The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume 01 by Richard F. BurtonA Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments (page 3)

Mourn for the younglings of the grouse; lament unceasingly, As, for the omelettes and the fowls browned in the pan, do I. How my heart yearneth for the fish, that in its different kinds, Upon a paste of wheaten flour lay hidden in the pie! Praised be God for the roast meat! As in the dish it lay, With pot-herbs, soaked in vinegar, in porringers hard by! My hunger was appeased: I lay, intent upon the gleam Of arms that in the frumenty were buried bracelet high. I woke my sleeping appetite to eat, as ’twere in jest, Of all the tarts that, piled on trays, shone fair unto the eye. O soul, have patience! For indeed, Fate full of marvel is: If fortune straiten thee one day, the next relief is nigh.

Then I rose and seated myself at a distance, whilst the King read what I had written and marvelled and said “Strange that an ape should be gifted with such fluency and skill in penmanship! By Allah, this is a wonder of wonders!” Then they set choice wine before the King in flagons of glass; and he drank, then passed the cup to me; and I kissed the earth and drank and wrote the following verses:

They burnt me[FN#33] with fire, to make me speak, And found me patient and debonair.
For this I am borne on men’s hands on high And kiss the rosy lips of the fair!

And these also:

Morn struggles through the dusk; so pour me out, I pray, Of wine, such wine as makes the saddest-hearted gay! So pure and bright it is, that whether wine in glass Or glass in wine be held, i’ faith, ’tis hard to say.

The King read them and said, with a sigh, “If a man had this quickness of wit, he would excel all the folk of his age and time.” Then he called for a chess-board and said to me, “Wilt thou play with me?” I signed with my head as who should say, “Yes,” and came forward and placed the men and played two games with him, each of which I won, much to his amazement. Then I took the pen and wrote the following verses:

Two hosts throughout the live-long day contend in deadly fight, That waxes ever till the shades of night upon them creep; Then, when the darkness puts an end at last unto their strife, Upon one couch and side by side, they lay them down to sleep.

These verses filled the King with wonder and delight, and he said to the eunuch, “Go to thy mistress, the Lady of Beauty, and bid her come and amuse herself with the sight of this wonderful ape.” So the eunuch went out and presently returned with the lady, who, when she saw me, veiled her face, and said, “O my father, how comes it that thou art pleased to send for me and show me to strange men?” “O my daughter,” said he, “there is none here save the little slave and the eunuch who reared thee and myself, thy father. From whom then dost thou veil thy face?” Quoth she, “This that thou deemest an ape is a wise and learned man, the son of a king; the Afrit Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis enchanted him thus, after putting to death his own wife, the daughter of King Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands.” At this the King wondered and turning to me, said, “Is this true that she says of thee?” And I signed with my head, as who should say, “Yes;” and wept. Then said he to his daughter, “Whence knewest thou that he was enchanted?” “O my father,” answered she, “there was with me, in my childhood, an old woman who was skilled in magic and taught me its rules and practice; and I became skilled therein and committed to memory a hundred and seventy magical formulas, by the least of which I could transport the stones of thy?? behind the mountain Caf and make its site an abyss of the sea and its people fishes swimming in its midst.” “O my daughter,” said her father, “I conjure thee, by my life, to disenchant this young man, that I may make him my Vizier, for he is a right pleasant and ingenious youth.” “With all my heart,” replied she, and taking a knife, on which were engraved Hebrew characters, drew therewith a circle in the midst of the hall and wrote there in names and talismans and muttered words and charms, some of which we understood and others not. Presently the world darkened upon us, and the Afrit presented himself before us in his own shape and aspect, with hands like pitchforks legs like masts and eyes like flames of fire. We were affrighted at him, but the princess said to him, “An ill welcome to thee, O dog!” Whereupon he took the form of a lion and said to her, “O traitress, thou hast broken thy compact with me! Did we not swear that neither of us should molest the other?” “O accursed one,” answered she, “how could there be a compact between me and the like of thee?” “Then,” said he, “take what thou hast brought on thyself.” And opening his mouth, rushed upon her: but she made haste and plucked a hair from her head and waved it in the air, muttering the while; and it at once became a sharp sword, with which she smote the lion and cut him in two. His head became a scorpion, whereupon the princess transformed herself into a great serpent and fell upon the scorpion and there befell a sore battle between them. Presently the scorpion changed to an eagle, and the serpent at once became a griffin, which pursued the eagle a long while, till the latter became a black cat. Thereupon the griffin became a piebald wolf and they fought long and sore, till the cat finding itself beaten, changed into a worm and crept into a pomegranate which lay beside the fountain in the midst of the hall whereupon the pomegranate swelled till it was as big as a watermelon. The wolf ran to seize it, but it rose into the air and falling on the pavement, broke in pieces, and all the seeds fell out and rolled hither and thither, till the floor was covered with them. Then the wolf shook itself and became a cock, which fell to picking up the seeds, till they were all gone, except one that, by the decree of Fate, had rolled to the side of the basin and lay hidden there. The cock began to crow and clap its wings and signed to us with his beak, as who should say, “Are there any grains left?” But we understood him not; and he gave such a cry that we thought the palace would fall on us. Then he ran about all over the hall, till he saw the remaining pomegranate-seed, and rushed to pick it up, but it sprang into the midst of the water and became a fish, which sank to the bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock became big fish and plunged in after the other; and we saw nothing of them for a time, but heard a loud crying and screaming and trembled. Presently the Afrit rose out of the water, as he were one great flame, with fire and smoke issuing from his mouth and eyes and nostrils. Immediately after, the princess rose also, like a great coal of fire, and they fought till they were wrapped in flames and the hall was filled with smoke. As for us, we were well-nigh suffocated and hid ourselves and would have plunged into the water, fearing lest we be burnt up and destroyed: and the King said, “There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! We are God’s and to Him we return! Would God I had not urged my daughter to attempt the delivery of this ape, whereby I have imposed on her this fearful labour with yonder accursed Afrit, against whom all the other Afrits in the world could not prevail! And would we had never seen this ape, may God’s blessing not be on him nor on the hour of his coming! We thought to do him a kindness for the love of God, by freeing him from this enchantment, and lo, we have brought this terrible travail upon ourselves!” But my tongue was tied and I could not say a word to him. Suddenly, the Afrit roared out from under the flames and coming up to us, as we stood on the dais, blew fire in our faces. The princess pursued him and blew flames at him, and the sparks from them both fell upon us; her sparks did us no hurt, but of his one lighted on my right eye and destroyed it; another fell on the King’s face and scorched the lower part, burning away half his beard and making his under teeth drop out, and a third lighted on the eunuch’s breast and set him on fire, so that he was consumed and died forthright. So we despaired of life and looked for nothing but death; but presently we heard a voice exclaiming, “God is most great! He giveth aid and victory to the true believer and abandoneth him who denieth the religion of Mohammed, the Moon of the Faith!” And lo, the King’s daughter had burnt up the Afrit and he was become a heap of ashes! Then she came up to us and said, “Bring me a cup of water.” They did so: and she spoke over the water words we understood not and sprinkled me with it, saying, “By the virtue of the Truth and of the Most Great Name of God, return to thine original shape!” And immediately I shook and became a man as before, save that I had lost my right eye. Then she cried out, “The fire! The fire! O my father, I have but an instant to live, for I am not used to fight with Jinn: had he been a man, I had slain him long ago. I had no travail till the time when the pomegranate burst asunder and I overlooked the seed in which was the genie’s life. Had I picked it up, he would have died at once; but as fate and destiny would have it, I knew not of this, so that he came upon me unawares and there befell between us a sore strife under the earth and in the air and in the water: and as often as I opened on him a gate[FN#34] (of magic), he opened on me another, till at last he opened on me the gate of fire, and seldom does he on whom the gate of fire is opened escape alive. But Providence aided me against him, so that I consumed him first, after I had summoned him to embrace the faith of Islam. As for me, I am a dead woman and may God supply my place to you!” Then she called upon God for help and ceased not to implore relief from the fire, till presently a tongue of fierce flame broke out from her clothes and shot up to her breast and thence to her face. When it reached her face, she wept and said, “I testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is the apostle of God!” And we looked at her and behold, she was a heap of ashes beside those of the genie. We mourned for her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I not seen the fair-faced one who had done me this good office reduced to ashes; but there is no averting the decree of God. When the King saw what had befallen his daughter, he plucked out the rest of his beard and buffeted his face and rent his clothes; and I did the like, and we both wept for her. Then came in the chamberlains and grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of ashes and the Sultan in a swoon. So they stood round him till he revived and told them what had happened, whereat they were sore afflicted and the women and slave-girls shrieked aloud and kept up their lamentation for the space of seven days. Moreover, the King bade build a great dome over his daughter’s ashes and burn therein candles and lamps: but the Afrit’s ashes they scattered to the winds, committing them to the malediction of God. The King was sick, well-nigh unto death, for a month’s space, after which health returned to him and His beard grew again. Then he sent for me and said to me, “O youth, verily we led the happiest of lives, safe from the vicissitudes of fortune, till thou camest to us, when troubles flocked upon us. O that we had never seen thee nor the ugly face of thee! For through our taking pity on thee, we are come to this state of bereavement. I have lost, on thine account, first, my daughter, who was worth a hundred men; secondly, I have suffered what befell me by the fire and the loss of my teeth, and my eunuch also is dead. I do not indeed blame thee for aught of this; for all was decreed of God to us and to thee; and praised be He that my daughter delivered thee, though at the cost of her own life! But now, O my son, depart from my city and let what has befallen us on thine account suffice. Depart in peace, and if I see thee again I will kill thee.” And he cried out at me. So I went forth from his presence, knowing not whither I should go, and hardly believing in my escape. And I recalled all that had befallen me from first to last and thanked God that it was my eye that I had lost and not my life. Before I left the town, I entered the bath and shaved my head and put on a hair-cloth garment. Then I fared forth at a venture, and every day I recalled all the misfortunes that had befallen me and wept and repeated the following verses:

By the Compassionate, I’m dazed and know not where I go. Griefs flock on me from every side, I know not whence they grow. I will endure till patience’ self less patient is than I: I will have patience till it please the Lord to end my woe. A vanquished man, without complaint, my doom I will endure, As the parched traveller in the waste endures the torrid glow. I will endure till aloes'[FN#35] self confess that I, indeed, Can ‘gainst a bitt’rer thing abide than even it can show. There is no bitt’rer thing; and yet if patience play me false, It were to me a bitt’rer thing than all the rest, I trow. The wrinkles graven on my heart would speak my hidden pain If through my breast the thought could pierce and read what lies below.
Were but my load on mountains laid, they’d crumble into dust; On fire it would be quenched outright; on wind, ‘twould cease to blow.
Let who will say that life is sweet; to all there comes a day When they must needs a bitt’rer thing than aloes[FN#36] undergo.

Then I journeyed through many lands and cities, intending for the Abode of Peace[FN#37], Baghdad, in the hope that I might get speech of the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had befallen me. I arrived here this night and found my brother, this first Calender, standing perplexed; so I saluted him and entered into converse with him. Presently up came our brother, this third Calender, and said to us, “Peace be on you! I am a stranger.” “We also are strangers,” answered we, “and have come hither this blessed night.” So we all three walked on together, none of us knowing the others’ story, till chance brought us to this door and we came in to you. This, then, is my story and the manner of the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.’ Quoth the mistress of the house, ‘Thy story is indeed a rare one: and now begone about thy business.’ But he replied, ‘I will not stir till I hear the others’ stories.’ Then came forward the third Calender and said, ‘O illustrious lady, my history is not like that of these my comrades, but still stranger and more marvellous, in that, whilst destiny and fore-ordained fate overcame them unawares, I with mine own hand drew fate and affliction upon myself, as thou shalt presently hear. Know that

Story of the Third Calender.

I also am a king, the son of a king, and my name is Agib, son of Khesib. My father died, and I took the kingdom after him and ruled my subjects with justice and beneficence. My capital city stood on the shore of a wide spreading sea, on which I had fifty merchant ships and fifty smaller vessels for pleasure and a hundred and fifty cruisers equipped for war; and near at hand were many great islands in the midst of the ocean. Now I loved to sail the sea and had a mind to visit the islands aforesaid so I took ship with a month’s victual and set out and took my pleasure in the islands and returned to my capital Then, being minded to make a longer voyage upon the ocean, I fitted out half a score ships with provision for two months and sailed twenty days, till one night the wind blew contrary and the sea rose against us with great billows; the waves clashed together and there fell on us a great darkness. So we gave ourselves up for lost and I said, “He who perils himself is not to be commended, though he come off safe.” Then we prayed to God and besought Him, but the wind ceased not to rage and the waves to clash together, till daybreak, when the wind fell, the sea became calm and the sun shone out. Presently we sighted an island, where we landed and cooked food and ate and rested two days. Then we set out again and sailed other twenty days, without seeing land; but the currents carried us out of our true course, so that the captain lost his reckoning and finding himself in strange waters, bade the watch go up to the mast-head and look out. So he climbed the mast and looked out and said “O captain, I see nothing to right and left save sky and water, but ahead I see something looming afar off in the midst of the sea, now black and now white.” When the captain heard the look-out’s words, he cast his turban on the deck and plucked out his beard and buffeted his face and said, “O King, we are all dead men, not one of us can be saved.” We all wept for his weeping and I said to him, “O captain, tell us what it is the look-out saw.” “O my lord,” answered he, “know that we lost our way on the night of the storm and since then we have gone astray one-and-twenty days and there is no wind to bring us back to our true course. To-morrow, by the end of the day, we shall come to a mountain of black stone, called loadstone, for thither the currents bear us perforce. As soon as we come within a certain distance, all the nails in the ships will fly out and fasten to the mountain, and the ships will open and fall to pieces, for that God the Most High has gifted the loadstone with a secret virtue, by reason whereof all iron is attracted to it; and on this mountain is much iron, how much God only knows, from the many ships that have been wrecked there from old time. On its summit there stands a dome of brass, raised on ten columns and on the top of the dome are a horse and horseman of the same metal. The latter holds in his hand a brazen lance and on his breast is a tablet of lead, graven with names and talismans: and, O King, it is nought but this horseman that causeth the folk to perish, nor will the charm be broken till he fall from his horse.” Then he wept sore and we all made sure of death and each took leave of his comrade and charged him with his last wishes, in case he should be saved. That night we slept not, and in the morning, we sighted the loadstone mountain, towards which the currents carried us with irresistible force. When the ships came within a certain distance, they opened and the nails started out and all the iron in them sought the loadstone and clove to it; so that by the end of the day, we were all struggling in the sea round the mountain. Some of us were saved, but the most part drowned, and even those who escaped knew not one of the other, being stupefied by the raging wind and the buffeting of the waves. As for me, God preserved me that I might suffer that which He willed to me of trouble and torment and affliction, for I got on a plank from one of the ships and, the wind driving it ashore, I happened on a pathway leading to the top, as it were a stair hewn out of the rock. So I called upon the name of God the Most High and besought His succour and clinging to the steps, addressed myself to climb up little by little. And God stilled the wind and aided me in my ascent, so that I reached the summit in safety. There I found nothing but the dome; so I entered, mightily rejoiced at my escape, and made my ablutions and prayed a two-bow prayer[FN#38] in gratitude to God for my preservation. Then I fell asleep under the dome and saw in a dream one who said to me, “O son of Khesib, when thou awakest, dig under thy feet and thou wilt find a bow of brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismanic characters. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on the top of the dome and rid mankind of this great calamity. When thou shootest at him, he will fall into the sea and the horse will drop at thy feet: take it and bury it in the place of the bow. This done, the sea will swell and rise till it is level with the top of the mountain, and there will appear on it a boat containing a man of brass (other than he whom thou shalt have thrown down), with an oar in his hands. He will come to thee, and do thou embark with him, but beware of naming God. He will row with thee for the space of ten days, till he brings thee to a port of safety, where thou shalt find those who will carry thee to thine own country: and all this shall be fulfilled to thee, so thou pronounce not the name of God.” I started up from my sleep and hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious voice, found the bow and arrows and shot at the horseman and overthrew him; whereupon he fell into the sea, whilst the horse dropped at my feet and I took it and buried it. Then the sea grew troubled and rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to wait before I saw a boat in the midst of the sea coming towards me. So I gave thanks to God: and when the boat came up to me, I saw in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead on his breast, inscribed with names and talismans; and I embarked without saying a word. The boatman rowed on with me for ten whole days, till I caught sight of islands and mountains and signs of safety; whereat I was beyond measure rejoiced and in the excess of my gladness, I called upon the name of the Almighty and exclaimed, “There is no god but God! God is most great!” When behold, the boat turned over and cast me out into the sea, then righted and sank beneath the water. Now, I knew how to swim, so I swam the whole day till nightfall, when my arms and shoulders failed me for fatigue, and I abode in mortal peril and made the profession of the Faith[FN#39], looking for nothing but death. Presently, the sea rose, for the greatness of the wind, and a wave like a great rampart took me and bearing me forward, cast me up on the land, that the will of God might be done. I clambered up the beach and, putting off my clothes, wrung them and spread them out to dry, then lay down and slept all night. As soon as it was day, I put on my clothes and rose to look about me. Presently I came to a grove of trees and making a circuit round it, found that I was on a little island, surrounded on all sides by the sea; whereupon I said to myself, “No sooner do I escape from one peril than I fall into a worse.” But as I was pondering my case and wishing for death, I spied a ship afar off making towards me; so I climbed up into a tree and hid myself among the branches. Presently the ship came to an anchor, and ten slaves landed, bearing spades, and made for the middle of the island, where they dug till they uncovered a trapdoor and raised it. Then they returned to the ship and brought thence bread and flour and oil and honey and meat and carpets and all else that was needed to furnish one dwelling there; nor did they leave going back and forth till they had transferred to the underground dwelling all that was in the ship: after which they again repaired to the vessel and returned, laden with wearing apparel of the finest kind and in their midst a very old man, whom time had mauled till he was wasted and worn, as he were a bone wrapped in a rag of blue cloth, through which the winds blew East and West. As says the poet of him:

Time makes us tremble ah, how piteously! For full of violence and might is he.
Once on a time I walked and was not tired: Now am I tired, yet have not walked, ah me!

He held by the hand a youth cast in the mould of symmetry and perfection, so fair that his beauty might well be the subject of proverbs; for he was like a tender sapling, ravishing every heart with his beauty and seducing every wit with his amorous grace. It was of him the poet spoke, when he said:

Beauty they brought to liken it with him: But Beauty hung its head for shame and fear.
“O Beauty,” said they, “dost thou know his like?” It answered, “Never have I seen his peer.”

They proceeded to the underground, where they descended all and did not reappear for an hour or more, at the end of which time the old man and the slaves came up, without the youth, and replacing the trap-door, covered it again with earth; then returned to the ship and set sail. As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from the tree and going to the place I had seen them fill up, made shift to clear away the earth, till I came to the trap-door, which was of wood, the shape and bigness of a mill-stone, and raised it, when there appeared underneath a winding stair of stone. At this I wondered and descending, came to a fair chamber, spread with various kinds of carpets and hung with silken stuffs, where I saw the youth sitting alone upon a raised couch and leant upon a cushion, with a fan in his hand and sweet-scented flowers and herbs and fruits before him. When he saw me, he turned pale; but I saluted him, saying, “Calm thyself and put away fear; no harm shall come to thee: I am a man like unto thee and a king’s son, whom Providence hath sent to bear thee company in thy solitude. But now tell me thy history and why thou dwellest underground by thyself.” When he was assured that I was of his kind, he was glad and his colour returned; then he made me draw near to him and said, “O my brother, my story is a strange one, and it is as follows. My father is a merchant jeweller, possessed of great wealth and having black and white slaves, who make trading voyages, on his account, in ships and on camels, to the most distant countries; and he has dealings with kings. Until my birth, he had never been blessed with a child, but one night he dreamt that a son had been born to him, who lived but a short time, and awoke weeping and crying out. The following night my mother conceived and he took note of the date of her conception. The days of her pregnancy were accomplished and she gave birth to myself, whereupon my father rejoiced and made banquets and fed the poor and the needy for that I had been vouchsafed to him in his old age. Then he assembled the astrologers and mathematicians of the day and those learned in nativities and horoscopes; and they drew my horoscope and said to my father, ‘Thy son will live till the age of fifteen, at which date there is a break[FN#40] in his line of life, which if he tide over in safety, he shall live long. The danger with which he is threatened is as follows. In the Sea of Peril stands a mountain called the Loadstone Mountain, on whose summit is a horseman of brass, seated on a horse of the same metal, with a tablet of lead on his breast. Fifty days after this horseman falls from his horse, thy son will die, and his slayer will be he who overthrows the statue, a king called Agib, son of Khesib.’ My father was sore concerned at this prediction; but he brought me up and gave me a good education, till I attained my fifteenth year. Ten days ago, news came to him that the horseman had fallen into the sea and that he who overthrew him was Agib, son of King Khesib; whereat he was as one distraught and feared for my life. So he built me this place under the earth and stocking it with all that I need during the forty days that yet remain of the period of danger, transported me hither, that I might be safe from King Agib’s hands. When the forty days are past, he will come back and fetch me; and this is my story and why thou findest me here alone.” When I heard his story, I marvelled and said to myself, “I am that King Agib of whom he speaks; but, by Allah, I will assuredly not kill him!” And I said to him, “O my lord, God willing, thou shalt be spared suffering and death, nor shalt thou see trouble or sorrow or disquiet, for I will abide with thee and serve thee; and when I have borne thee company during the appointed days, I will go with thee to thy dwelling-place and thou shalt bring me to some of thy father’s servants, with whom I may journey to my own country; and God shall requite thee for me.” He rejoiced in my words and we sat conversing till nightfall when I rose and lighted a great wax candle and fed the lamps and set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat talking till late into the night, when he lay down to sleep and I covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning, I rose and heated a little water, then woke him gently and brought him the warm water, with which he washed his face and thanked me, saying, “God requite thee with good, O youth! By Allah, if I escape from this my danger and from him they call Agib ben Khesib, I will make my father reward thee!” “May the day never come on which evil shall befall thee,” answered I, “and may God appoint my last day before thine!” Then I set on food and we ate, and I made ready perfumes with which he scented himself. Moreover, I made him a backgammon board[FN#41], and we played and ate sweetmeats and played again till nightfall when I rose and lighting the lamps, set on food; and we ate and sat talking till the night was far spent. Then he lay down to sleep and I covered him up and went to sleep myself. Thus I did with him, day and night, and the love of him got hold upon my heart and I forgot my troubles and said to myself, “The astrologers lied; by Allah, I will not kill him!” I ceased not to serve him and bear him company and entertain him thus, till nine-and-thirty days were passed and we came to the morning of the fortieth day, when he rejoiced and said to me, “O my brother, the forty days are up to-day, praised be God who hath preserved me from death, and this by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me, and I pray Him to restore thee to thy country! But now, O my brother, I prithee heat me some water, that I may wash my body and change my clothes.” “With all my heart,” answered I; and heated water in plenty and carrying it in to him, washed his body well with lupin- meal[FN#42] and rubbed him down and changed his clothes and spread him a high bed, on which he lay down to rest after the bath. Then said he, “O my brother, cut me a melon and sweeten it with sugar-candy.” So I went to the closet and bringing a fine melon I found there on a platter, said to him, “O my lord, hast thou no knife?” “Here it is,” answered he, “on the high shelf at my head.” So I got up hurriedly and taking the knife, drew it from its sheath; but in stepping down backward, my foot slipped and I fell heavily on the youth, holding in my hand the knife, which hastened to fulfil that which was ordained and entered his heart, and he died forthright. When I saw that he was no more and that I had indeed killed him, I cried out grievously and buffeted my face and tore my clothes, saying, “We are God’s and to Him we return! There remained for this youth but one day of the period of danger that the astrologers had foretold for him, and the death of this fair one was to be at my hand! Verily, my life is nought but disasters and afflictions! Would he had not asked me to cut the melon or would I had died before him! But what God decrees cometh to pass.” When I was certain that there was no life left in him, I rose and ascending the stair, replaced the trap-door and covered it with earth. Then I looked out to sea and saw the ship cleaving the waters in the direction of the island. Whereat I was afeared and said, “They will be here anon and will find their son dead and know ’twas I killed him and will slay me without fail.” So I climbed up into a high tree and hid myself among the leaves. Hardly had I done so, when the vessel came to an anchor and the slaves landed with the old man and made direct for the place, where they cleared away the earth and were surprised to find it soft.[FN#43] Then they raised the trap-door and going down, found the boy lying dead, clad in clean clothes, with his face shining from the bath and the knife sticking in his breast. At this sight, they shrieked aloud and wept and buffeted their faces and cried out, “Alas! woe worth the day!” whilst the old man swooned away and remained so long insensible, that the slaves thought he would not survive his son. So they wrapped the dead youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the ground, covering him with a shroud of silk. Then they addressed themselves to transport all that was in the place to the ship, and presently the old man revived and coming up after them, saw his son laid out, whereupon he fell on the ground and strewed dust on his head and buffeted his face and tore his beard; and his weeping redoubled, as he hung over his dead son, till he swooned away again. After awhile the slaves came back, with a silken carpet, and laying the old man thereon, sat down at his head. All this time I was in the tree above them, watching them; and indeed my heart became hoary before my head, for all the grief and affliction I had undergone. The old man ceased not from his swoon till nigh upon sundown, when he came to himself and looking upon his dead son, recalled what had happened and how what he had feared had come to pass: and he buffeted his face and head and recited the following verses:

My heart is cleft in twain for severance of loves; The burning tears pour down in torrents from my eye. My every wish with him I loved is fled away: What can I do or say? what help, what hope have I?
Would I had never looked upon his lovely face! Alas, the ways on me are straitened far and nigh!
What charm can bring me peace, what drink forgetfulness, Whilst in my heart the fire of love burns fierce and high? Would that my feet had trod with him the road of death! Then should I not, as now, in lonely sorrow sigh. O God, that art my hope, have pity upon me! Unite us twain, I crave, in Paradise for aye!
How blessed were we once, whilst one house held us both And twinned in pure content our happy lives passed by! Till fortune aimed at us the shafts of severance And parted us; for who her arrows can defy?
For lo! the age’s pearl, the darling of his folk, The mould of every grace, was singled out to die!
I call him back: “Would God thine hour had never come!” What while the case takes speech and doth forestall my cry. Which is the speediest way to win to thee, my son! My soul had paid the price, if that thy life might buy. The sun could not compare with him, for lo! it sets. Nor yet the moon that wanes and wasteth from the sky. Alas, my grief for thee and my complaint of fate! None can console for thee nor aught thy place supply. Thy sire is all distraught with languishment for thee; Since death upon thee came, his hopes are gone awry. Surely, some foe hath cast an envious eye on us: May he who wrought this thing his just deserts aby!

Then he sobbed once and gave up the ghost; whereupon the slaves cried out, “Alas, our master!” and strewed dust on their heads and wept sore. Then they carried the two bodies to the ship and set sail. As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from the tree and raising the trap-door, went down into the underground dwelling, where the sight of some of the youth’s gear recalled him to my mind, and I repeated the following verses:

I see their traces and pine for longing pain; My tears rain down on the empty dwelling-place!
And I pray to God, who willed that we should part, One day to grant us reunion, of His grace!

Then I went up again and spent the day in walking about the island, returning to the underground dwelling for the night. Thus I lived for a month, during which time I became aware that the sea was gradually receding day by day from the western side of the island, till by the end of the month, I found that the water was become low enough to afford a passage to the mainland. At this I rejoiced, making sure of delivery, and fording the little water that remained, made shift to reach the mainland, where I found great heaps of sand, in which even a camel would sink up to the knees. However, I took heart and making my way through the sand, espied something shining afar off, as it were a bright- blazing fire. So I made towards it, thinking to find succour and repeating the following verses:

It may be Fate at last shall draw its bridle-rein And bring me happy chance; for Fortune changes still; And things shall happen yet, despite the things fordone, To further forth my hopes and bring me to my will.

When I drew near the supposed fire, behold, it was a palace, with a gate of brass, whereon, when the sun shone, it gleamed and glistened and showed from afar, as it were a fire. I rejoiced at the sight and sat down before the palace gate; but hardly had I done so, when there came up ten young men, sumptuously clad and all blind of the right eye. They were accompanied by an old man; and I marvelled at their appearance and at their being all blind of the same eye. They saluted me and questioned me of my condition, whereupon I told them all that had befallen me. They wondered at my story and carried me into the palace, where I saw ten couches, with beds and coverlets of blue stuff, ranged in a circle, with a like couch of smaller size in the midst. As we entered, each of the young men went up to his own couch, and the old man seated himself on the smaller one in the middle. Then said they unto me, “O youth, sit down on the ground and enquire not of our doings nor of the loss of our right eyes.” Presently the old man rose and brought each one of the young men and myself his portion of meat and drink in separate vessels; and we sat talking, they questioning me of my adventures and I replying, till the night was far spent. Then said they to the old man, “O elder, wilt thou not bring us our ordinary? The time is come.” “Willingly,” answered he, and rose and entering a closet, disappeared and presently returned, bearing on his head ten dishes, each covered with a piece of blue stuff. He set a dish before each youth and lighting ten wax-candles, set one upon each dish; after which he uncovered the dishes, and lo, they were full of ashes and powdered charcoal and soot. Then all the young men tucked up their sleeves and fell to weeping and lamenting; and they blackened their faces and rent their clothes and buffeted their cheeks and beat their breasts, exclaiming “We were seated at our ease, but our impertinent curiosity would not let us be!” They ceased not to do thus till near daybreak, when the old man rose and heated water for them, and they washed their faces and put on fresh clothes. When I saw this, my senses left me for wonderment and my heart was troubled and my mind perplexed, for their strange behaviour, till I forgot what had befallen me and could not refrain from questioning them; so I said to them, “What makes you do thus, after our sport and merry-making together? Praised be God, ye are whole of wit, yet these are the doings of madmen! I conjure you, by all that is most precious to you, tell me why you behave thus and how ye came to lose each an eye!” At this, they turned to me and said, “O young man, let not thy youth beguile thee, but leave thy questioning.” Then they slept and I with them, and when we awoke, the old man served up food; and after we had eaten and the vessels had been removed, we sat conversing till nightfall, when the old man rose and lit the candles and lamps and set meat and drink before us. We ate and sat talking and carousing till midnight, when they said to the old man, “Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at hand.” So he rose and brought them the dishes of soot and ashes, and they did as they had done on the preceding night. I abode with them on this wise for a month, during which time they blackened their faces every night, then washed them and changed their clothes and my trouble and amazement increased upon me till I could neither eat nor drink. At last, I lost patience and said to them, “O young men, if ye will not relieve my concern and acquaint me with the reason of your blackening your faces and the meaning of your words, ‘We were seated at our ease, but our impertinent curiosity would not let us be,’ let me leave you and return to my own people and be at rest from seeing these things, for as says the proverb,

‘Twere wiser and better your presence to leave, For when the eye sees not, the heart does not grieve.”

“O youth,” answered they, “we have not concealed this thing from thee but in our concern for thee, lest what befell us before thee and thou become like unto us.” “It avails not,” said I; “you must tell me.” “We give thee good advice,” rejoined they; “do thou take it and leave questioning us of our case, or thou wilt become one-eyed like unto us.” But I still persisted in my demand and they said, “O youth, if this thing befall thee, we warn thee that we will never again receive thee into our company nor let thee abide with us.” Then they took a ram and slaughtering it, skinned it and gave me a knife, saying, “Lie down on the skin and we will sew thee up in it and leave thee and go away. Presently there will come to thee a bird called the roc[FN#44], that will catch thee up in its claws and fly away with thee and set thee down on a mountain. As soon as thou feelest it alight with thee, slit the skin with the knife and come forth; whereupon the bird will take fright at thee and fly away and leave thee. Then rise and fare on half a day’s journey, till thou comest to a palace rising high into the air, builded of khelenj[FN#45] and aloes and sandal-wood and plated with red gold, inlaid with all manner emeralds and other jewels. There enter and thou wilt attain thy desire. We all have been in that place, and this is the cause of the loss of our right eyes and the reason why we blacken our faces. Were we to tell thee our stories, it would take too much time, for each lost his eye by a separate adventure.” They then sewed me up in the skin and left me on the ground outside the palace; and the roc carried me off and set me down on the mountain. I cut open the skin and came out, whereupon the bird flew away and I walked on till I reached the palace. The door stood open; so I entered and found myself in a very wide and goodly hall, as big as a tilting-ground, round which were a hundred doors of sandal and aloes-wood, plated with red gold and furnished with rings of silver. At the upper end of the hall, I saw forty young ladies, sumptuously clad and adorned, as they were moons, one could never tire of gazing on them: and they all came up to me, saying, “Welcome and fair welcome, O my lord! This month past have we been expecting the like of thee; and praised be God who hath sent us one who is worthy of us and we of him!” Then they made me sit down on a high divan and said to me, “From to-day thou art our lord and master, and we are thy handmaids; so order us as thou wilt.” And I marvelled at their case. Presently one of them arose and set food before me, and I ate, whilst others heated water and washed my hands and feet and changed my clothes, and yet others made ready sherbets and gave me to drink; and they were all full of joy and delight at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed with me till nightfall, when five of them arose and spreading a mat, covered it with flowers and fruits and confections in profusion and set on wine; and we sat down to drink, while some of them sang and others played the lute and psaltery and recorders and other instruments. So the cup went round amongst us and such gladness possessed me that I forgot all the cares of the world and said, “This is indeed life, but that it is fleeting.” We ceased not to drink and make merry till the night was far spent and we were warm with wine, when they said to me, “O our lord, choose from amongst us one who shall be thy bedfellow this night and not lie with thee again till forty days be past.” So I chose a girl fair of face, with liquid black eyes and jetty hair, slightly parted teeth[FN#46] and joining eyebrows, perfect in shape and form, as she were a palm-sapling or a stalk of sweet basil; such an one as troubles the heart and bewilders the wit, even as saith of her the poet:

‘Twere vain to liken her unto the tender branch, And out on who compares her form to the gazelle!
Whence should gazelles indeed her shape’s perfection get Or yet her honeyed lips so sweet to taste and smell, Or those great eyes of hers, so dire to those who love, That bind their victims fast in passion’s fatal spell? I dote on her with all the folly of a child. What wonder if he turn a child who loves too well!

And I repeated to her the following verses:

My eyes to gaze on aught but thy grace disdain And none but thou in my thought shall ever reign.
The love of thee is my sole concern, my fair; In love of thee, I will die and rise again.

So I lay with her that night, never knew I a fairer, and when it was morning, the ladies carried me to the bath and washed me and clad me in rich clothes. Then they served up food and we ate and drank, and the cup went round amongst us till the night, when I chose from among them one who was fair to look upon and soft of sides, such an one as the poet describes, when he says:

I saw upon her breast two caskets snowy-white, Musk-sealed; she doth forbid to lovers their delight.
She guards them with the darts that glitter from her eyes; And those who would them press, her arrowy glances smite.

I passed a most delightful night with her; and to make a long story short, I led the goodliest life with them, eating and drinking and carousing and every night taking one or other of them to my bed, for a whole year, at the end of which time they came in to me in tears and fell to bidding me farewell and clinging to me, weeping and crying out; whereat I marvelled and said to them, “What ails you? Indeed you break my heart.” “Would we had never known thee!” answered they. “We have companied with many men, but never saw we a pleasanter or more courteous than thou: and now we must part from thee. Yet it rests with thee to see us again, and if thou hearken to us, we need never be parted: but our hearts forebode us that thou will not hearken to us; and this is the cause of our weeping” “Tell me how the case stands,” said I; and they answered, “Know that we are the daughters of kings, who have lived here together for years past, and once in every year we are absent for forty days; then we return and abide here for the rest of the year, eating and drinking and making merry. We are now about to depart according to our custom, and we fear lest thou disobey our injunctions in our absence, in which case we shall never see thee again; but if thou do as we bid thee, all will yet be well. Take these keys: they are those of the hundred apartments of the palace, each of which contains what will suffice thee for a day’s entertainment. Ninety-and-nine of these thou mayst open and take thy pleasure therein, but beware lest thou open the hundredth, that which has a door of red gold; for therein is that which will bring about a separation between us and thee.” Quoth I, “I will assuredly not open the hundredth door, if therein be separation from you.” Then one of them came up to me and embraced me and repeated the following verses:

If but the days once more our severed loves unite, If but my eyes once more be gladdened by thy sight,
Then shall the face of Time smile after many a frown, And I will pardon Fate for all its past despite.

And I repeated the following:

When she drew near to bid farewell, upon our parting day, Whilst on her heart the double stroke of love and longing smote, She wept pure pearls, and eke mine eyes did rain cornelians forth; And lo, they all combined and made a necklace for her throat!

When I saw her weeping, I said, “By Allah, I will never open the hundredth door!” Then they bade me farewell and departed, leaving me alone in the palace. When the evening drew near, I opened the first door and found myself in an orchard, full of blooming trees, laden with ripe fruit, and the air resounded with the loud singing of birds and the ripple of running waters. The sight brought solace to my soul, and I entered and walked among the trees, inhaling the odours of the flowers and listening to the warble of the birds, that sang the praises of God the One, the Almighty. I looked upon the apple, whose colour is parcel red and parcel yellow, as says the poet:

The apple in itself two colours doth unite, The loved one’s cheek of red, and yellow of despite.

Then I looked upon the quince and inhaled its fragrance that puts musk and ambergris to shame, even as says the poet:

The quince contains all pleasant things that can delight mankind, Wherefore above all fruits that be its virtues are renowned. Its taste is as the taste of wine, its breath the scent of musk; Its hue is that of virgin gold, its shape the full moon’s round.

Thence I passed to the pear, whose taste surpasses rose-water and sugar, and the plum, whose beauty delights the eye, as it were a polished ruby. When I had taken my fill of looking on the place, I went and locked the door again. Next day, I opened the second door and found myself in a great pleasaunce, set with many palm-trees and watered by a running stream, whose borders were decked with bushes of rose and jessamine and henna[FN#47] and camomile and marjoram and sweetbriar and carpeted with narcissus and ox-eye and violets and lilies and gillyflowers. The breeze fluttered over all these sweet-smelling plants and scattered their scents right and left, possessing me with complete delight. I took my pleasure in the place awhile, and my chagrin was somewhat lightened. Then I went out and locked the door and opening the third door, found therein a great hall paved with vari-coloured marbles and other precious stones and hung with cages of sandal and aloes wood, full of singing-birds, such as the thousand-voiced nightingale[FN#48] and the cushat and the blackbird and the turtle-dove and the Nubian warbler. My heart was ravished by the song of the birds and I forgot my cares and slept in the aviary till the morning. Then I opened the fourth door and saw a great hall, with forty cabinets ranged on either side. The doors of the latter stood open; so I entered and found them full of pearls and rubies and chrysolites and beryls and emeralds and corals and carbuncles and all manner of precious stones and jewels of gold and silver, such as the tongue fails to describe. I was amazed at what I saw and said in myself “Methinks, if all the kings of the earth joined together they could not produce the like of these treasures!” And my heart dilated and I exclaimed, “Now am I king of my time, for all these riches are mine by the favour of God, and I have forty young ladies under my hand, nor is there any with them but myself!” In short, I passed nine-and-thirty days after this fashion, exploring the riches of the place, till I had opened all the doors, except that which the princesses had charged me not to open, but my thoughts ran ever on this latter and Satan urged me, for my ruin, to open it, nor had I patience to forbear; though there remained but one day of the appointed time. So I opened the hundredth door, that which was plated with red gold, and was met by a perfume, whose like I had never before smelt and which was of so subtle and penetrating a quality, that it invaded my head and I fell down, as if intoxicated, and lay awhile unconscious. Then I revived and took heart and entering, found myself in a place strewn with saffron and blazing with light shed by lamps of gold and candles, that diffused a scent of musk and aloes. In the midst stood two great censers, full of burning aloes wood and ambergris and other perfumes, and the place was full of their fragrance. Presently I espied a horse, black as night at its darkest, girt and bridled and saddled with red gold, standing before two mangers of white crystal, one full of winnowed sesame and the other of rose-water flavoured with musk. When I saw this, I was amazed and said to myself, “Surely this horse must be of extraordinary value!” and the devil tempted me, so that I took him out and mounted him, but he would not stir. So I spurred him with my heel, but he did not move; and I took a. switch and struck him with it. When he felt the blow, he gave a neigh like the roaring thunder, and spreading a pair of wings flew up with me high into the air. After awhile, he descended and set me down on the terrace of a palace; then, shaking me off his back, he smote me on the face with his tail and struck out my right eye and flew away, leaving me there. I went down into the palace and found myself again among the ten one-eyed youths, who exclaimed, when they saw me, “An ill welcome to thee!” Quoth I, “Behold, I am become like unto you, and now I would have you give me a dish of soot, that I may blacken my face and admit me to your company.” “By Allah,” answered they, “thou shalt not abide with us! Depart hence!” And they drove me away. I was grieved at their rejection of me and went out from them, mourning-hearted and tearful-eyed, saying to myself, “Of a truth, I was sitting at my ease, but my impertinent curiosity would not let me be.” Then I shaved my beard and eyebrows and renouncing the world, became a Calender and wandered about God’s earth, till by His blessing, I arrived at Baghdad in safety this evening and met with these two other Calenders standing bewildered. So I saluted them, saying, “I am a stranger;” to which they replied, “We also are strangers.” And, as it chanced, we were all Calenders and each blind of the right eye. This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.’ Quoth the mistress of the house, ‘Begone about thy business.’ But he said, ‘By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others’ stories!’ Then she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, ‘Give me an account of yourselves.’ So Jaafer came forward and repeated the story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, ‘I pardon you all: go your ways.’ So they all went out; and when they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, ‘O folk, whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day?’ ‘By Allah, O my lord,’ answered they, ‘we know not where to go!’ ‘Then come and pass the rest of the night with us,’ said the Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, ‘Take them home with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause their adventures to be recorded.’ Jaafer did as the Khalif bade him, and the latter returned to his palace. Sleep did not visit him that night, but he lay awake, pondering the adventures of the three Calenders and full of impatience to know the history of the two ladies and the black bitches; and no sooner had the day dawned than he went out and sat down on his chair of estate. Then his courtiers presented themselves and withdrew, whereupon he turned to Jaafer and said to him, ‘Bring me the three ladies and the bitches and the Calenders, and make haste.’ So Jaafer went out and brought them all before him and seated the ladies behind a curtain; then turned to them and said, speaking for the Khalif, ‘O women, we pardon you your rough usage of us, in consideration of your previous kindness and for that ye knew us not: and now I would have you to know that you are in the presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas, the Commander of the Faithful Haroun er Reshid, son of El Mehdi Mohammed, son of Abou Jaafer el Mensour. So do ye acquaint him with your stories and tell him nothing but the truth.’ When the ladies heard Jaafer’s speech, the eldest came forward and said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, my story is one which, were it graven with needles on the corners of the eye, would serve for an example to those who can profit by example and a warning to those who can take warning. And it is that

The Eldest Lady’s Story.

These two bitches are my elder sisters by the same mother and father, and these two others, she on whom are the marks of blows and the cateress, are my sisters by another mother. When my father died, each took her portion of the heritage, and after awhile my mother died also and left me and my sisters-german a thousand dinars each. After awhile my two sisters married and lived with their husbands for a time; then the latter bought merchandise with their wives’ money and set out on their travels, and I heard no more of them for five years: for their husbands spent their wives’ fortunes and became bankrupt and deserted them in a foreign land. Presently, my eldest sister came back to me in the guise of a beggar, with tattered clothes and a dirty old veil, and altogether in so sorry a plight, that at first I knew her not; but when I recognised her, I asked her how she came in such a state. “O my sister,” answered she, “talking profits not now: the pen[FN#49] hath written what was decreed.” Then I sent her to the bath and clothed her in a suit of my own and entreated her kindly and said to her, “O my sister, thou standest to me in the stead of my father and mother; and God has blessed me in the share of the inheritance that fell to me and prospered it to me, so that I am now in flourishing case; and thou shalt share with me in my increase.” So she abode with me a whole year, during which time we were much concerned to know what was become of our other sister. At last, she too came back to me, in a worse plight than the other, and I dealt still more kindly by her than by the first, and each of them had a share of my substance. After awhile, they said to me, “O sister, we desire to marry again, for we can no longer endure to live without husbands.” “O my dear ones[FN#50],” answered I, “there is no good in marriage, for now-a-days good men are rare to find; nor do I see the advantage of marrying again, since ye have already made trial of matrimony and it has profited you nothing.” They would not listen to me, but married without my consent; nevertheless I equipped them and portioned them with my own money and they went away with their husbands. After a little, the latter cheated them of all they had and went away and left them. Then they came to me, in abject case, and made their excuses to me, saying, “Do not reproach us; thou art younger than we, but riper of wit, so take us as thy handmaids, that we may eat our mouthful; and we will never again speak of marriage.” Quoth I, “Ye are welcome, O my sisters: there is nothing dearer to me than you.” And I took them in and redoubled in kindness to them. We lived thus for a whole year, at the end of which time I was minded to travel. So I fitted out a great ship at Bassora and loaded her with merchandise and victual and other necessaries for a voyage, and said to my sisters, “Will you come with me or abide at home till I return?” “We will go with thee,” answered they, “for we cannot endure to be parted from thee.” So I took them and set sail, after dividing my money into two parts, one of which I deposited with a trusty person, saying, “Maybe ill-hap shall betide the ship and yet we remain alive; but now, if we return, we shall find what will be of service to us.” We sailed days and nights, till the captain missed the true course and the ship went astray with us and entered a sea other than that we aimed at. We knew not of this awhile and the wind blew fair for us ten days, at the end of which time, the watch went up to the mast-head, to look out, and cried, “Good news!” Then he came down, rejoicing, and said to us, “I see a city in the distance as it were a dove.” At this we rejoiced and before an hour of the day was past, the city appeared to us afar off: and we said to the captain, “What is the name of yonder city?” “By Allah!” replied he, “I know not, for I never saw it before nor have I ever sailed this sea in my life; but since the affair has issued in safety, ye have nought to do but to land your goods, and if ye find a market, sell and buy and barter, as the occasion serves; if not, we will rest here two days, re-victual and depart.” So we entered the harbour and the captain landed and was absent awhile, after which he returned and said to us, “Arise, go up into the city and marvel at God’s dealings with His creatures and seek to be preserved from His wrath.” So we landed and going up to the city, saw at the gate men with staves in their hands; but when we drew near them, behold, they had been stricken by the wrath of God and were become stones. Then we entered the city and found all its in habitants changed into black stones: there was not a living soul therein, no, not a blower of the fire. At this we were amazed and passed on through the bazaars, where we found all the goods and gold and silver left lying in their places, and rejoiced and said, “Doubtless, there is some mystery in all this.” Then we dispersed about the streets of the city and each busied himself with making prize of the wealth and stuffs lying about and took no heed of his comrades, whilst I went up to the citadel and found it goodly of fashion. I entered the king’s palace and saw all the vessels of gold and silver and the king himself seated in the midst of his officers and grandees, clad in raiment such as confounded the wit. The throne on which he sat was encrusted with pearls and jewels and his robes were of cloth of gold, adorned with all manner jewels, that shone like stars. Around him stood fifty white slaves, with drawn swords in their hands and clad in divers sorts of silken stuffs; but when I drew near to them, behold, they were all black stones. My understanding was confounded at the sight, but I went on and came to the saloon of the harem, which I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped silk and spread with carpets of the same, embroidered with flowers of gold. Here I saw the queen lying, arrayed in a robe covered with fresh pearls as big as hazel-nuts and crowned with a diadem set with all manner jewels. Her neck was covered with collars and necklaces and all her clothes and ornaments were unchanged, but she herself had been smitten of God and was become black stone. Presently I spied an open door, with seven steps leading to it, and going up, found myself in a place paved with marble and hung and carpeted with gold-embroidered stuffs. At the upper end stood an alcove with drawn curtains and I saw a light issuing thence. So I went up to the alcove and found therein a couch of juniper wood, inlaid with pearls and diamonds and set with bosses of emeralds, with silken coverings of bewildering richness and curtains of the same, looped up with pearls. At the head of the bed stood two lighted candles and in the midst of the alcove was a little stool, on which lay a jewel, the size of a goose’s egg, that shone like a lamp and lighted the whole place; but there was no one to be seen. When I saw these things, I wondered and said, “Some one must have lighted these candles.” Then I went out and came to the kitchen and thence to the buttery and the king’s treasuries and continued to explore the palace and to go from place to place; and for wonderment at what I saw, I forgot myself and wandered on, lost in thought, till the night overtook me. Then I would have gone out, but lost my way and could not find the gate; so I returned to the alcove, where I lay down on the bed and covering myself with a quilt, repeated somewhat of the Koran and would have slept, but could not, for restlessness possessed me. In the middle of the night, I heard a low sweet voice reciting the Koran, whereat I rejoiced and rising, followed the sound, till it led me to a chamber with the door ajar. I looked through the chink of the door and saw an oratory, wherein was a prayer-niche[FN#51], with candles burning and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the midst was spread a prayer-carpet, on which sat a handsome youth, with a copy of the Koran open before him, from which he was reading. I wondered to see him alone alive of all the people of the city and entered and saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my salutation. Then said I, “I implore thee, by the truth of that thou readest from the book of God, to answer me my questions.” He looked at me with a smile and said, “O handmaid of God, tell me first how thou camest hither, and I will tell thee what has befallen me and the people of this city and the manner of my preservation.” So I told him my story, at which he marvelled, and questioned him of the people of the city. Quoth he, “Have patience with me a little, O my sister!” and shutting the Koran, laid it in a bag of satin. Then he made me sit down by his side, and I looked at him and behold, he was like the moon at its full, bright-faced, soft-sided, well-shaped and fair to look upon, as he were a figure of sugar,[FN#52] even as says the poet of the like of him:

A seer of the stars one night was reading the book of the skies, When lo, in his scroll he saw a lovely youth arise. Saturn had dyed his hair the hue of the raven’s wing And sprinkled upon his face the musk of Paradise[FN#53]: The rose of his cheeks from Mars its ruddy colour drew, And the Archer winged the shafts that darted from his eyes. Hermes dowered the youth with his own mercurial wit, And the Great Bear warded off the baleful glance of spies. Wonder seized on the sage at the sight of the lovely boy, For the full moon kissed the earth before him, servant-wise. And indeed God the Most High had clad him in the garment of perfection and broidered it with the shining fringes of his cheeks, even as says the poet of him: By the perfume of his eyelids and his slender waist I swear, By the arrows that he feathers with the witchery of his air, By his sides so soft and tender and his glances bright and keen, By the whiteness of his forehead and the blackness of his hair,
By his arched imperious eyebrows, chasing slumber from my eyes, With their yeas and noes that hold me ‘twixt rejoicing and despair,
By the myrtle of his whiskers and the roses of his cheeks, By his lips’ incarnate rubies and his teeth’s fine pearls and rare, By his neck and by its beauty, by the softness of his breast And the pair of twin pomegranates that my eyes discover there, By his heavy hips that tremble, both in motion and repose, And the slender waist above them, all too slim their weight to bear,
By his skin’s unsullied satin and the quickness of his spright, By the matchless combination in his form of all things fair, By his hand’s perennial bounty and his true and trusty speech, By the stars that smile upon him, favouring and debonair, Lo, the smell of musk none other than his very fragrance is, And the ambergris’s perfume breathes around him everywhere. Yea, the sun in all its splendour cannot with his grace compare, Seeming but a shining fragment that he from his nail doth pare.

I stole a look at him, which cost me a thousand sighs, for my heart was taken with his love, and I said to him, “O my lord, tell me what I asked thee.” “I hear and obey,” answered he. “Know, O handmaid of God, that this city was the capital of my father, who is the king thou sawest on the throne, changed to a black stone, and as for the queen on the bed, she was my mother; and they and all the people of the city were Magians, worshipping the fire, instead of the All-powerful King, and swearing by the fire and the light and the shade and the heat and the revolving sphere. My father had no child, till I was vouchsafed to him in his old age, and he reared me and I grew up and flourished. Now, as my good star would have it, there was with us an old woman stricken in years, who was at heart a Muslim, believing in God and His prophet, but conforming outwardly to the religion of my people. My father had confidence in her, supposing her to be of his own belief, and showed her exceeding favour, for that he knew her to be trusty and virtuous; so when I grew to a fitting age, he committed me to her charge, saying, ‘Take him and do thy best to give him a good education and teach him the things of our faith.’ So she took me and taught me the tenets of Islam and the ordinances of ablution and prayer and made me learn the Koran by heart, bidding me worship none but God the Most High and charging me to keep my faith secret from my father, lest he should kill me. So I hid it from him, and I abode thus till, in a little while, the old woman died and the people of the city redoubled in their impiety and frowardness and in the error of their ways. One day, they heard a voice from on high, proclaiming aloud, with a noise like the resounding thunder, so that all heard it far and near, and saying, ‘O people of the city, turn from your worship of the fire and serve God the Compassionate King!’ At this, fear fell on the people of the city and they crowded to my father and said to him; ‘What is this awful voice that we have heard and that has confounded us with the excess of its terror?’ But he said, ‘Let not a voice fright you nor turn you from your faith.’ Their hearts inclined to his word and they ceased not to worship the fire, but redoubled in their frowardness, till the anniversary of the day on which they had heard the supernatural voice. When they heard it anew, and so again a third time at the end of the second year. Still they persisted in their evil ways, till one day, at break of dawn, judgment descended on them and wrath from heaven, and they were all turned into black stones, they and their beasts and cattle; and none was spared, save myself. From that day to this, I have remained as thou seest me, occupying myself with prayer and fasting and reading the Koran aloud; and indeed I am grown weary of solitude, having none to bear me company.” Then said I to him (and indeed he had won my heart), “O youth, wilt thou go with me to the city of Baghdad and foregather with men of learning and theologians and grow in wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Law? If so, I will be thy handmaid, albeit I am head of my family and mistress over men and slaves and servants. I have here a ship laden with merchandise; and indeed it was providence drove us to this city, that I might come to the knowledge of these things, for it was fated that we should meet.” And I ceased not to speak him fair and persuade him, till he consented to go with me, and I passed the night at his feet, beside myself for joy. When it was day, we repaired to the treasuries and took thence what was little of weight and great of value; then went down into the town, where we met the slaves and the captain seeking for me. When they saw me, they rejoiced and I told them all I had seen and related to them the story of the young man and of the curse that had fallen on the people of the city. At this they wondered: but when my sisters saw me with the prince, they envied me on his account and were enraged and plotted mischief against me in their hearts. Then we took ship again, beside ourselves for joy in the booty we had gotten, though the most of my joy was in the prince, and waited till the wind blew fair for us, when we set sail and departed. As we sat talking, my sisters said to me, “O sister, what wilt thou do with this handsome young man?” “I purpose to make him my husband,” answered I; and I turned to the prince and said, “O my lord, I have that to propose to thee, in which I will not have thee cross me: and it is that, when we reach Baghdad, I will give myself to thee as a handmaid in the way of marriage, and thou shalt be my husband and I thy wife.” Quoth he, “I hear and obey; thou art my lady and my mistress, and whatever thou dost, I will not cross thee.” Then I turned to my sisters and said to them, “This young man suffices me; and those who have gotten aught, it is theirs.” “Thou sayest well,” replied they; but in their hearts they purposed me evil. We sailed on with a fair wind, till we left the sea of peril and came into safe waters, and in a few days, we came in sight of the walls of Bassora, even as night overtook us. My sisters waited till the prince and I were asleep, when they took us up, bed and all, and threw us into the sea. The prince, who could not swim, was drowned and God wrote him of the company of the martyrs. As for me, would I had been drowned with him! But God decreed that I should be of the saved; so He threw in my way a piece of wood and I got astride of it, and the waters tossed me about till they cast me up on an island. I landed and walked about the island the rest of the night, and when the day broke, I saw a footway, leading to the mainland. By this time, the sun had risen; so I dried my clothes in its rays and ate of the fruits of the island and drank of its waters. Then I set out and fared on till I reached the mainland and found myself but two hours’ distant from the city. So I sat down to rest and presently I saw a great serpent, the bigness of a palm-tree, come fleeing towards me, with all her might, whilst her tongue for weariness hung from her mouth a span’s length and swept the dust as she went. She was pursued by a dragon, as long and thin as a spear, which presently overtook her and seized her by the tail whereat the tears streamed from her eyes and she wriggled from side to side. I took pity on her and catching up a stone, threw it at the dragon’s head and killed him on the spot. Then the serpent spread a pair of wings and flew away out of sight, leaving me wondering. Now I was tired and drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for awhile. When I awoke, I found a damsel sitting at my feet, rubbing them, and with her, two black bitches, and I was ashamed before her; so I sat up and said to her, “O my sister, who art thou?” “How quickly thou hast forgotten me!” answered she. “I am the serpent, whom thou didst deliver from my enemy by killing him, for I am a Jinniyeh[FN#54] and the dragon was a genie; and I was only saved from him by thy kindness. As soon as thou hadst done me this service, I flew on the wind to your ship and transported all that was therein to thy house. Then I sank the vessel and changed thy sisters into two black bitches, for I know all that has passed between thee and them: but as for the young man, he is drowned.” So saying, she flew up with me and the two bitches and presently set us down on the roof of my house, where I found all the goods that were in my ship, nor was aught missing. Then she said to me, “By that which is written on the seal of our lord Solomon (on whom be peace!) except thou give each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I will come and make thee like unto them.” “I hear and obey,” answered I; and since then I have never failed to beat them thus, O Commander of the Faithful, pitying them the while; and they know it is no fault of mine that they are beaten and accept my excuse. And this is my story.’ The Khalif marvelled at her story and said to the portress, ‘And thou, how camest thou by the weals on thy body?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered she:

Story of the Portress.

‘My father died and left me great wealth, and soon after his death I married one of the richest men of Baghdad. At the end of a year he too died and I inherited from him fourscore thousand dinars, being my lawful share of his property; so that I became passing rich and the report of my wealth spread abroad, for I got me half a score suits of clothes, each worth a thousand dinars. One day, as I was sitting alone, there came in to me an old woman with sunken cheeks and worn eyebrows, bleared eyes and broken teeth, blotched face and bald head, grizzled hair and bent and mangy body, running nose and sallow complexion, even as says the poet of the like of her:

A right pernicious hag! Unshriven be her sins, Nor let her mercy find what time she comes to die!
So full of wile she is, that with a single thread Of spider’s silk she’d curb a thousand mules that shy.

She saluted me and kissing the ground before me, said, “I have an orphan daughter whose wedding and unveiling[FN#55] I celebrate to-night. We are strangers in the city and know none of its inhabitants, and verily our hearts are broken so do thou earn through us a recompense and reward in the world to come by being present at her unveiling. When the ladies of the city hear that thou art to be present, they also will attend, and so wilt thou bring healing to her spirit, for now she is broken-hearted and has none to look to but God the Most High.” Then she wept and kissed my feet, repeating the following verses:

Thy presence honoureth us, and we Confess thy magnanimity: If thou forsake us, there is none Can stand to us in stead of thee.

I was moved to pity for her and said, “I hear and obey; and God willing, I will do more than this for her, for she shall not be unveiled but in my clothes and ornaments and jewellery.” At this the old woman rejoiced and fell at my feet and kissed them, saying, “God requite thee with good and gladden thy heart as thou hast gladdened mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself now, but be ready against the evening, when I will come and fetch thee.” So saying, she kissed my hand and went away, whilst I attired myself and made my preparations. At the appointed time, the old woman returned, smiling, and kissed my hand, saying, “O my mistress, the most part of the ladies of the city are assembled; and I told them that thou hadst promised to be present, whereat they rejoiced and they are now awaiting thee and are looking eagerly for thy coming.” So I veiled myself and taking my serving-maids with me, followed the old woman, till we came to a street swept and watered, through which blew a pleasant breeze. Here she stopped at a handsome portico vaulted with marble and leading to a palace that rose from the ground and took hold upon the clouds. The gateway was hung with a black curtain and lighted by a lamp of gold curiously wrought; and on the door were written the following verses:

I am a dwelling, builded for delight; My time is still for joyance day and night.
Right in my midst a springing fountain wells, Whose waters banish anguish and despite,
Whose marge with rose, narcissus, camomile, Anemone and myrtle, is bedight.

The old woman knocked at the gate, which opened; and we entered a carpeted vestibule hung with lighted lamps and candles and adorned with pendants of precious stones and minerals. Through this we passed into a saloon, whose like is not to be found in the world, hung and carpeted with silken stuffs and lighted by hanging lamps and wax candles in rows. At the upper end stood a couch of juniper-wood, set with pearls and jewels and canopied with curtains of satin, looped up with pearls. Hardly had I taken note of all this, when there came out from the alcove a young lady more perfect than the moon at its full, with a forehead brilliant as the morning, when it shines forth, even as says the poet:

Upon the imperial necks she walks, a loveling bright, For bride-chambers of kings and emperors bedight. The blossom of her cheek is red as dragon’s blood, And all her face is flowered with roses red and white. Slender and sleepy-eyed and languorous of gait, All manner loveliness is in her sweetest sight.
The locks upon her brow are like a troubled night, From out of which there shines a morning of delight.

She came down from the dais and said to me, “Welcome, a thousand times welcome to the dear and illustrious sister!” and she recited the following verses:

If the house knew who visits it, it would indeed rejoice And stoop to kiss the happy place whereon her feet have stood; And in the voice with which the case, though mute, yet speaks, exclaim, “Welcome and many a welcome to the generous and good!”

Then she sat down and said to me, “O my sister, I have a brother, who is handsomer than I; and he saw thee at certain festivals and assemblies and fell passionately in love with thee, for that thou art possessed of beauty and grace beyond thy share. He heard that thou wast thine own mistress, even as he also is the head of his family, and wished to make thine acquaintance; wherefore he used this device to bring thee in company with me; for he desires to marry thee according to the law of God and His prophet, and there is no shame in what is lawful.” When I heard what she said, I bethought me that I was fairly entrapped and answered, “I hear and obey.” At this she was glad and clapped her hands, whereupon a door opened and out came the handsomest of young men, elegantly dressed and perfect in beauty and symmetry and winning grace, with eyebrows like a bended bow and eyes that ravished hearts with lawful enchantments, even as says a poet, describing the like of him:

His face is like unto the new moon’s face With signs[FN#56], like pearls, of fortune and of grace.

And God bless him who said:

He hath indeed been blest with beauty and with grace, And blest be He who shaped and fashioned forth his face! All rarest charms that be unite to make him fair, His witching loveliness distracts the human race.
Beauty itself hath set these words upon his brow, “Except this youth there’s none that’s fair in any place.”

When I looked at him, my heart inclined to him and I loved him; and he sat down by me and talked with me awhile. Presently the young lady clapped her hands a second time, and behold, a side door opened and there came out a Cadi and four witnesses, who saluted and sitting down, drew up the contract of marriage between me and the young man and retired. Then he turned to me and said, “May our night be blessed! O my mistress, I have a condition to lay on thee.” Quoth I, “O my lord, what is it?” Whereupon he rose and fetching a copy of the Koran, said to me, “Swear to me that thou wilt never look upon another man than myself, nor incline to him.” I did as he wished and he rejoiced with an exceeding joy and embraced me and my whole heart was taken with love of him. Presently they set food before us and we ate and drank, till we were satisfied and night closed in upon us. Then he took me and went to bed with me and ceased not to kiss and embrace me till the morning. I lived with him in all delight and happiness for a month, at the end of which time I asked his leave to go to the bazaar to buy certain stuffs that I wanted, and he gave me leave. So I veiled myself and taking with me the old woman and a serving-maid, went to the bazaar, where I sat down in the shop of a young merchant, whom the old woman knew and had recommended to me, saying, “The father of this young man died, when he was a boy, and left him great wealth: he has great store of goods, and thou wilt find what thou seekest with him, for none in the bazaar has finer stuffs than he.” So she said to him, “Show this lady thy finest stuffs.” And he answered, “I hear and obey.” Then she began to sound his praises; but I said, “I have no concern with thy praises of him; all I want is to buy what I need of him and return home.” So he brought me what I sought, and I offered him the price, but he refused to take it, saying, “It is a guest-gift to thee on the occasion of thy visit to me this day.” Then I said to the old woman, “If he will not take the money, give him back the stuff.” “By Allah!” said he, “I will take nothing from thee! I make thee a present of it all, in return for one kiss; for that is more precious to me than all that is in my shop.” Quoth the old woman, “What will a kiss profit thee?” Then she said to me, “O my daughter, thou hearest what this young man says. What harm will it do thee, if he take from thee a kiss and thou get the stuffs for nothing?” “Dost thou not know,” answered I, “that I am bound by an oath?” But she said, “Hold thy tongue and let him kiss thee, and thou shalt keep thy money and no harm shall betide thee.” And she ceased not to persuade me till I put my head into the noose and consented. So I veiled my eyes and held up the edge of my veil between me and the street, that the passers-by might not see me; and he put his mouth to my cheek under the veil. But, instead of kissing me, he bit me so hard that he tore the flesh of my cheek, and I swooned away. The old woman took me in her arms and when I came to myself, I found the shop shut up and her lamenting over me and saying, “Thank God it was no worse!” Then she said to me, “Come, take courage and let us go home, lest the thing get wind and thou be disgraced. When thou returnest, do thou feign sickness and lie down and cover thyself up, and I will bring thee a remedy that will soon heal the wound.” So, after awhile, I arose, full of fear and anxiety, and went little by little, till I came to the house, where I lay down and gave out that I was ill. When it was night, my husband came in to me and said, “O my lady, what has befallen thee in this excursion?” Quoth I, “I am not well: I have a pain in my head.” Then he lighted a candle and drew near and looked at me and said, “What is that wound on thy cheek, in the soft part?” Said I, “When I went out to-day to buy stuffs, with thy leave, a camel laden with firewood jostled me and the end of one of the pieces of wood tore my veil and wounded my cheek, as thou seest; for indeed the ways are strait in this city.” “To-morrow,” rejoined he, “I will go to the governor and speak to him, that he may hang every firewood-seller in the city.” “God on thee,” cried I, “do not burden thy conscience with such a sin against any one! The truth is that I was riding on an ass, and it stumbled and threw me down, and my cheek fell on a piece of glass, which wounded it.” “Then,” said he, “to morrow I will go to Jaafer the Barmecide and tell him the case, and he will kill every ass in the city.” “Wilt thou ruin all the folk on my account,” said I, “when this that befell me was decreed of God?” “There is no help for it,” answered he, and springing to his feet, plied me with questions and pressed me, till I was frightened and stammered in my speech, so that he guessed how the case stood and exclaimed, “Thou hast been false to thine oath!” Then he gave a great cry, whereupon a door opened and in came seven black slaves, whom he commanded to drag me from my bed and throw me down in the middle of the room. Moreover, he made one take me by the shoulders and sit upon my head and another sit on my knees and hold my feet and giving a third a naked sword, said to him, “Strike her, O Saad, and cut her in twain and let each take half and throw it into the Tigris that the fish may eat her, for this is the reward of her who breaks her oath and is unfaithful to her love.” And he redoubled in wrath and repeated the following verses:

If any other share with me in her whom I adore, I’ll root out passion from my heart, though longing me destroy; And I will say unto my soul, “Death is the better part;” For love is naught that men with me in common do enjoy.

Then he said to the slave, “Smite her, O Saad!” Whereupon the latter bent down to me and said, “O my lady, repeat the profession of the faith and tell us if there be aught thou wouldst have done, for thy last hour is come.” “O good slave,” said I, “grant me a little respite, that I may give thee my last injunctions.” Then I raised my head and considered my case and how I had fallen from high estate into abjection; wherefore the tears streamed from my eyes and I wept passing sore. He looked at me with angry eyes and repeated the following

Say unto her who wronged us, on whom our kisses tire, Her that hath chosen another for darling of desire, Lo, we will spurn thee from us, before thou cast us off! That which is past between us suffices to our ire.

When I heard this, I wept and looked at him and repeated the following verses:

You doom my banishment from love and all unmoved remain; You rob my wounded lids of rest and sleep whilst I complain. You make mine eyes familiar with watching and unrest; Yet can my heart forget you not, nor eyes from tears refrain. You swore to me that you would keep, for aye, your plighted faith; But when my heart was yours, you broke the oath that you had ta’en.
Are you secure against the shifts of time and evil chance, That you’ve no mercy on my love nor aught of pity deign? If I must die, I prithee, write, ‘fore God, upon my tomb, “A slave of passion lieth here, who died of love in vain.” It may be one shall pass that way, who knows the pangs of love, And looking on a lover’s grave, take pity on her pain.

Then I wept; and when he heard what I said and saw my tears, his anger redoubled, and he repeated the following verses:

I left the darling of my heart, not from satiety; But she had sinned a sin that called aloud for punishment. She would have ta’en another in to share with me her love, But the religion of my heart to share will not consent[FN#57].

Then I wept again and implored him, saying to myself, “I will work on him with words; so haply he may spare my life, though he take all I have.” So I complained to him of my sufferings and repeated the following verses:

If thou indeed wert just to me, thou wouldst not take my life. Alas! against the law of Death no arbiter is there! Thou layst upon my back the load of passion and desire, When I for weakness scarce can lift the very gown I wear! That so my soul should waste away, small wonder is to me; But oh! I wonder how my flesh can thine estrangement bear.

Then I wept again, and he looked at me and reviled and reproached me, repeating the following verses:

Thou hast forgotten my love in the arms of another than me; Thou shew’st me estrangement, though I was never unfaithful to thee.
So I will cast thee away, since thou wast the first to forsake, And by thy pattern content to live without thee will I be. And (like thyself) in the arms of another thy charms I’ll forget; ‘Tis thou that hast sundered our loves: thou canst not reproach it to me.

Then he called to the slave with the sword, saying “Cut her in half and rid us of her, for we have no profit of her.” So the slave drew near to me and I gave myself up for lost and committed my affair to God the Most High; but, at this moment, in came the old woman and threw herself at my husband’s feet and kissed them, saying, “O my son, for the sake of my fosterage of thee and my service to thee, spare this young lady, for indeed she has done nothing deserving of death. Thou art a very young man, and I fear lest her death be laid to thy count, for it is said, ‘He who kills shall be killed.’ As for this wretched woman, put her away from thee and from thy thought and heart.” And she ceased not to weep and implore him, till he relented and said, “I pardon her, but I will set a mark on her that shall stay with her all her life.” Then he made the slaves strip off my clothes and hold me down, and taking a rod of quince-wood beat me with it on the back and sides till I lost my senses for excess of pain and despaired of life. Then he commanded slaves, as soon as it was dark, to carry me back to the house in which I had lived before my marriage with him, taking the old woman with them to guide them. They did as he bade them and cast me down in my house and went away. I did not recover from my swoon till the morning, when I applied myself to the dressing of my wounds, and medicined myself and kept my bed for four months, at the end of which time my body healed and I was restored to health; but my sides still bore the marks of the blows, as thou hast seen. As soon as I could walk, I went to the house where all this had happened, but found the whole street pulled down and nothing but heaps of rubbish where the house had stood, nor could I learn how this had come about. Then I betook myself to this my half-sister and found with her these two black bitches. I saluted her and told her what had befallen me; and she said, “O my sister, who is safe from the vicissitudes of fortune? Praised be God, who hath brought thee off with thy life!” And she repeated the following verse:

Fortune indeed was ever thus: endure it patiently, Whether thou suffer loss of wealth or friends depart from thee.

Then she told me her own story, and we abode together, she and I, never mentioning the name of marriage. After awhile there came to live with us this our other sister the cateress, who goes out every day and buys what we require for the day and night. We led this life till yesterday, when our sister went out as usual and fell in with the porter. Presently we were joined by these three Calenders and later on by three respectable merchants from Tiberias, all of whom we admitted to our company on certain conditions, which they infringed. But we forgave them their breach of faith, on condition that they should give us an account of themselves; so they told us their stories and went away; and we heard nothing more till this morning, when we were summoned to appear before thee; and this is our story.’ The Khalif wondered at her story, and ordered it and those of her sister and the Calenders to be recorded in the archives of his reign and laid up in the royal treasury. Then he said to the eldest lady, ‘Knowst thou where to find the Afriteh who enchanted thy sisters?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered she, ‘she gave me some of her hair, saying, “When thou wouldst see me, burn one or two of these hairs, and I will be with thee presently, though I be behind the mountain Caf.”‘ Quoth the Khalif, ‘Bring me the hair.’ So she fetched it and he threw the whole lock into the fire, whereupon the palace shook and they heard a rumbling sound of thunder, and presently the Jinniyeh appeared and saluted the Khalif, saying, ‘Peace be upon thee, O vicar of God!’ ‘And on thee be peace,’ answered he, ‘and the mercy of God and His blessing!’ Quoth she, ‘Know that this lady did me a service for which I cannot enough requite her, in that she saved me from death and slew my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.’ ‘Release them,’ said the Khalif; ‘and after we will proceed to look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ replied she, ‘I will release them forthwith and bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.’ So saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the water in the faces of the bitches, saying, ‘Return to your former human shape;’ whereupon they were restored to their original form, and the Afriteh said to the Khalif, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, he who beat this lady is thy son El Amin, brother of El Mamoun[FN#58], who heard of her beauty and grace and laid a trap for her and married her; and indeed he is not to blame for beating her, for he laid a condition on her and took of her a solemn oath that she would not do a certain thing; but she was false to her vow; and he was minded to kill her, but was restrained by the fear of God the Most High and contented himself with beating her, as thou hast seen, and sending her back to her own place.’ When the Khalif heard this, he wondered greatly and said, ‘Glory be to God the Most High, the Supreme, who hath vouchsafed me the delivery of these two damsels from enchantment and torment and hath granted me to know the secret of this lady’s history! By Allah, I will do a thing that shall be chronicled after me!’ Then he summoned his son El Amin and questioned him of the story of the portress, and he told him the truth; whereupon the Khalif sent for Cadis and witnesses and married the eldest lady and her two sisters-german to the three Calenders, whom he made his chamberlains, appointing them stipends and all that they needed and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. Moreover, he returned the beaten girl to her husband, his son El Amin, renewing the marriage contract between them, and gave her great wealth and bade rebuild the house more handsomely than before. As for himself, he took to wife the cateress and lay with her that night; and on the morrow he assigned her a separate lodging in his seraglio, with a fixed allowance and serving-maids to wait on her; and the people marvelled at his equity and magnificence and generosity.

When Shehrzad had made an end of her story, Dunyazad said to her, “By Allah, this is indeed a pleasant and delightful story, never was heard its like! But now, O my sister, tell us another story, to beguile the rest of the waking hours of our night.” “With all my heart,” answered Shehrzad, “if the King give me leave.” And he said, “Tell thy story, and that quickly.” Then said she, “They say, O King of the age and lord of the time and the day, that

THE THREE APPLES.

The Khalif Haroun er Reshid summoned his Vizier Jaafer one night and said to him, ‘I have a mind to go down into the city and question the common people of the conduct of the officers charged with its government; and those of whom they complain, we will depose, and those whom they commend, we will advance.’ Quoth Jaafer, ‘I hear and obey.’ So the Khalif and Jaafer and Mesrour went down into the town and walked about the streets and markets till, as they were passing through a certain alley, they came upon an old man walking along at a leisurely pace, with a fishing-net and a basket on his head and a staff in his hand, and heard him repeat the following verses:

They tell me I shine, by my wisdom and wit, Midst the rest of my kind, as the moon in the night.
“A truce to your idle discourses!” I cry, “What’s knowledge, indeed, unattended by might?”
If you offered me, knowledge and wisdom and all, with my inkhorn and papers, in pawn for a mite,
To buy one day’s victual, the pledge they’d reject And cast, like an unread petition, from sight.
Sorry, indeed, is the case of the poor, And his life, what a load of chagrin and despite!
In summer, he’s pinched for a living and cowers O’er the fire-pot in winter, for warmth and for light.
The curs of the street dog his heels, as he goes, And the scurviest rascal may rail at the wight. If he lift up his voice to complain of his case, He finds not a soul who will pity his plight.
Since such is the life and the lot of the poor, It were better he lay in the graveyard forthright!

When the Khalif heard this, he said to Jaafer, ‘See yonder poor man and note his verses, for they show his necessity.’ Then he went up to him and said, ‘O old man, what is thy trade?’ ‘O my lord,’ replied he, ‘I am a fisherman, with a family to maintain; and I have been out since mid-day, but God has not vouchsafed me aught wherewith to feed them, and indeed I abhor myself and wish for death.’ Quoth the Khalif, ‘Wilt thou go back with me to the Tigris and cast thy net yet once more on my account, and I will buy of thee whatever comes up for a hundred dinars?’ ‘On my head be it!’ answered the fisherman joyfully. ‘I will go back with you.’ So he returned with them to the river-bank and cast his net and waited awhile, then drew it up and found in it a chest, locked and heavy. The Khalif lifted it and found it weighty; so he gave the fisherman a hundred dinars, and he went his way; whilst Mesrour carried the chest to the palace, where he set it down before the Khalif and lighted the candles. Then Jaafer and Mesrour broke open the chest and found in it a basket of palm-leaves, sewn together with red worsted. This they cut open and found within a bundle wrapped in a piece of carpet. Under the carpet was a woman’s veil and in this a young lady, as she were an ingot of silver, slain and cut in pieces. When the Khalif saw this, he was sore enraged and afflicted; the tears ran down his cheeks and he turned to Jaafer and said, “O dog of a Vizier, shall folk be murdered in my capital city and thrown into the river and their death laid to my account on the Day of Judgment? I must avenge this woman on her murderer and put him to death without mercy! And as surely as I am descended from the sons of Abbas, an thou bring me not him who slew her, that I may do her justice on him, I will hang thee and forty of thy kinsmen at the gate of my palace!’ Quoth Jaafer, ‘Grant me three days’ respite.’ And the Khalif said, ‘I grant thee this.’ So Jaafer went out from before him and returned to his house, full of sorrow and saying to himself, ‘How shall I find him who killed the damsel, that I may bring him before the Khalif? If I bring other than the right man, it will be laid to my charge by God. Indeed, I know not what to do.’ Then he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day, the Khalif sent one of his chamberlains for him and said to him, ‘Where is the murderer of the damsel?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ replied the Vizier, ‘am I inspector of murdered folk, that I should know who killed her?’ The Khalif was enraged at his answer and commanded to hang him before his palace-gate and that proclamation should be made in the streets of Baghdad, ‘Whoso hath a mind to witness the hanging of Jaafer the Barmecide, Vizier of the Khalif, and of forty of his kin, before the gate of the Khalif’s palace, let him come out to see!’ So the people came out from all quarters to witness the execution of Jaafer and his kinsmen, not knowing the reason. Then they set up the gallows and made Jaafer and the others stand underneath in readiness; but whilst they awaited the Khalif’s signal for the execution and the people wept for Jaafer and his kinsmen, behold, a handsome and well-dressed young man, with shining face and bright black eyes, flower-white forehead, downy whiskers and rosy cheeks and a mole like a grain of ambergris, pressed through the crowd, till he stood before Jaafer and said to him, ‘I come to deliver thee from this strait, O chief of the Amirs and refuge of the poor! I am he who killed the woman ye found in the chest; so hang me for her and do her justice on me!’ When Jaafer heard this, he rejoiced at his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man; and whilst they were yet talking, behold, a man far advanced in years made his way when he saluted them and said, ‘O Vizier and noble lord, credit not what this young man says. None killed the damsel but I; so do thou avenge her on me, or I do accuse thee before God the Most High.’ Then said the youth, ‘O Vizier, this is a doting old man, who knows not what he says: it was I killed her, so do thou avenge her on me.’ ‘O my son,’ said the old man, ‘thou art young and desirest the things of the world, and I am old and weary of the world. I will ransom thee and the Vizier and his kinsmen with my life. None killed the damsel but I; so God on thee, make haste to hang me, or there is no living for me after her!’ The Vizier marvelled at all this and taking the youth and the old man, carried them before the Khalif and said to him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, I bring thee the murderer of the damsel.’ ‘Where is he?’ asked the Khalif, and Jaafer answered, ‘This youth says he killed her, but this old man gives him the lie and affirms that he himself killed her: and behold, they are both in thy hands.’ The Khalif looked at them and said, ‘Which of you killed the damsel?’ The youth replied, ‘It was I.’ And the old man, ‘Indeed, none killed her but myself.’ Then the Khalif said to Jaafer, ‘Take them and hang them both.’ But the Vizier replied, ‘If one of them be the murderer, to hang the other were unjust.’ ‘By Him who vaulted the heavens and spread out the earth like a carpet,’ cried the youth, ‘it was I killed her!’ And he set forth the circumstance of her death and how they had found her body, so that the Khalif was certified that he was the murderer, whereat he wondered and said to him, ‘Why didst thou slay the damsel wrongfully and what made thee come and accuse thyself thus and confess thy crime without being beaten?’ ‘Know, O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered the young man, ‘that this damsel was my wife and the daughter of this old man, who is my father’s brother, and she was a virgin when I married her. God blessed me with three male children by her, and she loved me and served me, and I also loved her with an exceeding love and saw no evil in her. We lived happily together till the beginning of this month, when she fell grievously ill. I fetched the doctors to her and she recovered slowly; and I would have had her take a bath; but she said, “There is something I long for, before I go to the bath.” “What is it?” asked I, and she replied, “I have a longing for an apple, that I may smell it and bite a piece of it.” So I went out into the city at once and sought for apples, but could find none, though, had they been a dinar apiece, I would have bought them. I was vexed at this and went home and said to my wife, “By Allah, my cousin, I can find none.” She was distressed, being yet weak, and her weakness increased greatly on her that night, and I passed the night full of anxiety. As soon as it was day, I went out again and made the round of the gardens, but could find no apples anywhere. At last I met an old gardener, of whom I enquired for them, and he said to me, “O my son, this fruit is rare with us and is not now to be found but in the garden of the Commander of the Faithful at Bassora, where the gardener keeps them for the Khalif’s table.’ I returned home, troubled at my ill-success, and my love and concern for her moved me to undertake the journey to Bassora. So I set out and travelled thither and bought three apples of the gardener there for three dinars, with which I returned to Baghdad, after having been absent fifteen days and nights, going and coming. I went in to my wife and gave her the apples; but she took no pleasure in them and let them lie by her side; for weakness and fever had increased on her and did not leave her for ten days, at the end of which time she began to mend. So I left the house and went to my shop, where I sat buying and selling. About mid-day a great ugly black slave came into the bazaar, having in his hand one of the three apples, with which he was playing; so I called to him and said, “Prithee, good slave, tell me whence thou hadst that apple, that I may get the fellow to it.” He laughed and answered, “I had it of my mistress; for I had been absent and on my return I found her lying ill, with three apples by her side: and she told me that the cuckold her husband had made a journey for them to Bassora, where he had bought them for three dinars. So I ate and drank with her and took this one from her.” When I heard this, the world grew black in my eyes, and I rose and shut my shop and went home, beside myself for excess of rage. I looked for the apples and finding but two of them, said to my wife, “Where is the third apple?” Quoth she, “I know not what is come of it.” This convinced me of the truth of the slave’s story, so I took a knife and coming behind her, without word said, got up on her breast and cut her throat; after which I hewed her in pieces and wrapping her in her veil and a piece of carpet, sewed the whole up hurriedly in the basket. Then I put the basket in the chest and locking it up, set it on my mule and threw it into the Tigris with my own hands. So, God on thee, O Commander of the Faithful, make haste to hang me, for I fear lest she sue for vengeance on me at the Day of Resurrection! For when I had thrown her into the river, unknown of any, I returned home and found my eldest boy weeping, though he knew not what I had done with his mother; and I said to him “Why dost thou weep, my son?” He replied, “I took one of my mother’s apples and went down with it into the street to play with my brothers, when lo, a tall black slave snatched it from my hand, saying, ‘Whence hadst thou this?’ Quoth I, ‘My father journeyed to Bassora for it and brought it to my mother, who is ill, with two other apples for which he paid three dinars. Give it back to me and do not get me into trouble for it.’ He paid no heed to my words and I demanded the apple a second and a third time; but he beat me and went away with it. I was afraid that my mother would beat me on account of the apple; so for fear of her, I went without the city with my brothers and abode there until night closed in upon us, and indeed I am in fear of her: so by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of this, or it will add to her illness.” When I heard what the child said, I knew that the slave was he who had forged a lie against my wife and was certified that I had killed her wrongfully. So I wept sore, and presently, this old man, her father, came in and I told him what had passed; and he sat down by my side and wept and we ceased not weeping half the night. This was five days ago and from that time to this, we have never ceased to bewail her and mourn for her, sorrowing sore for that she was unjustly put to death. All this came of the lying story of the slave, and this was the manner of my killing her; so I conjure thee, by the honour of thy forefathers, make haste to kill me and do her justice on me, for there is no living for me after her.’ The Khalif wondered at his story and said, ‘By Allah, the young man is excusable, and I will hang none but the accursed slave!’ Then he fumed to Jaafer and said to him, ‘Bring me the accursed slave, who was the cause of this calamity, and if thou bring him not in three days, thou shalt suffer in his stead.’ And Jaafer went out, weeping and saying, ‘Verily, I am beset by deaths; the pitcher does not come off for aye unbroken. I can do nothing in this matter; but He who saved me the first time may save me again. By Allah, I will not leave my house during the three days that remain to me, and God who is the Truth shall do what He will.’ So he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day, he summoned Cadis and witnesses and made his last dispositions and bade farewell to his children, weeping. Presently in came a messenger from the Khalif and said to him, ‘The Commander of the Faithful is beyond measure wroth and sends to seek thee and swears that the day shall not pass without thy being hanged.’ When Jaafer heard this, he wept and his children and slaves and all that were in the house wept with him. Then they brought him his little daughter, that he might bid her farewell. Now he loved her more than all his other children; so he pressed her to his breast and kissed her and wept over his separation from her; when lo, he felt something round in her bosom and said to her, ‘What’s this in thy bosom?’ ‘O my father,’ answered she, ‘it is an apple with the name of our lord the Khalif written on it. Our slave Rihan brought it to me four days ago and would not let me have it, till I gave him two dinars for it.’ When Jaafer heard this, he put his hand into her bosom and took out the apple and knew it and rejoiced, saying, ‘O swift Dispeller of trouble[FN#59]!’ Then he sent for the slave and said to him, ‘Harkye Rihan, whence hadst thou this apple?’ ‘By Allah, O my lord,’ replied he, ‘though lying might get me off, yet is it safer to tell the truth[FN#60]! I did not steal it from thy palace nor from the palace of His Highness nor the garden of the Commander of the Faithful. The fact is that some days ago, I was passing along a certain alley of this city, when I saw some children playing and this apple in the hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him, and he wept and said, “O youth, this apple is my mother’s and she is ill. She longed for apples, and my father journeyed to Bassora and bought her three for three dinars, and I took one of them to play with.” But I paid no heed to what he said and beat him and went off with the apple and sold it to my little mistress for two dinars.’ When Jaafer heard this, he wondered that the death of the damsel and all this misery should have been caused by his slave and grieved for the relation of the slave to himself, whilst rejoicing over his own delivery: and he repeated the following verses:

If through a servant misfortune befall thee, Spare not to save thine own life at his cost.
Servants in plenty thou’lt find to replace him, Life for life never, once it is lost.

Then he carried the slave to the Khalif, to whom he related the whole story; and the Khalif wondered greatly and laughed till he fell backward and ordered the story to be recorded and published among the folk. Then said Jaafer, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, wonder not at this story, for it is not more marvellous than that of Noureddin Ali of Cairo and his son Bedreddin Hassan.’ ‘What is that?’ asked the Khalif; ‘and how can it be more marvellous than this story?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered Jaafer, ‘I will not tell it thee except thou pardon my slave.’ Quoth the Khalif, ‘If it be indeed more marvellous than that of the three apples, I grant thee thy slave’s life; but if not, I will kill him.’ ‘Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful,’ said Jaafer, ‘that

NOUREDDIN ALI OF CAIRO AND HIS SON BEDREDDIN HASSAN.

There was once in the land of Egypt a just and pious King who loved the poor and companied with the learned, and he had a Vizier, a wise and experienced man, well versed in affairs and in the art of government. This Vizier, who was a very old man, had two sons, as they were two moons, never was seen their like for beauty and grace, the elder called Shemseddin Mohammed and the younger Noureddin Ali; but the younger excelled his brother in comeliness and fair favour, so that folk heard of him in distant lands and journeyed to Egypt to get sight of him. After awhile the Vizier died, to the great grief of the Sultan, who sent for his two sons and invested them with robes of honour, saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled, for you shall stand in your father’s stead and be joint Viziers of Egypt.” At this they were glad and kissed the earth before him and mourned for their father a whole month, at the end of which time they entered upon the Vizierate, and the government passed into their hands, as it had been in those of their father, each ruling for a week at a time. Whenever the Sultan went on a journey, they took it in turns to accompany him; and the two brothers lived in one house, and there was perfect accord between them. It chanced, one night, that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey on the morrow and the elder, whose turn it was to attend him, was sitting talking with his brother and said to him, “O my brother, it is my wish that we both marry and go in to our wives on the same night.” “O my brother,” replied Noureddin, “do as thou wilt; I will conform to thee.” So they agreed upon this and Shemseddin said, “If it be the will of God that we both marry on the same night, and our wives be brought to bed on the same day, and thy wife bear a boy and mine a girl, we will marry the children to one another, for they will be cousins.” “O my brother,” asked Noureddin, “what dowry wilt thou require of my son for thy daughter!” Quoth the other, “I will have of him three thousand dinars and three gardens and three farms, for it would not be fitting that he bring her a smaller dowry than this.” When Noureddin heard this, he said, “What dowry is this thou wouldst impose on my son? Knowest thou not that we are brothers and both by God’s grace Viziers and equal in rank? It behoves thee to offer thy daughter to my son, without dowry: or if thou must have a dower, it should be something of nominal value, for mere show; for thou knowest the male to be more worthy than the female, and my son is a male, and our memory will be preserved by him, not by thy daughter; but I see thou wouldst do with me according to the saying, ‘If thou wouldst drive away a purchaser, ask him a high price,’ or as did one, who, being asked by a friend to do him a favour, replied, ‘In the name of God; I will comply with thy request, but not till tomorrow.’ Whereupon the other answered him with this verse:

‘When one, of whom a favour’s asked, postpones it till next day, ‘Tis, to a man who knows the world, as if he said him nay.'”