O to whom I gave soul which thou tortures", * And in vain I'd
+     recover from fair Unfaith
+Do grant thy favours my care to cure * Ere I die, for this be my
+     latest breath."
+
+And they ceased not to sing verses and drink to the sweet sound
+of the strings, full of mirth and merriment and joy and jollity
+till behold! in came the Commander of the Faithful. Now when they
+saw him, they rose and kissed the ground before him; and he,
+seeing Naomi with the lute in her hand, said to her, "O Naomi,
+praised be Allah who hath done away from thee sickness and
+suffering!" Then he looked at Ni'amah (who was still disguised as
+a woman), and said to the Princess, "O my sister, what damsel is
+this by Naomi's side?" She replied, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+thou hast here a handmaid, one of thy concubines and the bosom
+friend of Naomi who will neither eat nor drink without her." And
+she repeated the words of the poet,
+
+"Two contraries, and both concur in opposite charms, * And charms
+     so contraried by contrast lovelier show."
+
+Quoth the Caliph, "By Allah Omnipotent, verily she is as handsome
+as Naomi, and to-morrow I will appoint her a separate chamber
+beside that of her friend and send her furniture and stuffs and
+all that befitteth her, in honour of Naomi." Then the Princess
+called for food and set it before her brother, who ate and made
+himself at home in their place and company. Then filling a cup he
+signed to Naomi to sing; so she took the lute, after draining two
+of them and sang these two couplets,
+
+"Since my toper-friend in my hand hath given * Three cups that
+     brim and bubble, e'er since
+I've trailed my skirts throughout night for pride * As tho',
+     Prince of the Faithful, I were thy Prince!"
+
+The Prince of True Believers was delighted and filling another
+cup, gave it to Naomi and bade her sing again; so after draining
+the cup and sweeping the strings, she sang as follows:--
+
+"O most noble of men in this time and stound, * Of whom none may
+     boast he is equal-found!
+O matchless in greatness of soul and gifts, * O thou Chief, O
+     thou King amongst all renowned:
+Lord, who dealest large boons to the Lords of Earth, * Whom thou
+     vexest not nor dost hold them bound
+The Lord preserve thee, and spoil thy foes, * And ne'er cease thy
+     lot with good Fortune crowned!"
+
+Now when the Caliph heard these couplets, he exclaimed, "By
+Allah, good! By Allah, excellent! Verily the Lord hath been
+copious[FN#19] to thee, O Naomi! How clever is thy tongue and how
+dear is thy speech!" And they ceased not their mirth and good
+cheer till midnight, when the Caliph's sister said to him, "Give
+ear, O Commander of the Faithful to a tale I have read in books
+of a certain man of rank." "And what is this tale?" quoth he.
+Quoth she "Know, O Prince of the Faithful that there lived once
+in the city of Cufa a youth called Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a, and
+he had a slave-girl whom he loved and who loved him. They had
+been reared in one bed; but when they grew up and mutual-love get
+hold of them, Fortune smote them with her calamities and Time,
+the tyrant, brought upon them his adversity and decreed
+separation unto them. Thereupon designing and slanderous folk
+enticed her by sleight forth of his house and, stealing her away
+from his home, sold her to one of the Kings for ten thousand
+dinars. Now the girl loved her lord even as he loved her, so he
+left kith and kin and house and home and the gifts of fortune,
+and set out to search for her and when she was found he devised
+means to gain access to her".--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+Caliph's sister said, "And Ni'amah ceased not absenting himself
+from his kith and kin and patrial-stead, that he might gain
+access to his handmaid, and he incurred every peril and lavished
+his life till he gained access to her, and her name was Naomi,
+like this slave-girl. But the interview was short; they had not
+been long in company when in came the King, who had bought her of
+her kidnapper, and hastily ordered them to be slain, without
+doing justice by his own soul and delaying to enquire into the
+matter before the command was carried out. Now what sayest thou,
+O Commander of the Faithful, of this King's wrongous conduct?"
+Answered the Caliph; "This was indeed a strange thing: it behoved
+that King to pardon when he had the power to punish; and he ought
+to have regarded three things in their favour. The first was that
+they loved each other; the second that they were in his house and
+in his grasp; and the third that it befitteth a King to be
+deliberate in judging and ordering between folk, and how much
+more so in cases where he himself is concerned! Wherefore this
+King thus did an unkingly deed." Then said his sister, "O my
+brother, by the King of the heavens and the earth, I conjure
+thee, bid Naomi sing and hearken to that she shall sing!" So he
+said "O Naomi, sing to me;" whereupon she played a lively measure
+and sang these couplets,
+
+"Beguiled us Fortune who her guile displays, * Smiting the heart,
+     bequeathing thoughts that craze
+And parting lovers whom she made to meet, * Till tears in torrent
+     either cheek displays:
+They were and I was and my life was glad, * While Fortune often
+     joyed to join our ways;
+I will pour tear flood, will rain gouts of blood, * Thy loss
+     bemoaning through the nights and days!"
+
+Now when the Commander of the Faithful heard this verse, he was
+moved to great delight and his sister said to him, "O my brother,
+whoso decideth in aught against himself, him it behoveth to abide
+by it and do according to his word; and thou hast judged against
+thyself by this judgement." Then said she, "O Ni'amah, stand up
+and do thou likewise up stand, O Naomi!" So they stood up and she
+continued, "O Prince of True Believers, she who standeth before
+thee is Naomi the stolen, whom Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi
+kidnapped and sent to thee, falsely pretending in his letter to
+thee that he had bought her for ten thousand gold pieces. And
+this other who standeth before thee is her lord, Ni'amah, son of
+Al-Rabi'a; and I beseech thee, by the honour of thy pious
+forebears and by Hamzah and Ukayl and Abbas,[FN#20] to pardon
+them both and overlook their offence and bestow them one on the
+other, that thou mayst win rich reward in the next world of thy
+just dealing with them; for they are under thy hand and verily
+they have eaten of thy meat and drunken of thy drink; and behold,
+I make intercession for them and beg of thee the boon of their
+blood." Thereupon quoth the Caliph, "Thou speakest sooth: I did
+indeed give judgement as thou sayst, and I am not one to pass
+sentence and to revoke it." Then said he, "O Naomi, say, be this
+thy lord?" And she answered "Even so, O Commander of the
+Faithful." Then quoth he, "No harm shall befall you, I give you
+each to other;" adding to the young man, "O Ni'amah, who told
+thee where she was and taught thee how to get at this place?" He
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, hearken to my tale and
+give ear to my history; for, by the virtue of thy pious
+forefathers, I will hide nothing from thee!" And he told him all
+that had passed between himself and the Persian physician and the
+old nurse, and how she had brought him into the palace and he had
+mistaken the doors; whereat the Caliph wondered with exceeding
+wonder and said, "Fetch me the Persian." So they brought him into
+the presence and he was made one of his chief officers. Moreover
+the King bestowed on him robes of honour and ordered him a
+handsome present, saying, "When a man hath shown like this man
+such artful management, it behoveth us to make him one of our
+chief officers." The Caliph also loaded Ni'amah and Naomi with
+gifts and honours and rewarded the old nurse; and they abode with
+him seven days in joy and content and all delight of life, when
+Ni'amah craved leave to return to Cufa with his slave-girl. The
+Caliph gave them permission and they departed and arrived in due
+course at Cufa, where Ni'amah was restored to his father and
+mother, and they abode in all the joys and jollities of life,
+till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of societies. Now when Amjad and As'ad heard from Bahram
+this story, they marvelled with extreme marvel and said, "By
+Allah, this is indeed a rare tale!"--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad
+and As'ad heard this story from Bahram the Magian who had become
+a Moslem, they marvelled with extreme marvel and thus passed that
+night; and when the next morning dawned, they mounted and riding
+to the palace, sought an audience of the King who granted it and
+received them with high honour. Now as they were sitting together
+talking, of a sudden they heard the towns folk crying aloud and
+shouting to one another and calling for help; and the Chamberlain
+came in to the King and said to him, "Some King hath encamped
+before the city, he and his host, with arms and weapons
+displayed, and we know not their object and aim." The King took
+counsel with his Wazir Amjad and his brother As'ad; and Amjad
+said, "I will go out to him and learn the cause of his coming."
+So he took horse and, riding forth from the city, repaired to the
+stranger's camp, where he found the King and with him a mighty
+many and mounted Mamelukes. When the guards saw him, they knew
+him for an envoy from the King of the city; so they took him and
+brought him before their Sultan. Then Amjad kissed the ground
+before him; but lo! the King was a Queen, who was veiled with a
+mouth-veil, and she said to Amjad, "Know that I have no design on
+this your city and that I am come hither only in quest of a
+beardless slave of mine, whom if I find with you, I will do you
+no harm, but if I find him not, then shall there befall sore
+onslaught between me and you." Asked Amjad, "O Queen, what like
+is thy slave and what is his story and what may be his name?"
+Said she, "His name is As'ad and my name is Marjanah, and this
+slave came to my town in company of Bahram, a Magian, who refused
+to sell him to me; so I took him by force, but his master fell
+upon him by night and bore him away by stealth and he is of such
+and such a favour." When Amjad heard that, he knew it was indeed
+his brother As'ad whom she sought and said to her, "O Queen of
+the age, Alhamdolillah, praised be Allah, who hath brought us
+relief! Verily this slave whom thou seekest is my brother." Then
+he told her their story and all that had befallen them in the
+land of exile, and acquainted her with the cause of their
+departure from the Islands of Ebony, whereat she marvelled and
+rejoiced to have found As'ad. So she bestowed a dress of honour
+upon Amjad and he returned forthright to the King and told him
+what had passed, at which they all rejoiced and the King went
+forth with Amjad and As'ad to meet Queen Marjanah. When they were
+admitted to her presence and sat down to converse with her and
+were thus pleasantly engaged, behold, a dust cloud rose and flew
+and grew, till it walled the view. And after a while it lifted
+and showed beneath it an army dight for victory, in numbers like
+the swelling sea, armed and armoured cap-à-pie who, making for
+the city, encompassed it around as the ring encompasseth the
+little finger;[FN#21] and a bared brand was in every hand. When
+Amjad and As'ad saw this, they exclaimed, "Verily to Allah we
+belong and to Him we shall return! What is this mighty host?
+Doubtless, these are enemies, and except we agree with this Queen
+Marjanah to fight them, they will take the town from us and slay
+us. There is no resource for us but to go out to them and see who
+they are." So Amjad arose and took horse and passed through the
+city gate to Queen Marjanah's camp; but when he reached the
+approaching army he found it to be that of his grand sire, King
+Ghayur, father of his mother Queen Budur.--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad
+reached the approaching host, he found it to be that of his
+grandsire, Lord of the Isles and the Seas and the Seven Castles;
+and when he went into the presence, he kissed the ground between
+his hands and delivered to him the message. Quoth the King, "My
+name is King Ghayur and I come wayfaring in quest of my daughter
+Budur whom fortune hath taken from me, for she left me and
+returned not to me, nor have I heard any tidings of her or of her
+husband Kamar al-Zaman. Have ye any news of them?" When Amjad
+heard this, he hung his head towards the ground for a while in
+thought till he felt assured that this King was none other than
+his grandfather, his mother's father; where upon he raised his
+head and, kissing ground before him, told him that he was the son
+of his daughter Budur; on hearing which Ghayur threw himself upon
+him and they both fell a weeping.[FN#22] Then said Ghayur,
+"Praised be Allah, O my son, for safety, since I have
+foregathered with thee," and Amjad told him that his daughter
+Budur was safe and sound, and her husband Kamar al-Zaman
+likewise, and acquainted him that both abode in a city called the
+City of Ebony. Moreover, he related to him how his father, being
+wroth with him and his brother, had commended that both be put to
+death, but that his treasurer had taken pity on them and let them
+go with their lives. Quoth King Ghayur, "I will go back with thee
+and thy brother to your father and make your peace with him." So
+Amjad kissed the ground before him in huge delight and the King
+bestowed a dress of honour upon him, after which he returned,
+smiling, to the King of the City of the Magians and told him what
+he had learnt from King Ghayur, whereat he wondered with
+exceeding wonder. Then he despatched guest-gifts of sheep and
+horses and camels and forage and so forth to King Ghayur, and did
+the like by Queen Marjanah; and both of them told her what
+chanced; whereupon quoth she, "I too will accompany you with my
+troops and will do my endeavour to make this peace." Meanwhile
+behold, there arose another dust cloud and flew and grew till it
+walled the view and blackened the day's bright hue; and under it
+they heard shouts and cries and neighing of steeds and beheld
+sword glance and the glint of levelled lance. When this new host
+drew near the city and saw the two other armies, they beat their
+drums and the King of the Magians exclaimed, "This is indeed
+naught but a blessed day. Praised be Allah who hath made us of
+accord with these two armies; and if it be His will, He shall
+give us peace with yon other as well." Then said he to Amjad and
+As'ad, "Fare forth and fetch us news of these troops, for they
+are a mighty host, never saw I a mightier." So they opened the
+city gates, which the King had shut for fear of the beleaguering
+armies, and Amjad and As'ad went forth and, coming to the new
+host, found that it was indeed a mighty many. But as soon as they
+came to it behold, they knew that it was the army of the King of
+the Ebony Islands, wherein was their father, King Kamar al-Zaman
+in person. Now when they looked upon him, they kissed ground and
+wept; but, when he beheld them, he threw himself upon them
+weeping, with sore weeping, and strained them to his breast for a
+full hour. Then he excused himself to them and told them what
+desolation he had suffered for their loss and exile; and they
+acquainted him with King Ghayur's arrival, whereupon he mounted
+with his chief officers and taking with him his two sons,
+proceeded to that King's camp. As they drew near, one of the
+Princes rode forward and informed King Ghayur of Kamar al-Zaman's
+coming, whereupon he came out to meet him and they joined
+company, marvelling at these things and how they had chanced to
+foregather in that place. Then the townsfolk made them banquets
+of all manner of meats and sweetmeats and presented to them
+horses and camels and fodder and other guest-gifts and all that
+the troops needed. And while this was doing, behold, yet another
+cloud of dust arose and flew till it walled the view, whilst
+earth trembled with the tramp of steed and tabors sounded like
+stormy winds. After a while, the dust lifted and discovered an
+army clad in coats of mail and armed cap-à-pie; but all were in
+black garb, and in their midst rode a very old man whose beard
+flowed down over his breast and he also was clad in black. When
+the King of the city and the city folk saw this great host, he
+said to the other Kings, "Praised be Allah by whose omnipotent
+command ye are met here, all in one day, and have proved all
+known one to the other! But what vast and victorious army is this
+which hemmeth in the whole land like a wall?" They answered,
+"Have no fear of them; we are three Kings, each with a great
+army, and if they be enemies, we will join thee in doing battle
+with them, were they three times as many as they now are."
+Meanwhile, up came an envoy from the approaching host, making for
+the city. So they brought him before Kamar al-Zaman, King Ghayur,
+Queen Marjanah and the King of the city; and he kissed the ground
+and said, "My liege lord cometh from Persia-land; for many years
+ago he lost his son and he is seeking him in all countries. If he
+find him with you, well and good; but if he find him not, there
+will be war between him and you and he will waste your city."
+Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, "It shall not come to that; but how is
+thy master called in Ajam land?" Answered the envoy, "He is
+called King Shahriman, lord of the Khálidan Islands; and he hath
+levied these troops in the lands traversed by him, whilst seeking
+his son." No-vv when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he cried
+out with a great cry and fell down in a fainting fit which lasted
+a long while; and anon coming to himself he wept bitter tears and
+said to Amjad and As'ad, "Go ye, O my sons, with the herald,
+salute your grandfather and my father, King Shahriman and give
+him glad tidings of me, for he mourneth my loss and even to the
+present time he weareth black raiment for my sake." Then he told
+the other Kings all that had befallen him in the days of his
+youth, at which they wondered and, going down with him from the
+city, repaired to his father, whom he saluted, and they embraced
+and fell to the ground senseless for excess of joy. And when they
+revived after a while, Kamar al-Zaman acquainted his father with
+all his adventures and the other Kings saluted Shahriman. Then,
+after having married Marjanah to As'ad, they sent her back to her
+kingdom, charging her not to cease correspondence with them; so
+she took leave and went her way. Moreover they married Amjad to
+Bostan, Bahram's daughter, and they all set out for the City of
+Ebony. And when they arrived there, Kamar al-Zaman went in to his
+father-in-law, King Armanus, and told him all that had befallen
+him and how he had found his sons; whereat Armanus rejoiced and
+gave him joy of his safe return. Then King Ghayur went in to his
+daughter, Queen Budur,[FN#23] and saluted her and quenched his
+longing for her company, and they all abode a full month's space
+in the City of Ebony; after which the King and his daughter
+returned to their own country.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say,
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Ghayur
+set out with his daughter and his host for his own land, and they
+took with them Amjad and returned home by easy marches. And when
+Ghayur was settled again in his kingdom, he made his grandson
+King in his stead; and as to Kamar al-Zaman he also made As'ad
+king in his room over the capital of the Ebony Islands, with the
+consent of his grandfather, King Armanus and set out himself,
+with his father, King Shahriman, till the two made the Islands of
+Khálidan. Then the lieges decorated the city in their honour and
+they ceased not to beat the drums for glad tidings a whole month;
+nor did Kamar al-Zaman leave to govern in his father's place,
+till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of societies; and Allah knoweth all things! Quoth King
+Shahryar, "O Shahrazad, this is indeed a most wonderful tale!"
+And she answered, "O King, it is not more wonderful than that of
+
+
+
+
+                ALA AL-DIN ABU AL-SHAMAT.[FN#24]
+
+
+
+"What is that?" asked he, and she said, It hath reached me that
+there lived, in times of yore and years and ages long gone
+before, a merchant of Cairo[FN#25] named Shams al-Din, who was of
+the best and truest spoken of the traders of the city; and he had
+eunuchs and servants and negro-slaves and handmaids and Mame
+lukes and great store of money. Moreover, he was Consul[FN#26] of
+the Merchants of Cairo and owned a wife, whom he loved and who
+loved him; except that he had lived with her forty years, yet had
+not been blessed with a son or even a daughter. One day, as he
+sat in his shop, he noted that the merchants, each and every, had
+a son or two sons or more sitting in their shops like their
+sires. Now the day being Friday, he entered the Hammam-bath and
+made the total-ablution: after which he came out and took the
+barber's glass and looked in it, saying, "I testify that there is
+no god but the God and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger
+of God!" Then he considered his beard and, seeing that the white
+hairs in it covered the black, bethought himself that hoariness
+is the harbinger of death. Now his wife knew the time of his
+coming home and had washed and made herself ready for him, so
+when he came in to her, she said, "Good evening," but he replied
+"I see no good." Then she called to the handmaid, "Spread the
+supper-tray;" and when this was done quoth she to her husband
+"Sup, O my lord." Quoth he, "I will eat nothing," and pushing the
+tray away with his foot, turned his back upon her. She asked,
+"Why dost thou thus? and what hath vexed thee?"; and he answered,
+"Thou art the cause of my vexation."--And Shahrazed perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
+
+        When it was the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams
+al-Din said to his wife, "Thou art the cause of my vexation." She
+asked, "Wherefore?" and he answered, "When I opened my shop this
+morning, I saw that each and every of the merchants had with him
+a son or two sons or more, sitting in their shops like their
+fathers; and I said to myself:--He who took thy sire will not
+spare thee. Now the night I first visited thee,[FN#27] thou
+madest me swear that I would never take a second wife over thee
+nor a concubine, Abyssinian or Greek or handmaid of other race;
+nor would lie a single night away from thee: and behold, thou art
+barren, and having thee is like boring into the rock." Rejoined
+she, "Allah is my witness that the fault lies with thee, for that
+thy seed is thin." He asked, "And what showeth the man whose
+semen is thin?" And she answered, "He cannot get women with
+child, nor beget children." Quoth he, "What thickeneth the seed?
+tell me and I will buy it: haply, it will thicken mine." Quoth
+she, "Enquire for it of the druggists." So he slept with her that
+night and arose on the morrow, repenting of having spoken angrily
+to her; and she also regretted her cross words. Then he went to
+the market and, finding a druggist, saluted him; and when his
+salutation was returned said to him, "Say, hast thou with thee a
+seed-thickener?" He replied, "I had it, but am out of it: enquire
+thou of my neighbour." Then Shams al-Din made the round till he
+had asked every one, but they all laughed at him, and presently
+he returned to his shop and sat down, sore troubled. Now there
+was in the bazar a man who was Deputy Syndic of the brokers and
+was given to the use of opium and electuary and green
+hashish.[FN#28] He was called Shaykh Mohammed Samsam and being
+poor he used to wish Shams al-Din good morrow every day. So he
+came to him according to his custom and saluted him. The merchant
+returned his salute, but in ill-temper, and the other, seeing him
+vexed, said, "O my lord, what hath crossed thee?" Thereupon Shams
+al-Din told him all that occurred between himself and his wife,
+adding, "These forty years have I been married to her yet hath
+she borne me neither son nor daughter; and they say:--The cause
+of thy failure to get her with child is the thinness of thy seed;
+so I have been seeking a some thing wherewith to thicken my semen
+but found it not." Quoth Shaykh Mohammed, "O my lord, I have a
+seed-thickener, but what wilt thou say to him who causeth thy
+wife to conceive by thee after these forty years have passed?"
+Answered the merchant, "If thou do this, I will work thy
+weal--and reward thee." "Then give me a dinar," rejoined the
+broker, and Shams al-Din said, "Take these two dinars." He took
+them and said, "Give me also yonder big bowl of porcelain." So he
+gave it to him and the broker betook himself to a hashish-seller,
+of whom he bought two ounces of concentrated Roumi opium and
+equal-parts of Chinese cubebs, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms,
+ginger, white pepper and mountain skink[FN#29]; and, pounding
+them all together, boiled them in sweet olive-oil; after which he
+added three ounces of male frankincense in fragments and a cupful
+of coriander-seed; and, macerating the whole, made it into an
+electuary with Roumi bee honey. Then he put the confection in the
+bowl and carried it to the merchant, to whom he delivered it,
+saying, "Here is the seed-thickener, and the manner of using it
+is this. Take of my electuary with a spoon after supping, and
+wash it down with a sherbet made of rose conserve; but first sup
+off mutton and house pigeon plentifully seasoned and hotly
+spiced." So the merchant bought all this and sent the meat and
+pigeons to his wife, saying, "Dress them deftly and lay up the
+seed-thickener until I want it and call for it." She did his
+bidding and, when she served up the meats, he ate the evening
+meal, after which he called for the bowl and ate of the
+electuary. It pleased him well, so he ate the rest and knew his
+wife. That very night she conceived by him and, after three
+months, her courses ceased, no blood came from her and she knew
+that she was with child. When the days of her pregnancy were
+accomplished, the pangs of labour took her and they raised loud
+lullilooings and cries of joy. The midwife delivered her with
+difficulty, by pronouncing over the boy at his birth the names of
+Mohammed and Ali, and said, "Allah is Most Great!"; and she
+called in his ear the call to prayer. Then she wrapped him up and
+passed him to his mother, who took him and gave him the breast;
+and he sucked and was full and slept. The midwife abode with them
+three days, till they had made the mothering-cakes of sugared
+bread and sweetmeats; and they distributed them on the seventh
+day. Then they sprinkled salt against the evil eye and the
+merchant, going in to his wife, gave her joy of her safe
+delivery, and said, "Where is Allah's deposit?" So they brought
+him a babe of surpassing beauty, the handiwork of the Orderer who
+is ever present and, though he was but seven days old, those who
+saw him would have deemed him a yearling child. So the merchant
+looked on his face and, seeing it like a shining full moon, with
+moles on either cheek, said he to his wife, "What hast thou named
+him?" Answered she, "If it were a girl I had named her; but this
+is a boy, so none shall name him but thou." Now the people of
+that time used to name their children by omens; and, whilst the
+merchant and his wife were taking counsel of the name, behold,
+one said to his friend, "Ho my lord, Ala al-Din!" So the merchant
+said, "We will call him Ala al-Din Abú al-Shámát."[FN#30] Then he
+committed the child to the nurse, and he drank milk two years,
+after which they weaned him and he grew up and throve and walked
+upon the floor. When he came to seven years old, they put him in
+a chamber under a trap-door, for fear of the evil eye, and his
+father said, "He shall not come out, till his beard grow." So he
+gave him in charge to a handmaid and a blackamoor; the girl
+dressed him his meals and the slave carried them to him. Then his
+father circumcised him and made him a great feast; after which he
+brought him a doctor of the law, who taught him to write and read
+and repeat the Koran, and other arts and sciences, till he became
+a good scholar and an accomplished. One day it so came to pass
+that the slave, after bringing him the tray of food went away and
+left the trap door open: so Ala al-Din came forth from the vault
+and went in to his mother, with whom was a company of women of
+rank. As they sat talking, behold, in came upon them the youth as
+he were a white slave drunken[FN#31] for the excess of his
+beauty; and when they saw him, they veiled their faces and said
+to his mother, "Allah requite thee, O such an one! How canst thou
+let this strange Mameluke in upon us? Knowest thou not that
+modesty is a point of the Faith?" She replied, "Pronounce Allah's
+name[FN#32] and cry Bismillah! this is my son, the fruit of my
+vitals and the heir of Consul Shams al-Din, the child of the
+nurse and the collar and the crust and the crumb."[FN#33] Quoth
+they, "Never in our days knew we that thou hadst a son"; and
+quoth she, "Verily his father feared for him the evil eye and
+reared him in an under-ground chamber;"--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala
+al-Din's mother said to her lady-friends, "Verily his father
+feared for him the evil eye and reared him in an underground
+chamber; and haply the slave forgot to shut the door and he fared
+forth; but we did not mean that he should come out, before his
+beard was grown." The women gave her joy of him, and the youth
+went out from them into the court yard where he seated himself in
+the open sitting room; and behold, in came the slaves with his
+father's she mule, and he said to them, "Whence cometh this
+mule?" Quoth they, "We escorted thy father when riding her to the
+shop, and we have brought her back." He asked, "What may be my
+father's trade?"; and they answered, "Thy father is Consul of the
+merchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the
+Arabs." Then he went in to his mother and said to her, "O my
+mother, what is my father's trade?" Said she, "O my son, thy sire
+is a merchant and Consul of the merchants in the land of Egypt
+and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His slaves consult him not
+in selling aught whose price is less than one thousand gold
+pieces, but merchandise worth him an hundred and less they sell
+at their own discretion; nor cloth any merchandise whatever,
+little or much, leave the country without passing through his
+hands and he disposeth of it as he pleaseth; nor is a bale packed
+and sent abroad amongst folk but what is under his disposal. And
+"Almighty Allah, O my son, hath given thy father monies past
+compt." He rejoined, "O my mother, praised be Allah, that I am
+son of the Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs and that my father is
+Consul of the merchants! But why, O my mother, do ye put me in
+the underground chamber and leave me prisoner there?" Quoth she,
+"O my son, we imprisoned thee not save for fear of folks' eyes:
+'the evil eye is a truth,'[FN#34] and most of those in their long
+homes are its victims." Quoth he, "O my mother, and where is a
+refuge-place against Fate? Verily care never made Destiny
+forbear; nor is there flight from what is written for every
+wight. He who took my grandfather will not spare myself nor my
+father; for, though he live to day he shall not live tomorrow.
+And when my father dieth and I come forth and say, 'I am Ala
+al-Din, son of Shams al-Din the merchant', none of the people
+will believe me, but men of years and standing will say, 'In our
+lives never saw we a son or a daughter of Shams al-Din.' Then the
+public Treasury will come down and take my father's estate, and
+Allah have mercy on him who said, 'The noble dieth and his wealth
+passeth away, and the meanest of men take his women.' Therefore,
+O my mother, speak thou to my father, that he carry me with him
+to the bazar and open for me a shop; so may I sit there with my
+merchandise, and teach me to buy and sell and take and give."
+Answered his mother, "O my son, as soon as thy sire returneth I
+will tell him this." So when the merchant came home, he found his
+son Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat sitting with his mother and said to
+her, "Why hast thou brought him forth of the underground
+chamber?" She replied, "O son of my uncle, it was not I that
+brought him out; but the servants forgot to shut the door and
+left it open; so, as I sat with a company of women of rank,
+behold, he came forth and walked in to me." Then she went on to
+repeat to him his son's words; so he said, "O my son, to-morrow,
+Inshallah! I will take thee with me to the bazar; but, my boy,
+sitting in markets and shops demandeth good manners and courteous
+carriage in all conditions." Ala al-Din passed the night
+rejoicing in his father's promise and, when the morrow came, the
+merchant carried him to the Hammam and clad him in a suit worth a
+mint of money. As soon as they had broken their fast and drunk
+their sherbets, Shams al-Din mounted his she mule and putting his
+son upon another, rode to the market, followed by his boy. But
+when the market folk saw their Consul making towards them,
+foregoing a youth as he were a slice of the full moon on the
+fourteenth night, they said, one to other, "See thou yonder boy
+behind the Consul of the merchants; verily, we thought well of
+him, but he is, like the leek, gray of head and green at
+heart."[FN#35] And Shaykh Mohammed Samsam, Deputy Syndic of the
+market, the man before mentioned, said to the dealers, "O
+merchants, we will not keep the like of him for our Shaykh; no,
+never!" Now it was the custom anent the Consul when he came from
+his house of a morning and sat down in his shop, for the Deputy
+Syndic of the market to go and recite to him and to all the
+merchants assembled around him the Fátihah or opening chapter of
+the Koran,[FN#36] after which they accosted him one by one and
+wished him good morrow and went away, each to his business place.
+But when Shams al-Din seated himself in his shop that day as
+usual, the traders came not to him as accustomed; so he called
+the Deputy and said to him, "Why come not the merchants together
+as usual?" Answered Mohammed Samsam, "I know not how to tell thee
+these troubles, for they have agreed to depose thee from the
+Shaykh ship of the market and to recite the Fatihah to thee no
+more." Asked Shams al-Din, "What may be their reason?"; and asked
+the Deputy, "What boy is this that sitteth by thy side and thou a
+man of years and chief of the merchants? Is this lad a Mameluke
+or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think thou lovest him and inclines
+lewdly to the boy." Thereupon the Consul cried out at him,
+saying, "Silence, Allah curse thee, genus and species! This is my
+son." Rejoined the Deputy, "Never in our born days have we seen
+thee with a son," and Shams al-Din answered, "When thou gavest me
+the seed-thickener, my wife conceived and bare this youth; but I
+reared him in a souterrain for fear of the evil eye, nor was it
+my purpose that he should come forth, till he could take his
+beard in his hand.[FN#37] However, his mother would not agree to
+this, and he on his part begged I would stock him a shop and
+teach him to sell and buy." So the Deputy Syndic returned to the
+other traders and acquainted them with the truth of the case,
+whereupon they all arose to accompany him; and, going in a body
+to Shams al-Din's shop, stood before him and recited the "Opener"
+of the Koran; after which they gave him joy of his son and said
+to him, "The Lord prosper root and branch! But even the poorest
+of us, when son or daughter is born to him, needs must cook a
+pan-full of custard[FN#38] and bid his friends and kith and kin;
+yet hast thou not done this." Quoth he, "This I owe you; be our
+meeting in the garden."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+
+Her sister Dunyazad said to her, "Pray continue thy story for us,
+as thou be awake and not inclined to sleep." Quoth she:--With
+pleasure and goodwill: it hath reached me, O auspicious King,
+that the Consul of the merchants promised them a banquet and said
+"Be our meeting in the garden." So when morning dawned he
+despatched the carpet layer to the saloon of the garden-pavilion
+and bade him furnish the two. Moreover, he sent thither all that
+was needful for cooking, such as sheep and clarified butter and
+so forth, according to the requirements of the case; and spread
+two tables, one in the pavilion and another in the saloon. Then
+Shams al-Din and his boy girded themselves, and he said to Ala
+al-Din "O my son, whenas a greybeard entereth, I will meet him
+and seat him at the table in the pavilion; and do thou, in like
+manner, receive the beardless youths and seat them at the table
+in the saloon." He asked, "O my father, why dost thou spread two
+tables, one for men and another for youths?"; and he answered, "O
+my son, the beardless is ashamed to eat with the bearded." And
+his son thought this his answer full and sufficient. So when the
+merchants arrived, Shams al-Din received the men and seated them
+in the pavilion, whilst Ala al-Din received the youths and seated
+them in the saloon. Then the food was set on and the guests ate
+and drank and made merry and sat over their wine, whilst the
+attendants perfumed them with the smoke of scented woods, and the
+elders fell to conversing of matters of science and traditions of
+the Prophet. Now there was amongst them a merchant called Mahmúd
+of Balkh, a professing Moslem but at heart a Magian, a man of
+lewd and mischievous life who loved boys. And when he saw Ala
+al-Din from whose father he used to buy stuffs and merchandise,
+one sight of his face sent him a thousand sighs and Satan dangled
+the jewel before his eyes, so that he was taken with love-longing
+and desire and affection and his heart was filled with mad
+passion for him. Presently he arose and made for the youths, who
+stood up to receive him; and at this moment Ala Al-Din being
+taken with an urgent call of Nature, withdrew to make water;
+whereupon Mahmud turned to the other youths and said to them, "If
+ye will incline Ala al-Din's mind to journeying with me, I will
+give each of you a dress worth a power of money." Then he
+returned from them to the men's party; and, as the youths were
+sitting, Ala al-Din suddenly came back, when all rose to receive
+him and seated him in the place of highest honour. Presently, one
+of them said to his neighbour, "O my lord Hasan, tell me whence
+came to thee the capital--whereon thou trades"." He replied,
+"When I grew up and came to man's estate, I said to my sire, 'O
+my father, give me merchandise.' Quoth he, 'O my son, I have none
+by me; but go thou to some merchant and take of him money and
+traffic with it; and so learn to buy and sell, give and take.' So
+I went to one of the traders and borrowed of him a thousand
+dinars, wherewith I bought stuffs and carrying them to Damascus,
+sold them there at a profit of two for one. Then I bought Syrian
+stuffs and carrying them to Aleppo, made a similar gain of them;
+after which I bought stuffs of Aleppo and repaired with them to
+Baghdad, where I sold them with like result, two for one; nor did
+I cease trading upon my capital till I was worth nigh ten
+thousand ducats." Then each of the others told his friend some
+such tale, till it came to Ala al-Din's turn to speak, when they
+said to him, "And thou, O my lord Ala al-Din?" Quoth he, "I was
+brought up in a chamber underground and came forth from it only
+this week; and I do but go to the shop and return home from the
+shop." They remarked, "Thou art used to wone at home and wottest
+not the joys of travel, for travel is for men only." He replied,
+"I reck not of voyaging and wayfaring cloth not tempt me."
+Whereupon quoth one to the other, "This one is like the fish:
+when he leaveth the water he dieth." Then they said to him, "O
+Ala al Din, the glory of the sons of the merchants is not but in
+travel for the sake of gain." Their talk angered him; so he left
+them weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted and mounting his mule
+returned home. Now his mother saw him in tears and in bad temper
+and asked him, "What hath made thee weep, O my son?"; and he
+answered, "Of a truth, all the sons of the merchants put me to
+shame and said, 'Naught is more glorious for a merchant's son
+than travel for gain and to get him gold.'"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+said to his mother, "Of a truth all the sons of the merchants put
+me to shame and said, 'Naught is more honourable for a merchant's
+son than travel for gain.'" "O my son, hast thou a mind to
+travel?" "Even so!" "And whither wilt thou go?" "To the city of
+Baghdad; for there folk make double the cost price on their
+goods." "O my son, thy father is a very rich man and, if he
+provide thee not with merchandise, I will supply it out of my own
+monies." "The best favour is that which is soonest bestowed; if
+this kindness is to be, now is the time." So she called the
+slaves and sent them for cloth packers, then, opening a store
+house, brought out ten loads of stuffs, which they made up into
+bales for him. Such was his case; but as regards his father,
+Shams al-Din, he looked about and failed to find Ala al-Din in
+the garden and enquiring after him, was told that he had mounted
+mule and gone home; so he too mounted and followed him. Now when
+he entered the house, he saw the bales ready bound and asked what
+they were; whereupon his wife told him what had chanced between
+Ala al-Din and the sons of the merchants; and he cried, "O my
+son, Allah's malison on travel and stranger-hood! Verily Allah's
+Apostle (whom the Lord bless and preserve!) hath said, 'It is of
+a man's happy fortune that he eat his daily bread in his own
+land', and it was said of the ancients, 'Leave travel, though but
+for a mile.'" Then quoth he to his son, "Say, art thou indeed
+resolved to travel and wilt thou not turn back from it?" Quoth
+the other, "There is no help for it but that I journey to Baghdad
+with merchandise, else will I doff clothes and don dervish gear
+and fare a-wandering over the world." Shams al-Din rejoined, "I
+am no penniless pauper but have great plenty of wealth;" then he
+showed him all he owned of monies and stuffs and stock-in-trade
+and observed, "With me are stuffs and merchandise befitting every
+country in the world." Then he showed him among the rest, forty
+bales ready bound, with the price, a thousand dinars, written on
+each, and said, "O my son take these forty loads, together with
+the ten which thy mother gave thee, and set out under the
+safeguard of Almighty Allah. But, O my child, I fear for thee a
+certain wood in thy way, called the Lion's Copse,[FN#39] and a
+valley highs the Vale of Dogs, for there lives are lost without
+mercy." He said, "How so, O my father?"; and he replied, "Because
+of a Badawi bandit named Ajlan." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Such is
+Allah's luck; if any share of it be mine, no harm shall hap to
+me." Then they rode to the cattle bazar, where behold, a
+cameleer[FN#40] alighted from his she mule and kissing the
+Consul's hand, said to him, "O my lord, it is long, by Allah,
+since thou hast employed us in the way of business." He replied,
+"Every time hath its fortune and its men,[FN#41] and Allah have
+truth on him who said,
+
+'And the old man crept o'er the worldly ways * So bowed, his
+     beard o'er his knees down flow'th:
+Quoth I, 'What gars thee so doubled go?' * Quoth he (as to me his
+     hands he show'th)
+'My youth is lost, in the dust it lieth; * And see, I bend me to
+     find my youth.'"[FN#42]
+
+Now when he had ended his verses, he said, "O chief of the
+caravan, it is not I who am minded to travel, but this my son."
+Quoth the cameleer, "Allah save him for thee." Then the Consul
+made a contract between Ala al-Din and the man, appointing that
+the youth should be to him as a son, and gave him into his
+charge, saying, "Take these hundred gold pieces for thy people."
+More-over he bought his son threescore mules and a lamp and a
+tomb-covering for the Sayyid Abd al-Kadir of Gílán[FN#43] and
+said to him, "O my son, while I am absent, this is thy sire in my
+stead: whatsoever he biddeth thee, do thou obey him." So saying,
+he returned home with the mules and servants and that night they
+made a Khitmah or perfection of the Koran and held a festival--in
+honour of the Shaykh Abd al-Kadir al-Jiláni. And when the morrow
+dawned, the Consul gave his son ten thousand dinars, saying, "O
+my son, when thou comest to Baghdad, if thou find stuffs easy of
+sale, sell them; but if they be dull, spend of these dinars."
+Then they loaded the mules and, taking leave of one another, all
+the wayfarers setting out on their journey, marched forth from
+the city. Now Mahmud of Balkh had made ready his own venture for
+Baghdad and had moved his bales and set up his tents without the
+walls, saying to himself, "Thou shalt not enjoy this youth but in
+the desert, where there is neither spy nor marplot to trouble
+thee." It chanced that he had in hand a thousand dinars which he
+owed to the youth's father, the balance of a business-transaction
+between them; so he went and bade farewell to the Consul, who
+charged him, "Give the thousand dinars to my son Ala al-Din;" and
+commended the lad to his care, saying, "He is as it were thy
+son." Accordingly, Ala al-Din joined company with Mahmud of
+Balkh.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+joined company with Mahmud of Balkh who, before beginning the
+march, charged the youth's cook to dress nothing for him, but
+himself provided him and his company with meat and drink. Now he
+had four houses, one in Cairo, another in Damascus, a third in
+Aleppo and a fourth in Baghdad. So they set out and ceased not
+journeying over waste and wold till they drew near Damascus when
+Mahmud sent his slave to Ala al-Din, whom he found sitting and
+reading. He went up to him and kissed his hands, and Ala al-Din
+having asked him what he wanted, he answered, "My master saluteth
+thee and craveth thy company to a banquet at his place." Quoth
+the youth, "Not till I consult my father Kamal al-Din, the
+captain of the caravan." So he asked advice of the
+Makaddam,[FN#44] who said, "Do not go." Then they left Damascus
+and journeyed on till they came to Aleppo, where Mahmud made a
+second entertainment and sent to invite Ala al-Din; but he
+consulted the Chief Cameleer who again forbade him. Then they
+marched from Aleppo and fared on, till there remained between
+them and Baghdad only a single stage. Here Mahmud prepared a
+third feast and sent to bid Ala al-Din to it: Kamal-al-Din once
+more forbade his accepting it, but he said, "I must needs go." So
+he rose and, slinging a sword over his shoulder, under his
+clothes, repaired to the tent of Mahmud of Balkh, who came to
+meet him and saluted him. Then he set before him a sumptuous
+repast and they ate and drank and washed hands. At last Mahmud
+bent towards Ala al-Din to snatch a kiss from him, but the youth
+received the kiss on the palm of his hand and said to him, "What
+wouldest thou be at?" Quoth Mahmud, "In very sooth I brought thee
+hither that I might take my pleasure with thee in this jousting
+ground, and we will comment upon the words of him who saith,
+
+'Say, canst not come to us one momentling, * Like milk of ewekin
+     or aught glistening
+And eat what liketh thee of dainty cake, * And take thy due of
+     fee in silverling,
+And bear whatso thou wilt, without mislike, * Of spanling,
+     fistling or a span long thing?'"
+
+Then Mahmud of Balkh would have laid hands on Ala al-Din to
+ravish him; but he rose and baring his brand, said to him, "Shame
+on thy gray hairs! Hast thou no fear of Allah, and He of
+exceeding awe?[FN#45] May He have mercy on him who saith,
+
+'Preserve thy hoary hairs from soil and stain, * For whitest
+     colours are the easiest stained!'"
+
+And when he ended his verses he said to Mahmud of Balkh, "Verily
+this merchandise[FN#46] is a trust from Allah and may not be
+sold. If I sold this property to other than thee for gold, I
+would sell it to thee for silver; but by Allah, O filthy villain,
+I will never again company with thee; no, never!" Then he
+returned to Kamal-Al-Din the guide and said to him, "Yonder man
+is a lewd fellow, and I will no longer consort with him nor
+suffer his company by the way." He replied, "O my son, did I not
+say to thee, 'Go not near him'? But if we part company with him,
+I fear destruction for ourselves; so let us still make one
+caravan." But Ala al-Din cried, "It may not be that I ever again
+travel with him." So he loaded his beasts and journeyed onwards,
+he and his company, till they came to a valley, where Ala al-Din
+would have halted, but the Cameleer said to him, "Do not halt
+here; rather let us fare forwards and press our pace, so haply we
+make Baghdad before the gates are closed, for they open and shut
+them with the sun, in fear lest the Rejectors[FN#47] should take
+the city and throw the books of religious learning into the
+Tigris." But Ala al Din replied to him, "O my father, I came not
+forth from home with this merchandise, or travelled hither for
+the sake of traffic, but to divert myself with the sight of
+foreign lands and folks;" and he rejoined, "O my son, we fear for
+thee and for thy goods from the wild Arabs." Whereupon the youth
+answered "Harkye, fellow, art thou master or man? I will not
+enter Baghdad till the morning, that the sons of the city may see
+my merchandise and know me." "Do as thou wilt," said the other "I
+have given thee the wisest advice, but thou art the best judge of
+thine own case." Then Ala al-Din bade them unload the mule; and
+pitch the tent; so they did his bidding and abode there till the
+middle of the night, when he went out to obey a call of nature
+and suddenly saw something gleaming afar off. So he said to
+Kamal-al-Din, "O captain, what is yonder glittering?" The
+Cameleer sat up and, considering it straitly, knew it for the
+glint of spear heads and the steel of Badawi weapons and swords.
+And lo and behold! this was a troop of wild Arabs under a chief
+called Ajlán Abú Náib, Shaykh of the Arabs, and when they neared
+the camp and saw the bales and baggage, they said one to another,
+"O night of loot!" Now when Kamal-al-Din heard these their words
+he cried, "Avaunt, O vilest of Arabs!" But Abu Naib so smote him
+with his throw spear in the breast, that the point came out
+gleaming from his back, and he fell down dead at the tent door.
+Then cried the water carrier,[FN#48] "Avaunt, O foulest of
+Arabs!" and one of them smote him with a sword upon the shoulder,
+that it issued shining from the tendons of the throat, and he
+also fell down dead. (And all this while Ala Al-Din stood looking
+on.) Then the Badawin surrounded and charged the caravan from
+every side and slew all Ala al-Din's company without sparing a
+man: after which they loaded the mules with the spoil and made
+off. Quoth Ala al-Din to himself, "Nothing will slay thee save
+thy mule and thy dress!"; so he arose and put off his gown and
+threw it over the back of a mule, remaining in his shirt and bag
+trousers only; after which he looked towards the tent door and,
+seeing there a pool of gore flowing from the slaughtered,
+wallowed in it with his remaining clothes till he was as a slain
+man drowned in his own blood. Thus it fared with him; but as
+regards the Shaykh of the wild Arabs, Ajlan, he said to his
+banditti, "O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad
+or from Baghdad for Egypt?"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Badawi asked his banditti, "O Arabs, was this caravan bound from
+Egypt for Baghdad or from Baghdad for Egypt?"; they answered,
+"'Twas bound from Egypt for Baghdad;" and he said, "Return ye to
+the slain, for methinks the owner of this caravan is not dead."
+So they turned back to the slain and fell to prodding and
+slashing them with lance and sword till they came to Ala al-Din,
+who had thrown himself down among the corpses. And when they came
+to him, quoth they, "Thou dost but feign thyself dead, but we
+will make an end of thee," and one of the Badawin levelled his
+javelin and would have plunged it into his breast when he cried
+out, "Save me, O my lord Abd al-Kadir, O Saint of Gilan!" and
+behold, he saw a hand turn the lance away from his breast to that
+of Kamal-al-Din the cameleer, so that it pierced him and spared
+himself.[FN#49] Then the Arabs made off; and, when Ala al-Din saw
+that the birds were flown with their god send, he sat up and
+finding no one, rose and set off running; but, behold! Abu Náib
+the Badawi looked back and said to his troop, "I see somewhat
+moving afar off, O Arabs!" So one of the bandits turned back and,
+spying Ala al-Din running, called out to him, saying, "Flight
+shall not forward thee and we after thee;" and he smote his mare
+with his heel and she hastened after him. Then Ala al-Din seeing
+before him a watering tank and a cistern beside it, climbed up
+into a niche in the cistern and, stretching himself at full
+length, feigned to be asleep and said, "O gracious Protector,
+cover me with the veil of Thy protection which may not be torn
+away!" And lo! the Badawi came up to the cistern and, standing in
+his stirrup irons put out his hand to lay hold of Ala al-Din; but
+he said, "O my lady Nafísah[FN#50]! Now is thy time!" And behold,
+a scorpion stung the Badawi in the palm and he cried out, saying,
+"Help, O Arabs! I am stung;" and he alighted from his mare's
+back. So his comrades came up to him and mounted him again,
+asking, "What hath befallen thee?" whereto he answered, "A young
+scorpion[FN#51] stung me." So they departed, with the caravan.
+Such was their case; but as regards Ala al-Din, he tarried in the
+niche, and Mahmud of Balkh bade load his beasts and fared
+forwards till he came to the Lion's Copse where he found Ala
+al-Din's attendants all lying slain. At this he rejoiced and went
+on till he reached the cistern and the reservoir. Now his mule
+was athirst and turned aside to drink, but she saw Ala al-Din's
+shadow in the water and shied and started; whereupon Mahmud
+raised his eyes and, seeing Ala al-Din lying in the niche,
+stripped to his shirt and bag trousers, said to him, "What man
+this deed to thee hath dight and left thee in this evil plight?"
+Answered Ala alDin, "The Arabs," and Mahmud said, "O my son, the
+mules and the baggage were thy ransom; so do thou comfort thyself
+with his saying who said,
+
+'If thereby man can save his head from death, * His good is worth
+     him but a slice of nail!'
+
+But now, O my son, come down and fear no hurt." Thereupon he
+descended from the cistern-niche and Mahmud mounted him on a
+mule, and they fared on till they reached Baghdad, where he
+brought him to his own house and carried him to the bath, saying
+to him, "The goods and money were the ransom of thy life, O my
+son; but, if thou wilt hearken to me, I will give thee the worth
+of that thou hast lost, twice told." When he came out of the
+bath, Mahmud carried him into a saloon decorated with gold with
+four raised floors, and bade them bring a tray with all manner of
+meats. So they ate and drank and Mahmud bent towards Ala al-Din
+to snatch a kiss from him; but he received it upon the palm of
+his hand and said, "What, dost thou persist in thy evil designs
+upon me? Did I not tell thee that, were I wont to sell this
+merchandise to other than thee for gold, I would sell it thee for
+silver?" Quoth Mahmud, "I will give thee neither merchandise nor
+mule nor clothes save at this price; for I am gone mad for love
+of thee, and bless him who said,
+
+'Told us, ascribing to his Shaykhs, our Shaykh * Abú Bilál, these
+     words they wont to utter:[FN#52]
+Unhealed the lover wones of love desire, * By kiss and clip, his
+     only cure's to futter!'"
+
+Ala al-Din replied, "Of a truth this may never be, take back thy
+dress and thy mule and open the door that I may go out." So he
+opened the door, and Ala al-Din fared forth and walked on, with
+the dogs barking at his heels, and he went forwards through the
+dark when behold, he saw the door of a mosque standing open and,
+entering the vestibule, there took shelter and concealment; and
+suddenly a light approached him and on examining it he saw that
+it came from a pair of lanthorns borne by two slaves before two
+merchants. Now one was an old man of comely face and the other a
+youth; and he heard the younger say to the elder, "O my uncle,, I
+conjure thee by Allah, give me back my cousin!" The old man
+replied, "Did I not forbid thee, many a time, when the oath of
+divorce was always in thy mouth, as it were Holy Writ?" Then he
+turned to his right and, seeing Ala al-Din as he were a slice of
+the full moon, said to him, "Peace be with thee! who art thou, O
+my son?" Quoth he, returning the salutation of peace, "I am Ala
+al-Din, son of Shams al-Din, Consul of the merchants for Egypt. I
+besought my father for merchandise; so he packed me fifty loads
+of stuffs and goods."--And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+continued, "So he packed me fifty loads of goods and gave me ten
+thousand dinars, wherewith I set out for Baghdad; but when I
+reached the Lion's Copse, the wild Arabs came out against me and
+took all my goods and monies. So I entered the city knowing not
+where to pass the night and, seeing this place, I took shelter
+here." Quoth the old man, "O my son, what sayest thou to my
+giving thee a thousand dinars and a suit of clothes and a mule
+worth other two thousand?" Ala al-Din asked, "To what end wilt
+thou give me these things, O my uncle?" and the other answered,
+'This young man who accompanieth me is the son of my brother and
+an only son; and I have a daughter called Zubaydah[FN#53] the
+lutist, an only child who is a model of beauty and loveliness, so
+I married her to him. Now he loveth her, but she loatheth him;
+and when he chanced to take an oath of triple divorcement and
+broke it, forthright she left him. Whereupon he egged on all the
+folk to intercede with me to restore her to him; but I told him
+that this could not lawfully be save by an intermediate marriage,
+and we have agreed to make some stranger the intermediary[FN#54]
+in order that none may taunt and shame him with this affair. So,
+as thou art a stranger, come with us and we will marry thee to
+her; thou shalt lie with her to-night and on the morrow divorce
+her and we will give thee what I said." Quoth Ala al-Din to
+himself, "By Allah, to bide the night with a bride on a bed in a
+house is far better than sleeping in the streets and vestibules!"
+So he went with them to the Kazi whose heart, as soon as he saw
+Ala al-Din, was moved to love him, and who said to the old man,
+"What is your will?" He replied, "We wish to make this young man
+an intermediary husband for my daughter; but we will write a bond
+against him binding him to pay down by way of marriage-settlement
+ten thousand gold pieces. Now if after passing the night with her
+he divorce her in the morning, we will give him a mule and dress
+each worth a thousand dinars, and a third thousand of ready
+money; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay down the ten
+thousand dinars according to contract." So they agreed to the
+agreement and the father of the bride-to-be received his bond for
+the marriage-settlement. Then he took Ala al-Din and, clothing
+him anew, carried him to his daughter's house and there he left
+him standing at the door, whilst he himself went in to the young
+lady and said, "Take the bond of thy marriage-settlement, for I
+have wedded thee to a handsome youth by name Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat: so do thou use him with the best of usage." Then he
+put the bond into her hands and left her and went to his own
+lodging. Now the lady's cousin had an old duenna who used to
+visit Zubaydah, and he had done many a kindness to this woman, so
+he said to her, "O my mother, if my cousin Zubaydah see this
+handsome young man, she will never after accept my offer; so I
+would fain have thee contrive some trick to keep her and him
+apart." She answered, "By the life of thy youth,[FN#55] I will
+not suffer him to approach her!" Then she went to Ala al-Din and
+said to him, "O my son, I have a word of advice to give thee, for
+the love of Almighty Allah and do thou accept my counsel, as I
+fear for thee from this young woman: better thou let her lie
+alone and feel not her person nor draw thee near to her." He
+asked, "Why so?"; and she answered, "Because her body is full of
+leprosy and I dread lest she infect thy fair and seemly youth."
+Quoth he, "I have no need of her." Thereupon she went to the lady
+and said the like to her of Ala al-Din, and she replied, "I have
+no need of him, but will let him lie alone, and on the morrow he
+shall gang his gait." Then she called a slave-girl and said to
+her, "Take the tray of food and set it before him that he may
+sup." So the handmaid carried him the tray of food and set it
+before him and he ate his fill: after which he sat down and
+raised his charming voice and fell to reciting the chapter called
+Y. S.[FN#56] The lady listened to him and found his voice as
+melodious as the psalms of David sung by David himself,[FN#57]
+which when she heard, she exclaimed, "Allah disappoint the old
+hag who told me that he was affected with leprosy! Surely this is
+not the voice of one who hath such a disease; and all was a lie
+against him."[FN#58] Then she took a lute of India-land
+workmanship and, tuning the strings, sang to it in a voice so
+sweet its music would stay the birds in the heart of heaven; and
+began these two couplets,
+
+"I love a fawn with gentle white black eyes, * Whose walk the
+     willow-wand with envy kills:
+Forbidding me he bids for rival-mine, * 'Tis Allah's grace who
+     grants to whom He wills!"
+
+And when he heard her chant these lines he ended his recitation
+of the chapter, and began also to sing and repeated the following
+couplet,
+
+"My Salám to the Fawn in the garments concealed, * And to roses
+     in gardens of cheek revealed."
+
+The lady rose up when she heard this, her inclination for him
+redoubled and she lifted the curtain; and Ala al-Din, seeing her,
+recited these two couplets,
+
+"She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow wand, * And
+     breathes out ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.
+Meseems as if grief loved my heart and when from her *
+     Estrangement I abide possession to it fell."[FN#59]
+
+Thereupon she came forward, swinging her haunches and gracefully
+swaying a shape the handiwork of Him whose boons are hidden; and
+each of them stole one glance of the eyes that cost them a
+thousand sighs. And when the shafts of the two regards which met
+rankled in his heart, he repeated these two couplets,
+
+"She 'spied the moon of Heaven, reminding me * Of nights when met
+     we in the meadows li'en:
+True, both saw moons, but sooth to say, it was * Her very eyes I
+     saw, and she my eyne."
+
+And when she drew near him, and there remained but two paces
+between them, he recited these two couplets,
+
+"She spread three tresses of unplaited hair * One night, and
+     showed me nights not one but four;
+And faced the moon of Heaven with her brow, * And showed me two-
+    fold moons in single hour."
+
+And as she was hard by him he said to her, "Keep away from me,
+lest thou infect me." Whereupon she uncovered her wrist[FN#60] to
+him, and he saw that it was cleft, as it were in two halves, by
+its veins and sinews and its whiteness was as the whiteness of
+virgin silver. Then said she, "Keep away from me, thou! for thou
+art stricken with leprosy, and maybe thou wilt infect me." He
+asked, "Who told thee I was a leper?" and she answered, "The old
+woman so told me." Quoth he, "'Twas she told me also that thou
+wast afflicted with white scurvy;" and so saying, he bared his
+forearms and showed her that his skin was also like virgin
+silver. Thereupon she pressed him to her bosom and he pressed her
+to his bosom and the twain embraced with closest embrace, then
+she took him and, lying down on her back, let down her petticoat
+trousers, and in an instant that which his father had left him
+rose up in rebellion against him and he said, "Go it, O Shayth
+Zachary[FN#61] of shaggery, O father of veins!"; and putting both
+hands to her flanks, he set the sugar-stick[FN#62] to the mouth
+of the cleft and thrust on till he came to the wicket called
+"Pecten." His passage was by the Gate of Victories[FN#63] and
+therefrom he entered the Monday market, and those of Tuesday and
+Wednesday and Thursday,[FN#64] and, finding the carpet after the
+measure of the dais floor,[FN#65] he plied the box within its
+cover till he came to the end of it. And when morning dawned he
+cried to her, "Alas for delight which is not fulfilled! The
+raven[FN#66] taketh it and flieth away!" She asked, "What meaneth
+this saying?"; and he answered, "O my lady, I have but this hour
+to abide with thee." Quoth she "Who saith so?" and quoth he, "Thy
+father made me give him a written bond to pay ten thousand dinars
+to thy wedding-settlement; and, except I pay it this very day,
+they will imprison me for debt in the Kazi's house; and now my
+hand lacketh one-half dirham of the sum." She asked, "O my lord,
+is the marriage-bond in thy hand or in theirs?"; and he answered,
+"O my lady, in mine, but I have nothing." She rejoined, "The
+matter is easy; fear thou nothing. Take these hundred dinars: an
+I had more, I would give thee what thou lackest; but of a truth
+my father, of his love for my cousin, hath transported all his
+goods, even to my jewellery from my lodging to his. But when they
+send thee a serjeant of the Ecclesiastical Court,"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
+lady rejoined to Ala al-Din, "And when they send thee at an early
+hour a serjeant of the Ecclesiastical-Court, and the Kazi and my
+father bid thee divorce me, do thou reply, By what law is it
+lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall and divorce in
+the morning? Then kiss the Kazi's hand and give him a present,
+and in like manner kiss the Assessors' hands and give each of
+them ten gold pieces. So they will all speak with thee, and if
+they ask thee, 'Why dost thou not divorce her and take the
+thousand dinars and the mule and suit of clothes, according to
+contract duly contracted?' do thou answer, 'Every hair of her
+head is worth a thousand ducats to me and I will never put her
+away, neither will I take a suit of clothes nor aught else.' And
+if the Kazi say to thee, 'Then pay down the marriage-settlement,'
+do thou reply, 'I am short of cash at this present;' whereupon he
+and the Assessors will deal in friendly fashion with thee and
+allow thee time to pay." Now whilst they were talking, behold,
+the Kazi's officer knocked at the door; so Ala al-Din went down
+and the man said to him, "Come, speak the Efendi,[FN#67] for thy
+fatherinlaw summoneth thee." So Ala al-Din gave him five dinars
+and said to him, "O Summoner, by what law am I bound to marry at
+nightfall and divorce next morning?" The serjeant answered, "By
+no law of ours at all, at all; and if thou be ignorant of the
+religious law, I will act as thine advocate." Then they went to
+the divorce court and the Kazi said to Ala al-Din, "Why dost thou
+not put away the woman and take what falleth to thee by the
+contract?" Hearing this he went up to the Kazi; and, kissing his
+hand, put fifty dinars in it and said, "O our lord the Kazi, by
+what law is it lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall
+and divorce in the morning in my own despite?" The Kazi,
+answered, "Divorce as a compulsion and by force is sanctioned by
+no school of the Moslems." Then said the young lady's father, "If
+thou wilt not divorce, pay me the ten thousand dinars, her
+marriage-settlement." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Give me a delay of three
+days;" but the Kazi, said, "Three days is not time enough; he
+shall give thee ten." So they agreed to this and bound him after
+ten days either to pay the dowry or to divorce her. And after
+consenting he left them and taking meat and rice and clarified
+butter[FN#68] and what else of food he needed, returned to the
+house and told the young woman all that had passed; whereupon she
+said, "'Twixt night and day, wonders may display; and Allah bless
+him for his say:--
+
+'Be mild when rage shall come to afflict thy soul; * Be patient
+     when calamity breeds ire;
+Lookye, the Nights are big with child by Time, * Whose pregnancy
+     bears wondrous things and dire.'"
+
+Then she rose and made ready food and brought the tray, and they
+two ate and drank and were merry and mirthful. Presently Ala
+al-Din besought her to let him hear a little music; so she took
+the lute and played a melody that had made the hardest stone
+dance for glee, and the strings cried out in present ecstacy, "O
+Loving One!'';[FN#69] after which she passed from the adagio into
+the presto and a livelier measure. As they thus spent their
+leisure in joy and jollity and mirth and merriment, behold, there
+came a knocking at the door and she said to him; "Go see who is
+at the door." So he went down and opened it and finding four
+Dervishes standing without, said to them, "What want ye?" They
+replied, "O my lord, we are foreign and wandering religious
+mendicants, the viands of whose souls are music and dainty verse,
+and we would fain take our pleasure with thee this night till
+morning cloth appear, when we will wend our way, and with
+Almighty Allah be thy reward; for we adore music and there is not
+one of us but knoweth by heart store of odes and songs and
+ritornellos."[FN#70] He answered, "There is one I must consult;"
+and he returned and told Zubaydah who said, "Open the door to
+them." So he brought them up and made them sit down and welcomed
+them; then he fetched them food, but they would not eat and said,
+"O our lord, our meat is to repeat Allah's name in our hearts and
+to hear music with our ears: and bless him who saith,
+
+'Our aim is only converse to enjoy, * And eating joyeth only
+     cattle-kind.'[FN#71]
+
+And just now we heard pleasant music in thy house, but when we
+entered, it ceased; and fain would we know whether the player was
+a slave-girl, white or black, or a maiden of good family." He
+answered, "It was this my wife," and told them all that had
+befallen him, adding, "Verily my father-in-law hath bound me to
+pay a marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars for her, and
+they have given me ten days' time." Said one of the Dervishes,
+"Have no care and think of naught but good; for I am Shaykh of
+the Convent and have forty Dervishes under my orders. I will
+presently collect from them the ten thousand dinars and thou
+shalt pay thy father-in-law the wedding settlement. But now bid
+thy wife make us music that we may be gladdened and pleasured;
+for to some folk music is meat, to others medicine and to others
+refreshing as a fan." Now these four Dervishes were none other
+than the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, his Wazir Ja'afar the Barmecide,
+Abu al-Nowás al-Hasan son of Háni[FN#72] and Masrur the sworder;
+and the reason of their coming to the house was that the Caliph,
+being heavy at heart, had summoned his Minister and said, "O
+Wazir! it is our will to go down to the city and pace its
+streets, for my breast is sore straitened." So they all four
+donned dervish dress and went down and walked about, till they
+came to that house where, hearing music, they were minded to know
+the cause. They spent the night in joyance and harmony and
+telling tale after tale until morning dawned, when the Caliph
+laid an hundred gold pieces under the prayer-carpet and all
+taking leave of Ala al-Din, went their way. Now when Zubaydah
+lifted the carpet she found beneath it the hundred dinars and she
+said to her husband, "Take these hundred dinars which I have
+found under the prayer-carpet; assuredly the Dervishes when about
+to leave us laid them there, without our knowledge." So Ala
+al-Din took the money and, repairing to the market, bought
+therewith meat and rice and clarified butter and all they
+required. And when it was night, he lit the wax-candles and said
+to his wife, "The mendicants, it is true, have not brought the
+ten thousand dinars which they promised me; but indeed they are
+poor men." As they were talking, behold, the Dervishes knocked at
+the door and she said, "Go down and open to them." So he did her
+bidding and bringing them up, said to them, "Have you brought me
+the ten thousand dinars you promised me?" They answered, "We have
+not been able to collect aught thereof as yet; but fear nothing:
+Inshallah, tomorrow we will compound for thee some
+alchemical-cookery. But now bid thy wife play us her very best
+pieces and gladden our hearts for we love music." So she took her
+lute and made them such melody that had caused the hardest rocks
+to dance with glee; and they passed the night in mirth and
+merriment, converse and good cheer, till morn appeared with its
+sheen and shone, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces
+under the prayer-carpet and all, after taking leave of Ala
+al-Din, went their way. And they ceased not to visit him thus
+every night for nine nights; and each morning the Caliph put an
+hundred dinars under the prayer carpet, till the tenth night,
+when they came not. Now the reason of their failure to come was
+that the Caliph had sent to a great merchant, saying to him,
+"Bring me fifty loads of stuffs, such as come from Cairo,"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince
+of True Believers said to that merchant, "Bring me fifty loads of
+stuffs such as come from Cairo, and let each one be worth a
+thousand dinars, and write on each bale its price; and bring me
+also a male Abyssinian slave." The merchant did the bidding of
+the Caliph who committed to the slave a basin and ewer of gold
+and other presents, together with the fifty loads; and wrote a
+letter to Ala al-Din as from his father Shams al-Din and said to
+him, "Take these bales and what else is with them, and go to such
+and such a quarter wherein dwelleth the Provost of the merchants
+and say, 'Where be Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat?' till folk direct
+thee to his quarter and his house." So the slave took the letter
+and the goods and what else and fared forth on his errand. Such
+was his case; but as regards Zubaydah's cousin and first husband,
+he went to her father and said to him, "Come let us go to Ala
+al-Din and make him divorce the daughter of my uncle." So they
+set out both together and, when they came to the street in which
+the house stood, they found fifty he mules laden with bales of
+stuffs, and a blackamoor riding on a she mule. So they said to
+him, "Whose loads are these?" He replied, "They belong to my lord
+Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; for his father equipped him with
+merchandise and sent him on a journey to Baghdad-city; but the
+wild Arabs came forth against him and took his money and goods
+and all he had. So when the ill news reached his father, he
+despatched me to him with these loads, in lieu of those he had
+lost; besides a mule laden with fifty thousand dinars, a parcel
+of clothes worth a power of money, a robe of sables[FN#73] and a
+basin and ewer of gold." Whereupon the lady's father said, "He
+whom thou seekest is my son-in-law and I will show thee his
+house." Meanwhile Ala al-Din was sitting at home in huge concern,
+when lo! one knocked at the door and he said, "O Zubaydah, Allah
+is all-knowing! but I fear thy father hath sent me an officer
+from the Kazi or the Chief of Police." Quoth she, "Go down and
+see what it is." So he went down; and, opening the door, found
+his father-in-law, the Provost of the merchants with an
+Abyssinian slave, dusky complexioned and pleasant of favour,
+riding on a mule. When the slave saw him he dismounted and kissed
+his hands, and Ala al-Din said, "What dost thou want?" He
+replied, "I am the slave of my lord Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, son
+of Shams al-Din, Consul of the merchants for the land of Egypt,
+who hath sent me to him with this charge." Then he gave him the
+letter and Ala al-Din opening it found written what
+followeth:[FN#74]
+
+"Ho thou my letter! when my friend shall see thee, * Kiss thou
+     the ground and buss his sandal-shoon:
+Look thou hie softly and thou hasten not, * My life and rest are
+     in those hands so boon.
+
+"After hearty salutations and congratulations and high estimation
+from Shams al-Din to his son, Abu al-Shamat. Know, O my son, that
+news hath reached me of the slaughter of thy men and the plunder
+of thy monies and goods; so I send thee herewith fifty loads of
+Egyptian stuffs, together with a suit of clothes and a robe of
+sables and a basin and ewer of gold. Fear thou no evil, and the
+goods thou hast lost were the ransom of thy life; so regret them
+not and may no further grief befall thee. Thy mother and the
+people of the house are doing well in health and happiness and
+all greet thee with abundant greetings. Moreover, O my son, it
+hath reached me that they have married thee, by way of
+intermediary, to the lady Zubaydah the lutist and they have
+imposed on thee a marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars;
+wherefore I send thee also fifty thousand dinars by the slave
+Salím."[FN#75] Now when Ala al-Din had made an end of reading the
+letter, he took possession of the loads and, turning to the
+Provost, said to him, "O my father-in-law, take the ten thousand
+dinars, the marriage-settlement of thy daughter Zubaydah, and
+take also the loads of goods and dispose of them, and thine be
+the profit; only return me the cost price." He answered, "Nay, by
+Allah, I will take nothing; and, as for thy wife's settlement, do
+thou settle the matter with her." Then, after the goods had been
+brought in, they went to Zuhaydah and she said to her sire, "O my
+father, whose loads be these?" He said, "These belong to thy
+husband, Ala al-Din: his father hath sent them to him instead of
+those whereof the wild Arabs spoiled him. Moreover, he hath sent
+him fifty thousand dinars with a parcel of clothes, a robe of
+sables, a she mule for riding and a basin and ewer of gold. As
+for the marriage-settlement that is for thy recking." Thereupon
+Ala al-Din rose and, opening the money box, gave her her
+settlement and the lady's cousin said, "O my uncle, let him
+divorce to me my wife;" but the old man replied, "This may never
+be now; for the marriage tie is in his hand." Thereupon the young
+man went out, sore afflicted and sadly vexed and, returning home,
+fell sick, for his heart had received its death blow; so he
+presently died. But as for Ala al-Din, after receiving his goods
+he went to the bazar and buying what meats and drinks he needed,
+made a banquet as usual--against the night, saying to Zubaydah,
+"See these lying Dervishes; they promised us and broke their
+promises." Quoth she, "Thou art the son of a Consul of the
+merchants, yet was thy hand short of half a dirham; how then
+should it be with poor Dervishes?" Quoth he, "Almighty Allah hath
+enabled us to do without them; but if they come to us never again
+will I open the door to them." She asked, "Why so, whenas their
+coming footsteps brought us good luck; and, moreover, they put an
+hundred dinars under the prayer carpet for us every night?
+Perforce must thou open the door to them an they come." So when
+day departed with its light and in gloom came night, they lighted
+the wax candles and he said to her, "Rise, Zubaydah, make us
+music;" and behold, at this moment some one knocked at the door,
+and she said, "Go and look who is at the door." So he went down
+and opened it and seeing the Dervishes, said, "Oh, fair welcome
+to the liars! Come up." Accordingly they went up with him and he
+seated them and brought them the tray of food; and they ate and
+drank and became merry and mirthful, and presently said to him,
+"O my lord, our hearts have been troubled for thee: what hath
+passed between thee and thy father-in-law?" He answered, "Allah
+compensated us beyond and above our desire." Rejoined they, "By
+Allah, we were in fear for thee".--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+           When it was the Two Hundred and and Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+Dervishes thus addressed Ala al-Din, "By Allah, we were in fear
+for thee and naught kept us from thee but our lack of cash and
+coin." Quoth he, "Speedy relief hath come to me from my Lord; for
+my father hath sent me fifty thousand dinars and fifty loads of
+stuffs, each load worth a thousand dinars; besides a riding-mule,
+a robe of sables, an Abyssinian slave and a basin and ewer of
+gold. Moreover, I have made my peace with my father-in-law and my
+wife hath become my lawful wife by my paying her settlement; so
+laud to Allah for that!" Presently the Caliph rose to do a
+necessity; whereupon Ja'afar bent him towards Ala al-Din and
+said, "Look to thy manners, for thou art in the presence of the
+Commander of the Faithful " Asked he, "How have I failed in good
+breeding before the Commander of the Faithful, and which of you
+is he?" Quoth Ja'afar, "He who went out but now to make water is
+the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and I am the
+Wazir Ja'afar; and this is Masrur the executioner and this other
+is Abu Nowas Hasan bin Hani.. And now, O Ala al-Din, use thy
+reason and bethink thee how many days' journey it is between
+Cairo and Baghdad." He replied, "Five and forty days' journey;"
+and Ja'afar rejoined, "Thy baggage was stolen only ten days ago;
+so how could the news have reached thy father, and how could he
+pack thee up other goods and send them to thee five-and-forty
+days' journey in ten days' time?" Quoth Ala al-Din, "O my lord
+and whence then came they?" "From the Commander of the Faithful,"
+replied Ja'afar, "of his great affection for thee." As they were
+speaking, lo! the Caliph entered and Ala al-Din rising, kissed
+the ground before him and said, "Allah keep thee, O Prince of the
+Faithful, and give thee long life; and may the lieges never lack
+thy bounty and beneficence!" Replied the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din,
+let Zubaydah play us an air, by way of house-warming[FN#76] for
+thy deliverance." Thereupon she played him on the lute so rare a
+melody that the very stones shook for glee, and the strings cried
+out for present ecstasy, "O Loving One!" They spent the night
+after the merriest fashion, and in the morning the Caliph said to
+Ala al-Din, "Come to the Divan to-morrow." He answered,
+"Hearkening and obedience, O Commander of the Faithful; so Allah
+will and thou be well and in good case!" On the morrow he took
+ten trays and, putting on each a costly present, went up with
+them to the palace; and the Caliph was sitting on the throne
+when, behold, Ala al-Din appeared at the door of the Divan,
+repeating these two couplets,
+
+"Honour and Glory wait on thee each morn! * Thine enviers' noses
+     in the dust be set!
+Ne'er cease thy days to be as white as snow; * Thy foeman's days
+     to be as black as jet!"
+
+"Welcome, O Ala Al-Din!" said the Caliph, and he replied, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, the Prophet (whom Allah bless and
+assain!)[FN#77] was wont to accept presents; and these ten trays,
+with what is on them, are my offering to thee." The Caliph
+accepted his gift and, ordering him a robe of honour, made him
+Provost of the merchants and gave him a seat in the Divan. And as
+he was sitting behold, his father-in-law came in and, seeing Ala
+al-Din seated in his place and clad in a robe of honour, said to
+the Caliph, "O King of the age, why is this man sitting in my
+place and wearing this robe of honour?" Quoth the Caliph, "I have
+made him Provost of the merchants, for offices are by investiture
+and not in perpetuity, and thou art deposed." Answered the
+merchant, "Thou hast done well, O Commander of the Faithful, for
+he is ours and one of us. Allah make the best of us the managers
+of our affairs! How many a little one hath become great!" Then
+the Caliph wrote Ala al-Din a Firman[FN#78] of investiture and
+gave it to the Governor who gave it to the crier,[FN#79] and the
+crier made proclamation in the Divan saying, "None is Provost of
+the merchants but Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and his word is to be
+heard, and he must be obeyed with due respect paid, and he
+meriteth homage and honour and high degree!" Moreover, when the
+Divan broke up, the Governor went down with the crier before Ala
+Al-Din!" and the crier repeated the proclamation and they carried
+Ala al-Din through the thoroughfares of Baghdad, making
+proclamation of his dignity. Next day, Ala al-Din opened a shop
+for his slave Salim and set him therein, to buy and sell, whilst
+he himself rode to the palace and took his place in the Caliph's
+Divan.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Two Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+rode to the palace and took his place in the Caliph's Divan. Now
+it came to pass one day, when he sat in his stead as was his
+wont, behold, one said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, may thy head survive such an one the cup-companion!;
+for he is gone to the mercy of Almighty Allah, but be thy life
+prolonged!"[FN#80] Quoth the Caliph, "Where is Ala al-Din Abu
+al-al-Shamat?" So he went up to the Commander of the Faithful,
+who at once clad him in a splendid dress of honour and made him
+his boon-companion; appointing him a monthly pay and allowance of
+a thousand dinars. He continued to keep him company till, one
+day, as he sat in the Divan, according to his custom attending
+upon the Caliph, lo and behold! an Emir came up with sword and
+shield in hand and said, "O Commander of the Faithful, may thy
+head long outlive the Head of the Sixty, for he is dead this
+day;" whereupon the Caliph ordered Ala al-Din a dress of honour
+and made him Chief of the Sixty, in place of the other who had
+neither wife nor son nor daughter. So Ala al-Din laid hands on
+his estate and the Caliph said to him, "Bury him in the earth and
+take all he hath left of wealth and slaves and handmaids."[FN#81]
+Then he shook the handkerchief[FN#82] and dismissed the Divan,
+whereupon Ala al-Din went forth, attended by Ahmad al-Danaf,
+captain of the right, and Hasan Shúmán, captain of the left,
+riding at his either stirrup, each with his forty men.[FN#83]
+Presently, he turned to Hasan Shuman and his men and said to
+them, "Plead ye for me with the Captain Ahmad al-Danaf that he
+please to accept me as his son by covenant before Allah." And
+Ahmad assented, saying, "I and my forty men will go before thee
+to the Divan every morning." Now after this Ala al-Din continued
+in the Caliph's service many days; till one day it chanced that
+he left the Divan and returning home, dismissed Ahmad al-Danaf
+and his men and sat down with his wife Zubaydab, the lute-player,
+who lighted the wax candles and went out of the room upon an
+occasion. Suddenly he heard a loud shriek; so he rose up and
+running in haste to see what was the matter, found that it was
+his wife who had cried out. She was lying at full length on the
+ground and, when he put his hand to her breast, he found her
+dead. Now her father's house faced that of Ala al-Din, and he,
+hearing the shriek, came in and said, "What is the matter, O my
+lord Ala al-Din?" He replied, "O my father, may thy head outlive
+thy daughter Zubaydah! But, O my father, honour to the dead is
+burying them." So when the morning dawned, they buried her in the
+earth and her husband and father condoled with and mutually
+consoled each other. Thus far concerning her; but as regards Ala
+al-Din he donned mourning dress and declined the Divan, abiding
+tearful-eyed and heavy-hearted at home. After a while, the Caliph
+said to Ja'afar, "O Watir, what is the cause of Ala al-Din's
+absence from the Divan?" The Minister answered, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, he is in mourning for his wife Zubaydah; and is
+occupied in receiving those who come to console him;" and the
+Caliph said, "It behoveth us to pay him a visit of condolence."
+"I hear and I obey," replied Ja'afar. So they took horse, the
+Caliph and the Minister and a few attendants, and rode to Ala
+al-Din's house and, as he was sitting at home, behold, the party
+came in upon him; whereupon he rose to receive them and kissed
+the ground before the Caliph, who said to him, "Allah make good
+thy loss to thee!" Answered Ala Al-Din, "May Allah preserve thee
+to us, O Commander of the Faithful!" Then said the Caliph, "O Ala
+al-Din, why hast thou absented thyself from the Divan?" And he
+replied, "Because of my mourning for my wife, Zubaydah, O
+Commander of the Faithful." The Caliph rejoined, "Put away grief
+from thee: verily she is dead and gone to the mercy of Almighty
+Allah and mourning will avail thee nothing; no, nothing." But Ala
+al-Din said "O Commander of the Faithful, I shall never leave
+mourning for her till I die and they bury me by her side." Quoth
+the Caliph, "In Allah is compensation for every decease, and
+neither device nor riches can deliver from death; and divinely
+gifted was he who said,
+
+'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the
+     bulging bier some day.[FN#84]
+How then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks
+     shall rest the dust and clay?'"
+
+When the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged
+him not to absent himself from the Divan and returned to his
+palace. And Ala Al-Din, after a last sorrowful night, mounted
+early in the morning and, riding to the court, kissed the ground
+before the Commander of the Faithful who made a movement if
+rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet and welcome him; and bade
+him take his appointed place in the Divan, saying, "O Ala al-Din,
+thou art my guest to-night." So presently he carried him into his
+serraglio and calling a slave-girl named Kút al-Kulúb, said to
+her, "Ala al-Din had a wife called Zubaydah, who used to sing to
+him and solace him of cark and care; but she is gone to the mercy
+of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air upon
+the lute,"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+said to the damsel Kut al-Kulub, "I would have thee play him upon
+the lute an air, of fashion sweet and rare, that he may be
+solaced of his cark and care." So she rose and made sweet music;
+and the Caliph said to Ala al-Din, "What sayst thou of this
+damsel's voice?" He replied, "Verily, O Commander of the
+Faithful, Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is skilled in
+touching the lute cunningly and her playing would make a rock
+dance with glee." The Caliph asked, "Doth she please thee?'' and
+he answered, "She doth, O Commander of the Faithful;" whereupon
+the King said, "By the life of my head and the tombs of my
+forefathers, she is a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting-
+women!" Ala al-Din fancied that the Caliph was jesting with him;
+but, on the morrow, the King went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to
+her, "I have given thee to Ala Al-Din, whereat she rejoiced, for
+she had seen and loved him. Then the Caliph returned from his
+serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling porters, said to
+them, "Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her waiting-women in
+a litter, and carry them to Ala al-Din's home." So they conducted
+her to the house and showed her into the pavilion, whilst the
+Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose of day, when the
+Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;
+but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in
+Ala al-Din's mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides
+the eunuchry, she called two of these caponised slaves and said
+to them, "Sit ye on stools, one on the right and another on the
+left hand of the door; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home, both of
+you kiss his hands and say to him, "Our mistress Kut al-Kulub
+requesteth thy presence in the pavilion, for the Caliph hath
+given her to thee, her and her women." They answered, "We hear
+and obey;" and did as she bade them. So, when Ala al-Din
+returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs sitting at the
+door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, "Surely,
+this is not my own house; or else what can have happened?" Now
+when the eunuchs saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his
+hands, said to him, "We are of the Caliph's household and slaves
+to Kut al-Kulub, who saluteth thee, giving thee to know that the
+Caliph hath bestowed her on thee, her and her women, and
+requesteth thy presence." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Say ye to her, 'Thou
+art welcome; but so long as thou shalt abide with me, I will not
+enter the pavilion wherein thou art, for what was the master's
+should not become the man's;' and furthermore ask her, 'What was
+the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's palace?'" So
+they went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, "An
+hundred dinars a day;" whereupon quoth he to himself, "There was
+no need for the Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be
+put to such expense for her; but there is no help for it." So she
+abode with him awhile and he assigned her daily an hundred dinars
+for her maintenance; till, one day, he absented himself from the
+Divan and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O Watir, I gave not Kut
+al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that she might console him for his
+wife; why, then, doth he still hold aloof from us?" Answered
+Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, he spake sooth who said,
+'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his friends.'" Rejoined the
+Caliph, "Haply he hath not absented himself without excuse, but
+we will pay him a visit." Now some days before this, Ala al-Din
+had said to Ja'afar, "I complained to the Caliph of my grief and
+mourning for the loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut
+al-Kulub;" and the Minister replied, "Except he loved thee, he
+had not given her to thee. Say hast thou gone in unto her, O Ala
+al-Din?" He rejoined, "No, by Allah! I know not her length from
+her breadth." He asked "And why?" and he answered, "O Wazir, what
+befitteth the lord befitteth not the liege." Then the Caliph and
+Ja'afar disguised themselves and went privily to visit Ala
+al-Din; but he knew them and rising to them kissed the hands of
+the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs of sorrow in his
+face. So he said to him, "O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow
+wherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?" He
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord
+befitteth not the thrall. No, as yet I have not gone in to visit
+her nor do I know her length from her breadth; so pray quit me of
+her." Quoth the Caliph, "I would fain see her and question her of
+her case;" and quoth Ala al-Din, "I hear and I obey, O Commander
+of the Faithful." So the Caliph went in,--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+went in to Kut al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and
+kissed the ground between his hands; when he said to her, "Hath
+Ala al-Din gone in unto thee?" and she answered, "No, O Commander
+of the Faithful, I sent to bid him come, but he would not." So
+the Caliph bade carry her back to the Harim and saying to Ala
+Al-Din, "Do not absent thyself from us," returned to his palace.
+Accordingly, next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted and rode to the
+Divan, where he took his seat as Chief of the Sixty. Presently
+the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the Wazir Ja'afar ten
+thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, "I charge
+thee to go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy
+Ala Al-Din, a slave-girl with this sum." So in obedience to the
+King, Ja'afar took Ala al-Din and went down with him to the
+bazar. Now as chance would have it, that very day, the Emir
+Khálid, whom the Caliph had made Governor of Baghdad, went down
+to the market to buy a slave-girl for his son and the cause of
+his going was that his wife, Khátún by name, had borne him a son
+called Habzalam Bazázah,[FN#86] and the same was foul of favour
+and had reached the age of twenty, without learning to mount
+horse; albeit his father was brave and bold, a doughty rider
+ready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it happened
+that on a certain night he had a dream which caused
+nocturnal-pollution whereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and
+said to his father, "I want to find him a wife, as he is now ripe
+for wedlock." Quoth Khálid, "The fellow is so foul of favour and
+withal-so rank of odour, so sordid and beastly that no woman
+would take him as a gift." And she answered, "We will buy him a
+slave-girl." So it befell, for the accomplishing of what Allah
+Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala
+al-Din, the Governor Khálid and his son went down to the market
+and behold, they saw in the hands of a broker a beautiful girl,
+lovely faced and of perfect shape, and the Wazir said to him, "O
+broker, ask her owner if he will take a thousand dinars for her."
+And as the broker passed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam
+Bazazah cast at her one glance of the eyes which entailed for
+himself one thousand sighs; and he fell in love with her and
+passion got hold of him and he said, "O my father, buy me yonder
+slave-girl." So the Emir called the broker, who brought the girl
+to him, and asked her her name. She replied, "My name is
+Jessamine;" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, "O my son, as she
+please thee, do thou bid higher for her." Then he asked the
+broker, "What hath been bidden for her?" and he replied, "A
+thousand dinars." Said the Governor's son, "She is mine for a
+thousand pieces of gold and one more;" and the broker passed on
+to Ala al-Din who bid two thousand dinars for her; and as often
+as the Emir's son bid another dinar, Ala al-Din bid a thousand.
+The ugly youth was vexed at this and said, "O broker! who is it
+that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?" Answered the broker, "It
+is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat." And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her price up
+to ten thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell her
+for that sum. Then he took the girl and said to her, "I give thee
+thy freedom for the love of Almighty Allah;" and forthwith wrote
+his contract of marriage with her and carried her to his house.
+Now when the broker returned, after having received his
+brokerage, the Emir's son summoned him and said to him, "Where is
+the girl?" Quoth he, "She was bought for ten thousand dinars by
+Ala al-Din, who hath set her free and married her." At this the
+young man was greatly vexed and cast down and, sighing many a
+sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel; and he threw
+himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing were
+sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she
+said to him, "Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?"
+And he answered, "Buy me Jessamine, O my mother." Quoth she,
+"When the flower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of
+jessamine." Quoth he, "It is not the jessamine one smells, but a
+slave-girl named Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me."
+So she said to her husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not
+buy him the girl?" and he replied, "What is fit for the lord is
+not fit for the liege and I have no power to take her: no less a
+man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief of the Sixty." Then the
+youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he gave up sleeping and
+eating, and his mother bound her head with the fillets of
+mourning. And while in her sadness she sat at home, lamenting
+over her son, behold, came in to her an old woman, known as the
+mother of Ahmad Kamákim[FN#88] the arch-thief, a knave who would
+bore through a middle wall and scale the tallest of the tall and
+steal the very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest
+years he had been given to these malpractices, till they made him
+Captain of the Watch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief
+of Police, coming upon him in the act, carried him to the Caliph,
+who bade put him to death on the common execution-ground.[FN#90]
+But he implored protection of the Wazir whose intercession the
+Caliph never rejected, so he pleaded for him with the Commander
+of the Faithful who said, "How canst thou intercede for this pest
+of the human race?" Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, do thou imprison him; whoso built the first jail was a
+sage, seeing that a jail is the grave of the living and a joy for
+the foe." So the Caliph bade lay him in bilboes and write
+thereon, "Appointed to remain here until death and not to be
+loosed but on the corpse washer's bench;" and they cast him
+fettered into limbo. Now his mother was a frequent visitor to the
+house of the Emir Khálid, who was Governor and Chief of Police;
+and she used to go in to her son in jail and say to him, "Did I
+not warn thee to turn from thy wicked ways?''[FN#91] And he would
+always answer her, "Allah decreed this to me; but, O my mother,
+when thou visitest the Emir's wife make her intercede for me with
+her husband." So when the old woman came into the Lady Khatun,
+she found her bound with the fillets of mourning and said to her,
+"Wherefore dost thou mourn?" She replied, "For my son Habzalam
+Bazazah;" and the old woman exclaimed, "Heaven assain thy son!;
+what hath befallen him?" So the mother told her the whole story,
+and she said, "What thou say of him who should achieve such a
+feat as would save thy son?" Asked the lady, "And what feat wilt
+thou do?" Quoth the old woman, "I have a son called Ahmad
+Kamakim, the arch-thief, who lieth chained in jail and on his
+bilboes is written, 'Appointed to remain till death'; so do thou
+don thy richest clothes and trick thee out with thy finest jewels
+and present thyself to thy husband with an open face and smiling
+mien; and when he seeketh of thee what men seek of women, put him
+off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By Allah, 'tis a strange
+thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth her till
+she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he will
+not grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?';
+and do thou answer, 'First swear to grant my request.' If he
+swear to thee by his head or by Allah, say to him, 'Swear to me
+the oath of divorce', and do not yield to him, except he do this.
+And whenas he hath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him,
+'Thou keepest in prison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a
+poor old mother, who hath set upon me and who urgeth me in the
+matter and who saith, 'Let thy husband intercede for him with the
+Caliph, that my son may repent and thou gain heavenly guerdon.'"
+And the Lady Khatun replied, "I hear and obey." So when her
+husband came into her--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+Governor came in to his wife, who spoke to him as she had been
+taught and made him swear the divorce-oath before she would yield
+to his wishes. He lay with her that night and, when morning
+dawned, after he had made the Ghusl-ablution and prayed the dawn-
+prayer, he repaired to the prison and said, "O Ahmad Kamakim, O
+thou arch-thief, dost thou repent of thy works?"; whereto he
+replied, "I do indeed repent and turn to Allah and say with heart
+and tongue, 'I ask pardon of Allah.'" So the Governor took him
+out of jail and carried him to the Court (he being still in
+bilboes) and, approaching the Caliph, kissed ground before him.
+Quoth the King, "O Emir Khálid, what seekest thou?"; whereupon he
+brought forward Ahmad Kamakim, shuffling and tripping in his
+fetters, and the Caliph said to him, "What! art thou yet alive, O
+Kamakim?" He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, the miserable
+are long-lived." Quoth the Caliph to the Emir, "Why hast thou
+brought him hither?"; and quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+he hath a poor old mother cut off from the world who hath none
+but this son and she hath had recourse to thy slave, imploring
+him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains, for he
+repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him Captain of the
+Watch as before." The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, "Doss thou
+repent of thy sins?" "I do indeed repent me to Allah, O Commander
+of the Faithful," answered he; whereupon the Caliph called for
+the blacksmith and made him strike off his irons on the corpse-
+washer's bench.[FN#92] Moreover, he restored him to his former
+office and charged him to walk in the ways of godliness and
+righteousness. So he kissed the Caliph's hands and, being
+invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch, he went forth,
+whilst they made proclamation of his appointment. Now for a long
+time he abode in the exercise of his office, till one day his
+mother went in to the Governor's wife, who said to her, "Praised
+be Allah who hath delivered thy son from prison and restored him
+to health and safety! But why dost thou not bid him contrive some
+trick to get the girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah?"
+"That will I," answered she and, going out from her, repaired to
+her son. She found him drunk with wine and said to him, "O my
+son, no one caused thy release from jail but the wife of the
+Governor, and she would have thee find some means to slay Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl Jessamine for her son
+Habzalam Bazazah." He answered, "That will be the easiest of
+things; and I must needs set about it this very night." Now this
+was the first night of the new month, and it was the custom of
+the Caliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah, for the
+setting free of a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the
+sort. Moreover, on such occasions he used to doff his
+royal-habit, together with his rosary and dagger-sword and
+royal-signet, and set them all upon a chair in the sitting-
+saloon: and he had also a golden lanthorn, adorned with three
+jewels strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great store; and
+he would commit all these things to the charge of the eunuchry,
+whilst he went into the Lady Zubaydah's apartment. So arch-thief
+Ahmad Kamakin waited till midnight, when Canopus shone bright,
+and all creatures to sleep were dight whilst the Creator veiled
+them with the veil of night. Then he took his drawn sword in his
+right and his grappling hook in his left and, repairing to the
+Caliph's sitting-saloon planted his scaling ladder and cast his
+grapnel on to the side of the terrace-roof; then, raising the
+trap-door, let himself down into the saloon, where he found the
+eunuchs asleep. He drugged them with hemp-fumes;[FN#93] and,
+taking the Caliph's dress; dagger, rosary, kerchief, signet-ring
+and the lanthorn whereupon were the pearls, returned whence he
+came and betook himself to the house of Ala al-Din, who had that
+night celebrated his wedding festivities with Jessamine and had
+gone in unto her and gotten her with child. So arch-thief Ahmad
+Kamakim climbed over into his saloon and, raising one of the
+marble slabs from the sunken part of the floor,[FN#94] dug a hole
+under it and laid the stolen things therein, all save the
+lanthorn, which he kept for himself. Then he plastered down the
+marble slab as it before was, and returning whence he came, went
+back to his own house, saying, "I will now tackle my drink and
+set this lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its
+light."[FN#95] Now as soon as it was dawn of day, the Caliph went
+out into the sitting-chamber; and, seeing the eunuchs drugged
+with hemp, aroused them. Then he put his hand to the chair and
+found neither dress nor signet nor rosary nor dagger-sword nor
+kerchief nor lanthorn; whereat he was exceeding wroth and donning
+the dress of anger, which was a scarlet suit,[FN#96] sat down in
+the Divan. So the Wazir Ja'afar came forward and kissing the
+ground before him, said, "Allah avert all evil from the Commander
+of the Faithful!" Answered the Caliph, "O Wazir, the evil is
+passing great!" Ja'afar asked, "What has happened?" so he told
+him what had occurred; and, behold, the Chief of Police appeared
+with Ahmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup, when he found the
+Commander of the Faithful sore enraged. As soon as the Caliph saw
+him, he said to him, "O Emir Khálid, how goes Baghdad?" And he
+answered, "Safe and secure." Cried he "Thou liest!" "How so, O
+Prince of True Believers?" asked the Emir. So he told him the
+case and added, "I charge thee to bring me back all the stolen
+things." Replied the Emir, "O Commander of the Faithful, the
+vinegar worm is of and in the vinegar, and no stranger can get at
+this place."[FN#97] But the Caliph said, "Except thou bring me
+these things, I will put thee to death." Quoth he, "Ere thou slay
+me, slay Ahmad Kamakim, for none should know the robber and the
+traitor but the Captain of the Watch." Then came forward Ahmad
+Kamakim and said to the Caliph, "Accept my intercession for the
+Chief of Police, and I will be responsible to thee for the thief
+and will track his trail till I find him; but give me two Kazis
+and two Assessors for he who did this thing feareth thee not, nor
+cloth he fear the Governor nor any other." Answered the Caliph,
+"Thou shalt have what thou wantest; but let search be made first
+in my palace and then in those of the Wazir and the Chief of the
+Sixty." Rejoined Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou sayest well, O Commander of
+the Faith ful; belike the man that did this ill deed be one who
+hath been reared in the King's household or in that of one of his
+officers." Cried the Caliph, "As my head liveth, whosoever shall
+have done the deed I will assuredly put him to death, be it mine
+own son!" Then Ahmad Kamakim received a written warrant to enter
+and perforce search the houses;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ahmad
+Kamakim got what he wanted, and received a written warrant to
+enter and perforce search the houses; so he fared forth, taking
+in his hand a rod[FN#98] made of bronze and copper, iron and
+steel, of each three equal-parts. He first searched the palace of
+the Caliph, then that of the Wazir Ja'afar; after which he went
+the round of the houses of the Chamberlains and the Viceroys till
+he came to that of Ala al-Din. Now when the Chief of the Sixty
+heard the clamour before his house, he left his wife Jessamine
+and went down and, opening the door, found the Master of Police
+without in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. So he said, "What is
+the matter, O Emir Khálid?" Thereupon the Chief told him the case
+and Ala al-Din said, "Enter my house and search it." The Governor
+replied, "Pardon, O my lord; thou art a man in whom trust is
+reposed and Allah forfend that the trusty turn traitor!" Quoth
+Ala al-Din, "There is no help for it but that my house be
+searched." So the Chief of Police entered, attended by the Kazi
+and his Assessors; whereupon Ahmad Kamakim went straight to the
+depressed floor of the saloon and came to the slab, under which
+he had buried the stolen goods and let the rod fall upon it with
+such violence that the marble broke in sunder and behold
+something glittered underneath. Then said he, "Bismillah; in the
+name of Allah! Mashallah; whatso Allah willeth! By the blessing
+of our coming a hoard hath been hit upon, wait while we go down
+into this hiding-place and see what is therein." So the Kazi and
+Assessors looked into the hole and finding there the stolen
+goods, drew up a statement[FN#99] of how they had discovered them
+in Ala al-Din's house, to which they set their seals. Then, they
+bade seize upon Ala al-Din and took his turban from his head, and
+officially registered all his monies and effects which were in
+the mansion. Meanwhile, arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim laid hands on
+Jessamine, who was with child by Ala al-Din, and committed her to
+his mother, saying, "Deliver her to Khatun, the Governor's lady:"
+so the old woman took her and carried her to the wife of the
+Master of Police. Now as soon as Habzalam Bazazah saw her, health
+and heart returned to him and he arose without stay or delay and
+joyed with exceeding joy and would have drawn near her; but she
+plucks a dagger from her girdle and said, "Keep off from me, or I
+will kill thee and kill myself after." Exclaimed his mother, "O
+strumpet, let my son have his will of thee!" But Jessamine
+answered "O bitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry
+two men; and how shall the dog be admitted to the place of the
+lion?" With this, the ugly youth's love-longing redoubled and he
+sickened for yearning and unfulfilled desire; and refusing food
+returned to his pillow. Then said his mother to her, "O harlot,
+how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for my son? Needs must I
+punish thee with torture, and as for Ala al-Din, he will
+assuredly be hanged." "And I will die for love of him," answered
+Jessamine. Then the Governor's wife arose and stripped her of her
+jewels and silken raiment and, clothing her in petticoat-trousers
+of sack-cloth and a shift of hair-cloth, sent her down into the
+kitchen and made her a scullery-wench, saying, "The reward for
+thy constancy shall be to break up fire-wood and peel onions and
+set fire under the cooking-pots." Quoth she, "I am willing to
+suffer all manner of hardships and servitude, but I will not
+suffer the sight of thy son." However, Allah inclined the hearts
+of the slave-girls to her and they used to do her service in the
+kitchen. Such was the case with Jessamine; but as regards Ala
+al-Din they carried him, together with the stolen goods, to the
+Divan where the Caliph still sat upon his throne. And behold, the
+King looked upon his effects and said, "Where did ye find them?"
+They replied, "In the very middle of the house belonging to Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat;" whereat the Caliph was filled with wrath
+and took the things, but found not the lanthorn among them and
+said, "O Ala al-Din, where is the lanthorn?" He answered "I stole
+it not, I know naught of it; I never saw it; I can give no
+information about it!" Said the Caliph, "O traitor, how cometh it
+that I brought thee near unto me and thou hast cast me out afar,
+and I trusted in thee and thou betrayest me?" And he commanded to
+hang him. So the Chief of Police took him and went down with him
+into the city, whilst the crier preceded them proclaiming aloud
+and saying, "This is the reward and the least of the reward he
+shall receive who doth treason against the Caliphs of True
+Belief!" And the folk flocked to the place where the gallows
+stood. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Ahmad al-Danaf,
+Ala al-Din's adopted father, he was sitting making merry with his
+followers in a garden, and carousing and pleasuring when lo! in
+came one of the water-carriers of the Divan and, kissing the hand
+of Ahmad al-Danaf, said to him, "O Captain Ahmad, O Danaf! thou
+sittest at thine ease with water flowing at thy feet,[FN#100] and
+thou knowest not what hath happened." Asked Ahmad, "What is it?"
+and the other answered, "They have gone down to the gallows with
+thy son Ala al-Din, adopted by a covenant before Allah!" Quoth
+Ahmad, "What is the remedy here, O Hasan Shuuman, and what sayst
+thou of this?" He replied, "Assuredly Ala al-Din is innocent and
+this blame hath come to him from some one enemy."[FN#101] Quoth
+Ahmad, "What counsellest thou?" and Hasan said, "We must rescue
+him, Inshallah!" Then he went to the jail and said to the gaolor,
+"Give us some one who deserveth death." So he gave him one that
+was likest of men to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; and they covered
+his head and carried him to the place of execution between Ahmad
+al-Danaf and Ali al-Zaybak of Cairo.[FN#102] Now they had brought
+Ala al-Din to the gibbet, to hang him, but Ahmad al-Danaf came
+forward and set his foot on that of the hangman, who said, "Give
+me room to do my duty." He replied, "O accursed, take this man
+and hang him in Ala al-Din's stead; for he is innocent and we
+will ransom him with this fellow, even as Abraham ransomed
+Ishmael with the ram."[FN#103] So the hangman seized the man and
+hanged him in lieu of Ala al-Din; whereupon Ahmad and Ali took
+Ala al-Din and carried him to Ahmad's quarters and, when there,
+Ala al-Din turned to him and said, "O my sire and chief, Allah
+requite thee with the best of good!" Quoth he, "O Ala al-Din"--
+And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Calamity
+Ahmad cried, "O Ala al-Din, what is this deed thou hast done? The
+mercy of Allah be on him who said, 'Whoso trusteth thee betray
+him not, e'en if thou be a traitor.' Now the Caliph set thee in
+high place about him and styled thee 'Trusty' and 'Faithful'; how
+then couldst thou deal thus with him and steal his goods?" "By
+the Most Great Name, O my father and chief," replied Ala al-Din,
+"I had no hand in this, nor did I such deed, nor know I who did
+it." Quoth Ahmad, "Of a surety none did this but a manifest enemy
+and whoso doth aught shall be requited for his deed; but, O Ala
+al-Din, thou canst sojourn no longer in Baghdad, for Kings, O my
+son, may not pass from one thing to another, and when they go in
+quest of a man, ah! longsome is his travail." "Whither shall I
+go, O my chief?" asked Ala al-Din; and he answered, "O my son, I
+will bring thee to Alexandria, for it is a blessed place; its
+threshold is green and its sojourn is agreeable." And Ala al-Din
+rejoined, "I hear and I obey, O my chief." So Ahmad said to Hasan
+Shuuman, "Be mindful and, when the Caliph asketh for me, say, 'He
+is gone touring about the provinces'." Then, taking Ala al-Din,
+he went forth of Baghdad and stayed not going till they came to
+the outlying vineyards and gardens, where they met two Jews of
+the Caliph's tax-gatherers, riding on mules. Quoth Ahmad Al-Danaf
+to these, "Give me the black-mail."[FN#104] and quoth they, "Why
+should we pay thee black mail?" whereto he replied, "Because I am
+the watchman of this valley." So they gave him each an hundred
+gold pieces, after which he slew them and took their mules, one
+of which he mounted, whilst Ala al-Din bestrode the other. Then
+they rode on till they came to the city of Ayás[FN#105] and put
+up their beasts for the night at the Khan. And when morning
+dawned, Ala al-Din sold his own mule and committed that of Ahmad
+to the charge of the door-keeper of the caravanserai, after which
+they took ship from Ayas port and sailed to Alexandria. Here they
+landed and walked up to the bazar and behold, there was a broker
+crying a shop and a chamber behind it for nine hundred and fifty
+dinars. Upon this Ala al-Din bid a thousand which the broker
+accepted, for the premises belonged to the Treasury; and the
+seller handed over to him the keys and the buyer opened the shop
+and found the inner parlour furnished with carpets and cushions.
+Moreover, he found there a store-room full of sails and masts,
+cordage and seamen's chests, bags of beads and cowrie[FN#106]-
+shells, stirrups, battle-axes, maces, knives, scissors and such
+matters, for the last owner of the shop had been a dealer in
+second-hand goods.[FN#107]ook his seat in the shop and Ahmad
+al-Danaf said to him, "O my son, the shop and the room and that
+which is therein are become thine; so tarry thou here and buy and
+sell; and repine not at thy lot for Almighty Allah blesseth
+trade." After this he abode with him three days and on the fourth
+he took leave of him, saying, "Abide here till I go back and
+bring thee the Caliph's pardon and learn who hath played thee
+this trick." Then he shipped for Ayas, where he took the mule
+from the inn and, returning to Baghdad met Pestilence Hasan and
+his followers, to whom said he, "Hath the Caliph asked after
+me?"; and he replied, "No, nor hast thou come to his thought." So
+he resumed his service about the Caliph's person and set himself
+to sniff about for news of Ala al-Din's case, till one day he
+heard the Caliph say to the Watir, "See, O Ja'afar, how Ala
+al-Din dealt with me!" Replied the Minister, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, thou hast requited him with hanging and hath he not met
+with his reward?" Quoth he, "O Wazir, I have a mind to go down
+and see him hanging;" and the Wazir answered, "Do what thou wilt,
+O Commander of the Faithful." So the Caliph, accompanied by
+Ja'afar, went down to the place of execution and, raising his
+eyes, saw the hanged man to be other than Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat, surnamed the Trusty, and said, "O Wazir, this is not
+Ala al-Din!" "How knowest thou that it is not he?" asked the
+Minister, and the Caliph answered, "Ala al-Din was short and this
+one is tall " Quoth Ja'afar, "Hanging stretcheth." Quoth the
+Caliph, "Ala al-Din was fair and this one's face is black." Said
+Ja'afar "Knowest thou not, O Commander of the Faithful, that
+death is followed by blackness?" Then the Caliph bade take down
+the body from the gallows tree and they found the names of the
+two Shaykhs, Abu Bakr and Omar, written on its heels[FN#108]
+whereupon cried the Caliph, "O Wazir, Ala al Din was a Sunnite,
+and this fellow is a Rejecter, a Shi'ah." He answered, "Glory be
+to Allah who knoweth the hidden things, while we know not whether
+this was Ala al-Din or other than he." Then the Caliph bade bury
+the body and they buried it; and Ala al-Din was forgotten as
+though he never had been. Such was his case; but as regards
+Habzalam Bazazah, the Emir Khálid's son, he ceased not to
+languish for love and longing till he died and they joined him to
+the dust. And as for the young wife Jessamine, she accomplished
+the months of her pregnancy and, being taken with labour-pains,
+gave birth to a boy-child like unto the moon. And when her fellow
+slave-girls said to her, "What wilt thou name him?" she answered,
+"Were his father well he had named him; but now I will name him
+Aslán."[FN#109] She gave him suck for two successive years, then
+weaned him, and he crawled and walked. Now it so came to pass
+that one day, whilst his mother was busied with the service of
+the kitchen, the boy went out and, seeing the stairs, mounted to
+the guest-chamber.[FN#110] And the Emir Khálid who was sitting
+there took him upon his lap and glorified his Lord for that which
+he had created and fashioned then closely eyeing his face, the
+Governor saw that he was the likest of all creatures to Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat. Presently, his mother Jessamine sought for
+him and finding him not, mounted to the guest-chamber, where she
+saw the Emir seated, with the child playing in his lap, for Allah
+had inclined his heart to the boy. And when the child espied his
+mother, he would have thrown himself upon her; but the Emir held
+him tight to his bosom and said to Jessamine, "Come hither, O
+damsel." So she came to him, when he said to her, "Whose son is
+this?"; and she replied, "He is my son and the fruit of my
+vitals." "And who is his father?" asked the Emir; and she
+answered, "His father was Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, but now he is
+become thy son." Quoth Khálid, "In very sooth Ala al-Din was a
+traitor." Quoth she, "Allah deliver him from treason! the Heavens
+forfend and forbid that the 'Trusty' should be a traitor!" Then
+said he, "When this boy shall grow up and reach man's estate and
+say to thee, 'Who is my father?' say to him, 'Thou art the son of
+the Emir Khálid, Governor and Chief of Police.'" And she
+answered, "I hear and I obey." Then he circumcised the boy and
+reared him with the goodliest rearing, and engaged for him a
+professor of law and religious science, and an expert penman who
+taught him to read and write; so he read the Koran twice and
+learnt it by heart and he grew up, saying to the Emir, "O my
+father!" Moreover, the Governor used to go down with him to the
+tilting-ground and assemble horsemen and teach the lad the
+fashion of fight and fray, and the place to plant lance-thrust
+and sabre-stroke; so that by the time he was fourteen years old,
+he became a valiant wight and accomplished knight and gained the
+rank of Emir. Now it chanced one day that Aslan fell in with
+Ahmad Kamakim, the arch-thief, and accompanied him as cup-
+companion to the tavern[FN#111] and behold, Ahmad took out the
+jewelled lanthorn he had stolen from the Caliph and, setting it
+before him, pledged the wine cup to its light, till he became
+drunken. So Aslan said to him, "O Captain, give me this
+lanthorn;" but he replied, "I cannot give it to thee." Asked
+Aslan, "Why not?"; and Ahmad answered, "Because lives have been
+lost for it." "Whose life?" enquired Aslan; and Ahmad rejoined,
+"There came hither a man who was made Chief of the Sixty; he was
+named Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat and he lost his life through this
+lanthorn." Quoth Aslan, "And what was that story, and what
+brought about his death?" Quoth Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou hadst an
+elder brother by name Hahzalam Bazazah, and when he reached the
+age of sixteen and was ripe for marriage, thy father would have
+bought him a slave-girl named Jessamine." And he went on to tell
+him the whole story from first to last of Habzalam Bazazah's
+illness and what befell Ala al-Din in his innocence. When Aslan
+heard this, he said in thought, "Haply this slave-girl was my
+mother Jessamine, and my father was none other than Ala al-Din
+Abu al-Shamat." So the boy went out from him sorrowful, and met
+Calamity Ahmad, who at sight of him exclaimed, "Glory be to Him
+unto whom none is like!" Asked Hasan the Pestilence, "Whereat
+dost thou marvel, O my chief?" and Ahmad the Calamity replied,
+"At the make of yonder boy Aslan, for he is the likest of human
+creatures to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat." Then he called the lad
+and said to him, "O Aslan what is thy mother's name?"; to which
+he replied, "She is called the damsel Jessamine;" and the other
+said, "Harkye, Aslan, be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool
+and clear; for thy father was none other than Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat: but, O my son, go thou in to thy mother and question
+her of thy father." He said, "Hearkening and obedience," and,
+going in to his mother put the question; whereupon quoth she,
+"Thy sire is the Emir Khálid!" "Not so," rejoined he, "my father
+was none other than Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat." At this the mother
+wept and said, "Who acquainted thee with this, O my son?" And he
+answered "Ahmad al-Danaf, Captain of the Guard." So she told him
+the whole story, saying, "O my son, the True hath prevailed and
+the False hath failed:[FN#112] know that Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat
+was indeed thy sire, but it was none save the Emir Khálid who
+reared thee and adopted thee as his son. And now, O my child,
+when thou seest Ahmad al-Danaf the captain, do thou say to him,
+'I conjure thee, by Allah, O my chief, take my blood-revenge on
+the murderer of my father Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat!'" So he went
+out from his mother,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aslan went
+out from his mother and, betaking himself to Calamity Ahmad,
+kissed his hand. Quoth the captain, "What aileth thee, O Aslan?"
+and quoth he, "I know now for certain that my father was Ali
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat and I would have thee take my blood-revenge
+on his murderer." He asked, "And who was thy father's murderer?"
+whereto Aslan answered, "Ahmad Kamakim the arch-thief." "Who told
+thee this?" enquired he, and Aslan rejoined, "I saw in his hand
+the jewelled lanthorn which was lost with the rest of the
+Caliph's gear, and I said to him, 'Give me this lanthorn!' but he
+refused, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this'; and
+told me it was he who had broken into the palace and stolen the
+articles and deposited them in my father's house." Then said
+Ahmad al-Danaf, "When thou seest the Emir Khálid don his harness
+of war, say to him, 'Equip me like thyself and take me with
+thee.' Then do thou go forth and perform some feat of prowess
+before the Commander of the Faithful, and he will say to thee,
+'Ask a boon of me, O Aslan!' And do thou make answer, 'I ask of
+thee this boon, that thou take my blood-revenge on my father's
+murderer.' If he say, 'Thy father is yet alive and is the Emir
+Khálid, the Chief of the Police'; answer thou, 'My father was Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and the Emir Khálid hath a claim upon me
+only as the foster-father who adopted me.' Then tell him all that
+passed between thee and Ahmad Kamakim and say, 'O Prince of True
+Believers, order him to be searched and I will bring the lanthorn
+forth from his bosom.'" Thereupon said Aslan to him, "I hear and
+obey;" and, returning to the Emir Khálid, found him making ready
+to repair to the Caliph's court and said to him, "I would fain
+have thee arm and harness me like thyself and take me with thee
+to the Divan." So he equipped him and carried him thither. Then
+the Caliph sallied forth of Baghdad with his troops and they
+pitched tents and pavilions without the city; whereupon the host
+divided into two parties and forming ranks fell to playing Polo,
+one striking the ball with the mall, and another striking it back
+to him. Now there was among the troops a spy, who had been hired
+to slay the Caliph; so he took the ball and smiting it with the
+bat drove it straight at the Caliph's face, when behold, Aslan
+fended it off and catching it drove it back at him who smote it,
+so that it struck him between the shoulders and he fell to the
+ground. The Caliph exclaimed, "Allah bless thee, O Aslan!" and
+they all dismounted and sat on chairs. Then the Caliph bade them
+bring the smiter of the ball before him and said, "Who tempted
+thee to do this thing and art thou friend or foe?" Quoth he, "I
+am thy foe and it was my purpose to kill thee." Asked the Caliph
+"And wherefore? Art not a Moslem?" Replied the spy; "No' I am a
+Rejecter.''[FN#113] So the Caliph bade them put him to death and
+said to Aslan, "Ask a boon of me." Quoth he, "I ask of thee this
+boon, that thou take my blood-revenge on my father's murderer."
+He said, "Thy father is alive and there he stands on his two
+feet." "And who is he?" asked Aslan, and the Caliph answered, "He
+is the Emir Khálid, Chief of Police." Rejoined Aslan, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, he is no father of mine, save by right
+of fosterage; my father was none other than Ala al-Din Abu al
+Shamat." "Then thy father was a traitor," cried the Caliph.
+"Allah forbid, O Commander of the Faithful," rejoined Aslan,
+"that the 'Trusty' should be a traitor! But how did he betray
+thee?" Quoth the Caliph, "He stole my habit and what was
+therewith." Aslan retorted, "O Commander of the Faithful, Allah
+forfend that my father should be a traitor! But, O my lord, when
+thy habit was lost and found didst thou likewise recover the
+lanthorn which was stolen from thee?" Answered the Caliph, "We
+never got it back," and Aslan said, "I saw it in the hands of
+Ahmad Kamakim and begged it of him; but he refused to give it me,
+saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this.' Then he told
+me of the sickness of Habzalam Bazazah, son of the Emir Khálid,
+by reason of his passion for the damsel Jessamine, and how he
+himself was released from bonds and that it was he who stole the
+habit and the lamp: so do thou, O Commander of the Faithful, take
+my blood-revenge for my father on him who murdered him." At once
+the Caliph cried, "Seize ye Ahmad Kamakim!" and they seized him,
+whereupon he asked, "Where be the Captain, Ahmad al-Danaf?" And
+when he was summoned the Caliph bade him search Kamakim; so he
+put his hand into the thief's bosom and pulled out the lanthorn.
+Said the Caliph, "Come hither, thou traitor: whence hadst thou
+this lanthorn?" and Kamakim replied, "I bought it, O Commander of
+the Faithful!" The Caliph rejoined, "Where didst thou buy it?"
+Then they beat him till he owned that he had stolen the lanthorn,
+the habit and the rest, and the Caliph said "What moved thee to
+do this thing O traitor, and ruin Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the
+Trusty and Faithful?" Then he bade them lay hands on him and on
+the Chief of Police, but the Chief said, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, indeed I am unjustly treated thou badest me hang him,
+and I had no knowledge of this trick, for the plot was contrived
+between the old woman and Ahmad Kamakim and my wife. I crave
+thine intercession,[FN#114] O Aslan." So Aslan interceded for him
+with the Caliph, who said, "What hath Allah done with this
+youngster's mother?" Answered Khálid, "She is with me," and the
+Caliph continued, "I command that thou order thy wife to dress
+her in her own clothes and ornaments and restore her to her
+former degree, a lady of rank; and do thou remove the seals from
+Ala al-Din's house and give his son possession of his estate." "I
+hear and obey," answered Khálid; and, going forth, gave the order
+to his wife who clad Jessamine in her own apparel; whilst he
+himself removed the seals from Ala al-Din's house and gave Aslan
+the keys. Then said the Caliph, "Ask a boon of me, O Aslan;" and
+he replied, "I beg of thee the boon to unite me with my father."
+Whereat the Caliph wept and said, "Most like thy sire was he that
+was hanged and is dead; but by the life of my forefathers, whoso
+bringeth me the glad news that he is yet in the bondage of this
+life, I will give him all he seeketh!" Then came forward Ahmad
+al-Danaf and, kissing the ground between his hands, said, "Grant
+me indemnity, O Commander of the Faithful!" "Thou hast it,"
+answered the Caliph; and Calamity Ahmad said, "I give thee the
+good news that Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the Trusty, the
+Faithful, is alive and well." Quoth the Caliph "What is this thou
+sayest?" Quoth Al-Danaf, "As thy head liveth I say sooth; for I
+ransomed him with another, of those who deserved death; and
+carried him to Alexandria, where I opened for him a shop and set
+him up as a dealer in second hand goods." Then said the Prince of
+True Believers,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+ordered Calamity Ahmad, saying, "I charge thee fetch him to me;"
+and the other replied, "To hear is to obey;" whereupon the Caliph
+bade them give him ten thousand gold pieces and he fared forth
+for Alexandria. On this wise it happed with Aslan; but as regards
+his father, Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, he sold in course of time
+all that was in his shop excepting a few things and amongst them
+a long bag of leather. And happening to shake the bag there fell
+out a jewel which filled the palm of the hand, hanging to a chain
+of gold and having many facets but especially five, whereon were
+names and talismanic characters, as they were ant-tracks. So he
+rubbed each face; but none answered him[FN#115] and he said to
+himself, "Doubtless it is a piece of variegated onyx;" and then
+hung it up in the shop. And behold, a Consul[FN#116] passed along
+the street; and, raising his eyes, saw the jewel hanging up; so
+he seated himself over against the shop and said to Ala al-Din,
+"O my lord, is the jewel for sale?" He answered, "All I have is
+for sale." Thereupon the Frank said, "Wilt thou sell me that same
+for eighty thousand dinars?" "Allah open!" replied Ala al-Din.
+The Frank asked, "Wilt thou sell it for an hundred thousand
+dinars?", and he answered, "I sell it to thee for a hundred
+thousand dinars; pay me down the monies." Quoth the Consul, "I
+cannot carry about such sum as its price, for there be robbers
+and sharpers in Alexandria; but come with me to my ship and I
+will pay thee the price and give thee to boot a bale of Angora
+wool, a bale of satin, a bale of velvet and a bale of
+broadcloth." So Ala al-Din rose and locked up his shop, after
+giving the jewel to the Frank, and committed the keys to his
+neighbour, saying, "Keep these keys in trust for me, whilst I go
+with this Consul to his ship and return with the price of my
+jewel. If I be long absent and there come to thee Ahmad al-Danaf,
+the Captain who stablished me in this shop, give him the keys and
+tell him where I am." Then he went with the Consul to his ship
+and no sooner had he boarded it than the Prank set him a stool
+and, making him sit down, said to his men, "Bring the money." So
+they brought it and he paid him the price of the jewel and gave
+him the four bales he had promised him and one over; after which
+he said to him, "O my lord, honour me by accepting a bite or a
+sup." And Ala al-Din answered, "If thou have any water, give me
+to drink." So the Frank called for sherbets and they brought
+drink drugged with Bhang, of which no sooner had Ala al-Din
+drunk, than he fell over on his back; whereupon they stowed away
+the chairs and shipped the shoving-poles and made sail. Now the
+wind blew fair for them till it drove them into blue water, and
+when they were beyond sight of land the Kaptán[FN#117] bade bring
+Ala al-Din up out of the hold and made him smell the counter-drug
+of Bhang; whereupon he opened his eyes and said, "Where am I?" He
+replied, "Thou art bound and in my power and if thou hadst said,
+Allah open! to an hundred thousand dinars for the jewel, I would
+have bidden thee more." "What art thou?" asked Ala al-Din, and
+the other answered, "I am a sea-captain and mean to carry thee to
+my sweetheart." Now as they were talking, behold, a strip hove in
+sight carrying forty Moslem merchants; so the Frank captain
+attacked the vessel and made fast to it with grappling-irons;
+then he boarded it with his men and took it and plundered it;
+after which he sailed on with his prize, till he reached the city
+of Genoa. There the Kaptan, who was carrying off Ala al-Din,
+landed and repaired to a palace whose pastern gave upon the sea,
+and behold, there came down to him a damsel in a chin-veil who
+said, "Hast thou brought the jewel and the owner?" "I have
+brought them both," answered he; and she said, "Then give me the
+jewel." So he gave it to her; and, returning to the port, fired
+his cannon to announce his safe return; whereupon the King of the
+city, being notified of that Kaptan's arrival, came down to
+receive him and asked him, "How hath been this voyage?" He
+answered, "A right prosperous one, and while voyaging I have made
+prize of a ship with one-and-forty Moslem merchants." Said the
+King, "Land them at the port:" so he landed the merchants in
+irons and Ala al-Din among the rest; and the King and the Kaptan
+mounted and made the captives walk before them till they reached
+the audience-chamber, when the Franks seated themselves and
+caused the prisoners to pass in parade order, one by one before
+the King who said to the first, "O Moslem, whence comest thou?"
+He answered, "From Alexandria;" whereupon the King said, "O
+headsman, put him to death." So the sworder smote him with the
+sword and cut off his head: and thus it fared with the second and
+the third, till forty were dead and there remained but Ala
+al-Din, who drank the cup of his comrades' sighs and agony and
+said to himself, "Allah have mercy on thee, O Ala al-Din Thou art
+a dead man." Then said the King to him, "And thou, what
+countryman art thou?" He answered, "I am of Alexandria," and the
+King said, "O headsman, strike off his head." So the sworder
+raised arm and sword, and was about to strike when behold, an old
+woman of venerable aspect presented herself before the King, who
+rose to do her honour, and said to him, "O King, did I not bid
+thee remember, when the Captain came back with captives, to keep
+one or two for the convent, to serve in the church?" The King
+replied, "O my mother, would thou hadst come a while earlier! But
+take this one that is left." So she turned to Ala al-Din and said
+to him, "Say, wilt thou serve in the church, or shall I let the
+King slay thee?" Quoth he, "I will serve in the church." So she
+took him and carried him forth of the court and went to the
+church, where he said to her, "What service must I do?" She
+replied, "Thou must rise with the dawn and take five mules and go
+with them to the forest and there cut dry fire-wood and saw it
+short and bring it to the convent-kitchen. Then must thou take up
+the carpets and sweep and wipe the stone and marble pavements and
+lay the carpets down again, as they were; after which thou must
+take two bushels and a half of wheat and bolt it and grind it and
+knead it and make it into cracknels[FN#118] for the convent; and
+thou must take also a bushel of lentils[FN#119] and sift and
+crush and cook them. Then must thou fetch water in barrels and
+fill the four fountains; after which thou must take three hundred
+and threescore and six wooden bowls and crumble the cracknels
+therein and pour of the lentil-pottage over each and carry every
+monk and patriarch his bowl." Said Ala al-Din,[FN#120] "Take me
+back to the King and let him kill me, it were easier to me than
+this service." Replied the old woman, "If thou do truly and
+rightly the service that is due from thee thou shalt escape
+death; but, if thou do it not, I will let the King kill thee."
+And with these words Ala al-Din was left sitting heavy at heart.
+Now there were in the church ten blind cripples, and one of them
+said to him, "Bring me a pot." So he brought it him and he cacked
+and eased himself therein and said, "Throw away the ordure." He
+did so, and the blind man said, "The Messiah's blessing be upon
+thee, O servant of the church!" Presently behold, the old woman
+came in and said to him, "Why hast thou not done thy service in
+the church?" Answered he, "How many hands have I, that I should
+suffice for all this work?" She rejoined, 'Thou fool, I brought
+thee not hither except to work;" and she added, "Take, O my son,
+this rod (which was of copper capped with a cross) and go forth
+into the highway and, when thou meetest the governor of the city,
+say to him, 'I summon thee to the service of the church, in the
+name of our Lord the Messiah.' And he will not disobey thee. Then
+make him take the wheat, sift, grind, bolt, knead, and bake it
+into cracknels; and if any gainsay thee, beat him and fear none."
+"To hear is to obey," answered he and did as she said, and never
+ceased pressing great and small into his service; nor did he
+leave to do thus for the space of seventeen years. Now one day as
+he sat in church, lo! the old woman came to him and said, "Go
+forth of the convent." He asked, "Whither shall I go?" and she
+answered, "Thou canst pass the night in a tavern or with one of
+thy comrades." Quoth he, "Why dost thou send me forth of the
+church?" and quote she, "The Princess Husn Maryam, daughter of
+Yohanná,[FN#121] King of this city, purposeth to visit the church
+and it befitteth not that any abide in her way." So he made a
+show of obeying her orders and rose up and pretended that he was
+leaving the church; but he said in his mind, "I wonder whether
+the Princess is like our women or fairer than they! At any rate I
+will not go till I have had a look at her." So he hid himself in
+a closet with a window looking into the church and, as he
+watched, behold, in came the King's daughter. He cast at her one
+glance of eyes that cost him a thousand sighs, for he found her
+like the full moon when it cometh swimming out of the clouds; and
+he saw with her a young lady,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ala
+al-Din looked at the King's daughter, he saw with her a young
+lady to whom he heard her say, "Thy company hath cheered me, O
+Zubaydah." So he looked straitly at the damsel and found her to
+be none other than his dead wife, Zubaydah the Lutist. Then the
+Princess said to Zubaydah, "Come, play us an air on the lute."
+But she answered, "I will make no music for thee, till thou grant
+my wish and keep thy word to me." Asked the Princess, "And what
+did I promise thee?"; and Zubaydah answered, "That thou wouldst
+reunite me with my husband Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the Trusty,
+the Faithful." Rejoined the Princess, "O Zubaydah, be of good
+cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear; play us a piece as a
+thank-offering and an ear-feast for reunion with thy husband Ala
+al-Din." "Where is he?" asked Zubaydah, and Maryam answered, "He
+is in yonder closet listening to our words." So Zubaydah played
+on the lute a melody which had made a rock dance for glee; and
+when Ala al-Din heard it, his bowels yearned towards her and he
+came forth from the closet and, throwing himself upon his wife
+Zubaydah, strained her to his bosom. She also knew him and the
+twain embraced and fell to the ground in a swoon. Then came
+forward the Princess Husn Maryam and sprinkled rose water on
+them, till they revived when she said to them, "Allah hath
+reunited you." Replied Ala al-Din, "By thy kind of offices, O
+lady." Then, turning to his wife, he said to her, "O Zubaydah,
+thou didst surely die and we tombed thee in the tomb: how then
+returnedst thou to life and camest thou to this place?" She
+answered, "O my lord, I did not die; but an Aun[FN#122] of the
+Jinn snatched me up and dew with me hither. She whom thou
+buriedst was a Jinniyah, who shaped herself to my shape and
+feigned herself dead; but when you entombed her she broke open
+the tomb and came forth from it and returned to the service of
+this her mistress, the Princess Husn Maryam. As for me I was
+possessed[FN#123] and, when I opened my eyes, I found myself with
+this Princess thou seest; so I said to her, 'Why hast thou
+brought me hither?' Replied she, 'I am predestined to marry thy
+husband, Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: wilt thou then, O Zubaydah,
+accept me to co-consort, a night for me and a night for thee?'
+Rejoined I, 'To hear is to obey, O my lady, but where is my
+husband?' Quoth she, 'Upon his forehead is written what Allah
+hath decreed to him; as soon as the writing which is there writ
+is fulfilled to him, there is no help for it but he come hither,
+and we will beguile the time of our separation from him with
+songs and playing upon instruments of music, till it please Allah
+to unite us with him.' So I abode all these days with her till
+Allah brought us together in this church." Then Husn Maryam
+turned to him and said, "O my lord, Ala al-Din, wilt thou be to
+me baron and I be to thee femme?" Quoth he, "O my lady, I am a
+Moslem and thou art a Nazarene; so how can I intermarry with
+thee?" Quoth she, "Allah forbid that I should be an infidel! Nay,
+I am a Moslemah; for these eighteen years I have held fast the
+Faith of Al-Islam and I am pure of any creed other than that of
+the Islamite." Then said he, "O my lady, I desire a return to my
+native land;" and she replied, "Know that I see written on thy
+forehead things which thou must needs accomplish, and then thou
+shalt win to thy will. Moreover, be fief and fain, O Ala al-Din,
+that there hath been born to thee a son named Aslan; who now
+being arrived at age of discretion, sitteth in thy place with the
+Caliph. Know also that Truth hath prevailed and that Falsehood
+naught availed; and that the Lord hath withdrawn the curtain of
+secrecy from him who stole the Caliph's goods, that is, Ahmad
+Kamakim the arch-thief and traitor; and he now lieth bound and in
+jail. And know further 'twas I who sent thee the jewel and had it
+put in the bag where thou foundest it, and 'twas I who sent the
+captain that brought thee and the jewel; for thou must know that
+the man is enamoured of me and seeketh my favours and would
+possess me; but I refused to yield to his wishes or let him have
+his will of me; and I said him, 'Thou shalt never have me till
+thou bring me the jewel and its owner.' So I gave him an hundred
+purses and despatched him to thee, in the habit of a merchant,
+whereas he is a captain and a war-man; and when they led thee to
+thy death after slaying the forty captives, I also sent thee this
+old woman to save thee from slaughter." Said he, "Allah requite
+thee for us with all good! Indeed thou hast done well." Then Husn
+Maryam renewed at his hands her profession of Al-Islam; and, when
+he was assured of the truth of her speech, he said to her, O my
+lady, tell me what are the virtues of this jewel and whence
+cometh it?" She answered, "This jewel came from an enchanted
+hoard, and it hath five virtues which will profit us in time of
+need. Now my lady grandmother, the mother of my father, was an
+enchantress and skilled in solving secrets and finding hidden
+treasures from one of which came the jewel into her hands. And as
+I grew up and reached the age of fourteen, I read the Evangel and
+other books and I found the name of Mohammed (whom Allah bless
+and preserve!) in the four books, namely the Evangel, the
+Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Koran;[FN#124] so I believed in
+Mohammed and became a Moslemah, being certain and assured that
+none is worship worth save Allah Almighty, and that to the Lord
+of all mankind no faith is acceptable save that of Al-Islam. Now
+when my lady-grandmother fell sick, she gave me this jewel and
+taught me its five virtues. Moreover, before she died, my father
+said to her, 'Take thy tablets of geomancy and throw a figure,
+and tell us the issue of my affair and what will befal-me.' And
+she foretold him that the far off one[FN#125] should die, slain
+by the hand of a captive from Alexandria. So he swore to kill
+every prisoner from that place and told the Kaptan of this,
+saying, 'There is no help for it but thou fall on the ships of
+the Moslems and seize them and whomsoever thou findest of
+Alexandria, kill him or bring him to me.' The Captain did his
+bidding until he had slain as many in number as the hairs of his
+head. Then my grandmother died and I took a geomantic tablet,
+being minded and determined to know the future, and I said to
+myself, 'Let me see who will wed me!' Whereupon I threw a figure
+and found that none should be my husband save one called Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful. At this I
+marvelled and waited till the times were accomplished and I
+foregathered with thee." So Ala al-Din took her to wife and said
+to her, "I desire to return to my own country." Quoth she, "If it
+be so, rise up and come with me." Then she took him and, hiding
+him in a closet of her palace, went in to her father, who said to
+her, "O my daughter, my heart is exceeding heavy this day; sit
+down and let us make merry with wine, I and thou." So she sat
+down with him and he called for a table of wine; and she plied
+him till he lost his wits, when she drugged a cup with Bhang and
+he drank it off and fell upon his back. Then she brought Ala
+al-Din out of the closet and said to him, "Come; verily thine
+enemy lieth prostrate, for I made him drunk and drugged him; so
+do thou with him as thou wilt." Accordingly Ala al-Din went to
+the King and, finding him lying drugged and helpless, pinioned
+him fast and manacled and fettered him with chains. Then he gave
+him the counter-drug and he came to himself,--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din
+gave the antidote of Bhang to King Yohanna, father of Husn
+Maryam, and he came to himself and found Ala al-Din and his
+daughter sitting on his breast. So he said to her, "O my
+daughter, dost thou deal thus with me?" She answered "If I be
+indeed thy daughter, become a Moslem, even as I became a
+Moslemah, for the truth was shown to me and I attested it; and
+the false, and I deserted it. I have submitted myself unto Allah,
+The Lord of the Three Worlds, and am pure of all faiths contrary
+to that of Al-Islam in this world and in the next world.
+Wherefore, if thou wilt become a Moslem, well and good; if not,
+thy death were better than thy life." Ala al-Din also exhorted
+him to embrace the True Faith; but he refused and was
+contumacious; so Ala al-Din drew a dagger and cut his throat from
+ear to ear.[FN#126] Then he wrote a scroll, setting forth what
+had happened and laid it on the brow of the dead, after which
+they took what was light of load and weighty of worth and turned
+from the palace and returned to the church. Here the Princess
+drew forth the jewel and, placing her hand upon the facet where
+was figured a couch, rubbed it; and behold, a couch appeared
+before her and she mounted upon it with Ala al-Din and his wife
+Zubaydah, the lutist, saying, "I conjure thee by the virtue of
+the names and talismans and characts engraver on this jewel, rise
+up with us, O Couch!" And it rose with them into the air and
+flew, till it came to a Wady wholly bare of growth, when the
+Princess turned earthwards the facet on which the couch was
+figured, and it sank with them to the ground. Then she turned up
+the face where on was fashioned a pavilion and tapping it said,
+"Let a pavilion be pitched in this valley;" and there appeared a
+pavilion, wherein they seated themselves. Now this Wady was a
+desert waste, without grass or water; so she turned a third face
+of the jewel towards the sky, and said, "By the virtue of the
+names of Allah, let trees upgrow here and a river flow beside
+them!" And forthwith trees sprang up and by their side ran a
+river plashing and dashing. They made the ablution and prayed and
+drank of the stream; after which the Princess turned up the three
+other facets till she came to the fourth, whereon was portrayed a
+table of good, and said, "By the virtue of the names of Allah,
+let the table be spread!" And behold, there appeared before them
+a table, spread with all manner of rich meats, and they ate and
+drank and made merry and were full of joy. Such was their case;
+but as regards Husn Maryam's father, his son went in to waken him
+and found him slain; and, seeing Ala al-Din's scroll, took it and
+read it, and readily understood it. Then he sought his sister and
+finding her not, betook himself to the old woman in the church,
+of whom he enquired for her, but she said, "Since yesterday I
+have not seen her." So he returned to the troops and cried out,
+saying, "To horse, ye horsemen!" Then he told them what had
+happened, so they mounted and rode after the fugitives, till they
+drew near the pavilion. Presently Husn Maryam arose and looked up
+and saw a cloud of dust which spread till it walled the view,
+then it lifted and flew, and lo! stood disclosed her brother and
+his troops, crying aloud, "Whither will ye fly, and we on your
+track!" Then said she to Ala al-Din, "Are thy feet firm in
+fight?" He replied, "Even as the stake in bran, I know not war
+nor battle, nor swords nor spears." So she pulled out the jewel
+and rubbed the fifth face, that on which were graven a horse and
+his rider, and behold, straightway a cavalier appeared out of the
+desert and ceased not to do battle with the pursuing host and
+smite them with the sword, till he routed them and put them to
+flight. Then the Princess asked Ala al-Din, "Wilt thou go to
+Cairo or to Alexandria?"; and he answered, "To Alexandria." So
+they mounted the couch and she pronounced over it the
+conjuration, whereupon it set off with them and, in the twinkling
+of an eye, brought them to Alexandria. They alighted without the
+city and Ala al-Din hid the women in a cavern, whilst he went
+into Alexandria and fetched them outer clothing, wherewith he
+covered them. Then he carried them to his shop and, leaving them
+in the "ben"[FN#127] walked forth to fetch them the morning-meal,
+and behold he met Calamity Ahmad who chanced to be coming from
+Baghdad. He saw him in the street and received him with open
+arms, saluting him and welcoming him. Whereupon Ahmad al-Danaf
+gave him the good news of his son Aslan and how he was now come
+to the age of twenty: and Ala al-Din, in his turn, told the
+Captain of the Guard all that had befallen him from first to
+last, whereat he marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then he brought
+him to his shop and sitting room where they passed the night; and
+next day he sold his place of business and laid its price with
+other monies. Now Ahmad al-Danaf had told him that the Caliph
+sought him; but he said, "I am bound first for Cairo, to salute
+my father and mother and the people of my house." So they all
+mounted the couch and it carried them to Cairo the God-guarded;
+and here they alighted in the street called Yellow,[FN#128] where
+stood the house of Shams al-Din. Then Ala al-Din knocked at the
+door, and his mother said, "Who is at the door, now that we have
+lost our beloved for evermore?" He replied, " 'Tis I! Ala
+al-Din!" whereupon they came down and embraced him. Then he sent
+his wives and baggage into the house and entering himself with
+Ahmad al-Danaf, rested there three days, after which he was
+minded to set out for Baghdad. His father said, "Abide with me, O
+my son;" but he answered; "I cannot bear to be parted from my
+child Aslan." So he took his father and mother and fared forth
+for Baghdad. Now when they came thither, Ahmad al-Danaf went in
+to the Caliph and gave him the glad tidings of Ala al-Din's
+arrival--and told him his story whereupon the King went forth to
+greet him taking the youth Aslan, and they met and embraced each
+other. Then the Commander of the Faithful summoned the arch-thief
+Ahmad Kamakim and said to Ala al-Din, "Up and at thy foe!" So he
+drew his sword and smote off Ahmad Kamakim's head. Then the
+Caliph held festival for Ala al-Din and, summoning the Kazis and
+witnesses, wrote the contract and married him to the Princess
+Husn Maryam; and he went in unto her and found her an unpierced
+pearl. Moreover, the Caliph made Aslan Chief of the Sixty and
+bestowed upon him and his father sumptuous dresses of honour; and
+they abode in the enjoyment of all joys and joyance of life, till
+there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of
+societies. But the tales of generous men are manifold and amongst
+them is the story of
+
+
+
+
+                  HATIM OF THE TRIBE OF TAYY.
+
+
+
+It is told of Hátim of the tribe of Tayy,[FN#129] that when he
+died, they buried him on the top of a mountain and set over his
+grave two troughs hewn out of two rocks and stone girls with
+dishevelled hair. At the foot of the hill was a stream of running
+water, and when wayfarers camped there, they heard loud crying
+and keening in the night, from dark till daybreak; but when they
+arose in the morning, they found nothing but the girls carved in
+stone. Now when Zú 'l-Kurá'a,[FN#130] King of Himyar, going forth
+of his tribe, came to that valley, he halted to pass the night
+there,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Two Hundred and Seventieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zu 'l-
+Kura'a passed by the valley he righted there, and, when he drew
+near the mountain, he heard the keening and said, "What lamenting
+is that on yonder hill?" They answered him, saying, "Verily this
+be the tomb of Hatim al-Táyy, over which are two troughs of stone
+and stone figures of girls with dishevelled hair; and all who
+camp in this place by night hear this crying and keening." So he
+said jestingly, "O Hatim of Tayy! we are thy guests this night,
+and we are lank with hunger." Then sleep overcame him, but
+presently he awoke in affright and cried out, saying, "Help, O
+Arabs! Look to my beast!" So they came to him, and finding his
+she-camel struggling and struck down, they stabbed her in the
+throat and roasted her flesh and ate. Then they asked him what
+had happened and he said, "When I closed my eyes, I saw in my
+sleep Hatim of Tayy who came to me sword in hand and cried, 'Thou
+comest to us and we have nothing by us.' Then he smote my she-
+camel with his sword, and she had surely died even though ye had
+not come to her and slaughtered her."[FN#131] Now when morning
+dawned the King mounted the beast of one of his companions and,
+taking the owner up behind him, set out and fared on till midday,
+when they saw a man coming towards them, mounted on a camel and
+leading another, and said to him, "Who art thou?" He answered, "I
+am Adi,[FN#132] son of Hatim of Tayy; where is Zu 'l-Kura'a, Emir
+of Himyar?" Replied they, "This is he;" and he said to the
+prince, "Take this she-camel in place of thy beast which my
+father slaughtered for thee." Asked Zu 'l Kura'a, "Who told thee
+of this?" and Adi answered, "My father appeared to me in a dream
+last night and said to me, 'Harkye, Adi; Zu 'l Kura'a King of
+Himyar, sought the guest-rite of me and I, having naught to give
+him, slaughtered his she-camel, that he might eat: so do thou
+carry him a she-camel to ride, for I have nothing.'" And Zu
+'l-Kura'a took her, marvelling at the generosity of Hatim of Tayy
+alive and dead. And amongst instances of generosity is the
+
+
+
+
+            TALE OF MA'AN THE SON OF ZAIDAH.[FN#133]
+
+
+
+It is told of Ma'an bin Záidah that, being out one day a-chasing
+and a-hunting, he became athirst but his men had no water with
+them; and while thus suffering behold, three damsels met him
+bearing three skins of water;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+  When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-first Night,[FN#134]
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that three girls
+met him bearing three skins of water; so he begged drink of them,
+and they gave him to drink. Then he sought of his men somewhat to
+give the damsels but they had no money; so he presented to each
+girl ten golden piled arrows from his quiver. Whereupon quoth one
+of them to her friend, "Well-a-day! These fashions pertain to
+none but Ma'an bin Zaidah! so let each one of us say somewhat of
+verse in his praise." Then quoth the first,
+
+"He heads his arrows with piles of gold, * And while shooting his
+     foes is his bounty doled:
+Affording the wounded a means of cure, * And a sheet for the
+     bider beneath the mould!"
+
+And quoth the second,
+
+"A warrior showing such open hand, * His boons all friends and
+     all foes enfold:
+The piles of his arrows of or are made, * So that battle his
+     bounty may not withhold!"
+
+And quoth the third,
+
+"From that liberal-hand on his foes he rains * Shafts aureate-
+    headed and manifold:
+Wherewith the hurt shall chirurgeon pay, * And for slain the
+     shrouds round their corpses roll'd."[FN#135]
+
+And there is also told a tale of
+
+
+
+
+              MA'AN SON OF ZAIDAH AND THE BADAWI.
+
+
+
+Now Ma'an bin Záidah went forth one day to the chase with his
+company, and they came upon a herd of gazelles; so they separated
+in pursuit and Ma'an was left alone to chase one of them. When he
+had made prize of it he alighted and slaughtered it; and as he
+was thus engaged, he espied a person[FN#136] coming forth out of
+the desert on an ass. So he remounted and riding up to the new-
+comer, saluted him and asked him, "Whence  comest thou?" Quoth
+he, "I come from the land of Kuzá'ah, where we have had a two
+years' dearth; but this year it was a season of plenty and I
+sowed early cucumbers.[FN#137] They came up before their time, so
+I gathered what seemed the best of them and set out to carry them
+to the Emir Ma'an bin Zaidah, because of his well-known
+beneficence and notorious munificence." Asked Ma'an, "How much
+dost thou hope to get of him?"; and the Badawi answered, "A
+thousand dinars." Quoth the Emir, "What if he say this is too
+much?" Said the Badawi, "Then I will ask five hundred dinars."
+"And if he say, too much?" "Then three hundred!" "And if he say
+yet, too much?" "Then two hundred!" "And if he say yet, too
+much?" "Then one hundred!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then,
+fifty!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then thirty!" "And if he
+say still, too much?" asked Ma'an bin Zaidah. Answered the
+Badawi, "I will make my ass set his four feet in his Honour's
+home[FN#138] and return to my people, disappointed and empty-
+handed." So Ma'an laughed at him and urged his steed till he came
+up with his suite and returned to his place, when he said to his
+chamberlain, "An there come to thee a man with cucumbers and
+riding on an ass admit him to me." Presently up came the Badawi
+and was admitted to Ma'an's presence; but knew not the Emir for
+the man he had met in the desert, by reason of the gravity and
+majesty of his semblance and the multitude of his eunuchs and
+attendants, for he was seated on his chair of state with his
+officers ranged in lines before him and on either side. So he
+saluted him and Ma'an said to him "What bringeth thee, O brother
+of the Arabs?" Answered the Badawi, "I hoped in the Emir, and
+have brought him curly cucumbers out of season." Asked Ma'an,
+"And how much dost thou expect of us?" "A thousand dinars,"
+answered the Badawi. "This is far too much," quoth Ma'an. Quoth
+he, "Five hundred." "Too much!" "Then three hundred." "Too much!"
+"Two hundred." "Too much!" "One hundred." "Too much!" "Fifty."
+"Too much!" At last the Badawi came down to thirty dinars; but
+Ma'an still replied, "Too much!" So the Badawi cried, "By Allah,
+the man who met me in the desert brought me bad luck! But I will
+not go lower than thirty dinars." The Emir laughed and said
+nothing; whereupon the wild Arab knew that it was he whom he had
+met and said, "O my lord, except thou bring the thirty dinars,
+see ye, there is the ass tied ready at the door and here sits
+Ma'an, his honour, at home." So Ma'an laughed, till he fell on
+his back; and, calling his steward, said to him, "Give him a
+thousand dinars and five hundred and three hundred and two
+hundred and one hundred and fifty and thirty; and leave the ass
+tied up where he is." So the Arab to his amazement, received two
+thousand one hundred and eighty dinars, and Allah have mercy on
+them both and on all generous men! And I have also heard, O
+auspicious King, a tale of
+
+
+
+
+                  THE CITY OF LABTAYT.[FN#139]
+
+
+
+There was once a royal-city in the land of Roum, called the City
+of Labtayt wherein stood a tower which was always shut. And
+whenever a King died and another King of the Greeks took the
+Kingship after him, he set on the tower a new and strong lock,
+till there were four-and-twenty locks upon the gate, according to
+the number of the Kings. After this time, there came to the
+throne a man who was not of the old royal-house, and he had a
+mind to open these locks, that he might see what was within the
+tower. The grandees of his kingdom forbade him this and pressed
+him to desist and reproved him and blamed him; but he persisted
+saying, "Needs must this place be opened." Then they offered him
+all that their hands possessed of monies and treasures and things
+of price, if he would but refrain; still he would not be
+baulked,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+grandees offered that King all their hands possessed of monies
+and treasures if he would but refrain; still he would not be
+baulked and said "There is no help for it but I open this tower."
+So he pulled off the locks and entering, found within the tower
+figures of Arabs on their horses and camels, habited in
+turbands[FN#140] hanging down at the ends, with swords in
+baldrick-belts thrown over their shoulders and bearing long
+lances in their hands. He found there also a scroll which he
+greedily took and read, and these words were written therein,
+"Whenas this door is opened will conquer this country a raid of
+the Arabs, after the likeness of the figures here depicted;
+wherefore beware, and again beware of opening it." Now this city
+was in Andalusia; and that very year Tárik ibn Ziyád conquered
+it, during the Caliphate of Al-Walíd son of Abd al-Malik[FN#141]
+of the sons of Umayyah; and slew this King after the sorriest
+fashion and sacked the city and made prisoners of the women and
+boys therein and got great loot. Moreover, he found there immense
+treasures; amongst the rest more than an hundred and seventy
+crowns of pearls and jacinths and other gems of price; and he
+found a saloon, wherein horsemen might throw the spears, full of
+vessels of gold and silver, such as no description can comprise.
+Moreover, he found there the table of food for the Prophet of
+Allah, Solomon, son of David (peace with both of them!), which is
+extant even now in a city of the Greeks, it is told that it was
+of grass-green emerald with vessels of gold and platters of
+jasper. Likewise he found the Psalms written in the old
+Ionian[FN#142] characters on leaves of gold bezel'd with jewels;
+together with a book setting forth the properties of stones and
+herbs and minerals, as well as the use of characts and talismans
+and the canons of the art of alchymy; and he found a third volume
+which treated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and other
+precious stones and of the preparation of poisons and theriacks.
+There found he also a mappa mundi figuring the earth and the seas
+and the different cities and countries and villages of the world;
+and he found a vast saloon full of hermetic powder, one drachm of
+which elixir would turn a thousand drachms of silver into fine
+gold; likewise a marvellous mirror, great and round, of mixed
+metals, which had been made for Solomon, son of David (on the
+twain be peace!) wherein whoso looked might see the counterfeit
+presentment of the seven climates of the world; and he beheld a
+chamber full of Brahmini[FN#143] jacinths for which no words can
+suffice. So he despatched all these things to Walid bin Abd
+al-Malik, and the Arabs spread all over the cities of Andalusia
+which is one of the finest of lands. This is the end of the story
+of the City of Labtayt. And a tale is also told of
+
+
+
+
+             THE CALIPH HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.
+
+
+
+The Caliph Hishám bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, was hunting one
+day, when he sighted an antelope and pursued it with his dogs. As
+he was following the quarry, he saw an Arab youth pasturing sheep
+and said to him, "Ho boy, up and after yonder antelope, for it
+escapeth me!" The youth raised his head to him and replied, "O
+ignorant of what to the deserving is due, thou lookest on me with
+disdain and speakest to me with contempt; thy speaking is that of
+a tyrant true and thy doing what an ass would do." Quoth Hisham,
+"Woe to thee, dost thou not know me?" Rejoined the youth, "Verily
+thine unmannerliness hath made thee known to me, in that thou
+spakest to me, without beginning by the salutation."[FN#144]
+Repeated the Caliph, "Fie upon thee! I am Hisham bin Abd
+al-Malik." "May Allah not favour thy dwelling-place," replied the
+Arab, "nor guard thine abiding place! How many are thy words and
+how few thy generous deeds!" Hardly had he ended speaking, when
+up came the troop from all sides and surrounded him as the white
+encircleth the black of the eye, all and each saying, "Peace be
+with thee, O Commander of the Faithful!" Quoth Hisham, "Cut short
+this talk and seize me yonder boy." So they laid hands on him;
+and when he saw the multitude of Chamberlains and Wazirs and
+Lords of State, he was in nowise concerned and questioned not of
+them, but let his chin drop on his breast and looked where his
+feet fell, till they brought him to the Caliph[FN#145] when he
+stood before him, with head bowed groundwards and saluted him not
+and spoke him not. So one of the eunuchs said to him, "O dog of
+the Arabs, what hindereth thy saluting the Commander of the
+Faithful?" The youth turned to him angrily and replied, "O
+packsaddle of an ass, it was the length of the way that hindered
+me from this and the steepness of the steps and the profuseness
+of my sweat." Then said Hisham (and indeed he was exceeding
+wroth), "O boy, verily thy days are come to their latest hour;
+thy hope is gone from thee and thy life is past out of thee." He
+answered, "By Allah, O Hisham, verily an my life-term be
+prolonged and Fate ordain not its cutting short, thy words irk me
+not, be they long or short." Then said the Chief Chamberlain to
+him, "Doth it befit thy degree, O vilest of the Arabs, to bandy
+words with the Commander of the Faithful?" He answered promptly,
+"Mayest thou meet with adversity and may woe and wailing never
+leave thee! Hast thou not heard the saying of Almighty Allah?,
+'One day, every soul shall come to defend itself.'"[FN#146]
+Hereupon Hisham rose, in great wrath, and said, "O headsman,
+bring me the head of this lad; for indeed he exceedeth in talk,
+such as passeth conception." So the sworder took him and, making
+him kneel on the carpet of blood, drew his sword above him and
+said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the Faithful, this thy slave
+is misguided and is on the way to his grave; shall I smite off
+his head and be quit of his blood?" "Yes," replied Hisham. He
+repeated his question and the Caliph again answered in the
+affirmative. Then he asked leave a third time; and the youth,
+knowing that, if the Caliph assented yet once more, it would be
+the signal of his death, laughed till his wisdom-teeth showed;
+whereupon Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him, "O boy,
+meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to
+depart the world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of
+thyself?" He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, if a larger
+life-term befell me, none can hurt me, great or small; but I have
+bethought me of some couplets, which do thou hear, for my death
+cannot escape thee." Quoth Hisham, "Say on and be brief;" so the
+Arab repeated these couplets,
+
+"It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow
+     driven by destiny;
+And held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E'en as the hawk
+     rose ready home to hie:--
+'Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly
+     food poor morsel I.
+Then smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the
+     sparrow free to fly.
+
+At this Hisham smiled and said, "By the truth of my kinship to
+the Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken
+this speech at first and asked for aught except the Caliphase,
+verily I would have given it to him. Stuff his mouth with
+jewels,[FN#147] O eunuch and entreat him courteously;" so they
+did as he bade them and the Arab went his way. And amongst
+pleasant tales is that of
+
+
+
+
+              IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER-
+                            SURGEON.
+
+
+
+They relate that Ibrahím, son of al-Mahdí,[FN#148] brother of
+Harun al-Rashid, when the Caliphate devolved to Al-Maamun, the
+son of his brother Harun, refused to acknowledge his nephew and
+betook himself to Rayy[FN#149]; where he claimed the throne and
+abode thus a year and eleven months and twelve days. Meanwhile
+his nephew, Al-Maamun, awaited his return to allegiance and his
+accepting a dependent position till, at last, despairing of this,
+he mounted with his horsemen and footmen and repaired to Rayy in
+quest of him. Now when the news came to Ibrahim, he found nothing
+for it but to flee to Baghdad and hide there, fearing for his
+life; and Maamun set a price of a hundred thousand gold pieces
+upon his head, to be paid to whoso might betray him. (Quoth
+Ibrahim) "When I heard of this price I feared for my head"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim
+continued, "Now when I heard of this price I feared for my head
+and knew not what to do: so I went forth of my house in disguise
+at mid-day, knowing not whither I should go. Presently I entered
+a broad street which was no thoroughfare and said in my mind,
+'Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning! I have
+exposed my life to destruction. If I retrace my steps, I shall
+arouse suspicion.' Then, being still in disguise I espied, at the
+upper end of the street, a negro-slave standing at his door; so I
+went up to him and said to him, 'Hast thou a place where I may
+abide for an hour of the day?' 'Yes,' answered he, and opening
+the door admitted me into a decent house, furnished with carpets
+and mats and cushions of leather. Then he shut the door on me and
+went away; and I misdoubted me he had heard of the reward offered
+for me, and said to myself, 'He hath gone to inform against me.'
+But, as I sat pondering my case and boiling like cauldron over
+fire, behold, my host came back, accompanied by a porter loaded
+with bread and meat and new cooking-pots and gear and a new jar
+and new gugglets and other needfuls. He made the porter set them
+down and, dismissing him, said to me, 'I offer my life for thy
+ransom! I am a barber-surgeon, and I know it would disgust thee
+to eat with me' because of the way in which I get my
+livelihood;[FN#150] so do thou shift for thyself and do what thou
+please with these things whereon no hand hath fallen.' (Quoth
+Ibrahim), Now I was in sore need of food so I cooked me a pot of
+meat whose like I remember not ever to have eaten; and, when I
+had satisfied my want, he said to me, 'O my lord, Allah make me
+thy ransom! Art thou for wine?; for indeed it gladdeneth the soul
+and doeth away care.' 'I have no dislike to it,' replied I, being
+desirous of the barber's company; so he brought me new flagons of
+glass which no hand had touched and a jar of excellent wine, and
+said to me, 'Strain for thyself, to thy liking;' whereupon I
+cleared the wine and mixed me a most delectable draught. Then he
+brought me a new cup and fruits and flowers in new vessels of
+earthenware; after which he said to me, 'Wilt thou give me leave
+to sit apart and drink of my own wine by myself, of my joy in
+thee and for thee?' 'Do so,' answered I. So I drank and he drank
+till the wine began to take effect upon us, when the barber rose
+and, going to a closet, took out a lute of polished wood and said
+to me, 'O my lord, it is not for the like of me to ask the like
+of thee to sing, but it behoveth thine exceeding generosity to
+render my respect its due; so, if thou see fit to honour thy
+slave, thine is the high decision.' Quoth I (and indeed I thought
+not that he knew me), 'How knowest thou that I excel in song?' He
+replied, 'Glory be to Allah, our lord is too well renowned for
+that! Thou art my lord Ibrahim, son of Al-Mahdi, our Caliph of
+yesterday, he on whose head Al-Maamun hath set a price of an
+hundred thousand dinars to be paid to thy betrayer: but thou art
+in safety with me.' (Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard him say this,
+he was magnified in my eyes and his loyalty and noble nature were
+certified to me; so I complied with his wish and took the lute
+and tuned it, and sang. Then I bethought me of my severance from
+my children and my family and I began to say,
+
+'Belike Who Yúsuf to his kin restored * And honoured him in goal,
+     a captive wight,
+May grant our prayer to reunite our lots, * For Allah, Lord of
+     Worlds, hath all of might.'
+
+When the barber heard this, exceeding joy took possession of him.
+and he was of great good cheer; for it is said that when
+Ibrahim's neighbours heard him only sing out, 'Ho, boy, saddle
+the mule!' they were filled with delight. Then, being overborne
+by mirth, he said to me, 'O my lord, wilt thou give me leave to
+say what is come to my mind, albeit I am not of the folk of this
+craft?' I answered, 'Do so; this is of thy great courtesy and
+kindness.' So he took the lute and sang these verses,
+
+'To our beloveds we moaned our length of night; * Quoth they,
+     'How short the nights that us benight!'
+'Tis for that sleep like hood enveils their eyes * Right soon,
+     but from our eyes is fair of flight:
+When night-falls, dread and drear to those who love, * We mourn;
+     they joy to see departing light:
+Had they but dree'd the weird, the bitter dole * We dree, their
+     beds like ours had bred them blight.'
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), So I said to him, 'By Allah, thou hast shown me
+a kindness, O my friend, and hast done away from me the pangs of
+sorrow. Let me hear more trifles of thy fashion.' So he sang
+these couplets,
+
+'When man keeps honour bright without a stain, * Pair sits
+     whatever robe to robe he's fain!
+She jeered at me because so few we are; * Quoth I:--'There's ever
+     dearth of noble men!'
+Naught irks us we are few, while neighbour tribes * Count many;
+     neighbours oft are base-born strain:
+We are a clan which holds not Death reproach, * Which A'mir and
+     Samúl[FN#151] hold illest bane:
+Leads us our love of death to fated end; * They hate that ending
+     and delay would gain:
+We to our neighbours' speech aye give the lie, * But when we
+     speak none dare give lie again.'
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard these lines, I was filled with huge
+delight and marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then I slept and
+awoke not till past night-fall, when I washed my face, with a
+mind full of the high worth of this barber-surgeon and his
+passing courtesy; after which I wakened him and, taking out a
+purse I had by me containing a number of gold pieces, threw it to
+him, saying, 'I commend thee to Allah, for I am about to go forth
+from thee, and pray thee to expend what is in this purse on thine
+requirements; and thou shalt have an abounding reward of me, when
+I am quit of my fear.' (Quoth Ibrahim), But he resumed the bag to
+me, saying, 'O my lord, paupers like myself are of no value in
+thine eyes; but how, with due respect to my own generosity, can I
+take a price for the boon which fortune hath vouchsafed me of thy
+favour and thy visit to my poor abode? Nay, if thou repeat thy
+words and throw the purse to me again I will slay myself.' So I
+put in my sleeve[FN#152] the purse whose weight was irksome to
+me."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son
+of Al-Mahdi continued, "So I put in my sleeve the purse whose
+weight was irksome to me; and turned to depart, but when I came
+to the house door he said, 'O my lord, of a truth this is a safer
+hiding-place for thee than any other, and thy keep is no burden
+to me; so do thou abide with me, till Allah be pleased grant thee
+relief.' Accordingly, I turned back, saying, 'On condition that
+thou spend of the money in this purse.' He made me think that he
+consented to this arrangement, and I abode with him some days in
+the utmost comfort; but, perceiving that he spent none of the
+contents of the purse, I revolted at the idea of abiding at his
+charge and thought it shame to be a burthen on him; so I left the
+house disguised in women's apparel, donning short yellow walking-
+boots[FN#153] and veil. Now as soon as I found myself in the
+street, I was seized with excessive fear, and going to pass the
+bridge behold, I came to a place sprinkled with water,[FN#154]
+where a trooper, who been in my service, looked at me and knowing
+me, cried out, saying, 'This is he whom Al-Maamun wanteth.' Then
+he laid hold of me but the love of sweet life lent me strength
+and I gave him and his horse a push which threw them down in that
+slippery place, so that he became an example to those who will
+take example; and the folk hastened to him. Meanwhile, I hurried
+my pace over the bridge and entered a main street, where I saw
+the door of a house open and a woman standing upon the threshold.
+So I said to her, 'O my lady, have pity on me and save my life;
+for I am a man in fear.' Quoth she, 'Enter and welcome;' and
+carried me into an upper dining-room, where she spread me a bed
+and brought me food, saying 'Calm thy fear, for not a soul shall
+know of thee.' As she spoke lo! there came a loud knocking at the
+door; so she went and opened, and suddenly, my friend, whom I had
+thrown down on the bridge, appeared with his head bound up, the
+blood running down upon his clothes and without his horse. She
+asked, 'O so and so, what accident hath befallen thee?'; and he
+answered, 'I made prize of the young man whom the Caliph seeketh
+and he escaped from me;' whereupon he told her the whole story.
+So she brought out tinder[FN#155] and, putting it into a piece of
+rag bandaged his head; after which she spread him a bed and he
+lay sick. Then she came up to me and said, 'Methinks thou art the
+man in question?' 'Even so,' answered I, and she said, 'Fear not:
+no harm shall befall thee,' and redoubled in kindness to me. So I
+tarried with her three days, at the end of which time she said to
+me, 'I am in fear for thee, lest yonder man happen upon thee and
+betray thee to what thou dreadest; so save thyself by flight.' I
+besought her to let me stay till nightfall, and she said, 'There
+is no harm in that.' So, when the night came, I put on my woman's
+gear and betook me to the house of a freed-woman who had once
+been our slave. When she saw me she wept and made a show of
+affliction and praised Almighty Allah for my safety. Then she
+went forth, as if she would go to market intent on hospitable
+thoughts, and I fancied all was right; but, ere long, suddenly I
+espied Ibrahim al-Mosili[FN#156] for the house amongst his
+troopers and servants, and led by a woman on foot; and looking
+narrowly at her behold, she was the freed-woman, the mistress of
+the house, wherein I had taken refuge. So she delivered me into
+their hands, and I saw death face to face. They carried me, in my
+woman's attire, to Al-Maamun who called a general-council and had
+me brought before him. When I entered I saluted him by the title
+of Caliph, saying, 'Peace be on thee, O Commander of the
+Faithful!' and he replied, 'Allah give thee neither peace nor
+long life.' I rejoined, 'According to thy good pleasure, O
+Commander of the Faithful!; it is for the claimant of blood-
+revenge[FN#157] to decree punishment or pardon; but mercy is
+nigher to piety; and Allah hath set thy pardon above all other
+pardon, even as He made my sin to excel all other sin. So, if
+thou punish, it is of thine equity, and if thou pardon, it is of
+thy bounty.' And I repeated these couplets,
+
+'My sin to thee is great,   *  But greater thy degree:
+So take revenge, or else *  Remit in clemency:
+An I in deeds have not*  Been generous, generous be!
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), At this Al-Maamun raised his head to me and I
+hastened to add these two couplets,
+
+'I've sinned enormous sin, *  But pardon in thee lies:
+If pardon thou, 'tis grace;  * Justice an thou chastise!'
+
+Then Al-Maamun bowed his head and repeated,
+
+'I am (when friend would raise a rage that mote * Make spittle
+     choke me, sticking in my throat)
+His pardoner, and pardon his offense, * Fearing lest I should
+     live a friend without.'
+
+(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these words I scented mercy,
+knowing his disposition to clemency.[FN#158] Then he turned to
+his son Al Abbas and his brother Abu Ishak and all his chief
+officers there present and said to them, 'What deem ye of his
+case?' They all counselled him to do me dead, but they differed
+as to the manner of my death. Then said he to his Wazir Ahmad bin
+al-Khálid, 'And what sayest thou, O Ahmad?' He answered, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, an thou slay him, we find the like of
+thee who hath slain the like of him; but an thou pardon him, we
+find not the like of thee that hath pardoned the like of him.'"--
+And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al
+Maamun, Prince of the Faithful, heard the words of Ahmad bin
+al-Khálid, he bowed his head and began repeating,
+
+"My tribe have slain that brother mine, Umaym, * Yet would shoot
+     back what shafts at them I aim:
+If I deal-pardon, noble pardon 'tis; * And if I shoot, my bones
+     'twill only maim."[FN#159]
+
+And he also recited,
+
+"Be mild to brother mingling * What is wrong with what is right:
+
+Kindness to him continue * Whether good or graceless wight:
+Abstain from all reproaching,   * An he joy or vex thy sprite:
+Seest not that what thou lovest * And what hatest go unite?
+That joys of longer life-tide  * Ever fade with hair turned
+     white?
+That thorns on branches growing * For the plucks fruit catch thy
+     sight?
+Who never hath done evil,* Doing good for sole delight?
+When tried the sons of worldli-* ness they mostly work upright."
+
+Quoth Ibrahim, "Now when I heard these couplets, I withdrew my
+woman's veil from my head and cried out, with my loudest voice,
+'Allah is Most Great! By Allah, the Commander of the Faithful
+pardoneth me!' Quoth he, 'No harm shall come to thee, O uncle;'
+and I rejoined, 'O Commander of the Faithful, my sin is too sore
+for me to excuse it and thy mercy is too much for me to speak
+thanks for it.' And I chanted these couplets to a lively motive,
+
+'Who made all graces all collected He * In Adam's loins, our
+     Seventh Imam, for thee,[FN#160]
+Thou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled, * Enguarding
+     all with heart-humility
+Rebelled I never by delusion whelmed * For object other than thy
+     clemency ;[FN#161]
+And thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne'er * Pardoned before,
+     though no man pled my plea:
+Hast pitied little ones like Katá's[FN#162] young, * And mother's
+     yearning heart a son to see.'
+
+Quoth Maamun, 'I say, following our lord Joseph (on whom and on
+our Prophet be blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast
+on you this day. Allah forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful
+of those who show mercy.[FN#163] Indeed I pardon thee, and
+restore to thee thy goods and lands, O uncle, and no harm shall
+befall thee.' So I offered up devout prayers for him and repeated
+these couplets,
+
+'Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed, and ere * So didst,
+     thou deignèdest my blood to spare:
+Then if I shed my blood and wealth, to gain * Thy grace, till
+     even shoon from foot I tear,
+Twere but repaying what thou lentest me, * And what unloaned no
+     man to blame would care:
+Were I ungrateful for thy lavish boons, * Baser than thou'rt
+     beneficent I were!'
+
+Then Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me, 'O
+uncle, Abu Ishak and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to
+death.' So I answered, 'And they both counselled thee right, O
+Commander of the Faithful, but thou hast done after thine own
+nature and hast put away what I feared with what I hoped.'
+Rejoined Al Maamun, 'O uncle, thou didst extinguish my rancour
+with the modesty of thine excuse, and I have pardoned thee
+without making thee drink the bitterness of obligation to
+intercessors.' Then he prostrated himself in prayer a long while,
+after which he raised his head and said to me, 'O uncle, knowest
+thou why I prostrated myself?' Answered I, 'Haply thou didst this
+in thanksgiving to Allah, for that He hath given thee the mastery
+over thine enemy.' He replied, 'Such was not my design, but
+rather to thank Allah for having inspired me to pardon thee and
+for having cleared my mind towards thee. Now tell me thy tale.'
+So I told him all that had befallen me with the barber, the
+trooper and his wife and with my freed-woman who had betrayed me.
+So he summoned the freed-woman, who was in her house, expecting
+the reward to be sent to her, and when she came before him he
+said to her, 'What moved thee to deal thus with thy lord?' Quoth
+she, 'Lust of money.' Asked the Caliph 'Hast thou a child or a
+husband?'; and she answered 'No;' whereupon he bade them give her
+an hundred stripes with a whip and imprisoned her for life. Then
+he sent for the trooper and his wife and the barber-surgeon and
+asked the soldier what had moved him to do thus. 'Lust of money,'
+quoth he; whereupon quoth the Caliph, 'It befitteth thee to be a
+barber-cupper,'[FN#164] and committed him to one whom he charged
+to place him in a barber-cupper's shop, where he might learn the
+craft. But he showed honour to the trooper's wife and lodged her
+in his palace, saying, 'This is a woman of sound sense and fit
+for matters of moment.' Then said he to the barber-cupper,
+'Verily, thou hast shown worth and generosity which call for
+extraordinary honour.' So he commanded the trooper's house and
+all that was therein to be given him and bestowed on him a dress
+of honour and in addition fifteen thousand dinars to be paid
+annually. And men tell the following tale concerning
+
+
+
+
+               THE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND
+              ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[FN#165]
+
+
+
+It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilábah went forth in quest
+of a she-camel which had strayed from him; and, as he was
+wandering in the deserts of Al-Yaman and the district of
+Sabá,[FN#166] behold, he came upon a great city girt by a vast
+castle around which were palaces and pavilions that rose high
+into middle air. He made for the place thinking to find there
+folk of whom he might ask concerning his she-camel; but, when he
+reached it, he found it desolate, without a living soul in it. So
+(quoth he) "I alighted and, hobbling my dromedary,"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah
+bin Abi Kilabah continued, "I dismounted and hobbling my
+dromedary, and composing my mind, entered into the city. Now when
+I came to the castle, I found it had two vast gates (never in the
+world was seen their like for size height) inlaid with all manner
+of jewels and jacinths, white and red, yellow and green.
+Beholding this I marvelled with great marvel and thought the case
+mighty wondrous; then entering the citadel in a flutter of fear
+and dazed with surprise and affright, I found it long and wide,
+about equalling Al-Medinah[FN#167] in point of size; and therein
+were lofty palaces laid out in pavilions all built of gold and
+silver and inlaid with many-coloured jewels and jacinths and
+chrysolites and pearls. And the door-leaves in the pavilions were
+like those of the castle for beauty; and their floors were strewn
+with great pearls and balls, no smaller than hazel nuts, of musk
+and ambergris and saffron. Now when I came within the heart of
+the city and saw therein no created beings of the Sons of Adam I
+was near swooning and dying for fear. Moreover, I looked down
+from the great roofs of the pavilion-chambers and their balconies
+and saw rivers running under them; and in the main streets were
+fruit-laden trees and tall palms; and the manner of their
+building was one brick of gold and one of silver. So I said in
+myself, 'Doubtless this is the Paradise promised for the world to
+come.' Then I loaded me with the jewels of its gravel and the
+musk of its dust as much as I could carry and returned to my own
+country, where I told the folk what I had seen. After a time the
+news reached Mu'áwiyah, son of Abu Sufyán, who was then Caliph in
+Al-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'á of Al-Yaman to
+send for the teller of the story and question him of the truth of
+the case. Accordingly the lieutenant summoned me and questioned
+me of my adventure and of all appertaining to it; and I told him
+what I had seen, whereupon he despatched me to Mu'awiyah, before
+whom I repeated the story of the strange sights; but he would not
+credit it. So I brought out to him some of the pearls and balls
+of musk and ambergris and saffron, in which latter there was
+still some sweet savour; but the pearls were grown yellow and had
+lost pearly colour."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah
+son of Abu Kilabah continued, "But the pearls were grown yellow
+and had lost pearly colour. Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and,
+sending for Ka'ab al-Ahbar[FN#168] said to him, 'O Ka'ab, I have
+sent for thee to ascertain the truth of a certain matter and hope
+that thou wilt be able to certify me thereof.' Asked Ka'ab, 'What
+is it, O Commander of the Faithful?'; and Mu'awiyah answered,
+'Wottest thou of any city founded by man which is builded of gold
+and silver, the pillars whereof are of chrysolite and rubies and
+its gravel pearls and balls of musk and ambergris and saffron?'
+He replied, 'Yes, O Commander of the Faithful, this is 'Iram with
+pillars decked and dight, the like of which was never made in the
+lands,'[FN#169] and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad the
+Greater.' Quoth the Caliph, 'Tell us something of its history,'
+and Ka'ab said, 'Ad the Greater[FN#170] had two sons, Shadíd and
+Shaddád who, when their father died, ruled conjointly in his
+stead, and there was no King of the Kings of the earth but was
+subject to them. After awhile Shadid died and his brother Shaddad
+reigned over the earth alone. Now he was fond of reading in
+antique books; and, happening upon the description of the world
+to come and of Paradise, with its pavilions and galleries and
+trees and fruits and so forth, his soul moved him to build the
+like thereof in this world, after the fashion aforesaid. Now
+under his hand were an hundred thousand Kings, each ruling over
+an hundred thousand chiefs, commanding each an hundred thousand
+warriors; so he called these all before him and said to them, 'I
+find in ancient books and annals a description of Paradise, as it
+is to be in the next world, and I desire to build me its like in
+this world. Go ye forth therefore to the goodliest tract on earth
+and the most spacious and build me there a city of gold and
+silver, whose gravel shall be chrysolite and rubies and pearls;
+and for support of its vaults make pillars of jasper. Fill it
+with palaces, whereon ye shall set galleries and balconies and
+plant its lanes and thoroughfares with all manner trees bearing
+yellow-ripe fruits and make rivers to run through it in channels
+of gold and silver.' Whereat said one and all, 'How are we able
+to do this thing thou hast commanded, and whence shall we get the
+chrysolites and rubies and pearls whereof thou speakest?' Quoth
+he, 'What! weet ye not that the Kings of the world are subject to
+me and under my hand and that none therein dare gainsay my word?'
+Answered they, 'Yes, we know that.'"--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges
+answered, "Yes, we know that;" whereupon the King rejoined, "Fare
+ye then to the mines of chrysolites and rubies and pearls and
+gold and silver and collect their produce and gather together all
+of value that is in the world and spare no pains and leave
+naught; and take also for me such of these things as be in men's
+hands and let nothing escape you: be diligent and beware of
+disobedience." And thereupon he wrote letters to all the Kings of
+the world and bade them gather together whatso of these things
+was in their subjects' hands, and get them to the mines of
+precious stones and metals, and bring forth all that was therein,
+even from the abysses of the seas. This they accomplished in the
+space of 20 years, for the number of rulers then reigning over
+the earth was three hundred and sixty Kings, and Shaddad
+presently assembled from all lands and countries architects and
+engineers and men of art and labourers and handicraftsmen, who
+dispersed over the world and explored all the wastes and words
+and tracts and holds. At last they came to an uninhabited spot, a
+vast and fair open plain clear of sand-hills and mountains, with
+founts flushing and rivers rushing, and they said, "This is the
+manner of place the King commanded us to seek and ordered us to
+find." So they busied themselves in building the city even as
+bade them Shaddad, King of the whole earth in its length and
+breadth; leading the fountains in channels and laying the
+foundations after the prescribed fashion. Moreover, all the Kings
+of earth's several-reigns sent thither jewels and precious stones
+and pearls large and small and carnelian and refined gold and
+virgin silver upon camels by land, and in great ships over the
+waters, and there came to the builders' hands of all these
+materials so great a quantity as may neither be told nor counted
+nor conceived. So they laboured at the work three hundred years;
+and, when they had brought it to end, they went to King Shaddad
+and acquainted him therewith. Then said he, "Depart and make
+thereon an impregnable castle, rising and towering high in air,
+and build around it a thousand pavilions, each upon a thousand
+columns of chrysolite and ruby and vaulted with gold, that in
+each pavilion a Wazir may dwell." So they returned forthwith and
+did this in other twenty years; after which they again presented
+themselves before King Shaddad and informed him of the
+accomplishment of his will. Then he commanded his Wazirs, who
+were a thousand in number, and his Chief Officers and such of his
+troops and others as he put trust in, to prepare for departure
+and removal to Many-columned Iram, in the suite and at the
+stirrup of Shaddad, son of Ad, King of the World; and he bade
+also such as he would of his women and his Harim and of his
+handmaids and eunuchs make them ready for the journey. They spent
+twenty years in preparing for departure, at the end of which time
+Shaddad set out with his host.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin
+Ad fared forth, he and his host, rejoicing in the attainment of
+his desire till there remained but one day's journey between him
+and Iram of the Pillars. Then Allah sent down on him and on the
+stubborn unbelievers with him a mighty rushing sound from the
+Heavens of His power, which destroyed them all with its vehement
+clamour, and neither Shaddad nor any of his company set eyes on
+the city.[FN#171] Moreover, Allah blotted out the road which led
+to the city, and it stands in its stead unchanged until the
+Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement." So Mu'awiyah
+wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to him, "Hath
+any mortal ever made his way to that city?" He replied, "Yes; one
+of the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!)
+reached it, doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this
+man here seated." "And (quoth Al-Sha'abi[FN#172]) it is related,
+on the authority of learned men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that
+Shaddad, when destroyed with all his host by the sound, was
+succeeded in his Kingship by his son Shaddad the Less, whom he
+left vice-regent in Hazramaut[FN#173] and Saba, when he and his
+marched upon Many-columned Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his
+father's death on the road, he caused his body to be brought back
+from the desert to Hazramaut and bade them hew him out a tomb in
+a cave, where he laid the body on a throne of gold and threw over
+the corpse threescore and ten robes of cloth of gold, purfled
+with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head he set up a
+tablet of gold whereon were graven these verses,
+
+     'Take warning O proud,    * And in length o' life vain!
+     I'm Shaddád son of Ad,    * Of the forts castellain;
+     Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,
+     Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane
+     And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.
+     He preached me salvation  * Whom God did assain,[FN#174]
+     But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'
+     When a Cry on us cried    * From th' horizon plain,
+     And we fell on the field  * Like the harvested grain,
+     And the Fixt Day await    * We, in earth's bosom lain!'"
+
+Al-Sa'alibi also relateth, "It chanced that two men once entered
+this cave and found steps at its upper end; so they descended and
+came to an underground chamber, an hundred cubits long by forty
+wide and an hundred high. In the midst stood a throne of gold,
+whereon lay a man of huge bulk, filling the whole length and
+breadth of the throne. He was covered with jewels and raiment
+gold-and-silver wrought, and at his head was a tablet of gold
+bearing an inscription. So they took the tablet and carried it
+off, together with as many bars of gold and silver and so forth
+as they could bear away." And men also relate the tale of
+
+
+
+
+                        ISAAC OF MOSUL.
+
+
+
+Quoth Isaac of Mosul,[FN#175] "I went out one night from Al
+Maamun's presence, on my way to my house; and, being taken with a
+pressing need to make water, I turned aside into a by-street and
+stood in the middle fearing lest something might hurt me, if I
+squatted against a wall.[FN#176] Presently, I espied something
+hanging down from one of the houses; so I felt it to find out
+what it might be and found that it was a great four-handled
+basket,[FN#177] covered with brocade. Said I to myself, 'There
+must be some reason for this,' and knew not what to think; then
+drunkenness led me to seat myself in the basket, and behold, the
+people of the house pulled me up, thinking me to be the person
+they expected. Now when I came to the top of the wall; lo! four
+damsels were there, who said to me, 'Descend and welcome and joy
+to thee!' Then one of them went before me with a wax candle and
+brought me down into a mansion, wherein were furnished sitting-
+chambers, whose like I had never seen save in the palace of the
+Caliphate. So I sat down and, after a while, the curtains were
+suddenly drawn from one side of the room and, behold, in came
+damsels walking in procession and hending hand lighted flambeaux
+of wax and censers full of Sumatran aloes-wood, and amongst them
+a young lady as she were the rising full moon. So I stood up to
+her and she said, 'Welcome to thee for a visitor!' and then she
+made me sit down again and asked me how I came thither. Quoth I,
+'I was returning home from the house of an intimate friend and
+went astray in the dark; then, being taken in the street with an
+urgent call to make water, I turned aside into this lane, where I
+found a basket let down. The strong wine which I had drunk led me
+to seat myself in it and it was drawn up with me into this house,
+and this is my story.' She rejoined, 'No harm shall befall thee,
+and I hope thou wilt have cause to praise the issue of thine
+adventure.' Then she added, 'But what is thy condition?' I said,
+'A merchant in the Baghdad bazar' and she, 'Canst thou repeat any
+verses?' 'Some small matter,' quoth I. Quoth she 'Then call a few
+to mind and let us hear some of them.' But I said, 'A visitor is
+bashful and timid; do thou begin.' 'True,' replied she and
+recited some verses of the poets, past and present, choosing
+their choicest pieces; and I listened not knowing whether more to
+marvel at her beauty and loveliness or at the charm of her style
+of declamation. Then said she, 'Is that bashfulness of thine
+gone?' and I said, 'Yes, by Allah!' so she rejoined, 'Then, if
+thou wilt, recite us somewhat.' So I repeated to her a number of
+poems by old writers, and she applauded, saying, 'By Allah, I did
+not think to find such culture among the trade folk, the sons of
+the bazar!' Then she called for food" Whereupon quoth Shahrazad's
+sister Dunyazad, "How pleasant is this tale and enjoyable and
+sweet to the ear and sound to the sense!" But she answered, "And
+what is this story compared with that which thou shalt hear on
+the morrow's night, if I be alive and the King deign spare me!"
+Then Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Two Hundred and Eightieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of
+Mosul continued, "Then the damsel called for food and, when it
+was served to her, she fell to eating it and setting it before
+me; and the sitting room was full of all manner sweet-scented
+flowers and rare fruits, such as are never found save in Kings'
+houses. Presently, she called for wine and drank a cup, after
+which she filled another and gave it to me, saying, 'Now is the
+time for converse and story-telling.' So I bethought myself and
+began to say, 'It hath reached me that such and such things
+happened and there was a man who said so and so,' till I had told
+her a number of pleasing tales and adventures with which she was
+delighted and cried, ''Tis marvellous that a merchant should bear
+in memory such store of stories like these, for they are fit for
+Kings.' Quoth I, 'I had a neighbour who used to consort with
+Kings and carouse with them; so, when he was at leisure, I
+visited his house and he hath often told me what thou hast
+heard.' Thereupon she exclaimed 'By my life, but thou hast a good
+memory!' So we continued to converse thus, and as often as I was
+silent, she would begin, till in this way we passed the most part
+of the night, whilst the burning aloes-wood diffused its
+fragrance and I was in such case that if Al-Maamun had suspected
+it, he would have flown like a bird with longing for it. Then
+said she to me, 'Verily, thou art one of the most pleasant of
+men, polished, passing well-bred and polite; but there lacketh
+one thing.' 'What is that?' asked I, and she answered, If thou
+only knew how to sing verses to the lute!' I answered, 'I was
+passionately fond of this art aforetime, but finding I had no
+taste for it, I abandoned it, though at times my heart yearneth
+after it. Indeed, I should love to sing somewhat well at this
+moment and fulfil my night's enjoyment.' Then said she,
+'Meseemeth thou hintest a wish for the lute to be brought?' and
+I, 'It is thine to decide, if thou wilt so far favour me, and to
+thee be the thanks.' So she called for a lute and sang a song in
+a voice whose like I never heard, both for sweetness of tone and
+skill in playing, and perfection of art. Then said she, Knowest
+thou who composed this air and whose are the words of this
+song?'"No," answered I; and she said, The words are so and so's
+and the air is Isaac's.' I asked 'And hath Isaac then (may I be
+thy sacrifice!) such a talent?' She replied, 'Bravo![FN#178]
+Bravo, Isaac! indeed, he excelleth in this art.' I rejoined,
+'Glory be to Allah who hath given this man what he hath
+vouchsafed unto none other!' Then she said 'And how would it be,
+an thou heard this song from himself?' This wise we went on till
+break of day dawn, when there came to her an old woman, as she
+were her nurse, and said to her, 'Verily, the time is come.' So
+she rose in haste and said to me, 'Keep what hath passed between
+us to thyself; for such meetings are in confidence;'"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel
+whispered, "'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself, for
+such meetings are in confidence;' and I replied, 'May I be thy
+ransom! I needed no charge to this.' Then I took leave of her and
+she sent a handmaid to show me the way and open the house door;
+so I went forth and returned to my own place, where I prayed the
+morning prayer and slept. Now after a time there came to me a
+messenger from Al-Maamun, so I went to him and passed the day in
+his company. And when the night fell I called to mind my
+yesternight's pleasure, a thing from which none but an ignoramus
+would abstain, and betook myself to the street, where I found the
+basket, and seating myself therein, was drawn up to the place in
+which I had passed the previous night. When the lady saw me, she
+said, 'Indeed, thou hast been assiduous;' and I answered,
+'Meseemeth rather that I am neglectful.' Then we fell to
+discoursing and passed the night as before in
+general-conversation and reciting verses and telling rare tales,
+each in turn, till daybreak, when I wended me home; and I prayed
+the dawn prayer and slept. Presently there came to me a messenger
+from Al-Maamun; so I went to him and spent my day with him till
+nightfall, when the Commander of the Faithful said to me, 'I
+conjure thee to sit here, whilst I go out for a want and come
+back.' As soon as the Caliph was gone, and quite gone, my
+thoughts began to tempt and try me and, calling to mind my late
+delight, I recked little what might befal me from the Prince of
+True Believers. So I sprang up and turning my back upon the
+sitting-room, ran to the street aforesaid, where I sat down in
+the basket and was drawn up as before. When the lady saw me, she
+said, 'I begin to think thou art a sincere friend to us.' Quoth
+I, 'Yea, by Allah!' and quoth she, 'Hast thou made our house
+thine abiding-place?' I replied, 'May I be thy ransom! A guest
+claimeth guest right for three days and if I return after this,
+ye are free to spill my blood.' Then we passed the night as
+before; and when the time of departure drew near, I bethought me
+that Al Maamun would assuredly question me nor would ever be
+content save with a full explanation: so I said to her, 'I see
+thee to be of those who delight in singing. Now I have a cousin,
+the son of my father's brother, who is fairer than I in face and
+higher of rank and better of breeding; and he is the most
+intimate of Allah's creatures with Isaac.' Quoth she, 'Art thou a
+parasite[FN#179] and an importunate one?' Quoth I, 'It is for
+thee to decide in this matter;' and she, 'If thy cousin be as
+thou hast described him, it would not mislike us to make
+acquaintance with him.' Then, as the time was come, I left her
+and returned to my house, but hardly had I reached it, ere the
+Caliph's runners came down on me and carried me before him by
+main force and roughly enough."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of
+Mosul continued, "And hardly had I reached my house ere the
+Caliph's runners came down upon me and carried me before him by
+main force and roughly enough. I found him seated on a chair,
+wroth with me, and he said to me, 'O Isaac, art thou a traitor to
+thine allegiance?' replied I, 'No, by Allah, O Commander of the
+Faithful!' and he rejoined, 'What hast thou then to say? tell me
+the whole truth;' and I, 'Yes, I will, but in private.' So he
+signed to his attendants, who withdrew to a distance, and I told
+him the case, adding, 'I promised her to bring thee,' and he
+said, 'Thou didst well.' Then we spent the day in our
+usual-pleasures, but Al-Maamun's heart was taken up with her, and
+hardly was the appointed time come, when we set out. As we went
+along, I cautioned him, saying, 'Look that thou call me not by my
+name before her; and I will demean myself like thine attendant.'
+And having agreed upon this, we fared forth till we came to the
+place, where we found two baskets hanging ready. So we sat down
+in them and were drawn up to the usual-place, where the damsel
+came forward and saluted us. Now when Al Maamun saw her, he was
+amazed at her beauty and loveliness; and she began to entertain
+him with stories and verses. Presently, she called for wine and
+we fell to drinking she paying him special attention and he
+repaying her in kind. Then she took the lute and sang these
+verses,
+
+'My lover came in at the close of night, * I rose till he sat and
+     remained upright;
+And said 'Sweet heart, hast thou come this hour? * Nor feared on
+     the watch and ward to 'light:'
+Quoth he 'The lover had cause to fear, * But Love deprived him of
+     wits and fright.'
+
+And when she ended her song she said to me, 'And is thy cousin
+also a merchant?' I answered, 'Yes,' and she said, 'Indeed, ye
+resemble each other nearly.' But when Al-Maamun had drunk three
+pints,[FN#180] he grew merry with wine and called out, saying,
+'Ho, Isaac!' And I replied, 'Labbayk, Adsum, O Commander of the
+Faithful,' whereupon quoth he, 'Sing me this air.' Now when the
+young lady learned that he was the Caliph, she withdrew to
+another place and disappeared; and, as I had made an end of my
+song, Al-Maamun said to me, 'See who is the master of this
+house', whereupon an old woman hastened to make answer, saying,
+'It belongs to Hasan bin Sahl.'[FN#181] 'Fetch him to me,' said
+the Caliph. So she went away and after a while behold, in came
+Hasan, to whom said Al-Maamun 'Hast thou a daughter?' He said,
+'Yes, and her name is Khadijah.' Asked the Caliph, 'Is she
+married?' Answered Hasan, 'No, by Allah!' Said Al-Maamun, Then I
+ask her of thee in marriage.' Replied her father, 'O Commander of
+the Faithful, she is thy handmaid and at thy commandment.' Quoth
+Al-Maamun, 'I take her to wife at a present settlement of thirty
+thousand dinars, which thou shalt receive this very morning, and,
+when the money has been paid thee, do thou bring her to us this
+night.' And Hasan answered, 'I hear and I obey.' Thereupon we
+went forth and the Caliph said to me, 'O Isaac, tell this story
+to no one.' So I kept it secret till Al-Maamun's death. Surely
+never did man's life gather such pleasures as were mine these
+four days' time, whenas I companied with Al-Maamun by day and
+Khadijah by night; and, by Allah, never saw I among men the like
+of Al-Maamun nor among women have I ever set eyes on the like of
+Khadijah; no, nor on any that came near her in lively wit and
+pleasant speech! And Allah is All knowing. But amongst stories is
+that of
+
+
+
+
+                 THE SWEEP AND THE NOBLE LADY.
+
+
+
+During the season of the Meccan pilgrimage, whilst the people
+were making circuit about the Holy House and the place of
+compassing was crowded, behold, a man laid hold of the covering
+of the Ka'abah[FN#182] and cried out, from the bottom of his
+heart, saying, 'I beseech thee, O Allah, that she may once again
+be wroth with her husband and that I may know her!' A company of
+the pilgrims heard him and seized him and carried him to the Emir
+of the pilgrims, after a sufficiency of blows; and, said they, 'O
+Emir, we found this fellow in the Holy Places, saying thus and
+thus.' So the Emir commanded to hang him; but he cried, 'O Emir,
+I conjure thee, by the virtue of the Apostle (whom Allah bless
+and preserve!), hear my story and then do with me as thou wilt.'
+Quoth the Emir, 'Tell thy tale forthright.' 'Know then, O Emir,'
+quoth the man, 'that I am a sweep who works in the sheep-
+slaughterhouses and carries off the blood and the offal to the
+rubbish-heaps outside the gates. And it came to pass as I went
+along one day with my ass loaded, I saw the people running away
+and one of them said to me, 'Enter this alley, lest haply they
+slay thee.' Quoth I, 'What aileth the folk running away?' and one
+of the eunuchs, who were passing, said to me, 'This is the
+Harim[FN#183] of one of the notables and her eunuchs drive the
+people out of her way and beat them all, without respect to
+persons.' So I turned aside with the donkey'"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
+man, "So I turned aside with the donkey and stood still awaiting
+the dispersal of the crowd; and I saw a number of eunuchs with
+staves in their hands, followed by nigh thirty women slaves, and
+amongst them a lady as she were a willow-wand or a thirsty
+gazelle, perfect in beauty and grace and amorous languor, and all
+were attending upon her. Now when she came to the mouth of the
+passage where I stood, she turned right and left and, calling one
+of the Castratos, whispered in his ear; and behold, he came up to
+me and laid hold of me, whilst another eunuch took my ass and
+made off with it. And when the spectators fled, the first eunuch
+bound me with a rope and dragged me after him till I knew not
+what to do; and the people followed us and cried out, saying,
+'This is not allowed of Allah! What hath this poor scavenger done
+that he should be bound with ropes?' and praying the eunuchs,
+'Have pity on him and let him go, so Allah have pity on you!' And
+I the while said in my mind, 'Doubtless the eunuchry seized me,
+because their mistress smelt the stink of the offal and it
+sickened her. Belike she is with child or ailing; but there is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
+Great!' So I continued walking on behind them, till they stopped
+at the door of a great house; and, entering before me, brought me
+into a big hall--I know not how I shall describe its
+magnificence--furnished with the finest furniture. And the women
+also entered the hall; and I bound and held by the eunuch and
+saying to myself, 'Doubtless they will torture me here till I die
+and none know of my death.' However, after a while, they carried
+me into a neat bath-room leading out of the hall; and as I sat
+there, behold, in came three slave-girls who seated themselves
+round me and said to me, 'Strip off thy rags and tatters.' So I
+pulled off my threadbare clothes and one of them fell a-rubbing
+my legs and feet whilst another scrubbed my head and a third
+shampooed my body. When they had made an end of washing me, they
+brought me a parcel of clothes and said to me, 'Put these on';
+and I answered, 'By Allah, I know not how!' So they came up to me
+and dressed me, laughing together at me the while; after which
+they brought casting-bottles full of rose-water, and sprinkled me
+therewith. Then I went out with them into another saloon; by
+Allah, I know not how to praise its splendour for the wealth of
+paintings and furniture therein; and entering it, I saw a person
+seated on a couch of Indian rattan"--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the sweep
+continued, "When I entered that saloon I saw a person seated on a
+couch of Indian rattan, with ivory feet and before her a number
+of damsels. When she saw me she rose to me and called me; so I
+went up to her and she seated me by her side. Then she bade her
+slave-girls bring food, and they brought all manner of rich
+meats, such as I never saw in all my life; I do not even know the
+names of the dishes, much less their nature. So I ate my fill and
+when the dishes had been taken away and we had washed our hands,
+she called for fruits which came without stay or delay and
+ordered me eat of them; and when we had ended eating she bade one
+of the waiting-women bring the wine furniture. So they set on
+flagons of divers kinds of wine and burned perfumes in all the
+censers, what while a damsel like the moon rose and served us
+with wine to the sound of the smitten strings; and I drank, and
+the lady drank, till we were seized with wine and the whole time
+I doubted not but that all this was an illusion of sleep.
+Presently, she signed to one of the damsels to spread us a bed in
+such a place, which being done, she rose and took me by the hand
+and led me thither, and lay down and I lay with her till the
+morning, and as often as I pressed her to my breast I smelt the
+delicious fragrance of musk and other perfumes that exhaled from
+her and could not think otherwise but that I was in Paradise or
+in the vain phantasies of a dream. Now when it was day, she asked
+me where I lodged and I told her, 'In such a place;' whereupon
+she gave me leave to depart, handing to me a kerchief worked with
+gold and silver and containing somewhat tied in it, and took
+leave of me, saying, 'Go to the bath with this.' I rejoiced and
+said to myself, 'If there be but five coppers here, it will buy
+me this day my morning meal.' Then I left her, as though I were
+leaving Paradise, and returned to my poor crib where I opened the
+kerchief and found in it fifty miskals of gold. So I buried them
+in the ground and, buying two farthings' worth of bread and
+'kitchen,'[FN#184] seated me at the door and broke my fast; after
+which I sat pondering my case and continued so doing till the
+time of afternoon, prayer, when lo! a slave-girl accosted me
+saying, 'My mistress calleth for thee.' I followed her to the
+house aforesaid and, after asking permission, she carried me into
+the lady, before whom I kissed the ground, and she commanded me
+to sit and called for meat and wine as on the previous day; after
+which I again lay with her all night. On the morrow, she gave me
+a second kerchief, with other fifty dinars therein, and I took it
+and going home, buried this also. In such pleasant condition I
+continued eight days running, going in to her at the hour of
+afternoon prayer and leaving her at daybreak; but, on the eighth
+night, as I lay with her, behold, one of her slave-girls came
+running in and said to me, 'Arise, go up into yonder closet.' So
+I rose and went into the closet, which was over the gate, and
+presently I heard a great clamour and tramp of horse; and,
+looking out of the window which gave on the street in front of
+the house, I saw a young man as he were the rising moon on the
+night of fulness come riding up attended by a number of servants
+and soldiers who were about him on foot. He alighted at the door
+and entering the saloon found the lady seated on the couch; so he
+kissed the ground between her hands then came up to her and
+kissed her hands; but she would not speak to him. However, he
+continued patiently to humble himself, and soothe her and speak
+her fair, till he made his peace with her, and they lay together
+that night."--And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+scavenger continued, "Now when her husband had made his peace
+with the young lady, he lay with her that night; and next
+morning, the soldiers came for him and he mounted and rode away;
+whereupon she drew near to me and said, 'Sawst thou yonder man?'
+I answered, 'Yes;' and she said, 'He is my husband, and I will
+tell thee what befell me with him. It came to pass one day that
+we were sitting, he and I, in the garden within the house, and
+behold, he rose from my side and was absent a long while, till I
+grew tired of waiting and said to myself: Most like, he is in the
+privy. So I arose and went to the water-closet, but not finding
+him there, went down to the kitchen, where I saw a slave-girl;
+and when I enquired for him, she showed him to me lying with one
+of the cookmaids. Hereupon, I swore a great oath that I assuredly
+would do adultery with the foulest and filthiest man in Baghdad;
+and the day the eunuch laid hands on thee, I had been four days
+going round about the city in quest of one who should answer to
+this description, but found none fouler nor filthier than thy
+good self. So I took thee and there passed between us that which
+Allah fore ordained to us; and now I am quit of my oath.' Then
+she added, 'If, however, my husband return yet again to the
+cookmaid and lie with her, I will restore thee to thy lost place
+in my favours.' Now when I heard these words from her lips, what
+while she pierced my heart with the shafts of her glances, my
+tears streamed forth, till my eyelids were chafed sore with
+weeping, and I repeated the saying of the poet,
+
+'Grant me the kiss of that left hand ten times; * And learn it
+hath than right hand higher grade;[FN#185]
+For 'tis but little since that same left hand * Washed off Sir
+Reverence when ablution made.'
+
+Then she made them give me other fifty dinars (making in all four
+hundred gold pieces I had of her) and bade me depart. So I went
+out from her and came hither, that I might pray Allah (extolled
+and exalted be He!) to make her husband return to the cookmaid,
+that haply I might be again admitted to her favours.' When the
+Emir of the pilgrims heard the man's story, he set him free and
+said to the bystanders, 'Allah upon you, pray for him, for indeed
+he is excusable.'" And men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+                        THE MOCK CALIPH.
+
+
+
+It is related that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was one night
+restless with extreme restlessness, so he summoned his Wazir
+Ja'afar the Barmecide, and said to him, "My breast is straitened
+and I have a desire to divert myself to-night by walking about
+the streets of Baghdad and looking into folks' affairs; but with
+this precaution that we disguise ourselves in merchants' gear, so
+none shall know us." He answered, "Hearkening and obedience."
+They rose at once and doffing the rich raiment they wore, donned
+merchants' habits and sallied forth three in number, the Caliph,
+Ja'afar and Masrur the sworder. Then they walked from place to
+place, till they came to the Tigris and saw an old man sitting in
+a boat; so they went up to him and saluting him, said, "O Shaykh,
+we desire thee of thy kindness and favour to carry us a-
+pleasuring down the river, in this thy boat, and take this dinar
+to thy hire."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when they
+said to the old man, "We desire thee to carry us a-pleasuring in
+this thy boat and take this dinar;" he answered, "Who may go a-
+pleasuring on the Tigris? The Caliph Harun al-Rashid every night
+cometh down Tigris stream in his state-barge[FN#186] and with him
+one crying aloud: 'Ho, ye people all, great and small, gentle and
+simple, men and boys, whoso is found in a boat on the Tigris by
+night, I will strike off his head or hang him to the mast of his
+craft!' And ye had well nigh met him; for here cometh his
+carrack." But the Caliph and Ja'afar said, "O Shaykh, take these
+two dinars, and run us under one of yonder arches, that we may
+hide there till the Caliph's barge have passed." The old man
+replied, "Hand over your gold and rely we on Allah, the
+Almighty!" So he took the two dinars and embarked them in the
+boat; and he put off and rowed about with them awhile, when
+behold, the barge came down the river in mid-stream, with lighted
+flambeaux and cressets flaming therein. Quoth the old man, "Did
+not I tell you that the Caliph passed along the river every
+night?"; and ceased not muttering, "O Protector, remove not the
+veils of Thy protection!" Then he ran the boat under an arch and
+threw a piece of black cloth over the Caliph and his companions,
+who looked out from under the covering and saw, in the bows of
+the barge, a man holding in hand a cresset of red gold which he
+fed with Sumatran lign-aloes and the figure was clad in a robe of
+red satin, with a narrow turband of Mosul shape round on his
+head, and over one of his shoulders hung a sleeved cloak[FN#187]
+of cramoisy satin, and on the other was a green silk bag full of
+the aloes-wood, with which he fed the cresset by way of firewood.
+And they sighted in the stern another man, clad like the first
+and bearing a like cresset, and in the barge were two hundred
+white slaves, standing ranged to the right and left; and in the
+middle a throne of red gold, whereon sat a handsome young man,
+like the moon, clad in a dress of black, embroidered with yellow
+gold. Before him they beheld a man, as he were the Wazir Ja'afar,
+and at his head stood an eunuch, as he were Masrur, with a drawn
+sword in his hand; besides a score of cup-companions. Now when
+the Caliph saw this, he turned and said, "O Ja'afar," and the
+Minister replied, "At thy service, O Prince of True Believers."
+Then quoth the Caliph, "Belike this is one of my sons, Al Amin or
+Al-Maamun." Then he examined the young man who sat on the throne
+and finding him perfect in beauty and loveliness and stature and
+symmetric grace, said to Ja'afar, "Verily, this young man abateth
+nor jot nor tittle of the state of the Caliphate! See, there
+standeth before him one as he were thyself, O Ja'afar; yonder
+eunuch who standeth at his head is as he were Masrur and those
+courtiers as they were my own. By Allah, O Ja'afar, my reason is
+confounded and I am filled with amazement this matter!"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Caliph saw this spectacle his reason was confounded and he cried,
+"By Allah, I am filled with amazement at this matter!" and
+Ja'afar replied, "And I also, by Allah, O Commander of the
+Faithful." Then the barge passed on and disappeared from sight
+whereupon the boatman pushed out again into the stream, saying,
+"Praised be Allah for safety, since none hath fallen in with us!"
+Quoth the Caliph, "O old man, doth the Caliph come down the
+Tigris-river every night?" The boatman answered, "Yes, O my lord;
+and on such wise hath he done every night this year past." "O
+Shaykh," rejoined Al-Rashid, "we wish thee of thy favour to await
+us here to-morrow night and we will give thee five golden dinars,
+for we are stranger folk, lodging in the quarter Al-Khandak, and
+we have a mind to divert ourselves." Said the oldster, "With joy
+and good will!" Then the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur left the
+boatman and returned to the palace; where they doffed their
+merchants' habits and, donning their apparel of state, sat down
+each in his several-stead; and came the Emirs and Wazirs and
+Chamberlains and Officers, and the Divan assembled and was
+crowded as of custom. But when day ended and all the folk had
+dispersed and wended each his own way, the Caliph said to his
+Wazir, "Rise, O Ja'afar, let us go and amuse ourselves by looking
+on the second Caliph." At this, Ja'afar and Masrur laughed, and
+the three, donning merchants' habits, went forth by a secret
+pastern and made their way through the city, in great glee, till
+they came to the Tigris, where they found the graybeard sitting
+and awaiting them. They embarked with him in the boat and hardly
+had they sat down before up came the mock Caliph's barge; and,
+when they looked at it attentively, they saw therein two hundred
+Mamelukes other than those of the previous night, while the link-
+bearers cried aloud as of wont. Quoth the Caliph, "O Wazir, had I
+heard tell of this, I had not believed it; but I have seen it
+with my own sight." Then said he to the boatman, "Take, O Shaykh'
+these ten dinars and row us along abreast of them, for they are
+in the light and we in the shade, and we can see them and amuse
+ourselves by looking on them, but they cannot see us." So the man
+took the money and pushing off ran abreast of them in the shadow
+of the barge,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+Harun al-Rashid said to the old man, "Take these ten dinars and
+row us abreast of them;" to which he replied, "I hear and I
+obey." And he fared with them and ceased not going in the
+blackness of the barge, till they came amongst the gardens that
+lay alongside of them and sighted a large walled enclosure; and
+presently, the barge cast anchor before a postern door, where
+they saw servants standing with a she mule saddled and bridled.
+Here the mock Caliph landed and, mounting the mule, rode away
+with his courtiers and his cup-companions preceded by the
+cresset-bearers crying aloud, and followed by his household which
+busied itself in his service. Then Harun al-Rashid, Ja'afar and
+Masrur landed also and, making their way through the press of
+servants, walked on before them. Presently, the cresset-bearers
+espied them and seeing three persons in merchants' habits, and
+strangers to the country, took offense at them; so they pointed
+them out and brought them before the other Caliph, who looked at
+them and asked, "How came ye to this place and who brought you at
+this tide?" They answered, "O our lord, we are foreign merchants
+and far from our homes, who arrived here this day and were out a-
+walking to-night, and behold, ye came up and these men laid hands
+on us and brought us to thy presence; and this is all our story."
+Quoth the mock Caliph, "Since ye be stranger folk no harm shall
+befall you; but had ye been of Baghdad, I had struck off your
+heads." Then he turned to his Wazir and said to him, "Take these
+men with thee; for they are our guests to-night." "To hear is to
+obey, O our lord," answered he; and they companied him till they
+came to a lofty and splendid palace set upon the firmest base; no
+Sultan possesseth such a place; rising from the dusty mould and
+upon the merges of the clouds laying hold. Its door was of Indian
+teak-wood inlaid with gold that glowed; and through it one passed
+into a royal-hall in whose midst was a jetting fount girt by a
+raised estrade. It was provided with carpets and cushions of
+brocade and small pillows and long settees and hanging curtains;
+it was furnished with a splendour that dazed the mind and dumbed
+the tongue, and upon the door were written these two couplets,
+
+"A Palace whereon be blessings and praise! * Which with all their
+     beauty have robed the Days:
+Where marvels and miracle-sights abound, * And to write its
+     honours the pen affrays."
+
+The false Caliph entered with his company, and sat down on a
+throne of gold set with jewels and covered with a prayer carpet
+of yellow silk; whilst the boon-companions took their seats and
+the sword bearer of high works stood before him. Then the tables
+were laid and they ate; after which the dishes were removed and
+they washed their hands and the wine-service was set on with
+flagons and bowls in due order. The cup went round till it came
+to the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who refused the draught, and the
+mock Caliph said to Ja'afar, "What mattereth thy friend that he
+drinketh not?" He replied, "O my lord, indeed 'tis a long while
+he hath drunk naught of this." Quoth the sham Caliph, "I have
+drink other than this, a kind of apple-wine,[FN#188] that will
+suit thy companion." So he bade them bring the cider which they
+did forthright; when the false Caliph, coming up to Harun
+al-Rashid, said to him, "As often as it cometh to thy turn drink
+thou of this." Then they continued to drink and make merry and
+pass the cup till the wine rose to their brains and mastered
+their wits;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the false
+Caliph and his co sitters sat at their cups and gave not over
+drinking till the wine rose to their brains and mastered their
+wits; and Harun al-Rashid said to the Minister, "O Ja'afar, by
+Allah, we have no such vessels as these. Would to Heaven I knew
+what manner of man this youth is!" But while they were talking
+privily the young man cast a glance upon them and seeing the
+Wazir whisper the Caliph said, "'Tis rude to whisper." He
+replied, "No rudeness was meant: this my friend did but say to
+me, 'Verily I have travelled in most countries and have caroused
+with the greatest of Kings and I have companied with noble
+captains; yet never saw I a goodlier ordering than this
+entertainment nor passed a more delightful night; save that the
+people of Baghdad are wont to say, Wine without music often
+leaves you sick.'"When the second Caliph heard this, he smiled
+pleasantly and struck with a rod he had in his hand a round
+gong;[FN#189] and behold, a door opened and out came a eunuch,
+bearing a chair of ivory, inlaid with gold glittering fiery red
+and followed by a damsel of passing beauty and loveliness,
+symmetry and grace. He set down the chair and the damsel seated
+herself on it, as she were the sun shining sheen in a sky serene.
+In her hand she had a lute of Hindu make, which she laid in her
+lap and bent down over it as a mother bendeth over her little
+one, and sang to it, after a prelude in four-and-twenty modes,
+amazing all wits. Then she returned to the first mode and to a
+lively measure chanted these couplets,
+
+"Love's tongue within my heart speaks plain to thee, * Telling
+     thee clearly I am fain of thee
+Witness the fevers of a tortured heart, * And ulcered eyelid
+     tear-flood rains for thee
+God's fate o'ertaketh all created things! * I knew not love till
+     learnt Love's pain of thee."
+
+Now when the mock Caliph heard these lines sung by the damsel, he
+cried with a great cry and rent his raiment to the very skirt,
+whereupon they let down a curtain over him and brought him a
+fresh robe, handsomer than the first. He put it on and sat as
+before, till the cup came round to him, when he struck the gong a
+second time and lo! a door opened and out of it came a eunuch
+with a chair of gold, followed by a damsel fairer than the first,
+bearing a lute, such as would strike the envious mute. She sat
+down on the chair and sang to her instrument these two couplets,
+
+"How patient bide, with love in sprite of me, * And tears in
+     tempest[FN#190] blinding sight of me?
+By Allah, life has no delight of me! * How gladden heart whose
+     core is blight of me?"
+
+No sooner had the youth heard this poetry than he cried out with
+a loud cry and rent his raiment to the skirt: whereupon they let
+down the curtain over him and brought him another suit of
+clothes. He put it on and, sitting up as before, fell again to
+cheerful talk, till the cup came round to him, when he smote once
+more upon the gong and out came a eunuch with a chair, followed
+by a damsel fairer than she who forewent her. So she sat down on
+the chair, with a lute in her hand, and sang thereto these
+couplets,
+
+"Cease ye this farness; 'bate this pride of you, * To whom my
+     heart clings, by life-tide of you!
+Have ruth on hapless, mourning, lover-wretch, * Desire-full,
+     pining, passion-tried of you:
+Sickness hath wasted him, whose ecstasy * Prays Heaven it may be
+     satisfied of you:
+Oh fullest moons[FN#191] that dwell in deepest heart! * How can I
+     think of aught by side of you?"
+
+Now when the young man heard these couplets, he cried out with a
+great cry and rent his raiment, whereupon they let fall the
+curtain over him and brought him other robes. Then he returned to
+his former case with his boon-companions and the bowl went round
+as before, till the cup came to him, when he struck the gong a
+fourth time and the door opening, out came a page-boy bearing a
+chair followed by a damsel. He set the chair for her and she sat
+down thereon and taking the lute, tuned it and sang to it these
+couplets,
+
+"When shall disunion and estrangement end? * When shall my bygone
+     joys again be kenned?
+Yesterday we were joined in same abode; * Conversing heedless of
+     each envious friend:[FN#192]
+Trickt us that traitor Time, disjoined our lot * And our waste
+     home to desert fate condemned:
+Wouldst have me, Grumbler! from my dearling fly? * I find my
+     vitals blame will not perpend:
+Cease thou to censure; leave me to repine; * My mind e'er findeth
+     thoughts that pleasure lend.
+O Lords[FN#193] of me who brake our troth and plight, * Deem not
+     to lose your hold of heart and sprite!"
+
+When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried out with a
+loud outcry and rent his raiment,--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Two Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
+
+She said, When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried
+with a loud outcry and rent his raiment and fell to the ground
+fainting; whereupon they would have let down the curtain over
+him, as of custom; but its cords stuck fast and Harun al-Rashid,
+after considering him carefully, saw on his body the marks of
+beating with palm-rods and said to Ja'afar, "By Allah, he is a
+handsome youth, but a foul thief!" "Whence knowest thou that, O
+Commander of the Faithful?" asked Ja'afar, and the Caliph
+answered, "Sawest thou not the whip-scars on his ribs?" Then they
+let fall the curtain over him and brought him a fresh dress,
+which he put on and sat up as before with his courtiers and cup-
+companions. Presently he saw the Caliph and Ja'afar whispering
+together and said to them, "What is the matter, fair sirs?" Quoth
+Ja'afar, "O my lord, all is well,[FN#194] save that this my
+comrade, who (as is not unknown to thee) is of the merchant
+company and hath visited all the great cities and countries of
+the world and hath consorted with kings and men of highest
+consideration, saith to me: 'Verily, that which our lord the
+Caliph hath done this night is beyond measure extravagant, never
+saw I any do the like doings in any country; for he hath rent
+such and such dresses, each worth a thousand dinars and this is
+surely excessive unthriftiness.'" Replied the second Caliph, "Ho
+thou, the money is my money and the stuff my stuff, and this is
+by way of largesse to my suite and servants; for each suit that
+is rent belongeth to one of my cup-companions here present, and I
+assign to them with each suit of clothes the sum of five hundred
+dinars." The Wazir Ja'afar replied, "Well is whatso thou doest, O
+our lord," and recited these two couplets,
+
+"Virtue in hand of thee hath built a house, * And to mankind thou
+     dost thy wealth expose:
+If an the virtues ever close their doors, * That hand would be a
+     key the lock to unclose."
+
+Now when the young man heard these verses recited by the Minister
+Ja'afar, he ordered him to be gifted with a thousand dinars and a
+dress of honour. Then the cup went round among them and the wine
+was sweet to them; but, after a while quoth the Caliph to
+Ja'afar, "Ask him of the marks on his sides, that we may see what
+he will say by way of reply." Answered Ja'afar, "Softly, O my
+lord, be not hasty and soothe thy mind, for patience is more
+becoming." Rejoined the Caliph, "By the life of my head and by
+the revered tomb of Al Abbas,[FN#195] except thou ask him, I will
+assuredly stop thy breath!" With this the young man turned
+towards the Minister and said to him, "What aileth thee and thy
+friend to be whispering together? Tell me what is the matter with
+you." "It is nothing save good," replied Ja'afar; but the mock
+Caliph rejoined, "I conjure thee, by Allah, tell me what aileth
+you and hide from me nothing of your case." Answered the Wazir "O
+my lord, verily this one here saw on thy sides the marks of
+beating with whips and palm-fronds and marvelled thereat with
+exceeding marvel, saying, 'How came the Caliph to be beaten?';
+and he would fain know the cause of this." Now when the youth
+heard this, he smiled and said, "Know ye that my story is
+wondrous and my case marvellous; were it graven with needles on
+the eye corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be
+warned." And he sighed and repeated these couplets,
+
+"Strange is my story, passing prodigy; * By Love I swear, my ways
+     wax strait on me!
+An ye desire to hear me, listen, and * Let all in this assembly
+     silent be.
+Heed ye my words which are of meaning deep, * Nor lies my speech;
+     'tis truest verity.
+I'm slain[FN#196] by longing and by ardent love; * My slayer's
+     the pearl of fair virginity.
+She hath a jet black eye like Hindi blade, * And bowèd eyebrows
+     shoot her archery
+My heart assures me our Imam is here, * This age's Caliph, old
+     nobility:
+Your second, Ja'afar highs, is his Wazir; * A Sahib,[FN#197]
+     Sahib-son of high degree:
+The third is called Masrur who wields the sword: * Now, if in
+     words of mine some truth you see
+I have won every wish by this event * Which fills my heart with
+     joy and gladdest greet"
+
+When they heard these words Ja'afar swore to him an ambiguous
+oath that they were not those he named, whereupon he laughed and
+said: "Know, O my lords, that I am not the Commander of the
+Faithful and that I do but style myself thus, to win my will of
+the sons of the city. My true name is Mohammed Ali, son of Ali
+the Jeweller, and my father was one of the notables of Baghdad,
+who left me great store of gold and silver and pearls and coral
+and rubies and chrysolites and other jewels, besides messuages
+and lands, Hammam-baths and brickeries, orchards and flower-
+gardens. Now as I sat in my shop one day surrounded by my eunuchs
+and dependents, behold, there came up a young lady, mounted on a
+she-mule and attended by three damsels like moons. Riding up to
+my shop she alighted and seated herself by my side and said 'Art
+thou Mohammed the Jeweller?' Replied I, 'Even so! I am he, thy
+Mameluke, thy chattel.' She asked, 'Hast thou a necklace of
+jewels fit for me?' and I answered, 'O my lady, I will show thee
+what I have; and lay all before thee and, if any please thee, it
+will be of thy slave's good luck; if they please thee not, of his
+ill fortune.' Now I had by me an hundred necklaces and showed
+them all to her; but none of them pleased her and she said, 'I
+want a better than those I have seen.' I had a small necklace
+which my father had bought at an hundred thousand dinars and
+whose like was not to be found with any of the great kings; so I
+said to her, 'O my lady, I have yet one necklace of fine stones
+fit for bezels, the like of which none possesseth, great or
+small. Said she, Show it to me,' so I showed it to her, and she
+said, 'This is what I wanted and what I have wished for all my
+life;' adding, 'What is its price?' Quoth I, 'It cost my father
+an hundred thousand dinars;' and she said, 'I will give thee five
+thousand dinars to thy profit.' I answered, 'O my lady, the
+necklace and its owner are at thy service and I cannot gainsay
+thee.' But she rejoined, 'Needs must thou have the profit, and I
+am still most grateful to thee.' Then she rose without stay or
+delay; and, mounting the mule in haste, said to me, 'O my lord,
+in Allah's name, favour us with thy company to receive the money;
+for this thy day with us is white as milk.'[FN#198] So I shut the
+shop and accompanied her, in all security, till we came to a
+house, on which were manifest the signs of wealth and rank; for
+its door was wrought with gold and silver and ultramarine, and
+thereon were written these two couplets,
+
+'Hole, thou mansion! woe ne'er enter thee; * Nor be thine owner
+     e'er misused of Fate
+Excellent mansion to all guests art thou, * When other mansions
+     to the guest are strait.'
+
+The young lady dismounted and entered the house, bidding me sit
+down on the bench at the gate, till the money-changer should
+arrive. So I sat awhile, when behold, a damsel came out to me and
+said, 'O my lord, enter the vestibule; for it is a dishonour that
+thou shouldst sit at the gate.' Thereupon I arose and entered the
+vestibule and sat down on the settle there, and, as I sat, lo!
+another damsel came out and said to me, 'O my lord my mistress
+biddeth thee enter and sit down at the door of the saloon, to
+receive thy money.' I entered and sat down, nor had I sat a
+moment when behold, a curtain of silk which concealed a throne of
+gold was drawn aside, and I saw seated thereon the lady who had
+made the purchase, and round her neck she wore the necklace which
+looked pale and wan by the side of a face as it were the rounded
+moon; At her sight, my wit was troubled and my mind confounded,
+by reason of her exceeding beauty and loveliness, but when she
+saw me she rose from her throne and coming close up to me, said,
+'O light of mine eyes, is every handsome one like thee pitiless
+to his mistress?' I answered, 'O my lady, beauty, all of it, is
+in thee and is but one of thy hidden charms.' And she rejoined,
+'O Jeweller, know that I love thee and can hardly credit that I
+have brought thee hither.' Then she bent towards me and I kissed
+her and she kissed me and, as she caressed me, drew me towards
+her and to her breast she pressed me."--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+Jeweller continued: "Then she bent towards me and kissed and
+caressed me; and, as she caressed me, drew me towards her and to
+her breast she pressed me. Now she knew by my condition that I
+had a mind to enjoy her; so she said to me, 'O my lord, wouldst
+thou foregather with me unlawfully? By Allah, may he not live who
+would do the like of this sin and who takes pleasure in talk
+unclean! I am a maid, a virgin whom no man hath approached, nor
+am I unknown in the city. Knowest thou who I am?' Quoth I, 'No,
+by Allah, O my lady!'; and quoth she, 'I am the Lady Dunyá,
+daughter of Yáhyá bin Khálid the Barmecide and sister of Ja'afar,
+Wazir to the Caliph.' Now as I heard this, I drew back from her,
+saying, 'O my lady, it is no fault of mine if I have been over-
+bold with thee; it was thou didst encourage me to aspire to thy
+love, by giving me access to thee.' She answered, 'No harm shall
+befal-thee, and needs must thou attain thy desire in the only way
+pleasing to Allah. I am my own mistress and the Kazi shall act as
+my guardian in consenting to the marriage contract; for it is my
+will that I be to thee wife and thou be to me man.' Then she sent
+for the Kazi and the witnesses and busied herself with making
+ready; and, when they came, she said to them, 'Mohammed Ali, bin
+Ali the Jeweller, seeketh me in wedlock and hath given me the
+necklace to my marriage-settlement; and I accept and consent.' So
+they wrote out the contract of marriage between us; and ere I
+went in to her the servants brought the wine-furniture and the
+cups passed round after the fairest fashion and the goodliest
+ordering; and, when the wine mounted to our heads, she ordered a
+damsel, a lute-player,[FN#199] to sing. So she took the lute and
+sang to a pleasing and stirring motive these couplets,
+
+'He comes; and fawn and branch and moon delight these eyne *
+     Fie[FN#200] on his heart who sleeps o' nights without repine
+Pair youth, for whom Heaven willed to quench in cheek one light,
+     * And left another light on other cheek bright li'en:
+I fain finesse my chiders when they mention him, * As though the
+     hearing of his name I would decline;
+And willing ear I lend when they of other speak; * Yet would my
+     soul within outflow in foods of brine:
+Beauty's own prophet, he is all a miracle * Of heavenly grace,
+     and greatest shows his face for sign.[FN#201]
+To prayer Bilál-like cries that Mole upon his cheek * To ward
+     from pearly brow all eyes of ill design:[FN#202]
+The censors of their ignorance would my love dispel * But after
+     Faith I can't at once turn Infidel.'
+
+We were ravished by the sweet music she made striking the
+strings, and the beauty of the verses she sang; and the other
+damsels went on to sing and to recite one after another, till ten
+had so done; when the Lady Dunya took the lute and playing a
+lively measure, chanted these couplets,
+
+'I swear by swayings of that form so fair, * Aye from thy parting
+     fiery
+Pity a heart which burneth in thy love, * O bright as fullest
+     moon in blackest air!
+Vouchsafe thy boons to him who ne'er will cease * In light of
+     wine-cup all thy charms declare,
+Amid the roses which with varied hues * Are to the myrtle-
+    bush[FN#203] a mere despair.'
+
+When she had finished her verse I took the lute from her hands
+and, playing a quaint and not vulgar prelude sang the following
+verses,
+
+'Laud to my Lord who gave thee all of loveliness; * Myself amid
+     thy thralls I willingly confess:
+O thou, whose eyes and glances captivate mankind, * Pray that I
+     'scape those arrows shot with all thy stress!
+Two hostile rivals water and enflaming fire * Thy cheek hath
+     married, which for marvel I profess:
+Thou art Sa'ír in heart of me and eke Na'ím;[FN#204] * Thou agro-
+    dolce, eke heart's sweetest bitterness.'
+
+When she heard this my song she rejoiced with exceeding joy;
+then, dismissing her slave women, she brought me to a most goodly
+place, where they had spread us a bed of various colours. She did
+off her clothes and I had a lover's privacy of her and found her
+a pearl unpierced and a filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her and
+never in my born days spent I a more delicious night."--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed
+bin Ali the Jeweller continued: "So I went in unto the Lady
+Dunya, daughter of Yahya bin Khálid the Barmecide, and I found
+her a pearl unthridden and a filly unridden. So I rejoiced in her
+and repeated these couplets,
+
+'O Night here stay! I want no morning light; * My lover's face to
+     me is lamp and light:[FN#205]
+As ring of ring-dove round his necks my arm; * And made my palm
+     his mouth-veil, and, twas right.
+This be the crown of bliss, and ne'er we'll cease * To clip, nor
+     care to be in other plight.'
+
+And I abode with her a whole month, forsaking shop and family and
+home, till one day she said to me, 'O light of my eyes, O my lord
+Mohammed, I have determined to go to the Hammam to day; so sit
+thou on this couch and rise not from thy place, till I return to
+thee.' 'I hear and I obey,' answered I, and she made me swear to
+this; after which she took her women and went off to the bath.
+But by Allah, O my brothers, she had not reached the head of the
+street ere the door opened and in came an old woman, who said to
+me, 'O my lord Mohammed, the Lady Zubaydah biddeth thee to her,
+for she hath heard of thy fine manners and accomplishments and
+skill in singing.' I answered, 'By Allah, I will not rise from my
+place till the Lady Dunya come back.' Rejoined the old woman, 'O
+my lord, do not anger the Lady Zubaydah with thee and vex her so
+as to make her thy foe: nay, rise up and speak with her and
+return to thy place.' So I rose at once and followed her into the
+presence of the Lady Zubaydah and, when I entered her presence
+she said to me, 'O light of the eye, art thou the Lady Dunya's
+beloved?' 'I am thy Mameluke, thy chattel,' replied I. Quoth she,
+'Sooth spake he who reported thee possessed of beauty and grace
+and good breeding and every fine quality; indeed, thou surpassest
+all praise and all report. But now sing to me, that I may hear
+thee.' Quoth I, 'Hearkening and obedience;' so she brought me a
+lute, and I sang to it these couplets,
+
+'The hapless lover's heart is of his wooing weary grown, * And
+     hand of sickness wasted him till naught but skin and bone
+Who should be amid the riders which the haltered camels urge, *
+     But that same lover whose beloved cloth in the litters wone:
+To Allah's charge I leave that moon-like Beauty in your tents *
+     Whom my heart loves, albe my glance on her may ne'er be
+     thrown.
+Now she is fain; then she is fierce: how sweet her coyness shows;
+     * Yea sweet whatever cloth or saith to lover loved one!'
+
+When I had finished my song she said to me, 'Allah assain thy
+body and thy voice! Verily, thou art perfect in beauty and good
+breeding and singing. But now rise and return to thy place, ere
+the Lady Dunya come back, lest she find thee not and be wroth
+with thee.' Then I kissed the ground before her and the old woman
+forewent me till I reached the door whence I came. So I entered
+and, going up to the couch, found that my wife had come back from
+the bath and was lying asleep there. Seeing this I sat down at
+her feet and rubbed them; whereupon she opened her eyes and
+seeing me, drew up both her feet and gave me a kick that threw me
+off the couch,[FN#206] saying, 'O traitor, thou hast been false
+to thine oath and hast perjured thyself. Thou swarest to me that
+thou wouldst not rise from thy place; yet didst thou break thy
+promise and go to the Lady Zubaydah. By Allah, but that I fear
+public scandal, I would pull down her palace over her head!' Then
+said she to her black slave, 'O Sawáb, arise and strike off this
+lying traitor's head, for we have no further need of him.' So the
+slave came up to me and, tearing a strip from his skirt, bandaged
+with it my eyes[FN#207] and would have struck off my head;"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed
+the Jeweller continued: "So the slave came up to me and, tearing
+a strip from his skirt, bandaged with it my eyes and would have
+struck off my head, but all her women, great and small, rose and
+came up to her and said to her, 'O our lady, this is not the
+first who hath erred: indeed, he knew not thy humour and hath
+done thee no offence deserving death.' Replied she, 'By Allah, I
+must needs set my mark on him.' And she bade them bash me; so
+they beat me on my ribs and the marks ye saw are the scars of
+that fustigation. Then she ordered them to cast me out, and they
+carried me to a distance from the house and threw me down like a
+log. After a time I rose and dragged myself little by little to
+my own place, where I sent for a surgeon and showed him my hurts;
+and he comforted me and did his best to cure me. As soon as I was
+recovered I went to the Hammam and, as my pains and sickness had
+left me, I repaired to my shop and took and sold all that was
+therein. With the proceeds, I bought me four hundred white
+slaves, such as no King ever got together, and caused two hundred
+of them to ride out with me every day. Then I made me yonder
+barge whereon I spent five thousand gold pieces; and styled
+myself Caliph and appointed each of my servants to the charge of
+some one of the Caliph's officers and clad him in official habit.
+Moreover, I made proclamation, 'Whoso goeth a-pleasuring on the
+Tigris by night, I will strike off his head, without ruth or
+delay;' and on such wise have I done this whole year past, during
+which time I have heard no news of the lady neither happened upon
+any trace of her." Then wept he copiously and repeated these
+couplets,
+
+"By Allah! while the days endure ne'er shall forget her I, * Nor
+     draw to any nigh save those who draw her to me nigh
+Like to the fullest moon her form and favour show to me, * Laud
+     to her All-creating Lord, laud to the Lord on high,
+She left me full of mourning, sleepless, sick with pine and pain
+     * And ceaseth not my heart to yearn her mystery[FN#208] to
+     espy."
+
+Now when Harun al-Rashid heard the young man's story and knew the
+passion and transport and love lowe that afflicted him, he was
+moved to compassion and wonder and said, "Glory be to Allah, who
+hath appointed to every effect a cause!" Then they craved the
+young man's permission to depart; which being granted, they took
+leave of him, the Caliph purposing to do him justice meet, and
+him with the utmost munificence entreat; and they returned to the
+palace of the Caliphate, where they changed clothes for others
+befitting their state and sat down, whilst Masrur the Sworder of
+High Justice stood before them. After awhile, quoth the Caliph to
+Ja'afar, "O Wazir, bring me the young man'--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
+Caliph to his Minister, "Bring me the young man with whom we were
+last night." "I hear and obey," answered Ja'afar and, going to
+the youth, saluted him, saying, "Obey the summons of the
+Commander of the Faithful, the Caliph Harun al-Rashid." So he
+returned with him to the palace, in great anxiety by reason of
+the summons; and, going in to the King, kissed ground before him;
+and offered up a prayer for the endurance of his glory and
+prosperity, for the accomplishment of his desires, for the
+continuance of his beneficence and for the cessation of evil and
+punishment; ordering his speech as best he might and ending by
+saying, "Peace be on thee, O Prince of True Believers and
+Protector of the folk of the Faith!" Then he repeated these two
+couplets,
+
+"Kiss thou his fingers which no fingers are; * Keys of our daily
+     bread those fingers ken:
+And praise his actions which no actions are, * But precious
+     necklaces round necks of men."
+
+So the Caliph smiled in his face and returned his salute, looking
+on him with the eye of favour; then he bade him draw near and sit
+down before him and said to him, "O Mohammed Ali, I wish thee to
+tell me what befel thee last night, for it was strange and
+passing strange." Quoth the youth, "Pardon, O Commander of the
+Faithful, give me the kerchief of immunity, that my dread may be
+appeased and my heart eased." Replied the Caliph, "I promise thee
+safety from fear and woes." So the young man told him his story
+from first to last, whereby the Caliph knew him to be a lover and
+severed from his beloved and said to him, "Desirest thou that I
+restore her to thee?" "This were of the bounty of the Commander
+of the Faithful," answered the youth and repeated these two
+couplets.
+
+"Ne'er cease thy gate be Ka'abah to mankind; * Long may its
+     threshold dust man's brow beseem!
+That o'er all countries it may be proclaimed, * This is the Place
+     and thou art Ibrahim."[FN#209]
+
+Thereupon the Caliph turned to his Minister and said to him, "O
+Ja'afar, bring me thy sister, the Lady Dunya, daughter of the
+Wazir Yahya bin Khálid!" "I hear and I obey," answered he and
+fetched her without let or delay. Now when she stood before the
+Caliph he said to her, "Doss thou know who this is?"; and she
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, how should women have
+knowledge of men?"[FN#210] So the Caliph smiled and said, "O
+Dunya this is thy beloved, Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller. We are
+acquainted with his case, for we have heard the whole story from
+beginning to end, and have apprehended its inward and its
+outward; and it is no more hidden from me, for all it was kept in
+secrecy." Replied she, "O Commander of the Faithful, this was
+written in the Book of Destiny; I crave the forgiveness of
+Almighty Allah for the wrong I have wrought, and pray thee to
+pardon me of thy favour." At this the Caliph laughed and,
+summoning the Kazi and witnesses, renewed the marriage-contract
+between the Lady Dunya and her husband, Mohammed Ali son of the
+Jeweller, whereby there betided them, both her and him the utmost
+felicity, and to their enviers mortification and misery.
+Moreover, he made Mohammed Ali one of his boon-companions, and
+they abode in joy and cheer and gladness, till there came to them
+the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. And men
+also relate the pleasant tale of
+
+
+
+
+                        ALI THE PERSIAN.
+
+
+
+It is said that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, being restless one
+night, sent for his Wazir and said to him, "O Ja'afar, I am sore
+wakeful and heavy-hearted this night, and I desire of thee what
+may solace my spirit and cause my breast to broaden with amuse
+meet." Quoth Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have a
+friend, by name Ali the Persian, who hath store of tales and plea
+sent stories, such as lighten the heart and make care depart."
+Quoth the Caliph, "Fetch him to me," and quoth Ja'afar,
+"Hearkening and obedience;" and, going out from before him, sent
+to seek Ali the Persian and when he came said to him, "Answer the
+summons of the Commander of the Faithful." "To hear is to obey,"
+answered Ali;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
+replied, "To hear is to obey;" and at once followed the Wazir
+into the presence of the Caliph who bade him be seated and said
+to him, "O Ali, my heart is heavy within me this night and it
+hath come to my ear that thou hast great store of tales and
+anecdotes; so I desire of thee that thou let me hear what will
+relieve my despondency and brighten my melancholy." Said he, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen
+with my eyes or what I have heard with my ears?" He replied, "An
+thou have seen aught worth the telling, let me hear that."
+Replied Ali: "Hearkening and obedience. Know thou, O Commander of
+the Faithful, that some years ago I left this my native city of
+Baghdad on a journey, having with me a lad who carried a light
+leathern bag. Presently we came to a certain city, where, as I
+was buying and selling, behold, a rascally Kurd fell on me and
+seized my wallet perforce, saying, 'This is my bag, and all which
+is in it is my property.' Thereupon, I cried aloud 'Ho
+Moslems,[FN#211] one and all, deliver me from the hand of the
+vilest of oppressors!' But the folk said, 'Come, both of you, to
+the Kazi and abide ye by his judgment with joint consent.' So I
+agreed to submit myself to such decision and we both presented
+ourselves before the Kazi, who said, 'What bringeth you hither
+and what is your case and your quarrel?' Quoth I, 'We are men at
+difference, who appeal to thee and make complaint and submit
+ourselves to thy judgment.' Asked the Kazi, 'Which of you is the
+complainant?'; so the Kurd came forward[FN#212] and said, 'Allah
+preserve our lord the Kazi! Verily, this bag is my bag and all
+that is in it is my swag. It was lost from me and I found it with
+this man mine enemy.' The Kazi asked, 'When didst thou lose it?';
+and the Kurd answered, 'But yesterday, and I passed a sleepless
+night by reason of its loss.' 'An it be thy bag,' quoth the Kazi,
+'tell me what is in it.' Quoth the Kurd, 'There were in my bag
+two silver styles for eye-powder and antimony for the eyes and a
+kerchief for the hands, wherein I had laid two gilt cups and two
+candlesticks. Moreover it contained two tents and two platters
+and two spoons and a cushion and two leather rugs and two ewers
+and a brass tray and two basins and a cooking-pot and two water-
+jars and a ladle and a sacking-needle and a she-cat and two
+bitches and a wooden trencher and two sacks and two saddles and a
+gown and two fur pelisses and a cow and two calves and a she-goat
+and two sheep and an ewe and two lambs and two green pavilions
+and a camel and two she-camels and a lioness and two lions and a
+she-bear and two jackals and a mattress and two sofas and an
+upper chamber and two saloons and a portico and two sitting-rooms
+and a kitchen with two doors and a company of Kurds who will bear
+witness that the bag is my bag.' Then said the Kazi to me, 'And
+thou, sirrah, what sayest thou?' So I came forward, O Commander
+of the Faithful (and indeed the Kurd's speech had bewildered me)
+and said, 'Allah advance our lord the Kazi! Verily, there was
+naught in this my wallet, save a little ruined tenement and
+another without a door and a dog house and a boys' school and
+youths playing dice and tents and tent-ropes and the cities of
+Bassorah and Baghdad and the palace of Shaddad bin Ad and an
+ironsmith's forge and a fishing-net and cudgels and pickets and
+girls and boys and a thousand pimps who will testify that the bag
+is my bag.' Now when the Kurd heard my words, he wept and wailed
+and said, 'O my lord the Kazi, this my bag is known and what is
+in it is a matter of renown; for in this bag there be castles and
+citadels and cranes and beasts of prey and men playing chess and
+draughts. Furthermore, in this my bag is a brood-mare and two
+colts and a stallion and two blood-steeds and two long lances;
+and it containeth eke a lion and two hares and a city and two
+villages and a whore and two sharking panders and an
+hermaphrodite and two gallows birds and a blind man and two
+wights with good sight and a limping cripple and two lameters and
+a Christian ecclesiastic and two deacons and a patriarch and two
+monks and a Kazi and two assessors, who will be evidence that the
+bag is my bag.' Quoth the Kazi to me, 'And what sayst thou, O
+Ali?' So, O Commander of the Faithful, being filled with rage, I
+came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi!'"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
+continued: "So being filled with rage, O Commander of the
+Faithful, I came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi
+I had in this my wallet a coat of mail and a broadsword and
+armouries and a thousand fighting rams and a sheep-fold with its
+pasturage and a thousand barking dogs and gardens and vines and
+flowers and sweet smelling herbs and figs and apples and statues
+and pictures and flagons and goblets and fair-faced slave-girls
+and singing-women and marriage-feasts and tumult and clamour and
+great tracts of land and brothers of success, which were robbers,
+and a company of daybreak-raiders with swords and spears and bows
+and arrows and true friends and dear ones and Intimates and
+comrades and men imprisoned for punishment and cup-companions and
+a drum and flutes and flags and banners and boys and girls and
+brides (in all their wedding bravery), and singing-girls and five
+Abyssinian women and three Hindi maidens and four damsels of
+Al-Medinah and a score of Greek girls and eighty Kurdish dames
+and seventy Georgian ladies and Tigris and Euphrates and a
+fowling net and a flint and steel and Many-columned Iram and a
+thousand rogues and pimps and horse-courses and stables and
+mosques and baths and a builder and a carpenter and a plank and a
+nail and a black slave with his flageolet and a captain and a
+caravan leader and towns and cities and an hundred thousand
+dinars and Cufa and Anbár[FN#213] and twenty chests full of
+stuffs and twenty storehouses for victuals and Gaza and Askalon
+and from Damietta to Al-Sawán[FN#214]; and the palace of Kisra
+Anushirwan and the kingdom of Solomon and from Wadi Nu'umán to
+the land of Khorasán and Balkh and Ispahán and from India to the
+Sudán. Therein also (may Allah prolong the life of our lord the
+Kazi!) are doublets and cloths and a thousand sharp razors to
+shave off the Kazi's beard, except he fear my resentment and
+adjudge the bag to be my bag.' Now when the Kazi heard what I and
+the Kurd avouched, he was confounded and said, 'I see ye twain be
+none other than two pestilent fellows, atheistical-villains who
+make sport of Kazis and magistrates and stand not in fear of
+reproach. Never did tongue tell nor ear hear aught more
+extraordinary than that which ye pretend. By Allah, from China to
+Shajarat Umm Ghaylán, nor from Fars to Sudan nor from Wadi
+Nu'uman to Khorasan, was ever heard the like of what ye avouch or
+credited the like of what ye affirm. Say, fellows, be this bag a
+bottomless sea or the Day of Resurrection that shall gather
+together the just and unjust?' Then the Kazi bade them open the
+bag; so I opened it and behold, there was in it bread and a lemon
+and cheese and olives. So I threw the bag down before the Kurd
+and ganged my gait." Now when the Caliph heard this tale from Ali
+the Persian, he laughed till he fell on his back and made him a
+handsome present.[FN#215] And men also relate a
+
+
+
+
+           TALE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE SLAVE-GIRL
+                    AND THE IMAM ABU YUSUF.
+
+
+
+It is said that Ja'afar the Barmecide was one night carousing
+with Al Rashid, who said, "O Ja'afar, it hath reached me that
+thou hast bought such and such a slave-girl. Now I have long
+sought her for she is passing fair; and my heart is taken up with
+love of her, so do thou sell her to me." He replied, "I will not
+sell her, O Commander of the Faithful." Quoth he, "Then give her
+to me." Quoth the other, "Nor will I give her." Then Al-Rashid
+exclaimed, "Be Zubaydah triply divorced an thou shall not either
+sell or give her to me!" Then Ja'afar exclaimed, "Be my wife
+triply divorced an I either sell or give her to thee!" After
+awhile they recovered from their tipsiness and were aware of
+having fallen into a grave dilemma, but knew not by what device
+to extricate themselves. Then said Al-Rashid, "None can help us
+in this strait but Abú Yúsuf."[FN#216] So they sent for him, and
+this was in the middle of the night; and when the messenger
+reached him, he arose in alarm, saying to himself, "I should not
+be sent for at this tide and time, save by reason of some
+question of moment to Al-Islam." So he went out in haste and
+mounted his she-mule, saying to his servant, "Take the mule's
+nose-bag with thee; it may be she hath not finished her feed; and
+when we come to the Caliph's palace, put the bag on her, that she
+may eat what is left of her fodder, during the last of the
+night." And the man replied, "I hear and obey." Now when the Imam
+was admitted to the presence, Al-Rashid rose to receive him and
+seated him on the couch beside himself (where he was wont to seat
+none save the Kazi), and said to him, "We have not sent for thee
+at this untimely time and tide save to advise us upon a grave
+matter, which is such and such and wherewith we know not how to
+deal." And he expounded to him the case. Abu Yusuf answered, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, this is the easiest of things." Then
+he turned to Ja'afar and said, "O Ja'afar, sell half of her to
+the Commander of the Faithful and give him the other half; so
+shall ye both be quit of your oaths." The Caliph was delighted
+with this and both did as he prescribed. Then said Al-Rashid,
+"Bring me the girl at once,"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+Harun al-Rashid commanded, "Bring me the girl at once, for I long
+for her exceedingly." So they brought her and the Caliph said to
+Abu Yusuf, I have a mind to have her forthright, for I cannot
+bear to abstain from her during the prescribed period of
+purification; now how is this to be done?" Abu Yusuf replied,
+"Bring me one of thine own male slaves who hath never been
+manumitted." So they brought one and Abu Yusuf said, "Give me
+leave to marry her to him; then let him divorce her before
+consummation; and thus shall it be lawful for thee to lie with
+her before purification." This second expedient pleased the
+Caliph yet more than the first; he sent for the Mameluke and,
+whenas he came, said to the Kazi "I authorise thee to marry her
+to him." So the Imam proposed the marriage to the slave, who
+accepted it, and performed the ceremony; after which he said to
+the slave, "Divorce her, and thou shalt have an hundred dinars."
+But he replied, "I won't do this;" and the Imam went on to
+increase his offer, and the slave to refuse till he bid him a
+thousand dinars. Then the man asked him, "Doth it rest with me to
+divorce her, or with thee or with the Commander of the Faithful?"
+He answered, "It is in thy hand." "Then by Allah," quoth the
+slave, "I will never do it; no, never!" Hearing these words the
+Caliph was exceeding wroth and said to the Imam, "What is to be
+done, O Abu Yusuf?" Replied he, "Be not concerned, O Commander of
+the Faithful; the thing is easy. Make this slave the damsel's
+chattel." Quoth Al-Rashid, "I give him to her;" and the Imam said
+to the girl, "Say: I accept." So she said, I accept;" whereon
+quoth Abu Yusuf, "I pronounce separation from bed and board and
+divorce between them, for that he hath become her property, and
+so the marriage is annulled." With this, Al-Rashid rose to his
+feet and exclaimed, "It is the like of thee that shall be Kazi in
+my time." Then he called for sundry trays of gold and emptied
+them before Abu Yusuf, to whom he said, "Hast thou wherein to put
+this?" The Imam bethought him of the mule's nose-bag; so he sent
+for it and, filling it with gold, took it and went home. And on
+the morrow, he said to his friends, "There is no easier nor
+shorter road to the goods of this world and the next, than that
+of religious learning; for, see, I have gotten all this money by
+answering two or three questions." So consider thou, O polite
+reader,[FN#217] the pleasantness of this anecdote, for it
+compriseth divers goodly features, amongst which are the
+complaisance of Ja'afar to Al Rashid, and the wisdom of the
+Caliph who chose such a Kazi and the excellent learning of Abu
+Yusuf, may Almighty Allah have mercy on their souls one and all!
+And they also tell the
+
+
+
+
+            TALE OF THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A
+                             THIEF.
+
+
+
+When Khálid bin Abdallah al-Kasri[FN#218] was Emir of Bassorah,
+there came to him one day a company of men dragging a youth of
+exceeding beauty and lofty bearing and perfumed attire; whose
+aspect expressed good breeding, abundant wit and dignity of the
+gravest. They brought him before the Governor, who asked what it
+was and they replied, "This fellow is a thief, whom we caught
+last night in our dwelling-house." Whereupon Khálid looked at him
+and was pleased with his well-favouredness and elegant aspect; so
+he said to the others, "Loose him," and going up to the young
+man, asked what he had to say for himself. He replied, "Verily
+the folk have spoken truly and the case is as they have said."
+Quoth Khálid, "And what moved thee to this and thou so noble of
+port and comely of mien?" Quoth the other "The lust after worldly
+goods, and the ordinance of Allah (extolled exalted be He!)."
+Rejoined Khálid, "Be thy mother bereaved of thee![FN#219] Hadst
+thou not, in thy fair face and sound sense and good breeding,
+what should restrain thee from thieving?" Answered the young man,
+"O Emir, leave this talk and proceed to what Almighty Allah hath
+ordained; this is what my hands have earned, and, 'God is not
+unjust towards mankind.'"[FN#220] So Khálid was silent awhile
+considering the matter then he bade the young man draw near him
+and said, "Verily, thy confession before witnesses perplexeth me,
+for I cannot believe thee to be a thief: haply thou hast some
+story that is other than one of theft; and if so tell it me."
+Replied the youth "O Emir, imagine naught other than what I have
+confessed to in thy presence; for I have no tale to tell save
+that verily I entered these folks' house and stole what I could
+lay hands on and they caught me and took the stuff from me and
+carried me before thee." Then Khalid bade clap him in gaol and
+commended a crier to cry throughout Bassorah, "O yes! O yes!
+Whoso be minded to look upon the punishment of such an one, the
+thief, and the cutting-off of his hand, let him be present to-
+morrow morning at such a place!" Now when the young man found
+himself in prison, with irons on his feet, he sighed heavily and
+with tears streaming from his eyes extemporized these couplets,
+
+"When Khálid menaced off to strike my hand * If I refuse to tell
+     him of her case;
+Quoth I, 'Far, far fro' me that I should tell * A love, which
+     ever shall my heart engrace;
+Loss of my hand for sin I have confessed * To me were easier than
+     to shame her face.'"
+
+The warders heard him and went and told Khálid who, when it was
+dark night, sent for the youth and conversed with him. He found
+him clever and well-bred, intelligent, lively and a pleasant
+companion; so he ordered him food and he ate. Then after an
+hour's talk said Khálid, "I know indeed thou hast a story to tell
+that is no thief's; so when the Kazi shall come to-morrow morning
+and shall question thee about this robbery, do thou deny the
+charge of theft and avouch what may avert the pain and penalty of
+cutting off thy hand; for the Apostle (whom Allah bless and
+keep!) saith, 'In cases of doubt, eschew punishment.'" Then he
+sent him back to prison,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khálid,
+after conversing with the youth, sent him back to prison, where
+he passed the night. And when morning dawned the folk assembled
+to see his hand cut off, nor was there a soul in Bassorah, man or
+woman, but was present to look upon the punishment of that
+handsome youth. Then Khálid mounted in company of the notables of
+the city and others; and, summoning all four Kazis, sent for the
+young man, who came hobbling and stumbling in his fetters. There
+was none saw him but wept over him and the women all lifted up
+their voices in lamentation as for the dead. Then the Kazi bade
+silence the women and said to the prisoner, "These folk avouch
+that thou didst enter their dwelling-house and steal their goods:
+belike thou stolest less than a quarter dinar[FN#221]?" Replied
+he, "Nay, I stole that and more." "Peradventure," rejoined the
+Kazi "thou art partner with the folk in some of the goods?" Quoth
+the young man; "Not so: it was all theirs, and I had no right in
+it." At this the Khálid was wroth and rose and smote him on the
+face with his whip, applying to his own case this couplet,
+
+"Man wills his wish to him accorded be; * But Allah naught
+     accords save what He wills."
+
+Then he called for the butcher to do the work, who came and drew
+forth his knife and taking the prisoner's hand set the blade to
+it, when, behold, a damsel pressed through the crowd of women,
+clad in tattered clothes,[FN#222] and cried out and threw herself
+on the young man. Then she unveiled and showed a face like the
+moon whereupon the people raised a mighty clamour and there was
+like to have been a riot amongst them and a violent scene. But
+she cried out her loudest, saying, "I conjure thee, by Allah, O
+Emir, hasten not to cut off this man's hand, till thou have read
+what is in this scroll!" So saying, she gave him a scroll, and
+Khálid took it and opened it and read therein these couplets,
+
+"Ah Khálid! this one is a slave of love distraught, * And these
+     bowed eye-lashes sent shaft that caused his grief:
+Shot him an arrow sped by eyes of mine, for he, * Wedded to
+     burning love of ills hath no relief:
+He hath avowed a deed he never did, the while * Deeming this
+     better than disgrace of lover fief:
+Bear then, I pray, with this distracted lover mine * Whose noble
+     nature falsely calls himself a thief!"
+
+When Khálid had read these lines he withdrew himself from the
+people and summoned the girl and questioned her; and she told him
+that the young man was her lover and she his mistress; and that
+thinking to visit her he came to the dwelling of her people and
+threw a stone into the house, to warn her of his coming. Her
+father and brothers heard the noise of the stone and sallied out
+on him; but he, hearing them coming, caught up all the household
+stuff and made himself appear a robber to cover his mistress's
+honour. "Now when they saw him they seized him (continued she),
+crying:--A thief! and brought him before thee, whereupon he
+confessed to the robbery and persisted in his confession, that he
+might spare me disgrace; and this he did, making himself a thief,
+of the exceeding nobility and generosity of his nature." Khálid
+answered, "He is indeed worthy to have his desire;" and, calling
+the young man to him, kissed him between the eyes. Then he sent
+for the girl's father and bespoke him, saying, "O Shaykh, we
+thought to carry out the law of mutilation in the case of this
+young man; but Allah (to whom be Honour and Glory!) hath
+preserved us from this, and I now adjudge him the sum of ten
+thousand dirhams, for that he would have given his hand for the
+preservation of thine honour and that of thy daughter and for the
+sparing of shame to you both. Moreover, I adjudge other ten
+thousand dirhams to thy daughter, for that she made known to me
+the truth of the case; and I ask thy leave to marry her to him."
+Rejoined the old man, "O Emir, thou hast my consent." So Khálid
+praised Allah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by
+preaching a goodly sermon and a prayerful;--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khálid
+praised Allah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by
+preaching a goodly sermon and a prayerful; after which he said to
+the young man, "I give thee to wife the damsel, such an one here
+present, with her own permission and her father's consent; and
+her wedding settlement shall be this money, to wit, ten thousand
+dirhams." "I accept this marriage at thy hands," replied the
+youth; and Khálid bade them carry the money on brass trays in
+procession to the young man's house, whilst the people dispersed,
+fully satisfied. "And surely (quoth he who tells the
+tale[FN#223]) never saw I a rarer day than this, for that it
+began with tears and annoy; and it ended with smiles and joy."
+And in contrast of this story is this piteous tale of
+
+
+
+
+           JA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN SELLER.
+
+
+
+When Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja'afar the Barmecide[FN#224] he
+commended that all who wept or made moan for him should also be
+crucified; so the folk abstained from that. Now it chanced that a
+wild Arab, who dwelt in a distant word, used every year to bring
+to the aforesaid Ja'afar an ode[FN#225] in his honour, for which
+he rewarded him with a thousand dinars; and the Badawi took them
+and, returning to his own country, lived upon them, he and his
+family, for the rest of the year. Accordingly, he came with his
+ode at the wonted time and, finding that Ja'afar had been
+crucified, betook himself to the place where his body was
+hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and wept with sore
+weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he recited his
+ode and fell asleep. Presently Ja'afar the Barmecide appeared to
+him in a vision and said, "Verily thou hast wearied thyself to
+come to us and findest us as thou seest; but go to Bassorah and
+ask for a man there whose name is such and such, one of the
+merchants of the town, and say to him, 'Ja'afar, the Barmecide,
+saluteth thee and biddeth thee give me a thousand dinars, by the
+token of the bean.'" Now when the wild Arab awoke, he repaired to
+Bassorah, where he sought out the merchant and found him and
+repeated to him what Ja'afar had said in the dream; whereupon he
+wept with weeping so sore that he was like to depart the world.
+Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his side and made
+his stay pleasant and entertained him three days as an honoured
+guest; and when he was minded to depart he gave him a thousand
+and five hundred dinars, saying, "The thousand are what is
+commanded to thee, and the five hundred are a gift from me to
+thee; and every year thou shalt have of me a thousand gold
+pieces." Now when the Arab was about to take leave, he said to
+the merchant, "Allah upon thee, tell me the story of the bean,
+that I may know the origin of all this." He answered: "In the
+early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot beans[FN#226]
+about the streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went out one
+raw and rainy day, without clothes enough on my body to protect
+me from the weather; now shivering for excess of cold and now
+stumbling into the pools of rain-water, and altogether in so
+piteous a plight as would make one shudder with goose-skin to
+look upon. But it chanced that Ja'afar that day was seated with
+his officers and his concubines, in an upper chamber overlooking
+the street when his eyes fell on me; so he took pity on my case
+and, sending one of his dependents to fetch me to him, said as
+soon as he saw me, 'Sell thy beans to my people.' So I began to
+mete out the beans with a measure I had by me; and each who took
+a measure of beans filled the measure with gold pieces till all
+my store was gone and my basket was clean empty. Then I gathered
+together the gold I had gotten, and Ja'afar said to me, 'Hast
+thou any beans left?' 'I know not,' answered I, and then sought
+in the basket, but found only one bean. So Ja'afar took from me
+the single bean and, splitting it in twain, kept one half himself
+and gave the other to one of his concubines, saying, 'For how
+much wilt thou buy this half bean?' She replied, 'For the tale of
+all this gold twice-told;' whereat I was confounded and said to
+myself, 'This is impossible.' But, as I stood wondering, behold,
+she gave an order to one of her hand-maids and the girl brought
+me the sum of the collected monies twice-told. Then said Ja'afar,
+'And I will buy the half I have by me for double the sum of the
+whole,' presently adding, 'Now take the price of thy bean.' And
+he gave an order to one of his servants, who gathered together
+the whole of the money and laid it in my basket; and I took it
+and went my ways. Then I betook myself to Bassorah, where I
+traded with the monies and Allah prospered me amply, to Him be
+the praise and the thanks! So, if I give thee every year a
+thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja'afar, it will in no wise
+injure me. Consider then the munificence of Ja'afar's nature and
+how he was praised both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah
+Almighty be upon him! And men also recount the tale of
+
+
+
+
+                 ABU MOHAMMED HIGHT LAZYBONES.
+
+
+
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid was sitting one day on the throne
+of the Caliphate, when there came in to him a youth of his
+eunuchry, bearing a crown of red gold, set with pearls and rubies
+and all manner of other gems and jewels, such as money might not
+buy; and, bussing the ground between his hands, said, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, the Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth
+before thee"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say. Whereupon quoth her sister Dunyazad,
+"How pleasant is thy tale and profitable; and how sweet is thy
+speech and how delectable!" "And where is this," replied
+Shahrazad, "compared with what I shall tell you next night an I
+live and the King grant me leave!" Thereupon quoth the King to
+himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the end of
+her tale."
+
+             When it was the Three Hundredth Night,
+
+Quoth Dunyazad, "favour us, O my sister, with thy tale," and she
+replied, 'With joy and good will, if the King accord me leave;"
+whereupon the King said, "Tell thy tale, O Shahrazad." So she
+pursued: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth
+said to the Caliph, "The Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before
+thee and saith to thee, Thou knowest she hath bidden make this
+crown, which lacketh a great jewel for its dome-top; and she hath
+made search among her treasures, but cannot find a jewel of size
+to suit her mind." Quoth the Caliph to his Chamberlains and
+Viceregents, Make search for a great jewel, such as Zubaydah
+desireth." So they sought, but found nothing befitting her and
+told the Caliph who, vexed and annoyed thereat, exclaimed, "How
+am I Caliph and King of the Kings of the earth and cannot find so
+small a matter as a jewel? Woe to you! Ask of the merchants." So
+they enquired of the traders, who replied, "Our lord the Caliph
+will not find a jewel such as he requireth save with a man of
+Bassorah, by name Abú Mohammed highs Lazybones." Thereupon they
+acquainted the Caliph with this and he bade his Wazir Ja'afar
+send a note to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydí, Governor of
+Bassorah, commanding him to equip Abu Mohammed Lazybones and
+bring him into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful. The
+Minister accordingly wrote a note to that effect and despatched
+it by Masrur, who set out forthright for the city of Bassorah,
+and went in to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydi, who rejoiced in him
+and treated him with the high-most honour. Then Masrur read him
+the mandate of the Prince of True Believers, Harun al-Rashid, to
+which he replied, "I hear and I obey," and forthwith despatched
+him, with a company of his followers, to Abu Mohammed's house.
+When they reached it, they knocked at the door, whereupon a page
+came out and Masrur said to him, "Tell thy lord, The Commander of
+the Faithful summoneth thee." The servant went in and told his
+master, who came out and found Masrur, the Caliph's Chamberlain,
+and a company of the Governor's men at the door. So he kissed
+ground before Masrur and said, "I hear and obey the summons of
+the Commander of the Faithful; but first enter ye my house." They
+replied, "We cannot do that, save in haste; even as the Prince of
+True Believers commanded us, for he awaiteth thy coming." But he
+said, "Have patience with me a little, till I set my affairs in
+order." So after much pressure and abundant persuasion, they
+entered the house with him and found the vestibule hung with
+curtains of azure brocade, purfled with red gold, and Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones bade one of his servants carry Masrur to the
+private Hammam. Now this bath was in the house and Masrur found
+its walls and floors of rare and precious marbles, wrought with
+gold and silver, and its waters mingled with rose-water. Then the
+servants served Masrur and his company with the perfection of
+service; and, on their going forth of the Hammam, clad them in
+robes of honour, brocade-work interwoven with gold. And after
+leaving the bath Masrur and his men went in to Abu Mohammed
+Lazybones and found him seated in his upper chamber; and over his
+head hung curtains of gold-brocade, wrought with pearls and
+jewels, and the pavilion was spread with cushions, embroidered in
+red gold. Now the owner was sitting softly upon a quilted cloth
+covering a settee inlaid with stones of price; and, when he saw
+Masrur, he went forward to meet him and bidding him welcome,
+seated him by his side. Then he called for the food-trays; so
+they brought them, and when Masrur saw the tables, he exclaimed,
+"By Allah, never did I behold the like of these appointments in
+the palace of the Commander of the Faithful!" For indeed the
+trays contained every manner of meat all served in dishes of
+gilded porcelain.[FN#227] "So we ate and drank and made merry
+till the end of the day (quoth Masrur) when the host gave to each
+and every of us five thousand dinars, and on the morrow he clad
+us in dresses of honour of green and gold and entreated us with
+the utmost worship." Then said Masrur to him, "We can tarry no
+longer for fear of the Caliph's displeasure." Answered Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones, "O my lord, have patience with us till the
+morrow, that we may equip ourselves, and we will then depart with
+you." So they tarried with him that day and slept the night; and
+next morning Abu Mohammed's servants saddled him a she mule with
+selle and trappings of gold, set with all manner of pearls and
+stones of price; whereupon quoth Masrur to himself, "I wonder,
+when Abu Mohammed shall present himself in such equipage, if the
+Caliph will ask him how he came by all this wealth." Thereupon
+they took leave of Al-Zubaydi and, setting out from Bassorah,
+fared on, without ceasing to fare till they reached Baghdad-city
+and presented themselves before the Caliph, who bade Abu Mohammed
+be seated. He sat down and addressed the Caliph in courtly
+phrase, saying, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have brought with
+me an humble offering by way of homage: have I thy gracious
+permission to produce it?" Al-Rashid replied, "There is no harm
+in that,"[FN#228] whereupon Abu Mohammed bade his men bring in a
+chest, from which he took a number of rarities, and amongst the
+rest, trees of gold with leaves of white emeraid,[FN#229] and
+fruits of pigeon blood rubies and topazes and new pearls and
+bright. And as the Caliph was struck with admiration he fetched a
+second chest and brought out of it a tent of brocade, crowned
+with pearls and jacinths and emeralds and jaspers and other
+precious stones; its poles were of freshly cut Hindi aloes-wood,
+and its skirts were set with the greenest smaragds. Thereon were
+depicted all manner of animals such as beasts and birds, spangled
+with precious stones, rubies, emeralds, chrysolites and balasses
+and every kind of precious metal. Now when Al-Rashid saw these
+things, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and Abu Mohammed Lazybones
+said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful, deem not that I have
+brought these to thee, fearing aught or coveting anything; but I
+knew myself to be but a man of the people and that such things
+befitted none save the Commander of the Faithful. And now, with
+thy leave, I will show thee, for thy diversion, something of what
+I can do." Al-Rashid replied, "Do what thou wilt, that we may
+see." "To hear is to obey," said Abu Mohammed and, moving his
+lips, beckoned the palace battlements,[FN#230] whereupon they
+inclined to him; then he made another sign to them, and they
+returned to their place. Presently he made a sign with his eye,
+and there appeared before him closets with closed doors, to which
+he spoke, and lo! the voices of birds answered him from within.
+The Caliph marvelled with passing marvel at this and said to him,
+"How camest thou by all this, seeing that thou art known only as
+Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and they tell me that thy father was a
+cupper serving in a public Hammam, who left thee nothing?"
+Whereupon he answered, "Listen to my story" And Shahrazed
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and First Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones thus spake to the Caliph: "O Prince of True
+Believers, listen to my story, for it is a marvellous and its
+particulars are wondrous; were it graven with graver-needles upon
+the eye-corners it were a warner to whose would be warned." Quoth
+Al-Rashid, "Let us hear all thou hast to say, O Abu Mohammed!"
+So he began "Know then, O Commander of the Faithful (Allah
+prolong to thee glory and dominion!), the report of the folk;
+that I am known as the Lazybones and that my father left me
+nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but a
+barber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the
+idlest wight on the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my
+sluggishness that, if I lay at full length in the sultry season
+and the sun came round upon me, I was too lazy to rise and remove
+from the sun to the shade. And thus I abode till I reached my
+fifteenth year, when my father deceased in the mercy of Allah
+Almighty and left me nothing. However, my mother used to go out
+a-charing and feed me and give me to drink, whilst I lay on my
+side. Now it came to pass that one day she came in to me with
+five silver dirhams, and said to me, 'O my son, I hear that
+Shaykh Abú al-Muzaffar[FN#231] is about to go a voyage to China.'
+(Now this Shaykh was a good and charitable man who loved the
+poor.) 'So come, my son, take these five silver bits; and let us
+both carry them to him and beg him to buy thee therewith somewhat
+from the land of China; so haply thou mayst make a profit of it
+by the bounty of Allah, whose name be exalted!' I was too idle to
+move for her; but she swore by the Almighty that, except I rose
+and went with her, she would bring me neither meat nor drink nor
+come in to me, but would leave me to die of hunger and thirst.
+Now when I heard her words, O Commander of the Faithful, I knew
+she would do as she threatened for her knowledge of my
+sluggishness; so I said to her, 'Help me to sit up.' She did so,
+and I wept the while and said to her, 'Bring me my shoes.'
+Accordingly, she brought them and I said, 'Put them on my feet.'
+She put them on my feet and I said, 'Lift me up off the ground.'
+So she lifted me up and I said, 'Support me, that I may walk.' So
+she supported me and I continued to fare a foot, at times
+stumbling over my skirts, till we came to the river bank, where
+we saluted the Shaykh and I said to him, 'O my uncle, art thou
+Abu al-Muzaffar?' 'At thy service,' answered he, and I, 'Take
+these dirhams and with them buy me somewhat from the land of
+China: haply Allah may vouchsafe me a profit of it.' Quoth the
+Shaykh to his companions, 'Do ye know this youth?' They answered,
+'Yes, he is known as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and we never saw him
+stir from his house till this moment.' Then said he to me, 'O my
+son, give me the silver with the blessing of Almighty Allah!' So
+he took the money, saying, 'Bismillah in the name of Allah!' and
+I returned home with my mother. Presently Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar
+set sail, with a company of merchants, and stayed not till they
+reached the land of China, where he and his bought and sold; and,
+having won what they wished, set out on their homeward voyage.
+When they had been three days at sea, the Shaykh said to his
+company, 'Stay the vessel!' They asked, 'What dost thou want?'
+and he answered, 'Know that I have forgotten the commission
+wherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones charged me; so let us turn back
+that we may lay out his money on somewhat whereby he may profit.'
+They cried, 'We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty turn not back
+with us; for we have traversed a long distance and a sore, and
+while so doing we have endured sad hardship and many terrors.'
+Quoth he, 'There is no help for it but we return;' and they said,
+'Take from us double the profit of the five dirhams, and turn us
+not back.' He agreed to this and they collected for him an ample
+sum of money. Thereupon they sailed on, till they came to an
+island wherein was much people; when they moored thereto and the
+merchants went ashore, to buy thence a stock of precious metals
+and pearls and jewels and so forth. Presently Abu al-Muzaffar saw
+a man seated, with many apes before him, and amongst them one
+whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as their owner's
+attention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon the
+plucked one and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon
+the man rose and bashed them and bound them and punished them for
+this; and all the apes were wroth with the plucked ape on this
+account and funded him the more. When Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar saw
+this, he felt for and took compassion upon the plucked ape and
+said to his master, 'Wilt thou sell me yonder monkey?' Replied
+the man, 'Buy,' and Abu al-Muzaffar rejoined, 'I have with me
+five dirhams, belonging to an orphan lad. Wilt thou sell it me
+for that sum?' Answered the monkey-merchant, 'It is a bargain;
+and Allah give thee a blessing of him!' So he made over the beast
+and received his money; and the Shaykh's slaves took the ape and
+tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for
+another island, where they cast anchor; and there came down
+divers, who plunged for precious stones, pearls and other gems;
+so the merchants hired them to dive for money and they dived. Now
+when the ape saw them doing this, he loosed himself from his
+bonds and, jumping off the ship's side, plunged with them,
+whereupon quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, 'There is no Majesty and there
+is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! The monkey
+is lost to us with the luck of the poor fellow for whom we bought
+him.' And they despaired of him; but, after a while, the company
+of divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was the
+ape, with his hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down
+before Abu al-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said,
+'There is much mystery in this monkey!' Then they cast off and
+sailed till they came to a third island, called the Isle of the
+Zunúj,[FN#232] who are a people of the blacks, which eat the
+flesh of the sons of Adam. When the blacks saw them, they boarded
+them in dug-outs[FN#233] and, taking all in the vessel, pinioned
+them and carried them to their King, who bade slaughter certain
+of the merchants. So they slaughtered them by cutting their
+throats and ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders passed
+the night in bonds and were in sore concern. But when it was
+midnight, the ape arose and going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed
+his bonds; and, as the others saw him free, they said, 'Allah
+grant our deliverance may be at thy hands, O Abu al-Muzaffar!'
+But he replied, 'Know that he who delivered me, by leave of Allah
+Almighty, was none other than this monkey'"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Three Hundred and Second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu
+al-Muzaffar declared, "None loosed me, by leave of Allah
+Al-mighty, save this monkey and I buy my release of him at a
+thousand dinars!" whereupon the merchants rejoined, 'And we
+likewise, each and every, will pay him a thousand dinars if he
+release us.' With this the ape arose and went up to them and
+loosed their bonds one by one, till he had freed them all, when
+they made for the vessel and boarding her, found all safe and
+nothing missing from her. So they cast off and set sail; and
+presently Abu al-Muzaffar said to them, 'O merchants, fulfil your
+promise to the monkey.' 'We hear and we obey,' answered they; and
+each one paid him one thousand dinars, whilst Abu al-Muzaffar
+brought out to him the like sum of his own monies, so that a
+great heap of coin was collected for the ape. Then they fared on
+till they reached Bassorah-city where their friends came out to
+meet them; and when they had landed, the Shaykh said, 'Where is
+Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' The news reached my mother, who came to
+me as I lay asleep and said to me, 'O my son, verily the Shaykh
+Abu al-Muzaffar hath come back and is now in the city; so rise
+and go thou to him and salute him and enquire what he hath
+brought thee; it may be Allah Almighty have opened to thee the
+door of fortune with somewhat.' Quoth I, 'Lift me from the ground
+and prop me up, whilst I go forth and walk to the river bank.'
+After which I went out and walked on, stumbling over my skirts,
+till I met the Shaykh, who exclaimed at sight of me, 'Welcome to
+him whose money hath been the means of my release and that of
+these merchants, by the will of Almighty Allah.' Then he
+continued, 'Take this monkey I bought for thee and carry him home
+and wait till I come to thee.' So I took the ape and went off,
+saying in my mind, 'By Allah, this is naught but rare
+merchandise!' and led it home, where I said to my mother,
+'Whenever I lie down to sleep, thou biddest me rise and trade;
+see now this merchandise with thine own eyes.' Then I sat me down
+and as I sat, up came the slaves of Abu al-Muzaffar and said to
+me, 'Art thou Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes' answered I; and
+behold, Abu al-Muzaffar appeared behind them. So I rose up to him
+and kissed his hands: and he said, 'Come with me to my home.'
+'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and accompanied him to his
+house, where he bade his servants bring me what money the monkey
+had earned for me. So they brought it and he said to me, 'O my
+son, Allah hath blessed thee with this wealth, by way of profit
+on thy five dirhams.' Then the slaves set down the treasure in
+chests, which they had carried on their heads, and Abu
+al-Muzaffar gave me the keys saying, 'Go before the slaves to thy
+house; for in sooth all this wealth is thine.' So I returned to
+my mother, who rejoiced in this and said to me, 'O my son, Allah
+hath blessed thee with all these riches; so put off thy laziness
+and go down to the bazar and sell and buy.' At once I shook off
+my dull sloth, and opened a shop in the bazar, where the ape used
+to sit on the same divan with me eating with me when I ate and
+drinking when I drank. But, every day, he was absent from dawn
+till noon, when he came back bringing with him a purse of a
+thousand dinars, which he laid by my side, and sat down; and he
+ceased not so doing for a great while, till I amassed much
+wealth, wherewith, O Commander of the Faithful, I purchased
+houses and lands, and I planted gardens and I bought me white
+slaves and negroes and concubines. Now it came to pass one day,
+as I sat in my shop, with the ape sitting at my side on the same
+carpet, behold, he began to turn right and left, and I said to
+myself, 'What aileth the beast?' Then Allah made the ape speak
+with a ready tongue, and he said to me, 'O Abu Mohammed!' Now
+when I heard him speak, I was sore afraid; but he said to me,
+'Fear not; I will tell thee my case. I am a Marid of the Jinn and
+came to thee because of thy poor estate; but today thou knowest
+not the amount of thy wealth; and now I have need of thee and if
+thou do my will, it shall be well for thee.' I asked, 'What is
+it?' and he answered, 'I have a mind to marry thee to a girl like
+the full moon.' Quoth I, 'How so?'; and quoth he, 'Tomorrow don
+thou thy richest dress and mount thy mule, with the saddle of
+gold and ride to the Haymarket. There enquire for the shop of the
+Sharif[FN#234] and sit down beside him and say to him, 'I come to
+thee as a suitor craving thy daughter's hand.' 'If he say to
+thee, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family'; pull out a
+thousand dinars and give them to him, and if he ask more, give
+him more and tempt him with money.' Whereto I replied, 'To hear
+is to obey; I will do thy bidding, Inshallah!' So on the next
+morning I donned my richest clothes, mounted my she mule with
+trappings of gold and rode to the Haymarket where I asked for the
+Sharif's shop, and finding him there seated, alighted and saluted
+him and seated myself beside him"--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones continued: "So I alighted and, saluting him,
+seated myself beside him, and my Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood
+before me. Said the Sharif, 'Haply, thou hast some business with
+us which we may have pleasure of transacting?' Replied I, 'Yes, I
+have business with thee.' Asked he, 'And what is it?'; and I
+answered, 'I come to thee as a suitor for thy daughter's hand.'
+So he said, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family;'
+whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand dinars, red
+gold, and said to him, 'This is my rank[FN#235] and my family;
+and he (whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said, The best of ranks
+is wealth. And how well quoth the poet,
+
+'Whoso two dithams hath, his lips have learnt * Speech of all
+     kinds with eloquence bedight:
+Draw near[FN#236] his brethren and crave ear of him, * And him
+     thou seest haught in pride-full height:
+Were 't not for dirhams wherein glories he, * Hadst found him
+     'mid man kind in sorry plight.
+When richard errs in words they all reply, * "Sooth thou hast
+     spoken and hast said aright!"
+When pauper speaketh truly all reply * 'Thou liest;' and they
+     hold his sayings light.[FN#237]
+Verily dirhams in earth's every stead * Clothe men with rank and
+     make them fair to sight
+Gold is the very tongue of eloquence; * Gold is the best of arms
+     for might who'd fight!'
+
+
+Now when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse,
+he bowed his head awhile groundwards then raising it, said, 'If
+it must be so, I will have of thee other three thousand gold
+pieces.' 'I hear and I obey,' answered I, and sent one of my
+Mamelukes home for the money. As soon as he came back with it, I
+handed it to the Sharif who, when he saw it in his hands, rose,
+and bidding his servants shut his shop, invited his brother
+merchants of the bazar the wedding; after which he carried me to
+his house and wrote out my contract of marriage with his daughter
+saying to me, 'After ten days, I will bring thee to pay her the
+first visit.' So I went home rejoicing and, shutting myself up
+with the ape, told him what had passed; and he said 'Thou hast
+done well.' Now when the time appointed by the Sharif drew near,
+the ape said to me, 'There is a thing I would have thee do for
+me; and thou shalt have of me (when it is done) whatso thou
+wilt.' I asked, 'What is that?' and he answered, 'At the upper
+end of the chamber wherein thou shalt meet thy bride, the
+Sharif's daughter, stands a cabinet, on whose door is a
+ring-padlock of copper and the keys under it. Take the keys and
+open the cabinet in which thou shalt find a coffer of iron with
+four flags, which are talismans, at its corners; and in its midst
+stands a brazen basin full of money, wherein is tied a white cock
+with a cleft comb; while on one side of the coffer are eleven
+serpents and on the other a knife. Take the knife and slaughter
+the cock; cut away the flags and upset the chest, then go back to
+the bride and do away her maidenhead. This is what I have to ask
+of thee.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I, and betook
+myself to the house of the Sharif. So as soon as I entered the
+bride-chamber, I looked for the cabinet and found it even as the
+ape had described it. Then I went in unto the bride and marvelled
+at her beauty and loveliness and stature and symmetrical-grace,
+for indeed they were such as no tongue can set forth. I rejoiced
+in her with exceeding joy; and in the middle of the night, when
+my bride slept, I rose and, taking the keys, opened the cabinet.
+Then I seized the knife and slew the cock and threw down the
+flags and upset the coffer, whereupon the girl awoke and, seeing
+the closet open and the cock with cut throat, exclaimed, 'There
+is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious,
+the Great! The Marid hath got hold of me!' Hardly had she made an
+end of speaking, when the Marid swooped down upon the house and,
+snatching up the bride, flew away with her; whereupon there arose
+a mighty clamour and behold, in came the Sharif, buffetting his
+face and crying, 'O Abu Mohammed, what is this deed thou hast
+done? Is it thus thou requiitest us? I made this talisman in the
+cabinet fearing for my daughter from this accursed one who, for
+these six years, hath sought to steal-away the girl, but could
+not. But now there is no more abiding for thee with us, so wend
+thy ways.' Thereupon I went forth and returned to my own house,
+where I made search for the ape but could not find him nor any
+trace of him; whereby I knew that it was he who was the Marid,
+and that he had carried off my wife and had tricked me into
+destroying the talisman and the cock, the two things which
+hindered him from taking her, and I repented, rending my raiment
+and cuffing my face. And there was no land but was straitened
+upon me; so I made for the desert forthright and ceased not
+wandering on till night overtook me, for I knew not whither I was
+going. And whilst I was deep in sad thought behold, I met two
+serpents, one tawny and the other white, and they were fighting
+to kill each other. So I took up a stone and with one cast slew
+the tawny serpent, which was the aggressor; whereupon the white
+serpent glided away and was absent for a while, but presently she
+returned accompanied by ten other white serpents which glided up
+to the dead serpent and tore her in pieces, so that only the head
+was left. Then they went their ways and I fell prostrate for
+weariness on the ground where I stood; but as I lay, pondering my
+case lo! I heard a Voice though I saw no one and the Voice
+versified with these two couplets,
+
+'Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, * Nor pass the
+     night with mind which cares an ace
+Between eye-closing and its opening, * Allah can foulest change
+     to fairest case.'
+
+Now when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern
+get hold of me and I was beyond measure troubled, and behold, I
+heard a Voice from behind me extemporise these couplets,
+
+'O Moslem! thou whose guide is Alcorán, * Joy in what brought
+     safe peace to thee, O man.
+Fear not what Satan haply whispered thee, * And in us see a
+     Truth-believing
+
+Then said I, 'I conjure thee, by the truth of Him thou wore
+shippest, let me know who thou art!' Thereupon the Invisible
+Speaker assumed the form of a man and said, 'Fear not; for the
+report of thy good deed hath reached us, and we are a people of
+the true-believing Jinn. So, if thou lack aught, let us know it
+that we may have the pleasure of fulfilling thy want.' Quoth I,
+'Indeed I am in sore need, for I am afflicted with a grievous
+affliction and no one was ever afflicted as I am!' Quoth he,
+'Perchance thou art Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' and I replied,
+'Yes.' He rejoined, 'I, O Abu Mohammed, am the brother of the
+white serpent, whose foe thou slewest, we are four brothers by
+one father and mother, and we are all indebted to thee for thy
+kindness. And know thou that he who played this trick on thee in
+the likeness of an ape, is a Marid of the Marids of the Jinn; and
+had he not used this artifice, he had never been able to get the
+girl; for he hath loved her and had a mind to take her this long
+while, but he was hindered of that talisman; and had it remained
+as it was, he could never have found access to her. However, fret
+not thyself for that; we will bring thee to her and kill the
+Marid; for thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried out
+with a terrible outcry"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Three Hundred and fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit
+continued, "'Verily thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he
+cried out with a terrible outcry in a horrible voice, and behold,
+there appeared a troop of the Jinn, of whom he enquired
+concerning the ape; and one of them said, 'I know his abiding-
+place;' and the other asked 'Where abideth he?' Said the speaker
+'He is in the City of Brass whereon sun riseth not.' Then said
+the first Jinni to me, 'O Abu Mohammed, take one of these our
+slaves, and he will carry thee on his back and teach thee how
+thou shalt get back the girl; but know that this slave is a Marid
+of the Marids and beware, whilst he is carrying thee, lest thou
+utter the name of Allah, or he will flee from thee and thou wilt
+fall and be destroyed.' 'I hear and obey,' answered I and chose
+out one of the slaves, who bent down and said to me, 'Mount.' So
+I mounted on his back, and he flew up with me into the firmament,
+till I lost sight of the earth and saw the stars as they were the
+mountains of earth fixed and firm[FN#238] and heard the angels
+crying, 'Praise be to Allah,' in heaven while the Marid held me
+in converse, diverting me and hindering me from pronouncing the
+name of Almighty Allah.[FN#239] But, as we flew, behold, One clad
+in green raiment,[FN#240] with streaming tresses and radiant
+face, holding in his hand a javelin whence flew sparks of fire,
+accosted me, saying, 'O Abu Mohammed, say:--There is no god but
+the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God; or I will smite thee
+with this javelin.' Now already I felt heart-broken by my forced
+silence as regards calling on the name of Allah; so I said,
+'There is no god but the God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.
+Whereupon the shining One smote the Marid with his javelin and he
+melted away and became ashes; whilst I was thrown from his back
+and fell headlong towards the earth, till I dropped into the
+midst of a dashing sea, swollen with clashing surge. And behold I
+fell hard by a ship with five sailors therein, who seeing me,
+made for me and took me up into the vessel; and they began to
+speak to me in some speech I knew not; but I signed to them that
+I understood not their speech. So they fared on till the last of
+the day, when they cast out a net and caught a great fish and
+they broiled it and gave me to eat; after which they ceased not
+sailing on till they reached their city and carried me to their
+King and set me in his presence. So I kissed ground before him,
+and he bestowed on me a dress of honour and said to me in Arabic
+(which he knew well), 'I appoint thee one of my officers.'
+Thereupon I asked him the name of the city, and he replied, 'It
+is called Hanád[FN#241] and is in the land of China.' Then he
+committed me to his Wazir, bidding him show me the city, which
+was formerly peopled by Infidels, till Almighty Allah turned them
+into stones; and there I abode a month's space, diverting myself
+with viewing the place, nor saw I ever greater plenty of trees
+and fruits than there. And when this time had past, one day, as I
+sat on the bank of a river, behold, there accosted me a horseman,
+who said to me, 'Art thou not Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes,'
+answered I; whereupon, he said, 'Fear not, for the report of thy
+good deed hath reached us.' Asked I, 'Who art thou?' and he
+answered, 'I am a brother of the white serpent, and thou art hard
+by the place where is the damsel whom thou seekest.' So saying,
+he took off his clothes and clad me therein, saying, 'Fear not,
+for the slave who perished under thee was one of our slaves.'
+Then the horseman took me up behind him and rode on with me to a
+desert place, when he said, 'Dismount now and walk on between
+these two mountains, till thou seest the City of Brass;[FN#242]
+then halt afar off and enter it not, ere I return to thee and
+tell thee how thou shalt do.' 'To hear is to obey,' replied I
+and, dismounting from behind him, walked on till I came to the
+city, the walls whereof I found of brass. Then I began to pace
+round about it, hoping to find a gate, but found none; and
+presently as I persevered, behold, the serpent's brother rejoined
+me and gave me a charmed sword which should hinder any from
+seeing me,[FN#243] then went his way. Now he had been gone but a
+little while, when lo! I heard a noise of cries and found myself
+in the midst of a multitude of folk whose eyes were in their
+breasts; and seeing me quoth they, 'Who art thou and what cast
+thee into this place?' So I told them my story, and they said,
+'The girl thou seekest is in this city with the Marid; but we
+know not what he hath done with her. Now we are brethren of the
+white serpent,' adding, 'Go thou to yonder spring and note where
+the water entereth, and enter thou with it; for it will bring
+thee into the city.' I did as they bade me, and followed the
+water-course, till it brought me to a Sardab, a vaulted room
+under the earth, from which I ascended and found myself in the
+midst of the city. Here I saw the damsel seated upon a throne of
+gold, under a canopy of brocade, girt round by a garden full of
+trees of gold, whose fruits were jewels of price, such as rubies
+and chrysolites, pearls and coral. And the moment she saw me, she
+knew me and accosted me with the Moslem salutation, saying, 'O my
+lord, who guided thee hither?' So I told her all that had passed,
+and she said, 'Know, that the accursed Marid, of the greatness of
+his love for me, hath told me what bringeth him bane and what
+bringeth him gain; and that there is here a talisman by means
+whereof he could, an he would, destroy the city and all that are
+therein; and whoso possesseth it, the Ifrits will do his
+commandment in everything. It standeth upon a pillar'--Whereat I
+asked her, 'And where is the pillar?' and she answered, 'It is in
+such a place.' 'And what manner of thing may the talisman be?'
+said I: said she, 'It is in the semblance of a vulture[FN#244]
+and upon it is a writing which I cannot read. So go thou thither
+and seize it, and set it before thee and, taking a chafing dish,
+throw into it a little musk, whereupon there will arise a smoke
+which will draw the Ifrits to thee, and they will all present
+themselves before thee, nor shall one be absent; also they shall
+be subject to thy word and, whatsoever thou biddest them, that
+will they do. Arise therefore and fall to this thing, with the
+blessing of Almighty Allah.' I answered, 'Hearkening and
+obedience' and, going to the column, did as she bade me, where-
+upon the Ifrits all presented themselves before me saying, 'Here
+are we, O our lord! Whatsoever thou biddest us, that will we do.'
+Quoth I, 'Bind the Marid who brought the damsel hither from her
+home.' Quoth they, 'We hear and obey,' and off they flew and
+bound that Marid in straitest bonds and returned after a while,
+saying, 'We have done thy bidding.' Then I dismissed them and,
+repairing to my wife, told her what had happened and said to her,
+'O my bride, wilt thou go with me?' 'Yes,' answered she. So I
+carried her forth of the vaulted chamber whereby I had entered
+the city and we fared on, till we fell in with the folk who had
+shown me the way to find her." And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and Fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that he
+continued on this wise: "And we fared on till we fell in with the
+folk who had shown me the way to her. So I said to them, 'Point
+me out a path which shall lead me to my home,' and they did
+accordingly, and brought us a-foot to the sea-shore and set us
+aboard a vessel which sailed on before us with a fair wind, till
+we reached Bassorah-city. And when we entered the house of my
+father-in-law and her people saw my wife, they rejoiced with
+exceeding joy. Then I fumigated the vulture with musk and lo! the
+Ifrits flocked to me from all sides, saying, 'At thy service what
+wilt thou have us do?' So I bade them transport all that was in
+the City of Brass of monies and noble metals and stones of price
+to my house in Bassorah, which they did; and I then ordered them
+to bring me the ape. They brought him before me, abject and
+contemptible, and I said to him, 'O accursed, why hast thou dealt
+thus perfidiously with me?' Then I com mended the Ifrits to shut
+him in a brazen vessel[FN#245] so they put him in a brazen
+cucurbite and sealed it with lead. But I abode with my wife in
+joy and delight; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, I have
+under my hand precious things in such measure and rare jewels and
+other treasure and monies on such wise as neither reckoning may
+express nor may limits comprise; and, if thou lust after wealth
+or aught else, I will command the Jinn at once to do thy desire.
+But all this is of the bounty of Almighty Allah." Thereupon the
+Commander of the Faithful wondered greatly and bestowed on him
+imperial gifts, in exchange for his presents, and entreated him
+with the favour he deserved. And men also tell the tale of the
+
+
+
+
+            GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE
+                     BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.
+
+
+
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became
+jealous of the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Salih
+by name, and said to him, "O Sálih, go to Mansúr[FN#246] and say
+to him: 'Thou owest us a thousand thousand dirhams and we require
+of thee immediate payment of this amount.' And I command thee, O
+Salih, unless he pay it between this hour and sundown, sever his
+head from his body and bring it to me." "To hear is to obey,"
+answered Salih and, going to Mansur, acquainted him with what the
+Caliph had said, whereupon quoth he, "I am a lost man, by Allah;
+for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if sold for their
+utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred
+thousand dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other
+nine hundred thousand?" Salih replied, "Contrive how thou mayst
+speedily acquit thyself, else thou art a dead man; for I cannot
+grant thee an eye-twinkling of delay after the time appointed me
+by the Caliph; nor can I fail of aught which the Prince of True
+Believers hath enjoined on me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some
+means of saving thyself ere the time expire." Quoth Mansur, "O
+Salih, I beg thee of thy favour to bring me to my house, that I
+may take leave of my children and family and give my kinsfolk my
+last injunctions." Now Salih relateth: "So I went with him to his
+house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and the house
+was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and calling
+for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, 'I have
+bethought me that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the
+hands of the Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yáhyá
+bin Khálid.' So we went to Yahya's house, and Mansur told him his
+case, whereat he was sore concerned and bowed him groundwards for
+a while, then raising his head, he called his treasurer and said
+to him, 'How much have we in our treasury?' 'A matter of five
+thousand dirhams,' answered the treasurer, and Yahya bade him
+bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl, saying, 'I
+am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be laid
+waste; so send me somewhat of money.' Al-Fazl sent him a thousand
+thousand dirhams, and he despatched a mes senger with a like
+message to his son Ja'afar, saying, 'We have a matter of much
+moment and for it we want money;' whereupon Ja'afar at once sent
+him a thousand thousand dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to
+his kinsmen of the Barmecides, till he had collected from them a
+great sum of money for Mansur. But Salih and the debtor knew not
+of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, 'O my lord, I have laid hold
+upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look for the money but
+to thee, in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so discharge
+thou the rest of my debt for me and make me thy freed slave.'
+Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a
+page, 'Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave-
+girl Danánír a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her
+send it to us.' The page went out and presently returned with the
+jewel, whereupon quoth Yahya, 'O Mansur, I bought this jewel of
+the merchant for the Commander of the Faithful, at a price of two
+hundred thousand dinars,[FN#247] and he gave it to our slave-girl
+Dananir, the lute-player; and when he sees it with thee, he will
+know it and spare thy blood and do thee honour for our sake; and
+now, O Mansur, verily thy money is complete.' (Salih continued)
+So I took the money and the jewel and carried them to al-Rashid
+together with Mansur, but on the way I heard him repeat this
+couplet, applying it to his own case,
+
+‘'Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; * 'Twas that I
+     feared me lest they shoot their shafts!'
+
+Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his
+depravity and mischief-making and his ignoble birth and
+provenance and, turning upon him, I said, 'There is none on the
+face of the earth better or more righteous than the Barmecides,
+nor any baser nor more wrongous than thou; for they bought thee
+off from death and delivered thee from destruction, giving thee
+what should save thee; yet thou thankest them not nor praises"
+them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the noble; nay,
+thou meetest their benevolence with this speech.' Then I went to
+Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed" And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih con
+tinued: "So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all
+that passed and Al-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and
+benevolence of Yahya and the vileness and ingratitude of Mansur,
+and bade restore the jewel to Yahya, saying, 'Whatso we have
+given it befitteth us not to take again.' After that Salih
+returned to Yahya and acquainted him with the tale of Mansur and
+his ill-conduct; whereupon replied he, 'O Salih, when a man is in
+want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to be blamed
+for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from the
+heart;' and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur.
+But Salih wept and exclaimed, 'Never shall the revolving heavens
+bring forth into being the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well-
+away, that one of such noble nature and generosity should be laid
+in the dust!' And he repeated these two couplets,
+
+'Haste to do kindness thou cost intend; * Thou canst not always
+     on boons expend:
+How many from bounty themselves withheld, * Till means of bounty
+     had come to end!'"
+
+And men tell another tale of the
+
+
+
+
+            GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA SON OF KHÁLID
+             WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER IN HIS
+                             NAME.
+
+
+
+There was between Yáhyá bin Khálid and Abdullah bin Málik al-
+Khuzá'i,[FN#248] an enmity which they kept secret; the reason of
+the hatred being that Harun al-Rashid loved Abdullah with
+exceeding love, so that Yahya and his sons were wont to say that
+he had bewitched the Commander of the Faithful. And thus they
+abode a long while, with rancour in their hearts, till it fell
+out that the Caliph invested Abdullah with the government of
+Armenia[FN#249] and despatched him thither. Now soon after he had
+settled himself in his seat of government, there came to him one
+of the people of Irak, a man of good breeding and excellent parts
+and abundant cleverness; but he had lost his money and wasted his
+wealth and his estate was come to ill case; so he forged a letter
+to Abdullah bin Malik in the name of Yahya bin Khálid and set out
+therewith for Armenia. Now when he came to the Governor's gate,
+he gave the letter to one of the Chamberlains, who took it and
+carried it to his master. Abdullah opened it and read it and,
+considering it attentively, knew it to be forged; so he sent for
+the man, who presented himself before him and called down
+blessings upon him and praised him and those of his court. Quoth
+Abdullah to him, "What moved thee to weary thyself on this wise
+and bring me a forged letter? But be of good heart; for we will
+not disappoint thy travail." Replied the other, "Allah prolong
+the life of our lord the Wazir! If my coming annoy thee, cast not
+about for a pretext to repel me, for Allah's earth is wide and He
+who giveth daily bread still liveth. Indeed, the letter I bring
+thee from Yahya bin Khalid is true and no forgery." Quoth
+Abdullah, "I will write a letter to my agent[FN#250] at Baghdad
+and command him enquire concerning this same letter. If it be
+true, as thou sayest, and genuine and not forged by thee, I will
+bestow on thee the Emirship of one of my cities; or, if thou
+prefer a present, I will give thee two hundred thousand dirhams,
+besides horses and camels of price and a robe of honour. But, if
+the letter prove a forgery, I will order thou be beaten with two
+hundred blows of a stick and thy beard be shaven." So Abdullah
+bade confine him in a chamber and furnish him therein with all he
+needed, till his case should be made manifest. Then he despatched
+a letter to his agent at Baghdad, to the following effect: "There
+is come to me a man with a letter purporting to be from Yahya bin
+Khálid. Now I have my suspicions of this letter: therefore delay
+thou not in the matter, but go thyself and look carefully into
+the case and let me have an answer with all speed, in order that
+we may know what is true and what is untrue." When the letter
+reached Baghdad, the agent mounted at once,--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Three Hundred and Seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the agent
+of Abdullah, son of Malik al-Khuza'i, on receipt of the letter at
+Baghdad, mounted at once and repaired to the house of Yahya bin
+Khálid, whom he found sitting with his officers and boon-
+companions. After the usual salute he gave him the letter and
+Yahya read it and said to the agent, "Come back to me tomorrow
+for my written answer." Now when the agent had gone away, Yahya
+turned to his companions and said, "What doth he deserve who
+forgeth a letter in my name and carrieth it to my foe?" They
+answered all and each, saying this and that, and every one
+proposing some kind of punishment; but Yahya said, "Ye err in
+that ye say and this your counsel is of the baseness of your
+spirits and the meanness of your minds. Ye all know the close
+favour of Abdullah with the Caliph and ye weet of what is between
+him and us of anger and enmity; and now Almighty Allah hath made
+this man the means of reconciliation between us; and hath fitted
+him for such purpose and hath appointed him to quench the fire of
+ire in our hearts, which hath been growing these twenty years;
+and by his means our differences shall be adjusted. Wherefore it
+behoveth me to requite such man by verifying his assertion and
+amending his estate; so I will write him a letter to Abdullah son
+of Malik, praying that he may use him with increase of honour and
+continue to him his liberality." Now when his companions heard
+what he said, they called down blessings on him and marvelled at
+his generosity and the greatness of his magnanimity. Then he
+called for paper and ink and wrote Abdullah a letter in his own
+hand, to the following effect: "In the name of Allah, the
+Compassionating' the Compassionate! Of a truth thy letter hath
+reached me (Allah give thee long life!) and I am glad to hear of
+thy safety and am pleased to be assured of thine immunity and
+prosperity. It was thy thought that a certain worthy man had
+forged a letter in my name and that he was not the bearer of any
+message from the same; but the case is not so, for the letter I
+myself wrote, and it was no forgery; and I hope, of thy courtesy
+and consideration and the nobility of thy nature, that thou wilt
+gratify this generous and excellent man of his hope and wish, and
+honour him with the honour he deserveth and bring him to his
+desire and make him the special-object of thy favour and
+munificence. Whatso thou dost with him, it is to me that thou
+dost the kindness, and I am thankful to thee accordingly." Then
+he superscribed the letter and after sealing it, delivered it to
+the agent, who despatched it to Abdullah. Now when the Governor
+read it, he was charmed with its contents, and sending for the
+man, said to him, "Whichever of the two promised boons is the
+more acceptable to thee that will I give thee." The man replied,
+"The money gift were more acceptable to me than aught else,"
+whereupon Abdullah ordered him two hundred thousand dirhams and
+ten Arab horses, five with housings of silk and other five with
+richly ornamented saddles, used in state processions; besides
+twenty chests of clothes and ten mounted white slaves and a
+proportionate quantity of jewels of price. Moreover, he bestowed
+on him a dress of honour and sent him to Baghdad in great
+splendour. So when he came thither, he repaired to the door of
+Yahya's house, before he went to his own folk, and craved
+permission to enter and have audience. The Chamberlain went in to
+Yahya and said to him, "O my lord, there is one at the door who
+craveth speech of thee; and he is a man of apparent wealth,
+courteous in manner, comely of aspect and attended by many
+servants." Then Yahya bade admit him; and, when he entered and
+kissed the ground before him, Yahya asked him, "Who art thou?" He
+answered, "Hear me, O my lord, I am he who was done dead by the
+tyranny of fortune, but thou didst raise me to life again from
+the grave of calamities and exalt me to the paradise of my
+desires. I am the man who forged a letter in thy name and carried
+it to Abdullah bin Malik al-Khuza'i." Yahya asked, "How hath he
+dealt with thee and what did he give thee?"; and the man
+answered, "He hath given me, thanks to thy hand and thy great
+liberality and benevolence and to thy comprehensive kindness and
+lofty magnanimity and thine all-embracing generosity, that which
+hath made me a wealthy man and he hath distinguished me with his
+gifts and favours. And now I have brought all that he gave me and
+here it is at thy door; for it is thine to decide and the command
+is in thy hand." Rejoined Yahya, "Thou hast done me better
+service than I did thee and I owe thee a heavy debt of gratitude
+and every gift the white hand[FN#251] can give, for that thou
+hast changed into love and amity the hate and enmity that were
+between me and a man whom I respect and esteem. Wherefore I will
+give thee the like of what Abdullah bin Malik gave thee." Then he
+ordered him money and horses and chests of apparel, such as
+Abdullah had given him; and thus that man's fortune was restored
+to him by the munificence of these two generous ones. And folk
+also relate the tale of the
+
+
+
+
+                CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE
+                            SCHOLAR.
+
+
+
+It is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of
+Abbas, there was none more accomplished in all branches of
+knowledge than he. Now on two days in each week, he was wont to
+preside at conferences of the learned, when the lawyers and
+theologians disputed in his presence, each sitting in his
+several-rank and room. One day as he sat thus, there came into
+the assembly a stranger, clad in ragged white clothes, who took
+seat in an obscure place behind the doctors of the law. Then the
+assembly began to speak and debate difficult questions, it being
+the custom that the various propositions should be submitted to
+each in turn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle
+addition or rare conceit, should make mention of it. So the
+question went round till it came to the strange man, who spake in
+his turn and made a goodlier answer than any of the doctors'
+replies; and the Caliph approved his speech.----And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
+Al-Maamun approved his speech and ordered him to come up from
+his low place to a high stead. Now when the second question came
+to him, he made a still more notable answer, and Al-Maamun
+ordered him to be preferred to a yet higher seat; and when the
+third question reached him, he made answer more justly and
+appropriately than on the two previous occasions, and Al-Maamun
+bade him come up and sit near himself. Presently the discussion
+ended when water was brought and they washed their hands after
+which food was set on and they ate; and the doctors arose and
+withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to depart with them
+and, calling him to himself, treated him with especial-favour and
+promised him honour and profit. Thereupon they made ready the
+séance of wassail; the fair-faced cup-companions came and the
+pure wine[FN#252] went round amongst them, till the cup came to
+the stranger, who rose to his feet and spake thus, "If the
+Commander of the Faithful permit me, I will say one word."
+Answered the Caliph, "Say what thou wilt." Quoth the man "Verily
+the Exalted Intelligence (whose eminence Allah increase!) knoweth
+that his slave was this day, in the august assembly, one of the
+unknown folk and of the meanest of the company; and the Commander
+of the Faithful raised his rank and brought him near to himself,
+little as were the wit and wisdom he displayed, preferring him
+above the rest and advancing him to a station and a degree where
+to his thought aspired not. But now he is minded to part him from
+that small portion of intellect which raised him high from his
+lowness and made him great after his littleness. Heaven forfend
+and forbid that the Commander of the Faithful should envy his
+slave what little he hath of understanding and worth and renown!
+Now, if his slave should drink wine, his reason would depart far
+from him and ignorance draw near to him and steal-away his good
+breeding, so would he revert to that low and contemptible degree,
+whence he sprang, and become ridiculous and despicable in the
+eyes of the folk. I hope, therefore, that the August
+Intelligence, of his power and bounty and royal-generosity and
+magnanimity, will not despoil his slave of this jewel." When the
+Caliph Al-Maamun heard his speech, he praised him and thanked him
+and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high
+honour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand silver
+pieces. Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich
+apparel; and in every assembly he was wont to exalt him and show
+him favour over all the other doctors of law and religion till he
+became the highest of them all in rank. And Allah is All
+knowing.[FN#253] Men also tell a tale of
+
+
+
+
+                 ALI SHAR[FN#254] AND ZUMURRUD.
+
+
+
+There lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long
+gone before, in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd
+al-Dín, who had great wealth and many slaves and servants, white
+and black, young and old; but he had not been blessed with a
+child until he reached the age of threescore, when Almighty Allah
+vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Alí Shár. The boy grew up
+like the moon on the night of fulness; and when he came to man's
+estate and was endowed with all kinds of perfections, his father
+fell sick of a death-malady and, calling his son to him, said, "O
+my son, the fated hour of my decease is at hand, and I desire to
+give thee my last injunctions." He asked, "And what are they, O
+my father?"; and he answered, "O my son, I charge thee, be not
+over-familiar with any[FN#255] and eschew what leadeth to evil
+and mischief. Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked;
+for he is like the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his
+smoke shall bother thee: and how excellent is the saying of the
+poet,[FN#256]
+
+'In thy whole world there is not one,
+Whose friendship thou may'st count upon,
+Nor plighted faith that will stand true,
+When times go hard, and hopes are few.
+Then live apart and dwell alone,
+Nor make a prop of any one,
+I've given a gift in that I've said,
+Will stand thy friend in every stead:'
+
+And what another saith,
+
+'Men are a hidden malady; * Rely not on the sham in them:
+For perfidy and treachery * Thou'lt find, if thou examine them.'
+
+And yet a third saith,
+
+'Converse with men hath scanty weal, except * To while away the
+     time in chat and prate:
+Then shun their intimacy, save it be * To win thee lore, or
+     better thine estate.'
+
+And a fourth saith,
+
+'If a sharp-witted wight e'er tried mankind, * I've eaten that
+     which only tasted he:[FN#257]
+Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, * Their faith I
+     found was but hypocrisy.'"
+
+Quoth Ali, "O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee
+what more shall I do?" Quoth he, "Do good whereas thou art able;
+be ever kind and courteous to men and regard as riches every
+occasion of doing a good turn; for a design is not always easily
+carried out; and how well saith the poet,
+
+"Tis not at every time and tide unstable, * We can do kindly acts
+     and charitable:
+When thou art able hasten thee to act, * Lest thine endeavour
+     prove anon unable!'"
+
+Said Ali, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee."--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth
+replied, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?" And
+his sire continued, "Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so
+shall He be mindful of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not;
+for an thou do, thou wilt come to want the least of mankind. Know
+that the measure of a man's worth is according to that which his
+right hand hendeth: and how well saith the poet,[FN#258]
+
+'When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, * And when
+     it waxeth all men friendship show:
+How many a foe for wealth became my friend, * Wealth lost, how
+     many a friend became a foe!'"
+
+Asked Ali, "What more?" And Majd al-Din answered, "O my son, take
+counsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy
+heart's desire. Have compassion on those who are below thee, so
+shall those who are above thee have compassion on thee; and
+oppress none, lest Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How
+well saith the poet,
+
+'Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, * For man's true
+     course hides not from minds of two
+Man is a mirror which but shows his face, * And by two mirrors he
+     his back shall view.'
+
+And as saith another,[FN#259]
+
+'Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,
+To gain the purpose that thou hast
+And be thou kindly to all men
+So kindly thou'lt be called again;
+For not a deed the hand can try,
+Save 'neath the hand of God on high,
+Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny,
+Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'
+
+And as saith yet another,[FN#260]
+
+'Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the
+     tyrannical-is in danger of revenges.
+Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down
+     curses on thee, and God's eye sleepeth not.'
+
+Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it
+doeth away the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it;
+and how well saith the poet,
+
+'By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul * Join body,
+     nor while speech the words of me explain:
+No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[FN#261] *
+     Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfair.'
+
+This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and
+Allah stand to thee in my stead." Then he swooned away and kept
+silent awhile; and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon
+of Allah and pronounced the profession of the Faith, and was
+admitted to the mercy of the Almighty. So his son wept and
+lamented for him and presently made proper preparation for his
+burial; great and small walked in his funeral-procession and
+Koran readers recited Holy Writ about his bier; nor did Ali Shar
+omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they prayed over him
+and committed him to the dust and wrote these two couplets upon
+his tomb,
+
+'Thou west create of dust and cam'st to life, * And learned'st in
+     eloquence to place thy trust;
+Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though
+     ne'er taken from the dust."
+
+Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned
+him with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease
+to weep the loss of his father till his mother died also, not
+long afterwards, when he did with her as he had done with his
+sire. Then he sat in the shop, selling and buying and consorting
+with none of Almighty Allah's creatures, in accordance with his
+father's injunction. This wise he continued to do for a year, at
+the end of which time there came in to him by craft certain
+whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he turned after
+their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of
+righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting
+fair women night and day; for he said to himself, "Of a truth my
+father amassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom
+shall I leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,
+
+'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for
+     self;
+Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'"
+
+And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day
+and all watches of the night, till he had made away with the
+whole of his riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at
+heart. So he sold his shop and lands and so forth, and after this
+he sold the clothes off his body, leaving himself but one suit;
+and, as drunkenness quitted him and thoughtfulness came to him,
+he fell into grief and sore care. One day, when he had sat from
+day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his fast, he said in
+his mind, "I will go round to those on whom I spent my monies:
+perchance one of them will feed me this day." So he went the
+round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one's door
+of them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his
+stomach ached with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of
+the merchants,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+         When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar
+feeling his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the
+merchants' bazar where he found a crowd of people assembled in
+ring, and said to himself, "I wonder what causeth these folk to
+crowd together thus? By Allah, I will not budge hence till I see
+what is within yonder ring!" So he made his way into the ring and
+found therein a damsel exposed for sale who was five feet
+tall,[FN#262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and high of
+breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time in beauty
+and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one,
+describing her,
+
+"As she willèd she was made, and in such a way that when * She
+     was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she:
+Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *
+     Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:
+The full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape,
+     * And the musk-pod is her scent--what like her can there be?
+'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in
+     every lovely limblet another moon we see!"
+
+And her name was Zumurrud--the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw
+her, he marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, "By Allah, I
+will not stir hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and
+know who buyeth her!" So he took standing-place amongst the
+merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy her, knowing the
+wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker stood
+at the damsel's head and said, "Ho, merchants! Ho, ye men of
+money! Who will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the
+mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker,
+the sought of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open
+the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach
+for evermore." Thereupon quoth one merchant, "Mine for five
+hundred dinars;" "And ten," quoth another. "Six hundred," cried
+an old man named Rashíd al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of
+face. "And ten," cried another. "I bid a thousand," rejoined
+Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied,
+and held their peace and the broker took counsel with the girl's
+owner, who said, "I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she
+shall choose: so consult her." Thereupon the broker went up to
+Zumurrud and said to her, "O mistress of moons this merchant hath
+a mind to buy thee." She looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him
+as we have said, replied, "I will not be sold to a gray-beard,
+whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah inspired
+his saying who saith,
+
+'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My
+     hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd;
+She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:--
+     * 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath
+     made
+For hoary head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!
+     stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm
+     laid?'"
+
+Now when the broker heard her words he said, "By Allah, thou art
+excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!" So he told
+her owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and
+he said, "Consult her concerning another." Thereupon a second man
+came forward and said, "Be she mine for what price was offered by
+the oldster she would have none of;" but she looked at him and
+seeing that his beard was dyed, said "What be this fashion lewd
+and base and the blackening of the hoary face?" And she made a
+great show of wonderment and repeated these couplets,
+
+"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *
+     A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]
+A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *
+     A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and
+     bite.[FN#267]
+O thou enravish" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so
+     translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
+Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And
+     hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!
+Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *
+     Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by
+     night.[FN#268]
+
+And how well saith another'
+
+Quoth she, 'I see thee dye thy hoariness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O
+     ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I:
+She roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so
+     lying e'en
+
+Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, "By Allah thou
+hast spoken sooth!" The merchant asked what she said: so the
+broker repeated the verses to him; and he knew that she was in
+the right while he was wrong and desisted from buying her. Then
+another came forward and said, "Ask her if she will be mine at
+the same price;" but, when he did so, she looked at him and
+seeing that he had but one eye, said, "This man is one-eyed; and
+it is of such as he that the poet saith,[FN#270]
+
+'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood
+     and his mischief fly:
+Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought
+     blindness to his eye!'"
+
+Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, "Wilt thou be
+sold to this man?" She looked at him and seeing that he was short
+of stature[FN#271] and had a beard that reached to his navel,
+cried, "This is he of whom the poet speaketh,
+
+'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length
+     unroll'd:
+'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and
+     darksome, drear and cold.'"
+
+Said the broker, "O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that
+are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him." So
+she looked round the ring of merchants, examining one by one
+their physiognomies, till her glance fell on Ali Shar,--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+girl's glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with
+longing eyes, which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was
+taken with him; for that he was of favour passing fair and
+pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, "O broker,
+I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome
+face and slender form whom the poet thus describeth,
+
+'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed
+Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'
+
+For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the
+water of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a
+cure for the sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser,
+even as saith one of him,
+
+'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those
+     teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue:
+Rizwán[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The
+     Houris lapse from virtue at the view
+Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full
+     moon sails, excuse is due.'
+
+Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look
+of whom saith the poet,
+
+'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant
+     waxed and heart unstirred:
+His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their
+     languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'
+
+And as saith another,
+
+'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst
+     thou love him and a side-beard see?'
+Quoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be
+     letters 'tis a forgery:'
+Gather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those
+     Kausar[FN#276]-lips bear testimony.'"
+
+When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of
+Ali Shar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the
+brightness of her beauty; but her owner said to him, "Marvel not
+at her splendour which shameth the noonday sun, nor that her
+memory is stored with the choicest verses of the poets; for
+besides this, she can repeat the glorious Koran, according to the
+seven readings,[FN#277] and the august Traditions, after
+ascription and authentic transmission; and she writeth the seven
+modes of handwriting[FN#278] and she knoweth more learning and
+knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are better
+than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth
+them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days
+to make a curtain." Exclaimed the broker, "O happy the man who
+hath her in his house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!";
+and her owner said to him, "Sell her to whom she will." So the
+broker went up to Ali Shar and, kissing his hands, said to him,
+"O my lord, buy thou this damsel, for she hath made choice of
+thee."[FN#279] Then he set forth to him all her charms and
+accomplishments, and added, "I give thee joy if thou buy her, for
+this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His giving."
+Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at
+himself and secretly saying, "Up to this hour I have not broken
+my fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have
+no money wherewith to buy her." The damsel, seeing him hang down
+his head, said to the broker, "Take my hand and lead me to him,
+that I may show my beauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I
+will not be sold to any but to him." So the broker took her hand
+and stationed her before Ali Shar, saying, "What is thy good
+pleasure, O my lord?" But he made him no answer, and the girl
+said to him, "O my lord and darling of my heart, what aileth thee
+that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what thou wilt and I
+will bring thee good fortune." So he raised his eyes to her and
+said, "Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars."
+Said she, "Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred." He cried,
+"No," and she rejoined, "Then for eight hundred;" and though he
+again said, "Nay," she ceased not to abate the price, till she
+came to an hundred dinars. Quoth he, "I have not by me a full
+hundred." So she laughed and asked, "How much dost thou lack of
+an hundred?" He answered, "By Allah, I have neither an hundred
+dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither white coin nor red
+cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for another and
+a better customer." And when she knew that he had nothing, she
+said to him, "Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by-
+lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily." He did so and she
+drew from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which
+she gave him, saying, "Pay down nine hundred to my price and let
+the hundred remain with thee by way of provision." He did as she
+bid him and, buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the
+price from her own purse and carried her to his house. When she
+entered it, she found a dreary desolate saloon without carpets or
+vessels; so she gave him other thousand dinars, saying, "Go to
+the bazar and buy three hundred dinars' worth of furniture and
+vessels for the house and three dinars' worth of meat and
+drink."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+        When it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the
+slave-girl, "Bring us meat and drink for three dinars,
+furthermore a piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring
+golden and silvern thread and sewing silk of seven colours." Thus
+he did, and she furnished the house and they sat down to eat and
+drink; after which they went to bed and took their pleasure one
+of the other. And they lay the night embraced behind the curtain
+and were even as saith the poet,[FN#280]
+
+"Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
+Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,
+     from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did
+     drain.
+Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And 'spite
+     the envier, thereto I surely will attain.
+There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than
+     when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
+     enchain
+Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
+     on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
+Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou
+     assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?
+If in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain."
+
+So they lay together till the morning and love for the other
+waxed firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud
+took the curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and
+purpled it with silver and gold thread and she added thereto a
+border depicting round about it all manner of birds and beasts;
+nor is there in the world a feral but she wrought his semblance.
+This she worked in eight days, till she had made an end of it,
+when she trimmed it and glazed and ironed it and gave it to her
+lord, saying, "Carry it to the bazar and sell it to one of the
+merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou sell it to a
+passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and thee,
+for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us." "I hear and I
+obey," answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain
+to a merchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of
+silk for another curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as
+before and what they needed of food, and brought all this to her,
+giving her the rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a
+curtain, which he sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed
+a whole year. At the end of that time, he went as usual to the
+bazar with a curtain, which he gave to the broker; and there came
+up to him a Nazarene who bid him sixty dinars for it; but he
+refused, and the Christian continued bidding higher and higher,
+till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed the broker with ten
+ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told him of the
+proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell the
+article at the Nazarene's valuation, saying, "O my lord, be not
+afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt." The
+merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to
+the Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the
+money, set off to return home. Presently, as he walked, he found
+the Christian walking behind him; so he said to him, "O
+Nazarene,[FN#281] why dost thou follow in my footsteps?" Answered
+the other "O my lord, I want a something at the end of the
+street, Allah never bring thee to want!"; but Ali Shar had barely
+reached his place before the Christian overtook him; so he said
+to him, "O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me wherever I
+go?" Replied the other, "O my lord, give me a draught of water,
+for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!"[FN#282] Quoth
+Ali Shar to himself, "Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth
+tribute and claimeth our protection[FN#283] and he asketh me for
+a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali
+Shar to himself, "This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked
+me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!" So he
+entered the house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl
+Zumurrud saw him and said to him, "O my love, hast thou sold the
+curtain?" He replied, "Yes;" and she asked, "To a merchant or to
+a passer-by? for my heart presageth a parting." And he answered,
+"To whom but to a merchant?" Thereupon she rejoined, "Tell me the
+truth of the case, that I may order my affair; and why take the
+gugglet of water?" And he, To give the broker to drink," upon
+which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and there is no Might
+save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and she repeated these
+two couplets,[FN#284]
+
+"O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the
+     embrace of the beloved deceive thee!
+Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the
+     end of every union is disjunction.
+
+Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian
+within the vestibule and said to him, "How comest thou here and
+how darest thou, O dog, enter my house without my leave?"
+Answered he, "O my lord, there is no difference between the door
+and the vestibule, and I never intended to stir hence, save to go
+out; and my thanks are due to thee for thy kindness and favour,
+thy bounty and generosity." Then he took the mug and emptying it,
+returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and waited for him to
+rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said to him, "Why
+dost thou not rise and wend thy way?"; and he answered, "O my
+lord, be not of those who do a kindness and then make it a
+reproach, nor of those of whom saith the poet,[FN#285]
+
+'They're gone who when thou stoodest at their door * Would for
+     thy wants so generously cater:
+But stand at door of churls who followed them, * They'd make high
+     favour of a draught of water!'"
+
+And he continued, "O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have
+thee give me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but
+a bit of bread or a biscuit with an onion." Replied Ali Shar,
+"Begone, without more chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in
+the house." He persisted, "O my lord, if there be nothing in the
+house, take these hundred dinars and bring us something from the
+market, if but a single scone, that bread and salt may pass
+between us."[FN#286] With this, quoth Ali Shar to himself, "This
+Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred dinars and bring
+him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at him." And the
+Nazarene added, "O my lord, I want but a small matter to stay my
+hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food
+is that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands; and how well
+saith the poet,
+
+'Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, * How is it then[FN#287]
+     in woes of want I wone?
+Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard * For Caliph-king and
+     beggar woe-begone.'"
+
+Then quoth Ali Shar, "Wait here, while I lock the saloon and
+fetch thee somewhat from the market;" and quoth the Christian,
+"To hear is to obey." So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking
+the door with a padlock, put the key in his pocket: after which
+he went to market and bought fried cheese and virgin honey and
+bananas[FN#288] and bread, with which he returned to the house.
+Now when the Christian saw the provision, he said, "O my lord,
+this is overmuch; 'tis enough for half a score of men and I am
+alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me." Replied Ali, "Eat by
+thyself, I am full;" and the Christian rejoined, "O my lord, the
+wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a whore."
+Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat
+down and ate a little with him, after which he would have held
+his hand;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar
+sat down and ate a little with him, after which he would have
+held his hand; but the Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled
+it; then, splitting it in twain, put into one half concentrated
+Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm whereof would over throw an
+elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and gave it to Ali Shar,
+saying, "O my lord, by the truth of thy religion, I  adjure thee
+to take this." So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him forsworn,
+took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in his
+stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though
+he had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, rose
+to his feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o'-mount[FN#289]
+at bay and, taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and
+ran off to rejoin his brother. And the cause of his so doing was
+that the Nazarene's brother was the same decrepit old man who
+purposed to buy Zumurrud for a thousand dinars, but she would
+none of him and jeered him in verse. He was an Unbeliever
+inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly, and had called himself
+Rashid al-Din;[FN#290] and when Zumurrud mocked him and would not
+accept of him, he complained to his brother the aforesaid
+Christian who played this sleight to take her from her master Ali
+Shar; whereupon his brother, Barsum by name said to him, "Fret
+not thyself about the business, for I will make shift to seize
+her for thee, without expending either diner or dirham. Now he
+was a skilful wizard, crafty and wicked; so he watched his time
+and ceased not his practices till he played Ali Shar the trick
+before related; then, taking the key, he went to his brother and
+acquainted him with what had passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din
+mounted his she mule and repaired with his brother and his
+servants to the house of Ali Shar, taking with him a purse of a
+thousand dinars, wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police, should
+he meet him. He opened the saloon door and the men who were with
+him rushed in upon Zumurrud and forcibly seized her, threatening
+her with death, if she spoke, but they left the place as it was
+and took nothing therefrom. Lastly they left Ali Shar lying in
+the vestibule after they had shut the door on him and laid the
+saloon key by his side. Then the Christian carried the girl to
+his own house and setting her amongst his handmaids and
+concubines, said to her, "O strumpet, I am the old man whom thou
+didst reject and lampoon; but now I have thee, without paying
+diner or dirham." Replied she (and her eyes streamed with tears),
+"Allah requite thee, O wicked old man, for sundering me and my
+lord!" He rejoined, "Wanton minx and whore that thou art, thou
+shalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth of the Messiah and
+the Virgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith, I will
+torture thee with all manner of torture!" She replied, "By Allah,
+though thou cut my flesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of
+Al-Islam! It may be Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief,
+for He cloth even as He is fief, and the wise say: 'Better body
+to scathe than a flaw in faith.'" Thereupon the old man called
+his eunuchs and women, saying, "Throw her down!" So they threw
+her down and he ceased not to beat her with grievous beating,
+whilst she cried for help and no help came; then she no longer
+implored aid but fell to saying, "Allah is my sufficiency, and He
+is indeed all-sufficient!" till her groans ceased and her breath
+failed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his heart
+was soothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, "Drag her
+forth by the feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her
+nothing to eat." And after quietly sleeping that night, on the
+morrow the accursed old man sent for her and beat her again,
+after which he bade the Castrato return her to her place. When
+the burning of the blows had cooled, she said, "There is no god
+but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God! Allah is my
+sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!" And she called for
+succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud
+called for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
+keep!). Such was her case; but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not
+sleeping till next day, when the Bhang quitted his brain and he
+opened his eyes and cried out, "O Zumurrud"; but no one answered
+him. So he entered the saloon and found the empty air and the
+fane afar;[FN#291] whereby he knew that it was the Nazarene who
+had played him this trick. And he groaned and wept and lamented
+and again shed tears, repeating these couplets,
+
+"O Love thou'rt instant in thy cruellest guise; * Here is my
+     heart 'twixt fears and miseries:
+Pity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way * Of Love, erst
+     wealthy now a beggar lies:
+What profits archer's art if, when the foe * Draw near, his
+     bowstring snap ere arrow {lies:
+And when griefs multiply on generous man * And urge, what fort
+     can fend from destinies?
+How much and much I warded parting, but * 'When Destiny descends
+     she blinds our eyes?'"
+
+And when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and
+repeated also these couplets,
+
+"Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot step wandering lone,
+     * Pines the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to
+     wane
+She turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view *
+     The spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown
+She stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case
+     * The mount replies, 'There is no path that leads to union,
+     none!
+'Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o'er the
+     camp * And died in darkling air no more to be for ever
+     shown.'"
+
+And he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and
+rent his raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round
+about the city, beating his breast with the stones and crying "O
+Zumurrud!" whilst the small boys flocked round him, calling out,
+"A madman! A madman!" and all who knew him wept for him, saying,
+"This is such an one: what evil hath befallen him?" Thus he
+continued doing all that day and, when night darkened on him, he
+lay down in one of the city lanes and sleet till morning On the
+morrow, he went round about town with the stones till eventide,
+when he returned to his saloon to pass therein the night.
+Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy old
+woman said to him, "O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long
+hast thou been mad?" And he answered her with these two
+couplets,[FN#292]
+
+"They said, Thou revest upon the person thou lovest. * And I
+     replied, The sweets of life are only for the mad.
+Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave *
+     If she cure my madness do not blame me."
+
+So his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his
+beloved and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might,
+save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! O my son, I wish thou
+wouldest acquaint me with the tale of thine affliction.
+Peradventure Allah may enable me to help thee against it, if it
+so please Him." So he told her all that had befallen him with
+Barsum the Nazarene and his brother the wizard who had named
+himself Rashid al-Din and, when she understood the whole case,
+she said, "O my son, indeed thou hast excuse." And her eyes
+railed tears and she repeated these two couplets,
+
+"Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: * By Allah,
+     lover ne'er in fire of Sakar fries:
+For, sure, they died of love-desire they never told * Chastely,
+     and to this truth tradition testifies."[FN#293]
+
+And after she had finished her verse, she said, "O my son, rise
+at once and buy me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy
+also bangles and seal-rings and bracelets and ear-rings and other
+gewgaws wherein women delight and grudge not the cash. Put all
+the stock into the crate and bring it to me and I will set it on
+my head and go round about, in the guise of a huckstress and make
+search for her in all the houses, till I happen on news of her--
+Inshallah!" So Ali Shar rejoiced in her words and kissed her
+hands, then, going out, speedily brought her all she required;
+whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and threw over her
+head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the
+basket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the
+houses. She ceased not to go from house to house and street to
+street and quarter to quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the
+house of the accursed Rashid al-Din the Nazarene where, hearing
+groans within, she knocked at the door,--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+old woman heard groans within the house, she knocked at the door,
+whereupon a slave-girl came down and opening to her, saluted her.
+Quoth the old woman, "I have these trifles for sale: is there any
+one with you who will buy aught of them?" "Yes," answered the
+damsel and, carrying her indoors, made her sit down; whereupon
+all the slave-girls came round her and each bought something of
+her. And as the old woman spoke them fair and was easy with them
+as to price, all rejoiced in her, because of her kind ways and
+pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at the ins and
+outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning, till
+her glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to
+show her customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that
+Zumurrud was laid prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls,
+"O my children, how cometh yonder young lady in this plight?"
+Then the slave-girls told her all what had passed, adding,
+"Indeed this matter is not of our choice; but our master
+commanded us to do thus, and he is now on a journey." She said,
+"O my children, I have a favour to ask of you, and it is that you
+loose this unhappy damsel of her bonds, till you know of your
+lord's return, when do ye bind her again as she was; and you
+shall earn a reward from the Lord of all creatures." "We hear and
+obey," answered they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to
+eat and drink. Thereupon quoth the old woman, "Would my leg had
+been broken, ere I entered your house!" And she went up to
+Zumurrud and said to her, "O my daughter, Heaven keep thee safe;
+soon shall Allah bring thee relief." Then she privily told her
+that she came from her lord, Ali Shar, and agreed with her to be
+on the watch for sounds that night, saying, "Thy lord will come
+and stand by the pavilion-bench and whistle[FN#294] to thee; and
+when thou hearest him, do thou whistle back to him and let
+thyself down to him by a rope from the window, and he will take
+thee and go away with thee." So Zumurrud thanked the old woman,
+who went forth and returned to Ali Shar and told him what she had
+done, saying, "Go this night, at midnight, to such a quarter, for
+the accursed carle's house is there and its fashion is thus and
+thus. Stand under the window of the upper chamber and whistle;
+whereupon she will let herself down to thee; then do thou take
+her and carry her whither thou wilt." He thanked her for her good
+offices and with flowing tears repeated these couplets,
+
+"Now with their says and saids[FN#295] no more vex me the chiding
+     race; * My heart is weary and I'm worn to bone by their
+     disgrace:
+And tears a truthful legend[FN#296] with a long ascription-chain
+     * Of my desertion and distress the lineage can trace.
+O thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, * Cut
+     short thy long persistency nor question of my case:
+A sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould
+     * Hath stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of
+     grace.
+No rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close *
+     These eyes, nor patience aloe scape the hopes I dare to
+     trace:
+Ye have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, * In squalid
+     state 'twixt enviers and they who blame to face:
+As for forgetting you or love 'tis thing I never knew; * Nor in
+     my thought shall ever pass a living thing but you."
+
+And when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and
+repeated also these couplets,
+
+"Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; *
+     For brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:
+Take he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe,
+     * My heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my
+     fete."
+
+He waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time,
+he went to the quarter she had described to him and saw and
+recognised the Christian's house; so he sat down on the bench
+under the gallery. Presently drowsiness overcame him and he slept
+(Glory be to Him who sleepeth not!?, for it was long since he had
+tasted sleep, by reason of the violence of his passion, and he
+became as one drunken with slumber. And while he was on this
+wise,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he
+lay asleep, behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night
+and prowled about the skirts of the city to steal-somewhat,
+happened by the decree of Destiny, on the Nazarene's house. He
+went round about it, but found no way of climbing up into it, and
+presently on his circuit he came to the bench, where he saw Ali
+Shar asleep and stole his turband; and, as he was taking it
+suddenly Zumurrud looked out and seeing the thief standing in the
+darkness, took him for her lord; whereupon she let herself down
+to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold. Now
+when the robber saw that, he said to himself, "This is a wondrous
+thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it." Then
+he snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his
+shoulders and made off with both like the blinding lightening.
+Quoth she, "Verily, the old woman told me that thou west weak
+with illness on my account; and here thou art, stronger than a
+horse." He made her no reply; so she put her hand to his face and
+felt a beard like the broom of palm-frond used for the
+Hammam,[FN#297] as if he were a hog which had swallowed feathers
+and they had come out of his gullet; whereat she took fright and
+said to him, "What art thou?" "O strumpet," answered he, "I am
+the sharper Jawán[FN#298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad
+al-Danaf; we are forty sharpers, who will all piss our tallow
+into thy womb this night, from dusk to dawn." When she heard his
+words, she wept and beat her face, knowing that Fate had gotten
+the better of her and that she had no resource but resignation
+and to put her trust in Allah Almighty. So she took patience and
+submitted herself to the ordinance of the Lord, saying, "There is
+no god but the God! As often as we escape from one woe, we fall
+into a worse." Now the cause of Jawan's coming thither was this:
+he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, "O Sharper-captain,[FN#299] I have
+been in this city before and know a cavern without the walls
+which will hold forty souls; so I will go before you thither and
+set my mother therein. Then will I return to the city and
+steal-somewhat for the luck of all of you and keep it till you
+come; so shall you be my guests and I will show you hospitality
+this day." Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, "Do what thou wilt." So Jawan
+went forth to the place before them and set his mother in the
+cave; but, as he came out he found a trooper lying asleep, with
+his horse picketed beside him; so he cut his throat and, taking
+his clothes and his charger and his arms, hid them with his
+mother in the cave, where also he tethered the horse. Then he
+betook himself to the city and prowled about, till he happened on
+the Christian's house and did with Ali Shar's turband and
+Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have said. He ceased not to
+run, with Zumurrud on his back, till he came to the cavern, where
+he gave her in charge of his mother, saying, "Keep thou watch
+over her till I return to thee at first dawn of day," and went
+his ways.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth
+Kurdish Jawan to his mother, "Keep thou watch over her till I
+come back to thee at first dawn of day," and went his ways. Now
+Zumurrud said to herself, "Why am I so heedless about saving my
+life and wherefore await till these forty men come?: they will
+take their turns to board me, till they make me like a water-
+logged ship at sea." Then she turned to the old woman, Jawan's
+mother, and said to her, "O my aunt, wilt thou not rise up and
+come without the cave, that I may louse thee in the sun?"[FN#300]
+Replied the old woman, "Ay, by Allah, O my daughter: this long
+time have I been out of reach of the bath; for these hogs cease
+not to carry me from place to place." So they went without the
+cavern, and Zumurrud combed out her head hair and killed the lice
+on her locks, till the tickling soothed her and she fell asleep;
+whereupon Zumurrud arose and, donning the clothes of the murdered
+trooper, girt her waist with his sword and covered her head with
+his turband, so that she became as she were a man. Then, mounting
+the horse after she had taken the saddle-bags full of gold, she
+breathed a prayer, "O good Protector, protect me I adjure thee by
+the glory of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!)," adding
+these words in thought, "If I return to the city belike one of
+the trooper's folk will see me, and no good will befal me." So
+she turned her back on the town and rode forth into the wild and
+the waste. And she ceased not faring forth with her saddle-bags
+and the steed, eating of the growth of the earth and drinking of
+its waters, she and her horse, for ten days and, on the eleventh,
+she came in sight of a city pleasant and secure from dread, and
+established in happy stead. Winter had gone from it with his cold
+showers, and Prime had come to it with his roses and orange-
+blossoms and varied flowers; and its blooms were brightly
+blowing; its streams were merrily flowing and its birds warbled
+coming and going. And she drew near the dwellings and would have
+entered the gate when she saw the troops and Emirs and Grandees
+of the place drawn up, whereat she marvelled seeing them in such
+unusual-case and said to herself, "The people of the city are all
+gathered at its gate: needs must there be a reason for this."
+Then she made towards them; but, as she drew near, the soldiery
+dashed forward to meet her and, dismounting all, kissed the
+ground between her hands and said, "Aid thee Allah, O our lord
+the Sultan!" Then the notables and dignitaries ranged themselves
+before her in double line, whilst the troops ordered the people
+in, saying, "Allah aid thee and make thy coming a blessing to the
+Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah establish thee, O King
+of the time and union-pearl of the day and the tide!" Asked
+Zumurrud, "What aileth you, O people of this city?" And the Head
+Chamberlain answered, "Verily, He hath given to thee who is no
+niggard in His giving; and He hath been bountiful to thee and
+hath made thee Sultan of this city and ruler over the necks of
+all who are therein; for know thou it is the custom of the
+citizens, when their King deceaseth leaving no son, that the
+troops should sally forth to the suburbs and sojourn there three
+days: and whoever cometh from the quarter whence thou hast come,
+him they make King over them. So praised be Allah who hath sent
+us of the sons of the Turks a well-favoured man; for had a lesser
+than thou presented himself, he had been Sultan." Now Zumurrud
+was clever and well-advised in all she did: so she said, "Think
+not that I am of the common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the
+sons of the great, a man of condition; but I was wroth with my
+family, so I went forth and left them. See these saddle-bags full
+of gold which I have brought under me that, by the way, I might
+give alms thereof to the poor and the needy." So they called down
+blessings upon her and rejoiced in her with exceeding joy and she
+also joyed in them and said in herself, "Now that I have attained
+to this"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth
+Zumurrud to herself, "Now that I have attained to this case,
+haply Allah will reunite me with my lord in this place, for He
+can do whatso He willeth." Then the troops escorted her to the
+city and, all dismounting, walked before her to the palace. Here
+she alighted and the Emirs and Grandees, taking her under both
+armpits,[FN#301] carried her into the palace and seated her on
+the throne; after which they all kissed ground before her. And
+when duly enthroned she bade them open the treasuries and gave
+largesse to all the troops, who offered up prayers for the
+continuance of her reign, and all the townsfolk accepted her rule
+and all the lieges of the realm. Thus she abode awhile bidding
+and forbidding, and all the people came to hold her in exceeding
+reverence and heartily to love her, by reason of her continence
+and generosity; for taxes she remitted and prisoners she released
+and grievances she redressed; but, as often as she bethought her
+of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite her and him;
+and one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and calling
+to mind the days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with
+tears and she versified in these two couplets,
+
+"My yearning for thee though long is fresh, * And the tears which
+     chafe these eyelids increase
+When I weep, I weep from the burn of love, * For to lover
+     severance is decease."[FN#302]
+
+And when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and
+repairing to the palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she
+appointed to the slave-girls and concubines separate lodgings and
+assigned them pensions and allowances, giving out that she was
+minded to live apart and devote herself to works of piety. So she
+applied herself to fasting and praying, till the Emirs said,
+"Verily this Sultan is eminently devout;" nor would she suffer
+any male attendants about her, save two little eunuchs to serve
+her. And on this wise she held the throne a whole year, during
+which time she heard no news of her lord, and failed to hit upon
+his traces, which was exceeding grievous to her; so, when her
+distress became excessive, she summoned her Wazirs and
+Chamberlains and bid them fetch architects and builders and make
+her in front of the palace a horse-course, one parasang long and
+the like broad. They hastened to do her bidding, and lay out the
+place to her liking; and, when it was completed, she went down
+into it and they pitched her there a great pavilion, wherein the
+chairs of the Emirs were ranged in due order. Moreover, she bade
+them spread on the racing-plain tables with all manners of rich
+meats and when this was done she ordered the Grandees to eat. So
+they ate and she said to them, "It is my will that, on seeing the
+new moon of each month, ye do on this wise and proclaim in the
+city that no man shall open his shop, but that all our lieges
+shall come and eat of the King's banquet, and that whoso
+disobeyeth shall be hanged over his own door."[FN#303] So they
+did as she bade them, and ceased not so to do till the first new
+moon of the second year appeared; when Zumurrud went down into
+the horse-course and the crier proclaimed aloud, saying, "Ho, ye
+lieges and people one and all, whoso openeth store or shop or
+house shall straight way be hanged over his own door; for it
+behoveth you to come in a body and eat of the King's banquet."
+And when the proclamation became known, they laid the tables and
+the subjects came in hosts; so she bade them sit down at the
+trays and eat their fill of all the dishes. Accordingly they sat
+down and she took place on her chair of state, watching them,
+whilst each who was at meat said to himself, "Verily the King
+looketh at none save me." Then they fell to eating and the Emirs
+said to them, "Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the
+King." So they ate their fill and went away, blessing the
+Sovereign and saying, one to the other, "Never in our days saw we
+a Sultan who loved the poor as doth this Sultan." And they wished
+him length of life. Upon this Zumurrud returned to her palace,--
+And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen
+Zumurrud returned to her palace, rejoicing in her device and
+saying to herself, "Inshallah, I shall surely by this means
+happen on news of my lord Ali Shar." When the first day of the
+second month came round, she did as before and when they had
+spread the tables she came down from her palace and took place on
+her throne and commanded the lieges to sit down and fall to. Now
+as she sat on her throne, at the head of the tables, watching the
+people take their places company by company and one by one,
+behold her eye fell on Barsum, the Nazarene who had bought the
+curtain of her lord; and she knew him and said in her mind, "This
+is the first of my joy and the winning of my wish." Then Barsum
+came up to the table and, sitting down with the rest to eat,
+espied a dish of sweet rice, sprinkled with sugar; but it was far
+from him, so he pushed up to it through the crowd and, putting
+out his hand to it, seized it and set it before himself. His next
+neighbour said to him, "Why dost thou not eat of what is before
+thee? Is not this a disgrace to thee? How canst thou reach over
+for a dish which is distant from thee? Art thou not ashamed?"
+Quoth Barsum, "I will eat of none save this same." Rejoined the
+other, "Eat then, and Allah give thee no good of it!" But another
+man, a Hashish-eater, said, "Let him eat of it, that I may eat
+with him." Replied his neighbour, "O unluckiest of Hashish-
+eaters, this is no meat for thee; it is eating for Emirs. Let it
+be, that it may return to those for whom it is meant and they eat
+it." But Barsum heeded him not and took a mouthful of the rice
+and put it in his mouth; and was about to take a second mouthful
+when the Queen, who was watching him, cried out to certain of her
+guards, saying, "Bring me yonder man with the dish of Sweet rice
+before him and let him not eat the mouthful he hath read but
+throw it from his hand."[FN#304] So four of the guards went up to
+Barsum and haled him along on his face, after throwing the
+mouthful of rice from his hand, and set him standing before
+Zumurrud, whilst all the people left eating and said to one
+another, By Allah, he did wrong in not eating of the food meant
+for the likes of him." Quoth one, "For me I was content with this
+porridge[FN#305] which is before me." And the Hashish-eater said,
+"Praised be Allah who hindered me from eating of the dish of
+sugared rice for I expected it to stand before him and was
+waiting only for him to have his enjoyment of it, to eat with
+him, when there befel him what we see." And the general said, one
+to other, "Wait till we see what shall befal him." Now as they
+brought him before Queen Zumurrud she cried, "Woe to thee, O blue
+eyes! What is thy name and why comest thou to our country?" But
+the accursed called himself out of his name having a white
+turband[FN#306] on, and answered, "O King, my name is Ali; I work
+as a weaver and I came hither to trade." Quoth Zumurrud, "Bring
+me a table of sand and a pen of brass," and when they brought her
+what she sought, she took the sand and the pen, and struck a
+geomantic figure in the likeness of a baboon; then, raising her
+head, she looked hard at Barsum for an hour or so and said to
+him, "O dog, how darest thou lie to Kings? Art thou not a
+Nazarene, Barsum by name, and comest thou not hither in quest of
+somewhat? Speak the truth, or by the glory of the Godhead, I will
+strike off thy head!" At this Barsum was confounded and the Emirs
+and bystanders said, "Verily, this King understandeth geomancy:
+blessed be He who hath gifted him!" Then she cried out upon the
+Christian and said, 'Tell me the truth, or I will make an end of
+thee!" Barsum replied, "Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right
+as regards the table, for the far one[FN#307] is indeed a
+Nazarene,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Barsum
+replied, "Pardon, O King of the age; thou art right as regards
+the table, for thy slave is indeed a Nazarene." Whereupon all
+present, gentle and simple, wondered at the King's skill in
+hitting upon the truth by geomancy, and said, "Verily this King
+is a diviner, whose like there is not in the world." Thereupon
+Queen Zumurrud bade flay the Nazarene and stuff his skin with
+straw and hang it over the gate of the race-course. Moreover, she
+commended to dig a pit without the city and burn therein his
+flesh and bones and throw over his ashes offal and ordure. "We
+hear and obey," answered they, and did with him all she bade;
+and, when the folk saw what had befallen the Christian, they
+said, "Serve him right; but what an unlucky mouthful was that for
+him!" And another said, "Be the far one's wife divorced if this
+vow be broken: never again to the end of my days will I eat of
+sugared rice!"; and the Hashish-eater cried "Praised be Allah,
+who spared me this fellow's fate by saving me from eating of that
+same rice!" Then they all went out, holding it thenceforth
+unlawful to sit over against the dish of sweet rice as the
+Nazarene had sat. Now when the first day of the third month came,
+they laid the tables according to custom, and covered them with
+dishes and chargers, and Queen Zumurrud came down and sat on her
+throne, with her guards in attendance, as of wont, in awe of her
+dignity and majesty. Then the townsfolk entered as before and
+went round about the tables, looking for the place of the dish of
+sweet rice, and quoth one to another, "Hark ye, O Hájí[FN#308]
+Khalaf!"; and the other answered, "At thy service, O Hájí
+Khálid." Said Khálid, "Avoid the dish of sweet rice and look thou
+eat not thereof; for, if thou do, by early morning thou will be
+hanged."[FN#309] Then they sat down to meat around the table;
+and, as they were eating, Queen Zumurrud chanced to look from her
+throne and saw a man come running in through the gate of the
+horse-course; and having considered him attentively, she knew him
+for Jawan the Kurdish thief who murdered the trooper. Now the
+cause of his coming was this: when he left his mother, he went to
+his comrades and said to them, "I did good business yesterday;
+for I slew a trooper and took his horse. Moreover there fell to
+me last night a pair of saddle-bags, full of gold, and a young
+lady worth more than the money in pouch; and I have left all that
+with my mother in the cave." At this they rejoiced and repaired
+to the cavern at night-fall, whilst Jawan the Kurd walked in
+front and the rest behind; he wishing to bring them the booty of
+which he had boasted. But he found the place clean empty and
+questioned his mother, who told him all that had befallen her;
+whereupon he bit his hands for regret and exclaimed, "By Allah, I
+will assuredly make search for the harlot and take her, wherever
+she is, though it be in the shell of a pistachio-nut,[FN#310] and
+quench my malice on her!" So he went forth in quest of her and
+ceased not journeying from place to place, till he came to Queen
+Zumurrud's city. On entering he found the town deserted and,
+enquiring of some women whom he saw looking from the windows,
+they told him that it was the Sultan's custom to make a banquet
+for the people on the first of each month and that all the lieges
+were bound to go and eat of it. Furthermore the women directed
+him to the racing-ground, where the feast was spread. So he
+entered at a shuffling trot; and, finding no place empty, save
+that before the dish of sweet rice already noticed, took his seat
+right opposite it and stretched out his hand towards the dish;
+whereupon the folk cried out to him, saying, "O our brother, what
+wouldst thou do?" Quoth he, "I would eat my fill of this dish."
+Rejoined one of the people, "If thou eat of it thou wilt
+assuredly find thyself hanged to-morrow morning." But Jawan said,
+"Hold thy tongue and talk not so unpleasantly." Then he stretched
+out his hand to the dish and drew it to him; but it so chanced
+that the Hashish-eater of whom we have spoken, was sitting by
+him; and when he saw him take the dish, the fumes of the Hashish
+left his head and he fled from his place and sat down afar off,
+saying, "I will have nothing to do with yonder dish." Then Jawan
+the Kurd put out his hand (which was very like a raven's
+claws,[FN#311] scooped up therewith half the dishful and drew out
+his neave as it were a camel's hoof,--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jawan the
+Kurd drew his neave from the dish as it were a camel's hoof and
+rolled the lump of rice in the palm of his hand, till it was like
+a big orange, and threw it ravenously into his mouth; and it
+rolled down his gullet, with a rumble like thunder and the bottom
+of the deep dish appeared where said mouthful had been. Thereupon
+quoth to him one sitting by his side, "Praised be Allah for not
+making me meat between thy hands; for thou hast cleared the dish
+at a single mouthful;" and quoth the Hashish-eater, "Let him eat;
+methinks he hath a hanging face." Then, turning to Jawan he
+added, "Eat and Allah give thee small good of it." So Jawan put
+out his hand again and taking another mouthful, was rolling it in
+his palm like the first, when behold, the Queen cried out to the
+guards saying, "Bring me yonder man in haste and let him not eat
+the mouthful in his hand." So they ran and seizing him as he hung
+over the dish, brought him to her, and set him in her presence,
+whilst the people exulted over his mishap and said one to the
+other, "Serve him right, for we warned him, but he would not take
+warning. Verily, this place is bound to be the death of whoso
+sitteth therein, and yonder rice bringeth doom to all who eat of
+it." Then said Queen Zumurrud to Jawan, "What is thy name and
+trade and wherefore comest thou to our city?" Answered he, "O our
+lord the Sultan, my name is Othman; I work as a gardener and am
+come hither in quest of somewhat I have lost." Quoth Zumurrud,
+"Here with a table of sand!" So they brought it, and she took the
+pen and drawing a geomantic scheme, considered it awhile, then
+raising her head, exclaimed, "Woe to thee, thou loser! How darest
+thou lie to Kings? This sand telleth me that of a truth thy name
+is Jawan the Kurd and that thou art by trade a robber, taking
+men's goods in the way of unright and slaying those whom Allah
+hath forbidden to slay save for just cause." And she cried out
+upon him, saying, "O hog, tell me the truth of thy case or I will
+cut off thy head on the spot." Now when he heard these words, he
+turned yellow and his teeth chattered; then, deeming that he
+might save himself by truth-telling, he replied, "O King, thou
+sayest sooth; but I repent at thy hands henceforth and turn to
+Allah Almighty!" She answered, "It were not lawful for me to
+leave a pest in the way of Moslems;" and cried to her guards,
+"Take him and skin him and do with him as last month ye did by
+his like." They obeyed her commandment; and, when the Hashish-
+eater saw the soldiers seize the man, he turned his back upon the
+dish of rice, saying, "'Tis a sin to present my face to thee!"
+And after they had made an end of eating, they dispersed to their
+several homes and Zumurrud returned to her palace and dismissed
+her attendants. Now when the fourth month came round, they went
+to the race-course and made the banquet, according to custom, and
+the folk sat awaiting leave to begin. Presently Queen Zumurrud
+entered and, sitting down on her throne, looked at the tables and
+saw that room for four people was left void before the dish of
+rice, at which she wondered. Now as she was looking around,
+behold, she saw a man come trotting in at the gate of the horse-
+course; and he stayed not till he stood over the food-trays; and,
+finding no room save before the dish of rice, took his seat
+there. She looked at him and knowing him for the accursed
+Christian who called himself Rashid al-Din, said in her mind,
+"How blessed is this device of the food,[FN#312] into whose toils
+this infidel hath fallen" Now the cause of his coming was
+extraordinary, and it was on this wise. When he returned from his
+travels,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+accursed, who had called himself Rashid al-Din, returned from
+travel, his household informed him that Zumurrud was missing and
+with her a pair of saddle-bags full of money; on hearing which
+ill tidings he rent his raiment and buffeted his face and plucked
+out his beard. Then he despatched his brother Barsum in quest of
+her to lands adjoining and, when he was weary of awaiting news of
+him, he went forth himself, to seek for him and for the girl,
+whenas fate led him to the city of Zumurrud. He entered it on the
+first day of the month and finding the streets deserted and the
+shops shut and women idling at the windows, he asked them the
+reason why, and they told him that the King made a banquet on the
+first of each month for the people, all of whom were bound to
+attend it, nor might any abide in his house or shop that day; and
+they directed him to the racing-plain. So he betook himself
+thither and found the people crowding about the food, and there
+was never a place for him save in front of the rice-dish now
+well-known. Here then he sat and put forth his hand to eat
+thereof, whereupon Zumurrud cried out to her guards, saying,
+"Bring me him who sitteth over against the dish of rice." So they
+knew him by what had before happened and laid hands on him and
+brought him before Queen Zumurrud, who said to him, "Out on thee!
+What is thy name and trade, and what bringeth thee to our city?"
+Answered he, "O King of the age, my name is Rustam[FN#313] and I
+have no occupation, for I am a poor dervish." Then said she to
+her attendants, "Bring me table of sand and pen of brass." So
+they brought her what she sought, as of wont; and she took the
+pen and made the dots which formed the figure and considered it
+awhile, then raising her head to Rashid al-Din, she said, "O dog,
+how darest thou lie to Kings? Thy name is Rashid al-Din the
+Nazarene, thou art outwardly a Moslem, but a Christian at heart,
+and thine occupation is to lay snares for the slave-girls of the
+Moslems and make them captives. Speak the truth, or I will smite
+off thy head." He hesitated and stammered, then replied, "Thou
+sayest sooth, O King of the age!" Whereupon she commanded to
+throw him down and give him an hundred blows with a stick on each
+sole and a thousand stripes with a whip on his body; after which
+she bade flay him and stuff his skin with herds of flax and dig a
+pit without the city, wherein they should burn his corpse and
+cast on his ashes offal-and ordure. They did as she bade them and
+she gave the people leave to eat. So they ate and when they had
+eaten their fill they went their ways, while Queen Zumurrud
+returned to her palace, saying, "I thank Allah for solacing my
+heart of those who wronged me." Then she praised the Creator of
+the earth and the heavens and repeated these couplets,
+
+"They ruled awhile and theirs was harsh tyrannic rule, * But soon
+     that rule went by as though it never were:
+If just they had won justice; but they sinned, and so * The world
+     collected all its bane for them to bear:
+So died they and their case's tongue declares aloud * This is for
+     that so of the world your blaming spare."
+
+And when her verse was ended she called to mind her lord Ali Shar
+and wept flowing tears; but presently recovered herself and said,
+"Haply Allah, who hath given mine enemies into my hand, will
+vouchsafe me the speedy return of my beloved;" and she begged
+forgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted')--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen
+begged forgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!), and
+said, "Haply He will vouchsafe me speedy reunion with my beloved
+Ali Shar for He can do what He willeth and to His servants
+showeth grace, ever mindful of their case!" Then she praised
+Allah and again besought forgiveness of Him, submitting herself
+to the decrees of destiny, assured that each beginning hath his
+end, and repeating the saying of the poet,
+
+"Take all things easy; for all worldly things * In Allah's hand
+     are ruled by Destiny:
+Ne'er shall befal thee aught of things forbidden, * Nor what is
+     bidden e'er shall fail to thee!"
+
+And what another saith.
+
+"Roll up thy days[FN#314] and easy shall they roll * Through
+     life, nor haunt the house of grief and dole:
+Full many a thing, which is o'er hard to find,* Next hour shall
+     bring thee to delight thy soul."
+
+And what a third saith,[FN#315]
+
+"Be mild what time thou'rt ta'en with anger and despite * And
+     patient, if there fall misfortune on thy head.
+Indeed, the nights are quick and great with child by Time * And
+     of all wondrous things are hourly brought to bed."
+
+And what a fourth saith,
+
+"Take patience which breeds good if patience thou can learn; * Be
+     calm soured, scaping anguish-draughts that gripe and bren:
+Know, that if patience with good grace thou dare refuse, * With
+     ill-graced patience thou shalt bear what wrote the Pen."
+
+After which she abode thus another whole month's space, judging
+the folk and bidding and forbidding by day, and by night weeping
+and bewailing her separation from her lord Ali Shar. On the first
+day of the fifth month, she bade them spread the banquet on the
+race-plain, according to custom, and sat down at the head of the
+tables, whilst the lieges awaited the signal to fall to, leaving
+the place before the dish of rice vacant. She sat with eyes fixed
+upon the gate of the horse-course, noting all who entered and
+saying in her soul, "O Thou who restoredest Joseph to Jacob and
+diddest away the sorrows of Job,[FN#316] vouchsafe of Thy might
+and Thy majesty to restore me my lord Ali Shar; for Thou over all
+things art Omnipotent, O Lord of the Worlds! O Guide of those who
+go astray! O Hearer of those that cry! O Answerer of those who
+pray, answer Thou my prayer, O Lord of all creatures." Now hardly
+had she made an end of her prayer and supplication when behold,
+she saw entering the gate of the horse-plain a young man, in
+shape like a willow branch, the comeliest of youths and the most
+accomplished, save that his face was wan and his form wasted by
+weariness. Now as he entered and came up to the tables, he found
+no seat vacant save that over against the dish of sweet rice so
+he sat down there; and, when Zumurrud looked upon him, her heart
+fluttered and, observing him narrowly, she knew him for her lord
+Ali Shar, and was like to have cried out for joy, but restrained
+herself, fearing disgrace before the folk and, albeit her bowels
+yearned over him and her heart beat wildly, she hid what she
+felt. Now the cause of his coming thither was on this wise. After
+he fell asleep upon the bench and Zumurrud let herself down to
+him and Jawan the Kurd seized her, he presently awoke and found
+himself lying with his head bare, so he knew that some one had
+come upon him and had robbed him of his turband whilst he slept.
+So he spoke the saying which shall never shame its sayer and,
+which is, "Verily, we are Allah's and to Him are we returning!"
+and, going back to the old woman's house, knocked at the door.
+She came out and he wept before her, till he fell down in a
+fainting fit. Now when he came to himself, he told her all that
+had passed, and she blamed him and chid him for his foolish
+doings saying, "Verily thine affliction and calamity come from
+thyself." And she gave not over reproaching him, till the blood
+streamed from his nostrils and he again fainted away. When he
+recovered from his swoon,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ali
+Shar recovered from his swoon he saw the old woman bewailing his
+griefs and weeping over him; so he complained of his hard lot and
+repeated these two couplets,
+
+"How bitter to friends is a parting, * And a meeting how sweet to
+     the lover!
+Allah join all the lovers He parteth, * And save me who of love
+     ne'er recover."[FN#317]
+
+The old woman mourned over him and said to him, "Sit here, whilst
+I go in quest of news for thee and return to thee in haste." "To
+hear is to obey," answered he. So she left him on her good errand
+and was absent till midday, when she returned and said to him, "O
+Ali, I fear me thou must die in thy grief; thou wilt never see
+thy beloved again save on the bridge Al-Sirát;[FN#318] for the
+people of the Christian's house, when they arose in the morning,
+found the window giving on the garden torn from its hinges and
+Zumurrud missing, and with her a pair of saddle-bags full of the
+Christian's money. And when I came thither, I saw the Chief of
+Police standing at the door, he and his many, and there is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
+Great!" Now, as Ali Shar heard these words, the light in his
+sight was changed to the darkness of night and he despaired of
+life and made sure of death; nor did he leave weeping, till he
+lost his senses. When he revived, love and longing were sore upon
+him; there befel him a grievous sickness and he kept his house a
+whole year; during which the old woman ceased not to bring him
+doctors and ply him with ptisanes and diet-drinks and make him
+savoury broths till, after the twelve-month ended, his life
+returned to him. Then he recalled what had passed and repeated
+these couplets,
+
+"Severance-grief nighmost, Union done to death, * Down-railing
+     tear-drops, heart fire tortureth!
+Redoubleth pine in one that hath no peace * For love and wake and
+     woe he suffereth:
+O Lord, if there be thing to joy my soul * Deign Thou bestow it
+     while I breathe my breath."
+
+When the second year began, the old woman said to him, "O my son,
+all this thy weeping and wailing will not bring thee back thy
+mistress. Rise, therefore, gird the loins of resolution and seek
+for her in the lands: peradventure thou shalt light on some news
+of her." And she ceased not to exhort and hearten him, till he
+took courage and she carried him to the Hammam. Then she made him
+drink strong wine and eat white meats, and thus she did with him
+for a whole month, till he regained strength; and setting out
+journeyed without ceasing till he arrived at Zumurrud's city
+where he went to the horse-course, and sat down before the dish
+of sweet rice and put out his hand to eat of it. Now when the
+folk saw this, they were concerned for him and said to him, "O
+young man, eat not of that dish, for whoso eateth thereof,
+misfortune befalleth him." Answered he, "Leave me to eat of it,
+and let them do with me what they will, so haply shall I be at
+rest from this wearying life." Accordingly he ate a first
+mouthful, and Zumurrud was minded to have him brought before her,
+but then she bethought her that belike he was an hungered and
+said to herself, "It were properer to let him eat his fill." So
+he went on eating, whilst the folk looked at him in astonishment,
+waiting to see what would betide him; and, when he had satisfied
+himself, Zumurrud said to certain of her eunuchry, "Go to yonder
+youth who eateth of the rice and bring him to me in courteous
+guise, saying: 'Answer the summons of the King who would have a
+word with thee on some slight matter.'" They replied, "We hear
+and obey," and going straightways up to Ali Shar, said to him, "O
+my lord, be pleased to answer the summons of the King and let thy
+heart be at ease." Quoth he, "Hearkening and obedience;" and
+followed the eunuchs,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar
+rejoined, "Hearkening and obedience;" and followed the eunuchs,
+whilst the people said to one another, "There is no Majesty and
+there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I
+wonder what the King will do with him!" And others said, "He will
+do him naught but good: for had he intended to harm him, he had
+not suffered him to eat his fill." Now when the Castratos set him
+in presence of Zumurrud he saluted and kissed the earth before
+her, whilst she returned his salutation and received him with
+honour. Then she asked him, "What may be thy name and trade, and
+what brought thee to our city?"; and he answered, "O King my name
+is Ali Shar; I am of the sons of the merchants of Khorasan; and
+the cause of my coming hither is to seek for a slave-girl whom I
+have lost for she was dearer to me than my hearing and my seeing,
+and indeed my soul cleaveth to her, since I lost her; and such is
+my tale." So saying he wept, till he swooned away; whereupon she
+bade them sprinkle rose-water on his face, which they did till he
+revived, when she said, "Here with the table of sand and the
+brass pen." So they brought them and she took the pen and struck
+a geomantic scheme which she considered awhile; and then cried,
+"Thou hast spoken sooth, Allah will grant thee speedy reunion
+with her; so be not troubled." Upon this she commanded her head-
+chamberlain to carry him to the bath and afterwards to clothe him
+in a handsome suit of royal-apparel, and mount him on one of the
+best of the King's horses and finally bring him to the palace at
+the last of the day. So the Chamberlain, after saying "I hear and
+I obey," took him away, whilst the folk began to say to one
+another, "What maketh the King deal thus courteously with yonder
+youth?" And quoth one, "Did I not tell you that he would do him
+no hurt?; for he is fair of aspect; and this I knew, ever since
+the King suffered him to eat his fill." And each said his say;
+after which they all dispersed and went their ways. As for
+Zumurrud, she thought the night would never come, that she might
+be alone with the beloved of her heart. As soon as it was dark,
+she withdrew to her sleeping-chamber and made her attendants
+think her overcome with sleep; and it was her wont to suffer none
+to pass the night with her save those two little eunuchs who
+waited upon her. After a while when she had composed herself, she
+sent for her dear Ali Shar and sat down upon the bed, with
+candles burning over her head and feet, and hanging lamps of gold
+lighting up the place like the rising sun. When the people heard
+of her sending for Ali Shar, they marvelled thereat and each man
+thought his thought and said his say; but one of them declared,
+"At all events the King is in love with this young man, and to-
+morrow he will make him generalissimo of the army."[FN#319] Now
+when they brought him into her, he kissed the ground between her
+hands and called down blessings her, and she said in her mind,
+"There is no help for it but that I jest with him awhile, before
+I make myself known to him.''[FN#320] Then she asked him, "O Ali,
+say me, hast thou been to the Hammam?"[FN#321] and he answered,
+"Yes, O my lord." Quoth she, "Come, eat of this chicken and meat,
+and drink of this wine and sherbet of sugar; for thou art weary;
+and after that come thou hither." "I hear and I obey," replied he
+and did as she commanded him do. Now when he had made an end of
+eating and drinking, she said to him, "Come up with me on the
+couch and shampoo[FN#322] my feet." So he fell to rubbing feet
+and kneading calves, and found them softer than silk. Then said
+she, "Go higher with the massage;" and he, "Pardon me, O my lord,
+to the knee but no farther!" Whereupon quoth she, "Durst thou
+disobey me?: it shall be an ill-omened night for thee!"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+    When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud
+cried to her lord, Ali Shar, "Durst thou disobey me?: it shall be
+an ill-omened night for thee! Nay, but it behoveth thee to do my
+bidding and I will make thee my minion and appoint thee one of my
+Emirs." Asked Ali Shar, "And in what must I do thy bidding, O
+King of the age?" and she answered, "Doff thy trousers and lie
+down on thy face." Quoth he, "That is a thing in my life I never
+did; and if thou force me thereto, verily I will accuse thee
+thereof before Allah on Resurrection-day. Take everything thou
+hast given me and let me go from thy city." And he wept and
+lamented; but she said, "Doff thy trousers and lie down on thy
+face, or I will strike off thy head." So he did as she bade him
+and she mounted upon his back; and he felt what was softer than
+silk and smoother than cream and said in himself, "Of a truth,
+this King is nicer than all the women!" Now for a time she abode
+on his back, then she turned over on the bed, and he said to
+himself, "Praised be Allah! It seemeth his yard is not standing."
+Then said she, "O Ali, it is of the wont of my prickle that it
+standeth not, except they rub it with their hands; so, come, rub
+it with thy hand, till it be at stand, else will I slay thee." So
+saying, she lay down on her back and taking his hand, set it to
+her parts, and he found these same parts softer than silk; white,
+plumply-rounded, protuberant, resembling for heat the hot room of
+the bath or the heart of a lover whom love-longing hath wasted.
+Quoth Ali in himself, "Verily, our King hath a coynte; this is
+indeed a wonder of wonders!" And lust get hold on him and his
+yard rose and stood upright to the utmost of its height; which
+when Zumurrud saw, she burst out laughing and said to him, "O my
+lord, all this happeneth and yet thou knowest me not!" He asked
+"And who art thou, O King?"; and she answered, "I am thy slave-
+girl Zumurrud." Now whenas he knew this and was certified that
+she was indeed his very slave-girl, Zumurrud, he kissed her and
+embraced her and threw himself upon her as the lion upon the
+lamb. Then he sheathed his steel rod in her scabbard and ceased
+not to play the porter at her door and the preacher in her pulpit
+and the priest[FN#323] at her prayer niche, whilst she with him
+ceased not from inclination and prostration and rising up and
+sitting down, accompanying her ejaculations of praise and of
+"Glory to Allah!" with passionate movements and wrigglings and
+claspings of his member[FN#324] and other amorous gestures, till
+the two little eunuchs heard the noise. So they came and peeping
+from behind the curtains saw the King lying on his back and upon
+him Ali Shar, thrusting and slashing whilst she puffed and blew
+and wriggled. Quoth they, "Verily, this be no man's wriggle:
+belike this King is a woman.''[FN#325] But they concealed their
+affair and discovered it to none. And when the morrow came,
+Zumurrud summoned all the troops and the lords of the realm and
+said to them, "I am minded to journey to this man's country; so
+choose you a viceroy, who shall rule over you till I return to
+you." And they answered, "We hear and we obey." Then she applied
+herself to making ready the wants of the way, to wit provaunt and
+provender, monies and rarities for presents, camels and mules and
+so forth; after which she set out from her city with Ali Shar,
+and they ceased not faring on, till they arrived at his native
+place, where he entered his house and gave many gifts to his
+friends and alms and largesse to the poor. And Allah vouchsafed
+him children by her, and they both lived the gladdest and
+happiest of lives, till there came to them the Destroyer of
+delights and the Severer of societies and the Garnerer of graves.
+And glorified be He the Eternal without cease, and praised be He
+in every case! And amongst other tales they tell one of
+
+
+
+
+             THE LOVES OF JUBAYR BIN UMAYR AND THE
+                          LADY BUDUR.
+
+
+
+It is related that the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid
+was uneasy[FN#326] one night and could not sleep; so that he
+ceased not to toss from side to side for very restlessness, till,
+growing weary of this, he called Masrur and said to him, "Ho,
+Masrur, find me some one who may solace me in this my
+wakefulness." He answered, "O Prince of True Believers, wilt thou
+walk in the palace-garden and divert thyself with the sight of
+its blooms and gaze upon the stars and constellations and note
+the beauty of their ordinance and the moon among them rising in
+sheen over the water?" Quoth the Caliph, "O Masrur, my heart
+inclineth not to aught of this." Quoth he, "O my lord, there are
+in thy palace three hundred concubines, each of whom hath her
+separate chamber. Do thou bid all and every retire into her own
+apartment and then do thou go thy rounds and amuse thyself with
+gazing on them without their knowledge." The Caliph replied, "O
+Masrur, the palace is my palace and the girls are my property:
+furthermore my soul inclineth not to aught of this." Then Masrur
+rejoined, "O my lord, summon the doctors of law and religion and
+the sages of science and poets, and bid them contend before thee
+in argument and disputation and recite to thee songs and verses
+and tell thee tales and anecdotes." Replied the Caliph, "My soul
+inclineth not to aught of this;" and Masrur rejoined, "O my lord,
+bid pretty boys and the wits and the cup-companions attend thee
+and solace thee with witty sallies." "O Masrur," ejaculated the
+Caliph, "indeed my soul inclineth not to aught of this." "Then, O
+my lord," cried Masrur, "strike off my head;"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur
+cried out to the Caliph, "O my lord, strike off my head; haply
+that will dispel thine unease and do away the restlessness that
+is upon thee." So Al-Rashid laughed at his saying and said, "See
+which of the boon-companions is at the door." Thereupon he went
+out and returning, said, "O my lord, he who sits without is Ali
+bin Mansur of Damascus, the Wag."[FN#327] "Bring him to me,"
+quoth Harun: and Masrur went out and returned with Ibn Mansur,
+who said, on entering, "Peace be with thee, O Commander of the
+Faithful!" The Caliph returned his salutation and said to him, "O
+Ibn Mansur, tell us some of thy stories." Said the other, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen
+with my eyes or what I have only heard tell?" Replied the Caliph,
+"If thou have seen aught worth telling, let us hear it; for
+hearing is not like seeing." Said Ibn Mansur, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, lend me thine ear and thy heart;" and he answered, "O
+Ibn Mansur, behold, I am listening to thee with mine ears and
+looking at thee with mine eyes and attending to thee with my
+heart." So Ibn Mansur began: "Know then, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that I receive a yearly allowance from Mohammed bin
+Sulaymán al-Háshimi, Sultan of Bassorah; so I went to him once
+upon a time, as usual, and found him ready to ride out hunting
+and birding. I saluted him and he returned my salute, and said,
+'O son of Mansur, mount and come with us to the chase:' but I
+said, 'O my lord, I can no longer ride; so do thou station me in
+the guest-house and give thy chamberlains and lieutenants charge
+over me.' And he did so and departed for his sport. His people
+entreated me with the utmost honour and entertained me with the
+greatest hospitality; but said I to myself, 'By Allah, it is a
+strange thing that for so long I have been in the habit of coming
+from Baghdad to Bassorah, yet know no more of this town than from
+palace to garden and from garden to palace. When shall I find an
+occasion like this to view the different parts and quarters of
+Bassorah? I will rise forthwith and walk forth alone and divert
+myself and digest what I have eaten.' Accordingly I donned my
+richest dress and went out a walking about Bassorah. Now it is
+known to thee, O Commander of the Faithful, that it hath seventy
+streets, each seventy leagues[FN#328] long, the measure of Irak;
+and I lost myself in its by-streets and thirst overcame me.
+Presently, as I went along, O Prince of True Believers, behold, I
+came to a great door, whereon were two rings of brass,[FN#329]
+with curtains of red brocade drawn before it. And on either side
+of the door was a stone bench and over it was a trellis, covered
+with a creeping vine that hung down and shaded the door way. I
+stood still to gaze upon the place, and presently heard a
+sorrowful voice, proceeding from a heart which did not rejoice,
+singing melodiously and chanting these cinquains,
+
+'My body bides the sad abode of grief and malady, * Caused by a
+     fawn whose land and home are in a far countrie:
+O ye two Zephyrs of the wold which caused such pain in me * By
+     Allah, Lord of you! to him my heart's desire, go ye
+           And chide him so perchance ye soften him I pray.
+
+
+And tell us all his words if he to hear your speech shall deign,
+     * And unto him the tidings bear of lovers 'twixt you twain:
+And both vouchsafe to render me a service free and fain, * And
+     lay my case before him showing how I e'er complain:
+          And say, 'What ails thy bounder thrall this wise to
+               drive away,
+
+Without a fault committed and without a sin to show; * Or heart
+     that leans to other wight or would thy love forego:
+Or treason to our plighted troth or causing thee a throe?' * And
+     if he smile then say ye twain in accents soft and slow,
+          'An thou to him a meeting grant 'twould be the kindest
+               way!
+
+For he is gone distraught for thee, as well indeed, he might *
+     His eyes are wakeful and he weeps and wails the livelong
+     night :'
+If seem he satisfied by this why then 'tis well and right, * But
+     if he show an angry face and treat ye with despite,
+          Trick him and 'Naught we know of him!' I beg you both
+               to say.'
+
+Quoth I to myself, 'Verily, if the owner of this voice be fair,
+she conjoineth beauty of person and eloquence and sweetness of
+voice.' Then I drew near the door, and began raising the curtain
+little by little, when lo! I beheld a damsel, white as a full
+moon when it mooneth on its fourteenth night, with joined
+eyebrows twain and languorous lids of eyne, breasts like
+pomegranates twin and dainty, lips like double carnelian, a mouth
+as it were the seal-of Solomon, and teeth ranged in a line that
+played with the reason of proser and rhymer, even as saith the
+poet,
+
+'O pearly mouth of friend, who set those pretty pearls in line, *
+     And filled thee full of whitest chamomile and reddest wine?
+Who lent the morning-glory in thy smile to shimmer and shine *
+     Who with that ruby-padlock dared thy lips to seal-and sign!
+Who looks on thee at early morn with stress of joy and bliss *
+     Goes mad for aye, what then of him who wins a kiss of
+     thine?'[FN#330]
+
+And as saith another,
+
+    'O pearl-set mouth of friend    * Pity poor Ruby's cheek
+     Boast not o'er one who owns    * Thee, union and unique.'
+
+In brief she comprised all varieties of loveliness and was a
+seduction to men and women, nor could the gazer satisfy himself
+with the sight of her charms; for she was as the poet hath said
+of her,
+
+'When comes she, slays she; and when back he turns, * She makes
+     all men regard with loving eyes:
+A very sun! a very moon! but still * Prom hurt and harmful ills
+     her nature flies.
+Opes Eden's garden when she shows herself, * And full moon see we
+     o'er her necklace rise.'
+
+How as I was looking at her through an opening of the curtain,
+behold, she turned; and, seeing me standing at the door, said to
+her handmaid, 'See who is at the door.' So the slave-girl came up
+to me and said, 'O Shaykh, hast thou no shame, or do impudent
+airs suit hoary hairs?' Quoth I, 'O my mistress, I confess to the
+hoary hairs, but as for impudent airs, I think not to be guilty
+of unmannerliness.' Then the mistress broke in, 'And what can be
+more unmannerly than to intrude thyself upon a house other than
+thy house and gaze on a Harim other than thy Harim?' I pleaded,
+'O my lady, I have an excuse;' and when she asked, 'And what is
+thine excuse?' I answered, 'I am a stranger and so thirsty that I
+am well nigh dead of thirst.' She rejoined, 'We accept thine
+excuse,' --And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+
+     When It was the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
+lady rejoined, 'We accept thine excuse,' and calling one of her
+slave maids, said to her, 'O Lutf,[FN#331] give him to drink in
+the golden tankard.' So she brought me a tankard of red gold, set
+with pearls and gems of price, full of water mingled with virgin
+musk and covered with a napkin of green silk, and I addressed
+myself to drink and was long about my drinking, for I stole
+glances at her the while, till I could prolong my stay no longer.
+Then I returned the tankard to the girl, but did not offer to go;
+and she said to me, 'O Shaykh, wend thy way.' But I said, 'O my
+lady, I am troubled in mind.' She asked me 'for what?' and I
+answered, 'For the turns of Time and the change of things.'
+Replied she, 'Well mayst thou be troubled thereat for Time
+breedeth wonders. But what hast thou seen of such surprises that
+thou shouldst muse upon them?' Quoth I, 'I was thinking of the
+whilom owner of this house, for he was my intimate in his
+lifetime.' Asked she, 'What was his name?'; and I answered,
+'Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller and he was a man of great wealth.
+Tell me did he leave any children?' Said she, 'Yes, he left a
+daughter, Budur by name, who inherited all his wealth?' Quoth I,
+'Meseemeth thou art his daughter?' 'Yes,' answered she, laughing;
+then added, 'O Shaykh, thou best talked long enough; now wend thy
+ways.' Replied I, 'Needst must I go, but I see thy charms are
+changed by being out of health; so tell me thy case; it may be
+Allah will give thee comfort at my hands.' Rejoined she, 'O
+Shayth, if thou be a man of discretion, I will discover to thee
+my secret; but first tell me who thou art, that I may know
+whether thou art worthy of confidence or not; for the poet
+saith,[FN#332]
+
+'None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of
+     mankind remaineth concealed.
+I have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost
+     and whose door is sealed.'
+
+Thereto I replied, 'O my lady, an thou wouldest know who I am, I
+am Ali bin Mansúr of Damascus, the Wag, cup-companion to the
+Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid.' Now when she heard
+my name, she came down from her seat and saluting me, said,
+'Welcome, O Ibn Mansur! Now will I tell thee my case and entrust
+thee with my secret. I am a lover separated from her beloved.' I
+answered, 'O my lady, thou art fair and shouldest be on love
+terms with none but the fair. Whom then dost thou love?' Quoth
+she, 'I love Jubayr bin Umayr al-Shaybáni, Emir of the Banú
+Shaybán;[FN#333]' and she described to me a young man than whom
+there was no prettier fellow in Bassorah. I asked, 'O my lady,
+have interviews or letters passed between you?' and she answered
+'Yes, but our love was tongue-love souls, not heart and souls-
+love; for he kept not his trust nor was he faithful to his
+troth.' Said I, 'O my lady, and what was the cause of your
+separation?', and she replied, 'I was sitting one day whilst my
+handmaid here combed my hair. When she had made an end of combing
+it, she plaited my tresses, and my beauty and loveliness charmed
+her; so she bent over me and kissed my cheek.[FN#334] At that
+moment he came in unawares, and, seeing the girl kiss my cheek,
+straightways turned away in anger, vowing eternal-separation and
+repeating these two couplets,
+
+'If another share in the thing I love, * I abandon my love and
+     live lorn of love.
+My beloved is worthless if aught she will, * Save that which her
+     lover doth most approve.
+
+And from the time he left me to this present hour, O Ibn Mansur,
+he hath neither written to me nor answered my letters.' Quoth I,
+'And what purposes" thou to do?' Quoth she, 'I have a mind to
+send him a letter by thee. If thou bring me back an answer, thou
+shalt have of me five hundred gold pieces; and if not, then an
+hundred for thy trouble in going and coming.' I answered, 'Do
+what seemeth good to thee; I hear and I obey thee.' Whereupon she
+called to one of her slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper,'
+and she wrote thereon these couplets,
+
+'Beloved, why this strangeness, why this hate? * When shall thy
+     pardon reunite us two?
+Why dost thou turn from me in severance? * Thy face is not the
+     face I am wont to know.
+Yes, slanderers falsed my words, and thou to them * Inclining,
+     madest spite and envy grow.
+An hast believed their tale, the Heavens forbid * Now thou
+     believe it when dost better bow!
+By thy life tell what hath reached thine ear, * Thou know'st what
+     said they and so justice show.
+An it be true I spoke the words, my words * Admit interpreting
+     and change allow:
+Given that the words of Allah were revealed, * Folk changed the
+     Torah[FN#335] and still changing go:
+What slanders told they of mankind before! * Jacob heard Joseph
+     blamed by tongue of foe.
+Yea, for myself and slanderer and thee * An awful day of
+     reckoning there shall be.'
+
+Then she sealed the letter and gave it to me; and I took it and
+carried it to the house of Jubayr bin Umayr, whom I found absent
+a hunting. So I sat down to wait for him; and behold, he returned
+from the chase; and when I saw him, O Prince of True Believers,
+come riding up, my wit was confounded by his beauty and grace. As
+soon as he sighted me sitting at the house-door, he dismounted
+and coming up to me embraced me and saluted me; and meseemed I
+embraced the world and all therein. Then he carried me into his
+house and, seating me on his own couch, called for food. They
+brought a table of Khalanj-wood of Khorasan with feet of gold,
+whereon were all manners of meats, fried and roasted and the
+like. So I seated myself at the table and examining it with care
+found these couplets engraved upon it:"[FN#336]--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali son of
+Mansur continued: "So I seated myself at the table of Jubayr bin
+Umayr al-Shaybani and, examining it with care, found these
+couplets engraved upon it,
+
+          'On these which once were-chicks,
+          Your mourning glances fix,
+Late dwellers in the mansion of the cup,
+          Now nearly eaten up!
+               Let tears bedew
+          The memory of that stew,
+          Those partridges, once roast,
+               Now lost!
+
+The daughters of the grouse in plaintive strain
+Bemourn, and still bemourn, and mourn again!
+          The children of the fry,
+               We lately saw
+          Half smothered in pilau
+With buttery mutton fritters smoking by!
+          Alas! my heart, the fish!
+               Who filled his dish,
+
+With flaky form in varying colours spread
+On the round pastry cake of household bread!
+          Heaven sent us that kabob!
+               For no one could
+          (Save heaven he should rob)
+Produce a thing so excellently good,
+          Or give us roasted meat
+With basting oil so savourily replete!
+
+But, oh! mine appetite, alas! for thee!
+          Who on that furmeaty
+So sharpset west a little while ago--
+That furmeaty, which mashed by hands of snow,
+          A light reflection bore,
+Of the bright bracelets that those fair hands wore;
+          Again remembrance glads my sense
+          With visions of its excellence!
+
+          Again I see the cloth unrolled
+          Rich worked in many a varied fold!
+          Be patient, oh! my soul, they say
+          Fortune rules all that's new and strange,
+          And though she pinches us to day,
+To-morrow brings full rations, and a change!'[FN#337]
+
+Then said Jubayr, 'Put forth thy hand to our food and ease our
+heart by eating of our victual.' Answered I, 'By Allah, I will
+not eat a mouthful, till thou grant me my desire.' He asked,
+'What is thy desire?'; so I brought out the letter and gave it to
+him; but, when he had read it and mastered its contents, he tore
+it in pieces and throwing it on the floor, said to me, 'O Ibn
+Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy desire
+which concerneth the writer of this letter, for I have no answer
+to her.' At this I rose in anger; but he caught hold of my
+skirts, saying, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will tell thee what she said to
+thee, albeit I was not present with you.' I asked, 'And what did
+she say to me?'; and he answered, 'Did not the writer of this
+letter say to thee, If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt
+have of me five hundred ducats; and if not, an hundred for thy
+pains?' 'Yes,' replied I; and he rejoined, 'Abide with me this
+day and eat and drink and enjoy thyself and make merry, and thou
+shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So I sat with him and ate
+and drank and made merry and enjoyed myself and entertained him
+with talk deep in to the night;[FN#338] after which I said to
+him, 'O my master, is there no music in thy house.' He answered,
+'Verily for many a day we have drunk without music.' Then he
+called out, saying, 'Ho, Shajarat al-Durr?' Whereupon a slave-
+girl answered him from her chamber and came in to us, with a lute
+of Hindu make, wrapped in a silken bag. And she sat down and,
+laying the lute in her lap, preluded in one and twenty modes;
+then, returning to the first, she sang to a lively measure these
+couplets,
+
+'We have ne'er tasted of Love's sweets and bitter draught, * No
+     difference kens 'twixt presence-bliss and absence-stress;
+And so, who hath declined from Love's true road, * No diference
+     kens 'twixt smooth and ruggedness:
+I ceased not to oppose the votaries of love, * Till I had tried
+     its sweets and bitters not the less:
+How many a night my pretty friend conversed with me * And sipped
+     I from his lips honey of love liesse:
+Now have I drunk its cup of bitterness, until * To bondman and to
+     freedman I have proved me base.
+How short-aged was the night together we enjoyed, * When seemed
+     it daybreak came on nightfall's heel to press!
+But Fate had vowed to disunite us lovers twain, * And she too
+     well hath kept her vow, that votaress.
+Fate so decreed it! None her sentence can withstand: * Where is
+     the wight who dares oppose his Lord's command?'
+
+Hardly had she finished her verses, when her lord cried out with
+a great cry and fell down in a fit; whereupon exclaimed the
+damsel, 'May Allah not punish thee, O old man! This long time
+have we drunk without music, for fear the like of this falling
+sickness befal our lord. But now go thou to yonder chamber and
+there sleep.' So I went to the chamber which she showed me and
+slept till the morning, when behold, a page brought me a purse of
+five hundred dinars and said to me, 'This is what my master
+promised thee; but return thou not to the damsel who sent thee,
+god let it be as though neither thou nor we had ever heard of
+this matter.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and taking
+the purse, went my way. Still I said to myself, 'The lady must
+have expected me since yesterday; and by Allah there is no help
+but I return to her and tell her what passed between me and him:
+otherwise she will revile me and revile all who come from my
+country.' So I went to her and found her standing behind the
+door; and when she saw me she said, 'O Ibn Mansur, thou hast done
+nothing for me?' I asked, 'Who told thee of this?'; and she
+answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, yet another thing hath been revealed to
+me;[FN#339] and it is that, when thou handedst him the letter, he
+tore it in pieces. and throwing it on the floor, said to thee: 'O
+Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy
+desire which concerneth the writer of this letter; for I have no
+answer to her missive.' Then didst thou rise from beside him in
+anger; but he laid hold of thy skirts, saying: 'O son of Mansur,
+abide with me to day, for thou art my guest, and eat and drink
+and make merry; and thou shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So
+thou didst sit with him, eating and drinking and making merry,
+and entertainedst him with talk deep into the night and a slave-
+girl sang such an air and such verses, whereupon he fell down in
+a fit.' So, O Commander of the Faithful, I asked her 'West thou
+then with us?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, hast thou not
+heard the saying of the poet,
+
+'The hearts of lovers have eyes I ken, * Which see the unseen by
+     vulgar men.'
+
+However, O Ibn Mansur, the night and day shift not upon anything
+but they bring to it change.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady
+exclaimed, 'O Ibn Mansur, the night and the day shift not upon
+anything but they bring to it change!' Then she raised her glance
+to heaven and said, 'O my God and my Leader and my Lord, like as
+Thou hast afflicted me with love of Jubayr bin Umayr, even so do
+Thou afflict him with love of me, and transfer the passion from
+my heart to his heart!'[FN#340] Then she gave me an hundred
+sequins for my trouble in going and coming and I took it and
+returned to the palace, where I found the Sultan come home from
+the chase; so I got my pension of him and fared back to Baghdad.
+And when next year came, I repaired to Bassorah, as usual, to
+seek my pension, and the Sultan paid it to me; but, as I was
+about to return to Baghdad, I bethought me of the Lady Budur and
+said to myself, 'By Allah, I must needs go to her and see what
+hath befallen between her and her lover!' So I went to her house
+and finding the street before her door swept and sprinkled and
+eunuchs and servants and pages standing before the entrance, said
+to myself, 'Most like grief hath broken the lady's heart and she
+is dead, and some Emir or other hath taken up his abode in her
+house.' So I left it and went on to the house of Jubayr, son of
+Umayr the Shaybani, where I found the benches of the porch broken
+down and ne'er a page at the door, as of wont and said to myself,
+'Haply he too is dead.' Then I stood still before the door of his
+house and with my eyes running over with tears, bemoaned it in
+these couplets,
+
+'O Lords of me, who fared but whom my heart e'er followeth, *
+     Return and so my festal-days with you shall be renewed!
+I stand before the home of you, bewailing your abode; * Quiver
+     mine eyelids and my eyes with tears are ever dewed:
+I ask the house and its remains that seem to weep and wail, *
+     'Where is the man who whilom wont to lavish goods and
+good?''
+It saith, 'Go, wend thy way; those friends like travellers have
+     fared * From Springtide-camp, and buried lie of earth and
+     worms the food!'
+Allah ne'er desolate us so we lose their virtues' light * In
+     length and breadth, but ever be the light in spirit viewed!'
+
+As I, O Prince of True Believers, was thus keening over the folk
+of the house,[FN#341] behold, out came a black slave therefrom
+and said to me, 'Hold thy peace, O Shaykh! May thy mother be reft
+of thee! Why do I see thee bemoaning the house in this wise?'
+Quoth I, 'I frequented it of yore, when it belonged to a good
+friend of mine.' Asked the slave, 'What was his name?'; and I
+answered, 'Jubayr bin Umayr the Shaybani.' Rejoined he, And what
+hath befallen him? Praised be Allah, he is yet here with us in
+the enjoyment of property and rank and prosperity, except that
+Allah hath stricken him with love of a damsel called the Lady
+Budur;, and he is so whelmed by his love of her and his longing
+for her, that he is like a great rock cumbering the ground. If he
+hunger, he saith not, 'Give me meat;' nor, if he thirst, doth he
+say, 'Give me drink.' Quoth I, 'Ask leave for me to go in to
+him.' Said the slave, 'O my lord, wilt thou go in to one who
+understandeth or to one who understandeth not?'; and I said
+'There is no help for it but I see him whatever be the case.'
+Accordingly he went in to ask and presently returned with
+permission for me to enter, whereupon I went in to Jubayr and
+found him like a rock that cumbereth the ground, understanding
+neither sign nor speech; and when I spoke to him he answered me
+not. Then said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember
+aught of verse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be
+aroused by this and speak with thee.' So I versified in these two
+couplets,
+
+'Hast quit the love of Moons[FN#342] or dost persist? * Dost wake
+     o' nights or close in sleep thine eyes?
+If aye thy tears in torrents flow, then learn * Eternal-thou
+     shalt dwell in Paradise.'[FN#343]
+
+When he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome,
+O son of Mansur! Verily, the jest is become earnest.' Quoth I, 'O
+my lord, is there aught thou wouldst have me do for thee?'
+Answered he, 'Yes, I would fain write her a letter and send it to
+her by thee. If thou bring me back her answer, thou shalt have of
+me a thousand dinars; and if not, two hundred for thy pains.' So
+I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;'--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibn Mansur
+continued: "So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;' whereupon
+he called to one of his slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and
+paper;' and wrote these couplets,
+
+'I pray in Allah's name, O Princess mine, be light * On me, for
+     Love hath robbed me of my reason's sight'
+'Slaved me this longing and enthralled me love of you; * And clad
+     in sickness garb, a poor and abject wight.
+I wont ere this to think small things of Love and hold, * O
+     Princess mine, 'twas silly thing and over-slight.
+But when it showed me swelling surges of its sea, * To Allah's
+     hest I bowed and pitied lover's plight.
+An will you, pity show and deign a meeting grant, * An will you
+     kill me still forget not good requite.'[FN#344]
+
+Then he sealed the letter and gave it to me. So I took it and,
+repairing to Budur's house, raised the door-curtain little by
+little, as before, and looking in behold, I saw ten damsels,
+high-bosomed virgins, like moons, and the Lady Budur as she were
+the full moon among the stars, sitting in their midst, or the
+sun, when it is clear of clouds and mist; nor was there on her
+any trace of pain or care. And as I looked and marvelled at her
+case, she turned her glance upon me and, seeing me standing at
+the door, said to me, 'Well come, and welcome and all hail to
+thee, O Ibn Mansur! Come in.' So I entered and saluting her gave
+her the letter; and she read it and when she understood it, she
+said laughingly to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, the poet lied not when he
+sang,
+
+'Indeed I'll bear my love for thee with firmest soul, * Until
+     from thee to me shall come a messenger.
+
+'Look'ye, O Ibn Mansur, I will write thee an answer, that he may
+give thee what he promised thee.' And I answered, 'Allah requite
+thee with good!' So she called out to a handmaid, 'Bring inkcase
+and paper,' and wrote these couplets,
+
+'How comes it I fulfilled my vow the while that vow broke you? *
+     And, seen me lean to equity, iniquity wrought you?
+'Twas you initiated wrongous dealing and despite: * You were the
+     treachetour and treason came from only you!
+I never ceased to cherish mid the sons of men my troth, * And
+     keep your honour brightest bright and swear by name of you
+Until I saw with eyes of me what evil you had done; * Until I
+     heard with ears of me what foul report spread you.
+Shall I bring low my proper worth while raising yours so high? *
+     By Allah had you me eke I had honoured you!
+But now uprooting severance I will fain console my heart, * And
+     wring my fingers clean of you for evermore to part!'
+
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, between him and death there is but
+the reading of this letter!' So I tore it in pieces and said to
+her, 'Write him other than these lines.' 'I hear and obey
+answered she and wrote the following couplets,
+
+'Indeed I am consolèd now and sleep without a tear, * And all
+     that happened slandering tongues have whispered in mine ear:
+My heart obeyed my hest and soon forgot thy memory, * And learnt
+     mine eyelids 'twas the best to live in severance sheer:
+He lied who said that severance is a bitterer thing than gall: *
+     It never disappointed me, like wine I find it cheer:
+I learnt to hate all news of thee, e'en mention of thy name, *
+     And turn away and look thereon with loathing pure and mere:
+Lookye! I cast thee out of heart and far from vitals mine; * Then
+     let the slanderer wot this truth and see I am sincere.'
+
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, when he shall read these verses,
+his soul will depart his body!' Quoth she, 'O Ibn Mansur, is
+passion indeed come to such a pass with him that thou sayest this
+saying?' Quoth I, 'Had I said more than this verily it were but
+the truth: but mercy is of the nature of the noble.' Now when she
+heard this her eyes brimmed over with tears and she wrote him a
+note, I swear by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, there is
+none in thy Chancery could write the like of it; and therein were
+these couplets,
+
+'How long shall I thy coyness and thy great aversion see? * Thou
+     hast satisfied my censurers and pleased their enmity:
+I did amiss and wot it not; so deign to tell me now * Whatso they
+     told thee, haply 'twas the merest calumny.
+I wish to welcome thee, dear love, even as welcome I * Sleep to
+     these eyes and eyelids in the place of sleep to be.
+And since 'tis thou hast made me drain th' unmixèd cup of love, *
+     If me thou see with wine bemused heap not thy blame on me!'
+
+And when she had written the missive,--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Budur
+had written the missive, she sealed it and gave it to me; and I
+said, 'O my lady, in good sooth this thy letter will make the
+sick man whole and ease the thirsting soul.' Then I took it and
+went from her, when she called me back and said to me, 'O son of
+Mansur, say to him: 'She will be thy guest this night.' At this I
+joyed with exceeding great joy and carried the letter to Jubayr,
+whom I found with his eyes fixed intently on the door, expecting
+the reply and as soon as I gave him the letter and he opened and
+read it and understood it, he uttered a great cry and fell down
+in a fainting fit. When he came to himself, he said to me, 'O Ibn
+Mansur, did she indeed write this note with her hand and feel it
+with her fingers?' Answered I, 'O my lord, do folk write with
+their feet?' And by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I had not
+done speaking these words, when we heard the tinkle-tinkle of her
+anklets in the vestibule and she entered. And seeing her he
+sprang to his feet as though nothing pained or ailed him and
+embraced her like the letter L embraceth the letter A;[FN#345]
+and the infirmity, that erst would not depart at once left
+him.[FN#346] Then he sat down, but she abode standing and I said
+to her, 'O my lady, why dost thou not sit?' Said she, 'O Ibn
+Mansur, save on a condition that is between us, I will not sit.'
+I asked, 'And what is that?'; and she answered, 'None may know
+lovers' secrets,' and putting her mouth to Jubayr's ear whispered
+to him; where upon he replied, 'I hear and I obey.' Then he rose
+and said somewhat in a whisper to one of his slaves, who went out
+and returned in a little while with a Kazi and two witnesses.
+Thereupon Jubayr stood up and taking a bag containing an hundred
+thousand dinars, said, O Kazi, marry me to this young lady and
+write this sum to her marriage-settlement.' Quoth the Kazi to
+her, 'Say thou, I consent to this.' 'I consent to this,' quoth
+she, whereupon he drew up the contract of marriage and she opened
+the bag; and, taking out a handful of gold, gave it to the Kazi
+and the witnesses and handed the rest to Jubayr. Thereupon the
+Kazi and the witnesses withdrew, and I sat with them, in mirth
+and merriment, till the most part of the night was past, when I
+said in my mind, 'These are lovers and they have been this long
+while separated. I will now arise and go sleep in some place afar
+from them and leave them to their privacy, one with other.' So I
+rose, but she caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'What thinkest
+thou to do?' 'Nothing but so and so,' answered I; upon which she
+rejoined, 'Sit thee down; and when we would be rid of thee, we
+will send thee away.' So I sat down with them till near daybreak,
+when she said to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, go to yonder chamber; for we
+have furnished it for thee and it is thy sleeping-place.'
+Thereupon I arose and went thither and slept till morning, when a
+page brought me basin and ewer, and I made the ablution and
+prayed the dawn-prayer. Then I sat down and presently, behold,
+Jubayr and his beloved came out of the bath in the house, and I
+saw them both wringing their locks.[FN#347] So I wished them good
+morning and gave them joy of their safety and reunion, saying to
+Jubayr, 'That which began with constraint and conditions hath
+ended in cordial-contentment.' He answered, 'Thou sayest well,
+and indeed thou deservest thy honorarium;' and he called his
+treasurer, and said, 'Bring hither three thousand dinars.' So he
+brought a purse containing the gold pieces and Jubayr gave it to
+me, saying, 'Favour us by accepting this.' But I replied, 'I will
+not accept it till thou tell me the manner of the transfer of
+love from her to thee, after so huge an aversion.' Quoth he,
+'Hearkening and obedience! Know that we have a festival-called
+New Year's day,[FN#348] when all the people fare forth and
+take boat and go a-pleasuring on the river. So I went out with my
+comrades, and saw a skiff, wherein were ten damsels like moons
+and amongst them, the Lady Budur lute in hand. She preluded in
+eleven modes, then, returning to the first, sang these two
+couplets,
+
+'Fire is cooler than fires in my breast, * Rock is softer than
+     heart of my lord
+Marvel I that he's formèd to hold * In water soft frame heart
+     rock-hard!'
+
+Said I to her, 'Repeat the couplets and the air!' But she would
+not:'"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "Jubayr
+continued, 'So cried I to her, Repeat the couplets and the air!'
+But she would not; whereupon I bade the boatmen pelt her with
+oranges, and they pelted her till we feared her boat would
+founder Then she went her way, and this is how the love was
+transferred from her heart to mine.' So I wished them joy of
+their union and, taking the purse with its contents, I returned
+to Baghdad." Now when the Caliph heard Ibn Mansur's story his
+heart was lightened and the restlessness and oppression from
+which he suffered forsook him. And they also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+          THE MAN OF AI-YAMAN AND HIS SIX SlAVE-GIRLS.
+
+
+
+The Caliph Al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace,
+surrounded by his Lords of the realm and Officers of state, and
+there were present also before him all his poets and cup-
+companions amongst the rest one named Mohammed of Bassorah.
+Presently the Caliph turned and said to him, "O Mohammed, I wish
+thee forthwith to tell me something that I have never before
+heard." He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, dost thou wish
+me to tell thee a thing I have heard with my ears or a thing I
+have seen with my eyes?" Quoth Al-Maamun, "Tell me whichever is
+the rarer; so Mohammed al-Basri began: "Know, then, O Commander
+of the Faithful that there lived once upon a time wealthy man,
+who was a native of Al-Yaman;but he emigrated from his native
+land and came to this city of Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased
+him that he transported hither his family and possessions. Now he
+had six slave-girls, like moons one and all; the first white, the
+second brown, the third fat, the fourth lean, the fifth yellow
+and the sixth lamp-black; and all six were comely of countenance
+and perfect in accomplishments and skilled in the arts of singing
+and playing upon musical-instruments. Now it so chanced that, one
+day, he sent for the girls and called for meat and wine; and they
+ate and drank and were mirthful and made merry Then he filled the
+cup and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde girl, 'O new
+moon face, let us hear somewhat of thy pleasant songs.' So she
+took the lute and tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet
+melody that the place danced with glee; after which she played a
+lively measure and sang these couplets,
+
+'I have a friend, whose form is fixed within mine eyes,[FN#349] *
+     Whose name deep buried in my very vitals lies:
+Whenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, * And when on him my
+     gaze is turned I am all eyes.
+My censor saith, 'Forswear, forget, the love of him,' * 'Whatso
+     is not to be, how shall's be?' My reply is.
+Quoth I, 'O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! * And make not
+     light of that on humans heavy lies.'
+
+Hereat their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the
+damsels to drink, after which he said to the berry-brown girl, 'O
+brasier-light[FN#350] and joy of the sprite, let us hear thy
+lovely voice, whereby all that hearken are ravished with
+delight.' So she took the lute and thereon made harmony till the
+place was moved to glee; then, captivating all hearts with her
+graceful swaying, she sang these couplets,
+
+'I swear by that fair face's life, I'll love but thee * Till
+     death us part, nor other love but thine I'll see:
+O full moon, with thy loveliness mantilla'd o'er, * The loveliest
+     of our earth beneath thy banner be:
+Thou, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness * May Allah,
+     Lord of worlds, be everywhere with thee!'
+
+The master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to
+drink; after which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his
+hand, signed to the fat girl and bade her sing and play a
+different motive. So she took the lute and striking a grief-
+dispelling measure, sang these couplets,
+
+'An thou but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! * I care not
+     wrath and rage to all mankind betide.
+And if thou show that fairest face which gives me life, * I reck
+     not an dimimshed heads the Kings go hide.
+I seek thy favours only from this 'versal-world: * O thou in whom
+     all beauty cloth firm-fixt abide!'
+
+The man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink.
+Then he signed to the thin girl and said to her, 'O Houri of
+Paradise, feed thou our ears with sweet words and sounds.' So she
+took the lute; and, tuning it, preluded and sang these two
+couplets,
+
+'Say me, on Allah's path[FN#351] hast death not dealt to me, *
+     Turning from me while I to thee turn patiently:
+Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, * And do me
+     justice wronged, mine enemy, by thee?'
+
+Their lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to
+drink. Then filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said
+to her, O sun of the day, let us hear some nice verses.' So she
+took the lute and, preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang
+these couplets,
+
+'I have a lover and when drawing him, * He draws on me a sword-
+    blade glancing grim:
+Allah avenge some little of his wrongs, * Who holds my heart yet
+     wreaks o erbearing whim
+Oft though I say, 'Renounce him, heart!' yet heart * Will to none
+     other turn excepting him.
+He is my wish and will of all men, but * Fate's envious hand to
+     me's aye grudging him.'
+
+The master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then
+he filled the cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black
+girl, saying, 'O pupil of the eye, let us have a taste of thy
+quality, though it be but two words.' So she took the lute and
+tuning it and tightening the strings, preluded in various modes,
+then returned to the first and sang to a lively air these
+couplets,
+
+'Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal-tears go free; * This ecstasy
+     would see my being unbe:[FN#352]
+All ecstasies I dreefor sake of friend * I fondle, maugre
+     enviers' jealousy:
+Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, * Yet e'er inclines my
+     heart to rosery:
+Cups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting * In joy, what time
+     the lute sang melody,
+While kept his troth the friend who madded me, * Yet made me
+     rising star of bliss to see:
+But--with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; * Than such a turn
+     can aught more bitter be?
+Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, * Nay two, whereof
+     grant Allah one to me!
+An were prostration[FN#353] by our law allowed * To aught but
+     Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'
+
+Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their
+lord, said to him, 'Do thou justice between us, O our lord!' So
+he looked at their beauty and loveliness and the contrast of
+their colours and praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. Then
+said he, 'There is none of you but hath learnt the Koran by
+heart, and mastered the musical-art and is versed in the
+chronicles' of yore and the doings of peoples which have gone
+before; so it is my desire that each one of you rise and,
+pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her
+co-concubine; that is to: say, let the blonde point to the
+brunette, the plump to the slenderer and the yellow to the black
+girl; after which the rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like
+with the former; and be this illustrated with citations from Holy
+Writ and somewhat of anecdotes and,; verse, so as to show forth
+your fine breeding and elegance of your pleading.' And they
+answered him, 'We hear and we obey!;"--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
+handmaids answered the man of Al-Yaman, "'We hear and we obey!'
+Accordingly the blonde rose first and, pointing at the black
+girl, said to her: 'Out on thee, blackamoor! It is told by
+tradition that whiteness saith, 'I am the shining light, I am the
+rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue is patent and my brow
+is resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet,'
+
+'White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl
+     concealed by Beauty's boon:
+Her stature Alif-like;[FN#354] her smile like Mím[FN#355] * And
+     o'er her eyes two brows that bend like Nún.[FN#356]
+'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to
+     shoot Death-dart eftsoon:
+If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose,
+     myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.
+Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths
+     thy stature-branch cloth own!'
+
+'So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly
+culled orange spray and the star of sparkling ray;[FN#357] and
+indeed quoth Almighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet
+Moses (on whom be peace!), Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall
+come forth white, without hurt.'[FN#358] And again He saith, But
+they whose faces shall become white, shall be in the mercy of
+Allah; therein shall they remain forever.'[FN#359] My colour is a
+sign, a miracle, and my loveliness supreme and my beauty a term
+extreme. It is on the like of me that raiment showeth fair and
+fine and to the like of me that hearts incline. Moreover, in
+whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the snow falleth
+white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the beautifullest
+of a colours white. The Moslems also glory in white turbands, but
+I should be tedious, were I to tell all that may be told in
+praise of white; little and enough is better than too much of
+unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black,
+O colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like
+the raven which bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the
+poet saith in praise of white and blame of black,
+
+'Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a
+     dirham buy we coals in load?
+And while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd
+     Gehenna's black abode.'
+
+And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the
+authority of devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was
+sleeping one day, with his sons Cham and Shem seated at his head,
+when a wind sprang up and, lifting his clothes, uncovered his
+nakedness; whereat Cham looked and laughed and did not cover him:
+but Shem arose and covered him. Presently, their sire awoke and
+learning, what had been done by his sons, blessed Shem and cursed
+Cham. So Shem's face was whitened and from him sprang the
+prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst Cham's face
+was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia, and of
+his lineage came the blacks.[FN#360] All people are of one mind
+in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as
+saith the adage, 'How shall one find a black with a mind?' Quoth
+her master, 'Sit thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and
+even excess.' Thereupon he signed to the negress, who rose and,
+pointing her finger at the blonde, said: Dost thou not know that
+in the Koran sent down to His prophet and apostle, is transmitted
+the saying of God the Most High, 'By the night when it covereth
+all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth
+forth!'[FN#361] If the night were not the more illustrious,
+verily Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of
+the day. And indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this.
+Knowest thou not that black is the ornament of youth and that,
+when hoariness descendeth upon the head, delights pass away and
+the hour of death draweth in sight? Were not black the most
+illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in the core of the
+heart[FN#362] and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the
+saying of the poet,
+
+'I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour,
+     tinct of eye and heartcore's hue;
+Nor are in error who unlove the white, * And hoary hairs and
+     winding-sheet eschew.'
+
+And that said of another,
+
+'Black[FN#363] girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I
+     see:
+Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[FN#364] * Whites, blotch of
+     leprosy.'
+
+And of a third,
+
+'Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes,
+     with purest shine and sheen they show;
+If I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile[FN#365] drives
+     melancholic-mad we know
+'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it
+     be, its splendours glow.
+
+Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night?
+Let this quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers
+from spies and censors like the blackness of night's darkness;
+and what causeth them to fear discovery like the whiteness of the
+dawn's brightness? So, how many claims to honour are there not in
+blackness and how excellent is the saying of the poet,
+
+'I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding
+     love, but dawn-white is mine enemy.'
+
+And that of another,
+
+'How many a night I've passed with the beloved of me, * While
+     gloom with dusky tresses veilèd our desires:
+But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I
+     to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!'[FN#366]
+
+And saith a third,
+
+'He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting
+     his steps as wended he in cautious plight.
+I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and
+     trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight;
+But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The
+     world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant
+     light:[FN#367]
+Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy
+     best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.
+Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's
+     a tittle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.'
+
+And a fifth,
+
+'I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The
+     maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.
+I'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and
+     set my friends upon the elephant.'
+
+And a sixth,
+
+My lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond
+     embrace;
+And lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest
+     pace.
+Now I pray Allah and my Lord * To reunite us of His grace
+And make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly
+     lace.'
+
+Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would
+be tedious; but little and enough is better than too much of
+unfilling stuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of
+leprosy and thine embrace is suffocation;[FN#368] and it is of
+report that hoar-frost and icy cold[FN#369] are in Gehenna for
+the torment of the wicked. Again, of things black and excellent
+is ink, wherewith is written Allah's word; and were it not for
+black ambergris and black musk, there would be no perfumes to
+carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention dwell in
+blackness, and how well saith the poet,
+
+'Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest
+     price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than
+     dirham bids?
+And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, *
+     Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from
+     their lids.'
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she
+sat down and he signed to the fat girl, who rose"--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the man of
+Al-Yaman, the master of the handmaids, signed to the fat girl who
+rose and, pointing her finger at the slim girl, bared her calves
+and wrists and uncovered her stomach, showing its dimples and the
+plump rondure of her navel. Then she donned a shift of fine
+stuff, that exposed her whole body, and said: 'Praised be Allah
+who created me, for that He beautified my face and made me fat
+and fair of the fattest and fairest; and likened me to branches
+laden with fruit, and bestowed upon me abounding beauty and
+brightness: and praised be He no less, for that He hath given me
+the precedence and honoured me, when He mentioneth me in His holy
+Book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fatted
+calf.'[FN#370] And He hath made me like unto a vergier full of
+peaches and pomegranates. In very sooth even as the townsfolk
+long for fat birds and eat of them and love not lean birds, so do
+the sons of Adam desire fat meat and eat of it. How many vauntful
+attributes are there not in fatness, and how well saith the poet,
+
+'Farewell thy love, for see, the Cafilah's[FN#371] on the move: *
+     O man, canst bear to say adieu and leave thy love?
+'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, * The gait
+     of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'
+
+Sawest thou ever one stand before a flesher's stall but sought of
+him fat flesh? The wise say, 'Joyance is in three things, eating
+meat and riding meat and putting meat into meat.'[FN#372] As for
+thee, O thin one, thy calves are like the shanks of sparrows or
+the pokers of furnaces; and thou art a cruciform plank of a piece
+of flesh poor and rank; there is naught in thee to gladden the
+heart; even as saith the poet,
+
+'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with
+     one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery:
+In every limb she hath a horn that butteth me whene'er * I fain
+     would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she
+sat down and he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were
+a willow-wand, or a rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and
+said: 'Praised be Allah who created me and beautified me and made
+my embraces the end of all desire and likened me to the branch,
+whereto all hearts incline. If I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit,
+I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at a jest and merrier-souled
+than mirth itself. Never heard I one describe his mistress,
+saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like a
+mountain long and broad;' but rather, 'My lady hath a slender
+waist and a slim shape.'[FN#374] Furthermore a little food
+filleth me and a little water quencheth my thirst; my sport is
+agile and my habit active; for I am sprightlier than the sparrow
+and lighter-skipping than the starling. My favours are the
+longing of the lover and the delight of the desirer; for I am
+goodly of shape, sweet of smile and graceful as the bending
+willow-wand or the rattan-cane[FN#375] or the stalk of the basil-
+plant; nor is there any can compare with me in loveliness, even
+as saith one of me,
+
+'Thy shape with willow branch I dare compare, * And hold thy
+     figure as my fortunes fair:
+I wake each morn distraught, and follow thee, * And from the
+     rival's eye in fear I fare.'
+
+It is for the like of me that amourists run mad and that those
+who desire me wax distracted. If my lover would draw me to him, I
+am drawn to him; and if he would have me incline to him, I
+incline to him and not against him. But now, as for thee, O fat
+of body, thine eating is the feeding of an elephant, and neither
+much nor little filleth thee. When thou liest with a man who is
+lean, he hath no ease of thee; nor can he anyways take his
+pleasure of thee; for the bigness of thy belly holdeth him off
+from going in unto thee and the fatness of thy thighs hindereth
+him from coming at thy slit. What goodness is there in thy
+grossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in thy coarseness?
+Fat flesh is fit for naught but the flasher, nor is there one
+point therein that pleadeth for praise. If one joke with thee,
+thou art angry; if one sport with thee, thou art sulky; if thou
+sleep, thou snorest if thou walk, thou lollest out thy tongue! if
+thou eat, thou art never filled. Thou art heavier than mountains
+and fouler than corruption and crime. Thou hast in thee nor
+agility nor benedicite nor thinkest thou of aught save meat and
+sleep. When thou pissest thou swishes"; if thou turd thou
+gruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant transmogrified.
+If thou go to the water closet, thou needest one to wash thy gap
+and pluck out the hairs which overgrow it; and this is the
+extreme of sluggish ness and the sign, outward and visible, of
+stupidity[FN#376] In short, there is no good thing about thee,
+and indeed the poet Title of thee,
+
+'Heavy and swollen like an urine-bladder blown, * With hips and
+     thighs like mountain propping piles of stone;
+Whene'er she walks in Western hemisphere, her tread * Makes the
+     far Eastern world with weight to moan and groan.'
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this sufficeth;' so she sat
+down and he signed to the yellow girl, who rose to her feet and
+praised Allah Almighty and magnified His name, calling down peace
+and blessing on Mohammed the best of His creatures; after which
+she pointed her finger at the brunette and said to her," And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+    When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
+
+She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the
+yellow girl stood up and praised Almighty Allah and magnified His
+name; after which she pointed her finger at the brown girl and
+said to her: 'I am the one praised in the Koran, and the
+Compassionate hath described my complexion and its excellence
+over all other hues in His manifest Book, where Allah saith, 'A
+yellow, pure yellow, whose colour gladdeneth the
+beholders.'[FN#377] Wherefore my colour is a sign and portent and
+my grace is supreme and my beauty a term extreme; for that my
+tint is the tint of a ducat and the colour of the planets and
+moons and the hue of ripe apples. My fashion is the fashion of
+the fair, and the dye of saffron outvieth all other dyes; so my
+semblance is wondrous and my colour marvellous. I am soft of body
+and of high price, comprising all qualities of beauty. My colour
+is essentially precious as virgin gold, and how many boasts and
+glories cloth it not unfold! Of the like of me quoth the poet,
+
+'Her golden yellow is the sheeny sun's; * And like gold sequins
+     she delights the sight:
+Saffron small portion of her glance can show; * Nay,[FN#378] she
+     outvies the moon when brightest bright.'
+
+And I shall at once begin in thy dispraise, O berry-brown girl!
+Thy tincture is that of the buffalo, and all souls shudder at thy
+sight. If thy colour be in any created thing, it is blamed; if it
+be in food, it is poisoned; for thy hue is the hue of the dung-
+fly; it is a mark of ugliness even in dogs; and among the colours
+it is one which strikes with amazement and is of the signs of
+mourning. Never heard I of brown gold or brown pearls or brown
+gems. If thou enter the privy, thy colour changeth, and when thou
+comest out, thou addest ugliness to ugliness. Thou art a non-
+descript; neither black, that thou mayst be recognised, nor
+white, that thou mayst be described; and in thee there is no good
+quality, even as saith the poet,
+
+'The hue of dusty motes is hers; that dull brown hue of hers * Is
+     mouldy like the dust and mud by Cossid's foot
+     upthrown:[FN#379]
+ I never look upon her brow, e'en for eye-twinkling's space, *
+     But in brown study fall I and my thoughts take browner
+     tone.'
+
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much sufficeth;' so she
+sat down and he signed to the brunette. Now she was a model of
+beauty and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace; soft of
+skin, slim of shape, of stature rare, and coal-black hair; with
+cheeks rosy-pink, eyes black rimmed by nature's hand, face fair,
+and eloquent tongue; moreover slender-waisted and heavy-hipped.
+So she rose and said: 'Praise be to Allah who hath created me
+neither leper-white nor bile-yellow nor charcoal-black, but hath
+made my colour to be beloved of men of wit and wisdom, for all
+the poets extol berry-brown maids in every tongue and exalt their
+colour over all other colours. To 'brown of hue (they say) praise
+is due;' and Allah bless him who singeth,
+
+'And in brunettes is mystery, could'st" thou but read it right, *
+     Thy sight would never dwell on others, be they red or white:
+Free-flowing conversation, amorous coquettishness * Would teach
+     Hárut himself a mightier spell of magic might.'
+
+And saith another,
+
+'Give me brunettes, so limber, lissom, lithe of sway, * Brunettes
+     tall, slender straight like Samhar's nut-brown
+     lance;[FN#380]
+Languid of eyelids and with silky down on either cheek, * Who
+     fixed in lover's heart work to his life mischance.'
+
+And yet another,
+
+'Now, by my life, brown hue hath point of comeliness * Leaves
+     whiteness nowhere and high o'er the Moon takes place;
+But an of whiteness aught it borrowed self to deck, * 'Twould
+     change its graces and would pale for its disgrace:
+Not with his must[FN#381] I'm drunken, but his locks of musk *
+     Are wine inebriating all of human race.
+His charms are jealous each of each, and all desire * To be the
+     down that creepeth up his lovely face.'
+
+And again another,
+
+'Why not incline me to that show of silky down, * On cheeks of
+     dark brunette, like bamboo spiring brown?
+Whenas high rank in beauty poets sing, they say * Brown ant-like
+     specklet worn by nenuphar in crown.
+And see I sundry lovers tear out others' eyne * For the brown
+     mole beneath that jetty pupil shown,
+Then why do censors blame me for one all a mole? * Allah I pray
+     demolish each molesting clown!'[FN#382]
+
+My form is all grace and my shape is built on heavy base; Kings
+desire my colour which all adore, rich and poor. I am pleasant,
+active, handsome, elegant, soft of skin and prized for price: eke
+I am perfect in seemlibead and breeding and eloquence; my aspect
+is comely and my tongue witty; my temper is bright and my play a
+pretty sight. As for thee, thou art like unto a mallow growing
+about the Lúk Gate;[FN#383] in hue sallow and streaked-yellow and
+made all of sulphur. Aroynt thee, O copper-worth of jaundiced
+sorrel, O rust of brass-pot, O face of owl in gloom, and fruit of
+the Hell-tree Zakkúm;[FN#384] whose bedfellow, for heart-break,
+is buried in the tomb. And there is no good thing in thee, even
+as saith the poet of the like of thee,
+
+'Yellowness, tincturing her tho' nowise sick or sorry, *
+     Straitens my hapless heart and makes my head sore ache;
+An thou repent not, Soul! I'll punish thee with kissing[FN#385] *
+     Her lower face that shall mine every grinder break!'
+
+And when she ended her lines, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down,
+this much sufficeth!'"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "when the
+yellow girl ended her recitation, quoth her master, 'Sit thee
+down; this much sufficeth!' Then he made peace between them and
+clad them all in sumptuous robes of honour and hanselled them
+with precious jewels of land and sea. And never have I seen, O
+Commander of the Faithful, any when or any where, aught fairer
+than these six damsels fair." Now when Al-Maamun heard this story
+from Mohammed of Bassorah, he turned to him and said, "O
+Mohammed, knowest thou the abiding-place of these damsels and
+their master, and canst thou contrive to buy them of him for us?"
+He answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have heard
+that their lord is wrapped up in them and cannot bear to be
+parted from them." Rejoined the Caliph, "Take thee ten thousand
+gold pieces for each girl, that is sixty thousand for the whole
+purchase; and carry the coin to his house and buy them of him."
+So Mohammed of Bassorah took the money and, betaking himself to
+the Man of Al-Yaman, acquainted him with the wish of the Prince
+of True Believers. He consented to part with them at that price
+to pleasure the Caliph; and despatched them to Al-Maamun, who
+assigned them an elegant abode and therein used to sit with them
+as cup-companions; marvelling at their beauty and loveliness, at
+their varied colours and at the excellence of their conversation.
+Thus matters stood for many a day; but, after awhile, when their
+former owner could no longer bear to be parted from them, he sent
+a letter to the Commander of the Faithful complaining to him of
+his own ardent love-longing for them and containing, amongst
+other contents, these couplets,
+
+"Captured me six, all bright with youthful blee; * Then on all
+     six be best salams from me!
+They are my hearing, seeing, very life; * My meat, my drink, my
+     joy, my jollity:
+I'll ne'er forget the favours erst so charmed * Whose loss hath
+     turned my sleep to insomny:
+Alack, O longsome pining and O tears! * Would I had farewelled
+     all humanity:
+Those eyes, with bowed and well arched eyebrows[FN#386] dight, *
+     Like bows have struck me with their archery."
+
+Now when the letter came to the hands of Al-Maamun, he robed the
+six damsels in rich raiment; and, giving them threescore thousand
+dinars, sent them back to their lord who joyed in them with
+exceeding joy[FN#387] (more especially for the monies they
+brought him), and abode with them in all the comfort and
+pleasance of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of
+delights and the Severer of societies. And men also recount the
+tale of
+
+
+
+
+             HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE DAMSEL AND ABU
+                             NOWAS.
+
+
+
+The Caliph, Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, being one
+night exceedingly restless and thoughtful with sad thought, rose
+from his couch and walked about the by-ways of his palace, till
+he came to a chamber, over whose doorway hung a curtain. He
+raised that curtain and saw, at the upper end of the room, a
+bedstead whereon lay something black, as it were a man asleep,
+with a wax taper on his right hand and another on his left; and
+as the Caliph stood wondering at the sight, behold, he remarked a
+flagon full of old wine whose mouth was covered by the cup. The
+Caliph wondered even more at this, saying, "How came this black
+by such wine-service?" Then, drawing near the bedstead, he found
+that it was a girl lying asleep there, curtained by her hair; so
+he uncovered her face and saw that it was like the moon, on the
+night of his fulness.[FN#388] So the Caliph filled himself a cup
+of wine and drank it to the roses of her cheeks; and, feeling
+inclined to enjoy her, kissed a mole on her face, whereupon she
+started up from sleep, and cried out, "O Trusted of
+Allah,[FN#389] what may this be?" Replied he, "A guest who
+knocketh at thy door, hoping that thou wilt give him hospitality
+till the dawn;" and she answered; "Even so! I will serve him with
+my hearing and my sight." So she brought forward the wine and
+they drank together, after which she took the lute and tuning the
+strings, preluded in one-and-twenty modes, then returning to the
+first, played a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+
+"The tongue of love from heart bespeaks my sprite, * Telling I
+     love thee with love infinite:
+I have an eye bears witness to my pain, * And fluttering heart
+     sore hurt by parting-plight.
+I cannot hide the love that harms my life; * Tears ever roll and
+     growth of pine I sight:
+I knew not what love was ere loving thee; * But Allah's destiny
+     to all is dight."
+
+And when her verses were ended she said, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, I have been wronged!"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel
+cried, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have been wronged!" Quoth
+he, "How so, and who hath wronged thee?" Quoth she "Thy son
+bought me awhile ago, for ten thousand dirhams, meaning to give
+me to thee; but thy wife, the daughter of thine uncle, sent him
+the said price and bade him shut me up from thee in this
+chamber." Whereupon said the Caliph, "Ask a boon of me," and she,
+"I ask thee to lie with me to-morrow night." Replied the Caliph,
+"Inshallah!" and leaving her, went away. Now as soon as it was
+morning, he repaired to his sitting-room and called for Abu
+Nowas, but found him not and sent his chamberlain to ask after
+him. The chamberlain found him in a tavern, pawned and pledged
+for a score of a thousand dirhams, which he had spent on a
+certain beardless youth, and questioned him of his case. So he
+told him what had betided him with the comely boy and how he had
+spent upon him a thousand silver pieces; whereupon quoth the
+chamberlain, "Show him to me; and if he be worth this, thou art
+excused." He answered, "Patience, and thou shalt see him
+presently.' As they were talking together, up came the lad, clad
+in a white tunic, under which was another of red and under this
+yet another black. Now when Abu Nowas saw him, he sighed a loud
+sigh and improvised these couplets,
+
+"He showed himself in shirt of white, * With eyes and eyelids
+     languor-digit.
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Though were thy greeting
+     a delight?
+Blest He who clothed in rose thy cheeks, * Creates what wills He
+     by His might!'
+Quoth he, 'Leave prate, forsure my Lord * Of works is wondrous
+     infinite:
+My garment's like my face and luck; * All three are white on
+     white on white.'"
+
+When the beardless one heard these words, he doffed the white
+tunic and appeared in the red; and when Abu Nowas saw him he
+redoubled in expressions of admiration and repeated these
+couplets,
+
+"He showed in garb anemone-red, * A foeman 'friend' entitulèd:
+Quoth I in marvel, 'Thou'rt full moon * Whose weed shames rose
+     however red:
+Hath thy cheek stained it red, or hast * Dyed it in blood by
+     lovers bled?'
+Quoth he, 'Sol gave me this for shirt * When hasting down the
+     West to bed
+So garb and wine and hue of cheek * All three are red on red on
+     red.'"
+
+And when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the
+red tunic and stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he
+redoubled in attention to him and versified in these couplets,
+
+"He came in sable-huèd sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to
+     rack:
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful
+     envious pack?
+Thy garment's like thy locks and like * My lot, three blacks on
+     black on black.'"
+
+Seeing this state of things and understanding the case of Abu
+Nowas and his love-longing, the Chamberlain returned to the
+Caliph and acquainted him therewith; so he bade him pouch a
+thousand dirhams and go and take him out of pawn. Thereupon the
+Chamberlain returned to Abu Nowas and, paying his score, carried
+him to the Caliph, who said, "Make me some verses containing the
+words, O Trusted of Allah, what may this be?" Answered he, "I
+hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful."--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+
+She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Nowas
+answered, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful!" and
+forthwith he improvised these couplets,
+
+"Long was my night for sleepless misery; * Weary of body and of
+     thought ne'er free:
+I rose and in my palace walked awhile, * Then wandered thro' the
+     halls of Haremry:
+Till chanced I on a blackness, which I found * A white girl hid
+     in hair for napery:
+Here to her for a moon of brightest sheen! * Like willow-wand and
+     veiled in pudency:
+I quaffed a cup to her; then drew I near, * And kissed the
+     beauty-spot on cheek had she:
+She woke astart, and in her sleep's amaze, * Swayed as the
+     swaying branch in rain we see;
+Then rose and said to me, 'O Trusted One * Of Allah, O Amin, what
+     may this be?
+Quoth I, 'A guest that cometh to thy tents * And craves till morn
+     thy hospitality.'
+She answered, 'Gladly I, my lord, will grace * And honour such a
+     guest with ear and eye.'"
+
+Cried the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead! it is as if thou hadst
+been present with us.''[FN#390] Then he took him by the hand and
+carried him to the damsel and, when Abu Nowas saw her clad in a
+dress and veil of blue, he expressed abundant admiration and
+improvised these couplets,
+
+"Say to the pretty one in veil of blue, * 'By Allah, O my life,
+     have ruth on dole!
+For, when the fair entreats her lover foul, * Sighs rend his
+     bosom and bespeak his soul
+By charms of thee and whitest cheek I swear thee, * Pity a heart
+     for love lost all control
+Bend to him, be his stay 'gainst stress of love, * Nor aught
+     accept what saith the ribald fool.'"
+
+Now when he ended his verse, the damsel set wine before the
+Caliph; and, taking the lute, played a lively measure and sang
+these couplets,
+
+"Wilt thou be just to others in thy love, and do * Unright, and
+     put me off, and take new friend in lieu?
+Had lovers Kazi unto whom I might complain * Of thee, he'd
+     peradventure grant the due I sue:
+If thou forbid me pass your door, yet I afar * Will stand, and
+     viewing you waft my salams to you!"
+
+The Caliph bade her ply Abu Nowas with wine, till he lost his
+right senses, thereupon he gave him a full cup, and he drank a
+draught of it and held the cup in his hand till he slept. Then
+the Commander of the Faithful bade the girl take the cup from his
+grasp and hide it; so she took it and set it between her thighs,
+moreover he drew his scymitar and, standing at the head of Abu
+Nowas, pricked him with the point; whereupon he awoke and saw the
+drawn sword and the Caliph standing over him. At this sight the
+fumes of the wine fled from his head and the Caliph said to him,
+"Make me some verses and tell me therein what is become of thy
+cup; or I will cut off thy head." So he improvised these
+couplets,
+
+"My tale, indeed, is tale unlief; * 'Twas yonder fawn who play'd
+     the thief!
+She stole my cup of wine, before * The sips and sups had dealt
+     relief,
+And hid it in a certain place, * My heart's desire and longing
+     grief.
+I name it not, for dread of him * Who hath of it command-in-
+    chief."
+
+Quoth the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead![FN#391] How knewest
+thou that? But we accept what thou sayst." Then he ordered him a
+dress of honour and a thousand dinars, and he went away
+rejoicing. And among tales they tell is one of
+
+
+
+
+           THE MAN WHO STOLE THE DISH OF GOLD WHEREIN
+                          THE DOG ATE.
+
+
+
+Sometime erst there was a man, who had accumulated debts, and his
+case was straitened upon him, so that he left his people and
+family and went forth in distraction; and he ceased not wandering
+on at random till he came after a time to a city tall of walls
+and firm of foundations. He entered it in a state of despondency
+and despair, harried by hunger and worn with the weariness of his
+way. As he passed through one of the main streets, he saw a
+company of the great going along; so he followed them till they
+reached a house like to a royal-palace. He entered with them, and
+they stayed not faring forwards till they came in presence of a
+person seated at the upper end of a saloon, a man of the most
+dignified and majestic aspect, surrounded by pages and eunuchs,
+as he were of the sons of the Wazirs.When he saw the visitors, he
+rose to greet them and received them with honour; but the poor
+man aforesaid was confounded at his own boldness, when
+beholding----And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the poor
+man aforesaid was confounded at his own boldness, when beholding
+the goodliness of the place and the crowd of servants and
+attendants; so drawing back, in perplexity and fear for his life
+sat down apart in a place afar off. where none should see him.
+Now it chanced that whilst he was sitting, behold, in came a man
+with four sporting-dogs, whereon were various kinds of raw silk
+and brocade[FN#392] and wearing round their necks collars of gold
+with chains of silver, and tied up each dog in a place set privy
+for him; after which he went out and presently returned with four
+dishes of gold, full of rich meats, which he set severally before
+the dogs, one for each. Then he went away and left them, whilst
+the poor man began to eye the food, for stress of hunger, and
+longed to go up to one of the dogs and eat with him, but fear of
+them withheld him. Presently, one of the dogs looked at him and
+Allah Almighty inspired the dog with a knowledge of his case; so
+he drew back from the platter and signed to the man, who came and
+ate till he was filled. Then he would have withdrawn, but the dog
+again signed to him to take for himself the dish and what food
+was left in it, and pushed it towards him with his fore-paw. So
+the man took the dish and leaving the house, went his way, and
+none followed him. Then he journeyed to another city where he
+sold the dish and buying with the price a stock-in-trade,
+returned to his own town. There he sold his goods and paid his
+debts; and he throve and became affluent and rose to perfect
+prosperity. He abode in his own land; but after some years had
+passed he said to himself, "Needs must I repair to the city of
+the owner of the dish, and, carry him a fit and handsome present
+and pay him the money-value of that which his dog bestowed upon
+me." So he took the price of the dish and a suitable gift; and,
+setting out, journeyed day and night, till he came to that city;
+he entered it and sought the place where the man lived; but he
+found there naught save ruins mouldering in row and croak of
+crow, and house and home desolate and all conditions in changed
+state. At this, his heart and soul were troubled, and he repeated
+the saying of him who saith,
+
+"Void are the private rooms of treasury: * As void were hearts of
+     fear and piety:
+Changed is the Wady nor are its gazelles * Those fawns, nor sand-
+    hills those I wont to see."
+
+And that of another,
+
+"In sleep came Su'adá's[FN#393] shade and wakened me * Near dawn,
+     when comrades all a-sleeping lay:
+But waking found I that the shade was fled, * And saw air empty
+     and shrine far away."
+
+Now when the man saw these mouldering ruins and witnessed what
+the hand of time had manifestly done with the place, leaving but
+traces of the substantial-things that erewhiles had been, a
+little reflection made it needless for him to enquire of the
+case; so he turned away. Presently, seeing a wretched man, in a
+plight which made him shudder and feel goose-skin, and which
+would have moved the very rock to rush, he said to him, "Ho thou!
+What have time and fortune done with the lord of this place?
+Where are his lovely faces, his shining full moons and splendid
+stars; and what is the cause of the ruin that is come upon his
+abode, so that nothing save the walls thereof remain?" Quoth the
+other, "He is the miserable thou seest mourning that which hath
+left him naked. But knowest thou not the words of the Apostle
+(whom Allah bless and keep!), wherein is a lesson to him who will
+learn by it and a warning to whoso will be warned thereby and
+guided in the right way, 'Verily it is the way of Allah Almighty
+to raise up nothing of this world, except He cast it down
+again?'[FN#394] If thou question of the cause of this accident,
+indeed it is no wonder, considering the chances and changes of
+Fortune. I was the lord of this place and I builded it and
+founded it and owned it; and I was the proud possessor of its
+full moons lucent and its circumstance resplendent and its
+damsels radiant and its garniture magnificent, but Time turned
+and did away from me wealth and servants and took from me what it
+had lent (not given); and brought upon me calamities which it
+held in store hidden. But there must needs be some reason for
+this thy question: so tell it me and leave wondering." Thereupon,
+the man who had waxed wealthy being sore concerned, told him the
+whole story, and added, "I have brought thee a present, such as
+souls desire, and the price of thy dish of gold which I took; for
+it was the cause of my affluence after poverty, and of the
+replenishment of my dwelling-place, after desolation, and of the
+dispersion of my trouble and straitness." But the man shook his
+head, and weeping and groaning and complaining of his lot
+answered, "Ho thou! methinks thou art mad; for this is not the
+way of a man of sense. How should a dog of mine make generous
+gift to thee of a dish of gold and I meanly take back the price
+of what a dog gave? This were indeed a strange thing! Were I in
+extremest unease and misery, by Allah, I would not accept of thee
+aught; no, not the worth of a nail-paring! So return whence thou
+camest in health and safety."[FN#395] Whereupon the merchant
+kissed his feet and taking leave of him, returned whence he came,
+praising him and reciting this couplet,
+
+"Men and dogs together are all gone by, * So peace be with all of
+     them! dogs and men!'
+
+And Allah is All knowing! Again men tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+           THE SHARPER OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE CHIEF OF
+                            POLICE.
+
+
+
+There was once in the coast-fortress of Alexandria, a Chief of
+Police, Husám al-Din highs, the sharp Scymitar of the Faith. Now
+one night as he sat in his seat of office, behold, there came in
+to him a trooper-wight who said, "Know, O my lord the Chief, that
+I entered your city this night and alighted at such a khan and
+slept there till a third part of the night was past when I awoke
+and found my saddle-bags sliced open and a purse of a thousand
+gold pieces stolen from them." No sooner had he done speaking
+than the Chief summoned his chief officials and bade them lay
+hands on all in the khan and clap them in limbo till the morning;
+and on the morrow, he caused bring the rods and whips used in
+punishment, and, sending for the prisoners, was about to flog
+them till they confessed in the presence of the owner of the
+stolen money when, lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came
+up to the Chief of Police,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Chief
+was about to flog them when lo! a man broke through the crowd
+till he came up to the Chief of Police and the trooper and said;
+"Ho! Emir, let these folk go, for they are wrongously accused. It
+was I who robbed this trooper, and see, here is the purse I stole
+from his saddle-bags." So saying, he pulled out the purse from
+his sleeve and laid it before Husam al-Din, who said to the
+soldier, "Take thy money and pouch it; thou now hast no ground of
+complaint against the people of the khan." Thereupon these folk
+and all who were present fell to praising the thief and blessing
+him; but he said, "Ho! Emir, the skill is not in that I came to
+thee in person and brought thee the purse; the cleverness was in
+taking it a second time from this trooper." Asked the Chief, "And
+how didst thou do to take it, O sharper?"; and the robber
+replied, "O Emir, I was standing in the Shroff's[FN#396] bazar at
+Cairo, when I saw this soldier receive the gold in change and put
+it in yonder purse; so I followed him from by-street to by-
+street, but found no occasion of stealing it. Then he travelled
+from Cairo and I followed him from town to town, plotting and
+planning by the way to rob him, but without avail, till he
+entered this city and I dogged him to the khan. I took up my
+lodging beside him and watched him till he fell asleep and I
+heard him sleeping; when I went up to him softly, softly; and I
+slit open his saddle-bags with this knife, and took the purse in
+the way I am now taking it." So saying, he put out his hand and
+took the purse from before the Chief of Police and the trooper,
+both of whom, together with the folk, drew back watching him and
+thinking he would show them how he took the purse from the
+saddle-bags. But, behold! he suddenly broke into a run and threw
+himself into a pool of standing water[FN#397] hard by. So the
+Chief of the Police shouted to his officers, "Stop thief!" and
+many made after him; but before they could doff their clothes and
+descend the steps, he had made off; and they sought for him, but
+found him not; for that the by-streets and lanes of Alexandria
+all communicate. So they came back without bringing the purse;
+and the Chief of Police said to the trooper, "Thou hast no demand
+upon the folk; for thou fondest him who robbed thee and
+receivedst back thy money, but didst not keep it." So the trooper
+went away, having lost his money, whilst the folk were delivered
+from his hands and those of the Chief of Police, and all this was
+of the favour of Almighty Allah.[FN#398] And they also tell the
+tale of
+
+
+
+
+           AL-MALIK AL-NASIR AND THE THREE CHIEFS OF
+                            POLICE.
+
+
+
+Once upon a time Al-Malik al-Násir[FN#399] sent for the Wális or
+Chiefs of Police of Cairo, Bulak, and Fostat[FN#400] and said to
+them, "I desire each of you to recount me the marvellousest thing
+that hath befallen him during his term of office."--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth
+Al-Malik al-Nasir to the three Walis, "I desire each of you to
+recount me the marvellousest thing which hath befallen him during
+his term of office." So they answered, "We hear and we obey."
+Then said the Chief of the Police of Cairo, "Know thou, O our
+lord the Sultan, the most wonderful thing that befel me, during
+my term of office, was on this wise:" and he began
+
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo.
+
+
+
+"There were in this city two men of good repute fit to bear
+witness[FN#401] in matters of murder and wounds; but they were
+both secretly addicted to intrigues with low women and to wine-
+bibbing and to dissolute doings, nor could I succeed (do what I
+would) in bringing them to book, and I began to despair of
+success. So I charged the taverners and confectioners and
+fruiterers and candle-chandlers and the keepers of brothels and
+bawdy houses to acquaint me of these two good men whenever they
+should anywhere be engaged in drinking or other debauchery, or
+together or apart; and ordered that, if they both or if either of
+them bought at their shops aught for the purpose of wassail and
+carousel, the vendors should not conceal-it from me. And they
+replied, 'We hear and obey.' Presently it chanced that one night,
+a man came to me and said, 'O my master, know that the two just
+men, the two witnesses, are in such a street in such a house,
+engaged in abominable wickedness.' So I disguised myself, I and
+my body-servant, and ceased not trudging till I came to the house
+and knocked at the door, whereupon a slave-girl came out and
+opened to me, saying, 'Who art thou?' I entered without answering
+her and saw the two legal-witnesses and the house-master sitting,
+and lewd women by their side and before them great plenty of
+wine. When they saw me, they rose to receive me, and made much of
+me, seating me in the place of honour and saying to me, 'Welcome
+for an illustrious guest and well come for a pleasant cup-
+companion!' And on this wise they met me without showing a sign
+of alarm or trouble. Presently, the master of the house arose
+from amongst us and went out and returned after a while with
+three hundred dinars, when the men said to me, without the least
+fear, 'Know, O our lord the Wali, it is in thy power to do even
+more than disgrace and punish us; but this will bring thee in
+return nothing but weariness: so we reck thou wouldest do better
+to take this much money and protect us; for Almighty Allah is
+named the Protector and loveth those of His servants who protect
+their Moslem neighbours; and thou shalt have thy reward in this
+world and due recompense in the world to come.' So I said to
+myself, 'I will take the money and protect them this once, but,
+if ever again I have them in my power, I will take my wreak of
+them;' for, you see, the money had tempted me. Thereupon I took
+it and went away thinking that no one would know it; but, next
+day, on a sudden one of the Kazi's messengers came to me and said
+to me, 'O Wali, be good enough to answer the summons of the Kazi
+who wanteth thee.' So I arose and accompanied him, knowing not
+the meaning of all this; and when I came into the judge's
+presence, I saw the two witnesses and the master of the house,
+who had given me the money, sitting by his side. Thereupon this
+man rose and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was it in my
+power to deny the debt; for he produced a written obligation and
+his two companions, the legal witnesses, testified against me
+that I owed the amount. Their evidence satisfied the Kazi and he
+ordered me to pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court till they
+had of me the three hundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the
+utmost wrath and shame, vowing mischief and vengeance against
+them and repenting that I had not punished them. Such, then is
+the most remarkable event which befel me during my term of
+office." Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak Police and said,
+"As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that
+happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:" and he
+began
+
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.
+
+
+
+"I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand
+gold pieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all
+that was behind me and what was before me and all I hent in hand,
+but I could collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of
+Bulak continued: "So I sold all that was behind and before me,
+but could collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars and
+remained in great perplexity. Now one night, as I sat at home in
+this state, behold, there came a knocking; so I said to one of my
+servants, 'See who is at the door.' He went out and returned, wan
+of face, changed in countenance and with his side-muscles a-
+quivering; so I asked him, 'What aileth thee?'; and he answered,
+'There is a man at the door; he is half naked, clad in skins,
+with sword in hand and knife in girdle, and with him are a
+company of the same fashion and he asketh for thee.' So I took my
+sword and going out to see who these were, behold, I found them
+as the boy had reported and said to them, 'What is your
+business?' They replied, 'Of a truth we be thieves and have done
+fine work this night; so we appointed the swag to thy use, that
+thou mayst pay therewith the debts which sadden thee and deliver
+thee from thy distress.' Quoth I, 'Where is the plunder?'; and
+they brought me a great chest, full of vessels of gold and
+silver; which when I saw, I rejoiced and said to myself,
+'Herewith I will settle all claims upon me and there will remain
+as much again.' So I took the money and going inside said in my
+mind, 'It were ignoble to let them fare away empty-handed.'
+Whereupon I brought out the hundred thousand dinars I had by me
+and gave it to them, thanking them for their kindness; and they
+pouched the monies and went their way, under cover of the night
+so that none might know of them. But when morning dawned I
+examined the contents of the chest, and found them copper and
+tin[FN#403] washed with gold worth five hundred dirhams at the
+most; and this was grievous to me, for I had lost what monies I
+had and trouble was added to my trouble. Such, then, is the most
+remarkable event which befel me during my term of office." Then
+rose the Chief of the Police of Old Cairo and said, "O our lord
+the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened to me, since
+I became Wali, was on this wise;" and he began
+
+
+
+
+The Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police.
+
+
+
+"I once hanged ten thieves each on his own gibbet, and especially
+charged the guards to watch them and hinder the folk from taking
+any one of them down. Next morning when I came to look at them, I
+found two bodies hanging from one gallows and said to the guards,
+'Who did this, and where is the tenth gibbet?' But they denied
+all knowledge of it, and I was about to beat them till they owned
+the truth, when they said, 'Know, O Emir, that we fell asleep
+last night, and when we awoke, we found that some one had stolen
+one of the bodies, gibbet and all; so we were alarmed and feared
+thy wrath. But, behold, up came a peasant-fellow driving his ass;
+whereupon we laid hands on him and killed him and hanged his body
+upon this gallows, in the stead of the thief who had been
+stolen.'[FN#404] Now when I heard this, I marvelled and asked
+them, 'What had he with him?'; and they answered, 'He had a pair
+of saddle-bags on the ass.' Quoth I, 'What was in them?'; quoth
+they, 'We know not.' So I said, 'Bring them hither;' and when
+they brought them to me I bade open them, behold, therein was the
+body of a murdered man, cut in pieces. Now as soon as I saw this,
+I marvelled at the case and said in myself, 'Glory to God! The
+cause of the hanging of this peasant was none other but his crime
+against this murdered man; and thy Lord is not unjust towards His
+servants.'"[FN#405] And men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+                   THE THIEF AND THE SHROFF.
+
+
+
+A certain Shroff, bearing a bag of gold pieces, once passed by a
+company of thieves, and one of these sharpers said to the others,
+"I, and I only, have the power to steal yonder purse." So they
+asked, "How wilt thou do it?"; and he answered, "Look ye all!";
+and followed the money-changer, till he entered his house, when
+he threw the bag on a shelf[FN#406] and, being affected with
+diabetes, went into the chapel of ease to do his want, calling to
+the slave-girl, "Bring me an ewer of water." She took the ewer
+and followed him to the privy, leaving the door open, whereupon
+the thief entered and, seizing the money-bag, made off with it to
+his companions, to whom he told what had passed.--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the thief
+took the money-bag and made off with it to his companions to whom
+he told what had passed. Said they, "By Allah, thou hast played a
+clever trick! ''tis not every one could do it; but, presently the
+money-changer will come out of the privy; and missing the bag of
+money, he will beat the slave-girl and torture her with grievous
+torture. 'Tis as though thou hast at present done nothing worthy
+of praise; so, if thou be indeed a sharper, return and save the
+girl from being beaten and questioned." Quoth he, ' Inshallah! I
+will save both girl and purse." Then the prig went back to the
+Shroff's house and found him punishing the girl because of the
+purse; so he knocked at the door and the man said, "Who is
+there?" Cried the thief, "I am the servant of thy neighbour in
+the Exchange;" whereupon he came out to him and said, "What is
+thy business?" The thief replied, "My master saluteth thee and
+saith to thee: 'Surely thou art deranged and thoroughly so, to
+cast the like of this bag of money down at the door of thy shop
+and go away and leave it.' Had a stranger hit upon it he had made
+off with it and, except my master had seen it and taken care of
+it, it had assuredly been lost to thee." So saying, he pulled out
+the purse and showed it to the Shroff who on seeing it said,
+"That is my very purse," and put out his hand to take it; but the
+thief said, "By Allah, I will not give thee this same, till thou
+write me a receipt declaring that thou hast received it! for
+indeed I fear my master will not believe that thou hast recovered
+the purse, unless I bring him thy writing to that effect, and
+sealed with thy signet-seal." The money changer went in to write
+the paper required; and in the meantime the thief made off with
+the bag of money and thus was the slave-girl saved her beating.
+And men also tell a tale of
+
+
+
+
+          THE CHIEF OF THE KUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER.
+
+
+
+It is related that Alá al-Dín, Chief of Police at Kús,[FN#407]
+was sitting one night in his house, when behold, a personage of
+handsome appearance and dignified aspect came to the door,
+accompanied by a servant bearing a chest upon his head and,
+standing there said to one of the Wali's young men, "Go in and
+tell the Emir that I would have audience of him on some privy
+business." So the servant went in and told his master, who bade
+admit the visitor. When he entered, the Emir saw him to be a man
+of handsome semblance and portly presence; so he received him
+with honour and high distinction, seating him beside himself, and
+said to him, "What is thy wish?" Replied the stranger, "I am a
+highwayman and am minded to repent at thy hands and turn to
+Almighty Allah; but I would have thee help me to this, for that I
+am in thy district and under thine inspection. Now I have here a
+chest, wherein are matters worth some forty thousand dinars; and
+none hath so good a right to it as thou; so do thou take it and
+give me in exchange a thousand dinars, of thine own monies
+lawfully gotten, that I may have a little capital, to aid me in
+my repentance,[FN#408] and save me from resorting to sin for my
+subsistence; and with Allah Almighty be thy reward!" Speaking
+thus he opened the chest and showed the Wali that it was full of
+trinkets and jewels and bullion and ring-gems and pearls, whereat
+he was amazed and rejoiced with great joy. So he cried out to his
+treasurer, saying, "Bring hither a certain purse containing a
+thousand dinars,"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali
+cried out to his treasurer, saying "Bring hither a certain purse
+containing a thousand dinars; and gave it to the highwayman, who
+took it and thanking him, went his way under cover of the night.
+Now when it was the morrow, the Emir sent for the chief of the
+goldsmiths and showed him the chest and what was therein; but the
+goldsmith found it nothing but tin and brass, and the jewels and
+bezel stones and pearls all of glass; whereat the Wali was sore
+chagrined and sent in quest of the highwayman; but none could
+come at him. And men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+            IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE MERCHANT'S
+                            SISTER.
+
+
+
+The Caliph Al-Maamún once said to his uncle Ibrahim bin Al-Mahdí,
+"Tell us the most remarkable thing that thou hast ever seen."
+Answered he: "I hear and obey, O Commander of the Faithful. Know
+that I rode out one day, a-pleasuring, and my ride brought me to
+a place where I smelt the reek of food. So my soul longed for it
+and I halted, O Prince of True Believers, perplexed and unable
+either to go on or to go in. Presently, I raised my eyes and lo!
+I espied a lattice-window and behind it a wrist, than which I
+never beheld aught lovelier. The sight turned my brain and I
+forgot the smell of the food and began to plan and plot how I
+should get access to the house. After awhile, I observed a tailor
+hard by and going up to him, saluted him. He returned my salam
+and I asked him, 'Whose house is that?' And he answered, 'It
+belongeth to a merchant called such an one, son of such an one,
+who consorteth with none save merchants.' As we were talking,
+behold, up came two men, of comely aspect with intelligent
+countenances, riding on horseback; and the tailor told me that
+they were the merchant's most intimate friends and acquainted me
+with their names. So I urged my beast towards them and said to
+them, 'Be I your ransom! Abu Fulán[FN#409] awaiteth you!'; and I
+rode with them both to the gate, where I entered and they also.
+Now when the master of the house saw me with them he doubted not
+but I was their friend; so he welcomed me and seated me in the
+highest stead. Then they brought the table of food and I said in
+myself, 'Allah hath granted me my desire of the food; and now
+there remain the hand and the wrist.' After awhile, we removed
+for carousel to another room, which I found tricked out with all
+manner of rarities; and the host paid me particular attention,
+addressing his talk to me, for that he took me to be a guest of
+his guests; whilst in like manner these two made much of me,
+taking me for a friend of their friend the house-master. Thus I
+was the object of politest attentions till we had drunk several
+cups of wine and there came into us a damsel as she were a willow
+wand of the utmost beauty and elegance, who took a lute and
+playing a lively measure, sang these couplets,
+
+'Is it not strange one house us two contain * And still thou
+     draw'st not near, or talk we twain?
+Only our eyes tell secrets of our souls, * And broken hearts by
+     lovers' fiery pain;
+Winks with the eyelids, signs the eyebrow knows; * Languishing
+     looks and hand saluting fain.'
+
+When I heard these words my vitals were stirred, O Commander of
+the Faithful, and I was moved to delight, for her excessive
+loveliness and the beauty of the verses she sang; and I envied
+her her skill and said, 'There lacketh somewhat to thee, O
+damsel!' Whereupon she threw the lute from her hand in anger, and
+cried, 'Since when are ye wont to bring ill-mannered louts into
+your assemblies?' Then I repented of what I had done, seeing the
+company vexed with me, and I said in my mind, 'My hopes are lost
+by me'; and I weeted no way of escaping blame but to call for a
+lute, saying, 'I will show you what escaped her in the air she
+played.' Quoth the folk, 'We hear and obey'; so they brought me a
+lute and I tuned the strings and sang these verses,
+
+'This is thy friend perplexed for pain and pine, * Th' enamoured,
+     down whose breast course drops of brine:
+He hath this hand to the Compassionate raised * For winning wish,
+     and that on hearts is lien:
+O thou who seest one love-perishing, * His death is caused by
+     those hands and eyne!'[FN#410]
+
+Whereupon the damsel sprang up and throwing herself at my feet,
+kissed them and said, 'It is thine to excuse, O my Master! By
+Allah, I knew not thy quality nor heard I ever the like of this
+performance!' And all began extolling me and making much of me,
+being beyond measure delighted' and at last they besought me to
+sing again. So I sang a merry air, whereupon they all became
+drunken with music and wine, their wits left them and they were
+carried off to their homes, while I abode alone with the host and
+the girl. He drank some cups with me and then said, 'O my lord,
+my life hath been lived in vain for that I have not known the
+like of thee till the present. Now, by Allah, tell me who thou
+art, that I may ken who is the cup-companion whom Allah hath
+bestowed on me this night.' At first I returned him evasive
+answers and would not tell him my name; but he conjured me till I
+told him who I was, whereupon he sprang to his feet"--And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son
+of Al-Mahdi continued: "Now when the housemaster heard my name he
+sprang to his feet and said, 'Indeed I wondered that such gifts
+should belong to any but the like of thee; and Fortune hath done
+me a good turn for which I cannot thank her too much. But, haply,
+this is a dream; for how could I hope that one of the Caliphate
+house should visit my humble home and carouse with me this
+night?' I conjured him to be seated; so he sat down and began to
+question me as to the cause of my visit in the most courteous
+terms. So I told him the whole affair, first and last, hiding
+naught, and said to him, 'Now as to the food I have had my will,
+but of the hand and wrist I have still to win my wish.' Quoth he,
+'Thou shalt have thy desire of the hand and wrist also,
+Inshallah!' Then said he to the slave-girl, 'Ho, such an one, bid
+such an one come down.' And he called his slave-girls down, one
+by one and showed them to me; but I saw not my mistress among
+them, and he said, 'O my lord, there is none left save my mother
+and sister; but, by Allah, I must needs have them also down and
+show them to thee.' So I marvelled at his courtesy and large
+heartedness and said, 'May I be thy sacrifice! Begin with the
+sister;' and he answered, 'With joy and goodwill.' So she came
+down and he showed me her hand and behold, she was the owner of
+the hand and wrist. Quoth I, 'Allah make me thy ransom! this is
+the damsel whose hand and wrist I saw at the lattice.' Then he
+sent his servants without stay or delay for witnesses and
+bringing out two myriads[FN#411] of gold pieces, said to the
+witnesses, 'This our lord and master, Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi,
+paternal-uncle of the Commander of the Faithful, seeketh in
+marriage my sister such an one; and I call you to witness that I
+give her in wedlock to him and that he hath settled upon her ten
+thousand dinars.' And he said to me, 'I give thee my sister in
+marriage, at the portion aforesaid.' 'I consent,' answered I,
+'and am herewith content.' Whereupon he gave one of the bags to
+her and the other to the witnesses, and said to me, 'O our lord,
+I desire to adorn a chamber for thee, where thou mayst sleep with
+thy wife.' But I was abashed at his generosity and was ashamed to
+lie with her in his house; so I said, 'Equip her and send her to
+my place.' And by thy being, O Commander of the Faithful, he sent
+me with her such an equipage that my house, for all its
+greatness, was too strait to hold it! And I begot on her this boy
+that standeth in thy presence." Then Al-Maamun marvelled at the
+man's generosity and said, "Gifted of Allah is he! Never heard I
+of his like." And he bade Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi bring him to
+court, that he might see him. He brought him and the Caliph
+conversed with him; and his wit and good breeding so pleased him
+that he made him one of his chief officers. And Allah is the
+Giver, the Bestower! Men also relate the tale of
+
+
+
+
+             THE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR
+                    GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR.
+
+
+
+A certain King once made proclamation to the people of his realm
+saying, "If any of you give alms of aught, I will verily and
+assuredly cut off his hand;" wherefore all the people abstained
+from alms-deed, and none could give anything to any one. Now it
+chanced that one day a beggar accosted a certain woman (and
+indeed hunger was sore upon him), and said to her, "Give me an
+alms"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+
+        When it was Three Hundred and Forty-eighth Night
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, quoth the
+beggar to the woman, "Give me an alms however small." But she
+answered him, "How can I give thee aught, when the King cutteth
+off the hands of all who give alms?" Then he said, "I conjure
+thee by Allah Almighty, give me an alms;" so when he adjured her
+by the Holy Name of Allah, she had ruth on him and gave him two
+scones. The King heard of this; whereupon he called her before
+him and cut off her hands, after which she returned to her house.
+Now it chanced after a while that the King said to his mother, "I
+have a mind to take a wife; so do thou marry me to a fair woman."
+Quoth she, "There is among our female slaves one who is
+unsurpassed in beauty; but she hath a grievous blemish." The King
+asked, "What is that?" and his mother answered, "She hath had
+both her hands cut off." Said he, "Let me see her." So she
+brought her to him, and he was ravished by her and married her
+and went in unto her; and begat upon her a son. Now this was the
+woman who had given two scones as an alms to the asker, and whose
+hands had been cut off therefor; and when the King married her,
+her fellow-wives envied her and wrote to the common husband that
+she was an unchaste, having just given birth to the boy; so he
+wrote to his mother, bidding her carry the woman into the desert
+and leave her there. The old Queen obeyed his commandment and
+abandoned the woman and her son in the desert; whereupon she fell
+to weeping for that which had befallen her and wailing with
+exceeding sore wail. As she went along, she came to a river and
+knelt down to drink, being overcome with excess of thirst, for
+fatigue of walking and for grief; but, as she bent her head, the
+child which was at her neck fell into the water. Then she sat
+weeping bitter tears for her child, and as she wept, behold came
+up two men, who said to her, "What maketh thee weep?" Quoth she,
+"I had a child at my neck, and he hath fallen into the water."
+They asked, "Wilt thou that we bring him out to thee?" and she
+answered, "Yes." So they prayed to Almighty Allah, and the child
+came forth of the water to her, safe and sound. Then said they,
+"Wilt thou that Allah restore thee thy hands as they were?"
+"Yes," replied she: whereupon they prayed to Allah (extolled and
+exalted be He!) and her hands were restored to her, goodlier than
+before. Then said they, "Knowest thou who we are?"; and she
+replied, "Allah is all knowing;"[FN#412] and they said, "We are
+thy two Scones of Bread, which thou gayest in alms to the asker
+and which were the cause of the cutting off of thy hands.[FN#413]
+So praise thou Allah Almighty for that He hath restored to thee
+thy hands and thy child." Then she praised Almighty Allah and
+glorified Him. And men relate a tale of
+
+
+
+
+                     THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.
+
+
+
+There was once a devout man of the Children of Israel,[FN#414]
+whose family span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell
+the yarn and buy fresh cotton, and with the profit he laid in
+daily bread for his household. One morning he went out and sold
+the day's yarn as wont, when there met him one of his brethren,
+who complained to him of need; so he gave him the price of the
+thread and returned, empty-handed, to his family, who said to
+him, "Where is the cotton and the food?" Quoth he, "Such an one
+met me and complained to me of want; whereupon I gave him the
+price of the yarn." And they said, "How shall we do? We have
+nothing to sell." Now they had a cracked trencher[FN#415] and a
+jar; so he took them to the bazar but none would buy them of him.
+However presently, as he stood in the market, there passed by a
+man with a fish,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man
+took the trencher and jar to the bazar, but none would buy them
+of him. However there presently passed by a man with a fish which
+was so stinking and so swollen that no one would buy it of him,
+and he said to the Jew, "Wilt thou sell me thine unsaleable ware
+for mine?" "Yes," answered the Jew; and, giving him the wooden
+trencher and jar, took the fish and carried it home to his
+family, who said, "What shall we do with this fish?" Quoth he,
+"We will broil it and eat it, till it please Allah to provide
+bread for us." So they took it and ripping open its belly, found
+therein a great pearl and told the head of the household who
+said, "See ye if it be pierced: if so, it belongeth to some one
+of the folk; if not, 'tis a provision of Allah for us." So they
+examined it and found it unpierced. Now when it was the morrow,
+the Jew carried it to one of his brethren which was an expert in
+jewels, and the man asked, "O such an one! whence haddest thou
+this pearl?"; whereto the Jew answered, "It was a gift of
+Almighty Allah to us," and the other said, "It is worth a
+thousand dirhams and I will give thee that; but take it to such
+an one, for he hath more money and skill than I." So the Jew took
+it to the jeweller, who said, "It is worth seventy thousand
+dirhams and no more." Then he paid him that sum and the Jew hired
+two porters to carry the money to his house. As he came to his
+door, a beggar accosted him, saying, "Give me of that which Allah
+hath given thee." Quoth the Jew to the asker, "But yesterday we
+were even as thou; take thee half this money:" so he made two
+parts of it, and each took his half. Then said the beggar, "Take
+back thy money and Allah bless and prosper thee in it; I am a
+Messenger,[FN#416] whom thy Lord hath sent to try thee." Quoth
+the Jew, "To Allah be the praise and the thanks!" and abode in
+all delight of life he and his household till death. And men
+recount this story of
+
+
+
+
+             ABU HASSAN AL-ZIYADI AND THE KHORASAN.
+
+
+
+Quoth Abú Hassán al-Ziyádi[FN#417]: "I was once in straitened
+case and so needy that the grocer, the baker and other tradesmen
+dunned and importuned me; and my misery became extreme, for I
+knew of no resource nor what to do. Things being on this wise
+there came to me one day certain of my servants and said to me,
+'At the door is a pilgrim wight, who seeketh admission to thee.'
+Quoth I, 'Admit him.' So he came in and behold, he was a
+Khorasání. We exchanged salutations and he said to me, 'Tell me,
+art thou Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?'; and I replied, 'Yes, what is thy
+wish?' Quoth he, 'I am a stranger and am minded to make the
+pilgrimage; but I have with me a great sum of money, which is
+burdensome to bear: so I wish to deposit these ten thousand
+dirhams with thee whilst I make my pilgrimage and return. If the
+caravan march back and thou see me not, then know that I am dead,
+in which case the money is a gift from me to thee; but if I come
+back, it shall be mine.' I answered, 'Be it as thou wilt, an thus
+please Allah Almighty.' So he brought out a leather bag and I
+said to the servant, 'Fetch the scales;' and when he brought them
+the man weighed out the money and handed it to me, after which he
+went his way. Then I called the purveyors and paid them my
+liabilities"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+
+       When it was the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Abu
+Hassan al-Ziyadi: "I called the purveyors and paid them my
+liabilities and spent freely and amply, saying to myself, 'By the
+time he returns, Allah will have relieved me with one or other of
+the bounties He hath by Him.' However, on the very next day, the
+servant came in to me and said, 'Thy friend the Khorasan man is
+at the door.' 'Admit him,' answered I. So he came in and said to
+me, 'I had purposed to make the pilgrimage; but news hath reached
+me of the decease of my father, and I have resolved to return; so
+give me the monies I deposited with thee yesterday.' When I heard
+this, I was troubled and perplexed beyond measure of perplexity
+known to man and wotted not what reply to make him; for, if I
+denied it, he would put me on my oath, and I should be disgraced
+in the world to come; whilst, if I told him that I had spent the
+money, he would make an outcry and dishonour me before men. So I
+said to him, 'Allah give thee health! This my house is no
+stronghold nor site of safe custody for this money. When I
+received thy leather bag, I sent it to one with whom it now is;
+so do thou return to us to-morrow and take thy money,
+Inshallah!'[FN#418] So he went away and I passed the night in
+great concern, because of his return to me; sleep visited me not
+nor could I close my eyes; so I rose and bade the boy saddle me
+the she-mule. Answered he, 'O my lord, it is yet but the first
+third of the night and indeed we have hardly had time to rest.' I
+returned to my bed, but sleep was forbidden to me and I ceased
+not to awaken the boy, and he to put me off, till break of day,
+when he saddled me the mule, and I mounted and rode out, not
+knowing whither to go. I threw the reins on the mule's shoulders
+and gave myself up to regrets and melancholy thoughts, whilst she
+fared on with me to the eastward of Baghdad. Presently, as I went
+along, behold, I saw a number of people approaching me and turned
+aside into another path to avoid them; but seeing that I wore a
+turband in preacher-fashion,[FN#419] they followed me and
+hastening up to me, said, 'Knowest thou the lodging of Abu Hassan
+al-Ziyadi?' 'I am he,' answered I; and they rejoined, 'Obey the
+summons of the Commander of the Faithful.' Then they carried me
+before Al-Maamun, who said to me, 'Who art thou?' Quoth I, 'An
+associate of the Kazi Abu Yúsuf and a doctor of the law and
+traditions.' Asked the Caliph, 'By what surname art thou
+known?'[FN#420] and I answered, 'Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi;' whereupon
+quoth he, 'Expound to me thy case.' So I recounted to him my case
+and he wept sore and said to me, 'Out on thee! The Apostle of
+Allah (whom Allah bless and assain!) would not let me sleep this
+night, because of thee; for in early darkness[FN#421] he appeared
+to me and said, 'Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.' Whereupon I awoke
+and, knowing thee not, went to sleep again; but he came to me a
+second time and said to me, 'Woe to thee! Succour Abu Hassan
+al-Ziyadi.' I awoke a second time, but knowing thee not I went to
+sleep again; and he came to me a third time and still I knew thee
+not and went to sleep again. Then he came to me once more and
+said, 'Out on thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi!' After that I
+dared not sleep any more, but watched the rest of the night and
+aroused my people and sent them on all sides in quest of thee.'
+Then he gave me one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'This is for the
+Khorasani,' and other ten thousand, saying, 'Spend freely of this
+and amend thy case therewith, and set thine affairs in order.'
+Moreover, he presented me with thirty thousand dirhams, saying,
+'Furnish thyself with this, and when the Procession-day[FN#422]
+is being kept, come thou to me, that I may invest thee with some
+office.' So I went forth from him with the money and returned
+home, where I prayed the dawn-prayer; and behold, presently came
+the Khorasani, so I carried him into the house and brought out to
+him one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'Here is thy money.' Quoth he,
+'It is not my very money; how cometh this?' So I told him the
+whole story, and he wept and said, 'By Allah, haddest thou told
+me the fact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah,
+I will not accept aught of this money'"--And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
+Khorasani to Al-Ziyadi, "'By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact
+at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not
+accept aught of this money and thou art lawfully quit of it.' So
+saying, he went away and I set my affairs in order and repaired
+on the Procession-day to Al-Maamun's Gate, where I found him
+seated. When he saw me present myself he called me to him and,
+bringing forth to me a paper from under his prayer-carpet, said
+to me, 'This is a patent, conferring on thee the office of Kazi
+of the western division of Al-Medinah, the Holy City, from the
+Bab al-Salám[FN#423] to the furthest limit of the township; and I
+appoint thee such and such monthly allowances. So fear Allah (to
+whom be honour and glory!) end be mindful of the solicitude of
+His Apostle (whom may He bless and keep!) on thine account.' Then
+the folk marvelled at the Caliph's words and asked me their
+meaning; whereupon I told them the story from beginning to end
+and it spread abroad amongst the people." "And" (quoth he who
+telleth the tale) "Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi ceased not to be Kazi of
+Al-Medinah, the Holy City, till he died in the days of Al-Maamun
+the mercy of Allah be on him!" And among the tales men tell is
+one of
+
+
+
+
+              THE POOR MAN AND HIS FRIEND IN NEED.
+
+
+
+There was once a rich man who lost all he had and became
+destitute, whereupon his wife advised him to ask aid and
+assistance of one of his intimates. So he betook himself to a
+certain friend of his and acquainted him with his necessities;
+and he lent him five hundred dinars to trade withal. Now in early
+life he had been a jeweller; so he took the gold and went to the
+jewel-bazar, where he opened a shop to buy and sell. Presently,
+as he sat in his shop three men accosted him and asked for his
+father, and when he told them that he was deceased, they said,
+"Say, did he leave issue?" Quoth the jeweller, "He left the slave
+who is before you." They asked, "And who knoweth thee for his
+son?"; and he answered, "The people of the bazar whereupon they
+said, "Call them together, that they may testify to us that thou
+art his very son." So he called them and they bore witness of
+this; whereupon the three men delivered to him a pair of saddle-
+bags, containing thirty thousand dinars, besides jewels and
+bullion of high value, saying, "This was deposited with us in
+trust by thy father." Then they went away; and presently there
+came to him a woman, who sought of him certain of the jewels,
+worth five hundred dinars which she bought and paid him three
+thousand for them. Upon this he arose and took five hundred
+dinars and carrying them to his friend who had lent him the
+money, said to him, "Take the five hundred dinars I borrowed of
+thee; for Allah hath opened to me the gate of prosperity." Quoth
+the other, "Nay; I gave them to thee outright, for the love of
+Allah; so do thou keep them. And take this paper, but read it not
+till thou be at home, and do according to that which is therein."
+So he took the money and the paper and returned home, where he
+opened the scroll and found therein inscribed these couplets,
+
+"Kinsmen of mine were those three men who came to thee; * My sire
+     and uncles twain and Sálih bin Ali.
+So what for cash thou coldest, to my mother 'twas * Thou soldest
+     it, and coin and gems were sent by me.
+Thus doing I desired not any harm to thee * But in my presence
+     spare thee and thy modesty."
+
+And they also recount the story of
+
+
+
+
+              THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN
+                    THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]
+
+
+
+There lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who
+lost all his substance and became so destitute that he could earn
+his living only by hard labour. One night, he lay down to sleep,
+dejected and heavy hearted, and saw in a dream a Speaker[FN#425]
+who said to him, "Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither and
+seek it." So he set out for Cairo; but when he arrived there
+evening overtook him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque
+Presently, by decree of Allah Almighty, a band of bandits entered
+the mosque and made their way thence into an adjoining house; but
+the owners, being aroused by the noise of the thieves, awoke and
+cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to their aid with
+his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered the
+mosque and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold
+of him and beat him with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he
+was well-nigh dead. Then they cast him into jail, where he abode
+three days; after which the Chief of Police sent for him and
+asked him, "Whence art thou?"; and he answered, "From Baghdad."
+Quoth the Wali, "And what brought thee to Cairo?"; and quoth the
+Baghdadi, "I saw in a dream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in
+Cairo; go thither to it. But when I came to Cairo the fortune
+which he promised me proved to be the palm-rods thou so
+generously gavest to me." The Wali laughed till he showed his
+wisdom-teeth and said, "O man of little wit, thrice have I seen
+in a dream one who said to me: 'There is in Baghdad a house in
+such a district and of such a fashion and its courtyard is laid
+out garden-wise, at the lower end whereof is a jetting-fountain
+and under the same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go thither
+and take it.' Yet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy
+wit, hast journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream,
+which was but an idle galimatias of sleep." Then he gave him
+money saying, "Help thee back herewith to thine own country;"--
+And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+
+     When It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali
+gave the Baghdad man some silver, saying, "Help thee back
+herewith to thine own country;" and he took the money and set out
+upon his homewards march. Now the house the Wali had described
+was the man's own house in Baghdad; so the wayfarer returned
+thither and, digging underneath the fountain in his garden,
+discovered a great treasure. And thus Allah gave him abundant
+fortune; and a marvellous coincidence occurred. And a story is
+also current of
+
+
+
+
+             CALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL AND HIS CONCUBINE
+                           MAHBUBAH.
+
+
+
+There were in the palace of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil
+ala'llah[FN#426] four thousand concubines, whereof two thousand
+were Greeks and other two thousand slave born Arabians[FN#427]
+and Abyssinians; and 'Obayd ibn Táhir[FN#428] had given him two
+hundred white girls and a like number of Abyssinian and native
+girls. Among these slave-borns was a girl of Bassorah, hight
+Mahbúbah, the Beloved, who was of surpassing beauty and
+loveliness, elegance and voluptuous grace. Moreover, she played
+upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making verses and
+wrote a beautiful hand; so that Al-Mutawakkil fell passionately
+in love with her and could not endure from her a single hour. But
+when she saw this affection, she presumed upon his favour to use
+him arrogantly, wherefore he waxed exceeding wroth with her and
+forsook her, forbidding the people of the palace to speak with
+her. She abode on this wise some days, but the Caliph still
+inclined to her; and he arose one morning and said to his
+courtiers, "I dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled to
+Mahhubah." They answered, "Would Allah this might be on wake!";
+and as they were talking, behold, in came one of the Caliph's
+maidservants and whispered him; so he rose from his throne and
+entered the Serraglio; for the whisper had said, "Of a truth we
+heard singing and lute-playing in Mahbubah's chamber and we knew
+not what this meant." So he went straight to her apartment, where
+he heard her playing upon the lute and singing the following
+verses,
+
+"I wander through the palace, but I sight there not a soul * To
+     whom I may complain or will 'change a word with me.
+It is as though I'd done so grievous rebel-deed * Wherefrom can
+     no contrition e'er avail to set me free.
+Have we no intercessor here to plead with King, who came * In
+     sleep to me and took me back to grace and amity;
+But when the break of day arose and showed itself again, * Then
+     he departing sent me back to dree my privacy?"
+
+Now when the Caliph heard her voice, he marvelled at the verse
+and yet more at the strange coincidence of their dreams and
+entered the chamber. As soon as she perceived him, she hastened
+to rise and throw herself at his feet, and kissing them, said,
+"By Allah, O my lord, this hap is what I dreamt last night; and,
+when I awoke, I made the couplets thou hast heard." Replied Al-
+Mutawakkil, "By Allah, I also dreamt the like!" Then they
+embraced and made friends and he abode with her seven days with
+their nights. Now Mahbubah had written upon her cheek, in musk,
+the Caliph's name, which was Ja'afar: and when he saw this, he
+improvised the following,
+
+"One wrote upon her cheek with musk, his name was Ja'afar highs;
+     * My soul for hers who wrote upon her cheek the name I
+     sight!
+If an her fingers have inscribed one line upon her cheek, * Full
+     many a line in heart of mine those fingers did indite:
+O thou, whom Ja'afar sole of men possesseth for himself, * Allah
+     fill Ja'afar[FN#429] stream full draught, the wine of thy
+     delight!"
+
+When Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him, all save
+Mahhubah,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
+Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him all save
+Mahbubah who ceased not to mourn for him, till she deceased and
+was buried by his side, the mercy of Allah be on them both! And
+men also tell the tale of
+
+
+
+
+           WARDAN[FN#430] THE BUTCHER; HIS ADVENTURE
+                  WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.
+
+
+
+There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-Hákim bi'
+Amri'llah, a butcher named Wardán, who dealt in sheep's flesh;
+and there came to him every day a lady and gave him a dinar,
+whose weight was nigh two and a half Egyptian dinars, saying,
+"Give me a lamb." So he took the money and gave her the lamb,
+which she delivered to a porter she had with her; and he put it
+in his crate and she went away with him to her own place. Next
+day she came in the forenoon and this went on for a long time,
+the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day, till at last he
+began to be curious about her case and said to himself, "This
+woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying
+ready money, and never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a
+strange thing!" So he took an occasion of questioning the porter,
+in her absence, and asked him, "Whither goest thou every day with
+yonder woman?"; and he answered, "I know not what to make of her
+for surprise; inasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the
+lamb of thee, she buyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and
+dried fruits and wax-candles a dinar's worth, and taketh of a
+certain person, which is a Nazarene, two flagons of wine, worth
+another dinar; and then she leadeth me with the whole and I go
+with her to the Wazir's Gardens, where she blindfoldeth me, so
+that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my feet; and,
+taking me by the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither.
+Presently, she sayeth, 'Set down here;' and when I have done so,
+she giveth me an empty crate she hath ready and, taking my hand,
+leadeth me back to the Wazir's Gardens, the place where she bound
+my eyes, and there removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver
+bits." "Allah be her helper!" quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in
+curiosity about her case; disquietude increased upon him and he
+passed the night in exceeding restlessness. And quoth the
+butcher, "Next morning she came to me as of custom and taking the
+lamb, for which she paid the dinar, delivered it to the porter
+and went away. So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed
+her without her seeing me;"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the
+butcher continued: "So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and
+followed her without her seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her
+in sight, hiding behind her, till she left Cairo and came to the
+Wazir's Gardens. Then I hid myself whilst she bandaged the
+porter's eyes and followed her again from place to place till she
+came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped at a spot where there
+was a great stone. Here she made the porter set down his crate,
+and I waited whilst she conducted him back to the Wazir's
+Gardens, after which she returned and, taking out the contents of
+the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that stone
+and wrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone
+an open trap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading
+downwards. So I descended, little by little, till I came to a
+long corridor, brilliantly lighted and followed it, till I made a
+closed door, as it were the door of a saloon. I looked about the
+wall sides near the doorway till I discovered a recess, with
+steps therein; then climbed up and found a little niche with a
+bulls-eye giving upon a saloon. Thence I looked inside and saw
+the lady cut off the choicest parts of the lamb and laying them
+in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big bear, who ate it all
+to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking, she
+ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections
+and brought out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and
+giving the bear to drink in a basin of gold. And as soon as she
+was heated with wine, she put off her petticoat-trousers and lay
+down on her back; whereupon the bear arose and came up to her and
+stroked her, whilst she gave him the best of what belongeth to
+the sons of Adam till he had made an end, when he sat down and
+rested. Presently, he sprang upon her and rogered her again; and
+when he ended he again sat down to rest, and he ceased not so
+doing till he had futtered her ten times and they both fell to
+the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then quoth I
+to myself, 'Now is my opportunity,' and taking a knife I had with
+me, that would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them
+and found them motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their
+hard swinking and swiving. So I put my knife to the bear's gullet
+and pressed upon it, till I finished him by severing his head
+from his body, and he gave a great snort like thunder, whereat
+the lady started up in alarm; and, seeing the bear slain and me
+standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so loud a shriek that I
+thought the soul had left her body. Then she asked, 'O Wardan, is
+this how thou requites me my favours?' And I answered, 'O enemy
+of thine own soul, is there a famine of men[FN#433] that thou
+must do this damnable thing?' She made no answer but bent down
+over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head
+divided from his body, said to me, 'O Wardan, which of the two
+courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and
+be the means of thine own safety'"--And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
+lady, " 'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take;
+either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own
+safety and competency to the end of thy days, or gainsay me and
+so cause thine own destruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, 'I choose
+rather to hearken unto thee: say what thou wilt.' Quoth she,
+'Then slay me, as thou hast slain this bear, and take thy need of
+this hoard and wend thy ways.' Quoth I, 'I am better than this
+bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty and repent, and I will
+marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the rest of our
+lives.' She rejoined, 'O Wardan, far be it from me! How shall I
+live after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly do
+away thy life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a
+lost man: this is all I have to say to thee and peace be with
+thee!' Then said I, 'I will kill thee, and thou shalt go to the
+curse of Allah.' So saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her
+throat; and she went to the curse of Allah and of the angels and
+of all mankind. And after so doing I examined the place and found
+there gold and bezel-stones and pearls, such as no one king could
+bring together. So I filled the porter's crate with as much as I
+could carry and covered it with the clothes I had on me. Then I
+shouldered it and, going up out of the underground treasure-
+chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring on, till I came to
+the gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten of the
+bodyguard of Al-Hakim bi' Amri'llah[FN#435] followed by the
+Prince himself who said to me, 'Ho, Wardan!' 'At thy service, O
+King,' replied I; when he asked, 'Hast thou killed the bear and
+the lady?' and I answered, 'Yes.' Quoth he, 'Set down the basket
+from thy head and fear naught, for all the treasure thou hast
+with thee is thine, and none shall dispute it with thee.' So I
+set down the crate before him, and he uncovered it and looked at
+it; then said to me, 'Tell me their case, albe I know it, as if I
+had been present with you.' So I told him all that had passed and
+he said, 'Thou hast spoken the truth,' adding, 'O Wardan, come
+now with me to the treasure.' So I returned with him to the
+cavern, where he found the trap-door closed and said to me, 'O
+Wardan, lift it; none but thou can open the treasure, for it is
+enchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436] Said I, 'By Allah, I
+cannot open it,' but he said, 'Go up to it, trusting in the
+blessing of Allah.' So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah
+and, advancing to the trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it
+came up as it had been of the lightest. Then said the Caliph, 'Go
+down and bring hither what is there; for none but one of thy name
+and semblance and nature hath gone down thither since the place
+was made, and the slaying of the bear and the woman was appointed
+to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with me and I was awaiting
+its fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth Wardan) I went down
+and brought up all the treasure, whereupon the Caliph sent for
+beasts of burden and carried it away, after giving me my crate,
+with what was therein. So I bore it home and opened me a shop in
+the market." And (saith he who telleth the tale) "this market is
+still extant and is known as Wardan's Market." And I have heard
+recount another story of
+
+
+
+
+                THE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.
+
+
+
+There was once a Sultan's daughter, whose heart was taken with
+love of a black slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became
+passionately addicted to futtering, so that she could not do
+without it a single hour and complained of her case to one of her
+body women, who told her that no thing poketh and stroketh more
+abundantly than the baboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day,
+that an ape-leader passed under her lattice, with a great ape; so
+she unveiled her face and looking upon the ape, signed to him
+with her eyes, whereupon he broke his bonds and chain and climbed
+up to the Princess, who hid him in a place with her, and night
+and day he abode there, eating and drinking and copulating. Her
+father heard of this and would have killed her;--And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+
+      When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
+Sultan heard of this work he would have slain his daughter; but
+she smoked his design; and, disguising herself in Mameluke's
+dress, mounted horse after loading a mule with gold and bullion,
+and precious stuffs past all account; then carrying with her the
+ape, she fled to Cairo, where she took up her abode in one of the
+houses without the city and upon the verge of the Suez-desert.
+Now, every day, she used to buy meat of a young man, a butcher,
+but she came not to him till after noonday; and then she was so
+yellow and disordered in face that he said in his mind, "There
+must indeed hang some mystery by this slave." "Accordingly (quoth
+the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out
+after her secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to
+place, so as she saw me not, till she came to her lodging on the
+edge of her waste and entered; and I looked in upon her through a
+cranny, and saw her as soon as she was at home, kindle a fire and
+cook the meat, of which she ate enough and served up the rest to
+a baboon she had by her and he did the same. Then she put off the
+slave's habit and donned the richest of women's apparel; and so I
+knew that she was a lady. After this she set on wine and drank
+and gave the ape to drink; and he stroked her nigh half a score
+times without drawing till she swooned away, when he spread over
+her a silken coverlet and returned to his place. Then I went down
+in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming aware of me,
+would have torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out my
+knife and slit his paunch and his bowels fell out. The noise
+aroused the young lady, who awoke terrified and trembling; and,
+when she saw the ape in this case, she shrieked such a shriek
+that her soul well nigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a
+fainting-fit and when she came to herself, she said to me, 'What
+moved thee to do thus? Now Allah upon thee, send me after him!'
+But I spoke her fair for a while and pledged myself to stand in
+the ape's stead in the matter of much poking, till her trouble
+subsided and I took her to wife. But when I came to perform my
+promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this matter and
+could not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my case and
+mentioned her exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman who
+engaged to manage the affair and said to me, 'Needs must thou
+bring me a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar and a pound of the
+herb pellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her what
+she sought, and she laid the pellitory in the pot with the
+vinegar and set it on the fire, till it was thoroughly boiled.
+Then she bade me futter the girl, and I futtered her till she
+fainted away, when the old woman took her up (and she
+unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the cooking-pot.
+The steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from it
+somewhat which I examined; and behold, it was two small worms,
+one black and the other yellow. Quoth the old, woman, ''The black
+was bred of the strokings of the negro and the yellow of stroking
+with the baboon.' Now when she recovered from her swoon she abode
+with me, in all delight and solace of life, and sought not
+swiving as before, for Allah had done away from her this
+appetite; whereat I marvelled"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+
+     When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
+man continued: "In truth Allah had done away from her this
+appetite; whereat I marvelled and acquainted her with the case.
+Thereupon I lived with her and she took the old woman to be to
+her in the stead of her mother." "And" (said he who told me the
+tale) "the old woman and the young man and his wife abode in joy
+and cheer till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and
+the Sunderer of societies; and glory be to the Ever-living One,
+who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of the world visible
+and invisible!''[FN#440] And another tale they tell is that of
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Arabian Nights Volume 4.
+
+
+
+
+
+                    Arabian Nights, Volume 4
+                           Footnotes
+
+
+
+[FN#1]  The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about
+the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built.
+It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Madáin
+(Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of
+the Euphrates, four days' march from Baghdad and has now
+disappeared. Al-Saffáh, the first Abbaside, made it his
+Capital--and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi
+school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents,
+the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the "Cufic" characters
+which are, however, of much older date.
+
+[FN#2]  "Ni'amat" = a blessing, and the word is perpetually
+occurring in Moslem conversation, "Ni'amatu'lláh" (as pronounced)
+is also a favourite P.N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date
+will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni'amatu 'llah,
+who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu'm = prosperity,
+good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. "Naomi."
+
+[FN#3]  i.e. "causing to be prosperous", the name, corrupted by
+the Turks to "Tevfik," is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha
+of Egypt, to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the
+signification certainly does not apply.
+
+[FN#4]  Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
+
+[FN#5]  i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and
+Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I
+have noted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru,
+the Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem
+would be taken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters
+in his name sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called
+Holy City at once capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale
+of Bhurtpore and the Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did
+not change from Cotton to Combermore for some time after the
+successful siege.
+
+[FN#6]  BinYúsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the
+seventh and eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az
+and Al-Irak under the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have
+noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems' Holy Land in my
+Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka'abah and
+restored it to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p.
+219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with
+a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet's companions
+by "sealing them in the necks and hands," that is he tied a thong
+upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he
+showed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required
+by the revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good
+Knight in rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when
+taken prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tathá in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was
+not the kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander;
+but the Shi'ahs hates him and have given him a lasting bad name.
+In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical,
+philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government
+which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyád bin Abihi was
+sent by Caliph Mu'awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he
+informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword and
+advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were
+forbidden, under pain of teeth, to walk the streets after
+prayers, on the first night two hundred suffered; on the second
+five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule in
+Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new
+and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has
+doubled in quantity and quality, and where "Christian rule" has
+thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.
+
+[FN#7]  The old bawd's portrait is admirably drawn: all we
+dwellers in the East have known her well: she is so and so. Her
+dress and manners are the same amongst the Hindus (see the
+hypocritical-female ascetic in the Katha, p. 287) as amongst the
+Moslems; men of the world at once recognise her and the prudent
+keep out of her way. She is found in the cities of Southern
+Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems to do her work
+not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment. In the
+text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of
+innocents.
+
+[FN#8]  Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale's version.
+
+[FN#9]  Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying "Thank
+you;" they express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have
+a right to your surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and,
+eating yours, they consider it their own. I have discussed this
+matter in Pilgrimage i. 75-77, in opposition to those who declare
+that "gratitude" is unknown to Moslems.
+
+[FN#10]  Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a "King,"
+but as the Hindu says, " Delhi is far" it is a far cry to Loch
+Awe. Here we can hardly understand "Malik" as Governor or
+Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zú-mál-(moneyed)?
+
+[FN#11]  Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the "Sweat of
+a Stone," etc. He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son,
+Al-Walid, and one of his sayings is still remembered. "He who
+desireth to take a female slave for carnal-enjoyment, let him
+take a native of Barbary; if he need one for the sake of
+children, let him have a Persian; and whoso desireth one for
+service, let him take a Greek." Moderns say, "If you want a
+brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an
+Abyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sáwahíli, or
+Zanzibar negroid."
+
+[FN#12]  Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and
+Stratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.
+
+[FN#13]  Arab, "Kárúrah": the "water-doctor" has always been an
+institution in the east and he has lately revived in Europe
+especially at the German baths and in London.
+
+[FN#14]  Lane makes this phrase "O brother of the Persians!"
+synonymous with "O Persian!" I think it means more, a Persian
+being generally considered "too clever by half."
+
+[FN#15]  The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon
+women's names, Naomi (the blessing) Su'adá or Su'ád (the happy,
+which Mr. Redhouse, in Ka'ab's Mantle-poem, happily renders
+Beatrice); and Juml (a sum or total) the two latter, moreover,
+being here fictitious.
+
+[FN#16]  "And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, 'O how I am
+grieved for Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning. ...
+(Quoth Joseph to his brethren), 'Take this my inner garment and
+throw it on my father's face and he shall recover his sight.' . .
+. So, when the messenger of good tidings came (to Jacob) he threw
+it (the shirt) over his face and he recovered his eye-sight."
+Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators, by way of improvement,
+assure us that the shirt was that worn by Abraham when thrown
+into the fire (Koran, chaps. xvi.) by Nimrod (!). We know little
+concerning "Jacob's daughters" who named the only bridge spanning
+the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb near Jewish
+"Safe" (North of Tiberias), one of the four "Holy Cities." The
+Jews ignore these "daughters of Jacob" and travellers neglect
+them.
+
+[FN#17]  Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic
+truth that the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that "fair
+sex" is truly only of skin-colour. The same is the general-rule
+throughout creation, for instance the stallion compared with the
+mare, the cock with the hen; while there are sundry exceptions
+such as the Falconidae.
+
+[FN#18]  The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the
+gait of a woman who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of
+Spain) with the slightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare,
+bending her graceful neck and looking from side to side at
+objects as she passes.
+
+[FN#19]  Li'lláhi (darr') al-káil, a characteristic idiom.
+"Darr"=giving (rich) milk copiously and the phrase expresses
+admiration, "To Allah be ascribed (or Allah be praised for) his
+rich eloquence who said etc. Some Hebraists would render it,
+"Divinely (well) did he speak who said," etc., holding "Allah" to
+express a superlative like "Yah" Jah) in Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod
+was a hunter to the person (or presence) of Yah, i.e. mighty
+hunter.
+
+[FN#20]  Hamzah and Abbás were the famous uncles of Mohammed
+often noticed: Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Akíl, a son
+of the fourth Caliph, Ali.
+
+[FN#21]  The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being
+that of a signet, it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians
+invented engraving hieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking
+bricks and applied the process to the ring. Moses B. C. 1491
+(Exod. xxviii. 9) took two onyx-stones, and graved on them the
+names of the children of Israel. From this the signet ring was
+but a step. Herodotus mentions an emerald seal-set in gold, that
+of Polycrates, the work of Theodorus, son of Telecles the Samian
+(iii. 141). The Egyptians also were perfectly acquainted with
+working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be seen in the
+cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks
+borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g.
+Tryphon's in the Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the
+art to the Romans. We read in a modern book "Cameo means an onyx,
+and the most famous cameo in the world is the onyx containing the
+Apotheosis of Augustus." The ring is given in marriage because it
+was a seal--by which orders were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and
+Esther iii. 10-12). I may note that the seal-ring of Cheops
+(Khufu), found in the Greatest Pyramid, was in the possession of
+my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of Auburn (U.S.), and was sold with
+his collection. It is the oldest ring in the world, and settles
+the Cheops-question.
+
+[FN#22]  This habit of weeping when friends meet after long
+parting is customary, I have noted, amongst the American
+"Indians," the Badawin of the New World; they shed tears thinking
+of the friends they have lost. Like most primitive people they
+are ever ready to weep as was Æneas or Shakespeare's saline
+personage,
+
+          "This would make a man, a man of salt
+            To use his eyes for garden waterpots."
+                                           (King Lear, iv. 6.)
+
+[FN#23]  Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales
+the two adulterous Queens would have been put to death.
+
+[FN#24]  Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shámát.
+
+[FN#25]  Arab. "Misr," vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim
+the "two Misrs," Egypt, upper and lower.
+
+[FN#26]  The Persians still call their Consuls "Shah-bander,"
+lit. king of the Bandar or port.
+
+[FN#27]  Arab. "Dukhúl," the night of going in, of seeing the
+bride unveiled for the first time, etcaetera.
+
+[FN#28]  Arab. "Barsh" or "Bars," the commonest kind. In India it
+is called Ma'jún (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or
+young leaves, buds, capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva),
+poppy-seed and flowers of the thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and
+auger-candy, nutmegs, cloves, mace and saffron, all boiled to the
+consistency of treacle which hardens when cold. Several-recipes
+are given by Herklots (Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries
+are usually prepared with "Charas," or gum of hemp, collected by
+hand or by passing a blanket over the plant in early morning, and
+it is highly intoxicating. Another intoxicant is "Sabzi," dried
+hemp-leaves, poppy-seed, cucumber heed, black pepper and
+cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden pestle, and made
+drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish of Arabia
+is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows. Take
+of hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and
+of cloves, nutmeg and mace (which add to the intoxication) each
+12 grains. Triturate in 8 ounces of water or the juice of
+watermelon or cucumber, strain and drink. The Egyptian Zabíbah is
+a preparation of hemp florets, opium and honey, much affected by
+the lower orders, whence the proverb: "Temper thy sorrow with
+Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz it is mixed with raisins (Zabíb) and smoked
+in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No. 73.) Besides these there is
+(1) "Post" poppy-seed prepared in various ways but especially in
+sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the produce of
+the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by dishonest
+confectioners; it is a dangerous intoxicant, producing
+spectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc., and (3) various
+preparations of opium especially the "Madad," pills made up with
+toasted betel-leaf and smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk
+in the shape of "Kusumba," a pill placed in wet cotton and
+squeezed in order to strain and clean it of the cowdung and other
+filth with which it is adulterated.
+
+[FN#29]  Arab. "Sikankúr" (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a
+lizard (S. officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an
+aphrodisiac in the East, and which in the Middle Ages was
+considered a universal-medicine. In the "Adja'ib al-Hind" (Les
+Merveilles de l'Inde) we find a notice of a bald-headed old man
+who was compelled to know his wife twice a day and twice a night
+in consequence of having eaten a certain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii.
+of the translation by M. L. Marcel Devic, from a manuscript of
+the tenth century, Paris Lemaire, 1878.) Europeans deride these
+prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they affect the fancy,
+that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily relieving
+impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only
+when it comes from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East;
+and about half of every medical-work is devoted to them. Many a
+quack has made his fortune with a few bottles of tincture of
+cantharides, and a man who could discover a specific would become
+a millionaire in India only. The curious reader will consult for
+specimens the Ananga-Ranga Shastra by Koka Pandit; or the "Rujú
+'al-Shaykh ila 'l-Sabáh fi Kuwwati 'l-Báh" (the Return of the Old
+Man to Youth in power of Procreation) by Ahmad bin Sulaymán known
+as Ibn Kamál-Báshá, in 139 chapters lithographed at Cairo. Of
+these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.
+
+[FN#30]  Alá al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the
+Faith, a name of which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like
+his own, would have highly disapproved. The most grateful names
+to Allah are Abdallah (Allah's Slave) and Abd al-Rahman (Slave of
+the Compassionate); the truest are Al-Hárith (the gainer, "bread
+winner") and Al-Hammám (the griever); and the hatefullest are
+Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah (bitterness, Abu Murrah being a
+kunyat or by-name of the Devil). Abu al-Shámát (pronounced
+Abushshámát)=Father of Moles, concerning which I have already
+given details. These names ending in -Din (faith) began with the
+Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri 'llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075), who
+entitled his Wazir "Zahír al-Din (Backer or Defender of the
+Faith) and this gave rise to the practice. It may be observed
+that the superstition of naming by omens is in no way obsolete.
+
+[FN#31]  Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his
+beauty as though it had been strong wine.
+
+[FN#32]   i.e. against the evil eye.
+
+[FN#33]  Meaning that he had been delicately reared.
+
+[FN#34]  A traditional-saying of Mohammed.
+
+[FN#35]  So Boccaccio's "Capo bianco" and "Coda verde." (Day iv.,
+Introduct.)
+
+[FN#36]  The opening chapter is known as the "Mother of the Book"
+(as opposed to Yá Sín, the "heart of the Koran"), the "Surat
+(chapter) of Praise," and the "Surat of repetition" (because
+twice revealed?) or thanksgiving, or laudation (Ai-Masáni) and by
+a host of other names for which see Mr. Rodwell who, however,
+should not write "Fatthah" (p. xxv.) nor "Fathah" (xxvii.). The
+Fátihah, which is to Al-Islam much what the "Paternoster" is to
+Christendom, consists of seven verses, in the usual-Saj'a or
+rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows:
+
+In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise
+be to Allah who all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the
+Compassionate * King of the Day of Faith! * Thee only do we adore
+and of Thee only do we crave aid * Guide us to the path which is
+straight * The path of those for whom Thy love is great, not
+those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate * Amen! O Lord of
+the World's trine.
+
+My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances
+of its application; how it is recited with open hands to catch
+the blessing from Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face
+(Ibid. i. 286), and other details,
+
+[FN#37]  i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon
+children. Strangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly
+dressed leading by the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl)
+in rags, which at home will be changed to cloth of gold.
+
+[FN#38]  Arab. "Asídah" flour made consistent by boiling in water
+with the addition of "Same" clarified butter) and honey: more
+like pap than custard.
+
+[FN#39]  Arab. "Ghábah" = I have explained as a low-lying place
+where the growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it
+during the noon-heats
+
+[FN#40]  Arab. "Akkám," one who loads camels and has charge of
+the luggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or
+camel-hirer (Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre
+(Moucres) which, first used by La Brocquière (A.D. 1432), is
+still the only term known to the French.
+
+[FN#41]  i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.
+
+[FN#42]  Taken from Al-Asma'i, the "Romance of Antar," and the
+episode of the Asafir Camels.
+
+[FN#43]  A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the
+Kádirí order (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally
+recognised), to which I have the honour to belong, teste my
+diploma (Pilgrimage, Appendix i.). Visitation is still made to
+his tomb at Baghdad. The Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter
+to "Jílán" the name of his birth-place "Gilan," a tract between
+the Caspian and the Black Seas.
+
+[FN#44]  The well-known Anglo-Indian "Mucuddum;" lit. "one placed
+before (or over) others"
+
+[FN#45]  Koran xiii. 14.
+
+[FN#46]  i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to
+infamous proposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use
+their fists.
+
+[FN#47]  Arab. "Ráfizí"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian
+schismatics who curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken
+from their own saying "Inná rafizná-hum"=verily we have rejected
+them. The feeling between Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and
+Shi'ah is much like the Christian love between a Catholic of Cork
+and a Protestant from the Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any
+historian will show, this sect became exceedingly powerful under
+the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom conformed to it and
+adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the Azan or
+prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists.
+Even in the present day the hatred between these representatives
+of Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I
+have given sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the
+Persians attempt to pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.
+
+[FN#48]  Arab. "Sakká," the Indian "Bihishtí" (man from Heaven):
+Each party in a caravan has one or more.
+
+[FN#49]  These "Kirámát" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists
+will readily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have
+half a dozen to tell, each of his "Pír" or patron, including the
+Istidráj or prodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)
+
+[FN#50]  Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo
+and famed for "Kirámát." Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was
+imprisoned by Al-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She
+was married to a son of the Imam Ja'afar al-Sadik and lived a
+life of devotion in Cairo, dying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of
+the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to her house, now her mosque and
+mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-Sabúa which formerly divided
+Old from New Cairo and is now one of the latter's suburbs. Lane
+(M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little more. The mention of
+her shows that the writer of the tale or the copyist was a
+Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the "Sitt."
+
+[FN#51]  Arab. "Farkh akrab" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.
+
+[FN#52]  The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his
+abomination as if it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet
+with due ascription.
+
+[FN#53]  A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter,
+"creamkin."
+
+[FN#54]  Arab. "Mustahall," "Mustahill' and vulg. "Muhallil"
+(=one who renders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose
+who marries pro forma and after wedding, and bedding with
+actual-consummation, at once divorces the woman. He is held the
+reverse of respectable and no wonder. Hence, probably,
+Mandeville's story of the Islanders who, on the marriage-night,
+"make another man to lie by their wives, to have their
+maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And
+there are certain men in every town that serve for no other
+thing; and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of
+despair, because they believe their occupation is a dangerous
+one." Burckhardt gives the proverb (No. 79), "A thousand lovers
+rather than one Mustahall," the latter being generally some ugly
+fellow picked up in the streets and disgusting to the wife who
+must permit his embraces.
+
+[FN#55]  This is a woman's oath. not used by men.
+
+[FN#56]  Pronounced "Yá Sín" (chaps. xxxvi.) the "heart of the
+Koran" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in
+Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for
+the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.
+
+[FN#57]  Arab. "Ál-Dáúd"=the family of David, i.e. David himself,
+a popular idiom. The prophet's recitation of the "Mazámir"
+(Psalter) worked miracles.
+
+[FN#58]  There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy
+which at once betrays the hideous disease.
+
+[FN#59]   These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote
+Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.
+
+[FN#60]  Where the "Juzám" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus
+sacrum, etc. etc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would
+alter the shape. Lane (ii. 267) translates "her wrist which was
+bipartite."
+
+[FN#61]  Arab. "Zakariyá" (Zacharias): a play upon the term
+"Zakar"=the sign of "masculinity." Zacharias, mentioned in the
+Koran as the educator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and
+repeatedly referred to (chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known
+personage amongst Moslems and his church is now the great
+Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.
+
+[FN#62]  Arab. " Ark al-Haláwat " = vein of sweetness.
+
+[FN#63]  Arab. "Futúh," which may also mean openings, has before
+occurred.
+
+[FN#64]  i.e. four times without withdrawing.
+
+[FN#65]  i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many
+rules are given in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly
+declares that discrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.
+
+[FN#66]  Arab. "Ghuráb al-Bayn"= raven of the waste or the
+parting: hence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is
+also called Al-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat.
+Corvus, one of the prehistoric words) is supposed to be seen
+abroad earlier than any other bird; and it is entitled "Abu
+Zajir," father of omens, because lucky when flying towards the
+right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the (white) pigeon, the
+emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar declare that
+when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his
+pursuers, "Ghár! Ghár!" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet
+condemned him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the
+traitorous words. This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo
+(Ovid, lib. ii.).
+
+         ----------" who blacked the raven o'er
+         And bid him prate in his white plumes no more."
+
+[FN#67]  This use of a Turkish title "Efendi" being=our esquire,
+and inferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the
+copyist.
+
+[FN#68]  Arab. "Samn"=Hind. "Ghi" butter melted, skimmed and
+allowed to cool.
+
+[FN#69]  Arab. "Ya Wadúd," a title of the Almighty: the Mac.
+Edit. has "O David!"
+
+[FN#70]  Arab. "Muwashshahah;" a complicated stanza of which
+specimens have occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a "ballad," which
+would be a "Kunyat al-Zidd."
+
+[FN#71]  Arab. "Baháim" (plur. of Bahímah=Heb. Behemoth), applied
+in Egypt especially to cattle. A friend of the "Oppenheim" house,
+a name the Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as
+"Jack al-baháim" (of the cows).
+
+[FN#72]  Lit. "The father of side-locks," a nickname of one of
+the Tobba Kings. This "Hasan of: the ringlets" who wore two long
+pig-tails hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of
+his age: his name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore
+verse and the wildest debauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch of his life
+is very meagre. His poetry has survived to the present day and
+(unhappily) we shall] hear more of "Abu Nowás." On the subject of
+these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chaps. iv.) has a strange
+remark that "Abu Dáúd i' not the Father of Dáúd or Abu Ali the
+Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Dáúd or Ali." Here,
+however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a
+genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.
+
+[FN#73]  Arab. "Samúr," applied in slang language to cats and dogs,
+hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester)
+into "Samúr."
+
+[FN#74]  The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model
+even in the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but
+gentlemanly and courteous.
+
+[FN#75]  Arab. "Salím" (not Sé-lim) meaning the "Safe and sound."
+
+[FN#76]  Arab. "Haláwah"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such
+as men give to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is
+technically called as above, "The Sweetmeat of Safety."
+
+[FN#77]  Arab. "Salát" which from Allah means mercy, from the
+Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.
+Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see
+Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man
+is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say " Bless the
+Prophet!" and he does so by ejaculating "Sa'am."
+
+[FN#78]  Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied
+to a Wazirial-order as opposed to the " Irádah," the Sultan's
+order.
+
+[FN#79]  Arab. " Mashá'ilí" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before
+appeared as hangman.
+
+[FN#80]  Another polite formula for announcing a death.
+
+[FN#81]  As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.
+
+[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the
+action suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense
+to "throwing the kerchief," a pseudo-Oriental practice whose
+significance is generally understood in Europe.
+
+[FN#83]  The body-guard being of two divisions.
+
+[FN#84]  Arab. "Hadbá," lit. "hump-backed;" alluding to the Badawi
+bier; a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to
+denote the protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier
+which before was flat. The quotation is from Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem
+(Burdah v . 37), "Every son of a female, long though his safety may
+be, is a day borne upon a ridged implement," says Mr. Redhouse,
+explaining the latter as a "bier with a ridged lid." Here we
+differ: the Janázah with a lid is not a Badawi article: the
+wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would translate the
+lines,
+
+          "The son of woman, whatso his career
+           One day is borne upon the gibbous bier."
+
+[FN#85]  This is a high honour to any courtier.
+
+[FN#86]  "Khatun" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and
+follows the name, e.g. Fátimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed
+to be a fanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word
+consisting of "Habb" seed, grain; and "Zalam" of Zulm=seed of
+tyranny. Can it be a travesty of "Absalom" (Ab Salám, father of
+peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and
+Hebezlem.
+
+[FN#87]  Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.
+
+[FN#88]  Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.
+
+[FN#89]  A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.
+
+[FN#90]  Arab. "Buka'at Ad-bum": lit. the "low place of blood"
+(where it stagnates): so Al-Buká'ah = Cœlesyria.
+
+[FN#91]  That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism
+and self-esteem, "I told you so," is even more common in the naïve
+East than in the West. In this case the son's answer is far
+superior to the mother's question.
+
+[FN#92]  In order to keep his oath to the letter.
+
+[FN#93]  "Tabannuj; " literally "hemping" (drugging with hemp or
+henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our "anæsthetics."
+These have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries
+before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised
+West.
+
+[FN#94]  Arab. "Durká'ah," the lower part of the floor, opposed to
+the "liwán" or daïs. Liwán =Al-Aywán (Arab. and Pers.) the hall
+(including the daïs and the sunken parts)
+
+[FN#95]  i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.
+
+[FN#96]  This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and
+Fath Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some
+horrible cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a
+sign of wrath and sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that
+he would be slain.
+
+[FN#97]  That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some
+one belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of
+Egypt being famous in those days. "Optimum et laudatissimum acetum
+a Romanis habebatur Ægyptum" (Facciolati); and possibly it was
+sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions "must and vinegar." In
+Arab Proverbs, One mind by vinegar and another by wine"=each mind
+goes its own way, (Arab. Prov. . 628); or, "with good and bad,"
+vinegar being spoilt wine.
+
+[FN#98]  We have not heard the last of this old "dowsing rod": the
+latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the
+United States.
+
+[FN#99]  This is the procès verbal always drawn up on such
+occasions.
+
+[FN#100]  The sight of running water makes a Persian long for
+strong drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel
+hungry.
+
+[FN#101]  Arab. "Min wahid aduww " a peculiarly Egyptian or rather
+Cairene phrase.
+
+[FN#102]  Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be
+Ahmad the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan
+"Shuuman"=a pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies
+again and again: see the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night
+dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.
+
+[FN#103]  For the "Sacrifice-place of Ishmael" (not Isaac) see my
+Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being
+the eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I
+have noted that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and
+their cousins the Hebrews.
+
+[FN#104]  This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah
+(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.
+
+[FN#105]  The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the
+Gulf of Scanderoon.
+
+[FN#106]  Arab. " Wada'á" = the concha veneris, then used as small
+change.
+
+[FN#107]  Arab. "Sakati"=a dealer in "castaway" articles, such es
+old metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.
+
+[FN#108]  The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that
+the names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his
+slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema.
+It is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery
+in the house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside
+the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late
+Rogers Bey (Pilgrimage i. 123).
+
+[FN#109]  Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslán, in Turk. a lion, and in
+slang a piastre.
+
+[FN#110]  Arab. "Maka'ad;" lit. = sitting-room.
+
+[FN#111]  Arab. "Khammárah"; still the popular term throughout
+Egypt for a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be
+insulting but it is, meaning the place where Franks meet to drink
+forbidden drinks.
+
+[FN#112]  A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of
+its 360 idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung,
+etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon
+all fell to the ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84),
+"Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a
+thing that vanisheth" (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the
+"idols" are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of
+the ram sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove
+conclusively that the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date
+and not a fiction of Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the
+Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for the Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii.
+295.)
+
+[FN#113]  This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shí'ahs
+claim to be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story
+(ii. 329). It suggests the common question in the South of Europe,
+"Are you a Christian or a Protestant?"
+
+[FN#114]  Arab. "Ana fí jírat-ak!" a phrase to be remembered as
+useful in time of danger.
+
+[FN#115]  i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to
+answer.
+
+[FN#116]  Arab. "Kunsúl" (pron. "Gunsul") which here means a
+well-to-do Frank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it
+stands.
+
+[FN#117]  From the Ital. "Capitano." The mention of cannon and
+other terms in this tale shows that either it was written during
+the last century or it has been mishandled by copyists.
+
+[FN#118]  Arab. "Minínah"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.
+
+[FN#119]  Arab. "Waybah"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7
+English gallons.
+
+[FN#120]  He speaks in half-jest à la fellah; and reminds us of
+"Hangman, drive on the cart!"
+
+[FN#121]  Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is
+probably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea
+Khan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs "Yohanná"
+(contracted to "Hanná," Christian) and "Yábyá" (Moslem). Prester
+(Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered
+and slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of
+"John" is very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and
+derivation' of the name. "Husn Maryam" the beauty (spiritual. etc.)
+of the B.V.
+
+[FN#122]  Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant,
+etc. Also a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with "Márid,"
+evil controuls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard
+them as polluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text
+insinuates that they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.
+
+[FN#123]  Arab. "Sar'a" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always
+confounded with "possession" (by evil spirits) or "obsession."
+
+[FN#124]  Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called
+"Sacred books." Here the Koran is called "Furkán." Sale (sect.
+iii.) would assimilate this to the Hebr. "Perek" or "Pirka,"
+denoting a section or portion of Scripture; but Moslems understand
+it to be the "Book which distinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true
+from the false." Thus Caliph Omar was entitled "Fárúk" = the
+Distinguisher (between right and wrong). Lastly, "Furkán," meanings
+as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance, revelation, is applied alike to
+the Pentateuch and Koran.
+
+[FN#125]  Euphemistic for "thou shalt die."
+
+[FN#126]  Lit. "From (jugular) vein to vein" (Arab. "Waríd"). Our
+old friend Lucretius again: "Tantane relligio," etc.
+
+[FN#127]  As opposed to the "but" or outer room.
+
+[FN#128]  Arab. "Darb al-Asfar" in the old Jamalíyah or Northern
+part of Cairo.
+
+[FN#129]  A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and
+settled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before
+Mohammed's birth, was Al-Hatim (the "black crow"), a model of Arab
+manliness and munificence; and although born in the Ignorance he
+will enter Heaven with the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill
+called Owárid: I have already noted this favourite practice of the
+wilder Arabs and the affecting idea that the Dead may still look
+upon his kith and kin. There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a
+book upon Arabia which does not contain the name of Hatim: he is
+mentioned as unpleasantly often as Aristides.
+
+[FN#130]  Lord of "Cattle-feet," this King's name is unknown; but
+the Kámús mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kalá'a, the Greater and
+the Less. Lane's Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded
+Hatim's hospitality was one Abu'l-Khaybari.
+
+[FN#131]  The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case
+of other animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered
+by the "nahr," i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the
+commissure of the chest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)
+
+[FN#132]  Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the
+Prophet.
+
+[FN#133]  A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising
+his patron's generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and
+dimmed that of Ma'an (D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the
+last Ommiade, Marwán al-Himár (the "Ass," or the "Century," the
+duration of Ommiade rule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750.
+Ma'an continued to serve under the Abbasides and was a favourite
+with Al-Mansúr. "More generous or bountiful than Ka'ab" is another
+saying (A. P., i. 325); Ka'ab ibn Mámah was a man who, somewhat
+like Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink
+while he was dying of thirst to a man who looked wistfully at him,
+whence the saying "Give drink to thy brother the Námiri" (A. P., i.
+608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put garments over him to scare
+away the wild beasts and left him in the desert to die. "Scatterer
+of blessings" (Náshir al-Ni'am) was a title of King Malik of
+Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabíl, eminent for his liberality. He set up
+the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed "Nothing behind me," as
+a warner to others.
+
+[FN#134]  Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi.
+and ccxc., a tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) "The
+Sleeper and the Waker," i.e. the sleeper awakened; and he calls it:
+The Story of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is interesting and founded
+upon historical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced here without
+breaking the sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr.
+Alexander J. Cotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an
+addition to the Breslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope
+eventually to make use of it.
+
+[FN#135]  The first girl calls gold "Titer" (pure, unalloyed
+metal); the second "Asjad" (gold generally) and the third "Ibríz"
+(virgin ore, the Greek {Greek letters}. This is a law of Arab
+rhetoric never to repeat the word except for a purpose and, as the
+language can produce 1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the
+copiousness is somewhat painful to readers.
+
+[FN#136]  Arab. "Shakes" before noticed.
+
+[FN#137]  Arab. "Kussá'á"=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of
+the cheapest and the poorer classes eat it as "kitchen" with bread.
+
+[FN#138]  Arab. "Haram-hu," a double entendre. Here the Barlawi
+means his Harem the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he
+makes it mean the presence of His Honour.
+
+[FN#139]  Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington
+Irving. The "Land of Roum " here means simply Frank-land as we are
+afterwards told that its name was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a
+term still applied by Arabs to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.
+
+[FN#140]  Arab. "Amáim" (plur. of Imámah) the common word for
+turband which I prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got
+it through the Port. Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the
+(now obsolete) Persian term Dolband=a turband or a sash.
+
+[FN#141]  Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from "Tárik" we have
+"Gibraltar"=Jabal-al-Tárik.
+
+[FN#142]  Arab. "Yunán" = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as
+"Roum" is to the Græco-Roman Empire.
+
+[FN#143]  Arab. "Bahramáni ;" prob. alluding to the well-known
+legend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by
+Mahmud of Ghazni. In the Ajá'ib al-Hind (before quoted) the
+Brahmins are called Abrahamah.
+
+[FN#144]  i.e. "Peace be with thee!"
+
+[FN#145]  i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness
+and plain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of
+the Koranic chapter "Inner Apartments" (No. xlix.) have always been
+favourite themes with Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen
+suavity and servility. Moreover the Badawi, besides saying what he
+thinks, always tells the truth (unless corrupted by commerce with
+foreigners); and this is a startling contrast with the townsfolk.
+To ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwalá is much
+like being suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of
+Mediterranean people to the bluff society of the Scandinavian
+North. And the reason why the Turk will never govern the Arab in
+peace is that the former is always trying to finesse and to succeed
+by falsehood, when the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
+truth is wanted.
+
+[FN#146]  Koran. xvi. 112.
+
+[FN#147]  A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which
+"spoke poetry." The Jewels are often pearls.
+
+[FN#148]  Ibrahim Abu Ishák bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the
+Caliphate of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his
+corpulence "Al-Tannín"=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii.
+336), "Al-Tin"= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in
+Ibn Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
+
+[FN#149]  The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha
+(Tobit, Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of
+government of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which
+was built out of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the
+primeval-king who first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is
+called Rayy al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there.
+Harun al-Rashid was also born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by
+a host of authors and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.
+
+[FN#150]  Human blood being especially impure.
+
+[FN#151]  Jones, Brown and Robinson.
+
+[FN#152]  Arab. "Kumm ," the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his
+trousers) of ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of
+carpet-bag by depositing small articles in the middle and gathering
+up the edge in the hand. In this way carried the weight would be
+less irksome than hanging to the waist. The English of Queen Anne's
+day had regular sleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the
+saying, to have in one's sleeve.
+
+[FN#153]  Arab. "Khuff" worn under the "Bábúg" (a corruption of the
+Persian pá-push=feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). [Lane M. E.
+chaps. i.]
+
+[FN#154]  Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for
+camels being left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts
+slipping. The watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been
+excessive; they are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter
+and the effluvia from the droppings of animals have, combined with
+other causes, seriously deteriorated the once charming climate. The
+only place in Lower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of
+1850, is Suez.
+
+
+[FN#155]  Arab. "Hurák:" burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and
+steel, is a common styptic.
+
+[FN#156]  Of this worthy, something has been said and there will be
+more in a future page.
+
+[FN#157]  i.e. the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.
+
+[FN#158]  Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One
+of his sayings is preserved "Odious is contentiousness in Kings,
+more odious vexation in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more
+odious is shallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are
+avarice in the rich, idleness in youth, jesting in age and
+cowardice in the soldier."
+
+[FN#159]  The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane's
+Shaykh has supplied it (ii. 339)
+
+[FN#160]  Adam's loins, the "Day of Alast," and the Imam (who
+stands before the people in prayer) have been explained. The
+"Seventh Imam" here is Al-Maamun, the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades
+being, as usual, ignored.
+
+[FN#161]  He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which
+is poetical-and hardly practical-or probable.
+
+[FN#162]  The Katá (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry
+because it is essentially a desert bird, and here the comparison is
+good because it lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it
+must drink morning and evening. Its cry is interpreted "man sakat,
+salam" (silent and safe), but it does not practice that precept,
+for it is usually betrayed by its piping " Kata! Kata!" Hence the
+proverb, "More veracious than the sand-grouse," and "speak not
+falsely, for the Kata sayeth sooth," is Komayt's saying. It is an
+emblem of swiftness: when the brigand poet Shanfara boasts, "The
+ash-coloured Katas can drink only my leavings, after hastening all
+night to slake their thirst in the morning," it is a hyperbole
+boasting of his speed. In Sind it is called the "rock pigeon" and
+it is not unlike a grey partridge when on the wing.
+
+[FN#163]  Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives
+them his "inner garment" to throw over his father's face.
+
+[FN#164]  Arab. "Hajjám"=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs,
+a bleeder, a (blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to
+thrash, lick, wallop. (Burckhardt. Prov. 34.)
+
+[FN#165]  The Bresl. Edit. (vii. 171-174) entitles this tale,
+"Story of Shaddád bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ;" but
+it relates chiefly to the building by the King of the First Adites
+who, being promised a future Paradise by Prophet Húd, impiously
+said that he would lay out one in this world. It also quotes Ka'ab
+al-Ahbár as an authority for declaring that the tale is in the
+"Pentateuch of Moses." Iram was in al-Yaman near Adan (our Aden) a
+square of ten parasangs (or leagues each= 18,000 feet) every way,
+the walls were of red (baked) brick 500 cubits high and 20 broad,
+with four gates of corresponding grandeur. It contained 300,000
+Kasr (palaces) each with a thousand pillars of gold-bound jasper,
+etc. (whence its title). The whole was finished in five hundred
+years, and, when Shaddad prepared to enter it, the "Cry of Wrath"
+from the Angel of Death slew him and all his many. It is mentioned
+in the Koran (chaps. Ixxxix. 6-7) as "Irem adorned with lofty
+buildings (or pillars)." But Ibn Khaldun declares that commentators
+have embroidered the passage; Iram being the name of a powerful
+clan of the ancient Adites and "imád" being a tent-pole: hence
+"Iram with the numerous tents or tent-poles." Al-Bayzawi tells the
+story of Abdullah ibn Kilabah (D'Herbelot's Colabah). At Aden I met
+an Arab who had seen the mysterious city on the borders of
+Al-Ahkáf, the waste of deep sands, west of Hadramaut; and probably
+he had, the mirage or sun-reek taking its place. Compare with this
+tale "The City of Brass" (Night dlxv.).
+
+[FN#166]  The biblical-"Sheba," named from the great-grandson of
+Joctan, whence the Queen (Bilkis) visited Solomon It was destroyed
+by the Flood of Márib.
+
+[FN#167]  The full title of the Holy City is "Madinat al-Nab)" =
+the City of the Prophet, of old Yasrib (Yathrib) the Iatrippa of
+the Greeks (Pilgrimage, ii. 119). The reader will remember that
+there are two "Yasribs:" that of lesser note being near Hujr in the
+Yamámah province.
+
+[FN#168]  "Ka'ab of the Scribes," a well-known traditionist and
+religious poet who died (A.H. 32) in the Caliphate of Osman. He was
+a Jew who islamised; hence his name (Ahbár, plur. of Hibr, a Jewish
+scribe, doctor of science, etc. Jarrett's El-Siyuti, p. 123). He
+must not be confounded with another Ka'ab al-Ahbár the Poet of the
+(first) Cloak-poem or "Burdah," a noble Arab who was a distant
+cousin of Mohammed, and whose tomb at Hums (Emesa) is a place of
+pious visitation. According to the best authorities (no Christian
+being allowed to see them) the cloak given to the bard by Mohammed
+is still preserved together with the Khirkah or Sanjak Sherif
+("Holy Coat" or Banner, the national oriflamme) at Stambul in the
+Upper Seraglio. (Pilgrimage, i. 213.) Many authors repeat this
+story of Mu'awiyah, the Caliph, and Ka'ab of the Burdah, but it is
+an evident anachronism, the poet having been dead nine years before
+the ruler's accession (A.H. 41).
+
+[FN#169]  Koran, lxxxix. 6-7.
+
+[FN#170]  Arab. "Kahramán" from Pers., braves, heroes.
+
+[FN#171]  The Deity in the East is as whimsical-a despot as any of
+his "shadows" or "vice regents." In the text Shaddád is killed for
+mere jealousy a base passion utterly unworthy of a godhead; but one
+to which Allah was greatly addicted.
+
+[FN#172]  Some traditionist, but whether Sha'abi, Shi'abi or
+Shu'abi we cannot decide.
+
+[FN#173]  The Hazarmaveth of Genesis (x. 26) in South Eastern
+Arabia. Its people are the Adramitae (mod. Hazrami) of Ptolemy who
+places in their land the Arabiæ Emporium, as Pliny does his
+Massola. They border upon the Homeritæ or men of Himyar, often
+mentioned in The Nights. Hazramaut is still practically unknown to
+us, despite the excursions of many travellers; and the hard nature
+of the people, the Swiss of Arabia, offers peculiar obstacles to
+exploration.
+
+[FN#174]  i.e. the prophet Hud generally identified (?) with Heber.
+He was commissioned (Koran, chaps. vii.) to preach Al-Islam to his
+tribe the Adites who worshipped four goddesses, Sákiyah (the
+rain-giver), Rázikah (food-giver), Háfizah (the saviouress) and
+Sálimah (who healed sickness). As has been seen he failed, so it
+was useless to send him.
+
+[FN#175]  Son of Ibraham al-Mosili, a musician poet and favourite
+with the Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Maamun. He made his name
+immortal-by being the first who reduced Arab harmony to systematic
+rules, and he wrote a biography of musicians referred to by
+Al-Hariri in the Séance of Singar.
+
+[FN#176]  This must not be confounded with the "pissing against the
+wall" of I Kings, xiv. 10, where watering against a wall denotes a
+man as opposed to a woman.
+
+[FN#177]  Arab. "Zambíl" or "Zimbíl," a limp basket made of plaited
+palm-leaves and generally two handled. It is used for many
+purposes, from carrying poultry to carrying earth.
+
+[FN#178]  Here we have again the Syriac ''Bakhkh
+-un-Bakhkh-un-''=well done! It is the Pers Áferín and means "all
+praise be to him."
+
+[FN#179]  Arab. "A Tufayli?" So the Arab. Prov. (ii. 838) "More
+intrusive than Tufayl" (prob. the P.N. of a notorious sponger). The
+Badawin call "Wárish" a man who sits down to meat unbidden and to
+drink Wághil; but townsfolk apply the latter to the "Wárish."
+
+[FN#180]  Arab. "Artál"=rotoli, pounds; and
+
+               "A pint is a pound
+                All the world round;"
+
+except in highly civilised lands where the pint has a curious power
+of shrinking.
+
+[FN#181]  One of Al-Maamun's Wazirs. The Caliph married his
+daughter whose true name was Búrán; but this tale of girl's freak
+and courtship was invented (?) by Ishak. For the splendour of the
+wedding and the munificence of the Minister see Lane, ii. 350-352.
+
+[FN#182]  I have described this scene, the wretch clinging to the
+curtain and sighing and crying as if his heart would break
+(Pilgrimage iii. 216 and 220). The same is done at the place
+Al-Multazam'"the attached to;" (ibid. 156) and various spots called
+Al-Mustajáb, "where prayer is granted" (ibid. 162). At Jerusalem
+the Wailing place of the Jews" shows queer scenes; the worshippers
+embrace the wall with a peculiar wriggle crying out in Hebrew, "O
+build Thy House, soon, without delay," etc.
+
+[FN#183]  i.e. The wife. The scene in the text was common at Cairo
+twenty years ago; and no one complained of the stick. See
+Pilgrimage i., 120.
+
+[FN#184]  Arab. "Udm, Udum" (plur. of Idám) = "relish," olives,
+cheese, pickled cucumbers, etc.
+
+[FN#185]  I have noticed how the left hand is used in the East. In
+the second couplet we have "Istinjá"=washing the fundament after
+stool. The lines are highly appropriate for a nightman. Easterns
+have many foul but most emphatic expressions like those in the text
+I have heard a mother say to her brat, "I would eat thy merde!"
+(i.e. how I love thee!).
+
+[FN#186]  Arab. "Harrák," whence probably our "Carack" and
+"Carrack" (large ship), in dictionaries derived from Carrus
+Marinus.
+
+[FN#187]  Arab. "Gháshiyah"=lit. an étui, a cover; and often a
+saddle-cover carried by the groom.
+
+[FN#188]  Arab. "Sharáb al-tuffáh" = melapio or cider.
+
+[FN#189]  Arab. "Mudawwarah," which generally means a small round
+cushion, of the Marocco-work well known in England. But one does
+not strike a cushion for a signal, so we must revert to the
+original-sense of the word "something round," as a circular plate
+of wood or metal, a gong, a "bell" like that of the Eastern
+Christians.
+
+[FN#190]  Arab. "Túfán" (from the root tauf, going round) a storm,
+a circular gale, a cyclone the term universally applied in Al-lslam
+to the "Deluge," the "Flood" of Noah. The word is purely Arabic;
+with a quaint likeness to the Gr. {Greek letters}, in Pliny typhon,
+whirlwind, a giant (Typhœus) whence "Typhon" applied to the great
+Egyptian god "Set." The Arab word extended to China and was given
+to the hurricanes which the people call "Tee foong," great winds,
+a second whimsical-resemblance. But Sir John Davis (ii. 383) is
+hardly correct when he says, "the name typhoon, in itself a
+corruption of the Chinese term, bears a singular (though we must
+suppose an accidental) resemblance to the Greek {Greek letters}. "
+
+[FN#191]  Plurale majestatis acting superlative; not as Lane
+supposes (ii. 224) "a number of full moons, not only one." Eastern
+tongues abound in instances beginning with Genesis (i. 1), "Gods
+(he) created the heaven," etc. It is still preserved in Badawi
+language and a wildling greatly to the astonishment of the citizens
+will address his friend "Yá Rijál"= O men!
+
+[FN#192]  Arab. "Hásid" = an envier: in the fourth couplet "Azúl"
+(Azzál, etc.) = a chider, blamer; elsewhere "Lawwám" = accuser,
+censor, slanderer; "Wáshí,"=whisperer, informer; "Rakib"=spying,
+envious rival; "Ghábit"=one emulous without envy; and "Shámit"= a
+"blue" (fierce) enemy who rejoices over another's calamities.
+Arabic literature abounds in allusions to this unpleasant category
+of "damned ill-natured friends;" and Spanish and Portuguese
+letters, including Brazilian, have thoroughly caught the trick. In
+the Eastern mind the "blamer" would be aided by the "evil eye."
+
+[FN#193]  Another plural for a singular, "O my beloved!"
+
+[FN#194]  Arab. "Khayr"=good news, a euphemistic reply even if the
+tidings be of the worst.
+
+[FN#195]  Abbás (from 'Abs, being austere; and meaning the "grim
+faced") son of Abd al-Muttalib; uncle to Mohammed and eponym of the
+Abbaside Khalifahs. A.D. 749=1258.
+
+[FN#196]  Katíl = the Irish "kilt."
+
+[FN#197]  This hat been explained as a wazirial title of the time.
+
+[FN#198]  The phrase is intelligible in all tongues: in Arabic it
+is opposed to "dark as night," "black as mud" and a host of
+unsavoury antitheses.
+
+[FN#199]  Arab. "Awwádah," the popular word; not Udíyyah as in
+Night cclvi. "Ud" liter.= rood and "Al-Ud"=the wood is, I have
+noted, the origin of our 'lute." The Span. 'laud" is larger and
+deeper than the guitar, and its seven strings are played upon with
+a plectrum of buffalo-horn.
+
+[FN#200]  Arab. "Tabban lahu!"=loss (or ruin) to him. So "bu'dan
+lahu"=away with him, abeat in malam rem; and "Suhkan lahu"=Allah
+and mercy be far from him, no hope for him I
+
+[FN#201]  Arab. "Áyah"=Koranic verses, sign, miracle.
+
+[FN#202]  The mole on cheek calls to prayers for his preservation;
+and it is black as Bilal the Abyssinian. Fajran may here mean
+either "A.-morning" or "departing from grace."
+
+[FN#203]  i.e. the  young beard (myrtle) can never hope to excel
+tile beauties of his cheeks (roses).
+
+[FN#204]  i.e. Hell and Heaven.
+
+[FN#205]  The first couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. (ii. 171)
+which gives only a single couplet but it is found in the Bres.
+Edit. which entitles this tale "Story of the lying (or false kázib)
+Khalífah." Lane (ii. 392) of course does not translate it.
+
+[FN#206]  In the East cloth of frieze that mates with cloth of gold
+must expect this treatment. Fath Ali Shah's daughters always made
+their husbands enter the nuptial-bed by the foot end.
+
+[FN#207]  This is always done and for two reasons; the first
+humanity, that the blow may fall unawares; and, secondly, to
+prevent the sufferer wincing, which would throw out the headsman.
+
+[FN#208]  Arab. "Ma'áni-há," lit. her meanings, i.e. her inner
+woman opposed to the formal-seen by every one.
+
+[FN#209]  Described in my Pilgrimage (iii. 168, 174 and 175): it is
+the stone upon which the Patriarch stood when he built the Ka'abah
+and is said to show the impress of the feet but unfortunately I
+could not afford five dollars entrance-fee. Caliph Omar placed the
+station where it now is; before his time it adjoined the Ka'abah.
+The meaning of the text is, Be thy court a place of pious
+visitation, etc. At the "Station of Abraham" prayer is especially
+blessed and expects to be granted. "This is the place where Abraham
+stood; and whoever entereth therein shall be safe" (Koran ii. 119).
+For the other fifteen places where petitions are favourably heard
+by Heaven see ibid. iii. 211-12.
+
+[FN#210]  As in the West, so in the East, women answer an
+unpleasant question by a counter question.
+
+[FN#211]  This "Cry of Haro" often occurs throughout The Nights. In
+real-life it is sure to colece a crowd. especially if an Infidel
+(non Moslem) be its cause.
+
+[FN#212]  In the East a cunning fellow always makes himself the
+claimant or complainant.
+
+[FN#213]  On the Euphrates some 40 miles west of Baghdad The word
+is written "Anbár" and pronounced "Ambár" as usual with the "n"
+before "b"; the case of the Greek double Gamma.
+
+[FN#214]  Syene on the Nile.
+
+[FN#215]  The tale is in the richest Rabelaisian humour; and the
+requisitions of the "Saj'a" (rhymed prose) in places explain the
+grotesque combinations. It is difficult to divine why Lane omits
+it: probably he held a hearty laugh not respectable.
+
+[FN#216]  A lawyer of the eighth century, one of the chief pupils
+of the Imam Abu Hanifah, and Kazi of Baghdad under the third,
+fourth and fifth Abbasides. The tale is told in the quasi-
+historical-Persian work "Nigáristán" (The Picture gallery), and is
+repeated by Richardson, Diss. 7, xiii. None seem to have remarked
+that the distinguished legist, Abu Yusuf, was on this occasion a
+law-breaker; the Kazi's duty being to carry out the code not to
+break it by the tricks of a cunning attorney. In Harun's day,
+however, some regard was paid to justice, not under his successors,
+one of whom, Al-Muktadir bi 'lláh (A.H. 295=907), made the damsel
+Yamika President of the Diwán al-Mazálim (Court of the Wronged), a
+tribunal which took cognizance of tyranny and oppression in high
+places.
+
+[FN#217]  Here the writer evidently forgets that Shahrazad is
+telling the story to the king, as Boccaccio (ii. 7) forgets that
+Pamfilo is speaking. Such inconsequences are common in Eastern
+story-books and a goody-goody sentiment is always heartily received
+as in an English theatre.
+
+[FN#218]  In the Mac. Edit. (ii. 182) "Al-Kushayri." Al-Kasri was
+Governor of the two Iraks (I.e. Bassorah and Cufa) in the reign of
+Al-Hisham, tenth Ommiade (A.D. 723-741)
+
+[FN#219]  Arab. "Thakalata k Ummak!" This is not so much a curse as
+a playful phrase, like "Confound the fellow." So "Kátala k Allah"
+(Allah slay thee) and "Lá abá lak" (thou hast no father or mother).
+These words are even complimentary on occasions, as a good shot or
+a fine recitation, meaning that the praised far excels the rest of
+his tribe.
+
+[FN#220]  Koran, iii. 178.
+
+[FN#221]  Arab. "Al-Nisáb"=the minimum sum (about half-a crown) for
+which mutilation of the hand is prescribed by religious law. The
+punishment was truly barbarous, it chastised a rogue by means which
+prevented hard honest labour for the rest of his life.
+
+[FN#222]  To show her grief.
+
+[FN#223]  Abú Sa'íd Abd al-Malik bin Kurayb, surnamed Al-Asma'i
+from his grandfather, flor. A.H. 122-306 (=739-830) and wrote
+amongst a host of compositions the well-known Romance of Antar. See
+in D'Herbelot the right royal-directions given to him by Harun
+al-Rashid.
+
+[FN#224]  There are many accounts of his death, but it is generally
+held that he was first beheaded. The story in the text is also
+variously told and the Persian "Nigáristán" adds some unpleasant
+comments upon the House of Abbas. The Persians, for reasons which
+will be explained in the terminal-Essay, show the greatest sympathy
+with the Barmecides; and abominate the Abbasides even more than the
+latter detested the Ommiades.
+
+[FN#225]  Not written, as the European reader would suppose.
+
+[FN#226]  Arab. "Fúl al-hárr" = beans like horsebeans soaked and
+boiled as opposed to the "Fúl Mudammas" (esp. of Egypt)=unshelled
+beans steamed and boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as
+"kitchen" or relish. Lane (M.E., chaps. v.) calls them after the
+debased Cairene pronunciation, Mudemmes. A legend says that, before
+the days of Pharaoh (always he of Moses), the Egyptians lived on
+pistachios which made them a witty, lively race. But the tyrant
+remarking that the domestic ass, which eats beans, is degenerate
+from the wild ass, uprooted the pistachio-trees and compelled the
+lieges to feed on beans which made them a heavy, gross, cowardly
+people fit only for burdens. Badawis deride "beaneaters" although
+they do not loathe the pulse like onions. The principal-result of
+a bean diet is an extraordinary development of flatulence both in
+stomach and intestines: hence possibly, Pythagoras who had studied
+ceremonial-purity in Egypt, forbade the use, unless he referred to
+venery or political-business. I was once sitting in the Greek
+quarter of Cairo dressed as a Moslem when arose a prodigious hubbub
+of lads and boys, surrounding, a couple of Fellahs. These men had
+been working in the fields about a mile east of Cairo and, when
+returning home, one had said to the other, "If thou wilt carry the
+hoes I will break wind once for every step we take." He was as good
+as his word and when they were to part he cried, "And now for thy
+bakhshish!" which consisted of a volley of fifty, greatly to the
+delight of the boys.
+
+[FN#227]  No porcelain was ever, as far as we can discover, made in
+Egypt or Syria of the olden day; but, as has been said, there was
+a regular caravan-intercourse with China At Damascus I dug into the
+huge rubbish-heaps and found quantities of pottery, but no China.
+The same has lately been done at Clysma, the artificial-mound near
+Suez, and the glass and pottery prove it to have been a Roman work
+which defended the mouth of the old classical-sweet-water canal.
+
+[FN#228]  Arab. "Lá baas ba-zálik," conversational-for "Lá jaram"=
+there is no harm in it, no objection to it, and, sometimes, "it is
+a matter of course."
+
+[FN#229]  A white emerald is yet unknown; but this adds only to the
+Oriental-extravagance of the picture. I do not think with Lane (ii.
+426) that "abyaz" here can mean "bright." Dr. Steingass suggests a
+clerical-error for "khazar" (green).
+
+[FN#230]  Arab. "Sharárif" plur. of Shurráfah=crenelles or
+battlements; mostly trefoil-shaped; remparts coquets which a
+six-pounder would crumble.
+
+[FN#231]  Pronounce Abul-Muzaffar=Father of the Conqueror.
+
+[FN#232]  I have explained the word in my "Zanzibar, City, Island
+and Coast," vol. i. chaps. v There is still a tribe, the Wadoe,
+reputed cannibal-on the opposite low East African shore These
+blacks would hardly be held " sons of Adam." "Zanj " corrupted to
+"Zinj " (plur Zunúj) is the Persian "Zany" or "Zangi," a black,
+altered by the Arabs, who ignore the hard g; and, with the
+suffixion of the Persian -bár (region, as in Malabar) we have Zang-
+bar which the Arabs have converted to "Zanjibar," in poetry "Murk
+al-Zunúj"=Land of the Zang. The term is old; it is the Zingis or
+Zingisa of Ptolemy and the Zingium of Cosmas Indicopleustes; and it
+shows the influence of Persian navigation in pre-Islamitic ages.
+For further details readers will consult "The Lake Regions of
+Central-Africa" vol. i. chaps. ii
+
+[FN#233]  Arab. "Kawárib" plur. of "Kárib" prop. a dinghy, a small
+boat belonging to a ship Here it refers to the canoe (a Carib word)
+pop. "dug-out" and classically "monoxyle," a boat made of a single
+tree-trunk hollowed by fire and trimmed with axe and adze. Some of
+these rude craft which, when manned, remind one of saturnine Caliph
+Omar's "worms floating on a log of wood," measure 60 feet long and
+more.
+
+[FN#234]   i.e. A descendant of Mohammed in general-and especially
+through Husayn Ali-son. Here the text notes that the chief of the
+bazar was of this now innumerable stock, who inherit the title
+through the mother as well as through the father.
+
+[FN#235]  Arab. "Hasab" (=quaneity), the honour a man acquires for
+himself; opposed to "Nasab" (genealogy) honours inherited from
+ancestry: the Arabic well expresses my old motto (adopted by
+Chinese Gordon),
+                               "Honour, not Honours."
+
+[FN#236]  Note the difference between "Takaddum" ( = standing in
+presence of, also superiority in excellence) and "Takádum"
+(priority in time).
+
+[FN#237]  Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of
+this saying.
+
+[FN#238]  A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep
+the earth in place. "And he hath thrown before the earth, mountains
+firmly rooted, lest it should move with you." (Koran, chaps. xvi.)
+The earth when first created was smooth and thereby liable to a
+circular motion, like the celestial-orbs; and, when the Angels
+asked who could stand on so tottering a frame, Allah fixed it the
+next morning by throwing the mountains in it and pegging them down.
+A fair prolepsis of the Neptunian theory.
+
+[FN#239]  Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying "by God,"
+but this common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples
+who are constantly using the word Allah Wallah, Billah, etc. The
+Koran expressly says, "Make not Allah the scope (object, lit.
+arrow-butt) of your oaths" (chaps. ii. 224), yet the command is
+broken every minute.
+
+[FN#240]  This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet;
+when Ali appears, as a rule he is on horseback.
+
+[FN#241]  The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we
+find that it was close to Jinn land. China was very convenient for
+this purpose: the medieval-Moslems, who settled in considerable
+numbers at Canton and elsewhere, knew just enough of it to know
+their own ignorance of the vast empire. Hence the Druzes of the
+Libanus still hold that part of their nation is in the depths of
+the Celestial-Empire.
+
+[FN#242]  I am unwilling to alter the old title to "City of Copper"
+as it should be; the pure metal having been technologically used
+long before the alloy of copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City
+(Night dlxvi. et seq.) was of brass (not copper). The Hindus of
+Upper India have an Iram which they call Hari Chand's city (Colonel
+Tod); and I need hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint
+Borondon; Cape Fly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the
+effect of "looming."
+
+[FN#243]  This sword which makes men invisible and which takes
+place of Siegfried's Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of
+"Fortunatus' cap" is common in Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably
+arose from the venerable practice of inscribing the blades with
+sentences, verses and magic figures.
+
+[FN#244]  Arab. "'Ukáb," in books an eagle (especially black) and
+P. N. of constellation but in Pop. usage= a vulture. In Egypt it is
+the Neophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the
+Dijájat Far'aun or Pharaoh's hen. This bird has been known to kill
+the Báshah sparrow-hawk (Jerdon i. 60); yet, curious to say, the
+reviewers of my "Falconry in the Valley of the Indus" questioned
+the fact, known to so many travellers, that the falcon is also
+killed by this "tiger of the air," despite the latter's feeble bill
+(pp. 35-38). I was faring badly at their hands when the late Mr.
+Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue. Falconicide is popularly
+attributed, not only to the vulture, but also to the crestless
+hawk-eagle (Nisætus Bonelli) which the Hindus call Morángá=peacock
+slayer.
+
+[FN#245]  Here I translate "Nahás"=brass, as the "kumkum"
+(cucurbite) is made of mixed metal, not of copper.
+
+[FN#246]  Mansur al-Nimrí, a poet of the time and a protégé of
+Yahya's son, Al-Fazl.
+
+[FN#247]  This was at least four times Mansur's debt.
+
+[FN#248]  Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid. The Bres.
+Edit. (vii. 254) begins They tell that there arose full enmity
+between Ja'afar Barmecide and a Sahib of Misr" (Wazir or Governor
+of Egypt). Lane (ii. 429) quotes to this purpose amongst Arab;
+historians Fakhr al-Din. (De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe i., p. 26,
+edit. ii.)
+
+[FN#249]  Arab. "Armaníyah" which Egyptians call after their
+mincing fashion "Irminiyeh" hence "Ermine" (Mus Ponticus).
+Armaniyah was much more extensive than our Armenia, now degraded to
+a mere province of Turkey, and the term is understood to include
+the whole of the old Parthian Empire.
+
+[FN#250]  Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a "Wakíl" in
+Constantinople to intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.
+
+[FN#251]  The symbol of generosity, of unasked liberality, the
+"black hand" being that of niggardness.
+
+[FN#252]  Arab. Ráh =pure (and old) wine. Arabs, like our classics,
+usually drank their wine tempered. So Imr al-Keys in his Mu'allakah
+says, "Bring the well tempered wine that seems to be
+saffron-tinctured; and, when water-mixed, o'erbrims the cup." (v.
+2.)
+
+[FN#253]  There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these
+"goody-goody" preachments; but they read and forget them as readily
+as Westerns.
+
+[FN#254]  Lane (ii. 435) ill-advisedly writes "Sher," as "the word
+is evidently Persian signifying a Lion." But this is only in the
+debased Indian dialect, a Persian, especially a Shirazi, pronounces
+"Shír." And this is how it is written in the Bresl. Edit., vii.
+262. "Shár" is evidently a fancy name, possibly suggested by the
+dynastic name of the Ghurjistan or Georgian Princes.
+
+[FN#255]  Again old experience, which has learned at a heavy cost
+how many a goodly apple is rotten at the core.
+
+[FN#256]  This couplet has occurred in Night xxi. I give Torrens
+(p. 206) by way of specimen.
+
+[FN#257]  Arab. "Záka" = merely tasting a thing which may be sweet
+with a bitter after-flavour
+
+[FN#258]  This tetraseich was in Night xxx. with a difference.
+
+[FN#259]  The lines have occurred in Night xxx. I quote Torrens, p.
+311.
+
+[FN#260]  This tetrastich is in Night clxix. I borrow from Lane
+(ii. 62).
+
+[FN#261]  The rude but effective refrigerator of the desert Arab
+who hangs his water-skin to the branch of a tree and allows it to
+swing in the wind.
+
+[FN#262]  Arab "Khumásiyah" which Lane (ii. 438) renders "of
+quinary stature." Usually it means five spans, but here five feet,
+showing that the girl was young and still growing. The invoice with
+a slave always notes her height in spans measured from ankle-bone
+to ear and above seven she loses value as being full grown. Hence
+Sudási (fem. Sudásiyah) is a slave six spans high, the Shibr or
+full span (9 inches) not the Fitr or short span from thumb to
+index. Faut is the interval-between every finger, Ratab between
+index and medius, and Atab between medius and annularis.
+
+[FN#263]  "Moon faced" now sounds sufficiently absurd to us, but it
+was not always so. Solomon (Cant. vi. 10) does not disdain the
+image "fair as the moon, clear as the sun," and those who have seen
+a moon in the sky of Arabia will thoroughly appreciate it. We find
+it amongst the Hindus, the Persians, the Afghans, the Turks and all
+the nations of Europe. We have, finally, the grand example of
+Spenser,
+
+          "Her spacious forehead, like the clearest moon, etc."
+
+[FN#264]  Blue eyes have a bad name in Arabia as in India: the
+witch Zarká of Al-Yamamah was noted for them; and "blue eyed" often
+means "fierce-eyed," alluding to the Greeks and Daylamites,
+mortal-enemies to Ishmael. The Arabs say "ruddy of mustachio, blue
+of eye and black of heart."
+
+[FN#265]  Before explained as used with camphor to fill the dead
+man's mouth.
+
+[FN#266]  As has been seen, slapping on the neck is equivalent to
+our "boxing ears," but much less barbarous and likely to injure the
+child. The most insulting blow is that with shoe sandal-or slipper
+because it brings foot in contact with head. Of this I have spoken
+before.
+
+[FN#267]  Arab. "Hibál" (= ropes) alluding to the A'akál-fillet
+which binds the Kúfiyah-kerchief on the Badawi's head. (Pilgrimage,
+i. 346.)
+
+[FN#268]  Arab. "Khiyál"; afterwards called Kara Gyuz (= "black
+eyes," from the celebrated Turkish Wazir). The mise-en-scène was
+like that of Punch, but of transparent cloth, lamp lit inside and
+showing silhouettes worked by hand. Nothing could be more
+Fescenntne than Kara Gyuz, who appeared with a phallus longer than
+himself and made all the Consuls-General-periodically complain of
+its abuse, while the dialogue, mostly in Turkish, as even more
+obscene. Most ingenious were Kara Gyuz's little ways of driving on
+an Obstinate donkey and of tackling a huge Anatolian pilgrim. He
+mounted the Neddy's back face to tail, and inserting his left thumb
+like a clyster, hammered it with his right when the donkey started
+at speed. For the huge pilgrim he used a ladder. These shows now
+obsolete, used to enliven the Ezbekiyah Gardens every evening and
+explain Ovid's Words,
+
+               "Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas!"
+
+[FN#269]  Mohammed (Mishkát al-Masábih ii. 360-62) says, "Change
+the whiteness of your hair but not with anything black." Abu Bakr,
+who was two years and some months older than the Prophet, used
+tincture of Henna and Katam. Old Turkish officers justify black
+dyes because these make them look younger and fiercer. Henna stains
+white hair orange red; and the Persians apply after it a paste of
+indigo leaves, the result is successively leek-green,
+emerald-green, bottle-green and lastly lamp-black. There is a stage
+in life (the youth of old age) when man uses dyes: presently he
+finds that the whole face wants dye; that the contrast between
+juvenile coloured hair and ancient skin is ridiculous and that it
+is time to wear white.
+
+[FN#270]  This prejudice extends all over the East: the Sanskrit
+saying is "Kvachit káná bhaveta sádhus" now and then a monocular is
+honest. The left eye is the worst and the popular idea is, I have
+said, that the damage will come by the injured member
+
+[FN#271]  The Arabs say like us, "Short and thick is never quick"
+and "Long and thin has little in."
+
+[FN#272]  Arab. "Ba'azu layáli," some night when his mistress
+failed him.
+
+[FN#273]  The fountain in Paradise before noticed.
+
+[FN#274]  Before noticed as the Moslem St. Peter (as far as the
+keys go).
+
+[FN#275]  Arab. "Munkasir" = broken, frail, languishing the only
+form of the maladive allowed. Here again we have masculine for
+feminine: the eyelids show love-desire, but, etc.
+
+[FN#276]  The river of Paradise.
+
+[FN#277]  See Night xii. "The Second Kalandar's Tale " vol. i. 113.
+
+[FN#278]  Lane (ii. 472) refers for specimens of calligraphy to
+Herbin's "Développements, etc." There are many more than seven
+styles of writing as I have shown in Night xiii.; vol. i. 129.
+
+[FN#279]  Amongst good Moslems this would be a claim upon a man.
+
+[FN#280]  These lines have occurred twice already: and first appear
+in Night xxii. I have borrowed from Mr. Payne (iv. 46).
+
+[FN#281]  Arab. "Ya Nasráni", the address is not intrinsically
+slighting but it may easily be made so. I have elsewhere noted that
+when Julian (is said to have) exclaimed "Vicisti Nazarene!" he was
+probably thinking in Eastern phrase "Nasarta, yá Nasráni!"
+
+[FN#282]  Thirst is the strongest of all pleas to an Eastern,
+especially to a Persian who never forgets the sufferings of his
+Imam, Husayn, at Kerbela: he would hardly withhold it from the
+murderer of his father. There is also a Hadis, "Thou shalt not
+refuse water to him who thirsteth in the desert."
+
+[FN#283]  Arab. "Zimmi" which Lane (ii. 474) aptly translates a
+"tributary." The Koran (chaps. ix.) orders Unbelievers to Islamize
+or to "pay tribute by right of subjection" (lit. an yadin=out of
+hand, an expression much debated). The least tribute is one dinar
+per annum which goes to the poor-rate. and for this the Kafir
+enjoys protection and almost all the civil rights of Moslems. As it
+is a question of "loaves and fishes" there is much to say on the
+subject; "loaves and fishes" being the main base and foundation of
+all religious establishments.
+
+[FN#284]  This tetrastich has before occurred, so I quote Lane (ii.
+444).
+
+[FN#285]  In Night xxxv. the same occurs with a difference.
+
+[FN#286]  The old rite, I repeat, has lost amongst all but the
+noblest of Arab tribes the whole of its significance; and the
+traveller must be careful how he trusts to the phrase "Nahnu
+málihin" we are bound together by the salt.
+
+[FN#287]  Arab. "Aláma" = Alá-má = upon what ? wherefore ?
+
+[FN#288]  Arab. "Mauz"; hence the Linnean name Musa (paradisiaca,
+etc.). The word is explained by Sale (Koran, chaps. xxxvii. 146) as
+"a small tree or shrub;" and he would identify it with Jonah's
+gourd.
+
+[FN#289]  Lane (ii. 446) "bald wolf or empowered fate," reading
+(with Mac.) Kazá for Kattan (cat).
+
+[FN#290]  i.e. "the Orthodox in the Faith." Ráshid is a proper
+name, witness that scourge of Syria, Ráshid Pasha. Born in 1830, of
+the Haji Nazir Agha family, Darrah-Beys of Macedonian Draina, he
+was educated in Paris where he learned the usual-hatred of
+Europeans: he entered the Egyptian service in 1851, and, presently
+exchanging it for the Turkish, became in due time Wali
+(Governor-General) of Syria which he plundered most shamelessly.
+Recalled in 1872, he eventually entered the Ministry and on June 15
+1876, he was shot down, with other villains like himself, by
+gallant Captain Hasan, the Circassian (Yarham-hu 'lláh !).
+
+[FN#291]  Quoted from a piece of verse, of which more presently.
+
+[FN#292]  This tetrastich has occurred before (Night cxciii.). I
+quote Lane (ii. 449), who quotes Dryden's Spanish Friar,
+
+          "There is a pleasure sure in being mad
+           Which none but madmen know."
+
+[FN#293]  Lane (ii. 449) gives a tradition of the Prophet, "Whoso
+is in love, and acteth chastely, and concealeth (his passion) and
+dieth, dieth a martyr." Sakar is No. 5 Hell for Magi Guebres,
+Parsis, etc., it is used in the comic Persian curse, "Fi'n-nári wa
+Sakar al-jadd w'al-pidar"=ln Hell and Sakar his grandfather and
+his father.
+
+[FN#294]  Arab. "Sifr": I have warned readers that whistling is
+considered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the
+Badawin, and that the traveller must avoid it. It savours of
+idolatry: in the Koran we find (chaps. viii. 35), "Their prayer at
+the House of God (Ka'abah) is none other than whistling and
+hand-clapping;" and tradition says that they whistled through their
+fingers. Besides many of the Jinn have only round holes by way of
+mouths and their speech is whistling a kind of bird language like
+sibilant English.
+
+[FN#295]  Arab. 'Kíl wa kál"=lit. "it was said and he said;" a
+popular phrase for chit chat, tittle-tattle, prattle and prate,
+etc.
+
+[FN#296]  Arab. "Hadis." comparing it with a tradition of the
+Prophet.
+
+[FN#297]  Arab. "Mikashshah," the thick part of a midrib of a
+palm-frond soaked for some days in water and beaten out till the
+fibres separate. It makes an exceedingly hard, although not a
+lasting broom.
+
+[FN#298]  Persian, "the youth, the brave;" Sansk. Yuván: and Lat.
+Juvenis. The Kurd, in tales, is generally a sturdy thief; and in
+real-life is little better.
+
+[FN#299]  Arab. "Yá Shatir ;" lit. O clever one (in a bad sense).
+
+[FN#300]  Lane (ii. 453) has it. "that I may dress thy hair'" etc.
+This is Bowdlerising with a witness.
+
+[FN#301]  The sign of respect when a personage dismounts.
+(Pilgrimage i. 77.)
+
+[FN#302]  So the Hindus speak of "the defilement of separation" as
+if it were an impurity.
+
+[FN#303]  Lane (i. 605) gives a long and instructive note on these
+public royal-banquets which were expected from the lieges by Moslem
+subjects. The hanging-penalty is, perhaps, a tattle exaggerated;
+but we find the same excess in the priestly Gesta Romanorum.
+
+[FN#304]  Had he eaten it he would have become her guest. Amongst
+the older Badawin it was sufficient to spit upon a man (in
+entreaty) to claim his protection: so the horse-thieves when caught
+were placed in a hole in the ground covered over with matting to
+prevent this happening. Similarly Saladin (Saláh al-Din) the
+chivalrous would not order a cup of water for the robber, Reynald
+de Châtillon, before putting him to death
+
+[FN#305]  Arab. "Kishk" properly "Kashk"=wheat-meal-coarsely ground
+and eaten with milk or broth. It is de rigueur with the Egyptian
+Copts on the "Friday of Sorrow" (Good Friday): and Lane gives the
+recipe for making it (M. E. chaps. xxvi.)
+
+[FN#306]  In those days distinctive of Moslems.
+
+[FN#307]  The euphemism has before been noticed: the Moslem reader
+would not like to pronounce the words "I am a Nazarene." The same
+formula occurs a little lower down to save the reciter or reader
+from saying "Be my wife divorced," etc.
+
+[FN#308]  Arab, "Hájj," a favourite Egyptianism. We are wrong to
+write Hajji which an Eastern would pronounce Háj-jí.
+
+[FN#309]  This is Cairene "chaff."
+
+[FN#310]  Whose shell fits very tight.
+
+[FN#311]  His hand was like a raven's because he ate with thumb and
+two fingers and it came up with the rice about it like a camel's
+hoof in dirty ground. This refers to the proverb (Burckhardt, 756),
+"He comes down a crow-claw (small) and comes up a camel-hoof (huge
+and round)."
+
+[FN#312]  Easterns have a superstitious belief in the powers of
+food: I knew a learned man who never sat down to eat without a
+ceremonious salam to his meat.
+
+[FN#313]  Lane (ii. 464), uses the vile Turkish corruption
+"Rustum," which, like its fellow "Rustem," would make a Persian
+shudder.
+
+[FN#314]  Arab. "Darrij" i.e. let them slide (Americanicè).
+
+[FN#315]  This tetrastich has occurred before: so I quote Mr. Payne
+(in loco).
+
+[FN#316]  Shaykh of Al-Butnah and Jábiyah, therefore a Syrian of
+the Hauran near Damascus and grandson to Isú (Esau). Arab mystics
+(unlike the vulgar who see only his patience) recognise that
+inflexible integrity which refuses to utter "words of wind" and
+which would not, against his conscience, confess to wrong-doing
+merely to pacify the Lord who was stronger than himself. The
+Classics taught this noble lesson in the case of Prometheus versus
+Zeus. Many articles are called after Job e.g. Ra'ará' Ayyub or
+Ghubayrá (inula Arabica and undulata), a creeper with which he
+rubbed himself and got well: the Copts do the same on "Job's
+Wednesday," i.e. that before Whit Sunday O.S. Job's father is a
+nickname of the camel, etc. etc.
+
+[FN#317]  Lane (in loco) renders "I am of their number." But "fí
+al-siyák" means popularly "(driven) to the point of death."
+
+[FN#318]  Lit. = "pathway, road"; hence the bridge well known as
+"finer than a hair and sharper than a sword," over which all
+(except Khadijah and a chosen few) must pass on the Day of Doom; a
+Persian apparatus bodily annexed by Al-Islam. The old Guebres
+called it Puli Chinávar or Chinávad and the Jews borrowed it from
+them as they did all their fancies of a future life against which
+Moses had so gallantly fought. It is said that a bridge over the
+grisly "brook Kedron" was called Sirát (the road) and hence the
+idea, as that of hell-fire from Ge-Hinnom (Gehenna) where children
+were passed through the fire to Moloch. A doubtful Hadis says, "The
+Prophet declared Al-Sirát to be the name of a bridge over hell-
+fire, dividing Hell from Paradise" (pp. 17, 122, Reynold's trans.
+of Al-Siyuti's Traditions, etc.). In Koran i. 5, "Sirat" is simply
+a path, from sarata, he swallowed, even as the way devours (makes
+a lakam or mouthful of) those who travel it. The word was orig.
+written with Sín but changed for easier articulation to Sád, one of
+the four Hurúf al-Mutabbakát, "the flattened," formed by the
+broadened tongue in contact with the palate. This Sad also by the
+figure Ishmám (=conversion) turns slightly to a Zá, the
+intermediate between Sin and Sad.
+
+[FN#319]  The rule in Turkey where catamites rise to the highest
+rank: C'est un homme de bonne famille (said a Turkish officer in
+Egypt) il a été acheté. Hence "Alfi" (one who costs a thousand) is
+a well-known cognomen. The Pasha of the Syrian caravan, with which
+I travelled' had been the slave of a slave and he was not a
+solitary instance. (Pilgrimage i. 90.)
+
+[FN#320]  The device of the banquet is dainty enough for any old
+Italian novella; all that now comes is pure Egyptian polissonnerie
+speaking to the gallery and being answered by roars of laughter.
+
+[FN#321]  i.e. "art thou ceremonially pure and therefore fit for
+handling by a great man like myself?"
+
+[FN#322]  In past days before Egypt was "frankified" many
+overlanders used to wash away the traces of travel by a Turkish
+bath which mostly ended in the appearance of a rump wriggling
+little lad who offered to shampoo them. Many accepted his offices
+without dreaming of his usual-use or misuse.
+
+[FN#323]  Arab. "Imám." This is (to a Moslem) a most offensive
+comparison between prayer and car. cop.
+
+[FN#324]  Arab. "Fi zaman-hi," alluding to a peculiarity highly
+prized by Egyptians; the use of the constrictor vaginæ muscles, the
+sphincter for which Abyssinian women are famous. The "Kabbázah" (
+= holder), as she is called, can sit astraddle upon a man and can
+provoke the venereal-orgasm, not by wriggling and moving but by
+tightening and loosing the male member with the muscles of her
+privities, milking it as it were. Consequently the cassenoisette
+costs treble the money of other concubines. (Arranga-Ranga, p.
+127.)
+
+[FN#325]  The little eunuchs had evidently studied the Harem.
+
+[FN#326]  Lane (ii. 494) relates from Al-Makrizi, that when
+Khamárawayh, Governor of Egypt (ninth century), suffered from
+insomnia, his physician ordered a pool of quicksilver 50 by 50
+cubits, to be laid out in front of his palace, now the Rumaylah
+square. "At the corners of the pool were silver pegs, to which were
+attached by silver rings strong bands of silk, and a bed of skins,
+inflated with air, being thrown upon the pool and secured by the
+bands remained in a continual-state of agreeable vacillation." We
+are not told that the Prince was thereby salivated like the late
+Colonel Sykes when boiling his mercury for thermometric
+experiments,
+
+[FN#327]  The name seems now unknown. "Al-Khahí'a" is somewhat
+stronger than "Wag," meaning at least a "wicked wit." Properly it
+is the Span. "perdido," a youth cast off (Khala') by his friends;
+though not so strong a term as "Harfúsh"=a blackguard.
+
+[FN#328]  Arab. "Farsakh"=parasang.
+
+[FN#329]  Arab. "Nahás asfar"=yellow copper, brass as opposed to
+Nahás ahmar=copper The reader who cares to study the subject will
+find much about it in my "Book of The Sword," chaps. iv.
+
+[FN#330]  Lane (ii. 479) translates one stanza of this mukhammas
+(pentastich) and speaks of "five more," which would make six.
+
+[FN#331]  A servile name. Delicacy, Elegance.
+
+[FN#332]  These verses have occurred twice (Night ix. etc.): so I
+give Lane's version (ii. 482).
+
+[FN#333]  A Badawi tribe to which belonged the generous Ma'an bin
+Za'idab, often mentioned The Nights.
+
+[FN#334]  Wealthy harems, I have said, are hot-beds of Sapphism and
+Tribadism. Every woman past her first youth has a girl whom she
+calls her "Myrtle" (in Damascus). At Agbome, capital-of Dahome, I
+found that a troop of women was kept for the use of the "Amazons"
+(Mission to Gelele, ii. 73). Amongst the wild Arabs, who ignore
+Socratic and Sapphic perversions, the lover is always more jealous
+of his beloved's girl-friends than of men rivals. In England we
+content ourselves with saying that women corrupt women more than
+men do.
+
+[FN#335]  The Hebrew Pentateuch; Roll of the Law.
+
+[FN#336]  I need hardly notice the brass trays, platters and
+table-covers with inscriptions which are familiar to every reader:
+those made in the East for foreign markets mostly carry imitation
+inscriptions lest infidel eyes fall upon Holy Writ.
+
+[FN#337]  These six distichs are in Night xiii. I borrow Torrens
+(p. 125) to show his peculiar treatment of spinning out 12 lines to
+38.
+
+[FN#338]  Arab. "Musámirah"=chatting at night. Easterns are
+inordinately fond of the practice and the wild Arabs often sit up
+till dawn, talking over the affairs of the tribe, indeed a Shaykh
+is expected to do so. "Early to bed and early to rise" is a
+civilised, not a savage or a barbarous saying. Samír is a companion
+in night talk; Rafík of the road; Rahíb in riding horse or camel,
+Ká'id in sitting, Sharíb and Rafís at drink, and Nadím at table:
+Ahíd is an ally. and Sharík a partner all on the model of "Fa'íl."
+
+[FN#339]  In both lover and beloved the excess of love gave them
+this clairvoyance.
+
+[FN#340]  The prayer will be granted for the excess (not the
+purity) of her love.
+
+[FN#341]  This wailing over the Past is one of the common-places of
+Badawi poetry. The traveller cannot fail, I repeat, to notice the
+chronic melancholy of peoples dwelling under the brightest skies.
+
+[FN#342]  Moons=Budúr
+
+[FN#343]  in Paradise as a martyr.
+
+[FN#344]  i.e. to intercede for me in Heaven; as if the young woman
+were the prophet.
+
+[FN#345]  The comparison is admirable as the two letters are
+written. It occurs in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Ramlah).
+
+     "So I embraced him close as Lám cleaves to Alif:"
+
+And again;
+
+     "She laid aside reluctance and I embraced her close
+     As if I were Lam and my love Alif."
+
+The Lomad Olaph in Syriac is similarly colligated.
+
+[FN#346]  Here is a double entendre "and the infirm letters (viz.
+a, w and y) not subject to accidence, left him." The three make up
+the root "Awi"=pitying, condoling.
+
+[FN#347]  Showing that consummation had taken place. It was a sign
+of good breeding to avoid all "indecent hurry" when going to bed.
+In some Moslem countries the bridegroom does not consummate the
+marriage for seven nights; out of respect for (1) father (2) mother
+(3) brother and so forth. If he hurry matters he will be hooted as
+an "impatient man" and the wise will quote, "Man is created of
+precipitation" (Koran chaps. xxi. 38), meaning hasty and
+inconsiderate. I remark with pleasure that the whole of this tale
+is told with commendable delicacy. O si sic omnia!
+
+[FN#348]  Pers. "Nauroz"(=nau roz, new day):here used in the Arab.
+plur.'Nawáriz, as it lasted six days. There are only four:
+universal-festivals; the solstices and the equinoxes; and every
+successive religion takes them from the sun and perverts them to
+its own private purposes. Lane (ii. 496) derives the venerable
+Nauroz whose birth is hid in the outer glooms of antiquity from the
+"Jewish Passover"(!)
+
+[FN#349]  Again the "babes" of the eyes.
+
+[FN#350]  i.e. whose glance is as the light of the glowing braise
+or (embers). The Arab. "Mikbás"=pan or pot full of small charcoal,
+is an article well known in Italy and Southern Europe. The word is
+apparently used here because it rhymes with "Anfás" (souls,
+spirits).
+
+[FN#351]  i.e. martyrdom; a Koranic term "fi sabíli 'llahi" = on
+the way of Allah
+
+[FN#352]  These rhymes in -y, -ee and -ie are purposely affected,
+to imitate the cadence of the Arabic.
+
+[FN#353]  Arab. "Sujúd," the ceremonial-prostration, touching the
+ground with the forehead So in the Old Testament "he bowed (or fell
+down) and worshipped" (Gen. xxiv., 26 Mat. ii., 11), of which our
+translation gives a wrong idea.
+
+[FN#354]  A girl is called "Alfiyyah " = A-shaped.
+
+[FN#355]  i.e. the medial-form of m.
+
+[FN#356]  i.e. the inverted n.
+
+[FN#357]  It may also mean a "Sevigné of pearls."
+
+[FN#358]  Koran xxvii. 12. This was one of the nine "signs" to
+wicked "Pharaoh." The "hand of Moses" is a symbol of power and
+ability (Koran vii. 105). The whiteness was supernatural-beauty,
+not leprosy of the Jews (Exod. iv. 6); but brilliancy, after being
+born red or black: according to some commentators, Moses was a
+negro.
+
+[FN#359]  Koran iii. 103; the other faces become black. This
+explains I have noticed the use of the phrases in blessing and
+cursing.
+
+[FN#360]  Here we have the naked legend of the negro's origin, one
+of those nursery tales in which the ignorant of Christendom still
+believe But the deduction from the fable and the testimony to the
+negro's lack of intelligence, though unpleasant to our ignorant
+negrophils, are factual-and satisfactory.
+
+[FN#361]  Koran, xcii. 1, 2: an oath of Allah to reward and punish
+with Heaven and Hell.
+
+[FN#362]  Alluding to the "black drop" in the heart: it was taken
+from Mohammed's by the Archangel Gabriel. The fable seems to have
+arisen from the verse ' Have we not opened thy breast?" (Koran,
+chaps. xciv. 1). The popular tale is that Halímah, the Badawi nurse
+of Mohammed, of the Banu Sa'ad tribe, once saw her son, also a
+child, running towards her and asked him what was the matter. He
+answered, 'My little brother was seized by two men in white who
+stretched him on the ground and opened his bellyl" For a full
+account and deductions see the Rev. Mr. Badger's article,
+"Muhammed" (p. 959) in vol. in. "Dictionary of Christian
+Biography."
+
+[FN#363]  Arab. "Sumr," lit. brown (as it is afterwards used), but
+politely applied to a negro: "Yá Abu Sumrah!" O father of
+brownness.
+
+[FN#364]  Arab. 'Lumá"=dark hue of the inner lips admired by the
+Arabs and to us suggesting most umpleasant ideas. Mr. Chenery
+renders it "dark red,' and "ruddy" altogether missing the idea.
+
+[FN#365]  Arab. "Saudá," feminine of aswad (black), and meaning
+black bile (melancholia) as opposed to leucocholia,
+
+[FN#366]  i.e. the Magians, Sabians, Zoroastrians.
+
+[FN#367]  The "Unguinum fulgor" of the Latins who did not forget to
+celebrate the shining of the nails although they did not Henna them
+like Easterns. Some, however, have suggested that
+alludes to colouring matter.
+
+[FN#368]  Women with white skins are supposed to be heating and
+unwholesome: hence the Hindu Rajahs slept with dark girls in the
+hot season.
+
+[FN#369]  Moslems sensibly have a cold as well as a hot Hell, the
+former called Zamharir (lit. "intense cold")or AI-Barahút, after a
+well in Hazramaut; as Gehenna (Arab. "Jahannam") from the
+furnace-like ravine East of Jerusalem (Night cccxxv.). The icy Hell
+is necessary in terrorem for peoples who inhabit cold regions and
+who in a hot Hell only look forward to an eternity of "coals and
+candles" gratis. The sensible missionaries preached it in Iceland
+till foolishly forbidden by Papal-Bull.
+
+[FN#370]  Koran ii. 26; speaking of Abraham when he entertained the
+angels unawares.
+
+[FN#371]  Arab. "Rakb," usually applied to a fast-going caravan of
+dromedary riders (Pilgrimage ii. 329). The "Cafilah" is Arab.:
+"Caravan" is a corruption of the Pers. "Karwán."
+
+[FN#372]  A popular saying. It is interesting to contrast this
+dispute between fat and thin with the Shakespearean humour of
+Falstaff and Prince Henry.
+
+[FN#373]  Arab. "Dalak" vulg. Hajar al-Hammam (Hammam-stone). The
+comparison is very apt: the rasps are of baked clay artificially
+roughened (see illustrations in Lane M. E. chaps. xvi.). The rope
+is called "Masad," a bristling line of palm-fibre like the coir now
+familiarly known in England.
+
+[FN#374]  Although the Arab's ideal-of beauty, as has been seen and
+said, corresponds with ours the Egyptians (Modern) the Maroccans
+and other negrofied races like "walking tun-butts" as Clapperton
+called his amorous widow.
+
+[FN#375]  Arab. "Khayzar" or "Khayzarán" the rattan-palm. Those who
+have seen this most graceful "palmijuncus" in its native forest
+will recognize the neatness of the simile.
+
+
+[FN#376]  This is the popular idea of a bushy "veil of nature" in
+women: it is always removed by depilatories and vellication. When
+Bilkis Queen of Sheba discovered her legs by lifting her robe
+(Koran xxvii.), Solomon was minded to marry her, but would not do
+so till the devils had by a depilatory removed the hair. The
+popular preparation (called Núrah) consists of quicklime 7 parts,
+and Zirník or orpiment, 3 parts: it is applied in the Hammam to a
+perspiring skin, and it must be washed off immediately the hair is
+loosened or it burns and discolours. The rest of the body-pile
+(Sha'arat opp. to Sha'ar=hair) is eradicated by applying a mixture
+of boiled honey with turpentine or other gum, and rolling it with
+the hand till the hair comes off. Men I have said remove the pubes
+by shaving, and pluck the hair of the arm-pits, one of the vestiges
+of pre-Adamite man. A good depilatory is still a desideratum, the
+best perfumers of London and Paris have none which they can
+recommend. The reason is plain: the hair bulb can be eradicated
+only by destroying the skin.
+
+[FN#377]  Koran, ii. 64: referring to the heifer which the Jews
+were ordered to sacrifice,
+
+[FN#378]  Arab. "kallá," a Koranic term possibly from Kull (all)
+and lá (not) =prorsus non-altogether not!
+
+[FN#379]  "Habáb" or "Habá," the fine particles of dust, which we
+call motes. The Cossid (Arab. "Kásid") is the Anglo-Indian term for
+a running courier (mostly under Government), the Persian "Shátir"
+and the Guebre Rávand.
+
+[FN#380]  Arab. "Sambari" a very long thin lance so called after
+Samhar, the maker, or the place of making. See vol. ii. p. 1. It is
+supposed to cast, when planted in the ground, a longer shadow in
+proportion to its height, than any other thing of the kind.
+
+[FN#381]  Arab. "Suláfah ;" properly prisane which flows from the
+grapes before pressure. The plur. "Sawálif" also means tresses of
+hair and past events: thus there is a "triple entendre." And again
+"he" is used for "she."
+
+[FN#382]  There is a pun in the last line, "Khálun (a mole)
+khallauni" (rid me), etc.
+
+[FN#383]  Of old Fustát, afterwards part of Southern Cairo, a
+proverbially miserable quarter hence the saying, "They quoted Misr
+to Káhirah (Cairo), whereon Bab al-Luk rose with its grass," in
+derision of nobodies who push themselves forward. Burckhardt, Prov.
+276.
+
+[FN#384]  Its fruits are the heads of devils; a true Dantesque
+fancy. Koran, chaps. xvii. 62, "the tree cursed in the Koran" and
+in chaps. xxxvii., 60, "is this better entertainment, or the tree
+of Al-Zakkúm?" Commentators say that it is a thorn bearing a bitter
+almond which grows in the Tehamah and was therefore promoted to
+Hell.
+
+[FN#385]  Arab. "Lasm" (lathm) as opposed to Bausah or boseh (a
+buss) and Kublah (a kiss,
+
+[FN#386]  Arab. "Jufún" (plur. of Jafn) which may mean eyebrows or
+eyelashes and only the context can determine which.
+[FN#387]  Very characteristic of Egyptian manners is the man who
+loves six girls equally well, who lends them, as it were, to the
+Caliph; and who takes back the goods as if in no wise damaged by
+the loan.
+
+[FN#388]  The moon is masculine possibly by connection with the
+Assyrian Lune-god "Sin"; but I can find no cause for the Sun
+(Shams) being feminine.
+
+[FN#389]  Arab. "Al-Amin," a title of the Prophet. It is usually
+held that this proud name "The honest man," was applied by his
+fellow-citizens to Mohammed in early life; and that in his
+twenty-fifth year, when the Eighth Ka'abah was being built, it
+induced the tribes to make him their umpire concerning the
+distinction of placing in position the "Black Stone" which Gabriel
+had brought from Heaven to be set up as the starting-post for the
+seven circuitings. He distributed the honour amongst the clans and
+thus gave universal satisfaction. His Christian biographers mostly
+omit to record an anecdote which speaks so highly in Mohammed's
+favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)
+
+[FN#390]  The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such
+being the prerogative of inspired poets in the East. His
+drunkenness and debauchery only added to his power. I have already
+noticed that "Allah strike thee dead" (Kátala-k Allah) is like our
+phrase "Confound the fellow, how clever he is."
+
+[FN#391]  Again said facetiously, "Devil take you!"
+
+[FN#392]  In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs,
+morning and evening especially: otherwise they soon die of
+rheumatism and loin disease.
+
+[FN#393]  =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.
+See also Night dcclxxxi.
+
+[FN#394]  The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a "jealous God"
+from their kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity
+after the fashion of itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the
+Christian Theos is originally a Judæo-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi
+Arab. In this tale Allah, despotic and unjust, brings a generous
+and noble-minded man to beggary, simply because he fed his dogs off
+gold plate. Wisdom and morality have their infancy and youth: the
+great value of such tales as these is to show and enable us to
+measure man's development.
+
+[FN#395]  In Trébutien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to
+ex-Dives, "Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If
+thou art ignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee
+with it. Thou feddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the
+poor to die of hunger." A superstition, but intelligible.
+
+[FN#396]  Arab. "Sarráf" = a money changer.
+
+[FN#397]  Arab. "Birkah," a common feature in the landscapes of
+Lower Egypt: it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of
+the Nile; or, as in the text, a built-up tank, like the "Táláb" for
+which India is famous. Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo
+itself; and some are mentioned in The Nights.
+
+[FN#398]  This sneer at the "military" and the "police" might come
+from an English convict's lips.
+
+[FN#399]  Lit. "The conquering King;" a dynastic title assumed by
+Saláh al-Dín (Saladin) and sundry of the Ayyúbi (Eyoubite)
+sovereigns of Egypt, whom I would call the "Soldans."
+
+[FN#400]  "Káhirah" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo:
+Bulak is the port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined
+from the City; and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old
+Cairo. The latter term is generally translated "town of leathern
+tents;" but in Arabic "fustát" is an abode of Sha'ar=hair, such as
+horse-hair, in fact any hair but "Wabar"=soft hair, as the camel's.
+See Lane, Lex.
+
+[FN#401]  Arab. "Adl"=just: a legal-witness to whose character
+there is no tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law.
+Here "Adl" is evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal
+
+[FN#402]  Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the
+figure in the Bres. Edit.) "a more probable sum." Possibly: but, I
+repeat, exaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The
+Nights.
+
+[FN#403]  Calc. Edit. "Kazir:" the word is generally written
+"Kazdír," Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek           .
+
+[FN#404]  This would have passed for a peccadillo in the "good old
+days." As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to "pot" any
+peasant who dared to ride (instead of walking) past their barracks.
+Life is cheap in hot countries.
+
+[FN#405]  Koran, xii. 46 -- a passage expounding the doctrine of
+free will: "He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own
+soul; and he who doth evil, doth it against the same; for thy
+Lord," etc.
+
+[FN#406]  Arab. "Suffah"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised
+shelf generally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one
+or more arches. It is an elaborate variety of the simple "Ták" or
+niche, a mere hollow in the thickness of the wall. Both are used
+for such articles as basin. ewer and soap; coffee cups, water
+bottles etc.
+
+[FN#407]  In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced "Goos,"
+the Coptic Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.
+
+[FN#408]  This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.
+
+[FN#409]  i.e. "the father of a certain person"; here the merchant
+whose name may have been Abu'l Hasan, etc. The useful word
+(thingumbob, what d'ye call him, donchah, etc.) has been bodily
+transferred into Spanish and Portuguese Fulano. It is of old
+genealogy, found in the Heb. Fuluní which applies to a person only
+in Ruth iv. I, but is constantly so employed by Rabbinic writers.
+The Greek use {Greek letters}.
+
+[FN#410]  Lit. "by his (i.e. her) hand," etc. Hence Lane (ii. 507)
+makes nonsense of the line.
+
+[FN#411]  Arab. "Badrah," as has been said, is properly a weight of
+10,000 dirhams or drachmas; but popularly used for largesse thrown
+to the people at festivals.
+
+[FN#412]  Arab. "Allaho A'alam"; (God knows!) here the popular
+phrase for our, "I know not;" when it would be rude to say bluntly
+"M'adri"= "don't know."
+
+[FN#413]  There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become
+incarnate and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave,
+to greet him when he enters Paradise and so forth. It was borrowed
+from the highly imaginative faith of the Guebre, the Zoroastrian.
+On Chinavad or Chanyud-pul (Sirát), the Judgement bridge, 37 rods
+(rasan) long, straight and 37 fathoms broad for the good, and
+crooked and narrow as sword-edge for the bad, a nymph-like form
+will appear to the virtuous and say, "I am the personification of
+thy good deeds!" In Hell there will issue from a fetid gale a
+gloomy figure with head like a minaret, red eyeballs, hooked nose,
+teeth like pillars, spear-like fangs, snaky locks etc. and when
+asked who he is he will reply, "I am the personification of thine
+evil acts!" (Dabistan i. 285.) The Hindus also personify
+everything.
+
+[FN#414]  Arab. "Banú Israíl;" applied to the Jews when theirs was
+the True Faith i.e. before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, whose
+mission completed that of Moses and made it obsolete (Matrúk) even
+as the mission of Jesus was completed and abrogated by that of
+Mohammed. The term "Yahúd"=Jew is applied scornfully to the Chosen
+People after they rejected the Messiah, but as I have said
+"Israelite" is used on certain occasions, Jew on others.
+
+[FN#415]  Arab. "Kasa'ah," a wooden bowl, a porringer; also applied
+to a saucer.
+
+[FN#416]  Arab. "Rasúl"=one sent, an angel, an "apostle;" not to be
+translated, as by the vulgar, "prophet." Moreover Rasul is higher
+than Nabí (prophet), such as Abraham, Isaac, etc., depositaries of
+Al-Islam, but with a succession restricted to their own families.
+Nabi-mursil (Prophet-apostle) is the highest of all, one sent with
+a book: of these are now only four, Moses, David, Jesus and
+Mohammed, the writings of the rest having perished. In Al-Islam
+also angels rank below men, being only intermediaries (=       ,
+nuncii, messengers) between the Creator and the Created. This
+knowledge once did me a good turn at Harar, not a safe place in
+those days. (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 349.)
+
+[FN#417]  A doctor of law in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+
+[FN#418]  Here the exclamation is= D.V.; and it may be assumed
+generally to have that sense.
+
+[FN#419]  Arab. "Taylasán," a turban worn hood-fashion by the
+"Khatíb" or preacher. I have sketched it in my Pilgrimage and
+described it (iii. 315). Some Orientalists derive Taylasan from
+Atlas=satin, which is peculiarly inappropriate. The word is
+apparently barbarous and possibly Persian like Kalansuwah, the
+Dervish cap. "Thou son of a Taylasán"=a barbarian. (De Sacy,
+Chrest. Arab. ii. 269.)
+
+[FN#420]  Arab. " Kinyah" vulg. "Kunyat" = patronymic or
+matronymic; a name beginning with "Abu" (father) or with "Umm"
+(mother). There are so few proper names in Al-Islam that such
+surnames, which, as will be seen, are of infinite variety, become
+necessary to distinguish individuals. Of these sobriquets I shall
+give specimens further on.
+
+[FN#421]  "Whoso seeth me in his sleep, seeth me truly; for Satan
+cannot assume my semblance," said (or is said to have said)
+Mohammed. Hence the vision is true although it comes in early night
+and not before dawn. See Lane M. E., chaps. ix.
+
+[FN#422]  Arab. "Al-Maukab ;" the day when the pilgrims march out
+of the city; it is a holiday for all, high and low.
+
+[FN#423]  "The Gate of Salutation ;" at the South-Western corner of
+the Mosque where Mohammed is buried. (Pilgrimage ii. 60 and plan.)
+Here "Visitation" (Ziyárah) begins.
+
+[FN#424]  The tale is told by Al-Isháki in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+
+[FN#425]  The speaker in dreams is the Heb. "Waggid," which the
+learned and angry Graetz (Geschichte, etc. vol. ix.) absurdly
+translates "Traum souffleur."
+
+[FN#426]  Tenth Abbaside. A.D. 849-861
+
+[FN#427]  Arab. "Muwallad" (fem. "Muwalladah"); a rearling, a slave
+born in a Moslem land. The numbers may appear exaggerated, but even
+the petty King of Ashanti had, till the last war, 3333 "wives."
+
+[FN#428]  The Under-prefect of Baghdad.
+
+[FN#429]  "Ja'afar," our old Giaffar (which is painfully like
+"Gaffer," i.e. good father) means either a rushing river or a
+rivulet.
+
+[FN#430]  A regular Fellah's name also that of a village
+(Pilgrimage i. 43) where a pleasant story is told about one Haykal.
+
+[FN#431]  The "Mountain" means the rocky and uncultivated ground
+South of Cairo, such as Jabal-al-Ahmar and the geological-sea-coast
+flanked by the old Cairo-Suez highway.
+
+[FN#432]  A popular phrase=our "sharp as a razor."
+
+[FN#433]  i.e. are men so few; a favourite Persian phrase.
+
+[FN#434]  She is a woman of rank who would cause him to be
+assassinated.
+
+[FN#435]  This is not Al-Hakimbi' Amri'llah the famous or infamous
+founder of the Druze ((Durúz)) faith and held by them to be, not an
+incarnation of the Godhead, but the Godhead itself in propriâ
+personâ, who reigned A.D. 926-1021: our Hakim is the orthodox
+Abbaside Caliph of Egypt who dated from two centuries after him
+(A.D. 1261). Had the former been meant, it would have thrown back
+this part of The Nights to an earlier date than is generally
+accepted. But in a place still to come I shall again treat of the
+subject.
+
+[FN#436]  For an account of a similar kind which was told to me
+during the last few years see "Midian Revisited," i. 15. These
+hiding-places are innumerable in lands of venerable antiquity like
+Egypt; and, if there were any contrivance for detecting hidden
+treasure, it would make the discoverer many times a millionaire.
+
+[FN#437]  i.e. it had been given to him or his in writing, like the
+book left to the old woman before quoted in "Midian," etc.
+
+[FN#438]  Arab. "Kird" (pron. in Egypt "Gird"). It is usually the
+hideous Abyssinian cynocephalus which is tamed by the ape-leader
+popularly called Kuraydati (Lane, M.E., chaps. xx.). The beast has
+a natural-penchant for women ; I heard of one which attempted to
+rape a girl in the public street and was prevented only by a
+sentinel's bayonet. They are powerful animals and bite like
+greyhounds.
+
+[FN#439]  Easterns attribute many complaints (such as toothache) to
+worms, visible as well as microscopic, which may be held a fair
+prolepsis of the "germ-theory" the bacterium. the bacillus, the
+microbe. Nymphomania, the disease alluded to in these two tales is
+always attributed to worms in the vagina.
+
+[FN#440]  Bestiality, very rare in Arabia is fatally common amongst
+those most debauched of debauched races, the Egyptian proper and
+the Sindis. Hence the Pentateuch, whose object was to breed a
+larger population of fighting men, made death the penalty for lying
+with a beast (Deut. xxvii. 21). C. S. Sonnini (Travels, English
+translation, p. 663) gives a curious account of Fellah lewdness.
+"The female crocodile during congress is turned upon her back ( ?)
+and cannot rise without difficulty. Will it be believed that there
+are men who take advantage of the helpless situation of the female,
+drive off the male, and supplant him in this frightful intercourse
+? Horrible embraces, the knowledge of which was wanting to complete
+the disgusting history of human perversity!" The French traveller
+forgets to add the superstitious explanation of this congress which
+is the sovereignest charm for rising to rank and riches. The Ajáib
+al-Hind tells a tale (chaps. xxxix.) of a certain Mohammed bin
+Bullishad who had issue by a she-ape: the young ones were hairless
+of body and wore quasi-human faces; and the father's sight had
+become dim by his bestial-practice.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of the Thousand Nights and a
+Night, Volume 4
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4, by Richard F. Burton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4
+
+Author: Richard F. Burton
+
+Release Date: June 12, 2001 [EBook #3438]
+Last updated: May 24, 2019
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS ***
+
+
+
+
+This etext was scanned by J.C. Byers and proofread by Doris Ringbloom
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1>THE BOOK OF THE<br/> THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT</h1>
+
+<h4>A Plain and Literal Translation<br/>
+of the Arabian Nights Entertainments<br/></h4>
+
+<h2>Translated and Annotated by<br/> Richard F. Burton </h2>
+
+<h3>VOLUME FOUR</h3>
+
+<p>
+To Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My Dear Arbuthnot,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have no fear that a friend, whose friendship has lasted nearly a third of a
+century, will misunderstand my reasons for inscribing his name upon these
+pages. You have lived long enough in the East and, as your writings show,
+observantly enough, to detect the pearl which lurks in the kitchen-midden, and
+to note that its lustre is not dimmed nor its value diminished by its unclean
+surroundings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+                    Ever yours sincerely,<br/>
+
+                    Richard F. Burton.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Athenжum Club, October 1, 1885
+</p>
+
+<h3>Contents of the Fourth Volume</h3>
+
+<h3>Contents</h3>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman (continued)</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">a.   Ni'amar Bin Al-Rabi'a and Naomi His Slave-girl</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">b.   Conclusion of the Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">22.  Ala Al-Din Abu Al-Shamat</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">23.  Hatim of the Trive of Tayy</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">24.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">25.  Ma'an the Son of Zaidah and the Badawi</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">26.  The City of Labtayt</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">27.  The Caliph Hisham and the Arab Youth</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">28.  Ibrahim Bin Al-Mahdi and the Barber-Surgeon</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">29.  The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">30.  Isaac of Mosul</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">31.  The Sweep and the Noble Lady</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap14">32.  The Mock Caliph</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap15">33.  Ali the Persian</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap16">34.  Haru Al-Rashid and the Slave-Girl and the Iman Abu Yusuf</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap17">35.  The Lover Who Feigned Himself A Thief</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap18">36.  Ja'afar the Barmecide and the Bean-Seller</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap19">37.  Abu Mohammed Hight Lazybones</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap20">38.  Generous Dealing of Yahya Bin Khбlid The Barmecide with Mansur</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap21">39.  Generous Dealing of Yahya Son of Khбlid with a Man Who Forged a Letter in his Name</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap22">40.  Caliph Al-Maamum and the Strange Scholar</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap23">41.  Ali Shar and Zumurrud</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap24">42.  The Loves of Jubayr Bin Umayr and the Lady Budur</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap25">43.  The Man of Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap26">44.  Harun Al-Rashid and the Damsel and Abu Nowas</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap27">45.  The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap28">46.  The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap29">47.  Al-Malik Al-Nasir and the Three Chiefs of Police</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap30">a.   Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap31">b.   Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap32">c.   Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap33">48.  The Thief and the Shroff</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap34">49.  The Chief of the Kus Police and the Sharper</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap35">50.  Ibrahim Bin Al-Mahdi and the Merchant's Sister</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap36">51.  The Woman Whose Hands were Cut Off For Giving Alms to the Poor</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap37">52.  The Devout Israelite</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap38">53.  Abu Hassan Al-Ziyadi and the Khorasan</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap39">54.  The Poor Man and His Friend in Need</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap40">55.  The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap41">56.  Caliph Al-Mutawakkil and His Concubine Mahbubah</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap42">57.  Wardan the Butcher; His Adventure With the Lady and the Bear</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap43">58.  The King's Daughter and the Ape</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3>
+The Book of the Thousand Nights and A Night
+</h3>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<a name="chap01"></a>
+
+<h3><a name="chap02"></a>Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a and Naomi his Slave-girl.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There lived once in the city of Cufa[FN#1] a man called Al-Rabн'a bin Hбtim,
+who was one of the chief men of the town, a wealthy and a healthy, and Heaven
+had vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Ni'amah Allah.[FN#2] One day, being in
+the slave-brokers' mart, he saw a woman exposed for sale with a little maid of
+wonderful beauty and grace on her arm. So he beckoned to the broker and asked
+him, "How much for this woman and her daughter?" He answered "Fifty dinars."
+Quoth Al-Rabi'a "Write the contract of sale and take the money and give it to
+her owner." Then he gave the broker the price and his brokerage and taking the
+woman and her child, carried them to his house. Now when the daughter of his
+uncle who was his wife saw the slave, she said to her husband, "O my cousin,
+what is this damsel?" He replied, "Of a truth, I bought her for the sake of the
+little one on her arm; for know that, when she groweth up, there will not be
+her like for beauty, either in the land of the Arabs or the Ajams." His wife
+remarked, "Right was thy rede", and said to the woman "What is thy name?" She
+replied, "O my lady, my name is Tauflнk.[FN#3]" "And what is thy daughter's
+name?" asked she? Answered the slave, "Sa'ad, the happy." Rejoined her
+mistress; "Thou sayst sooth, thou art indeed happy, and happy is he who hath
+bought thee." Then quoth she to her husband, "O my cousin, what wilt thou call
+her?"; and quoth he, "Whatso thou chooses"; so she said, "Then let us call her
+Naomi," and he rejoined "Good is thy device." The little Naomi was reared with
+Al-Rabi'a's son Ni'amah in one cradle, so to speak, till the twain reached the
+age of ten and each grew handsomer than the other; and the boy used to address
+her, "O my sister!" and she, "O my brother!", till they came to that age when
+Al-Rabi'a said to Ni'amah, "O my son, Naomi is not thy sister but thy slave. I
+bought her in thy name whilst thou wast yet in the cradle; so call her no more
+sister from this day forth." Quoth Ni'amah, "If that be so, I will take her to
+wife." Then he went to his mother and told her of this, and she said to him, "O
+my son, she is thy handmaid." So he wedded and went in unto Naomi and loved
+her; and two[FN#4] years passed over them whilst in this condition, nor was
+there in all Cufa a fairer girl than Naomi, or a sweeter or a more graceful. As
+she grew up she learnt the Koran and read works of science and excelled in
+music and playing upon all kinds of instruments; and in the beauty of her
+singing she surpassed all the folk of her time. Now one day as she sat with her
+husband in the wine chamber, she took the lute, tightened the strings, and sang
+these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"While thou'rt my lord whose bounty's my estate, * A sword<br/>
+
+     whereby my woes to annihilate,<br/>
+
+Recourse I never need to Amru or Zayd,[FN#5] * Nor aught save<br/>
+
+     thee if way to me grow strait!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ni'amah was charmed with these verses and said to her, "By my life, O Naomi,
+sing to us with the tambourine and other instruments!" So she sang these
+couplets to a lively measure,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By His life who holds my guiding rein, I swear * I'll meet on<br/>
+
+     love ground parlous foe nor care:<br/>
+
+Good sooth I'll vex revilers, thee obey * And quit my slumbers<br/>
+
+     and all joy forswear:<br/>
+
+And for thy love I'll dig in vitals mine * A grave, nor shall my<br/>
+
+     vitals weet 'tis there!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Ni'amah exclaimed, "Heaven favoured art thou, O Naomi!" But whilst they led
+thus the most joyous life, behold! Al-Hajjбj,[FN#6] the Viceroy of Cufa said to
+himself, "Needs must I contrive to take this girl named Naomi and send her to
+the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwбn, for he hath not in his
+palace her like for beauty and sweet singing." So he summoned an old woman of
+the duennas of his wives and said to her, "Go to the house of Al-Rabi'a and
+foregather with the girl Naomi and combine means to carry her off; for her like
+is not to be found on the face of the earth." She promised to do his bidding;
+the next morning she donned the woollen clothes of a devotee and hung around
+her neck a rosary of beads by the thousand; and, henting in hand a staff and a
+leather water bottle of Yamani manufacture.— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old woman promised to
+do the bidding of Al-Hajjaj, and whenas it was morning she donned the woollen
+clothes of a devotee[FN#7] and hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the
+thousand and hent in hand a staff and a leather water bottle of Yamani
+manufacture and fared forth crying, "Glory be to Allah! Praised be Allah! There
+is no god but the God! Allah is Most Great! There is no Majesty and there is no
+Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" Nor did she leave off her lauds
+and her groaning in prayer whilst her heart was full of guile and wiles, till
+she came to the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a at the hour of noon prayer, and
+knocked at the door. The doorkeeper opened and said to her, "What dost thou
+want?" Quoth she, "I am a poor pious woman, whom the time of noon prayer hath
+overtaken, and fief would I pray in this blessed place." Answered the porter,
+"O old woman, this is no mosque nor oratory, but the house of Ni'amah son of al
+Rabi'a." She replied, "I know there is neither cathedral-mosque nor oratory
+like the house of Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a. I am a chamberwoman of the palace of
+the Prince of True Believers and am come out for worship and the visitation of
+Holy Places." But the porter rejoined, "Thou canst not enter;" and many words
+passed between them, till at last she caught hold and hung to him saying,
+"Shall the like of me be denied admission to the house of Ni'amah bin
+al-Rabi'a, I who have free access to the houses of Emirs and Grandees?" Anon,
+out came Ni'amah and, hearing their loud language, laughed and bade the old
+woman enter after him. So she followed him into the presence of Naomi, whom she
+saluted after the godliest and goodliest fashion, and, when she looked on her,
+she was confounded at her exceeding seemliness and said to her, "O my lady, I
+commend thee to the safeguard of Allah, who made thee and thy lord fellows in
+beauty and loveliness!" Then she stood up in the prayer niche and betook
+herself to inclination and prostration and prayer, till day departed and night
+darkened and starkened, when Naomi said to her, "O my mother, rest thy legs and
+feet awhile." Replied the old woman "O my lady, whoso seeketh the world to come
+let him weary him in this world, and whoso wearieth not himself in this world
+shall not attain the dwellings of the just in the world to come." Then Naomi
+brought her food and said to her, "Eat of my bread and pray Heaven to accept my
+penitence and to have mercy on me." But she cried, "O my lady, I am fasting. As
+for thee, thou art but a girl and it befitteth thee to eat and drink and make
+merry; Allah be indulgent to thee!; for the Almighty saith: All shall be
+punished except him who shall repent and believe and shall work a righteous
+work."[FN#8] So Naomi continued sitting with the old woman in talk and
+presently said to Ni'amah, "O my lord, conjure this ancient dame to sojourn
+with us awhile, for piety and devotion are imprinted on her countenance." Quoth
+he, "Set apart for her a chamber where she may say her prayers; and suffer no
+one to go in to her: peradventure, Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall
+prosper us by the blessing of her presence and never separate us." So the old
+woman passed her night in praying and reciting the Koran; and when Allah caused
+the morn to dawn, she went in to Ni'amah and Naomi and, giving them good
+morning, said to them, "I pray Allah have you in His holy keeping!" Quoth
+Naomi, "Whither away, O my mother? My lord hath bidden me set apart for thee a
+chamber, where thou mayst seclude thee for thy devotions." Replied the old
+woman, "Allah give him long life, and continue His favour to you both! But I
+would have you charge the doorkeeper not to stay my coming in to you; and,
+Inshallah! I will go the round of the Holy Places and pray for you two at the
+end of my devotions every day and night." Then she went out (whilst Naomi wept
+for parting with her knowing not the cause of her coming), and returned to
+Al-Hajjaj who said to her, "As thou do my bidding soon, thou shalt have of me
+abundant good." Quoth she, "I ask of thee a full month;" and quoth he "Take the
+month." Thereupon the old hag fell to daily visiting Ni'amah's house and
+frequented his slave-wife, Naomi.— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old hag fell to
+visiting daily Ni'amah's house and frequenting his slave wife, Naomi; and both
+ceased not to honour her, and she used to go in to them morning and evening and
+all in the house respected her till, one day, being alone with Naomi, she said
+to her, "O my lady! by Allah, when I go to the Holy Places, I will pray for
+thee; and I only wish thou wert with me, that thou mightest look on the Elders
+of the Faith who resort thither, and they should pray for thee, according to
+thy desire." Naomi cried, "I conjure thee by Allah take me with thee!"; and she
+replied, "Ask leave of thy mother in law, and I will take thee." So Naomi said
+to her husband's mother, "O my lady, ask my master to let us go forth, me and
+thee, one day with this my old mother, to prayer and worship with the Fakirs in
+the Holy Places." Now when Ni'amah came in and sat down, the old woman went up
+to him and would have kissed his hand, but he forbade her; so she invoked
+blessings[FN#9] on him and left the house. Next day she came again, in the
+absence of Ni'amah, and she addressed Naomi, saying, "We prayed for thee
+yesterday; but arise now and divert thyself and return ere thy lord come home."
+So Naomi said to her mother-in-law, "I beseech thee, for Allah's sake, give me
+leave to go with this pious woman, that I may sight the saints of Allah in the
+Holy Places, and return speedily ere my lord come back." Quoth Ni'amah's
+mother, "I fear lest thy lord know;" but said the old woman, "By Allah, I will
+not let her take seat on the floor; no, she shall look, standing on her feet,
+and not tarry." So she took the damsel by guile and, carrying her to
+Al-Hajjaj's palace, told him of her coming, after placing her in a lonely
+chamber; whereupon he went in to her and, looking upon her, saw her to be the
+loveliest of the people of the day, never had he beheld her like. Now when
+Naomi caught sight of him she veiled her face from him; but he left her not
+till he had called his Chamberlain, whom he commanded to take fifty horsemen;
+and he bade him mount the damsel on a swift dromedary, and bear her to Damascus
+and there deliver her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin
+Marwan. Moreover, he gave him a letter for the Caliph, saying, "Bear him this
+letter and bring me his answer and hasten thy return to me." So the
+Chamberlain, without losing time, took the damsel (and she tearful for
+separation from her lord) and, setting out with her on a dromedary, gave not
+over journeying till he reached Damascus. There he sought audience of the
+Commander of the Faithful and, when it was granted, the Chamberlain delivered
+the damsel and reported the circumstance. The Caliph appointed her a separate
+apartment and going into his Harim, said to his wife, "Al Hajjaj hath bought me
+a slave-girl of the daughters of the Kings of Cufa[FN#10] for ten thousand
+dinars, and hath sent me this letter."— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph
+acquainted his wife with the story of the slave-girl, she said to him, "Allah
+increase to thee His favour!" Then the Caliph's sister went in to the supposed
+slave-girl and, when she saw her, she said, "By Allah, not unlucky is the man
+who hath thee in his house, were thy cost an hundred thousand dinars!" And
+Naomi replied, "O fair of face, what King's palace is this, and what is the
+city?" She answered, "This is the city of Damascus, and this is the palace of
+my brother, the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan.[FN#11]"
+Then she resumed, "Didst thou not know all this?" Naomi said, "By Allah, O my
+lady, I had no knowledge of it!"; when the other asked, "And he who sold thee
+and took thy price did he not tell thee that the Caliph had bought thee?" Now
+when Naomi heard these words, she shed tears and said to herself, "Verily, I
+have been tricked and the trick hath succeeded," adding to herself, "If I
+speak, none will credit me; so I will hold my peace and take patience, for I
+know that the relief of Allah is near." Then she bent her head for shame, and
+indeed her cheeks were tanned by the journey and the sun. So the Caliph's
+sister left her that day and returned to her on the morrow with clothes and
+necklaces of jewels, and dressed her; after which the Caliph came in to her and
+sat down by her side, and his sister said to him, "Look on this handmaid in
+whom Allah hath conjoined every perfection of beauty and loveliness." So he
+said to Naomi, "Draw back the veil from thy face;" but she would not unveil,
+and he beheld not her face. However, he saw her wrists and love of her entered
+his heart; and he said to his sister, "I will not go in unto her for three
+days, till she be cheered by thy converse." Then he arose and left her, but
+Naomi ceased not to brood over her case and sigh for her separation from her
+master, Ni'amah, till she fell sick of a fever during the night and ate not nor
+drank; and her favour faded and her charms were changed. They told the Caliph
+of this and her condition grieved him; so he visited her with physicians and
+men of skill, but none could come at a cure for her. This is how it fared with
+her; but as regards Ni'amah, when he returned home he sat down on his bed and
+cried, "Ho, Naomi!" But she answered not; so he rose in haste and called out,
+yet none came to him, as all the women in the house had hidden themselves for
+fear of him. Then he went out to his mother, whom he found sitting with her
+cheek on her hand, and said to her, "O my mother, where is Naomi?" She
+answered, "O my son, she is with one who is worthier than I to be trusted with
+her, namely, the devout old woman; she went forth with her to visit
+devotionally the Fakirs and return." Quoth Ni'amah, "Since when hath this been
+her habit and at what hour went she forth?" Quoth his mother, "She went out
+early in the morning." He asked, "And how camest thou to give her leave for
+this?"; and she answered, "O my son, 'twas she persuaded me." "There is no
+Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"
+exclaimed Ni'amah and, going forth from his home in a state of distraction, he
+repaired to the Captain of the Watch to whom said he, "Doss thou play tricks
+upon me and steal-my slave-girl away from my house? I will assuredly complain
+of thee to the Commander of the Faithful." Said the Chief of Police, "Who hath
+taken her?" and Ni'amah replied, "An old woman of such and such a mien, clad in
+woollen raiment and carrying a rosary of beads numbered by thousands." Rejoined
+the other, "Find me the old woman and I will get thee back thy slave-girl."
+"And who knows the old woman?" retorted Ni'amah. "And who knows the hidden
+things save Allah (may He be extolled and exalted!)?" cried the Chief, who knew
+her for Al-Hajjaj's procuress. Cried Ni'amah, "I look to thee for my
+slave-girl, and Al-Hajjaj shall judge between thee and me;" and the Master of
+Police answered, "Go to whom thou wilt." So Ni'amah went to the palace of
+Al-Hajjaj, for his father was one of the chief men of Cufa; and, when he
+arrived there, the Chamberlain went in to the Governor and told him the case;
+whereupon Al-Hajjaj said, "Hither with him!" and when he stood before him
+enquired, "What be thy business?" Said Ni'amah, "Such and such things have
+befallen me;" and the Governor said, "Bring me the Chief of Police, and we will
+commend him to seek for the old woman." Now he knew that the Chief of Police
+was acquainted with her; so, when he came, he said to him, "I wish thee to make
+search for the slave-girl of Ni'amah son of Al-Rabi'a." And he answered, "None
+knoweth the hidden things save Almighty Allah." Rejoined Al-Hajjaj, "There is
+no help for it but thou send out horsemen and look for the damsel in all the
+roads, and seek for her in the towns."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-First Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Al-Hajjaj said to the
+Captain of the Watch, "There is no help for it but thou send out horsemen, and
+look for the damsel on all the roads and seek for her in the towns." Then he
+turned to Ni'amah and said to him, "And thy slave-girl return not, I will give
+thee ten slave-girls from my house and ten from that of the Chief of Police."
+And he again bade the Captain of the Watch, "Go and seek for the girl." So he
+went out, and Ni'amah returned home full of trouble and despairing of life; for
+he had now reached the age of fourteen and there was yet no hair on his side
+cheeks. So he wept and lamented and shut himself up from his household; and
+ceased not to weep and lament, he and his mother, till the morning, when his
+father came in to him and said, "O my son, of a truth, Al-Hajjaj hath put a
+cheat upon the damsel and hath taken her; but from hour to hour Allah giveth
+relief." However grief redoubled on Ni'amah, so that he knew not what he said
+nor knew he who came in to him, and he fell sick for three months his charms
+were changed, his father despaired of him and the physicians visited him and
+said, "There is no remedy for him save the damsel." Now as his father was
+sitting one day, behold he heard tell of a skillful Persian physician, whom the
+folk gave out for perfect in medicine and astrology and geomancy. So Al-Rabi'a
+sent for him and, seating him by his side, entreated him with honour and said
+to him, "Look into my son's case." Thereupon quoth he to Ni'amah, "Give me thy
+hand." The young man gave him his hand and he felt his pulse and his joints and
+looked in his face; then he laughed and, turning to his father, said, "Thy
+son's sole ailment is one of the heart."[FN#12] He replied, Thou sayest sooth,
+O sage, but apply thy skill to his state and case, and acquaint me with the
+whole thereof and hide naught from me of his condition." Quoth the Persian, "Of
+a truth he is enamoured of a slave-girl and this slave-girl is either in
+Bassorah or Damascus; and there is no remedy for him but reunion with her."
+Said Al-Rabi'a, "An thou bring them together, thou shalt live all thy life in
+wealth and delight." Answered the Persian, "In good sooth this be an easy
+matter and soon brought about," and he turned to Ni'amah and said to him, "No
+hurt shall befall thee; so be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and
+clear." Then quoth he to Al-Rabi'a, "Bring me out four thousand dinars of your
+money;" so he gave them to him, and he added, "I wish to carry thy son with me
+to Damascus; and Almighty Allah willing, I will not return thence but with the
+damsel." Then he turned to the youth and asked, "What is thy name?"; and he
+answered "Ni'amah." Quoth the Persian, "O Ni'amah, sit up and be of good heart,
+for Allah will reunite thee with the damsel." And when he sat up the leach
+continued, "Be of good cheer for we set out for Damascus this very day: put thy
+trust in the Lord and eat and drink and be cheerful so as to fortify thyself
+for travel." Upon this the Persian began making preparation of all things
+needed, such as presents and rarities; and he took of Al-Rabi'a in all the sum
+of ten thousand dinars, together with horses and camels and beasts of burden
+and other requisites. Then Ni'amah farewelled his father and mother and
+journeyed with the physician to Aleppo. They could find no news of Naomi there
+so they fared on to Damascus, where they abode three days, after which the
+Persian took a shop and he adorned even the shelves with vessels of costly
+porcelain, with covers of silver, and with gildings and stuffs of price.
+Moreover, he set before himself vases and flagons of glass full of all manner
+of ointments and ups, and he surrounded them with cups of crystal—and, placing
+astrolabe and geomantic tablet facing him, he donned a physician's habit and
+took his seat in the shop. Then he set Ni'amah standing before him clad in a
+shirt and gown of silk and, girding his middle with a silken kerchief
+gold-embroidered, said to him, "O Ni'amah, henceforth thou art my son; so call
+me naught but sire, and I will call thee naught but son." And he replied, "I
+hear and I obey." Thereupon the people of Damascus flocked to the Persian's
+shop that they might gaze on the youth's goodliness and the beauty of the shop
+and its contents, whilst the physician spoke to Ni'amah in Persian and he
+answered him in the same tongue, for he knew the language, after the wont of
+the sons of the notables. So that Persian doctor soon became known among the
+townsfolk and they began to acquaint him with their ailments, and he to
+prescribe for them remedies. Moreover, they brought him the water of the sick
+in phials,[FN#13] and he would test it and say, "He, whose water this is, is
+suffering from such and such a disease," and the patient would declare, "Verily
+this physician sayeth sooth." So he continued to do the occasions of the folk
+and they to flock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and into the
+houses of the great. Now, one day as he sat in his-shop, behold, there came up
+an old woman riding on an ass with a stuffed saddle of brocade embroidered with
+jewels; and, stopping before the Persian's shop, drew rein and beckoned him,
+saying, "Take my hand." He took her hand, and she alighted and asked him "Art
+thou the Persian physician from Irak?" "Yes," answered he, and she said, "Know
+that I have a sick daughter." Then she brought out to him a phial—and the
+Persian looked at it and said to her, "O my mistress, tell me thy daughter's
+name, that I may calculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will
+befit her to drink medicine." She replied, "O my brother the Persian,[FN#14]
+her name is Naomi."— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Persian heard
+the name of Naomi, he fell to calculating and writing on his hand and presently
+said, "O my lady, I cannot prescribe a medicine for her till I know what
+country woman she is, because of the difference of climate: so tell me in what
+land she was brought up and what is her age." The old woman replied "She is
+fourteen years old and she was brought up in Cufa of Irak." He asked, "And how
+long hath she sojourned in this country?" "But a few months," answered she. Now
+when Ni'amah heard the old woman's words and recognised the name of his slave-
+girl, his heart fluttered and he was like to faint. Then said the Persian,
+"Such and such medicines will suit her case;" and the old woman rejoined, "Then
+make them up and give me what thou hast mentioned, with the blessing of
+Almighty Allah." So saying, she threw upon the shop board ten gold pieces, and
+he looked at Ni'amah and bade him prepare the necessary drugs; whereupon she
+also looked at the youth and exclaimed, "Allah have thee in his keeping, O my
+son! Verily, she favoureth thee in age and mien." Then said she to the
+physician, "O my brother the Persian, is this thy slave or thy son?" "He is my
+son," answered he. So Ni'amah put up the medicine and, placing it in a little
+box, took a piece of paper and wrote thereon these two couplets,[FN#15]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If Naomi bless me with a single glance, * Let Su'adб sue and<br/>
+
+     Juml joy to<br/>
+
+They said, "Forget her: twenty such thou'lt find." * But none is<br/>
+
+     like her—I will not forget!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He pressed the paper into the box and, sealing it up, wrote upon the cover the
+following words in Cufic characters, "I am Ni'amah of al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Then
+he set it before the old woman who took it and bade them farewell and returned
+to the Caliph's palace, and when she went up with the drugs to the damsel she
+placed the little box of medicine at her feet, saying, "O my lady, know that
+there is lately come to our town a Persian physician, than whom I never saw a
+more skilful nor a better versed in matters of malady. I told him thy name,
+after showing him the water-bottle, and forthwith he knew thine ailment and
+prescribed a remedy. Then he bade his son make thee up this medicine; and there
+is not in Damascus a comelier or a seemlier youth than this lad of his, nor
+hath anyone a shop the like of his shop." So Naomi took the box and, seeing the
+names of her lord and his father written on the cover, changed colour and said
+to herself, "Doubtless, the owner of this shop is come in search of me." So she
+said to the old woman, "Describe to me this youth." Answered the old woman,
+"His name is Ni'amah, he hath a mole on his right eyebrow, is richly clad and
+is perfectly handsome." Cried Naomi, "Give me the medicine, whereon be the
+blessing and help of Almighty Allah!" So she drank off the potion (and she
+laughing) and said, "Indeed, it is a blessed medicine!" Then she sought in the
+box and, finding the paper, opened it, read it, understood it and knew that
+this was indeed her lord, whereas her heart was solaced and she rejoiced. Now
+when the old woman saw her laughing, she exclaimed, "This is indeed a blessed
+day!"; and Naomi said, "O nurse, I have a mind for something to eat and drink."
+The old woman said to the serving women, "Bring a tray of dainty viands for
+your mistress;" whereupon they set food before her and she sat down to eat. And
+behold in came the Caliph who, seeing her sitting at meat, rejoiced; and the
+old woman said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful, I give thee joy of thy
+hand maid Naomi's recovery! And the cause is that there is lately come to this
+our city a physician than whom I never saw a better versed in diseases and
+their remedies. I fetched her medicine from him and she hath drunken of it but
+once and is restored to health." Quoth he, "Take a thousand dinars and apply
+thyself to her treatment, till she be completely recovered." And he went away,
+rejoicing in the damsel's recovery, whilst the old woman betook herself to the
+Persian's house and delivered the thousand dinars, giving him to know that she
+was become the Caliph's slave and also handing him a letter which Naomi had
+written. He took it and gave the letter to Ni'amah, who at first sight knew her
+hand and fell down in a swoon. When he revived he opened the letter and found
+these words written therein: "From the slave despoiled of her Ni'amah, her
+delight; her whose reason hath been beguiled and who is parted from the core of
+her heart. But afterwards of a truth thy letter hath reached me and hath
+broadened my breast, and solaced my soul, even as saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thy note came: long lost hungers wrote that note, * Till drop<br/>
+
+     they sweetest scents for what they wrote:<br/>
+
+Twas Moses to his mother's arms restored; * 'Twas Jacob's eye-<br/>
+
+     sight cured by Joseph's coat!"[FN#16]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Ni'amah read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the old woman
+said to him, "What maketh thee to weep, O my son? Allah never cause thine eye
+to shed tears!" Cried the Persian, "O my lady, how should my son not weep,
+seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of
+Cufa; and her health dependeth on her seeing him, for naught aileth her but
+loving him.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian cried out to
+the old woman, "How shall my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl
+and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and the health of this
+damsel dependeth on her seeing him and naught aileth her but loving him. So, do
+thou, O my lady, take these thousand dinars to thyself and thou shalt have of
+me yet more than this; only look on us with eyes of rush; for we know not how
+to bring this affair to a happy end save through thee." Then she said to
+Ni'amah, "Say, art thou indeed her lord?" He replied, "Yes," and she rejoined,
+"Thou sayest sooth; for she ceaseth not continually to name thee." Then he told
+her all that had passed from first to last, and she said, "O youth, thou shalt
+owe thy reunion with her to none but myself." So she mounted and, at once
+returning to Naomi, looked in her face and laughed saying, "It is just, O my
+daughter, that thou weep and fall sick for thy separation from thy master,
+Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a of Cufa." Quoth Naomi, "Verily, the veil hath been
+withdrawn for thee and the truth revealed to thee." Rejoined the old woman, "Be
+of good cheer and take heart, for I will assuredly bring you together, though
+it cost me my life." Then she returned to Ni'amah and said to him, "I went to
+thy slave- girl and conversed with her, and I find that she longeth for thee
+yet more than thou for her; for although the Commander of the Faithful is
+minded to become intimate with her, she refuseth herself to him. But if thou be
+stout of purpose and firm of heart, I will bring you together and venture my
+life for you, and play some trick and make shift to carry thee into the
+Caliph's palace, where thou shalt meet her, for she cannot come forth." And
+Ni'amah answered, "Allah requite thee with good!" Then she took leave of him
+and went back to Naomi and said, "Thy lord is indeed dying of love for thee and
+would fain see thee and foregather with thee. What sayest thou?" Naomi replied,
+"And I too am longing for his sight and dying for his love." Whereupon the old
+woman took a parcel of women's clothes and ornaments and, repairing to Ni'amah,
+said to him, "Come with me into some place apart." So he brought her into the
+room behind the shop where she stained his hands and decked his wrists and
+plaited his hair, after which she clad him in a slave-girl's habit and adorned
+him after the fairest fashion of woman's adornment, till he was as one of the
+Houris of the Garden of Heaven, and when she saw him thus she exclaimed,
+"Blessed be Allah, best of Creators! By Allah, thou art handsomer than the
+damsel.[FN#17] Now, walk with thy left shoulder forwards and thy right well
+behind, and sway thy hips from side to side."[FN#18] So he walked before her,
+as she bade him; and, when she saw he had caught the trick of woman's gait, she
+said to him, "Expect me tomorrow night, and Allah willing, I will take and
+carry thee to the palace. But when thou seest the Chamberlains and the Eunuchs
+be bold, and bow thy head and speak not with any, for I will prevent their
+speech; and with Allah is success!" Accordingly, when the morning dawned, she
+returned and, carrying him to the palace, entered before him and he after her
+step by step. The Chamberlain would have stopped his entering, but the old
+woman said to him, "O most ill omened of slaves, this is the handmaid of Naomi,
+the Caliph's favourite. How durst thou stay her when she would enter?" Then
+said she, "Come in, O damsel!"; and the old woman went in and they ceased not
+faring on, till they drew near the door leading to the inner piazza of the
+palace, when she said to him, "O Ni'amah, hearten thyself and take courage and
+enter and turn to the left: then count five doors and pass through the sixth,
+for it is that of the place prepared for thee. Fear nothing, and if any speak
+to thee, answer not, neither stop." Then she went up with him to the door, and
+the Chamberlain there on guard accosted her, saying "What damsel is this?"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Chamberlain
+accosted the old woman, saying, "What damsel is this?"; quoth the ancient dame,
+"Our lady hath a mind to buy her;" and he rejoined, "None may enter save by
+leave of the Commander of the Faithful; so do thou go back with her. I can not
+let her pass for thus am I commanded." Replied the old woman, "O Chief
+Chamberlain, use thy reason. Thou knowest that Naomi, the Caliph's slave-girl,
+of whom he is enamoured, is but now restored to health and the Commander of the
+Faithful hardly yet crediteth her recovery. She is minded to buy this hand
+maid; so oppose thou not her entrance, lest haply it come to Naomi's knowledge
+and she be wroth with thee and suffer a relapse and this cause thy head to be
+cut off." Then said she to Ni'amah, "Enter, O damsel; pay no heed to what he
+saith and tell not the Queen-consort that her Chamberlain opposed thine
+entrance." So Ni'amah bowed his head and entered the palace, and would have
+turned to the left, but mistook the direction and walked to his right; and,
+meaning to count five doors and enter the sixth, he counted six and entering
+the seventh, found himself in a place whose floor was carpeted with brocade and
+whose walls were hung with curtains of gold- embroidered silk. And therein
+stood censers of aloes-wood and ambergris and strong-scented musk, and at the
+upper end was a couch bespread with cloth of gold on which he seated himself,
+marvelling at the magnificence he saw and knowing not what was written for him
+in the Secret Purpose. As he sat musing on his case, the Caliph's sister,
+followed by her handmaid, came in upon him; and, seeing the youth seated there
+took him for a slave-girl and accosted him and said, "Who art thou O damsel?
+and what is thy case and who brought thee hither?" He made no reply, and was
+silent, when she continued, "O damsel! if thou be one of my brother's
+concubines and he be wroth with thee, I will intercede with him for thee and
+get thee grace." But he answered her not a word; so she said to her slave-girl,
+"Stand at the door and let none enter." Then she went up to Ni'amah and looking
+at him was amazed at his beauty and said to him, "O lady, tell me who thou art
+and what is thy name and how thou camest here; for I have never seen thee in
+our palace." Still he answered not, whereat she was angered and, putting her
+hand to his bosom, found no breasts and would have unveiled him, that she might
+know who he was; but he said to her, "O my lady, I am thy slave and I cast
+myself on thy protection: do thou protect me." She said, "No harm shall come to
+thee, but tell me who thou art and who brought thee into this my apartment."
+Answered he, "O Princess, I am known as Ni'amah bin al-Rabi'a of Cufa and I
+have ventured my life for the sake of my slave-girl, Naomi, whom Al-Hajjaj took
+by sleight and sent hither." Said she, "Fear not: no harm shall befall thee;"
+then, calling her maid, she said to her, "Go to Naomi's chamber and send her to
+me." Meanwhile the old woman went to Naomi's bedroom and said to her, "Hath thy
+lord come to thee?" "No, by Allah!" answered Naomi, and the other said, "Belike
+he hath gone astray and entered some chamber other than thine and lost
+himself." So Naomi cried, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
+Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Our last hour is come and we are all lost." And
+while they were sitting and sadly enough pondering their case, in came the
+Princess's handmaid and saluting Naomi said to her, "My lady biddeth thee to
+her banquet." "I hear and I obey," answered the damsel and the old woman said,
+"Belike thy lord is with the Caliph's sister and the veil of secrecy hath been
+rent." So Naomi at once sprang up and betook herself to the Princess, who said
+to her, "Here is thy lord sitting with me; it seemeth he hath mistaken the
+place; but, please Allah, neither thou nor he has any cause for fear." When
+Naomi heard these words, she took heart of grace and went up to Ni'amah; and
+her lord when he saw her.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ni'amah saw his
+handmaid Naomi, he rose to meet her and strained her to his bosom and both fell
+to the ground fainting. As soon as they came to themselves, the Caliph's sister
+said to them, "Sit ye down and take we counsel for your deliverance from this
+your strait." And they answered, "O our lady, we hear and obey: it is thine to
+command." Quoth she, "By Allah, no harm shall befall you from us!" Then she
+bade her handmaids bring meat and drink which was done, and they sat down and
+ate till they had enough, after which they sat drinking. Then the cup went
+round amongst them and their cares ceased from them; but Ni'amah said, "Would I
+knew how this will end." The Princess asked, "O Ni'amah, dost thou love thy
+slave Naomi?"; and he answered, "Of a truth it is my passion for her which hath
+brought me to this state of peril for my life." Then said she to the damsel, "O
+Naomi, dost thou love thy lord Ni'amah?"; and she replied, "O my lady, it is
+the love of him which hath wasted my body and brought me to evil case."
+Rejoined the Princess, "By Allah, since ye love each other thus, may he not be
+who would part you! Be of good cheer and keep your eyes cool and clear." At
+this they both rejoiced and Naomi called for a lute and, when they brought it,
+she took it and tuned it and played a lively measure which enchanted the
+hearers, and after the prelude sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When the slanderers cared but to part us twain, * We owed no<br/>
+
+     blood-debt could raise their ire<br/>
+
+And they poured in our ears all the din of war, * And aid failed<br/>
+
+     and friends, when my want was dire:<br/>
+
+I fought them hard with mine eyes and tears; * With breath and<br/>
+
+     sword, with the stream and fire!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Naomi gave the lute to her master, Ni'amah, saying, "Sing thou to us some
+verse." So he took it and playing a lively measure, intoned these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Full Moon if unfreckled would favour thee, * And Sun uneclipsed<br/>
+
+     would reflect thy blee:<br/>
+
+I wonder (but love is of wonders full * And ardour and passion<br/>
+
+     and ecstasy)<br/>
+
+How short the way to my love I fare, * Which, from her faring, so<br/>
+
+     long I see."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when he had made an end of his song, Naomi filled the cup and gave it to
+him, and he took it and drank it off; then she filled again and gave the cup to
+the Caliph's sister who also emptied it; after which the Princess in her turn
+took the lute and tightened the strings and tuned it and sang these two
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grief, cark and care in my heart reside, * And the fires of love<br/>
+
+     in my breast<br/>
+
+My wasted form to all eyes shows clear; * For Desire my body hath<br/>
+
+     mortified."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she filled the cup and gave it to Naomi, who drank it off and taking the
+lute, sang these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"O to whom I gave soul which thou tortures", * And in vain I'd<br/>
+
+     recover from fair Unfaith<br/>
+
+Do grant thy favours my care to cure * Ere I die, for this be my<br/>
+
+     latest breath."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And they ceased not to sing verses and drink to the sweet sound of the strings,
+full of mirth and merriment and joy and jollity till behold! in came the
+Commander of the Faithful. Now when they saw him, they rose and kissed the
+ground before him; and he, seeing Naomi with the lute in her hand, said to her,
+"O Naomi, praised be Allah who hath done away from thee sickness and
+suffering!" Then he looked at Ni'amah (who was still disguised as a woman), and
+said to the Princess, "O my sister, what damsel is this by Naomi's side?" She
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, thou hast here a handmaid, one of thy
+concubines and the bosom friend of Naomi who will neither eat nor drink without
+her." And she repeated the words of the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Two contraries, and both concur in opposite charms, * And charms so contraried
+by contrast lovelier show."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth the Caliph, "By Allah Omnipotent, verily she is as handsome as Naomi, and
+to-morrow I will appoint her a separate chamber beside that of her friend and
+send her furniture and stuffs and all that befitteth her, in honour of Naomi."
+Then the Princess called for food and set it before her brother, who ate and
+made himself at home in their place and company. Then filling a cup he signed
+to Naomi to sing; so she took the lute, after draining two of them and sang
+these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Since my toper-friend in my hand hath given * Three cups that<br/>
+
+     brim and bubble, e'er since<br/>
+
+I've trailed my skirts throughout night for pride * As tho',<br/>
+
+     Prince of the Faithful, I were thy Prince!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Prince of True Believers was delighted and filling another cup, gave it to
+Naomi and bade her sing again; so after draining the cup and sweeping the
+strings, she sang as follows:—
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"O most noble of men in this time and stound, * Of whom none may<br/>
+
+     boast he is equal-found!<br/>
+
+O matchless in greatness of soul and gifts, * O thou Chief, O<br/>
+
+     thou King amongst all renowned:<br/>
+
+Lord, who dealest large boons to the Lords of Earth, * Whom thou<br/>
+
+     vexest not nor dost hold them bound<br/>
+
+The Lord preserve thee, and spoil thy foes, * And ne'er cease thy<br/>
+
+     lot with good Fortune crowned!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the Caliph heard these couplets, he exclaimed, "By Allah, good! By
+Allah, excellent! Verily the Lord hath been copious[FN#19] to thee, O Naomi!
+How clever is thy tongue and how dear is thy speech!" And they ceased not their
+mirth and good cheer till midnight, when the Caliph's sister said to him, "Give
+ear, O Commander of the Faithful to a tale I have read in books of a certain
+man of rank." "And what is this tale?" quoth he. Quoth she "Know, O Prince of
+the Faithful that there lived once in the city of Cufa a youth called Ni'amah,
+son of Al-Rabi'a, and he had a slave-girl whom he loved and who loved him. They
+had been reared in one bed; but when they grew up and mutual-love get hold of
+them, Fortune smote them with her calamities and Time, the tyrant, brought upon
+them his adversity and decreed separation unto them. Thereupon designing and
+slanderous folk enticed her by sleight forth of his house and, stealing her
+away from his home, sold her to one of the Kings for ten thousand dinars. Now
+the girl loved her lord even as he loved her, so he left kith and kin and house
+and home and the gifts of fortune, and set out to search for her and when she
+was found he devised means to gain access to her".—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph's sister said,
+"And Ni'amah ceased not absenting himself from his kith and kin and
+patrial-stead, that he might gain access to his handmaid, and he incurred every
+peril and lavished his life till he gained access to her, and her name was
+Naomi, like this slave-girl. But the interview was short; they had not been
+long in company when in came the King, who had bought her of her kidnapper, and
+hastily ordered them to be slain, without doing justice by his own soul and
+delaying to enquire into the matter before the command was carried out. Now
+what sayest thou, O Commander of the Faithful, of this King's wrongous
+conduct?" Answered the Caliph; "This was indeed a strange thing: it behoved
+that King to pardon when he had the power to punish; and he ought to have
+regarded three things in their favour. The first was that they loved each
+other; the second that they were in his house and in his grasp; and the third
+that it befitteth a King to be deliberate in judging and ordering between folk,
+and how much more so in cases where he himself is concerned! Wherefore this
+King thus did an unkingly deed." Then said his sister, "O my brother, by the
+King of the heavens and the earth, I conjure thee, bid Naomi sing and hearken
+to that she shall sing!" So he said "O Naomi, sing to me;" whereupon she played
+a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beguiled us Fortune who her guile displays, * Smiting the heart,<br/>
+
+     bequeathing thoughts that craze<br/>
+
+And parting lovers whom she made to meet, * Till tears in torrent<br/>
+
+     either cheek displays:<br/>
+
+They were and I was and my life was glad, * While Fortune often<br/>
+
+     joyed to join our ways;<br/>
+
+I will pour tear flood, will rain gouts of blood, * Thy loss<br/>
+
+     bemoaning through the nights and days!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the Commander of the Faithful heard this verse, he was moved to great
+delight and his sister said to him, "O my brother, whoso decideth in aught
+against himself, him it behoveth to abide by it and do according to his word;
+and thou hast judged against thyself by this judgement." Then said she, "O
+Ni'amah, stand up and do thou likewise up stand, O Naomi!" So they stood up and
+she continued, "O Prince of True Believers, she who standeth before thee is
+Naomi the stolen, whom Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi kidnapped and sent to
+thee, falsely pretending in his letter to thee that he had bought her for ten
+thousand gold pieces. And this other who standeth before thee is her lord,
+Ni'amah, son of Al-Rabi'a; and I beseech thee, by the honour of thy pious
+forebears and by Hamzah and Ukayl and Abbas,[FN#20] to pardon them both and
+overlook their offence and bestow them one on the other, that thou mayst win
+rich reward in the next world of thy just dealing with them; for they are under
+thy hand and verily they have eaten of thy meat and drunken of thy drink; and
+behold, I make intercession for them and beg of thee the boon of their blood."
+Thereupon quoth the Caliph, "Thou speakest sooth: I did indeed give judgement
+as thou sayst, and I am not one to pass sentence and to revoke it." Then said
+he, "O Naomi, say, be this thy lord?" And she answered "Even so, O Commander of
+the Faithful." Then quoth he, "No harm shall befall you, I give you each to
+other;" adding to the young man, <a name="chap03"></a>"O Ni'amah, who told thee
+where she was and taught thee how to get at this place?" He replied, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, hearken to my tale and give ear to my history; for,
+by the virtue of thy pious forefathers, I will hide nothing from thee!" And he
+told him all that had passed between himself and the Persian physician and the
+old nurse, and how she had brought him into the palace and he had mistaken the
+doors; whereat the Caliph wondered with exceeding wonder and said, "Fetch me
+the Persian." So they brought him into the presence and he was made one of his
+chief officers. Moreover the King bestowed on him robes of honour and ordered
+him a handsome present, saying, "When a man hath shown like this man such
+artful management, it behoveth us to make him one of our chief officers." The
+Caliph also loaded Ni'amah and Naomi with gifts and honours and rewarded the
+old nurse; and they abode with him seven days in joy and content and all
+delight of life, when Ni'amah craved leave to return to Cufa with his
+slave-girl. The Caliph gave them permission and they departed and arrived in
+due course at Cufa, where Ni'amah was restored to his father and mother, and
+they abode in all the joys and jollities of life, till there came to them the
+Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. Now when Amjad and As'ad
+heard from Bahram this story, they marvelled with extreme marvel and said, "By
+Allah, this is indeed a rare tale!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad and As'ad
+heard this story from Bahram the Magian who had become a Moslem, they marvelled
+with extreme marvel and thus passed that night; and when the next morning
+dawned, they mounted and riding to the palace, sought an audience of the King
+who granted it and received them with high honour. Now as they were sitting
+together talking, of a sudden they heard the towns folk crying aloud and
+shouting to one another and calling for help; and the Chamberlain came in to
+the King and said to him, "Some King hath encamped before the city, he and his
+host, with arms and weapons displayed, and we know not their object and aim."
+The King took counsel with his Wazir Amjad and his brother As'ad; and Amjad
+said, "I will go out to him and learn the cause of his coming." So he took
+horse and, riding forth from the city, repaired to the stranger's camp, where
+he found the King and with him a mighty many and mounted Mamelukes. When the
+guards saw him, they knew him for an envoy from the King of the city; so they
+took him and brought him before their Sultan. Then Amjad kissed the ground
+before him; but lo! the King was a Queen, who was veiled with a mouth-veil, and
+she said to Amjad, "Know that I have no design on this your city and that I am
+come hither only in quest of a beardless slave of mine, whom if I find with
+you, I will do you no harm, but if I find him not, then shall there befall sore
+onslaught between me and you." Asked Amjad, "O Queen, what like is thy slave
+and what is his story and what may be his name?" Said she, "His name is As'ad
+and my name is Marjanah, and this slave came to my town in company of Bahram, a
+Magian, who refused to sell him to me; so I took him by force, but his master
+fell upon him by night and bore him away by stealth and he is of such and such
+a favour." When Amjad heard that, he knew it was indeed his brother As'ad whom
+she sought and said to her, "O Queen of the age, Alhamdolillah, praised be
+Allah, who hath brought us relief! Verily this slave whom thou seekest is my
+brother." Then he told her their story and all that had befallen them in the
+land of exile, and acquainted her with the cause of their departure from the
+Islands of Ebony, whereat she marvelled and rejoiced to have found As'ad. So
+she bestowed a dress of honour upon Amjad and he returned forthright to the
+King and told him what had passed, at which they all rejoiced and the King went
+forth with Amjad and As'ad to meet Queen Marjanah. When they were admitted to
+her presence and sat down to converse with her and were thus pleasantly
+engaged, behold, a dust cloud rose and flew and grew, till it walled the view.
+And after a while it lifted and showed beneath it an army dight for victory, in
+numbers like the swelling sea, armed and armoured cap-а-pie who, making for the
+city, encompassed it around as the ring encompasseth the little finger;[FN#21]
+and a bared brand was in every hand. When Amjad and As'ad saw this, they
+exclaimed, "Verily to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return! What is this
+mighty host? Doubtless, these are enemies, and except we agree with this Queen
+Marjanah to fight them, they will take the town from us and slay us. There is
+no resource for us but to go out to them and see who they are." So Amjad arose
+and took horse and passed through the city gate to Queen Marjanah's camp; but
+when he reached the approaching army he found it to be that of his grand sire,
+King Ghayur, father of his mother Queen Budur.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad reached the
+approaching host, he found it to be that of his grandsire, Lord of the Isles
+and the Seas and the Seven Castles; and when he went into the presence, he
+kissed the ground between his hands and delivered to him the message. Quoth the
+King, "My name is King Ghayur and I come wayfaring in quest of my daughter
+Budur whom fortune hath taken from me, for she left me and returned not to me,
+nor have I heard any tidings of her or of her husband Kamar al-Zaman. Have ye
+any news of them?" When Amjad heard this, he hung his head towards the ground
+for a while in thought till he felt assured that this King was none other than
+his grandfather, his mother's father; where upon he raised his head and,
+kissing ground before him, told him that he was the son of his daughter Budur;
+on hearing which Ghayur threw himself upon him and they both fell a
+weeping.[FN#22] Then said Ghayur, "Praised be Allah, O my son, for safety,
+since I have foregathered with thee," and Amjad told him that his daughter
+Budur was safe and sound, and her husband Kamar al-Zaman likewise, and
+acquainted him that both abode in a city called the City of Ebony. Moreover, he
+related to him how his father, being wroth with him and his brother, had
+commended that both be put to death, but that his treasurer had taken pity on
+them and let them go with their lives. Quoth King Ghayur, "I will go back with
+thee and thy brother to your father and make your peace with him." So Amjad
+kissed the ground before him in huge delight and the King bestowed a dress of
+honour upon him, after which he returned, smiling, to the King of the City of
+the Magians and told him what he had learnt from King Ghayur, whereat he
+wondered with exceeding wonder. Then he despatched guest-gifts of sheep and
+horses and camels and forage and so forth to King Ghayur, and did the like by
+Queen Marjanah; and both of them told her what chanced; whereupon quoth she, "I
+too will accompany you with my troops and will do my endeavour to make this
+peace." Meanwhile behold, there arose another dust cloud and flew and grew till
+it walled the view and blackened the day's bright hue; and under it they heard
+shouts and cries and neighing of steeds and beheld sword glance and the glint
+of levelled lance. When this new host drew near the city and saw the two other
+armies, they beat their drums and the King of the Magians exclaimed, "This is
+indeed naught but a blessed day. Praised be Allah who hath made us of accord
+with these two armies; and if it be His will, He shall give us peace with yon
+other as well." Then said he to Amjad and As'ad, "Fare forth and fetch us news
+of these troops, for they are a mighty host, never saw I a mightier." So they
+opened the city gates, which the King had shut for fear of the beleaguering
+armies, and Amjad and As'ad went forth and, coming to the new host, found that
+it was indeed a mighty many. But as soon as they came to it behold, they knew
+that it was the army of the King of the Ebony Islands, wherein was their
+father, King Kamar al-Zaman in person. Now when they looked upon him, they
+kissed ground and wept; but, when he beheld them, he threw himself upon them
+weeping, with sore weeping, and strained them to his breast for a full hour.
+Then he excused himself to them and told them what desolation he had suffered
+for their loss and exile; and they acquainted him with King Ghayur's arrival,
+whereupon he mounted with his chief officers and taking with him his two sons,
+proceeded to that King's camp. As they drew near, one of the Princes rode
+forward and informed King Ghayur of Kamar al-Zaman's coming, whereupon he came
+out to meet him and they joined company, marvelling at these things and how
+they had chanced to foregather in that place. Then the townsfolk made them
+banquets of all manner of meats and sweetmeats and presented to them horses and
+camels and fodder and other guest-gifts and all that the troops needed. And
+while this was doing, behold, yet another cloud of dust arose and flew till it
+walled the view, whilst earth trembled with the tramp of steed and tabors
+sounded like stormy winds. After a while, the dust lifted and discovered an
+army clad in coats of mail and armed cap-а-pie; but all were in black garb, and
+in their midst rode a very old man whose beard flowed down over his breast and
+he also was clad in black. When the King of the city and the city folk saw this
+great host, he said to the other Kings, "Praised be Allah by whose omnipotent
+command ye are met here, all in one day, and have proved all known one to the
+other! But what vast and victorious army is this which hemmeth in the whole
+land like a wall?" They answered, "Have no fear of them; we are three Kings,
+each with a great army, and if they be enemies, we will join thee in doing
+battle with them, were they three times as many as they now are." Meanwhile, up
+came an envoy from the approaching host, making for the city. So they brought
+him before Kamar al-Zaman, King Ghayur, Queen Marjanah and the King of the
+city; and he kissed the ground and said, "My liege lord cometh from
+Persia-land; for many years ago he lost his son and he is seeking him in all
+countries. If he find him with you, well and good; but if he find him not,
+there will be war between him and you and he will waste your city." Rejoined
+Kamar al-Zaman, "It shall not come to that; but how is thy master called in
+Ajam land?" Answered the envoy, "He is called King Shahriman, lord of the
+Khбlidan Islands; and he hath levied these troops in the lands traversed by
+him, whilst seeking his son." No-vv when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he
+cried out with a great cry and fell down in a fainting fit which lasted a long
+while; and anon coming to himself he wept bitter tears and said to Amjad and
+As'ad, "Go ye, O my sons, with the herald, salute your grandfather and my
+father, King Shahriman and give him glad tidings of me, for he mourneth my loss
+and even to the present time he weareth black raiment for my sake." Then he
+told the other Kings all that had befallen him in the days of his youth, at
+which they wondered and, going down with him from the city, repaired to his
+father, whom he saluted, and they embraced and fell to the ground senseless for
+excess of joy. And when they revived after a while, Kamar al-Zaman acquainted
+his father with all his adventures and the other Kings saluted Shahriman. Then,
+after having married Marjanah to As'ad, they sent her back to her kingdom,
+charging her not to cease correspondence with them; so she took leave and went
+her way. Moreover they married Amjad to Bostan, Bahram's daughter, and they all
+set out for the City of Ebony. And when they arrived there, Kamar al-Zaman went
+in to his father-in-law, King Armanus, and told him all that had befallen him
+and how he had found his sons; whereat Armanus rejoiced and gave him joy of his
+safe return. Then King Ghayur went in to his daughter, Queen Budur,[FN#23] and
+saluted her and quenched his longing for her company, and they all abode a full
+month's space in the City of Ebony; after which the King and his daughter
+returned to their own country.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Ghayur set out with
+his daughter and his host for his own land, and they took with them Amjad and
+returned home by easy marches. And when Ghayur was settled again in his
+kingdom, he made his grandson King in his stead; and as to Kamar al-Zaman he
+also made As'ad king in his room over the capital of the Ebony Islands, with
+the consent of his grandfather, King Armanus and set out himself, with his
+father, King Shahriman, till the two made the Islands of Khбlidan. Then the
+lieges decorated the city in their honour and they ceased not to beat the drums
+for glad tidings a whole month; nor did Kamar al-Zaman leave to govern in his
+father's place, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of societies; and Allah knoweth all things! Quoth King Shahryar, "O
+Shahrazad, this is indeed a most wonderful tale!" And she answered, "O King, it
+is not more wonderful than that of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap04"></a>ALA AL-DIN ABU AL-SHAMAT.[FN#24]</h3>
+
+<p>
+"What is that?" asked he, and she said, It hath reached me that there lived, in
+times of yore and years and ages long gone before, a merchant of Cairo[FN#25]
+named Shams al-Din, who was of the best and truest spoken of the traders of the
+city; and he had eunuchs and servants and negro-slaves and handmaids and Mame
+lukes and great store of money. Moreover, he was Consul[FN#26] of the Merchants
+of Cairo and owned a wife, whom he loved and who loved him; except that he had
+lived with her forty years, yet had not been blessed with a son or even a
+daughter. One day, as he sat in his shop, he noted that the merchants, each and
+every, had a son or two sons or more sitting in their shops like their sires.
+Now the day being Friday, he entered the Hammam-bath and made the
+total-ablution: after which he came out and took the barber's glass and looked
+in it, saying, "I testify that there is no god but the God and I testify that
+Mohammed is the Messenger of God!" Then he considered his beard and, seeing
+that the white hairs in it covered the black, bethought himself that hoariness
+is the harbinger of death. Now his wife knew the time of his coming home and
+had washed and made herself ready for him, so when he came in to her, she said,
+"Good evening," but he replied "I see no good." Then she called to the
+handmaid, "Spread the supper-tray;" and when this was done quoth she to her
+husband "Sup, O my lord." Quoth he, "I will eat nothing," and pushing the tray
+away with his foot, turned his back upon her. She asked, "Why dost thou thus?
+and what hath vexed thee?"; and he answered, "Thou art the cause of my
+vexation."—And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams al-Din said to his
+wife, "Thou art the cause of my vexation." She asked, "Wherefore?" and he
+answered, "When I opened my shop this morning, I saw that each and every of the
+merchants had with him a son or two sons or more, sitting in their shops like
+their fathers; and I said to myself:—He who took thy sire will not spare thee.
+Now the night I first visited thee,[FN#27] thou madest me swear that I would
+never take a second wife over thee nor a concubine, Abyssinian or Greek or
+handmaid of other race; nor would lie a single night away from thee: and
+behold, thou art barren, and having thee is like boring into the rock."
+Rejoined she, "Allah is my witness that the fault lies with thee, for that thy
+seed is thin." He asked, "And what showeth the man whose semen is thin?" And
+she answered, "He cannot get women with child, nor beget children." Quoth he,
+"What thickeneth the seed? tell me and I will buy it: haply, it will thicken
+mine." Quoth she, "Enquire for it of the druggists." So he slept with her that
+night and arose on the morrow, repenting of having spoken angrily to her; and
+she also regretted her cross words. Then he went to the market and, finding a
+druggist, saluted him; and when his salutation was returned said to him, "Say,
+hast thou with thee a seed-thickener?" He replied, "I had it, but am out of it:
+enquire thou of my neighbour." Then Shams al-Din made the round till he had
+asked every one, but they all laughed at him, and presently he returned to his
+shop and sat down, sore troubled. Now there was in the bazar a man who was
+Deputy Syndic of the brokers and was given to the use of opium and electuary
+and green hashish.[FN#28] He was called Shaykh Mohammed Samsam and being poor
+he used to wish Shams al-Din good morrow every day. So he came to him according
+to his custom and saluted him. The merchant returned his salute, but in
+ill-temper, and the other, seeing him vexed, said, "O my lord, what hath
+crossed thee?" Thereupon Shams al-Din told him all that occurred between
+himself and his wife, adding, "These forty years have I been married to her yet
+hath she borne me neither son nor daughter; and they say:—The cause of thy
+failure to get her with child is the thinness of thy seed; so I have been
+seeking a some thing wherewith to thicken my semen but found it not." Quoth
+Shaykh Mohammed, "O my lord, I have a seed-thickener, but what wilt thou say to
+him who causeth thy wife to conceive by thee after these forty years have
+passed?" Answered the merchant, "If thou do this, I will work thy weal—and
+reward thee." "Then give me a dinar," rejoined the broker, and Shams al-Din
+said, "Take these two dinars." He took them and said, "Give me also yonder big
+bowl of porcelain." So he gave it to him and the broker betook himself to a
+hashish-seller, of whom he bought two ounces of concentrated Roumi opium and
+equal-parts of Chinese cubebs, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, ginger, white
+pepper and mountain skink[FN#29]; and, pounding them all together, boiled them
+in sweet olive-oil; after which he added three ounces of male frankincense in
+fragments and a cupful of coriander-seed; and, macerating the whole, made it
+into an electuary with Roumi bee honey. Then he put the confection in the bowl
+and carried it to the merchant, to whom he delivered it, saying, "Here is the
+seed-thickener, and the manner of using it is this. Take of my electuary with a
+spoon after supping, and wash it down with a sherbet made of rose conserve; but
+first sup off mutton and house pigeon plentifully seasoned and hotly spiced."
+So the merchant bought all this and sent the meat and pigeons to his wife,
+saying, "Dress them deftly and lay up the seed-thickener until I want it and
+call for it." She did his bidding and, when she served up the meats, he ate the
+evening meal, after which he called for the bowl and ate of the electuary. It
+pleased him well, so he ate the rest and knew his wife. That very night she
+conceived by him and, after three months, her courses ceased, no blood came
+from her and she knew that she was with child. When the days of her pregnancy
+were accomplished, the pangs of labour took her and they raised loud
+lullilooings and cries of joy. The midwife delivered her with difficulty, by
+pronouncing over the boy at his birth the names of Mohammed and Ali, and said,
+"Allah is Most Great!"; and she called in his ear the call to prayer. Then she
+wrapped him up and passed him to his mother, who took him and gave him the
+breast; and he sucked and was full and slept. The midwife abode with them three
+days, till they had made the mothering-cakes of sugared bread and sweetmeats;
+and they distributed them on the seventh day. Then they sprinkled salt against
+the evil eye and the merchant, going in to his wife, gave her joy of her safe
+delivery, and said, "Where is Allah's deposit?" So they brought him a babe of
+surpassing beauty, the handiwork of the Orderer who is ever present and, though
+he was but seven days old, those who saw him would have deemed him a yearling
+child. So the merchant looked on his face and, seeing it like a shining full
+moon, with moles on either cheek, said he to his wife, "What hast thou named
+him?" Answered she, "If it were a girl I had named her; but this is a boy, so
+none shall name him but thou." Now the people of that time used to name their
+children by omens; and, whilst the merchant and his wife were taking counsel of
+the name, behold, one said to his friend, "Ho my lord, Ala al-Din!" So the
+merchant said, "We will call him Ala al-Din Abъ al-Shбmбt."[FN#30] Then he
+committed the child to the nurse, and he drank milk two years, after which they
+weaned him and he grew up and throve and walked upon the floor. When he came to
+seven years old, they put him in a chamber under a trap-door, for fear of the
+evil eye, and his father said, "He shall not come out, till his beard grow." So
+he gave him in charge to a handmaid and a blackamoor; the girl dressed him his
+meals and the slave carried them to him. Then his father circumcised him and
+made him a great feast; after which he brought him a doctor of the law, who
+taught him to write and read and repeat the Koran, and other arts and sciences,
+till he became a good scholar and an accomplished. One day it so came to pass
+that the slave, after bringing him the tray of food went away and left the trap
+door open: so Ala al-Din came forth from the vault and went in to his mother,
+with whom was a company of women of rank. As they sat talking, behold, in came
+upon them the youth as he were a white slave drunken[FN#31] for the excess of
+his beauty; and when they saw him, they veiled their faces and said to his
+mother, "Allah requite thee, O such an one! How canst thou let this strange
+Mameluke in upon us? Knowest thou not that modesty is a point of the Faith?"
+She replied, "Pronounce Allah's name[FN#32] and cry Bismillah! this is my son,
+the fruit of my vitals and the heir of Consul Shams al-Din, the child of the
+nurse and the collar and the crust and the crumb."[FN#33] Quoth they, "Never in
+our days knew we that thou hadst a son"; and quoth she, "Verily his father
+feared for him the evil eye and reared him in an under-ground chamber;"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din's mother said
+to her lady-friends, "Verily his father feared for him the evil eye and reared
+him in an underground chamber; and haply the slave forgot to shut the door and
+he fared forth; but we did not mean that he should come out, before his beard
+was grown." The women gave her joy of him, and the youth went out from them
+into the court yard where he seated himself in the open sitting room; and
+behold, in came the slaves with his father's she mule, and he said to them,
+"Whence cometh this mule?" Quoth they, "We escorted thy father when riding her
+to the shop, and we have brought her back." He asked, "What may be my father's
+trade?"; and they answered, "Thy father is Consul of the merchants in the land
+of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs." Then he went in to his mother
+and said to her, "O my mother, what is my father's trade?" Said she, "O my son,
+thy sire is a merchant and Consul of the merchants in the land of Egypt and
+Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His slaves consult him not in selling aught
+whose price is less than one thousand gold pieces, but merchandise worth him an
+hundred and less they sell at their own discretion; nor cloth any merchandise
+whatever, little or much, leave the country without passing through his hands
+and he disposeth of it as he pleaseth; nor is a bale packed and sent abroad
+amongst folk but what is under his disposal. And "Almighty Allah, O my son,
+hath given thy father monies past compt." He rejoined, "O my mother, praised be
+Allah, that I am son of the Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs and that my father
+is Consul of the merchants! But why, O my mother, do ye put me in the
+underground chamber and leave me prisoner there?" Quoth she, "O my son, we
+imprisoned thee not save for fear of folks' eyes: 'the evil eye is a
+truth,'[FN#34] and most of those in their long homes are its victims." Quoth
+he, "O my mother, and where is a refuge-place against Fate? Verily care never
+made Destiny forbear; nor is there flight from what is written for every wight.
+He who took my grandfather will not spare myself nor my father; for, though he
+live to day he shall not live tomorrow. And when my father dieth and I come
+forth and say, 'I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams al-Din the merchant', none of the
+people will believe me, but men of years and standing will say, 'In our lives
+never saw we a son or a daughter of Shams al-Din.' Then the public Treasury
+will come down and take my father's estate, and Allah have mercy on him who
+said, 'The noble dieth and his wealth passeth away, and the meanest of men take
+his women.' Therefore, O my mother, speak thou to my father, that he carry me
+with him to the bazar and open for me a shop; so may I sit there with my
+merchandise, and teach me to buy and sell and take and give." Answered his
+mother, "O my son, as soon as thy sire returneth I will tell him this." So when
+the merchant came home, he found his son Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat sitting with
+his mother and said to her, "Why hast thou brought him forth of the underground
+chamber?" She replied, "O son of my uncle, it was not I that brought him out;
+but the servants forgot to shut the door and left it open; so, as I sat with a
+company of women of rank, behold, he came forth and walked in to me." Then she
+went on to repeat to him his son's words; so he said, "O my son, to-morrow,
+Inshallah! I will take thee with me to the bazar; but, my boy, sitting in
+markets and shops demandeth good manners and courteous carriage in all
+conditions." Ala al-Din passed the night rejoicing in his father's promise and,
+when the morrow came, the merchant carried him to the Hammam and clad him in a
+suit worth a mint of money. As soon as they had broken their fast and drunk
+their sherbets, Shams al-Din mounted his she mule and putting his son upon
+another, rode to the market, followed by his boy. But when the market folk saw
+their Consul making towards them, foregoing a youth as he were a slice of the
+full moon on the fourteenth night, they said, one to other, "See thou yonder
+boy behind the Consul of the merchants; verily, we thought well of him, but he
+is, like the leek, gray of head and green at heart."[FN#35] And Shaykh Mohammed
+Samsam, Deputy Syndic of the market, the man before mentioned, said to the
+dealers, "O merchants, we will not keep the like of him for our Shaykh; no,
+never!" Now it was the custom anent the Consul when he came from his house of a
+morning and sat down in his shop, for the Deputy Syndic of the market to go and
+recite to him and to all the merchants assembled around him the Fбtihah or
+opening chapter of the Koran,[FN#36] after which they accosted him one by one
+and wished him good morrow and went away, each to his business place. But when
+Shams al-Din seated himself in his shop that day as usual, the traders came not
+to him as accustomed; so he called the Deputy and said to him, "Why come not
+the merchants together as usual?" Answered Mohammed Samsam, "I know not how to
+tell thee these troubles, for they have agreed to depose thee from the Shaykh
+ship of the market and to recite the Fatihah to thee no more." Asked Shams
+al-Din, "What may be their reason?"; and asked the Deputy, "What boy is this
+that sitteth by thy side and thou a man of years and chief of the merchants? Is
+this lad a Mameluke or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think thou lovest him and
+inclines lewdly to the boy." Thereupon the Consul cried out at him, saying,
+"Silence, Allah curse thee, genus and species! This is my son." Rejoined the
+Deputy, "Never in our born days have we seen thee with a son," and Shams al-Din
+answered, "When thou gavest me the seed-thickener, my wife conceived and bare
+this youth; but I reared him in a souterrain for fear of the evil eye, nor was
+it my purpose that he should come forth, till he could take his beard in his
+hand.[FN#37] However, his mother would not agree to this, and he on his part
+begged I would stock him a shop and teach him to sell and buy." So the Deputy
+Syndic returned to the other traders and acquainted them with the truth of the
+case, whereupon they all arose to accompany him; and, going in a body to Shams
+al-Din's shop, stood before him and recited the "Opener" of the Koran; after
+which they gave him joy of his son and said to him, "The Lord prosper root and
+branch! But even the poorest of us, when son or daughter is born to him, needs
+must cook a pan-full of custard[FN#38] and bid his friends and kith and kin;
+yet hast thou not done this." Quoth he, "This I owe you; be our meeting in the
+garden."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her sister Dunyazad said to her, "Pray continue thy story for us, as thou be
+awake and not inclined to sleep." Quoth she:—With pleasure and goodwill: it
+hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Consul of the merchants promised
+them a banquet and said "Be our meeting in the garden." So when morning dawned
+he despatched the carpet layer to the saloon of the garden-pavilion and bade
+him furnish the two. Moreover, he sent thither all that was needful for
+cooking, such as sheep and clarified butter and so forth, according to the
+requirements of the case; and spread two tables, one in the pavilion and
+another in the saloon. Then Shams al-Din and his boy girded themselves, and he
+said to Ala al-Din "O my son, whenas a greybeard entereth, I will meet him and
+seat him at the table in the pavilion; and do thou, in like manner, receive the
+beardless youths and seat them at the table in the saloon." He asked, "O my
+father, why dost thou spread two tables, one for men and another for youths?";
+and he answered, "O my son, the beardless is ashamed to eat with the bearded."
+And his son thought this his answer full and sufficient. So when the merchants
+arrived, Shams al-Din received the men and seated them in the pavilion, whilst
+Ala al-Din received the youths and seated them in the saloon. Then the food was
+set on and the guests ate and drank and made merry and sat over their wine,
+whilst the attendants perfumed them with the smoke of scented woods, and the
+elders fell to conversing of matters of science and traditions of the Prophet.
+Now there was amongst them a merchant called MahmÑŠd of Balkh, a professing
+Moslem but at heart a Magian, a man of lewd and mischievous life who loved
+boys. And when he saw Ala al-Din from whose father he used to buy stuffs and
+merchandise, one sight of his face sent him a thousand sighs and Satan dangled
+the jewel before his eyes, so that he was taken with love-longing and desire
+and affection and his heart was filled with mad passion for him. Presently he
+arose and made for the youths, who stood up to receive him; and at this moment
+Ala Al-Din being taken with an urgent call of Nature, withdrew to make water;
+whereupon Mahmud turned to the other youths and said to them, "If ye will
+incline Ala al-Din's mind to journeying with me, I will give each of you a
+dress worth a power of money." Then he returned from them to the men's party;
+and, as the youths were sitting, Ala al-Din suddenly came back, when all rose
+to receive him and seated him in the place of highest honour. Presently, one of
+them said to his neighbour, "O my lord Hasan, tell me whence came to thee the
+capital—whereon thou trades"." He replied, "When I grew up and came to man's
+estate, I said to my sire, 'O my father, give me merchandise.' Quoth he, 'O my
+son, I have none by me; but go thou to some merchant and take of him money and
+traffic with it; and so learn to buy and sell, give and take.' So I went to one
+of the traders and borrowed of him a thousand dinars, wherewith I bought stuffs
+and carrying them to Damascus, sold them there at a profit of two for one. Then
+I bought Syrian stuffs and carrying them to Aleppo, made a similar gain of
+them; after which I bought stuffs of Aleppo and repaired with them to Baghdad,
+where I sold them with like result, two for one; nor did I cease trading upon
+my capital till I was worth nigh ten thousand ducats." Then each of the others
+told his friend some such tale, till it came to Ala al-Din's turn to speak,
+when they said to him, "And thou, O my lord Ala al-Din?" Quoth he, "I was
+brought up in a chamber underground and came forth from it only this week; and
+I do but go to the shop and return home from the shop." They remarked, "Thou
+art used to wone at home and wottest not the joys of travel, for travel is for
+men only." He replied, "I reck not of voyaging and wayfaring cloth not tempt
+me." Whereupon quoth one to the other, "This one is like the fish: when he
+leaveth the water he dieth." Then they said to him, "O Ala al Din, the glory of
+the sons of the merchants is not but in travel for the sake of gain." Their
+talk angered him; so he left them weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted and mounting
+his mule returned home. Now his mother saw him in tears and in bad temper and
+asked him, "What hath made thee weep, O my son?"; and he answered, "Of a truth,
+all the sons of the merchants put me to shame and said, 'Naught is more
+glorious for a merchant's son than travel for gain and to get him gold.'"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din said to his
+mother, "Of a truth all the sons of the merchants put me to shame and said,
+'Naught is more honourable for a merchant's son than travel for gain.'" "O my
+son, hast thou a mind to travel?" "Even so!" "And whither wilt thou go?" "To
+the city of Baghdad; for there folk make double the cost price on their goods."
+"O my son, thy father is a very rich man and, if he provide thee not with
+merchandise, I will supply it out of my own monies." "The best favour is that
+which is soonest bestowed; if this kindness is to be, now is the time." So she
+called the slaves and sent them for cloth packers, then, opening a store house,
+brought out ten loads of stuffs, which they made up into bales for him. Such
+was his case; but as regards his father, Shams al-Din, he looked about and
+failed to find Ala al-Din in the garden and enquiring after him, was told that
+he had mounted mule and gone home; so he too mounted and followed him. Now when
+he entered the house, he saw the bales ready bound and asked what they were;
+whereupon his wife told him what had chanced between Ala al-Din and the sons of
+the merchants; and he cried, "O my son, Allah's malison on travel and
+stranger-hood! Verily Allah's Apostle (whom the Lord bless and preserve!) hath
+said, 'It is of a man's happy fortune that he eat his daily bread in his own
+land', and it was said of the ancients, 'Leave travel, though but for a mile.'"
+Then quoth he to his son, "Say, art thou indeed resolved to travel and wilt
+thou not turn back from it?" Quoth the other, "There is no help for it but that
+I journey to Baghdad with merchandise, else will I doff clothes and don dervish
+gear and fare a-wandering over the world." Shams al-Din rejoined, "I am no
+penniless pauper but have great plenty of wealth;" then he showed him all he
+owned of monies and stuffs and stock-in-trade and observed, "With me are stuffs
+and merchandise befitting every country in the world." Then he showed him among
+the rest, forty bales ready bound, with the price, a thousand dinars, written
+on each, and said, "O my son take these forty loads, together with the ten
+which thy mother gave thee, and set out under the safeguard of Almighty Allah.
+But, O my child, I fear for thee a certain wood in thy way, called the Lion's
+Copse,[FN#39] and a valley highs the Vale of Dogs, for there lives are lost
+without mercy." He said, "How so, O my father?"; and he replied, "Because of a
+Badawi bandit named Ajlan." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Such is Allah's luck; if any
+share of it be mine, no harm shall hap to me." Then they rode to the cattle
+bazar, where behold, a cameleer[FN#40] alighted from his she mule and kissing
+the Consul's hand, said to him, "O my lord, it is long, by Allah, since thou
+hast employed us in the way of business." He replied, "Every time hath its
+fortune and its men,[FN#41] and Allah have truth on him who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And the old man crept o'er the worldly ways * So bowed, his<br/>
+
+     beard o'er his knees down flow'th:<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'What gars thee so doubled go?' * Quoth he (as to me his<br/>
+
+     hands he show'th)<br/>
+
+'My youth is lost, in the dust it lieth; * And see, I bend me to<br/>
+
+     find my youth.'"[FN#42]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when he had ended his verses, he said, "O chief of the caravan, it is not I
+who am minded to travel, but this my son." Quoth the cameleer, "Allah save him
+for thee." Then the Consul made a contract between Ala al-Din and the man,
+appointing that the youth should be to him as a son, and gave him into his
+charge, saying, "Take these hundred gold pieces for thy people." More-over he
+bought his son threescore mules and a lamp and a tomb-covering for the Sayyid
+Abd al-Kadir of Gнlбn[FN#43] and said to him, "O my son, while I am absent,
+this is thy sire in my stead: whatsoever he biddeth thee, do thou obey him." So
+saying, he returned home with the mules and servants and that night they made a
+Khitmah or perfection of the Koran and held a festival—in honour of the Shaykh
+Abd al-Kadir al-Jilбni. And when the morrow dawned, the Consul gave his son ten
+thousand dinars, saying, "O my son, when thou comest to Baghdad, if thou find
+stuffs easy of sale, sell them; but if they be dull, spend of these dinars."
+Then they loaded the mules and, taking leave of one another, all the wayfarers
+setting out on their journey, marched forth from the city. Now Mahmud of Balkh
+had made ready his own venture for Baghdad and had moved his bales and set up
+his tents without the walls, saying to himself, "Thou shalt not enjoy this
+youth but in the desert, where there is neither spy nor marplot to trouble
+thee." It chanced that he had in hand a thousand dinars which he owed to the
+youth's father, the balance of a business-transaction between them; so he went
+and bade farewell to the Consul, who charged him, "Give the thousand dinars to
+my son Ala al-Din;" and commended the lad to his care, saying, "He is as it
+were thy son." Accordingly, Ala al-Din joined company with Mahmud of Balkh.—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din joined company
+with Mahmud of Balkh who, before beginning the march, charged the youth's cook
+to dress nothing for him, but himself provided him and his company with meat
+and drink. Now he had four houses, one in Cairo, another in Damascus, a third
+in Aleppo and a fourth in Baghdad. So they set out and ceased not journeying
+over waste and wold till they drew near Damascus when Mahmud sent his slave to
+Ala al-Din, whom he found sitting and reading. He went up to him and kissed his
+hands, and Ala al-Din having asked him what he wanted, he answered, "My master
+saluteth thee and craveth thy company to a banquet at his place." Quoth the
+youth, "Not till I consult my father Kamal al-Din, the captain of the caravan."
+So he asked advice of the Makaddam,[FN#44] who said, "Do not go." Then they
+left Damascus and journeyed on till they came to Aleppo, where Mahmud made a
+second entertainment and sent to invite Ala al-Din; but he consulted the Chief
+Cameleer who again forbade him. Then they marched from Aleppo and fared on,
+till there remained between them and Baghdad only a single stage. Here Mahmud
+prepared a third feast and sent to bid Ala al-Din to it: Kamal-al-Din once more
+forbade his accepting it, but he said, "I must needs go." So he rose and,
+slinging a sword over his shoulder, under his clothes, repaired to the tent of
+Mahmud of Balkh, who came to meet him and saluted him. Then he set before him a
+sumptuous repast and they ate and drank and washed hands. At last Mahmud bent
+towards Ala al-Din to snatch a kiss from him, but the youth received the kiss
+on the palm of his hand and said to him, "What wouldest thou be at?" Quoth
+Mahmud, "In very sooth I brought thee hither that I might take my pleasure with
+thee in this jousting ground, and we will comment upon the words of him who
+saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say, canst not come to us one momentling, * Like milk of ewekin<br/>
+
+     or aught glistening<br/>
+
+And eat what liketh thee of dainty cake, * And take thy due of<br/>
+
+     fee in silverling,<br/>
+
+And bear whatso thou wilt, without mislike, * Of spanling,<br/>
+
+     fistling or a span long thing?'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Mahmud of Balkh would have laid hands on Ala al-Din to ravish him; but he
+rose and baring his brand, said to him, "Shame on thy gray hairs! Hast thou no
+fear of Allah, and He of exceeding awe?[FN#45] May He have mercy on him who
+saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Preserve thy hoary hairs from soil and stain, * For whitest colours are the
+easiest stained!'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he ended his verses he said to Mahmud of Balkh, "Verily this
+merchandise[FN#46] is a trust from Allah and may not be sold. If I sold this
+property to other than thee for gold, I would sell it to thee for silver; but
+by Allah, O filthy villain, I will never again company with thee; no, never!"
+Then he returned to Kamal-Al-Din the guide and said to him, "Yonder man is a
+lewd fellow, and I will no longer consort with him nor suffer his company by
+the way." He replied, "O my son, did I not say to thee, 'Go not near him'? But
+if we part company with him, I fear destruction for ourselves; so let us still
+make one caravan." But Ala al-Din cried, "It may not be that I ever again
+travel with him." So he loaded his beasts and journeyed onwards, he and his
+company, till they came to a valley, where Ala al-Din would have halted, but
+the Cameleer said to him, "Do not halt here; rather let us fare forwards and
+press our pace, so haply we make Baghdad before the gates are closed, for they
+open and shut them with the sun, in fear lest the Rejectors[FN#47] should take
+the city and throw the books of religious learning into the Tigris." But Ala al
+Din replied to him, "O my father, I came not forth from home with this
+merchandise, or travelled hither for the sake of traffic, but to divert myself
+with the sight of foreign lands and folks;" and he rejoined, "O my son, we fear
+for thee and for thy goods from the wild Arabs." Whereupon the youth answered
+"Harkye, fellow, art thou master or man? I will not enter Baghdad till the
+morning, that the sons of the city may see my merchandise and know me." "Do as
+thou wilt," said the other "I have given thee the wisest advice, but thou art
+the best judge of thine own case." Then Ala al-Din bade them unload the mule;
+and pitch the tent; so they did his bidding and abode there till the middle of
+the night, when he went out to obey a call of nature and suddenly saw something
+gleaming afar off. So he said to Kamal-al-Din, "O captain, what is yonder
+glittering?" The Cameleer sat up and, considering it straitly, knew it for the
+glint of spear heads and the steel of Badawi weapons and swords. And lo and
+behold! this was a troop of wild Arabs under a chief called Ajlбn Abъ Nбib,
+Shaykh of the Arabs, and when they neared the camp and saw the bales and
+baggage, they said one to another, "O night of loot!" Now when Kamal-al-Din
+heard these their words he cried, "Avaunt, O vilest of Arabs!" But Abu Naib so
+smote him with his throw spear in the breast, that the point came out gleaming
+from his back, and he fell down dead at the tent door. Then cried the water
+carrier,[FN#48] "Avaunt, O foulest of Arabs!" and one of them smote him with a
+sword upon the shoulder, that it issued shining from the tendons of the throat,
+and he also fell down dead. (And all this while Ala Al-Din stood looking on.)
+Then the Badawin surrounded and charged the caravan from every side and slew
+all Ala al-Din's company without sparing a man: after which they loaded the
+mules with the spoil and made off. Quoth Ala al-Din to himself, "Nothing will
+slay thee save thy mule and thy dress!"; so he arose and put off his gown and
+threw it over the back of a mule, remaining in his shirt and bag trousers only;
+after which he looked towards the tent door and, seeing there a pool of gore
+flowing from the slaughtered, wallowed in it with his remaining clothes till he
+was as a slain man drowned in his own blood. Thus it fared with him; but as
+regards the Shaykh of the wild Arabs, Ajlan, he said to his banditti, "O Arabs,
+was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad or from Baghdad for Egypt?"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Badawi asked his
+banditti, "O Arabs, was this caravan bound from Egypt for Baghdad or from
+Baghdad for Egypt?"; they answered, "'Twas bound from Egypt for Baghdad;" and
+he said, "Return ye to the slain, for methinks the owner of this caravan is not
+dead." So they turned back to the slain and fell to prodding and slashing them
+with lance and sword till they came to Ala al-Din, who had thrown himself down
+among the corpses. And when they came to him, quoth they, "Thou dost but feign
+thyself dead, but we will make an end of thee," and one of the Badawin levelled
+his javelin and would have plunged it into his breast when he cried out, "Save
+me, O my lord Abd al-Kadir, O Saint of Gilan!" and behold, he saw a hand turn
+the lance away from his breast to that of Kamal-al-Din the cameleer, so that it
+pierced him and spared himself.[FN#49] Then the Arabs made off; and, when Ala
+al-Din saw that the birds were flown with their god send, he sat up and finding
+no one, rose and set off running; but, behold! Abu Nбib the Badawi looked back
+and said to his troop, "I see somewhat moving afar off, O Arabs!" So one of the
+bandits turned back and, spying Ala al-Din running, called out to him, saying,
+"Flight shall not forward thee and we after thee;" and he smote his mare with
+his heel and she hastened after him. Then Ala al-Din seeing before him a
+watering tank and a cistern beside it, climbed up into a niche in the cistern
+and, stretching himself at full length, feigned to be asleep and said, "O
+gracious Protector, cover me with the veil of Thy protection which may not be
+torn away!" And lo! the Badawi came up to the cistern and, standing in his
+stirrup irons put out his hand to lay hold of Ala al-Din; but he said, "O my
+lady Nafнsah[FN#50]! Now is thy time!" And behold, a scorpion stung the Badawi
+in the palm and he cried out, saying, "Help, O Arabs! I am stung;" and he
+alighted from his mare's back. So his comrades came up to him and mounted him
+again, asking, "What hath befallen thee?" whereto he answered, "A young
+scorpion[FN#51] stung me." So they departed, with the caravan. Such was their
+case; but as regards Ala al-Din, he tarried in the niche, and Mahmud of Balkh
+bade load his beasts and fared forwards till he came to the Lion's Copse where
+he found Ala al-Din's attendants all lying slain. At this he rejoiced and went
+on till he reached the cistern and the reservoir. Now his mule was athirst and
+turned aside to drink, but she saw Ala al-Din's shadow in the water and shied
+and started; whereupon Mahmud raised his eyes and, seeing Ala al-Din lying in
+the niche, stripped to his shirt and bag trousers, said to him, "What man this
+deed to thee hath dight and left thee in this evil plight?" Answered Ala alDin,
+"The Arabs," and Mahmud said, "O my son, the mules and the baggage were thy
+ransom; so do thou comfort thyself with his saying who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If thereby man can save his head from death, * His good is worth him but a
+slice of nail!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But now, O my son, come down and fear no hurt." Thereupon he descended from the
+cistern-niche and Mahmud mounted him on a mule, and they fared on till they
+reached Baghdad, where he brought him to his own house and carried him to the
+bath, saying to him, "The goods and money were the ransom of thy life, O my
+son; but, if thou wilt hearken to me, I will give thee the worth of that thou
+hast lost, twice told." When he came out of the bath, Mahmud carried him into a
+saloon decorated with gold with four raised floors, and bade them bring a tray
+with all manner of meats. So they ate and drank and Mahmud bent towards Ala
+al-Din to snatch a kiss from him; but he received it upon the palm of his hand
+and said, "What, dost thou persist in thy evil designs upon me? Did I not tell
+thee that, were I wont to sell this merchandise to other than thee for gold, I
+would sell it thee for silver?" Quoth Mahmud, "I will give thee neither
+merchandise nor mule nor clothes save at this price; for I am gone mad for love
+of thee, and bless him who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Told us, ascribing to his Shaykhs, our Shaykh * Abъ Bilбl, these<br/>
+
+     words they wont to utter:[FN#52]<br/>
+
+Unhealed the lover wones of love desire, * By kiss and clip, his<br/>
+
+     only cure's to futter!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ala al-Din replied, "Of a truth this may never be, take back thy dress and thy
+mule and open the door that I may go out." So he opened the door, and Ala
+al-Din fared forth and walked on, with the dogs barking at his heels, and he
+went forwards through the dark when behold, he saw the door of a mosque
+standing open and, entering the vestibule, there took shelter and concealment;
+and suddenly a light approached him and on examining it he saw that it came
+from a pair of lanthorns borne by two slaves before two merchants. Now one was
+an old man of comely face and the other a youth; and he heard the younger say
+to the elder, "O my uncle,, I conjure thee by Allah, give me back my cousin!"
+The old man replied, "Did I not forbid thee, many a time, when the oath of
+divorce was always in thy mouth, as it were Holy Writ?" Then he turned to his
+right and, seeing Ala al-Din as he were a slice of the full moon, said to him,
+"Peace be with thee! who art thou, O my son?" Quoth he, returning the
+salutation of peace, "I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams al-Din, Consul of the
+merchants for Egypt. I besought my father for merchandise; so he packed me
+fifty loads of stuffs and goods."—And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din continued, "So
+he packed me fifty loads of goods and gave me ten thousand dinars, wherewith I
+set out for Baghdad; but when I reached the Lion's Copse, the wild Arabs came
+out against me and took all my goods and monies. So I entered the city knowing
+not where to pass the night and, seeing this place, I took shelter here." Quoth
+the old man, "O my son, what sayest thou to my giving thee a thousand dinars
+and a suit of clothes and a mule worth other two thousand?" Ala al-Din asked,
+"To what end wilt thou give me these things, O my uncle?" and the other
+answered, 'This young man who accompanieth me is the son of my brother and an
+only son; and I have a daughter called Zubaydah[FN#53] the lutist, an only
+child who is a model of beauty and loveliness, so I married her to him. Now he
+loveth her, but she loatheth him; and when he chanced to take an oath of triple
+divorcement and broke it, forthright she left him. Whereupon he egged on all
+the folk to intercede with me to restore her to him; but I told him that this
+could not lawfully be save by an intermediate marriage, and we have agreed to
+make some stranger the intermediary[FN#54] in order that none may taunt and
+shame him with this affair. So, as thou art a stranger, come with us and we
+will marry thee to her; thou shalt lie with her to-night and on the morrow
+divorce her and we will give thee what I said." Quoth Ala al-Din to himself,
+"By Allah, to bide the night with a bride on a bed in a house is far better
+than sleeping in the streets and vestibules!" So he went with them to the Kazi
+whose heart, as soon as he saw Ala al-Din, was moved to love him, and who said
+to the old man, "What is your will?" He replied, "We wish to make this young
+man an intermediary husband for my daughter; but we will write a bond against
+him binding him to pay down by way of marriage-settlement ten thousand gold
+pieces. Now if after passing the night with her he divorce her in the morning,
+we will give him a mule and dress each worth a thousand dinars, and a third
+thousand of ready money; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay down the ten
+thousand dinars according to contract." So they agreed to the agreement and the
+father of the bride-to-be received his bond for the marriage-settlement. Then
+he took Ala al-Din and, clothing him anew, carried him to his daughter's house
+and there he left him standing at the door, whilst he himself went in to the
+young lady and said, "Take the bond of thy marriage-settlement, for I have
+wedded thee to a handsome youth by name Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: so do thou
+use him with the best of usage." Then he put the bond into her hands and left
+her and went to his own lodging. Now the lady's cousin had an old duenna who
+used to visit Zubaydah, and he had done many a kindness to this woman, so he
+said to her, "O my mother, if my cousin Zubaydah see this handsome young man,
+she will never after accept my offer; so I would fain have thee contrive some
+trick to keep her and him apart." She answered, "By the life of thy
+youth,[FN#55] I will not suffer him to approach her!" Then she went to Ala
+al-Din and said to him, "O my son, I have a word of advice to give thee, for
+the love of Almighty Allah and do thou accept my counsel, as I fear for thee
+from this young woman: better thou let her lie alone and feel not her person
+nor draw thee near to her." He asked, "Why so?"; and she answered, "Because her
+body is full of leprosy and I dread lest she infect thy fair and seemly youth."
+Quoth he, "I have no need of her." Thereupon she went to the lady and said the
+like to her of Ala al-Din, and she replied, "I have no need of him, but will
+let him lie alone, and on the morrow he shall gang his gait." Then she called a
+slave-girl and said to her, "Take the tray of food and set it before him that
+he may sup." So the handmaid carried him the tray of food and set it before him
+and he ate his fill: after which he sat down and raised his charming voice and
+fell to reciting the chapter called Y. S.[FN#56] The lady listened to him and
+found his voice as melodious as the psalms of David sung by David
+himself,[FN#57] which when she heard, she exclaimed, "Allah disappoint the old
+hag who told me that he was affected with leprosy! Surely this is not the voice
+of one who hath such a disease; and all was a lie against him."[FN#58] Then she
+took a lute of India-land workmanship and, tuning the strings, sang to it in a
+voice so sweet its music would stay the birds in the heart of heaven; and began
+these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I love a fawn with gentle white black eyes, * Whose walk the<br/>
+
+     willow-wand with envy kills:<br/>
+
+Forbidding me he bids for rival-mine, * 'Tis Allah's grace who<br/>
+
+     grants to whom He wills!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he heard her chant these lines he ended his recitation of the chapter,
+and began also to sing and repeated the following couplet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My Salбm to the Fawn in the garments concealed, * And to roses in gardens of
+cheek revealed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lady rose up when she heard this, her inclination for him redoubled and she
+lifted the curtain; and Ala al-Din, seeing her, recited these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow wand, * And<br/>
+
+     breathes out ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.<br/>
+
+Meseems as if grief loved my heart and when from her *<br/>
+
+     Estrangement I abide possession to it fell."[FN#59]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereupon she came forward, swinging her haunches and gracefully swaying a
+shape the handiwork of Him whose boons are hidden; and each of them stole one
+glance of the eyes that cost them a thousand sighs. And when the shafts of the
+two regards which met rankled in his heart, he repeated these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She 'spied the moon of Heaven, reminding me * Of nights when met<br/>
+
+     we in the meadows li'en:<br/>
+
+True, both saw moons, but sooth to say, it was * Her very eyes I<br/>
+
+     saw, and she my eyne."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when she drew near him, and there remained but two paces between them, he
+recited these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She spread three tresses of unplaited hair * One night, and<br/>
+
+     showed me nights not one but four;<br/>
+
+And faced the moon of Heaven with her brow, * And showed me two-<br/>
+
+    fold moons in single hour."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as she was hard by him he said to her, "Keep away from me, lest thou infect
+me." Whereupon she uncovered her wrist[FN#60] to him, and he saw that it was
+cleft, as it were in two halves, by its veins and sinews and its whiteness was
+as the whiteness of virgin silver. Then said she, "Keep away from me, thou! for
+thou art stricken with leprosy, and maybe thou wilt infect me." He asked, "Who
+told thee I was a leper?" and she answered, "The old woman so told me." Quoth
+he, "'Twas she told me also that thou wast afflicted with white scurvy;" and so
+saying, he bared his forearms and showed her that his skin was also like virgin
+silver. Thereupon she pressed him to her bosom and he pressed her to his bosom
+and the twain embraced with closest embrace, then she took him and, lying down
+on her back, let down her petticoat trousers, and in an instant that which his
+father had left him rose up in rebellion against him and he said, "Go it, O
+Shayth Zachary[FN#61] of shaggery, O father of veins!"; and putting both hands
+to her flanks, he set the sugar-stick[FN#62] to the mouth of the cleft and
+thrust on till he came to the wicket called "Pecten." His passage was by the
+Gate of Victories[FN#63] and therefrom he entered the Monday market, and those
+of Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday,[FN#64] and, finding the carpet after the
+measure of the dais floor,[FN#65] he plied the box within its cover till he
+came to the end of it. And when morning dawned he cried to her, "Alas for
+delight which is not fulfilled! The raven[FN#66] taketh it and flieth away!"
+She asked, "What meaneth this saying?"; and he answered, "O my lady, I have but
+this hour to abide with thee." Quoth she "Who saith so?" and quoth he, "Thy
+father made me give him a written bond to pay ten thousand dinars to thy
+wedding-settlement; and, except I pay it this very day, they will imprison me
+for debt in the Kazi's house; and now my hand lacketh one-half dirham of the
+sum." She asked, "O my lord, is the marriage-bond in thy hand or in theirs?";
+and he answered, "O my lady, in mine, but I have nothing." She rejoined, "The
+matter is easy; fear thou nothing. Take these hundred dinars: an I had more, I
+would give thee what thou lackest; but of a truth my father, of his love for my
+cousin, hath transported all his goods, even to my jewellery from my lodging to
+his. But when they send thee a serjeant of the Ecclesiastical Court,"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady rejoined
+to Ala al-Din, "And when they send thee at an early hour a serjeant of the
+Ecclesiastical-Court, and the Kazi and my father bid thee divorce me, do thou
+reply, By what law is it lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall and
+divorce in the morning? Then kiss the Kazi's hand and give him a present, and
+in like manner kiss the Assessors' hands and give each of them ten gold pieces.
+So they will all speak with thee, and if they ask thee, 'Why dost thou not
+divorce her and take the thousand dinars and the mule and suit of clothes,
+according to contract duly contracted?' do thou answer, 'Every hair of her head
+is worth a thousand ducats to me and I will never put her away, neither will I
+take a suit of clothes nor aught else.' And if the Kazi say to thee, 'Then pay
+down the marriage-settlement,' do thou reply, 'I am short of cash at this
+present;' whereupon he and the Assessors will deal in friendly fashion with
+thee and allow thee time to pay." Now whilst they were talking, behold, the
+Kazi's officer knocked at the door; so Ala al-Din went down and the man said to
+him, "Come, speak the Efendi,[FN#67] for thy fatherinlaw summoneth thee." So
+Ala al-Din gave him five dinars and said to him, "O Summoner, by what law am I
+bound to marry at nightfall and divorce next morning?" The serjeant answered,
+"By no law of ours at all, at all; and if thou be ignorant of the religious
+law, I will act as thine advocate." Then they went to the divorce court and the
+Kazi said to Ala al-Din, "Why dost thou not put away the woman and take what
+falleth to thee by the contract?" Hearing this he went up to the Kazi; and,
+kissing his hand, put fifty dinars in it and said, "O our lord the Kazi, by
+what law is it lawful and right that I should marry at nightfall and divorce in
+the morning in my own despite?" The Kazi, answered, "Divorce as a compulsion
+and by force is sanctioned by no school of the Moslems." Then said the young
+lady's father, "If thou wilt not divorce, pay me the ten thousand dinars, her
+marriage-settlement." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Give me a delay of three days;" but
+the Kazi, said, "Three days is not time enough; he shall give thee ten." So
+they agreed to this and bound him after ten days either to pay the dowry or to
+divorce her. And after consenting he left them and taking meat and rice and
+clarified butter[FN#68] and what else of food he needed, returned to the house
+and told the young woman all that had passed; whereupon she said, "'Twixt night
+and day, wonders may display; and Allah bless him for his say:—
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Be mild when rage shall come to afflict thy soul; * Be patient<br/>
+
+     when calamity breeds ire;<br/>
+
+Lookye, the Nights are big with child by Time, * Whose pregnancy<br/>
+
+     bears wondrous things and dire.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she rose and made ready food and brought the tray, and they two ate and
+drank and were merry and mirthful. Presently Ala al-Din besought her to let him
+hear a little music; so she took the lute and played a melody that had made the
+hardest stone dance for glee, and the strings cried out in present ecstacy, "O
+Loving One!'';[FN#69] after which she passed from the adagio into the presto
+and a livelier measure. As they thus spent their leisure in joy and jollity and
+mirth and merriment, behold, there came a knocking at the door and she said to
+him; "Go see who is at the door." So he went down and opened it and finding
+four Dervishes standing without, said to them, "What want ye?" They replied, "O
+my lord, we are foreign and wandering religious mendicants, the viands of whose
+souls are music and dainty verse, and we would fain take our pleasure with thee
+this night till morning cloth appear, when we will wend our way, and with
+Almighty Allah be thy reward; for we adore music and there is not one of us but
+knoweth by heart store of odes and songs and ritornellos."[FN#70] He answered,
+"There is one I must consult;" and he returned and told Zubaydah who said,
+"Open the door to them." So he brought them up and made them sit down and
+welcomed them; then he fetched them food, but they would not eat and said, "O
+our lord, our meat is to repeat Allah's name in our hearts and to hear music
+with our ears: and bless him who saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Our aim is only converse to enjoy, * And eating joyeth only
+cattle-kind.'[FN#71]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And just now we heard pleasant music in thy house, but when we entered, it
+ceased; and fain would we know whether the player was a slave-girl, white or
+black, or a maiden of good family." He answered, "It was this my wife," and
+told them all that had befallen him, adding, "Verily my father-in-law hath
+bound me to pay a marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars for her, and they
+have given me ten days' time." Said one of the Dervishes, "Have no care and
+think of naught but good; for I am Shaykh of the Convent and have forty
+Dervishes under my orders. I will presently collect from them the ten thousand
+dinars and thou shalt pay thy father-in-law the wedding settlement. But now bid
+thy wife make us music that we may be gladdened and pleasured; for to some folk
+music is meat, to others medicine and to others refreshing as a fan." Now these
+four Dervishes were none other than the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, his Wazir
+Ja'afar the Barmecide, Abu al-Nowбs al-Hasan son of Hбni[FN#72] and Masrur the
+sworder; and the reason of their coming to the house was that the Caliph, being
+heavy at heart, had summoned his Minister and said, "O Wazir! it is our will to
+go down to the city and pace its streets, for my breast is sore straitened." So
+they all four donned dervish dress and went down and walked about, till they
+came to that house where, hearing music, they were minded to know the cause.
+They spent the night in joyance and harmony and telling tale after tale until
+morning dawned, when the Caliph laid an hundred gold pieces under the
+prayer-carpet and all taking leave of Ala al-Din, went their way. Now when
+Zubaydah lifted the carpet she found beneath it the hundred dinars and she said
+to her husband, "Take these hundred dinars which I have found under the
+prayer-carpet; assuredly the Dervishes when about to leave us laid them there,
+without our knowledge." So Ala al-Din took the money and, repairing to the
+market, bought therewith meat and rice and clarified butter and all they
+required. And when it was night, he lit the wax-candles and said to his wife,
+"The mendicants, it is true, have not brought the ten thousand dinars which
+they promised me; but indeed they are poor men." As they were talking, behold,
+the Dervishes knocked at the door and she said, "Go down and open to them." So
+he did her bidding and bringing them up, said to them, "Have you brought me the
+ten thousand dinars you promised me?" They answered, "We have not been able to
+collect aught thereof as yet; but fear nothing: Inshallah, tomorrow we will
+compound for thee some alchemical-cookery. But now bid thy wife play us her
+very best pieces and gladden our hearts for we love music." So she took her
+lute and made them such melody that had caused the hardest rocks to dance with
+glee; and they passed the night in mirth and merriment, converse and good
+cheer, till morn appeared with its sheen and shone, when the Caliph laid an
+hundred gold pieces under the prayer-carpet and all, after taking leave of Ala
+al-Din, went their way. And they ceased not to visit him thus every night for
+nine nights; and each morning the Caliph put an hundred dinars under the prayer
+carpet, till the tenth night, when they came not. Now the reason of their
+failure to come was that the Caliph had sent to a great merchant, saying to
+him, "Bring me fifty loads of stuffs, such as come from Cairo,"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince of True
+Believers said to that merchant, "Bring me fifty loads of stuffs such as come
+from Cairo, and let each one be worth a thousand dinars, and write on each bale
+its price; and bring me also a male Abyssinian slave." The merchant did the
+bidding of the Caliph who committed to the slave a basin and ewer of gold and
+other presents, together with the fifty loads; and wrote a letter to Ala al-Din
+as from his father Shams al-Din and said to him, "Take these bales and what
+else is with them, and go to such and such a quarter wherein dwelleth the
+Provost of the merchants and say, 'Where be Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat?' till
+folk direct thee to his quarter and his house." So the slave took the letter
+and the goods and what else and fared forth on his errand. Such was his case;
+but as regards Zubaydah's cousin and first husband, he went to her father and
+said to him, "Come let us go to Ala al-Din and make him divorce the daughter of
+my uncle." So they set out both together and, when they came to the street in
+which the house stood, they found fifty he mules laden with bales of stuffs,
+and a blackamoor riding on a she mule. So they said to him, "Whose loads are
+these?" He replied, "They belong to my lord Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; for his
+father equipped him with merchandise and sent him on a journey to Baghdad-city;
+but the wild Arabs came forth against him and took his money and goods and all
+he had. So when the ill news reached his father, he despatched me to him with
+these loads, in lieu of those he had lost; besides a mule laden with fifty
+thousand dinars, a parcel of clothes worth a power of money, a robe of
+sables[FN#73] and a basin and ewer of gold." Whereupon the lady's father said,
+"He whom thou seekest is my son-in-law and I will show thee his house."
+Meanwhile Ala al-Din was sitting at home in huge concern, when lo! one knocked
+at the door and he said, "O Zubaydah, Allah is all-knowing! but I fear thy
+father hath sent me an officer from the Kazi or the Chief of Police." Quoth
+she, "Go down and see what it is." So he went down; and, opening the door,
+found his father-in-law, the Provost of the merchants with an Abyssinian slave,
+dusky complexioned and pleasant of favour, riding on a mule. When the slave saw
+him he dismounted and kissed his hands, and Ala al-Din said, "What dost thou
+want?" He replied, "I am the slave of my lord Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, son of
+Shams al-Din, Consul of the merchants for the land of Egypt, who hath sent me
+to him with this charge." Then he gave him the letter and Ala al-Din opening it
+found written what followeth:[FN#74]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ho thou my letter! when my friend shall see thee, * Kiss thou<br/>
+
+     the ground and buss his sandal-shoon:<br/>
+
+Look thou hie softly and thou hasten not, * My life and rest are<br/>
+
+     in those hands so boon.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"After hearty salutations and congratulations and high estimation from Shams
+al-Din to his son, Abu al-Shamat. Know, O my son, that news hath reached me of
+the slaughter of thy men and the plunder of thy monies and goods; so I send
+thee herewith fifty loads of Egyptian stuffs, together with a suit of clothes
+and a robe of sables and a basin and ewer of gold. Fear thou no evil, and the
+goods thou hast lost were the ransom of thy life; so regret them not and may no
+further grief befall thee. Thy mother and the people of the house are doing
+well in health and happiness and all greet thee with abundant greetings.
+Moreover, O my son, it hath reached me that they have married thee, by way of
+intermediary, to the lady Zubaydah the lutist and they have imposed on thee a
+marriage-settlement of ten thousand dinars; wherefore I send thee also fifty
+thousand dinars by the slave Salнm."[FN#75] Now when Ala al-Din had made an end
+of reading the letter, he took possession of the loads and, turning to the
+Provost, said to him, "O my father-in-law, take the ten thousand dinars, the
+marriage-settlement of thy daughter Zubaydah, and take also the loads of goods
+and dispose of them, and thine be the profit; only return me the cost price."
+He answered, "Nay, by Allah, I will take nothing; and, as for thy wife's
+settlement, do thou settle the matter with her." Then, after the goods had been
+brought in, they went to Zuhaydah and she said to her sire, "O my father, whose
+loads be these?" He said, "These belong to thy husband, Ala al-Din: his father
+hath sent them to him instead of those whereof the wild Arabs spoiled him.
+Moreover, he hath sent him fifty thousand dinars with a parcel of clothes, a
+robe of sables, a she mule for riding and a basin and ewer of gold. As for the
+marriage-settlement that is for thy recking." Thereupon Ala al-Din rose and,
+opening the money box, gave her her settlement and the lady's cousin said, "O
+my uncle, let him divorce to me my wife;" but the old man replied, "This may
+never be now; for the marriage tie is in his hand." Thereupon the young man
+went out, sore afflicted and sadly vexed and, returning home, fell sick, for
+his heart had received its death blow; so he presently died. But as for Ala
+al-Din, after receiving his goods he went to the bazar and buying what meats
+and drinks he needed, made a banquet as usual—against the night, saying to
+Zubaydah, "See these lying Dervishes; they promised us and broke their
+promises." Quoth she, "Thou art the son of a Consul of the merchants, yet was
+thy hand short of half a dirham; how then should it be with poor Dervishes?"
+Quoth he, "Almighty Allah hath enabled us to do without them; but if they come
+to us never again will I open the door to them." She asked, "Why so, whenas
+their coming footsteps brought us good luck; and, moreover, they put an hundred
+dinars under the prayer carpet for us every night? Perforce must thou open the
+door to them an they come." So when day departed with its light and in gloom
+came night, they lighted the wax candles and he said to her, "Rise, Zubaydah,
+make us music;" and behold, at this moment some one knocked at the door, and
+she said, "Go and look who is at the door." So he went down and opened it and
+seeing the Dervishes, said, "Oh, fair welcome to the liars! Come up."
+Accordingly they went up with him and he seated them and brought them the tray
+of food; and they ate and drank and became merry and mirthful, and presently
+said to him, "O my lord, our hearts have been troubled for thee: what hath
+passed between thee and thy father-in-law?" He answered, "Allah compensated us
+beyond and above our desire." Rejoined they, "By Allah, we were in fear for
+thee".—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and and Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Dervishes thus
+addressed Ala al-Din, "By Allah, we were in fear for thee and naught kept us
+from thee but our lack of cash and coin." Quoth he, "Speedy relief hath come to
+me from my Lord; for my father hath sent me fifty thousand dinars and fifty
+loads of stuffs, each load worth a thousand dinars; besides a riding-mule, a
+robe of sables, an Abyssinian slave and a basin and ewer of gold. Moreover, I
+have made my peace with my father-in-law and my wife hath become my lawful wife
+by my paying her settlement; so laud to Allah for that!" Presently the Caliph
+rose to do a necessity; whereupon Ja'afar bent him towards Ala al-Din and said,
+"Look to thy manners, for thou art in the presence of the Commander of the
+Faithful " Asked he, "How have I failed in good breeding before the Commander
+of the Faithful, and which of you is he?" Quoth Ja'afar, "He who went out but
+now to make water is the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and I am
+the Wazir Ja'afar; and this is Masrur the executioner and this other is Abu
+Nowas Hasan bin Hani.. And now, O Ala al-Din, use thy reason and bethink thee
+how many days' journey it is between Cairo and Baghdad." He replied, "Five and
+forty days' journey;" and Ja'afar rejoined, "Thy baggage was stolen only ten
+days ago; so how could the news have reached thy father, and how could he pack
+thee up other goods and send them to thee five-and-forty days' journey in ten
+days' time?" Quoth Ala al-Din, "O my lord and whence then came they?" "From the
+Commander of the Faithful," replied Ja'afar, "of his great affection for thee."
+As they were speaking, lo! the Caliph entered and Ala al-Din rising, kissed the
+ground before him and said, "Allah keep thee, O Prince of the Faithful, and
+give thee long life; and may the lieges never lack thy bounty and beneficence!"
+Replied the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, let Zubaydah play us an air, by way of
+house-warming[FN#76] for thy deliverance." Thereupon she played him on the lute
+so rare a melody that the very stones shook for glee, and the strings cried out
+for present ecstasy, "O Loving One!" They spent the night after the merriest
+fashion, and in the morning the Caliph said to Ala al-Din, "Come to the Divan
+to-morrow." He answered, "Hearkening and obedience, O Commander of the
+Faithful; so Allah will and thou be well and in good case!" On the morrow he
+took ten trays and, putting on each a costly present, went up with them to the
+palace; and the Caliph was sitting on the throne when, behold, Ala al-Din
+appeared at the door of the Divan, repeating these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Honour and Glory wait on thee each morn! * Thine enviers' noses<br/>
+
+     in the dust be set!<br/>
+
+Ne'er cease thy days to be as white as snow; * Thy foeman's days<br/>
+
+     to be as black as jet!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Welcome, O Ala Al-Din!" said the Caliph, and he replied, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, the Prophet (whom Allah bless and assain!)[FN#77] was wont to accept
+presents; and these ten trays, with what is on them, are my offering to thee."
+The Caliph accepted his gift and, ordering him a robe of honour, made him
+Provost of the merchants and gave him a seat in the Divan. And as he was
+sitting behold, his father-in-law came in and, seeing Ala al-Din seated in his
+place and clad in a robe of honour, said to the Caliph, "O King of the age, why
+is this man sitting in my place and wearing this robe of honour?" Quoth the
+Caliph, "I have made him Provost of the merchants, for offices are by
+investiture and not in perpetuity, and thou art deposed." Answered the
+merchant, "Thou hast done well, O Commander of the Faithful, for he is ours and
+one of us. Allah make the best of us the managers of our affairs! How many a
+little one hath become great!" Then the Caliph wrote Ala al-Din a Firman[FN#78]
+of investiture and gave it to the Governor who gave it to the crier,[FN#79] and
+the crier made proclamation in the Divan saying, "None is Provost of the
+merchants but Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and his word is to be heard, and he
+must be obeyed with due respect paid, and he meriteth homage and honour and
+high degree!" Moreover, when the Divan broke up, the Governor went down with
+the crier before Ala Al-Din!" and the crier repeated the proclamation and they
+carried Ala al-Din through the thoroughfares of Baghdad, making proclamation of
+his dignity. Next day, Ala al-Din opened a shop for his slave Salim and set him
+therein, to buy and sell, whilst he himself rode to the palace and took his
+place in the Caliph's Divan.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din rode to the
+palace and took his place in the Caliph's Divan. Now it came to pass one day,
+when he sat in his stead as was his wont, behold, one said to the Caliph, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, may thy head survive such an one the cup-companion!;
+for he is gone to the mercy of Almighty Allah, but be thy life
+prolonged!"[FN#80] Quoth the Caliph, "Where is Ala al-Din Abu al-al-Shamat?" So
+he went up to the Commander of the Faithful, who at once clad him in a splendid
+dress of honour and made him his boon-companion; appointing him a monthly pay
+and allowance of a thousand dinars. He continued to keep him company till, one
+day, as he sat in the Divan, according to his custom attending upon the Caliph,
+lo and behold! an Emir came up with sword and shield in hand and said, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, may thy head long outlive the Head of the Sixty, for
+he is dead this day;" whereupon the Caliph ordered Ala al-Din a dress of honour
+and made him Chief of the Sixty, in place of the other who had neither wife nor
+son nor daughter. So Ala al-Din laid hands on his estate and the Caliph said to
+him, "Bury him in the earth and take all he hath left of wealth and slaves and
+handmaids."[FN#81] Then he shook the handkerchief[FN#82] and dismissed the
+Divan, whereupon Ala al-Din went forth, attended by Ahmad al-Danaf, captain of
+the right, and Hasan Shъmбn, captain of the left, riding at his either stirrup,
+each with his forty men.[FN#83] Presently, he turned to Hasan Shuman and his
+men and said to them, "Plead ye for me with the Captain Ahmad al-Danaf that he
+please to accept me as his son by covenant before Allah." And Ahmad assented,
+saying, "I and my forty men will go before thee to the Divan every morning."
+Now after this Ala al-Din continued in the Caliph's service many days; till one
+day it chanced that he left the Divan and returning home, dismissed Ahmad
+al-Danaf and his men and sat down with his wife Zubaydab, the lute-player, who
+lighted the wax candles and went out of the room upon an occasion. Suddenly he
+heard a loud shriek; so he rose up and running in haste to see what was the
+matter, found that it was his wife who had cried out. She was lying at full
+length on the ground and, when he put his hand to her breast, he found her
+dead. Now her father's house faced that of Ala al-Din, and he, hearing the
+shriek, came in and said, "What is the matter, O my lord Ala al-Din?" He
+replied, "O my father, may thy head outlive thy daughter Zubaydah! But, O my
+father, honour to the dead is burying them." So when the morning dawned, they
+buried her in the earth and her husband and father condoled with and mutually
+consoled each other. Thus far concerning her; but as regards Ala al-Din he
+donned mourning dress and declined the Divan, abiding tearful-eyed and
+heavy-hearted at home. After a while, the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O Watir,
+what is the cause of Ala al-Din's absence from the Divan?" The Minister
+answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, he is in mourning for his wife
+Zubaydah; and is occupied in receiving those who come to console him;" and the
+Caliph said, "It behoveth us to pay him a visit of condolence." "I hear and I
+obey," replied Ja'afar. So they took horse, the Caliph and the Minister and a
+few attendants, and rode to Ala al-Din's house and, as he was sitting at home,
+behold, the party came in upon him; whereupon he rose to receive them and
+kissed the ground before the Caliph, who said to him, "Allah make good thy loss
+to thee!" Answered Ala Al-Din, "May Allah preserve thee to us, O Commander of
+the Faithful!" Then said the Caliph, "O Ala al-Din, why hast thou absented
+thyself from the Divan?" And he replied, "Because of my mourning for my wife,
+Zubaydah, O Commander of the Faithful." The Caliph rejoined, "Put away grief
+from thee: verily she is dead and gone to the mercy of Almighty Allah and
+mourning will avail thee nothing; no, nothing." But Ala al-Din said "O
+Commander of the Faithful, I shall never leave mourning for her till I die and
+they bury me by her side." Quoth the Caliph, "In Allah is compensation for
+every decease, and neither device nor riches can deliver from death; and
+divinely gifted was he who said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the<br/>
+
+     bulging bier some day.[FN#84]<br/>
+
+How then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks<br/>
+
+     shall rest the dust and clay?'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged him not to
+absent himself from the Divan and returned to his palace. And Ala Al-Din, after
+a last sorrowful night, mounted early in the morning and, riding to the court,
+kissed the ground before the Commander of the Faithful who made a movement if
+rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet and welcome him; and bade him take his
+appointed place in the Divan, saying, "O Ala al-Din, thou art my guest
+to-night." So presently he carried him into his serraglio and calling a
+slave-girl named KÑŠt al-KulÑŠb, said to her, "Ala al-Din had a wife called
+Zubaydah, who used to sing to him and solace him of cark and care; but she is
+gone to the mercy of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air
+upon the lute,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph said to the
+damsel Kut al-Kulub, "I would have thee play him upon the lute an air, of
+fashion sweet and rare, that he may be solaced of his cark and care." So she
+rose and made sweet music; and the Caliph said to Ala al-Din, "What sayst thou
+of this damsel's voice?" He replied, "Verily, O Commander of the Faithful,
+Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is skilled in touching the lute
+cunningly and her playing would make a rock dance with glee." The Caliph asked,
+"Doth she please thee?'' and he answered, "She doth, O Commander of the
+Faithful;" whereupon the King said, "By the life of my head and the tombs of my
+forefathers, she is a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting- women!" Ala
+al-Din fancied that the Caliph was jesting with him; but, on the morrow, the
+King went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to her, "I have given thee to Ala Al-Din,
+whereat she rejoiced, for she had seen and loved him. Then the Caliph returned
+from his serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling porters, said to them,
+"Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her waiting-women in a litter, and carry
+them to Ala al-Din's home." So they conducted her to the house and showed her
+into the pavilion, whilst the Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose
+of day, when the Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;
+but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in Ala al-Din's
+mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides the eunuchry, she called two
+of these caponised slaves and said to them, "Sit ye on stools, one on the right
+and another on the left hand of the door; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home,
+both of you kiss his hands and say to him, "Our mistress Kut al-Kulub
+requesteth thy presence in the pavilion, for the Caliph hath given her to thee,
+her and her women." They answered, "We hear and obey;" and did as she bade
+them. So, when Ala al-Din returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs
+sitting at the door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, "Surely,
+this is not my own house; or else what can have happened?" Now when the eunuchs
+saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his hands, said to him, "We are of the
+Caliph's household and slaves to Kut al-Kulub, who saluteth thee, giving thee
+to know that the Caliph hath bestowed her on thee, her and her women, and
+requesteth thy presence." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Say ye to her, 'Thou art welcome;
+but so long as thou shalt abide with me, I will not enter the pavilion wherein
+thou art, for what was the master's should not become the man's;' and
+furthermore ask her, 'What was the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's
+palace?'" So they went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, "An
+hundred dinars a day;" whereupon quoth he to himself, "There was no need for
+the Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be put to such expense for
+her; but there is no help for it." So she abode with him awhile and he assigned
+her daily an hundred dinars for her maintenance; till, one day, he absented
+himself from the Divan and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O Watir, I gave not Kut
+al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that she might console him for his wife; why,
+then, doth he still hold aloof from us?" Answered Ja'afar, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, he spake sooth who said, 'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his
+friends.'" Rejoined the Caliph, "Haply he hath not absented himself without
+excuse, but we will pay him a visit." Now some days before this, Ala al-Din had
+said to Ja'afar, "I complained to the Caliph of my grief and mourning for the
+loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut al-Kulub;" and the Minister
+replied, "Except he loved thee, he had not given her to thee. Say hast thou
+gone in unto her, O Ala al-Din?" He rejoined, "No, by Allah! I know not her
+length from her breadth." He asked "And why?" and he answered, "O Wazir, what
+befitteth the lord befitteth not the liege." Then the Caliph and Ja'afar
+disguised themselves and went privily to visit Ala al-Din; but he knew them and
+rising to them kissed the hands of the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs
+of sorrow in his face. So he said to him, "O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow
+wherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?" He replied, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord befitteth not the thrall.
+No, as yet I have not gone in to visit her nor do I know her length from her
+breadth; so pray quit me of her." Quoth the Caliph, "I would fain see her and
+question her of her case;" and quoth Ala al-Din, "I hear and I obey, O
+Commander of the Faithful." So the Caliph went in,—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph went in to Kut
+al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and kissed the ground between his
+hands; when he said to her, "Hath Ala al-Din gone in unto thee?" and she
+answered, "No, O Commander of the Faithful, I sent to bid him come, but he
+would not." So the Caliph bade carry her back to the Harim and saying to Ala
+Al-Din, "Do not absent thyself from us," returned to his palace. Accordingly,
+next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted and rode to the Divan, where he took his seat
+as Chief of the Sixty. Presently the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the
+Wazir Ja'afar ten thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, "I charge
+thee to go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy Ala Al-Din, a
+slave-girl with this sum." So in obedience to the King, Ja'afar took Ala al-Din
+and went down with him to the bazar. Now as chance would have it, that very
+day, the Emir Khбlid, whom the Caliph had made Governor of Baghdad, went down
+to the market to buy a slave-girl for his son and the cause of his going was
+that his wife, Khбtъn by name, had borne him a son called Habzalam
+Bazбzah,[FN#86] and the same was foul of favour and had reached the age of
+twenty, without learning to mount horse; albeit his father was brave and bold,
+a doughty rider ready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it
+happened that on a certain night he had a dream which caused
+nocturnal-pollution whereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and said to his
+father, "I want to find him a wife, as he is now ripe for wedlock." Quoth
+Khбlid, "The fellow is so foul of favour and withal-so rank of odour, so sordid
+and beastly that no woman would take him as a gift." And she answered, "We will
+buy him a slave-girl." So it befell, for the accomplishing of what Allah
+Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala al-Din, the
+Governor Khбlid and his son went down to the market and behold, they saw in the
+hands of a broker a beautiful girl, lovely faced and of perfect shape, and the
+Wazir said to him, "O broker, ask her owner if he will take a thousand dinars
+for her." And as the broker passed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam
+Bazazah cast at her one glance of the eyes which entailed for himself one
+thousand sighs; and he fell in love with her and passion got hold of him and he
+said, "O my father, buy me yonder slave-girl." So the Emir called the broker,
+who brought the girl to him, and asked her her name. She replied, "My name is
+Jessamine;" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, "O my son, as she please thee, do
+thou bid higher for her." Then he asked the broker, "What hath been bidden for
+her?" and he replied, "A thousand dinars." Said the Governor's son, "She is
+mine for a thousand pieces of gold and one more;" and the broker passed on to
+Ala al-Din who bid two thousand dinars for her; and as often as the Emir's son
+bid another dinar, Ala al-Din bid a thousand. The ugly youth was vexed at this
+and said, "O broker! who is it that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?" Answered
+the broker, "It is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala al-Din
+Abu al-Shamat." And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her price up to ten
+thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell her for that sum. Then he
+took the girl and said to her, "I give thee thy freedom for the love of
+Almighty Allah;" and forthwith wrote his contract of marriage with her and
+carried her to his house. Now when the broker returned, after having received
+his brokerage, the Emir's son summoned him and said to him, "Where is the
+girl?" Quoth he, "She was bought for ten thousand dinars by Ala al-Din, who
+hath set her free and married her." At this the young man was greatly vexed and
+cast down and, sighing many a sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel;
+and he threw himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing were
+sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she said to him,
+"Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?" And he answered, "Buy me
+Jessamine, O my mother." Quoth she, "When the flower-seller passeth I will buy
+thee a basketful of jessamine." Quoth he, "It is not the jessamine one smells,
+but a slave-girl named Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me." So she
+said to her husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not buy him the girl?" and
+he replied, "What is fit for the lord is not fit for the liege and I have no
+power to take her: no less a man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief of the
+Sixty." Then the youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he gave up sleeping
+and eating, and his mother bound her head with the fillets of mourning. And
+while in her sadness she sat at home, lamenting over her son, behold, came in
+to her an old woman, known as the mother of Ahmad Kamбkim[FN#88] the
+arch-thief, a knave who would bore through a middle wall and scale the tallest
+of the tall and steal the very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest
+years he had been given to these malpractices, till they made him Captain of
+the Watch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief of Police, coming upon
+him in the act, carried him to the Caliph, who bade put him to death on the
+common execution-ground.[FN#90] But he implored protection of the Wazir whose
+intercession the Caliph never rejected, so he pleaded for him with the
+Commander of the Faithful who said, "How canst thou intercede for this pest of
+the human race?" Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, do thou
+imprison him; whoso built the first jail was a sage, seeing that a jail is the
+grave of the living and a joy for the foe." So the Caliph bade lay him in
+bilboes and write thereon, "Appointed to remain here until death and not to be
+loosed but on the corpse washer's bench;" and they cast him fettered into
+limbo. Now his mother was a frequent visitor to the house of the Emir Khбlid,
+who was Governor and Chief of Police; and she used to go in to her son in jail
+and say to him, "Did I not warn thee to turn from thy wicked ways?''[FN#91] And
+he would always answer her, "Allah decreed this to me; but, O my mother, when
+thou visitest the Emir's wife make her intercede for me with her husband." So
+when the old woman came into the Lady Khatun, she found her bound with the
+fillets of mourning and said to her, "Wherefore dost thou mourn?" She replied,
+"For my son Habzalam Bazazah;" and the old woman exclaimed, "Heaven assain thy
+son!; what hath befallen him?" So the mother told her the whole story, and she
+said, "What thou say of him who should achieve such a feat as would save thy
+son?" Asked the lady, "And what feat wilt thou do?" Quoth the old woman, "I
+have a son called Ahmad Kamakim, the arch-thief, who lieth chained in jail and
+on his bilboes is written, 'Appointed to remain till death'; so do thou don thy
+richest clothes and trick thee out with thy finest jewels and present thyself
+to thy husband with an open face and smiling mien; and when he seeketh of thee
+what men seek of women, put him off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By
+Allah, 'tis a strange thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth
+her till she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he will not
+grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?'; and do thou answer,
+'First swear to grant my request.' If he swear to thee by his head or by Allah,
+say to him, 'Swear to me the oath of divorce', and do not yield to him, except
+he do this. And whenas he hath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him,
+'Thou keepest in prison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a poor old
+mother, who hath set upon me and who urgeth me in the matter and who saith,
+'Let thy husband intercede for him with the Caliph, that my son may repent and
+thou gain heavenly guerdon.'" And the Lady Khatun replied, "I hear and obey."
+So when her husband came into her—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Governor came in to
+his wife, who spoke to him as she had been taught and made him swear the
+divorce-oath before she would yield to his wishes. He lay with her that night
+and, when morning dawned, after he had made the Ghusl-ablution and prayed the
+dawn- prayer, he repaired to the prison and said, "O Ahmad Kamakim, O thou
+arch-thief, dost thou repent of thy works?"; whereto he replied, "I do indeed
+repent and turn to Allah and say with heart and tongue, 'I ask pardon of
+Allah.'" So the Governor took him out of jail and carried him to the Court (he
+being still in bilboes) and, approaching the Caliph, kissed ground before him.
+Quoth the King, "O Emir Khбlid, what seekest thou?"; whereupon he brought
+forward Ahmad Kamakim, shuffling and tripping in his fetters, and the Caliph
+said to him, "What! art thou yet alive, O Kamakim?" He replied, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, the miserable are long-lived." Quoth the Caliph to the Emir, "Why
+hast thou brought him hither?"; and quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful, he
+hath a poor old mother cut off from the world who hath none but this son and
+she hath had recourse to thy slave, imploring him to intercede with thee to
+strike off his chains, for he repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him
+Captain of the Watch as before." The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, "Doss thou
+repent of thy sins?" "I do indeed repent me to Allah, O Commander of the
+Faithful," answered he; whereupon the Caliph called for the blacksmith and made
+him strike off his irons on the corpse- washer's bench.[FN#92] Moreover, he
+restored him to his former office and charged him to walk in the ways of
+godliness and righteousness. So he kissed the Caliph's hands and, being
+invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch, he went forth, whilst they
+made proclamation of his appointment. Now for a long time he abode in the
+exercise of his office, till one day his mother went in to the Governor's wife,
+who said to her, "Praised be Allah who hath delivered thy son from prison and
+restored him to health and safety! But why dost thou not bid him contrive some
+trick to get the girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah?" "That will I,"
+answered she and, going out from her, repaired to her son. She found him drunk
+with wine and said to him, "O my son, no one caused thy release from jail but
+the wife of the Governor, and she would have thee find some means to slay Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl Jessamine for her son Habzalam
+Bazazah." He answered, "That will be the easiest of things; and I must needs
+set about it this very night." Now this was the first night of the new month,
+and it was the custom of the Caliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah,
+for the setting free of a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the sort.
+Moreover, on such occasions he used to doff his royal-habit, together with his
+rosary and dagger-sword and royal-signet, and set them all upon a chair in the
+sitting- saloon: and he had also a golden lanthorn, adorned with three jewels
+strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great store; and he would commit all
+these things to the charge of the eunuchry, whilst he went into the Lady
+Zubaydah's apartment. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakin waited till midnight, when
+Canopus shone bright, and all creatures to sleep were dight whilst the Creator
+veiled them with the veil of night. Then he took his drawn sword in his right
+and his grappling hook in his left and, repairing to the Caliph's
+sitting-saloon planted his scaling ladder and cast his grapnel on to the side
+of the terrace-roof; then, raising the trap-door, let himself down into the
+saloon, where he found the eunuchs asleep. He drugged them with
+hemp-fumes;[FN#93] and, taking the Caliph's dress; dagger, rosary, kerchief,
+signet-ring and the lanthorn whereupon were the pearls, returned whence he came
+and betook himself to the house of Ala al-Din, who had that night celebrated
+his wedding festivities with Jessamine and had gone in unto her and gotten her
+with child. So arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim climbed over into his saloon and,
+raising one of the marble slabs from the sunken part of the floor,[FN#94] dug a
+hole under it and laid the stolen things therein, all save the lanthorn, which
+he kept for himself. Then he plastered down the marble slab as it before was,
+and returning whence he came, went back to his own house, saying, "I will now
+tackle my drink and set this lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its
+light."[FN#95] Now as soon as it was dawn of day, the Caliph went out into the
+sitting-chamber; and, seeing the eunuchs drugged with hemp, aroused them. Then
+he put his hand to the chair and found neither dress nor signet nor rosary nor
+dagger-sword nor kerchief nor lanthorn; whereat he was exceeding wroth and
+donning the dress of anger, which was a scarlet suit,[FN#96] sat down in the
+Divan. So the Wazir Ja'afar came forward and kissing the ground before him,
+said, "Allah avert all evil from the Commander of the Faithful!" Answered the
+Caliph, "O Wazir, the evil is passing great!" Ja'afar asked, "What has
+happened?" so he told him what had occurred; and, behold, the Chief of Police
+appeared with Ahmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup, when he found the
+Commander of the Faithful sore enraged. As soon as the Caliph saw him, he said
+to him, "O Emir Khбlid, how goes Baghdad?" And he answered, "Safe and secure."
+Cried he "Thou liest!" "How so, O Prince of True Believers?" asked the Emir. So
+he told him the case and added, "I charge thee to bring me back all the stolen
+things." Replied the Emir, "O Commander of the Faithful, the vinegar worm is of
+and in the vinegar, and no stranger can get at this place."[FN#97] But the
+Caliph said, "Except thou bring me these things, I will put thee to death."
+Quoth he, "Ere thou slay me, slay Ahmad Kamakim, for none should know the
+robber and the traitor but the Captain of the Watch." Then came forward Ahmad
+Kamakim and said to the Caliph, "Accept my intercession for the Chief of
+Police, and I will be responsible to thee for the thief and will track his
+trail till I find him; but give me two Kazis and two Assessors for he who did
+this thing feareth thee not, nor cloth he fear the Governor nor any other."
+Answered the Caliph, "Thou shalt have what thou wantest; but let search be made
+first in my palace and then in those of the Wazir and the Chief of the Sixty."
+Rejoined Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou sayest well, O Commander of the Faith ful; belike
+the man that did this ill deed be one who hath been reared in the King's
+household or in that of one of his officers." Cried the Caliph, "As my head
+liveth, whosoever shall have done the deed I will assuredly put him to death,
+be it mine own son!" Then Ahmad Kamakim received a written warrant to enter and
+perforce search the houses;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ahmad Kamakim got what he
+wanted, and received a written warrant to enter and perforce search the houses;
+so he fared forth, taking in his hand a rod[FN#98] made of bronze and copper,
+iron and steel, of each three equal-parts. He first searched the palace of the
+Caliph, then that of the Wazir Ja'afar; after which he went the round of the
+houses of the Chamberlains and the Viceroys till he came to that of Ala al-Din.
+Now when the Chief of the Sixty heard the clamour before his house, he left his
+wife Jessamine and went down and, opening the door, found the Master of Police
+without in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. So he said, "What is the matter, O
+Emir Khбlid?" Thereupon the Chief told him the case and Ala al-Din said, "Enter
+my house and search it." The Governor replied, "Pardon, O my lord; thou art a
+man in whom trust is reposed and Allah forfend that the trusty turn traitor!"
+Quoth Ala al-Din, "There is no help for it but that my house be searched." So
+the Chief of Police entered, attended by the Kazi and his Assessors; whereupon
+Ahmad Kamakim went straight to the depressed floor of the saloon and came to
+the slab, under which he had buried the stolen goods and let the rod fall upon
+it with such violence that the marble broke in sunder and behold something
+glittered underneath. Then said he, "Bismillah; in the name of Allah!
+Mashallah; whatso Allah willeth! By the blessing of our coming a hoard hath
+been hit upon, wait while we go down into this hiding-place and see what is
+therein." So the Kazi and Assessors looked into the hole and finding there the
+stolen goods, drew up a statement[FN#99] of how they had discovered them in Ala
+al-Din's house, to which they set their seals. Then, they bade seize upon Ala
+al-Din and took his turban from his head, and officially registered all his
+monies and effects which were in the mansion. Meanwhile, arch-thief Ahmad
+Kamakim laid hands on Jessamine, who was with child by Ala al-Din, and
+committed her to his mother, saying, "Deliver her to Khatun, the Governor's
+lady:" so the old woman took her and carried her to the wife of the Master of
+Police. Now as soon as Habzalam Bazazah saw her, health and heart returned to
+him and he arose without stay or delay and joyed with exceeding joy and would
+have drawn near her; but she plucks a dagger from her girdle and said, "Keep
+off from me, or I will kill thee and kill myself after." Exclaimed his mother,
+"O strumpet, let my son have his will of thee!" But Jessamine answered "O
+bitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry two men; and how shall the
+dog be admitted to the place of the lion?" With this, the ugly youth's
+love-longing redoubled and he sickened for yearning and unfulfilled desire; and
+refusing food returned to his pillow. Then said his mother to her, "O harlot,
+how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for my son? Needs must I punish thee with
+torture, and as for Ala al-Din, he will assuredly be hanged." "And I will die
+for love of him," answered Jessamine. Then the Governor's wife arose and
+stripped her of her jewels and silken raiment and, clothing her in
+petticoat-trousers of sack-cloth and a shift of hair-cloth, sent her down into
+the kitchen and made her a scullery-wench, saying, "The reward for thy
+constancy shall be to break up fire-wood and peel onions and set fire under the
+cooking-pots." Quoth she, "I am willing to suffer all manner of hardships and
+servitude, but I will not suffer the sight of thy son." However, Allah inclined
+the hearts of the slave-girls to her and they used to do her service in the
+kitchen. Such was the case with Jessamine; but as regards Ala al-Din they
+carried him, together with the stolen goods, to the Divan where the Caliph
+still sat upon his throne. And behold, the King looked upon his effects and
+said, "Where did ye find them?" They replied, "In the very middle of the house
+belonging to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat;" whereat the Caliph was filled with
+wrath and took the things, but found not the lanthorn among them and said, "O
+Ala al-Din, where is the lanthorn?" He answered "I stole it not, I know naught
+of it; I never saw it; I can give no information about it!" Said the Caliph, "O
+traitor, how cometh it that I brought thee near unto me and thou hast cast me
+out afar, and I trusted in thee and thou betrayest me?" And he commanded to
+hang him. So the Chief of Police took him and went down with him into the city,
+whilst the crier preceded them proclaiming aloud and saying, "This is the
+reward and the least of the reward he shall receive who doth treason against
+the Caliphs of True Belief!" And the folk flocked to the place where the
+gallows stood. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Ahmad al-Danaf, Ala
+al-Din's adopted father, he was sitting making merry with his followers in a
+garden, and carousing and pleasuring when lo! in came one of the water-carriers
+of the Divan and, kissing the hand of Ahmad al-Danaf, said to him, "O Captain
+Ahmad, O Danaf! thou sittest at thine ease with water flowing at thy
+feet,[FN#100] and thou knowest not what hath happened." Asked Ahmad, "What is
+it?" and the other answered, "They have gone down to the gallows with thy son
+Ala al-Din, adopted by a covenant before Allah!" Quoth Ahmad, "What is the
+remedy here, O Hasan Shuuman, and what sayst thou of this?" He replied,
+"Assuredly Ala al-Din is innocent and this blame hath come to him from some one
+enemy."[FN#101] Quoth Ahmad, "What counsellest thou?" and Hasan said, "We must
+rescue him, Inshallah!" Then he went to the jail and said to the gaolor, "Give
+us some one who deserveth death." So he gave him one that was likest of men to
+Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; and they covered his head and carried him to the
+place of execution between Ahmad al-Danaf and Ali al-Zaybak of Cairo.[FN#102]
+Now they had brought Ala al-Din to the gibbet, to hang him, but Ahmad al-Danaf
+came forward and set his foot on that of the hangman, who said, "Give me room
+to do my duty." He replied, "O accursed, take this man and hang him in Ala
+al-Din's stead; for he is innocent and we will ransom him with this fellow,
+even as Abraham ransomed Ishmael with the ram."[FN#103] So the hangman seized
+the man and hanged him in lieu of Ala al-Din; whereupon Ahmad and Ali took Ala
+al-Din and carried him to Ahmad's quarters and, when there, Ala al-Din turned
+to him and said, "O my sire and chief, Allah requite thee with the best of
+good!" Quoth he, "O Ala al-Din"— And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Calamity Ahmad cried, "O
+Ala al-Din, what is this deed thou hast done? The mercy of Allah be on him who
+said, 'Whoso trusteth thee betray him not, e'en if thou be a traitor.' Now the
+Caliph set thee in high place about him and styled thee 'Trusty' and
+'Faithful'; how then couldst thou deal thus with him and steal his goods?" "By
+the Most Great Name, O my father and chief," replied Ala al-Din, "I had no hand
+in this, nor did I such deed, nor know I who did it." Quoth Ahmad, "Of a surety
+none did this but a manifest enemy and whoso doth aught shall be requited for
+his deed; but, O Ala al-Din, thou canst sojourn no longer in Baghdad, for
+Kings, O my son, may not pass from one thing to another, and when they go in
+quest of a man, ah! longsome is his travail." "Whither shall I go, O my chief?"
+asked Ala al-Din; and he answered, "O my son, I will bring thee to Alexandria,
+for it is a blessed place; its threshold is green and its sojourn is
+agreeable." And Ala al-Din rejoined, "I hear and I obey, O my chief." So Ahmad
+said to Hasan Shuuman, "Be mindful and, when the Caliph asketh for me, say, 'He
+is gone touring about the provinces'." Then, taking Ala al-Din, he went forth
+of Baghdad and stayed not going till they came to the outlying vineyards and
+gardens, where they met two Jews of the Caliph's tax-gatherers, riding on
+mules. Quoth Ahmad Al-Danaf to these, "Give me the black-mail."[FN#104] and
+quoth they, "Why should we pay thee black mail?" whereto he replied, "Because I
+am the watchman of this valley." So they gave him each an hundred gold pieces,
+after which he slew them and took their mules, one of which he mounted, whilst
+Ala al-Din bestrode the other. Then they rode on till they came to the city of
+Ayбs[FN#105] and put up their beasts for the night at the Khan. And when
+morning dawned, Ala al-Din sold his own mule and committed that of Ahmad to the
+charge of the door-keeper of the caravanserai, after which they took ship from
+Ayas port and sailed to Alexandria. Here they landed and walked up to the bazar
+and behold, there was a broker crying a shop and a chamber behind it for nine
+hundred and fifty dinars. Upon this Ala al-Din bid a thousand which the broker
+accepted, for the premises belonged to the Treasury; and the seller handed over
+to him the keys and the buyer opened the shop and found the inner parlour
+furnished with carpets and cushions. Moreover, he found there a store-room full
+of sails and masts, cordage and seamen's chests, bags of beads and
+cowrie[FN#106]- shells, stirrups, battle-axes, maces, knives, scissors and such
+matters, for the last owner of the shop had been a dealer in second-hand
+goods.[FN#107]ook his seat in the shop and Ahmad al-Danaf said to him, "O my
+son, the shop and the room and that which is therein are become thine; so tarry
+thou here and buy and sell; and repine not at thy lot for Almighty Allah
+blesseth trade." After this he abode with him three days and on the fourth he
+took leave of him, saying, "Abide here till I go back and bring thee the
+Caliph's pardon and learn who hath played thee this trick." Then he shipped for
+Ayas, where he took the mule from the inn and, returning to Baghdad met
+Pestilence Hasan and his followers, to whom said he, "Hath the Caliph asked
+after me?"; and he replied, "No, nor hast thou come to his thought." So he
+resumed his service about the Caliph's person and set himself to sniff about
+for news of Ala al-Din's case, till one day he heard the Caliph say to the
+Watir, "See, O Ja'afar, how Ala al-Din dealt with me!" Replied the Minister, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, thou hast requited him with hanging and hath he not
+met with his reward?" Quoth he, "O Wazir, I have a mind to go down and see him
+hanging;" and the Wazir answered, "Do what thou wilt, O Commander of the
+Faithful." So the Caliph, accompanied by Ja'afar, went down to the place of
+execution and, raising his eyes, saw the hanged man to be other than Ala al-Din
+Abu al-Shamat, surnamed the Trusty, and said, "O Wazir, this is not Ala
+al-Din!" "How knowest thou that it is not he?" asked the Minister, and the
+Caliph answered, "Ala al-Din was short and this one is tall " Quoth Ja'afar,
+"Hanging stretcheth." Quoth the Caliph, "Ala al-Din was fair and this one's
+face is black." Said Ja'afar "Knowest thou not, O Commander of the Faithful,
+that death is followed by blackness?" Then the Caliph bade take down the body
+from the gallows tree and they found the names of the two Shaykhs, Abu Bakr and
+Omar, written on its heels[FN#108] whereupon cried the Caliph, "O Wazir, Ala al
+Din was a Sunnite, and this fellow is a Rejecter, a Shi'ah." He answered,
+"Glory be to Allah who knoweth the hidden things, while we know not whether
+this was Ala al-Din or other than he." Then the Caliph bade bury the body and
+they buried it; and Ala al-Din was forgotten as though he never had been. Such
+was his case; but as regards Habzalam Bazazah, the Emir Khбlid's son, he ceased
+not to languish for love and longing till he died and they joined him to the
+dust. And as for the young wife Jessamine, she accomplished the months of her
+pregnancy and, being taken with labour-pains, gave birth to a boy-child like
+unto the moon. And when her fellow slave-girls said to her, "What wilt thou
+name him?" she answered, "Were his father well he had named him; but now I will
+name him Aslбn."[FN#109] She gave him suck for two successive years, then
+weaned him, and he crawled and walked. Now it so came to pass that one day,
+whilst his mother was busied with the service of the kitchen, the boy went out
+and, seeing the stairs, mounted to the guest-chamber.[FN#110] And the Emir
+Khбlid who was sitting there took him upon his lap and glorified his Lord for
+that which he had created and fashioned then closely eyeing his face, the
+Governor saw that he was the likest of all creatures to Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat. Presently, his mother Jessamine sought for him and finding him not,
+mounted to the guest-chamber, where she saw the Emir seated, with the child
+playing in his lap, for Allah had inclined his heart to the boy. And when the
+child espied his mother, he would have thrown himself upon her; but the Emir
+held him tight to his bosom and said to Jessamine, "Come hither, O damsel." So
+she came to him, when he said to her, "Whose son is this?"; and she replied,
+"He is my son and the fruit of my vitals." "And who is his father?" asked the
+Emir; and she answered, "His father was Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, but now he is
+become thy son." Quoth Khбlid, "In very sooth Ala al-Din was a traitor." Quoth
+she, "Allah deliver him from treason! the Heavens forfend and forbid that the
+'Trusty' should be a traitor!" Then said he, "When this boy shall grow up and
+reach man's estate and say to thee, 'Who is my father?' say to him, 'Thou art
+the son of the Emir Khбlid, Governor and Chief of Police.'" And she answered,
+"I hear and I obey." Then he circumcised the boy and reared him with the
+goodliest rearing, and engaged for him a professor of law and religious
+science, and an expert penman who taught him to read and write; so he read the
+Koran twice and learnt it by heart and he grew up, saying to the Emir, "O my
+father!" Moreover, the Governor used to go down with him to the tilting-ground
+and assemble horsemen and teach the lad the fashion of fight and fray, and the
+place to plant lance-thrust and sabre-stroke; so that by the time he was
+fourteen years old, he became a valiant wight and accomplished knight and
+gained the rank of Emir. Now it chanced one day that Aslan fell in with Ahmad
+Kamakim, the arch-thief, and accompanied him as cup- companion to the
+tavern[FN#111] and behold, Ahmad took out the jewelled lanthorn he had stolen
+from the Caliph and, setting it before him, pledged the wine cup to its light,
+till he became drunken. So Aslan said to him, "O Captain, give me this
+lanthorn;" but he replied, "I cannot give it to thee." Asked Aslan, "Why not?";
+and Ahmad answered, "Because lives have been lost for it." "Whose life?"
+enquired Aslan; and Ahmad rejoined, "There came hither a man who was made Chief
+of the Sixty; he was named Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat and he lost his life
+through this lanthorn." Quoth Aslan, "And what was that story, and what brought
+about his death?" Quoth Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou hadst an elder brother by name
+Hahzalam Bazazah, and when he reached the age of sixteen and was ripe for
+marriage, thy father would have bought him a slave-girl named Jessamine." And
+he went on to tell him the whole story from first to last of Habzalam Bazazah's
+illness and what befell Ala al-Din in his innocence. When Aslan heard this, he
+said in thought, "Haply this slave-girl was my mother Jessamine, and my father
+was none other than Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat." So the boy went out from him
+sorrowful, and met Calamity Ahmad, who at sight of him exclaimed, "Glory be to
+Him unto whom none is like!" Asked Hasan the Pestilence, "Whereat dost thou
+marvel, O my chief?" and Ahmad the Calamity replied, "At the make of yonder boy
+Aslan, for he is the likest of human creatures to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat."
+Then he called the lad and said to him, "O Aslan what is thy mother's name?";
+to which he replied, "She is called the damsel Jessamine;" and the other said,
+"Harkye, Aslan, be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear; for thy
+father was none other than Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat: but, O my son, go thou in
+to thy mother and question her of thy father." He said, "Hearkening and
+obedience," and, going in to his mother put the question; whereupon quoth she,
+"Thy sire is the Emir Khбlid!" "Not so," rejoined he, "my father was none other
+than Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat." At this the mother wept and said, "Who
+acquainted thee with this, O my son?" And he answered "Ahmad al-Danaf, Captain
+of the Guard." So she told him the whole story, saying, "O my son, the True
+hath prevailed and the False hath failed:[FN#112] know that Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat was indeed thy sire, but it was none save the Emir Khбlid who reared
+thee and adopted thee as his son. And now, O my child, when thou seest Ahmad
+al-Danaf the captain, do thou say to him, 'I conjure thee, by Allah, O my
+chief, take my blood-revenge on the murderer of my father Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat!'" So he went out from his mother,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aslan went out from his
+mother and, betaking himself to Calamity Ahmad, kissed his hand. Quoth the
+captain, "What aileth thee, O Aslan?" and quoth he, "I know now for certain
+that my father was Ali al-Din Abu al-Shamat and I would have thee take my
+blood-revenge on his murderer." He asked, "And who was thy father's murderer?"
+whereto Aslan answered, "Ahmad Kamakim the arch-thief." "Who told thee this?"
+enquired he, and Aslan rejoined, "I saw in his hand the jewelled lanthorn which
+was lost with the rest of the Caliph's gear, and I said to him, 'Give me this
+lanthorn!' but he refused, saying, 'Lives have been lost on account of this';
+and told me it was he who had broken into the palace and stolen the articles
+and deposited them in my father's house." Then said Ahmad al-Danaf, "When thou
+seest the Emir Khбlid don his harness of war, say to him, 'Equip me like
+thyself and take me with thee.' Then do thou go forth and perform some feat of
+prowess before the Commander of the Faithful, and he will say to thee, 'Ask a
+boon of me, O Aslan!' And do thou make answer, 'I ask of thee this boon, that
+thou take my blood-revenge on my father's murderer.' If he say, 'Thy father is
+yet alive and is the Emir Khбlid, the Chief of the Police'; answer thou, 'My
+father was Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, and the Emir Khбlid hath a claim upon me
+only as the foster-father who adopted me.' Then tell him all that passed
+between thee and Ahmad Kamakim and say, 'O Prince of True Believers, order him
+to be searched and I will bring the lanthorn forth from his bosom.'" Thereupon
+said Aslan to him, "I hear and obey;" and, returning to the Emir Khбlid, found
+him making ready to repair to the Caliph's court and said to him, "I would fain
+have thee arm and harness me like thyself and take me with thee to the Divan."
+So he equipped him and carried him thither. Then the Caliph sallied forth of
+Baghdad with his troops and they pitched tents and pavilions without the city;
+whereupon the host divided into two parties and forming ranks fell to playing
+Polo, one striking the ball with the mall, and another striking it back to him.
+Now there was among the troops a spy, who had been hired to slay the Caliph; so
+he took the ball and smiting it with the bat drove it straight at the Caliph's
+face, when behold, Aslan fended it off and catching it drove it back at him who
+smote it, so that it struck him between the shoulders and he fell to the
+ground. The Caliph exclaimed, "Allah bless thee, O Aslan!" and they all
+dismounted and sat on chairs. Then the Caliph bade them bring the smiter of the
+ball before him and said, "Who tempted thee to do this thing and art thou
+friend or foe?" Quoth he, "I am thy foe and it was my purpose to kill thee."
+Asked the Caliph "And wherefore? Art not a Moslem?" Replied the spy; "No' I am
+a Rejecter.''[FN#113] So the Caliph bade them put him to death and said to
+Aslan, "Ask a boon of me." Quoth he, "I ask of thee this boon, that thou take
+my blood-revenge on my father's murderer." He said, "Thy father is alive and
+there he stands on his two feet." "And who is he?" asked Aslan, and the Caliph
+answered, "He is the Emir Khбlid, Chief of Police." Rejoined Aslan, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, he is no father of mine, save by right of fosterage;
+my father was none other than Ala al-Din Abu al Shamat." "Then thy father was a
+traitor," cried the Caliph. "Allah forbid, O Commander of the Faithful,"
+rejoined Aslan, "that the 'Trusty' should be a traitor! But how did he betray
+thee?" Quoth the Caliph, "He stole my habit and what was therewith." Aslan
+retorted, "O Commander of the Faithful, Allah forfend that my father should be
+a traitor! But, O my lord, when thy habit was lost and found didst thou
+likewise recover the lanthorn which was stolen from thee?" Answered the Caliph,
+"We never got it back," and Aslan said, "I saw it in the hands of Ahmad Kamakim
+and begged it of him; but he refused to give it me, saying, 'Lives have been
+lost on account of this.' Then he told me of the sickness of Habzalam Bazazah,
+son of the Emir Khбlid, by reason of his passion for the damsel Jessamine, and
+how he himself was released from bonds and that it was he who stole the habit
+and the lamp: so do thou, O Commander of the Faithful, take my blood-revenge
+for my father on him who murdered him." At once the Caliph cried, "Seize ye
+Ahmad Kamakim!" and they seized him, whereupon he asked, "Where be the Captain,
+Ahmad al-Danaf?" And when he was summoned the Caliph bade him search Kamakim;
+so he put his hand into the thief's bosom and pulled out the lanthorn. Said the
+Caliph, "Come hither, thou traitor: whence hadst thou this lanthorn?" and
+Kamakim replied, "I bought it, O Commander of the Faithful!" The Caliph
+rejoined, "Where didst thou buy it?" Then they beat him till he owned that he
+had stolen the lanthorn, the habit and the rest, and the Caliph said "What
+moved thee to do this thing O traitor, and ruin Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the
+Trusty and Faithful?" Then he bade them lay hands on him and on the Chief of
+Police, but the Chief said, "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I am unjustly
+treated thou badest me hang him, and I had no knowledge of this trick, for the
+plot was contrived between the old woman and Ahmad Kamakim and my wife. I crave
+thine intercession,[FN#114] O Aslan." So Aslan interceded for him with the
+Caliph, who said, "What hath Allah done with this youngster's mother?" Answered
+Khбlid, "She is with me," and the Caliph continued, "I command that thou order
+thy wife to dress her in her own clothes and ornaments and restore her to her
+former degree, a lady of rank; and do thou remove the seals from Ala al-Din's
+house and give his son possession of his estate." "I hear and obey," answered
+Khбlid; and, going forth, gave the order to his wife who clad Jessamine in her
+own apparel; whilst he himself removed the seals from Ala al-Din's house and
+gave Aslan the keys. Then said the Caliph, "Ask a boon of me, O Aslan;" and he
+replied, "I beg of thee the boon to unite me with my father." Whereat the
+Caliph wept and said, "Most like thy sire was he that was hanged and is dead;
+but by the life of my forefathers, whoso bringeth me the glad news that he is
+yet in the bondage of this life, I will give him all he seeketh!" Then came
+forward Ahmad al-Danaf and, kissing the ground between his hands, said, "Grant
+me indemnity, O Commander of the Faithful!" "Thou hast it," answered the
+Caliph; and Calamity Ahmad said, "I give thee the good news that Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful, is alive and well." Quoth the Caliph "What
+is this thou sayest?" Quoth Al-Danaf, "As thy head liveth I say sooth; for I
+ransomed him with another, of those who deserved death; and carried him to
+Alexandria, where I opened for him a shop and set him up as a dealer in second
+hand goods." Then said the Prince of True Believers,—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph ordered
+Calamity Ahmad, saying, "I charge thee fetch him to me;" and the other replied,
+"To hear is to obey;" whereupon the Caliph bade them give him ten thousand gold
+pieces and he fared forth for Alexandria. On this wise it happed with Aslan;
+but as regards his father, Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat, he sold in course of time
+all that was in his shop excepting a few things and amongst them a long bag of
+leather. And happening to shake the bag there fell out a jewel which filled the
+palm of the hand, hanging to a chain of gold and having many facets but
+especially five, whereon were names and talismanic characters, as they were
+ant-tracks. So he rubbed each face; but none answered him[FN#115] and he said
+to himself, "Doubtless it is a piece of variegated onyx;" and then hung it up
+in the shop. And behold, a Consul[FN#116] passed along the street; and, raising
+his eyes, saw the jewel hanging up; so he seated himself over against the shop
+and said to Ala al-Din, "O my lord, is the jewel for sale?" He answered, "All I
+have is for sale." Thereupon the Frank said, "Wilt thou sell me that same for
+eighty thousand dinars?" "Allah open!" replied Ala al-Din. The Frank asked,
+"Wilt thou sell it for an hundred thousand dinars?", and he answered, "I sell
+it to thee for a hundred thousand dinars; pay me down the monies." Quoth the
+Consul, "I cannot carry about such sum as its price, for there be robbers and
+sharpers in Alexandria; but come with me to my ship and I will pay thee the
+price and give thee to boot a bale of Angora wool, a bale of satin, a bale of
+velvet and a bale of broadcloth." So Ala al-Din rose and locked up his shop,
+after giving the jewel to the Frank, and committed the keys to his neighbour,
+saying, "Keep these keys in trust for me, whilst I go with this Consul to his
+ship and return with the price of my jewel. If I be long absent and there come
+to thee Ahmad al-Danaf, the Captain who stablished me in this shop, give him
+the keys and tell him where I am." Then he went with the Consul to his ship and
+no sooner had he boarded it than the Prank set him a stool and, making him sit
+down, said to his men, "Bring the money." So they brought it and he paid him
+the price of the jewel and gave him the four bales he had promised him and one
+over; after which he said to him, "O my lord, honour me by accepting a bite or
+a sup." And Ala al-Din answered, "If thou have any water, give me to drink." So
+the Frank called for sherbets and they brought drink drugged with Bhang, of
+which no sooner had Ala al-Din drunk, than he fell over on his back; whereupon
+they stowed away the chairs and shipped the shoving-poles and made sail. Now
+the wind blew fair for them till it drove them into blue water, and when they
+were beyond sight of land the Kaptбn[FN#117] bade bring Ala al-Din up out of
+the hold and made him smell the counter-drug of Bhang; whereupon he opened his
+eyes and said, "Where am I?" He replied, "Thou art bound and in my power and if
+thou hadst said, Allah open! to an hundred thousand dinars for the jewel, I
+would have bidden thee more." "What art thou?" asked Ala al-Din, and the other
+answered, "I am a sea-captain and mean to carry thee to my sweetheart." Now as
+they were talking, behold, a strip hove in sight carrying forty Moslem
+merchants; so the Frank captain attacked the vessel and made fast to it with
+grappling-irons; then he boarded it with his men and took it and plundered it;
+after which he sailed on with his prize, till he reached the city of Genoa.
+There the Kaptan, who was carrying off Ala al-Din, landed and repaired to a
+palace whose pastern gave upon the sea, and behold, there came down to him a
+damsel in a chin-veil who said, "Hast thou brought the jewel and the owner?" "I
+have brought them both," answered he; and she said, "Then give me the jewel."
+So he gave it to her; and, returning to the port, fired his cannon to announce
+his safe return; whereupon the King of the city, being notified of that
+Kaptan's arrival, came down to receive him and asked him, "How hath been this
+voyage?" He answered, "A right prosperous one, and while voyaging I have made
+prize of a ship with one-and-forty Moslem merchants." Said the King, "Land them
+at the port:" so he landed the merchants in irons and Ala al-Din among the
+rest; and the King and the Kaptan mounted and made the captives walk before
+them till they reached the audience-chamber, when the Franks seated themselves
+and caused the prisoners to pass in parade order, one by one before the King
+who said to the first, "O Moslem, whence comest thou?" He answered, "From
+Alexandria;" whereupon the King said, "O headsman, put him to death." So the
+sworder smote him with the sword and cut off his head: and thus it fared with
+the second and the third, till forty were dead and there remained but Ala
+al-Din, who drank the cup of his comrades' sighs and agony and said to himself,
+"Allah have mercy on thee, O Ala al-Din Thou art a dead man." Then said the
+King to him, "And thou, what countryman art thou?" He answered, "I am of
+Alexandria," and the King said, "O headsman, strike off his head." So the
+sworder raised arm and sword, and was about to strike when behold, an old woman
+of venerable aspect presented herself before the King, who rose to do her
+honour, and said to him, "O King, did I not bid thee remember, when the Captain
+came back with captives, to keep one or two for the convent, to serve in the
+church?" The King replied, "O my mother, would thou hadst come a while earlier!
+But take this one that is left." So she turned to Ala al-Din and said to him,
+"Say, wilt thou serve in the church, or shall I let the King slay thee?" Quoth
+he, "I will serve in the church." So she took him and carried him forth of the
+court and went to the church, where he said to her, "What service must I do?"
+She replied, "Thou must rise with the dawn and take five mules and go with them
+to the forest and there cut dry fire-wood and saw it short and bring it to the
+convent-kitchen. Then must thou take up the carpets and sweep and wipe the
+stone and marble pavements and lay the carpets down again, as they were; after
+which thou must take two bushels and a half of wheat and bolt it and grind it
+and knead it and make it into cracknels[FN#118] for the convent; and thou must
+take also a bushel of lentils[FN#119] and sift and crush and cook them. Then
+must thou fetch water in barrels and fill the four fountains; after which thou
+must take three hundred and threescore and six wooden bowls and crumble the
+cracknels therein and pour of the lentil-pottage over each and carry every monk
+and patriarch his bowl." Said Ala al-Din,[FN#120] "Take me back to the King and
+let him kill me, it were easier to me than this service." Replied the old
+woman, "If thou do truly and rightly the service that is due from thee thou
+shalt escape death; but, if thou do it not, I will let the King kill thee." And
+with these words Ala al-Din was left sitting heavy at heart. Now there were in
+the church ten blind cripples, and one of them said to him, "Bring me a pot."
+So he brought it him and he cacked and eased himself therein and said, "Throw
+away the ordure." He did so, and the blind man said, "The Messiah's blessing be
+upon thee, O servant of the church!" Presently behold, the old woman came in
+and said to him, "Why hast thou not done thy service in the church?" Answered
+he, "How many hands have I, that I should suffice for all this work?" She
+rejoined, 'Thou fool, I brought thee not hither except to work;" and she added,
+"Take, O my son, this rod (which was of copper capped with a cross) and go
+forth into the highway and, when thou meetest the governor of the city, say to
+him, 'I summon thee to the service of the church, in the name of our Lord the
+Messiah.' And he will not disobey thee. Then make him take the wheat, sift,
+grind, bolt, knead, and bake it into cracknels; and if any gainsay thee, beat
+him and fear none." "To hear is to obey," answered he and did as she said, and
+never ceased pressing great and small into his service; nor did he leave to do
+thus for the space of seventeen years. Now one day as he sat in church, lo! the
+old woman came to him and said, "Go forth of the convent." He asked, "Whither
+shall I go?" and she answered, "Thou canst pass the night in a tavern or with
+one of thy comrades." Quoth he, "Why dost thou send me forth of the church?"
+and quote she, "The Princess Husn Maryam, daughter of Yohannб,[FN#121] King of
+this city, purposeth to visit the church and it befitteth not that any abide in
+her way." So he made a show of obeying her orders and rose up and pretended
+that he was leaving the church; but he said in his mind, "I wonder whether the
+Princess is like our women or fairer than they! At any rate I will not go till
+I have had a look at her." So he hid himself in a closet with a window looking
+into the church and, as he watched, behold, in came the King's daughter. He
+cast at her one glance of eyes that cost him a thousand sighs, for he found her
+like the full moon when it cometh swimming out of the clouds; and he saw with
+her a young lady,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ala al-Din looked at
+the King's daughter, he saw with her a young lady to whom he heard her say,
+"Thy company hath cheered me, O Zubaydah." So he looked straitly at the damsel
+and found her to be none other than his dead wife, Zubaydah the Lutist. Then
+the Princess said to Zubaydah, "Come, play us an air on the lute." But she
+answered, "I will make no music for thee, till thou grant my wish and keep thy
+word to me." Asked the Princess, "And what did I promise thee?"; and Zubaydah
+answered, "That thou wouldst reunite me with my husband Ala al-Din Abu
+al-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful." Rejoined the Princess, "O Zubaydah, be of
+good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear; play us a piece as a
+thank-offering and an ear-feast for reunion with thy husband Ala al-Din."
+"Where is he?" asked Zubaydah, and Maryam answered, "He is in yonder closet
+listening to our words." So Zubaydah played on the lute a melody which had made
+a rock dance for glee; and when Ala al-Din heard it, his bowels yearned towards
+her and he came forth from the closet and, throwing himself upon his wife
+Zubaydah, strained her to his bosom. She also knew him and the twain embraced
+and fell to the ground in a swoon. Then came forward the Princess Husn Maryam
+and sprinkled rose water on them, till they revived when she said to them,
+"Allah hath reunited you." Replied Ala al-Din, "By thy kind of offices, O
+lady." Then, turning to his wife, he said to her, "O Zubaydah, thou didst
+surely die and we tombed thee in the tomb: how then returnedst thou to life and
+camest thou to this place?" She answered, "O my lord, I did not die; but an
+Aun[FN#122] of the Jinn snatched me up and dew with me hither. She whom thou
+buriedst was a Jinniyah, who shaped herself to my shape and feigned herself
+dead; but when you entombed her she broke open the tomb and came forth from it
+and returned to the service of this her mistress, the Princess Husn Maryam. As
+for me I was possessed[FN#123] and, when I opened my eyes, I found myself with
+this Princess thou seest; so I said to her, 'Why hast thou brought me hither?'
+Replied she, 'I am predestined to marry thy husband, Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat:
+wilt thou then, O Zubaydah, accept me to co-consort, a night for me and a night
+for thee?' Rejoined I, 'To hear is to obey, O my lady, but where is my
+husband?' Quoth she, 'Upon his forehead is written what Allah hath decreed to
+him; as soon as the writing which is there writ is fulfilled to him, there is
+no help for it but he come hither, and we will beguile the time of our
+separation from him with songs and playing upon instruments of music, till it
+please Allah to unite us with him.' So I abode all these days with her till
+Allah brought us together in this church." Then Husn Maryam turned to him and
+said, "O my lord, Ala al-Din, wilt thou be to me baron and I be to thee femme?"
+Quoth he, "O my lady, I am a Moslem and thou art a Nazarene; so how can I
+intermarry with thee?" Quoth she, "Allah forbid that I should be an infidel!
+Nay, I am a Moslemah; for these eighteen years I have held fast the Faith of
+Al-Islam and I am pure of any creed other than that of the Islamite." Then said
+he, "O my lady, I desire a return to my native land;" and she replied, "Know
+that I see written on thy forehead things which thou must needs accomplish, and
+then thou shalt win to thy will. Moreover, be fief and fain, O Ala al-Din, that
+there hath been born to thee a son named Aslan; who now being arrived at age of
+discretion, sitteth in thy place with the Caliph. Know also that Truth hath
+prevailed and that Falsehood naught availed; and that the Lord hath withdrawn
+the curtain of secrecy from him who stole the Caliph's goods, that is, Ahmad
+Kamakim the arch-thief and traitor; and he now lieth bound and in jail. And
+know further 'twas I who sent thee the jewel and had it put in the bag where
+thou foundest it, and 'twas I who sent the captain that brought thee and the
+jewel; for thou must know that the man is enamoured of me and seeketh my
+favours and would possess me; but I refused to yield to his wishes or let him
+have his will of me; and I said him, 'Thou shalt never have me till thou bring
+me the jewel and its owner.' So I gave him an hundred purses and despatched him
+to thee, in the habit of a merchant, whereas he is a captain and a war-man; and
+when they led thee to thy death after slaying the forty captives, I also sent
+thee this old woman to save thee from slaughter." Said he, "Allah requite thee
+for us with all good! Indeed thou hast done well." Then Husn Maryam renewed at
+his hands her profession of Al-Islam; and, when he was assured of the truth of
+her speech, he said to her, O my lady, tell me what are the virtues of this
+jewel and whence cometh it?" She answered, "This jewel came from an enchanted
+hoard, and it hath five virtues which will profit us in time of need. Now my
+lady grandmother, the mother of my father, was an enchantress and skilled in
+solving secrets and finding hidden treasures from one of which came the jewel
+into her hands. And as I grew up and reached the age of fourteen, I read the
+Evangel and other books and I found the name of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
+preserve!) in the four books, namely the Evangel, the Pentateuch, the Psalms
+and the Koran;[FN#124] so I believed in Mohammed and became a Moslemah, being
+certain and assured that none is worship worth save Allah Almighty, and that to
+the Lord of all mankind no faith is acceptable save that of Al-Islam. Now when
+my lady-grandmother fell sick, she gave me this jewel and taught me its five
+virtues. Moreover, before she died, my father said to her, 'Take thy tablets of
+geomancy and throw a figure, and tell us the issue of my affair and what will
+befal-me.' And she foretold him that the far off one[FN#125] should die, slain
+by the hand of a captive from Alexandria. So he swore to kill every prisoner
+from that place and told the Kaptan of this, saying, 'There is no help for it
+but thou fall on the ships of the Moslems and seize them and whomsoever thou
+findest of Alexandria, kill him or bring him to me.' The Captain did his
+bidding until he had slain as many in number as the hairs of his head. Then my
+grandmother died and I took a geomantic tablet, being minded and determined to
+know the future, and I said to myself, 'Let me see who will wed me!' Whereupon
+I threw a figure and found that none should be my husband save one called Ala
+al-Din Abu al-Shamat, the Trusty, the Faithful. At this I marvelled and waited
+till the times were accomplished and I foregathered with thee." So Ala al-Din
+took her to wife and said to her, "I desire to return to my own country." Quoth
+she, "If it be so, rise up and come with me." Then she took him and, hiding him
+in a closet of her palace, went in to her father, who said to her, "O my
+daughter, my heart is exceeding heavy this day; sit down and let us make merry
+with wine, I and thou." So she sat down with him and he called for a table of
+wine; and she plied him till he lost his wits, when she drugged a cup with
+Bhang and he drank it off and fell upon his back. Then she brought Ala al-Din
+out of the closet and said to him, "Come; verily thine enemy lieth prostrate,
+for I made him drunk and drugged him; so do thou with him as thou wilt."
+Accordingly Ala al-Din went to the King and, finding him lying drugged and
+helpless, pinioned him fast and manacled and fettered him with chains. Then he
+gave him the counter-drug and he came to himself,—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala al-Din gave the
+antidote of Bhang to King Yohanna, father of Husn Maryam, and he came to
+himself and found Ala al-Din and his daughter sitting on his breast. So he said
+to her, "O my daughter, dost thou deal thus with me?" She answered "If I be
+indeed thy daughter, become a Moslem, even as I became a Moslemah, for the
+truth was shown to me and I attested it; and the false, and I deserted it. I
+have submitted myself unto Allah, The Lord of the Three Worlds, and am pure of
+all faiths contrary to that of Al-Islam in this world and in the next world.
+Wherefore, if thou wilt become a Moslem, well and good; if not, thy death were
+better than thy life." Ala al-Din also exhorted him to embrace the True Faith;
+but he refused and was contumacious; so Ala al-Din drew a dagger and cut his
+throat from ear to ear.[FN#126] Then he wrote a scroll, setting forth what had
+happened and laid it on the brow of the dead, after which they took what was
+light of load and weighty of worth and turned from the palace and returned to
+the church. Here the Princess drew forth the jewel and, placing her hand upon
+the facet where was figured a couch, rubbed it; and behold, a couch appeared
+before her and she mounted upon it with Ala al-Din and his wife Zubaydah, the
+lutist, saying, "I conjure thee by the virtue of the names and talismans and
+characts engraver on this jewel, rise up with us, O Couch!" And it rose with
+them into the air and flew, till it came to a Wady wholly bare of growth, when
+the Princess turned earthwards the facet on which the couch was figured, and it
+sank with them to the ground. Then she turned up the face where on was
+fashioned a pavilion and tapping it said, "Let a pavilion be pitched in this
+valley;" and there appeared a pavilion, wherein they seated themselves. Now
+this Wady was a desert waste, without grass or water; so she turned a third
+face of the jewel towards the sky, and said, "By the virtue of the names of
+Allah, let trees upgrow here and a river flow beside them!" And forthwith trees
+sprang up and by their side ran a river plashing and dashing. They made the
+ablution and prayed and drank of the stream; after which the Princess turned up
+the three other facets till she came to the fourth, whereon was portrayed a
+table of good, and said, "By the virtue of the names of Allah, let the table be
+spread!" And behold, there appeared before them a table, spread with all manner
+of rich meats, and they ate and drank and made merry and were full of joy. Such
+was their case; but as regards Husn Maryam's father, his son went in to waken
+him and found him slain; and, seeing Ala al-Din's scroll, took it and read it,
+and readily understood it. Then he sought his sister and finding her not,
+betook himself to the old woman in the church, of whom he enquired for her, but
+she said, "Since yesterday I have not seen her." So he returned to the troops
+and cried out, saying, "To horse, ye horsemen!" Then he told them what had
+happened, so they mounted and rode after the fugitives, till they drew near the
+pavilion. Presently Husn Maryam arose and looked up and saw a cloud of dust
+which spread till it walled the view, then it lifted and flew, and lo! stood
+disclosed her brother and his troops, crying aloud, "Whither will ye fly, and
+we on your track!" Then said she to Ala al-Din, "Are thy feet firm in fight?"
+He replied, "Even as the stake in bran, I know not war nor battle, nor swords
+nor spears." So she pulled out the jewel and rubbed the fifth face, that on
+which were graven a horse and his rider, and behold, straightway a cavalier
+appeared out of the desert and ceased not to do battle with the pursuing host
+and smite them with the sword, till he routed them and put them to flight. Then
+the Princess asked Ala al-Din, "Wilt thou go to Cairo or to Alexandria?"; and
+he answered, "To Alexandria." So they mounted the couch and she pronounced over
+it the conjuration, whereupon it set off with them and, in the twinkling of an
+eye, brought them to Alexandria. They alighted without the city and Ala al-Din
+hid the women in a cavern, whilst he went into Alexandria and fetched them
+outer clothing, wherewith he covered them. Then he carried them to his shop
+and, leaving them in the "ben"[FN#127] walked forth to fetch them the
+morning-meal, and behold he met Calamity Ahmad who chanced to be coming from
+Baghdad. He saw him in the street and received him with open arms, saluting him
+and welcoming him. Whereupon Ahmad al-Danaf gave him the good news of his son
+Aslan and how he was now come to the age of twenty: and Ala al-Din, in his
+turn, told the Captain of the Guard all that had befallen him from first to
+last, whereat he marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then he brought him to his
+shop and sitting room where they passed the night; and next day he sold his
+place of business and laid its price with other monies. Now Ahmad al-Danaf had
+told him that the Caliph sought him; but he said, "I am bound first for Cairo,
+to salute my father and mother and the people of my house." So they all mounted
+the couch and it carried them to Cairo the God-guarded; and here they alighted
+in the street called Yellow,[FN#128] where stood the house of Shams al-Din.
+Then Ala al-Din knocked at the door, and his mother said, "Who is at the door,
+now that we have lost our beloved for evermore?" He replied, " 'Tis I! Ala
+al-Din!" whereupon they came down and embraced him. Then he sent his wives and
+baggage into the house and entering himself with Ahmad al-Danaf, rested there
+three days, after which he was minded to set out for Baghdad. His father said,
+"Abide with me, O my son;" but he answered; "I cannot bear to be parted from my
+child Aslan." So he took his father and mother and fared forth for Baghdad. Now
+when they came thither, Ahmad al-Danaf went in to the Caliph and gave him the
+glad tidings of Ala al-Din's arrival—and told him his story whereupon the King
+went forth to greet him taking the youth Aslan, and they met and embraced each
+other. Then the Commander of the Faithful summoned the arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim
+and said to Ala al-Din, "Up and at thy foe!" So he drew his sword and smote off
+Ahmad Kamakim's head. Then the Caliph held festival for Ala al-Din and,
+summoning the Kazis and witnesses, wrote the contract and married him to the
+Princess Husn Maryam; and he went in unto her and found her an unpierced pearl.
+Moreover, the Caliph made Aslan Chief of the Sixty and bestowed upon him and
+his father sumptuous dresses of honour; and they abode in the enjoyment of all
+joys and joyance of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and
+the Sunderer of societies. But the tales of generous men are manifold and
+amongst them is the story of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap05"></a>HATIM OF THE TRIBE OF TAYY.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is told of Hбtim of the tribe of Tayy,[FN#129] that when he died, they
+buried him on the top of a mountain and set over his grave two troughs hewn out
+of two rocks and stone girls with dishevelled hair. At the foot of the hill was
+a stream of running water, and when wayfarers camped there, they heard loud
+crying and keening in the night, from dark till daybreak; but when they arose
+in the morning, they found nothing but the girls carved in stone. Now when ZÑŠ
+'l-Kurб'a,[FN#130] King of Himyar, going forth of his tribe, came to that
+valley, he halted to pass the night there,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zu 'l- Kura'a passed
+by the valley he righted there, and, when he drew near the mountain, he heard
+the keening and said, "What lamenting is that on yonder hill?" They answered
+him, saying, "Verily this be the tomb of Hatim al-Tбyy, over which are two
+troughs of stone and stone figures of girls with dishevelled hair; and all who
+camp in this place by night hear this crying and keening." So he said
+jestingly, "O Hatim of Tayy! we are thy guests this night, and we are lank with
+hunger." Then sleep overcame him, but presently he awoke in affright and cried
+out, saying, "Help, O Arabs! Look to my beast!" So they came to him, and
+finding his she-camel struggling and struck down, they stabbed her in the
+throat and roasted her flesh and ate. Then they asked him what had happened and
+he said, "When I closed my eyes, I saw in my sleep Hatim of Tayy who came to me
+sword in hand and cried, 'Thou comest to us and we have nothing by us.' Then he
+smote my she- camel with his sword, and she had surely died even though ye had
+not come to her and slaughtered her."[FN#131] Now when morning dawned the King
+mounted the beast of one of his companions and, taking the owner up behind him,
+set out and fared on till midday, when they saw a man coming towards them,
+mounted on a camel and leading another, and said to him, "Who art thou?" He
+answered, "I am Adi,[FN#132] son of Hatim of Tayy; where is Zu 'l-Kura'a, Emir
+of Himyar?" Replied they, "This is he;" and he said to the prince, "Take this
+she-camel in place of thy beast which my father slaughtered for thee." Asked Zu
+'l Kura'a, "Who told thee of this?" and Adi answered, "My father appeared to me
+in a dream last night and said to me, 'Harkye, Adi; Zu 'l Kura'a King of
+Himyar, sought the guest-rite of me and I, having naught to give him,
+slaughtered his she-camel, that he might eat: so do thou carry him a she-camel
+to ride, for I have nothing.'" And Zu 'l-Kura'a took her, marvelling at the
+generosity of Hatim of Tayy alive and dead. And amongst instances of generosity
+is the
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap06"></a>TALE OF MA'AN THE SON OF ZAIDAH.[FN#133]</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is told of Ma'an bin Zбidah that, being out one day a-chasing and a-hunting,
+he became athirst but his men had no water with them; and while thus suffering
+behold, three damsels met him bearing three skins of water;—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-first Night,[FN#134]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that three girls met him
+bearing three skins of water; so he begged drink of them, and they gave him to
+drink. Then he sought of his men somewhat to give the damsels but they had no
+money; so he presented to each girl ten golden piled arrows from his quiver.
+Whereupon quoth one of them to her friend, "Well-a-day! These fashions pertain
+to none but Ma'an bin Zaidah! so let each one of us say somewhat of verse in
+his praise." Then quoth the first,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He heads his arrows with piles of gold, * And while shooting his<br/>
+
+     foes is his bounty doled:<br/>
+
+Affording the wounded a means of cure, * And a sheet for the<br/>
+
+     bider beneath the mould!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And quoth the second,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A warrior showing such open hand, * His boons all friends and<br/>
+
+     all foes enfold:<br/>
+
+The piles of his arrows of or are made, * So that battle his<br/>
+
+     bounty may not withhold!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And quoth the third,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"From that liberal-hand on his foes he rains * Shafts aureate-<br/>
+
+    headed and manifold:<br/>
+
+Wherewith the hurt shall chirurgeon pay, * And for slain the<br/>
+
+     shrouds round their corpses roll'd."[FN#135]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And there is also told a tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap07"></a>MA'AN SON OF ZAIDAH AND THE BADAWI.</h3>
+
+<p>
+Now Ma'an bin Zбidah went forth one day to the chase with his company, and they
+came upon a herd of gazelles; so they separated in pursuit and Ma'an was left
+alone to chase one of them. When he had made prize of it he alighted and
+slaughtered it; and as he was thus engaged, he espied a person[FN#136] coming
+forth out of the desert on an ass. So he remounted and riding up to the new-
+comer, saluted him and asked him, "Whence comest thou?" Quoth he, "I come from
+the land of Kuzб'ah, where we have had a two years' dearth; but this year it
+was a season of plenty and I sowed early cucumbers.[FN#137] They came up before
+their time, so I gathered what seemed the best of them and set out to carry
+them to the Emir Ma'an bin Zaidah, because of his well-known beneficence and
+notorious munificence." Asked Ma'an, "How much dost thou hope to get of him?";
+and the Badawi answered, "A thousand dinars." Quoth the Emir, "What if he say
+this is too much?" Said the Badawi, "Then I will ask five hundred dinars." "And
+if he say, too much?" "Then three hundred!" "And if he say yet, too much?"
+"Then two hundred!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then one hundred!" "And if
+he say yet, too much?" "Then, fifty!" "And if he say yet, too much?" "Then
+thirty!" "And if he say still, too much?" asked Ma'an bin Zaidah. Answered the
+Badawi, "I will make my ass set his four feet in his Honour's home[FN#138] and
+return to my people, disappointed and empty- handed." So Ma'an laughed at him
+and urged his steed till he came up with his suite and returned to his place,
+when he said to his chamberlain, "An there come to thee a man with cucumbers
+and riding on an ass admit him to me." Presently up came the Badawi and was
+admitted to Ma'an's presence; but knew not the Emir for the man he had met in
+the desert, by reason of the gravity and majesty of his semblance and the
+multitude of his eunuchs and attendants, for he was seated on his chair of
+state with his officers ranged in lines before him and on either side. So he
+saluted him and Ma'an said to him "What bringeth thee, O brother of the Arabs?"
+Answered the Badawi, "I hoped in the Emir, and have brought him curly cucumbers
+out of season." Asked Ma'an, "And how much dost thou expect of us?" "A thousand
+dinars," answered the Badawi. "This is far too much," quoth Ma'an. Quoth he,
+"Five hundred." "Too much!" "Then three hundred." "Too much!" "Two hundred."
+"Too much!" "One hundred." "Too much!" "Fifty." "Too much!" At last the Badawi
+came down to thirty dinars; but Ma'an still replied, "Too much!" So the Badawi
+cried, "By Allah, the man who met me in the desert brought me bad luck! But I
+will not go lower than thirty dinars." The Emir laughed and said nothing;
+whereupon the wild Arab knew that it was he whom he had met and said, "O my
+lord, except thou bring the thirty dinars, see ye, there is the ass tied ready
+at the door and here sits Ma'an, his honour, at home." So Ma'an laughed, till
+he fell on his back; and, calling his steward, said to him, "Give him a
+thousand dinars and five hundred and three hundred and two hundred and one
+hundred and fifty and thirty; and leave the ass tied up where he is." So the
+Arab to his amazement, received two thousand one hundred and eighty dinars, and
+Allah have mercy on them both and on all generous men! And I have also heard, O
+auspicious King, a tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap08"></a>THE CITY OF LABTAYT.[FN#139]</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was once a royal-city in the land of Roum, called the City of Labtayt
+wherein stood a tower which was always shut. And whenever a King died and
+another King of the Greeks took the Kingship after him, he set on the tower a
+new and strong lock, till there were four-and-twenty locks upon the gate,
+according to the number of the Kings. After this time, there came to the throne
+a man who was not of the old royal-house, and he had a mind to open these
+locks, that he might see what was within the tower. The grandees of his kingdom
+forbade him this and pressed him to desist and reproved him and blamed him; but
+he persisted saying, "Needs must this place be opened." Then they offered him
+all that their hands possessed of monies and treasures and things of price, if
+he would but refrain; still he would not be baulked,—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the grandees offered that
+King all their hands possessed of monies and treasures if he would but refrain;
+still he would not be baulked and said "There is no help for it but I open this
+tower." So he pulled off the locks and entering, found within the tower figures
+of Arabs on their horses and camels, habited in turbands[FN#140] hanging down
+at the ends, with swords in baldrick-belts thrown over their shoulders and
+bearing long lances in their hands. He found there also a scroll which he
+greedily took and read, and these words were written therein, "Whenas this door
+is opened will conquer this country a raid of the Arabs, after the likeness of
+the figures here depicted; wherefore beware, and again beware of opening it."
+Now this city was in Andalusia; and that very year Tбrik ibn Ziyбd conquered
+it, during the Caliphate of Al-Walнd son of Abd al-Malik[FN#141] of the sons of
+Umayyah; and slew this King after the sorriest fashion and sacked the city and
+made prisoners of the women and boys therein and got great loot. Moreover, he
+found there immense treasures; amongst the rest more than an hundred and
+seventy crowns of pearls and jacinths and other gems of price; and he found a
+saloon, wherein horsemen might throw the spears, full of vessels of gold and
+silver, such as no description can comprise. Moreover, he found there the table
+of food for the Prophet of Allah, Solomon, son of David (peace with both of
+them!), which is extant even now in a city of the Greeks, it is told that it
+was of grass-green emerald with vessels of gold and platters of jasper.
+Likewise he found the Psalms written in the old Ionian[FN#142] characters on
+leaves of gold bezel'd with jewels; together with a book setting forth the
+properties of stones and herbs and minerals, as well as the use of characts and
+talismans and the canons of the art of alchymy; and he found a third volume
+which treated of the art of cutting and setting rubies and other precious
+stones and of the preparation of poisons and theriacks. There found he also a
+mappa mundi figuring the earth and the seas and the different cities and
+countries and villages of the world; and he found a vast saloon full of
+hermetic powder, one drachm of which elixir would turn a thousand drachms of
+silver into fine gold; likewise a marvellous mirror, great and round, of mixed
+metals, which had been made for Solomon, son of David (on the twain be peace!)
+wherein whoso looked might see the counterfeit presentment of the seven
+climates of the world; and he beheld a chamber full of Brahmini[FN#143]
+jacinths for which no words can suffice. So he despatched all these things to
+Walid bin Abd al-Malik, and the Arabs spread all over the cities of Andalusia
+which is one of the finest of lands. This is the end of the story of the City
+of Labtayt. And a tale is also told of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap09"></a>THE CALIPH HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.</h3>
+
+<p>
+The Caliph Hishбm bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, was hunting one day, when he
+sighted an antelope and pursued it with his dogs. As he was following the
+quarry, he saw an Arab youth pasturing sheep and said to him, "Ho boy, up and
+after yonder antelope, for it escapeth me!" The youth raised his head to him
+and replied, "O ignorant of what to the deserving is due, thou lookest on me
+with disdain and speakest to me with contempt; thy speaking is that of a tyrant
+true and thy doing what an ass would do." Quoth Hisham, "Woe to thee, dost thou
+not know me?" Rejoined the youth, "Verily thine unmannerliness hath made thee
+known to me, in that thou spakest to me, without beginning by the
+salutation."[FN#144] Repeated the Caliph, "Fie upon thee! I am Hisham bin Abd
+al-Malik." "May Allah not favour thy dwelling-place," replied the Arab, "nor
+guard thine abiding place! How many are thy words and how few thy generous
+deeds!" Hardly had he ended speaking, when up came the troop from all sides and
+surrounded him as the white encircleth the black of the eye, all and each
+saying, "Peace be with thee, O Commander of the Faithful!" Quoth Hisham, "Cut
+short this talk and seize me yonder boy." So they laid hands on him; and when
+he saw the multitude of Chamberlains and Wazirs and Lords of State, he was in
+nowise concerned and questioned not of them, but let his chin drop on his
+breast and looked where his feet fell, till they brought him to the
+Caliph[FN#145] when he stood before him, with head bowed groundwards and
+saluted him not and spoke him not. So one of the eunuchs said to him, "O dog of
+the Arabs, what hindereth thy saluting the Commander of the Faithful?" The
+youth turned to him angrily and replied, "O packsaddle of an ass, it was the
+length of the way that hindered me from this and the steepness of the steps and
+the profuseness of my sweat." Then said Hisham (and indeed he was exceeding
+wroth), "O boy, verily thy days are come to their latest hour; thy hope is gone
+from thee and thy life is past out of thee." He answered, "By Allah, O Hisham,
+verily an my life-term be prolonged and Fate ordain not its cutting short, thy
+words irk me not, be they long or short." Then said the Chief Chamberlain to
+him, "Doth it befit thy degree, O vilest of the Arabs, to bandy words with the
+Commander of the Faithful?" He answered promptly, "Mayest thou meet with
+adversity and may woe and wailing never leave thee! Hast thou not heard the
+saying of Almighty Allah?, 'One day, every soul shall come to defend
+itself.'"[FN#146] Hereupon Hisham rose, in great wrath, and said, "O headsman,
+bring me the head of this lad; for indeed he exceedeth in talk, such as passeth
+conception." So the sworder took him and, making him kneel on the carpet of
+blood, drew his sword above him and said to the Caliph, "O Commander of the
+Faithful, this thy slave is misguided and is on the way to his grave; shall I
+smite off his head and be quit of his blood?" "Yes," replied Hisham. He
+repeated his question and the Caliph again answered in the affirmative. Then he
+asked leave a third time; and the youth, knowing that, if the Caliph assented
+yet once more, it would be the signal of his death, laughed till his
+wisdom-teeth showed; whereupon Hisham's wrath redoubled and he said to him, "O
+boy, meseems thou art mad; seest thou not that thou art about to depart the
+world? Why then dost thou laugh in mockery of thyself?" He replied, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, if a larger life-term befell me, none can hurt me,
+great or small; but I have bethought me of some couplets, which do thou hear,
+for my death cannot escape thee." Quoth Hisham, "Say on and be brief;" so the
+Arab repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It happed one day a hawk pounced on a bird, * A wildling sparrow<br/>
+
+     driven by destiny;<br/>
+
+And held in pounces spake the sparrow thus, * E'en as the hawk<br/>
+
+     rose ready home to hie:—<br/>
+
+'Scant flesh have I to fill the maw of thee * And for thy lordly<br/>
+
+     food poor morsel I.<br/>
+
+Then smiled the hawk in flattered vanity * And pride, so set the<br/>
+
+     sparrow free to fly.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this Hisham smiled and said, "By the truth of my kinship to the Apostle of
+Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!), had he spoken this speech at first and
+asked for aught except the Caliphase, verily I would have given it to him.
+Stuff his mouth with jewels,[FN#147] O eunuch and entreat him courteously;" so
+they did as he bade them and the Arab went his way. And amongst pleasant tales
+is that of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap10"></a>IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.</h3>
+
+<p>
+They relate that Ibrahнm, son of al-Mahdн,[FN#148] brother of Harun al-Rashid,
+when the Caliphate devolved to Al-Maamun, the son of his brother Harun, refused
+to acknowledge his nephew and betook himself to Rayy[FN#149]; where he claimed
+the throne and abode thus a year and eleven months and twelve days. Meanwhile
+his nephew, Al-Maamun, awaited his return to allegiance and his accepting a
+dependent position till, at last, despairing of this, he mounted with his
+horsemen and footmen and repaired to Rayy in quest of him. Now when the news
+came to Ibrahim, he found nothing for it but to flee to Baghdad and hide there,
+fearing for his life; and Maamun set a price of a hundred thousand gold pieces
+upon his head, to be paid to whoso might betray him. (Quoth Ibrahim) "When I
+heard of this price I feared for my head"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim continued, "Now
+when I heard of this price I feared for my head and knew not what to do: so I
+went forth of my house in disguise at mid-day, knowing not whither I should go.
+Presently I entered a broad street which was no thoroughfare and said in my
+mind, 'Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning! I have exposed my
+life to destruction. If I retrace my steps, I shall arouse suspicion.' Then,
+being still in disguise I espied, at the upper end of the street, a negro-slave
+standing at his door; so I went up to him and said to him, 'Hast thou a place
+where I may abide for an hour of the day?' 'Yes,' answered he, and opening the
+door admitted me into a decent house, furnished with carpets and mats and
+cushions of leather. Then he shut the door on me and went away; and I
+misdoubted me he had heard of the reward offered for me, and said to myself,
+'He hath gone to inform against me.' But, as I sat pondering my case and
+boiling like cauldron over fire, behold, my host came back, accompanied by a
+porter loaded with bread and meat and new cooking-pots and gear and a new jar
+and new gugglets and other needfuls. He made the porter set them down and,
+dismissing him, said to me, 'I offer my life for thy ransom! I am a
+barber-surgeon, and I know it would disgust thee to eat with me' because of the
+way in which I get my livelihood;[FN#150] so do thou shift for thyself and do
+what thou please with these things whereon no hand hath fallen.' (Quoth
+Ibrahim), Now I was in sore need of food so I cooked me a pot of meat whose
+like I remember not ever to have eaten; and, when I had satisfied my want, he
+said to me, 'O my lord, Allah make me thy ransom! Art thou for wine?; for
+indeed it gladdeneth the soul and doeth away care.' 'I have no dislike to it,'
+replied I, being desirous of the barber's company; so he brought me new flagons
+of glass which no hand had touched and a jar of excellent wine, and said to me,
+'Strain for thyself, to thy liking;' whereupon I cleared the wine and mixed me
+a most delectable draught. Then he brought me a new cup and fruits and flowers
+in new vessels of earthenware; after which he said to me, 'Wilt thou give me
+leave to sit apart and drink of my own wine by myself, of my joy in thee and
+for thee?' 'Do so,' answered I. So I drank and he drank till the wine began to
+take effect upon us, when the barber rose and, going to a closet, took out a
+lute of polished wood and said to me, 'O my lord, it is not for the like of me
+to ask the like of thee to sing, but it behoveth thine exceeding generosity to
+render my respect its due; so, if thou see fit to honour thy slave, thine is
+the high decision.' Quoth I (and indeed I thought not that he knew me), 'How
+knowest thou that I excel in song?' He replied, 'Glory be to Allah, our lord is
+too well renowned for that! Thou art my lord Ibrahim, son of Al-Mahdi, our
+Caliph of yesterday, he on whose head Al-Maamun hath set a price of an hundred
+thousand dinars to be paid to thy betrayer: but thou art in safety with me.'
+(Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard him say this, he was magnified in my eyes and his
+loyalty and noble nature were certified to me; so I complied with his wish and
+took the lute and tuned it, and sang. Then I bethought me of my severance from
+my children and my family and I began to say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Belike Who YÑŠsuf to his kin restored * And honoured him in goal,<br/>
+
+     a captive wight,<br/>
+
+May grant our prayer to reunite our lots, * For Allah, Lord of<br/>
+
+     Worlds, hath all of might.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the barber heard this, exceeding joy took possession of him. and he was of
+great good cheer; for it is said that when Ibrahim's neighbours heard him only
+sing out, 'Ho, boy, saddle the mule!' they were filled with delight. Then,
+being overborne by mirth, he said to me, 'O my lord, wilt thou give me leave to
+say what is come to my mind, albeit I am not of the folk of this craft?' I
+answered, 'Do so; this is of thy great courtesy and kindness.' So he took the
+lute and sang these verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'To our beloveds we moaned our length of night; * Quoth they,<br/>
+
+     'How short the nights that us benight!'<br/>
+
+'Tis for that sleep like hood enveils their eyes * Right soon,<br/>
+
+     but from our eyes is fair of flight:<br/>
+
+When night-falls, dread and drear to those who love, * We mourn;<br/>
+
+     they joy to see departing light:<br/>
+
+Had they but dree'd the weird, the bitter dole * We dree, their<br/>
+
+     beds like ours had bred them blight.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+(Quoth Ibrahim), So I said to him, 'By Allah, thou hast shown me a kindness, O
+my friend, and hast done away from me the pangs of sorrow. Let me hear more
+trifles of thy fashion.' So he sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When man keeps honour bright without a stain, * Pair sits<br/>
+
+     whatever robe to robe he's fain!<br/>
+
+She jeered at me because so few we are; * Quoth I:—'There's ever<br/>
+
+     dearth of noble men!'<br/>
+
+Naught irks us we are few, while neighbour tribes * Count many;<br/>
+
+     neighbours oft are base-born strain:<br/>
+
+We are a clan which holds not Death reproach, * Which A'mir and<br/>
+
+     Samъl[FN#151] hold illest bane:<br/>
+
+Leads us our love of death to fated end; * They hate that ending<br/>
+
+     and delay would gain:<br/>
+
+We to our neighbours' speech aye give the lie, * But when we<br/>
+
+     speak none dare give lie again.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+(Quoth Ibrahim), When I heard these lines, I was filled with huge delight and
+marvelled with exceeding marvel. Then I slept and awoke not till past
+night-fall, when I washed my face, with a mind full of the high worth of this
+barber-surgeon and his passing courtesy; after which I wakened him and, taking
+out a purse I had by me containing a number of gold pieces, threw it to him,
+saying, 'I commend thee to Allah, for I am about to go forth from thee, and
+pray thee to expend what is in this purse on thine requirements; and thou shalt
+have an abounding reward of me, when I am quit of my fear.' (Quoth Ibrahim),
+But he resumed the bag to me, saying, 'O my lord, paupers like myself are of no
+value in thine eyes; but how, with due respect to my own generosity, can I take
+a price for the boon which fortune hath vouchsafed me of thy favour and thy
+visit to my poor abode? Nay, if thou repeat thy words and throw the purse to me
+again I will slay myself.' So I put in my sleeve[FN#152] the purse whose weight
+was irksome to me."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi
+continued, "So I put in my sleeve the purse whose weight was irksome to me; and
+turned to depart, but when I came to the house door he said, 'O my lord, of a
+truth this is a safer hiding-place for thee than any other, and thy keep is no
+burden to me; so do thou abide with me, till Allah be pleased grant thee
+relief.' Accordingly, I turned back, saying, 'On condition that thou spend of
+the money in this purse.' He made me think that he consented to this
+arrangement, and I abode with him some days in the utmost comfort; but,
+perceiving that he spent none of the contents of the purse, I revolted at the
+idea of abiding at his charge and thought it shame to be a burthen on him; so I
+left the house disguised in women's apparel, donning short yellow walking-
+boots[FN#153] and veil. Now as soon as I found myself in the street, I was
+seized with excessive fear, and going to pass the bridge behold, I came to a
+place sprinkled with water,[FN#154] where a trooper, who been in my service,
+looked at me and knowing me, cried out, saying, 'This is he whom Al-Maamun
+wanteth.' Then he laid hold of me but the love of sweet life lent me strength
+and I gave him and his horse a push which threw them down in that slippery
+place, so that he became an example to those who will take example; and the
+folk hastened to him. Meanwhile, I hurried my pace over the bridge and entered
+a main street, where I saw the door of a house open and a woman standing upon
+the threshold. So I said to her, 'O my lady, have pity on me and save my life;
+for I am a man in fear.' Quoth she, 'Enter and welcome;' and carried me into an
+upper dining-room, where she spread me a bed and brought me food, saying 'Calm
+thy fear, for not a soul shall know of thee.' As she spoke lo! there came a
+loud knocking at the door; so she went and opened, and suddenly, my friend,
+whom I had thrown down on the bridge, appeared with his head bound up, the
+blood running down upon his clothes and without his horse. She asked, 'O so and
+so, what accident hath befallen thee?'; and he answered, 'I made prize of the
+young man whom the Caliph seeketh and he escaped from me;' whereupon he told
+her the whole story. So she brought out tinder[FN#155] and, putting it into a
+piece of rag bandaged his head; after which she spread him a bed and he lay
+sick. Then she came up to me and said, 'Methinks thou art the man in question?'
+'Even so,' answered I, and she said, 'Fear not: no harm shall befall thee,' and
+redoubled in kindness to me. So I tarried with her three days, at the end of
+which time she said to me, 'I am in fear for thee, lest yonder man happen upon
+thee and betray thee to what thou dreadest; so save thyself by flight.' I
+besought her to let me stay till nightfall, and she said, 'There is no harm in
+that.' So, when the night came, I put on my woman's gear and betook me to the
+house of a freed-woman who had once been our slave. When she saw me she wept
+and made a show of affliction and praised Almighty Allah for my safety. Then
+she went forth, as if she would go to market intent on hospitable thoughts, and
+I fancied all was right; but, ere long, suddenly I espied Ibrahim
+al-Mosili[FN#156] for the house amongst his troopers and servants, and led by a
+woman on foot; and looking narrowly at her behold, she was the freed-woman, the
+mistress of the house, wherein I had taken refuge. So she delivered me into
+their hands, and I saw death face to face. They carried me, in my woman's
+attire, to Al-Maamun who called a general-council and had me brought before
+him. When I entered I saluted him by the title of Caliph, saying, 'Peace be on
+thee, O Commander of the Faithful!' and he replied, 'Allah give thee neither
+peace nor long life.' I rejoined, 'According to thy good pleasure, O Commander
+of the Faithful!; it is for the claimant of blood- revenge[FN#157] to decree
+punishment or pardon; but mercy is nigher to piety; and Allah hath set thy
+pardon above all other pardon, even as He made my sin to excel all other sin.
+So, if thou punish, it is of thine equity, and if thou pardon, it is of thy
+bounty.' And I repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My sin to thee is great, * But greater thy degree:<br/>
+
+So take revenge, or else * Remit in clemency:<br/>
+
+An I in deeds have not* Been generous, generous be!<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+(Quoth Ibrahim), At this Al-Maamun raised his head to me and I hastened to add
+these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I've sinned enormous sin, * But pardon in thee lies:<br/>
+
+If pardon thou, 'tis grace; * Justice an thou chastise!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Al-Maamun bowed his head and repeated,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I am (when friend would raise a rage that mote * Make spittle<br/>
+
+     choke me, sticking in my throat)<br/>
+
+His pardoner, and pardon his offense, * Fearing lest I should<br/>
+
+     live a friend without.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+(Quoth Ibrahim), Now when I heard these words I scented mercy, knowing his
+disposition to clemency.[FN#158] Then he turned to his son Al Abbas and his
+brother Abu Ishak and all his chief officers there present and said to them,
+'What deem ye of his case?' They all counselled him to do me dead, but they
+differed as to the manner of my death. Then said he to his Wazir Ahmad bin
+al-Khбlid, 'And what sayest thou, O Ahmad?' He answered, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, an thou slay him, we find the like of thee who hath slain the like of
+him; but an thou pardon him, we find not the like of thee that hath pardoned
+the like of him.'"— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al Maamun, Prince of
+the Faithful, heard the words of Ahmad bin al-Khбlid, he bowed his head and
+began repeating,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My tribe have slain that brother mine, Umaym, * Yet would shoot<br/>
+
+     back what shafts at them I aim:<br/>
+
+If I deal-pardon, noble pardon 'tis; * And if I shoot, my bones<br/>
+
+     'twill only maim."[FN#159]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he also recited,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be mild to brother mingling * What is wrong with what is right:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kindness to him continue * Whether good or graceless wight:<br/>
+
+Abstain from all reproaching, * An he joy or vex thy sprite:<br/>
+
+Seest not that what thou lovest * And what hatest go unite?<br/>
+
+That joys of longer life-tide * Ever fade with hair turned<br/>
+
+     white?<br/>
+
+That thorns on branches growing * For the plucks fruit catch thy<br/>
+
+     sight?<br/>
+
+Who never hath done evil,* Doing good for sole delight?<br/>
+
+When tried the sons of worldli-* ness they mostly work upright."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Ibrahim, "Now when I heard these couplets, I withdrew my woman's veil
+from my head and cried out, with my loudest voice, 'Allah is Most Great! By
+Allah, the Commander of the Faithful pardoneth me!' Quoth he, 'No harm shall
+come to thee, O uncle;' and I rejoined, 'O Commander of the Faithful, my sin is
+too sore for me to excuse it and thy mercy is too much for me to speak thanks
+for it.' And I chanted these couplets to a lively motive,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Who made all graces all collected He * In Adam's loins, our<br/>
+
+     Seventh Imam, for thee,[FN#160]<br/>
+
+Thou hast the hearts of men with reverence filled, * Enguarding<br/>
+
+     all with heart-humility<br/>
+
+Rebelled I never by delusion whelmed * For object other than thy<br/>
+
+     clemency ;[FN#161]<br/>
+
+And thou hast pardoned me whose like was ne'er * Pardoned before,<br/>
+
+     though no man pled my plea:<br/>
+
+Hast pitied little ones like Katб's[FN#162] young, * And mother's<br/>
+
+     yearning heart a son to see.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Maamun, 'I say, following our lord Joseph (on whom and on our Prophet be
+blessing and peace!) let there be no reproach cast on you this day. Allah
+forgiveth you; for He is the most merciful of those who show mercy.[FN#163]
+Indeed I pardon thee, and restore to thee thy goods and lands, O uncle, and no
+harm shall befall thee.' So I offered up devout prayers for him and repeated
+these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou hast restored my wealth sans greed, and ere * So didst,<br/>
+
+     thou deignиdest my blood to spare:<br/>
+
+Then if I shed my blood and wealth, to gain * Thy grace, till<br/>
+
+     even shoon from foot I tear,<br/>
+
+Twere but repaying what thou lentest me, * And what unloaned no<br/>
+
+     man to blame would care:<br/>
+
+Were I ungrateful for thy lavish boons, * Baser than thou'rt<br/>
+
+     beneficent I were!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Al-Maamun showed me honour and favour and said to me, 'O uncle, Abu Ishak
+and Al-Abbas counselled me to put thee to death.' So I answered, 'And they both
+counselled thee right, O Commander of the Faithful, but thou hast done after
+thine own nature and hast put away what I feared with what I hoped.' Rejoined
+Al Maamun, 'O uncle, thou didst extinguish my rancour with the modesty of thine
+excuse, and I have pardoned thee without making thee drink the bitterness of
+obligation to intercessors.' Then he prostrated himself in prayer a long while,
+after which he raised his head and said to me, 'O uncle, knowest thou why I
+prostrated myself?' Answered I, 'Haply thou didst this in thanksgiving to
+Allah, for that He hath given thee the mastery over thine enemy.' He replied,
+'Such was not my design, but rather to thank Allah for having inspired me to
+pardon thee and for having cleared my mind towards thee. Now tell me thy tale.'
+So I told him all that had befallen me with the barber, the trooper and his
+wife and with my freed-woman who had betrayed me. So he summoned the
+freed-woman, who was in her house, expecting the reward to be sent to her, and
+when she came before him he said to her, 'What moved thee to deal thus with thy
+lord?' Quoth she, 'Lust of money.' Asked the Caliph 'Hast thou a child or a
+husband?'; and she answered 'No;' whereupon he bade them give her an hundred
+stripes with a whip and imprisoned her for life. Then he sent for the trooper
+and his wife and the barber-surgeon and asked the soldier what had moved him to
+do thus. 'Lust of money,' quoth he; whereupon quoth the Caliph, 'It befitteth
+thee to be a barber-cupper,'[FN#164] and committed him to one whom he charged
+to place him in a barber-cupper's shop, where he might learn the craft. But he
+showed honour to the trooper's wife and lodged her in his palace, saying, 'This
+is a woman of sound sense and fit for matters of moment.' Then said he to the
+barber-cupper, 'Verily, thou hast shown worth and generosity which call for
+extraordinary honour.' So he commanded the trooper's house and all that was
+therein to be given him and bestowed on him a dress of honour and in addition
+fifteen thousand dinars to be paid annually. And men tell the following tale
+concerning
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap11"></a>THE CITY OF MANY COLUMNED IRAM AND ABDULLAH SON OF ABI KILABAH.[FN#165]</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is related that Abdullah bin Abi Kilбbah went forth in quest of a she-camel
+which had strayed from him; and, as he was wandering in the deserts of Al-Yaman
+and the district of Sabб,[FN#166] behold, he came upon a great city girt by a
+vast castle around which were palaces and pavilions that rose high into middle
+air. He made for the place thinking to find there folk of whom he might ask
+concerning his she-camel; but, when he reached it, he found it desolate,
+without a living soul in it. So (quoth he) "I alighted and, hobbling my
+dromedary,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah bin Abi Kilabah
+continued, "I dismounted and hobbling my dromedary, and composing my mind,
+entered into the city. Now when I came to the castle, I found it had two vast
+gates (never in the world was seen their like for size height) inlaid with all
+manner of jewels and jacinths, white and red, yellow and green. Beholding this
+I marvelled with great marvel and thought the case mighty wondrous; then
+entering the citadel in a flutter of fear and dazed with surprise and affright,
+I found it long and wide, about equalling Al-Medinah[FN#167] in point of size;
+and therein were lofty palaces laid out in pavilions all built of gold and
+silver and inlaid with many-coloured jewels and jacinths and chrysolites and
+pearls. And the door-leaves in the pavilions were like those of the castle for
+beauty; and their floors were strewn with great pearls and balls, no smaller
+than hazel nuts, of musk and ambergris and saffron. Now when I came within the
+heart of the city and saw therein no created beings of the Sons of Adam I was
+near swooning and dying for fear. Moreover, I looked down from the great roofs
+of the pavilion-chambers and their balconies and saw rivers running under them;
+and in the main streets were fruit-laden trees and tall palms; and the manner
+of their building was one brick of gold and one of silver. So I said in myself,
+'Doubtless this is the Paradise promised for the world to come.' Then I loaded
+me with the jewels of its gravel and the musk of its dust as much as I could
+carry and returned to my own country, where I told the folk what I had seen.
+After a time the news reached Mu'бwiyah, son of Abu Sufyбn, who was then Caliph
+in Al-Hijaz; so he wrote to his lieutenant in San'б of Al-Yaman to send for the
+teller of the story and question him of the truth of the case. Accordingly the
+lieutenant summoned me and questioned me of my adventure and of all
+appertaining to it; and I told him what I had seen, whereupon he despatched me
+to Mu'awiyah, before whom I repeated the story of the strange sights; but he
+would not credit it. So I brought out to him some of the pearls and balls of
+musk and ambergris and saffron, in which latter there was still some sweet
+savour; but the pearls were grown yellow and had lost pearly colour."—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah son of Abu
+Kilabah continued, "But the pearls were grown yellow and had lost pearly
+colour. Now Mu'awiyah wondered at this and, sending for Ka'ab al-Ahbar[FN#168]
+said to him, 'O Ka'ab, I have sent for thee to ascertain the truth of a certain
+matter and hope that thou wilt be able to certify me thereof.' Asked Ka'ab,
+'What is it, O Commander of the Faithful?'; and Mu'awiyah answered, 'Wottest
+thou of any city founded by man which is builded of gold and silver, the
+pillars whereof are of chrysolite and rubies and its gravel pearls and balls of
+musk and ambergris and saffron?' He replied, 'Yes, O Commander of the Faithful,
+this is 'Iram with pillars decked and dight, the like of which was never made
+in the lands,'[FN#169] and the builder was Shaddad son of Ad the Greater.'
+Quoth the Caliph, 'Tell us something of its history,' and Ka'ab said, 'Ad the
+Greater[FN#170] had two sons, Shadнd and Shaddбd who, when their father died,
+ruled conjointly in his stead, and there was no King of the Kings of the earth
+but was subject to them. After awhile Shadid died and his brother Shaddad
+reigned over the earth alone. Now he was fond of reading in antique books; and,
+happening upon the description of the world to come and of Paradise, with its
+pavilions and galleries and trees and fruits and so forth, his soul moved him
+to build the like thereof in this world, after the fashion aforesaid. Now under
+his hand were an hundred thousand Kings, each ruling over an hundred thousand
+chiefs, commanding each an hundred thousand warriors; so he called these all
+before him and said to them, 'I find in ancient books and annals a description
+of Paradise, as it is to be in the next world, and I desire to build me its
+like in this world. Go ye forth therefore to the goodliest tract on earth and
+the most spacious and build me there a city of gold and silver, whose gravel
+shall be chrysolite and rubies and pearls; and for support of its vaults make
+pillars of jasper. Fill it with palaces, whereon ye shall set galleries and
+balconies and plant its lanes and thoroughfares with all manner trees bearing
+yellow-ripe fruits and make rivers to run through it in channels of gold and
+silver.' Whereat said one and all, 'How are we able to do this thing thou hast
+commanded, and whence shall we get the chrysolites and rubies and pearls
+whereof thou speakest?' Quoth he, 'What! weet ye not that the Kings of the
+world are subject to me and under my hand and that none therein dare gainsay my
+word?' Answered they, 'Yes, we know that.'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lieges answered,
+"Yes, we know that;" whereupon the King rejoined, "Fare ye then to the mines of
+chrysolites and rubies and pearls and gold and silver and collect their produce
+and gather together all of value that is in the world and spare no pains and
+leave naught; and take also for me such of these things as be in men's hands
+and let nothing escape you: be diligent and beware of disobedience." And
+thereupon he wrote letters to all the Kings of the world and bade them gather
+together whatso of these things was in their subjects' hands, and get them to
+the mines of precious stones and metals, and bring forth all that was therein,
+even from the abysses of the seas. This they accomplished in the space of 20
+years, for the number of rulers then reigning over the earth was three hundred
+and sixty Kings, and Shaddad presently assembled from all lands and countries
+architects and engineers and men of art and labourers and handicraftsmen, who
+dispersed over the world and explored all the wastes and words and tracts and
+holds. At last they came to an uninhabited spot, a vast and fair open plain
+clear of sand-hills and mountains, with founts flushing and rivers rushing, and
+they said, "This is the manner of place the King commanded us to seek and
+ordered us to find." So they busied themselves in building the city even as
+bade them Shaddad, King of the whole earth in its length and breadth; leading
+the fountains in channels and laying the foundations after the prescribed
+fashion. Moreover, all the Kings of earth's several-reigns sent thither jewels
+and precious stones and pearls large and small and carnelian and refined gold
+and virgin silver upon camels by land, and in great ships over the waters, and
+there came to the builders' hands of all these materials so great a quantity as
+may neither be told nor counted nor conceived. So they laboured at the work
+three hundred years; and, when they had brought it to end, they went to King
+Shaddad and acquainted him therewith. Then said he, "Depart and make thereon an
+impregnable castle, rising and towering high in air, and build around it a
+thousand pavilions, each upon a thousand columns of chrysolite and ruby and
+vaulted with gold, that in each pavilion a Wazir may dwell." So they returned
+forthwith and did this in other twenty years; after which they again presented
+themselves before King Shaddad and informed him of the accomplishment of his
+will. Then he commanded his Wazirs, who were a thousand in number, and his
+Chief Officers and such of his troops and others as he put trust in, to prepare
+for departure and removal to Many-columned Iram, in the suite and at the
+stirrup of Shaddad, son of Ad, King of the World; and he bade also such as he
+would of his women and his Harim and of his handmaids and eunuchs make them
+ready for the journey. They spent twenty years in preparing for departure, at
+the end of which time Shaddad set out with his host.—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shaddad bin Ad fared
+forth, he and his host, rejoicing in the attainment of his desire till there
+remained but one day's journey between him and Iram of the Pillars. Then Allah
+sent down on him and on the stubborn unbelievers with him a mighty rushing
+sound from the Heavens of His power, which destroyed them all with its vehement
+clamour, and neither Shaddad nor any of his company set eyes on the
+city.[FN#171] Moreover, Allah blotted out the road which led to the city, and
+it stands in its stead unchanged until the Resurrection Day and the Hour of
+Judgement." So Mu'awiyah wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to
+him, "Hath any mortal ever made his way to that city?" He replied, "Yes; one of
+the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!) reached it,
+doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this man here seated." "And
+(quoth Al-Sha'abi[FN#172]) it is related, on the authority of learned men of
+Himyar in Al-Yaman that Shaddad, when destroyed with all his host by the sound,
+was succeeded in his Kingship by his son Shaddad the Less, whom he left
+vice-regent in Hazramaut[FN#173] and Saba, when he and his marched upon
+Many-columned Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his father's death on the road,
+he caused his body to be brought back from the desert to Hazramaut and bade
+them hew him out a tomb in a cave, where he laid the body on a throne of gold
+and threw over the corpse threescore and ten robes of cloth of gold, purfled
+with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head he set up a tablet of gold
+whereon were graven these verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     'Take warning O proud, * And in length o' life vain!<br/>
+
+     I'm Shaddбd son of Ad, * Of the forts castellain;<br/>
+
+     Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,<br/>
+
+     Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane<br/>
+
+     And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.<br/>
+
+     He preached me salvation * Whom God did assain,[FN#174]<br/>
+
+     But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'<br/>
+
+     When a Cry on us cried * From th' horizon plain,<br/>
+
+     And we fell on the field * Like the harvested grain,<br/>
+
+     And the Fixt Day await * We, in earth's bosom lain!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Al-Sa'alibi also relateth, "It chanced that two men once entered this cave and
+found steps at its upper end; so they descended and came to an underground
+chamber, an hundred cubits long by forty wide and an hundred high. In the midst
+stood a throne of gold, whereon lay a man of huge bulk, filling the whole
+length and breadth of the throne. He was covered with jewels and raiment
+gold-and-silver wrought, and at his head was a tablet of gold bearing an
+inscription. So they took the tablet and carried it off, together with as many
+bars of gold and silver and so forth as they could bear away." And men also
+relate the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap12"></a>ISAAC OF MOSUL.</h3>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Isaac of Mosul,[FN#175] "I went out one night from Al Maamun's presence,
+on my way to my house; and, being taken with a pressing need to make water, I
+turned aside into a by-street and stood in the middle fearing lest something
+might hurt me, if I squatted against a wall.[FN#176] Presently, I espied
+something hanging down from one of the houses; so I felt it to find out what it
+might be and found that it was a great four-handled basket,[FN#177] covered
+with brocade. Said I to myself, 'There must be some reason for this,' and knew
+not what to think; then drunkenness led me to seat myself in the basket, and
+behold, the people of the house pulled me up, thinking me to be the person they
+expected. Now when I came to the top of the wall; lo! four damsels were there,
+who said to me, 'Descend and welcome and joy to thee!' Then one of them went
+before me with a wax candle and brought me down into a mansion, wherein were
+furnished sitting- chambers, whose like I had never seen save in the palace of
+the Caliphate. So I sat down and, after a while, the curtains were suddenly
+drawn from one side of the room and, behold, in came damsels walking in
+procession and hending hand lighted flambeaux of wax and censers full of
+Sumatran aloes-wood, and amongst them a young lady as she were the rising full
+moon. So I stood up to her and she said, 'Welcome to thee for a visitor!' and
+then she made me sit down again and asked me how I came thither. Quoth I, 'I
+was returning home from the house of an intimate friend and went astray in the
+dark; then, being taken in the street with an urgent call to make water, I
+turned aside into this lane, where I found a basket let down. The strong wine
+which I had drunk led me to seat myself in it and it was drawn up with me into
+this house, and this is my story.' She rejoined, 'No harm shall befall thee,
+and I hope thou wilt have cause to praise the issue of thine adventure.' Then
+she added, 'But what is thy condition?' I said, 'A merchant in the Baghdad
+bazar' and she, 'Canst thou repeat any verses?' 'Some small matter,' quoth I.
+Quoth she 'Then call a few to mind and let us hear some of them.' But I said,
+'A visitor is bashful and timid; do thou begin.' 'True,' replied she and
+recited some verses of the poets, past and present, choosing their choicest
+pieces; and I listened not knowing whether more to marvel at her beauty and
+loveliness or at the charm of her style of declamation. Then said she, 'Is that
+bashfulness of thine gone?' and I said, 'Yes, by Allah!' so she rejoined,
+'Then, if thou wilt, recite us somewhat.' So I repeated to her a number of
+poems by old writers, and she applauded, saying, 'By Allah, I did not think to
+find such culture among the trade folk, the sons of the bazar!' Then she called
+for food" Whereupon quoth Shahrazad's sister Dunyazad, "How pleasant is this
+tale and enjoyable and sweet to the ear and sound to the sense!" But she
+answered, "And what is this story compared with that which thou shalt hear on
+the morrow's night, if I be alive and the King deign spare me!" Then Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eightieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul continued,
+"Then the damsel called for food and, when it was served to her, she fell to
+eating it and setting it before me; and the sitting room was full of all manner
+sweet-scented flowers and rare fruits, such as are never found save in Kings'
+houses. Presently, she called for wine and drank a cup, after which she filled
+another and gave it to me, saying, 'Now is the time for converse and
+story-telling.' So I bethought myself and began to say, 'It hath reached me
+that such and such things happened and there was a man who said so and so,'
+till I had told her a number of pleasing tales and adventures with which she
+was delighted and cried, ''Tis marvellous that a merchant should bear in memory
+such store of stories like these, for they are fit for Kings.' Quoth I, 'I had
+a neighbour who used to consort with Kings and carouse with them; so, when he
+was at leisure, I visited his house and he hath often told me what thou hast
+heard.' Thereupon she exclaimed 'By my life, but thou hast a good memory!' So
+we continued to converse thus, and as often as I was silent, she would begin,
+till in this way we passed the most part of the night, whilst the burning
+aloes-wood diffused its fragrance and I was in such case that if Al-Maamun had
+suspected it, he would have flown like a bird with longing for it. Then said
+she to me, 'Verily, thou art one of the most pleasant of men, polished, passing
+well-bred and polite; but there lacketh one thing.' 'What is that?' asked I,
+and she answered, If thou only knew how to sing verses to the lute!' I
+answered, 'I was passionately fond of this art aforetime, but finding I had no
+taste for it, I abandoned it, though at times my heart yearneth after it.
+Indeed, I should love to sing somewhat well at this moment and fulfil my
+night's enjoyment.' Then said she, 'Meseemeth thou hintest a wish for the lute
+to be brought?' and I, 'It is thine to decide, if thou wilt so far favour me,
+and to thee be the thanks.' So she called for a lute and sang a song in a voice
+whose like I never heard, both for sweetness of tone and skill in playing, and
+perfection of art. Then said she, Knowest thou who composed this air and whose
+are the words of this song?'"No," answered I; and she said, The words are so
+and so's and the air is Isaac's.' I asked 'And hath Isaac then (may I be thy
+sacrifice!) such a talent?' She replied, 'Bravo![FN#178] Bravo, Isaac! indeed,
+he excelleth in this art.' I rejoined, 'Glory be to Allah who hath given this
+man what he hath vouchsafed unto none other!' Then she said 'And how would it
+be, an thou heard this song from himself?' This wise we went on till break of
+day dawn, when there came to her an old woman, as she were her nurse, and said
+to her, 'Verily, the time is come.' So she rose in haste and said to me, 'Keep
+what hath passed between us to thyself; for such meetings are in
+confidence;'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel whispered,
+"'Keep what hath passed between us to thyself, for such meetings are in
+confidence;' and I replied, 'May I be thy ransom! I needed no charge to this.'
+Then I took leave of her and she sent a handmaid to show me the way and open
+the house door; so I went forth and returned to my own place, where I prayed
+the morning prayer and slept. Now after a time there came to me a messenger
+from Al-Maamun, so I went to him and passed the day in his company. And when
+the night fell I called to mind my yesternight's pleasure, a thing from which
+none but an ignoramus would abstain, and betook myself to the street, where I
+found the basket, and seating myself therein, was drawn up to the place in
+which I had passed the previous night. When the lady saw me, she said, 'Indeed,
+thou hast been assiduous;' and I answered, 'Meseemeth rather that I am
+neglectful.' Then we fell to discoursing and passed the night as before in
+general-conversation and reciting verses and telling rare tales, each in turn,
+till daybreak, when I wended me home; and I prayed the dawn prayer and slept.
+Presently there came to me a messenger from Al-Maamun; so I went to him and
+spent my day with him till nightfall, when the Commander of the Faithful said
+to me, 'I conjure thee to sit here, whilst I go out for a want and come back.'
+As soon as the Caliph was gone, and quite gone, my thoughts began to tempt and
+try me and, calling to mind my late delight, I recked little what might befal
+me from the Prince of True Believers. So I sprang up and turning my back upon
+the sitting-room, ran to the street aforesaid, where I sat down in the basket
+and was drawn up as before. When the lady saw me, she said, 'I begin to think
+thou art a sincere friend to us.' Quoth I, 'Yea, by Allah!' and quoth she,
+'Hast thou made our house thine abiding-place?' I replied, 'May I be thy
+ransom! A guest claimeth guest right for three days and if I return after this,
+ye are free to spill my blood.' Then we passed the night as before; and when
+the time of departure drew near, I bethought me that Al Maamun would assuredly
+question me nor would ever be content save with a full explanation: so I said
+to her, 'I see thee to be of those who delight in singing. Now I have a cousin,
+the son of my father's brother, who is fairer than I in face and higher of rank
+and better of breeding; and he is the most intimate of Allah's creatures with
+Isaac.' Quoth she, 'Art thou a parasite[FN#179] and an importunate one?' Quoth
+I, 'It is for thee to decide in this matter;' and she, 'If thy cousin be as
+thou hast described him, it would not mislike us to make acquaintance with
+him.' Then, as the time was come, I left her and returned to my house, but
+hardly had I reached it, ere the Caliph's runners came down on me and carried
+me before him by main force and roughly enough."—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Isaac of Mosul continued,
+"And hardly had I reached my house ere the Caliph's runners came down upon me
+and carried me before him by main force and roughly enough. I found him seated
+on a chair, wroth with me, and he said to me, 'O Isaac, art thou a traitor to
+thine allegiance?' replied I, 'No, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful!' and
+he rejoined, 'What hast thou then to say? tell me the whole truth;' and I,
+'Yes, I will, but in private.' So he signed to his attendants, who withdrew to
+a distance, and I told him the case, adding, 'I promised her to bring thee,'
+and he said, 'Thou didst well.' Then we spent the day in our usual-pleasures,
+but Al-Maamun's heart was taken up with her, and hardly was the appointed time
+come, when we set out. As we went along, I cautioned him, saying, 'Look that
+thou call me not by my name before her; and I will demean myself like thine
+attendant.' And having agreed upon this, we fared forth till we came to the
+place, where we found two baskets hanging ready. So we sat down in them and
+were drawn up to the usual-place, where the damsel came forward and saluted us.
+Now when Al Maamun saw her, he was amazed at her beauty and loveliness; and she
+began to entertain him with stories and verses. Presently, she called for wine
+and we fell to drinking she paying him special attention and he repaying her in
+kind. Then she took the lute and sang these verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My lover came in at the close of night, * I rose till he sat and<br/>
+
+     remained upright;<br/>
+
+And said 'Sweet heart, hast thou come this hour? * Nor feared on<br/>
+
+     the watch and ward to 'light:'<br/>
+
+Quoth he 'The lover had cause to fear, * But Love deprived him of<br/>
+
+     wits and fright.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when she ended her song she said to me, 'And is thy cousin also a
+merchant?' I answered, 'Yes,' and she said, 'Indeed, ye resemble each other
+nearly.' But when Al-Maamun had drunk three pints,[FN#180] he grew merry with
+wine and called out, saying, 'Ho, Isaac!' And I replied, 'Labbayk, Adsum, O
+Commander of the Faithful,' whereupon quoth he, 'Sing me this air.' Now when
+the young lady learned that he was the Caliph, she withdrew to another place
+and disappeared; and, as I had made an end of my song, Al-Maamun said to me,
+'See who is the master of this house', whereupon an old woman hastened to make
+answer, saying, 'It belongs to Hasan bin Sahl.'[FN#181] 'Fetch him to me,' said
+the Caliph. So she went away and after a while behold, in came Hasan, to whom
+said Al-Maamun 'Hast thou a daughter?' He said, 'Yes, and her name is
+Khadijah.' Asked the Caliph, 'Is she married?' Answered Hasan, 'No, by Allah!'
+Said Al-Maamun, Then I ask her of thee in marriage.' Replied her father, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, she is thy handmaid and at thy commandment.' Quoth
+Al-Maamun, 'I take her to wife at a present settlement of thirty thousand
+dinars, which thou shalt receive this very morning, and, when the money has
+been paid thee, do thou bring her to us this night.' And Hasan answered, 'I
+hear and I obey.' Thereupon we went forth and the Caliph said to me, 'O Isaac,
+tell this story to no one.' So I kept it secret till Al-Maamun's death. Surely
+never did man's life gather such pleasures as were mine these four days' time,
+whenas I companied with Al-Maamun by day and Khadijah by night; and, by Allah,
+never saw I among men the like of Al-Maamun nor among women have I ever set
+eyes on the like of Khadijah; no, nor on any that came near her in lively wit
+and pleasant speech! And Allah is All knowing. But amongst stories is that of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap13"></a>THE SWEEP AND THE NOBLE LADY.</h3>
+
+<p>
+During the season of the Meccan pilgrimage, whilst the people were making
+circuit about the Holy House and the place of compassing was crowded, behold, a
+man laid hold of the covering of the Ka'abah[FN#182] and cried out, from the
+bottom of his heart, saying, 'I beseech thee, O Allah, that she may once again
+be wroth with her husband and that I may know her!' A company of the pilgrims
+heard him and seized him and carried him to the Emir of the pilgrims, after a
+sufficiency of blows; and, said they, 'O Emir, we found this fellow in the Holy
+Places, saying thus and thus.' So the Emir commanded to hang him; but he cried,
+'O Emir, I conjure thee, by the virtue of the Apostle (whom Allah bless and
+preserve!), hear my story and then do with me as thou wilt.' Quoth the Emir,
+'Tell thy tale forthright.' 'Know then, O Emir,' quoth the man, 'that I am a
+sweep who works in the sheep- slaughterhouses and carries off the blood and the
+offal to the rubbish-heaps outside the gates. And it came to pass as I went
+along one day with my ass loaded, I saw the people running away and one of them
+said to me, 'Enter this alley, lest haply they slay thee.' Quoth I, 'What
+aileth the folk running away?' and one of the eunuchs, who were passing, said
+to me, 'This is the Harim[FN#183] of one of the notables and her eunuchs drive
+the people out of her way and beat them all, without respect to persons.' So I
+turned aside with the donkey'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the man, "So I
+turned aside with the donkey and stood still awaiting the dispersal of the
+crowd; and I saw a number of eunuchs with staves in their hands, followed by
+nigh thirty women slaves, and amongst them a lady as she were a willow-wand or
+a thirsty gazelle, perfect in beauty and grace and amorous languor, and all
+were attending upon her. Now when she came to the mouth of the passage where I
+stood, she turned right and left and, calling one of the Castratos, whispered
+in his ear; and behold, he came up to me and laid hold of me, whilst another
+eunuch took my ass and made off with it. And when the spectators fled, the
+first eunuch bound me with a rope and dragged me after him till I knew not what
+to do; and the people followed us and cried out, saying, 'This is not allowed
+of Allah! What hath this poor scavenger done that he should be bound with
+ropes?' and praying the eunuchs, 'Have pity on him and let him go, so Allah
+have pity on you!' And I the while said in my mind, 'Doubtless the eunuchry
+seized me, because their mistress smelt the stink of the offal and it sickened
+her. Belike she is with child or ailing; but there is no Majesty and there is
+no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!' So I continued walking on
+behind them, till they stopped at the door of a great house; and, entering
+before me, brought me into a big hall—I know not how I shall describe its
+magnificence—furnished with the finest furniture. And the women also entered
+the hall; and I bound and held by the eunuch and saying to myself, 'Doubtless
+they will torture me here till I die and none know of my death.' However, after
+a while, they carried me into a neat bath-room leading out of the hall; and as
+I sat there, behold, in came three slave-girls who seated themselves round me
+and said to me, 'Strip off thy rags and tatters.' So I pulled off my threadbare
+clothes and one of them fell a-rubbing my legs and feet whilst another scrubbed
+my head and a third shampooed my body. When they had made an end of washing me,
+they brought me a parcel of clothes and said to me, 'Put these on'; and I
+answered, 'By Allah, I know not how!' So they came up to me and dressed me,
+laughing together at me the while; after which they brought casting-bottles
+full of rose-water, and sprinkled me therewith. Then I went out with them into
+another saloon; by Allah, I know not how to praise its splendour for the wealth
+of paintings and furniture therein; and entering it, I saw a person seated on a
+couch of Indian rattan"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
+say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the sweep continued,
+"When I entered that saloon I saw a person seated on a couch of Indian rattan,
+with ivory feet and before her a number of damsels. When she saw me she rose to
+me and called me; so I went up to her and she seated me by her side. Then she
+bade her slave-girls bring food, and they brought all manner of rich meats,
+such as I never saw in all my life; I do not even know the names of the dishes,
+much less their nature. So I ate my fill and when the dishes had been taken
+away and we had washed our hands, she called for fruits which came without stay
+or delay and ordered me eat of them; and when we had ended eating she bade one
+of the waiting-women bring the wine furniture. So they set on flagons of divers
+kinds of wine and burned perfumes in all the censers, what while a damsel like
+the moon rose and served us with wine to the sound of the smitten strings; and
+I drank, and the lady drank, till we were seized with wine and the whole time I
+doubted not but that all this was an illusion of sleep. Presently, she signed
+to one of the damsels to spread us a bed in such a place, which being done, she
+rose and took me by the hand and led me thither, and lay down and I lay with
+her till the morning, and as often as I pressed her to my breast I smelt the
+delicious fragrance of musk and other perfumes that exhaled from her and could
+not think otherwise but that I was in Paradise or in the vain phantasies of a
+dream. Now when it was day, she asked me where I lodged and I told her, 'In
+such a place;' whereupon she gave me leave to depart, handing to me a kerchief
+worked with gold and silver and containing somewhat tied in it, and took leave
+of me, saying, 'Go to the bath with this.' I rejoiced and said to myself, 'If
+there be but five coppers here, it will buy me this day my morning meal.' Then
+I left her, as though I were leaving Paradise, and returned to my poor crib
+where I opened the kerchief and found in it fifty miskals of gold. So I buried
+them in the ground and, buying two farthings' worth of bread and
+'kitchen,'[FN#184] seated me at the door and broke my fast; after which I sat
+pondering my case and continued so doing till the time of afternoon, prayer,
+when lo! a slave-girl accosted me saying, 'My mistress calleth for thee.' I
+followed her to the house aforesaid and, after asking permission, she carried
+me into the lady, before whom I kissed the ground, and she commanded me to sit
+and called for meat and wine as on the previous day; after which I again lay
+with her all night. On the morrow, she gave me a second kerchief, with other
+fifty dinars therein, and I took it and going home, buried this also. In such
+pleasant condition I continued eight days running, going in to her at the hour
+of afternoon prayer and leaving her at daybreak; but, on the eighth night, as I
+lay with her, behold, one of her slave-girls came running in and said to me,
+'Arise, go up into yonder closet.' So I rose and went into the closet, which
+was over the gate, and presently I heard a great clamour and tramp of horse;
+and, looking out of the window which gave on the street in front of the house,
+I saw a young man as he were the rising moon on the night of fulness come
+riding up attended by a number of servants and soldiers who were about him on
+foot. He alighted at the door and entering the saloon found the lady seated on
+the couch; so he kissed the ground between her hands then came up to her and
+kissed her hands; but she would not speak to him. However, he continued
+patiently to humble himself, and soothe her and speak her fair, till he made
+his peace with her, and they lay together that night."—And Shahrazed perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the scavenger continued,
+"Now when her husband had made his peace with the young lady, he lay with her
+that night; and next morning, the soldiers came for him and he mounted and rode
+away; whereupon she drew near to me and said, 'Sawst thou yonder man?' I
+answered, 'Yes;' and she said, 'He is my husband, and I will tell thee what
+befell me with him. It came to pass one day that we were sitting, he and I, in
+the garden within the house, and behold, he rose from my side and was absent a
+long while, till I grew tired of waiting and said to myself: Most like, he is
+in the privy. So I arose and went to the water-closet, but not finding him
+there, went down to the kitchen, where I saw a slave-girl; and when I enquired
+for him, she showed him to me lying with one of the cookmaids. Hereupon, I
+swore a great oath that I assuredly would do adultery with the foulest and
+filthiest man in Baghdad; and the day the eunuch laid hands on thee, I had been
+four days going round about the city in quest of one who should answer to this
+description, but found none fouler nor filthier than thy good self. So I took
+thee and there passed between us that which Allah fore ordained to us; and now
+I am quit of my oath.' Then she added, 'If, however, my husband return yet
+again to the cookmaid and lie with her, I will restore thee to thy lost place
+in my favours.' Now when I heard these words from her lips, what while she
+pierced my heart with the shafts of her glances, my tears streamed forth, till
+my eyelids were chafed sore with weeping, and I repeated the saying of the
+poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Grant me the kiss of that left hand ten times; * And learn it<br/>
+
+hath than right hand higher grade;[FN#185]<br/>
+
+For 'tis but little since that same left hand * Washed off Sir<br/>
+
+Reverence when ablution made.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she made them give me other fifty dinars (making in all four hundred gold
+pieces I had of her) and bade me depart. So I went out from her and came
+hither, that I might pray Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) to make her
+husband return to the cookmaid, that haply I might be again admitted to her
+favours.' When the Emir of the pilgrims heard the man's story, he set him free
+and said to the bystanders, 'Allah upon you, pray for him, for indeed he is
+excusable.'" And men also tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap14"></a>THE MOCK CALIPH.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is related that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was one night restless with
+extreme restlessness, so he summoned his Wazir Ja'afar the Barmecide, and said
+to him, "My breast is straitened and I have a desire to divert myself to-night
+by walking about the streets of Baghdad and looking into folks' affairs; but
+with this precaution that we disguise ourselves in merchants' gear, so none
+shall know us." He answered, "Hearkening and obedience." They rose at once and
+doffing the rich raiment they wore, donned merchants' habits and sallied forth
+three in number, the Caliph, Ja'afar and Masrur the sworder. Then they walked
+from place to place, till they came to the Tigris and saw an old man sitting in
+a boat; so they went up to him and saluting him, said, "O Shaykh, we desire
+thee of thy kindness and favour to carry us a- pleasuring down the river, in
+this thy boat, and take this dinar to thy hire."—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when they said to the old
+man, "We desire thee to carry us a-pleasuring in this thy boat and take this
+dinar;" he answered, "Who may go a- pleasuring on the Tigris? The Caliph Harun
+al-Rashid every night cometh down Tigris stream in his state-barge[FN#186] and
+with him one crying aloud: 'Ho, ye people all, great and small, gentle and
+simple, men and boys, whoso is found in a boat on the Tigris by night, I will
+strike off his head or hang him to the mast of his craft!' And ye had well nigh
+met him; for here cometh his carrack." But the Caliph and Ja'afar said, "O
+Shaykh, take these two dinars, and run us under one of yonder arches, that we
+may hide there till the Caliph's barge have passed." The old man replied, "Hand
+over your gold and rely we on Allah, the Almighty!" So he took the two dinars
+and embarked them in the boat; and he put off and rowed about with them awhile,
+when behold, the barge came down the river in mid-stream, with lighted
+flambeaux and cressets flaming therein. Quoth the old man, "Did not I tell you
+that the Caliph passed along the river every night?"; and ceased not muttering,
+"O Protector, remove not the veils of Thy protection!" Then he ran the boat
+under an arch and threw a piece of black cloth over the Caliph and his
+companions, who looked out from under the covering and saw, in the bows of the
+barge, a man holding in hand a cresset of red gold which he fed with Sumatran
+lign-aloes and the figure was clad in a robe of red satin, with a narrow
+turband of Mosul shape round on his head, and over one of his shoulders hung a
+sleeved cloak[FN#187] of cramoisy satin, and on the other was a green silk bag
+full of the aloes-wood, with which he fed the cresset by way of firewood. And
+they sighted in the stern another man, clad like the first and bearing a like
+cresset, and in the barge were two hundred white slaves, standing ranged to the
+right and left; and in the middle a throne of red gold, whereon sat a handsome
+young man, like the moon, clad in a dress of black, embroidered with yellow
+gold. Before him they beheld a man, as he were the Wazir Ja'afar, and at his
+head stood an eunuch, as he were Masrur, with a drawn sword in his hand;
+besides a score of cup-companions. Now when the Caliph saw this, he turned and
+said, "O Ja'afar," and the Minister replied, "At thy service, O Prince of True
+Believers." Then quoth the Caliph, "Belike this is one of my sons, Al Amin or
+Al-Maamun." Then he examined the young man who sat on the throne and finding
+him perfect in beauty and loveliness and stature and symmetric grace, said to
+Ja'afar, "Verily, this young man abateth nor jot nor tittle of the state of the
+Caliphate! See, there standeth before him one as he were thyself, O Ja'afar;
+yonder eunuch who standeth at his head is as he were Masrur and those courtiers
+as they were my own. By Allah, O Ja'afar, my reason is confounded and I am
+filled with amazement this matter!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph saw this
+spectacle his reason was confounded and he cried, "By Allah, I am filled with
+amazement at this matter!" and Ja'afar replied, "And I also, by Allah, O
+Commander of the Faithful." Then the barge passed on and disappeared from sight
+whereupon the boatman pushed out again into the stream, saying, "Praised be
+Allah for safety, since none hath fallen in with us!" Quoth the Caliph, "O old
+man, doth the Caliph come down the Tigris-river every night?" The boatman
+answered, "Yes, O my lord; and on such wise hath he done every night this year
+past." "O Shaykh," rejoined Al-Rashid, "we wish thee of thy favour to await us
+here to-morrow night and we will give thee five golden dinars, for we are
+stranger folk, lodging in the quarter Al-Khandak, and we have a mind to divert
+ourselves." Said the oldster, "With joy and good will!" Then the Caliph and
+Ja'afar and Masrur left the boatman and returned to the palace; where they
+doffed their merchants' habits and, donning their apparel of state, sat down
+each in his several-stead; and came the Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and
+Officers, and the Divan assembled and was crowded as of custom. But when day
+ended and all the folk had dispersed and wended each his own way, the Caliph
+said to his Wazir, "Rise, O Ja'afar, let us go and amuse ourselves by looking
+on the second Caliph." At this, Ja'afar and Masrur laughed, and the three,
+donning merchants' habits, went forth by a secret pastern and made their way
+through the city, in great glee, till they came to the Tigris, where they found
+the graybeard sitting and awaiting them. They embarked with him in the boat and
+hardly had they sat down before up came the mock Caliph's barge; and, when they
+looked at it attentively, they saw therein two hundred Mamelukes other than
+those of the previous night, while the link- bearers cried aloud as of wont.
+Quoth the Caliph, "O Wazir, had I heard tell of this, I had not believed it;
+but I have seen it with my own sight." Then said he to the boatman, "Take, O
+Shaykh' these ten dinars and row us along abreast of them, for they are in the
+light and we in the shade, and we can see them and amuse ourselves by looking
+on them, but they cannot see us." So the man took the money and pushing off ran
+abreast of them in the shadow of the barge,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun
+al-Rashid said to the old man, "Take these ten dinars and row us abreast of
+them;" to which he replied, "I hear and I obey." And he fared with them and
+ceased not going in the blackness of the barge, till they came amongst the
+gardens that lay alongside of them and sighted a large walled enclosure; and
+presently, the barge cast anchor before a postern door, where they saw servants
+standing with a she mule saddled and bridled. Here the mock Caliph landed and,
+mounting the mule, rode away with his courtiers and his cup-companions preceded
+by the cresset-bearers crying aloud, and followed by his household which busied
+itself in his service. Then Harun al-Rashid, Ja'afar and Masrur landed also
+and, making their way through the press of servants, walked on before them.
+Presently, the cresset-bearers espied them and seeing three persons in
+merchants' habits, and strangers to the country, took offense at them; so they
+pointed them out and brought them before the other Caliph, who looked at them
+and asked, "How came ye to this place and who brought you at this tide?" They
+answered, "O our lord, we are foreign merchants and far from our homes, who
+arrived here this day and were out a- walking to-night, and behold, ye came up
+and these men laid hands on us and brought us to thy presence; and this is all
+our story." Quoth the mock Caliph, "Since ye be stranger folk no harm shall
+befall you; but had ye been of Baghdad, I had struck off your heads." Then he
+turned to his Wazir and said to him, "Take these men with thee; for they are
+our guests to-night." "To hear is to obey, O our lord," answered he; and they
+companied him till they came to a lofty and splendid palace set upon the
+firmest base; no Sultan possesseth such a place; rising from the dusty mould
+and upon the merges of the clouds laying hold. Its door was of Indian teak-wood
+inlaid with gold that glowed; and through it one passed into a royal-hall in
+whose midst was a jetting fount girt by a raised estrade. It was provided with
+carpets and cushions of brocade and small pillows and long settees and hanging
+curtains; it was furnished with a splendour that dazed the mind and dumbed the
+tongue, and upon the door were written these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A Palace whereon be blessings and praise! * Which with all their<br/>
+
+     beauty have robed the Days:<br/>
+
+Where marvels and miracle-sights abound, * And to write its<br/>
+
+     honours the pen affrays."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The false Caliph entered with his company, and sat down on a throne of gold set
+with jewels and covered with a prayer carpet of yellow silk; whilst the
+boon-companions took their seats and the sword bearer of high works stood
+before him. Then the tables were laid and they ate; after which the dishes were
+removed and they washed their hands and the wine-service was set on with
+flagons and bowls in due order. The cup went round till it came to the Caliph,
+Harun al-Rashid, who refused the draught, and the mock Caliph said to Ja'afar,
+"What mattereth thy friend that he drinketh not?" He replied, "O my lord,
+indeed 'tis a long while he hath drunk naught of this." Quoth the sham Caliph,
+"I have drink other than this, a kind of apple-wine,[FN#188] that will suit thy
+companion." So he bade them bring the cider which they did forthright; when the
+false Caliph, coming up to Harun al-Rashid, said to him, "As often as it cometh
+to thy turn drink thou of this." Then they continued to drink and make merry
+and pass the cup till the wine rose to their brains and mastered their
+wits;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the false Caliph and his
+co sitters sat at their cups and gave not over drinking till the wine rose to
+their brains and mastered their wits; and Harun al-Rashid said to the Minister,
+"O Ja'afar, by Allah, we have no such vessels as these. Would to Heaven I knew
+what manner of man this youth is!" But while they were talking privily the
+young man cast a glance upon them and seeing the Wazir whisper the Caliph said,
+"'Tis rude to whisper." He replied, "No rudeness was meant: this my friend did
+but say to me, 'Verily I have travelled in most countries and have caroused
+with the greatest of Kings and I have companied with noble captains; yet never
+saw I a goodlier ordering than this entertainment nor passed a more delightful
+night; save that the people of Baghdad are wont to say, Wine without music
+often leaves you sick.'"When the second Caliph heard this, he smiled pleasantly
+and struck with a rod he had in his hand a round gong;[FN#189] and behold, a
+door opened and out came a eunuch, bearing a chair of ivory, inlaid with gold
+glittering fiery red and followed by a damsel of passing beauty and loveliness,
+symmetry and grace. He set down the chair and the damsel seated herself on it,
+as she were the sun shining sheen in a sky serene. In her hand she had a lute
+of Hindu make, which she laid in her lap and bent down over it as a mother
+bendeth over her little one, and sang to it, after a prelude in four-and-twenty
+modes, amazing all wits. Then she returned to the first mode and to a lively
+measure chanted these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Love's tongue within my heart speaks plain to thee, * Telling<br/>
+
+     thee clearly I am fain of thee<br/>
+
+Witness the fevers of a tortured heart, * And ulcered eyelid<br/>
+
+     tear-flood rains for thee<br/>
+
+God's fate o'ertaketh all created things! * I knew not love till<br/>
+
+     learnt Love's pain of thee."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the mock Caliph heard these lines sung by the damsel, he cried with a
+great cry and rent his raiment to the very skirt, whereupon they let down a
+curtain over him and brought him a fresh robe, handsomer than the first. He put
+it on and sat as before, till the cup came round to him, when he struck the
+gong a second time and lo! a door opened and out of it came a eunuch with a
+chair of gold, followed by a damsel fairer than the first, bearing a lute, such
+as would strike the envious mute. She sat down on the chair and sang to her
+instrument these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How patient bide, with love in sprite of me, * And tears in<br/>
+
+     tempest[FN#190] blinding sight of me?<br/>
+
+By Allah, life has no delight of me! * How gladden heart whose<br/>
+
+     core is blight of me?"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No sooner had the youth heard this poetry than he cried out with a loud cry and
+rent his raiment to the skirt: whereupon they let down the curtain over him and
+brought him another suit of clothes. He put it on and, sitting up as before,
+fell again to cheerful talk, till the cup came round to him, when he smote once
+more upon the gong and out came a eunuch with a chair, followed by a damsel
+fairer than she who forewent her. So she sat down on the chair, with a lute in
+her hand, and sang thereto these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cease ye this farness; 'bate this pride of you, * To whom my<br/>
+
+     heart clings, by life-tide of you!<br/>
+
+Have ruth on hapless, mourning, lover-wretch, * Desire-full,<br/>
+
+     pining, passion-tried of you:<br/>
+
+Sickness hath wasted him, whose ecstasy * Prays Heaven it may be<br/>
+
+     satisfied of you:<br/>
+
+Oh fullest moons[FN#191] that dwell in deepest heart! * How can I<br/>
+
+     think of aught by side of you?"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the young man heard these couplets, he cried out with a great cry and
+rent his raiment, whereupon they let fall the curtain over him and brought him
+other robes. Then he returned to his former case with his boon-companions and
+the bowl went round as before, till the cup came to him, when he struck the
+gong a fourth time and the door opening, out came a page-boy bearing a chair
+followed by a damsel. He set the chair for her and she sat down thereon and
+taking the lute, tuned it and sang to it these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When shall disunion and estrangement end? * When shall my bygone<br/>
+
+     joys again be kenned?<br/>
+
+Yesterday we were joined in same abode; * Conversing heedless of<br/>
+
+     each envious friend:[FN#192]<br/>
+
+Trickt us that traitor Time, disjoined our lot * And our waste<br/>
+
+     home to desert fate condemned:<br/>
+
+Wouldst have me, Grumbler! from my dearling fly? * I find my<br/>
+
+     vitals blame will not perpend:<br/>
+
+Cease thou to censure; leave me to repine; * My mind e'er findeth<br/>
+
+     thoughts that pleasure lend.<br/>
+
+O Lords[FN#193] of me who brake our troth and plight, * Deem not<br/>
+
+     to lose your hold of heart and sprite!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried out with a loud outcry
+and rent his raiment,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
+her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, When the false Caliph heard the girl's song, he cried with a loud
+outcry and rent his raiment and fell to the ground fainting; whereupon they
+would have let down the curtain over him, as of custom; but its cords stuck
+fast and Harun al-Rashid, after considering him carefully, saw on his body the
+marks of beating with palm-rods and said to Ja'afar, "By Allah, he is a
+handsome youth, but a foul thief!" "Whence knowest thou that, O Commander of
+the Faithful?" asked Ja'afar, and the Caliph answered, "Sawest thou not the
+whip-scars on his ribs?" Then they let fall the curtain over him and brought
+him a fresh dress, which he put on and sat up as before with his courtiers and
+cup- companions. Presently he saw the Caliph and Ja'afar whispering together
+and said to them, "What is the matter, fair sirs?" Quoth Ja'afar, "O my lord,
+all is well,[FN#194] save that this my comrade, who (as is not unknown to thee)
+is of the merchant company and hath visited all the great cities and countries
+of the world and hath consorted with kings and men of highest consideration,
+saith to me: 'Verily, that which our lord the Caliph hath done this night is
+beyond measure extravagant, never saw I any do the like doings in any country;
+for he hath rent such and such dresses, each worth a thousand dinars and this
+is surely excessive unthriftiness.'" Replied the second Caliph, "Ho thou, the
+money is my money and the stuff my stuff, and this is by way of largesse to my
+suite and servants; for each suit that is rent belongeth to one of my
+cup-companions here present, and I assign to them with each suit of clothes the
+sum of five hundred dinars." The Wazir Ja'afar replied, "Well is whatso thou
+doest, O our lord," and recited these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Virtue in hand of thee hath built a house, * And to mankind thou<br/>
+
+     dost thy wealth expose:<br/>
+
+If an the virtues ever close their doors, * That hand would be a<br/>
+
+     key the lock to unclose."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the young man heard these verses recited by the Minister Ja'afar, he
+ordered him to be gifted with a thousand dinars and a dress of honour. Then the
+cup went round among them and the wine was sweet to them; but, after a while
+quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, "Ask him of the marks on his sides, that we may
+see what he will say by way of reply." Answered Ja'afar, "Softly, O my lord, be
+not hasty and soothe thy mind, for patience is more becoming." Rejoined the
+Caliph, "By the life of my head and by the revered tomb of Al Abbas,[FN#195]
+except thou ask him, I will assuredly stop thy breath!" With this the young man
+turned towards the Minister and said to him, "What aileth thee and thy friend
+to be whispering together? Tell me what is the matter with you." "It is nothing
+save good," replied Ja'afar; but the mock Caliph rejoined, "I conjure thee, by
+Allah, tell me what aileth you and hide from me nothing of your case." Answered
+the Wazir "O my lord, verily this one here saw on thy sides the marks of
+beating with whips and palm-fronds and marvelled thereat with exceeding marvel,
+saying, 'How came the Caliph to be beaten?'; and he would fain know the cause
+of this." Now when the youth heard this, he smiled and said, "Know ye that my
+story is wondrous and my case marvellous; were it graven with needles on the
+eye corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be warned." And he
+sighed and repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Strange is my story, passing prodigy; * By Love I swear, my ways<br/>
+
+     wax strait on me!<br/>
+
+An ye desire to hear me, listen, and * Let all in this assembly<br/>
+
+     silent be.<br/>
+
+Heed ye my words which are of meaning deep, * Nor lies my speech;<br/>
+
+     'tis truest verity.<br/>
+
+I'm slain[FN#196] by longing and by ardent love; * My slayer's<br/>
+
+     the pearl of fair virginity.<br/>
+
+She hath a jet black eye like Hindi blade, * And bowиd eyebrows<br/>
+
+     shoot her archery<br/>
+
+My heart assures me our Imam is here, * This age's Caliph, old<br/>
+
+     nobility:<br/>
+
+Your second, Ja'afar highs, is his Wazir; * A Sahib,[FN#197]<br/>
+
+     Sahib-son of high degree:<br/>
+
+The third is called Masrur who wields the sword: * Now, if in<br/>
+
+     words of mine some truth you see<br/>
+
+I have won every wish by this event * Which fills my heart with<br/>
+
+     joy and gladdest greet"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they heard these words Ja'afar swore to him an ambiguous oath that they
+were not those he named, whereupon he laughed and said: "Know, O my lords, that
+I am not the Commander of the Faithful and that I do but style myself thus, to
+win my will of the sons of the city. My true name is Mohammed Ali, son of Ali
+the Jeweller, and my father was one of the notables of Baghdad, who left me
+great store of gold and silver and pearls and coral and rubies and chrysolites
+and other jewels, besides messuages and lands, Hammam-baths and brickeries,
+orchards and flower- gardens. Now as I sat in my shop one day surrounded by my
+eunuchs and dependents, behold, there came up a young lady, mounted on a
+she-mule and attended by three damsels like moons. Riding up to my shop she
+alighted and seated herself by my side and said 'Art thou Mohammed the
+Jeweller?' Replied I, 'Even so! I am he, thy Mameluke, thy chattel.' She asked,
+'Hast thou a necklace of jewels fit for me?' and I answered, 'O my lady, I will
+show thee what I have; and lay all before thee and, if any please thee, it will
+be of thy slave's good luck; if they please thee not, of his ill fortune.' Now
+I had by me an hundred necklaces and showed them all to her; but none of them
+pleased her and she said, 'I want a better than those I have seen.' I had a
+small necklace which my father had bought at an hundred thousand dinars and
+whose like was not to be found with any of the great kings; so I said to her,
+'O my lady, I have yet one necklace of fine stones fit for bezels, the like of
+which none possesseth, great or small. Said she, Show it to me,' so I showed it
+to her, and she said, 'This is what I wanted and what I have wished for all my
+life;' adding, 'What is its price?' Quoth I, 'It cost my father an hundred
+thousand dinars;' and she said, 'I will give thee five thousand dinars to thy
+profit.' I answered, 'O my lady, the necklace and its owner are at thy service
+and I cannot gainsay thee.' But she rejoined, 'Needs must thou have the profit,
+and I am still most grateful to thee.' Then she rose without stay or delay;
+and, mounting the mule in haste, said to me, 'O my lord, in Allah's name,
+favour us with thy company to receive the money; for this thy day with us is
+white as milk.'[FN#198] So I shut the shop and accompanied her, in all
+security, till we came to a house, on which were manifest the signs of wealth
+and rank; for its door was wrought with gold and silver and ultramarine, and
+thereon were written these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hole, thou mansion! woe ne'er enter thee; * Nor be thine owner<br/>
+
+     e'er misused of Fate<br/>
+
+Excellent mansion to all guests art thou, * When other mansions<br/>
+
+     to the guest are strait.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young lady dismounted and entered the house, bidding me sit down on the
+bench at the gate, till the money-changer should arrive. So I sat awhile, when
+behold, a damsel came out to me and said, 'O my lord, enter the vestibule; for
+it is a dishonour that thou shouldst sit at the gate.' Thereupon I arose and
+entered the vestibule and sat down on the settle there, and, as I sat, lo!
+another damsel came out and said to me, 'O my lord my mistress biddeth thee
+enter and sit down at the door of the saloon, to receive thy money.' I entered
+and sat down, nor had I sat a moment when behold, a curtain of silk which
+concealed a throne of gold was drawn aside, and I saw seated thereon the lady
+who had made the purchase, and round her neck she wore the necklace which
+looked pale and wan by the side of a face as it were the rounded moon; At her
+sight, my wit was troubled and my mind confounded, by reason of her exceeding
+beauty and loveliness, but when she saw me she rose from her throne and coming
+close up to me, said, 'O light of mine eyes, is every handsome one like thee
+pitiless to his mistress?' I answered, 'O my lady, beauty, all of it, is in
+thee and is but one of thy hidden charms.' And she rejoined, 'O Jeweller, know
+that I love thee and can hardly credit that I have brought thee hither.' Then
+she bent towards me and I kissed her and she kissed me and, as she caressed me,
+drew me towards her and to her breast she pressed me."—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Jeweller continued:
+"Then she bent towards me and kissed and caressed me; and, as she caressed me,
+drew me towards her and to her breast she pressed me. Now she knew by my
+condition that I had a mind to enjoy her; so she said to me, 'O my lord,
+wouldst thou foregather with me unlawfully? By Allah, may he not live who would
+do the like of this sin and who takes pleasure in talk unclean! I am a maid, a
+virgin whom no man hath approached, nor am I unknown in the city. Knowest thou
+who I am?' Quoth I, 'No, by Allah, O my lady!'; and quoth she, 'I am the Lady
+Dunyб, daughter of Yбhyб bin Khбlid the Barmecide and sister of Ja'afar, Wazir
+to the Caliph.' Now as I heard this, I drew back from her, saying, 'O my lady,
+it is no fault of mine if I have been over- bold with thee; it was thou didst
+encourage me to aspire to thy love, by giving me access to thee.' She answered,
+'No harm shall befal-thee, and needs must thou attain thy desire in the only
+way pleasing to Allah. I am my own mistress and the Kazi shall act as my
+guardian in consenting to the marriage contract; for it is my will that I be to
+thee wife and thou be to me man.' Then she sent for the Kazi and the witnesses
+and busied herself with making ready; and, when they came, she said to them,
+'Mohammed Ali, bin Ali the Jeweller, seeketh me in wedlock and hath given me
+the necklace to my marriage-settlement; and I accept and consent.' So they
+wrote out the contract of marriage between us; and ere I went in to her the
+servants brought the wine-furniture and the cups passed round after the fairest
+fashion and the goodliest ordering; and, when the wine mounted to our heads,
+she ordered a damsel, a lute-player,[FN#199] to sing. So she took the lute and
+sang to a pleasing and stirring motive these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He comes; and fawn and branch and moon delight these eyne *<br/>
+
+     Fie[FN#200] on his heart who sleeps o' nights without repine<br/>
+
+Pair youth, for whom Heaven willed to quench in cheek one light,<br/>
+
+     * And left another light on other cheek bright li'en:<br/>
+
+I fain finesse my chiders when they mention him, * As though the<br/>
+
+     hearing of his name I would decline;<br/>
+
+And willing ear I lend when they of other speak; * Yet would my<br/>
+
+     soul within outflow in foods of brine:<br/>
+
+Beauty's own prophet, he is all a miracle * Of heavenly grace,<br/>
+
+     and greatest shows his face for sign.[FN#201]<br/>
+
+To prayer Bilбl-like cries that Mole upon his cheek * To ward<br/>
+
+     from pearly brow all eyes of ill design:[FN#202]<br/>
+
+The censors of their ignorance would my love dispel * But after<br/>
+
+     Faith I can't at once turn Infidel.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were ravished by the sweet music she made striking the strings, and the
+beauty of the verses she sang; and the other damsels went on to sing and to
+recite one after another, till ten had so done; when the Lady Dunya took the
+lute and playing a lively measure, chanted these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I swear by swayings of that form so fair, * Aye from thy parting<br/>
+
+     fiery<br/>
+
+Pity a heart which burneth in thy love, * O bright as fullest<br/>
+
+     moon in blackest air!<br/>
+
+Vouchsafe thy boons to him who ne'er will cease * In light of<br/>
+
+     wine-cup all thy charms declare,<br/>
+
+Amid the roses which with varied hues * Are to the myrtle-<br/>
+
+    bush[FN#203] a mere despair.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she had finished her verse I took the lute from her hands and, playing a
+quaint and not vulgar prelude sang the following verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Laud to my Lord who gave thee all of loveliness; * Myself amid<br/>
+
+     thy thralls I willingly confess:<br/>
+
+O thou, whose eyes and glances captivate mankind, * Pray that I<br/>
+
+     'scape those arrows shot with all thy stress!<br/>
+
+Two hostile rivals water and enflaming fire * Thy cheek hath<br/>
+
+     married, which for marvel I profess:<br/>
+
+Thou art Sa'нr in heart of me and eke Na'нm;[FN#204] * Thou agro-<br/>
+
+    dolce, eke heart's sweetest bitterness.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she heard this my song she rejoiced with exceeding joy; then, dismissing
+her slave women, she brought me to a most goodly place, where they had spread
+us a bed of various colours. She did off her clothes and I had a lover's
+privacy of her and found her a pearl unpierced and a filly unridden. So I
+rejoiced in her and never in my born days spent I a more delicious night."—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed bin Ali the
+Jeweller continued: "So I went in unto the Lady Dunya, daughter of Yahya bin
+Khбlid the Barmecide, and I found her a pearl unthridden and a filly unridden.
+So I rejoiced in her and repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O Night here stay! I want no morning light; * My lover's face to<br/>
+
+     me is lamp and light:[FN#205]<br/>
+
+As ring of ring-dove round his necks my arm; * And made my palm<br/>
+
+     his mouth-veil, and, twas right.<br/>
+
+This be the crown of bliss, and ne'er we'll cease * To clip, nor<br/>
+
+     care to be in other plight.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And I abode with her a whole month, forsaking shop and family and home, till
+one day she said to me, 'O light of my eyes, O my lord Mohammed, I have
+determined to go to the Hammam to day; so sit thou on this couch and rise not
+from thy place, till I return to thee.' 'I hear and I obey,' answered I, and
+she made me swear to this; after which she took her women and went off to the
+bath. But by Allah, O my brothers, she had not reached the head of the street
+ere the door opened and in came an old woman, who said to me, 'O my lord
+Mohammed, the Lady Zubaydah biddeth thee to her, for she hath heard of thy fine
+manners and accomplishments and skill in singing.' I answered, 'By Allah, I
+will not rise from my place till the Lady Dunya come back.' Rejoined the old
+woman, 'O my lord, do not anger the Lady Zubaydah with thee and vex her so as
+to make her thy foe: nay, rise up and speak with her and return to thy place.'
+So I rose at once and followed her into the presence of the Lady Zubaydah and,
+when I entered her presence she said to me, 'O light of the eye, art thou the
+Lady Dunya's beloved?' 'I am thy Mameluke, thy chattel,' replied I. Quoth she,
+'Sooth spake he who reported thee possessed of beauty and grace and good
+breeding and every fine quality; indeed, thou surpassest all praise and all
+report. But now sing to me, that I may hear thee.' Quoth I, 'Hearkening and
+obedience;' so she brought me a lute, and I sang to it these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The hapless lover's heart is of his wooing weary grown, * And<br/>
+
+     hand of sickness wasted him till naught but skin and bone<br/>
+
+Who should be amid the riders which the haltered camels urge, *<br/>
+
+     But that same lover whose beloved cloth in the litters wone:<br/>
+
+To Allah's charge I leave that moon-like Beauty in your tents *<br/>
+
+     Whom my heart loves, albe my glance on her may ne'er be<br/>
+
+     thrown.<br/>
+
+Now she is fain; then she is fierce: how sweet her coyness shows;<br/>
+
+     * Yea sweet whatever cloth or saith to lover loved one!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I had finished my song she said to me, 'Allah assain thy body and thy
+voice! Verily, thou art perfect in beauty and good breeding and singing. But
+now rise and return to thy place, ere the Lady Dunya come back, lest she find
+thee not and be wroth with thee.' Then I kissed the ground before her and the
+old woman forewent me till I reached the door whence I came. So I entered and,
+going up to the couch, found that my wife had come back from the bath and was
+lying asleep there. Seeing this I sat down at her feet and rubbed them;
+whereupon she opened her eyes and seeing me, drew up both her feet and gave me
+a kick that threw me off the couch,[FN#206] saying, 'O traitor, thou hast been
+false to thine oath and hast perjured thyself. Thou swarest to me that thou
+wouldst not rise from thy place; yet didst thou break thy promise and go to the
+Lady Zubaydah. By Allah, but that I fear public scandal, I would pull down her
+palace over her head!' Then said she to her black slave, 'O Sawбb, arise and
+strike off this lying traitor's head, for we have no further need of him.' So
+the slave came up to me and, tearing a strip from his skirt, bandaged with it
+my eyes[FN#207] and would have struck off my head;"—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Mohammed the Jeweller
+continued: "So the slave came up to me and, tearing a strip from his skirt,
+bandaged with it my eyes and would have struck off my head, but all her women,
+great and small, rose and came up to her and said to her, 'O our lady, this is
+not the first who hath erred: indeed, he knew not thy humour and hath done thee
+no offence deserving death.' Replied she, 'By Allah, I must needs set my mark
+on him.' And she bade them bash me; so they beat me on my ribs and the marks ye
+saw are the scars of that fustigation. Then she ordered them to cast me out,
+and they carried me to a distance from the house and threw me down like a log.
+After a time I rose and dragged myself little by little to my own place, where
+I sent for a surgeon and showed him my hurts; and he comforted me and did his
+best to cure me. As soon as I was recovered I went to the Hammam and, as my
+pains and sickness had left me, I repaired to my shop and took and sold all
+that was therein. With the proceeds, I bought me four hundred white slaves,
+such as no King ever got together, and caused two hundred of them to ride out
+with me every day. Then I made me yonder barge whereon I spent five thousand
+gold pieces; and styled myself Caliph and appointed each of my servants to the
+charge of some one of the Caliph's officers and clad him in official habit.
+Moreover, I made proclamation, 'Whoso goeth a-pleasuring on the Tigris by
+night, I will strike off his head, without ruth or delay;' and on such wise
+have I done this whole year past, during which time I have heard no news of the
+lady neither happened upon any trace of her." Then wept he copiously and
+repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By Allah! while the days endure ne'er shall forget her I, * Nor<br/>
+
+     draw to any nigh save those who draw her to me nigh<br/>
+
+Like to the fullest moon her form and favour show to me, * Laud<br/>
+
+     to her All-creating Lord, laud to the Lord on high,<br/>
+
+She left me full of mourning, sleepless, sick with pine and pain<br/>
+
+     * And ceaseth not my heart to yearn her mystery[FN#208] to<br/>
+
+     espy."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when Harun al-Rashid heard the young man's story and knew the passion and
+transport and love lowe that afflicted him, he was moved to compassion and
+wonder and said, "Glory be to Allah, who hath appointed to every effect a
+cause!" Then they craved the young man's permission to depart; which being
+granted, they took leave of him, the Caliph purposing to do him justice meet,
+and him with the utmost munificence entreat; and they returned to the palace of
+the Caliphate, where they changed clothes for others befitting their state and
+sat down, whilst Masrur the Sworder of High Justice stood before them. After
+awhile, quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, "O Wazir, bring me the young man'—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the Caliph to his
+Minister, "Bring me the young man with whom we were last night." "I hear and
+obey," answered Ja'afar and, going to the youth, saluted him, saying, "Obey the
+summons of the Commander of the Faithful, the Caliph Harun al-Rashid." So he
+returned with him to the palace, in great anxiety by reason of the summons;
+and, going in to the King, kissed ground before him; and offered up a prayer
+for the endurance of his glory and prosperity, for the accomplishment of his
+desires, for the continuance of his beneficence and for the cessation of evil
+and punishment; ordering his speech as best he might and ending by saying,
+"Peace be on thee, O Prince of True Believers and Protector of the folk of the
+Faith!" Then he repeated these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Kiss thou his fingers which no fingers are; * Keys of our daily<br/>
+
+     bread those fingers ken:<br/>
+
+And praise his actions which no actions are, * But precious<br/>
+
+     necklaces round necks of men."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the Caliph smiled in his face and returned his salute, looking on him with
+the eye of favour; then he bade him draw near and sit down before him and said
+to him, "O Mohammed Ali, I wish thee to tell me what befel thee last night, for
+it was strange and passing strange." Quoth the youth, "Pardon, O Commander of
+the Faithful, give me the kerchief of immunity, that my dread may be appeased
+and my heart eased." Replied the Caliph, "I promise thee safety from fear and
+woes." So the young man told him his story from first to last, whereby the
+Caliph knew him to be a lover and severed from his beloved and said to him,
+"Desirest thou that I restore her to thee?" "This were of the bounty of the
+Commander of the Faithful," answered the youth and repeated these two couplets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ne'er cease thy gate be Ka'abah to mankind; * Long may its<br/>
+
+     threshold dust man's brow beseem!<br/>
+
+That o'er all countries it may be proclaimed, * This is the Place<br/>
+
+     and thou art Ibrahim."[FN#209]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereupon the Caliph turned to his Minister and said to him, "O Ja'afar, bring
+me thy sister, the Lady Dunya, daughter of the Wazir Yahya bin Khбlid!" "I hear
+and I obey," answered he and fetched her without let or delay. Now when she
+stood before the Caliph he said to her, "Doss thou know who this is?"; and she
+replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, how should women have knowledge of
+men?"[FN#210] So the Caliph smiled and said, "O Dunya this is thy beloved,
+Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller. We are acquainted with his case, for we have
+heard the whole story from beginning to end, and have apprehended its inward
+and its outward; and it is no more hidden from me, for all it was kept in
+secrecy." Replied she, "O Commander of the Faithful, this was written in the
+Book of Destiny; I crave the forgiveness of Almighty Allah for the wrong I have
+wrought, and pray thee to pardon me of thy favour." At this the Caliph laughed
+and, summoning the Kazi and witnesses, renewed the marriage-contract between
+the Lady Dunya and her husband, Mohammed Ali son of the Jeweller, whereby there
+betided them, both her and him the utmost felicity, and to their enviers
+mortification and misery. Moreover, he made Mohammed Ali one of his
+boon-companions, and they abode in joy and cheer and gladness, till there came
+to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies. And men also
+relate the pleasant tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap15"></a>ALI THE PERSIAN.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is said that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, being restless one night, sent for
+his Wazir and said to him, "O Ja'afar, I am sore wakeful and heavy-hearted this
+night, and I desire of thee what may solace my spirit and cause my breast to
+broaden with amuse meet." Quoth Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have a
+friend, by name Ali the Persian, who hath store of tales and plea sent stories,
+such as lighten the heart and make care depart." Quoth the Caliph, "Fetch him
+to me," and quoth Ja'afar, "Hearkening and obedience;" and, going out from
+before him, sent to seek Ali the Persian and when he came said to him, "Answer
+the summons of the Commander of the Faithful." "To hear is to obey," answered
+Ali;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian replied, "To
+hear is to obey;" and at once followed the Wazir into the presence of the
+Caliph who bade him be seated and said to him, "O Ali, my heart is heavy within
+me this night and it hath come to my ear that thou hast great store of tales
+and anecdotes; so I desire of thee that thou let me hear what will relieve my
+despondency and brighten my melancholy." Said he, "O Commander of the Faithful,
+shall I tell thee what I have seen with my eyes or what I have heard with my
+ears?" He replied, "An thou have seen aught worth the telling, let me hear
+that." Replied Ali: "Hearkening and obedience. Know thou, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that some years ago I left this my native city of Baghdad on a
+journey, having with me a lad who carried a light leathern bag. Presently we
+came to a certain city, where, as I was buying and selling, behold, a rascally
+Kurd fell on me and seized my wallet perforce, saying, 'This is my bag, and all
+which is in it is my property.' Thereupon, I cried aloud 'Ho Moslems,[FN#211]
+one and all, deliver me from the hand of the vilest of oppressors!' But the
+folk said, 'Come, both of you, to the Kazi and abide ye by his judgment with
+joint consent.' So I agreed to submit myself to such decision and we both
+presented ourselves before the Kazi, who said, 'What bringeth you hither and
+what is your case and your quarrel?' Quoth I, 'We are men at difference, who
+appeal to thee and make complaint and submit ourselves to thy judgment.' Asked
+the Kazi, 'Which of you is the complainant?'; so the Kurd came forward[FN#212]
+and said, 'Allah preserve our lord the Kazi! Verily, this bag is my bag and all
+that is in it is my swag. It was lost from me and I found it with this man mine
+enemy.' The Kazi asked, 'When didst thou lose it?'; and the Kurd answered, 'But
+yesterday, and I passed a sleepless night by reason of its loss.' 'An it be thy
+bag,' quoth the Kazi, 'tell me what is in it.' Quoth the Kurd, 'There were in
+my bag two silver styles for eye-powder and antimony for the eyes and a
+kerchief for the hands, wherein I had laid two gilt cups and two candlesticks.
+Moreover it contained two tents and two platters and two spoons and a cushion
+and two leather rugs and two ewers and a brass tray and two basins and a
+cooking-pot and two water- jars and a ladle and a sacking-needle and a she-cat
+and two bitches and a wooden trencher and two sacks and two saddles and a gown
+and two fur pelisses and a cow and two calves and a she-goat and two sheep and
+an ewe and two lambs and two green pavilions and a camel and two she-camels and
+a lioness and two lions and a she-bear and two jackals and a mattress and two
+sofas and an upper chamber and two saloons and a portico and two sitting-rooms
+and a kitchen with two doors and a company of Kurds who will bear witness that
+the bag is my bag.' Then said the Kazi to me, 'And thou, sirrah, what sayest
+thou?' So I came forward, O Commander of the Faithful (and indeed the Kurd's
+speech had bewildered me) and said, 'Allah advance our lord the Kazi! Verily,
+there was naught in this my wallet, save a little ruined tenement and another
+without a door and a dog house and a boys' school and youths playing dice and
+tents and tent-ropes and the cities of Bassorah and Baghdad and the palace of
+Shaddad bin Ad and an ironsmith's forge and a fishing-net and cudgels and
+pickets and girls and boys and a thousand pimps who will testify that the bag
+is my bag.' Now when the Kurd heard my words, he wept and wailed and said, 'O
+my lord the Kazi, this my bag is known and what is in it is a matter of renown;
+for in this bag there be castles and citadels and cranes and beasts of prey and
+men playing chess and draughts. Furthermore, in this my bag is a brood-mare and
+two colts and a stallion and two blood-steeds and two long lances; and it
+containeth eke a lion and two hares and a city and two villages and a whore and
+two sharking panders and an hermaphrodite and two gallows birds and a blind man
+and two wights with good sight and a limping cripple and two lameters and a
+Christian ecclesiastic and two deacons and a patriarch and two monks and a Kazi
+and two assessors, who will be evidence that the bag is my bag.' Quoth the Kazi
+to me, 'And what sayst thou, O Ali?' So, O Commander of the Faithful, being
+filled with rage, I came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi!'"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian continued:
+"So being filled with rage, O Commander of the Faithful, I came forward and
+said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi I had in this my wallet a coat of mail and
+a broadsword and armouries and a thousand fighting rams and a sheep-fold with
+its pasturage and a thousand barking dogs and gardens and vines and flowers and
+sweet smelling herbs and figs and apples and statues and pictures and flagons
+and goblets and fair-faced slave-girls and singing-women and marriage-feasts
+and tumult and clamour and great tracts of land and brothers of success, which
+were robbers, and a company of daybreak-raiders with swords and spears and bows
+and arrows and true friends and dear ones and Intimates and comrades and men
+imprisoned for punishment and cup-companions and a drum and flutes and flags
+and banners and boys and girls and brides (in all their wedding bravery), and
+singing-girls and five Abyssinian women and three Hindi maidens and four
+damsels of Al-Medinah and a score of Greek girls and eighty Kurdish dames and
+seventy Georgian ladies and Tigris and Euphrates and a fowling net and a flint
+and steel and Many-columned Iram and a thousand rogues and pimps and
+horse-courses and stables and mosques and baths and a builder and a carpenter
+and a plank and a nail and a black slave with his flageolet and a captain and a
+caravan leader and towns and cities and an hundred thousand dinars and Cufa and
+Anbбr[FN#213] and twenty chests full of stuffs and twenty storehouses for
+victuals and Gaza and Askalon and from Damietta to Al-Sawбn[FN#214]; and the
+palace of Kisra Anushirwan and the kingdom of Solomon and from Wadi Nu'umбn to
+the land of Khorasбn and Balkh and Ispahбn and from India to the Sudбn. Therein
+also (may Allah prolong the life of our lord the Kazi!) are doublets and cloths
+and a thousand sharp razors to shave off the Kazi's beard, except he fear my
+resentment and adjudge the bag to be my bag.' Now when the Kazi heard what I
+and the Kurd avouched, he was confounded and said, 'I see ye twain be none
+other than two pestilent fellows, atheistical-villains who make sport of Kazis
+and magistrates and stand not in fear of reproach. Never did tongue tell nor
+ear hear aught more extraordinary than that which ye pretend. By Allah, from
+China to Shajarat Umm Ghaylбn, nor from Fars to Sudan nor from Wadi Nu'uman to
+Khorasan, was ever heard the like of what ye avouch or credited the like of
+what ye affirm. Say, fellows, be this bag a bottomless sea or the Day of
+Resurrection that shall gather together the just and unjust?' Then the Kazi
+bade them open the bag; so I opened it and behold, there was in it bread and a
+lemon and cheese and olives. So I threw the bag down before the Kurd and ganged
+my gait." Now when the Caliph heard this tale from Ali the Persian, he laughed
+till he fell on his back and made him a handsome present.[FN#215] And men also
+relate a
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap16"></a>TALE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE SLAVE-GIRL AND THE IMAM ABU YUSUF.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is said that Ja'afar the Barmecide was one night carousing with Al Rashid,
+who said, "O Ja'afar, it hath reached me that thou hast bought such and such a
+slave-girl. Now I have long sought her for she is passing fair; and my heart is
+taken up with love of her, so do thou sell her to me." He replied, "I will not
+sell her, O Commander of the Faithful." Quoth he, "Then give her to me." Quoth
+the other, "Nor will I give her." Then Al-Rashid exclaimed, "Be Zubaydah triply
+divorced an thou shall not either sell or give her to me!" Then Ja'afar
+exclaimed, "Be my wife triply divorced an I either sell or give her to thee!"
+After awhile they recovered from their tipsiness and were aware of having
+fallen into a grave dilemma, but knew not by what device to extricate
+themselves. Then said Al-Rashid, "None can help us in this strait but AbÑŠ
+YÑŠsuf."[FN#216] So they sent for him, and this was in the middle of the night;
+and when the messenger reached him, he arose in alarm, saying to himself, "I
+should not be sent for at this tide and time, save by reason of some question
+of moment to Al-Islam." So he went out in haste and mounted his she-mule,
+saying to his servant, "Take the mule's nose-bag with thee; it may be she hath
+not finished her feed; and when we come to the Caliph's palace, put the bag on
+her, that she may eat what is left of her fodder, during the last of the
+night." And the man replied, "I hear and obey." Now when the Imam was admitted
+to the presence, Al-Rashid rose to receive him and seated him on the couch
+beside himself (where he was wont to seat none save the Kazi), and said to him,
+"We have not sent for thee at this untimely time and tide save to advise us
+upon a grave matter, which is such and such and wherewith we know not how to
+deal." And he expounded to him the case. Abu Yusuf answered, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, this is the easiest of things." Then he turned to Ja'afar and
+said, "O Ja'afar, sell half of her to the Commander of the Faithful and give
+him the other half; so shall ye both be quit of your oaths." The Caliph was
+delighted with this and both did as he prescribed. Then said Al-Rashid, "Bring
+me the girl at once,"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
+her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun
+al-Rashid commanded, "Bring me the girl at once, for I long for her
+exceedingly." So they brought her and the Caliph said to Abu Yusuf, I have a
+mind to have her forthright, for I cannot bear to abstain from her during the
+prescribed period of purification; now how is this to be done?" Abu Yusuf
+replied, "Bring me one of thine own male slaves who hath never been
+manumitted." So they brought one and Abu Yusuf said, "Give me leave to marry
+her to him; then let him divorce her before consummation; and thus shall it be
+lawful for thee to lie with her before purification." This second expedient
+pleased the Caliph yet more than the first; he sent for the Mameluke and,
+whenas he came, said to the Kazi "I authorise thee to marry her to him." So the
+Imam proposed the marriage to the slave, who accepted it, and performed the
+ceremony; after which he said to the slave, "Divorce her, and thou shalt have
+an hundred dinars." But he replied, "I won't do this;" and the Imam went on to
+increase his offer, and the slave to refuse till he bid him a thousand dinars.
+Then the man asked him, "Doth it rest with me to divorce her, or with thee or
+with the Commander of the Faithful?" He answered, "It is in thy hand." "Then by
+Allah," quoth the slave, "I will never do it; no, never!" Hearing these words
+the Caliph was exceeding wroth and said to the Imam, "What is to be done, O Abu
+Yusuf?" Replied he, "Be not concerned, O Commander of the Faithful; the thing
+is easy. Make this slave the damsel's chattel." Quoth Al-Rashid, "I give him to
+her;" and the Imam said to the girl, "Say: I accept." So she said, I accept;"
+whereon quoth Abu Yusuf, "I pronounce separation from bed and board and divorce
+between them, for that he hath become her property, and so the marriage is
+annulled." With this, Al-Rashid rose to his feet and exclaimed, "It is the like
+of thee that shall be Kazi in my time." Then he called for sundry trays of gold
+and emptied them before Abu Yusuf, to whom he said, "Hast thou wherein to put
+this?" The Imam bethought him of the mule's nose-bag; so he sent for it and,
+filling it with gold, took it and went home. And on the morrow, he said to his
+friends, "There is no easier nor shorter road to the goods of this world and
+the next, than that of religious learning; for, see, I have gotten all this
+money by answering two or three questions." So consider thou, O polite
+reader,[FN#217] the pleasantness of this anecdote, for it compriseth divers
+goodly features, amongst which are the complaisance of Ja'afar to Al Rashid,
+and the wisdom of the Caliph who chose such a Kazi and the excellent learning
+of Abu Yusuf, may Almighty Allah have mercy on their souls one and all! And
+they also tell the
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap17"></a>TALE OF THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A THIEF.</h3>
+
+<p>
+When Khбlid bin Abdallah al-Kasri[FN#218] was Emir of Bassorah, there came to
+him one day a company of men dragging a youth of exceeding beauty and lofty
+bearing and perfumed attire; whose aspect expressed good breeding, abundant wit
+and dignity of the gravest. They brought him before the Governor, who asked
+what it was and they replied, "This fellow is a thief, whom we caught last
+night in our dwelling-house." Whereupon Khбlid looked at him and was pleased
+with his well-favouredness and elegant aspect; so he said to the others, "Loose
+him," and going up to the young man, asked what he had to say for himself. He
+replied, "Verily the folk have spoken truly and the case is as they have said."
+Quoth Khбlid, "And what moved thee to this and thou so noble of port and comely
+of mien?" Quoth the other "The lust after worldly goods, and the ordinance of
+Allah (extolled exalted be He!)." Rejoined Khбlid, "Be thy mother bereaved of
+thee![FN#219] Hadst thou not, in thy fair face and sound sense and good
+breeding, what should restrain thee from thieving?" Answered the young man, "O
+Emir, leave this talk and proceed to what Almighty Allah hath ordained; this is
+what my hands have earned, and, 'God is not unjust towards mankind.'"[FN#220]
+So Khбlid was silent awhile considering the matter then he bade the young man
+draw near him and said, "Verily, thy confession before witnesses perplexeth me,
+for I cannot believe thee to be a thief: haply thou hast some story that is
+other than one of theft; and if so tell it me." Replied the youth "O Emir,
+imagine naught other than what I have confessed to in thy presence; for I have
+no tale to tell save that verily I entered these folks' house and stole what I
+could lay hands on and they caught me and took the stuff from me and carried me
+before thee." Then Khalid bade clap him in gaol and commended a crier to cry
+throughout Bassorah, "O yes! O yes! Whoso be minded to look upon the punishment
+of such an one, the thief, and the cutting-off of his hand, let him be present
+to- morrow morning at such a place!" Now when the young man found himself in
+prison, with irons on his feet, he sighed heavily and with tears streaming from
+his eyes extemporized these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When Khбlid menaced off to strike my hand * If I refuse to tell<br/>
+
+     him of her case;<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'Far, far fro' me that I should tell * A love, which<br/>
+
+     ever shall my heart engrace;<br/>
+
+Loss of my hand for sin I have confessed * To me were easier than<br/>
+
+     to shame her face.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The warders heard him and went and told Khбlid who, when it was dark night,
+sent for the youth and conversed with him. He found him clever and well-bred,
+intelligent, lively and a pleasant companion; so he ordered him food and he
+ate. Then after an hour's talk said Khбlid, "I know indeed thou hast a story to
+tell that is no thief's; so when the Kazi shall come to-morrow morning and
+shall question thee about this robbery, do thou deny the charge of theft and
+avouch what may avert the pain and penalty of cutting off thy hand; for the
+Apostle (whom Allah bless and keep!) saith, 'In cases of doubt, eschew
+punishment.'" Then he sent him back to prison,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khбlid, after conversing
+with the youth, sent him back to prison, where he passed the night. And when
+morning dawned the folk assembled to see his hand cut off, nor was there a soul
+in Bassorah, man or woman, but was present to look upon the punishment of that
+handsome youth. Then Khбlid mounted in company of the notables of the city and
+others; and, summoning all four Kazis, sent for the young man, who came
+hobbling and stumbling in his fetters. There was none saw him but wept over him
+and the women all lifted up their voices in lamentation as for the dead. Then
+the Kazi bade silence the women and said to the prisoner, "These folk avouch
+that thou didst enter their dwelling-house and steal their goods: belike thou
+stolest less than a quarter dinar[FN#221]?" Replied he, "Nay, I stole that and
+more." "Peradventure," rejoined the Kazi "thou art partner with the folk in
+some of the goods?" Quoth the young man; "Not so: it was all theirs, and I had
+no right in it." At this the Khбlid was wroth and rose and smote him on the
+face with his whip, applying to his own case this couplet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Man wills his wish to him accorded be; * But Allah naught accords save what He
+wills."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he called for the butcher to do the work, who came and drew forth his
+knife and taking the prisoner's hand set the blade to it, when, behold, a
+damsel pressed through the crowd of women, clad in tattered clothes,[FN#222]
+and cried out and threw herself on the young man. Then she unveiled and showed
+a face like the moon whereupon the people raised a mighty clamour and there was
+like to have been a riot amongst them and a violent scene. But she cried out
+her loudest, saying, "I conjure thee, by Allah, O Emir, hasten not to cut off
+this man's hand, till thou have read what is in this scroll!" So saying, she
+gave him a scroll, and Khбlid took it and opened it and read therein these
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah Khбlid! this one is a slave of love distraught, * And these<br/>
+
+     bowed eye-lashes sent shaft that caused his grief:<br/>
+
+Shot him an arrow sped by eyes of mine, for he, * Wedded to<br/>
+
+     burning love of ills hath no relief:<br/>
+
+He hath avowed a deed he never did, the while * Deeming this<br/>
+
+     better than disgrace of lover fief:<br/>
+
+Bear then, I pray, with this distracted lover mine * Whose noble<br/>
+
+     nature falsely calls himself a thief!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Khбlid had read these lines he withdrew himself from the people and
+summoned the girl and questioned her; and she told him that the young man was
+her lover and she his mistress; and that thinking to visit her he came to the
+dwelling of her people and threw a stone into the house, to warn her of his
+coming. Her father and brothers heard the noise of the stone and sallied out on
+him; but he, hearing them coming, caught up all the household stuff and made
+himself appear a robber to cover his mistress's honour. "Now when they saw him
+they seized him (continued she), crying:—A thief! and brought him before thee,
+whereupon he confessed to the robbery and persisted in his confession, that he
+might spare me disgrace; and this he did, making himself a thief, of the
+exceeding nobility and generosity of his nature." Khбlid answered, "He is
+indeed worthy to have his desire;" and, calling the young man to him, kissed
+him between the eyes. Then he sent for the girl's father and bespoke him,
+saying, "O Shaykh, we thought to carry out the law of mutilation in the case of
+this young man; but Allah (to whom be Honour and Glory!) hath preserved us from
+this, and I now adjudge him the sum of ten thousand dirhams, for that he would
+have given his hand for the preservation of thine honour and that of thy
+daughter and for the sparing of shame to you both. Moreover, I adjudge other
+ten thousand dirhams to thy daughter, for that she made known to me the truth
+of the case; and I ask thy leave to marry her to him." Rejoined the old man, "O
+Emir, thou hast my consent." So Khбlid praised Allah and thanked Him and
+improved the occasion by preaching a goodly sermon and a prayerful;—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khбlid praised Allah and
+thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly sermon and a
+prayerful; after which he said to the young man, "I give thee to wife the
+damsel, such an one here present, with her own permission and her father's
+consent; and her wedding settlement shall be this money, to wit, ten thousand
+dirhams." "I accept this marriage at thy hands," replied the youth; and Khбlid
+bade them carry the money on brass trays in procession to the young man's
+house, whilst the people dispersed, fully satisfied. "And surely (quoth he who
+tells the tale[FN#223]) never saw I a rarer day than this, for that it began
+with tears and annoy; and it ended with smiles and joy." And in contrast of
+this story is this piteous tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap18"></a>JA'AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN SELLER.</h3>
+
+<p>
+When Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja'afar the Barmecide[FN#224] he commended that
+all who wept or made moan for him should also be crucified; so the folk
+abstained from that. Now it chanced that a wild Arab, who dwelt in a distant
+word, used every year to bring to the aforesaid Ja'afar an ode[FN#225] in his
+honour, for which he rewarded him with a thousand dinars; and the Badawi took
+them and, returning to his own country, lived upon them, he and his family, for
+the rest of the year. Accordingly, he came with his ode at the wonted time and,
+finding that Ja'afar had been crucified, betook himself to the place where his
+body was hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and wept with sore
+weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he recited his ode and fell
+asleep. Presently Ja'afar the Barmecide appeared to him in a vision and said,
+"Verily thou hast wearied thyself to come to us and findest us as thou seest;
+but go to Bassorah and ask for a man there whose name is such and such, one of
+the merchants of the town, and say to him, 'Ja'afar, the Barmecide, saluteth
+thee and biddeth thee give me a thousand dinars, by the token of the bean.'"
+Now when the wild Arab awoke, he repaired to Bassorah, where he sought out the
+merchant and found him and repeated to him what Ja'afar had said in the dream;
+whereupon he wept with weeping so sore that he was like to depart the world.
+Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his side and made his stay
+pleasant and entertained him three days as an honoured guest; and when he was
+minded to depart he gave him a thousand and five hundred dinars, saying, "The
+thousand are what is commanded to thee, and the five hundred are a gift from me
+to thee; and every year thou shalt have of me a thousand gold pieces." Now when
+the Arab was about to take leave, he said to the merchant, "Allah upon thee,
+tell me the story of the bean, that I may know the origin of all this." He
+answered: "In the early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot beans[FN#226]
+about the streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went out one raw and rainy
+day, without clothes enough on my body to protect me from the weather; now
+shivering for excess of cold and now stumbling into the pools of rain-water,
+and altogether in so piteous a plight as would make one shudder with goose-skin
+to look upon. But it chanced that Ja'afar that day was seated with his officers
+and his concubines, in an upper chamber overlooking the street when his eyes
+fell on me; so he took pity on my case and, sending one of his dependents to
+fetch me to him, said as soon as he saw me, 'Sell thy beans to my people.' So I
+began to mete out the beans with a measure I had by me; and each who took a
+measure of beans filled the measure with gold pieces till all my store was gone
+and my basket was clean empty. Then I gathered together the gold I had gotten,
+and Ja'afar said to me, 'Hast thou any beans left?' 'I know not,' answered I,
+and then sought in the basket, but found only one bean. So Ja'afar took from me
+the single bean and, splitting it in twain, kept one half himself and gave the
+other to one of his concubines, saying, 'For how much wilt thou buy this half
+bean?' She replied, 'For the tale of all this gold twice-told;' whereat I was
+confounded and said to myself, 'This is impossible.' But, as I stood wondering,
+behold, she gave an order to one of her hand-maids and the girl brought me the
+sum of the collected monies twice-told. Then said Ja'afar, 'And I will buy the
+half I have by me for double the sum of the whole,' presently adding, 'Now take
+the price of thy bean.' And he gave an order to one of his servants, who
+gathered together the whole of the money and laid it in my basket; and I took
+it and went my ways. Then I betook myself to Bassorah, where I traded with the
+monies and Allah prospered me amply, to Him be the praise and the thanks! So,
+if I give thee every year a thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja'afar, it will
+in no wise injure me. Consider then the munificence of Ja'afar's nature and how
+he was praised both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah Almighty be upon him!
+And men also recount the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap19"></a>ABU MOHAMMED HIGHT LAZYBONES.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid was sitting one day on the throne of the
+Caliphate, when there came in to him a youth of his eunuchry, bearing a crown
+of red gold, set with pearls and rubies and all manner of other gems and
+jewels, such as money might not buy; and, bussing the ground between his hands,
+said, "O Commander of the Faithful, the Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before
+thee"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say. Whereupon quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How pleasant is thy tale and
+profitable; and how sweet is thy speech and how delectable!" "And where is
+this," replied Shahrazad, "compared with what I shall tell you next night an I
+live and the King grant me leave!" Thereupon quoth the King to himself, "By
+Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the end of her tale."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundredth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Dunyazad, "favour us, O my sister, with thy tale," and she replied, 'With
+joy and good will, if the King accord me leave;" whereupon the King said, "Tell
+thy tale, O Shahrazad." So she pursued: It hath reached me, O auspicious King,
+that the youth said to the Caliph, "The Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before
+thee and saith to thee, Thou knowest she hath bidden make this crown, which
+lacketh a great jewel for its dome-top; and she hath made search among her
+treasures, but cannot find a jewel of size to suit her mind." Quoth the Caliph
+to his Chamberlains and Viceregents, Make search for a great jewel, such as
+Zubaydah desireth." So they sought, but found nothing befitting her and told
+the Caliph who, vexed and annoyed thereat, exclaimed, "How am I Caliph and King
+of the Kings of the earth and cannot find so small a matter as a jewel? Woe to
+you! Ask of the merchants." So they enquired of the traders, who replied, "Our
+lord the Caliph will not find a jewel such as he requireth save with a man of
+Bassorah, by name AbÑŠ Mohammed highs Lazybones." Thereupon they acquainted the
+Caliph with this and he bade his Wazir Ja'afar send a note to the Emir Mohammed
+al-Zubaydн, Governor of Bassorah, commanding him to equip Abu Mohammed
+Lazybones and bring him into the presence of the Commander of the Faithful. The
+Minister accordingly wrote a note to that effect and despatched it by Masrur,
+who set out forthright for the city of Bassorah, and went in to the Emir
+Mohammed al-Zubaydi, who rejoiced in him and treated him with the high-most
+honour. Then Masrur read him the mandate of the Prince of True Believers, Harun
+al-Rashid, to which he replied, "I hear and I obey," and forthwith despatched
+him, with a company of his followers, to Abu Mohammed's house. When they
+reached it, they knocked at the door, whereupon a page came out and Masrur said
+to him, "Tell thy lord, The Commander of the Faithful summoneth thee." The
+servant went in and told his master, who came out and found Masrur, the
+Caliph's Chamberlain, and a company of the Governor's men at the door. So he
+kissed ground before Masrur and said, "I hear and obey the summons of the
+Commander of the Faithful; but first enter ye my house." They replied, "We
+cannot do that, save in haste; even as the Prince of True Believers commanded
+us, for he awaiteth thy coming." But he said, "Have patience with me a little,
+till I set my affairs in order." So after much pressure and abundant
+persuasion, they entered the house with him and found the vestibule hung with
+curtains of azure brocade, purfled with red gold, and Abu Mohammed Lazybones
+bade one of his servants carry Masrur to the private Hammam. Now this bath was
+in the house and Masrur found its walls and floors of rare and precious
+marbles, wrought with gold and silver, and its waters mingled with rose-water.
+Then the servants served Masrur and his company with the perfection of service;
+and, on their going forth of the Hammam, clad them in robes of honour,
+brocade-work interwoven with gold. And after leaving the bath Masrur and his
+men went in to Abu Mohammed Lazybones and found him seated in his upper
+chamber; and over his head hung curtains of gold-brocade, wrought with pearls
+and jewels, and the pavilion was spread with cushions, embroidered in red gold.
+Now the owner was sitting softly upon a quilted cloth covering a settee inlaid
+with stones of price; and, when he saw Masrur, he went forward to meet him and
+bidding him welcome, seated him by his side. Then he called for the food-trays;
+so they brought them, and when Masrur saw the tables, he exclaimed, "By Allah,
+never did I behold the like of these appointments in the palace of the
+Commander of the Faithful!" For indeed the trays contained every manner of meat
+all served in dishes of gilded porcelain.[FN#227] "So we ate and drank and made
+merry till the end of the day (quoth Masrur) when the host gave to each and
+every of us five thousand dinars, and on the morrow he clad us in dresses of
+honour of green and gold and entreated us with the utmost worship." Then said
+Masrur to him, "We can tarry no longer for fear of the Caliph's displeasure."
+Answered Abu Mohammed Lazybones, "O my lord, have patience with us till the
+morrow, that we may equip ourselves, and we will then depart with you." So they
+tarried with him that day and slept the night; and next morning Abu Mohammed's
+servants saddled him a she mule with selle and trappings of gold, set with all
+manner of pearls and stones of price; whereupon quoth Masrur to himself, "I
+wonder, when Abu Mohammed shall present himself in such equipage, if the Caliph
+will ask him how he came by all this wealth." Thereupon they took leave of
+Al-Zubaydi and, setting out from Bassorah, fared on, without ceasing to fare
+till they reached Baghdad-city and presented themselves before the Caliph, who
+bade Abu Mohammed be seated. He sat down and addressed the Caliph in courtly
+phrase, saying, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have brought with me an humble
+offering by way of homage: have I thy gracious permission to produce it?"
+Al-Rashid replied, "There is no harm in that,"[FN#228] whereupon Abu Mohammed
+bade his men bring in a chest, from which he took a number of rarities, and
+amongst the rest, trees of gold with leaves of white emeraid,[FN#229] and
+fruits of pigeon blood rubies and topazes and new pearls and bright. And as the
+Caliph was struck with admiration he fetched a second chest and brought out of
+it a tent of brocade, crowned with pearls and jacinths and emeralds and jaspers
+and other precious stones; its poles were of freshly cut Hindi aloes-wood, and
+its skirts were set with the greenest smaragds. Thereon were depicted all
+manner of animals such as beasts and birds, spangled with precious stones,
+rubies, emeralds, chrysolites and balasses and every kind of precious metal.
+Now when Al-Rashid saw these things, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful, deem not that I
+have brought these to thee, fearing aught or coveting anything; but I knew
+myself to be but a man of the people and that such things befitted none save
+the Commander of the Faithful. And now, with thy leave, I will show thee, for
+thy diversion, something of what I can do." Al-Rashid replied, "Do what thou
+wilt, that we may see." "To hear is to obey," said Abu Mohammed and, moving his
+lips, beckoned the palace battlements,[FN#230] whereupon they inclined to him;
+then he made another sign to them, and they returned to their place. Presently
+he made a sign with his eye, and there appeared before him closets with closed
+doors, to which he spoke, and lo! the voices of birds answered him from within.
+The Caliph marvelled with passing marvel at this and said to him, "How camest
+thou by all this, seeing that thou art known only as Abu Mohammed Lazybones,
+and they tell me that thy father was a cupper serving in a public Hammam, who
+left thee nothing?" Whereupon he answered, "Listen to my story" And Shahrazed
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and First Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed Lazybones
+thus spake to the Caliph: "O Prince of True Believers, listen to my story, for
+it is a marvellous and its particulars are wondrous; were it graven with
+graver-needles upon the eye-corners it were a warner to whose would be warned."
+Quoth Al-Rashid, "Let us hear all thou hast to say, O Abu Mohammed!" So he
+began "Know then, O Commander of the Faithful (Allah prolong to thee glory and
+dominion!), the report of the folk; that I am known as the Lazybones and that
+my father left me nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but
+a barber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the idlest wight on
+the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my sluggishness that, if I lay at
+full length in the sultry season and the sun came round upon me, I was too lazy
+to rise and remove from the sun to the shade. And thus I abode till I reached
+my fifteenth year, when my father deceased in the mercy of Allah Almighty and
+left me nothing. However, my mother used to go out a-charing and feed me and
+give me to drink, whilst I lay on my side. Now it came to pass that one day she
+came in to me with five silver dirhams, and said to me, 'O my son, I hear that
+Shaykh AbÑŠ al-Muzaffar[FN#231] is about to go a voyage to China.' (Now this
+Shaykh was a good and charitable man who loved the poor.) 'So come, my son,
+take these five silver bits; and let us both carry them to him and beg him to
+buy thee therewith somewhat from the land of China; so haply thou mayst make a
+profit of it by the bounty of Allah, whose name be exalted!' I was too idle to
+move for her; but she swore by the Almighty that, except I rose and went with
+her, she would bring me neither meat nor drink nor come in to me, but would
+leave me to die of hunger and thirst. Now when I heard her words, O Commander
+of the Faithful, I knew she would do as she threatened for her knowledge of my
+sluggishness; so I said to her, 'Help me to sit up.' She did so, and I wept the
+while and said to her, 'Bring me my shoes.' Accordingly, she brought them and I
+said, 'Put them on my feet.' She put them on my feet and I said, 'Lift me up
+off the ground.' So she lifted me up and I said, 'Support me, that I may walk.'
+So she supported me and I continued to fare a foot, at times stumbling over my
+skirts, till we came to the river bank, where we saluted the Shaykh and I said
+to him, 'O my uncle, art thou Abu al-Muzaffar?' 'At thy service,' answered he,
+and I, 'Take these dirhams and with them buy me somewhat from the land of
+China: haply Allah may vouchsafe me a profit of it.' Quoth the Shaykh to his
+companions, 'Do ye know this youth?' They answered, 'Yes, he is known as Abu
+Mohammed Lazybones, and we never saw him stir from his house till this moment.'
+Then said he to me, 'O my son, give me the silver with the blessing of Almighty
+Allah!' So he took the money, saying, 'Bismillah in the name of Allah!' and I
+returned home with my mother. Presently Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar set sail, with a
+company of merchants, and stayed not till they reached the land of China, where
+he and his bought and sold; and, having won what they wished, set out on their
+homeward voyage. When they had been three days at sea, the Shaykh said to his
+company, 'Stay the vessel!' They asked, 'What dost thou want?' and he answered,
+'Know that I have forgotten the commission wherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones
+charged me; so let us turn back that we may lay out his money on somewhat
+whereby he may profit.' They cried, 'We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty turn
+not back with us; for we have traversed a long distance and a sore, and while
+so doing we have endured sad hardship and many terrors.' Quoth he, 'There is no
+help for it but we return;' and they said, 'Take from us double the profit of
+the five dirhams, and turn us not back.' He agreed to this and they collected
+for him an ample sum of money. Thereupon they sailed on, till they came to an
+island wherein was much people; when they moored thereto and the merchants went
+ashore, to buy thence a stock of precious metals and pearls and jewels and so
+forth. Presently Abu al-Muzaffar saw a man seated, with many apes before him,
+and amongst them one whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as their
+owner's attention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon the plucked
+one and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon the man rose and
+bashed them and bound them and punished them for this; and all the apes were
+wroth with the plucked ape on this account and funded him the more. When Shaykh
+Abu al-Muzaffar saw this, he felt for and took compassion upon the plucked ape
+and said to his master, 'Wilt thou sell me yonder monkey?' Replied the man,
+'Buy,' and Abu al-Muzaffar rejoined, 'I have with me five dirhams, belonging to
+an orphan lad. Wilt thou sell it me for that sum?' Answered the
+monkey-merchant, 'It is a bargain; and Allah give thee a blessing of him!' So
+he made over the beast and received his money; and the Shaykh's slaves took the
+ape and tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for another
+island, where they cast anchor; and there came down divers, who plunged for
+precious stones, pearls and other gems; so the merchants hired them to dive for
+money and they dived. Now when the ape saw them doing this, he loosed himself
+from his bonds and, jumping off the ship's side, plunged with them, whereupon
+quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, 'There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in
+Allah, the Glorious, the Great! The monkey is lost to us with the luck of the
+poor fellow for whom we bought him.' And they despaired of him; but, after a
+while, the company of divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was
+the ape, with his hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down before Abu
+al-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said, 'There is much mystery in
+this monkey!' Then they cast off and sailed till they came to a third island,
+called the Isle of the ZunÑŠj,[FN#232] who are a people of the blacks, which eat
+the flesh of the sons of Adam. When the blacks saw them, they boarded them in
+dug-outs[FN#233] and, taking all in the vessel, pinioned them and carried them
+to their King, who bade slaughter certain of the merchants. So they slaughtered
+them by cutting their throats and ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders
+passed the night in bonds and were in sore concern. But when it was midnight,
+the ape arose and going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed his bonds; and, as the
+others saw him free, they said, 'Allah grant our deliverance may be at thy
+hands, O Abu al-Muzaffar!' But he replied, 'Know that he who delivered me, by
+leave of Allah Almighty, was none other than this monkey'"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Muzaffar declared,
+"None loosed me, by leave of Allah Al-mighty, save this monkey and I buy my
+release of him at a thousand dinars!" whereupon the merchants rejoined, 'And we
+likewise, each and every, will pay him a thousand dinars if he release us.'
+With this the ape arose and went up to them and loosed their bonds one by one,
+till he had freed them all, when they made for the vessel and boarding her,
+found all safe and nothing missing from her. So they cast off and set sail; and
+presently Abu al-Muzaffar said to them, 'O merchants, fulfil your promise to
+the monkey.' 'We hear and we obey,' answered they; and each one paid him one
+thousand dinars, whilst Abu al-Muzaffar brought out to him the like sum of his
+own monies, so that a great heap of coin was collected for the ape. Then they
+fared on till they reached Bassorah-city where their friends came out to meet
+them; and when they had landed, the Shaykh said, 'Where is Abu Mohammed
+Lazybones?' The news reached my mother, who came to me as I lay asleep and said
+to me, 'O my son, verily the Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar hath come back and is now
+in the city; so rise and go thou to him and salute him and enquire what he hath
+brought thee; it may be Allah Almighty have opened to thee the door of fortune
+with somewhat.' Quoth I, 'Lift me from the ground and prop me up, whilst I go
+forth and walk to the river bank.' After which I went out and walked on,
+stumbling over my skirts, till I met the Shaykh, who exclaimed at sight of me,
+'Welcome to him whose money hath been the means of my release and that of these
+merchants, by the will of Almighty Allah.' Then he continued, 'Take this monkey
+I bought for thee and carry him home and wait till I come to thee.' So I took
+the ape and went off, saying in my mind, 'By Allah, this is naught but rare
+merchandise!' and led it home, where I said to my mother, 'Whenever I lie down
+to sleep, thou biddest me rise and trade; see now this merchandise with thine
+own eyes.' Then I sat me down and as I sat, up came the slaves of Abu
+al-Muzaffar and said to me, 'Art thou Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes' answered
+I; and behold, Abu al-Muzaffar appeared behind them. So I rose up to him and
+kissed his hands: and he said, 'Come with me to my home.' 'Hearkening and
+obedience,' answered I and accompanied him to his house, where he bade his
+servants bring me what money the monkey had earned for me. So they brought it
+and he said to me, 'O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with this wealth, by way
+of profit on thy five dirhams.' Then the slaves set down the treasure in
+chests, which they had carried on their heads, and Abu al-Muzaffar gave me the
+keys saying, 'Go before the slaves to thy house; for in sooth all this wealth
+is thine.' So I returned to my mother, who rejoiced in this and said to me, 'O
+my son, Allah hath blessed thee with all these riches; so put off thy laziness
+and go down to the bazar and sell and buy.' At once I shook off my dull sloth,
+and opened a shop in the bazar, where the ape used to sit on the same divan
+with me eating with me when I ate and drinking when I drank. But, every day, he
+was absent from dawn till noon, when he came back bringing with him a purse of
+a thousand dinars, which he laid by my side, and sat down; and he ceased not so
+doing for a great while, till I amassed much wealth, wherewith, O Commander of
+the Faithful, I purchased houses and lands, and I planted gardens and I bought
+me white slaves and negroes and concubines. Now it came to pass one day, as I
+sat in my shop, with the ape sitting at my side on the same carpet, behold, he
+began to turn right and left, and I said to myself, 'What aileth the beast?'
+Then Allah made the ape speak with a ready tongue, and he said to me, 'O Abu
+Mohammed!' Now when I heard him speak, I was sore afraid; but he said to me,
+'Fear not; I will tell thee my case. I am a Marid of the Jinn and came to thee
+because of thy poor estate; but today thou knowest not the amount of thy
+wealth; and now I have need of thee and if thou do my will, it shall be well
+for thee.' I asked, 'What is it?' and he answered, 'I have a mind to marry thee
+to a girl like the full moon.' Quoth I, 'How so?'; and quoth he, 'Tomorrow don
+thou thy richest dress and mount thy mule, with the saddle of gold and ride to
+the Haymarket. There enquire for the shop of the Sharif[FN#234] and sit down
+beside him and say to him, 'I come to thee as a suitor craving thy daughter's
+hand.' 'If he say to thee, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family'; pull
+out a thousand dinars and give them to him, and if he ask more, give him more
+and tempt him with money.' Whereto I replied, 'To hear is to obey; I will do
+thy bidding, Inshallah!' So on the next morning I donned my richest clothes,
+mounted my she mule with trappings of gold and rode to the Haymarket where I
+asked for the Sharif's shop, and finding him there seated, alighted and saluted
+him and seated myself beside him"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed Lazybones
+continued: "So I alighted and, saluting him, seated myself beside him, and my
+Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood before me. Said the Sharif, 'Haply, thou hast
+some business with us which we may have pleasure of transacting?' Replied I,
+'Yes, I have business with thee.' Asked he, 'And what is it?'; and I answered,
+'I come to thee as a suitor for thy daughter's hand.' So he said, 'Thou hast
+neither cash nor rank nor family;' whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a
+thousand dinars, red gold, and said to him, 'This is my rank[FN#235] and my
+family; and he (whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said, The best of ranks is
+wealth. And how well quoth the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Whoso two dithams hath, his lips have learnt * Speech of all<br/>
+
+     kinds with eloquence bedight:<br/>
+
+Draw near[FN#236] his brethren and crave ear of him, * And him<br/>
+
+     thou seest haught in pride-full height:<br/>
+
+Were 't not for dirhams wherein glories he, * Hadst found him<br/>
+
+     'mid man kind in sorry plight.<br/>
+
+When richard errs in words they all reply, * "Sooth thou hast<br/>
+
+     spoken and hast said aright!"<br/>
+
+When pauper speaketh truly all reply * 'Thou liest;' and they<br/>
+
+     hold his sayings light.[FN#237]<br/>
+
+Verily dirhams in earth's every stead * Clothe men with rank and<br/>
+
+     make them fair to sight<br/>
+
+Gold is the very tongue of eloquence; * Gold is the best of arms<br/>
+
+     for might who'd fight!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse, he bowed his
+head awhile groundwards then raising it, said, 'If it must be so, I will have
+of thee other three thousand gold pieces.' 'I hear and I obey,' answered I, and
+sent one of my Mamelukes home for the money. As soon as he came back with it, I
+handed it to the Sharif who, when he saw it in his hands, rose, and bidding his
+servants shut his shop, invited his brother merchants of the bazar the wedding;
+after which he carried me to his house and wrote out my contract of marriage
+with his daughter saying to me, 'After ten days, I will bring thee to pay her
+the first visit.' So I went home rejoicing and, shutting myself up with the
+ape, told him what had passed; and he said 'Thou hast done well.' Now when the
+time appointed by the Sharif drew near, the ape said to me, 'There is a thing I
+would have thee do for me; and thou shalt have of me (when it is done) whatso
+thou wilt.' I asked, 'What is that?' and he answered, 'At the upper end of the
+chamber wherein thou shalt meet thy bride, the Sharif's daughter, stands a
+cabinet, on whose door is a ring-padlock of copper and the keys under it. Take
+the keys and open the cabinet in which thou shalt find a coffer of iron with
+four flags, which are talismans, at its corners; and in its midst stands a
+brazen basin full of money, wherein is tied a white cock with a cleft comb;
+while on one side of the coffer are eleven serpents and on the other a knife.
+Take the knife and slaughter the cock; cut away the flags and upset the chest,
+then go back to the bride and do away her maidenhead. This is what I have to
+ask of thee.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I, and betook myself to the
+house of the Sharif. So as soon as I entered the bride-chamber, I looked for
+the cabinet and found it even as the ape had described it. Then I went in unto
+the bride and marvelled at her beauty and loveliness and stature and
+symmetrical-grace, for indeed they were such as no tongue can set forth. I
+rejoiced in her with exceeding joy; and in the middle of the night, when my
+bride slept, I rose and, taking the keys, opened the cabinet. Then I seized the
+knife and slew the cock and threw down the flags and upset the coffer,
+whereupon the girl awoke and, seeing the closet open and the cock with cut
+throat, exclaimed, 'There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah,
+the Glorious, the Great! The Marid hath got hold of me!' Hardly had she made an
+end of speaking, when the Marid swooped down upon the house and, snatching up
+the bride, flew away with her; whereupon there arose a mighty clamour and
+behold, in came the Sharif, buffetting his face and crying, 'O Abu Mohammed,
+what is this deed thou hast done? Is it thus thou requiitest us? I made this
+talisman in the cabinet fearing for my daughter from this accursed one who, for
+these six years, hath sought to steal-away the girl, but could not. But now
+there is no more abiding for thee with us, so wend thy ways.' Thereupon I went
+forth and returned to my own house, where I made search for the ape but could
+not find him nor any trace of him; whereby I knew that it was he who was the
+Marid, and that he had carried off my wife and had tricked me into destroying
+the talisman and the cock, the two things which hindered him from taking her,
+and I repented, rending my raiment and cuffing my face. And there was no land
+but was straitened upon me; so I made for the desert forthright and ceased not
+wandering on till night overtook me, for I knew not whither I was going. And
+whilst I was deep in sad thought behold, I met two serpents, one tawny and the
+other white, and they were fighting to kill each other. So I took up a stone
+and with one cast slew the tawny serpent, which was the aggressor; whereupon
+the white serpent glided away and was absent for a while, but presently she
+returned accompanied by ten other white serpents which glided up to the dead
+serpent and tore her in pieces, so that only the head was left. Then they went
+their ways and I fell prostrate for weariness on the ground where I stood; but
+as I lay, pondering my case lo! I heard a Voice though I saw no one and the
+Voice versified with these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, * Nor pass the<br/>
+
+     night with mind which cares an ace<br/>
+
+Between eye-closing and its opening, * Allah can foulest change<br/>
+
+     to fairest case.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern get hold of
+me and I was beyond measure troubled, and behold, I heard a Voice from behind
+me extemporise these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O Moslem! thou whose guide is Alcorбn, * Joy in what brought<br/>
+
+     safe peace to thee, O man.<br/>
+
+Fear not what Satan haply whispered thee, * And in us see a<br/>
+
+     Truth-believing<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then said I, 'I conjure thee, by the truth of Him thou wore shippest, let me
+know who thou art!' Thereupon the Invisible Speaker assumed the form of a man
+and said, 'Fear not; for the report of thy good deed hath reached us, and we
+are a people of the true-believing Jinn. So, if thou lack aught, let us know it
+that we may have the pleasure of fulfilling thy want.' Quoth I, 'Indeed I am in
+sore need, for I am afflicted with a grievous affliction and no one was ever
+afflicted as I am!' Quoth he, 'Perchance thou art Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' and
+I replied, 'Yes.' He rejoined, 'I, O Abu Mohammed, am the brother of the white
+serpent, whose foe thou slewest, we are four brothers by one father and mother,
+and we are all indebted to thee for thy kindness. And know thou that he who
+played this trick on thee in the likeness of an ape, is a Marid of the Marids
+of the Jinn; and had he not used this artifice, he had never been able to get
+the girl; for he hath loved her and had a mind to take her this long while, but
+he was hindered of that talisman; and had it remained as it was, he could never
+have found access to her. However, fret not thyself for that; we will bring
+thee to her and kill the Marid; for thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he
+cried out with a terrible outcry"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit continued,
+"'Verily thy kindness is not lost upon us.' Then he cried out with a terrible
+outcry in a horrible voice, and behold, there appeared a troop of the Jinn, of
+whom he enquired concerning the ape; and one of them said, 'I know his abiding-
+place;' and the other asked 'Where abideth he?' Said the speaker 'He is in the
+City of Brass whereon sun riseth not.' Then said the first Jinni to me, 'O Abu
+Mohammed, take one of these our slaves, and he will carry thee on his back and
+teach thee how thou shalt get back the girl; but know that this slave is a
+Marid of the Marids and beware, whilst he is carrying thee, lest thou utter the
+name of Allah, or he will flee from thee and thou wilt fall and be destroyed.'
+'I hear and obey,' answered I and chose out one of the slaves, who bent down
+and said to me, 'Mount.' So I mounted on his back, and he flew up with me into
+the firmament, till I lost sight of the earth and saw the stars as they were
+the mountains of earth fixed and firm[FN#238] and heard the angels crying,
+'Praise be to Allah,' in heaven while the Marid held me in converse, diverting
+me and hindering me from pronouncing the name of Almighty Allah.[FN#239] But,
+as we flew, behold, One clad in green raiment,[FN#240] with streaming tresses
+and radiant face, holding in his hand a javelin whence flew sparks of fire,
+accosted me, saying, 'O Abu Mohammed, say:—There is no god but the God and
+Mohammed is the Apostle of God; or I will smite thee with this javelin.' Now
+already I felt heart-broken by my forced silence as regards calling on the name
+of Allah; so I said, 'There is no god but the God, and Mohammed is the Apostle
+of God. Whereupon the shining One smote the Marid with his javelin and he
+melted away and became ashes; whilst I was thrown from his back and fell
+headlong towards the earth, till I dropped into the midst of a dashing sea,
+swollen with clashing surge. And behold I fell hard by a ship with five sailors
+therein, who seeing me, made for me and took me up into the vessel; and they
+began to speak to me in some speech I knew not; but I signed to them that I
+understood not their speech. So they fared on till the last of the day, when
+they cast out a net and caught a great fish and they broiled it and gave me to
+eat; after which they ceased not sailing on till they reached their city and
+carried me to their King and set me in his presence. So I kissed ground before
+him, and he bestowed on me a dress of honour and said to me in Arabic (which he
+knew well), 'I appoint thee one of my officers.' Thereupon I asked him the name
+of the city, and he replied, 'It is called Hanбd[FN#241] and is in the land of
+China.' Then he committed me to his Wazir, bidding him show me the city, which
+was formerly peopled by Infidels, till Almighty Allah turned them into stones;
+and there I abode a month's space, diverting myself with viewing the place, nor
+saw I ever greater plenty of trees and fruits than there. And when this time
+had past, one day, as I sat on the bank of a river, behold, there accosted me a
+horseman, who said to me, 'Art thou not Abu Mohammed Lazybones?' 'Yes,'
+answered I; whereupon, he said, 'Fear not, for the report of thy good deed hath
+reached us.' Asked I, 'Who art thou?' and he answered, 'I am a brother of the
+white serpent, and thou art hard by the place where is the damsel whom thou
+seekest.' So saying, he took off his clothes and clad me therein, saying, 'Fear
+not, for the slave who perished under thee was one of our slaves.' Then the
+horseman took me up behind him and rode on with me to a desert place, when he
+said, 'Dismount now and walk on between these two mountains, till thou seest
+the City of Brass;[FN#242] then halt afar off and enter it not, ere I return to
+thee and tell thee how thou shalt do.' 'To hear is to obey,' replied I and,
+dismounting from behind him, walked on till I came to the city, the walls
+whereof I found of brass. Then I began to pace round about it, hoping to find a
+gate, but found none; and presently as I persevered, behold, the serpent's
+brother rejoined me and gave me a charmed sword which should hinder any from
+seeing me,[FN#243] then went his way. Now he had been gone but a little while,
+when lo! I heard a noise of cries and found myself in the midst of a multitude
+of folk whose eyes were in their breasts; and seeing me quoth they, 'Who art
+thou and what cast thee into this place?' So I told them my story, and they
+said, 'The girl thou seekest is in this city with the Marid; but we know not
+what he hath done with her. Now we are brethren of the white serpent,' adding,
+'Go thou to yonder spring and note where the water entereth, and enter thou
+with it; for it will bring thee into the city.' I did as they bade me, and
+followed the water-course, till it brought me to a Sardab, a vaulted room under
+the earth, from which I ascended and found myself in the midst of the city.
+Here I saw the damsel seated upon a throne of gold, under a canopy of brocade,
+girt round by a garden full of trees of gold, whose fruits were jewels of
+price, such as rubies and chrysolites, pearls and coral. And the moment she saw
+me, she knew me and accosted me with the Moslem salutation, saying, 'O my lord,
+who guided thee hither?' So I told her all that had passed, and she said,
+'Know, that the accursed Marid, of the greatness of his love for me, hath told
+me what bringeth him bane and what bringeth him gain; and that there is here a
+talisman by means whereof he could, an he would, destroy the city and all that
+are therein; and whoso possesseth it, the Ifrits will do his commandment in
+everything. It standeth upon a pillar'—Whereat I asked her, 'And where is the
+pillar?' and she answered, 'It is in such a place.' 'And what manner of thing
+may the talisman be?' said I: said she, 'It is in the semblance of a
+vulture[FN#244] and upon it is a writing which I cannot read. So go thou
+thither and seize it, and set it before thee and, taking a chafing dish, throw
+into it a little musk, whereupon there will arise a smoke which will draw the
+Ifrits to thee, and they will all present themselves before thee, nor shall one
+be absent; also they shall be subject to thy word and, whatsoever thou biddest
+them, that will they do. Arise therefore and fall to this thing, with the
+blessing of Almighty Allah.' I answered, 'Hearkening and obedience' and, going
+to the column, did as she bade me, where- upon the Ifrits all presented
+themselves before me saying, 'Here are we, O our lord! Whatsoever thou biddest
+us, that will we do.' Quoth I, 'Bind the Marid who brought the damsel hither
+from her home.' Quoth they, 'We hear and obey,' and off they flew and bound
+that Marid in straitest bonds and returned after a while, saying, 'We have done
+thy bidding.' Then I dismissed them and, repairing to my wife, told her what
+had happened and said to her, 'O my bride, wilt thou go with me?' 'Yes,'
+answered she. So I carried her forth of the vaulted chamber whereby I had
+entered the city and we fared on, till we fell in with the folk who had shown
+me the way to find her." And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that he continued on this
+wise: "And we fared on till we fell in with the folk who had shown me the way
+to her. So I said to them, 'Point me out a path which shall lead me to my
+home,' and they did accordingly, and brought us a-foot to the sea-shore and set
+us aboard a vessel which sailed on before us with a fair wind, till we reached
+Bassorah-city. And when we entered the house of my father-in-law and her people
+saw my wife, they rejoiced with exceeding joy. Then I fumigated the vulture
+with musk and lo! the Ifrits flocked to me from all sides, saying, 'At thy
+service what wilt thou have us do?' So I bade them transport all that was in
+the City of Brass of monies and noble metals and stones of price to my house in
+Bassorah, which they did; and I then ordered them to bring me the ape. They
+brought him before me, abject and contemptible, and I said to him, 'O accursed,
+why hast thou dealt thus perfidiously with me?' Then I com mended the Ifrits to
+shut him in a brazen vessel[FN#245] so they put him in a brazen cucurbite and
+sealed it with lead. But I abode with my wife in joy and delight; and now, O
+Commander of the Faithful, I have under my hand precious things in such measure
+and rare jewels and other treasure and monies on such wise as neither reckoning
+may express nor may limits comprise; and, if thou lust after wealth or aught
+else, I will command the Jinn at once to do thy desire. But all this is of the
+bounty of Almighty Allah." Thereupon the Commander of the Faithful wondered
+greatly and bestowed on him imperial gifts, in exchange for his presents, and
+entreated him with the favour he deserved. And men also tell the tale of the
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap20"></a>GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous of the
+Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Salih by name, and said to him, "O
+Sбlih, go to Mansъr[FN#246] and say to him: 'Thou owest us a thousand thousand
+dirhams and we require of thee immediate payment of this amount.' And I command
+thee, O Salih, unless he pay it between this hour and sundown, sever his head
+from his body and bring it to me." "To hear is to obey," answered Salih and,
+going to Mansur, acquainted him with what the Caliph had said, whereupon quoth
+he, "I am a lost man, by Allah; for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if
+sold for their utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred
+thousand dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine hundred
+thousand?" Salih replied, "Contrive how thou mayst speedily acquit thyself,
+else thou art a dead man; for I cannot grant thee an eye-twinkling of delay
+after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor can I fail of aught which the
+Prince of True Believers hath enjoined on me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some
+means of saving thyself ere the time expire." Quoth Mansur, "O Salih, I beg
+thee of thy favour to bring me to my house, that I may take leave of my
+children and family and give my kinsfolk my last injunctions." Now Salih
+relateth: "So I went with him to his house where he fell to bidding his family
+farewell, and the house was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations
+and calling for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, 'I have
+bethought me that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the hands of the
+Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yбhyб bin Khбlid.' So we went to
+Yahya's house, and Mansur told him his case, whereat he was sore concerned and
+bowed him groundwards for a while, then raising his head, he called his
+treasurer and said to him, 'How much have we in our treasury?' 'A matter of
+five thousand dirhams,' answered the treasurer, and Yahya bade him bring them
+and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl, saying, 'I am offered for sale a
+splendid estate which may never be laid waste; so send me somewhat of money.'
+Al-Fazl sent him a thousand thousand dirhams, and he despatched a mes senger
+with a like message to his son Ja'afar, saying, 'We have a matter of much
+moment and for it we want money;' whereupon Ja'afar at once sent him a thousand
+thousand dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides,
+till he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But Salih and
+the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, 'O my lord, I have laid
+hold upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look for the money but to thee,
+in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so discharge thou the rest of my debt
+for me and make me thy freed slave.' Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and
+wept; then he said to a page, 'Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave
+our slave- girl Danбnнr a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her send
+it to us.' The page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon
+quoth Yahya, 'O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the Commander
+of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand dinars,[FN#247] and he gave
+it to our slave-girl Dananir, the lute-player; and when he sees it with thee,
+he will know it and spare thy blood and do thee honour for our sake; and now, O
+Mansur, verily thy money is complete.' (Salih continued) So I took the money
+and the jewel and carried them to al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the
+way I heard him repeat this couplet, applying it to his own case,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+‘'Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; * 'Twas that I feared me lest
+they shoot their shafts!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity and
+mischief-making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning upon him, I
+said, 'There is none on the face of the earth better or more righteous than the
+Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous than thou; for they bought thee off
+from death and delivered thee from destruction, giving thee what should save
+thee; yet thou thankest them not nor praises" them, neither acquittest thee
+after the manner of the noble; nay, thou meetest their benevolence with this
+speech.' Then I went to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed"
+And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih con tinued: "So I
+acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that passed and Al-Rashid
+marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of Yahya and the vileness and
+ingratitude of Mansur, and bade restore the jewel to Yahya, saying, 'Whatso we
+have given it befitteth us not to take again.' After that Salih returned to
+Yahya and acquainted him with the tale of Mansur and his ill-conduct; whereupon
+replied he, 'O Salih, when a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought,
+he is not to be blamed for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from
+the heart;' and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But Salih
+wept and exclaimed, 'Never shall the revolving heavens bring forth into being
+the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well- away, that one of such noble nature
+and generosity should be laid in the dust!' And he repeated these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Haste to do kindness thou cost intend; * Thou canst not always<br/>
+
+     on boons expend:<br/>
+
+How many from bounty themselves withheld, * Till means of bounty<br/>
+
+     had come to end!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And men tell another tale of the
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap21"></a>GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA SON OF KHБLID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER IN HIS NAME.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was between Yбhyб bin Khбlid and Abdullah bin Mбlik al- Khuzб'i,[FN#248]
+an enmity which they kept secret; the reason of the hatred being that Harun
+al-Rashid loved Abdullah with exceeding love, so that Yahya and his sons were
+wont to say that he had bewitched the Commander of the Faithful. And thus they
+abode a long while, with rancour in their hearts, till it fell out that the
+Caliph invested Abdullah with the government of Armenia[FN#249] and despatched
+him thither. Now soon after he had settled himself in his seat of government,
+there came to him one of the people of Irak, a man of good breeding and
+excellent parts and abundant cleverness; but he had lost his money and wasted
+his wealth and his estate was come to ill case; so he forged a letter to
+Abdullah bin Malik in the name of Yahya bin Khбlid and set out therewith for
+Armenia. Now when he came to the Governor's gate, he gave the letter to one of
+the Chamberlains, who took it and carried it to his master. Abdullah opened it
+and read it and, considering it attentively, knew it to be forged; so he sent
+for the man, who presented himself before him and called down blessings upon
+him and praised him and those of his court. Quoth Abdullah to him, "What moved
+thee to weary thyself on this wise and bring me a forged letter? But be of good
+heart; for we will not disappoint thy travail." Replied the other, "Allah
+prolong the life of our lord the Wazir! If my coming annoy thee, cast not about
+for a pretext to repel me, for Allah's earth is wide and He who giveth daily
+bread still liveth. Indeed, the letter I bring thee from Yahya bin Khalid is
+true and no forgery." Quoth Abdullah, "I will write a letter to my
+agent[FN#250] at Baghdad and command him enquire concerning this same letter.
+If it be true, as thou sayest, and genuine and not forged by thee, I will
+bestow on thee the Emirship of one of my cities; or, if thou prefer a present,
+I will give thee two hundred thousand dirhams, besides horses and camels of
+price and a robe of honour. But, if the letter prove a forgery, I will order
+thou be beaten with two hundred blows of a stick and thy beard be shaven." So
+Abdullah bade confine him in a chamber and furnish him therein with all he
+needed, till his case should be made manifest. Then he despatched a letter to
+his agent at Baghdad, to the following effect: "There is come to me a man with
+a letter purporting to be from Yahya bin Khбlid. Now I have my suspicions of
+this letter: therefore delay thou not in the matter, but go thyself and look
+carefully into the case and let me have an answer with all speed, in order that
+we may know what is true and what is untrue." When the letter reached Baghdad,
+the agent mounted at once,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the agent of Abdullah,
+son of Malik al-Khuza'i, on receipt of the letter at Baghdad, mounted at once
+and repaired to the house of Yahya bin Khбlid, whom he found sitting with his
+officers and boon- companions. After the usual salute he gave him the letter
+and Yahya read it and said to the agent, "Come back to me tomorrow for my
+written answer." Now when the agent had gone away, Yahya turned to his
+companions and said, "What doth he deserve who forgeth a letter in my name and
+carrieth it to my foe?" They answered all and each, saying this and that, and
+every one proposing some kind of punishment; but Yahya said, "Ye err in that ye
+say and this your counsel is of the baseness of your spirits and the meanness
+of your minds. Ye all know the close favour of Abdullah with the Caliph and ye
+weet of what is between him and us of anger and enmity; and now Almighty Allah
+hath made this man the means of reconciliation between us; and hath fitted him
+for such purpose and hath appointed him to quench the fire of ire in our
+hearts, which hath been growing these twenty years; and by his means our
+differences shall be adjusted. Wherefore it behoveth me to requite such man by
+verifying his assertion and amending his estate; so I will write him a letter
+to Abdullah son of Malik, praying that he may use him with increase of honour
+and continue to him his liberality." Now when his companions heard what he
+said, they called down blessings on him and marvelled at his generosity and the
+greatness of his magnanimity. Then he called for paper and ink and wrote
+Abdullah a letter in his own hand, to the following effect: "In the name of
+Allah, the Compassionating' the Compassionate! Of a truth thy letter hath
+reached me (Allah give thee long life!) and I am glad to hear of thy safety and
+am pleased to be assured of thine immunity and prosperity. It was thy thought
+that a certain worthy man had forged a letter in my name and that he was not
+the bearer of any message from the same; but the case is not so, for the letter
+I myself wrote, and it was no forgery; and I hope, of thy courtesy and
+consideration and the nobility of thy nature, that thou wilt gratify this
+generous and excellent man of his hope and wish, and honour him with the honour
+he deserveth and bring him to his desire and make him the special-object of thy
+favour and munificence. Whatso thou dost with him, it is to me that thou dost
+the kindness, and I am thankful to thee accordingly." Then he superscribed the
+letter and after sealing it, delivered it to the agent, who despatched it to
+Abdullah. Now when the Governor read it, he was charmed with its contents, and
+sending for the man, said to him, "Whichever of the two promised boons is the
+more acceptable to thee that will I give thee." The man replied, "The money
+gift were more acceptable to me than aught else," whereupon Abdullah ordered
+him two hundred thousand dirhams and ten Arab horses, five with housings of
+silk and other five with richly ornamented saddles, used in state processions;
+besides twenty chests of clothes and ten mounted white slaves and a
+proportionate quantity of jewels of price. Moreover, he bestowed on him a dress
+of honour and sent him to Baghdad in great splendour. So when he came thither,
+he repaired to the door of Yahya's house, before he went to his own folk, and
+craved permission to enter and have audience. The Chamberlain went in to Yahya
+and said to him, "O my lord, there is one at the door who craveth speech of
+thee; and he is a man of apparent wealth, courteous in manner, comely of aspect
+and attended by many servants." Then Yahya bade admit him; and, when he entered
+and kissed the ground before him, Yahya asked him, "Who art thou?" He answered,
+"Hear me, O my lord, I am he who was done dead by the tyranny of fortune, but
+thou didst raise me to life again from the grave of calamities and exalt me to
+the paradise of my desires. I am the man who forged a letter in thy name and
+carried it to Abdullah bin Malik al-Khuza'i." Yahya asked, "How hath he dealt
+with thee and what did he give thee?"; and the man answered, "He hath given me,
+thanks to thy hand and thy great liberality and benevolence and to thy
+comprehensive kindness and lofty magnanimity and thine all-embracing
+generosity, that which hath made me a wealthy man and he hath distinguished me
+with his gifts and favours. And now I have brought all that he gave me and here
+it is at thy door; for it is thine to decide and the command is in thy hand."
+Rejoined Yahya, "Thou hast done me better service than I did thee and I owe
+thee a heavy debt of gratitude and every gift the white hand[FN#251] can give,
+for that thou hast changed into love and amity the hate and enmity that were
+between me and a man whom I respect and esteem. Wherefore I will give thee the
+like of what Abdullah bin Malik gave thee." Then he ordered him money and
+horses and chests of apparel, such as Abdullah had given him; and thus that
+man's fortune was restored to him by the munificence of these two generous
+ones. And folk also relate the tale of the
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap22"></a>CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE SCHOLAR.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of Abbas, there
+was none more accomplished in all branches of knowledge than he. Now on two
+days in each week, he was wont to preside at conferences of the learned, when
+the lawyers and theologians disputed in his presence, each sitting in his
+several-rank and room. One day as he sat thus, there came into the assembly a
+stranger, clad in ragged white clothes, who took seat in an obscure place
+behind the doctors of the law. Then the assembly began to speak and debate
+difficult questions, it being the custom that the various propositions should
+be submitted to each in turn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle
+addition or rare conceit, should make mention of it. So the question went round
+till it came to the strange man, who spake in his turn and made a goodlier
+answer than any of the doctors' replies; and the Caliph approved his
+speech.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Al-Maamun
+approved his speech and ordered him to come up from his low place to a high
+stead. Now when the second question came to him, he made a still more notable
+answer, and Al-Maamun ordered him to be preferred to a yet higher seat; and
+when the third question reached him, he made answer more justly and
+appropriately than on the two previous occasions, and Al-Maamun bade him come
+up and sit near himself. Presently the discussion ended when water was brought
+and they washed their hands after which food was set on and they ate; and the
+doctors arose and withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to depart with
+them and, calling him to himself, treated him with especial-favour and promised
+him honour and profit. Thereupon they made ready the sйance of wassail; the
+fair-faced cup-companions came and the pure wine[FN#252] went round amongst
+them, till the cup came to the stranger, who rose to his feet and spake thus,
+"If the Commander of the Faithful permit me, I will say one word." Answered the
+Caliph, "Say what thou wilt." Quoth the man "Verily the Exalted Intelligence
+(whose eminence Allah increase!) knoweth that his slave was this day, in the
+august assembly, one of the unknown folk and of the meanest of the company; and
+the Commander of the Faithful raised his rank and brought him near to himself,
+little as were the wit and wisdom he displayed, preferring him above the rest
+and advancing him to a station and a degree where to his thought aspired not.
+But now he is minded to part him from that small portion of intellect which
+raised him high from his lowness and made him great after his littleness.
+Heaven forfend and forbid that the Commander of the Faithful should envy his
+slave what little he hath of understanding and worth and renown! Now, if his
+slave should drink wine, his reason would depart far from him and ignorance
+draw near to him and steal-away his good breeding, so would he revert to that
+low and contemptible degree, whence he sprang, and become ridiculous and
+despicable in the eyes of the folk. I hope, therefore, that the August
+Intelligence, of his power and bounty and royal-generosity and magnanimity,
+will not despoil his slave of this jewel." When the Caliph Al-Maamun heard his
+speech, he praised him and thanked him and making him sit down again in his
+place, showed him high honour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand
+silver pieces. Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel;
+and in every assembly he was wont to exalt him and show him favour over all the
+other doctors of law and religion till he became the highest of them all in
+rank. And Allah is All knowing.[FN#253] Men also tell a tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap23"></a>ALI SHAR[FN#254] AND ZUMURRUD.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long gone before,
+in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd al-Dнn, who had great wealth
+and many slaves and servants, white and black, young and old; but he had not
+been blessed with a child until he reached the age of threescore, when Almighty
+Allah vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Alн Shбr. The boy grew up like the
+moon on the night of fulness; and when he came to man's estate and was endowed
+with all kinds of perfections, his father fell sick of a death-malady and,
+calling his son to him, said, "O my son, the fated hour of my decease is at
+hand, and I desire to give thee my last injunctions." He asked, "And what are
+they, O my father?"; and he answered, "O my son, I charge thee, be not
+over-familiar with any[FN#255] and eschew what leadeth to evil and mischief.
+Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked; for he is like the blacksmith;
+if his fire burn thee not, his smoke shall bother thee: and how excellent is
+the saying of the poet,[FN#256]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'In thy whole world there is not one,<br/>
+
+Whose friendship thou may'st count upon,<br/>
+
+Nor plighted faith that will stand true,<br/>
+
+When times go hard, and hopes are few.<br/>
+
+Then live apart and dwell alone,<br/>
+
+Nor make a prop of any one,<br/>
+
+I've given a gift in that I've said,<br/>
+
+Will stand thy friend in every stead:'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And what another saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Men are a hidden malady; * Rely not on the sham in them:<br/>
+
+For perfidy and treachery * Thou'lt find, if thou examine them.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And yet a third saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Converse with men hath scanty weal, except * To while away the<br/>
+
+     time in chat and prate:<br/>
+
+Then shun their intimacy, save it be * To win thee lore, or<br/>
+
+     better thine estate.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And a fourth saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If a sharp-witted wight e'er tried mankind, * I've eaten that<br/>
+
+     which only tasted he:[FN#257]<br/>
+
+Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, * Their faith I<br/>
+
+     found was but hypocrisy.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Ali, "O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee what more shall
+I do?" Quoth he, "Do good whereas thou art able; be ever kind and courteous to
+men and regard as riches every occasion of doing a good turn; for a design is
+not always easily carried out; and how well saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tis not at every time and tide unstable, * We can do kindly acts<br/>
+
+     and charitable:<br/>
+
+When thou art able hasten thee to act, * Lest thine endeavour<br/>
+
+     prove anon unable!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Said Ali, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee."—And Shahrazad perceived the
+dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth replied, "I
+have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?" And his sire continued, "Be
+thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be mindful of thee. Ward thy
+wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou wilt come to want the least of
+mankind. Know that the measure of a man's worth is according to that which his
+right hand hendeth: and how well saith the poet,[FN#258]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, * And when<br/>
+
+     it waxeth all men friendship show:<br/>
+
+How many a foe for wealth became my friend, * Wealth lost, how<br/>
+
+     many a friend became a foe!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Asked Ali, "What more?" And Majd al-Din answered, "O my son, take counsel of
+those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy heart's desire. Have
+compassion on those who are below thee, so shall those who are above thee have
+compassion on thee; and oppress none, lest Allah empower one who shall oppress
+thee. How well saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, * For man's true<br/>
+
+     course hides not from minds of two<br/>
+
+Man is a mirror which but shows his face, * And by two mirrors he<br/>
+
+     his back shall view.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as saith another,[FN#259]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,<br/>
+
+To gain the purpose that thou hast<br/>
+
+And be thou kindly to all men<br/>
+
+So kindly thou'lt be called again;<br/>
+
+For not a deed the hand can try,<br/>
+
+Save 'neath the hand of God on high,<br/>
+
+Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny,<br/>
+
+Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as saith yet another,[FN#260]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the<br/>
+
+     tyrannical-is in danger of revenges.<br/>
+
+Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down<br/>
+
+     curses on thee, and God's eye sleepeth not.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth away the
+reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul * Join body,<br/>
+
+     nor while speech the words of me explain:<br/>
+
+No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[FN#261] *<br/>
+
+     Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfair.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah stand to
+thee in my stead." Then he swooned away and kept silent awhile; and, when he
+came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and pronounced the profession of
+the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy of the Almighty. So his son wept and
+lamented for him and presently made proper preparation for his burial; great
+and small walked in his funeral-procession and Koran readers recited Holy Writ
+about his bier; nor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then
+they prayed over him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two couplets
+upon his tomb,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thou west create of dust and cam'st to life, * And learned'st in<br/>
+
+     eloquence to place thy trust;<br/>
+
+Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though<br/>
+
+     ne'er taken from the dust."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him with the
+ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep the loss of his
+father till his mother died also, not long afterwards, when he did with her as
+he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the shop, selling and buying and
+consorting with none of Almighty Allah's creatures, in accordance with his
+father's injunction. This wise he continued to do for a year, at the end of
+which time there came in to him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted
+with him, till he turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the
+way of righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair women
+night and day; for he said to himself, "Of a truth my father amassed this
+wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I leave it? By Allah, I
+will not do save as saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for<br/>
+
+     self;<br/>
+
+Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and all
+watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his riches and
+abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his shop and lands and
+so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his body, leaving himself but
+one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and thoughtfulness came to him, he
+fell into grief and sore care. One day, when he had sat from day-break to
+mid-afternoon without breaking his fast, he said in his mind, "I will go round
+to those on whom I spent my monies: perchance one of them will feed me this
+day." So he went the round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any
+one's door of them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach
+ached with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling his
+stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants' bazar where he found
+a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to himself, "I wonder what
+causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By Allah, I will not budge hence
+till I see what is within yonder ring!" So he made his way into the ring and
+found therein a damsel exposed for sale who was five feet tall,[FN#262]
+beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and high of breast; and who surpassed
+all the people of her time in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace;
+even as saith one, describing her,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As she willиd she was made, and in such a way that when * She<br/>
+
+     was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she:<br/>
+
+Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *<br/>
+
+     Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:<br/>
+
+The full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape,<br/>
+
+     * And the musk-pod is her scent—what like her can there be?<br/>
+
+'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in<br/>
+
+     every lovely limblet another moon we see!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And her name was Zumurrud—the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he
+marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, "By Allah, I will not stir hence
+till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!" So he took
+standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy
+her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker
+stood at the damsel's head and said, "Ho, merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who
+will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the mistress of moons, the
+union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the
+delight of the desirous? Open the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame
+nor reproach for evermore." Thereupon quoth one merchant, "Mine for five
+hundred dinars;" "And ten," quoth another. "Six hundred," cried an old man
+named Rashнd al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of face. "And ten," cried
+another. "I bid a thousand," rejoined Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival
+merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace and the broker took counsel
+with the girl's owner, who said, "I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she
+shall choose: so consult her." Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and
+said to her, "O mistress of moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee." She
+looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, "I will not
+be sold to a gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight.
+Allah inspired his saying who saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My<br/>
+
+     hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd;<br/>
+
+She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:—<br/>
+
+     * 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath<br/>
+
+     made<br/>
+
+For hoary head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!<br/>
+
+     stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm<br/>
+
+     laid?'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the broker heard her words he said, "By Allah, thou art excusable, and
+thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!" So he told her owner that she would not
+accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said, "Consult her concerning another."
+Thereupon a second man came forward and said, "Be she mine for what price was
+offered by the oldster she would have none of;" but she looked at him and
+seeing that his beard was dyed, said "What be this fashion lewd and base and
+the blackening of the hoary face?" And she made a great show of wonderment and
+repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *<br/>
+
+     A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]<br/>
+
+A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *<br/>
+
+     A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and<br/>
+
+     bite.[FN#267]<br/>
+
+O thou enravish" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so<br/>
+
+     translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?<br/>
+
+Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And<br/>
+
+     hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!<br/>
+
+Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *<br/>
+
+     Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by<br/>
+
+     night.[FN#268]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And how well saith another'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth she, 'I see thee dye thy hoariness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O<br/>
+
+     ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I:<br/>
+
+She roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so<br/>
+
+     lying e'en<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, "By Allah thou hast spoken
+sooth!" The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated the verses to
+him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was wrong and desisted from
+buying her. Then another came forward and said, "Ask her if she will be mine at
+the same price;" but, when he did so, she looked at him and seeing that he had
+but one eye, said, "This man is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet
+saith,[FN#270]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood<br/>
+
+     and his mischief fly:<br/>
+
+Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought<br/>
+
+     blindness to his eye!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, "Wilt thou be sold to this
+man?" She looked at him and seeing that he was short of stature[FN#271] and had
+a beard that reached to his navel, cried, "This is he of whom the poet
+speaketh,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length<br/>
+
+     unroll'd:<br/>
+
+'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and<br/>
+
+     darksome, drear and cold.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Said the broker, "O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are present,
+and point him out, that I may sell thee to him." So she looked round the ring
+of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies, till her glance fell on
+Ali Shar,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl's glance
+fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which cost her a
+thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he was of favour
+passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, "O
+broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome face
+and slender form whom the poet thus describeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed<br/>
+
+Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water of his
+mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a cure for the sick and his
+charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of him,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those<br/>
+
+     teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue:<br/>
+
+Rizwбn[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The<br/>
+
+     Houris lapse from virtue at the view<br/>
+
+Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full<br/>
+
+     moon sails, excuse is due.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of whom saith
+the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant<br/>
+
+     waxed and heart unstirred:<br/>
+
+His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their<br/>
+
+     languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as saith another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst<br/>
+
+     thou love him and a side-beard see?'<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be<br/>
+
+     letters 'tis a forgery:'<br/>
+
+Gather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those<br/>
+
+     Kausar[FN#276]-lips bear testimony.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali Shar, he
+marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of her beauty; but
+her owner said to him, "Marvel not at her splendour which shameth the noonday
+sun, nor that her memory is stored with the choicest verses of the poets; for
+besides this, she can repeat the glorious Koran, according to the seven
+readings,[FN#277] and the august Traditions, after ascription and authentic
+transmission; and she writeth the seven modes of handwriting[FN#278] and she
+knoweth more learning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands
+are better than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth
+them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to make a
+curtain." Exclaimed the broker, "O happy the man who hath her in his house and
+maketh her of his choicest treasures!"; and her owner said to him, "Sell her to
+whom she will." So the broker went up to Ali Shar and, kissing his hands, said
+to him, "O my lord, buy thou this damsel, for she hath made choice of
+thee."[FN#279] Then he set forth to him all her charms and accomplishments, and
+added, "I give thee joy if thou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no
+niggard of His giving." Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile,
+laughing at himself and secretly saying, "Up to this hour I have not broken my
+fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money
+wherewith to buy her." The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said to the
+broker, "Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my beauty to him and
+tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any but to him." So the broker
+took her hand and stationed her before Ali Shar, saying, "What is thy good
+pleasure, O my lord?" But he made him no answer, and the girl said to him, "O
+my lord and darling of my heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for
+me? Buy me for what thou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune." So he raised
+his eyes to her and said, "Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand
+dinars." Said she, "Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred." He cried, "No,"
+and she rejoined, "Then for eight hundred;" and though he again said, "Nay,"
+she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred dinars. Quoth
+he, "I have not by me a full hundred." So she laughed and asked, "How much dost
+thou lack of an hundred?" He answered, "By Allah, I have neither an hundred
+dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither white coin nor red cash, neither
+dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for another and a better customer." And when
+she knew that he had nothing, she said to him, "Take me by the hand and carry
+me aside into a by- lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily." He did so and
+she drew from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave
+him, saying, "Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred remain with
+thee by way of provision." He did as she bid him and, buying her for nine
+hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own purse and carried her to his
+house. When she entered it, she found a dreary desolate saloon without carpets
+or vessels; so she gave him other thousand dinars, saying, "Go to the bazar and
+buy three hundred dinars' worth of furniture and vessels for the house and
+three dinars' worth of meat and drink."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the slave-girl,
+"Bring us meat and drink for three dinars, furthermore a piece of silk, the
+size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern thread and sewing silk of seven
+colours." Thus he did, and she furnished the house and they sat down to eat and
+drink; after which they went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other.
+And they lay the night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the
+poet,[FN#280]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,<br/>
+
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.<br/>
+
+Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,<br/>
+
+     from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did<br/>
+
+     drain.<br/>
+
+Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And 'spite<br/>
+
+     the envier, thereto I surely will attain.<br/>
+
+There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than<br/>
+
+     when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.<br/>
+
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,<br/>
+
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks<br/>
+
+     enchain<br/>
+
+Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But<br/>
+
+     on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.<br/>
+
+Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou<br/>
+
+     assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?<br/>
+
+If in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede<br/>
+
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed firmly fixed
+in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the curtain and embroidered
+it with coloured silks and purpled it with silver and gold thread and she added
+thereto a border depicting round about it all manner of birds and beasts; nor
+is there in the world a feral but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in
+eight days, till she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and
+ironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, "Carry it to the bazar and sell it
+to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou sell it to a
+passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and thee, for we have
+foes who are not unthoughtful of us." "I hear and I obey," answered he and,
+repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a merchant, as she bade him; after
+which he bought a piece of silk for another curtain and gold and silver and
+silken thread as before and what they needed of food, and brought all this to
+her, giving her the rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain,
+which he sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the
+end of that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he gave
+to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him sixty dinars for
+it; but he refused, and the Christian continued bidding higher and higher, till
+he came to an hundred dinars and bribed the broker with ten ducats. So the man
+returned to Ali Shar and told him of the proffered price and urged him to
+accept the offer and sell the article at the Nazarene's valuation, saying, "O
+my lord, be not afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt." The
+merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the Christian,
+albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off to return home.
+Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking behind him; so he said
+to him, "O Nazarene,[FN#281] why dost thou follow in my footsteps?" Answered
+the other "O my lord, I want a something at the end of the street, Allah never
+bring thee to want!"; but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the
+Christian overtook him; so he said to him, "O accursed, what aileth thee to
+follow me wherever I go?" Replied the other, "O my lord, give me a draught of
+water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!"[FN#282] Quoth Ali Shar
+to himself, "Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute and claimeth our
+protection[FN#283] and he asketh me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will
+not baulk him!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to
+himself, "This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a draught of
+water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!" So he entered the house and took a
+gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him and said to him, "O my
+love, hast thou sold the curtain?" He replied, "Yes;" and she asked, "To a
+merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart presageth a parting." And he answered,
+"To whom but to a merchant?" Thereupon she rejoined, "Tell me the truth of the
+case, that I may order my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?" And he,
+To give the broker to drink," upon which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and
+there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and she repeated
+these two couplets,[FN#284]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the<br/>
+
+     embrace of the beloved deceive thee!<br/>
+
+Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the<br/>
+
+     end of every union is disjunction.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the
+vestibule and said to him, "How comest thou here and how darest thou, O dog,
+enter my house without my leave?" Answered he, "O my lord, there is no
+difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never intended to stir
+hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee for thy kindness and
+favour, thy bounty and generosity." Then he took the mug and emptying it,
+returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and waited for him to rise up and to
+go; but he did not move. So Ali said to him, "Why dost thou not rise and wend
+thy way?"; and he answered, "O my lord, be not of those who do a kindness and
+then make it a reproach, nor of those of whom saith the poet,[FN#285]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'They're gone who when thou stoodest at their door * Would for<br/>
+
+     thy wants so generously cater:<br/>
+
+But stand at door of churls who followed them, * They'd make high<br/>
+
+     favour of a draught of water!'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he continued, "O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee give me
+to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of bread or a
+biscuit with an onion." Replied Ali Shar, "Begone, without more chaffer and
+chatter; there is nothing in the house." He persisted, "O my lord, if there be
+nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars and bring us something from the
+market, if but a single scone, that bread and salt may pass between
+us."[FN#286] With this, quoth Ali Shar to himself, "This Christian is surely
+mad; I will take his hundred dinars and bring him somewhat worth a couple of
+dirhams and laugh at him." And the Nazarene added, "O my lord, I want but a
+small matter to stay my hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the
+best food is that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands; and how well
+saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, * How is it then[FN#287]<br/>
+
+     in woes of want I wone?<br/>
+
+Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard * For Caliph-king and<br/>
+
+     beggar woe-begone.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then quoth Ali Shar, "Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee
+somewhat from the market;" and quoth the Christian, "To hear is to obey." So
+Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a padlock, put the key
+in his pocket: after which he went to market and bought fried cheese and virgin
+honey and bananas[FN#288] and bread, with which he returned to the house. Now
+when the Christian saw the provision, he said, "O my lord, this is overmuch;
+'tis enough for half a score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat
+with me." Replied Ali, "Eat by thyself, I am full;" and the Christian rejoined,
+"O my lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a whore."
+Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat down and ate a
+little with him, after which he would have held his hand;—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar sat down and ate
+a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but the Nazarene
+privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in twain, put into one
+half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm whereof would over throw an
+elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and gave it to Ali Shar, saying, "O my
+lord, by the truth of thy religion, I adjure thee to take this." So Ali Shar,
+being ashamed to make him forsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it
+settled well in his stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as
+though he had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, rose to his
+feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o'-mount[FN#289] at bay and, taking
+the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to rejoin his brother. And
+the cause of his so doing was that the Nazarene's brother was the same decrepit
+old man who purposed to buy Zumurrud for a thousand dinars, but she would none
+of him and jeered him in verse. He was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem
+outwardly, and had called himself Rashid al-Din;[FN#290] and when Zumurrud
+mocked him and would not accept of him, he complained to his brother the
+aforesaid Christian who played this sleight to take her from her master Ali
+Shar; whereupon his brother, Barsum by name said to him, "Fret not thyself
+about the business, for I will make shift to seize her for thee, without
+expending either diner or dirham. Now he was a skilful wizard, crafty and
+wicked; so he watched his time and ceased not his practices till he played Ali
+Shar the trick before related; then, taking the key, he went to his brother and
+acquainted him with what had passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din mounted his she
+mule and repaired with his brother and his servants to the house of Ali Shar,
+taking with him a purse of a thousand dinars, wherewith to bribe the Chief of
+Police, should he meet him. He opened the saloon door and the men who were with
+him rushed in upon Zumurrud and forcibly seized her, threatening her with
+death, if she spoke, but they left the place as it was and took nothing
+therefrom. Lastly they left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule after they had shut
+the door on him and laid the saloon key by his side. Then the Christian carried
+the girl to his own house and setting her amongst his handmaids and concubines,
+said to her, "O strumpet, I am the old man whom thou didst reject and lampoon;
+but now I have thee, without paying diner or dirham." Replied she (and her eyes
+streamed with tears), "Allah requite thee, O wicked old man, for sundering me
+and my lord!" He rejoined, "Wanton minx and whore that thou art, thou shalt see
+how I will punish thee! By the truth of the Messiah and the Virgin, except thou
+obey me and embrace my faith, I will torture thee with all manner of torture!"
+She replied, "By Allah, though thou cut my flesh to bits I will not forswear
+the faith of Al-Islam! It may be Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief,
+for He cloth even as He is fief, and the wise say: 'Better body to scathe than
+a flaw in faith.'" Thereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women, saying,
+"Throw her down!" So they threw her down and he ceased not to beat her with
+grievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help came; then she no
+longer implored aid but fell to saying, "Allah is my sufficiency, and He is
+indeed all-sufficient!" till her groans ceased and her breath failed her and
+she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his heart was soothed by bashing her, he
+said to the eunuchs, "Drag her forth by the feet and cast her down in the
+kitchen, and give her nothing to eat." And after quietly sleeping that night,
+on the morrow the accursed old man sent for her and beat her again, after which
+he bade the Castrato return her to her place. When the burning of the blows had
+cooled, she said, "There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of
+God! Allah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!" And she called for
+succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud called for
+succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). Such was her case;
+but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not sleeping till next day, when the Bhang
+quitted his brain and he opened his eyes and cried out, "O Zumurrud"; but no
+one answered him. So he entered the saloon and found the empty air and the fane
+afar;[FN#291] whereby he knew that it was the Nazarene who had played him this
+trick. And he groaned and wept and lamented and again shed tears, repeating
+these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"O Love thou'rt instant in thy cruellest guise; * Here is my<br/>
+
+     heart 'twixt fears and miseries:<br/>
+
+Pity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way * Of Love, erst<br/>
+
+     wealthy now a beggar lies:<br/>
+
+What profits archer's art if, when the foe * Draw near, his<br/>
+
+     bowstring snap ere arrow {lies:<br/>
+
+And when griefs multiply on generous man * And urge, what fort<br/>
+
+     can fend from destinies?<br/>
+
+How much and much I warded parting, but * 'When Destiny descends<br/>
+
+     she blinds our eyes?'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and repeated also
+these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot step wandering lone,<br/>
+
+     * Pines the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to<br/>
+
+     wane<br/>
+
+She turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view *<br/>
+
+     The spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown<br/>
+
+She stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case<br/>
+
+     * The mount replies, 'There is no path that leads to union,<br/>
+
+     none!<br/>
+
+'Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o'er the<br/>
+
+     camp * And died in darkling air no more to be for ever<br/>
+
+     shown.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and rent his
+raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round about the city, beating
+his breast with the stones and crying "O Zumurrud!" whilst the small boys
+flocked round him, calling out, "A madman! A madman!" and all who knew him wept
+for him, saying, "This is such an one: what evil hath befallen him?" Thus he
+continued doing all that day and, when night darkened on him, he lay down in
+one of the city lanes and sleet till morning On the morrow, he went round about
+town with the stones till eventide, when he returned to his saloon to pass
+therein the night. Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy
+old woman said to him, "O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long hast thou
+been mad?" And he answered her with these two couplets,[FN#292]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They said, Thou revest upon the person thou lovest. * And I<br/>
+
+     replied, The sweets of life are only for the mad.<br/>
+
+Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave *<br/>
+
+     If she cure my madness do not blame me."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his beloved and said,
+"There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the
+Great! O my son, I wish thou wouldest acquaint me with the tale of thine
+affliction. Peradventure Allah may enable me to help thee against it, if it so
+please Him." So he told her all that had befallen him with Barsum the Nazarene
+and his brother the wizard who had named himself Rashid al-Din and, when she
+understood the whole case, she said, "O my son, indeed thou hast excuse." And
+her eyes railed tears and she repeated these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: * By Allah,<br/>
+
+     lover ne'er in fire of Sakar fries:<br/>
+
+For, sure, they died of love-desire they never told * Chastely,<br/>
+
+     and to this truth tradition testifies."[FN#293]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And after she had finished her verse, she said, "O my son, rise at once and buy
+me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy also bangles and seal-rings
+and bracelets and ear-rings and other gewgaws wherein women delight and grudge
+not the cash. Put all the stock into the crate and bring it to me and I will
+set it on my head and go round about, in the guise of a huckstress and make
+search for her in all the houses, till I happen on news of her— Inshallah!" So
+Ali Shar rejoiced in her words and kissed her hands, then, going out, speedily
+brought her all she required; whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and
+threw over her head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the
+basket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the houses. She
+ceased not to go from house to house and street to street and quarter to
+quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the house of the accursed Rashid al-Din
+the Nazarene where, hearing groans within, she knocked at the door,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old woman heard
+groans within the house, she knocked at the door, whereupon a slave-girl came
+down and opening to her, saluted her. Quoth the old woman, "I have these
+trifles for sale: is there any one with you who will buy aught of them?" "Yes,"
+answered the damsel and, carrying her indoors, made her sit down; whereupon all
+the slave-girls came round her and each bought something of her. And as the old
+woman spoke them fair and was easy with them as to price, all rejoiced in her,
+because of her kind ways and pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at
+the ins and outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning, till
+her glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to show her
+customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that Zumurrud was laid
+prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls, "O my children, how cometh yonder
+young lady in this plight?" Then the slave-girls told her all what had passed,
+adding, "Indeed this matter is not of our choice; but our master commanded us
+to do thus, and he is now on a journey." She said, "O my children, I have a
+favour to ask of you, and it is that you loose this unhappy damsel of her
+bonds, till you know of your lord's return, when do ye bind her again as she
+was; and you shall earn a reward from the Lord of all creatures." "We hear and
+obey," answered they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to eat and drink.
+Thereupon quoth the old woman, "Would my leg had been broken, ere I entered
+your house!" And she went up to Zumurrud and said to her, "O my daughter,
+Heaven keep thee safe; soon shall Allah bring thee relief." Then she privily
+told her that she came from her lord, Ali Shar, and agreed with her to be on
+the watch for sounds that night, saying, "Thy lord will come and stand by the
+pavilion-bench and whistle[FN#294] to thee; and when thou hearest him, do thou
+whistle back to him and let thyself down to him by a rope from the window, and
+he will take thee and go away with thee." So Zumurrud thanked the old woman,
+who went forth and returned to Ali Shar and told him what she had done, saying,
+"Go this night, at midnight, to such a quarter, for the accursed carle's house
+is there and its fashion is thus and thus. Stand under the window of the upper
+chamber and whistle; whereupon she will let herself down to thee; then do thou
+take her and carry her whither thou wilt." He thanked her for her good offices
+and with flowing tears repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now with their says and saids[FN#295] no more vex me the chiding<br/>
+
+     race; * My heart is weary and I'm worn to bone by their<br/>
+
+     disgrace:<br/>
+
+And tears a truthful legend[FN#296] with a long ascription-chain<br/>
+
+     * Of my desertion and distress the lineage can trace.<br/>
+
+O thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, * Cut<br/>
+
+     short thy long persistency nor question of my case:<br/>
+
+A sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould<br/>
+
+     * Hath stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of<br/>
+
+     grace.<br/>
+
+No rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close *<br/>
+
+     These eyes, nor patience aloe scape the hopes I dare to<br/>
+
+     trace:<br/>
+
+Ye have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, * In squalid<br/>
+
+     state 'twixt enviers and they who blame to face:<br/>
+
+As for forgetting you or love 'tis thing I never knew; * Nor in<br/>
+
+     my thought shall ever pass a living thing but you."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and repeated also these
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; *<br/>
+
+     For brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:<br/>
+
+Take he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe,<br/>
+
+     * My heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my<br/>
+
+     fete."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time, he went to the
+quarter she had described to him and saw and recognised the Christian's house;
+so he sat down on the bench under the gallery. Presently drowsiness overcame
+him and he slept (Glory be to Him who sleepeth not!?, for it was long since he
+had tasted sleep, by reason of the violence of his passion, and he became as
+one drunken with slumber. And while he was on this wise,—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he lay asleep,
+behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night and prowled about the
+skirts of the city to steal-somewhat, happened by the decree of Destiny, on the
+Nazarene's house. He went round about it, but found no way of climbing up into
+it, and presently on his circuit he came to the bench, where he saw Ali Shar
+asleep and stole his turband; and, as he was taking it suddenly Zumurrud looked
+out and seeing the thief standing in the darkness, took him for her lord;
+whereupon she let herself down to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags
+full of gold. Now when the robber saw that, he said to himself, "This is a
+wondrous thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it." Then he
+snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his shoulders and made off
+with both like the blinding lightening. Quoth she, "Verily, the old woman told
+me that thou west weak with illness on my account; and here thou art, stronger
+than a horse." He made her no reply; so she put her hand to his face and felt a
+beard like the broom of palm-frond used for the Hammam,[FN#297] as if he were a
+hog which had swallowed feathers and they had come out of his gullet; whereat
+she took fright and said to him, "What art thou?" "O strumpet," answered he, "I
+am the sharper Jawбn[FN#298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad al-Danaf; we are
+forty sharpers, who will all piss our tallow into thy womb this night, from
+dusk to dawn." When she heard his words, she wept and beat her face, knowing
+that Fate had gotten the better of her and that she had no resource but
+resignation and to put her trust in Allah Almighty. So she took patience and
+submitted herself to the ordinance of the Lord, saying, "There is no god but
+the God! As often as we escape from one woe, we fall into a worse." Now the
+cause of Jawan's coming thither was this: he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, "O
+Sharper-captain,[FN#299] I have been in this city before and know a cavern
+without the walls which will hold forty souls; so I will go before you thither
+and set my mother therein. Then will I return to the city and steal-somewhat
+for the luck of all of you and keep it till you come; so shall you be my guests
+and I will show you hospitality this day." Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, "Do what
+thou wilt." So Jawan went forth to the place before them and set his mother in
+the cave; but, as he came out he found a trooper lying asleep, with his horse
+picketed beside him; so he cut his throat and, taking his clothes and his
+charger and his arms, hid them with his mother in the cave, where also he
+tethered the horse. Then he betook himself to the city and prowled about, till
+he happened on the Christian's house and did with Ali Shar's turband and
+Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have said. He ceased not to run, with
+Zumurrud on his back, till he came to the cavern, where he gave her in charge
+of his mother, saying, "Keep thou watch over her till I return to thee at first
+dawn of day," and went his ways.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Kurdish Jawan to
+his mother, "Keep thou watch over her till I come back to thee at first dawn of
+day," and went his ways. Now Zumurrud said to herself, "Why am I so heedless
+about saving my life and wherefore await till these forty men come?: they will
+take their turns to board me, till they make me like a water- logged ship at
+sea." Then she turned to the old woman, Jawan's mother, and said to her, "O my
+aunt, wilt thou not rise up and come without the cave, that I may louse thee in
+the sun?"[FN#300] Replied the old woman, "Ay, by Allah, O my daughter: this
+long time have I been out of reach of the bath; for these hogs cease not to
+carry me from place to place." So they went without the cavern, and Zumurrud
+combed out her head hair and killed the lice on her locks, till the tickling
+soothed her and she fell asleep; whereupon Zumurrud arose and, donning the
+clothes of the murdered trooper, girt her waist with his sword and covered her
+head with his turband, so that she became as she were a man. Then, mounting the
+horse after she had taken the saddle-bags full of gold, she breathed a prayer,
+"O good Protector, protect me I adjure thee by the glory of Mohammed (whom
+Allah bless and preserve!)," adding these words in thought, "If I return to the
+city belike one of the trooper's folk will see me, and no good will befal me."
+So she turned her back on the town and rode forth into the wild and the waste.
+And she ceased not faring forth with her saddle-bags and the steed, eating of
+the growth of the earth and drinking of its waters, she and her horse, for ten
+days and, on the eleventh, she came in sight of a city pleasant and secure from
+dread, and established in happy stead. Winter had gone from it with his cold
+showers, and Prime had come to it with his roses and orange- blossoms and
+varied flowers; and its blooms were brightly blowing; its streams were merrily
+flowing and its birds warbled coming and going. And she drew near the dwellings
+and would have entered the gate when she saw the troops and Emirs and Grandees
+of the place drawn up, whereat she marvelled seeing them in such unusual-case
+and said to herself, "The people of the city are all gathered at its gate:
+needs must there be a reason for this." Then she made towards them; but, as she
+drew near, the soldiery dashed forward to meet her and, dismounting all, kissed
+the ground between her hands and said, "Aid thee Allah, O our lord the Sultan!"
+Then the notables and dignitaries ranged themselves before her in double line,
+whilst the troops ordered the people in, saying, "Allah aid thee and make thy
+coming a blessing to the Moslems, O Sultan of all creatures! Allah establish
+thee, O King of the time and union-pearl of the day and the tide!" Asked
+Zumurrud, "What aileth you, O people of this city?" And the Head Chamberlain
+answered, "Verily, He hath given to thee who is no niggard in His giving; and
+He hath been bountiful to thee and hath made thee Sultan of this city and ruler
+over the necks of all who are therein; for know thou it is the custom of the
+citizens, when their King deceaseth leaving no son, that the troops should
+sally forth to the suburbs and sojourn there three days: and whoever cometh
+from the quarter whence thou hast come, him they make King over them. So
+praised be Allah who hath sent us of the sons of the Turks a well-favoured man;
+for had a lesser than thou presented himself, he had been Sultan." Now Zumurrud
+was clever and well-advised in all she did: so she said, "Think not that I am
+of the common folk of the Turks! nay, I am of the sons of the great, a man of
+condition; but I was wroth with my family, so I went forth and left them. See
+these saddle-bags full of gold which I have brought under me that, by the way,
+I might give alms thereof to the poor and the needy." So they called down
+blessings upon her and rejoiced in her with exceeding joy and she also joyed in
+them and said in herself, "Now that I have attained to this"—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Zumurrud to
+herself, "Now that I have attained to this case, haply Allah will reunite me
+with my lord in this place, for He can do whatso He willeth." Then the troops
+escorted her to the city and, all dismounting, walked before her to the palace.
+Here she alighted and the Emirs and Grandees, taking her under both
+armpits,[FN#301] carried her into the palace and seated her on the throne;
+after which they all kissed ground before her. And when duly enthroned she bade
+them open the treasuries and gave largesse to all the troops, who offered up
+prayers for the continuance of her reign, and all the townsfolk accepted her
+rule and all the lieges of the realm. Thus she abode awhile bidding and
+forbidding, and all the people came to hold her in exceeding reverence and
+heartily to love her, by reason of her continence and generosity; for taxes she
+remitted and prisoners she released and grievances she redressed; but, as often
+as she bethought her of her lord, she wept and besought Allah to reunite her
+and him; and one night, as she chanced to be thinking of him and calling to
+mind the days she had passed with him, her eyes ran over with tears and she
+versified in these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My yearning for thee though long is fresh, * And the tears which<br/>
+
+     chafe these eyelids increase<br/>
+
+When I weep, I weep from the burn of love, * For to lover<br/>
+
+     severance is decease."[FN#302]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when she had ended her verse, she wiped away her tears and repairing to the
+palace, betook herself to the Harim, where she appointed to the slave-girls and
+concubines separate lodgings and assigned them pensions and allowances, giving
+out that she was minded to live apart and devote herself to works of piety. So
+she applied herself to fasting and praying, till the Emirs said, "Verily this
+Sultan is eminently devout;" nor would she suffer any male attendants about
+her, save two little eunuchs to serve her. And on this wise she held the throne
+a whole year, during which time she heard no news of her lord, and failed to
+hit upon his traces, which was exceeding grievous to her; so, when her distress
+became excessive, she summoned her Wazirs and Chamberlains and bid them fetch
+architects and builders and make her in front of the palace a horse-course, one
+parasang long and the like broad. They hastened to do her bidding, and lay out
+the place to her liking; and, when it was completed, she went down into it and
+they pitched her there a great pavilion, wherein the chairs of the Emirs were
+ranged in due order. Moreover, she bade them spread on the racing-plain tables
+with all manners of rich meats and when this was done she ordered the Grandees
+to eat. So they ate and she said to them, "It is my will that, on seeing the
+new moon of each month, ye do on this wise and proclaim in the city that no man
+shall open his shop, but that all our lieges shall come and eat of the King's
+banquet, and that whoso disobeyeth shall be hanged over his own door."[FN#303]
+So they did as she bade them, and ceased not so to do till the first new moon
+of the second year appeared; when Zumurrud went down into the horse-course and
+the crier proclaimed aloud, saying, "Ho, ye lieges and people one and all,
+whoso openeth store or shop or house shall straight way be hanged over his own
+door; for it behoveth you to come in a body and eat of the King's banquet." And
+when the proclamation became known, they laid the tables and the subjects came
+in hosts; so she bade them sit down at the trays and eat their fill of all the
+dishes. Accordingly they sat down and she took place on her chair of state,
+watching them, whilst each who was at meat said to himself, "Verily the King
+looketh at none save me." Then they fell to eating and the Emirs said to them,
+"Eat and be not ashamed; for this pleaseth the King." So they ate their fill
+and went away, blessing the Sovereign and saying, one to the other, "Never in
+our days saw we a Sultan who loved the poor as doth this Sultan." And they
+wished him length of life. Upon this Zumurrud returned to her palace,— And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twentieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Zumurrud returned
+to her palace, rejoicing in her device and saying to herself, "Inshallah, I
+shall surely by this means happen on news of my lord Ali Shar." When the first
+day of the second month came round, she did as before and when they had spread
+the tables she came down from her palace and took place on her throne and
+commanded the lieges to sit down and fall to. Now as she sat on her throne, at
+the head of the tables, watching the people take their places company by
+company and one by one, behold her eye fell on Barsum, the Nazarene who had
+bought the curtain of her lord; and she knew him and said in her mind, "This is
+the first of my joy and the winning of my wish." Then Barsum came up to the
+table and, sitting down with the rest to eat, espied a dish of sweet rice,
+sprinkled with sugar; but it was far from him, so he pushed up to it through
+the crowd and, putting out his hand to it, seized it and set it before himself.
+His next neighbour said to him, "Why dost thou not eat of what is before thee?
+Is not this a disgrace to thee? How canst thou reach over for a dish which is
+distant from thee? Art thou not ashamed?" Quoth Barsum, "I will eat of none
+save this same." Rejoined the other, "Eat then, and Allah give thee no good of
+it!" But another man, a Hashish-eater, said, "Let him eat of it, that I may eat
+with him." Replied his neighbour, "O unluckiest of Hashish- eaters, this is no
+meat for thee; it is eating for Emirs. Let it be, that it may return to those
+for whom it is meant and they eat it." But Barsum heeded him not and took a
+mouthful of the rice and put it in his mouth; and was about to take a second
+mouthful when the Queen, who was watching him, cried out to certain of her
+guards, saying, "Bring me yonder man with the dish of Sweet rice before him and
+let him not eat the mouthful he hath read but throw it from his hand."[FN#304]
+So four of the guards went up to Barsum and haled him along on his face, after
+throwing the mouthful of rice from his hand, and set him standing before
+Zumurrud, whilst all the people left eating and said to one another, By Allah,
+he did wrong in not eating of the food meant for the likes of him." Quoth one,
+"For me I was content with this porridge[FN#305] which is before me." And the
+Hashish-eater said, "Praised be Allah who hindered me from eating of the dish
+of sugared rice for I expected it to stand before him and was waiting only for
+him to have his enjoyment of it, to eat with him, when there befel him what we
+see." And the general said, one to other, "Wait till we see what shall befal
+him." Now as they brought him before Queen Zumurrud she cried, "Woe to thee, O
+blue eyes! What is thy name and why comest thou to our country?" But the
+accursed called himself out of his name having a white turband[FN#306] on, and
+answered, "O King, my name is Ali; I work as a weaver and I came hither to
+trade." Quoth Zumurrud, "Bring me a table of sand and a pen of brass," and when
+they brought her what she sought, she took the sand and the pen, and struck a
+geomantic figure in the likeness of a baboon; then, raising her head, she
+looked hard at Barsum for an hour or so and said to him, "O dog, how darest
+thou lie to Kings? Art thou not a Nazarene, Barsum by name, and comest thou not
+hither in quest of somewhat? Speak the truth, or by the glory of the Godhead, I
+will strike off thy head!" At this Barsum was confounded and the Emirs and
+bystanders said, "Verily, this King understandeth geomancy: blessed be He who
+hath gifted him!" Then she cried out upon the Christian and said, 'Tell me the
+truth, or I will make an end of thee!" Barsum replied, "Pardon, O King of the
+age; thou art right as regards the table, for the far one[FN#307] is indeed a
+Nazarene,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Barsum replied, "Pardon,
+O King of the age; thou art right as regards the table, for thy slave is indeed
+a Nazarene." Whereupon all present, gentle and simple, wondered at the King's
+skill in hitting upon the truth by geomancy, and said, "Verily this King is a
+diviner, whose like there is not in the world." Thereupon Queen Zumurrud bade
+flay the Nazarene and stuff his skin with straw and hang it over the gate of
+the race-course. Moreover, she commended to dig a pit without the city and burn
+therein his flesh and bones and throw over his ashes offal and ordure. "We hear
+and obey," answered they, and did with him all she bade; and, when the folk saw
+what had befallen the Christian, they said, "Serve him right; but what an
+unlucky mouthful was that for him!" And another said, "Be the far one's wife
+divorced if this vow be broken: never again to the end of my days will I eat of
+sugared rice!"; and the Hashish-eater cried "Praised be Allah, who spared me
+this fellow's fate by saving me from eating of that same rice!" Then they all
+went out, holding it thenceforth unlawful to sit over against the dish of sweet
+rice as the Nazarene had sat. Now when the first day of the third month came,
+they laid the tables according to custom, and covered them with dishes and
+chargers, and Queen Zumurrud came down and sat on her throne, with her guards
+in attendance, as of wont, in awe of her dignity and majesty. Then the
+townsfolk entered as before and went round about the tables, looking for the
+place of the dish of sweet rice, and quoth one to another, "Hark ye, O
+Hбjн[FN#308] Khalaf!"; and the other answered, "At thy service, O Hбjн Khбlid."
+Said Khбlid, "Avoid the dish of sweet rice and look thou eat not thereof; for,
+if thou do, by early morning thou will be hanged."[FN#309] Then they sat down
+to meat around the table; and, as they were eating, Queen Zumurrud chanced to
+look from her throne and saw a man come running in through the gate of the
+horse-course; and having considered him attentively, she knew him for Jawan the
+Kurdish thief who murdered the trooper. Now the cause of his coming was this:
+when he left his mother, he went to his comrades and said to them, "I did good
+business yesterday; for I slew a trooper and took his horse. Moreover there
+fell to me last night a pair of saddle-bags, full of gold, and a young lady
+worth more than the money in pouch; and I have left all that with my mother in
+the cave." At this they rejoiced and repaired to the cavern at night-fall,
+whilst Jawan the Kurd walked in front and the rest behind; he wishing to bring
+them the booty of which he had boasted. But he found the place clean empty and
+questioned his mother, who told him all that had befallen her; whereupon he bit
+his hands for regret and exclaimed, "By Allah, I will assuredly make search for
+the harlot and take her, wherever she is, though it be in the shell of a
+pistachio-nut,[FN#310] and quench my malice on her!" So he went forth in quest
+of her and ceased not journeying from place to place, till he came to Queen
+Zumurrud's city. On entering he found the town deserted and, enquiring of some
+women whom he saw looking from the windows, they told him that it was the
+Sultan's custom to make a banquet for the people on the first of each month and
+that all the lieges were bound to go and eat of it. Furthermore the women
+directed him to the racing-ground, where the feast was spread. So he entered at
+a shuffling trot; and, finding no place empty, save that before the dish of
+sweet rice already noticed, took his seat right opposite it and stretched out
+his hand towards the dish; whereupon the folk cried out to him, saying, "O our
+brother, what wouldst thou do?" Quoth he, "I would eat my fill of this dish."
+Rejoined one of the people, "If thou eat of it thou wilt assuredly find thyself
+hanged to-morrow morning." But Jawan said, "Hold thy tongue and talk not so
+unpleasantly." Then he stretched out his hand to the dish and drew it to him;
+but it so chanced that the Hashish-eater of whom we have spoken, was sitting by
+him; and when he saw him take the dish, the fumes of the Hashish left his head
+and he fled from his place and sat down afar off, saying, "I will have nothing
+to do with yonder dish." Then Jawan the Kurd put out his hand (which was very
+like a raven's claws,[FN#311] scooped up therewith half the dishful and drew
+out his neave as it were a camel's hoof,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
+day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jawan the Kurd drew his
+neave from the dish as it were a camel's hoof and rolled the lump of rice in
+the palm of his hand, till it was like a big orange, and threw it ravenously
+into his mouth; and it rolled down his gullet, with a rumble like thunder and
+the bottom of the deep dish appeared where said mouthful had been. Thereupon
+quoth to him one sitting by his side, "Praised be Allah for not making me meat
+between thy hands; for thou hast cleared the dish at a single mouthful;" and
+quoth the Hashish-eater, "Let him eat; methinks he hath a hanging face." Then,
+turning to Jawan he added, "Eat and Allah give thee small good of it." So Jawan
+put out his hand again and taking another mouthful, was rolling it in his palm
+like the first, when behold, the Queen cried out to the guards saying, "Bring
+me yonder man in haste and let him not eat the mouthful in his hand." So they
+ran and seizing him as he hung over the dish, brought him to her, and set him
+in her presence, whilst the people exulted over his mishap and said one to the
+other, "Serve him right, for we warned him, but he would not take warning.
+Verily, this place is bound to be the death of whoso sitteth therein, and
+yonder rice bringeth doom to all who eat of it." Then said Queen Zumurrud to
+Jawan, "What is thy name and trade and wherefore comest thou to our city?"
+Answered he, "O our lord the Sultan, my name is Othman; I work as a gardener
+and am come hither in quest of somewhat I have lost." Quoth Zumurrud, "Here
+with a table of sand!" So they brought it, and she took the pen and drawing a
+geomantic scheme, considered it awhile, then raising her head, exclaimed, "Woe
+to thee, thou loser! How darest thou lie to Kings? This sand telleth me that of
+a truth thy name is Jawan the Kurd and that thou art by trade a robber, taking
+men's goods in the way of unright and slaying those whom Allah hath forbidden
+to slay save for just cause." And she cried out upon him, saying, "O hog, tell
+me the truth of thy case or I will cut off thy head on the spot." Now when he
+heard these words, he turned yellow and his teeth chattered; then, deeming that
+he might save himself by truth-telling, he replied, "O King, thou sayest sooth;
+but I repent at thy hands henceforth and turn to Allah Almighty!" She answered,
+"It were not lawful for me to leave a pest in the way of Moslems;" and cried to
+her guards, "Take him and skin him and do with him as last month ye did by his
+like." They obeyed her commandment; and, when the Hashish- eater saw the
+soldiers seize the man, he turned his back upon the dish of rice, saying, "'Tis
+a sin to present my face to thee!" And after they had made an end of eating,
+they dispersed to their several homes and Zumurrud returned to her palace and
+dismissed her attendants. Now when the fourth month came round, they went to
+the race-course and made the banquet, according to custom, and the folk sat
+awaiting leave to begin. Presently Queen Zumurrud entered and, sitting down on
+her throne, looked at the tables and saw that room for four people was left
+void before the dish of rice, at which she wondered. Now as she was looking
+around, behold, she saw a man come trotting in at the gate of the horse-
+course; and he stayed not till he stood over the food-trays; and, finding no
+room save before the dish of rice, took his seat there. She looked at him and
+knowing him for the accursed Christian who called himself Rashid al-Din, said
+in her mind, "How blessed is this device of the food,[FN#312] into whose toils
+this infidel hath fallen" Now the cause of his coming was extraordinary, and it
+was on this wise. When he returned from his travels,—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the accursed, who
+had called himself Rashid al-Din, returned from travel, his household informed
+him that Zumurrud was missing and with her a pair of saddle-bags full of money;
+on hearing which ill tidings he rent his raiment and buffeted his face and
+plucked out his beard. Then he despatched his brother Barsum in quest of her to
+lands adjoining and, when he was weary of awaiting news of him, he went forth
+himself, to seek for him and for the girl, whenas fate led him to the city of
+Zumurrud. He entered it on the first day of the month and finding the streets
+deserted and the shops shut and women idling at the windows, he asked them the
+reason why, and they told him that the King made a banquet on the first of each
+month for the people, all of whom were bound to attend it, nor might any abide
+in his house or shop that day; and they directed him to the racing-plain. So he
+betook himself thither and found the people crowding about the food, and there
+was never a place for him save in front of the rice-dish now well-known. Here
+then he sat and put forth his hand to eat thereof, whereupon Zumurrud cried out
+to her guards, saying, "Bring me him who sitteth over against the dish of
+rice." So they knew him by what had before happened and laid hands on him and
+brought him before Queen Zumurrud, who said to him, "Out on thee! What is thy
+name and trade, and what bringeth thee to our city?" Answered he, "O King of
+the age, my name is Rustam[FN#313] and I have no occupation, for I am a poor
+dervish." Then said she to her attendants, "Bring me table of sand and pen of
+brass." So they brought her what she sought, as of wont; and she took the pen
+and made the dots which formed the figure and considered it awhile, then
+raising her head to Rashid al-Din, she said, "O dog, how darest thou lie to
+Kings? Thy name is Rashid al-Din the Nazarene, thou art outwardly a Moslem, but
+a Christian at heart, and thine occupation is to lay snares for the slave-girls
+of the Moslems and make them captives. Speak the truth, or I will smite off thy
+head." He hesitated and stammered, then replied, "Thou sayest sooth, O King of
+the age!" Whereupon she commanded to throw him down and give him an hundred
+blows with a stick on each sole and a thousand stripes with a whip on his body;
+after which she bade flay him and stuff his skin with herds of flax and dig a
+pit without the city, wherein they should burn his corpse and cast on his ashes
+offal-and ordure. They did as she bade them and she gave the people leave to
+eat. So they ate and when they had eaten their fill they went their ways, while
+Queen Zumurrud returned to her palace, saying, "I thank Allah for solacing my
+heart of those who wronged me." Then she praised the Creator of the earth and
+the heavens and repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They ruled awhile and theirs was harsh tyrannic rule, * But soon<br/>
+
+     that rule went by as though it never were:<br/>
+
+If just they had won justice; but they sinned, and so * The world<br/>
+
+     collected all its bane for them to bear:<br/>
+
+So died they and their case's tongue declares aloud * This is for<br/>
+
+     that so of the world your blaming spare."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when her verse was ended she called to mind her lord Ali Shar and wept
+flowing tears; but presently recovered herself and said, "Haply Allah, who hath
+given mine enemies into my hand, will vouchsafe me the speedy return of my
+beloved;" and she begged forgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted')—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Queen begged
+forgiveness of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!), and said, "Haply He will
+vouchsafe me speedy reunion with my beloved Ali Shar for He can do what He
+willeth and to His servants showeth grace, ever mindful of their case!" Then
+she praised Allah and again besought forgiveness of Him, submitting herself to
+the decrees of destiny, assured that each beginning hath his end, and repeating
+the saying of the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take all things easy; for all worldly things * In Allah's hand<br/>
+
+     are ruled by Destiny:<br/>
+
+Ne'er shall befal thee aught of things forbidden, * Nor what is<br/>
+
+     bidden e'er shall fail to thee!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And what another saith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Roll up thy days[FN#314] and easy shall they roll * Through<br/>
+
+     life, nor haunt the house of grief and dole:<br/>
+
+Full many a thing, which is o'er hard to find,* Next hour shall<br/>
+
+     bring thee to delight thy soul."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And what a third saith,[FN#315]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be mild what time thou'rt ta'en with anger and despite * And<br/>
+
+     patient, if there fall misfortune on thy head.<br/>
+
+Indeed, the nights are quick and great with child by Time * And<br/>
+
+     of all wondrous things are hourly brought to bed."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And what a fourth saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take patience which breeds good if patience thou can learn; * Be<br/>
+
+     calm soured, scaping anguish-draughts that gripe and bren:<br/>
+
+Know, that if patience with good grace thou dare refuse, * With<br/>
+
+     ill-graced patience thou shalt bear what wrote the Pen."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After which she abode thus another whole month's space, judging the folk and
+bidding and forbidding by day, and by night weeping and bewailing her
+separation from her lord Ali Shar. On the first day of the fifth month, she
+bade them spread the banquet on the race-plain, according to custom, and sat
+down at the head of the tables, whilst the lieges awaited the signal to fall
+to, leaving the place before the dish of rice vacant. She sat with eyes fixed
+upon the gate of the horse-course, noting all who entered and saying in her
+soul, "O Thou who restoredest Joseph to Jacob and diddest away the sorrows of
+Job,[FN#316] vouchsafe of Thy might and Thy majesty to restore me my lord Ali
+Shar; for Thou over all things art Omnipotent, O Lord of the Worlds! O Guide of
+those who go astray! O Hearer of those that cry! O Answerer of those who pray,
+answer Thou my prayer, O Lord of all creatures." Now hardly had she made an end
+of her prayer and supplication when behold, she saw entering the gate of the
+horse-plain a young man, in shape like a willow branch, the comeliest of youths
+and the most accomplished, save that his face was wan and his form wasted by
+weariness. Now as he entered and came up to the tables, he found no seat vacant
+save that over against the dish of sweet rice so he sat down there; and, when
+Zumurrud looked upon him, her heart fluttered and, observing him narrowly, she
+knew him for her lord Ali Shar, and was like to have cried out for joy, but
+restrained herself, fearing disgrace before the folk and, albeit her bowels
+yearned over him and her heart beat wildly, she hid what she felt. Now the
+cause of his coming thither was on this wise. After he fell asleep upon the
+bench and Zumurrud let herself down to him and Jawan the Kurd seized her, he
+presently awoke and found himself lying with his head bare, so he knew that
+some one had come upon him and had robbed him of his turband whilst he slept.
+So he spoke the saying which shall never shame its sayer and, which is,
+"Verily, we are Allah's and to Him are we returning!" and, going back to the
+old woman's house, knocked at the door. She came out and he wept before her,
+till he fell down in a fainting fit. Now when he came to himself, he told her
+all that had passed, and she blamed him and chid him for his foolish doings
+saying, "Verily thine affliction and calamity come from thyself." And she gave
+not over reproaching him, till the blood streamed from his nostrils and he
+again fainted away. When he recovered from his swoon,—And Shahrazad perceived
+the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ali Shar recovered
+from his swoon he saw the old woman bewailing his griefs and weeping over him;
+so he complained of his hard lot and repeated these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How bitter to friends is a parting, * And a meeting how sweet to<br/>
+
+     the lover!<br/>
+
+Allah join all the lovers He parteth, * And save me who of love<br/>
+
+     ne'er recover."[FN#317]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old woman mourned over him and said to him, "Sit here, whilst I go in quest
+of news for thee and return to thee in haste." "To hear is to obey," answered
+he. So she left him on her good errand and was absent till midday, when she
+returned and said to him, "O Ali, I fear me thou must die in thy grief; thou
+wilt never see thy beloved again save on the bridge Al-Sirбt;[FN#318] for the
+people of the Christian's house, when they arose in the morning, found the
+window giving on the garden torn from its hinges and Zumurrud missing, and with
+her a pair of saddle-bags full of the Christian's money. And when I came
+thither, I saw the Chief of Police standing at the door, he and his many, and
+there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
+Great!" Now, as Ali Shar heard these words, the light in his sight was changed
+to the darkness of night and he despaired of life and made sure of death; nor
+did he leave weeping, till he lost his senses. When he revived, love and
+longing were sore upon him; there befel him a grievous sickness and he kept his
+house a whole year; during which the old woman ceased not to bring him doctors
+and ply him with ptisanes and diet-drinks and make him savoury broths till,
+after the twelve-month ended, his life returned to him. Then he recalled what
+had passed and repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Severance-grief nighmost, Union done to death, * Down-railing<br/>
+
+     tear-drops, heart fire tortureth!<br/>
+
+Redoubleth pine in one that hath no peace * For love and wake and<br/>
+
+     woe he suffereth:<br/>
+
+O Lord, if there be thing to joy my soul * Deign Thou bestow it<br/>
+
+     while I breathe my breath."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the second year began, the old woman said to him, "O my son, all this thy
+weeping and wailing will not bring thee back thy mistress. Rise, therefore,
+gird the loins of resolution and seek for her in the lands: peradventure thou
+shalt light on some news of her." And she ceased not to exhort and hearten him,
+till he took courage and she carried him to the Hammam. Then she made him drink
+strong wine and eat white meats, and thus she did with him for a whole month,
+till he regained strength; and setting out journeyed without ceasing till he
+arrived at Zumurrud's city where he went to the horse-course, and sat down
+before the dish of sweet rice and put out his hand to eat of it. Now when the
+folk saw this, they were concerned for him and said to him, "O young man, eat
+not of that dish, for whoso eateth thereof, misfortune befalleth him." Answered
+he, "Leave me to eat of it, and let them do with me what they will, so haply
+shall I be at rest from this wearying life." Accordingly he ate a first
+mouthful, and Zumurrud was minded to have him brought before her, but then she
+bethought her that belike he was an hungered and said to herself, "It were
+properer to let him eat his fill." So he went on eating, whilst the folk looked
+at him in astonishment, waiting to see what would betide him; and, when he had
+satisfied himself, Zumurrud said to certain of her eunuchry, "Go to yonder
+youth who eateth of the rice and bring him to me in courteous guise, saying:
+'Answer the summons of the King who would have a word with thee on some slight
+matter.'" They replied, "We hear and obey," and going straightways up to Ali
+Shar, said to him, "O my lord, be pleased to answer the summons of the King and
+let thy heart be at ease." Quoth he, "Hearkening and obedience;" and followed
+the eunuchs,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar rejoined,
+"Hearkening and obedience;" and followed the eunuchs, whilst the people said to
+one another, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
+Glorious, the Great! I wonder what the King will do with him!" And others said,
+"He will do him naught but good: for had he intended to harm him, he had not
+suffered him to eat his fill." Now when the Castratos set him in presence of
+Zumurrud he saluted and kissed the earth before her, whilst she returned his
+salutation and received him with honour. Then she asked him, "What may be thy
+name and trade, and what brought thee to our city?"; and he answered, "O King
+my name is Ali Shar; I am of the sons of the merchants of Khorasan; and the
+cause of my coming hither is to seek for a slave-girl whom I have lost for she
+was dearer to me than my hearing and my seeing, and indeed my soul cleaveth to
+her, since I lost her; and such is my tale." So saying he wept, till he swooned
+away; whereupon she bade them sprinkle rose-water on his face, which they did
+till he revived, when she said, "Here with the table of sand and the brass
+pen." So they brought them and she took the pen and struck a geomantic scheme
+which she considered awhile; and then cried, "Thou hast spoken sooth, Allah
+will grant thee speedy reunion with her; so be not troubled." Upon this she
+commanded her head- chamberlain to carry him to the bath and afterwards to
+clothe him in a handsome suit of royal-apparel, and mount him on one of the
+best of the King's horses and finally bring him to the palace at the last of
+the day. So the Chamberlain, after saying "I hear and I obey," took him away,
+whilst the folk began to say to one another, "What maketh the King deal thus
+courteously with yonder youth?" And quoth one, "Did I not tell you that he
+would do him no hurt?; for he is fair of aspect; and this I knew, ever since
+the King suffered him to eat his fill." And each said his say; after which they
+all dispersed and went their ways. As for Zumurrud, she thought the night would
+never come, that she might be alone with the beloved of her heart. As soon as
+it was dark, she withdrew to her sleeping-chamber and made her attendants think
+her overcome with sleep; and it was her wont to suffer none to pass the night
+with her save those two little eunuchs who waited upon her. After a while when
+she had composed herself, she sent for her dear Ali Shar and sat down upon the
+bed, with candles burning over her head and feet, and hanging lamps of gold
+lighting up the place like the rising sun. When the people heard of her sending
+for Ali Shar, they marvelled thereat and each man thought his thought and said
+his say; but one of them declared, "At all events the King is in love with this
+young man, and to- morrow he will make him generalissimo of the army."[FN#319]
+Now when they brought him into her, he kissed the ground between her hands and
+called down blessings her, and she said in her mind, "There is no help for it
+but that I jest with him awhile, before I make myself known to him.''[FN#320]
+Then she asked him, "O Ali, say me, hast thou been to the Hammam?"[FN#321] and
+he answered, "Yes, O my lord." Quoth she, "Come, eat of this chicken and meat,
+and drink of this wine and sherbet of sugar; for thou art weary; and after that
+come thou hither." "I hear and I obey," replied he and did as she commanded him
+do. Now when he had made an end of eating and drinking, she said to him, "Come
+up with me on the couch and shampoo[FN#322] my feet." So he fell to rubbing
+feet and kneading calves, and found them softer than silk. Then said she, "Go
+higher with the massage;" and he, "Pardon me, O my lord, to the knee but no
+farther!" Whereupon quoth she, "Durst thou disobey me?: it shall be an
+ill-omened night for thee!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud cried to her
+lord, Ali Shar, "Durst thou disobey me?: it shall be an ill-omened night for
+thee! Nay, but it behoveth thee to do my bidding and I will make thee my minion
+and appoint thee one of my Emirs." Asked Ali Shar, "And in what must I do thy
+bidding, O King of the age?" and she answered, "Doff thy trousers and lie down
+on thy face." Quoth he, "That is a thing in my life I never did; and if thou
+force me thereto, verily I will accuse thee thereof before Allah on
+Resurrection-day. Take everything thou hast given me and let me go from thy
+city." And he wept and lamented; but she said, "Doff thy trousers and lie down
+on thy face, or I will strike off thy head." So he did as she bade him and she
+mounted upon his back; and he felt what was softer than silk and smoother than
+cream and said in himself, "Of a truth, this King is nicer than all the women!"
+Now for a time she abode on his back, then she turned over on the bed, and he
+said to himself, "Praised be Allah! It seemeth his yard is not standing." Then
+said she, "O Ali, it is of the wont of my prickle that it standeth not, except
+they rub it with their hands; so, come, rub it with thy hand, till it be at
+stand, else will I slay thee." So saying, she lay down on her back and taking
+his hand, set it to her parts, and he found these same parts softer than silk;
+white, plumply-rounded, protuberant, resembling for heat the hot room of the
+bath or the heart of a lover whom love-longing hath wasted. Quoth Ali in
+himself, "Verily, our King hath a coynte; this is indeed a wonder of wonders!"
+And lust get hold on him and his yard rose and stood upright to the utmost of
+its height; which when Zumurrud saw, she burst out laughing and said to him, "O
+my lord, all this happeneth and yet thou knowest me not!" He asked "And who art
+thou, O King?"; and she answered, "I am thy slave- girl Zumurrud." Now whenas
+he knew this and was certified that she was indeed his very slave-girl,
+Zumurrud, he kissed her and embraced her and threw himself upon her as the lion
+upon the lamb. Then he sheathed his steel rod in her scabbard and ceased not to
+play the porter at her door and the preacher in her pulpit and the
+priest[FN#323] at her prayer niche, whilst she with him ceased not from
+inclination and prostration and rising up and sitting down, accompanying her
+ejaculations of praise and of "Glory to Allah!" with passionate movements and
+wrigglings and claspings of his member[FN#324] and other amorous gestures, till
+the two little eunuchs heard the noise. So they came and peeping from behind
+the curtains saw the King lying on his back and upon him Ali Shar, thrusting
+and slashing whilst she puffed and blew and wriggled. Quoth they, "Verily, this
+be no man's wriggle: belike this King is a woman.''[FN#325] But they concealed
+their affair and discovered it to none. And when the morrow came, Zumurrud
+summoned all the troops and the lords of the realm and said to them, "I am
+minded to journey to this man's country; so choose you a viceroy, who shall
+rule over you till I return to you." And they answered, "We hear and we obey."
+Then she applied herself to making ready the wants of the way, to wit provaunt
+and provender, monies and rarities for presents, camels and mules and so forth;
+after which she set out from her city with Ali Shar, and they ceased not faring
+on, till they arrived at his native place, where he entered his house and gave
+many gifts to his friends and alms and largesse to the poor. And Allah
+vouchsafed him children by her, and they both lived the gladdest and happiest
+of lives, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of
+societies and the Garnerer of graves. And glorified be He the Eternal without
+cease, and praised be He in every case! And amongst other tales they tell one
+of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap24"></a>THE LOVES OF JUBAYR BIN UMAYR AND THE LADY BUDUR.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is related that the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid was
+uneasy[FN#326] one night and could not sleep; so that he ceased not to toss
+from side to side for very restlessness, till, growing weary of this, he called
+Masrur and said to him, "Ho, Masrur, find me some one who may solace me in this
+my wakefulness." He answered, "O Prince of True Believers, wilt thou walk in
+the palace-garden and divert thyself with the sight of its blooms and gaze upon
+the stars and constellations and note the beauty of their ordinance and the
+moon among them rising in sheen over the water?" Quoth the Caliph, "O Masrur,
+my heart inclineth not to aught of this." Quoth he, "O my lord, there are in
+thy palace three hundred concubines, each of whom hath her separate chamber. Do
+thou bid all and every retire into her own apartment and then do thou go thy
+rounds and amuse thyself with gazing on them without their knowledge." The
+Caliph replied, "O Masrur, the palace is my palace and the girls are my
+property: furthermore my soul inclineth not to aught of this." Then Masrur
+rejoined, "O my lord, summon the doctors of law and religion and the sages of
+science and poets, and bid them contend before thee in argument and disputation
+and recite to thee songs and verses and tell thee tales and anecdotes." Replied
+the Caliph, "My soul inclineth not to aught of this;" and Masrur rejoined, "O
+my lord, bid pretty boys and the wits and the cup-companions attend thee and
+solace thee with witty sallies." "O Masrur," ejaculated the Caliph, "indeed my
+soul inclineth not to aught of this." "Then, O my lord," cried Masrur, "strike
+off my head;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur cried out to the
+Caliph, "O my lord, strike off my head; haply that will dispel thine unease and
+do away the restlessness that is upon thee." So Al-Rashid laughed at his saying
+and said, "See which of the boon-companions is at the door." Thereupon he went
+out and returning, said, "O my lord, he who sits without is Ali bin Mansur of
+Damascus, the Wag."[FN#327] "Bring him to me," quoth Harun: and Masrur went out
+and returned with Ibn Mansur, who said, on entering, "Peace be with thee, O
+Commander of the Faithful!" The Caliph returned his salutation and said to him,
+"O Ibn Mansur, tell us some of thy stories." Said the other, "O Commander of
+the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen with my eyes or what I have
+only heard tell?" Replied the Caliph, "If thou have seen aught worth telling,
+let us hear it; for hearing is not like seeing." Said Ibn Mansur, "O Commander
+of the Faithful, lend me thine ear and thy heart;" and he answered, "O Ibn
+Mansur, behold, I am listening to thee with mine ears and looking at thee with
+mine eyes and attending to thee with my heart." So Ibn Mansur began: "Know
+then, O Commander of the Faithful, that I receive a yearly allowance from
+Mohammed bin Sulaymбn al-Hбshimi, Sultan of Bassorah; so I went to him once
+upon a time, as usual, and found him ready to ride out hunting and birding. I
+saluted him and he returned my salute, and said, 'O son of Mansur, mount and
+come with us to the chase:' but I said, 'O my lord, I can no longer ride; so do
+thou station me in the guest-house and give thy chamberlains and lieutenants
+charge over me.' And he did so and departed for his sport. His people entreated
+me with the utmost honour and entertained me with the greatest hospitality; but
+said I to myself, 'By Allah, it is a strange thing that for so long I have been
+in the habit of coming from Baghdad to Bassorah, yet know no more of this town
+than from palace to garden and from garden to palace. When shall I find an
+occasion like this to view the different parts and quarters of Bassorah? I will
+rise forthwith and walk forth alone and divert myself and digest what I have
+eaten.' Accordingly I donned my richest dress and went out a walking about
+Bassorah. Now it is known to thee, O Commander of the Faithful, that it hath
+seventy streets, each seventy leagues[FN#328] long, the measure of Irak; and I
+lost myself in its by-streets and thirst overcame me. Presently, as I went
+along, O Prince of True Believers, behold, I came to a great door, whereon were
+two rings of brass,[FN#329] with curtains of red brocade drawn before it. And
+on either side of the door was a stone bench and over it was a trellis, covered
+with a creeping vine that hung down and shaded the door way. I stood still to
+gaze upon the place, and presently heard a sorrowful voice, proceeding from a
+heart which did not rejoice, singing melodiously and chanting these cinquains,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'My body bides the sad abode of grief and malady, * Caused by a<br/>
+
+     fawn whose land and home are in a far countrie:<br/>
+
+O ye two Zephyrs of the wold which caused such pain in me * By<br/>
+
+     Allah, Lord of you! to him my heart's desire, go ye<br/>
+
+           And chide him so perchance ye soften him I pray.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And tell us all his words if he to hear your speech shall deign,<br/>
+
+     * And unto him the tidings bear of lovers 'twixt you twain:<br/>
+
+And both vouchsafe to render me a service free and fain, * And<br/>
+
+     lay my case before him showing how I e'er complain:<br/>
+
+          And say, 'What ails thy bounder thrall this wise to<br/>
+
+               drive away,<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Without a fault committed and without a sin to show; * Or heart<br/>
+
+     that leans to other wight or would thy love forego:<br/>
+
+Or treason to our plighted troth or causing thee a throe?' * And<br/>
+
+     if he smile then say ye twain in accents soft and slow,<br/>
+
+          'An thou to him a meeting grant 'twould be the kindest<br/>
+
+               way!<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For he is gone distraught for thee, as well indeed, he might *<br/>
+
+     His eyes are wakeful and he weeps and wails the livelong<br/>
+
+     night :'<br/>
+
+If seem he satisfied by this why then 'tis well and right, * But<br/>
+
+     if he show an angry face and treat ye with despite,<br/>
+
+          Trick him and 'Naught we know of him!' I beg you both<br/>
+
+               to say.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth I to myself, 'Verily, if the owner of this voice be fair, she conjoineth
+beauty of person and eloquence and sweetness of voice.' Then I drew near the
+door, and began raising the curtain little by little, when lo! I beheld a
+damsel, white as a full moon when it mooneth on its fourteenth night, with
+joined eyebrows twain and languorous lids of eyne, breasts like pomegranates
+twin and dainty, lips like double carnelian, a mouth as it were the seal-of
+Solomon, and teeth ranged in a line that played with the reason of proser and
+rhymer, even as saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O pearly mouth of friend, who set those pretty pearls in line, *<br/>
+
+     And filled thee full of whitest chamomile and reddest wine?<br/>
+
+Who lent the morning-glory in thy smile to shimmer and shine *<br/>
+
+     Who with that ruby-padlock dared thy lips to seal-and sign!<br/>
+
+Who looks on thee at early morn with stress of joy and bliss *<br/>
+
+     Goes mad for aye, what then of him who wins a kiss of<br/>
+
+     thine?'[FN#330]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as saith another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+    'O pearl-set mouth of friend * Pity poor Ruby's cheek<br/>
+
+     Boast not o'er one who owns * Thee, union and unique.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In brief she comprised all varieties of loveliness and was a seduction to men
+and women, nor could the gazer satisfy himself with the sight of her charms;
+for she was as the poet hath said of her,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'When comes she, slays she; and when back he turns, * She makes<br/>
+
+     all men regard with loving eyes:<br/>
+
+A very sun! a very moon! but still * Prom hurt and harmful ills<br/>
+
+     her nature flies.<br/>
+
+Opes Eden's garden when she shows herself, * And full moon see we<br/>
+
+     o'er her necklace rise.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How as I was looking at her through an opening of the curtain, behold, she
+turned; and, seeing me standing at the door, said to her handmaid, 'See who is
+at the door.' So the slave-girl came up to me and said, 'O Shaykh, hast thou no
+shame, or do impudent airs suit hoary hairs?' Quoth I, 'O my mistress, I
+confess to the hoary hairs, but as for impudent airs, I think not to be guilty
+of unmannerliness.' Then the mistress broke in, 'And what can be more
+unmannerly than to intrude thyself upon a house other than thy house and gaze
+on a Harim other than thy Harim?' I pleaded, 'O my lady, I have an excuse;' and
+when she asked, 'And what is thine excuse?' I answered, 'I am a stranger and so
+thirsty that I am well nigh dead of thirst.' She rejoined, 'We accept thine
+excuse,' —And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When It was the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young lady rejoined,
+'We accept thine excuse,' and calling one of her slave maids, said to her, 'O
+Lutf,[FN#331] give him to drink in the golden tankard.' So she brought me a
+tankard of red gold, set with pearls and gems of price, full of water mingled
+with virgin musk and covered with a napkin of green silk, and I addressed
+myself to drink and was long about my drinking, for I stole glances at her the
+while, till I could prolong my stay no longer. Then I returned the tankard to
+the girl, but did not offer to go; and she said to me, 'O Shaykh, wend thy
+way.' But I said, 'O my lady, I am troubled in mind.' She asked me 'for what?'
+and I answered, 'For the turns of Time and the change of things.' Replied she,
+'Well mayst thou be troubled thereat for Time breedeth wonders. But what hast
+thou seen of such surprises that thou shouldst muse upon them?' Quoth I, 'I was
+thinking of the whilom owner of this house, for he was my intimate in his
+lifetime.' Asked she, 'What was his name?'; and I answered, 'Mohammed bin Ali
+the Jeweller and he was a man of great wealth. Tell me did he leave any
+children?' Said she, 'Yes, he left a daughter, Budur by name, who inherited all
+his wealth?' Quoth I, 'Meseemeth thou art his daughter?' 'Yes,' answered she,
+laughing; then added, 'O Shaykh, thou best talked long enough; now wend thy
+ways.' Replied I, 'Needst must I go, but I see thy charms are changed by being
+out of health; so tell me thy case; it may be Allah will give thee comfort at
+my hands.' Rejoined she, 'O Shayth, if thou be a man of discretion, I will
+discover to thee my secret; but first tell me who thou art, that I may know
+whether thou art worthy of confidence or not; for the poet saith,[FN#332]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of<br/>
+
+     mankind remaineth concealed.<br/>
+
+I have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost<br/>
+
+     and whose door is sealed.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereto I replied, 'O my lady, an thou wouldest know who I am, I am Ali bin
+MansÑŠr of Damascus, the Wag, cup-companion to the Commander of the Faithful,
+Harun al-Rashid.' Now when she heard my name, she came down from her seat and
+saluting me, said, 'Welcome, O Ibn Mansur! Now will I tell thee my case and
+entrust thee with my secret. I am a lover separated from her beloved.' I
+answered, 'O my lady, thou art fair and shouldest be on love terms with none
+but the fair. Whom then dost thou love?' Quoth she, 'I love Jubayr bin Umayr
+al-Shaybбni, Emir of the Banъ Shaybбn;[FN#333]' and she described to me a young
+man than whom there was no prettier fellow in Bassorah. I asked, 'O my lady,
+have interviews or letters passed between you?' and she answered 'Yes, but our
+love was tongue-love souls, not heart and souls- love; for he kept not his
+trust nor was he faithful to his troth.' Said I, 'O my lady, and what was the
+cause of your separation?', and she replied, 'I was sitting one day whilst my
+handmaid here combed my hair. When she had made an end of combing it, she
+plaited my tresses, and my beauty and loveliness charmed her; so she bent over
+me and kissed my cheek.[FN#334] At that moment he came in unawares, and, seeing
+the girl kiss my cheek, straightways turned away in anger, vowing
+eternal-separation and repeating these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'If another share in the thing I love, * I abandon my love and<br/>
+
+     live lorn of love.<br/>
+
+My beloved is worthless if aught she will, * Save that which her<br/>
+
+     lover doth most approve.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And from the time he left me to this present hour, O Ibn Mansur, he hath
+neither written to me nor answered my letters.' Quoth I, 'And what purposes"
+thou to do?' Quoth she, 'I have a mind to send him a letter by thee. If thou
+bring me back an answer, thou shalt have of me five hundred gold pieces; and if
+not, then an hundred for thy trouble in going and coming.' I answered, 'Do what
+seemeth good to thee; I hear and I obey thee.' Whereupon she called to one of
+her slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper,' and she wrote thereon these
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Beloved, why this strangeness, why this hate? * When shall thy<br/>
+
+     pardon reunite us two?<br/>
+
+Why dost thou turn from me in severance? * Thy face is not the<br/>
+
+     face I am wont to know.<br/>
+
+Yes, slanderers falsed my words, and thou to them * Inclining,<br/>
+
+     madest spite and envy grow.<br/>
+
+An hast believed their tale, the Heavens forbid * Now thou<br/>
+
+     believe it when dost better bow!<br/>
+
+By thy life tell what hath reached thine ear, * Thou know'st what<br/>
+
+     said they and so justice show.<br/>
+
+An it be true I spoke the words, my words * Admit interpreting<br/>
+
+     and change allow:<br/>
+
+Given that the words of Allah were revealed, * Folk changed the<br/>
+
+     Torah[FN#335] and still changing go:<br/>
+
+What slanders told they of mankind before! * Jacob heard Joseph<br/>
+
+     blamed by tongue of foe.<br/>
+
+Yea, for myself and slanderer and thee * An awful day of<br/>
+
+     reckoning there shall be.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she sealed the letter and gave it to me; and I took it and carried it to
+the house of Jubayr bin Umayr, whom I found absent a hunting. So I sat down to
+wait for him; and behold, he returned from the chase; and when I saw him, O
+Prince of True Believers, come riding up, my wit was confounded by his beauty
+and grace. As soon as he sighted me sitting at the house-door, he dismounted
+and coming up to me embraced me and saluted me; and meseemed I embraced the
+world and all therein. Then he carried me into his house and, seating me on his
+own couch, called for food. They brought a table of Khalanj-wood of Khorasan
+with feet of gold, whereon were all manners of meats, fried and roasted and the
+like. So I seated myself at the table and examining it with care found these
+couplets engraved upon it:"[FN#336]—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali son of<br/>
+
+Mansur continued: "So I seated myself at the table of Jubayr bin<br/>
+
+Umayr al-Shaybani and, examining it with care, found these<br/>
+
+couplets engraved upon it,<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+          'On these which once were-chicks,<br/>
+
+          Your mourning glances fix,<br/>
+
+Late dwellers in the mansion of the cup,<br/>
+
+          Now nearly eaten up!<br/>
+
+               Let tears bedew<br/>
+
+          The memory of that stew,<br/>
+
+          Those partridges, once roast,<br/>
+
+               Now lost!<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The daughters of the grouse in plaintive strain<br/>
+
+Bemourn, and still bemourn, and mourn again!<br/>
+
+          The children of the fry,<br/>
+
+               We lately saw<br/>
+
+          Half smothered in pilau<br/>
+
+With buttery mutton fritters smoking by!<br/>
+
+          Alas! my heart, the fish!<br/>
+
+               Who filled his dish,<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With flaky form in varying colours spread<br/>
+
+On the round pastry cake of household bread!<br/>
+
+          Heaven sent us that kabob!<br/>
+
+               For no one could<br/>
+
+          (Save heaven he should rob)<br/>
+
+Produce a thing so excellently good,<br/>
+
+          Or give us roasted meat<br/>
+
+With basting oil so savourily replete!<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, oh! mine appetite, alas! for thee!<br/>
+
+          Who on that furmeaty<br/>
+
+So sharpset west a little while ago—<br/>
+
+That furmeaty, which mashed by hands of snow,<br/>
+
+          A light reflection bore,<br/>
+
+Of the bright bracelets that those fair hands wore;<br/>
+
+          Again remembrance glads my sense<br/>
+
+          With visions of its excellence!<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+          Again I see the cloth unrolled<br/>
+
+          Rich worked in many a varied fold!<br/>
+
+          Be patient, oh! my soul, they say<br/>
+
+          Fortune rules all that's new and strange,<br/>
+
+          And though she pinches us to day,<br/>
+
+To-morrow brings full rations, and a change!'[FN#337]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then said Jubayr, 'Put forth thy hand to our food and ease our heart by eating
+of our victual.' Answered I, 'By Allah, I will not eat a mouthful, till thou
+grant me my desire.' He asked, 'What is thy desire?'; so I brought out the
+letter and gave it to him; but, when he had read it and mastered its contents,
+he tore it in pieces and throwing it on the floor, said to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, I
+will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy desire which concerneth the
+writer of this letter, for I have no answer to her.' At this I rose in anger;
+but he caught hold of my skirts, saying, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will tell thee what
+she said to thee, albeit I was not present with you.' I asked, 'And what did
+she say to me?'; and he answered, 'Did not the writer of this letter say to
+thee, If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt have of me five hundred
+ducats; and if not, an hundred for thy pains?' 'Yes,' replied I; and he
+rejoined, 'Abide with me this day and eat and drink and enjoy thyself and make
+merry, and thou shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So I sat with him and ate
+and drank and made merry and enjoyed myself and entertained him with talk deep
+in to the night;[FN#338] after which I said to him, 'O my master, is there no
+music in thy house.' He answered, 'Verily for many a day we have drunk without
+music.' Then he called out, saying, 'Ho, Shajarat al-Durr?' Whereupon a slave-
+girl answered him from her chamber and came in to us, with a lute of Hindu
+make, wrapped in a silken bag. And she sat down and, laying the lute in her
+lap, preluded in one and twenty modes; then, returning to the first, she sang
+to a lively measure these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'We have ne'er tasted of Love's sweets and bitter draught, * No<br/>
+
+     difference kens 'twixt presence-bliss and absence-stress;<br/>
+
+And so, who hath declined from Love's true road, * No diference<br/>
+
+     kens 'twixt smooth and ruggedness:<br/>
+
+I ceased not to oppose the votaries of love, * Till I had tried<br/>
+
+     its sweets and bitters not the less:<br/>
+
+How many a night my pretty friend conversed with me * And sipped<br/>
+
+     I from his lips honey of love liesse:<br/>
+
+Now have I drunk its cup of bitterness, until * To bondman and to<br/>
+
+     freedman I have proved me base.<br/>
+
+How short-aged was the night together we enjoyed, * When seemed<br/>
+
+     it daybreak came on nightfall's heel to press!<br/>
+
+But Fate had vowed to disunite us lovers twain, * And she too<br/>
+
+     well hath kept her vow, that votaress.<br/>
+
+Fate so decreed it! None her sentence can withstand: * Where is<br/>
+
+     the wight who dares oppose his Lord's command?'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly had she finished her verses, when her lord cried out with a great cry
+and fell down in a fit; whereupon exclaimed the damsel, 'May Allah not punish
+thee, O old man! This long time have we drunk without music, for fear the like
+of this falling sickness befal our lord. But now go thou to yonder chamber and
+there sleep.' So I went to the chamber which she showed me and slept till the
+morning, when behold, a page brought me a purse of five hundred dinars and said
+to me, 'This is what my master promised thee; but return thou not to the damsel
+who sent thee, god let it be as though neither thou nor we had ever heard of
+this matter.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and taking the purse, went
+my way. Still I said to myself, 'The lady must have expected me since
+yesterday; and by Allah there is no help but I return to her and tell her what
+passed between me and him: otherwise she will revile me and revile all who come
+from my country.' So I went to her and found her standing behind the door; and
+when she saw me she said, 'O Ibn Mansur, thou hast done nothing for me?' I
+asked, 'Who told thee of this?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, yet another
+thing hath been revealed to me;[FN#339] and it is that, when thou handedst him
+the letter, he tore it in pieces. and throwing it on the floor, said to thee:
+'O Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy desire which
+concerneth the writer of this letter; for I have no answer to her missive.'
+Then didst thou rise from beside him in anger; but he laid hold of thy skirts,
+saying: 'O son of Mansur, abide with me to day, for thou art my guest, and eat
+and drink and make merry; and thou shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So thou
+didst sit with him, eating and drinking and making merry, and entertainedst him
+with talk deep into the night and a slave- girl sang such an air and such
+verses, whereupon he fell down in a fit.' So, O Commander of the Faithful, I
+asked her 'West thou then with us?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, hast thou
+not heard the saying of the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The hearts of lovers have eyes I ken, * Which see the unseen by vulgar men.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, O Ibn Mansur, the night and day shift not upon anything but they bring
+to it change.'—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady exclaimed, 'O
+Ibn Mansur, the night and the day shift not upon anything but they bring to it
+change!' Then she raised her glance to heaven and said, 'O my God and my Leader
+and my Lord, like as Thou hast afflicted me with love of Jubayr bin Umayr, even
+so do Thou afflict him with love of me, and transfer the passion from my heart
+to his heart!'[FN#340] Then she gave me an hundred sequins for my trouble in
+going and coming and I took it and returned to the palace, where I found the
+Sultan come home from the chase; so I got my pension of him and fared back to
+Baghdad. And when next year came, I repaired to Bassorah, as usual, to seek my
+pension, and the Sultan paid it to me; but, as I was about to return to
+Baghdad, I bethought me of the Lady Budur and said to myself, 'By Allah, I must
+needs go to her and see what hath befallen between her and her lover!' So I
+went to her house and finding the street before her door swept and sprinkled
+and eunuchs and servants and pages standing before the entrance, said to
+myself, 'Most like grief hath broken the lady's heart and she is dead, and some
+Emir or other hath taken up his abode in her house.' So I left it and went on
+to the house of Jubayr, son of Umayr the Shaybani, where I found the benches of
+the porch broken down and ne'er a page at the door, as of wont and said to
+myself, 'Haply he too is dead.' Then I stood still before the door of his house
+and with my eyes running over with tears, bemoaned it in these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'O Lords of me, who fared but whom my heart e'er followeth, *<br/>
+
+     Return and so my festal-days with you shall be renewed!<br/>
+
+I stand before the home of you, bewailing your abode; * Quiver<br/>
+
+     mine eyelids and my eyes with tears are ever dewed:<br/>
+
+I ask the house and its remains that seem to weep and wail, *<br/>
+
+     'Where is the man who whilom wont to lavish goods and<br/>
+
+good?''<br/>
+
+It saith, 'Go, wend thy way; those friends like travellers have<br/>
+
+     fared * From Springtide-camp, and buried lie of earth and<br/>
+
+     worms the food!'<br/>
+
+Allah ne'er desolate us so we lose their virtues' light * In<br/>
+
+     length and breadth, but ever be the light in spirit viewed!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I, O Prince of True Believers, was thus keening over the folk of the
+house,[FN#341] behold, out came a black slave therefrom and said to me, 'Hold
+thy peace, O Shaykh! May thy mother be reft of thee! Why do I see thee
+bemoaning the house in this wise?' Quoth I, 'I frequented it of yore, when it
+belonged to a good friend of mine.' Asked the slave, 'What was his name?'; and
+I answered, 'Jubayr bin Umayr the Shaybani.' Rejoined he, And what hath
+befallen him? Praised be Allah, he is yet here with us in the enjoyment of
+property and rank and prosperity, except that Allah hath stricken him with love
+of a damsel called the Lady Budur;, and he is so whelmed by his love of her and
+his longing for her, that he is like a great rock cumbering the ground. If he
+hunger, he saith not, 'Give me meat;' nor, if he thirst, doth he say, 'Give me
+drink.' Quoth I, 'Ask leave for me to go in to him.' Said the slave, 'O my
+lord, wilt thou go in to one who understandeth or to one who understandeth
+not?'; and I said 'There is no help for it but I see him whatever be the case.'
+Accordingly he went in to ask and presently returned with permission for me to
+enter, whereupon I went in to Jubayr and found him like a rock that cumbereth
+the ground, understanding neither sign nor speech; and when I spoke to him he
+answered me not. Then said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember
+aught of verse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be aroused by this
+and speak with thee.' So I versified in these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Hast quit the love of Moons[FN#342] or dost persist? * Dost wake<br/>
+
+     o' nights or close in sleep thine eyes?<br/>
+
+If aye thy tears in torrents flow, then learn * Eternal-thou<br/>
+
+     shalt dwell in Paradise.'[FN#343]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome, O son of
+Mansur! Verily, the jest is become earnest.' Quoth I, 'O my lord, is there
+aught thou wouldst have me do for thee?' Answered he, 'Yes, I would fain write
+her a letter and send it to her by thee. If thou bring me back her answer, thou
+shalt have of me a thousand dinars; and if not, two hundred for thy pains.' So
+I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;'—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibn Mansur continued: "So
+I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;' whereupon he called to one of his
+slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper;' and wrote these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I pray in Allah's name, O Princess mine, be light * On me, for<br/>
+
+     Love hath robbed me of my reason's sight'<br/>
+
+'Slaved me this longing and enthralled me love of you; * And clad<br/>
+
+     in sickness garb, a poor and abject wight.<br/>
+
+I wont ere this to think small things of Love and hold, * O<br/>
+
+     Princess mine, 'twas silly thing and over-slight.<br/>
+
+But when it showed me swelling surges of its sea, * To Allah's<br/>
+
+     hest I bowed and pitied lover's plight.<br/>
+
+An will you, pity show and deign a meeting grant, * An will you<br/>
+
+     kill me still forget not good requite.'[FN#344]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he sealed the letter and gave it to me. So I took it and, repairing to
+Budur's house, raised the door-curtain little by little, as before, and looking
+in behold, I saw ten damsels, high-bosomed virgins, like moons, and the Lady
+Budur as she were the full moon among the stars, sitting in their midst, or the
+sun, when it is clear of clouds and mist; nor was there on her any trace of
+pain or care. And as I looked and marvelled at her case, she turned her glance
+upon me and, seeing me standing at the door, said to me, 'Well come, and
+welcome and all hail to thee, O Ibn Mansur! Come in.' So I entered and saluting
+her gave her the letter; and she read it and when she understood it, she said
+laughingly to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, the poet lied not when he sang,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed I'll bear my love for thee with firmest soul, * Until from thee to me
+shall come a messenger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Look'ye, O Ibn Mansur, I will write thee an answer, that he may give thee what
+he promised thee.' And I answered, 'Allah requite thee with good!' So she
+called out to a handmaid, 'Bring inkcase and paper,' and wrote these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How comes it I fulfilled my vow the while that vow broke you? *<br/>
+
+     And, seen me lean to equity, iniquity wrought you?<br/>
+
+'Twas you initiated wrongous dealing and despite: * You were the<br/>
+
+     treachetour and treason came from only you!<br/>
+
+I never ceased to cherish mid the sons of men my troth, * And<br/>
+
+     keep your honour brightest bright and swear by name of you<br/>
+
+Until I saw with eyes of me what evil you had done; * Until I<br/>
+
+     heard with ears of me what foul report spread you.<br/>
+
+Shall I bring low my proper worth while raising yours so high? *<br/>
+
+     By Allah had you me eke I had honoured you!<br/>
+
+But now uprooting severance I will fain console my heart, * And<br/>
+
+     wring my fingers clean of you for evermore to part!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, between him and death there is but the reading
+of this letter!' So I tore it in pieces and said to her, 'Write him other than
+these lines.' 'I hear and obey answered she and wrote the following couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Indeed I am consolиd now and sleep without a tear, * And all<br/>
+
+     that happened slandering tongues have whispered in mine ear:<br/>
+
+My heart obeyed my hest and soon forgot thy memory, * And learnt<br/>
+
+     mine eyelids 'twas the best to live in severance sheer:<br/>
+
+He lied who said that severance is a bitterer thing than gall: *<br/>
+
+     It never disappointed me, like wine I find it cheer:<br/>
+
+I learnt to hate all news of thee, e'en mention of thy name, *<br/>
+
+     And turn away and look thereon with loathing pure and mere:<br/>
+
+Lookye! I cast thee out of heart and far from vitals mine; * Then<br/>
+
+     let the slanderer wot this truth and see I am sincere.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth I, 'By Allah, O my lady, when he shall read these verses, his soul will
+depart his body!' Quoth she, 'O Ibn Mansur, is passion indeed come to such a
+pass with him that thou sayest this saying?' Quoth I, 'Had I said more than
+this verily it were but the truth: but mercy is of the nature of the noble.'
+Now when she heard this her eyes brimmed over with tears and she wrote him a
+note, I swear by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, there is none in thy
+Chancery could write the like of it; and therein were these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How long shall I thy coyness and thy great aversion see? * Thou<br/>
+
+     hast satisfied my censurers and pleased their enmity:<br/>
+
+I did amiss and wot it not; so deign to tell me now * Whatso they<br/>
+
+     told thee, haply 'twas the merest calumny.<br/>
+
+I wish to welcome thee, dear love, even as welcome I * Sleep to<br/>
+
+     these eyes and eyelids in the place of sleep to be.<br/>
+
+And since 'tis thou hast made me drain th' unmixиd cup of love, *<br/>
+
+     If me thou see with wine bemused heap not thy blame on me!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when she had written the missive,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Budur had written
+the missive, she sealed it and gave it to me; and I said, 'O my lady, in good
+sooth this thy letter will make the sick man whole and ease the thirsting
+soul.' Then I took it and went from her, when she called me back and said to
+me, 'O son of Mansur, say to him: 'She will be thy guest this night.' At this I
+joyed with exceeding great joy and carried the letter to Jubayr, whom I found
+with his eyes fixed intently on the door, expecting the reply and as soon as I
+gave him the letter and he opened and read it and understood it, he uttered a
+great cry and fell down in a fainting fit. When he came to himself, he said to
+me, 'O Ibn Mansur, did she indeed write this note with her hand and feel it
+with her fingers?' Answered I, 'O my lord, do folk write with their feet?' And
+by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I had not done speaking these words,
+when we heard the tinkle-tinkle of her anklets in the vestibule and she
+entered. And seeing her he sprang to his feet as though nothing pained or ailed
+him and embraced her like the letter L embraceth the letter A;[FN#345] and the
+infirmity, that erst would not depart at once left him.[FN#346] Then he sat
+down, but she abode standing and I said to her, 'O my lady, why dost thou not
+sit?' Said she, 'O Ibn Mansur, save on a condition that is between us, I will
+not sit.' I asked, 'And what is that?'; and she answered, 'None may know
+lovers' secrets,' and putting her mouth to Jubayr's ear whispered to him; where
+upon he replied, 'I hear and I obey.' Then he rose and said somewhat in a
+whisper to one of his slaves, who went out and returned in a little while with
+a Kazi and two witnesses. Thereupon Jubayr stood up and taking a bag containing
+an hundred thousand dinars, said, O Kazi, marry me to this young lady and write
+this sum to her marriage-settlement.' Quoth the Kazi to her, 'Say thou, I
+consent to this.' 'I consent to this,' quoth she, whereupon he drew up the
+contract of marriage and she opened the bag; and, taking out a handful of gold,
+gave it to the Kazi and the witnesses and handed the rest to Jubayr. Thereupon
+the Kazi and the witnesses withdrew, and I sat with them, in mirth and
+merriment, till the most part of the night was past, when I said in my mind,
+'These are lovers and they have been this long while separated. I will now
+arise and go sleep in some place afar from them and leave them to their
+privacy, one with other.' So I rose, but she caught hold of my skirts, saying,
+'What thinkest thou to do?' 'Nothing but so and so,' answered I; upon which she
+rejoined, 'Sit thee down; and when we would be rid of thee, we will send thee
+away.' So I sat down with them till near daybreak, when she said to me, 'O Ibn
+Mansur, go to yonder chamber; for we have furnished it for thee and it is thy
+sleeping-place.' Thereupon I arose and went thither and slept till morning,
+when a page brought me basin and ewer, and I made the ablution and prayed the
+dawn-prayer. Then I sat down and presently, behold, Jubayr and his beloved came
+out of the bath in the house, and I saw them both wringing their locks.[FN#347]
+So I wished them good morning and gave them joy of their safety and reunion,
+saying to Jubayr, 'That which began with constraint and conditions hath ended
+in cordial-contentment.' He answered, 'Thou sayest well, and indeed thou
+deservest thy honorarium;' and he called his treasurer, and said, 'Bring hither
+three thousand dinars.' So he brought a purse containing the gold pieces and
+Jubayr gave it to me, saying, 'Favour us by accepting this.' But I replied, 'I
+will not accept it till thou tell me the manner of the transfer of love from
+her to thee, after so huge an aversion.' Quoth he, 'Hearkening and obedience!
+Know that we have a festival-called New Year's day,[FN#348] when all the people
+fare forth and take boat and go a-pleasuring on the river. So I went out with
+my comrades, and saw a skiff, wherein were ten damsels like moons and amongst
+them, the Lady Budur lute in hand. She preluded in eleven modes, then,
+returning to the first, sang these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Fire is cooler than fires in my breast, * Rock is softer than<br/>
+
+     heart of my lord<br/>
+
+Marvel I that he's formиd to hold * In water soft frame heart<br/>
+
+     rock-hard!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Said I to her, 'Repeat the couplets and the air!' But she would not:'"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "Jubayr continued, 'So
+cried I to her, Repeat the couplets and the air!' But she would not; whereupon
+I bade the boatmen pelt her with oranges, and they pelted her till we feared
+her boat would founder Then she went her way, and this is how the love was
+transferred from her heart to mine.' So I wished them joy of their union and,
+taking the purse with its contents, I returned to Baghdad." Now when the Caliph
+heard Ibn Mansur's story his heart was lightened and the restlessness and
+oppression from which he suffered forsook him. And they also tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap25"></a>THE MAN OF AI-YAMAN AND HIS SIX SlAVE-GIRLS.</h3>
+
+<p>
+The Caliph Al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace, surrounded by his Lords
+of the realm and Officers of state, and there were present also before him all
+his poets and cup- companions amongst the rest one named Mohammed of Bassorah.
+Presently the Caliph turned and said to him, "O Mohammed, I wish thee forthwith
+to tell me something that I have never before heard." He replied, "O Commander
+of the Faithful, dost thou wish me to tell thee a thing I have heard with my
+ears or a thing I have seen with my eyes?" Quoth Al-Maamun, "Tell me whichever
+is the rarer; so Mohammed al-Basri began: "Know, then, O Commander of the
+Faithful that there lived once upon a time wealthy man, who was a native of
+Al-Yaman;but he emigrated from his native land and came to this city of
+Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased him that he transported hither his family and
+possessions. Now he had six slave-girls, like moons one and all; the first
+white, the second brown, the third fat, the fourth lean, the fifth yellow and
+the sixth lamp-black; and all six were comely of countenance and perfect in
+accomplishments and skilled in the arts of singing and playing upon
+musical-instruments. Now it so chanced that, one day, he sent for the girls and
+called for meat and wine; and they ate and drank and were mirthful and made
+merry Then he filled the cup and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde
+girl, 'O new moon face, let us hear somewhat of thy pleasant songs.' So she
+took the lute and tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet melody that the
+place danced with glee; after which she played a lively measure and sang these
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a friend, whose form is fixed within mine eyes,[FN#349] *<br/>
+
+     Whose name deep buried in my very vitals lies:<br/>
+
+Whenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, * And when on him my<br/>
+
+     gaze is turned I am all eyes.<br/>
+
+My censor saith, 'Forswear, forget, the love of him,' * 'Whatso<br/>
+
+     is not to be, how shall's be?' My reply is.<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! * And make not<br/>
+
+     light of that on humans heavy lies.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hereat their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the damsels to
+drink, after which he said to the berry-brown girl, 'O brasier-light[FN#350]
+and joy of the sprite, let us hear thy lovely voice, whereby all that hearken
+are ravished with delight.' So she took the lute and thereon made harmony till
+the place was moved to glee; then, captivating all hearts with her graceful
+swaying, she sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I swear by that fair face's life, I'll love but thee * Till<br/>
+
+     death us part, nor other love but thine I'll see:<br/>
+
+O full moon, with thy loveliness mantilla'd o'er, * The loveliest<br/>
+
+     of our earth beneath thy banner be:<br/>
+
+Thou, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness * May Allah,<br/>
+
+     Lord of worlds, be everywhere with thee!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to drink; after
+which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his hand, signed to the fat
+girl and bade her sing and play a different motive. So she took the lute and
+striking a grief- dispelling measure, sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'An thou but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! * I care not<br/>
+
+     wrath and rage to all mankind betide.<br/>
+
+And if thou show that fairest face which gives me life, * I reck<br/>
+
+     not an dimimshed heads the Kings go hide.<br/>
+
+I seek thy favours only from this 'versal-world: * O thou in whom<br/>
+
+     all beauty cloth firm-fixt abide!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink. Then he signed
+to the thin girl and said to her, 'O Houri of Paradise, feed thou our ears with
+sweet words and sounds.' So she took the lute; and, tuning it, preluded and
+sang these two couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Say me, on Allah's path[FN#351] hast death not dealt to me, *<br/>
+
+     Turning from me while I to thee turn patiently:<br/>
+
+Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, * And do me<br/>
+
+     justice wronged, mine enemy, by thee?'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink. Then
+filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, O sun of the day,
+let us hear some nice verses.' So she took the lute and, preluding after the
+goodliest fashion, sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I have a lover and when drawing him, * He draws on me a sword-<br/>
+
+    blade glancing grim:<br/>
+
+Allah avenge some little of his wrongs, * Who holds my heart yet<br/>
+
+     wreaks o erbearing whim<br/>
+
+Oft though I say, 'Renounce him, heart!' yet heart * Will to none<br/>
+
+     other turn excepting him.<br/>
+
+He is my wish and will of all men, but * Fate's envious hand to<br/>
+
+     me's aye grudging him.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he filled the
+cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black girl, saying, 'O pupil of the
+eye, let us have a taste of thy quality, though it be but two words.' So she
+took the lute and tuning it and tightening the strings, preluded in various
+modes, then returned to the first and sang to a lively air these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal-tears go free; * This ecstasy<br/>
+
+     would see my being unbe:[FN#352]<br/>
+
+All ecstasies I dreefor sake of friend * I fondle, maugre<br/>
+
+     enviers' jealousy:<br/>
+
+Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, * Yet e'er inclines my<br/>
+
+     heart to rosery:<br/>
+
+Cups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting * In joy, what time<br/>
+
+     the lute sang melody,<br/>
+
+While kept his troth the friend who madded me, * Yet made me<br/>
+
+     rising star of bliss to see:<br/>
+
+But—with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; * Than such a turn<br/>
+
+     can aught more bitter be?<br/>
+
+Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, * Nay two, whereof<br/>
+
+     grant Allah one to me!<br/>
+
+An were prostration[FN#353] by our law allowed * To aught but<br/>
+
+     Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord, said to
+him, 'Do thou justice between us, O our lord!' So he looked at their beauty and
+loveliness and the contrast of their colours and praised Almighty Allah and
+glorified Him. Then said he, 'There is none of you but hath learnt the Koran by
+heart, and mastered the musical-art and is versed in the chronicles' of yore
+and the doings of peoples which have gone before; so it is my desire that each
+one of you rise and, pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and
+dispraise her co-concubine; that is to: say, let the blonde point to the
+brunette, the plump to the slenderer and the yellow to the black girl; after
+which the rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like with the former; and be
+this illustrated with citations from Holy Writ and somewhat of anecdotes and,;
+verse, so as to show forth your fine breeding and elegance of your pleading.'
+And they answered him, 'We hear and we obey!;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
+of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the handmaids answered
+the man of Al-Yaman, "'We hear and we obey!' Accordingly the blonde rose first
+and, pointing at the black girl, said to her: 'Out on thee, blackamoor! It is
+told by tradition that whiteness saith, 'I am the shining light, I am the
+rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue is patent and my brow is
+resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet,'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl<br/>
+
+     concealed by Beauty's boon:<br/>
+
+Her stature Alif-like;[FN#354] her smile like Mнm[FN#355] * And<br/>
+
+     o'er her eyes two brows that bend like Nъn.[FN#356]<br/>
+
+'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to<br/>
+
+     shoot Death-dart eftsoon:<br/>
+
+If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose,<br/>
+
+     myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.<br/>
+
+Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths<br/>
+
+     thy stature-branch cloth own!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly culled orange
+spray and the star of sparkling ray;[FN#357] and indeed quoth Almighty Allah,
+in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be peace!), Put thy hand
+into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, without hurt.'[FN#358] And again He
+saith, But they whose faces shall become white, shall be in the mercy of Allah;
+therein shall they remain forever.'[FN#359] My colour is a sign, a miracle, and
+my loveliness supreme and my beauty a term extreme. It is on the like of me
+that raiment showeth fair and fine and to the like of me that hearts incline.
+Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the snow falleth
+white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the beautifullest of a colours
+white. The Moslems also glory in white turbands, but I should be tedious, were
+I to tell all that may be told in praise of white; little and enough is better
+than too much of unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O
+black, O colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the raven
+which bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the poet saith in praise of
+white and blame of black,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a<br/>
+
+     dirham buy we coals in load?<br/>
+
+And while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd<br/>
+
+     Gehenna's black abode.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of devout
+men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with his sons Cham and
+Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and, lifting his clothes,
+uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and laughed and did not cover him:
+but Shem arose and covered him. Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what
+had been done by his sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem's face was
+whitened and from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings;
+whilst Cham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia,
+and of his lineage came the blacks.[FN#360] All people are of one mind in
+affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the adage,
+'How shall one find a black with a mind?' Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down,
+thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.' Thereupon he signed to the
+negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde, said: Dost thou not
+know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and apostle, is transmitted the
+saying of God the Most High, 'By the night when it covereth all things with
+darkness; by the day when it shineth forth!'[FN#361] If the night were not the
+more illustrious, verily Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence
+of the day. And indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Knowest thou not
+that black is the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon
+the head, delights pass away and the hour of death draweth in sight? Were not
+black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in the core of the
+heart[FN#362] and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the saying of the
+poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour,<br/>
+
+     tinct of eye and heartcore's hue;<br/>
+
+Nor are in error who unlove the white, * And hoary hairs and<br/>
+
+     winding-sheet eschew.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that said of another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Black[FN#363] girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I<br/>
+
+     see:<br/>
+
+Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[FN#364] * Whites, blotch of<br/>
+
+     leprosy.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And of a third,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes,<br/>
+
+     with purest shine and sheen they show;<br/>
+
+If I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile[FN#365] drives<br/>
+
+     melancholic-mad we know<br/>
+
+'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it<br/>
+
+     be, its splendours glow.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night? Let this
+quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers from spies and censors
+like the blackness of night's darkness; and what causeth them to fear discovery
+like the whiteness of the dawn's brightness? So, how many claims to honour are
+there not in blackness and how excellent is the saying of the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding love, but
+dawn-white is mine enemy.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that of another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'How many a night I've passed with the beloved of me, * While<br/>
+
+     gloom with dusky tresses veilиd our desires:<br/>
+
+But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I<br/>
+
+     to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!'[FN#366]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And saith a third,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting<br/>
+
+     his steps as wended he in cautious plight.<br/>
+
+I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and<br/>
+
+     trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight;<br/>
+
+But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The<br/>
+
+     world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant<br/>
+
+     light:[FN#367]<br/>
+
+Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy<br/>
+
+     best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.<br/>
+
+Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's<br/>
+
+     a tittle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And a fifth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The<br/>
+
+     maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.<br/>
+
+I'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and<br/>
+
+     set my friends upon the elephant.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And a sixth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond<br/>
+
+     embrace;<br/>
+
+And lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest<br/>
+
+     pace.<br/>
+
+Now I pray Allah and my Lord * To reunite us of His grace<br/>
+
+And make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly<br/>
+
+     lace.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be tedious; but
+little and enough is better than too much of unfilling stuff. As for thee, O
+blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine embrace is suffocation;[FN#368]
+and it is of report that hoar-frost and icy cold[FN#369] are in Gehenna for the
+torment of the wicked. Again, of things black and excellent is ink, wherewith
+is written Allah's word; and were it not for black ambergris and black musk,
+there would be no perfumes to carry to Kings. How many glories I may not
+mention dwell in blackness, and how well saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest<br/>
+
+     price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than<br/>
+
+     dirham bids?<br/>
+
+And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, *<br/>
+
+     Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from<br/>
+
+     their lids.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down and he
+signed to the fat girl, who rose"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the man of Al-Yaman, the
+master of the handmaids, signed to the fat girl who rose and, pointing her
+finger at the slim girl, bared her calves and wrists and uncovered her stomach,
+showing its dimples and the plump rondure of her navel. Then she donned a shift
+of fine stuff, that exposed her whole body, and said: 'Praised be Allah who
+created me, for that He beautified my face and made me fat and fair of the
+fattest and fairest; and likened me to branches laden with fruit, and bestowed
+upon me abounding beauty and brightness: and praised be He no less, for that He
+hath given me the precedence and honoured me, when He mentioneth me in His holy
+Book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fatted calf.'[FN#370] And He hath
+made me like unto a vergier full of peaches and pomegranates. In very sooth
+even as the townsfolk long for fat birds and eat of them and love not lean
+birds, so do the sons of Adam desire fat meat and eat of it. How many vauntful
+attributes are there not in fatness, and how well saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Farewell thy love, for see, the Cafilah's[FN#371] on the move: *<br/>
+
+     O man, canst bear to say adieu and leave thy love?<br/>
+
+'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, * The gait<br/>
+
+     of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sawest thou ever one stand before a flesher's stall but sought of him fat
+flesh? The wise say, 'Joyance is in three things, eating meat and riding meat
+and putting meat into meat.'[FN#372] As for thee, O thin one, thy calves are
+like the shanks of sparrows or the pokers of furnaces; and thou art a cruciform
+plank of a piece of flesh poor and rank; there is naught in thee to gladden the
+heart; even as saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with<br/>
+
+     one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery:<br/>
+
+In every limb she hath a horn that butteth me whene'er * I fain<br/>
+
+     would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down and he
+signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand, or a
+rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created
+me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of all desire and likened me
+to the branch, whereto all hearts incline. If I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit,
+I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at a jest and merrier-souled than mirth
+itself. Never heard I one describe his mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the
+bigness of an elephant or like a mountain long and broad;' but rather, 'My lady
+hath a slender waist and a slim shape.'[FN#374] Furthermore a little food
+filleth me and a little water quencheth my thirst; my sport is agile and my
+habit active; for I am sprightlier than the sparrow and lighter-skipping than
+the starling. My favours are the longing of the lover and the delight of the
+desirer; for I am goodly of shape, sweet of smile and graceful as the bending
+willow-wand or the rattan-cane[FN#375] or the stalk of the basil- plant; nor is
+there any can compare with me in loveliness, even as saith one of me,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Thy shape with willow branch I dare compare, * And hold thy<br/>
+
+     figure as my fortunes fair:<br/>
+
+I wake each morn distraught, and follow thee, * And from the<br/>
+
+     rival's eye in fear I fare.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is for the like of me that amourists run mad and that those who desire me
+wax distracted. If my lover would draw me to him, I am drawn to him; and if he
+would have me incline to him, I incline to him and not against him. But now, as
+for thee, O fat of body, thine eating is the feeding of an elephant, and
+neither much nor little filleth thee. When thou liest with a man who is lean,
+he hath no ease of thee; nor can he anyways take his pleasure of thee; for the
+bigness of thy belly holdeth him off from going in unto thee and the fatness of
+thy thighs hindereth him from coming at thy slit. What goodness is there in thy
+grossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in thy coarseness? Fat flesh is
+fit for naught but the flasher, nor is there one point therein that pleadeth
+for praise. If one joke with thee, thou art angry; if one sport with thee, thou
+art sulky; if thou sleep, thou snorest if thou walk, thou lollest out thy
+tongue! if thou eat, thou art never filled. Thou art heavier than mountains and
+fouler than corruption and crime. Thou hast in thee nor agility nor benedicite
+nor thinkest thou of aught save meat and sleep. When thou pissest thou
+swishes"; if thou turd thou gruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant
+transmogrified. If thou go to the water closet, thou needest one to wash thy
+gap and pluck out the hairs which overgrow it; and this is the extreme of
+sluggish ness and the sign, outward and visible, of stupidity[FN#376] In short,
+there is no good thing about thee, and indeed the poet Title of thee,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Heavy and swollen like an urine-bladder blown, * With hips and<br/>
+
+     thighs like mountain propping piles of stone;<br/>
+
+Whene'er she walks in Western hemisphere, her tread * Makes the<br/>
+
+     far Eastern world with weight to moan and groan.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this sufficeth;' so she sat down and he
+signed to the yellow girl, who rose to her feet and praised Allah Almighty and
+magnified His name, calling down peace and blessing on Mohammed the best of His
+creatures; after which she pointed her finger at the brunette and said to her,"
+And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the yellow girl
+stood up and praised Almighty Allah and magnified His name; after which she
+pointed her finger at the brown girl and said to her: 'I am the one praised in
+the Koran, and the Compassionate hath described my complexion and its
+excellence over all other hues in His manifest Book, where Allah saith, 'A
+yellow, pure yellow, whose colour gladdeneth the beholders.'[FN#377] Wherefore
+my colour is a sign and portent and my grace is supreme and my beauty a term
+extreme; for that my tint is the tint of a ducat and the colour of the planets
+and moons and the hue of ripe apples. My fashion is the fashion of the fair,
+and the dye of saffron outvieth all other dyes; so my semblance is wondrous and
+my colour marvellous. I am soft of body and of high price, comprising all
+qualities of beauty. My colour is essentially precious as virgin gold, and how
+many boasts and glories cloth it not unfold! Of the like of me quoth the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Her golden yellow is the sheeny sun's; * And like gold sequins<br/>
+
+     she delights the sight:<br/>
+
+Saffron small portion of her glance can show; * Nay,[FN#378] she<br/>
+
+     outvies the moon when brightest bright.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And I shall at once begin in thy dispraise, O berry-brown girl! Thy tincture is
+that of the buffalo, and all souls shudder at thy sight. If thy colour be in
+any created thing, it is blamed; if it be in food, it is poisoned; for thy hue
+is the hue of the dung- fly; it is a mark of ugliness even in dogs; and among
+the colours it is one which strikes with amazement and is of the signs of
+mourning. Never heard I of brown gold or brown pearls or brown gems. If thou
+enter the privy, thy colour changeth, and when thou comest out, thou addest
+ugliness to ugliness. Thou art a non- descript; neither black, that thou mayst
+be recognised, nor white, that thou mayst be described; and in thee there is no
+good quality, even as saith the poet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'The hue of dusty motes is hers; that dull brown hue of hers * Is<br/>
+
+     mouldy like the dust and mud by Cossid's foot<br/>
+
+     upthrown:[FN#379]<br/>
+
+ I never look upon her brow, e'en for eye-twinkling's space, *<br/>
+
+     But in brown study fall I and my thoughts take browner<br/>
+
+     tone.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much sufficeth;' so she sat down and he
+signed to the brunette. Now she was a model of beauty and loveliness and
+symmetry and perfect grace; soft of skin, slim of shape, of stature rare, and
+coal-black hair; with cheeks rosy-pink, eyes black rimmed by nature's hand,
+face fair, and eloquent tongue; moreover slender-waisted and heavy-hipped. So
+she rose and said: 'Praise be to Allah who hath created me neither leper-white
+nor bile-yellow nor charcoal-black, but hath made my colour to be beloved of
+men of wit and wisdom, for all the poets extol berry-brown maids in every
+tongue and exalt their colour over all other colours. To 'brown of hue (they
+say) praise is due;' and Allah bless him who singeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'And in brunettes is mystery, could'st" thou but read it right, *<br/>
+
+     Thy sight would never dwell on others, be they red or white:<br/>
+
+Free-flowing conversation, amorous coquettishness * Would teach<br/>
+
+     Hбrut himself a mightier spell of magic might.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And saith another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Give me brunettes, so limber, lissom, lithe of sway, * Brunettes<br/>
+
+     tall, slender straight like Samhar's nut-brown<br/>
+
+     lance;[FN#380]<br/>
+
+Languid of eyelids and with silky down on either cheek, * Who<br/>
+
+     fixed in lover's heart work to his life mischance.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And yet another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Now, by my life, brown hue hath point of comeliness * Leaves<br/>
+
+     whiteness nowhere and high o'er the Moon takes place;<br/>
+
+But an of whiteness aught it borrowed self to deck, * 'Twould<br/>
+
+     change its graces and would pale for its disgrace:<br/>
+
+Not with his must[FN#381] I'm drunken, but his locks of musk *<br/>
+
+     Are wine inebriating all of human race.<br/>
+
+His charms are jealous each of each, and all desire * To be the<br/>
+
+     down that creepeth up his lovely face.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And again another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Why not incline me to that show of silky down, * On cheeks of<br/>
+
+     dark brunette, like bamboo spiring brown?<br/>
+
+Whenas high rank in beauty poets sing, they say * Brown ant-like<br/>
+
+     specklet worn by nenuphar in crown.<br/>
+
+And see I sundry lovers tear out others' eyne * For the brown<br/>
+
+     mole beneath that jetty pupil shown,<br/>
+
+Then why do censors blame me for one all a mole? * Allah I pray<br/>
+
+     demolish each molesting clown!'[FN#382]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My form is all grace and my shape is built on heavy base; Kings desire my
+colour which all adore, rich and poor. I am pleasant, active, handsome,
+elegant, soft of skin and prized for price: eke I am perfect in seemlibead and
+breeding and eloquence; my aspect is comely and my tongue witty; my temper is
+bright and my play a pretty sight. As for thee, thou art like unto a mallow
+growing about the LÑŠk Gate;[FN#383] in hue sallow and streaked-yellow and made
+all of sulphur. Aroynt thee, O copper-worth of jaundiced sorrel, O rust of
+brass-pot, O face of owl in gloom, and fruit of the Hell-tree ZakkÑŠm;[FN#384]
+whose bedfellow, for heart-break, is buried in the tomb. And there is no good
+thing in thee, even as saith the poet of the like of thee,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Yellowness, tincturing her tho' nowise sick or sorry, *<br/>
+
+     Straitens my hapless heart and makes my head sore ache;<br/>
+
+An thou repent not, Soul! I'll punish thee with kissing[FN#385] *<br/>
+
+     Her lower face that shall mine every grinder break!'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when she ended her lines, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, this much
+sufficeth!'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "when the yellow girl
+ended her recitation, quoth her master, 'Sit thee down; this much sufficeth!'
+Then he made peace between them and clad them all in sumptuous robes of honour
+and hanselled them with precious jewels of land and sea. And never have I seen,
+O Commander of the Faithful, any when or any where, aught fairer than these six
+damsels fair." Now when Al-Maamun heard this story from Mohammed of Bassorah,
+he turned to him and said, "O Mohammed, knowest thou the abiding-place of these
+damsels and their master, and canst thou contrive to buy them of him for us?"
+He answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have heard that their lord
+is wrapped up in them and cannot bear to be parted from them." Rejoined the
+Caliph, "Take thee ten thousand gold pieces for each girl, that is sixty
+thousand for the whole purchase; and carry the coin to his house and buy them
+of him." So Mohammed of Bassorah took the money and, betaking himself to the
+Man of Al-Yaman, acquainted him with the wish of the Prince of True Believers.
+He consented to part with them at that price to pleasure the Caliph; and
+despatched them to Al-Maamun, who assigned them an elegant abode and therein
+used to sit with them as cup-companions; marvelling at their beauty and
+loveliness, at their varied colours and at the excellence of their
+conversation. Thus matters stood for many a day; but, after awhile, when their
+former owner could no longer bear to be parted from them, he sent a letter to
+the Commander of the Faithful complaining to him of his own ardent love-longing
+for them and containing, amongst other contents, these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Captured me six, all bright with youthful blee; * Then on all<br/>
+
+     six be best salams from me!<br/>
+
+They are my hearing, seeing, very life; * My meat, my drink, my<br/>
+
+     joy, my jollity:<br/>
+
+I'll ne'er forget the favours erst so charmed * Whose loss hath<br/>
+
+     turned my sleep to insomny:<br/>
+
+Alack, O longsome pining and O tears! * Would I had farewelled<br/>
+
+     all humanity:<br/>
+
+Those eyes, with bowed and well arched eyebrows[FN#386] dight, *<br/>
+
+     Like bows have struck me with their archery."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the letter came to the hands of Al-Maamun, he robed the six damsels in
+rich raiment; and, giving them threescore thousand dinars, sent them back to
+their lord who joyed in them with exceeding joy[FN#387] (more especially for
+the monies they brought him), and abode with them in all the comfort and
+pleasance of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Severer of societies. And men also recount the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap26"></a>HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE DAMSEL AND ABU NOWAS.</h3>
+
+<p>
+The Caliph, Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, being one night
+exceedingly restless and thoughtful with sad thought, rose from his couch and
+walked about the by-ways of his palace, till he came to a chamber, over whose
+doorway hung a curtain. He raised that curtain and saw, at the upper end of the
+room, a bedstead whereon lay something black, as it were a man asleep, with a
+wax taper on his right hand and another on his left; and as the Caliph stood
+wondering at the sight, behold, he remarked a flagon full of old wine whose
+mouth was covered by the cup. The Caliph wondered even more at this, saying,
+"How came this black by such wine-service?" Then, drawing near the bedstead, he
+found that it was a girl lying asleep there, curtained by her hair; so he
+uncovered her face and saw that it was like the moon, on the night of his
+fulness.[FN#388] So the Caliph filled himself a cup of wine and drank it to the
+roses of her cheeks; and, feeling inclined to enjoy her, kissed a mole on her
+face, whereupon she started up from sleep, and cried out, "O Trusted of
+Allah,[FN#389] what may this be?" Replied he, "A guest who knocketh at thy
+door, hoping that thou wilt give him hospitality till the dawn;" and she
+answered; "Even so! I will serve him with my hearing and my sight." So she
+brought forward the wine and they drank together, after which she took the lute
+and tuning the strings, preluded in one-and-twenty modes, then returning to the
+first, played a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The tongue of love from heart bespeaks my sprite, * Telling I<br/>
+
+     love thee with love infinite:<br/>
+
+I have an eye bears witness to my pain, * And fluttering heart<br/>
+
+     sore hurt by parting-plight.<br/>
+
+I cannot hide the love that harms my life; * Tears ever roll and<br/>
+
+     growth of pine I sight:<br/>
+
+I knew not what love was ere loving thee; * But Allah's destiny<br/>
+
+     to all is dight."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when her verses were ended she said, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have
+been wronged!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel cried, "O
+Commander of the Faithful, I have been wronged!" Quoth he, "How so, and who
+hath wronged thee?" Quoth she "Thy son bought me awhile ago, for ten thousand
+dirhams, meaning to give me to thee; but thy wife, the daughter of thine uncle,
+sent him the said price and bade him shut me up from thee in this chamber."
+Whereupon said the Caliph, "Ask a boon of me," and she, "I ask thee to lie with
+me to-morrow night." Replied the Caliph, "Inshallah!" and leaving her, went
+away. Now as soon as it was morning, he repaired to his sitting-room and called
+for Abu Nowas, but found him not and sent his chamberlain to ask after him. The
+chamberlain found him in a tavern, pawned and pledged for a score of a thousand
+dirhams, which he had spent on a certain beardless youth, and questioned him of
+his case. So he told him what had betided him with the comely boy and how he
+had spent upon him a thousand silver pieces; whereupon quoth the chamberlain,
+"Show him to me; and if he be worth this, thou art excused." He answered,
+"Patience, and thou shalt see him presently.' As they were talking together, up
+came the lad, clad in a white tunic, under which was another of red and under
+this yet another black. Now when Abu Nowas saw him, he sighed a loud sigh and
+improvised these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He showed himself in shirt of white, * With eyes and eyelids<br/>
+
+     languor-digit.<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Though were thy greeting<br/>
+
+     a delight?<br/>
+
+Blest He who clothed in rose thy cheeks, * Creates what wills He<br/>
+
+     by His might!'<br/>
+
+Quoth he, 'Leave prate, forsure my Lord * Of works is wondrous<br/>
+
+     infinite:<br/>
+
+My garment's like my face and luck; * All three are white on<br/>
+
+     white on white.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the beardless one heard these words, he doffed the white tunic and
+appeared in the red; and when Abu Nowas saw him he redoubled in expressions of
+admiration and repeated these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He showed in garb anemone-red, * A foeman 'friend' entitulиd:<br/>
+
+Quoth I in marvel, 'Thou'rt full moon * Whose weed shames rose<br/>
+
+     however red:<br/>
+
+Hath thy cheek stained it red, or hast * Dyed it in blood by<br/>
+
+     lovers bled?'<br/>
+
+Quoth he, 'Sol gave me this for shirt * When hasting down the<br/>
+
+     West to bed<br/>
+
+So garb and wine and hue of cheek * All three are red on red on<br/>
+
+     red.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the red tunic and
+stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he redoubled in attention to
+him and versified in these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He came in sable-huиd sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to<br/>
+
+     rack:<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful<br/>
+
+     envious pack?<br/>
+
+Thy garment's like thy locks and like * My lot, three blacks on<br/>
+
+     black on black.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing this state of things and understanding the case of Abu Nowas and his
+love-longing, the Chamberlain returned to the Caliph and acquainted him
+therewith; so he bade him pouch a thousand dirhams and go and take him out of
+pawn. Thereupon the Chamberlain returned to Abu Nowas and, paying his score,
+carried him to the Caliph, who said, "Make me some verses containing the words,
+O Trusted of Allah, what may this be?" Answered he, "I hear and I obey, O
+Commander of the Faithful."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fortieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Nowas answered, "I
+hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful!" and forthwith he improvised
+these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Long was my night for sleepless misery; * Weary of body and of<br/>
+
+     thought ne'er free:<br/>
+
+I rose and in my palace walked awhile, * Then wandered thro' the<br/>
+
+     halls of Haremry:<br/>
+
+Till chanced I on a blackness, which I found * A white girl hid<br/>
+
+     in hair for napery:<br/>
+
+Here to her for a moon of brightest sheen! * Like willow-wand and<br/>
+
+     veiled in pudency:<br/>
+
+I quaffed a cup to her; then drew I near, * And kissed the<br/>
+
+     beauty-spot on cheek had she:<br/>
+
+She woke astart, and in her sleep's amaze, * Swayed as the<br/>
+
+     swaying branch in rain we see;<br/>
+
+Then rose and said to me, 'O Trusted One * Of Allah, O Amin, what<br/>
+
+     may this be?<br/>
+
+Quoth I, 'A guest that cometh to thy tents * And craves till morn<br/>
+
+     thy hospitality.'<br/>
+
+She answered, 'Gladly I, my lord, will grace * And honour such a<br/>
+
+     guest with ear and eye.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cried the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead! it is as if thou hadst been present
+with us.''[FN#390] Then he took him by the hand and carried him to the damsel
+and, when Abu Nowas saw her clad in a dress and veil of blue, he expressed
+abundant admiration and improvised these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say to the pretty one in veil of blue, * 'By Allah, O my life,<br/>
+
+     have ruth on dole!<br/>
+
+For, when the fair entreats her lover foul, * Sighs rend his<br/>
+
+     bosom and bespeak his soul<br/>
+
+By charms of thee and whitest cheek I swear thee, * Pity a heart<br/>
+
+     for love lost all control<br/>
+
+Bend to him, be his stay 'gainst stress of love, * Nor aught<br/>
+
+     accept what saith the ribald fool.'"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when he ended his verse, the damsel set wine before the Caliph; and, taking
+the lute, played a lively measure and sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wilt thou be just to others in thy love, and do * Unright, and<br/>
+
+     put me off, and take new friend in lieu?<br/>
+
+Had lovers Kazi unto whom I might complain * Of thee, he'd<br/>
+
+     peradventure grant the due I sue:<br/>
+
+If thou forbid me pass your door, yet I afar * Will stand, and<br/>
+
+     viewing you waft my salams to you!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Caliph bade her ply Abu Nowas with wine, till he lost his right senses,
+thereupon he gave him a full cup, and he drank a draught of it and held the cup
+in his hand till he slept. Then the Commander of the Faithful bade the girl
+take the cup from his grasp and hide it; so she took it and set it between her
+thighs, moreover he drew his scymitar and, standing at the head of Abu Nowas,
+pricked him with the point; whereupon he awoke and saw the drawn sword and the
+Caliph standing over him. At this sight the fumes of the wine fled from his
+head and the Caliph said to him, "Make me some verses and tell me therein what
+is become of thy cup; or I will cut off thy head." So he improvised these
+couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My tale, indeed, is tale unlief; * 'Twas yonder fawn who play'd<br/>
+
+     the thief!<br/>
+
+She stole my cup of wine, before * The sips and sups had dealt<br/>
+
+     relief,<br/>
+
+And hid it in a certain place, * My heart's desire and longing<br/>
+
+     grief.<br/>
+
+I name it not, for dread of him * Who hath of it command-in-<br/>
+
+    chief."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quoth the Caliph, "Allah strike thee dead![FN#391] How knewest thou that? But
+we accept what thou sayst." Then he ordered him a dress of honour and a
+thousand dinars, and he went away rejoicing. And among tales they tell is one
+of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap27"></a>THE MAN WHO STOLE THE DISH OF GOLD WHEREIN THE DOG ATE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+Sometime erst there was a man, who had accumulated debts, and his case was
+straitened upon him, so that he left his people and family and went forth in
+distraction; and he ceased not wandering on at random till he came after a time
+to a city tall of walls and firm of foundations. He entered it in a state of
+despondency and despair, harried by hunger and worn with the weariness of his
+way. As he passed through one of the main streets, he saw a company of the
+great going along; so he followed them till they reached a house like to a
+royal-palace. He entered with them, and they stayed not faring forwards till
+they came in presence of a person seated at the upper end of a saloon, a man of
+the most dignified and majestic aspect, surrounded by pages and eunuchs, as he
+were of the sons of the Wazirs.When he saw the visitors, he rose to greet them
+and received them with honour; but the poor man aforesaid was confounded at his
+own boldness, when beholding——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the poor man aforesaid
+was confounded at his own boldness, when beholding the goodliness of the place
+and the crowd of servants and attendants; so drawing back, in perplexity and
+fear for his life sat down apart in a place afar off. where none should see
+him. Now it chanced that whilst he was sitting, behold, in came a man with four
+sporting-dogs, whereon were various kinds of raw silk and brocade[FN#392] and
+wearing round their necks collars of gold with chains of silver, and tied up
+each dog in a place set privy for him; after which he went out and presently
+returned with four dishes of gold, full of rich meats, which he set severally
+before the dogs, one for each. Then he went away and left them, whilst the poor
+man began to eye the food, for stress of hunger, and longed to go up to one of
+the dogs and eat with him, but fear of them withheld him. Presently, one of the
+dogs looked at him and Allah Almighty inspired the dog with a knowledge of his
+case; so he drew back from the platter and signed to the man, who came and ate
+till he was filled. Then he would have withdrawn, but the dog again signed to
+him to take for himself the dish and what food was left in it, and pushed it
+towards him with his fore-paw. So the man took the dish and leaving the house,
+went his way, and none followed him. Then he journeyed to another city where he
+sold the dish and buying with the price a stock-in-trade, returned to his own
+town. There he sold his goods and paid his debts; and he throve and became
+affluent and rose to perfect prosperity. He abode in his own land; but after
+some years had passed he said to himself, "Needs must I repair to the city of
+the owner of the dish, and, carry him a fit and handsome present and pay him
+the money-value of that which his dog bestowed upon me." So he took the price
+of the dish and a suitable gift; and, setting out, journeyed day and night,
+till he came to that city; he entered it and sought the place where the man
+lived; but he found there naught save ruins mouldering in row and croak of
+crow, and house and home desolate and all conditions in changed state. At this,
+his heart and soul were troubled, and he repeated the saying of him who saith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Void are the private rooms of treasury: * As void were hearts of<br/>
+
+     fear and piety:<br/>
+
+Changed is the Wady nor are its gazelles * Those fawns, nor sand-<br/>
+
+    hills those I wont to see."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that of another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In sleep came Su'adб's[FN#393] shade and wakened me * Near dawn,<br/>
+
+     when comrades all a-sleeping lay:<br/>
+
+But waking found I that the shade was fled, * And saw air empty<br/>
+
+     and shrine far away."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the man saw these mouldering ruins and witnessed what the hand of time
+had manifestly done with the place, leaving but traces of the
+substantial-things that erewhiles had been, a little reflection made it
+needless for him to enquire of the case; so he turned away. Presently, seeing a
+wretched man, in a plight which made him shudder and feel goose-skin, and which
+would have moved the very rock to rush, he said to him, "Ho thou! What have
+time and fortune done with the lord of this place? Where are his lovely faces,
+his shining full moons and splendid stars; and what is the cause of the ruin
+that is come upon his abode, so that nothing save the walls thereof remain?"
+Quoth the other, "He is the miserable thou seest mourning that which hath left
+him naked. But knowest thou not the words of the Apostle (whom Allah bless and
+keep!), wherein is a lesson to him who will learn by it and a warning to whoso
+will be warned thereby and guided in the right way, 'Verily it is the way of
+Allah Almighty to raise up nothing of this world, except He cast it down
+again?'[FN#394] If thou question of the cause of this accident, indeed it is no
+wonder, considering the chances and changes of Fortune. I was the lord of this
+place and I builded it and founded it and owned it; and I was the proud
+possessor of its full moons lucent and its circumstance resplendent and its
+damsels radiant and its garniture magnificent, but Time turned and did away
+from me wealth and servants and took from me what it had lent (not given); and
+brought upon me calamities which it held in store hidden. But there must needs
+be some reason for this thy question: so tell it me and leave wondering."
+Thereupon, the man who had waxed wealthy being sore concerned, told him the
+whole story, and added, "I have brought thee a present, such as souls desire,
+and the price of thy dish of gold which I took; for it was the cause of my
+affluence after poverty, and of the replenishment of my dwelling-place, after
+desolation, and of the dispersion of my trouble and straitness." But the man
+shook his head, and weeping and groaning and complaining of his lot answered,
+"Ho thou! methinks thou art mad; for this is not the way of a man of sense. How
+should a dog of mine make generous gift to thee of a dish of gold and I meanly
+take back the price of what a dog gave? This were indeed a strange thing! Were
+I in extremest unease and misery, by Allah, I would not accept of thee aught;
+no, not the worth of a nail-paring! So return whence thou camest in health and
+safety."[FN#395] Whereupon the merchant kissed his feet and taking leave of
+him, returned whence he came, praising him and reciting this couplet,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Men and dogs together are all gone by, * So peace be with all of them! dogs
+and men!'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Allah is All knowing! Again men tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap28"></a>THE SHARPER OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE CHIEF OF POLICE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was once in the coast-fortress of Alexandria, a Chief of Police, Husбm
+al-Din highs, the sharp Scymitar of the Faith. Now one night as he sat in his
+seat of office, behold, there came in to him a trooper-wight who said, "Know, O
+my lord the Chief, that I entered your city this night and alighted at such a
+khan and slept there till a third part of the night was past when I awoke and
+found my saddle-bags sliced open and a purse of a thousand gold pieces stolen
+from them." No sooner had he done speaking than the Chief summoned his chief
+officials and bade them lay hands on all in the khan and clap them in limbo
+till the morning; and on the morrow, he caused bring the rods and whips used in
+punishment, and, sending for the prisoners, was about to flog them till they
+confessed in the presence of the owner of the stolen money when, lo! a man
+broke through the crowd till he came up to the Chief of Police,—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Chief was about to
+flog them when lo! a man broke through the crowd till he came up to the Chief
+of Police and the trooper and said; "Ho! Emir, let these folk go, for they are
+wrongously accused. It was I who robbed this trooper, and see, here is the
+purse I stole from his saddle-bags." So saying, he pulled out the purse from
+his sleeve and laid it before Husam al-Din, who said to the soldier, "Take thy
+money and pouch it; thou now hast no ground of complaint against the people of
+the khan." Thereupon these folk and all who were present fell to praising the
+thief and blessing him; but he said, "Ho! Emir, the skill is not in that I came
+to thee in person and brought thee the purse; the cleverness was in taking it a
+second time from this trooper." Asked the Chief, "And how didst thou do to take
+it, O sharper?"; and the robber replied, "O Emir, I was standing in the
+Shroff's[FN#396] bazar at Cairo, when I saw this soldier receive the gold in
+change and put it in yonder purse; so I followed him from by-street to by-
+street, but found no occasion of stealing it. Then he travelled from Cairo and
+I followed him from town to town, plotting and planning by the way to rob him,
+but without avail, till he entered this city and I dogged him to the khan. I
+took up my lodging beside him and watched him till he fell asleep and I heard
+him sleeping; when I went up to him softly, softly; and I slit open his
+saddle-bags with this knife, and took the purse in the way I am now taking it."
+So saying, he put out his hand and took the purse from before the Chief of
+Police and the trooper, both of whom, together with the folk, drew back
+watching him and thinking he would show them how he took the purse from the
+saddle-bags. But, behold! he suddenly broke into a run and threw himself into a
+pool of standing water[FN#397] hard by. So the Chief of the Police shouted to
+his officers, "Stop thief!" and many made after him; but before they could doff
+their clothes and descend the steps, he had made off; and they sought for him,
+but found him not; for that the by-streets and lanes of Alexandria all
+communicate. So they came back without bringing the purse; and the Chief of
+Police said to the trooper, "Thou hast no demand upon the folk; for thou
+fondest him who robbed thee and receivedst back thy money, but didst not keep
+it." So the trooper went away, having lost his money, whilst the folk were
+delivered from his hands and those of the Chief of Police, and all this was of
+the favour of Almighty Allah.[FN#398] And they also tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap29"></a>AL-MALIK AL-NASIR AND THE THREE CHIEFS OF POLICE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+Once upon a time Al-Malik al-Nбsir[FN#399] sent for the Wбlis or Chiefs of
+Police of Cairo, Bulak, and Fostat[FN#400] and said to them, "I desire each of
+you to recount me the marvellousest thing that hath befallen him during his
+term of office."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Al-Malik al-Nasir
+to the three Walis, "I desire each of you to recount me the marvellousest thing
+which hath befallen him during his term of office." So they answered, "We hear
+and we obey." Then said the Chief of the Police of Cairo, "Know thou, O our
+lord the Sultan, the most wonderful thing that befel me, during my term of
+office, was on this wise:" and he began
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap30"></a>The Story of the Chief of Police of Cairo.</h3>
+
+<p>
+"There were in this city two men of good repute fit to bear witness[FN#401] in
+matters of murder and wounds; but they were both secretly addicted to intrigues
+with low women and to wine- bibbing and to dissolute doings, nor could I
+succeed (do what I would) in bringing them to book, and I began to despair of
+success. So I charged the taverners and confectioners and fruiterers and
+candle-chandlers and the keepers of brothels and bawdy houses to acquaint me of
+these two good men whenever they should anywhere be engaged in drinking or
+other debauchery, or together or apart; and ordered that, if they both or if
+either of them bought at their shops aught for the purpose of wassail and
+carousel, the vendors should not conceal-it from me. And they replied, 'We hear
+and obey.' Presently it chanced that one night, a man came to me and said, 'O
+my master, know that the two just men, the two witnesses, are in such a street
+in such a house, engaged in abominable wickedness.' So I disguised myself, I
+and my body-servant, and ceased not trudging till I came to the house and
+knocked at the door, whereupon a slave-girl came out and opened to me, saying,
+'Who art thou?' I entered without answering her and saw the two legal-witnesses
+and the house-master sitting, and lewd women by their side and before them
+great plenty of wine. When they saw me, they rose to receive me, and made much
+of me, seating me in the place of honour and saying to me, 'Welcome for an
+illustrious guest and well come for a pleasant cup- companion!' And on this
+wise they met me without showing a sign of alarm or trouble. Presently, the
+master of the house arose from amongst us and went out and returned after a
+while with three hundred dinars, when the men said to me, without the least
+fear, 'Know, O our lord the Wali, it is in thy power to do even more than
+disgrace and punish us; but this will bring thee in return nothing but
+weariness: so we reck thou wouldest do better to take this much money and
+protect us; for Almighty Allah is named the Protector and loveth those of His
+servants who protect their Moslem neighbours; and thou shalt have thy reward in
+this world and due recompense in the world to come.' So I said to myself, 'I
+will take the money and protect them this once, but, if ever again I have them
+in my power, I will take my wreak of them;' for, you see, the money had tempted
+me. Thereupon I took it and went away thinking that no one would know it; but,
+next day, on a sudden one of the Kazi's messengers came to me and said to me,
+'O Wali, be good enough to answer the summons of the Kazi who wanteth thee.' So
+I arose and accompanied him, knowing not the meaning of all this; and when I
+came into the judge's presence, I saw the two witnesses and the master of the
+house, who had given me the money, sitting by his side. Thereupon this man rose
+and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was it in my power to deny the debt;
+for he produced a written obligation and his two companions, the legal
+witnesses, testified against me that I owed the amount. Their evidence
+satisfied the Kazi and he ordered me to pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court
+till they had of me the three hundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the
+utmost wrath and shame, vowing mischief and vengeance against them and
+repenting that I had not punished them. Such, then is the most remarkable event
+which befel me during my term of office." Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak
+Police and said, "As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing
+that happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:" and he began
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap31"></a>The Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.</h3>
+
+<p>
+"I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand gold
+pieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all that was behind me
+and what was before me and all I hent in hand, but I could collect no more than
+an hundred thousand dinars"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
+saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of Bulak
+continued: "So I sold all that was behind and before me, but could collect no
+more than an hundred thousand dinars and remained in great perplexity. Now one
+night, as I sat at home in this state, behold, there came a knocking; so I said
+to one of my servants, 'See who is at the door.' He went out and returned, wan
+of face, changed in countenance and with his side-muscles a- quivering; so I
+asked him, 'What aileth thee?'; and he answered, 'There is a man at the door;
+he is half naked, clad in skins, with sword in hand and knife in girdle, and
+with him are a company of the same fashion and he asketh for thee.' So I took
+my sword and going out to see who these were, behold, I found them as the boy
+had reported and said to them, 'What is your business?' They replied, 'Of a
+truth we be thieves and have done fine work this night; so we appointed the
+swag to thy use, that thou mayst pay therewith the debts which sadden thee and
+deliver thee from thy distress.' Quoth I, 'Where is the plunder?'; and they
+brought me a great chest, full of vessels of gold and silver; which when I saw,
+I rejoiced and said to myself, 'Herewith I will settle all claims upon me and
+there will remain as much again.' So I took the money and going inside said in
+my mind, 'It were ignoble to let them fare away empty-handed.' Whereupon I
+brought out the hundred thousand dinars I had by me and gave it to them,
+thanking them for their kindness; and they pouched the monies and went their
+way, under cover of the night so that none might know of them. But when morning
+dawned I examined the contents of the chest, and found them copper and
+tin[FN#403] washed with gold worth five hundred dirhams at the most; and this
+was grievous to me, for I had lost what monies I had and trouble was added to
+my trouble. Such, then, is the most remarkable event which befel me during my
+term of office." Then rose the Chief of the Police of Old Cairo and said, "O
+our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened to me, since I
+became Wali, was on this wise;" and he began
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap32"></a>The Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police.</h3>
+
+<p>
+"I once hanged ten thieves each on his own gibbet, and especially charged the
+guards to watch them and hinder the folk from taking any one of them down. Next
+morning when I came to look at them, I found two bodies hanging from one
+gallows and said to the guards, 'Who did this, and where is the tenth gibbet?'
+But they denied all knowledge of it, and I was about to beat them till they
+owned the truth, when they said, 'Know, O Emir, that we fell asleep last night,
+and when we awoke, we found that some one had stolen one of the bodies, gibbet
+and all; so we were alarmed and feared thy wrath. But, behold, up came a
+peasant-fellow driving his ass; whereupon we laid hands on him and killed him
+and hanged his body upon this gallows, in the stead of the thief who had been
+stolen.'[FN#404] Now when I heard this, I marvelled and asked them, 'What had
+he with him?'; and they answered, 'He had a pair of saddle-bags on the ass.'
+Quoth I, 'What was in them?'; quoth they, 'We know not.' So I said, 'Bring them
+hither;' and when they brought them to me I bade open them, behold, therein was
+the body of a murdered man, cut in pieces. Now as soon as I saw this, I
+marvelled at the case and said in myself, 'Glory to God! The cause of the
+hanging of this peasant was none other but his crime against this murdered man;
+and thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants.'"[FN#405] And men also tell
+the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap33"></a>THE THIEF AND THE SHROFF.</h3>
+
+<p>
+A certain Shroff, bearing a bag of gold pieces, once passed by a company of
+thieves, and one of these sharpers said to the others, "I, and I only, have the
+power to steal yonder purse." So they asked, "How wilt thou do it?"; and he
+answered, "Look ye all!"; and followed the money-changer, till he entered his
+house, when he threw the bag on a shelf[FN#406] and, being affected with
+diabetes, went into the chapel of ease to do his want, calling to the
+slave-girl, "Bring me an ewer of water." She took the ewer and followed him to
+the privy, leaving the door open, whereupon the thief entered and, seizing the
+money-bag, made off with it to his companions, to whom he told what had
+passed.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the thief took the
+money-bag and made off with it to his companions to whom he told what had
+passed. Said they, "By Allah, thou hast played a clever trick! ''tis not every
+one could do it; but, presently the money-changer will come out of the privy;
+and missing the bag of money, he will beat the slave-girl and torture her with
+grievous torture. 'Tis as though thou hast at present done nothing worthy of
+praise; so, if thou be indeed a sharper, return and save the girl from being
+beaten and questioned." Quoth he, ' Inshallah! I will save both girl and
+purse." Then the prig went back to the Shroff's house and found him punishing
+the girl because of the purse; so he knocked at the door and the man said, "Who
+is there?" Cried the thief, "I am the servant of thy neighbour in the
+Exchange;" whereupon he came out to him and said, "What is thy business?" The
+thief replied, "My master saluteth thee and saith to thee: 'Surely thou art
+deranged and thoroughly so, to cast the like of this bag of money down at the
+door of thy shop and go away and leave it.' Had a stranger hit upon it he had
+made off with it and, except my master had seen it and taken care of it, it had
+assuredly been lost to thee." So saying, he pulled out the purse and showed it
+to the Shroff who on seeing it said, "That is my very purse," and put out his
+hand to take it; but the thief said, "By Allah, I will not give thee this same,
+till thou write me a receipt declaring that thou hast received it! for indeed I
+fear my master will not believe that thou hast recovered the purse, unless I
+bring him thy writing to that effect, and sealed with thy signet-seal." The
+money changer went in to write the paper required; and in the meantime the
+thief made off with the bag of money and thus was the slave-girl saved her
+beating. And men also tell a tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap34"></a>THE CHIEF OF THE KUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER.</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is related that Alб al-Dнn, Chief of Police at Kъs,[FN#407] was sitting one
+night in his house, when behold, a personage of handsome appearance and
+dignified aspect came to the door, accompanied by a servant bearing a chest
+upon his head and, standing there said to one of the Wali's young men, "Go in
+and tell the Emir that I would have audience of him on some privy business." So
+the servant went in and told his master, who bade admit the visitor. When he
+entered, the Emir saw him to be a man of handsome semblance and portly
+presence; so he received him with honour and high distinction, seating him
+beside himself, and said to him, "What is thy wish?" Replied the stranger, "I
+am a highwayman and am minded to repent at thy hands and turn to Almighty
+Allah; but I would have thee help me to this, for that I am in thy district and
+under thine inspection. Now I have here a chest, wherein are matters worth some
+forty thousand dinars; and none hath so good a right to it as thou; so do thou
+take it and give me in exchange a thousand dinars, of thine own monies lawfully
+gotten, that I may have a little capital, to aid me in my repentance,[FN#408]
+and save me from resorting to sin for my subsistence; and with Allah Almighty
+be thy reward!" Speaking thus he opened the chest and showed the Wali that it
+was full of trinkets and jewels and bullion and ring-gems and pearls, whereat
+he was amazed and rejoiced with great joy. So he cried out to his treasurer,
+saying, "Bring hither a certain purse containing a thousand dinars,"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali cried out to his
+treasurer, saying "Bring hither a certain purse containing a thousand dinars;
+and gave it to the highwayman, who took it and thanking him, went his way under
+cover of the night. Now when it was the morrow, the Emir sent for the chief of
+the goldsmiths and showed him the chest and what was therein; but the goldsmith
+found it nothing but tin and brass, and the jewels and bezel stones and pearls
+all of glass; whereat the Wali was sore chagrined and sent in quest of the
+highwayman; but none could come at him. And men also tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap35"></a>IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE MERCHANT'S SISTER.</h3>
+
+<p>
+The Caliph Al-Maamъn once said to his uncle Ibrahim bin Al-Mahdн, "Tell us the
+most remarkable thing that thou hast ever seen." Answered he: "I hear and obey,
+O Commander of the Faithful. Know that I rode out one day, a-pleasuring, and my
+ride brought me to a place where I smelt the reek of food. So my soul longed
+for it and I halted, O Prince of True Believers, perplexed and unable either to
+go on or to go in. Presently, I raised my eyes and lo! I espied a
+lattice-window and behind it a wrist, than which I never beheld aught lovelier.
+The sight turned my brain and I forgot the smell of the food and began to plan
+and plot how I should get access to the house. After awhile, I observed a
+tailor hard by and going up to him, saluted him. He returned my salam and I
+asked him, 'Whose house is that?' And he answered, 'It belongeth to a merchant
+called such an one, son of such an one, who consorteth with none save
+merchants.' As we were talking, behold, up came two men, of comely aspect with
+intelligent countenances, riding on horseback; and the tailor told me that they
+were the merchant's most intimate friends and acquainted me with their names.
+So I urged my beast towards them and said to them, 'Be I your ransom! Abu
+Fulбn[FN#409] awaiteth you!'; and I rode with them both to the gate, where I
+entered and they also. Now when the master of the house saw me with them he
+doubted not but I was their friend; so he welcomed me and seated me in the
+highest stead. Then they brought the table of food and I said in myself, 'Allah
+hath granted me my desire of the food; and now there remain the hand and the
+wrist.' After awhile, we removed for carousel to another room, which I found
+tricked out with all manner of rarities; and the host paid me particular
+attention, addressing his talk to me, for that he took me to be a guest of his
+guests; whilst in like manner these two made much of me, taking me for a friend
+of their friend the house-master. Thus I was the object of politest attentions
+till we had drunk several cups of wine and there came into us a damsel as she
+were a willow wand of the utmost beauty and elegance, who took a lute and
+playing a lively measure, sang these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'Is it not strange one house us two contain * And still thou<br/>
+
+     draw'st not near, or talk we twain?<br/>
+
+Only our eyes tell secrets of our souls, * And broken hearts by<br/>
+
+     lovers' fiery pain;<br/>
+
+Winks with the eyelids, signs the eyebrow knows; * Languishing<br/>
+
+     looks and hand saluting fain.'<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I heard these words my vitals were stirred, O Commander of the Faithful,
+and I was moved to delight, for her excessive loveliness and the beauty of the
+verses she sang; and I envied her her skill and said, 'There lacketh somewhat
+to thee, O damsel!' Whereupon she threw the lute from her hand in anger, and
+cried, 'Since when are ye wont to bring ill-mannered louts into your
+assemblies?' Then I repented of what I had done, seeing the company vexed with
+me, and I said in my mind, 'My hopes are lost by me'; and I weeted no way of
+escaping blame but to call for a lute, saying, 'I will show you what escaped
+her in the air she played.' Quoth the folk, 'We hear and obey'; so they brought
+me a lute and I tuned the strings and sang these verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+'This is thy friend perplexed for pain and pine, * Th' enamoured,<br/>
+
+     down whose breast course drops of brine:<br/>
+
+He hath this hand to the Compassionate raised * For winning wish,<br/>
+
+     and that on hearts is lien:<br/>
+
+O thou who seest one love-perishing, * His death is caused by<br/>
+
+     those hands and eyne!'[FN#410]<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whereupon the damsel sprang up and throwing herself at my feet, kissed them and
+said, 'It is thine to excuse, O my Master! By Allah, I knew not thy quality nor
+heard I ever the like of this performance!' And all began extolling me and
+making much of me, being beyond measure delighted' and at last they besought me
+to sing again. So I sang a merry air, whereupon they all became drunken with
+music and wine, their wits left them and they were carried off to their homes,
+while I abode alone with the host and the girl. He drank some cups with me and
+then said, 'O my lord, my life hath been lived in vain for that I have not
+known the like of thee till the present. Now, by Allah, tell me who thou art,
+that I may ken who is the cup-companion whom Allah hath bestowed on me this
+night.' At first I returned him evasive answers and would not tell him my name;
+but he conjured me till I told him who I was, whereupon he sprang to his
+feet"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi
+continued: "Now when the housemaster heard my name he sprang to his feet and
+said, 'Indeed I wondered that such gifts should belong to any but the like of
+thee; and Fortune hath done me a good turn for which I cannot thank her too
+much. But, haply, this is a dream; for how could I hope that one of the
+Caliphate house should visit my humble home and carouse with me this night?' I
+conjured him to be seated; so he sat down and began to question me as to the
+cause of my visit in the most courteous terms. So I told him the whole affair,
+first and last, hiding naught, and said to him, 'Now as to the food I have had
+my will, but of the hand and wrist I have still to win my wish.' Quoth he,
+'Thou shalt have thy desire of the hand and wrist also, Inshallah!' Then said
+he to the slave-girl, 'Ho, such an one, bid such an one come down.' And he
+called his slave-girls down, one by one and showed them to me; but I saw not my
+mistress among them, and he said, 'O my lord, there is none left save my mother
+and sister; but, by Allah, I must needs have them also down and show them to
+thee.' So I marvelled at his courtesy and large heartedness and said, 'May I be
+thy sacrifice! Begin with the sister;' and he answered, 'With joy and
+goodwill.' So she came down and he showed me her hand and behold, she was the
+owner of the hand and wrist. Quoth I, 'Allah make me thy ransom! this is the
+damsel whose hand and wrist I saw at the lattice.' Then he sent his servants
+without stay or delay for witnesses and bringing out two myriads[FN#411] of
+gold pieces, said to the witnesses, 'This our lord and master, Ibrahim son of
+Al-Mahdi, paternal-uncle of the Commander of the Faithful, seeketh in marriage
+my sister such an one; and I call you to witness that I give her in wedlock to
+him and that he hath settled upon her ten thousand dinars.' And he said to me,
+'I give thee my sister in marriage, at the portion aforesaid.' 'I consent,'
+answered I, 'and am herewith content.' Whereupon he gave one of the bags to her
+and the other to the witnesses, and said to me, 'O our lord, I desire to adorn
+a chamber for thee, where thou mayst sleep with thy wife.' But I was abashed at
+his generosity and was ashamed to lie with her in his house; so I said, 'Equip
+her and send her to my place.' And by thy being, O Commander of the Faithful,
+he sent me with her such an equipage that my house, for all its greatness, was
+too strait to hold it! And I begot on her this boy that standeth in thy
+presence." Then Al-Maamun marvelled at the man's generosity and said, "Gifted
+of Allah is he! Never heard I of his like." And he bade Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi
+bring him to court, that he might see him. He brought him and the Caliph
+conversed with him; and his wit and good breeding so pleased him that he made
+him one of his chief officers. And Allah is the Giver, the Bestower! Men also
+relate the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap36"></a>THE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR.</h3>
+
+<p>
+A certain King once made proclamation to the people of his realm saying, "If
+any of you give alms of aught, I will verily and assuredly cut off his hand;"
+wherefore all the people abstained from alms-deed, and none could give anything
+to any one. Now it chanced that one day a beggar accosted a certain woman (and
+indeed hunger was sore upon him), and said to her, "Give me an alms"—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was Three Hundred and Forty-eighth Night
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, quoth the beggar to the
+woman, "Give me an alms however small." But she answered him, "How can I give
+thee aught, when the King cutteth off the hands of all who give alms?" Then he
+said, "I conjure thee by Allah Almighty, give me an alms;" so when he adjured
+her by the Holy Name of Allah, she had ruth on him and gave him two scones. The
+King heard of this; whereupon he called her before him and cut off her hands,
+after which she returned to her house. Now it chanced after a while that the
+King said to his mother, "I have a mind to take a wife; so do thou marry me to
+a fair woman." Quoth she, "There is among our female slaves one who is
+unsurpassed in beauty; but she hath a grievous blemish." The King asked, "What
+is that?" and his mother answered, "She hath had both her hands cut off." Said
+he, "Let me see her." So she brought her to him, and he was ravished by her and
+married her and went in unto her; and begat upon her a son. Now this was the
+woman who had given two scones as an alms to the asker, and whose hands had
+been cut off therefor; and when the King married her, her fellow-wives envied
+her and wrote to the common husband that she was an unchaste, having just given
+birth to the boy; so he wrote to his mother, bidding her carry the woman into
+the desert and leave her there. The old Queen obeyed his commandment and
+abandoned the woman and her son in the desert; whereupon she fell to weeping
+for that which had befallen her and wailing with exceeding sore wail. As she
+went along, she came to a river and knelt down to drink, being overcome with
+excess of thirst, for fatigue of walking and for grief; but, as she bent her
+head, the child which was at her neck fell into the water. Then she sat weeping
+bitter tears for her child, and as she wept, behold came up two men, who said
+to her, "What maketh thee weep?" Quoth she, "I had a child at my neck, and he
+hath fallen into the water." They asked, "Wilt thou that we bring him out to
+thee?" and she answered, "Yes." So they prayed to Almighty Allah, and the child
+came forth of the water to her, safe and sound. Then said they, "Wilt thou that
+Allah restore thee thy hands as they were?" "Yes," replied she: whereupon they
+prayed to Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) and her hands were restored to
+her, goodlier than before. Then said they, "Knowest thou who we are?"; and she
+replied, "Allah is all knowing;"[FN#412] and they said, "We are thy two Scones
+of Bread, which thou gayest in alms to the asker and which were the cause of
+the cutting off of thy hands.[FN#413] So praise thou Allah Almighty for that He
+hath restored to thee thy hands and thy child." Then she praised Almighty Allah
+and glorified Him. And men relate a tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap37"></a>THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was once a devout man of the Children of Israel,[FN#414] whose family
+span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell the yarn and buy fresh
+cotton, and with the profit he laid in daily bread for his household. One
+morning he went out and sold the day's yarn as wont, when there met him one of
+his brethren, who complained to him of need; so he gave him the price of the
+thread and returned, empty-handed, to his family, who said to him, "Where is
+the cotton and the food?" Quoth he, "Such an one met me and complained to me of
+want; whereupon I gave him the price of the yarn." And they said, "How shall we
+do? We have nothing to sell." Now they had a cracked trencher[FN#415] and a
+jar; so he took them to the bazar but none would buy them of him. However
+presently, as he stood in the market, there passed by a man with a fish,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took the trencher
+and jar to the bazar, but none would buy them of him. However there presently
+passed by a man with a fish which was so stinking and so swollen that no one
+would buy it of him, and he said to the Jew, "Wilt thou sell me thine
+unsaleable ware for mine?" "Yes," answered the Jew; and, giving him the wooden
+trencher and jar, took the fish and carried it home to his family, who said,
+"What shall we do with this fish?" Quoth he, "We will broil it and eat it, till
+it please Allah to provide bread for us." So they took it and ripping open its
+belly, found therein a great pearl and told the head of the household who said,
+"See ye if it be pierced: if so, it belongeth to some one of the folk; if not,
+'tis a provision of Allah for us." So they examined it and found it unpierced.
+Now when it was the morrow, the Jew carried it to one of his brethren which was
+an expert in jewels, and the man asked, "O such an one! whence haddest thou
+this pearl?"; whereto the Jew answered, "It was a gift of Almighty Allah to
+us," and the other said, "It is worth a thousand dirhams and I will give thee
+that; but take it to such an one, for he hath more money and skill than I." So
+the Jew took it to the jeweller, who said, "It is worth seventy thousand
+dirhams and no more." Then he paid him that sum and the Jew hired two porters
+to carry the money to his house. As he came to his door, a beggar accosted him,
+saying, "Give me of that which Allah hath given thee." Quoth the Jew to the
+asker, "But yesterday we were even as thou; take thee half this money:" so he
+made two parts of it, and each took his half. Then said the beggar, "Take back
+thy money and Allah bless and prosper thee in it; I am a Messenger,[FN#416]
+whom thy Lord hath sent to try thee." Quoth the Jew, "To Allah be the praise
+and the thanks!" and abode in all delight of life he and his household till
+death. And men recount this story of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap38"></a>ABU HASSAN AL-ZIYADI AND THE KHORASAN.</h3>
+
+<p>
+Quoth Abъ Hassбn al-Ziyбdi[FN#417]: "I was once in straitened case and so needy
+that the grocer, the baker and other tradesmen dunned and importuned me; and my
+misery became extreme, for I knew of no resource nor what to do. Things being
+on this wise there came to me one day certain of my servants and said to me,
+'At the door is a pilgrim wight, who seeketh admission to thee.' Quoth I,
+'Admit him.' So he came in and behold, he was a Khorasбnн. We exchanged
+salutations and he said to me, 'Tell me, art thou Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?'; and I
+replied, 'Yes, what is thy wish?' Quoth he, 'I am a stranger and am minded to
+make the pilgrimage; but I have with me a great sum of money, which is
+burdensome to bear: so I wish to deposit these ten thousand dirhams with thee
+whilst I make my pilgrimage and return. If the caravan march back and thou see
+me not, then know that I am dead, in which case the money is a gift from me to
+thee; but if I come back, it shall be mine.' I answered, 'Be it as thou wilt,
+an thus please Allah Almighty.' So he brought out a leather bag and I said to
+the servant, 'Fetch the scales;' and when he brought them the man weighed out
+the money and handed it to me, after which he went his way. Then I called the
+purveyors and paid them my liabilities"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Abu Hassan
+al-Ziyadi: "I called the purveyors and paid them my liabilities and spent
+freely and amply, saying to myself, 'By the time he returns, Allah will have
+relieved me with one or other of the bounties He hath by Him.' However, on the
+very next day, the servant came in to me and said, 'Thy friend the Khorasan man
+is at the door.' 'Admit him,' answered I. So he came in and said to me, 'I had
+purposed to make the pilgrimage; but news hath reached me of the decease of my
+father, and I have resolved to return; so give me the monies I deposited with
+thee yesterday.' When I heard this, I was troubled and perplexed beyond measure
+of perplexity known to man and wotted not what reply to make him; for, if I
+denied it, he would put me on my oath, and I should be disgraced in the world
+to come; whilst, if I told him that I had spent the money, he would make an
+outcry and dishonour me before men. So I said to him, 'Allah give thee health!
+This my house is no stronghold nor site of safe custody for this money. When I
+received thy leather bag, I sent it to one with whom it now is; so do thou
+return to us to-morrow and take thy money, Inshallah!'[FN#418] So he went away
+and I passed the night in great concern, because of his return to me; sleep
+visited me not nor could I close my eyes; so I rose and bade the boy saddle me
+the she-mule. Answered he, 'O my lord, it is yet but the first third of the
+night and indeed we have hardly had time to rest.' I returned to my bed, but
+sleep was forbidden to me and I ceased not to awaken the boy, and he to put me
+off, till break of day, when he saddled me the mule, and I mounted and rode
+out, not knowing whither to go. I threw the reins on the mule's shoulders and
+gave myself up to regrets and melancholy thoughts, whilst she fared on with me
+to the eastward of Baghdad. Presently, as I went along, behold, I saw a number
+of people approaching me and turned aside into another path to avoid them; but
+seeing that I wore a turband in preacher-fashion,[FN#419] they followed me and
+hastening up to me, said, 'Knowest thou the lodging of Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?'
+'I am he,' answered I; and they rejoined, 'Obey the summons of the Commander of
+the Faithful.' Then they carried me before Al-Maamun, who said to me, 'Who art
+thou?' Quoth I, 'An associate of the Kazi Abu YÑŠsuf and a doctor of the law and
+traditions.' Asked the Caliph, 'By what surname art thou known?'[FN#420] and I
+answered, 'Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi;' whereupon quoth he, 'Expound to me thy case.'
+So I recounted to him my case and he wept sore and said to me, 'Out on thee!
+The Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and assain!) would not let me sleep this
+night, because of thee; for in early darkness[FN#421] he appeared to me and
+said, 'Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.' Whereupon I awoke and, knowing thee not,
+went to sleep again; but he came to me a second time and said to me, 'Woe to
+thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.' I awoke a second time, but knowing thee
+not I went to sleep again; and he came to me a third time and still I knew thee
+not and went to sleep again. Then he came to me once more and said, 'Out on
+thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi!' After that I dared not sleep any more, but
+watched the rest of the night and aroused my people and sent them on all sides
+in quest of thee.' Then he gave me one myriad of dirhams, saying, 'This is for
+the Khorasani,' and other ten thousand, saying, 'Spend freely of this and amend
+thy case therewith, and set thine affairs in order.' Moreover, he presented me
+with thirty thousand dirhams, saying, 'Furnish thyself with this, and when the
+Procession-day[FN#422] is being kept, come thou to me, that I may invest thee
+with some office.' So I went forth from him with the money and returned home,
+where I prayed the dawn-prayer; and behold, presently came the Khorasani, so I
+carried him into the house and brought out to him one myriad of dirhams,
+saying, 'Here is thy money.' Quoth he, 'It is not my very money; how cometh
+this?' So I told him the whole story, and he wept and said, 'By Allah, haddest
+thou told me the fact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I
+will not accept aught of this money'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
+and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the Khorasani to
+Al-Ziyadi, "'By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact at first, I had not
+pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not accept aught of this money and
+thou art lawfully quit of it.' So saying, he went away and I set my affairs in
+order and repaired on the Procession-day to Al-Maamun's Gate, where I found him
+seated. When he saw me present myself he called me to him and, bringing forth
+to me a paper from under his prayer-carpet, said to me, 'This is a patent,
+conferring on thee the office of Kazi of the western division of Al-Medinah,
+the Holy City, from the Bab al-Salбm[FN#423] to the furthest limit of the
+township; and I appoint thee such and such monthly allowances. So fear Allah
+(to whom be honour and glory!) end be mindful of the solicitude of His Apostle
+(whom may He bless and keep!) on thine account.' Then the folk marvelled at the
+Caliph's words and asked me their meaning; whereupon I told them the story from
+beginning to end and it spread abroad amongst the people." "And" (quoth he who
+telleth the tale) "Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi ceased not to be Kazi of Al-Medinah,
+the Holy City, till he died in the days of Al-Maamun the mercy of Allah be on
+him!" And among the tales men tell is one of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap39"></a>THE POOR MAN AND HIS FRIEND IN NEED.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was once a rich man who lost all he had and became destitute, whereupon
+his wife advised him to ask aid and assistance of one of his intimates. So he
+betook himself to a certain friend of his and acquainted him with his
+necessities; and he lent him five hundred dinars to trade withal. Now in early
+life he had been a jeweller; so he took the gold and went to the jewel-bazar,
+where he opened a shop to buy and sell. Presently, as he sat in his shop three
+men accosted him and asked for his father, and when he told them that he was
+deceased, they said, "Say, did he leave issue?" Quoth the jeweller, "He left
+the slave who is before you." They asked, "And who knoweth thee for his son?";
+and he answered, "The people of the bazar whereupon they said, "Call them
+together, that they may testify to us that thou art his very son." So he called
+them and they bore witness of this; whereupon the three men delivered to him a
+pair of saddle- bags, containing thirty thousand dinars, besides jewels and
+bullion of high value, saying, "This was deposited with us in trust by thy
+father." Then they went away; and presently there came to him a woman, who
+sought of him certain of the jewels, worth five hundred dinars which she bought
+and paid him three thousand for them. Upon this he arose and took five hundred
+dinars and carrying them to his friend who had lent him the money, said to him,
+"Take the five hundred dinars I borrowed of thee; for Allah hath opened to me
+the gate of prosperity." Quoth the other, "Nay; I gave them to thee outright,
+for the love of Allah; so do thou keep them. And take this paper, but read it
+not till thou be at home, and do according to that which is therein." So he
+took the money and the paper and returned home, where he opened the scroll and
+found therein inscribed these couplets,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Kinsmen of mine were those three men who came to thee; * My sire<br/>
+
+     and uncles twain and Sбlih bin Ali.<br/>
+
+So what for cash thou coldest, to my mother 'twas * Thou soldest<br/>
+
+     it, and coin and gems were sent by me.<br/>
+
+Thus doing I desired not any harm to thee * But in my presence<br/>
+
+     spare thee and thy modesty."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And they also recount the story of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap40"></a>THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]</h3>
+
+<p>
+There lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who lost all his
+substance and became so destitute that he could earn his living only by hard
+labour. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and heavy hearted, and saw in
+a dream a Speaker[FN#425] who said to him, "Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go
+thither and seek it." So he set out for Cairo; but when he arrived there
+evening overtook him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque Presently, by decree
+of Allah Almighty, a band of bandits entered the mosque and made their way
+thence into an adjoining house; but the owners, being aroused by the noise of
+the thieves, awoke and cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to their
+aid with his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered the mosque
+and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of him and beat him
+with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he was well-nigh dead. Then they cast
+him into jail, where he abode three days; after which the Chief of Police sent
+for him and asked him, "Whence art thou?"; and he answered, "From Baghdad."
+Quoth the Wali, "And what brought thee to Cairo?"; and quoth the Baghdadi, "I
+saw in a dream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither to it.
+But when I came to Cairo the fortune which he promised me proved to be the
+palm-rods thou so generously gavest to me." The Wali laughed till he showed his
+wisdom-teeth and said, "O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in a dream one
+who said to me: 'There is in Baghdad a house in such a district and of such a
+fashion and its courtyard is laid out garden-wise, at the lower end whereof is
+a jetting-fountain and under the same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go
+thither and take it.' Yet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy wit,
+hast journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an
+idle galimatias of sleep." Then he gave him money saying, "Help thee back
+herewith to thine own country;"— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
+ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali gave the Baghdad
+man some silver, saying, "Help thee back herewith to thine own country;" and he
+took the money and set out upon his homewards march. Now the house the Wali had
+described was the man's own house in Baghdad; so the wayfarer returned thither
+and, digging underneath the fountain in his garden, discovered a great
+treasure. And thus Allah gave him abundant fortune; and a marvellous
+coincidence occurred. And a story is also current of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap41"></a>CALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL AND HIS CONCUBINE MAHBUBAH.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There were in the palace of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ala'llah[FN#426] four
+thousand concubines, whereof two thousand were Greeks and other two thousand
+slave born Arabians[FN#427] and Abyssinians; and 'Obayd ibn Tбhir[FN#428] had
+given him two hundred white girls and a like number of Abyssinian and native
+girls. Among these slave-borns was a girl of Bassorah, hight MahbÑŠbah, the
+Beloved, who was of surpassing beauty and loveliness, elegance and voluptuous
+grace. Moreover, she played upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making
+verses and wrote a beautiful hand; so that Al-Mutawakkil fell passionately in
+love with her and could not endure from her a single hour. But when she saw
+this affection, she presumed upon his favour to use him arrogantly, wherefore
+he waxed exceeding wroth with her and forsook her, forbidding the people of the
+palace to speak with her. She abode on this wise some days, but the Caliph
+still inclined to her; and he arose one morning and said to his courtiers, "I
+dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled to Mahhubah." They answered, "Would
+Allah this might be on wake!"; and as they were talking, behold, in came one of
+the Caliph's maidservants and whispered him; so he rose from his throne and
+entered the Serraglio; for the whisper had said, "Of a truth we heard singing
+and lute-playing in Mahbubah's chamber and we knew not what this meant." So he
+went straight to her apartment, where he heard her playing upon the lute and
+singing the following verses,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I wander through the palace, but I sight there not a soul * To<br/>
+
+     whom I may complain or will 'change a word with me.<br/>
+
+It is as though I'd done so grievous rebel-deed * Wherefrom can<br/>
+
+     no contrition e'er avail to set me free.<br/>
+
+Have we no intercessor here to plead with King, who came * In<br/>
+
+     sleep to me and took me back to grace and amity;<br/>
+
+But when the break of day arose and showed itself again, * Then<br/>
+
+     he departing sent me back to dree my privacy?"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when the Caliph heard her voice, he marvelled at the verse and yet more at
+the strange coincidence of their dreams and entered the chamber. As soon as she
+perceived him, she hastened to rise and throw herself at his feet, and kissing
+them, said, "By Allah, O my lord, this hap is what I dreamt last night; and,
+when I awoke, I made the couplets thou hast heard." Replied Al- Mutawakkil, "By
+Allah, I also dreamt the like!" Then they embraced and made friends and he
+abode with her seven days with their nights. Now Mahbubah had written upon her
+cheek, in musk, the Caliph's name, which was Ja'afar: and when he saw this, he
+improvised the following,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One wrote upon her cheek with musk, his name was Ja'afar highs;<br/>
+
+     * My soul for hers who wrote upon her cheek the name I<br/>
+
+     sight!<br/>
+
+If an her fingers have inscribed one line upon her cheek, * Full<br/>
+
+     many a line in heart of mine those fingers did indite:<br/>
+
+O thou, whom Ja'afar sole of men possesseth for himself, * Allah<br/>
+
+     fill Ja'afar[FN#429] stream full draught, the wine of thy<br/>
+
+     delight!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him, all save Mahhubah,—And
+Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al-Mutawakkil died,
+his host of women forgot him all save Mahbubah who ceased not to mourn for him,
+till she deceased and was buried by his side, the mercy of Allah be on them
+both! And men also tell the tale of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap42"></a>WARDAN[FN#430] THE BUTCHER; HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>
+There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-Hбkim bi' Amri'llah, a
+butcher named Wardбn, who dealt in sheep's flesh; and there came to him every
+day a lady and gave him a dinar, whose weight was nigh two and a half Egyptian
+dinars, saying, "Give me a lamb." So he took the money and gave her the lamb,
+which she delivered to a porter she had with her; and he put it in his crate
+and she went away with him to her own place. Next day she came in the forenoon
+and this went on for a long time, the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day,
+till at last he began to be curious about her case and said to himself, "This
+woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying ready money, and
+never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a strange thing!" So he took an
+occasion of questioning the porter, in her absence, and asked him, "Whither
+goest thou every day with yonder woman?"; and he answered, "I know not what to
+make of her for surprise; inasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the lamb
+of thee, she buyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and dried fruits and
+wax-candles a dinar's worth, and taketh of a certain person, which is a
+Nazarene, two flagons of wine, worth another dinar; and then she leadeth me
+with the whole and I go with her to the Wazir's Gardens, where she blindfoldeth
+me, so that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my feet; and, taking me by
+the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither. Presently, she sayeth, 'Set down
+here;' and when I have done so, she giveth me an empty crate she hath ready
+and, taking my hand, leadeth me back to the Wazir's Gardens, the place where
+she bound my eyes, and there removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver
+bits." "Allah be her helper!" quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in curiosity about
+her case; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in exceeding
+restlessness. And quoth the butcher, "Next morning she came to me as of custom
+and taking the lamb, for which she paid the dinar, delivered it to the porter
+and went away. So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without
+her seeing me;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the butcher
+continued: "So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without her
+seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding behind her, till she
+left Cairo and came to the Wazir's Gardens. Then I hid myself whilst she
+bandaged the porter's eyes and followed her again from place to place till she
+came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped at a spot where there was a great
+stone. Here she made the porter set down his crate, and I waited whilst she
+conducted him back to the Wazir's Gardens, after which she returned and, taking
+out the contents of the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that
+stone and wrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone an open
+trap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading downwards. So I descended,
+little by little, till I came to a long corridor, brilliantly lighted and
+followed it, till I made a closed door, as it were the door of a saloon. I
+looked about the wall sides near the doorway till I discovered a recess, with
+steps therein; then climbed up and found a little niche with a bulls-eye giving
+upon a saloon. Thence I looked inside and saw the lady cut off the choicest
+parts of the lamb and laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big
+bear, who ate it all to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking,
+she ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections and brought
+out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and giving the bear to drink in
+a basin of gold. And as soon as she was heated with wine, she put off her
+petticoat-trousers and lay down on her back; whereupon the bear arose and came
+up to her and stroked her, whilst she gave him the best of what belongeth to
+the sons of Adam till he had made an end, when he sat down and rested.
+Presently, he sprang upon her and rogered her again; and when he ended he again
+sat down to rest, and he ceased not so doing till he had futtered her ten times
+and they both fell to the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then
+quoth I to myself, 'Now is my opportunity,' and taking a knife I had with me,
+that would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them and found them
+motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their hard swinking and swiving. So
+I put my knife to the bear's gullet and pressed upon it, till I finished him by
+severing his head from his body, and he gave a great snort like thunder,
+whereat the lady started up in alarm; and, seeing the bear slain and me
+standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so loud a shriek that I thought the soul
+had left her body. Then she asked, 'O Wardan, is this how thou requites me my
+favours?' And I answered, 'O enemy of thine own soul, is there a famine of
+men[FN#433] that thou must do this damnable thing?' She made no answer but bent
+down over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head divided
+from his body, said to me, 'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou
+take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own
+safety'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the lady, " 'O
+Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I
+shall say and be the means of thine own safety and competency to the end of thy
+days, or gainsay me and so cause thine own destruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, 'I
+choose rather to hearken unto thee: say what thou wilt.' Quoth she, 'Then slay
+me, as thou hast slain this bear, and take thy need of this hoard and wend thy
+ways.' Quoth I, 'I am better than this bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty
+and repent, and I will marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the rest
+of our lives.' She rejoined, 'O Wardan, far be it from me! How shall I live
+after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly do away thy life! So
+leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost man: this is all I have to say
+to thee and peace be with thee!' Then said I, 'I will kill thee, and thou shalt
+go to the curse of Allah.' So saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her
+throat; and she went to the curse of Allah and of the angels and of all
+mankind. And after so doing I examined the place and found there gold and
+bezel-stones and pearls, such as no one king could bring together. So I filled
+the porter's crate with as much as I could carry and covered it with the
+clothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and, going up out of the underground
+treasure- chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring on, till I came to the
+gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten of the bodyguard of Al-Hakim
+bi' Amri'llah[FN#435] followed by the Prince himself who said to me, 'Ho,
+Wardan!' 'At thy service, O King,' replied I; when he asked, 'Hast thou killed
+the bear and the lady?' and I answered, 'Yes.' Quoth he, 'Set down the basket
+from thy head and fear naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is
+thine, and none shall dispute it with thee.' So I set down the crate before
+him, and he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, 'Tell me their
+case, albe I know it, as if I had been present with you.' So I told him all
+that had passed and he said, 'Thou hast spoken the truth,' adding, 'O Wardan,
+come now with me to the treasure.' So I returned with him to the cavern, where
+he found the trap-door closed and said to me, 'O Wardan, lift it; none but thou
+can open the treasure, for it is enchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436]
+Said I, 'By Allah, I cannot open it,' but he said, 'Go up to it, trusting in
+the blessing of Allah.' So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah and,
+advancing to the trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up as it had
+been of the lightest. Then said the Caliph, 'Go down and bring hither what is
+there; for none but one of thy name and semblance and nature hath gone down
+thither since the place was made, and the slaying of the bear and the woman was
+appointed to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with me and I was awaiting its
+fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth Wardan) I went down and brought up all
+the treasure, whereupon the Caliph sent for beasts of burden and carried it
+away, after giving me my crate, with what was therein. So I bore it home and
+opened me a shop in the market." And (saith he who telleth the tale) "this
+market is still extant and is known as Wardan's Market." And I have heard
+recount another story of
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h3><a name="chap43"></a>THE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+There was once a Sultan's daughter, whose heart was taken with love of a black
+slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became passionately addicted to
+futtering, so that she could not do without it a single hour and complained of
+her case to one of her body women, who told her that no thing poketh and
+stroketh more abundantly than the baboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day,
+that an ape-leader passed under her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled
+her face and looking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he
+broke his bonds and chain and climbed up to the Princess, who hid him in a
+place with her, and night and day he abode there, eating and drinking and
+copulating. Her father heard of this and would have killed her;—And Shahrazad
+perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Sultan heard of
+this work he would have slain his daughter; but she smoked his design; and,
+disguising herself in Mameluke's dress, mounted horse after loading a mule with
+gold and bullion, and precious stuffs past all account; then carrying with her
+the ape, she fled to Cairo, where she took up her abode in one of the houses
+without the city and upon the verge of the Suez-desert. Now, every day, she
+used to buy meat of a young man, a butcher, but she came not to him till after
+noonday; and then she was so yellow and disordered in face that he said in his
+mind, "There must indeed hang some mystery by this slave." "Accordingly (quoth
+the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out after her
+secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to place, so as she saw me
+not, till she came to her lodging on the edge of her waste and entered; and I
+looked in upon her through a cranny, and saw her as soon as she was at home,
+kindle a fire and cook the meat, of which she ate enough and served up the rest
+to a baboon she had by her and he did the same. Then she put off the slave's
+habit and donned the richest of women's apparel; and so I knew that she was a
+lady. After this she set on wine and drank and gave the ape to drink; and he
+stroked her nigh half a score times without drawing till she swooned away, when
+he spread over her a silken coverlet and returned to his place. Then I went
+down in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming aware of me, would have
+torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out my knife and slit his paunch
+and his bowels fell out. The noise aroused the young lady, who awoke terrified
+and trembling; and, when she saw the ape in this case, she shrieked such a
+shriek that her soul well nigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a
+fainting-fit and when she came to herself, she said to me, 'What moved thee to
+do thus? Now Allah upon thee, send me after him!' But I spoke her fair for a
+while and pledged myself to stand in the ape's stead in the matter of much
+poking, till her trouble subsided and I took her to wife. But when I came to
+perform my promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this matter and could
+not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my case and mentioned her
+exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman who engaged to manage the affair
+and said to me, 'Needs must thou bring me a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar
+and a pound of the herb pellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her
+what she sought, and she laid the pellitory in the pot with the vinegar and set
+it on the fire, till it was thoroughly boiled. Then she bade me futter the
+girl, and I futtered her till she fainted away, when the old woman took her up
+(and she unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the cooking-pot. The
+steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from it somewhat which I
+examined; and behold, it was two small worms, one black and the other yellow.
+Quoth the old, woman, ''The black was bred of the strokings of the negro and
+the yellow of stroking with the baboon.' Now when she recovered from her swoon
+she abode with me, in all delight and solace of life, and sought not swiving as
+before, for Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I
+marvelled"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
+permitted say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man continued:
+"In truth Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled and
+acquainted her with the case. Thereupon I lived with her and she took the old
+woman to be to her in the stead of her mother." "And" (said he who told me the
+tale) "the old woman and the young man and his wife abode in joy and cheer till
+there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies; and
+glory be to the Ever-living One, who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of
+the world visible and invisible!''[FN#440] And another tale they tell is that
+of
+</p>
+
+<p>
+End of Arabian Nights Volume 4.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+                    Arabian Nights, Volume 4<br/>
+
+                           Footnotes<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#1] The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or
+the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the
+Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Madбin (Ctesiphon) opposite was held
+unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days' march from Baghdad
+and has now disappeared. Al-Saffбh, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital—and
+it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians
+being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name
+to the "Cufic" characters which are, however, of much older date.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#2] "Ni'amat" = a blessing, and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem
+conversation, "Ni'amatu'llбh" (as pronounced) is also a favourite P.N. and few
+Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of
+Munshi Ni'amatu 'llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu'm =
+prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. "Naomi."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#3] i.e. "causing to be prosperous", the name, corrupted by the Turks to
+"Tevfik," is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to whose
+unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification certainly does not
+apply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#4] Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#5] i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and Richard Roe
+are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have noted that Amru is
+written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an
+astrologer that Jerusalem would be taken only by a trium literarum homo, with
+three letters in his name sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called
+Holy City at once capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore
+and the Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to
+Combermore for some time after the successful siege.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#6] BinYÑŠsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth
+centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az and Al-Irak under the fifth and
+sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems' Holy Land
+in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka'abah and restored it
+to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having
+suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating
+the Prophet's companions by "sealing them in the necks and hands," that is he
+tied a thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he
+showed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required by the
+revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in rescuing
+the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners by Dahir of
+Debal (Tathб in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man the Caliph would have
+chosen for a pander; but the Shi'ahs hates him and have given him a lasting bad
+name. In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic
+pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the cruellest
+of all. When Ziyбd bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu'awiyah to reform Bassorah, a
+den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword
+and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden, under
+pain of teeth, to walk the streets after prayers, on the first night two
+hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our
+civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly
+new and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in
+quantity and quality, and where "Christian rule" has thoroughly scandalised a
+Moslem land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#7] The old bawd's portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in the East
+have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners are the same
+amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical-female ascetic in the Katha, p. 287)
+as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once recognise her and the prudent
+keep out of her way. She is found in the cities of Southern Europe, ever pious,
+ever prayerful; and she seems to do her work not so much for profit as for pure
+or impure enjoyment. In the text her task was easy, as she had to do with a
+pair of innocents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#8] Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale's version.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#9] Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying "Thank you;" they
+express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to your surplus:
+daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they consider it their own.
+I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i. 75-77, in opposition to those who
+declare that "gratitude" is unknown to Moslems.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#10] Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a "King,"<br/>
+
+but as the Hindu says, " Delhi is far" it is a far cry to Loch<br/>
+
+Awe. Here we can hardly understand "Malik" as Governor or<br/>
+
+Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zъ-mбl-(moneyed)?<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#11] Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the "Sweat of a Stone," etc.
+He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and one of his sayings is
+still remembered. "He who desireth to take a female slave for carnal-enjoyment,
+let him take a native of Barbary; if he need one for the sake of children, let
+him have a Persian; and whoso desireth one for service, let him take a Greek."
+Moderns say, "If you want a brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you
+wealth an Abyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sбwahнli, or
+Zanzibar negroid."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#12] Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and<br/>
+
+Stratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#13] Arab, "Kбrъrah": the "water-doctor" has always been an institution in
+the east and he has lately revived in Europe especially at the German baths and
+in London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#14] Lane makes this phrase "O brother of the Persians!" synonymous with "O
+Persian!" I think it means more, a Persian being generally considered "too
+clever by half."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#15] The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women's names, Naomi
+(the blessing) Su'adб or Su'бd (the happy, which Mr. Redhouse, in Ka'ab's
+Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml (a sum or total) the two
+latter, moreover, being here fictitious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#16] "And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, 'O how I am grieved for
+Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning. … (Quoth Joseph to his
+brethren), 'Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father's face and he
+shall recover his sight.' . . . So, when the messenger of good tidings came (to
+Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and he recovered his eye-sight."
+Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators, by way of improvement, assure us that
+the shirt was that worn by Abraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chaps.
+xvi.) by Nimrod (!). We know little concerning "Jacob's daughters" who named
+the only bridge spanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb
+near Jewish "Safe" (North of Tiberias), one of the four "Holy Cities." The Jews
+ignore these "daughters of Jacob" and travellers neglect them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#17] Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth that the
+animal-man is handsomer than woman and that "fair sex" is truly only of
+skin-colour. The same is the general-rule throughout creation, for instance the
+stallion compared with the mare, the cock with the hen; while there are sundry
+exceptions such as the Falconidae.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#18] The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of a woman
+who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the slightly swinging
+walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful neck and looking from side to
+side at objects as she passes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#19] Li'llбhi (darr') al-kбil, a characteristic idiom. "Darr"=giving (rich)
+milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration, "To Allah be ascribed (or
+Allah be praised for) his rich eloquence who said etc. Some Hebraists would
+render it, "Divinely (well) did he speak who said," etc., holding "Allah" to
+express a superlative like "Yah" Jah) in Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod was a hunter
+to the person (or presence) of Yah, i.e. mighty hunter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#20] Hamzah and Abbбs were the famous uncles of Mohammed often noticed:
+Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Akнl, a son of the fourth Caliph, Ali.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#21] The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being that of a signet,
+it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians invented engraving hieroglyphics on
+wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the process to the ring. Moses B.
+C. 1491 (Exod. xxviii. 9) took two onyx-stones, and graved on them the names of
+the children of Israel. From this the signet ring was but a step. Herodotus
+mentions an emerald seal-set in gold, that of Polycrates, the work of
+Theodorus, son of Telecles the Samian (iii. 141). The Egyptians also were
+perfectly acquainted with working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be
+seen in the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks
+borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g. Tryphon's in the
+Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the art to the Romans. We read in
+a modern book "Cameo means an onyx, and the most famous cameo in the world is
+the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus." The ring is given in marriage
+because it was a seal—by which orders were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and Esther
+iii. 10-12). I may note that the seal-ring of Cheops (Khufu), found in the
+Greatest Pyramid, was in the possession of my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of
+Auburn (U.S.), and was sold with his collection. It is the oldest ring in the
+world, and settles the Cheops-question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#22] This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is
+customary, I have noted, amongst the American "Indians," the Badawin of the New
+World; they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost. Like most
+primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was Жneas or Shakespeare's
+saline personage,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+          "This would make a man, a man of salt<br/>
+
+            To use his eyes for garden waterpots."<br/>
+
+                                           (King Lear, iv. 6.)<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#23] Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales the two
+adulterous Queens would have been put to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#24] Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shбmбt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#25] Arab. "Misr," vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim the "two
+Misrs," Egypt, upper and lower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#26] The Persians still call their Consuls "Shah-bander," lit. king of the
+Bandar or port.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#27] Arab. "DukhÑŠl," the night of going in, of seeing the bride unveiled for
+the first time, etcaetera.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#28] Arab. "Barsh" or "Bars," the commonest kind. In India it is called
+Ma'jÑŠn (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or young leaves, buds,
+capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva), poppy-seed and flowers of the
+thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and auger-candy, nutmegs, cloves, mace and
+saffron, all boiled to the consistency of treacle which hardens when cold.
+Several-recipes are given by Herklots (Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries
+are usually prepared with "Charas," or gum of hemp, collected by hand or by
+passing a blanket over the plant in early morning, and it is highly
+intoxicating. Another intoxicant is "Sabzi," dried hemp-leaves, poppy-seed,
+cucumber heed, black pepper and cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden
+pestle, and made drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish of
+Arabia is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows. Take of
+hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and of cloves, nutmeg
+and mace (which add to the intoxication) each 12 grains. Triturate in 8 ounces
+of water or the juice of watermelon or cucumber, strain and drink. The Egyptian
+Zabнbah is a preparation of hemp florets, opium and honey, much affected by the
+lower orders, whence the proverb: "Temper thy sorrow with Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz
+it is mixed with raisins (Zabнb) and smoked in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No.
+73.) Besides these there is (1) "Post" poppy-seed prepared in various ways but
+especially in sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the produce of
+the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by dishonest confectioners; it
+is a dangerous intoxicant, producing spectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc.,
+and (3) various preparations of opium especially the "Madad," pills made up
+with toasted betel-leaf and smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk in the
+shape of "Kusumba," a pill placed in wet cotton and squeezed in order to strain
+and clean it of the cowdung and other filth with which it is adulterated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#29] Arab. "SikankÑŠr" (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a lizard (S.
+officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an aphrodisiac in the East,
+and which in the Middle Ages was considered a universal-medicine. In the
+"Adja'ib al-Hind" (Les Merveilles de l'Inde) we find a notice of a bald-headed
+old man who was compelled to know his wife twice a day and twice a night in
+consequence of having eaten a certain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii. of the translation
+by M. L. Marcel Devic, from a manuscript of the tenth century, Paris Lemaire,
+1878.) Europeans deride these prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they
+affect the fancy, that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily relieving
+impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only when it comes
+from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East; and about half of every
+medical-work is devoted to them. Many a quack has made his fortune with a few
+bottles of tincture of cantharides, and a man who could discover a specific
+would become a millionaire in India only. The curious reader will consult for
+specimens the Ananga-Ranga Shastra by Koka Pandit; or the "RujÑŠ 'al-Shaykh ila
+'l-Sabбh fi Kuwwati 'l-Bбh" (the Return of the Old Man to Youth in power of
+Procreation) by Ahmad bin Sulaymбn known as Ibn Kamбl-Bбshб, in 139 chapters
+lithographed at Cairo. Of these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#30] Alб al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the Faith, a name of
+which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like his own, would have highly
+disapproved. The most grateful names to Allah are Abdallah (Allah's Slave) and
+Abd al-Rahman (Slave of the Compassionate); the truest are Al-Hбrith (the
+gainer, "bread winner") and Al-Hammбm (the griever); and the hatefullest are
+Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah (bitterness, Abu Murrah being a kunyat or by-name
+of the Devil). Abu al-Shбmбt (pronounced Abushshбmбt)=Father of Moles,
+concerning which I have already given details. These names ending in -Din
+(faith) began with the Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri 'llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075),
+who entitled his Wazir "Zahнr al-Din (Backer or Defender of the Faith) and this
+gave rise to the practice. It may be observed that the superstition of naming
+by omens is in no way obsolete.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#31] Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his beauty as
+though it had been strong wine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#32] i.e. against the evil eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#33] Meaning that he had been delicately reared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#34] A traditional-saying of Mohammed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#35] So Boccaccio's "Capo bianco" and "Coda verde." (Day iv.,<br/>
+
+Introduct.)<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#36] The opening chapter is known as the "Mother of the Book" (as opposed to
+Yб Sнn, the "heart of the Koran"), the "Surat (chapter) of Praise," and the
+"Surat of repetition" (because twice revealed?) or thanksgiving, or laudation
+(Ai-Masбni) and by a host of other names for which see Mr. Rodwell who,
+however, should not write "Fatthah" (p. xxv.) nor "Fathah" (xxvii.). The
+Fбtihah, which is to Al-Islam much what the "Paternoster" is to Christendom,
+consists of seven verses, in the usual-Saj'a or rhymed prose, and I have
+rendered it as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise be to Allah who
+all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the Compassionate * King of the Day
+of Faith! * Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do we crave aid * Guide us
+to the path which is straight * The path of those for whom Thy love is great,
+not those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate * Amen! O Lord of the World's
+trine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances of its
+application; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing from
+Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and other details,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#37] i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children. Strangers in
+Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading by the hand a filthy
+little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home will be changed to cloth of
+gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#38] Arab. "Asнdah" flour made consistent by boiling in water with the
+addition of "Same" clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than custard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#39] Arab. "Ghбbah" = I have explained as a low-lying place where the growth
+is thickest and consequently animals haunt it during the noon-heats
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#40] Arab. "Akkбm," one who loads camels and has charge of the luggage. He
+also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or camel-hirer (Pilgrimage i. 339),
+and hence the word Moucre (Moucres) which, first used by La Brocquiиre (A.D.
+1432), is still the only term known to the French.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma'i, the "Romance of Antar," and the episode of the
+Asafir Camels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the Kбdirн order (the
+oldest and chiefest of the four universally recognised), to which I have the
+honour to belong, teste my diploma (Pilgrimage, Appendix i.). Visitation is
+still made to his tomb at Baghdad. The Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter
+to "Jнlбn" the name of his birth-place "Gilan," a tract between the Caspian and
+the Black Seas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian "Mucuddum;" lit. "one placed before (or
+over) others"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to infamous proposals is
+very characteristic: ruder races would use their fists.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#47] Arab. "Rбfizн"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian schismatics who
+curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken from their own saying "Innб
+rafiznб-hum"=verily we have rejected them. The feeling between Sunni (the
+so-called orthodox) and Shi'ah is much like the Christian love between a
+Catholic of Cork and a Protestant from the Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any
+historian will show, this sect became exceedingly powerful under the later
+Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom conformed to it and adopted its tractices and
+innovations (as in the Azan or prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their
+co-religionists. Even in the present day the hatred between these
+representatives of Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I
+have given sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the Persians attempt to
+pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#48] Arab. "Sakkб," the Indian "Bihishtн" (man from Heaven):<br/>
+
+Each party in a caravan has one or more.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#49] These "Kirбmбt" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists will readily
+accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have half a dozen to tell, each
+of his "Pнr" or patron, including the Istidrбj or prodigy of chastisement.
+(Dabistan, iii. 274.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo and famed for
+"Kirбmбt." Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was imprisoned by Al-Mansur and
+restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She was married to a son of the Imam Ja'afar
+al-Sadik and lived a life of devotion in Cairo, dying in A.H. 218=824. The
+corpse of the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to her house, now her mosque and
+mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-SabÑŠa which formerly divided Old from New
+Cairo and is now one of the latter's suburbs. Lane (M. E. chaps. x.) gives her
+name but little more. The mention of her shows that the writer of the tale or
+the copyist was a Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the "Sitt."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#51] Arab. "Farkh akrab" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his abomination as if it
+were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet with due ascription.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter, "creamkin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#54] Arab. "Mustahall," "Mustahill' and vulg. "Muhallil" (=one who renders
+lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose who marries pro forma and after
+wedding, and bedding with actual-consummation, at once divorces the woman. He
+is held the reverse of respectable and no wonder. Hence, probably, Mandeville's
+story of the Islanders who, on the marriage-night, "make another man to lie by
+their wives, to have their maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much
+thanks. And there are certain men in every town that serve for no other thing;
+and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of despair, because
+they believe their occupation is a dangerous one." Burckhardt gives the proverb
+(No. 79), "A thousand lovers rather than one Mustahall," the latter being
+generally some ugly fellow picked up in the streets and disgusting to the wife
+who must permit his embraces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#55] This is a woman's oath. not used by men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#56] Pronounced "Yб Sнn" (chaps. xxxvi.) the "heart of the<br/>
+
+Koran" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in<br/>
+
+Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for<br/>
+
+the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#57] Arab. "Бl-Dбъd"=the family of David, i.e. David himself, a popular
+idiom. The prophet's recitation of the "Mazбmir" (Psalter) worked miracles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy which at once
+betrays the hideous disease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote<br/>
+
+Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#60] Where the "Juzбm" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus sacrum, etc. etc.) is
+supposed first to show: the swelling would alter the shape. Lane (ii. 267)
+translates "her wrist which was bipartite."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#61] Arab. "Zakariyб" (Zacharias): a play upon the term "Zakar"=the sign of
+"masculinity." Zacharias, mentioned in the Koran as the educator of the Virgin
+Mary (chaps. iii.) and repeatedly referred to (chaps. xix. etc.), is a
+well-known personage amongst Moslems and his church is now the great
+Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#62] Arab. " Ark al-Halбwat " = vein of sweetness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#63] Arab. "FutÑŠh," which may also mean openings, has before occurred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many rules are given in
+the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly declares that discrepancy breeds
+matrimonial-troubles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#66] Arab. "Ghurбb al-Bayn"= raven of the waste or the parting: hence the
+bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is also called Al-bayn). The Raven
+(Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat. Corvus, one of the prehistoric words) is supposed
+to be seen abroad earlier than any other bird; and it is entitled "Abu Zajir,"
+father of omens, because lucky when flying towards the right and v.v. It is
+opposed in poetry to the (white) pigeon, the emblem of union, peace and
+happiness. The vulgar declare that when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept
+calling to his pursuers, "Ghбr! Ghбr!" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet
+condemned him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the traitorous words.
+This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo (Ovid, lib. ii.).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+—————" who blacked the raven o'er And bid him prate in his white plumes no
+more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title "Efendi" being=our esquire, and inferior to
+a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the copyist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#68] Arab. "Samn"=Hind. "Ghi" butter melted, skimmed and allowed to cool.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#69] Arab. "Ya WadÑŠd," a title of the Almighty: the Mac.<br/>
+
+Edit. has "O David!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#70] Arab. "Muwashshahah;" a complicated stanza of which specimens have
+occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a "ballad," which would be a "Kunyat al-Zidd."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#71] Arab. "Bahбim" (plur. of Bahнmah=Heb. Behemoth), applied in Egypt
+especially to cattle. A friend of the "Oppenheim" house, a name the Arabs
+cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as "Jack al-bahбim" (of the cows).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#72] Lit. "The father of side-locks," a nickname of one of the Tobba Kings.
+This "Hasan of: the ringlets" who wore two long pig-tails hanging to his
+shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his name is still famous for
+brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest debauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch
+of his life is very meagre. His poetry has survived to the present day and
+(unhappily) we shall] hear more of "Abu Nowбs." On the subject of these
+patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chaps. iv.) has a strange remark that "Abu Dбъd
+i' not the Father of Dбъd or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or
+was) Dбъd or Ali." Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed
+by a genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#73] Arab. "SamÑŠr," applied in slang language to cats and dogs, hence the
+witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester) into "SamÑŠr."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model even in the
+present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but gentlemanly and courteous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#75] Arab. "Salнm" (not Sй-lim) meaning the "Safe and sound."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#76] Arab. "Halбwah"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such as men give to
+their friends after sickness or a journey. it is technically called as above,
+"The Sweetmeat of Safety."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#77] Arab. "Salбt" which from Allah means mercy, from the<br/>
+
+Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.<br/>
+
+Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see<br/>
+
+Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man<br/>
+
+is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say " Bless the<br/>
+
+Prophet!" and he does so by ejaculating "Sa'am."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a
+Wazirial-order as opposed to the " Irбdah," the Sultan's order.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#79] Arab. " Mashб'ilн" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before appeared as
+hangman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action
+suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to "throwing the
+kerchief," a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is generally
+understood in Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#84] Arab. "Hadbб," lit. "hump-backed;" alluding to the Badawi bier; a pole
+to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the protuberance of the
+corpse when placed upon the bier which before was flat. The quotation is from
+Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem (Burdah v . 37), "Every son of a female, long though his
+safety may be, is a day borne upon a ridged implement," says Mr. Redhouse,
+explaining the latter as a "bier with a ridged lid." Here we differ: the
+Janбzah with a lid is not a Badawi article: the wildlings use the simplest
+stretcher; and I would translate the lines,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+          "The son of woman, whatso his career<br/>
+
+           One day is borne upon the gibbous bier."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#86] "Khatun" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows the name,
+e.g. Fбtimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed to be a fanciful compound,
+uncouth as the named; the first word consisting of "Habb" seed, grain; and
+"Zalam" of Zulm=seed of tyranny. Can it be a travesty of "Absalom" (Ab Salбm,
+father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and
+Hebezlem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#90] Arab. "Buka'at Ad-bum": lit. the "low place of blood" (where it
+stagnates): so Al-Bukб'ah = Cњlesyria.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and
+self-esteem, "I told you so," is even more common in the naпve East than in the
+West. In this case the son's answer is far superior to the mother's question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#93] "Tabannuj; " literally "hemping" (drugging with hemp or henbane) is the
+equivalent in Arab medicine of our "anжsthetics." These have been used in
+surgery throughout the East for centuries before ether and chloroform became
+the fashion in the civilised West.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#94] Arab. "Durkб'ah," the lower part of the floor, opposed to the "liwбn"
+or daпs. Liwбn =Al-Aywбn (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including the daпs and the
+sunken parts)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and Fath Ali Shah
+never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible cruelties. In Dar-For
+wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath and sending a blood red dress
+to a subject meant that he would be slain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one belonging
+to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt being famous in those
+days. "Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis habebatur Жgyptum"
+(Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions
+"must and vinegar." In Arab Proverbs, One mind by vinegar and another by
+wine"=each mind goes its own way, (Arab. Prov. . 628); or, "with good and bad,"
+vinegar being spoilt wine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old "dowsing rod": the latest form
+of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#99] This is the procиs verbal always drawn up on such occasions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong drink as
+the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#101] Arab. "Min wahid aduww " a peculiarly Egyptian or rather<br/>
+
+Cairene phrase.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad the
+Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan "Shuuman"=a pestilent
+fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see the Adventures of
+Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah,
+Night dcxcviii.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#103] For the "Sacrifice-place of Ishmael" (not Isaac) see my Pilgrimage
+(iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the eldest son, was the
+chief of the family after his father. I have noted that this is the old old
+quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins the Hebrews.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah<br/>
+
+(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the<br/>
+
+Gulf of Scanderoon.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#106] Arab. " Wada'б" = the concha veneris, then used as small change.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#107] Arab. "Sakati"=a dealer in "castaway" articles, such es old
+metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that the names of
+the three first Caliphs were found written upon his slipper-soles and that he
+was put to death by decree of the Olema. It is the merest nonsense, as the
+great traveller died of dysentery in the house of my old friend John Thurburn
+and was buried outside the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by
+the late Rogers Bey (Pilgrimage i. 123).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslбn, in Turk. a lion, and in slang a
+piastre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#110] Arab. "Maka'ad;" lit. = sitting-room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#111] Arab. "Khammбrah"; still the popular term throughout Egypt for a
+European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is, meaning
+the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of its 360 idols
+(of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by
+touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the ground; and the Prophet
+cried (Koran xvii. 84), "Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily,
+falsehood is a thing that vanisheth" (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the
+"idols" are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of the ram
+sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that
+the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of
+Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland
+for the Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii. 295.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shн'ahs claim to be the
+only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It suggests the
+common question in the South of Europe, "Are you a Christian or a Protestant?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#114] Arab. "Ana fн jнrat-ak!" a phrase to be remembered as useful in time
+of danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#116] Arab. "KunsÑŠl" (pron. "Gunsul") which here means a well-to-do Frank,
+and shows the modern date of the tale as it stands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#117] From the Ital. "Capitano." The mention of cannon and other terms in
+this tale shows that either it was written during the last century or it has
+been mishandled by copyists.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#118] Arab. "Minнnah"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#119] Arab. "Waybah"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7<br/>
+
+English gallons.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest а la fellah; and reminds us of<br/>
+
+"Hangman, drive on the cart!"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is probably a
+copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea Khan, Hea the fish. The
+Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs "Yohannб" (contracted to "Hannб," Christian)
+and "Yбbyб" (Moslem). Prester (Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian
+prince conquered and slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of
+"John" is very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and derivation'
+of the name. "Husn Maryam" the beauty (spiritual. etc.) of the B.V.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant, etc. Also a
+tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with "Mбrid," evil controuls, hostile
+to men: modern spiritualists would regard them as polluted souls not yet purged
+of their malignity. The text insinuates that they were at home amongst
+Christians and in Genoa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#123] Arab. "Sar'a" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always confounded
+with "possession" (by evil spirits) or "obsession."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called "Sacred books."
+Here the Koran is called "Furkбn." Sale (sect. iii.) would assimilate this to
+the Hebr. "Perek" or "Pirka," denoting a section or portion of Scripture; but
+Moslems understand it to be the "Book which distinguisheth (faraka, divided)
+the true from the false." Thus Caliph Omar was entitled "Fбrъk" = the
+Distinguisher (between right and wrong). Lastly, "Furkбn," meanings as in Syr.
+and Ethiop. deliverance, revelation, is applied alike to the Pentateuch and
+Koran.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#125] Euphemistic for "thou shalt die."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#126] Lit. "From (jugular) vein to vein" (Arab. "Warнd"). Our old friend
+Lucretius again: "Tantane relligio," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#127] As opposed to the "but" or outer room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#128] Arab. "Darb al-Asfar" in the old Jamalнyah or Northern part of Cairo.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and settled in
+Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before Mohammed's birth, was Al-Hatim
+(the "black crow"), a model of Arab manliness and munificence; and although
+born in the Ignorance he will enter Heaven with the Moslems. Hatim was buried
+on the hill called Owбrid: I have already noted this favourite practice of the
+wilder Arabs and the affecting idea that the Dead may still look upon his kith
+and kin. There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a book upon Arabia which does
+not contain the name of Hatim: he is mentioned as unpleasantly often as
+Aristides.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#130] Lord of "Cattle-feet," this King's name is unknown; but the Kбmъs
+mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kalб'a, the Greater and the Less. Lane's Shaykh
+(ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded Hatim's hospitality was one
+Abu'l-Khaybari.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#131] The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case of other
+animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered by the "nahr," i.e.
+thrusting a knife into the hollow at the commissure of the chest. (Pilgrimage
+iii. 303.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the<br/>
+
+Prophet.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising his patron's
+generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and dimmed that of Ma'an
+(D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the last Ommiade, Marwбn al-Himбr
+(the "Ass," or the "Century," the duration of Ommiade rule) who was routed and
+slain in A.H. 132=750. Ma'an continued to serve under the Abbasides and was a
+favourite with Al-MansÑŠr. "More generous or bountiful than Ka'ab" is another
+saying (A. P., i. 325); Ka'ab ibn Mбmah was a man who, somewhat like Sir Philip
+Sidney at Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink while he was dying of thirst
+to a man who looked wistfully at him, whence the saying "Give drink to thy
+brother the Nбmiri" (A. P., i. 608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put
+garments over him to scare away the wild beasts and left him in the desert to
+die. "Scatterer of blessings" (Nбshir al-Ni'am) was a title of King Malik of
+Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabнl, eminent for his liberality. He set up the statue in
+the Western Desert, inscribed "Nothing behind me," as a warner to others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#134] Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi. and ccxc., a
+tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) "The Sleeper and the Waker," i.e.
+the sleeper awakened; and he calls it: The Story of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is
+interesting and founded upon historical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced
+here without breaking the sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr.
+Alexander J. Cotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an addition to the
+Breslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope eventually to make use of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#135] The first girl calls gold "Titer" (pure, unalloyed metal); the second
+"Asjad" (gold generally) and the third "Ibrнz" (virgin ore, the Greek {Greek
+letters}. This is a law of Arab rhetoric never to repeat the word except for a
+purpose and, as the language can produce 1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the
+copiousness is somewhat painful to readers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#136] Arab. "Shakes" before noticed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#137] Arab. "Kussб'б"=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of the cheapest
+and the poorer classes eat it as "kitchen" with bread.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#138] Arab. "Haram-hu," a double entendre. Here the Barlawi means his Harem
+the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he makes it mean the presence
+of His Honour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#139] Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington Irving. The "Land
+of Roum " here means simply Frank-land as we are afterwards told that its name
+was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a term still applied by Arabs to the whole
+of the Iberian Peninsula.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#140] Arab. "Amбim" (plur. of Imбmah) the common word for turband which I
+prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got it through the Port.
+Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the (now obsolete) Persian term
+Dolband=a turband or a sash.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#141] Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from "Tбrik" we have<br/>
+
+"Gibraltar"=Jabal-al-Tбrik.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#142] Arab. "Yunбn" = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as<br/>
+
+"Roum" is to the Grжco-Roman Empire.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#143] Arab. "Bahramбni ;" prob. alluding to the well-known<br/>
+
+legend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by<br/>
+
+Mahmud of Ghazni. In the Ajб'ib al-Hind (before quoted) the<br/>
+
+Brahmins are called Abrahamah.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#144] i.e. "Peace be with thee!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#145] i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness and
+plain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of the Koranic
+chapter "Inner Apartments" (No. xlix.) have always been favourite themes with
+Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen suavity and servility. Moreover
+the Badawi, besides saying what he thinks, always tells the truth (unless
+corrupted by commerce with foreigners); and this is a startling contrast with
+the townsfolk. To ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwalб is much
+like being suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of Mediterranean
+people to the bluff society of the Scandinavian North. And the reason why the
+Turk will never govern the Arab in peace is that the former is always trying to
+finesse and to succeed by falsehood, when the truth, the whole truth and
+nothing but the truth is wanted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#146] Koran. xvi. 112.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#147] A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which "spoke
+poetry." The Jewels are often pearls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#148] Ibrahim Abu Ishбk bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate of well
+known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence "Al-Tannнn"=the
+Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336), "Al-Tin"= the fig. His
+adventurous history will be found in Ibn Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#149] The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha (Tobit,
+Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of government of
+Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was built out of its
+remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the primeval-king who first sawed wood,
+made doors and dug metal. It is called Rayy al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held
+his court there. Harun al-Rashid was also born in it (A.H. 145). It is
+mentioned by a host of authors and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#150] Human blood being especially impure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#151] Jones, Brown and Robinson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#152] Arab. "Kumm ," the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his trousers) of
+ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by depositing
+small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in the hand. In this way
+carried the weight would be less irksome than hanging to the waist. The English
+of Queen Anne's day had regular sleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the
+saying, to have in one's sleeve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#153] Arab. "Khuff" worn under the "Bбbъg" (a corruption of the Persian
+pб-push=feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). [Lane M. E. chaps. i.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#154] Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for camels being
+left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping. The watering of the
+Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they are now lines of mud in
+summer as well as in winter and the effluvia from the droppings of animals
+have, combined with other causes, seriously deteriorated the once charming
+climate. The only place in Lower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of
+1850, is Suez.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#155] Arab. "Hurбk:" burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and steel, is a
+common styptic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#156] Of this worthy, something has been said and there will be more in a
+future page.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#157] i.e. the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#158] Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One of his
+sayings is preserved "Odious is contentiousness in Kings, more odious vexation
+in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more odious is shallowness of doctors in
+religions and most odious are avarice in the rich, idleness in youth, jesting
+in age and cowardice in the soldier."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#159] The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane's<br/>
+
+Shaykh has supplied it (ii. 339)<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#160] Adam's loins, the "Day of Alast," and the Imam (who stands before the
+people in prayer) have been explained. The "Seventh Imam" here is Al-Maamun,
+the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades being, as usual, ignored.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#161] He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which is
+poetical-and hardly practical-or probable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#162] The Katб (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry because it is
+essentially a desert bird, and here the comparison is good because it lays its
+eggs in the waste far from water which it must drink morning and evening. Its
+cry is interpreted "man sakat, salam" (silent and safe), but it does not
+practice that precept, for it is usually betrayed by its piping " Kata! Kata!"
+Hence the proverb, "More veracious than the sand-grouse," and "speak not
+falsely, for the Kata sayeth sooth," is Komayt's saying. It is an emblem of
+swiftness: when the brigand poet Shanfara boasts, "The ash-coloured Katas can
+drink only my leavings, after hastening all night to slake their thirst in the
+morning," it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed. In Sind it is called the
+"rock pigeon" and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on the wing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#163] Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives them his "inner
+garment" to throw over his father's face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#164] Arab. "Hajjбm"=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs, a bleeder, a
+(blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to thrash, lick, wallop.
+(Burckhardt. Prov. 34.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#165] The Bresl. Edit. (vii. 171-174) entitles this tale, "Story of Shaddбd
+bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ;" but it relates chiefly to the
+building by the King of the First Adites who, being promised a future Paradise
+by Prophet HÑŠd, impiously said that he would lay out one in this world. It also
+quotes Ka'ab al-Ahbбr as an authority for declaring that the tale is in the
+"Pentateuch of Moses." Iram was in al-Yaman near Adan (our Aden) a square of
+ten parasangs (or leagues each= 18,000 feet) every way, the walls were of red
+(baked) brick 500 cubits high and 20 broad, with four gates of corresponding
+grandeur. It contained 300,000 Kasr (palaces) each with a thousand pillars of
+gold-bound jasper, etc. (whence its title). The whole was finished in five
+hundred years, and, when Shaddad prepared to enter it, the "Cry of Wrath" from
+the Angel of Death slew him and all his many. It is mentioned in the Koran
+(chaps. Ixxxix. 6-7) as "Irem adorned with lofty buildings (or pillars)." But
+Ibn Khaldun declares that commentators have embroidered the passage; Iram being
+the name of a powerful clan of the ancient Adites and "imбd" being a tent-pole:
+hence "Iram with the numerous tents or tent-poles." Al-Bayzawi tells the story
+of Abdullah ibn Kilabah (D'Herbelot's Colabah). At Aden I met an Arab who had
+seen the mysterious city on the borders of Al-Ahkбf, the waste of deep sands,
+west of Hadramaut; and probably he had, the mirage or sun-reek taking its
+place. Compare with this tale "The City of Brass" (Night dlxv.).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#166] The biblical-"Sheba," named from the great-grandson of Joctan, whence
+the Queen (Bilkis) visited Solomon It was destroyed by the Flood of Mбrib.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#167] The full title of the Holy City is "Madinat al-Nab)" = the City of the
+Prophet, of old Yasrib (Yathrib) the Iatrippa of the Greeks (Pilgrimage, ii.
+119). The reader will remember that there are two "Yasribs:" that of lesser
+note being near Hujr in the Yamбmah province.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#168] "Ka'ab of the Scribes," a well-known traditionist and religious poet
+who died (A.H. 32) in the Caliphate of Osman. He was a Jew who islamised; hence
+his name (Ahbбr, plur. of Hibr, a Jewish scribe, doctor of science, etc.
+Jarrett's El-Siyuti, p. 123). He must not be confounded with another Ka'ab
+al-Ahbбr the Poet of the (first) Cloak-poem or "Burdah," a noble Arab who was a
+distant cousin of Mohammed, and whose tomb at Hums (Emesa) is a place of pious
+visitation. According to the best authorities (no Christian being allowed to
+see them) the cloak given to the bard by Mohammed is still preserved together
+with the Khirkah or Sanjak Sherif ("Holy Coat" or Banner, the national
+oriflamme) at Stambul in the Upper Seraglio. (Pilgrimage, i. 213.) Many authors
+repeat this story of Mu'awiyah, the Caliph, and Ka'ab of the Burdah, but it is
+an evident anachronism, the poet having been dead nine years before the ruler's
+accession (A.H. 41).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#169] Koran, lxxxix. 6-7.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#170] Arab. "Kahramбn" from Pers., braves, heroes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#171] The Deity in the East is as whimsical-a despot as any of his "shadows"
+or "vice regents." In the text Shaddбd is killed for mere jealousy a base
+passion utterly unworthy of a godhead; but one to which Allah was greatly
+addicted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#172] Some traditionist, but whether Sha'abi, Shi'abi or<br/>
+
+Shu'abi we cannot decide.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#173] The Hazarmaveth of Genesis (x. 26) in South Eastern Arabia. Its people
+are the Adramitae (mod. Hazrami) of Ptolemy who places in their land the Arabiж
+Emporium, as Pliny does his Massola. They border upon the Homeritж or men of
+Himyar, often mentioned in The Nights. Hazramaut is still practically unknown
+to us, despite the excursions of many travellers; and the hard nature of the
+people, the Swiss of Arabia, offers peculiar obstacles to exploration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#174] i.e. the prophet Hud generally identified (?) with Heber. He was
+commissioned (Koran, chaps. vii.) to preach Al-Islam to his tribe the Adites
+who worshipped four goddesses, Sбkiyah (the rain-giver), Rбzikah (food-giver),
+Hбfizah (the saviouress) and Sбlimah (who healed sickness). As has been seen he
+failed, so it was useless to send him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#175] Son of Ibraham al-Mosili, a musician poet and favourite with the
+Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Maamun. He made his name immortal-by being the
+first who reduced Arab harmony to systematic rules, and he wrote a biography of
+musicians referred to by Al-Hariri in the Sйance of Singar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#176] This must not be confounded with the "pissing against the wall" of I
+Kings, xiv. 10, where watering against a wall denotes a man as opposed to a
+woman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#177] Arab. "Zambнl" or "Zimbнl," a limp basket made of plaited palm-leaves
+and generally two handled. It is used for many purposes, from carrying poultry
+to carrying earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#178] Here we have again the Syriac ''Bakhkh -un-Bakhkh-un-''=well done! It
+is the Pers Бferнn and means "all praise be to him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#179] Arab. "A Tufayli?" So the Arab. Prov. (ii. 838) "More intrusive than
+Tufayl" (prob. the P.N. of a notorious sponger). The Badawin call "Wбrish" a
+man who sits down to meat unbidden and to drink Wбghil; but townsfolk apply the
+latter to the "Wбrish."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#180] Arab. "Artбl"=rotoli, pounds; and
+</p>
+
+<p>
+               "A pint is a pound<br/>
+
+                All the world round;"<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+except in highly civilised lands where the pint has a curious power of
+shrinking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#181] One of Al-Maamun's Wazirs. The Caliph married his daughter whose true
+name was Bъrбn; but this tale of girl's freak and courtship was invented (?) by
+Ishak. For the splendour of the wedding and the munificence of the Minister see
+Lane, ii. 350-352.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#182] I have described this scene, the wretch clinging to the curtain and
+sighing and crying as if his heart would break (Pilgrimage iii. 216 and 220).
+The same is done at the place Al-Multazam'"the attached to;" (ibid. 156) and
+various spots called Al-Mustajбb, "where prayer is granted" (ibid. 162). At
+Jerusalem the Wailing place of the Jews" shows queer scenes; the worshippers
+embrace the wall with a peculiar wriggle crying out in Hebrew, "O build Thy
+House, soon, without delay," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#183] i.e. The wife. The scene in the text was common at Cairo twenty years
+ago; and no one complained of the stick. See Pilgrimage i., 120.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#184] Arab. "Udm, Udum" (plur. of Idбm) = "relish," olives, cheese, pickled
+cucumbers, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#185] I have noticed how the left hand is used in the East. In the second
+couplet we have "Istinjб"=washing the fundament after stool. The lines are
+highly appropriate for a nightman. Easterns have many foul but most emphatic
+expressions like those in the text I have heard a mother say to her brat, "I
+would eat thy merde!" (i.e. how I love thee!).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#186] Arab. "Harrбk," whence probably our "Carack" and<br/>
+
+"Carrack" (large ship), in dictionaries derived from Carrus<br/>
+
+Marinus.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#187] Arab. "Ghбshiyah"=lit. an йtui, a cover; and often a saddle-cover
+carried by the groom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#188] Arab. "Sharбb al-tuffбh" = melapio or cider.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#189] Arab. "Mudawwarah," which generally means a small round cushion, of
+the Marocco-work well known in England. But one does not strike a cushion for a
+signal, so we must revert to the original-sense of the word "something round,"
+as a circular plate of wood or metal, a gong, a "bell" like that of the Eastern
+Christians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#190] Arab. "Tъfбn" (from the root tauf, going round) a storm, a circular
+gale, a cyclone the term universally applied in Al-lslam to the "Deluge," the
+"Flood" of Noah. The word is purely Arabic; with a quaint likeness to the Gr.
+{Greek letters}, in Pliny typhon, whirlwind, a giant (TyphÑšus) whence "Typhon"
+applied to the great Egyptian god "Set." The Arab word extended to China and
+was given to the hurricanes which the people call "Tee foong," great winds, a
+second whimsical-resemblance. But Sir John Davis (ii. 383) is hardly correct
+when he says, "the name typhoon, in itself a corruption of the Chinese term,
+bears a singular (though we must suppose an accidental) resemblance to the
+Greek {Greek letters}. "
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#191] Plurale majestatis acting superlative; not as Lane supposes (ii. 224)
+"a number of full moons, not only one." Eastern tongues abound in instances
+beginning with Genesis (i. 1), "Gods (he) created the heaven," etc. It is still
+preserved in Badawi language and a wildling greatly to the astonishment of the
+citizens will address his friend "Yб Rijбl"= O men!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#192] Arab. "Hбsid" = an envier: in the fourth couplet "Azъl" (Azzбl, etc.)
+= a chider, blamer; elsewhere "Lawwбm" = accuser, censor, slanderer;
+"Wбshн,"=whisperer, informer; "Rakib"=spying, envious rival; "Ghбbit"=one
+emulous without envy; and "Shбmit"= a "blue" (fierce) enemy who rejoices over
+another's calamities. Arabic literature abounds in allusions to this unpleasant
+category of "damned ill-natured friends;" and Spanish and Portuguese letters,
+including Brazilian, have thoroughly caught the trick. In the Eastern mind the
+"blamer" would be aided by the "evil eye."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#193] Another plural for a singular, "O my beloved!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#194] Arab. "Khayr"=good news, a euphemistic reply even if the tidings be of
+the worst.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#195] Abbбs (from 'Abs, being austere; and meaning the "grim faced") son of
+Abd al-Muttalib; uncle to Mohammed and eponym of the Abbaside Khalifahs. A.D.
+749=1258.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#196] Katнl = the Irish "kilt."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#197] This hat been explained as a wazirial title of the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#198] The phrase is intelligible in all tongues: in Arabic it is opposed to
+"dark as night," "black as mud" and a host of unsavoury antitheses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#199] Arab. "Awwбdah," the popular word; not Udнyyah as in Night cclvi. "Ud"
+liter.= rood and "Al-Ud"=the wood is, I have noted, the origin of our 'lute."
+The Span. 'laud" is larger and deeper than the guitar, and its seven strings
+are played upon with a plectrum of buffalo-horn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#200] Arab. "Tabban lahu!"=loss (or ruin) to him. So "bu'dan lahu"=away with
+him, abeat in malam rem; and "Suhkan lahu"=Allah and mercy be far from him, no
+hope for him I
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#201] Arab. "Бyah"=Koranic verses, sign, miracle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#202] The mole on cheek calls to prayers for his preservation; and it is
+black as Bilal the Abyssinian. Fajran may here mean either "A.-morning" or
+"departing from grace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#203] i.e. the young beard (myrtle) can never hope to excel tile beauties of
+his cheeks (roses).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#204] i.e. Hell and Heaven.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#205] The first couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. (ii. 171)<br/>
+
+which gives only a single couplet but it is found in the Bres.<br/>
+
+Edit. which entitles this tale "Story of the lying (or false kбzib)<br/>
+
+Khalнfah." Lane (ii. 392) of course does not translate it.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#206] In the East cloth of frieze that mates with cloth of gold must expect
+this treatment. Fath Ali Shah's daughters always made their husbands enter the
+nuptial-bed by the foot end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#207] This is always done and for two reasons; the first humanity, that the
+blow may fall unawares; and, secondly, to prevent the sufferer wincing, which
+would throw out the headsman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#208] Arab. "Ma'бni-hб," lit. her meanings, i.e. her inner woman opposed to
+the formal-seen by every one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#209] Described in my Pilgrimage (iii. 168, 174 and 175): it is the stone
+upon which the Patriarch stood when he built the Ka'abah and is said to show
+the impress of the feet but unfortunately I could not afford five dollars
+entrance-fee. Caliph Omar placed the station where it now is; before his time
+it adjoined the Ka'abah. The meaning of the text is, Be thy court a place of
+pious visitation, etc. At the "Station of Abraham" prayer is especially blessed
+and expects to be granted. "This is the place where Abraham stood; and whoever
+entereth therein shall be safe" (Koran ii. 119). For the other fifteen places
+where petitions are favourably heard by Heaven see ibid. iii. 211-12.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#210] As in the West, so in the East, women answer an unpleasant question by
+a counter question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#211] This "Cry of Haro" often occurs throughout The Nights. In real-life it
+is sure to colece a crowd. especially if an Infidel (non Moslem) be its cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#212] In the East a cunning fellow always makes himself the claimant or
+complainant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#213] On the Euphrates some 40 miles west of Baghdad The word is written
+"Anbбr" and pronounced "Ambбr" as usual with the "n" before "b"; the case of
+the Greek double Gamma.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#214] Syene on the Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#215] The tale is in the richest Rabelaisian humour; and the requisitions of
+the "Saj'a" (rhymed prose) in places explain the grotesque combinations. It is
+difficult to divine why Lane omits it: probably he held a hearty laugh not
+respectable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#216] A lawyer of the eighth century, one of the chief pupils of the Imam
+Abu Hanifah, and Kazi of Baghdad under the third, fourth and fifth Abbasides.
+The tale is told in the quasi- historical-Persian work "Nigбristбn" (The
+Picture gallery), and is repeated by Richardson, Diss. 7, xiii. None seem to
+have remarked that the distinguished legist, Abu Yusuf, was on this occasion a
+law-breaker; the Kazi's duty being to carry out the code not to break it by the
+tricks of a cunning attorney. In Harun's day, however, some regard was paid to
+justice, not under his successors, one of whom, Al-Muktadir bi 'llбh (A.H.
+295=907), made the damsel Yamika President of the Diwбn al-Mazбlim (Court of
+the Wronged), a tribunal which took cognizance of tyranny and oppression in
+high places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#217] Here the writer evidently forgets that Shahrazad is telling the story
+to the king, as Boccaccio (ii. 7) forgets that Pamfilo is speaking. Such
+inconsequences are common in Eastern story-books and a goody-goody sentiment is
+always heartily received as in an English theatre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#218] In the Mac. Edit. (ii. 182) "Al-Kushayri." Al-Kasri was<br/>
+
+Governor of the two Iraks (I.e. Bassorah and Cufa) in the reign of<br/>
+
+Al-Hisham, tenth Ommiade (A.D. 723-741)<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#219] Arab. "Thakalata k Ummak!" This is not so much a curse as a playful
+phrase, like "Confound the fellow." So "Kбtala k Allah" (Allah slay thee) and
+"Lб abб lak" (thou hast no father or mother). These words are even
+complimentary on occasions, as a good shot or a fine recitation, meaning that
+the praised far excels the rest of his tribe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#220] Koran, iii. 178.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#221] Arab. "Al-Nisбb"=the minimum sum (about half-a crown) for which
+mutilation of the hand is prescribed by religious law. The punishment was truly
+barbarous, it chastised a rogue by means which prevented hard honest labour for
+the rest of his life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#222] To show her grief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#223] Abъ Sa'нd Abd al-Malik bin Kurayb, surnamed Al-Asma'i from his
+grandfather, flor. A.H. 122-306 (=739-830) and wrote amongst a host of
+compositions the well-known Romance of Antar. See in D'Herbelot the right
+royal-directions given to him by Harun al-Rashid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#224] There are many accounts of his death, but it is generally held that he
+was first beheaded. The story in the text is also variously told and the
+Persian "Nigбristбn" adds some unpleasant comments upon the House of Abbas. The
+Persians, for reasons which will be explained in the terminal-Essay, show the
+greatest sympathy with the Barmecides; and abominate the Abbasides even more
+than the latter detested the Ommiades.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#225] Not written, as the European reader would suppose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#226] Arab. "Fъl al-hбrr" = beans like horsebeans soaked and boiled as
+opposed to the "FÑŠl Mudammas" (esp. of Egypt)=unshelled beans steamed and
+boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as "kitchen" or relish. Lane (M.E.,
+chaps. v.) calls them after the debased Cairene pronunciation, Mudemmes. A
+legend says that, before the days of Pharaoh (always he of Moses), the
+Egyptians lived on pistachios which made them a witty, lively race. But the
+tyrant remarking that the domestic ass, which eats beans, is degenerate from
+the wild ass, uprooted the pistachio-trees and compelled the lieges to feed on
+beans which made them a heavy, gross, cowardly people fit only for burdens.
+Badawis deride "beaneaters" although they do not loathe the pulse like onions.
+The principal-result of a bean diet is an extraordinary development of
+flatulence both in stomach and intestines: hence possibly, Pythagoras who had
+studied ceremonial-purity in Egypt, forbade the use, unless he referred to
+venery or political-business. I was once sitting in the Greek quarter of Cairo
+dressed as a Moslem when arose a prodigious hubbub of lads and boys,
+surrounding, a couple of Fellahs. These men had been working in the fields
+about a mile east of Cairo and, when returning home, one had said to the other,
+"If thou wilt carry the hoes I will break wind once for every step we take." He
+was as good as his word and when they were to part he cried, "And now for thy
+bakhshish!" which consisted of a volley of fifty, greatly to the delight of the
+boys.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#227] No porcelain was ever, as far as we can discover, made in Egypt or
+Syria of the olden day; but, as has been said, there was a regular
+caravan-intercourse with China At Damascus I dug into the huge rubbish-heaps
+and found quantities of pottery, but no China. The same has lately been done at
+Clysma, the artificial-mound near Suez, and the glass and pottery prove it to
+have been a Roman work which defended the mouth of the old
+classical-sweet-water canal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#228] Arab. "Lб baas ba-zбlik," conversational-for "Lб jaram"= there is no
+harm in it, no objection to it, and, sometimes, "it is a matter of course."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#229] A white emerald is yet unknown; but this adds only to the
+Oriental-extravagance of the picture. I do not think with Lane (ii. 426) that
+"abyaz" here can mean "bright." Dr. Steingass suggests a clerical-error for
+"khazar" (green).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#230] Arab. "Sharбrif" plur. of Shurrбfah=crenelles or battlements; mostly
+trefoil-shaped; remparts coquets which a six-pounder would crumble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#231] Pronounce Abul-Muzaffar=Father of the Conqueror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#232] I have explained the word in my "Zanzibar, City, Island and Coast,"
+vol. i. chaps. v There is still a tribe, the Wadoe, reputed cannibal-on the
+opposite low East African shore These blacks would hardly be held " sons of
+Adam." "Zanj " corrupted to "Zinj " (plur ZunÑŠj) is the Persian "Zany" or
+"Zangi," a black, altered by the Arabs, who ignore the hard g; and, with the
+suffixion of the Persian -bбr (region, as in Malabar) we have Zang- bar which
+the Arabs have converted to "Zanjibar," in poetry "Murk al-ZunÑŠj"=Land of the
+Zang. The term is old; it is the Zingis or Zingisa of Ptolemy and the Zingium
+of Cosmas Indicopleustes; and it shows the influence of Persian navigation in
+pre-Islamitic ages. For further details readers will consult "The Lake Regions
+of Central-Africa" vol. i. chaps. ii
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#233] Arab. "Kawбrib" plur. of "Kбrib" prop. a dinghy, a small boat
+belonging to a ship Here it refers to the canoe (a Carib word) pop. "dug-out"
+and classically "monoxyle," a boat made of a single tree-trunk hollowed by fire
+and trimmed with axe and adze. Some of these rude craft which, when manned,
+remind one of saturnine Caliph Omar's "worms floating on a log of wood,"
+measure 60 feet long and more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#234] i.e. A descendant of Mohammed in general-and especially through Husayn
+Ali-son. Here the text notes that the chief of the bazar was of this now
+innumerable stock, who inherit the title through the mother as well as through
+the father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#235] Arab. "Hasab" (=quaneity), the honour a man acquires for himself;
+opposed to "Nasab" (genealogy) honours inherited from ancestry: the Arabic well
+expresses my old motto (adopted by Chinese Gordon), "Honour, not Honours."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#236] Note the difference between "Takaddum" ( = standing in presence of,
+also superiority in excellence) and "Takбdum" (priority in time).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#237] Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this saying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#238] A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep the earth in
+place. "And he hath thrown before the earth, mountains firmly rooted, lest it
+should move with you." (Koran, chaps. xvi.) The earth when first created was
+smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion, like the celestial-orbs; and,
+when the Angels asked who could stand on so tottering a frame, Allah fixed it
+the next morning by throwing the mountains in it and pegging them down. A fair
+prolepsis of the Neptunian theory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#239] Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying "by God," but this
+common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples who are constantly
+using the word Allah Wallah, Billah, etc. The Koran expressly says, "Make not
+Allah the scope (object, lit. arrow-butt) of your oaths" (chaps. ii. 224), yet
+the command is broken every minute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#240] This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet; when Ali
+appears, as a rule he is on horseback.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#241] The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we find that it
+was close to Jinn land. China was very convenient for this purpose: the
+medieval-Moslems, who settled in considerable numbers at Canton and elsewhere,
+knew just enough of it to know their own ignorance of the vast empire. Hence
+the Druzes of the Libanus still hold that part of their nation is in the depths
+of the Celestial-Empire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#242] I am unwilling to alter the old title to "City of Copper" as it should
+be; the pure metal having been technologically used long before the alloy of
+copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City (Night dlxvi. et seq.) was of brass (not
+copper). The Hindus of Upper India have an Iram which they call Hari Chand's
+city (Colonel Tod); and I need hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint
+Borondon; Cape Fly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the effect of
+"looming."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#243] This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of
+Siegfried's Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of "Fortunatus' cap" is common in
+Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably arose from the venerable practice of
+inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic figures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#244] Arab. "'Ukбb," in books an eagle (especially black) and P. N. of
+constellation but in Pop. usage= a vulture. In Egypt it is the Neophron
+Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dijбjat Far'aun or
+Pharaoh's hen. This bird has been known to kill the Bбshah sparrow-hawk (Jerdon
+i. 60); yet, curious to say, the reviewers of my "Falconry in the Valley of the
+Indus" questioned the fact, known to so many travellers, that the falcon is
+also killed by this "tiger of the air," despite the latter's feeble bill (pp.
+35-38). I was faring badly at their hands when the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker
+came to the rescue. Falconicide is popularly attributed, not only to the
+vulture, but also to the crestless hawk-eagle (Nisжtus Bonelli) which the
+Hindus call Morбngб=peacock slayer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#245] Here I translate "Nahбs"=brass, as the "kumkum" (cucurbite) is made of
+mixed metal, not of copper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#246] Mansur al-Nimrн, a poet of the time and a protйgй of<br/>
+
+Yahya's son, Al-Fazl.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#247] This was at least four times Mansur's debt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#248] Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid. The Bres. Edit. (vii. 254)
+begins They tell that there arose full enmity between Ja'afar Barmecide and a
+Sahib of Misr" (Wazir or Governor of Egypt). Lane (ii. 429) quotes to this
+purpose amongst Arab; historians Fakhr al-Din. (De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe
+i., p. 26, edit. ii.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#249] Arab. "Armanнyah" which Egyptians call after their mincing fashion
+"Irminiyeh" hence "Ermine" (Mus Ponticus). Armaniyah was much more extensive
+than our Armenia, now degraded to a mere province of Turkey, and the term is
+understood to include the whole of the old Parthian Empire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#250] Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a "Wakнl" in<br/>
+
+Constantinople to intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#251] The symbol of generosity, of unasked liberality, the "black hand"
+being that of niggardness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#252] Arab. Rбh =pure (and old) wine. Arabs, like our classics, usually
+drank their wine tempered. So Imr al-Keys in his Mu'allakah says, "Bring the
+well tempered wine that seems to be saffron-tinctured; and, when water-mixed,
+o'erbrims the cup." (v. 2.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#253] There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these "goody-goody"
+preachments; but they read and forget them as readily as Westerns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#254] Lane (ii. 435) ill-advisedly writes "Sher," as "the word is evidently
+Persian signifying a Lion." But this is only in the debased Indian dialect, a
+Persian, especially a Shirazi, pronounces "Shнr." And this is how it is written
+in the Bresl. Edit., vii. 262. "Shбr" is evidently a fancy name, possibly
+suggested by the dynastic name of the Ghurjistan or Georgian Princes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#255] Again old experience, which has learned at a heavy cost how many a
+goodly apple is rotten at the core.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#256] This couplet has occurred in Night xxi. I give Torrens (p. 206) by way
+of specimen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#257] Arab. "Zбka" = merely tasting a thing which may be sweet with a bitter
+after-flavour
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#258] This tetraseich was in Night xxx. with a difference.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#259] The lines have occurred in Night xxx. I quote Torrens, p. 311.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#260] This tetrastich is in Night clxix. I borrow from Lane (ii. 62).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#261] The rude but effective refrigerator of the desert Arab who hangs his
+water-skin to the branch of a tree and allows it to swing in the wind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#262] Arab "Khumбsiyah" which Lane (ii. 438) renders "of quinary stature."
+Usually it means five spans, but here five feet, showing that the girl was
+young and still growing. The invoice with a slave always notes her height in
+spans measured from ankle-bone to ear and above seven she loses value as being
+full grown. Hence Sudбsi (fem. Sudбsiyah) is a slave six spans high, the Shibr
+or full span (9 inches) not the Fitr or short span from thumb to index. Faut is
+the interval-between every finger, Ratab between index and medius, and Atab
+between medius and annularis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#263] "Moon faced" now sounds sufficiently absurd to us, but it was not
+always so. Solomon (Cant. vi. 10) does not disdain the image "fair as the moon,
+clear as the sun," and those who have seen a moon in the sky of Arabia will
+thoroughly appreciate it. We find it amongst the Hindus, the Persians, the
+Afghans, the Turks and all the nations of Europe. We have, finally, the grand
+example of Spenser,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Her spacious forehead, like the clearest moon, etc."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#264] Blue eyes have a bad name in Arabia as in India: the witch Zarkб of
+Al-Yamamah was noted for them; and "blue eyed" often means "fierce-eyed,"
+alluding to the Greeks and Daylamites, mortal-enemies to Ishmael. The Arabs say
+"ruddy of mustachio, blue of eye and black of heart."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#265] Before explained as used with camphor to fill the dead man's mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#266] As has been seen, slapping on the neck is equivalent to our "boxing
+ears," but much less barbarous and likely to injure the child. The most
+insulting blow is that with shoe sandal-or slipper because it brings foot in
+contact with head. Of this I have spoken before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#267] Arab. "Hibбl" (= ropes) alluding to the A'akбl-fillet which binds the
+KÑŠfiyah-kerchief on the Badawi's head. (Pilgrimage, i. 346.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#268] Arab. "Khiyбl"; afterwards called Kara Gyuz (= "black eyes," from the
+celebrated Turkish Wazir). The mise-en-scиne was like that of Punch, but of
+transparent cloth, lamp lit inside and showing silhouettes worked by hand.
+Nothing could be more Fescenntne than Kara Gyuz, who appeared with a phallus
+longer than himself and made all the Consuls-General-periodically complain of
+its abuse, while the dialogue, mostly in Turkish, as even more obscene. Most
+ingenious were Kara Gyuz's little ways of driving on an Obstinate donkey and of
+tackling a huge Anatolian pilgrim. He mounted the Neddy's back face to tail,
+and inserting his left thumb like a clyster, hammered it with his right when
+the donkey started at speed. For the huge pilgrim he used a ladder. These shows
+now obsolete, used to enliven the Ezbekiyah Gardens every evening and explain
+Ovid's Words,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#269] Mohammed (Mishkбt al-Masбbih ii. 360-62) says, "Change the whiteness
+of your hair but not with anything black." Abu Bakr, who was two years and some
+months older than the Prophet, used tincture of Henna and Katam. Old Turkish
+officers justify black dyes because these make them look younger and fiercer.
+Henna stains white hair orange red; and the Persians apply after it a paste of
+indigo leaves, the result is successively leek-green, emerald-green,
+bottle-green and lastly lamp-black. There is a stage in life (the youth of old
+age) when man uses dyes: presently he finds that the whole face wants dye; that
+the contrast between juvenile coloured hair and ancient skin is ridiculous and
+that it is time to wear white.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#270] This prejudice extends all over the East: the Sanskrit saying is
+"Kvachit kбnб bhaveta sбdhus" now and then a monocular is honest. The left eye
+is the worst and the popular idea is, I have said, that the damage will come by
+the injured member
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#271] The Arabs say like us, "Short and thick is never quick" and "Long and
+thin has little in."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#272] Arab. "Ba'azu layбli," some night when his mistress failed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#273] The fountain in Paradise before noticed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#274] Before noticed as the Moslem St. Peter (as far as the keys go).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#275] Arab. "Munkasir" = broken, frail, languishing the only form of the
+maladive allowed. Here again we have masculine for feminine: the eyelids show
+love-desire, but, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#276] The river of Paradise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#277] See Night xii. "The Second Kalandar's Tale " vol. i. 113.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#278] Lane (ii. 472) refers for specimens of calligraphy to Herbin's
+"Dйveloppements, etc." There are many more than seven styles of writing as I
+have shown in Night xiii.; vol. i. 129.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#279] Amongst good Moslems this would be a claim upon a man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#280] These lines have occurred twice already: and first appear in Night
+xxii. I have borrowed from Mr. Payne (iv. 46).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#281] Arab. "Ya Nasrбni", the address is not intrinsically slighting but it
+may easily be made so. I have elsewhere noted that when Julian (is said to
+have) exclaimed "Vicisti Nazarene!" he was probably thinking in Eastern phrase
+"Nasarta, yб Nasrбni!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#282] Thirst is the strongest of all pleas to an Eastern, especially to a
+Persian who never forgets the sufferings of his Imam, Husayn, at Kerbela: he
+would hardly withhold it from the murderer of his father. There is also a
+Hadis, "Thou shalt not refuse water to him who thirsteth in the desert."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#283] Arab. "Zimmi" which Lane (ii. 474) aptly translates a "tributary." The
+Koran (chaps. ix.) orders Unbelievers to Islamize or to "pay tribute by right
+of subjection" (lit. an yadin=out of hand, an expression much debated). The
+least tribute is one dinar per annum which goes to the poor-rate. and for this
+the Kafir enjoys protection and almost all the civil rights of Moslems. As it
+is a question of "loaves and fishes" there is much to say on the subject;
+"loaves and fishes" being the main base and foundation of all religious
+establishments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#284] This tetrastich has before occurred, so I quote Lane (ii. 444).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#285] In Night xxxv. the same occurs with a difference.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#286] The old rite, I repeat, has lost amongst all but the noblest of Arab
+tribes the whole of its significance; and the traveller must be careful how he
+trusts to the phrase "Nahnu mбlihin" we are bound together by the salt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#287] Arab. "Alбma" = Alб-mб = upon what ? wherefore ?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#288] Arab. "Mauz"; hence the Linnean name Musa (paradisiaca, etc.). The
+word is explained by Sale (Koran, chaps. xxxvii. 146) as "a small tree or
+shrub;" and he would identify it with Jonah's gourd.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#289] Lane (ii. 446) "bald wolf or empowered fate," reading (with Mac.) Kazб
+for Kattan (cat).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#290] i.e. "the Orthodox in the Faith." Rбshid is a proper name, witness
+that scourge of Syria, Rбshid Pasha. Born in 1830, of the Haji Nazir Agha
+family, Darrah-Beys of Macedonian Draina, he was educated in Paris where he
+learned the usual-hatred of Europeans: he entered the Egyptian service in 1851,
+and, presently exchanging it for the Turkish, became in due time Wali
+(Governor-General) of Syria which he plundered most shamelessly. Recalled in
+1872, he eventually entered the Ministry and on June 15 1876, he was shot down,
+with other villains like himself, by gallant Captain Hasan, the Circassian
+(Yarham-hu 'llбh !).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#291] Quoted from a piece of verse, of which more presently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#292] This tetrastich has occurred before (Night cxciii.). I quote Lane (ii.
+449), who quotes Dryden's Spanish Friar,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+          "There is a pleasure sure in being mad<br/>
+
+           Which none but madmen know."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#293] Lane (ii. 449) gives a tradition of the Prophet, "Whoso is in love,
+and acteth chastely, and concealeth (his passion) and dieth, dieth a martyr."
+Sakar is No. 5 Hell for Magi Guebres, Parsis, etc., it is used in the comic
+Persian curse, "Fi'n-nбri wa Sakar al-jadd w'al-pidar"=ln Hell and Sakar his
+grandfather and his father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#294] Arab. "Sifr": I have warned readers that whistling is considered a
+kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the Badawin, and that the
+traveller must avoid it. It savours of idolatry: in the Koran we find (chaps.
+viii. 35), "Their prayer at the House of God (Ka'abah) is none other than
+whistling and hand-clapping;" and tradition says that they whistled through
+their fingers. Besides many of the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths
+and their speech is whistling a kind of bird language like sibilant English.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#295] Arab. 'Kнl wa kбl"=lit. "it was said and he said;" a popular phrase
+for chit chat, tittle-tattle, prattle and prate, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#296] Arab. "Hadis." comparing it with a tradition of the<br/>
+
+Prophet.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#297] Arab. "Mikashshah," the thick part of a midrib of a palm-frond soaked
+for some days in water and beaten out till the fibres separate. It makes an
+exceedingly hard, although not a lasting broom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#298] Persian, "the youth, the brave;" Sansk. Yuvбn: and Lat. Juvenis. The
+Kurd, in tales, is generally a sturdy thief; and in real-life is little better.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#299] Arab. "Yб Shatir ;" lit. O clever one (in a bad sense).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#300] Lane (ii. 453) has it. "that I may dress thy hair'" etc.<br/>
+
+This is Bowdlerising with a witness.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#301] The sign of respect when a personage dismounts.<br/>
+
+(Pilgrimage i. 77.)<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#302] So the Hindus speak of "the defilement of separation" as if it were an
+impurity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#303] Lane (i. 605) gives a long and instructive note on these public
+royal-banquets which were expected from the lieges by Moslem subjects. The
+hanging-penalty is, perhaps, a tattle exaggerated; but we find the same excess
+in the priestly Gesta Romanorum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#304] Had he eaten it he would have become her guest. Amongst the older
+Badawin it was sufficient to spit upon a man (in entreaty) to claim his
+protection: so the horse-thieves when caught were placed in a hole in the
+ground covered over with matting to prevent this happening. Similarly Saladin
+(Salбh al-Din) the chivalrous would not order a cup of water for the robber,
+Reynald de Chвtillon, before putting him to death
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#305] Arab. "Kishk" properly "Kashk"=wheat-meal-coarsely ground and eaten
+with milk or broth. It is de rigueur with the Egyptian Copts on the "Friday of
+Sorrow" (Good Friday): and Lane gives the recipe for making it (M. E. chaps.
+xxvi.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#306] In those days distinctive of Moslems.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#307] The euphemism has before been noticed: the Moslem reader would not
+like to pronounce the words "I am a Nazarene." The same formula occurs a little
+lower down to save the reciter or reader from saying "Be my wife divorced,"
+etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#308] Arab, "Hбjj," a favourite Egyptianism. We are wrong to write Hajji
+which an Eastern would pronounce Hбj-jн.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#309] This is Cairene "chaff."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#310] Whose shell fits very tight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#311] His hand was like a raven's because he ate with thumb and two fingers
+and it came up with the rice about it like a camel's hoof in dirty ground. This
+refers to the proverb (Burckhardt, 756), "He comes down a crow-claw (small) and
+comes up a camel-hoof (huge and round)."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#312] Easterns have a superstitious belief in the powers of food: I knew a
+learned man who never sat down to eat without a ceremonious salam to his meat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#313] Lane (ii. 464), uses the vile Turkish corruption "Rustum," which, like
+its fellow "Rustem," would make a Persian shudder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#314] Arab. "Darrij" i.e. let them slide (Americanicи).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#315] This tetrastich has occurred before: so I quote Mr. Payne (in loco).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#316] Shaykh of Al-Butnah and Jбbiyah, therefore a Syrian of the Hauran near
+Damascus and grandson to IsÑŠ (Esau). Arab mystics (unlike the vulgar who see
+only his patience) recognise that inflexible integrity which refuses to utter
+"words of wind" and which would not, against his conscience, confess to
+wrong-doing merely to pacify the Lord who was stronger than himself. The
+Classics taught this noble lesson in the case of Prometheus versus Zeus. Many
+articles are called after Job e.g. Ra'arб' Ayyub or Ghubayrб (inula Arabica and
+undulata), a creeper with which he rubbed himself and got well: the Copts do
+the same on "Job's Wednesday," i.e. that before Whit Sunday O.S. Job's father
+is a nickname of the camel, etc. etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#317] Lane (in loco) renders "I am of their number." But "fн al-siyбk" means
+popularly "(driven) to the point of death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#318] Lit. = "pathway, road"; hence the bridge well known as "finer than a
+hair and sharper than a sword," over which all (except Khadijah and a chosen
+few) must pass on the Day of Doom; a Persian apparatus bodily annexed by
+Al-Islam. The old Guebres called it Puli Chinбvar or Chinбvad and the Jews
+borrowed it from them as they did all their fancies of a future life against
+which Moses had so gallantly fought. It is said that a bridge over the grisly
+"brook Kedron" was called Sirбt (the road) and hence the idea, as that of
+hell-fire from Ge-Hinnom (Gehenna) where children were passed through the fire
+to Moloch. A doubtful Hadis says, "The Prophet declared Al-Sirбt to be the name
+of a bridge over hell- fire, dividing Hell from Paradise" (pp. 17, 122,
+Reynold's trans. of Al-Siyuti's Traditions, etc.). In Koran i. 5, "Sirat" is
+simply a path, from sarata, he swallowed, even as the way devours (makes a
+lakam or mouthful of) those who travel it. The word was orig. written with Sнn
+but changed for easier articulation to Sбd, one of the four Hurъf
+al-Mutabbakбt, "the flattened," formed by the broadened tongue in contact with
+the palate. This Sad also by the figure Ishmбm (=conversion) turns slightly to
+a Zб, the intermediate between Sin and Sad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#319] The rule in Turkey where catamites rise to the highest rank: C'est un
+homme de bonne famille (said a Turkish officer in Egypt) il a йtй achetй. Hence
+"Alfi" (one who costs a thousand) is a well-known cognomen. The Pasha of the
+Syrian caravan, with which I travelled' had been the slave of a slave and he
+was not a solitary instance. (Pilgrimage i. 90.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#320] The device of the banquet is dainty enough for any old Italian
+novella; all that now comes is pure Egyptian polissonnerie speaking to the
+gallery and being answered by roars of laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#321] i.e. "art thou ceremonially pure and therefore fit for handling by a
+great man like myself?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#322] In past days before Egypt was "frankified" many overlanders used to
+wash away the traces of travel by a Turkish bath which mostly ended in the
+appearance of a rump wriggling little lad who offered to shampoo them. Many
+accepted his offices without dreaming of his usual-use or misuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#323] Arab. "Imбm." This is (to a Moslem) a most offensive comparison
+between prayer and car. cop.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#324] Arab. "Fi zaman-hi," alluding to a peculiarity highly prized by
+Egyptians; the use of the constrictor vaginж muscles, the sphincter for which
+Abyssinian women are famous. The "Kabbбzah" ( = holder), as she is called, can
+sit astraddle upon a man and can provoke the venereal-orgasm, not by wriggling
+and moving but by tightening and loosing the male member with the muscles of
+her privities, milking it as it were. Consequently the cassenoisette costs
+treble the money of other concubines. (Arranga-Ranga, p. 127.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#325] The little eunuchs had evidently studied the Harem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#326] Lane (ii. 494) relates from Al-Makrizi, that when Khamбrawayh,
+Governor of Egypt (ninth century), suffered from insomnia, his physician
+ordered a pool of quicksilver 50 by 50 cubits, to be laid out in front of his
+palace, now the Rumaylah square. "At the corners of the pool were silver pegs,
+to which were attached by silver rings strong bands of silk, and a bed of
+skins, inflated with air, being thrown upon the pool and secured by the bands
+remained in a continual-state of agreeable vacillation." We are not told that
+the Prince was thereby salivated like the late Colonel Sykes when boiling his
+mercury for thermometric experiments,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#327] The name seems now unknown. "Al-Khahн'a" is somewhat stronger than
+"Wag," meaning at least a "wicked wit." Properly it is the Span. "perdido," a
+youth cast off (Khala') by his friends; though not so strong a term as
+"HarfÑŠsh"=a blackguard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#328] Arab. "Farsakh"=parasang.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#329] Arab. "Nahбs asfar"=yellow copper, brass as opposed to Nahбs
+ahmar=copper The reader who cares to study the subject will find much about it
+in my "Book of The Sword," chaps. iv.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#330] Lane (ii. 479) translates one stanza of this mukhammas (pentastich)
+and speaks of "five more," which would make six.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#331] A servile name. Delicacy, Elegance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#332] These verses have occurred twice (Night ix. etc.): so I give Lane's
+version (ii. 482).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#333] A Badawi tribe to which belonged the generous Ma'an bin<br/>
+
+Za'idab, often mentioned The Nights.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#334] Wealthy harems, I have said, are hot-beds of Sapphism and Tribadism.
+Every woman past her first youth has a girl whom she calls her "Myrtle" (in
+Damascus). At Agbome, capital-of Dahome, I found that a troop of women was kept
+for the use of the "Amazons" (Mission to Gelele, ii. 73). Amongst the wild
+Arabs, who ignore Socratic and Sapphic perversions, the lover is always more
+jealous of his beloved's girl-friends than of men rivals. In England we content
+ourselves with saying that women corrupt women more than men do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#335] The Hebrew Pentateuch; Roll of the Law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#336] I need hardly notice the brass trays, platters and table-covers with
+inscriptions which are familiar to every reader: those made in the East for
+foreign markets mostly carry imitation inscriptions lest infidel eyes fall upon
+Holy Writ.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#337] These six distichs are in Night xiii. I borrow Torrens (p. 125) to
+show his peculiar treatment of spinning out 12 lines to 38.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#338] Arab. "Musбmirah"=chatting at night. Easterns are inordinately fond of
+the practice and the wild Arabs often sit up till dawn, talking over the
+affairs of the tribe, indeed a Shaykh is expected to do so. "Early to bed and
+early to rise" is a civilised, not a savage or a barbarous saying. Samнr is a
+companion in night talk; Rafнk of the road; Rahнb in riding horse or camel,
+Kб'id in sitting, Sharнb and Rafнs at drink, and Nadнm at table: Ahнd is an
+ally. and Sharнk a partner all on the model of "Fa'нl."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#339] In both lover and beloved the excess of love gave them this
+clairvoyance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#340] The prayer will be granted for the excess (not the purity) of her
+love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#341] This wailing over the Past is one of the common-places of Badawi
+poetry. The traveller cannot fail, I repeat, to notice the chronic melancholy
+of peoples dwelling under the brightest skies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#342] Moons=BudÑŠr
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#343] in Paradise as a martyr.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#344] i.e. to intercede for me in Heaven; as if the young woman were the
+prophet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#345] The comparison is admirable as the two letters are written. It occurs
+in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Ramlah).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So I embraced him close as Lбm cleaves to Alif:"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And again;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     "She laid aside reluctance and I embraced her close<br/>
+
+     As if I were Lam and my love Alif."<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Lomad Olaph in Syriac is similarly colligated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#346] Here is a double entendre "and the infirm letters (viz. a, w and y)
+not subject to accidence, left him." The three make up the root "Awi"=pitying,
+condoling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#347] Showing that consummation had taken place. It was a sign of good
+breeding to avoid all "indecent hurry" when going to bed. In some Moslem
+countries the bridegroom does not consummate the marriage for seven nights; out
+of respect for (1) father (2) mother (3) brother and so forth. If he hurry
+matters he will be hooted as an "impatient man" and the wise will quote, "Man
+is created of precipitation" (Koran chaps. xxi. 38), meaning hasty and
+inconsiderate. I remark with pleasure that the whole of this tale is told with
+commendable delicacy. O si sic omnia!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#348] Pers. "Nauroz"(=nau roz, new day):here used in the Arab.
+plur.'Nawбriz, as it lasted six days. There are only four: universal-festivals;
+the solstices and the equinoxes; and every successive religion takes them from
+the sun and perverts them to its own private purposes. Lane (ii. 496) derives
+the venerable Nauroz whose birth is hid in the outer glooms of antiquity from
+the "Jewish Passover"(!)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#349] Again the "babes" of the eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#350] i.e. whose glance is as the light of the glowing braise or (embers).
+The Arab. "Mikbбs"=pan or pot full of small charcoal, is an article well known
+in Italy and Southern Europe. The word is apparently used here because it
+rhymes with "Anfбs" (souls, spirits).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#351] i.e. martyrdom; a Koranic term "fi sabнli 'llahi" = on the way of
+Allah
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#352] These rhymes in -y, -ee and -ie are purposely affected, to imitate the
+cadence of the Arabic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#353] Arab. "SujÑŠd," the ceremonial-prostration, touching the ground with
+the forehead So in the Old Testament "he bowed (or fell down) and worshipped"
+(Gen. xxiv., 26 Mat. ii., 11), of which our translation gives a wrong idea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#354] A girl is called "Alfiyyah " = A-shaped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#355] i.e. the medial-form of m.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#356] i.e. the inverted n.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#357] It may also mean a "Sevignй of pearls."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#358] Koran xxvii. 12. This was one of the nine "signs" to wicked "Pharaoh."
+The "hand of Moses" is a symbol of power and ability (Koran vii. 105). The
+whiteness was supernatural-beauty, not leprosy of the Jews (Exod. iv. 6); but
+brilliancy, after being born red or black: according to some commentators,
+Moses was a negro.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#359] Koran iii. 103; the other faces become black. This explains I have
+noticed the use of the phrases in blessing and cursing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#360] Here we have the naked legend of the negro's origin, one of those
+nursery tales in which the ignorant of Christendom still believe But the
+deduction from the fable and the testimony to the negro's lack of intelligence,
+though unpleasant to our ignorant negrophils, are factual-and satisfactory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#361] Koran, xcii. 1, 2: an oath of Allah to reward and punish with Heaven
+and Hell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#362] Alluding to the "black drop" in the heart: it was taken from
+Mohammed's by the Archangel Gabriel. The fable seems to have arisen from the
+verse ' Have we not opened thy breast?" (Koran, chaps. xciv. 1). The popular
+tale is that Halнmah, the Badawi nurse of Mohammed, of the Banu Sa'ad tribe,
+once saw her son, also a child, running towards her and asked him what was the
+matter. He answered, 'My little brother was seized by two men in white who
+stretched him on the ground and opened his bellyl" For a full account and
+deductions see the Rev. Mr. Badger's article, "Muhammed" (p. 959) in vol. in.
+"Dictionary of Christian Biography."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#363] Arab. "Sumr," lit. brown (as it is afterwards used), but politely
+applied to a negro: "Yб Abu Sumrah!" O father of brownness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#364] Arab. 'Lumб"=dark hue of the inner lips admired by the Arabs and to us
+suggesting most umpleasant ideas. Mr. Chenery renders it "dark red,' and
+"ruddy" altogether missing the idea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#365] Arab. "Saudб," feminine of aswad (black), and meaning black bile
+(melancholia) as opposed to leucocholia,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#366] i.e. the Magians, Sabians, Zoroastrians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#367] The "Unguinum fulgor" of the Latins who did not forget to celebrate
+the shining of the nails although they did not Henna them like Easterns. Some,
+however, have suggested that alludes to colouring matter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#368] Women with white skins are supposed to be heating and unwholesome:
+hence the Hindu Rajahs slept with dark girls in the hot season.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#369] Moslems sensibly have a cold as well as a hot Hell, the former called
+Zamharir (lit. "intense cold")or AI-BarahÑŠt, after a well in Hazramaut; as
+Gehenna (Arab. "Jahannam") from the furnace-like ravine East of Jerusalem
+(Night cccxxv.). The icy Hell is necessary in terrorem for peoples who inhabit
+cold regions and who in a hot Hell only look forward to an eternity of "coals
+and candles" gratis. The sensible missionaries preached it in Iceland till
+foolishly forbidden by Papal-Bull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#370] Koran ii. 26; speaking of Abraham when he entertained the angels
+unawares.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#371] Arab. "Rakb," usually applied to a fast-going caravan of dromedary
+riders (Pilgrimage ii. 329). The "Cafilah" is Arab.: "Caravan" is a corruption
+of the Pers. "Karwбn."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#372] A popular saying. It is interesting to contrast this dispute between
+fat and thin with the Shakespearean humour of Falstaff and Prince Henry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#373] Arab. "Dalak" vulg. Hajar al-Hammam (Hammam-stone). The comparison is
+very apt: the rasps are of baked clay artificially roughened (see illustrations
+in Lane M. E. chaps. xvi.). The rope is called "Masad," a bristling line of
+palm-fibre like the coir now familiarly known in England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#374] Although the Arab's ideal-of beauty, as has been seen and said,
+corresponds with ours the Egyptians (Modern) the Maroccans and other negrofied
+races like "walking tun-butts" as Clapperton called his amorous widow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#375] Arab. "Khayzar" or "Khayzarбn" the rattan-palm. Those who have seen
+this most graceful "palmijuncus" in its native forest will recognize the
+neatness of the simile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#376] This is the popular idea of a bushy "veil of nature" in women: it is
+always removed by depilatories and vellication. When Bilkis Queen of Sheba
+discovered her legs by lifting her robe (Koran xxvii.), Solomon was minded to
+marry her, but would not do so till the devils had by a depilatory removed the
+hair. The popular preparation (called NÑŠrah) consists of quicklime 7 parts, and
+Zirnнk or orpiment, 3 parts: it is applied in the Hammam to a perspiring skin,
+and it must be washed off immediately the hair is loosened or it burns and
+discolours. The rest of the body-pile (Sha'arat opp. to Sha'ar=hair) is
+eradicated by applying a mixture of boiled honey with turpentine or other gum,
+and rolling it with the hand till the hair comes off. Men I have said remove
+the pubes by shaving, and pluck the hair of the arm-pits, one of the vestiges
+of pre-Adamite man. A good depilatory is still a desideratum, the best
+perfumers of London and Paris have none which they can recommend. The reason is
+plain: the hair bulb can be eradicated only by destroying the skin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#377] Koran, ii. 64: referring to the heifer which the Jews were ordered to
+sacrifice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#378] Arab. "kallб," a Koranic term possibly from Kull (all) and lб (not)
+=prorsus non-altogether not!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#379] "Habбb" or "Habб," the fine particles of dust, which we call motes.
+The Cossid (Arab. "Kбsid") is the Anglo-Indian term for a running courier
+(mostly under Government), the Persian "Shбtir" and the Guebre Rбvand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#380] Arab. "Sambari" a very long thin lance so called after Samhar, the
+maker, or the place of making. See vol. ii. p. 1. It is supposed to cast, when
+planted in the ground, a longer shadow in proportion to its height, than any
+other thing of the kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#381] Arab. "Sulбfah ;" properly prisane which flows from the grapes before
+pressure. The plur. "Sawбlif" also means tresses of hair and past events: thus
+there is a "triple entendre." And again "he" is used for "she."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#382] There is a pun in the last line, "Khбlun (a mole) khallauni" (rid me),
+etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#383] Of old Fustбt, afterwards part of Southern Cairo, a proverbially
+miserable quarter hence the saying, "They quoted Misr to Kбhirah (Cairo),
+whereon Bab al-Luk rose with its grass," in derision of nobodies who push
+themselves forward. Burckhardt, Prov. 276.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#384] Its fruits are the heads of devils; a true Dantesque fancy. Koran,
+chaps. xvii. 62, "the tree cursed in the Koran" and in chaps. xxxvii., 60, "is
+this better entertainment, or the tree of Al-ZakkÑŠm?" Commentators say that it
+is a thorn bearing a bitter almond which grows in the Tehamah and was therefore
+promoted to Hell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#385] Arab. "Lasm" (lathm) as opposed to Bausah or boseh (a buss) and Kublah
+(a kiss,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#386] Arab. "JufÑŠn" (plur. of Jafn) which may mean eyebrows or eyelashes and
+only the context can determine which. [FN#387] Very characteristic of Egyptian
+manners is the man who loves six girls equally well, who lends them, as it
+were, to the Caliph; and who takes back the goods as if in no wise damaged by
+the loan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#388] The moon is masculine possibly by connection with the<br/>
+
+Assyrian Lune-god "Sin"; but I can find no cause for the Sun<br/>
+
+(Shams) being feminine.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#389] Arab. "Al-Amin," a title of the Prophet. It is usually held that this
+proud name "The honest man," was applied by his fellow-citizens to Mohammed in
+early life; and that in his twenty-fifth year, when the Eighth Ka'abah was
+being built, it induced the tribes to make him their umpire concerning the
+distinction of placing in position the "Black Stone" which Gabriel had brought
+from Heaven to be set up as the starting-post for the seven circuitings. He
+distributed the honour amongst the clans and thus gave universal satisfaction.
+His Christian biographers mostly omit to record an anecdote which speaks so
+highly in Mohammed's favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#390] The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such being the
+prerogative of inspired poets in the East. His drunkenness and debauchery only
+added to his power. I have already noticed that "Allah strike thee dead"
+(Kбtala-k Allah) is like our phrase "Confound the fellow, how clever he is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#391] Again said facetiously, "Devil take you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#392] In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs, morning and
+evening especially: otherwise they soon die of rheumatism and loin disease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#393] =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.<br/>
+
+See also Night dcclxxxi.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#394] The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a "jealous God" from their
+kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity after the fashion of
+itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the Christian Theos is originally a
+Judжo-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi Arab. In this tale Allah, despotic and
+unjust, brings a generous and noble-minded man to beggary, simply because he
+fed his dogs off gold plate. Wisdom and morality have their infancy and youth:
+the great value of such tales as these is to show and enable us to measure
+man's development.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#395] In Trйbutien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to ex-Dives, "Thou art
+wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If thou art ignorant of the cause of
+thy ruin I will acquaint thee with it. Thou feddest the dogs in dishes of gold
+and leftest the poor to die of hunger." A superstition, but intelligible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#396] Arab. "Sarrбf" = a money changer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#397] Arab. "Birkah," a common feature in the landscapes of Lower Egypt: it
+is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of the Nile; or, as in the text,
+a built-up tank, like the "Tбlбb" for which India is famous. Sundry of these
+Birkahs are or were in Cairo itself; and some are mentioned in The Nights.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#398] This sneer at the "military" and the "police" might come from an
+English convict's lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#399] Lit. "The conquering King;" a dynastic title assumed by Salбh al-Dнn
+(Saladin) and sundry of the AyyÑŠbi (Eyoubite) sovereigns of Egypt, whom I would
+call the "Soldans."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#400] "Kбhirah" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo: Bulak is the
+port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined from the City; and Fostat
+is the outlier popularly called Old Cairo. The latter term is generally
+translated "town of leathern tents;" but in Arabic "fustбt" is an abode of
+Sha'ar=hair, such as horse-hair, in fact any hair but "Wabar"=soft hair, as the
+camel's. See Lane, Lex.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#401] Arab. "Adl"=just: a legal-witness to whose character there is no
+tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law. Here "Adl" is evidently
+used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#402] Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the figure in the
+Bres. Edit.) "a more probable sum." Possibly: but, I repeat, exaggeration is
+one of the many characteristics of The Nights.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#403] Calc. Edit. "Kazir:" the word is generally written<br/>
+
+"Kazdнr," Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek .<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#404] This would have passed for a peccadillo in the "good old days." As
+late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to "pot" any peasant who dared to ride
+(instead of walking) past their barracks. Life is cheap in hot countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#405] Koran, xii. 46 — a passage expounding the doctrine of free will: "He
+who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own soul; and he who doth evil,
+doth it against the same; for thy Lord," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#406] Arab. "Suffah"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised shelf
+generally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one or more arches. It
+is an elaborate variety of the simple "Tбk" or niche, a mere hollow in the
+thickness of the wall. Both are used for such articles as basin. ewer and soap;
+coffee cups, water bottles etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#407] In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced "Goos," the Coptic
+Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#408] This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#409] i.e. "the father of a certain person"; here the merchant whose name
+may have been Abu'l Hasan, etc. The useful word (thingumbob, what d'ye call
+him, donchah, etc.) has been bodily transferred into Spanish and Portuguese
+Fulano. It is of old genealogy, found in the Heb. Fulunн which applies to a
+person only in Ruth iv. I, but is constantly so employed by Rabbinic writers.
+The Greek use {Greek letters}.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#410] Lit. "by his (i.e. her) hand," etc. Hence Lane (ii. 507) makes
+nonsense of the line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#411] Arab. "Badrah," as has been said, is properly a weight of 10,000
+dirhams or drachmas; but popularly used for largesse thrown to the people at
+festivals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#412] Arab. "Allaho A'alam"; (God knows!) here the popular phrase for our,
+"I know not;" when it would be rude to say bluntly "M'adri"= "don't know."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#413] There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become incarnate
+and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave, to greet him when he
+enters Paradise and so forth. It was borrowed from the highly imaginative faith
+of the Guebre, the Zoroastrian. On Chinavad or Chanyud-pul (Sirбt), the
+Judgement bridge, 37 rods (rasan) long, straight and 37 fathoms broad for the
+good, and crooked and narrow as sword-edge for the bad, a nymph-like form will
+appear to the virtuous and say, "I am the personification of thy good deeds!"
+In Hell there will issue from a fetid gale a gloomy figure with head like a
+minaret, red eyeballs, hooked nose, teeth like pillars, spear-like fangs, snaky
+locks etc. and when asked who he is he will reply, "I am the personification of
+thine evil acts!" (Dabistan i. 285.) The Hindus also personify everything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#414] Arab. "Banъ Israнl;" applied to the Jews when theirs was the True
+Faith i.e. before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, whose mission completed
+that of Moses and made it obsolete (MatrÑŠk) even as the mission of Jesus was
+completed and abrogated by that of Mohammed. The term "YahÑŠd"=Jew is applied
+scornfully to the Chosen People after they rejected the Messiah, but as I have
+said "Israelite" is used on certain occasions, Jew on others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#415] Arab. "Kasa'ah," a wooden bowl, a porringer; also applied to a saucer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#416] Arab. "RasÑŠl"=one sent, an angel, an "apostle;" not to be translated,
+as by the vulgar, "prophet." Moreover Rasul is higher than Nabн (prophet), such
+as Abraham, Isaac, etc., depositaries of Al-Islam, but with a succession
+restricted to their own families. Nabi-mursil (Prophet-apostle) is the highest
+of all, one sent with a book: of these are now only four, Moses, David, Jesus
+and Mohammed, the writings of the rest having perished. In Al-Islam also angels
+rank below men, being only intermediaries (= , nuncii, messengers) between the
+Creator and the Created. This knowledge once did me a good turn at Harar, not a
+safe place in those days. (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 349.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#417] A doctor of law in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#418] Here the exclamation is= D.V.; and it may be assumed generally to have
+that sense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#419] Arab. "Taylasбn," a turban worn hood-fashion by the "Khatнb" or
+preacher. I have sketched it in my Pilgrimage and described it (iii. 315). Some
+Orientalists derive Taylasan from Atlas=satin, which is peculiarly
+inappropriate. The word is apparently barbarous and possibly Persian like
+Kalansuwah, the Dervish cap. "Thou son of a Taylasбn"=a barbarian. (De Sacy,
+Chrest. Arab. ii. 269.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#420] Arab. " Kinyah" vulg. "Kunyat" = patronymic or matronymic; a name
+beginning with "Abu" (father) or with "Umm" (mother). There are so few proper
+names in Al-Islam that such surnames, which, as will be seen, are of infinite
+variety, become necessary to distinguish individuals. Of these sobriquets I
+shall give specimens further on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#421] "Whoso seeth me in his sleep, seeth me truly; for Satan cannot assume
+my semblance," said (or is said to have said) Mohammed. Hence the vision is
+true although it comes in early night and not before dawn. See Lane M. E.,
+chaps. ix.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#422] Arab. "Al-Maukab ;" the day when the pilgrims march out of the city;
+it is a holiday for all, high and low.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#423] "The Gate of Salutation ;" at the South-Western corner of the Mosque
+where Mohammed is buried. (Pilgrimage ii. 60 and plan.) Here "Visitation"
+(Ziyбrah) begins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#424] The tale is told by Al-Ishбki in the reign of Al-Maamun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#425] The speaker in dreams is the Heb. "Waggid," which the learned and
+angry Graetz (Geschichte, etc. vol. ix.) absurdly translates "Traum souffleur."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#426] Tenth Abbaside. A.D. 849-861
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#427] Arab. "Muwallad" (fem. "Muwalladah"); a rearling, a slave born in a
+Moslem land. The numbers may appear exaggerated, but even the petty King of
+Ashanti had, till the last war, 3333 "wives."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#428] The Under-prefect of Baghdad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#429] "Ja'afar," our old Giaffar (which is painfully like "Gaffer," i.e.
+good father) means either a rushing river or a rivulet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#430] A regular Fellah's name also that of a village<br/>
+
+(Pilgrimage i. 43) where a pleasant story is told about one Haykal.<br/>
+
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#431] The "Mountain" means the rocky and uncultivated ground South of Cairo,
+such as Jabal-al-Ahmar and the geological-sea-coast flanked by the old
+Cairo-Suez highway.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#432] A popular phrase=our "sharp as a razor."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#433] i.e. are men so few; a favourite Persian phrase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#434] She is a woman of rank who would cause him to be assassinated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#435] This is not Al-Hakimbi' Amri'llah the famous or infamous founder of
+the Druze ((DurÑŠz)) faith and held by them to be, not an incarnation of the
+Godhead, but the Godhead itself in propriв personв, who reigned A.D. 926-1021:
+our Hakim is the orthodox Abbaside Caliph of Egypt who dated from two centuries
+after him (A.D. 1261). Had the former been meant, it would have thrown back
+this part of The Nights to an earlier date than is generally accepted. But in a
+place still to come I shall again treat of the subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#436] For an account of a similar kind which was told to me during the last
+few years see "Midian Revisited," i. 15. These hiding-places are innumerable in
+lands of venerable antiquity like Egypt; and, if there were any contrivance for
+detecting hidden treasure, it would make the discoverer many times a
+millionaire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#437] i.e. it had been given to him or his in writing, like the book left to
+the old woman before quoted in "Midian," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#438] Arab. "Kird" (pron. in Egypt "Gird"). It is usually the hideous
+Abyssinian cynocephalus which is tamed by the ape-leader popularly called
+Kuraydati (Lane, M.E., chaps. xx.). The beast has a natural-penchant for women
+; I heard of one which attempted to rape a girl in the public street and was
+prevented only by a sentinel's bayonet. They are powerful animals and bite like
+greyhounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#439] Easterns attribute many complaints (such as toothache) to worms,
+visible as well as microscopic, which may be held a fair prolepsis of the
+"germ-theory" the bacterium. the bacillus, the microbe. Nymphomania, the
+disease alluded to in these two tales is always attributed to worms in the
+vagina.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[FN#440] Bestiality, very rare in Arabia is fatally common amongst those most
+debauched of debauched races, the Egyptian proper and the Sindis. Hence the
+Pentateuch, whose object was to breed a larger population of fighting men, made
+death the penalty for lying with a beast (Deut. xxvii. 21). C. S. Sonnini
+(Travels, English translation, p. 663) gives a curious account of Fellah
+lewdness. "The female crocodile during congress is turned upon her back ( ?)
+and cannot rise without difficulty. Will it be believed that there are men who
+take advantage of the helpless situation of the female, drive off the male, and
+supplant him in this frightful intercourse ? Horrible embraces, the knowledge
+of which was wanting to complete the disgusting history of human perversity!"
+The French traveller forgets to add the superstitious explanation of this
+congress which is the sovereignest charm for rising to rank and riches. The
+Ajбib al-Hind tells a tale (chaps. xxxix.) of a certain Mohammed bin Bullishad
+who had issue by a she-ape: the young ones were hairless of body and wore
+quasi-human faces; and the father's sight had become dim by his
+bestial-practice.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4, by Richard F. Burton
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
+
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