Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp by John Payne

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ALAEDDIN and the ENCHANTED LAMP;

Zein Ul Asnam and the King of the Jinn: Two Stories Done into English from the Recently Discovered Arabic Text

by John Payne

London 1901

To
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, K.C.M.G., H.B.M. CONSUL, TRIESTE.

My Dear Burton,

I give myself the pleasure of placing your name in the forefront of another and final volume of my translation of the Thousand and One Nights, which, if it have brought me no other good, has at least been the means of procuring me your friendship.

Believe me,

Yours always,

John Payne.

Twelve years this day,–a day of winter, dreary With drifting snows, when all the world seemed dead To Spring and hope,–it is since, worn and weary Of doubt within and strife without, I fled

From the mean workday miseries of existence, From spites that slander and from hates that lie, Into the dreamland of the Orient distance Under the splendours of the Syrian sky,

And in the enchanted realms of Eastern story, Far from the lovelessness of modern times,

Garnered the rainbow-remnants of old glory That linger yet in those ancestral climes;

And now, the tong task done, the journey over, From that far home of immemorial calms, Where, as a mirage, on the sky-marge hover The desert and its oases of palms,

Lingering, I turn me back, with eyes reverted To this stepmother world of daily life, As one by some long pleasant dream deserted, That wakes anew to dull unlovely strife:

Yet, if non’ other weal the quest have wrought me. The long beloved labour now at end, This gift of gifts the untravelled East hath brought me, The knowledge of a new and valued friend.

5th Feb. 1889.

INTRODUCTION.

I.

The readers of my translation of the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night will remember that, in the terminal essay (1884) on the history and character of the collection, I expressed my conviction that the eleven (so-called) “interpolated” tales, [FN#1] though, in my judgment, genuine Oriental stories, had (with the exception of the Sleeper Awakened and Aladdin) no connection with the original work, but had been procured by Galland from various (as yet) unidentified sources, for the purpose of supplying the deficiencies of the imperfect MS. of the Nights from which he made his version. [FN#2] My opinion as to these talcs has now been completely confirmed by the recent discovery (by M. Zotenberg, Keeper of Oriental MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris) of two Arabic MSS. of the Nights, both containing three of the missing stories, i.e. (1) Zeyn Alasnam, (3) The Sleeper Awakened and (4) Aladdin, and by the publication (also by M. Zotenberg) of certain extracts from Galland’s diary, giving particulars of the circumstances under which the “interpolated” tales were incorporated with his translation of the Arabian Nights. The Arabic text of the Story of Aladdin, as given by the completer and more authentic of the newly-discovered MSS., has recently been made by M. Zotenberg the subject of a special publication, [FN#3] in the preface to which (an exhaustive bibliographical essay upon the various Texts of the Thousand and One Nights, considered in relation to Galland’s translation) he gives, in addition to the extracts in question from Galland’s Diary, a detailed description of the two MSS. aforesaid, the more interesting particulars of which I now proceed to abstract for the benefit of my readers.

II.

The first MS. commences precisely where the third volume of Galland’s MS. ends, to wit, (see my Terminal essay, p. 265, note1) with the 281st Night, in the middle of the story of Camaralzaman [FN#4] and contains, (inter alia) besides the continuation of this latter (which ends with Night CCCXXIX), the stories of the Sleeper Awakened (Nights CCCXXX-CCCC), Ganem (Nights CCCCXXVIII-CCCCLXX1V), Zeyn Alasnam (Nights CCCCLXXV- CCCCXCI), Aladdin (Nights CCCCXCII-DLXIX) and three others not found in Galland’s version. The MS. ends in the middle of the 631st night with the well-known Story of King Bekhtzad (Azadbekht) and his son or the Ten Viziers, (which will be found translated in my ” Tales from the Arabic,” Vol. I. pp. 61 et seq.) and contains, immediately after Night CCCCXXVII and before the story of Ganem, a note in Arabic, of which the following is a translation:

“The fourth volume of the wonders and marvels of the stories of the Thousand Nights and One Night was finished by the hand of the humblest of His’ servants in the habit of a minister of religion (Kahin, lit. a diviner, Cohen), the [Christian] priest Dionysius Shawish, a scion (selil) of the College of the Romans (Greeks, Europeans or Franks, er Roum), by name St. Athanasius, in Rome the Greatest (or Greater, utsma, fem. of aatsem, qu re Constantinople ?) on the seven-and-twentieth of the month Shubat (February) of the year one thousand seven hundred fourscore and seven, [he being] then teacher of the Arabic tongue in the Library of the Sultan, King of France, at Paris the Greatest.”

From this somewhat incoherent note we may assume that the MS. was written in the course of the year 1787 by the notorious Syrian ecclesiastic Dom Denis Chavis, the accomplice of Cazotte in the extraordinary literary atrocity shortly afterward perpetrated by the latter under the name of a sequel or continuation of the Thousand and One Nights [FN#6] (v. Cabinet des Fees, vols. xxxviii–xli), [FN#7] and in all probability (cf. the mention in the above note of the first part, i.e. Nights CCLXXXI-CCCCXXVII, as the fourth volume) to supply the place of Galland’s missing fourth volume for the Bibliotheque Royale; but there. is nothing, except a general similarity of style and the occurrence in the former of the rest of Camaralzaman and (though not in the same order) of four of the tales supposed to have been contained in the latter, to show that Dom Chavis made his copy from a text identical with that used by the French savant. In the notes to his edition of the Arabic text of Aladdin, M. Zotenberg gives a number of extracts from this MS., from which it appears that it is written in a very vulgar modern Syrian style and abounds in grammatical errors, inconsistencies and incoherences of every description, to say nothing of the fact that the Syrian ecclesiastic seems, with the characteristic want of taste and presumption which might be expected from the joint-author of “Les Veillees Persanes,” to have, to a considerable extent, garbled the original text by the introduction of modern European phrases and turns of speech a la Galland. For the rest, the MS. contains no note or other indication, on which we can found any opinion as to the source from which the transcriber (or arranger) drew his materials; but it can hardly be doubted, from internal evidence, that he had the command of some genuine text of the Nights, similar to, if not identical with, that of Galland, which he probably “arranged” to suit his own (and his century’s) distorted ideas of literary fitness. The discovery of the interpolated tales contained in this MS. (which has thus presumably lain unnoticed for a whole century, under, as one may say, the very noses of the many students of Arabic literature who would have rejoiced in such a find) has, by a curious freak of fortune, been delayed until our own day in consequence of a singular mistake made by a former conservator of the Paris Bibliotheque, the well-known Orientalist, M. Reinaud, who, in drawing up the Catalogue of the Arabic MSS. in the collection described (or rather misdescribed) it under the following heading:

“Supplement Arabe 1716. Thousand and One Nights, 3rd and 4th parts. This volume begins with Night CCLXXXII and ends with Night DCXXXI. A copy in the handwriting of Chavis. It is from this copy and in accordance with the instructions (d’apres la indications) of this Syrian monk that Cazotte composed (redigea) the Sequel to the Thousand and One Nights, Cabinet des Fees, ” xxxvii et xl (should be tt. xxxviii-xli).”

It is of course evident that M. Reinaud had never read the MS. in question nor that numbered 1723 in the Supplement Arabe, or he would at once have recognized that the latter, though not in the handwriting of the Syrian ecclesiastic, was that which served for the production of the “Sequel” in question; but, superficial as was the mistake, it sufficed to prevent the examination by students of the MS. No. 1716 and so retarded the discovery of the Arabic originals of Aladdin and its fellows till the acquisition (some two years ago) by the Bibliotheque Nationale of another (and complete) MS. of the Thousand and One Nights, which appears to have belonged to the celebrated Orientalist M. Caussin de Perceval, although the latter could not have been acquainted with it at the time (1806) he published his well-known edition and continuation of Galland’s translation, in the eighth and ninth volumes of which, by the by, he gives a correct version of the tales so fearfully garbled by Chavis and Cazotte in their so-called translation as well nigh to defy recognition and to cause Orientalists in general to deny the possibility of their having been derived from an Oriental source until the discovery of the actual Arabic originals so barbarously maltreated [FN#8]

This MS. is in the handwriting of of Sebbagh, the well-known Syrian collaborator of Silvestre de Sacy, and is supposed to have been copied by him at Paris between the years 1805 and 1810 for some European Orientalist (probably de Perceval himself) from a Baghdad MS. of the early part of the 18th century, of which it professes to be an exact reproduction, as appears from a terminal note, of which the following is a translation:

“And the finishing of it was in the first tenth (decade) of Jumada the Latter [in the] year one thousand one hundred and fifteen of the Hegira (October, 1703) in the handwriting of the neediest of the faithful [FN#9] unto God [FN#10] the Most High, Ahmed ibn Mohammed et Teradi, in the city of Baghdad, and he the Shafiy by sect and the Mosuli by birth and the Baghdadi by sojourn, and indeed he wrote it for himself and set upon it his seal, and God bless and keep our lord Mohammed and his companions! Kebikej [FN#11] (ter).”

This MS. contains the three “interpolated” tales aforesaid, i.e. the Sleeper Awakened (Nights CCCXXXVII-LXXXVI), Zeyn Alasnam (Nights CCCCXCVII-DXIII) and Aladdin (Nights DXIV-XCI), the last two bearing traces of a Syrian origin, especially Aladdin, which is written in a much commoner and looser style than Zeyn Alasnam. The two tales are evidently the work of different authors, Zeyn Alasnam being incomparably superior in style and correctness to Aladdin, which is defaced by all kinds of vulgarisms and solecisms and seems, moreover, to have been less correctly copied than the other. Nevertheless, the Sebbagh text is in every respect preferable to that of Shawish (which appears to abound in faults and errors of every kind, general and particular,) and M. Zotenberg has, therefore, exercised a wise discretion in selecting the former for publication.

III.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of M. Zorenberg’s long and interesting introduction is a series of extracts from the (as yet unpublished) MS. Diary regularly kept by Galland, the last four volumes (1708-15) of which are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale. These extracts effectually settle the question of the origin of the interpolated tales, as will be seen from the following abstract.

On the 25th March, 1709, Galland records having that day made the acquaintance of a Maronite scholar, by name Youhenna Diab, [FN#12] who had been brought from Aleppo to Paris by Paul Lucas, the celebrated traveller, and with whom he evidently at once broached the question of the Nights, [FN#13] probably complaining to him of the difficulty (or rather impossibility) of obtaining a perfect copy of the work; whereupon Hanna (as he always calls him) appears to have volunteered to help him to fill the lacune by furnishing him with suitable Oriental stories for translation in the same style as those already rendered by him and then and there (says Galland) “told me some very fine Arabian tales, which he promised to put into writing for me.” There is no fresh entry on the subject till May 5 following, when (says Galland) “The Maronite Hanna finished telling me the tale of the Lamp.” [FN#14]

Hanna appears to have remained in Paris till the autumn of the year 1709 and during his stay, Galland’s Diary records the communication by him to the French savant of the following stories, afterwards included in the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth volumes of the latter’s translation, (as well as of several others which he probably intended to translate, had he lived,) [FN#15] i.e. (May 10, 1709) “Babe Abdalla” and “Sidi Nouman,” (May 13, 1709) “The Enchanted Horse,” (May 22, 1709) ” Prince Ahmed and Pari Banou,” (May 25, 1709) ” The Two Sisters who envied their younger Sister,” (May 27, 1709) “All Baba and the Forty Thieves,” (May 29, 1709) “Cogia Hassan Alhabbal” and (May 31, 1709) “Ali Cogia.” The Maronite seems to have left for the East in October, 1709, (Galland says under date October 25, “Received this evening a letter from Hanna, who writes me from Marseilles, under date the 17th, in Arabic, to the effect that he had arrived there in good health,”) but not without having at least in part fulfilled his promise to put in writing the tales communicated by him to Galland, as appears by the entry of November 3, 1710, “Began yesterday to read the Arabian story of the Lamp, which had been written me in Arabic more than a year ago by the Maronite of Damascus [FN#16] whom M. Lucas brought with him, with a view to putting it into French. Finished reading it this morning. Here is the title of this tale, ‘Story of Aladdin, son of a tailor, and that which befell him with an African Magician on account of (or through) a lamp.'” (The Diary adds that he began that evening to put his translation into writing and finished it in the course of the ensuing fortnight.) And that of January 10, 1711, “Finished the translation of the tenth volume of the 1001 Nights after the Arabic text which I had from the hand (de la main) of Hanna or Jean Dipi, [FN#17] whom M. Lucas brought to France on his return from his last journey in the Levant.” The only other entry bearing upon the question is that of August 24, 1711, in which Galland says, “Being quit of my labours upon the translation etc. of the Koran, I read a part of the Arabian Tales which the Maronite Hanna had told me and which I had summarily reduced to writing, to see which of them I should select to make up the eleventh volume of the Thousand and One Nights.”

From these entries it appears beyond question that Galland received from the Maronite Hanna, in the Spring and Summer of 1709, the Arabic text of the stories of Aladdin, Baba Abdalla, Sidi Nouman and Cogia Hassan Alhabbal, i.e. the whole of the tales included in his ninth and tenth volumes (with the exception of The Sleeper Awakened, of which he does not speak) and that he composed the five remaining tales contained in his eleventh and twelfth volumes (i.e. Ali Baba, Ali Cogia, The Enchanted Horse, Prince Ahmed and Pari Banou and The Two Sisters who envied their younger Sister,) upon the details thereof taken down from Hanna’s lips and by the aid of copious summaries made at the time. These entries in Galland’s diary dispose, therefore, of the question of the origin of the “interpolated” tales, with the exception (1) of The Sleeper Awakened (with which we need not, for the present, concern ourselves farther) and (2) of Nos. 1 and 2a and b, i.e. Zeyn Alasnam, Codadad and his brothers and The Princess of Deryabar (forming, with Ganem, his eighth volume), as to which Galland, as I pointed out in my terminal essay (p. 264), cautions us, in a prefatory note to his ninth volume, that these two stories form no part of the Thousand and One Nights and that they had been inserted and printed without the cognizance of the translator, who was unaware of the trick that had been played him till after the actual publication of the volume, adding that care would be taken to expunge the intrusive tales from the second edition (which, however, was never done, Galland dying before the republication and it being probably found that the stranger tales had taken too firm a hold upon public favour to be sacrificed, as originally proposed); and the invaluable Diary supplies the necessary supplemental information as to their origin. “M. Petis de la Croix,” says Galland under date of January 17, 1710, “Professor and King’s Reader of the Arabic tongue, who did me the honour to visit me this morning, was extremely surprised to see two of the Turkish [FN#18] Tales of his translation printed in the eighth volume of the 1001 Nights, which I showed him, and that this should have been done without his participation.”

Petis de la Croix, a well-known Orientalist and traveller of the time, published in the course of the same year (1710) the first volume of a collection of Oriental stories, similar in form and character to the 1001 Nights, but divided into “Days” instead of “Nights” and called “The Thousand and One Days, Persian Tales,” the preface to which (ascribed to Cazotte) alleges him to have translated the tales from a Persian work called Hezar [o] Yek Roz, i.e. “The Thousand and One Days,” the MS. of which had in 1675 been communicated to the translator by a friend of his, by name Mukhlis, (Cazotte styles him “the celebrated Dervish Mocles, chief of the Soufis of Ispahan”) during his sojourn in the Persian capital. The preface goes on to state that Mukhlis had, in his youth, translated into Persian certain Indian plays, which had been translated into all the Oriental languages and of which a Turkish version existed in the Bibliotheque Royale, under the title of Alfaraga Badal-Schidda (i.e. El Ferej bad esh Shiddeh), which signified “Joy after Affliction”; but that, wishing to give his work an original air, he converted the aforesaid plays into tales. Cazotte’s story of the Indian plays savours somewhat of the cock and the bull and it is probable that the Hezar o Yek Roz (which is not, to my knowledge, extant) was not derived from so recondite a source, but was itself either the original of the well-known Turkish collection or (perhaps) a translation of the latter. At all events, Zeyn Alasnam, Codadad and the Princess of Deryabar occur in a copy (cited by M. Zotenberg), belonging to the Bibliotheque Nationale, of El Ferej bad esh Shidded (of which they form the eighth, ninth and sixth stories respectively) and in a practically identical form, except that in Galland’s vol. viii. the two latter stories are fused into one. Sir William Ouseley is said to have brought from Persia a MS. copy of a portion of the Hezar o Yek Roz which he describes as agreeing with the French version, but, in the absence of documentary proof and in view of the fact that, notwithstanding the unauthorized incorporation of three of the tales of his original with Galland’s Vol. viii, the published version of the Thousand and One Days is apparently complete and shows no trace of the omission, I am inclined to suspect Petis de la Croix of having invented the division into Days, in order to imitate (and profit by the popularity of) his fellow savant’s version of the Thousand and One Nights. Galland’s publisher was doubtless also that of Petis de la Croix and in the latter capacity had in hand a portion of the MS. of the 1001 Days, from which, no doubt weary of waiting till Galland (who was now come to the end of his genuine Arabic MS. of the 1001 Nights and was accordingly at a standstill, till he met with Hanna,) should have procured fresh material to complete the copy for his eighth volume, of which Ganem only was then ready for publication, he seems to have selected (apparently on his own responsibility, but, it must be admitted, with considerable taste and judgment,) the three tales in question from the MS. of the 1001 Days, to fill up the lacune. It does not appear whether he found Codadad and the Princess of Deryabar arranged as one story ready to his hand or himself performed (or procured to be performed) the process of fusion, which, in any case, was executed by no unskilful hand. Be this as it may, Galland was naturally excessively annoyed at the publisher’s unceremonious proceeding, so much so indeed as for a time to contemplate renouncing the publication of the rest of the work, to spare himself (as he says in his Diary, under date of Dec. 12, 1709) similar annoyances (mortifications) to that which the printing of the eighth volume had caused him. Indeed, the effect of this incident was to induce him, not only to change his publisher, but to delay the publication of the next volume (which, as we learn from the Diary, was ready for the press at the end of November or the beginning of December, 1709) for a whole year, at the end of which time (Diary, November 21, 1710) he made arrangements with a new (and presumably more trustworthy) publisher, M. Florentin de Laune, for the printing of Vol. ix.

IV.

Notwithstanding the discovery, as above set out, of three of the doubtful tales, Zeyn Alasnam, Aladdin and The Sleeper Awakened, in two MSS. (one at least undoubtedly authentic) of the Thousand Nights and One Night, I am more than ever of opinion that none of the eleven “interpolated” stories properly belongs to the original work, that is to say, to the collection as first put into definite form somewhere about the fourteenth century. [FN#19] “The Sleeper Awakened” was identified by the late Mr. Lane as a historical anecdote given by the historian El Ishaki, who wrote in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and the frequent mention of coffee in both MSS. of Aladdin justifies us in attributing the composition of the story to (at earliest) the sixteenth century, whilst the modern vulgarisms in which they abound point to a still later date. Zeyn Alasnam (in the Sebbagh MS. at least) is written in a much purer and more scholarly style than Aladdin, but its pre-existence in El Ferej bad esh Shiddeh (even if we treat as apocryphal Petis de la Croix’s account of the Hezar o Yek Roz) is sufficient, in the absence of contrary evidence, to justify us in refusing to consider it as belonging to the Thousand Nights and One Night proper. As shown by Galland’s own experience, complete copies of the genuine work were rarely to be met with, collections of “silly stories” (as the Oriental savant, who inclines to regard nothing in the way of literature save theology, grammar and poetry, would style them), being generally considered by the Arab bibliographer undeserving of record or preservation, and the fragmentary copies which existed were mostly in the hands of professional story-tellers, who were extremely unwilling to part with them, looking upon them as their stock in trade, and were in the habit of incorporating with the genuine text all kinds of stories and anecdotes from other sources, to fill the place of the missing portions of the original work. This process of addition and incorporation, which has been in progress ever since the first collection of the Nights into one distinct work and is doubtless still going on in Oriental countries, (especially such as are least in contact with European influence,) may account for the heterogeneous character of the various modern MSS. of the Nights and for the immense difference which exists between the several texts, as well in actual contents as in the details and diction of such stories as are common to all. The Tunis MS. of the 1001 Nights (which is preserved in the Breslau University Library and which formed the principal foundation of Habicht’s Edition of the Arabic text) affords a striking example of this process, which we are here enabled to see in mid-operation, the greater part of the tales of which it consists having not yet been adapted to the framework of the Nights. It is dated A.H. 1144 (A.D. 1732) and of the ten volumes of which it consists, i, ii (Nights I–CCL) and x (Nights DCCCLXXXV-MI) are alone divided into Nights, the division of the remaining seven volumes (i.e. iii–ix, containing, inter alia, the Story of the Sleeper Awakened) being the work of the German editor. It is my belief, therefore, that the three “interpolated” tales identified as forming part of the Baghdad MS. of 1703 are comparatively modern stories added to the genuine text by Rawis (story-tellers) or professional writers employed by them, and I see no reason to doubt that we shall yet discover the Arabic text of the remaining eight, either in Hanna’s version (as written down for Galland) or in some as yet unexamined MS. of the Nights or other work of like character.

V.

M. Zotenberg has, with great judgment, taken as his standard for publication the text of Aladdin given by the Sebbagh MS., inasmuch as the Shawish MS. (besides being, as appears from the extracts given. [FN#20] far inferior both in style and general correctness,) is shown by the editor to be full of modern European phrases and turns of speech and to present so many suspicious peculiarities that it would be difficult, having regard, moreover, to the doubtful character and reputation of the Syrian monkish adventurer who styled himself Dom Denis Chavis, to resist the conviction that his MS. was a forgery, i.e. professedly a copy of a genuine Arabic text, but in reality only a translation or paraphrase in that language of Galland’s version,–were it not that the Baghdad MS. (dated before the commencement, in 1704, of Galland’s publication and transcribed by a man–Mikhail Sebbagh–whose reputation, as a collaborator of Silvestre de Sacy and other distinguished Orientalists, is a sufficient voucher for the authenticity of the copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale,) contains a text essentially identical with that of Shawish. Moreover, it is evident, from a comparison with Galland’s rendering and making allowance for the latter’s system of translation, that the Arabic version of Aladdin given him by Hanna must either have been derived from the Baghdad text or from some other practically identical source, and it is therefore probable that Shawish, having apparently been employed to make up the missing portion of Galland’s Arabic text and not having the Hanna MS. at his command, had (with the execrable taste and want of literary morality which distinguished Cazotte’s monkish coadjutor) endeavoured to bring his available text up to what he considered the requisite standard by modernizing and Gallicizing its wording and (in particular) introducing numerous European phrases and turns of speech in imitation of the French translator. The whole question is, of course, as yet a matter of more or less probable hypothesis, and so it must remain until further discoveries and especially until the reappearance of Galland’s missing text, which I am convinced must exist in some shape or other and cannot much longer, in the face of the revived interest awakened in the matter and the systematic process of investigation now likely to be employed, elude research.

M. Zotenberg’s publication having been confined to the text of Aladdin, I have to thank my friend Sir R. F. Burton for the loan of his MS. copy of Zeyn Alasnam, (the Arabic text of which still remains unpublished) as transcribed by M. Houdas from the Sebbagh MS.

ZEIN UL ASNAM AND THE KING OF THE JINN.

There [FN#21] was [once] in the city of Bassora a mighty Sultan and he was exceeding rich, but he had no child who should be his successor [FN#22] after him. For this he grieved sore and fell to bestowing alms galore upon the poor and the needy and upon the friends [FN#23] of God and the devout, seeking their intercession with God the Most High, so He to whom belong might and majesty should of His favour vouchsafe him a son. And God accepted his prayer, for his fostering of the poor, and answered his petition; so that one night of the nights he lay with the queen and she went from him with child. When the Sultan knew this, he rejoiced with an exceeding joy, and as the time of her child-bearing drew nigh, he assembled all the astrologers and those who smote the sand [FN#24] and said to them, “It is my will that ye enquire concerning the child that shall be born to me this month, whether it will be male or female, and tell me what will betide it of chances and what will proceed from it.” [FN#25] So the geomancers smote their [tables of] sand and the astrologers took their altitudes [FN#26] and observed the star of the babe [un]born and said to the Sultan, “O King of the age and lord of the time and the tide, the child that shall be born to thee of the queen is a male and it beseemeth that thou name him Zein ul Asnam.” [FN#27] And as for those who smote upon the sand, they said to him, “Know, O King, that this babe will become a renowned brave, [FN#28] but he shall happen in his time upon certain travail and tribulation; yet, an he endure with fortitude against that which shall befall him, he shall become the richest of the kings of the world.” And the King said to them, “Since the babe shall become valiant as ye avouch, the toil and travail which will befall him are nought, for that tribulations teach the sons of kings.”

Accordingly, after a few days, the queen gave birth to a male child, extolled be the perfection of Him who created him surpassing in grace and goodliness! His father named him Zein ul Asnam, and he was as say of him certain of his praisers [FN#29] in verse: [FN#30]

He shows and “Now Allah be blessed!” men say: “Extol we his Maker and Fashioner aye!
The king of the fair [FN#31] this is, sure, one and all; Ay, his thralls, every one, and his liegemen are they.”

The boy grew and flourished till he came to the age of five [FN#32] years, when his father the Sultan assigned him a governor skilled and versed in all sciences and philosophies, and he proceeded to teach him till he excelled in all manner of knowledge and became a young man. [FN#33] Then the Sultan bade bring him before himself, and assembling all the grandees of his realm and the chiefs of his subjects, proceeded to admonish him before them, saying to him, “O my son Zein ul Asnam, behold, I am grown stricken in years and am presently sick; and belike this sickness will be the last of my life in this world and thou shalt sit in my stead; [wherefore I desire to admonish thee]. Beware, O my son, lest thou oppress any or turn a deaf ear to the complaining of the poor; but do thou justify the oppressed after the measure of thy might. And look thou believe not all that shall be said to thee by the great ones of the people, but trust thou still for the most part to the voice of the common folk; for the great will deceive thee, seeing they seek that which befitteth themselves, not that which befitteth the subject.” Then, after a few days, the Sultan’s sickness redoubled on him and he accomplished his term and died; and as for his son Zein ul Asnam, he arose and donning the raiment of woe, [mourned] for his father the space of six days. On the seventh day he arose and going forth to the Divan, sat down on the throne of the sultanate and held a court, wherein was a great assemblage of the folk, [FN#34] and the viziers came forward and the grandees of the realm and condoled with him for his father and called down blessings upon him and gave him joy of the kingship and the sultanate, beseeching God to grant him continuance of glory and prosperity without end.

When [FN#35] Zein ul Asnam saw himself in this great might and wealth, and he young in years, he inclined unto prodigality and to the converse of springalds like himself and fell to squandering vast sums upon his pleasures and left governance and concern for his subjects. The queen his mother proceeded to admonish him and to forbid him from his ill fashions, bidding him leave that manner of life and apply himself governance and administration and the ordinance of the realm, lest the folk reject him and rise up against him and expel [FN#36] hira; but he would hear not a word from her and abode in his ignorance and folly. At this the people murmured, for that the grandees of the realm put out their hands unto oppression, whenas they saw the king’s lack of concern for his subjects; so they rose up in rebellion against Zein ul Asnam and would have laid violent hands upon him, had not the queen his mother been a woman of wit and judgment and address, and the people loved her; so she appeased the folk and promised them good. Then she called her son Zein ul Asnam to her and said to him, “See, O my son; said I not to thee that thou wouldest lose thy kingship and eke thy life, an thou persistedst in this thine ignorance and folly, in that thou givest the ordinance of the sultanate into the hands of raw youths and eschewest the old and wastest thy substance and that of the realm, squandering it all upon lewdness and the lust of thy soul?”

Zein ul Asnam hearkened to his mother’s rede and going out forthright to the Divan, committed the manage of the realm into the hands of certain old men of understanding and experience; save that he did this only after Bassora had been ruined, inasmuch as he turned not from his folly till he had spent and squandered all the treasures of the sultanate and was become exceeding poor. Then he betook himself to repentance and to sorrowing over that which he had done, [FN#37] so that he lost the solace of sleep and eschewed meat and drink, till one night of the nights,–and indeed he had spent it in mourning and lamentation and melancholy thought until the last of the night,– his eyes closed for a little and there appeared to him in his sleep a venerable old man, who said to him, “O Zein ul Asnam, grieve not, for that nought followeth after grief save relief from stress, and an thou desire to be delivered from this thine affliction, arise and betake thee to Cairo, where thou wilt find treasuries of wealth which shall stand thee in stead of that thou hast squandered, ay, and twofold the sum thereof.” When he awoke from his sleep, he acquainted his mother with all that he had seen in his dream, and she fell to laughing at him; but he said to her, “Laugh not, for needs must I journey to Cairo.” “O my son,” answered she, “put not thy trust in dreams, for that they are all vain fancies and lying imaginations.” And he said to her, “Nay, my dream was a true one and the man whom I saw is of the Friends of God [FN#38] and his speech is very sooth.”

Accordingly, he left the sultanate and going forth a-journeying one night of the nights, took the road to Egypt [and fared on] days and nights till he came to the city of Cairo. So he entered it and saw it a great and magnificent city; then, being perished for weariness, he took shelter in one of its mosques. When he had rested awhile, he went forth and bought him somewhat to eat; and after he had eaten, he fell asleep in the mosque, of the excess of his weariness, nor had he slept but a little when the old man appeared to him in his sleep and said to him, “O Zein ul Assam, [FN#39] thou hast done as I said to thee, and indeed I made proof of thee, that I might see an thou wert valiant or not; but now I know thee, inasmuch as thou hast put faith in my rede and hast done according thereto. So now return to thine own city and I will make thee a king rich after such a measure that neither before thee nor after thee shall [any] of the kings be like unto thee.” So Zein ul Asnam arose from his sleep and said, “In the name of God. the Compassionate, the Merciful! What is this old man who hath wearier me, so that I came to Cairo, [FN#40] and I trusted in him and deemed of him that he was the Prophet (whom God bless and keep) or one of the pious Friends of God? But there is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme. By Allah. I did well in that I acquainted none with my sallying forth neither related my dream unto any! [FN#41] Indeed. I believed in this old man and meseemed. by that which appeared to me, he was none of mankind, [FN#42] extolled be His perfection and magnified be He who [alone] knoweth the truth! By Allah, I will leave trusting in this old man [neither will I comply with him] in that which he would have me do!” Accordingly, he lay [the rest of] that night [in the mosque] and at daybreak he arose and mounting his courser, set out on his return to Bassora, [the seat of] his kingship, where, after a few days, he arrived and went in that same night to his mother, who asked him if aught had befallen him of that which the old man had promised him. He acquainted her with that which he had seen [in his sleep] and she fell to condoling with him and comforting him, saying, “Grieve not, O my son, for, an God the Most High have appointed thee aught of [good] fortune, thou wilt attain thereto without either travail or toil; but I would have thee be understanding and discreet and leave these things which have brought thee to poverty, O my son, and eschew singing-wenches and the commerce of youths and women; all this is for the baser sort, not for kings’ sons like thee.” And he swore to her that he would never more gainsay her commandment, but would observe all that she should say to him and would turn his mind to the governance and the kingship and leave that wherefrom she forbade him. Then he slept that night and what while he was on sleep, the old man appeared to him and said to him, “O Zein ul Asnam, O valiant one, whenas thou arisest from thy sleep this day, I will accomplish my promise to thee; wherefore take thou a pickaxe and go to the palace of thy father Such-an-one [FN#43] in such a place and dig there in the earth and thou wilt find that which shall enrich thee.”

When Zein ul Asnam awoke from his sleep, he hastened to his mother, rejoicing, and acquainted her with his dream; whereupon she fell again to laughing at him and said to him, “O my son, indeed this old man laugheth at thee, nought else; wherefore do thou turn thy thought from him.” But he said to her, “Nay, mother mine, indeed he is soothfast and lieth not; for that, in the first of his dealing, he tried me and now his intent is to accomplish unto me his promise.” “In any case,” rejoined she, “the thing is not toilsome; [FN#44] so do that which thou wilt, even as he said to thee, and make proof of the matter, and God willing, thou shalt [FN#45] return to me rejoicing; but methinketh thou wilt return to me and say, ‘Thou saidst sooth, O my mother, in thy rede.”‘ The prince accordingly took a pickaxe and going down to the palace where his father was buried, fell a-delving in the earth; nor had he dug long when, behold, there appeared to him a ring fixed in a slab of marble. He raised the slab and seeing a stair, descended thereby and found a great vault, all builded with columns of marble and alabaster; then, proceeding innerward, he found within the vault a hall which ravished the wit, and therein eight jars of green jasper; [FN#46] and he said, “What be these jars and what is in them?” So [FN#47] he went up and uncovering them, found them all full of old gold ; [FN#48] whereupon he took a little in his hand and going to his mother, gave her thereof and said to her, “Thou seest, O my mother.” She marvelled at this thing and said to him, “Beware, O my son, lest thou squander it, like as thou squanderedst other than this.” And he swore to her, saying, “Be not concerned, O my mother, and let not thy heart be other than easy on my account, for I would fain have thee also content with me.” [FN#49]

Then she arose and went with him, and they descended into the vault and entered the [underground] hall, [FN#50] where she beheld that which ravished the wit and saw the jars of gold. What while they diverted themselves with gazing upon these latter, behold, they espied a little jar of fine jade; so Zein ul Asnam opened it and found in it a golden key. Whereupon quoth his mother to him, “O my son, needs must there be a door here which this key will open.” Accordingly they sought in all parts of the vault and the hall, so they might see an there were a door or what not else to be found there, and presently espied a bolted lock, to which they knew that this must be the key. So Zein ul Asnam went up and putting the key in the lock, turned it and opened a door which admitted them into a second hall, [FN#51] more magnificent than the first; and it was all full of a light which dazzled the sight, yet was there no flambeau kindled therein, no, nor any window [FN#52] there, whereat they marvelled and looking farther, saw eight images of jewels, each one piece, and that of noble jewels, pure and precious.

Zein ul Asnam was amazed at this and said to his mother, “How came my father by these things?” And they fell to looking and considering, till presently the queen espied a curtain of silk, whereon were these words written: “O my son, marvel not at these great riches, whereto I have won by dint of sore travail; but know that there existeth also another image whose worth is more than that of these [eight] images twenty times told. Wherefore, an thou wouldst come thereby, get thee to Cairo, where thou wilt find a slave of mine, by name Mubarek, who will take thee and bring thee in company [FN#53] with the ninth image. When thou enterest Cairo, the first man whom thou encounterest will direct thee to Mubarek’s house, for he is known in all Egypt.” [FN#54] When Zein ul Asnam read this inscription, he said, “O my mother, it is my wish to journey to Cairo, so I may make search for the ninth image. Tell me, how deemest thou of my dream? Was it true or was it not? Wilt thou still say [FN#55] to me, ‘These be idle tales’? But I, O my mother, needs must I journey to Cairo.” “O my son,” answered the queen, “since thou art under the safeguard of the Apostle of God [FN#56] (whom God bless and keep), go thou in peace, and I [and] thy Vizier, we will govern the realm in thine absence, against thou shalt return.”

So Zein ul Asnam went forth and equipping himself [for travel, set out] and journeyed till he came to Cairo, where he enquired for Mubarek’s house and the folk said to him, “O my lord, this is a man than whom there is none richer in [all Cairo]; no, nor is there a more abounding than he in bounty and beneficence, and his house is [still] open to the stranger.” So they directed him thither and he went till he came to the house and knocked at the door; whereupon there came out to him one of Mubarek’s slaves and [FN#57] opening the door, said to him, “Who art thou and what wiliest thou?” Quoth Zein ul Asnam, “I am a stranger, a man from a far country, and I heard tell of your lord, Mubarek, and how he is renowned for hospitality and beneficence; so I came to him, that I may be a guest with him.” The slave entered and told his lord Mubarek; then returned and said to Zein ul Asnam, ” O my lord, blessing hath descended upon us in thy coming. [FN#58] Enter, for my lord Mubarek awaiteth thee.” So Zein ul Asnam entered into a courtyard, exceeding spacious and all [full] of trees and waters, and the slave brought him into the pavilion [FN#59] where Mubarek sat. When he entered, the latter arose forthright and coming to meet him, received him with cordiality and said to him, “Blessing hath descended upon us and this night is the most auspicious of nights in thy coming to us! But who art thou, O youth, and whence comest thou and whither art thou bound?” The prince answered him, saying, “I am Zein ul Asnam and I seek Mubarek, slave to the Sultan of Bassora, who died a year agone and whose son I am.” “What sayst thou? ” cried Mubarek. “Art thou the king’s son of Bassora?” “Yea, verily,” replied Zein ul Asnam; “I am his son.” Quoth Mubarek, “Nay, my lord the king of Bassora left no son; but what is thine age, O youth?” “About twenty years,” replied Zein ul Asnam. “And thou,” added he, “how long is it since thou wentest out from my father’s house?” “I went out eighteen years agone,” answered Mubarek. “But, O my son Zein ul Asnam, by what token canst thou certify me that thou art the son of my lord the king of Bassora?” Quoth Zein ul Asnam, “Thou knowest that my father builded under his palace a vault and therein [a hall in which] he set forty [FN#60] jars of fine jade and filled them with ancient gold; [FN#61] and within this hall he made a second hall, wherein he placed eight images of precious stones, each wroughten of a single jewel and seated upon a throne of virgin gold. [FN#62] Moreover, he wrote upon a curtain of silk there and I read the writ, whereby I found that he bade me come to thee, saying that thou wouldst acquaint me of the ninth image and where it is, the which, said he, was worth the eight, all of them.”

When Mubarek heard these words, he threw himself at Zein ul Asnam’s feet and fell to kissing them and saying, “Pardon me, O my lord! Verily, thou art the son of my lord.” Then said he to the prince, “O my lord, I make to-day a banquet unto all the chief men of Cairo and I would fain have thy highness honour me [with thy presence] thereat.” And Zein ul Asnam said, “With all my heart.” [FN#63] So Mubarek arose and foregoing Zein ul Asnam, brought him into the saloon, which was full of the chief men of Cairo, assembled therein. There he sat down and seating the prince in the place of honour, called for the evening-meal. So they laid the tables and Mubarek stood to serve Zein ul Asnam, with his hands clasped behind him [FN#64] and whiles seated upon his knees [and heels]. [FN#65] The notables of Cairo marvelled at this, how Mubarek, the chiefest of them, should serve the youth, and [FN#66] were sore amazed thereat, knowing not [who or] whence he was. But, after they had eaten and drunken and supped and were of good cheer, Mubarek turned to the company and said to them, “O folk, marvel not that I serve this youth with all worship and assiduity, for that he is the son of my lord the Sultan of Bassora, whose slave I was, for that he bought me with his money and died without setting me free; wherefore it behoveth me serve my lord, and all that my hand possesseth of monies and gear is his, nor is anywhit thereof mine.” When the notables of Cairo heard this speech, they arose to Zein ul Asnam and did him exceeding great worship and saluted him with all reverence and prayed for him; [FN#67] and he said, “O company, I am before your presence and ye are witnesses [of that which I am about to do.” Then, turning to his host,] “O Mubarek, [quoth he,] thou art free and all that is with thee of monies and gear appertaining unto us shall henceforth be thine and thou art altogether acquitted thereof [FN#68] and of every part thereof. Moreover, do thou ask of me whatsoever thou desirest by way of boon, [FN#69] for that I will nowise gainsay thee in aught thou mayst seek.” [FN#70] Thereupon Mubarek arose and kissed the prince’s hand and thanked him, saying, “O my lord, I will nought of thee save that thou be well; for indeed the wealth that I have is exceeding abundant upon me.”

So Zein ul Asnam abode with Mubarek four days and every day the chief men of Cairo came to salute him, whenas it reached them that this was Mubarek’s lord, the Sultan of Bassora; then, after he was rested, he said to his host, “O Mubarek, indeed the time is long upon me;” [FN#71] and Mubarek said to him, “Thou must know, O my lord, that this whereof thou art come in quest is a hard [FN#72] matter, nay, even unto danger of death, and I know not if thy fortitude may suffice thee for the achievement thereof.” [FN#73] “Know, O Mubarek,” rejoined Zein ul Asnam, “that wealth [is gotten] by blood [FN#74] and there betideth a man nought except by the will and foreordinance of the Creator (to whom belong might and majesty ); so do thou take heart and concern not thyself on my account.” Accordingly Mubarek forthright commended his slaves equip them for travel; so they made all ready and taking horse, journeyed days and nights in the foulest of deserts, [FN#75] witnessing daily things and matters which confounded their wits,–things such as never in their time had they seen,–until they drew near the place [of their destination]; whereupon they lighted down from their steeds and Mubarek bade the slaves and servants abide there, saying to them, “Keep watch over the beasts of burden and the horses till we return to you.”

Then the twain set out together afoot and Mubarek said to Zein ul Asnam, “O my lord, now behoveth fortitude, for that thou art in the land of the image whereof thou comest in quest.” And they gave not over walking till they drew near a great lake and a wide, whereupon quoth Mubarek to Zein ul Asnam, “Know, O my lord, that there will presently come to us a little boat, bearing a blue flag and builded all with planks of sandal and Comorin aloes-wood of price; and [thereanent] I have a charge to give thee, which it behoveth thee observe.” “What is this charge?” asked the prince and Mubarek said to him, “In this boat thou wilt see a boatman, [FN#76] but his make is monstrous; [FN#77] wherefore be thou ware and again, I say, beware lest thou speak aught, for that he will incontinent drown us; and know that this place appertaineth to the King of the Jinn and that all thou seest is their handiwork.” Then [FN#78] they came to the lake and behold, a little boat with planks of sandal and Comorin aloes-wood and in it a boatman, whose head was [as] the head of an elephant and the rest of his body [as that of] a wild beast. [FN#79] When he drew near them, he wrapped his trunk about them both and taking them with him into the boat, rowed out with them to the midst of the lake, then fared on with them [FN#80] till he brought them to the other shore, where they landed and walking on, saw there trees of ambergris [FN#81] and aloes and sandal-wood and cloves and jessamine, [FN#82] full-grown and laden with ripe fruits and flowers [FN#83] whose fragrance dilated the breast and cheered the spright; and there [they heard] the voices of the birds twittering their various notes and ravishing the wit with their warblings. So Mubarek turned to Zein ul Asnam and said to him, “How deemest thou of this place, O my lord?” And the prince answered him, saying, “Methinketh, O Mubarek, this is the paradise which the Prophet (whom God bless and keep) promised us withal.”

Then they fared on till they came to a magnificent palace, builded all with stones of emerald and rubies, and its doors were of sheer gold. Before it was a bridge, the length whereof was an hundred and fifty cubits and its breadth fifty cubits, and it was [wroughten] of the rib of a fish; whilst at the other end of the bridge were many warriors [FN#84] of the Jinn, gruesome and terrible of aspect, and all of them bore in their hands javelins of steel that flashed in the sun like winter lightning. [FN#85] Quoth Zein ul Asnam to Mubarek, “This is a thing that taketh the wits;” and Mubarek said to him, “It behoveth us abide in our place neither fare forward, lest a mischance betide us. O God, [vouchsafe us] safety!” Therewith he brought out of his pocket four pieces of yellow silken stuff and girded himself with one thereof; the second he laid on his shoulders and gave Zein ul Asnam other two pieces, with which he girded himself [and covered his shoulders] on like wise. Moreover, he spread before each of them a sash of white silk and bringing forth of his pocket precious stones and perfumes, such as ambergris and aloes-wood, [set them on the edges thereof ; [FN#86]] after which they sat down, each on his sash, and Mubarek taught Zein ul Asnam these words, which he should say to the King of the Jinn, to wit: “O my lord King of the Jinn, we are in thy safeguard.” And Zein ul Asnam said to him, “And I will instantly conjure him that he accept of us.”

Then said Mubarek, “O my lord, by Allah, I am exceeding fearful. But now hearken; an he be minded to accept of us without hurt, he will come to us in the semblance of a man accomplished in grace and goodliness; but, an he have no mind to us, he will come to us in a gruesome and a frightful aspect. An thou see him surpassing in beauty, arise forthright and salute him, but beware lest thou overpass thy sash.” And Zein ul Asnam said to him, “Hearkening and obedience.” “And be this thy salutation to him,” continued Mubarek; “thou shalt say, ‘O King of the Jinn and lord of the earth, my father, the Sultan of Bassora, the angel of death hath removed, as indeed is not hidden from thee. Now Thy Grace was still wont to take my father under thy protection, and I come to thee likewise to put myself under thy safeguard, even as did he.’ Moreover, [FN#87] O my lord Zein ul Asnam,” added he, “an the King of the Jinn receive us with a cheerful favour, he will without fail ask thee and say to thee, ‘Seek of me that which thou wiliest and thou shalt forthright be given [it].’ [FN#88] So do thou seek of him and say to him, ‘O my lord, I crave of Thy Grace the ninth image, than which there is not the world a more precious; and indeed Thy Grace promised my father that thou wouldst give it to me.”‘

Having thus taught his lord how he should speak with the King of the Jinn and seek of him the ninth image and how he should make his speech seemly and pleasant, Mubarek fell to conjuring and fumigating and reciting words that might not be understanded; and no great while passed ere the world lightened [FN#89] and rain fell in torrents [FN#90] and it thundered and darkness covered the face of the earth; and after this there came a tempestuous wind and a voice like an earthquake of the earthquakes [FN#91] of the Day of Resurrection. When Zein ul Asnam saw these portents, his joints trembled and he was sore affrighted, for that he beheld a thing he had never in all his life seen nor heard. But Mubarek laughed at him and said to him, “Fear not, O my lord; this whereat thou art affrighted is that which we seek; nay, it is a presage of good to-us. So take heart and be of good cheer.” After this there came a great clearness and serenity and there breathed pure and fragrant breezes; then, presently, behold, there appeared the King of the Jinn in the semblance of a man comely of favour, there was none like unto him in his goodliness, save He who hath no like and to whom belong might and majesty. He looked on Zein ul Asnam and Mubarek with a cheerful, smiling countenance; whereupon the prince arose forthright and proffered him his petition in the words which Mubarek had taught him.

The King of the Jinn turned to him, smiling, and said to him, “O Zein ul Asnam, indeed I loved thy father the Sultan of Bassora, and I used, whenassoever he came to me, to give him an image of those which thou hast seen, each wroughten of a single jewel, and thou also shalt stand in thy father’s stead with me and shalt find favour in mine eyes, even as did he, ay, and more. Before he died, I caused him write the writ which thou sawest on the curtain of silk and promised him that I would take thee under my protection, even as himself, and would give thee the ninth image, which is more of worth than those which thou hast seen. Now it is my intent to perform the promise which I made to thy father, that I would take thee under my protection, and [FN#92] [know that] I was the old man whom thou sawest in thy sleep and it was I bade thee dig in the palace for the vault wherein thou foundest the jars of gold and the images of jewels. I know also wherefore thou art come hither; nay, I am he that was the cause of thy coming, and I will give thee that which thou seekest, albeit I had not given it to thy father; but on condition that thou swear to me a solemn oath and abide me constant thereto, to wit, that thou wilt return and bring me a girl of the age of fifteen years, with whom there shall be none to match in loveliness, and she must be a clean maid, who shall never have lusted after man, nor shall man have lusted after her. Moreover, thou must swear to me that thou wilt keep faith with her, coming, and beware lest thou play me false with her by the way.”

So Zein ul Asnam swore a solemn oath to him of this and said to him, “O my lord, indeed, thou honourest me with this service; but methinketh it will be hard to find a girl like this. Nay, supposing I find a damsel fifteen years of age and beautiful exceedingly, according to Thy Grace’s requirement, how shall I know that she hath never in her time lusted after man nor hath man lusted after her?” “O Zein ul Asnam,” replied the King of the Jinn, “thou art in the right and certain it is that this knowledge is a thing unto which the sons of man may not avail; but I will give thee a mirror of my fashion, and when thou seest a girl and her beauty pleaseth thee and her grace, do thou open this mirror that I shall give thee, and if thou find her image therein clear and bright, thou shalt know forthright that she is pure without default and that all good qualities are in her; so do thou take her for me. If thou find her image in the mirror other than this, to wit, an it be troubled and clothed with uncleanness, know that the girl is sullied and beware of her; but, an thou find one such as she whose qualities I have set out to thee, bring her to me and watch over her [by the way;] yet beware and again I say, beware of treason and bethink thee that, an thou keep not faith with me, thou wilt assuredly lose thy life.”

So Zein ul Asnam made with him a stable and abiding covenant, the covenant of the sons of kings, that he would keep the plighted faith and never play him false, but [FN#93] would bring him the damsel with all continence. Then the King of the Jinn delivered him the mirror and said to him, “O my son, take this mirror whereof I bespoke thee, and now depart.” Accordingly Zein ul Asnam and Mubarek arose and calling down blessings upon the King, returned upon their steps till they came to the lake, where they sat a little and behold, up came the boat which had brought them and the genie rowing therein, whose head was as [FN#94] the head of an elephant. Now this was by the commandment of the King of the Jinn; so they embarked with the genie and crossed with him to the other shore; after which they returned to Cairo and entering Mubarek’s house, abode there awhile till they were rested from the fatigue of the journey.

Then Zein ul Asnam turned to Mubarek and said to him, “Come, let us go to the city of Baghdad, so we may seek for a girl who shall be according to the requirement of the King of the Jinn.” And Mubarek said to him, “O my lord, we are in Cairo, the city of cities and the wonder of the world. [FN#95] I shall without fail find a girl here and it needeth not that we go to a far city.” “Thou sayst sooth, O Mubarek,” rejoined the prince; “but how shall we set about the matter and how shall we do to come by [FN#96] a girl like this and who shall go seeking her for us?” “O my lord,” replied Mubarek, “concern not thyself [FN#97] for that, for I have with me here an old woman (upon her, [to speak] figuratively, [FN#98] be the malediction [of God] [FN#99]) who is a mistress of wiles and craft and guile and not to be baulked by any hindrance, however great.” Then he sent to fetch the old woman and telling her that he wanted a damsel fifteen years old and fair exceedingly, so he might marry her to the son of his lord, promised her largesse galore, an she did her utmost endeavour in the matter; whereupon, “O my lord,” answered she, “be easy; I will accomplish unto thee thy desire beyond thy wish; for that under my hand are damsels unpeered in grace and goodliness and all of them daughters of men of condition.” But, O King of the time, [FN#100] the old woman had no knowledge of the affair of the mirror.

Then she arose and went out to go round about in the city and to run along its ways, [FN#101] seeking [FN#102] the girl for Prince Zein ul Asnam, and whenassoever she saw a fair damsel, accomplished in beauty, she proceeded to bring her to Mubarek; but, when he looked at her in the mirror, he would see her image troubled exceedingly and would leave her; so that the old woman brought him all the damsels of Cairo, but there was not found among them one whose image in the mirror was clear; wherefore he bethought him to go to Baghdad, since he found not one in Cairo who pleased him [or] who was a clean maid, like as the King of the Jinn had enjoined him. So he arose and equipping himself, [set out and] journeyed, he and Zein ul Asnam, till they came to the city of Baghdad, where they hired them a magnificent palace amiddleward the city and took up their abode therein. There the chief men of the city used to come to them every day and sat at their table, even to the comer and goer by night and by day. [FN#103] Moreover, when there remained aught from their table, they distributed it to the poor and the afflicted and all the strangers in the mosques [FN#104] would come and eat with them. So the report was noised abroad in the land of their generosity and bounty and they became in high repute and fair fame throughout all Baghdad, nor did any talk but of Zein ul Asnam and his bounty and wealth.

Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam, [FN#105] corrupt, envious and despiteful in the extreme, and his lodging was near the palace wherein Mubatek and Zein ul Asnam had taken up their abode. When he heard of their bounty and generosity and of the goodliness of their repute, envy get hold upon him and jealousy of them, and he fell to bethinking himself how he should do, so he might bring some calamity upon them and despoil them of that their fair fortune, for it is of the wont of envy that it falleth not but upon the rich. So, one day of the days, as he stood in the mosque, after the mid-afternoon prayer, he came forward into the midst of the folk and said, “O my brethren, O ye of the True Faith, ye who ascribe unity to God, know that in this our quarter there be two men dwelling, strangers, and most like you are acquainted with them. Now these twain spend and squander wealth galore, passing all measure, and in my belief they are none other than thieves and highwaymen and are come hither with that which they stole from their own country, so they may squander it.” Then [FN#106] “O people of Mohammed,” added he, “I rede you for God’s sake keep yourselves from these tricksters, [FN#107] lest belike the Khalif come presently to know of these two men and ye also fall with them into calamity. Now I have warned you and I wash my hands of your affair, for that I have forewarned and awakened you; so do that which you deem well.” And they said to him, all who were present, with one voice, “We will do whatsoever thou wiliest, O Aboubekr!” When the Imam heard this from them, he arose and taking inkhorn and pen and paper, fell to writing a letter to the Commander of the Faithful, setting forth to him [the case] against Zein ul Asnam and Mubarek.

Now, as destiny willed it, the latter chanced to be in the mosque among the folk and heard the accursed Imam’s discourse and that which he did by way of writing the letter to the Khalif; whereupon he tarried not, but, returning home forthwith, took an hundred diners and made him a parcel of price, all of silken clothes, [FN#108] wherewith he betook himself in haste to Aboubekr’s house and knocked at the door. The Imam came out to him and opened the door; and when he saw him, he asked him surlily who he was and what he would; whereupon quoth the other, “O my lord the Imam Aboubekr, I am thy slave Mubarek and I come to thee on the part of my lord the Amir Zein ul Asnam. He hath heard of thy learning and of the excellence of thy repute in the city and would fain become acquainted with thee and do that which behoveth unto thee; wherefore he hath presently sent me with these things and this money for thine expenses and hopeth of thee that thou wilt not blame him, inasmuch as this is little for thy worth, but hereafter, God willing, he will not fail of that which is due unto thee.” Aboubekr looked at [the coins and] at their impress and yellowness [FN#109] and at the parcel of clothes and said to Mubarek, “O my lord, [I crave] pardon of thy lord the Amir, for that I am presently abashed before him [FN#110] and it irketh me sore that I have not done my duty towards him; [FN#111] but I hope of thee that thou wilt intercede with him on my behalf, so he may of his favour pardon me my default; and (the Creator willing) I will to-morrow do that which behoveth me and will go do my service to him [FN#112] and proffer him the respect which is due from me to him.” “O my lord Aboubekr,” replied Mubarek, “the extreme of my lord’s desire is to look upon thy worship, so he may be honoured by thy presence and get of thee a blessing.” So saying, he kissed the Imam’s hand and returned to his lodging.

On the morrow, whilst Aboubekr was [engaged] in the Friday prayers at dawn, he stood up amongst the folk, in the midst of the mosque, and said, “O our brethren of the Muslims and people of Mohammed, all of you, verily envy falleth not save upon the rich and the noble and passeth by the poor and those of low estate. Know that of the two stranger men against whom I spoke yesterday one is an Amir, a man of great rank and noble birth, and the case is not as certain of the envious [FN#113] informed me concerning him, to wit, that he was a thief and a robber; for I have enquired into the matter and find that the report lieth. So beware lest any of you missay of the Amir or speak aught of evil against him, such as that which I heard yesterday, or you will cause me and yourselves fall into the gravest of calamities with the Commander of the Faithful; for that a man of high degree like this cannot sojourn in the city of Baghdad without the Khalif’s knowledge.” On [FN#114] this wise, then, the Imam Aboubekr did away from the minds of the folk the ill thought [FN#115] which he had planted [there] by his speech concerning Zein ul Asnam.

Moreover, when he had made an end of the prayers, he returned to his own house and donned his gabardine; then, weightening his skirts and lengthening his sleeves, [FN#116] he went forth and took his way to the prince’s house. When he came in to Zein ul Asnam, the latter rose to him and received him with the utmost reverence. Now he was by nature religious, [FN#117] for all he was a youth of tender age; so he proffered the Imam all manner of honour and seating him by his side on a high divan, let bring him coffee with ambergris. Then the servants spread the table for breakfast and they took their sufficiency of meat and drink, and when they had finished, they fell to talking and making merry together. Presently the Imam asked the prince and said to him, .’O my lord Zein ul Asnam, doth your highness purpose to sojourn long here in Baghdad?” “Yea, verily, O our Lord the Imam,” answered Zein ul Asnam; “my intent is to sojourn here awhile, till such time as my requirement be accomplished.” “And what,” asked Aboubekr, “is the requirement of my lord the Amir? Belike, an I know it, I may avail to further him to his wish, though I sacrifice my life for him.” [FN#118] And the prince said to him, “I seek a damsel fifteen years of age and fair exceedingly, that I may marry her; but she must be pure and chaste and a clean maid, whom no man hath anywise defiled nor in all her life hath she thought upon a man; [FN#119] and she must be unique in grace and goodliness.”

“O my lord,” rejoined the Imam, “this is a thing exceeding hard to find; but I know a damsel unique in her loveliness and her age is fifteen years. Her father was a Vizier, who resigned office of his own motion, and he abideth presently at home in his palace and is exceeding jealous over his daughter and her bringing up. [FN#120] Methinketh this damsel will suit your Highness’s mind, and she will rejoice in an Amir like your Highness, as also will her parents.” Quoth Zein ul Asnam, “God willing, this damsel whereof thou speakest will answer my requirement and the accomplishment of our desire shall be at thy hands; [FN#121] but, O our lord the Imam, before all things my wish is to see her, so I may know an she be chaste or not. As for her beauty, I am assured of [FN#122] your worship’s sufficiency and am content to trust to your word concerning her loveliness, to wit, that she is surpassing; but, for her chastity, you cannot avail to testify with certitude of her case.” “And how,” asked the Imam, “can it be possible unto you, O my lord the Amir, to know from her face that she is pure? An this be so, your highness is skilled in physiognomy. However, an your highness will vouchsafe to accompany me, I will carry you to her father’s palace and make you known to the latter, and he shall bring her before you.”

Accordingly, [FN#123] the Imam Aboubekr took Zein ul Asnam and carried him to the Vizier’s house; and when they went in to him, the Vizier rose and welcomed the prince, especially when he knew that he was an Amir and understood from the Imam that he wished to marry his daughter. So he let bring the damsel before him, and when she came, he bade her raise the veil from her face. Accordingly she unveiled herself and Zein ul Asnam, looking upon her, was amazed at her grace and goodliness, for that never had he seen one to match with her in beauty; and he said in himself, “I wonder if I shall [FN#124] happen upon one like this damsel, since it is forbidden that she should be mine!” Then he brought out the mirror from his pocket and looked thereon; when, behold, its crystal was clear exceedingly, as it were virgin silver; and he observed her image in the mirror and saw it like a white dove. So he forthright concluded the match and sent for the Cadi and the witnesses, who wrote the writ [FN#125] and enthroned the bride; [FN#126] after which Zein ul Asnam took the Vizier, the bride’s father, home with him to his house and sent the young lady jewels of great price. Then they celebrated the wedding and held high festival, never was the like thereof, whilst Zein ul Asnam proceeded to entertain the folk and made them banquets for the space of eight days. Moreover, he honoured Aboubekr the Imam and gave him gifts galore and brought the Vizier, the bride’s father, presents and great rarities.

Then, the wedding festivities being ended, Mubarek said to Zein ul Asnam, “Come, O my lord, let us set out on our way, lest we waste the time in sloth, now we have found that whereof we were in search.” And the prince answered him, saying, “Thou art in the right.” So Mubarek arose and fell to equipping them for the journey; moreover, he let make the young lady a camel-litter [FN#127] with a travelling couch, [FN#128] and they set out. But Mubarek knew that Zein ul Asnam was sunken deep in love of the damsel; so he took him and said to him, “O my lord Zein ul Asnam, I would fain remind thee to watch over thyself; nay, again I say, have a care and keep the faith which thou plightedst to the King of the Jinn.” “O Mubarek,” answered the prince, “an thou knewest the transport which possesseth me for the love of this young lady [FN#129] and how I still think of nothing but of taking her to Bassora and going in [to her]!” And Mubarek said to him, “Nay, O my lord; keep thy troth and play not the traitor to thine oath, lest there befall thee a sore calamity and thou lose thy life and the young lady lose hers also. Bethink thee of the oath which thou sworest and let not lust get the mastery over thine understanding, lest thou lose guerdan [FN#130] and honour and life.” “O Mubarek,” rejoined Zein ul Asnam, “keep thou watch over her thyself and let me not see her.” So [FN#131] Mubarek fell to keeping watch and ward over the bride in the prince’s stead and guarded the latter also, lest he should look on her; and so they journeyed on past the road leading unto Egypt and fared on their way to the Island of the Jinn.

When the bride beheld the journey (and indeed it was long upon her) and saw not her husband in all this time since the night of the bridal, she turned to Mubarek and said to him, “God upon thee, O Mubarek, tell me, I conjure thee by the life of thy lord the Amir, are we yet far from the dominions [FN#132] of my bridegroom, the Amir Zein ul Asnam?” And he said to her, “Alack, O my lady, it irketh me for thee and I will discover to thee that which is hidden. To wit, thou deemest that Zein ul Asnam, King of Bassora, is thy bridegroom. Far be it! [FN#133] He is not thy bridegroom. The writing of the writ of his marriage with thee [FN#134] was but a pretext before thy parents and the folk; and now thou art going for a bride to the King of the Jinn, who sought thee from the Amir Zein ul Asnam.” When the young lady heard these words, she fell a-weeping and Zein ul Asnam heard her and fell a-weeping also, a sore weeping, of the excess of his love for her. And she said to them, “Is there no pity in you and no clemency and have you no fear of God, that I, a stranger maid, you cast me into a calamity like this? What answer will you give unto God [FN#135] concerning this treason that you have wroughten with me?”

But her weeping and her words availed her nothing, and they ceased not to fare on with her till they came to the King of the Jinn, to whom they straightway presented her. When he beheld her, she pleased him and he turned to Zein ul Asnam and said to him. “Verily, the girl whom thou hast brought me is exceeding in beauty and surpassing in loveliness; but the goodliness of thy loyalty and shine overmastering of thyself for my sake is fairer than she in mine eyes. So return now to thy place and the ninth image that thou seekest of me thou shalt find, on thy return, beside the other images; for I will send it to thee by one of my slaves of the Jinn.” Accordingly, Zein ul Asnam kissed the King’s hand and returned with Mubarek to Cairo; but, when they came thither, he chose not to abide with Mubarek longer than a resting-while, of the excess of his longing and his yearning to see the ninth image. Withal he ceased not from mourning, bethinking him of the young lady and her grace and goodliness; and he fell to lamenting and saying, “Alas for the loss of my delights that were because of thee, O pearl of beauty and loveliness, thou whom I took from thy parents and presented to the King of the Jinn! Alack, the pity of it!” And [FN#136] he chid himself for the deceit and the perfidy which he had practised upon the young lady’s parents and how he had brought her to the King of the Jinn.

Then he set out and gave not over journeying till he came to Bassora and entering his palace, saluted his mother and told her all that had befallen him; whereupon quoth she to him, “Arise, O my son, so thou mayst [FN#137] see this ninth image, for that I am exceeding rejoiced at its presence with us.” So they both descended into the underground hall, wherein were the eight images, and found there a great marvel; to wit, instead of the ninth image, they beheld the young lady, resembling the sun in her loveliness. The prince knew her, when he saw her, and she said to him, “Marvel not to find me here in place of that which thou soughtest; methinketh thou wilt not repent thee an thou take me in the stead of the ninth image.” “No, by Allah, oh my beloved!” replied Zein ul Asnam, “For that thou art the end of my seeking and I would not exchange thee for all the jewels in the world. Didst thou but know the grief which possessed me for thy separation, thou whom I took from thy parents by fraud and brought thee to the King of the Jinn!” [FN#138]

Scarce had the prince made an end of his speech when they heard a noise of thunder rending the mountains and shaking the earth and fear get hold upon the queen, the mother of Zein ul Asnam, yea, and sore trembling; but, after a little, the King of the Jinn appeared and said to her, “O lady, fear not, it is I who am thy son’s protector and I love him with an exceeding love for the love his father bore me. Nay, I am he who appeared to him in his sleep and in this I purposed to try his fortitude, whether or not he might avail to subdue himself for loyalty’s sake. Indeed the beauty of this young lady beguiled him and he could not avail to keep his covenant with me so strictly but [FN#139] that he desired her for his bride. However, I know the frailty of human nature and withal I think greatly of him that he guarded her and kept her unsullied and withdrew himself from her; [FN#140] wherefore I accept this his constancy and bestow her on him as a bride. She is the ninth image, which I promised him should be with him, and certes she is fairer than all these images of jewels, inasmuch as her like is rarely found in the world.” Then the King of the Jinn turned to Zein ul Asnam and said to him, “O Prince Zein ul Asnam, this is thy bride; take her and go in to her, on condition that thou love her and take not unto her a second [wife]; and I warrant thee of the goodliness of her fidelity to-thee-ward.” Therewithal he vanished from them and Zein ul Asnam went out, glad and rejoicing in the young lady; [FN#141] and of [the excess of] his love for her he went in to her that night and let celebrate the bridal and hold high festival in all the kingdom. Then he abode upon the throne of his kingship, judging and commanding and forbidding, whilst his bride became queen of Bassora; and after a little his mother died. So he made her funeral obsequies [FN#142] and mourned for her; after which he lived with his bride in all content till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Societies.

ALAEDDIN AND THE ENCHANTED LAMP. [FN#143]

There [FN#144] was [once] in a city of the cities of China a man, a tailor and poor, and he had a son by name Alaeddin, who was perverse and graceless from his earliest childhood. When he came to ten years of age, his father would fain have taught him his own craft, for that, because he was poor, he could not spend money upon him to have him taught [another] trade or art [FN#145] or the like; [FN#146] so he carried him to his shop, that he might teach him his craft of tailoring; but, forasmuch as the lad was perverse and wont still to play with the boys of the quarter, [FN#147] he would not sit one day in the shop; nay, he would watch his father till such time as he went forth the place to meet a customer [FN#147] or on some other occasion, when he would flee forth incontinent and go out to the gardens with the good-for-nothing lads like himself. This, then, was his case, [FN#148] and he would not obey his parents, nor would he learn a craft. His father sickened of his grief and chagrin for his son’s perversity and died, whilst A]aeddin abode on that his wise. When his mother saw that her husband had departed this life [FN#149] and that her son was a scapegrace and a good-for- nought, she sold the shop and all she found therein and fell to spinning cotton and feeding herself and her graceless son Alaeddin with her toil. The latter, seeing himself quit of his father’s danger, [FN#150] redoubled in his gracelessness and his perversity and would not abide in their house save eating-whiles; and his poor wretched mother supported him [FN#151] by the spinning of her hands till he came to fifteen years of age.

One [FN#152] day of the days, as he sat in the street, playing with the vagabond boys, behold, a Maugrabin [FN#153] dervish came up and stopping to look at the lads, singled out Alaeddin from his comrades and fell to gazing upon him and straitly considering his favour. Now this dervish was from the land of Hither Barbary [FN#154] and he was an enchanter who would cast mountain upon mountain with his sorcery and was skilled to boot in physiognomy. [FN#155] When he had well considered Alaeddin, he said in himself, “Certes, this boy is he whom I seek and he it is in quest of whom I came forth from my country.” So he took one of the lads apart and asked him of Alaeddin, whose son he was, and questioned him of all his affairs; after which he went up to Alaeddin and taking him aside, said to him, “Harkye, boy, art thou not the son of such an one the tailor?” And he answered him, saying “Yes, O my lord; but my father died awhile agone.” When the Maugrabin magician heard this, he threw himself upon Alaeddin and embracing him, fell to kissing him and weeping, that his tears ran down upon his cheek.

Alaeddin was astonished at the Maugrabin’s behaviour; so he asked him and said to him, “What is the cause of thy weeping, O my lord, and whence knewest thou my father?” The Maugrabin answered him, in a mournful, broken voice, [FN#156] saying, “How, O my son, canst thou ask me this question, after telling me that thy father, my brother, is dead, for thy father was [indeed] my brother [FN#157] and I am newly come from my country and was rejoicing exceedingly, after this my strangerhood, of my expectation that I should see him and solace myself with him; [FN#158] and now thou tellest me that he is dead! Marry, blood discovered unto me that [FN#159] thou wast the son of my brother, and indeed I knew thee from amongst all the lads; although thy father, when I left him, was not yet married. And [FN#160] now, O my son Alaeddin,” continued he, “I have lost my consolation [FN#161] and my joy in thy father, my brother, whom I had hoped, after my strangerhood, to see ere I died; but separation hath afflicted me in him [FN#162] and there is no fleeing from that which is [FN#163] nor is there any resource against the ordinance of God the Most High.”

Then he took Alaeddin and said to him, “O my son, I have no comfort [FN#163] but in thee [FN#164] and thou art [to me] in the stead of thy father, since thou art his successor and whoso leaveth [a successor] is not dead, O my son.” With this he put his hand [to his pocket] and bringing out ten diners, gave them to Alaeddin, saying, “O my son, where is your house and where is thy mother, my brother’s wife?” So Alaeddin took him and showed him the way to their house; and the magician said to him, “O my son, take these monies and give them to thy mother and salute her on my behalf and tell her that thine uncle is come back from his strangerhood; and God willing, to-morrow I will come visit you, so I may salute her and look upon the house wherein my brother dwelt and see where his tomb is.” Alaeddin kissed his hand and hastened home, running in his joy, to his mother and entered, contrary to his wont, for that he was not used to go in to her save at eating-times. So he went in to her, rejoicing, and said to her, “O my mother, I bring thee glad news of my uncle, in that he is come back from his absence, and he saluteth thee.” “O my son,” quoth she, meseemeth thou makest mock of me. Who is thine uncle and whence hast thou an uncle on life?” And he said to her, “O my mother, why didst thou tell me that I had no uncles and no kinsfolk on life? Indeed, this man is my uncle and he embraced me and kissed me, weeping, and bade me tell thee of this.” And she answered him, saying, “Yes, O my son, I knew thou hadst an uncle, but he is dead and I know not that thou hast a second uncle.”

As [FN#166] for the Maugrabin enchanter, he went forth at dawn and fell to searching for [FN#167] Alaeddin, for that he might not brook parting from him; [FN#168] and as he went about in the thoroughfares of the city, he came upon the lad, who was playing with the vagabonds, as of his wont. So he went up to him and taking him by the hand, embraced him and kissed him; then he brought out of his purse two diners and said to Alaeddin, “Go to thy mother and give her these two diners and say to her, ‘My uncle would fain sup with us; so take these two diners and make a good supper.’ But first show me once more the way to your house.” “On my head and eyes, O my uncle,” answered Alaeddin and foregoing him, showed him the way to the house. Then the Maugrabin left him and went his way, whilst Alaeddin returned home and telling his mother [what had passed], gave her the two diners and said to her, ” My uncle would fain sup with us.” So she arose forthright and went out to the market, where she bought all that was needful and returning home, borrowed of her neighbours that which she required of platters and the like and proceeded to make ready for supper.

When the time of the evening-meal came, she said to Alaeddin, ” O my son, the supper [FN#169] is ready and maybe shine uncle knoweth not the way to the house. Go thou and meet him.” And he answered her with “Hearkening and obedience.” But, whilst they were in talk, behold, there came a knocking at the door; whereupon Alaeddin went out and opening, found the Maugrabin enchanter, and with him a slave bearing wine and fruits. So he brought them in and the slave went his way, whilst the Maugrabin entered and saluted Alaeddin’s mother; then he fell a-weeping and said to her, “Where is the place in which my brother was wont to sit?” She pointed him to her husband’s sitting-place, whereupon he went thither and prostrating himself, fell to kissing the earth and saying, “Alas, how scant is my delight and how sorry my fortune, since I have lost thee, O my brother and apple [FN#170] of mine eye!” And the abode on this wise, weeping and lamenting, till Alaeddin’s mother was certified that he was in earnest and that he was like to swoon of the excess of his wailing and his lamentation. So she came to him and raised him from the ground, saying, “What profiteth it that thou shouldst kill thyself?” And [FN#171] she proceeded to comfort him and made him sit down.

Then, before she laid the table, the Maugrabin fell to relating to her [his history] and said to her, “O wife of my brother, let it not amaze thee that in all thy days thou never sawest me neither knewest of me in my late brother’s lifetime, for that I left this country forty years agone and became an exile from my native land. I journeyed to the lands of Hind and Sind and all the country of the Arabs and coming presently into Egypt, sojourned awhile in the magnificent city [of Cairo], which is the wonder of the world. [FN#172] Ultimately I betook myself to the land of Hither Barbary [FN#173] and sojourned there thirty years’ space, [FN#174] till one day of the days, as I sat, [FN#175] O wife of my brother, I bethought me of my country and my native place and of my late brother and longing waxed on me to see him and I fell a-weeping and lamenting over my strangerhood and distance from him. In fine, my yearning for him importuned me till I resolved to journey to this country, the which was the falling- place of my head [FN#176] and my native land, that I might see my brother. And I said in myself, “O man, how long wilt thou be an exile [FN#177] from thy country and thy native place, whenas thou hast an only brother and no more? Arise and journey and look upon him ere thou die. Who knoweth the calamities of fate and the vicissitudes of the days? Sore pity ’twere that thou shouldst die and not see thy brother. Moreover, Allah (praised be He) hath given thee abundant wealth and it may be thy brother is in poor case and straitened, and thou wilt help him, an [FN#178] thou see him.” So I arose forthright and equipped myself for travel; then, reciting the Fatiheh [FN#179], I took horse, after the Friday prayer, and came, after many hardships and fatigues,–which I suffered, till the Lord (to whom belong might and majesty) protected [me],–to this city. I entered it and as I went about its thoroughfares the day before yesterday, I saw my brother’s son Alaeddin playing with the boys; and by Allah the Great, O wife of my brother, when I saw him, my heart crave to him, for that blood yearneth unto blood, and my soul foreboded me he was my brother’s son. At his sight I forgot all my toils and troubles and was like to fly for joy; then, when he told me that my late brother had departed to the mercy of God the Most High, I swooned away for stress of grief and chagrin; and most like he hath told thee of that which overcame me. [FN#180] But I comforted myself somewhat with Alaeddin, who standeth in stead of [FN#181] the departed, for that whoso leaveth [a successor] [FN#182] dieth not.”

Then, [FN#183] when he saw her weeping at this speech, he turned to Alaeddin, by way of making her forget the mention of her husband and feigning to comfort her, so he might the better accomplish his device upon her, and said to him, “O my son Alaeddin, what hast thou learned of crafts and what is thy business? Hast thou learned thee a trade whereby thou mayst live, thou and thy mother?” At this Alaeddin was confounded and abashed and hung down his head, bowing it to the ground, whilst his mother said to the Maugrabin, “How? By Allah, he knoweth nought at all! So graceless a lad I never saw. All day long he goeth about with the vagabond boys of the quarter like himself; nay, his father, woe is me, died not but of his chagrin concerning him; and now, as for me, my case is woeful. I spin cotton and toil night and day, to earn two cakes of bread, that we may eat them together. This, then, is his condition, O my brother-in-law, and by thy life, he cometh not in to me save at eating-times, and I am thinking to bolt the door of my house and not open to him and let him go seek his living for himself, for that I am grown an old woman and have no strength left to toil and provide for the maintenance of a fellow like this. [FN#184] By Allah, I get mine own livelihood, I that need one who shall maintain me.” [FN#185]

Therewithal the Maugrabin turned to Alaeddin and said to him, “How is this, O son of my brother? It is a disgrace to thee to go vagabonding about in this abjection. This befitteth not men like thee. Thou art gifted with understanding, O my son, and the child of [reputable] folk; [FN#186] I and it is a shame upon thee that thy mother, who is an old woman, should toil for thy maintenance, now thou art grown a man. Nay, it behoveth thee get thee some means whereby thou mayst maintain thyself, O my son. See, by God’s grace, (praised be He) here in our city be masters of crafts, nowhere is there a place more abounding in them: choose, then, the craft which pleaseth thee and I will establish thee therein, so that, when thou growest up, O my son, thou mayst find thee thy craft whereby thou shalt live. Belike thou hast no mind to thy father’s trade; so choose other than it. Tell me the craft which pleaseth thee and I will help thee in all that is possible, O son of my brother.” Then, seeing that Alaeddin was silent and answered him nothing, he knew that he had no mind to any craft at all and recked of nothing but vagabondage and said to him, “O son of my brother, be not abashed at me; [FN#187] if so be withal [FN#188] thou caress not to learn a trade, I will open thee a merchant’s shop of the costliest stuffs and thou shalt make thyself acquainted with [FN#189] the folk [FN#190] and shalt give and take and sell and buy and become known in the city.”

When Alaeddin heard these words of his uncle the Maugrabin, to wit, that it was his intent to make him a merchant, [FN#191] a trader, [FN#192] he rejoiced exceedingly, well knowing that all merchants’ apparel is neat and elegant; [FN#193] so he looked at the Maugrabin and smiled and bowed his head, as who should say, “I am content.” The [FN#194] magician, seeing him smile, knew that he was content to be a merchant and said to him, “Since thou art content that I should make thee a merchant and open thee a shop, be a man, O son of my brother, and to-morrow, God willing, I will take thee first to the market and let cut thee an elegant suit of clothes such as merchants wear; and after that I will look thee out a shop and perform my promise to thee.” Now Alaeddin’s mother was in some little doubt as to the Maugrabin; but, when she heard his promise to her son that he would open him a shop as a merchant with stuffs and capital and what not else, she concluded that he was in very deed her brother-in-law, inasmuch as a stranger would not do thus with her son. So she fell to admonishing her son and exhorting him to put away ignorance and folly from his head and be a man, and bade him still yield obedience to his uncle, as he were his father, and apply himself to make up the time which he had wasted in idleness [with] those who were like him, after which she arose and laying the table, spread the evening-meal and they all sat down and fell to eating and drinking, whilst the Maugrabin talked with Alaeddin upon matters of merchandry and the like. Then, when he saw that the night was far spent, [FN#195] he arose and went to his lodging, promising to return in the morning and take Alaeddin, so he might let cut him a merchant’s suit.

Alaeddin slept not that night for joy and when it was morning, behold, the Maugrabin knocked at the door. The lad’s mother arose and opened to him; however, he would not enter, but sought Alaeddin, that he might take him with him to the market. So Alaeddin went out to him and gave him good-morning and kissed his hand; whereupon the Maugrabin took him by the hand and going with him to the market, entered the shop of a seller of all manner of clothes and demanded a suit of costly stuffs. The merchant brought him what he sought, all sewn and ready, and the Maugrabin said to Alaeddin, “Choose that which pleaseth thee, O my son.” Alaeddin rejoiced exceedingly, when he saw that his uncle gave him his choice, and chose clothes to his mind, such as pleased him. The Maugrabin at once paid the merchant their price and going out, carried Alaeddin to the bath, where they bathed and came forth and drank wine. [FN#196] Then Alaeddin arose and donned the new suit; whereat he rejoiced and was glad and coming up to his uncle, kissed his hand and thanked him for his bounties. After [FN#197] this the Maugrabin carried him to the bazaar of the merchants and showed him the market and the selling and buying and said to him, ” O my son, it behoveth thee consort with the folk, especially with the merchants, so thou mayst learn of them merchandry, since this is become thy craft.”

Then he took him again and showed him the city and the mosques and all the sights of the place; after which he carried him to a cook’s shop, where the morning-meal was set before them in silver platters. So they ate and drank till they had enough and going forth, fared on, whilst the Maugrabin proceeded to show Alaeddin the pleasaunces and fine buildings, [FN#198] going in with him to the Sultan’s palace and showing him all the fair and fine quarters [FN#199] [of the city]; after which he carried him to the Khan of the stranger merchants, where he himself lodged. and invited certain of the merchants who were in the Khan. Accordingly they came and sat down to supper, and he informed them that this was his brother’s son and that his name was Alaeddin. Then, after they had eaten and drunken, the night being now come, the Maugrabin arose and taking Alaeddin, carried him back to his mother.

When she saw her son as he were one of the merchants, her wit fled [and she waxed] sorrowful for gladness and fell to extolling the Maugrabin’s bounty and saying to him, “O my brother-in-law, I might not suffice [to thy deserts,] though I thanked thee all my life long and praised thee for the good thou hast done with my son.” “O wife of my brother,” answered he, “this is no manner of kindness in me, [FN#200] for that this is my son and it behoveth me stand in the stead of my brother his father; so be thou easy.” Quoth she, “I pray God, by the glory of the ancients [FN#201] and the moderns, that He let thee [live] and continue thee, O my brother-in-law, and prolong me thy life, so thou mayst be [as] a wing [FN#202] to this orphan boy; and he shall still be under thine obedience and thy commandment and shall do nought but that which thou biddest him.” “O wife of my brother,” rejoined the Maugrabin, “Alaeddin is a man of understanding and [the son of] decent folk, and my hope is in God that he will follow in his father’s footsteps and be the solace of shine eyes; [FN#203] but it irketh me that, to-morrow being Friday, I cannot open him a shop. It being congregation day, all the merchants will go out after prayers to the gardens and pleasaunces; but, God willing, on Saturday, an it please the Creator, we will do our business. Tomorrow I will come to you and take Alaeddin, that I may show him the gardens and pleasaunces without the city,–it may be he hath not yet seen them,–and he shall see the merchant-folk and the notables a-pleasuring there, so he may become acquainted with them and they with him.” [FN#204]

The [FN#205] Maugrabin lay the night in his lodging; and on the morrow he came to the tailor’s house and knocked at the door. Alaeddin–of the excess of his joy in the clothes he had donned and of the pleasures he had enjoyed on the past day, what with the bath and eating and drinking and viewing the folk and the thought that his uncle was coming in the morning to take him and show him the gardens–slept not that night neither closed an eye and thought the day would never break. [FN#206] So, when he heard a knocking at the door, he went out at once in haste, like a spark of fire, and opening, found his uncle the Maugrabin. The latter embraced him and kissed him and took him by the hand, saying, “O son of my brother, to-day I will show thee a thing such as thou never sawest in thy life.” Then they went off together and the Maugrabin fell to making merry with [FN#207] Alaeddin and amusing him with familiar talk. They went forth the gate of the city and the Maugrabin proceeded to walk with him among the gardens and to show him the fine pleasaunces and marvellous high-builded palaces; and whenassoever they looked upon a garden or a palace [FN#208] or a pavilion, [FN#209] he would stand and say to Alaeddin, “Doth this please thee, O my son Alaeddin?”

Alaeddin was like to fly for joy, inasmuch as he saw that which he had never in his life seen, and they gave not over walking and gazing till they were weary, when they entered a fine garden there, that cheered the heart and brightened the eye with its springs [FN#210] welling up among flowers and its waters issuing from the mouths of lions of brass like unto gold, and sitting down by a lake, rested awhile. As for Alaeddin, he rejoiced and was exceeding glad and fell a-jesting with the Mangrabin and making merry with him, as he were his uncle in very deed. Then the latter arose and loosing his girdle, brought out therefrom a bag full of victual and fruit and the like and said to Alaeddin, “O son of my brother, thou art maybe anhungred; come, eat what thou wilt.” So Alaeddin proceeded to eat and the Maugrabin with him and they were gladdened and refreshed and their souls were cheered. Then said the Maugrabin, “Rise, O my son, an thou be rested, so we may walk a little and fare onward.” [FN#211] So Alaeddin arose and the Maugrabin walked on with him from garden to garden till they had passed them all and came to a high mountain. [FN#212]

Now Alaeddin had never gone forth the gate of the city nor in all his life had he walked the like of that walk; so he said to the Maugrabin, “O my uncle, whither are we going? See, we have left all the gardens behind us and are come to the foot of a mountain. [FN#213] If the way be [yet] far, I have no strength left me for walking, for that I am worn out with fatigue and there remain no more gardens before us; so let us turn back and return to the city.” “O my son,” replied the Maugrabin, “this is the way and the gardens are not yet at an end, for we are going [FN#214] to view a garden, whose like is not with the kings and compared with which all these which thou hast seen are as nothing. So gird up thy loins [FN#215] for walking; praised be God, thou art a man.” And he fell to amusing him with fair words and telling him rare stories, true and false, till they reached the place at which this Maugrabin enchanter aimed and in quest whereof he was come from Barbary [FN#216] to the land of China; whereupon, “O son of my brother,” quoth he to Alaeddin, “sit and rest thee; this is the place for which we were making; and now, please God, I will show thee marvellous things, the like whereof no one in the world hath seen, nor hath any looked upon that which thou art about to behold. But [FN#217] do thou, after thou art rested, arise and seek sticks and grass and reeds and such like matters as are small and dry, so we may kindle a fire, and I will cause thee look, O son of my brother, upon a thing which passeth understanding.” [FN#218]

When Alaeddin heard this, he yearned to see what his uncle was about to do; so he forgot his fatigue and rising forthright, fell to gathering brushwood and dry sticks and gathered till the Maugrabin said to him, “Enough, O son of my brother.” Then he brought out of his pocket a casket, from which he took what he needed of perfumes, and proceeded to make fumigations and conjurations, speaking words that might not be understanded; and straightway it darkened and thundered and the earth quaked and opened. At this Alaeddin was sore affrighted and would have fled; which when the Maugrabin enchanter saw, he was exceeding, incensed at him, for that without Alaeddin his labour was of none avail, since the treasure whereat he sought to come might not be opened save by means of the lad. So, when he saw him offer to flee, he rose to him and lifting his hand, smote him on his head, that he came nigh to knock out his teeth; whereupon Alaeddin swooned away and fell upon the earth; but, after a little, he recovered his senses, by the virtue of the Maugrabin’s enchantments, and falling a-weeping, said to him, “O my uncle, what have I done to deserve from thee this blow?” The Maugrabin proceeded to soothe him and said to him, “O my son, it is my desire to make thee a man; so cross me not, for that I am thine uncle and as it were thy father; wherefore do thou obey me in that which I shall say to thee, and after a little thou shalt forget all this travail and annoy, whenas thou lookest upon things marvellous.”

Now, when the earth clove in sunder before the enchanter, there appeared to him an alabaster slab and in it a ring of molten brass; [FN#219] so he turned to Alaeddin and said to him, “An thou do that which I shall tell thee, thou shalt become richer than all the kings; and on this account, O my son, I beat thee, for that here is a treasure and it is in thy name, and thou, thou wouldst fain have passed it by and fled. But now collect thy wits [FN#220] and see how I have opened the earth by my conjurations and incantations. Under [FN#221] yonder stone, wherein is the ring, is the treasure whereof I have told thee; so do thou put thy hand to the ring and lift the slab, for that none of mankind can open it but thou and none but thou can set his foot within this treasure, since it is guarded for thee. But needs must thou hearken from me that which I shall teach thee and lose not [FN#222] a syllable of my speech. Marry, all this, O my son, is for thy good, for that this is an exceeding great treasure, the kings of the world possess not its like, and it is thine and mine.” So poor Alaeddin forgot fatigue and beating and weeping, of his amazement at the Maugrabin’s speech and joy that he should become rich after such a measure that even the kings would be no wealthier than he, and said to him, “O my uncle, command me all thou wilt, for I will be obedient unto thy commandment.” And the Maugrabin said to him, “O son of my brother, thou art as my very son, nay, dearer, for being my brother’s son. I have no kindred other than thyself and thou art my natural heir and successor, O my son.”

Therewith he came up to Alaeddin and kissed him. saying, “All these my toils, whom do they concern? [FN#223] They are all for thy sake, O my son, that I may make [FN#224] thee a man rich and great [FN#225] exceedingly; so gainsay me not in aught that I shall tell thee; but go up to yonder ring and raise it, as I bade thee.” “O my uncle,” quoth Alaeddin, “this stone is heavy; I cannot raise it of myself, [FN#226] so come thou also and help me raise it, for I am little of years.” “O son of my brother,” replied the Maugrabin, “it will not be possible for us to do aught, an I help thee, and our toil will be wasted in vain; but do thou put thy hand to the ring and raise it and it will immediately come up with thee; for, as I said to thee, none may handle it but thou. But, when thou raisest it, name thine own name and those of thy father and mother and it will straightway rise with thee, nor shalt thou feel its weight.”

Accordingly, Alaeddin took courage and summoning his resolution, did as the Maugrabin bade him and raised the slab with all ease, whenas he pronounced his own name and those of his father and his mother. So the stone came up and he threw it aside; whereupon [FN#227] there appeared to him an underground place and its door, whereas one entered by a stair of some dozen steps, and the Maugrabin said to him, “O Alaeddin, give heed [FN#228] and do punctually that which I shall tell thee, neither fail of aught thereof. Go down with all circumspection into yonder vault till thou come to the bottom thereof and thou wilt find there a place divided into four chambers, [FN#229] in each of which thou wilt see four jars of gold and others of native ore and silver. Beware lest thou handle them or take aught therefrom, but pass them by till thou come to the fourth chamber, and let not thy clothes or thy skirts touch the jars, no, nor the walls, and stay not one moment; for, an thou do contrary to this, thou wilt forthright be transformed and wilt become a black stone. When thou comest to the fourth chamber, thou wilt find there a door; open it and speak the names which thou spokest over the slab; then enter and thou wilt find thyself in a garden, all adorned with trees and fruits. Thence do thou fare on some fifty cubits in the path thou wilt find before thee and thou wilt come to a dais, [FN#230] with [FN#231] a stair of some thirty steps. Above the dais thou [FN#232] wilt find a lamp hung up; take it and pour out the oil that is therein and put it in thy sleeve; [FN#233] and fear not for thy clothes therefrom, for that it [FN#234] is not oil. And as thou returnest, thou mayst pluck from the trees what thou wilt, for that it is thine, what while the lamp abideth in thy hand.”

When the Maugrabin had made an end of his speech, he drew from his finger a ring and putting it on Alaeddin’s finger, said to him, “And this ring, O, my son, shall deliver thee from all hurt and all fear that may betide thee, provided thou observe all that I have said to thee. So now arise and go down; gird thy loins and summon up thy resolution and fear not, for that thou art a man and not a child; and after this, O my son, thou shalt in a little time become the richest of mankind.” So Alaeddin arose and going down into the underground, found the four chambers and in each four jars of gold. He passed them by with all care and precaution, even as the Maugrabin had bidden him, and entering the garden, fared on there through till he came to the dais and mounting the stair, entered [FN#235] and found the lamp. So he quenched it and pouring out the oil that was therein, put it in his sleeve; then, going down into the garden, he fell to gazing upon its trees, whereon were birds extolling with their songs [FN#236] the perfection of the Great Creator, and he had not seen them as he entered. Now the fruits of these trees were all precious stones, each tree bearing fruit of one colour and kind of jewel, and these fruits were of all colours, green and white and yellow and red and what not else of colours. Their glitterance outshone the rays of the sun in its forenoon splendour and the bigness of each jewel overpassed description; suffice it that not one of them might be found with the greatest of the kings of the world, [FN#237] no, nor a gem half the bigness of the smallest that was there.

Alaeddin [FN#238] entered among the trees and proceeded to gaze upon them and upon these things which amazed the sight and ravished the sense and observing them, saw that, instead of fruits, they bore magnificent jewels from the mines, emeralds and diamonds and rubies and pearls and topazes [FN#239] and the like of precious stones, such as confounded the wit. Now, for that this was a thing Alaeddin had never in his life seen, neither was he of ripe age, so he should know the value of these jewels, by reason of his being yet a young lad, he thought that they were all glass or crystal; so he gathered of them what filled his sleeves [FN#240] and fell to looking an they were grapes or figs and the like of fruits that might be eaten or not; but, finding them like glass, he proceeded to gather in his sleeve [FN#241] of every kind that was upon the trees, albeit he knew not jewels nor their worth, saying in himself, since he had been baulked in his intent of eating, “I will gather of these fruits of glass and will play with them at home.” Accordingly he proceeded to pluck and put in his pockets [FN#242] and his sleeves [FN#243] till he filled them; after which he filled his girdle with the fruits and girt himself withal; in fine, he carried off as much as he might, purposing to lay them up with him in the house by way of ornament, for that he thought them glass, as I have said. Then he quickened his pace, of his fear of his uncle the Maugrabin, and hastened through the four chambers and the [outer] vault nor looked, as he returned, at the jars of gold, albeit he might now have taken of them. [FN#244]

When he came to the stair [FN#245] and ascended it and there remained to him but a small matter, to wit, the last step, which was much higher than the others, he could not avail to mount it of himself, having regard to that which he was carrying; so he said to the Maugrabin, “O my uncle, give me thy hand and help me up.” Quoth he, “O my son, give me the lamp and lighten thyself; maybe it is that which hindereth thee.” “Nay, O my uncle,” answered Alaeddin, “the lamp hindereth me nought; but do thou give me thy hand and when I am up, I will give thee the lamp.” The enchanter, who wanted the lamp and that only, fell to urging Alaeddin to give it him; but the latter, having wrapped it within his clothes, with purses [FN#246] of jewel-fruits atop of it, [FN#247] could not reach it with his hand, so he might give it him. [FN#248] The [FN#249] Maugrabin was instant with him to give him the lamp and was like to lose his wits for rage, seeing he attained not his object, albeit Alaeddin still promised him that he would give it him as soon as he was forth of the vault, [and that] without lying thought or ill intent. Then, when he saw that Alaeddin would not give it him, he was angry with an exceeding anger and abandoning all hope of the lamp, conjured and enchanted and cast perfumes into the midst of the fire; whereupon the slab immediately turned over [FN#250] and shut [FN#251] of itself by the might of his enchantments; the earth covered it like as it was before and Alaeddin abode under the ground, unable to come forth.

Thus the enchanter–forasmuch as he was a stranger and no uncle of Alaeddin, as he said, but had counterfeited himself and avouched leasing, so he might get the lamp by means of the lad, unto whom that treasure was fortuned by the stars-shut up [FN#252] the earth upon him and left him to die of hunger. Now this accursed Maugrabin wizard was from the city of Africa [FN#253] in Hither Barbary and had from his childhood been addicted to magic and all the occult arts, for which the city in question is renowned. He ceased not from his tenderest years to study and learn in his native land Africa till he became versed in all sciences, and of the much skill and proficiency which he acquired, by dint of study and application for the space of forty years, in the matter of incantations and conjurations, it was discovered to him, [FN#254] one day of the days, that among the uttermost of the cities of China was a city called El Kelaas and in this city a vast treasure, the like whereof no king of the kings of the world ever possessed; but the rarest [was] that in this treasure [was] [FN#255] a wonderful lamp, [FN#256] whereat if one should come, there might no man be found on earth richer than he, whether in might or in wealth, nor might the greatest king in the world avail unto aught of the riches of this lamp and its puissance and virtue. Moreover [FN#257] he saw that this treasure was to be achieved by means of a lad of mean birth, by name Alaeddin, who was of the city aforesaid, and that it was eath to take and unarduous: so he tarried not, but equipped himself forthright for the voyage to China, as we have said, and did that which he did with Alaeddin, thinking to come by the lamp. But his endeavour was baffled and his expectation baulked and his toil wasted in vain; whereupon he sought to kill Alaeddin and closed up the earth upon him by his sorcery, so he might die (and the live hath no slayer [FN#258]); moreover, he purposed by this that