That there was in times of yore and in ages long gone before a King called
Shahrimán,[FN#220] who was lord of many troops and guards, and officers, and
who reigned over certain islands, known as the Khálidán Islands,[FN#221] on the
borders of the land of the Persians. But he was stricken in years and his bones
were wasted, without having been blessed with a son, albeit he had four wives,
daughters of Kings, and threescore concubines, with each of whom he was wont to
lie one night in turn.[FN#222] This preyed upon his mind and disquieted him,
so that he complained thereof to one of his Wazirs, saying, "Verily I fear lest
my kingdom be lost when I die, for that I have no son to succeed me." The
Minister answered, "O King, peradventure Allah shall yet bring something to
pass; so rely upon the Almighty and be instant in prayer. It is also my counsel
that thou spread a banquet and invite to it the poor and needy, and let them
eat of thy food; and supplicate the Lord to vouchsafe thee a son; for perchance
there may be among thy guests a righteous soul whose prayers find acceptance;
and thereby thou shalt win thy wish." So the King rose, made the lesser
ablution, and prayed a two-bow prayer,[FN#223] then he cried upon Allah with
pure intention; after which he called his chief wife to bed and lay with her
forthright. By grace of God she conceived and, when her months were
accomplished, she bore a male child, like the moon on the night of fulness. The
King named him Kamar al-Zamán,[FN#224] and rejoiced in him with extreme joy and
bade the city be dressed out in his honour; so they decorated the streets seven
days, whilst the drums beat and the messengers bore the glad tidings abroad.
Then wet and dry nurses were provided for the boy and he was reared in
splendour and delight, until he reached the age of fifteen. He grew up of
surpassing beauty and seemlihead and symmetry, and his father loved him so dear
that he could not brook to be parted from him day or night. One day he
complained to a certain of his Ministers anent the excess of his love for his
only child, saying, "O thou the Wazir, of a truth I fear for my son, Kamar
al-Zaman, the shifts and accidents which befal man and fain would I marry him
in my life-time." Answered the Wazir, "O King, know thou that marriage is one
of the most honourable of moral actions, and thou wouldst indeed do well and
right to marry thy son in thy lifetime, ere thou make him Sultan." On this
quoth the King, "Hither with my son Kamar al-Zaman;" so he came and bowed his
head to the ground in modesty before his sire. "O Kamar al Zaman," said King
Shahriman, "of a truth I desire to marry thee and rejoice in thee during my
lifetime." Replied he, "O my father, know that I have no lust to marry nor
cloth my soul incline to women; for that concerning their craft and perfidy I
have read many books and heard much talk, even as saith the poet,
'Now, an of women ask ye, I reply:—*
In their affairs I'm versed a doctor rare!
When man's head grizzles and his money dwindles, *
In their affections he hath naught for share.'
And another said:—
'Rebel against women and so shalt thou serve Allah the more; *
The youth who gives women the rein must forfeit all hope to
soar.
They'll baulk him when seeking the strange device, Excelsior, *
Tho' waste he a thousand of years in the study of science
and lore.' "
And when he had ended his verses he continued, "O my father, wedlock is a thing
whereto I will never consent; no, not though I drink the cup of death." When
Sultan Shahriman heard these words from his son, light became darkness in his
sight and he grieved thereat with great grief.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Shahriman heard
these words from his son, the light became darkness in his sight and he grieved
over his son's lack of obedience to his directions in the matter of marriage;
yet, for the great love he bore him, he was unwilling to repeat his wishes and
was not wroth with him, but caressed him and spake him fair and showed him all
manner of kindness such as tendeth to induce affection. All this, and Kamar
al-Zaman increased daily in beauty and loveliness and amorous grace; and the
King bore with him for a whole year till he became perfect in eloquence and
elegant wit. All men were ravished with his charms; and every breeze that blew
bore the tidings of his gracious favour; his fair sight was a seduction to the
loving and a garden of delight to the longing, for he was honey-sweet of speech
and the sheen of his face shamed the full moon; he was a model of symmetry and
blandishment and engaging ways; his shape was as the willow-wand or the rattan-
cane and his cheeks might take the place of rose or red anemone. He was, in
fine the pink of perfection, even as the poet hath said of him,
"He came and cried they, 'Now be Allah blest! *
Praise Him that clad that soul in so fair vest!'
He's King of Beauty where the beauteous be; *
All are his Ryots,[FN#225] all obey his hest:
His lip-dew's sweeter than the virgin honey; *
His teeth are pearls in double row close press:
All charms are congregate in him alone, *
And deals his loveliness to man unrest.
Beauty wrote on those cheeks for worlds to see *
'I testify there is none good but He.'"[FN#226]
When the year came to an end, the King called his son to him and said, "O my
son, wilt thou not hearken to me?" Whereupon Kamar al-Zaman fell down for
respect and shame before his sire and replied, "O my father, how should I not
hearken to thee, seeing that Allah commandeth me to obey thee and not gain-say
thee?" Rejoined King Shahriman, "O my son, know that I desire to marry thee and
rejoice in thee whilst yet I live, and make thee King over my realm, before my
death." When the Prince heard his sire pronounce these words he bowed his head
awhile, then raised it and said, "O my father, this is a thing which I will
never do; no, not though I drink the cup of death! I know of a surety that the
Almighty hath made obedience to thee a duty in religion; but, Allah upon thee!
press me not in this matter of marriage, nor fancy that I will ever marry my
life long; for that I have read the books both of the ancients and the moderns,
and have come to know all the mischiefs and miseries which have befallen them
through women and their endless artifices. And how excellent is the saying of
the poet,
'He whom the randy motts entrap *
Shall never see deliverance!
Though build he forts a thousand-fold, *
Whose mighty strength lead-plates enhance,[FN#227]
Their force shall be of no avail; *
These fortresses have not a chance!
Women aye deal in treachery *
To far and near o'er earth's expanse
With fingers dipt in Henna-blood *
And locks in braids that mad the glance;
And eyelids painted o'er with Kohl *
They gar us drink of dire mischance.'
And how excellently saith another,
'Women, for all the chastity they claim, *
Are offal cast by kites where'er they list:
This night their talk and secret charms are shine, *
That night another joyeth calf and wrist:
Like inn, whence after night thou far'st at dawn, *
And lodges other wight thou hast not wist.'"[FN#228]
Now when King Shahriman heard these his son's words and learnt the import of
his verses and poetical quotations, he made no answer, of his excessive love
for him, but redoubled in graciousness and kindness to him. He at once broke up
the audience and, as soon as the seance was over, he summoned his Minister and
taking him apart, said to him, "O thou the Wazir! tell me how I shall deal with
my son in the matter of marriage."- -And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted stay.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King summoned his
Minister; and, taking him apart, said to him, "O thou the Wazir, tell me what I
shall do with my son in the matter of marriage. Of a truth I took counsel with
thee thereon and thou didst counsel me to marry him, before making him King. I
have spoken with him of wedlock time after time and he still gainsaid me; so do
thou, O Wazir, forthright advise me what to do." Answered the Minister, "O
King, wait another year and, if after that thou be minded to speak to him on
the matter of marriage, speak not to him privily, but address him on a day of
state, when all the Emirs and Wazirs are present with the whole of the army
standing before thee. And when all are in crowd then send for thy son, Kamar
al-Zaman, and summon him; and, when he cometh, broach to him the matter of
marriage before the Wazirs and Grandees and Officers of state and Captains; for
he will surely be bashful and daunted by their presence and will not dare to
oppose thy will." Now when King Shahriman heard his Wazir's words, he rejoiced
with exceeding joy, seeing success in the project, and bestowed on him a
splendid robe of honour. Then he took patience with his son another year,
whilst, with every day that passed over him, Kamar al-Zaman increased in beauty
and loveliness, and elegance and perfect grace, till he was nigh twenty years
old. Indeed Allah had clad him in the cloak of comeliness and had crowned him
with the crown of completion: his eye-glance was more bewitching than Hárút and
Marút[FN#229] and the play of his luring looks more misleading than
Tághút;[FN#230] and his cheeks shone like the dawn rosy-red and his eyelashes
stormed the keen-edged blade: the whiteness of his brow resembled the moon
shining bright, and the blackness of his locks was as the murky night; and his
waist was more slender than the gossamer[FN#231] and his back parts than two
sand heaps bulkier, making a Babel of the heart with their softness; but his
waist complained of the weight of his hips and loins; and his charms ravished
all mankind, even as one of the poets saith in these couplets,
"By his eyelash tendril curled, by his slender waist I swear,
By the dart his witchery feathers, fatal hurtling through the
air;
By the just roundness of his shape, by his glances bright and
keen
By the swart limping of his locks, and his fair forehead shining
sheen;
By his eyebrows which deny that she who looks on them should
sleep,
Which now commanding, now forbidding, o'er me high dominion keep;
By the roses of his cheek, his face as fresh as myrtle wreath
His tulip lips, and those pure pearls that hold the places of his
teeth;
By his noble form, which rises featly turned in even swell
To where upon his jutting chest two young pomegranates seem to
dwell
By his supple moving hips, his taper waist, the silky skin,
By all he robbed Perfection of, and holds enchained his form
within;
By his tongue of steadfastness, his nature true, and excellent,
By the greatness of his rank, his noble birth, and high descent,
Musk from my love her savour steals, who musk exhales from every
limb
And all the airs ambergris breathes are but the Zephyr's blow
o'er him.
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, as low before my love
should quail
As would my love himself transcend the paltry paring of his
nail!"[FN#232]
So King Shahriman, having accepted the counsel of his Wazir, waited for another
year and a great festival,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shahriman having accepted
the counsel of his Wazir, waited for another year and a great festival, a day
of state when the audience hall was filled with his Emirs and Wazirs and
Grandees of his reign and Officers of State and Captains of might and main.
Thereupon he sent for his son Kamar al-Zaman who came, and kissing the ground
before him three times, stood in presence of his sire with his hands behind his
back the right grasping the left.[FN#233] Then said the King to him, "Know O
my son, that I have not sent for thee on this occasion and summoned thee to
appear before this assembly and all these officers of estate here awaiting our
orders save and except that I may lay a commandment on thee, wherein do thou
not disobey me; and my commandment is that thou marry, for I am minded to wed
thee to a King's daughter and rejoice in thee ere I die." When the Prince heard
this much from his royal sire, he bowed his head groundwards awhile, then
raising it towards his father and being moved thereto at that time by youthful
folly and boyish ignorance, replied, "But for myself I will never marry; no,
not though I drink the cup of death! As for thee, thou art great in age and
small of wit: hast thou not, twice ere this day and before this occasion,
questioned me of the matter of marriage and I refused my consent? Indeed thou
dotest and are not fit to govern a flock of sheep!" So saying Kamar al-Zaman
unclasped his hands from behind his back and tucked up his sleeves above his
elbows before his father, being in a fit of fury; moreover, he added many words
to his sire, knowing not what he said in the trouble of his spirits. The King
was confounded and ashamed, for that this befel in the presence of his grandees
and soldier-officers assembled on a high festival and a state occasion; but
presently the majesty of Kingship took him, and he cried out at his son and
made him tremble. Then he called to the guards standing before him and said,
"Seize him!' So they came forward and laid hands on him and, binding him,
brought him before his sire, who bade them pinion his elbows behind his back
and in this guise make him stand before the presence. And the Prince bowed down
his head for fear and apprehension, and his brow and face were beaded and
spangled with sweat; and shame and confusion troubled him sorely. Thereupon his
father abused him and reviled him and cried, "Woe to thee, thou son of adultery
and nursling of abomination![FN#234] How durst thou answer me on this wise
before my captains and soldiers? But hitherto none hath chastised thee,"—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman cried out
to his son Kamar al-Zaman, "How durst thou answer me on this wise before my
captains and soldiers? But hitherto none hath chastised thee. Knowest thou not
that this deed thou hast done were a disgrace to him had it been done by the
meanest of my subjects?" And the King commanded his Mamelukes to loose his
elbow bonds and imprison him in one of the bastions of the citadel. So they
took the Prince and thrust him into an old tower, wherein there was a
dilapidated saloon and in its middle a ruined well, after having first swept it
and cleansed its floor-flags and set therein a couch on which they laid a
mattress, a leathern rug and a cushion; and then they brought a great lanthorn
and a wax candle, for that place was dark, even by day. And lastly the
Mamelukes led Kamar al-Zaman thither, and stationed an eunuch at the door. And
when all this was done, the Prince threw himself on the couch, sad-spirited,
and heavy- hearted; blaming himself and repenting of his injurious conduct to
his father, whenas repentance availed him naught, and saying, "Allah curse
marriage and marriageable and married women, the traitresses all! Would I had
hearkened to my father and accepted a wife! Had I so done it had been better
for me than this jail." This is how it fared with him; but as regards King
Shahri man, he remained seated on his throne all through the day until sundown;
then he took the Minister apart and said to him "Know thou, O Wazir, that thou
and thou only west the cause of all this that hath come to pass between me and
my son by the advice thou west pleased to devise; and so what dost thou counsel
me to do now?" Answered he, "O King, leave thy son in limbo for the space of
fifteen days: then summon him to thy presence and bid him wed; and assuredly he
shall not gainsay thee again."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir, said to King
Shahriman, "Leave thy son in limbo for the space of fifteen days; then summon
him to thy presence and bid him wed; and assuredly he shall not gainsay thee
again." The King accepted the Wazir's opinion and lay down to sleep that night
troubled at heart concerning his son; for he loved him with dearest love
because he had no other child but this; and it was his wont every night not to
sleep, save after placing his arm under his son's neck. So he passed that night
in trouble and unease on the Prince 's account, tossing from side to side, as
he were laid on coals of Artemisia-wood[FN#235]: for he was overcome with
doubts and fears and sleep visited him not all that livelong night; but his
eyes ran over with tears and he began repeating, ;
"While slanderers slumber, longsome is my night; *
Suffice thee a heart so sad in parting-plight;
I say, while night in care slow moments by, *
'What! no return for thee, fair morning light?'"
And the saying of another,
"When saw I Pleiad-stars his glance escape *
And Pole star draught of sleep upon him pour;
And the Bier-daughters[FN#236] wend in mourning dight, *
I knew that morning was for him no more!"
Such was the case with King Shahriman; but as regards Kamar al- Zaman, when the
night came upon him the eunuch set the lanthorn before him and lighting the
wax-candle, placed it in the candlestick; then brought him somewhat of food.
The Prince ate a little and continually reproached himself for his unseemly
treatment of his father, saying to himself, "O my soul, knowest thou not that a
son of Adam is the hostage of his tongue, and that a man's tongue is what
casteth him into deadly perils?" Then his eyes ran over with tears and he
bewailed that which he had done, from anguished vitals and aching heart,
repenting him with exceeding repentance of the wrong wherewith he had wronged
his father and repeating,
"Fair youth shall die by stumbling of the tongue: *
Stumble of foot works not man's life such wrong:
The slip of lip shall oft smite off the head, *
While slip of foot shall never harm one long."
Now when he had made an end of eating, he asked for the wherewithal to wash his
hands and when the Mameluke had washed them clean of the remnants of food, he
arose and made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed the prayers of sundown and
nightfall, conjoining them in one; after which he sat down.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince Kamar
al-Zaman had prayed (conjoining them in one) the prayers of sundown and
nightfall, he sat down on the well and began reciting the Koran, and he
repeated "The Cow," the "House of Imrán," and "Y. S.;" "The Compassionate,"
"Blessed be the King," "Unity" and "The two Talismans''[FN#237]; and he ended
with blessing and supplication and with saying, "I seek refuge with Allah from
Satan the stoned."[FN#238] Then he lay down upon his couch which was covered
with a mattress of satin from al- Ma'adin town, the same on both sides and
stuffed with the raw silk of Irak; and under his head was a pillow filled with
ostrich-down And when ready for sleep, he doffed his outer clothes and drew off
his bag-trousers and lay down in a shirt of delicate stuff smooth as wax; and
he donned a head-kerchief of azure Marázi[FN#239] cloth; and at such time and
on this guise Kamar al-Zaman was like the full-orbed moon, when it riseth on
its fourteenth night. Then, drawing over his head a coverlet of silk, he fell
asleep with the lanthorn burning at his feet and the wax-candle over his head,
and he ceased not sleeping through the first third of the night, not knowing
what lurked for him in the womb of the Future, and what the Omniscient had
decreed for him. Now, as Fate and Fortune would have it, both tower and saloon
were old and had been many years deserted; and there was therein a Roman well
inhabited by a Jinniyah of the seed of Iblis[FN#240] the Accursed, by name
Maymúnah, daughter of Al- Dimiryát, a renowned King of the Jánn.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the name of the Jinniyah
in question was Maymunah, daughter of Al-Dimiryat; a renowned King of the Jann.
And as Kamar al-Zaman continued sleeping till the first third of the night,
Maymunah came up out of the Roman well and made for the firmament, thinking to
listen by stealth to the converse of the angels; but when she reached the mouth
of the well, she saw a light shining in the tower, contrary to custom; and
having dwelt there many years without seeing the like, she said to herself,
"Never have I witnessed aught like this"; and, marvelling much at the matter,
determined that there must be some cause therefor. So she made for the light
and found the eunuch sleeping within the door; and inside she saw a couch
spread, whereon was a human form with the wax-candle burning at his head and
the lanthorn at his feet, and she wondered to see the light and stole towards
it little by little. Then she folded her wings and stood by the bed and,
drawing back the coverlid, discovered Kamar al-Zaman's face. She was motionless
for a full hour in admiration and wonderment; for the lustre of his visage
outshone that of the candle; his face beamed like a pearl with light; his
eyelids were languorous like those of the gazelle; the pupils of his eyes were
intensely black and brilliant[FN#241]; his cheeks were rosy red; his eye-brows
were arched like bows and his breath exhaled a scent of musk, even as saith of
him the poet,
"I kissed him: darker grew those pupils,[FN#242] which *
Seduce my soul, and cheeks flushed rosier hue;
O heart, if slanderers dare to deem there be *
His like in chasms, Say 'Bring him hither, you!' "
Now when Maymunah saw him, she pronounced the formula of praise,[FN#243] and
said, "Blessed be Allah, the best of Creators!"; for she was of the
true-believing Jinn; and she stood awhile gazing on his face, exclaiming and
envying the youth his beauty and loveliness. And she said in herself, "By
Allah! I will do no hurt to him nor let any harm him; nay, from all of evil
will I ransom him, for this fair face deserveth not but that folk should gaze
upon it and for it praise the Lord. Yet how could his family find it in their
hearts to leave him in such desert place where, if one of our Márids came upon
him at this hour, he would assuredly slay him." Then the Ifritah Maymunah bent
over him and kissed him between the eyes, and presently drew back the sheet
over his face which she covered up; and after this she spread her wings and
soaring into the air, flew upwards. And after rising high from the circle of
the saloon she ceased not winging her way through air and ascending skywards
till she drew near the heaven of this world, the lowest of the heavens. And
behold, she heard the noisy flapping of wings cleaving the welkin and,
directing herself by the sound, she found when she drew near it that the noise
came from an Ifrit called Dahnash. So she swooped down on him like a
sparrow-hawk and, when he was aware of her and knew her to be Maymunah, the
daughter of the King of the Jinn, he feared her and his side-muscles quivered;
and he implored her forbearance, saying, I conjure thee by the Most Great and
August Name and by the most noble talisman graven upon the seal-ring of
Solomon, entreat me kindly and harm me not!" When she heard these words her
heart inclined to him and she said, "Verily, thou conjurest me, O accursed,
with a mighty conjuration. Nevertheless, I will not let thee go, till thou tell
me whence thou comest at this hour." He replied, "O Princess, Know that I come
from the uttermost end of China-land and from among the Islands, and I will
tell thee of a wonderful thing I have seen this night. If thou kind my words
true, let me wend my way and write me a patent under thy hand and with thy sign
manual that I am thy freedman, so none of the Jinn-hosts, whether of the upper
who fly or of the lower who walk the earth or of those who dive beneath the
waters, do me let or hindrance." Rejoined Maymunah, "And what is it thou hast
seen this night, O liar, O accursed! Tell me without leasing and think not to
escape from my hand with falses, for I swear to thee by the letters graven upon
the bezel of the seal-ring of Solomon David son (on both of whom be peace!),
except thy speech be true, I will pluck out thy feathers with mine own hand and
strip off thy skin and break thy bones!" Quoth the Ifrit Dahnash son of
Shamhúrish[FN#244] the Flyer, "I accept, O my lady, these conditions."—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-eight Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Dahnash spoke thus to
Maymunah, "I accept, O my lady, these conditions." Then he resumed, "Know, O my
mistress, that I come to-night from the Islands of the Inland Sea in the parts
of China, which are the realms of King Ghayúr, lord of the Islands and the Seas
and the Seven Palaces. There I saw a daughter of his, than whom Allah hath made
none fairer in her time: I cannot picture her to thee, for my tongue would fail
to describe her with her due of praise; but I will name to thee a somewhat of
her charms by way of approach. Now her hair is like the nights of disunion and
separation and her face like the days of union and delectation; and right well
hath the poet said when picturing her,
'She dispread the locks from her head one night, *
Showing four fold nights into one night run
And she turned her visage towards the moon, *
And two moons showed at moment one.'
She hath a nose like the edge of the burnished blade and cheeks like purple
wine or anemones blood-red: her lips as coral and carnelian shine and the water
of her mouth is sweeter than old wine; its taste would quench Hell's fiery
pain. Her tongue is moved by wit of high degree and ready repartee: her breast
is a seduction to all that see it (glory be to Him who fashioned it and
finished it!); and joined thereto are two upper arms smooth and rounded; even
as saith of her the poet Al-Walahán,[FN#245]
'She hath wrists which, did her bangles not contain, *
Would run from out her sleeves in silvern rain.'
She hath breasts like two globes of ivory, from whose brightness the moons
borrow light, and a stomach with little waves as it were a figured cloth of the
finest Egyptian linen made by the Copts, with creases like folded scrolls,
ending in a waist slender past all power of imagination; based upon back parts
like a hillock of blown sand, that force her to sit when she would fief stand,
and awaken her, when she fain would sleep, even as saith of her and describeth
her the poet,
'She hath those hips conjoined by thread of waist, *
Hips that o'er me and her too tyrannise
My thoughts they daze whene'er I think of them, *
And weigh her down whene'er she would uprise.'[FN#246]
And those back parts are upborne by thighs smooth and round and by a calf like
a column of pearl, and all this reposeth upon two feet, narrow, slender and
pointed like spear-blades,[FN#247] the handiwork of the Protector and
Requiter, I wonder how, of their littleness, they can sustain what is above
them. But I cut short my praises of her charms fearing lest I be tedious."—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit Dahnash bin
Shamhurish said to the Ifritah Maymunah, "Of a truth I cut short my praises
fearing lest I be tedious." Now when Maymunah heard the description of that
Princess and her beauty and loveliness, she stood silent in astonishment;
whereupon Dahnash resumed, "The father of this fair maiden is a mighty King, a
fierce knight, immersed night and day in fray and fight; for whom death hath no
fright and the escape of his foe no dread, for that he is a tyrant masterful
and a conqueror irresistible, lord of troops and armies and continents and
islands, and cities and villages, and his name is King Ghayur, Lord of the
Islands and of the Seas and of the Seven Palaces. Now he loveth his daughter,
the young maiden whom I have described to thee, with dearest love and, for
affection of her, he hath heaped together the treasures of all the kings and
built her therewith seven palaces, each of a different fashion; the first of
crystal, the second of marble, the third of China steel, the fourth of precious
stones and gems of price, the fifth of porcelain and many-hued onyxes and ring
bezels, the sixth of silver and the seventh of gold. And he hath filled the
seven palaces with all sorts of sumptuous furniture, rich silken carpets and
hangings and vessels of gold and silver and all manner of gear that kings
require; and hath bidden his daughter to abide in each by turns for a certain
season of the year; and her name is the Princess Budur.[FN#248] Now when her
beauty became known and her name and fame were bruited abroad in the
neighbouring countries, all the kings sent to her father to demand her of him
in marriage, and he consulted her on the matter, but she disliked the very word
wedlock with a manner of abhorrence and said, O my father, I have no mind to
marry; no, not at all; for I am a sovereign Lady and a Queen suzerain ruling
over men, and I have no desire for a man who shall rule over me. And the more
suits she refused, the more her suitors' eagerness increased and all the
Royalties of the Inner Islands of China sent presents and rarities to her
father with letters asking her in marriage. So he pressed her again and again
with advice on the matter of espousals; but she ever opposed to him refusals,
till at last she turned upon him angrily and cried, 'O my father, if thou name
matrimony to me once more, I will go into my chamber and take a sword and,
fixing its hilt in the ground, will set its point to my waist; then will I
press upon it, till it come forth from my back, and so slay myself.' Now when
the King heard these her words, the light became darkness in his sight and his
heart burned for her as with a flame of fire, because he feared lest she should
kill herself; and he was filled with perplexity concerning her affair and the
kings her suitors. So he said to her 'If thou be determined not to marry and
there be no help for it abstain from going and coming in and out.' Then he
placed her in a house and shut her up in a chamber, appointing ten old women as
duennas to guard her, and forbade her to go forth to the Seven Palaces;
moreover, he made it appear that he was incensed against her, and sent letters
to all the kings, giving them to know that she had been stricken with madness
by the Jinns; and it is now a year since she hath thus been secluded." Then
continued the Ifrit Dahnash, addressing the Ifritah Maymunah, "And I, O my lady
go to her every night and take my fill of feeding my sight on her face and I
kiss her between the eyes: yet, of my love to her, I do her no hurt neither
mount her, for that her youth is fair and her grace surpassing: every one who
seeth her jealouseth himself for her. I conjure thee, therefore, O my lady, to
go back with me and look on her beauty and loveliness and stature and
perfection of proportion; and after, if thou wilt, chastise me or enslave me;
and win to thy will, for it is shine to bid and to forbid." So saying, the
Ifrit Dahnash bowed his head towards the earth and drooped his wings downward;
but Maymunah laughed at his words and spat in his face and answered, "What is
this girl of whom thou pratest but a potsherd wherewith to wipe after making
water?[FN#249] Faugh! Faugh! By Allah, O accursed, I thought thou hadst some
wondrous tale to tell me or some marvellous news to give me. How would it be if
thou were to sight my beloved? Verily, this night I have seen a young man, whom
if thou saw though but in a dream, thou wouldst be palsied with admiration and
spittle would flow from thy mouth." Asked the Ifrit, "And who and what is this
youth?"; and she answered, "Know, O Dahnash, that there hath befallen the
young man the like of what thou tellest me befel thy mistress; for his father
pressed him again and again to marry, but he refused, till at length his sire
waxed wroth at being opposed and imprisoned him in the tower where I dwell: and
I came up to-night and saw him." Said Dahnash, "O my lady, shew me this youth,
that I may see if he be indeed handsomer than my mistress, the Princess Budur,
or not; for I cannot believe that the like of her liveth in this our age."
Rejoined Maymunah, "Thou liest, O accursed, O most ill-omened of Marids and
vilest of Satans![FN#250] Sure am I that the like of my beloved is not in this
world."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When It was the One Hundred and Eightieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifritah Maymunah
spake thus to the Ifrit Dahnash, "Sure am I that the like of my beloved is not
in this world! Art thou mad to fellow thy beloved with my beloved?" He said,
"Allah upon thee, O my lady, go back with me and look upon my mistress, and
after I will with thee and look upon thy beloved." She answered, "It must needs
be so, O accursed, for thou art a knavish devil; but I will not go with thee
nor shalt thou come with me, save upon condition of a wager which is this. If
the lover thou lovest and of whom thou boastest so bravely, prove handsomer
than mine whom I mentioned and whom I love and of whom I boast, the bet shall
be shine against me; but if my beloved prove the handsomer the bet shall be
mine against thee." Quoth Dahnash the Ifrit, "O my lady, I accept this thy
wager and am satisfied thereat; so come with me to the Islands." Quoth
Maymunah; "No! for the abode of my beloved is nearer than the abode of shine:
here it is under us; so come down with me to see my beloved and after we will
go look upon thy mistress." "I hear and I obey," said Dahnash. So they
descended to earth and alighted in the saloon which the tower contained; then
Maymunah stationed Dahnash beside the bed and, putting out her hand, drew back
the silken coverlet from Kamar al-Zaman's face, when it glittered and glistened
and shimmered and shone like the rising sun. She gazed at him for a moment,
then turning sharply round upon Dahnash said, "Look, O accursed, and be not the
basest of madmen; I am a maid, yet my heart he hath waylaid." So Dahnash looked
at the Prince and long continued gazing steadfastly on him then, shaking his
head, said to Maymunah, "By Allah, O my lady, thou art excusable; but there is
yet another thing to be considered, and this is, that the estate female
differeth from the male. By Allah's might, this thy beloved is the likest of
all created things to my mistress in beauty and loveliness and grace and
perfection; and it is as though they were both cast alike in the mould of
seemlihead." Now when Maymunah heard these words, the light became darkness in
her sight and she dealt him with her wing so fierce a buffet on the head as
well-nigh made an end of him. Then quoth she to him, "I conjure thee, by the
light of his glorious countenance, go at once, O accursed, and bring hither thy
mistress whom thou lovest so fondly and foolishly, and return in haste that we
may lay the twain together and look on them both as they lie asleep side by
side; so shall it appear to us which be the goodlier and more beautiful of the
two. Except thou obey me this very moment, O accursed, I will dart my sparks at
thee with my fire and consume thee; yea, in pieces I will rend thee and into
the deserts cast thee, that to stay at home and wayfarer an example thou be!"
Quoth Dahnash, "O my lady, I will do thy behests, for I know forsure that my
mistress is the fairer and the sweeter." So saying the If rit flew away and
Maymunah flew with him to guard him. They were absent awhile and presently
returned, bearing the young lady, who was clad in a shift of fine Venetian
silk, with a double edging of gold and purfled with the most exquisite of
embroidery having these couplets worked upon the ends of the sleeves,
"Three matters hinder her from visiting us, in fear *
Of hate-full, slandering envier and his hired spies:
The shining light of brow, the trinkets' tinkling voice, *
And scent of essences that tell whene'er she tries:
Gi'en that she hide her brow with edge of sleeve, and leave *
At home her trinketry, how shall her scent
disguise?''[FN#251]
And Dahnash and Maymunah stinted not bearing that young lady till they had
carried her into the saloon and had laid her beside the youth Kamar
al-Zaman.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit Dahnash and the
Ifritah Maymunah stinted not bearing Princess Budur till they descended and
laid her on the couch beside Kamar al- Zaman. Then they uncovered both their
faces, and they were the likest of all folk, each to other, as they were twins
or an only brother and sister; and indeed they were a seduction to the pious,
even as saith of them the poet Al-Mubín,
"O heart! be not thy love confined to one, *
Lest thou by doting or disdain be undone:
Love all the fair, and thou shalt find with them *
If this be lost, to thee that shall be won."
And quoth another,
"Mine eyes beheld two lying on the ground; *
Both had I loved if on these eyne they lay!"
So Dahnash and Maymunah gazed on them awhile, and he said, "By Allah, O my
lady, it is good! My mistress is assuredly the fairer." She replied, "Not so,
my beloved is the fairer; woe to thee, O Dahnash! Art blind of eye and heart
that lean from fat thou canst not depart? Wilt thou hide the truth? Dost thou
not see his beauty and loveliness and fine stature and symmetry? Out on thee,
hear what I purpose to say in praise of my beloved and, if thou be a lover true
to her thou dost love, do thou the like for her thou Lovest." Then she kissed
Kamar al-Zaman again and again between the eyes and improvised this ode,
"How is this? Why should the blamer abuse thee in his pride?
What shall console my heart for thee, that art but slender bough?
A Nature Kohl'd[FN#252] eye thou hast that witcheth far and wide;
From pure platonic love[FN#253] of it deliverance none I trow!
Those glances, fell as plundering Turk, to heart such havoc deal
As never havocked scymitar made keenest at the curve.
On me thou layest load of love the heaviest while I feel
So feeble grown that under weight of chemisette I swerve.
My love for thee as wottest well is habit, and my lowe
Is nature; to all others false is all the love I tender:
Now were my heart but like to shine I never would say No;
Only my wasted form is like thy waist so gracious slender:
Out on him who in Beauty's robe for moon like charms hath fame,
And who is claimed by mouth of men as marvel of his tribe!
'Of man what manner may he be' (ask they who flyte and blame)
'For whom thy heart is so distressed?' I only cry 'Describe!'
Oh stone-entempered heart of him! learn of his yielding grace
And bending form to show me grace and yielding to consent.
Oh my Prince Beautiful, thou hast an Overseer in place[FN#254]
Who irketh me, and eke a Groom whose wrong cloth ne'er relent.
Indeed he lieth who hath said that all of loveliness
Was pent in Joseph: in thy charms there's many and many a Joe!
The Genii dread me when I stand and face to face address;
But meeting thee my fluttering heart its shame and terror show.
I take aversion semblance and I turn from thee in fright,
But more aversion I assume, more love from me dost claim;
That hair of jetty black! That brow e'er raying radiant light! Those eyne
wherein white jostles black![FN#255] That dearling dainty frame!"
When Dahnash heard the poesy which Maymunah spake in praise of her beloved, he
joyed with exceeding joy and marvelled with excessive wonderment.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Ifrit Dahnash
heard the poesy which Maymunah spake in praise of her beloved, he shook for
exceeding joy and said, "Thou hast celebrated thy beloved in song and thou hast
indeed done well in praise of him whom thou lovest! And there is no help for it
but that I also in my turn do my best to enfame my mistress, and recite
somewhat in her honour." Then the Ifrit went up to the Lady Budur; and' kissing
her between the eyes, looked at Maymunah and at his beloved Princess and
recited the following verses, albeit he had no skill in poesy,
"Love for my fair they chide in angry way; *
Unjust for ignorance, yea unjustest they!
Ah lavish favours on the love mad, whom *
Taste of thy wrath and parting woe shall slay:
In sooth for love I'm wet with railing tears, *
That rail mine eyelids blood thou mightest say:
No marvel what I bear for love, 'tis marvel *
That any know my "me" while thou'rt away:
Unlawful were our union did I doubt *
Thy love, or heart incline to other May."
And eke these words:—
"I feed eyes on their stead by the valley's side, *
And I'm slain and my slaver[FN#256] aside hath tried:
Grief-wine have I drunken, and down my cheeks *
Dance tears to the song of the camel-guide:
For union-blessing I strive though sure, *
In Budur and Su'ad all my bliss shall bide:[FN#257]
Wot I not which of three gave me most to 'plain, *
So hear them numbered ere thou decide:
Those Sworders her eyne, that Lancer her fig- *
-ure, or ring-mail'd Locks which her forehead hide.
Quoth she (and I ask of her what so wights *
Or abide in towns or in desert ride[FN#258] )
To me, 'In thy heart I dwell, look there!' *
Quoth I, 'Where's my heart ah where? ah where?'"
When Maymunah heard these lines from the Ifrit, she said, "Thou hast done well,
O Dahnash! But say thou which of the two is the handsomer?" And he answered,
"My mistress Budur is handsomer than thy beloved!" Cried Maymunah, "Thou liest,
O accursed. Nay, my beloved is more beautiful than shine!" But Dahnash
persisted, "Mine is the fairer." And they ceased not to wrangle and challenge
each other's words till Maymunah cried out at Dahnash and would have laid
violent hands on him, but he humbled himself to her and, softening his speech,
said, "Let not the truth be a grief to thee, and cease we this talk, for all we
say is to testify in favour of our lovers; rather let each of us withdraw the
claim and seek we one who shall judge fairly between us which of the two be
fairer; and by his sentence we will abide." "I agree to this," answered she and
smote the earth with her foot, whereupon there came out of it an Ifrit blind of
an eye, humpbacked and scurvy-skinned, with eye-orbits slit up and down his
face.[FN#259] On his head were seven horns and four locks of hair fell to his
heels; his hands were pitchfork-like and his legs mast-like and he had nails as
the claws of a lion, and feet as the hoofs of the wild ass.[FN#260] When that
If rit rose out of the earth and sighted Maymunah, he kissed the ground before
her and, standing with his hands clasped behind him, said, "What is thy will, O
my mistress, O daughter of my King?"[FN#261] She replied, "O Kashkash, I would
have thee judge between me and this accursed Dahnash." And she made known to
him the matter, from first to last, whereupon the Ifrit Kashkash looked at the
face of the youth and then at the face of the girl; and saw them lying asleep,
embraced, each with an arm under the other's neck, alike in beauty and
loveliness and equal in grace and goodliness. The Marid gazed long upon them,
marvelling at their seemlihead; and, after carefully observing the twain, he
turned to Maymunah and Dahnash, and reseated these couplets.
"Go, visit her thou lovest, and regard not
The words detractors utter, envious churls
Can never favour love. Oh! sure the Merciful
Ne'er made a thing more fair to look upon,
Than two fond lovers in each others' arms,
Speaking their passion in a mute embrace.
When heart has turned to heart, the fools would part them
Strike idly on cold steel. So when thou'st found
One purely, wholly shine, accept her true heart,
And live for her alone. Oh! thou that blamest
The love-struck for their love, give o'er thy talk,
How canst thou minister to a mind diseased?"[FN#262]
Then he turned again to Maymunah and Dahnash and said to them, "By Allah, if
you will have the truth, I tell you fairly the twain be equal in beauty, and
loveliness and perfect grace and goodliness, nor can I make any difference
between them on account of their being man and woman. But I have another
thought which is that we wake each of them in turn, without the knowledge of
the other, and whichever is the more enamoured shall be held inferior in
seemlihead and comeliness." Quoth Maymunah, "Right is this recking," and quoth
Dahnash, "I consent to this." Then Dahnash changed himself to the form of a
flea and bit Kamar al-Zaman, whereupon he started from sleep in a fright.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Dahnash changed himself
to the form of a flea and bit Kamar al-Zaman who started from sleep in a fright
and rubbed the bitten part, his neck, and scratched it hard because of the
smart. Then turning sideways, he found lying by him something whose breath was
sweeter than musk and whose skin was softer than cream. Hereat marvelled he
with great marvel and he sat up and looked at what lay beside him; when he saw
it to be a young lady like an union pearl, or a shining sun, or a dome seen
from afar on a well built wall; for she was five feet tall, with a shape like
the letter Alif[FN#263], bosomed high and rosy checked; even as saith of her
the poet,
"Four things which ne'er conjoin, unless it be *
To storm my vitals and to shed my blood:
Brow white as day and tresses black as night *
Cheeks rosy red and lips which smiles o'erflood."
And also quoth another,
"A Moon she rises, Willow wand she waves, *
Breathes Ambergris, and gazes, a Gazelle:
Meseems that sorrow woes my heart and wins *
And, when she wendeth hastes therein to dwell!"
And when Kamar al-Zaman saw the Lady Budur, daughter of King Ghayur, and her
beauty and comeliness, she was sleeping clad in a shift of Venetian silk,
without her petticoat-trousers, and wore on her head a kerchief embroidered
with gold and set with stones of price: her ears were hung with twin earrings
which shone like constellations and round her neck was a collar of union
pearls, of size unique, past the competence of any King. When he saw this, his
reason was confounded and natural heat began to stir in him; Allah awoke in him
the desire of coition and he said to himself, "Whatso Allah willeth, that shall
be, and what He willeth not shall never be!" So saying, he put out his hand
and, turning her over, loosed the collar of her chemise; then arose before his
sight her bosom, with its breasts like double globes of ivory; whereat his
inclination for her redoubled and he desired her with exceeding hot desire, He
would have awakened her but she would not awake, for Dahnash had made her sleep
heavy; so he shook her and moved her, saying, "O my beloved, awake and look on
me; I am Kamar al-Zaman." But she awoke not, neither moved her head; where-upon
he considered her case for a long hour and said to himself, "If I guess aright,
this is the damsel to whom my father would have married me and these three
years past I have refused her; but Inshallah!—God willing—as soon as it is
dawn, I will say to him, 'Marry me to her, that I may enjoy her.'"—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman said to
himself, "By Allah, when I see dawn I will say to my sire, 'Marry me to her
that I may enjoy her'; nor will I let half the day pass ere I possess her and
take my fill of her beauty and loveliness." Then he bent over Budur to buss
her, whereat the Jinniyah Maymunah trembled and was abashed and Dahnash, the
Ifrit, was like to fly for joy. But, as Kamar al- Zaman was about to kiss her
upon the mouth, he was ashamed before Allah and turned away his head and
averted his face, saying to his heart, "Have patience." Then he took thought
awhile and said, "I will be patient; haply my father when he was wroth with me
and sent me to this jail, may have brought my young lady and made her lie by my
side to try me with her, and may have charged her not to be readily awakened
when I would arouse her, and may have said to her, 'Whatever thing Kamar
al-Zaman do to thee, make me ware thereof'; or belike my sire standeth hidden
in some stead whence (being himself unseen) he can see all I do with this young
lady; and to morrow he will scold me and cry, 'How cometh it that thou sayest,
I have no mind to marry; and yet thou didst kiss and embrace yonder damsel?' So
I will withhold myself lest I be ashamed before my sire; and the right and
proper thing to do is not to touch her at this present, nor even to look upon
her, except to take from her somewhat which shall serve as a token to me and a
memorial of her; that some sign endure between me and her." Then Kamar al-Zaman
raised the young lady's hand and took from her little finger a seal-ring worth
an immense amount of money, for that its bezel was a precious jewel and around
it were graven these couplets,
"Count not that I your promises forgot, *
Despite the length of your delinquencies
Be generous, O my lord, to me inclining; *
Haply your mouth and cheeks these lips may kiss:
By Allah, ne'er will I relinquish you *
Albe you will transgress love's boundaries."
Then Kamar al-Zaman took the seal-ring from the little finger of Queen Budur
and set it on his own; then, turning his back to her, went to sleep.[FN#264]
When Maymunah the Jinniyah saw this, she was glad and said to Dahnash and
Kashkash, "Saw ye how my beloved Kamar al-Zaman bore himself chastely towards
this young lady? Verily, this was of the perfection of his good gifts; for
observe you twain how he looked on her and noted her beauty and loveliness, and
yet embraced her not neither kissed her nor put his hand to her, but turned his
back and slept." Answered they, "Even so!" Thereupon Maymunah changed herself
into a flea and entering into the raiment of Budur, the loved of Dahnash, crept
up her calf and came upon her thigh and, reaching a place some four
carats[FN#265] below her navel, there bit her. Thereupon she opened her eyes
and sitting up in bed, saw a youth lying beside her and breathing heavily in
his sleep, the loveliest of Almighty Allah's creatures, with eyes that put to
shame the fairest Houris of Heaven; and a mouth like Solomon's seal, whose
water was sweeter to the taste and more efficacious than a theriack, and lips
the colour of coral-stone, and cheeks like the blood red anemone, even as saith
one, describing him in these couplets,
"My mind's withdrawn from Zaynab and Nawár[FN#266] *
By rosy cheeks that growth of myrtle bear;
I love a fawn, a tunic-vested boy, *
And leave the love of bracelet-wearing Fair:
My mate in hall and closet is unlike *
Her that I play with, as at home we pair.
Oh thou, who blam'st my flight from Hind and Zaynab, *
The cause is clear as dawn uplighting air!
Would'st have me fare[FN#267] a slave, the thrall of thrall, *
Cribbed, pent, confined behind the bar and wall?"
Now when Princess Budur saw him, she was seized by a transport of passion and
yearning and love-longing,—And Shahrazad per ceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Princess Budur saw
Kamar al-Zaman she was forthwith seized with a transport of passion and
yearning and love longing, and she said to herself, "Alas, my shame! This is a
strange youth and I know him not. How cometh he to be lying by my side on one
bed?" Then she looked at him a second time and, noting his beauty and
loveliness, said, "By Allah, he is indeed a comely youth and my heart[FN#268]
is well-nigh torn in sunder with longing for him! But alas, how am I shamed by
him! By the Almighty, had I known it was this youth who sought me in marriage
of my father, I had not rejected him, but had wived with him and enjoyed his
loveliness!" Then she gazed in his face and said, "O my lord and light of mine
eyes, awake from sleep and take thy pleasure in my beauty and grace." And she
moved him with her hand; but Maymunah the Jinniyah let down sleep upon him as
it were a curtain, and pressed heavily on his head with her wings so that
Kamar al-Zaman awoke not. Then Princess Budur shook him with her hands and
said, "My life on thee, hearken to me; awake and up from thy sleep and look on
the narcissus and the tender down thereon, and enjoy the sight of naked waist
and navel; and touzle me and tumble me from this moment till break of day!
Allah upon thee, O my lord, sit up and prop thee against the pillow and
slumber not!" Still Kamar al-Zaman made her no reply but breathed hard in his
sleep. Continued she, "Alas! Alas! thou art insolent in thy beauty and
comeliness and grace and loving looks! But if thou art handsome, so am I
handsome; what then is this thou dost? Have they taught thee to flout me or
hath my father, the wretched old fellow,[FN#269] made thee swear not to speak
to me to-night?" But Kamar al-Zaman opened not his mouth neither awoke,
whereat her passion for him redoubled and Allah inflamed her heart with love
of him. She stole one glance of eyes that cost her a thousand sighs: her heart
fluttered, and her vitals throbbed and her hands and feet quivered; and she
said to Kamar al-Zaman "Talk to me, O my lord! Speak to me, O my friend!
Answer me, O my beloved, and tell me thy name, for indeed thou hast ravished
my wit!" And during all this time he abode drowned in sleep and answered her
not a word, and Princess Budur sighed and said, "Alas! Alas! why art thou so
proud and self satisfied?" Then she shook him and turning his hand over, saw
her seal-ring on his little finger, whereat she cried a loud cry, and followed
it with a sigh of passion and said, "Alack! Alack! By Allah, thou art my
beloved and thou lovest me! Yet thou seemest to turn thee away from me out of
coquetry, for all, O my darling, thou camest to me, whilst I was asleep and
knew not what thou didst with me, and tookest my seal-ring; and yet I will not
pull it off thy finger." So saying, she opened the bosom of his shirt and bent
over him and kissed him and put forth her hand to him, seeking somewhat that
she might take as a token, but found nothing. Then she thrust her hand into
his breast and, because of the smoothness of his body, it slipped down to his
waist and thence to his navel and thence to his yard, whereupon her heart
ached and her vitals quivered and lust was sore upon her, for that the desire
of women is fiercer than the desire of men,[FN#270] and she was ashamed of her
own shamelessness. Then she plucked his seal-ring from his finger, and put it
on her own instead of the ring he had taken, and bussed his inner lips and
hands, nor did she leave any part of him unkissed; after which she took him to
her breast and embraced him and, laying one of her hands under his neck and
the other under his arm-pit, nestled close to him and fell asleep by his
side.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the One hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Princess Budur fell
asleep by the side of Kamar al-Zaman, after doing that which she did, quoth
Maymunah to Dahnash, Night thou, O accursed, how proudly and coquettishly my
beloved bore himself, and how hotly and passionately thy mistress showed
herself to my dearling? There can be no doubt that my beloved is handsomer than
shine; nevertheless I pardon thee." Then she wrote him a document of
manumission and turned to Kashkash and said, "Go, help Dahnash to take up his
mistress and aid him to carry her back to her own place, for the night waneth
apace and there is but little left of it." "I hear and I obey;" answered
Kashkash. So the two Ifrits went forward to Princess Budur and upraising her
flew away with her; then, bearing her back to her own place, they laid her on
her bed, whilst Maymunah abode alone with Kamar al-Zaman, gazing upon him as he
slept, till the night was all but spent, when she went her way. As soon as
morning morrowed, the Prince awoke from sleep and turned right and left, but
found not the maiden by him and said in his mind, "What is this business? It is
as if my father would incline me to marriage with the damsel who was with me
and have now taken her away by stealth, to the intent that my desire for
wedlock may redouble." Then he called out to the eunuch who slept at the door,
saying, "Woe to thee, O damned one, arise at once!" So the eunuch rose, bemused
with sleep, and brought him basin and ewer, whereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered
the water closet and did his need;[FN#271] then, coming out made the
Wuzu-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayer, after which he sat telling on his
beads the ninety-and-nine names of Almighty Allah. Then he looked up and,
seeing the eunuch standing in service upon him, said, "Out on thee, O Sawáb!
Who was it came hither and took away the young lady from my side and I still
sleeping?" Asked the eunuch, 'O my lord, what manner of young lady?" "The young
lady who lay with me last night," replied Kamar al-Zaman. The eunuch was
startled at his words and said to him, "By Allah, there hath been with thee
neither young lady nor other! How should young lady have come in to thee, when
I was sleeping in the doorway and the door was locked? By Allah, O my lord,
neither male nor female hath come in to thee!" Exclaimed the Prince, "Thou
liest, O pestilent slave!: is it of thy competence also to hoodwink me and
refuse to tell me what is become of the young lady who lay with me last night
and decline to inform me who took her away?" Replied the eunuch (and he was
affrighted at him), "By Allah, O my lord, I have seen neither young lady nor
young lord!" His words only angered Kamar al-Zaman the more and he said to him,
"O accursed one, my father hath indeed taught thee deceit! Come hither." So the
eunuch came up to him, and the Prince took him by the collar and dashed him to
the ground; whereupon he let fly a loud fart[FN#272] and Kamar al-Zaman,
kneeling upon him, kicked him and throttled him till he fainted away. Then he
dragged him forth and tied him to the well-rope, and let him down like a bucket
into the well and plunged him into the water, then drew him up and lowered him
down again. Now it was hard winter weather, and Kamar al-Zaman ceased not to
plunge the eunuch into the water and pull him up again and douse him and haul
him whilst he screamed and called for help; and the Prince kept on saying "By
Allah, O damned one, I will not draw thee up out of this well till thou tell me
and fully acquaint me with the story of the young lady and who it was took her
away, whilst I slept."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
When it was the One and Eighty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman said to
the eunuch, "By Allah! I will not draw thee up out of this well until thou tell
me the story of the young lady and who it was took her away whilst I slept."
Answered the eunuch, after he had seen death staring him in the face; "O my
lord, let me go and I will relate to thee the truth and the whole tale." So
Kamar al-Zaman pulled him up out of the well, all but dead for suffering, what
with cold and the pain of dipping and dousing, drubbing and dread of drowning.
He shook like cane in hurricane, his teeth were clenched as by cramp and his
clothes were drenched and his body befouled and torn by the rough sides of the
well: briefly he was in a sad pickle. Now when Kamar al-Zaman saw him in this
sorry plight, he was concerned for him; but, as soon as the eunuch found
himself on the floor, he said to him, "O my lord, let me go and doff my clothes
and wring them out and spread them in the sun to dry, and don others; after
which I will return to thee forthwith and tell thee the truth of the matter."
Answered the Prince, "O rascal slave! hadst thou not seen death face to face,
never hadst thou confessed to fact nor told me a word; but go now and do thy
will, and then come back to me at once and tell me the truth." Thereupon the
eunuch went out, hardly crediting his escape, and ceased not running, stumbling
and rising in his haste, till he came in to King Shahriman, whom he found
sitting at talk with his Wazir of Kamar al-Zaman's case. The King was saying to
the Minister, "I slept not last night, for anxiety concerning my son, Kamar
al-Zaman and indeed I fear lest some harm befal him in that old tower. What
good was there in imprisoning him?" Answered the Wazir, "Have no care for him.
By Allah, no harm will befal him! None at all! Leave him in prison for a month
till his temper yield and his spirit be broken and he return to his senses." As
the two spoke behold, up rushed the eunuch, in the aforesaid plight, making to
the King who was troubled at sight of him; and he cried "O our lord the Sultan!
Verily, thy son's wits are fled and he hath gone mad, he hath dealt with me
thus and thus, so that I am become as thou seest me, and he kept saying, 'A
young lady lay with me this night and stole away secretly whilst I slept. Where
is she?' And he insisteth on my letting him know where she is and on my telling
him who took her away. But I have seen neither girl nor boy: the door was
locked all through the night, for I slept before it with the key under my head,
and I opened to him in the morning with my own hand. When King Shahriman heard
this, he cried out, saying, "Alas, my son!;" and he was enraged with sore rage
against the Wazir, who had been the cause of all this case and said to him, "Go
up, bring me news of my son and see what hath befallen his mind." So the Wazir
rose and, stumbling over his long skirts, in his fear of the King's wrath,
hastened with the slave to the tower. Now the sun had risen and when the
Minister came in to Kamar al-Zaman, he found him sitting on the couch reciting
the Koran; so he saluted him and seated himself by his side, and said to him,
"O my lord, this wretched eunuch brought us tidings which troubled and alarmed
us and which incensed the King." Asked Kamar al-Zaman, "And what hath he told
you of me to trouble my father? In good sooth he hath troubled none but me."
Answered the Wazir, "He came to us in fulsome state and told us of thee a thing
which Heaven forfend; and the slave added a lie which it befitteth not to
repeat, Allah preserve thy youth and sound sense and tongue of eloquence, and
forbid to come from thee aught of offense!" Quoth the Prince, "O Wazir, and
what thing did this pestilent slave say of me?" The Minister replied, "He told
us that thy wits had taken leave of thee and thou wouldst have it that a young
lady lay with thee last night, and thou west instant with him to tell thee
whither she went and thou diddest torture him to that end." But when Kamar
al-Zaman heard these words, he was enraged with sore rage and he said to the
Wazir, "'Tis manifest to me in very deed that you people taught the eunuch to
do as he did."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
per misted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman heard
the words of the Wazir he was enraged with sore rage and said to him, "'Tis
manifest to me in very deed that you people taught the eunuch to do as he did
and forbade him to tell me what became of the young lady who lay with me last
night. But thou, O Wazir, art cleverer than the eunuch, so do thou tell me
without stay or delay, whither went the young lady who slept on my bosom last
night; for it was you who sent her and bade her steep in my embrace and we lay
together till dawn; but, when I awoke, I found her not. So where is she now?"
Said the Wazir, "O my lord Kamar al-Zaman, Allah's name encompass thee about!
By the Almighty, we sent none to thee last night, but thou layest alone, with
the door locked on thee and the eunuch sleeping behind it, nor did there come
to thee young lady or any other. Regain thy reason, O my lord, and stablish thy
senses and occupy not thy mind with vanities." Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman who was
incensed at his words, "O Wazir, the young lady in question is my beloved, the
fair one with the black eyes and rosy cheeks, whom I held in my arms all last
night." So the Minister wondered at his words and asked him, "Didst thou see
this damsel last night with shine own eyes on wake or in sleep?" Answered Kamar
al-Zaman, "O ill- omened old man, dost thou fancy I saw her with my ears?
Indeed, I saw her with my very eyes and awake, and I touched her with my hand,
and I watched by her full half the night, feeding my vision on her beauty and
loveliness and grace and tempting looks. But you had schooled her and charged
her to speak no word to me; so she feigned sleep and I lay by her side till
dawn, when I awoke and found her gone." Rejoined the Wazir, "O my lord Kamar
al- Zaman, haply thou sawest this in thy sleep; it must have been a delusion of
dreams or a deception caused by eating various kinds of food, or a suggestion
of the accursed devils." Cried the Prince, "O pestilent old man! wilt thou too
make a mock of me and tell me this was haply a delusion of dreams, when that
eunuch confessed to the young lady, saying, 'At once I will return to thee and
tell thee all about her?'" With these words, he sprang up and rushed at the
Wazir and gripped hold of his beard (which was long[FN#273]) and, after
gripping it, he twisted his hand in it and haling him off the couch, threw him
on the floor. It seemed to the Minister as though his soul departed his body
for the violent plucking at his beard; and Kamar al-Zaman ceased not kicking
the Wazir and basting his breast and ribs and cuffing him with open hand on the
nape of his neck till he had well-nigh beaten him to death. Then said the old
man in his mind, "Just as the eunuch-slave saved his life from this lunatic
youth by telling him a lie, thus it is even fitter that I do likewise; else he
will destroy me. So now for my lie to save myself, he being mad beyond a
doubt." Then he turned to Kamar al-Zaman and said, "O my lord, pardon me; for
indeed thy father charged me to conceal from thee this affair of the young
lady; but now I am weak and weary and wounded with funding; for I am an old man
and lack strength and bottom to endure blows. Have, therefore, a little
patience with me and I will tell thee all and acquaint thee with the story of
the young woman." When the Prince heard this, he left off drubbing him and
said, "Wherefore couldst thou not tell me the tale until after shame and blows?
Rise now, unlucky old man that thou art, and tell me her story." Quoth the
Wazir, "Say, dost thou ask of the young lady with the fair face and perfect
form?" Quoth Kamar al-Zaman, "Even so! Tell me, O Wazir, who it was that led
her to me and laid her by my side, and who was it that took her away from me by
night; and let me know forthright whither she is gone, that I myself may go to
her at once. If my father did this deed to me that he might try me by means of
that beautiful girl, with a view to our marriage, I consent to wed her and free
myself of this trouble; for he did all these dealings with me only because I
refused wedlock. But now I consent and I say again, I consent to matrimony: so
tell this to my father, O Wazir, and advise him to marry me to that young lady;
for I will have none other and my heart loveth none save her alone. Now rise up
at once and haste thee to my father and counsel him to hurry on our wedding and
bring me his answer within this very hour." Rejoined the Wazir, "'Tis well!"
and went forth from him, hardly believing himself out of his hands. Then he set
off from the tower, walking and tripping up as he went, for excess of fright
and agitation, and he ceased not hurrying till he came in to King
Shahriman.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-nineth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir, fared forth
from the tower, and ceased not running till he came in to King Shahriman, who
said to him as he sighted him, "O thou Wazir, what man hath brought thee to
grief and whose mischief hath treated thee in way unlief; how happeneth it that
I see thee dumb foundered and coming to me thus astounded?" Replied the Wazir,
"O King! I bring thee good news." "And what is it?" quoth Shahriman, and quoth
the Wazir, "Know that thy son Kamar al- Zaman's wits are clean gone and that he
hath become stark mad." Now when the King heard these words of the Minister,
light became darkness in his sight and he said, "O Wazir, make clear to me the
nature of his madness." Answered the Wazir, "O my lord, I hear and I obey."
Then he told him that such and such had passed and acquainted him with all that
his son had done; whereupon the King said to him, "Hear, O Wazir, the good
tidings which I give thee in return for this thy fair news of my son's
insanity; and it shall be the cutting off of thy head and the forfeiture of my
favour, O most ill-omened of Wazirs and foulest of Emirs! for I feel that thou
hast caused my son's disorder by the wicked advice and the sinister counsel
thou hast given me first and last. By Allah, if aught of mischief or madness
have befallen my son I will most assuredly nail thee upon the palace dome and
make thee drain the bitterest draught of death!'' Then he sprang up and, taking
the Wazir, with him, fared straight for the tower and entered it. And when
Kamar al-Zaman saw the two, he rose to his father in haste from the couch
whereon he sat and kissing his hands drew back and hung down his head and stood
before him with his arms behind him, and thus remained for a full hour. Then he
raised his head towards his sire; the tears gushed from his eyes and streamed
down his cheeks and he began repeating,
"Forgive the sin 'neath which my limbs are trembling,
For the slave seeks for mercy from his master;
I've done a fault, which calls for free confession,
Where shall it call for mercy, and forgiveness?''[FN#274]
When the King heard this, he arose and embraced his son, and kissing him
between the eyes, made him sit by his side on the couch; then he turned to the
Wazir, and, looking on him with eyes of wrath, said, "O dog of Wazirs, how
didst thou say of my son such and such things and make my heart quake for him?"
Then he turned to the Prince and said, "O my son, what is to-day called?" He
answered, "O my father, this day is the Sabbath, and to morrow is First day:
then come Second day, Third, Fourth, Fifth day and lastly Friday."[FN#275]
Exclaimed the King, "O my son, O Kamar al-Zaman, praised be Allah for the
preservation of thy reason! What is the present month called in our Arabic?"
"Zú'l Ka'adah," answered Kamar al-Zaman, "and it is followed by Zú'l hijjah;
then cometh Muharram, then Safar, then Rabí'a the First and Rabí'a the Second,
the two Jamádás, Rajab, Sha'aban, Ramazán and Shawwál." At this the King
rejoiced exceedingly and spat in the Wazir's face, saying, "O wicked old man,
how canst thou say that my son is mad? And now none is mad but thou." Hereupon
the Minister shook his head and would have spoken, but bethought himself to
wait awhile and see what might next befal. Then the King said to his child, "O
my son, what words be these thou saddest to the eunuch and the Wazir,
declaring, 'I was sleeping with a fair damsel this night?'[FN#276] What damsel
is this of whom thou speakest?" Then Kamar al-Zaman laughed at his father's
words and replied, "O my father, know that I can bear no more jesting; so add
me not another mock or even a single word on the matter, for my temper hath
waxed short by that you have done with me. And know, O my father, with assured
knowledge, that I consent to marry, but on condition that thou give me to wife
her who lay by my side this night; for I am certain it was thou sentest her to
me and madest me in love with her and then despatchedst a message to her before
the dawn and tookest her away from beside me." Rejoined the King, "The name of
Allah encompass thee about, O my son, and be thy wit preserved from
witlessness!"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth King Shahriman to
his son Kamar al-Zaman, "The name of Allah encompass thee about, O my son, and
be thy wit preserved from witlessness! What thing be this young lady whom thou
fanciest I sent to thee last night and then again that I sent to withdraw her
from thee before dawn? By the Lord, O my son, I know nothing of this affair,
and Allah upon thee, tell me if it be a delusion of dreaming or a deception
caused by indisposition. For verily thou layest down to sleep last night with
thy mind occupied anent marriage and troubled with the talk of it (Allah damn
marriage and the hour when I spake of it and curse him who counselled it!); and
without doubt or diffidence I can say that being moved in mind by the mention
of wedlock thou dreamedst that a handsome young lady embraced thee and didst
fancy thou sawest her when awake. But all this, O my son, is but an imbroglio
of dreams." Replied Kamar al-Zaman, "Leave this talk and swear to me by Allah,
the All creator, the Omniscient; the Humbler of the tyrant Caesars and the
Destroyer of the Chosroes, that thou knowest naught of the young lady nor of
her woning-place." Quoth the King, "By the Might of Allah Almighty, the God of
Moses and Abraham, I know naught of all this and never even heard of it; it is
assuredly a delusion of dreams thou hast seen in sleep.' Then the Prince
replied to his sire, "I will give thee a self evident proof that it happened to
me when on wake."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al Zamar said to
his sire, "I will give thee a self-evident proof that this happened to me when
on wake. Now let me ask thee, did it ever befal any man to dream that he was
battling a sore battle and after to awake from sleep and find in his hand a
sword-blade besmeared with blood? Answered the King, "No, by Allah, O my son,
this hath never been." Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, "I will tell thee what happened
to me and it was this. Meseemed I awoke from sleep in the middle of the past
night and found a girl lying by my side, whose form was like mine and whose
favour was as mine. I embraced her and turned her about with my hand and took
her seal- ring, which I put on my finger, and she pulled off my ring and put it
on hers. Then I went to sleep by her side, but refrained from her for shame of
thee, deeming that thou hadst sent her to me, intending to tempt me with her
and incline me to marriage, and suspecting thee to be hidden somewhere whence
thou couldst see what I did with her. And I was ashamed even to kiss her on the
mouth for thy account, thinking over this temptation to wedlock; and, when I
awoke at point of day, I found no trace of her, nor could I come at any news of
her, and there befel me what thou knowest of with the eunuch and with the
Wazir. How then can this case have been a dream and a delusion, when the ring
is a reality? Save for her ring on my finger I should indeed have deemed it a
dream; but here is the ring on my little finger: look at it, O King, and see
what is its worth." So saying he handed the ring to his father, who examined it
and turned it over, then looked to his son and said, "Verily, there is in this
ring some mighty mystery and some strange secret. What befel thee last night
with the girl is indeed a hard nut to crack, and I know not how intruded upon
us this intruder. None is the cause of all this posher save the Wazir; but,
Allah upon thee, O my son, take patience, so haply the Lord may turn to
gladness this thy grief and to thy sadness bring complete relief: as quoth one
of the poets,
'Haply shall Fortune draw her rein, and bring *
Fair chance, for she is changeful, jealous, vain:
Still I may woo my want and wishes win, *
And see on heels of care unfair, the fain.'
And now, O my son, I am certified at this hour that thou art not mad; but thy
case is a strange one which none can clear up for thee save the Almighty."
Cried the Prince, "By Allah, O my father, deal kindly with me and seek out this
young lady and hasten her coming to me; else I shall die of woe and of my death
shall no one know." Then he betrayed the ardour of his passion; and turned
towards his father and repeated these two couplets,
"If your promise of personal call prove untrue, *
Deign in vision to grant me an interview:
Quoth they, 'How can phantom[FN#277] appear to the sight *
Of a youth, whose sight is fordone, perdue?'"
Then, after ending his poetry, Kamar al-Zaman again turned to his father, with
submission and despondency, and shedding tears in flood, began repeating these
lines.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman had
repeated to his father these verses, he wept and complained and groaned from a
wounded heart; and added these lines,
"Beware that eye glance which hath magic might; *
Wherever turn those orbs it bars our flight:
Nor be deceived by low sweet voice, that breeds *
A fever festering in the heart and sprite:
So soft that silky skin, were rose to touch it *
She'd cry and tear-drops rain for pain and fright:
Did Zephyr e'en in sleep pass o'er her land, *
Scented he'd choose to dwell in scented site:
Her necklets vie with tinkling of her belt; *
Her wrists strike either wristlet dumb with spite:
When would her bangles buss those rings in ear, *
Upon the lover's eyne high mysteries 'light:
I'm blamed for love of her, nor pardon claim; *
Eyes are not profiting which lack foresight:
Heaven strip thee, blamer mine! unjust art thou; *
Before this fawn must every eye low bow."[FN#278]
After which he said, "By Allah, O my father, I cannot endure to be parted from
her even for an hour." The King smote hand upon hand and exclaimed, "There is
no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No
cunning contrivance can profit us in this affair." Then he took his son by the
hand and carried him to the palace, where Kamar al-Zaman lay down on the bed of
languor and the King sat at his head, weeping and mourning over him and leaving
him not, night or day, till at last the Wazir came in to him and said, "O King
of the age and the time, how long wilt thou remain shut up with thy son and
hide thyself from thy troops. Haply, the order of thy realm may be deranged, by
reason of shine absence from thy Grandees and Officers of State. It behoveth
the man of understanding, if he have various wounds in his body, to apply him
first to medicine the most dangerous; so it is my counsel to thee that thou
remove thy son from this place to the pavilion which is in the palace
overlooking the sea; and shut thyself up with him there, setting apart in every
week two days, Thursday and Monday, for state receptions and progresses and
reviews. On these days let shine Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Viceroys
and high Officials and Grandees of the realm and the rest of the levies and the
lieges have access to thee and submit their affairs to thee; and do thou their
needs and judge among them and give and take with them and bid and forbid. And
the rest of the week thou shalt pass with thy son, Kamar al-Zaman, and cease
not thus doing till Allah shall vouchsafe relief to you twain. Think not, O
King, that thou art safe from the shifts of Time and the strokes of Change
which come like a traveller in the night; for the wise man is ever on his guard
and how well saith the poet,
'Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well, *
And fearedst not what ills might bring thee Fate:
The Nights so fair and restful cozened thee, *
For peaceful Nights bring woes of heavy weight.
Oh children of mankind whom Time befriends, *
Beware of Time's deceits or soon or late!'''[FN#279]
When the Sultan heard his Wazir's words he saw that they were right and deemed
his counsel wise, and it had effect upon him for he feared lest the order of
the state be deranged; so he rose at once and bade transport his son from his
sick room to the pavilion in the palace overlooking the sea. Now this palace
was girt round by the waters and was approached by a causeway twenty cubits
wide. It had windows on all sides commanding an ocean- view; its floor was
paved with parti-coloured marbles and its ceiling was painted in the richest
pigments and figured with gold and lapis-lazuli. They furnished it for Kamar
al-Zaman with splendid upholstery, embroidered rugs and carpets of the richest
silk; and they clothed the walls with choice brocades and hung curtains
bespangled with gems of price. In the midst they set him a couch of
juniper[FN#280]-wood inlaid with pearls and jewels, and Kamar al-Zaman sat down
thereon, but the excess of his concern and passion for the young lady had
wasted his charms and emaciated his body; he could neither eat nor drink nor
sleep; and he was like a man who had been sick twenty years of sore sickness.
His father seated himself at his head, grieving for him with the deepest grief,
and every Monday and Thursday he gave his Wazirs and Emirs and Chamberlains and
Viceroys and Lords of the realm and levies and the rest of his lieges leave to
come up to him in that pavilion. So they entered and did their several service
and duties and abode with him till the end of the day, when they went their
ways and the King returned to his son in the pavilion whom he left not night
nor day; and he ceased not doing on this wise for many days and nights. Such
was the case with Kamar al-Zaman, son of King Shahriman; but as regards
Princess Budur, daughter of King Ghayur, Lord of the Isles and the Seven
Palaces, when the two Jinns bore her up and laid her on her bed, she slept till
daybreak, when she awoke and sitting upright looked right and left, but saw not
the youth who had lain in her bosom. At this her vitals fluttered, her reason
fled and she shrieked a loud shriek which awoke all her slave girls and nurses
and duennas. They flocked in to her; and the chief of them came forward and
asked, "What aileth thee, O my lady?" Answered the Princess, "O wretched old
woman, where is my beloved, the handsome youth who lay last night in my bosom?
Tell me whither he is gone." Now when the duenna heard this, the light
starkened in her sight and she feared from her mischief with sore affright, and
said to her, "O my Lady Budur, what unseemly words are these?" Cried the
Princess, "Woe to thee pestilent crone that thou art! I ask thee again where is
my beloved, the goodly youth with the shining face and the slender form, the
jetty eyes and the joined eyebrows, who lay with me last night from supper-tide
until near daybreak?" She rejoined "By Allah, O my lady, I have seen no young
man nor any other. I conjure thee, carry not this unseemly jest too far lest we
all lose our lives; for perhaps the joke may come to thy father's ears and who
shall then deliver us from his hand?"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the duenna bespake the
Lady Budur in these words, "Allah upon thee, O my lady! carry not this unseemly
jest too far; for perhaps it may come to thy father's ears, and who shall then
deliver us from his hand?" The Princess rejoined, "In very sooth a youth lay
with me last night, one of the fairest-faced of men." Exclaimed the duenna,
"Heaven preserve thy reason! indeed no one lay with thee last night." Thereupon
the Princess looked at her hand and, finding Kamar al-Zaman's seal-ring on her
finger in stead of her own, said to her, "Woe to thee, thou accursed! thou
traitress! wilt thou lie to me and tell me that none lay with me last night and
swear to me a falsehood in the name of the Lord?" Replied the duenna, "By
Allah, I do not lie to thee nor have I sworn falsely." Then the Princess was
incensed by her words and, drawing a sword she had by her, she smote the old
woman with it and slew her;[FN#281] whereupon the eunuch and the waiting-women
and the concubines cried out at her, and ran to her father and, without stay or
delay, acquainted him with her case. So the King went to her, and asked her, "O
my daughter, what aileth thee?"; and she answered, "O my father, where is the
youth who lay with me last night?" Then her reason fled from her head and she
cast her eyes right and left and rent her raiment even to the skirt. When her
sire saw this, he bade the women lay hands on her; so they seized her and
manacled her, then putting a chain of iron about her neck, made her fast to one
of the palace-windows and there left her.[FN#282] Thus far concerning Princess
Budur; but as regards her father, King Ghayur, the world was straitened upon
him when he saw what had befallen his daughter, for that he loved her and her
case was not a little grievous to him. So he summoned on it the doctors and
astrologers and men skilled in talisman- writing and said to them, "Whoso
healeth my daughter of what ill she hath, I will marry him to her and give him
half of my kingdom; but whoso cometh to her and cureth her not, I will strike
off his head and hang it over her palace-gate." Accordingly, all who went in to
her, but failed to heal her, he beheaded and hung their heads over the
palace-gates, till he had beheaded on her account forty doctors and crucified
forty astrologers; wherefor the general held aloof from her, all the physicians
having failed to medicine her malady; and her case was a puzzle to the men of
science and the adepts in cabalistic characters. And as her longing and passion
redoubled and love and distraction were sore upon her, she poured forth tears
and repeated these couplets,
"My fondness, O my moon, for thee my foeman is, *
And to thy comradeship the nights my thought compel:
In gloom I bide with fire that flames below my ribs, *
Whose lowe I make comparison with heat of Hell:
I'm plagued with sorest stress of pine and ecstasy; *
Nor clearest noon tide can that horrid pain dispel."
Then she sighed and repeated these also,
"Salams fro' me to friends in every stead; *
Indeed to all dear friends do I incline:
Salams, but not salams that bid adieu; *
Salams that growth of good for you design:
I love you dear, indeed, nor less your land, *
But bide I far from every need of mine!"
And when the Lady Budur ceased repeating her poetry, she wept till her eyes
waxed sore and her cheeks changed form and hue, and in this condition she
continued three years. Now she had a foster-brother, by name Marzawán,[FN#283]
who was travelling in far lands and absent from her the whole of this time. He
loved her with an exceeding love, passing the love of brothers; so when he came
back he went in to his mother and asked for his sister, the Princess Budur. She
answered him, "O my son, thy sister hath been smitten with madness and hath
passed these three years with a chain of iron about her neck; and all the
physicians and men of science have failed of healing her." When Marzawan heard
these words he said, "I must needs go in to her; peradventure I may discover
what she hath, and be able to medicine her;" and his mother replied, "Needs
must thou visit her, but wait till to morrow, that I may contrive some thing to
suit thy case." Then she went a-foot to the palace of the Lady Budur and,
accosting the eunuch in charge of the gates, made him a present and said to
him, "I have a daughter, who was brought up with thy mistress and since then I
married her; and, when that befel the Princess which befel her, she became
troubled and sore concerned, and I desire of thy favour that my daughter may go
in to her for an hour and look on her; and then return whence she came, so
shall none know of it." Quoth the eunuch, "This may not be except by night,
after the King hath visited his child and gone away; then come thou and thy
daughter." So she kissed the eunuch's hand and, returning home, waited till the
morrow at nightfall; and when it was time she arose and sought her son Marzawan
and attired him in woman's apparel; then, taking his hand in hers, led him
towards the palace, and ceased not walking with him till she came upon the
eunuch after the Sultan had ended his visit to the Princess. Now when the
eunuch saw her, he rose to her, and said, "Enter, but do not prolong thy stay!"
So they went in and when Marzawan beheld the Lady Budur in the aforesaid
plight, he saluted her, after his mother had doffed his woman's garb: then he
took out of their satchel books he had brought with him; and, lighting a wax-
candle, he began to recite certain conjurations Thereupon the Princess looked
at him and recognising him, said, "O my brother, thou hast been absent on thy
travels' and thy news have been cut off from us." He replied, "True! but Allah
hath brought me back safe and sound, I am now minded to set out again nor hath
aught delayed me but the news I hear of thee; wherefore my heart burned for
thee and I came to thee, so haply I may free thee of thy malady." She rejoined,
O my brother, thinkest thou it is madness aileth me?" "Yes." answered he, and
she said, "Not so, by Allah! 'tis even as saith the poet,
'Quoth they 'Thou rav'st on him thou lov'st': quoth I, *
'The sweets of love are only for th' insane!'
Love never maketh Time his friend befriend; *
Only the Jinn-struck wight such boon can gain:
Well! yes, I'm mad: bring him who madded me *
And, if he cure m: madness, blame restrain!'"
Then she let Marzawan know that she was love-daft and he said "Tell me
concerning thy tale and what befel thee: haply there may be in my hand
something which shall be a means of deliverance for thee."—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of da, and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Marzawar thus addressed
Princess Budur, "Tell me concerning thy tale and what befel thee: haply Allah
may inspire me with a means of deliverance for thee." Quoth she, "O my brother,
hear my story which is this. One night I awoke from sleep, in the last third of
the night[FN#284] and, sitting up, saw by my side the handsomest of youths that
be, and tongue faileth to describe him, for he was as a willow-wand or an
Indian rattan-cane. So methought it was my father who had done on this wise in
order thereby to try me, for that he had consulted me concerning wedlock, when
the Kings sought me of him to wife, and I had refused. It was this though
withheld me from arousing him, for I feared that, if I did aught of embraced
him, he would peradventure inform my father of m, doings. But in the morning, I
found on my finger his seal-ring, in place of my own which he had taken. And, O
my brother, m, heart was seized with love of him at first sight; and, for the
violence of my passion and longing, I have never savoured the taste of sleep
and have no occupation save weeping alway and repeating verses night and day.
And this, O my brother, is my story and the cause of my madness." Then she
poured forth tears and repeated these couplets,
"Now Love hast banished all that bred delight; *
With that heart-nibbling fawn my joys took flight:
Lightest of trifles lover's blood to him *
Who wastes the vitals of the hapless wight!
For him I'm jealous of my sight and thought; *
My heart acts spy upon my thought and sight:
Those long-lashed eyelids rain on me their shafts *
Guileful, destroying hearts where'er they light:
Now, while my portion in the world endures, *
Shall I behold him ere I quit world-site?
What bear I for his sake I'd hide, but tears *
Betray my feelings to the spy's despight.
When near, our union seemeth ever far; *
When far, my thoughts to him aye nearest are."
And presently she continued, "See then, O my brother, how thou mayest aid me in
mine affliction." So Marzawan bowed his head ground-wards awhile, wondering and
not knowing what to do, then he raised it and said to her, "All thou hast
spoken to me I hold to be true, though the case of the young man pass my
understanding: but I will go round about all lands and will seek for what may
heal thee; haply Allah shall appoint thy healing to be at my hand. Meanwhile,
take patience and be not disquieted." Thereupon Marzawan farewelled her,
praying that she might be constant and left her repeating these couplets,
"Thine image ever companies my sprite, *
For all thou'rt distant from the pilgrim's sight:
But my heart-wishes e'er attract thee near: *
What is the lightning's speed to Thought's swift flight?
Then go not thou, my very light of eyes *
Which, when thou'rt gone, lack all the Kohl of light."
Then Marzawan returned to his mother's house, where he passed the night. And
when the morrow dawned, having equipped himself for his journey, he fared forth
and ceased not faring from city to city and from island to island for a whole
month, till he came to a town named Al-Tayrab.[FN#285] Here he went about
scenting news of the townsfolk, so haply he might light on a cure for the
Princess's malady, for in every capital he entered or passed by, it was
reported that Queen Budur, daughter of King Ghayur, had lost her wits. But
arriving at Al-Tayrab city, he heard that Kamar al-Zaman, son of King
Shahriman, was fallen sick and afflicted with melancholy madness. So Marzawan
asked the name of the Prince's capital and they said to him, "It is on the
Islands of Khalidan and it lieth distant from our city a whole month's journey
by sea, but by land it is six months' march." So he went down to the sea in a
ship which was bound for the Khalidan Isles, and she sailed with a favouring
breeze for a whole month, till they came in sight of the capital; and there
remained for them but to make the land when, behold, there came out on them a
tempestuous wind which carried away the masts and rent the canvas, so that the
sails fell into the sea and the ship capsized, with all on board,—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the ship capsized
with all on board, each sought his own safety; and as for Marzawan the set of
the sea carried him under the King's palace, wherein was Kamar al-Zaman. And by
the decree of destiny it so happened that this was the day on which King
Shahriman gave audience to his Grandees and high officers, and he was sitting,
with his son's head on his lap, whilst an eunuch fanned away the flies; and the
Prince had not spoken neither had he eaten nor drunk for two days, and he was
grown thinner than a spindle.[FN#286] Now the Wazir was standing respectfully
a-foot near the latticed window giving on the sea and, raising his eyes, saw
Marzawan being beaten by the billows and at his last gasp; whereupon his heart
was moved to pity for him, so he drew near to the King and moving his head
towards him said, "I crave thy leave, O King, to go down to the court of the
pavilion and open the water-gate that I may rescue a man who is at the point of
drowning in the sea and bring him forth of danger into deliverance;
peradventure, on this account Allah may free thy son from what he hath!" The
King replied, "O thou Wazir, enough is that which hath befallen my son through
thee and on shine account. Haply, if thou rescue this drowning man, he will
come to know our affairs, and look on my son who is in this state and exult
over me; but I swear by Allah, that if this half-drowned wretch come hither and
learn our condition and look upon my son and then fare forth and speak of our
secrets to any, I will assuredly strike off thy head before his; for thou, O my
Minister art the cause of all that hath betided us, first and last. Now do as
thou wilt." Thereupon the Wazir sprang up and, opening the private pastern
which gave upon the sea, descended to the causeway; then walked on twenty steps
and came to the water where he saw Marzawan nigh unto death. So he put out his
hand to him and, catching him by his hair, drew him ashore in a state of
insensibility, with belly full of water and eyes half out of his head. The
Wazir waited till he came to himself, when he pulled off his wet clothes and
clad him in a fresh suit, covering his head with one of his servants' turbands;
after which he said to him, Know that I have been the means of saving thee from
drowning: do not thou requite me by causing my death and shine own."ÄAnd
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Wazir did to
Marzawan what he did, he thus addressed him Know that I have been the cause of
saving thee from drowning so requite me not by causing my death and shine own."
Asked Marzawan, And how so?"; and the Wazir answered, "Thou art at this hour
about to go up and pass among Emirs and Wazirs all of them silent and none
speaking, because of Kamar al-Zaman the son of the Sultan." Now when Marzawan
heard the name of Kamar al-Zaman, he knew that this was he whom he had heard
spoken of in sundry cities and of whom he came in search, but he feigned
ignorance and asked the Wazir, "And who is Kamar al-Zaman? Answered the
Minister, "He is the son of Sultan Shahriman and he is sore sick and lieth
strown on his couch restless alway, eating not nor drinking neither sleeping
night or day; indeed he is nigh upon death and we have lost hope of his living
and are certain that he is dying. Beware lest thou look too long on him, or
thou look on any other than that where thou settest thy feet: else thou art a
lost man, and I also." He replied, "Allah upon thee, O Wazir, I implore thee,
of thy favour, acquaint me touching this youth thou describest, what is the
cause of the condition in which he is." The Wazir replied, "I know none, save
that, three years ago, his father required him to wed, but he refused; whereat
the King was wroth and imprisoned him. And when he awoke on the morrow, he
fancied that during the night he had been roused from sleep and had seen by his
side a young lady of passing loveliness, whose charms tongue can never express;
and he assured us that he had plucked off her seal-ring from her finger and had
put it on his own and that she had done likewise; but we know not the secret of
all this business. So by Allah, O my son, when thou comest up with me into the
palace, look not on the Prince, but go thy way; for the Sultan's heart is full
of wrath against me." So said Marzawan to himself, "By Allah; this is the one I
sought!" Then he followed the Wazir up to the palace, where the Minister seated
himself at the Prince's feet; but Marzawan found forsooth nothing to do but go
up to Kamar al-Zaman and stand before him at gaze. Upon this the Wazir, died of
affright in his skin, and kept looking at Marzawan and signalling him to wend
his way; but he feigned not to see him and gave not over gazing upon Kamar al-
Zaman, till he was well assured that it was indeed he whom he was seeking,—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Marzawan looked upon
Kamar al-Zaman and knew that it was indeed he whom he was seeking, he cried,
"Exalted be Allah, Who hath made his shape even as her shape and his complexion
as her complexion and his cheek as her cheek!'' Upon this Kamar al-Zaman opened
his eyes and gave earnest ear to his speech; and, when Marzawan saw him
inclining to hear, he repeated these couplets[FN#287],
"I see thee full of song and plaint and love's own ecstasy;
Delighting in describing all the charms of loveliness:
Art smit by stroke of Love or hath shaft-shot wounded thee?
None save the wounded ever show such signals of distress!
Ho thou! crown the wine cup and sing me singular
Praises to Sulaymá, Al-Rabáb, Tan'oum addrest;[FN#288]
Go round the grape-vine sun[FN#289] which for mansion hath a jar;
Whose East the cup boy is, and here my mouth that opes for West.
I'm jealous of the very clothes that dare her sides enroll
When she veils her dainty body of the delicatest grace:
I envy every goblet of her lips that taketh toll
When she sets the kissing cup on that sweetest kissing-place.
But deem not by the keen-edged scymitar I'm slain—
The hurts and harms I dree are from arrows of her eyes.
I found her finger tips, as I met her once again,
Deep-reddened with the juice of the wood that ruddy dyes;[FN#290]
And cried, 'Thy palms thou stainedst when far away was I
And this is how thou payest one distracted by his pine!'
Quoth she (enkindling in my heart a flame that burned high
Speaking as one who cannot hide of longing love the sign),
'By thy life, this is no dye used for dyeing; so forbear
Thy blame, nor in charging me with falsing Love persist!
But when upon our parting-day I saw thee haste to fare,
The while were bared my hand and my elbow and my wrist;
'I shed a flood of blood-red tears and with fingers brushed away; Hence
blood-reddened were the tips and still blood-red they remain.'
Had I wept before she wept, to my longing-love a prey,
Before repentance came, I had quit my soul of pain;
But she wept before I wept and I wept to see her care
And I said, 'All the merit to precedent;'[FN#291]
Blame me not for loving her, now on self of Love I swear
For her sake, for her only, these pains my soul torment.
She hath all the lere of Lukmán[FN#292] and Yúsuf's beauty lief;
Sweet singer David's voice and Maryam's chastity:
While I've all Jacob's mourning and Jonah's prison-grief,
And the sufferings of Job and old Adam's history:
Yet kill her not, albeit of my love for her I die;
But ask her why my blood to her was lawful. ask her why?"
When Marzawan recited this ode, the words fell upon Kamar al- Zaman's heart as
freshness after fever and returning health; and he sighed and, turning his
tongue in his mouth, said to his sire, "O my father, let this youth come and
sit by my side."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman said to
his sire, "O my father, allow this youth to come and sit by my side." Now when
the King heard these words from his son, he rejoiced with exceeding joy, though
at the first his heart had been set against Marzawan and he had determined that
the stranger's head needs must be stricken off: but when he heard Kamar
al-Zaman speak, his anger left him and he arose and drawing Marzawan to him,
seated him by his son and turning to him said, "Praised be Allah for thy
safety!" He replied, "Allah preserve thee! and preserve thy son to thee!" and
called down blessings on the King. Then the King asked, "From what country art
thou?"; and he answered, "From the Islands of the Inland Sea, the kingdom of
King Ghayur, Lord of the Isles and the Seas and the Seven Palaces." Quoth King
Shahriman, "Maybe thy coming shall be blessed to my son and Allah vouchsafe to
heal what is in him." Quoth Marzawan, "Inshallah, naught shall be save what
shall be well!" Then turning to Kamar al-Zaman, he said to him in his ear
unheard of the King and his court, 'O my lord! be of good cheer, and hearten
thy heart and let shine eyes be cool and clear and, with respect to her for
whose sake thou art thus, ask not of her case on shine account. But thou
keptest thy secret and fellest sick, while she told her secret and they said
she had gone mad; so she is now in prison, with an iron chain about her neck,
in most piteous plight; but, Allah willing, the healing of both of you shall
come from my hand." Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, his life
returned to him and he took heart and felt a thrill of joy and signed to his
father to help him sit up; and the King was like to fly for gladness and rose
hastily and lifted him up. Presently, of his fear for his son, he shook the
kerchief of dismissal[FN#293]; and all the Emirs and Wazirs withdrew; then he
set two pillows for his son to lean upon, after which he bade them perfume the
palace with saffron and decorate the city, saying to Marzawan, "By Allah, O my
son, of a truth shine aspect be a lucky and a blessed!" And he made as much of
him as he might and called for food, and when they brought it, Marzawan came up
to the Prince and said, "Rise, eat with me." So he obeyed him and ate with him,
and all the while the King invoked blessings on Marzawan and said, "How
auspicious is thy coming, O my son!" And when the father saw his boy eat, his
joy and gladness redoubled, and he went out and told the Prince's mother and
all the household. Then he spread throughout the palace the good news of the
Prince's recovery and the King commanded the decoration of the city and it was
a day of high festival. Marzawan passed that night with Kamar al-Zaman, and the
King also slept with them in joy and delight for his son's recovery.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman also
passed that night with them in the excess of his joy for his son's recovery.
And when the next morning dawned, and the King had gone away and the two young
men were left alone, Kamar al-Zaman told his story from beginning to end to
Marzawan who said, "In very sooth I know her with whom thou didst foregather;
her name is the Princess Budur and she is daughter to King Ghayur." Then he
related to him all that had passed with the Princess from first to last and
acquainted him with the excessive love she bore him, saying, "All that befel
thee with thy father hath befallen her with hers, and thou art without doubt
her beloved, even as she is shine; so brace up thy resolution and take heart,
for I will bring thee to her and unite you both anon and deal with you even as
saith the poet,
"Albe to lover adverse be his love, *
And show aversion howso may he care;
Yet will I manage that their persons[FN#294] meet, *
E'en as the pivot of a scissor pair."
And he ceased not to comfort and solace and encourage Kamar al- Zaman and urged
him to eat and drink till he ate food and drank wine, and life returned to him
and he was saved from his ill case; and Marzawan cheered him and diverted him
with talk and songs and stories, and in good time he became free of his
disorder and stood up and sought to go to the Hammam.[FN#295] So Marzawan took
him by the hand and both went to the bath, where they washed their bodies and
made them clean.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundredth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman, son
of King Shahriman, went to the Hammam, his father in his joy at this event
freed the prisoners, and presented splendid dresses to his grandees and
bestowed large alm-gifts upon the poor and bade decorate the city seven days.
Then quoth Marzawan to Kamar al-Zaman, "Know, O my lord, that I came not from
the Lady Budur save for this purpose, and the object of my journey was to
deliver her from her present case; and it remaineth for us only to devise how
we may get to her, since thy father cannot brook the thought of parting from
thee. So it is my counsel that to-morrow thou ask his leave to go abroad
hunting. Then do thou take with thee a pair of saddle-bags full of money and
mount a swift steed, and lead a spare horse, and I will do the like, and say to
thy sire, 'I have a mind to divert myself with hunting the desert and to see
the open country and there to pass one night.' Suffer not any servant to follow
us, for as soon as we reach the open country, we will go our ways." Kamar al-
Zaman rejoiced in this plan with great joy and cried, "It is good." Then he
stiffened his back and, going in to his father, sought his leave and spoke as
he had been taught, and the King consented to his going forth a-hunting and
said, "O my son, blessed be the day that restoreth thee to health! I will not
gainsay thee in this; but pass not more than one night in the desert and return
to me on the morrow; for thou knowest that life is not good to me without thee,
and indeed I can hardly believe thee to be wholly recovered from what thou
hadst,[FN#296] because thou art to me as he of whom quoth the poet,
'Albe by me I had through day and night *
Solomon's carpet and the Chosroes' might,
Both were in value less than wing of gnat, *
Unless these eyne could hold thee aye in sight.'"[FN#297]
Then the King equipped his son Kamar al-Zaman and Marzawan for the excursion,
bidding make ready for them four horses, together with a dromedary to carry the
money and a camel to bear the water and belly timber; and Kamar al-Zaman
forbade any of his attendants to follow him. His father farewelled him and
pressed him to his breast and kissed him, saying, "I ask thee in the name of
Allah, be not absent from me more than one night, wherein sleep will be
unlawful to me, for I am even as saith the poet,
'Thou present, in the Heaven of heavens I dwell; *
Bearing shine absence is of hells my Hell:
Pledged be for thee my soul! If love for thee *
Be crime, my crime is of the fellest fell.
Does love-lowe burn thy heart as burns it mine, *
Doomed night and day Gehenna-fire to smell?'"
Answered Kamar al-Zaman, "O my father, Inshallah, I will lie abroad but one
night!" Then he took leave of him, and he and Marzawan mounted and leading the
spare horses, the dromedary with the money and the camel with the water and
victual, turned their faces towards the open country;—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawning day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and First Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman and
Marzawan fared forth and turned their faces towards the open country; and they
travelled from the first of the day till nightfall, when they halted and ate
and drank and fed their beasts and rested awhile; after which they again took
horse and ceased not journeying for three days, and on the fourth they came to
a spacious tract wherein was a thicket. They alighted in it and Marzawan,
taking the camel and one of the horses, slaughtered them and cut off their
flesh and stripped their bones. Then he doffed from Kamar al-Zaman his shirt
and trousers which he smeared with the horse's blood and he took the Prince's
coat which he tore to shreds and befouled with gore; and he cast them down in
the fork of the road. Then they ate and drank and mounting set forward again;
and, when Kamar al- Zaman asked why this was done, and said, "What is this O my
brother, and how shall it profit us?"; Marzawan replied, "Know that thy father,
when we have outstayed the second night after the night for which we had his
leave, and yet we return not, will mount and follow in our track till he come
hither; and, when he happeneth upon this blood which I have spilt and he seeth
thy shirt and trousers rent and gore-fouled, he will fancy that some accident
befel thee from bandits or wild-beasts, so he will give up hope of thee and
return to his city, and by this device we shall win our wishes." Quoth Kamar
al-Zaman, "By Allah, this be indeed a rare device! Thou hast done right
well.''[FN#298] Then the two fared on days and nights and all that while Kamar
al-Zaman did naught but complain when he found himself alone, and he ceased not
weeping till they drew near their journeys end, when he rejoiced and repeated
these verses,
"Wilt tyrant play with truest friend who thinks of thee each
hour, * And after showing love-desire betray indifference?
May I forfeit every favour if in love I falsed thee, *
If thee I left, abandon me by way of recompense:
But I've been guilty of no crime such harshness to deserve, *
And if I aught offended thee I bring my penitence;
Of Fortune's wonders one it is thou hast abandoned me, *
But Fortune never wearieth of showing wonderments."
When he had made an end of his verses, Marzawan said to him, "Look! these be
King Ghayur's Islands;" whereat Kamar al-Zaman joyed with exceeding joy and
thanked him for what he had done, and kissed him between the eyes and strained
him—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Marzawan said "Look!
these be the Islands of King Ghayur;" Kamar al-Zaman joyed with exceeding joy
and thanked him for what he had done and kissed him between the eyes and
strained him to his bosom. And after reaching the Islands and entering the city
they took up their lodging in a khan, where they rested three days from the
fatigues of their wayfare; after which Marzawan carried Kamar al-Zaman to the
bath and, clothing him in merchant's gear, provided him with a geomantic tablet
of gold,[FN#299] with a set of astrological instruments and with an astrolabe
of silver, plated with gold. Then he said to him, "Arise, O my lord, and take
thy stand under the walls of the King's palace and cry out, 'I am the ready
Reckoner; I am the Scrivener; I am he who weeteth the Sought and the Seeker; I
am the finished man of Science; I am the Astrologer accomplished in experience!
Where then is he that seeketh?' As soon as the King heareth this, he will send
after thee and carry thee in to his daughter the Princess Budur, thy lover; but
when about going in to her do thou say to him, 'Grant me three days' delay, and
if she recover, give her to me to wife; and if not, deal with me as thou
dealest with those who forewent me.' He will assuredly agree to this, so as
soon as thou art alone with her, discover thyself to her; and when she seeth
thee, she will recover strength and her madness will cease from her and she
will be made whole in one night. Then do thou give her to eat and drink. and
her father, rejoicing in her recovery, will marry thee to her and share his
kingdom with thee; for he hath imposed on himself this condition and so peace
be upon thee." Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words he exclaimed, "May I
never lack thy benefits!", and, taking the set of instruments aforesaid,
sallied forth from the caravanserai in the dress of his order. He walked on
till he stood under the walls of King Ghayur's palace, where he began to cry
out, saying, "I am the Scribe, I am the ready Reckoner, I am he who knoweth the
Sought and the Seeker; I am he who openeth the Volume and summeth up the
Sums;[FN#300] who Dreams can expound whereby the sought is found! Where then is
the seeker?" Now when the city people heard this, they flocked to him, for it
was long since they had seen Scribe or Astrologer, and they stood round him
and, looking upon him, they saw one in the prime of beauty and grace and
perfect elegance, and they marvelled at his loveliness, and his fine stature
and symmetry. Presently one of them accosted him and said, "Allah upon thee, O
thou fair and young, with the eloquent tongue! incur not this affray; nor throw
thy life away in thine ambition to marry the Princess Budur. Only cast shine
eyes upon yonder heads hung up; all their owners have lost their lives in this
same venture." Yet Kamar al-Zaman paid no heed to them, but cried out at the
top of his voice, saying, "I am the Doctor, the Scrivener! I am the Astrologer,
the Calculator!" And all the townsfolk forbade him from this, but he regarded
them not at all, saying in his mind, "None knoweth desire save whoso suffereth
it." Then he began again to cry his loudest, shouting, "I am the Scrivener, I
am the Astrologer!"—And Shahrazad per ceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman in no
wise heeded the words of the citizens, but continued to cry out, "I am the
Calculator! I am the Astrologer!" Thereupon all the townsfolk were wroth with
him and said to him, "Thou art nothing but an imbecile, silly, self-willed lad!
Have pity on shine own youth and tender years and beauty and loveliness." But
he cried all the more, "I am the Astrologer, I am the Calculator! Is there any
one that seeketh?" As he was thus crying and the people forbidding him, behold,
King Ghayur heard his voice and the clamour of the lieges and said to his
Wazir, "Go down and bring me yon Astrologer." So the Wazir, went down in haste,
and taking Kamar al-Zaman from the midst of the crowd led him up to the King;
and when in the presence he kissed the ground and began versifying,
"Eight glories meet, all, all conjoined in thee, *
Whereby may Fortune aye thy servant be:
Lere, lordliness, grace, generosity; *
Plain words, deep meaning, honour, victory!"
When the King looked upon him, he seated him by his side and said to him, "By
Allah, O my son, an thou be not an astrologer, venture not thy life nor comply
with my condition; for I have bound myself that whoso goeth in to my daughter
and healeth her not of that which hath befallen her I will strike off his head;
but whoso healeth her him I will marry to her. So let not thy beauty and
loveliness delude thee: for, by Allah! and again, by Allah! If thou cure her
not, I will assuredly cut off thy head." And Kamar al-Zaman replied, "This is
thy right; and I consent, for I wot of this ere came I hither." Then King
Ghayur took the Kazis to witness against him and delivered him to the eunuch,
saying, "Carry this one to the Lady Budur." So the eunuch took him by the hand
and led him along the passage; but Kamar al-Zaman outstripped him and pushed on
before, whilst the eunuch ran after him, saying, "Woe to thee! Hasten not to
shine own ruin: never yet saw I astrologer so eager for his proper destruction;
but thou weetest not what calamities are before thee." Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman
turned away his face from the eunuch,—And Shah razed perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the eunuch thus
addressed Kamar al-Zaman, "Patience, and no indecent hurry!"; the Prince turned
away his face and began repeating these couplets,
"A Sage, I feel a fool before thy charms; *
Distraught, I wot not what the words I say:
If say I 'Sun,' away thou dost not pass *
From eyes of me, while suns go down with day:
Thou hast completed Beauty, in whose praise *
Speech-makers fail, and talkers lose their way."
Then the eunuch stationed Kamar al-Zaman behind the curtain of the Princess's
door and the Prince said to him, "Which of the two ways will please thee more,
treat and cure thy lady from here or go in and heal her within the curtain?"
The eunuch marvelled at his words and answered, "An thou heal her from here it
were better proof of thy skill." Upon this Kamar al-Zaman sat down behind the
curtain and, taking out ink case, pen and paper, wrote the following: "This is
the writ of one whom passion swayeth,* and whom longing waylayeth * and wakeful
misery slayeth * one who despaireth of living * and looketh for naught but
dying * with whose mourning heart * nor comforter nor helper taketh part * One
whose sleepless eyes * none succoureth from anxieties * whose day is passed in
fire * and his night in torturing desire * whose body is wasted for much
emaciation * and no messenger from his beloved bringeth him consolation." And
after this he indited the following couplets,
"I write with heart devoted to thy thought, *
And eyelids chafed by tears of blood they bled;
And body clad, by loving pine and pain, *
In shirt of leanness, and worn down to thread,
To thee complain I of Love's tormentry, *
Which ousted hapless Patience from her stead:
A toi! show favour and some mercy deign, *
For Passion's cruel hands my vitals shred."
And beneath his lines he wrote these cadenced sentences, "The heart's pain is
removed * by union with the beloved * and whomso his lover paineth * only Allah
assaineth! * If we or you have wrought deceit * may the deceiver win defeat! *
There is naught goodlier than a lover who keeps faith * with the beloved who
works him scathe." Then, by way of subscription, he wrote, "From the distracted
and despairing man * whom love and longing trepan * from the lover under
passion's ban * the prisoner of transport and distraction * from this Kamar
al-Zaman * son of Shahriman * to the peerless one * of the fair Houris the
pearl-union * to the Lady Budur * daughter of King Al Ghayur * Know thou that
by night I am sleepless * and by day in distress * consumed with increasing
wasting and pain * and longing and love unfain * abounding in sighs * with tear
flooded eyes * by passion captive ta'en * of Desire the slain * with heart
seared by the parting of us twain * the debtor of longing bane, of sickness
cup-companion * I am the sleepless one, who never closeth eye * the slave of
love, whose tears run never dry * for the fire of my heart is still burning *
and never hidden is the flame of my yearning." Then on the margin Kamar
al-Zaman wrote this admired verse,
"Salem from graces hoarded by my Lord *
To her, who holds my heart and soul in hoard!"
And also these,
"Pray'ee grant me some words from your lips, belike *
Such mercy may comfort and cool these eyne:
From the stress of my love and my pine for you, *
I make light of what makes me despised, indign:
Allah guard a folk whose abode was far, *
And whose secret I kept in the holiest shrine:
Now Fortune in kindness hath favoured me *
Thrown on threshold dust of this love o' mine:
By me bedded I looked on Budúr, whose sun *
The moon of my fortunes hath made to shine."
Then, having affixed his seal-ring to the missive, he wrote these couplets in
the place of address,
"Ask of my writ what wrote my pen in dole, *
And hear my tale of misery from this scroll;
My hand is writing while my tears down flow, *
And to the paper 'plains my longing soul:
My tears cease not to roll upon this sheet, *
And if they stopped I'd cause blood-gouts to roll."
And at the end he added this other verse,
"I've sent the ring from off thy finger bore *
I when we met, now deign my ring restore!"
Then Kamar al-Zaman set the Lady Budur's ring inside the letter and sealed it
and gave it to the eunuch, who took it and went in with it to his mistress.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman, after
setting the seal-ring inside the epistle, gave it to the eunuch who took it and
went in with it to his mistress; and, when the Lady Budur opened it, she found
therein her own very ring. Then she read the paper and when she understood its
purport and knew that it was from her beloved, and that he in person stood
behind the curtain, her reason began to fly and her breast swelled for joy and
rose high; and she repeated these couplets,
"Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, *
With tears that from my lids streamed down like burning
rain;
And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, *
My lips should never speak of severance again:
Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress *
Of that which gladdens me to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, *
So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.''[FN#301]
And having finished her verse, the Lady Budur stood up forthwith and, firmly
setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon the collar of
iron, till she brake it from her neck and snapped the chains. Then going forth
from behind the curtain she threw herself on Kamar al-Zaman and kissed him on
the mouth, like a pigeon feeding its young.[FN#302] And she embraced him with
all the stress of her love and longing and said to him, "O my lord do I wake or
sleep and hath the Almighty indeed vouchsafe] us reunion after disunion? Laud
be to Allah who hath our loves repaired, even after we despaired!" Now when the
eunuch saw her in this case, he went off running to King Ghayur and, kissing
the ground before him, said, "O my lord, know that this Astrologer is indeed
the Shaykh of all astrologers, who are fools to him, all of them; for verily he
hath cured thy daughter while standing behind the curtain and without going in
to her." Quoth the King, "Look well to it, is this news true?" Answered the
eunuch, "O my lord, rise and come and see for thyself how she hath found
strength to break the iron chains and is come forth to the Astrologer, kissing
and embracing him." Thereupon the King arose and went in to his daughter who,
when she saw him, stood up in haste and covered her head,[FN#303] and recited
these two couplets,
"The toothstick love I not; for when I say, *
'Siwák,'[FN#304] I miss thee, for it sounds 'Siwá-ka'.
The caper-tree I love; for when I say, *
'Arák'[FN#305] it sounds I look on thee, 'Ará-ka.'"
Thereupon the King was so transported for joy at her recovery that he felt like
to fly and kissed her between the eyes, for he loved her with dearest love;
then, turning to Kamar al-Zaman, he asked him who he was, and said, "What
countryman art thou?" So the Prince told him his name and rank, and informed
him that he was the son of King Shahriman, and presently related to him the
whole story from beginning to end; and acquainted him with what happened
between himself and the Lady Budur; and how he had taken her seal-ring from her
finger and had placed it on his own; whereat Ghayur marvelled and said, "Verily
your story deserveth in books to be chronicled, and when you are dead and gone
age after age be read." Then he summoned Kazis and witnesses forthright and
married the Lady Budur to Prince Kamar al-Zaman; after which he bade decorate
the city seven days long. So they spread the tables with all manner of meats,
whilst the drums beat and the criers anounced the glad tidings, and all the
troops donned their richest clothes; and they illuminated the city and held
high festival. Then Kamar al-Zaman went in to the Lady Budur and the King
rejoiced in her recovery and in her marriage; and praised Allah for that He had
made her to fall in love with a goodly youth of the sons of Kings. So they
unveiled her and displayed the bride before the bridegroom; and both were the
living likeness of each other in beauty and comeliness and grace and
love-allurement. Then Kamar al-Zaman lay with her that night and took his will
of her, whilst she in like manner fulfilled her desire of him and enjoyed his
charms and grace; and they slept in each other's arms till the morning. On the
morrow, the King made a wedding-feast to which he gathered all comers from the
Islands of the Inner and Outer Seas, and he spread the tables with choicest
viands nor ceased the banquetting for a whole month. Now when Kamar al-Zaman
had thus fulfilled his will and attained his inmost desire, and whenas he had
tarried awhile with the Princess Budur, he bethought him of his father, King
Shahriman, and saw him in a dream, saying, "O my son, is it thus thou dealest
with me?" and recited in the vision these two couplets,
"Indeed to watch the darkness-moon he blighted me, *
And to star-gaze through longsome night he plighted me:
Easy, my heart! for haply he'll unite with thee; *
And patience, Sprite! with whatso ills he dight to thee."
Now after seeing his father in the dream and hearing his re preaches, Kamar
al-Zaman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled, whereupon the Lady Budur
questioned him and he told her what he had seen.—And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman
acquainted the Lady Budur with what he had seen in his dream, she and he went
in to her sire and, telling him what had passed, besought his leave to travel.
He gave the Prince the permission he sought; but the Princess said, "O my
father, I cannot bear to be parted from him." Quoth Ghayur, her sire, "Then go
thou with him," and gave her leave to be absent a whole twelvemonth and
afterwards to visit him in every year once; so she kissed his hand and Kamar
al-Zaman did the like. Thereupon King Ghayur proceeded to equip his daughter
and her bridegroom for the journey, and furnished them with outfit and
appointments for the march; and brought out of his stables horses marked with
his own brand, blood-dromedaries[FN#306] which can journey ten days without
water, and prepared a litter for his daughter, besides loading mules and camels
with victual; moreover, he gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them and all
manner of travellinggear; and on the day of departure, when King Ghayur took
leave of Kamar al-Zaman, he bestowed on him ten splendid suits of cloth of gold
embroidered with stones of price, together with ten riding horses and ten
she-camels, and a treasury of money;[FN#307] and he charged him to love and
cherish his daughter the Lady Budur. Then the King accompanied them to the
farthest limits of his Islands where, going in to his daughter Budur in the
litter, he kissed her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating,
"O thou who wooest Severance, easy fare! *
For love-embrace belongs to lover-friend:
Fare softly! Fortune's nature falsehood is, *
And parting shall love's every meeting end."
Then leaving his daughter, he went to her husband and bade him farewell and
kissed him; after which he parted from them and, giving the order for the march
he returned to his capital with his troops. The Prince and Princess and their
suite fared on without stopping through the first day and the second and the
third and the fourth, nor did they cease faring for a whole month till they
came to a spacious champaign, abounding in pasturage, where they pitched their
tents; and they ate and drank and rested, and the Princess Budur lay down to
sleep. Presently, Kamar al-Zaman went in to her and found her lying asleep clad
in a shift of apricot-coloured silk that showed all and everything; and on her
head was a coif of gold-cloth embroidered with pearls and jewels. The breeze
raised her shift which laid bare her navel and showed her breasts and displayed
a stomach whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples would contain an ounce of
benzoin- ointment.[FN#308] At this sight, his love and longing redoubled, and
he began reating,
"An were it asked me when by hell-fire burnt, *
When flames of heart my vitals hold and hem,
'Which wouldst thou chose, say wouldst thou rather them, *
Or drink sweet cooling draught?' I'd answer, 'Them!' "
Then he put his hand to the band of her petticoat-trousers and drew it and
loosed it, for his soul lusted after her, when he saw a jewel, red as dye-wood,
made fast to the band. He untied it and examined it and, seeing two lines of
writing graven thereon, in a character not to be read, marvelled and said in
his mind, "Were not this bezel something to her very dear she had not bound it
to her trousers-band nor hidden it in the most privy and precious place about
her person, that she might not be parted from it. Would I knew what she cloth
with this and what is the secret that is in it." So saying, he took it and went
outside the tent to look at it in the light,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day, and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he took the bezel to
look at it in the light, the while he was holding it behold, a bird swooped
down on him and, snatching the same from his hand, flew off with it and then
lighted on the ground. There-upon Kamar al-Zaman fearing to lose the jewel, ran
after the bird; but it flew on before him, keeping just out of his reach, and
ceased not to draw him on from dale to dale and from hill to hill, till the
night starkened and the firmament darkened, when it roosted on a high tree. So
Kamar al-Zaman stopped under the tree confounded in thought and faint for
famine and fatigue, and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but
knew not the way whereby he came, for that darkness had overtaken him. Then he
exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious the Great!"; and laying him down under the tree (whereon was the bird)
slept till the morning, when he awoke and saw the bird also wake up and fly
away. He arose and walked after it, and it flew on little by little before him,
after the measure of his faring; at which he smiled and said, "By Allah, a
strange thing! Yesterday, this bird flew before me as fast as I could run, and
to-day, knowing that I have awoke tired and cannot run, he flieth after the
measure of my faring. By Allah, this is wonderful! But I must needs follow this
bird whether it lead me to death or to life; and I will go wherever it goeth,
for at all events it will not abide save in some inhabited land.[FN#309] So he
continued to follow the bird which roosted every night upon a tree; and he
ceased not pursuing it for a space of ten days, feeding on the fruits of the
earth and drinking of its waters. At the end of this time, he came in sight of
an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted off like the glance of the eye
and, entering the town, disappeared from Kamar al-Zaman, who knew not what it
meant or whither it was gone; so he marvelled at this and exclaimed, "Praise be
to Allah who hath brought me in safety to this city!" Then he sat down by a
stream and washed his hands and feet and face and rested awhile; and, recalling
his late easy and pleasant life of union with his beloved and contrasting it
with his present plight of trouble and fatigue and distress and strangerhood
and famine and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he began
repeating these cinquains,
"Pain had I hid thy handwork, but it showed, *
Changed sleep for wake, and wake with me abode:
When thou didst spurn my heart I cried aloud *
Pate, hold thy hand and cease to gird and goad:
In dole and danger aye my sprite I spy!
An but the Lord of Love were just to me, *
Sleep fro' my eyelids ne'er were forced to flee.
Pity, my lady, one for love o' thee *
Prom his tribes darling brought to low degree:
Love came and doomed Wealth beggar-death to die.
The railers chide at thee: I ne'er gainsay, *
But stop my ears and dumbly sign them Nay:
'Thou lov'st a slender may,' say they; I say, *
'I've picked her out and cast the rest away:'
Enough; when Fate descends she blinds man's
eye!"[FN#310]
And as soon as he had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he rose and
walked on little by little, till he entered the city.—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Kamar al-Zaman
had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he arose and entered the
city-gate[FN#311] not knowing whither he should wend. He crossed the city from
end to end, entering by the land-gate, and ceased not faring on till he came
out at the sea- gate, for the city stood on the sea-shore. Yet he met not a
single one of its citizens. And after issuing from the land-gate he fared
forwards and ceased not faring till he found himself among the orchards and
gardens of the place; and, passing among the trees presently came to a garden
and stopped before its door; where-upon the keeper came out to him and saluted
him. The Prince returned his greeting and the gardener bade him welcome,
saying, "Praised be Allah that thou hast come off safe from the dwellers of
this city! Quick, come into the garth, ere any of the townfolk see thee."
Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered that garden, wondering in mind, and asked the
keeper, "What may be the history of the people of this city and who may they
be?" The other answered, "Know that the people of this city are all Magians:
but Allah upon thee, tell me how thou camest to this city and what caused thy
coming to our capital." Accordingly Kamar al-Zaman told the gardener all that
had befallen him from beginning to end, whereat he marvelled with great marvel
and said, "Know, O my son, that the cities of Al-Islam lie far from us; and
between us and them is a four months' voyage by sea and a whole twelve months'
journey by land. We have a ship which saileth every year with merchandise to
the nearest Moslem country and which entereth the seas of the Ebony Islands and
thence maketh the Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shahriman." Thereupon
Kamar al- Zaman considered awhile and concluded that he could not do better
than abide in the garden with the gardener and become his assistant, receiving
for pay one fourth of the produce. So he said to him, "Wilt thou take me into
thy service, to help thee in this garden?" Answered the gardener, "To hear is
to consent;" and began teaching him to lead the water to the roots of the
trees. So Kamar al-Zaman abode with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the
weeds and wearing a short blue frock which reached to his knees. And he wept
floods of tears; for he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood
and he ceased not to repeat verses upon his beloved, amongst others the
following couplets,
"Ye promised us and will ye not keep plight? *
Ye said a say and shall not deed be dight?
We wake for passion while ye slumber and sleep; *
Watchers and wakers claim not equal right:
We vowed to keep our loves in secrecy, *
But spake the meddler and you spoke forthright:
O friend in pain and pleasure, joy and grief, *
In all case you, you only, claim my sprite!
Mid folk is one who holds my prisoned heart; *
Would he but show some ruth for me to sight.
Not every eye like mine is wounded sore, *
Not every heart like mine love-pipings blight:
Ye wronged me saying, Love is wrongous aye *
Yea! ye were right, events have proved that quite.
Forget they one love-thralled, whose faith the world *
Robs not, though burn the fires in heart alight:
If an my foeman shall become my judge, *
Whom shall I sue to remedy his despight?
Had not I need of love nor love had sought, *
My heart forsure were not thus love-distraught."
Such was the case with Kamar al-Zaman; but as regards his wife, the Lady Budur,
when she awoke she sought her husband and found him not: then she saw her
petticoat-trousers undone, for the band had been loosed and the bezel lost,
whereupon she said to herself, "By Allah, this is strange! Where is my husband?
It would seem as if he had taken the talisman and gone away, knowing not the
secret which is in it. Would to Heaven I knew whither can he have wended! But
it must needs have been some extraordinary matter that drew him away, for he
cannot brook to leave me a moment. Allah curse the stone and damn its hour!"
Then she considered awhile and said in her mind, "If I go out and tell the
varlets and let them learn that my husband is lost they will lust after me:
there is no help for it but that I use stratagem. So she rose and donned some
of her husband's clothes and riding- boots, and a turband like his, drawing one
corner of it across her face for a mouth-veil.[FN#312] Then, setting a
slave-girl in her litter, she went forth from the tent and called to the pages
who brought her Kamar al-Zaman's steed; and she mounted and bade them load the
beasts and resume the march. So they bound on the burdens and departed; and she
concealed her trick, none doubting but she was Kamar al-Zaman, for she favoured
him in face and form; nor did she cease journeying, she and her suite, days and
nights, till they came in sight of a city overlooking the Salt Sea, where they
pitched their tents without the walls and halted to rest. The Princess asked
the name of the town and was told, "It is called the City of Ebony; its King is
named Armanús, and he hath a daughter Hayát al-Nufús[FN#313] hight,"—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Lady Budur
halted within sight of the Ebony City to take her rest, King Armanus sent a
messenger, to learn what King it was who had encamped without his capital; so
the messenger, coming to the tents, made inquiry anent their King, and was told
that she was a King's son who had lost the way being bound for the Khalidan
Islands; whereupon he returned to King Armanus with the tidings; and, when the
King heard them, he straightway rode out with the lords of his land to greet
the stranger on arrival. As he drew near the tents the Lady Budur came to meet
him on foot, whereupon the King alighted and they saluted each other. Then he
took her to the city and, bringing her up to the palace, bade them spread the
tables and trays of food and commanded them to transport her company and
baggage to the guess house. So they abode there three days; at the end of which
time the King came in to the Lady Budur. Now she had that day gone to the
Hammam and her face shone as the moon at its full, a seduction to the world and
a rending of the veil of shame to mankind; and Armanus found her clad in a
-suit of silk, embroidered with gold and jewels; so he said to her, 'O my son,
know that I am a very old man, decrepit withal, and Allah hath blessed me with
no child save one daughter, who resembleth thee in beauty and grace; and I am
now waxed unfit for the conduct of the state. She is shine, O my son; and, if
this my land please thee and thou be willing to abide and make thy home here, I
will marry thee to her and give thee my kingdom and so be at rest." When
Princess Budur heard this, she bowed her head and her forehead sweated for
shame, and she said to herself. "How shall I do, and I a woman? If I refuse and
depart from him, I cannot be safe but that haply send after me troops to slay
me; and if I consent, belike I shall be put to shame. I have lost my beloved
Kamar al-Zaman and know not what is become of him; nor can I escape from this
scrape save by holding my peace and consenting and abiding here, till Allah
bring about what is to be." So she raised her head and made submission to King
Armanus, saying, "Hearkening and obedience!"; whereat he rejoiced and bade the
herald make proclamation throughout the Ebony Islands to hold high festival and
decorate the houses. Then he assembled his Chamberlains and Nabobs, and Emirs
and Wazirs and his officers of state and the Kazis of the city; and, formally
abdicating his Sultanate, endowed Budur therewith and invested her in all the
vestments of royalty. The Emirs and Grandees went in to her and did her homage,
nothing doubting but that she was a young man, and all who looked on her
bepissed their bag-trousers, for the excess of her beauty and loveliness. Then,
after the Lady Budur had been made Sultan and the drums had been beaten in
announcement of the glad event, and she had been ceremoniously enthroned, King
Armanus proceeded to equip his daughter Hayat al-Nufus for marriage, and in a
few days, they brought the Lady Budur in to her, when they seemed as it were
two moons risen at one time or two suns in conjunction. So they entered the
bridal-chamber and the doors were shut and the curtains let down upon them,
after the attendants had lighted the wax-candles and spread for them the
carpet-bed. When Budur found herself alone with the Princess Hayat al-Nufus,
she called to mind her beloved Kamar al-Zaman and grief was sore upon her. So
she wept for his absence, and estrangement and she began repeating,
"O ye who fled and left my heart in pain low li'en, *
No breath of life if found within this frame of mine:
I have an eye which e'er complains of wake, but lo! *
Tears occupy it would that wake content these eyne!
After ye marched forth the lover 'bode behind; *
Question of him what pains your absence could design!
But for the foods of tears mine eyelids rail and rain, *
My fires would flame on high and every land calcine.
To Allah make I moan of loved ones lost for aye, *
Who for my pine and pain no more shall pain and pine:
I never wronged them save that over love I nurst: *
But Love departs us lovers into blest and curst."
And when she had finished her repeating, the Lady Budur sat down beside the
Princess Hayat al-Nufus and kissed her on the mouth; after which rising
abruptly, she made the minor ablution and betook herself to her devotions; nor
did she leave praying till Hayat al-Nufus fell asleep, when she slips into bed
and lay with her back to her till morning. And when day had broke the King and
Queen came in to their daughter and asked her how she did. whereupon she told
them what she had seen, and repeated to them the verses she had heard. Thus far
concerning Hayat al-Nufus and her father; but as regards Queen Budur she went
forth and seated herself upon the royal throne and all the Emirs and Captains
and Officers of state came up to her and wished her joy of the kingship,
kissing the earth before her and calling down blessings upon her. And she
accosted them with smiling face and clad them in robes of honour, augmenting
the fiefs of the high officials and giving largesse to the levies; wherefore
all the people loved her and offered up prayers for the long endurance of her
reign, doubting not but that she was a man. And she ceased not sitting all day
in the hall of audience, bidding and forbidding; dispensing justice, releasing
prisoners and remitting the customs-dues, till nightfall, when she withdrew to
the apartment prepared for her. Here she found Hayat al-Nufus seated, so she
sat down by her side and, clapping her on the back, coaxed and caressed her and
kissed her between the eyes, and fell to versifying in these couplets,
"What secret kept I these my tears have told, *
And my waste body must my love unfold:
Though hid my pine, my plight on parting day *
To every envious eye my secret sold:
O ye who broke up camp, you've left behind *
My spirit wearied and my heart a-cold:
In my hearts core ye dwell, and now these eyne *
Roll blood-drops with the tears they whilome rolled:
The absent will I ransom with my soul; *
All can my yearning for their sight behold:
I have an eye whose babe,[FN#314] for love of thee, *
Rejected sleep nor hath its tears controlled.
The foeman bids me patient bear his loss, *
Ne'er may mine ears accept the ruth he doled!
I tricks their deme of me, and won my wish *
Of Kamar al-Zaman's joys manifold:
He joins all perfect gifts like none before, *
Boasted such might and main no King of old:
Seeing his gifts, Bin Zá'idah's[FN#315] largesse *
Forget we, and Mu'áwiyah mildest-soul'd:[FN#316]
Were verse not feeble and o'er short the time *
I had in laud of him used all of rhyme."
Then Queen Budur stood up and wiped away her tears and, making the lesser
ablution,[FN#317] applied her to pray: nor did she give over praying till
drowsiness overcame the Lady Hayat al- Nufus and she slept, whereupon the Lady
Budur came and lay by her till the morning. At daybreak, she arose and prayed
the dawn- prayer; and presently seated herself on the royal throne and passed
the day in ordering and counter ordering and giving laws and administering
justice. This is how it fared with her; but as regards King Armanus he went in
to his daughter and asked her how she did; so she told him all that had
befallen her and repeated to him the verses which Queen Budur had recited,
adding, "O my father, never saw I one more abounding in sound sense and modesty
than my husband, save that he cloth nothing but weep and sigh." He answered, "O
my daughter, have patience with him yet this third night, and if he go not in
unto thee and do away thy maidenhead, we shall know how to proceed with him and
oust him from the throne and banish him the country." And on this wise he
agreed with his daughter what course he would take.—And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Tenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Armanus had
agreed with his daughter on this wise and had determined what course he would
take and night came on, Queen Budur arose from the throne of her kingdom and
betaking herself to the palace, entered the apartment prepared for her. There
she found the wax-candles lighted and the Princess Hayat al-Nufus seated and
awaiting her; whereupon she bethought her of her husband and what had betided
them both of sorrow and severance in so short a space; she wept and sighed and
groaned groan upon groan, and began improvising these couplets,
"News of my love fill all the land, I swear, *
As suns on Ghazá[FN#318]-wold rain heat and glare:
Speaketh his geste but hard its sense to say; *
Thus never cease to grow my cark and care:
I hate fair Patience since I loved thee; *
E'er sawest lover hate for love to bear?
A glance that dealt love-sickness dealt me death, *
Glances are deadliest things with torments rare:
He shook his love locks down and bared his chin, *
Whereby I spied his beauties dark and fair:
My care, my cure are in his hands; and he *
Who caused their dolour can their dole repair:
His belt went daft for softness of his waist; *
His hips, for envy, to uprise forbear:
His brow curl-diademed is murky night; *
Unveil 't and lo! bright Morn shows brightest light."
When she had finished her versifying, she would have risen to pray, but, lo and
behold! Hayat al-Nufus caught her by the skirt and clung to her saying, "O my
lord, art thou not ashamed before my father, after all his favour, to neglect
me at such a time as this?" When Queen Budur heard her words, she sat down in
the same place and said, "O my beloved, what is this thou sayest?" She replied,
"What I say is that I never saw any so proud of himself as thou. Is every fair
one so disdainful? I say not this to incline thee to me; I say it only of my
fear for thee from King Armanus; because he purposeth, unless thou go in unto
me this very night, and do away my maidenhead, to strip thee of the kingship on
the morrow and banish thee his kingdom; and peradventure his excessive anger
may lead him to slay thee. But I, O my lord, have ruth on thee and give thee
fair warning; and it is thy right to reck."[FN#319] Now when Queen Budur heard
her speak these words, she bowed her head ground-wards awhile in sore
perplexity and said in herself, "If I refuse I'm lost; and if I obey I'm
shamed. But I am now Queen of all the Ebony Islands and they are under my rule,
nor shall I ever again meet my Kamar al- Zaman save in this place; for there is
no way for him to his native land but through the Ebony Islands. Verily, I know
not what to do in my present case, but I commit my care to Allah who directeth
all for the best, for I am no man that I should arise and open this virgin
girl." Then quoth Queen Budur to Hayat al- Nufus, "O my beloved, that I have
neglected thee and abstained from thee is in my own despite." And she told her
her whole story from beginning to end and showed her person to her, saying, "I
conjure thee by Allah to keep my counsel, for I have concealed my case only
that Allah may reunite me with my beloved Kamar al- Zaman and then come what
may."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Lady Budur
acquainted Hayat al-Nufus with her history and bade her keep it secret, the
Princess heard her with extreme wonderment and was moved to pity and prayed
Allah to reunite her with her beloved, saying, "Fear nothing, O my sister; but
have patience till Allah bring to pass that which must come to pass:" and she
began repeating,
"None but the men of worth a secret keep;
With worthy men a secret's hidden deep;
As in a room, so secrets lie with me,
Whose door is sealed, lock shot and lost the key."[FN#320]
And when Hayat al-Nufus had ended her verses, she said, "O my sister, verily
the breasts of the noble and brave are of secrets the grave; and I will not
discover shine." Then they toyed and embraced and kissed and slept till near
the Mu'ezzin's call to dawn prayer, when Hayat al-Nufus arose and took a
pigeon-poult,[FN#321] and cut its throat over her smock and besmeared herself
with its blood. Then she pulled off her petticoat-trousers and cried aloud,
where-upon her people hastened to her and raised the usual lullilooing and
outcries of joy and gladness. Presently her mother came in to her and asked her
how she did and busied herself about her and abode with her till evening;
whilst the Lady Budur arose with the dawn, and repaired to the bath and, after
washing herself pure, proceeded to the hall of audience, where she sat down on
her throne and dispensed justice among the folk. Now when King Armanus heard
the loud cries of joy, he asked what was the matter and was informed of the
consummation of his daughter's marriage; whereat he rejoiced and his breast
swelled with gladness and he made a great marriage-feast whereof the
merry-making lasted a long time. Such was their case: but as regards King
Shahriman it was on this wise. After his son had fared forth to the chase
accompanied by Marzawan, as before related, he tarried patiently awaiting their
return at nightfall; but when his son did not appear he passed a sleepless
night and the dark hours were longsome upon him; his restlessness was
excessive, his excitement grew upon him and he thought the morning would never
dawn. Anc when day broke he sat expecting his son and waited till noon, but he
came not; whereat his heart forebode separation and was fired with fears for
Kamar al-Zaman; and he cried, "Alas! my son!" and he wept till his clothes were
drenched with tears, and repeated with a beating heart,
"Love's votaries I ceased not to oppose, *
Till doomed to taste Love's bitter and Love's sweet:
I drained his rigour-cup to very dregs, *
Self humbled at its slaves' and freemen's feet:
Fortune had sworn to part the loves of us; *
She kept her word how truly, well I weet!"
And when he ended his verse, he wiped away his tears and bade his troops make
ready for a march and prepare for a long expedition. So they all mounted and
set forth, headed by the Sultan, whose heart burnt with grief and was fired
with anxiety for his son Kamar al-Zaman; and they advanced by forced marches.
Now the King divided his host into six divisions, a right wing and a left wing,
a vanguard and a rear guard;[FN#322] and bade them rendezvous for the morrow at
the cross-roads. Accordingly they separated and scoured the country all the
rest of that day till night, and they marched through the night and at noon of
the ensuing day they joined company at the place where four roads met. But they
knew not which the Prince followed, till they saw the sign of torn clothes and
sighted shreds of flesh and beheld blood still sprinkled by the way and they
noted every piece of the clothes and fragment of mangled flesh scattered on all
sides. Now when King Shahriman saw this, he cried from his heart-core a loud
cry, saying, "Alas, my son!"; and buffeted his face and plucks his beard and
rent his raiment, doubting not but his son was dead. Then he gave himself up to
excessive weeping and wailing, and the troops also wept for his weeping, all
being assured that Prince Kamar al-Zaman had perished. They threw dust on their
heads, and the night surprised them shedding tears and lamenting till they were
like to die. Then the King with a heart on fire and with burning sighs spake
these couplets,
"Chide not the mourner for bemourning woe; *
Enough is yearning every Ill to show:
He weeps for stress of sorrow and of pain, *
And these to thee best evidence his lowe:
Happy![FN#323] of whom Love sickness swore that ne'er *
Should cease his eye lids loving tears to flow:
He mourns the loss of fairest, fullest Moon, *
Shining o'er all his peers in glorious glow:
But death made drink a brimming cup, what day *
He fared from natal country fain to go:
His home left he and went from us to grief; *
Nor to his brethren could he say adieu:
Yea, his loss wounded me with parting pangs, *
And separation cost me many a throe:
He fared farewelling, as he fared, our eyes; *
Whenas his Lord vouch-safed him Paradise."
And when King Shahriman had ended his verses, he returned with the troops to
his capital,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twelfth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Shahriman had
ended his verses, he returned with the troops to his capital, giving up his son
for lost, and deeming that wild beasts or banditti had set upon him and torn
him to pieces; and made proclamation that all in the Khalidan Islands should
don black in mourning for him. Moreover, he built, in his memory, a pavilion,
naming it House of Lamentations; and on Mondays and Thursdays he devoted
himself to the business of the state and ordering the affairs of his levies and
lieges; and the rest of the week he was wont to spend in the House of
Lamentations, mourning for his son and bewailing him with elegiac
verses,[FN#324] of which the following are some:—
"My day of bliss is that when thou appearest; *
My day of bale[FN#325] is that whereon thou farest:
Though through the night I quake in dread of death; *
Union wi' thee is of all bliss the dearest."
And again he said,
"My soul be sacrifice for one, whose going *
Afflicted hearts with sufferings sore and dread:
Let joy her widowed term[FN#326] fulfil, for I *
Divorced joy with the divorce thrice-said."[FN#327]
Such was the case with King Shahriman; but as regards Queen Budur daughter of
King Ghayur, she abode as ruler in the Ebony Islands, whilst the folk would
point to her with their fingers, and say, "Yonder is the son-in-law of King
Armanus." And every night she lay with Hayat al-Nufus, to whom she lamented her
desolate state and longing for her husband Kamar al-Zaman; weeping and
describing to her his beauty and loveliness, and yearning to enjoy him though
but in a dream: And at times she would repeat,
"Well Allah wots that since my severance from thee, *
I wept till forced to borrow tears at usury:
'Patience!' my blamer cried, 'Heartsease right soon shalt see!' *
Quoth I, 'Say, blamer, where may home of Patience be?'"
This is how it fared with Queen Budur; but as regards Kamar al- Zaman, he abode
with the gardener in the garden for no short time, weeping night and day and
repeating verses bewailing the past time of enjoyment and delight; whilst the
gardener kept comforting him and assuring him that the ship would set sail for
the land of the Moslems at the end of the year. And in this condition he
continued till one day he saw the folk crowding together and wondered at this;
but the gardener came in to him and said, "O my son, give over work for this
day nor lead water to the trees; for it is a festival day, whereon folk visit
one another. So take thy rest and only keep shine eye on the garden, whilst I
go look after the ship for thee; for yet but a little while and I send thee to
the land of the Moslems." Upon this, he went forth from the garden leaving to
himself Kamar al-Zaman, who fell to musing upon his case till his heart was
like to break and the tears streamed from his eyes. So he wept with excessive
weeping till he swooned away and, when he recovered, he rose and walked about
the garden, pondering what Time had done with him and bewailing the long
endurance of his estrangement and separation from those he loved. As he was
thus absorbed in melancholy thought, his foot stumbled and he fell on his face,
his forehead striking against the projecting root of a tree; and the blow cut
it open and his blood ran down and mingled with his tears Then he rose and,
wiping away the blood, dried his tears and bound his brow with a piece of rag;
then continued his walk about the garden engrossed by sad reverie. Presently,
he looked up at a tree and saw two birds quarrelling thereon, and one of them
rose up and smote the other with its beak on the neck and severed from its body
its head, wherewith it flew away, whilst the slain bird fell to the ground
before Kamar al-Zaman. As it lay, behold, two great birds swooped down upon it
alighting, one at the head and the other at the tail, and both drooped their
wings and bowed their bills over it and, extending their necks towards it,
wept. Kamar al-Zaman also wept when seeing the birds thus bewail their mate,
and called to mind his wife and father, And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman wept and
lamented his separation from spouse and sire, when he beheld those two birds
weeping over their mate. Then he looked at the twain and saw them dig a grave
and therein bury the slain bird; after which they flew away far into the
firmament and disappeared for a while; but presently they returned with the
murtherer-bird and, alighting on the grave of the murthered, stamped on the
slayer till they had done him to death. Then they rent his belly and tearing
out his entrails, poured the blood on the grave of the slain[FN#328]: moreover,
they stripped off his skin and tare his flesh in pieces and, pulling out the
rest of the bowels, scattered them hither and thither. All this while Kamar
al-Zaman was watching them wonderingly; but presently, chancing to look at the
place where the two birds had slain the third, he saw therein something
gleaming. So he drew near to it and noted that it was the crop of the dead
bird. Whereupon he took it and opened it and found the talisman which had been
the cause of his separation from his wife. But when he saw it and knew it, he
fell to the ground a-fainting for joy; and, when he revived, he said, "Praised
be Allah! This is a foretaste of good and a presage of reunion with my
beloved." Then he examined the jewel and passed it over his eyes[FN#329]; after
which he bound it to his forearm, rejoicing in coming weal, and walked about
till nightfall awaiting the gardener's return; and when he came not, he lay
down and slept in his wonted place. At daybreak he rose to his work and,
girding his middle with a cord of palm- fibre, took hatchet and basket and
walked down the length of the garden, till he came to a carob-tree and struck
the axe into its roots. The blow rang and resounded; so he cleared away the
soil from the place and discovered a trap-door and raised it.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When It was the Two Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar al-Zaman
raised the trap-door, he found a winding stair, which he descended and came to
an ancient vault of the time of Ad and Thamúd,[FN#330] hewn out of the rock.
Round the vault stood many brazen vessels of the bigness of a great oil-jar
which he found full of gleaming red gold: whereupon he said to himself, "Verily
sorrow is gone and solace is come!" Then he mounted from the souterrain to the
garden and, replacing the trap-door as it was before, busied himself in
conducting water to the trees till the last of the day, when the gardener came
back and said to him, "O my son, rejoice at the good tidings of a speedy return
to thy native land: the merchants are ready equipped for the voyage and the
ship in three days' time will set sail for the City of Ebony, which is the
first of the cities of the Moslems, and after making it, thou must travel by
land a six months' march till thou come to the Islands of Khalidan, the
dominions of King Shahriman." At this Kamar al-Zaman rejoiced and began
repeating,
"Part not from one whose wont is not to part from you; *
Nor with your cruel taunts an innocent mortify:
Another so long parted had ta'en heart from you, *
And had his whole condition changed,—but not so I."
Then he kissed the gardener's hand and said, "O my father, even as thou hast
brought me glad tidings, so I also have great good news for thee,' and told him
anent his discovery of the vault; whereat the gardener rejoiced and said, "O my
son, fourscore years have I dwelt in this garden and have never hit on aught
whilst thou, who hast not sojourned with me a year, hast discovered this thing;
wherefore it is Heaven's gift to thee, which shall end thy crosses and aid thee
to rejoin thy folk and foregather with her thou lovest." Quoth Kamar al-Zaman,
"There is no help but it must be shared between me and thee." Then he carried
him to the underground-chamber and showed him the gold, which was in twenty
jars: he took ten and the gardener ten, and the old man said to him, "O my son,
fill thyself leather bottles[FN#331] with the sparrow-olives[FN#332] which grow
in this garden, for they are not found except in our land; and the merchants
carry them to all parts. Lay the gold in the bottles and strew it over with
olives: then stop them and cover them and take them with thee in the ship." So
Kamar al-Zaman arose without stay or delay and took fifty leather bottles and
stored in each somewhat of the gold, and closed each one after placing a layer
of olives over the gold; and at the bottom of one of the bottles he laid the
talisman. Then sat he down to talk with the gardener, confident of speedy
reunion with his own people and saying to himself, "When I come to the Ebony
Islands I will journey thence to my father's country and enquire for my beloved
Budur. Would to Heaven I knew whether she returned to her own land or journeyed
on to my father's country or whether there befel her any accident by the way."
And he began versifying,
"Love in my breast they lit and fared away, *
And far the land wherein my love is pent:
Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; *
Par is her tent-shrine, where I ne'er shall tent.
Patience far deaf me when from me they fled; *
Sleep failed mine eyes, endurance was forspent:
They left and with them left my every joy, *
Wending with them, nor find I peace that went:
They made these eyes roll down love tears in flood, *
And lacking them these eyne with tears are drent.
When my taste spins once again would see them, *
When pine and expectation but augment,
In my heart's core their counterfeits I trace, *
With love and yearning to behold their grace."
Then, while he awaited the end of the term of days, he told the gardener the
tale of the birds and what had passed between them; whereat the hearer
wondered; and they both lay down and slept till the morning. The gardener awoke
sick and abode thus two days; but on the third day, his sickness increased on
him, till they despaired of his life and Kamar al-Zaman grieved with sore grief
for him. Meanwhile behold, the Master and his crew came and enquired for the
gardener; and, when Kamar al-Zaman told them that he was sick, they asked,
"Where be the youth who is minded to go with us to the Ebony Islands?" "He is
your servent and he standeth before you!" answered the Prince and bade them
carry the bottles of olives to the ship; so they transported them, saying,
"Make haste, thou, for the wind is fair;" and he replied, "I hear and obey."
Then he carried his provaunt on board and, returning to bid the gardener
farewell, found him in the agonies of death; so he sat down at his head and
closed his eyes, and his soul departed his body; whereupon he laid him out and
committed him to the earth unto the mercy of Allah Almighty. Then he made for
the ship but found that she had already weighed anchor and set sail; nor did
she cease to cleave the seas till she disappeared from his sight. So he went
back to whence he came heavy-hearted with whirling head; and neither would he
address a soul nor return a reply; and reaching the garden and sitting down in
cark and care he threw dust on his head and buffeted his cheeks.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the ship sped on her
course, Kamar al-Zaman returned to the garden in cark and care; but- anon he
rented the place of its owner and hired a man to help him in irrigating the
trees. Moreover, he repaired the trap-door and he went to the underground
chamber and bringing the rest of the gold to grass, stowed it in other fifty
bottles which he filled up with a layer of olives. Then he enquired of the ship
and they told him that it sailed but once a year, at which his trouble of mind
redoubled and he cried sore for that which had betided him, above all for the
loss of the Princess Budur's talisman, and spent his nights and days weeping
and repealing verses. Such was his case; but as regards the ship she sailed
with a favouring wind till she reached the Ebony Islands. Now by decree of
destiny, Queen Budur was sitting at a lattice-window overlooking the sea and
saw the galley cast anchor upon the strand. At this sight, her heart throbbed
and she took horse with the Chamberlains and Nabobs and, riding down to the
shore, halted by the ship, whilst the sailors broke bulk and bore the bales to
the storehouses; after which she called the captain to her presence and asked
what he had with him. He answered "O King, I have with me in this ship aromatic
drugs and cosmetics and healing powders and ointments and plasters and precious
metals and rich stuffs and rugs of Yemen leather, not to be borne of mule or
camel, and all manner of otters and spices and perfumes, civet and ambergris
and camphor and Sumatra aloes-wood, and tamerinds[FN#333] and sparrow-olives to
boot, such as are rare to find in this country." When she heard talk of
sparrow- olives her heart longed for them and she said to the ship-master, "How
much of olives hast thou?" He replied, "Fifty bottles full, but their owner is
not with us, so the King shall take what he will of them." Quoth she, "Bring
them ashore, that I may see them.'' Thereupon he called to the sailors, who
brought her the fifty bottles; and she opened one and, looking at the olives,
said to the captain, "I will take the whole fifty and pay you their value,
whatso it be." He answered, "By Allah, O my lord, they have no value in our
country; moreover their shipper tarried behind us, and he is a poor man." Asked
she, "And what are they worth here?" and he answered "A thousand dirhams." "I
will take them at a thousand," she said and bade them carry the fifty bottles
to the palace. When it was night, she called for a bottle of olives and opened
it, there being none in the room but herself and the Princess Hayat al-Nufus.
Then, placing a dish before her she turned into it the contents of the jar,
when there fell out into the dish with the olives a heap of red gold; and she
said to the Lady Hayat al-Nufus, "This is naught but gold!" So she sent for the
rest of the bottles and found them all full of precious metal and scarce enough
olives to fill a single jar. Moreover, she sought among the gold and found
therein the talisman, which she took and examined and behold, it was that which
Kamar al- Zaman had taken from off the band of her petticoat trousers.
Thereupon she cried out for joy and slipped down in a swoon;—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Budur saw the
talisman she cried out for joy and slipped down in a swoon; and when she
recovered she said to herself, "Verily, this talisman was the cause of my
separation from my beloved Kamar al-Zaman; but now it is an omen of good." Then
she showed it to Hayat al-Nufus and said to her, "This was the cause of
disunion and now, please Allah, it shall be the cause of reunion." As soon as
day dawned she seated herself on the royal throne and sent for the ship-master,
who came into the presence and kissed the ground before her. Quoth she, "Where
didst thou leave the owner of these olives?" Quoth he, "O King of the age, we
left him in the land of the Magians and he is a gardener there." She rejoined,
"Except thou bring him to me, thou knowest not the harm which awaiteth thee and
thy ship." Then she bade them seal up the magazines of the merchants and said
to them, "Verily the owner of these olives hath borrowed of me and I have a
claim upon him for debt and, unless ye bring him to me, I will without fail do
you all die and seize your goods." So they went to the captain and promised him
the hire of the ship, if he would go and return a second time, saying, "Deliver
us from this masterful tyrant." Accordingly the skipper embarked and set sail
and Allah decreed him a prosperous voyage, till he came to the Island of the
Magians and, landing by night, went up to the garden. Now the night was long
upon Kamar al-Zaman, and he sat, bethinking him of his beloved, and bewailing
what had befallen him and versifying,
"A night whose stars refused to run their course, *
A night of those which never seem outworn:
Like Resurrection-day, of longsome length[FN#334] *
To him that watched and waited for the morn."
Now at this moment, the captain knocked at the garden-gate, and Kamar al-Zaman
opened and went out to him, whereupon the crew seized him and went down with
him on board the ship and set sail forthright; and they ceased not voyaging
days and nights, whilst Kamar al-Zaman knew not why they dealt thus with him;
but when he questioned them they replied, "Thou hast offended against the Lord
of the Ebony Islands, the son-in-law of King Armanus, and thou hast stolen his
monies, miserable that thou art!" Said he, "By Allah! I never entered that
country nor do I know where it is!" However, they fared on with him, till they
made the Ebony Islands and landing, carried him up to the Lady Budur, who knew
him at sight and said, "Leave him with the eunuchs, that they may take him to
the bath." Then she relieved the merchants of the embargo and gave the captain
a robe of honour worth ten thousand pieces of gold; and, after returning to the
palace, she went in that night to the Princess Hayat al-Nufus and told her what
had passed, saying, "Keep thou my counsel, till I accomplish my purpose, and do
a deed which shall be recorded and shall be read by Kings and commoners after
we be dead and gone." And when she gave orders that they bear Kamar al-Zaman to
the bath, they did so and clad him in a royal habit so that, when he came
forth, he resembled a willow-bough or a star which shamed the greater and
lesser light[FN#335] and its glow, and his life and soul returned to his frame.
Then he repaired to the palace and went in to the Princess Budur; and when she
saw him she schooled her heart to patience, till she should have accomplished
her purpose; and she bestowed on him Mamelukes and eunuchs, camels and mules.
Moreover, she gave him a treasury of money and she ceased not advancing him
from dignity to dignity, till she made him Lord High Treasurer and committed to
his charge all the treasures of the state; and she admitted him to familiar
favour and acquainted the Emirs with his rank and dignity. And all loved him,
for Queen Budur did not cease day by day to increase his allowances. As for
Kamar al-Zaman, he was at a loss anent the reason of her thus honouring him;
and he gave gifts and largesse out of the abundance of the wealth; and he
devoted himself to the service of King Armanus; so that the King and all the
Emirs and people, great and small, adored him and were wont to swear by his
life. Nevertheless, he ever marvelled at the honour and favour shown him by
Queen Budur and said to himself, "By Allah, there needs must be a reason for
this affection! Peradventure, this King favoureth me not with these immoderate
favours save for some ill purpose and, therefore, there is no help but that I
crave leave of him to depart his realm." So he went in to Queen Budur and said
to her, "O King, thou hast overwhelmed me with favours, but it will fulfil the
measure of thy bounties if thou take from me all thou hast been pleased to
bestow upon me, and permit me to depart." She smiled and asked, "What maketh
thee seek to depart and plunge into new perils, whenas thou art in the
enjoyment of the highest favour and greatest prosperity?" Answered Kamar al-
Zaman, "O King, verily this favour, if there be no reason for it, is indeed a
wonder of wonders, more by token that thou hast advanced me to dignities such
as befit men of age and experience, albeit I am as it were a young child." And
Queen Budur rejoined, "The reason is that I love thee for shine exceeding
loveliness and thy surpassing beauty; and if thou wilt but grant me my desire
of thy body, I will advance thee yet farther in honour and favour and largesse;
and I will make thee Wazir, for all thy tender age even as the folk made me
Sultan over them and I no older than thou; so that nowadays there is nothing
strange when children take the head and by Allah, he was a gifted man who said,
'It seems as though of Lot's tribe were our days, *
And crave with love to advance the young in years.'"[FN#336]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he was abashed and his cheeks flushed
till they seemed a-flame; and he said, "I need not these favours which lead to
the commission of sin; I will live poor in wealth but wealthy in virtue and
honour." Quoth she, "I am not to be duped by thy scruples, arising from prudery
and coquettish ways; and Allah bless him who saith,
'To him I spake of coupling, but he said to me, *
How long this noyous long persistency?'
But when gold piece I showed him, he cried, *
'Who from the Almighty Sovereign e'er shall flee?'"
Now when Kamar al-Zaman, heard these words and understood her verses and their
import, he said, "O King, I have not the habit of these doings, nor have I
strength to bear these heavy burthens for which elder than I have proved
unable; then how will it be with my tender age?" But she smiled at his speech
and retorted, "Indeed, it is a matter right marvellous how error springeth from
the disorder of man's intendiment!! Since thou art a boy, why standest thou in
fear of sin or the doing of things forbidden, seeing that thou art not yet come
to years of canonical responsibility; and the offences of a child incur neither
punishment nor reproof? Verily, thou hast committed thyself to a quibble for
the sake of contention, and it is thy duty to bow before a proposal of
fruition, so henceforward cease from denial and coyness, for the commandment of
Allah is a decree foreordained:[FN#337] indeed, I have more reason than thou to
fear falling and by sin to be misled; and well inspired was he who said,
'My prickle is big and the little one said, *
'Thrust boldly in vitals with lion-like stroke!
Then I, ' 'Tis a sin!; and he, 'No sin to me! *
So I had him at once with a counterfeit poke."[FN#338]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, the light became darkness in his sight
and he said, "O King, thou hast in thy household fair women and female slaves,
who have not their like in this age: shall not these suffice thee without me?
Do thy will with them and let me go!" She replied, "Thou sayest sooth, but it
is not with them that one who loveth thee can heal himself of torment and can
abate his fever; for, when tastes and inclinations are corrupted by vice, they
hear and obey other than good advice. So leave arguing and listen to what the
poet saith,
'Seest not the bazar with its fruit in rows? *
These men are for figs and for sycamore[FN#339] those!'
And what another saith,
'Many whose anklet rings are dumb have tinkling belts, *
And this hath all content while that for want must wail:
Thou bidd'st me be a fool and quit thee for her charms; *
Allah forfend I leave The Faith, turn Infidel!
Nay, by thy rights of side-beard mocking all her curls, *
Nor mott nor maid[FN#340] from thee my heart shall spell.'
And yet another,
'O beauty's Union! love for thee's my creed, *
Free choice of Faith and eke my best desire:
Women I have forsworn for thee; so may *
Deem me all men this day a shaveling friar.'[FN#341]
And yet another,
'Even not beardless one with girl, nor heed *
The spy who saith to thee ''Tis an amiss!'
Far different is the girl whose feet one kisses *
And that gazelle whose feet the earth must kiss.'
And yet another,
'A boy of twice ten is fit for a King!'
And yet another,
'The penis smooth and round was made with anus best to match it, * Had it been
made for cunnus' sake it had been formed like hatchet!'
And yet another said,
'My soul thy sacrifice! I chose thee out *
Who art not menstruous nor oviparous:
Did I with woman mell, I should beget *
Brats till the wide wide world grew strait for us.'
And yet another,
'She saith (sore hurt in sense the most acute *
For she had proffered what did not besuit),
'Unless thou stroke as man should swive his wife *
Blame not when horns thy brow shall incornůte!
Thy wand seems waxen, to a limpo grown, *
And more I palm it, softer grows the brute!'
And yet another,
'Quoth she (for I to lie with her forbore), *
'O folly-following fool, O fool to core:
If thou my coynte for Kiblah[FN#342] to thy coigne *
Reject, we'll shall please thee more.'[FN#343]
And yet another,
'She proffered me a tender coynte *
Quoth I 'I will not roger thee!'
She drew back, saying, 'From the Faith *
He turns, who's turned by Heaven's decree![FN#344]
And front wise fluttering, in one day, *
Is obsolete persistency!'
Then swung she round and shining rump *
Like silvern lump she showed me!
I cried: 'Well done, O mistress mine! *
No more am I in pain for thee;
O thou of all that Allah oped[FN#345] *
Showest me fairest victory!'
And yet another,
'Men craving pardon will uplift their hands; *
Women pray pardon with their legs on high:
Out on it for a pious, prayerful work! *
The Lord shall raise it in the depths to lie.'"[FN#346]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard her quote this poetry, and was certified that there
was no escaping compliance with what willed she, he said, "O King of the age,
if thou must needs have it so, make covenant with me that thou wilt do this
thing with me but once, though it avail not to correct thy depraved appetite,
and that thou wilt never again require this thing of me to the end of time; so
perchance shall Allah purge me of the sin." She replied "I promise thee this
thing, hoping that Allah of His favour will relent towards us and blot out our
mortal offence; for the girdle of heaven's forgiveness is not indeed so strait,
but it may compass us around and absolve us of the excess of our heinous sins
and bring us to the light of salvation out of the darkness of error; and indeed
excellently well saith the poet,
'Of evil thing the folk suspect us twain; *
And to this thought their hearts and souls are bent:
Come, dear! let's justify and free their souls *
That wrong us; one good bout and then—repent!'''[FN#347]
Thereupon she made him an agreement and a covenant and swore a solemn oath by
Him who is Self-existent, that this thing should befal betwixt them but once
and never again for all time, and that the desire of him was driving her to
death and perdition. So he rose up with her, on this condition, and went with
her to her own boudoir, that she might quench the lowe of her lust, saying,
"There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great! This is the fated decree of the All- powerful, the All-wise!"; and he
doffed his bag-trousers, shamefull and abashed, with the tears running from his
eyes for stress of affright. Thereat she smiled and making him mount upon a
couch with her, said to him, "After this night, thou shalt see naught that will
offend thee." Then she turned to him bussing and bosoming him and bending calf
over calf, and said to him, "Put thy hand between my thighs to the accustomed
place; so haply it may stand up to prayer after prostration." He wept and
cried, "I am not good at aught of this," but she said, "By my life, an thou do
as I bid thee, it shall profit thee!" So he put out his hand, with vitals
a-fire for confusion, and found her thighs cooler than cream and softer than
silk. The touching of them pleasured him and he moved his hand hither and
thither, till it came to a dome abounding in good gifts and movements and
shifts, and said in himself, "Perhaps this King is a hermaphrodite,[FN#348]
neither man nor woman quite;" so he said to her, "O King, I cannot find that
thou hast a tool like the tools of men; what then moved thee to do this deed?"
Then loudly laughed Queen Budur till she fell on her back,[FN#349] and said, "O
my dearling, how quickly thou hast forgotten the nights we have lain together!"
Then she made herself known to him, and he knew her for his wife, the Lady
Budur, daughter of King al-Ghayur, Lord of the Isles and the Seas. So he
embraced her and she embraced him, and he kissed her and she kissed him; then
they lay down on the bed of pleasure voluptuous, repeating the words of the
poet,
"When his softly bending shape bid him close to my embrace *
Which clips him all about like the tendrils of the vine
And shed a flood of softness on the hardness of his heart, *
He yielded though at first he was minded to decline;
And dreading lest the railer's eye should light upon his form, *
Came armoured with caution to baffle his design:
His waist makes moan of hinder cheeks that weigh upon his feet *
Like heavy load of merchandise upon young camel li'en;
Girt with his glances scymitar which seemed athirst for blood, *
And clad in mail of dusky curls that show the sheeniest
shine,
His fragrance wafted happy news of footstep coming nigh, *
And to him like a bird uncaged I flew in straightest line:
I spread my cheek upon his path, beneath his sandal-shoon, *
And lo! the stibium[FN#350] of their dust healed all my hurt
of eyne.
With one embrace again I bound the banner of our loves[FN#351] *
And loosed the knot of my delight that bound in bonds
malign:
Then bade I make high festival, and straight came flocking in *
Pure joys that know not grizzled age[FN#352] nor aught of
pain and pine:
The full moon dotted with the stars the lips and pearly teeth *
That dance right joyously upon the bubbling face of wine:
So in the prayer-niche of their joys I yielded me to what *
Would make the humblest penitent of sinner most indign.
I swear by all the signs[FN#353] of those glories in his face *
I'll ne'er forget the Chapter entituled Al-Ikhlas."[FN#354]
Then Queen Budur told Kamar al-Zaman all that had befallen her from beginning
to end and he did likewise; after which he began to upbraid her, saying, "What
moved thee to deal with me as thou hast done this night?" She replied, "Pardon
me! for I did this by way of jest, and that pleasure and gladness might be
increased." And when dawned the morn and day arose with its sheen and shone,
she sent to King Armanus, sire of the Lady Hayat al-Nufus, and acquainted him
with the truth of the case and that she was wife to Kamar al-Zaman. Moreover,
she told him their tale and the cause of their separation, and how his daughter
was a virgin, pure as when she was born. He marvelled at their story with
exceeding marvel and bade them chronicle it in letters of gold. Then he turned
to Kamar al-Zaman and said, "O King's son, art thou minded to become my
son-in-law by marrying my daughter?" Replied he, "I must consult the Queen
Budur, as she hath a claim upon me for benefits without stint." And when he
took counsel with her, she said, "Right is thy recking; marry her and I will be
her handmaid; for I am her debtor for kindness and favour and good offices, and
obligations manifold, especially as we are here in her place and as the King
her father hath whelmed us with benefits."[FN#355] Now when he saw that she
inclined to this and was not jealous of Hayat al-Nufus, he agreed with her upon
this matter.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al- Zaman agreed
with his wife, Queen Budur, upon this matter and told King Armanus what she had
said; whereat he rejoiced with great joy. Then he went out and, seating himself
upon his chair of estate, assembled all the Wazirs, Emirs, Chamberlains and
Grandees, to whom he related the whole story of Kamar al-Zaman and his wife,
Queen Budur, from first to last; and acquainted them with his desire to marry
his daughter Hayat al-Nufus to the Prince and make him King in the stead of
Queen Budur. Whereupon said they all, "Since he is the husband of Queen Budur,
who hath been our King till now, whilst we deemed her son-in-law to King
Armanus, we are all content to have him to Sultan over us; and we will be his
servants, nor will we swerve from his allegiance." So Armanus rejoiced hereat
and, summoning Kazis and witnesses and the chief officers of state, bade draw
up the contract of marriage between Kamar al-Zaman and his daughter, the
Princess Hayat al-Nufus. Then he held high festival, giving sumptuous
marriage-feasts and bestowing costly dresses of honour upon all the Emirs and
Captains of the host; moreover he distributed alms to the poor and needy and
set free all the prisoners. The whole world rejoiced in the coming of Kamar
al-Zaman to the throne, blessing him and wishing him endurance of glory and
prosperity, renown and felicity; and, as soon as he became King, he remitted
the customs-dues and released all men who remained in gaol. Thus he abode a
long while, ordering himself worthily towards his lieges; and he lived with his
two wives in peace, happiness, constancy and content, lying the night with each
of them in turn. He ceased not after this fashion during many years, for indeed
all his troubles and afflictions were blotted out from him and he forgot his
father King Shahriman and his former estate of honour and favour with him.
After a while Almighty Allah blessed him with two boy children, as they were
two shining moons, through his two wives; the elder whose name was Prince
Amjad,[FN#356] by Queen Budur, and the younger whose name was Prince As'ad by
Queen Hayat al-Nufus; and this one was comelier than his brother. They were
reared in splendour and tender affection, in respectful bearing and in the
perfection of training; and they were instructed in penmanship and science and
the arts of government and horsemanship, till they attained the extreme
accomplishments and the utmost limit of beauty and loveliness; both men and
women being ravished by their charms. They grew up side by side till they
reached the age of seventeen, eating and drinking together and sleeping in one
bed, nor ever parting at any time or tide; wherefore all the people envied
them. Now when they came to man's estate and were endowed with every
perfection, their father was wont, as often as he went on a journey, to make
them sit in his stead by turns in the hall of judgement; and each did justice
among the folk one day at a time. But it came to pass, by confirmed fate and
determined lot, that love for As'ad (son of Queen Hayat al-Nufus) rose in the
heart of Queen Budur, and that affection for Amjad (son of Queen Budur) rose in
the heart of Queen Hayat al-Nufus.[FN#357] Hence it was that each of the women
used to sport and play with the son of her sister-wife, kissing him and
straining him to her bosom, whilst each mother thought that the other's
behaviour arose but from maternal affection. On this wise passion got the
mastery of the two women's hearts and they became madly in love with the two
youths, so that when the other's son came in to either of them, she would press
him to her breast and long for him never to be parted from her; till, at last,
when waiting grew longsome to them and they found no path to enjoyment, they
refused meat and drink and banished the solace of sleep. Presently, the King
fared forth to course and chase, bidding his two sons sit to do justice in his
stead, each one day in turn as was their wont.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King fared forth to
sport and hunt, bidding his two sons sit to do justice in his stead, each one
day by turn, as was their wont. Now Prince Amjad sat in judgement the first
day, bidding and forbidding, appointing and deposing, giving and refusing; and
Queen Hayat al-Nufus, mother of As'ad, wrote to him a letter suing for his
favour and discovering to him her passion and devotion; altogether put tiny off
the mask and giving him to know that she desired to enjoy him. So she took a
scroll and thereon indited these cadences, "From the love deranged * the
sorrowful and estranged * whose torment is prolonged for the longing of thee! *
Were I to recount to thee the extent of my care * and what of sadness I bear *
the passion which my heart cloth tear * and all that I endure for weeping and
unrest * and the rending of my sorrowful breast * my unremitting grief * and my
woe without relief * and all my suffering for severance of thee * and sadness
and love's ardency * no letter could contain it; nor calculation could compass
it * Indeed earth and heaven upon me are strait; and I have no hope and no
trust but what from thee I await * Upon death I am come nigh * and the horrors
of dissolution I aby * Burning upon me is sore * with parting pangs and
estrangement galore * Were I to set forth the yearnings that possess me more
and more * no scrolls would suffice to hold such store * and of the excess of
my pain and pine, I have made the following lines:- -
Were I to dwell on heart-consuming heat, *
Unease and transports in my spins meet,
Nothing were left of ink and reeden pen *
Nor aught of paper; no, not e'en a sheet.
Then Queen Hayat al-Nufus wrapped up her letter in a niece of costly silk
scented with musk and ambergris; and folded it up with her silken
hair-strings[FN#358] whose cost swallowed down treasures laid it in a
handkerchief and gave it to a eunuch bidding him bear it to Prince Amjad.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she gave her missive to
the eunuch in waiting and bade him bear it to Prince Amjad. And that eunuch
went forth ignoring what the future hid for him (for the Omniscient ordereth
events even as He willeth); and, going in to the Prince, kissed the ground
between his hands and handed to him the letter. On receiving the kerchief he
opened it and, reading the epistle and recognizing its gist he was ware that
his father's wife was essentially an adulteress and a traitress at heart to her
husband, King Kamar al-Zaman. So he waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and railed
at women and their works, saying, "Allah curse women, the traitresses, the
imperfect in reason and religion!"[FN#359] Then he drew his sword and said to
the eunuch, "Out on thee, thou wicked slave! Dost thou carry messages of
disloyalty for thy lord's wife? By Allah, there is no good in thee, O black of
hue and heart, O foul of face and Nature's forming!" So he smote him on the
neck and severed his head from his body; then, folding the kerchief over its
contents he thrust it into his breast pocket and went in to his own mother and
told her what had passed, reviling and reproaching her, and saying, "Each one
of you is viler than the other; and, by Allah the Great and Glorious, did I not
fear ill-manneredly to transgress against the rights of my father, Kamar
al-Zaman, and my brother, Prince As'ad, I would assuredly go in to her and cut
off her head, even as I cut off that of her eunuch!" Then he went forth from
his mother in a mighty rage; and when the news reached Queen Hayat al-Nufus of
what he had done with her eunuch, she abused him[FN#360] and cursed him and
plotted perfidy against him. He passed the night, sick with rage, wrath and
concern; nor found he pleasure in meat, drink or sleep. And when the next
morning dawned Prince As'ad fared forth in his turn to rule the folk in his
father's stead, whilst his mother, Hayat al-Nufus, awoke in feeble plight
because of what she had heard from Prince Amjad concerning the slaughter of her
eunuch. So Prince As'ad sat in the audience-chamber that day, judging and
administering justice, appointing and deposing, bidding and forbidding, giving
and bestowing. And he ceased not thus till near the time of afternoon-prayer,
when Queen Budur sent for a crafty old woman and, discovering to her what was
in her heart, wrote a letter to Prince As'ad, complaining of the excess of her
affection and desire for him in these cadenced lines, "From her who perisheth
for passion and love-forlorn * to him who in nature and culture is goodliest
born * to him who is conceited of his own loveliness * and glories in his
amorous grace * who from those that seek to enjoy him averteth his face * and
refuseth to show favour unto the self abasing and base * him who is cruel and
of disdainful mood * from the lover despairing of good * to Prince As'ad * with
passing beauty endowed * and of excelling grace proud * of the face moon bright
* and the brow flower-white * and dazzling splendid light * This is my letter
to him whose love melteth my body * and rendeth my skin and bones! * Know that
my patience faileth me quite * and I am perplexed in my plight * longing and
restlessness weary me * and sleep and patience deny themselves to me * but
mourning and watching stick fast to me * and desire and passion torment me *
and the extremes of languor and sickness have sheet me * Yet may my life be a
ransom for thee * albeit thy pleasure be to slay her who loveth thee * and
Allah prolong the life of thee * and preserve thee from all infirmity!" And
after these cadences she wrote these couplets,
"Fate hath commanded I become thy fere, *
O shining like full moon when clearest clear!
All beauty dost embrace, all eloquence; *
Brighter than aught within our worldly sphere:
Content am I my torturer thou be: *
Haply shalt alms me with one lovely leer!
Happy her death who dieth for thy love! *
No good in her who holdeth thee unclear!"
And also the following couplets,
"Unto thee, As'ad! I of passion-pangs complain; *
Have ruth on slave of love so burnt with flaming pain:
How long, I ask, shall hands of Love disport with me, *
With longings, dolour, sleepliness and bale and bane?
Anon I 'plain of sea in heart, anon of fire *
In vitals, O strange case, dear wish, my fairest fain!
O blamer, cease thy blame, and seek thyself to fly *
From love, which makes these eyne a rill of tears to rain.
How oft I cry for absence and desire, Ah grief! *
But all my crying naught of gain for me shall gain:
Thy rigours dealt me sickness passing power to bear, *
Thou art my only leach, assain me an thou deign!
O chider, chide me not in caution, for I doubt *
That plaguey Love to thee shall also deal a bout."
Then Queen Budur perfumed the letter-paper with a profusion of odoriferous musk
and, winding it in her hairstrings which were of Iraki silk, with pendants of
oblong emeralds, set with pearls and stones of price, delivered it to the old
woman, bidding her carry it to Prince As'ad.[FN#361] She did so in order to
pleasure her, and going in to the Prince, straightway and without stay, found
him in his own rooms and delivered to him the letter in privacy; after which
she stood waiting an hour or so for the answer. When As'ad had read the paper
and knew its purport, he wrapped it up again in the ribbons and put it in his
bosom-pocket: then (for he was wrath beyond all measure of wrath) he cursed
false women and sprang up and drawing his sword, smote the old trot on the neck
and cut off her pate. Thereupon he went in to his mother, Queen Hayat al-Nufus,
whom he found lying on her bed in feeble case, for that which had betided her
with Prince Amjad, and railed at her and cursed her; after which he left her
and fore-gathered with his brother, to whom he related all that had befallen
him with Queen Budur, adding, "By Allah, O my brother, but that I was ashamed
before thee, I had gone in to her forthright and had smitten her head off her
shoulders!" Replied Prince Amjad, "By Allah, O my brother, yesterday when I was
sitting upon the seat of judgement, the like of what hath befallen thee this
day befel me also with thy mother who sent me a letter of similar purport." And
he told him all that had passed, adding, "By Allah, O my brother, naught but
respect for thee withheld me from going in to her and dealing with her even as
I dealt with the eunuch!" They passed the rest of the night conversing and
cursing womankind, and agreed to keep the matter secret, lest their father
should hear of it and kill the two women. Yet they ceased not to suffer trouble
and foresee affliction. And when the morrow dawned, the King returned with his
suite from hunting and sat awhile in his chair of estate; after which he sent
the Emirs about their business and went up to his palace, where he found his
two wives lying a-bed and both exceeding sick and weak. Now they had made a
plot against their two sons and concerted to do away their lives, for that they
had exposed themselves before them and feared to be at their mercy and
dependent upon their forbearance. When Kamar al-Zaman saw them on this wise, he
said to them, "What aileth you?" Whereupon they rose to him and kissing his
hands answered, perverting the case and saying "Know, O King, that thy two
sons, who have been reared in thy bounty, have played thee false and have
dishonoured thee in the persons of thy wives." Now when he heard this, the
light became darkness in his sight, and he raged with such wrath that his
reason fled: then said he to them, "Explain me this matter." Replied Queen
Budur, "O King of the age, know that these many days past thy son As'ad hath
been in the persistent habit of sending me letters and messages to solicit me
to lewdness and adultery while I still forbade him from this, but he would not
be forbidden; and, when thou wentest forth to hunt, he rushed in on me, drunk
and with a drawn sword in his hand, and smiting my eunuch, slew him. Then he
mounted on my breast, still holding the sword, and I feared lest he should slay
me, if I gainsaid him, even as he had slain my eunuch; so he took his wicked
will of me by force. And now if thou do me not justice on him, O King, I will
slay myself with my own hand, for I have no need of life in the world after
this foul deed." And Queen Hayat al-Nufus, choking with tears, told him
respecting Prince Amjad a story like that of her sister-wife.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twentieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Hayat al-Nufus told
her husband, King Kamar al-Zaman, a story like that of her sister in wedlock,
Budur, and, quoth she, "The same thing befel me with thy son Amjad;" after
which she took to weeping and wailing and said, "Except thou do me justice on
him I will tell my father, King Armanus." Then both women wept with sore
weeping before King Kamar al-Zaman who, when he saw their tears and heard their
words, concluded that their story was true and, waxing wroth beyond measure of
wrath, went forth thinking to fall upon his two sons and put them to death. On
his way he met his father- in-law, King Armanus who, hearing of his return from
the chase, had come to salute him at that very hour and, seeing him with naked
brand in hand and blood dripping from his nostrils, for excess of rage, asked
what ailed him. So Kamar al-Zaman told him all that his sons Amjad and As'ad
had done and added, "And here I am now going in to them to slay them in the
foulest way and make of them the most shameful of examples." Quoth King Armanus
(and indeed he too was wroth with them), "Thou dost well, O my son, and may
Allah not bless them nor any sons that do such deed against their father's
honour. But, O my son, the sayer of the old saw saith, 'Whoso looketh not to
the end hath not Fortune to friend.' In any case, they are thy sons, and it
befitteth not that thou kill them with shine own hand, lest thou drink of their
death-agony,[FN#362] and anon repent of having slain them whenas repentance
availeth thee naught. Rather do thou send them with one of thy Mamelukes into
the desert and let him kill them there out of thy sight, for, as saith the
adage, 'Out of sight of my friend is better and pleasanter.'[FN#363] And when
Kamar al-Zaman heard his father-in-law's words, he knew them to be just; so he
sheathed his sword and turning back, sat down upon the throne of his realm.
There he summoned his treasurer, a very old man, versed in affairs and in
fortune's vicissitudes, to whom he said, "Go in to my sons, Amjad and As'ad;
bind their hands behind them with strong bonds, lay them in two chests and load
them upon a mule. Then take horse thou and carry them into mid desert, where do
thou kill them both and fill two vials with their blood and bring the same to
me in haste." Replied the treasurer, "I hear and I obey," and he rose up
hurriedly and went out forthright to seek the Princes; and, on his road, he met
them coming out of the palace-vestibule, for they had donned their best clothes
and their richest; and they were on their way to salute their sire and give him
joy of his safe return from his going forth to hunt. Now when he saw them, he
laid hands on them, saying, "Omy sons, know ye that I am but a slave commanded,
and that your father hath laid a commandment on me; will ye obey his
commandment?" They said, "Yes"; whereupon he went up to them and, after
pinioning their arms, laid them in the chests which he loaded on the back of a
mule he had taken from the city. And he ceased not carrying them into the open
country till near noon, when he halted in a waste and desolate place and,
dismounting from his mare, let down the two chests from the mule's back. Then
he opened them and took out Amjad and As'ad; and when he looked upon them he
wept sore for their beauty and loveliness; then drawing his sword he said to
them, "By Allah, O my lords, indeed it is hard for me to deal so evilly by you;
but I am to be excused in this matter, being but a slave commanded, for that
your father King Kamar al-Zaman hath bidden me strike off your heads." They
replied, "O Emir, do the King's bidding, for we bear with patience that which
Allah (to Whom be Honour, Might and Glory!) hath decreed to us; and thou art
quit of our blood." Then they embraced and bade each other farewell, and As'ad
said to the treasurer, "Allah upon thee, O uncle, spare me the sight of my
brother's death-agony and make me not drink of his anguish, but kill me first,
for that were the easier for me." And Amjad said the like and entreated the
treasurer to kill him before As'ad, saying, "My brother is younger than I; so
make me not taste of his anguish. And they both wept bitter tears whilst the
treasurer wept for their weeping;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the treasurer wept for
their weeping; then the two brothers embraced and bade farewell and one said to
the other, "All this cometh of the malice of those traitresses, my mother and
thy mother; and this is the reward of my forbearance towards thy mother and of
thy for bearance towards my mother! But there is no Might and there is no
Majesty save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Verily, we are Allah's and unto
Him we are returning."[FN#364] And As'ad em braced his brother, sobbing and
repeating these couplets,
"O Thou to whom sad trembling wights in fear complain! *
O ever ready whatso cometh to sustain!
The sole resource for me is at Thy door to knock, *
At whose door knock an Thou to open wilt not deign?
O Thou whose grace is treasured in the one word, Be![FN#365] *
Favour me, I beseech, in Thee all weals contain."
Now when Amjad heard his brother's weeping he wept also and pressing him to his
bosom repeated these two couplets,
"O Thou whose boons to me are more than one! *
Whose gifts and favours have nor count nor bound!
No stroke of all Fate's strokes e'er fell on me, *
But Thee to take me by the hand I found."
Then said Amjad to the treasurer, "I conjure thee by the One, Omnipotent, the
Lord of Mercy, the Beneficent! slay me before my brother As'ad, so haply shall
the fire be quencht in my heart's core and in this life burn no more." But
As'ad wept and exclaimed, "Not so: I will die first;" whereupon quoth Amjad,
"It were best that I embrace thee and thou embrace me, so the sword may fall
upon us and slay us both at a single stroke." Thereupon they embraced, face to
face and clung to each other straitly, whilst the treasurer tied up the twain
and bound them fast with cords, weeping the while. Then he drew his blade and
said to them, "By Allah, O my lords, it is indeed hard to me to slay you! But
have ye no last wishes that I may fulfil or charges which I may carry out, or
message which I may deliver?" Replied Amjad, "We have no wish; and my only
charge to thee is that thou set my brother below and me above him, that the
blow may fall on me first, and when thou hast killed us and returnest to the
King and he asketh thee, 'What heardest thou from them before their death?'; do
thou answer, 'Verily thy sons salute thee and say to thee, Thou knewest not if
we were innocent or guilty, yet hast thou put us to death and hast not
certified thyself of our sin nor looked into our case.' Then do thou repeat to
him these two couplets,
'Women are Satans made for woe o' men; *
I fly to Allah from their devilish scathe:
Source of whatever bale befel our kind, *
In wordly matters and in things of Faith.'"
Continued Amjad, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat to our sire
these two couplets."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
When it was ad the Two Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Amjad added, speaking to
the treasurer, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat to our sire these
two couplets which thou hast just now heard; and I conjure thee by Allah to
have patience with us, whilst I cite to my brother this other pair of
couplets." Then he wept with sore weeping and began,
"The Kings who fared before us showed *
Of instances full many a show:
Of great and small and high and low *
How many this one road have trod!"
Now when the treasurer heard these words from Amjad, he wept till his beard was
wet, whilst As'ad's eyes brimmed with tears and he in turn repeated these
couplets,
"Fate frights us when the thing is past and gone; *
Weeping is not for form or face alone[FN#366]:
What ails the Nights?[FN#367] Allah blot out our sin, *
And be the Nights by other hand undone!
Ere this Zubayr-son[FN#368] felt their spiteful hate, *
Who fled for refuge to the House and Stone:
Would that when Khárijah was for Amru slain[FN#369] *
They had ransomed Ali with all men they own."
Then, with cheeks stained by tears down railing he recited also these verses,
"In sooth the Nights and Days are charactered *
By traitor falsehood and as knaves they lie;
The Desert-reek[FN#370] recalls their teeth that shine; *
All horrid blackness is their K of eye:
My sin anent the world which I abhor *
Is sin of sword when sworders fighting hie."
Then his sobs waxed louder and he said,
"O thou who woo'st a World[FN#371] unworthy, learn *
'Tis house of evils, 'tis Perdition's net:
A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep *
The next: then perish house of fume and fret!
Endless its frays and forays, and its thralls *
Are ne'er redeemed, while endless risks beset.
How many gloried in its pomps and pride, *
Till proud and pompous did all bounds forget,
Then showing back of shield she made them swill[FN#372] *
Full draught, and claimed all her vengeance debt.
For know her strokes fall swift and sure, altho' *
Long bide she and forslow the course of Fate:
So look thou to thy days lest life go by *
Idly, and meet thou more than thou hast met;
And cut all chains of world-love and desire *
And save thy soul and rise to secrets higher."
Now when As'ad made an end of these verses, he strained his brother Amjad in
his arms, till they twain were one body, and the treasurer, drawing his sword,
was about to strike them, when behold, his steed took fright at the wind of his
upraised hand, and breaking its tether, fled into the desert. Now the horse had
cost a thousand gold pieces and on its back was a splendid saddle worth much
money; so the treasurer threw down his sword, and ran after his beast.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when his horse ran away,
the treasurer ran after it in huge concern, and ceased not running to catch the
runaway till it entered a thicket. He followed it whilst it dashed through the
wood, smiting the earth with its hoofs till it raised a dust-cloud which
towered high in air; and snorting and puffing and neighing and waxing fierce
and furious. Now there happened to be in this thicket a lion of terrible might;
hideous to sight, with eyes sparkling light: his look was grim and his aspect
struck fright into man's sprite. Presentry the treasurer turned and saw the
lion making towards him; but found no way of escape nor had he his sword with
him. So he said in himself, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great! This strait is come upon me for no other cause
but because of Amjad and As'ad; and indeed this journey was unblest from the
first!" Meanwhile the two Princes were grievously oppressed by the heat and
grew sore athirst, so that their tongues hung out and they cried for succour,
but none came to their relief and they said, "Would to Heaven we had been slain
and were at peace from this pain! But we know not whither the horse hath fled,
that the treasurer is gone and hath left us thus pinioned. If he would but come
back and do us die, it were easier to us than this torture to aby." Said As'ad,
"O my brother, be patient, and the relief of Allah (extolled and exalted be
He!) shall assuredly come to us; for the horse started not away save of His
favour towards us, and naught irketh us but this thirst." Upon this he
stretched and shook himself and strained right and left, till he burst his
pinion-bonds; then he rose and unbound his brother and catching up the Emir's
sword, said, "By Allah, we will not go hence, till we look after him and learn
what is become of him." Then they took to following on the trail till it led
them to the thicket and they said to each other, "Of a surety, the horse and
the treasurer have not passed out of this wood." Quoth As'ad, "Stay thou here,
whilst I enter the thicket and search it;" and Amjad replied, "I will not let
thee go in alone: nor will we enter it but together; so if we escape, we shall
escape together and if we perish, we shall perish together." Accordingly both
entered and found that the lion had sprang upon the treasurer, who lay like a
sparrow in his grip, calling upon Allah for aid and signing with his hands to
Heaven. Now when Amjad saw this, he took the sword and, rushing upon the lion,
smote him between the eyes and laid him dead on the ground. The Emir sprang up,
marvelling at this escape and seeing Amjad and As'ad, his master's sons,
standing there, cast himself at their feet and exclaimed, "By Allah, O my
lords, it were intolerable wrong in me to do you to death. May the man never be
who would kill you! Indeed, with my very life, I will ransom you."—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the treasurer to
Amjad and As'ad, "With my life will I ransom you both!" Then he hastily rose
and, at once embracing them, enquired how they had loosed their bonds and come
thither; whereupon they told him how the bonds of one of them had fallen loose
and he had unbound the other, whereto they were helped by the purity of their
intentions, and how they had tracked his trail till they came upon him. So he
thanked them for their deed and went with them forth of the thicket; and, when
they were in the open country, they said to him, "O uncle, do our father's
bidding." He replied, "Allah forbid that I should draw near to you with hurt!
But know ye that I mean to take your clothes and clothe you with mine; then
will I fill two vials with the lion's blood and go back to the King and tell
him I have out vou to death. But as for you two, fare ye forth into the lands,
for Allah's earth is wide; and know, O my lords, that it paineth me to part
from you." At this, they all fell a-weeping; then the two youths put off their
clothes and the treasurer habited them with his own. Moreover he made two
parcels of their dress and, filling two vials with the lion's blood, set the
parcels before him on his horse's back. Presently he took leave of them and,
making his way to the city, ceased not faring till he went in to King Kamar
al-Zaman and kissed the ground between his hands. The King saw him changed in
face and troubled (which arose from his adventure with the lion) and, deeming
this came of the slaughter of his two sons, rejoiced and said to him, "Hast
thou done the work?" "Yes, O our lord," replied the treasurer and gave him the
two parcels of clothes and the two vials full of blood. Asked the King, "What
didst thou observe in them; and did they give thee any charge?" Answered the
treasurer, "I found them patient and resigned to what came down upon them and
they said to me, 'Verily, our father is excusable; bear him our salutation and
say to him, 'Thou art quit of our killing. But we charge thee repeat to him
these couplets,
'Verily women are devils created for us. We seek refuge with God from the
artifice of the devils. They are the source of all the misfortunes that have
appeared among mankind in the affairs of the world and of religion.'''[FN#373]
When the King heard these words of the treasurer, he bowed his head earthwards,
a long while and knew his sons' words to mean that they had been wrongfully put
to death. Then he bethought himself of the perfidy of women and the calamities
brought about by them; and he took the two parcels and opened them and fell to
turning over his sons' clothes and weeping,—And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Kamar la-Zaman
opened the two bundles and fell to turning over his sons' clothes and weeping,
it so came to pass that he found, in the pocket of his son As'ad's raiment, a
letter in the hand of his wife enclosing her hair strings; so he opened and
read it and understanding the contents knew that the Prince had been falsely
accused and wrongously. Then he searched Amjad's parcel of dress and found in
his pocket a letter in the handwriting of Queen Hayat al-Nufus enclosing also
her hair-strings; so he opened and read it and knew that Amjad too had been
wronged; whereupon he beat hand upon hand and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I have slain my
sons unjustly." And he buffeted his face, crying out, "Alas, my sons! Alas, my
long grief!" Then he bade them build two tombs in one house, which he styled
"House of Lamentations," and had graved thereon his sons' names; and he threw
himself on Amjad's tomb, weeping and groaning and lamenting, and improvised
these couplets,
"O moon for ever set this earth below, *
Whose loss bewail the stars which stud the sky!
O wand, which broken, ne'er with bend and wave *
Shall fascinate the ravisht gazer's eye;
These eyne for jealousy I 'reft of thee, *
Nor shall they till next life thy sight descry:
I'm drowned in sea of tears for insomny *
Wherefore, indeed in Sáhirah-stead[FN#374] I lie."
Then he threw himself on As'ad's tomb, groaning and weeping and lamenting and
versifying with these couplets,
"Indeed I longed to share unweal with thee, *
But Allah than my will willed otherwise:
My grief all blackens 'twixt mine eyes and space, *
Yet whitens all the blackness from mine eyes:[FN#375]
Of tears they weep these eyne run never dry, *
And ulcerous flow in vitals never dries:
Right sore it irks me seeing thee in stead[FN#376] *
Where slave with sovran for once levelled lies."
And his weeping and wailing redoubled; and, after he had ended his lamentations
and his verse, he forsook his friends and intimates, and denying himself to his
women and his family, cut himself off from the world in the House of
Lamentations, where he passed his time in weeping for his sons. Such was his
case; but as regards Amjad and As'ad they fared on into the desert eating of
the fruits of the earth and drinking of the remnants of the rain for a full
month, till their travel brought them to a mountain of black flint[FN#377]
whose further end was unknown; and here the road forked, one line lying along
the midway height and the other leading to its head. They took the way trending
to the top and gave not over following it five days, but saw no end to it and
were overcome with weariness, being unused to walking upon the mountains or
elsewhere.[FN#378] At last, despairing of coming to the last of the road, they
retraced their steps and, taking the other, that led over the midway
heights,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princes Amjad and As'ad
returned from the path leading to the Mountain- head and took that which ran
along the midway heights, and walked through all that day till nightfall, when
As'ad, weary with much travel, said to Amjad, "O my brother, I can walk no
farther, for I am exceeding weak." Replied Amjad, "O my brother, take courage!
May be Allah will send us relief." So they walked on part of the night, till
the darkness closed in upon them, when As'ad became weary beyond measure of
weariness and cried out, "O my brother, I am worn out and spent with walking,"
and threw himself upon the ground and wept. Amjad took him in his arms and
walked on with him, bytimes sitting down to rest till break of day, when they
came to the mountain-top and found there a stream of running water and by it a
pomegranate-tree and a prayer-niche.[FN#379] They could hardly believe their
eyes when they saw it; but, sitting down by that spring, drank of its water and
ate of the fruit of that granado-tree; after which they lay on the ground and
slept till sunrise, when they washed and bathed in the spring and, eating of
the pomegranates, slept again till the time of mid-afternoon prayer. Then they
thought to continue their journey, but As'ad could not walk, for both his feet
were swollen. So they abode there three days till they were rested, after which
they set out again and fared on over the mountain days and nights, tortured by
and like to die of thirst, till they sighted a city gleaming afar off, at which
they rejoiced and made towards it. When they drew near it, they thanked Allah
(be His Name exalted!) and Amjad said to As'ad, "O my brother, sit here, whilst
I go to yonder city and see what it is and whose it is and where we are in
Allah's wide world, that we may know through what lands we have passed in
crossing this mountain, whose skirts had we followed, we had not reached this
city in a whole year. So praised be Allah for safety!" Replied As'ad, "By
Allah, O my brother, none shall go down into that city save myself, and may I
be thy ransom! If thou leave me alone, be it only for an hour, I shall imagine
a thousand things and be drowned in a torrent of anxiety on shine account, for
I cannot brook shine absence from me." Amjad rejoined, "Go then and tarry not.
So As'ad took some gold pieces, and leaving his brother to await him, descended
the mountain and ceased not faring on till he entered the city. As he threaded
the streets he was met by an old man age-decrepit, whose beard flowed down upon
his breast and forked in twain;[FN#380] he bore a walking-staff in his hand and
was richly clad, with a great red turband on his head. When As'ad saw him, he
wondered at his dress and his mien; nevertheless, he went up to him and
saluting him said, "Where be the way to the market, O my master?" Hearing these
words the Shaykh smiled in his face and replied, "O my son, meseemeth thou art
a stranger?" As'ad rejoined, "Yes, I am a stranger."—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh who met As'ad
smiled in his face and said to him, "O my son, meseemeth thou art a stranger?"
and As'ad replied, "Yes, I am a stranger." Then rejoined the old man, "Verily,
thou gladdenest our country with thy presence, O my son, and thou desolatest
shine own land by reason of shine absence. What wantest thou of the market?"
Quoth As'ad, "O uncle, I have a brother, with whom I have come from a far land
and with whom I have journeyed these three months; and, when we sighted this
city, I left him, who is my elder brother, upon the mountain and came hither,
purposing to buy victual and what else, and return therewith to him, that we
might feed thereon." Said the old man, "Rejoice in all good, O my son, and know
thou that to-day I give a marriage-feast, to which I have bidden many guests,
and I have made ready plenty of meats, the best and most delicious that heart
can desire. So if thou wilt come with me to my place, I will give thee freely
all thou lackest without asking thee a price or aught else. Moreover I will
teach thee the ways of this city; and, praised be Allah, O my son, that I, and
none other have happened upon thee." "As thou wilt," answered As'ad, "do as
thou art disposed, but make haste, for indeed my brother awaiteth me and his
whole heart is with me." The old man took As'ad by the hand and carried him to
a narrow lane, smiling in his face and saying, "Glory be to Him who hath
delivered thee from the people of this city!" And he ceased not walking till he
entered a spacious house, wherein was a saloon and behold, in the middle of it
were forty old men, well stricken in years, collected together and forming a
single ring as they sat round about a lighted fire, to which they were doing
worship and prostrating themselves.[FN#381] When As'ad saw this, he was
confounded and the hair of his body stood on end though he knew not what they
were; and the Shaykh said to them, "O Elders of the Fire, how blessed is this
day!" Then he called aloud, saying, "Hello, Ghazbán!" Whereupon there came out
to him a tall black slave of frightful aspect, grim-visaged and flat nosed as
an ape who, when the old man made a sign to him, bent As'ad's arms behind his
back and pinioned them; after which the Shaykh said to him, "Let him down into
the vault under the earth and there leave him and say to my slave girl
Such-an-one, 'Torture him night and day and give him a cake of bread to eat
morning and evening against the time come of the voyage to the Blue Sea and the
Mountain of Fire, whereon we will slaughter him as a sacrifice.'" So the black
carried him out at another door and, raising a flag in the floor, discovered a
flight of twenty steps leading to a chamber[FN#382] under the earth, into which
he descended with him and, laying his feet in irons, gave him over to the slave
girl and went away. Meanwhile, the old men said to one another, "When the day
of the Festival of the Fire cometh, we will sacrifice him on the mountain, as a
propitiatory offering whereby we shall pleasure the Fire." Presently the damsel
went down to him and beat him a grievous beating, till streams of blood flowed
from his sides and he fainted; after which she set at his head a scone of bread
and a cruse of brackish water and went away and left him. In the middle of the
night, he revived and found himself bound and beaten and sore with beating: so
he wept bitter tears; and recalling his former condition of honour and
prosperity, lordship and dominion, and his separation from his sire and his
exile from his native land.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say,
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when As'ad found himself
bound and beaten and sore with beating he recalled his whilome condition of
honour and prosperity and dominion and lordship, and he wept and groaned aloud
and recited these couplets,
"Stand by the ruined stead and ask of us; *
Nor deem we dwell there as was state of us:
The World, that parter, hath departed us; *
Yet soothes not hate-full hearts the fate of us:
With whips a cursed slave girl scourges us, *
And teems her breast with rancorous hate of us:
Allah shall haply deign to unpart our lives, *
Chastise our foes, and end this strait of us."
And when As'ad had spoken his poetry, he put out his hand towards his head and
finding there the crust and the cruse full of brackish water he ate a bittock,
just enough to keep life in him, and drank a little water, but could get no
sleep till morning for the swarms of bugs[FN#383] and lice. As soon as it was
day, the slave girl came down to him and changed his clothes, which were
drenched with blood and stuck to him, so that his skin came off with the shirt;
wherefor he shrieked aloud and cried, "Alas!" and said, "O my God, if this be
Thy pleasure, increase it upon me! O Lord, verily Thou art not unmindful of him
that oppresseth me; do Thou then avenge me upon him!" And he groaned and
repeated the following verses,
"Patient, O Allah! to Thy destiny *
I bow, suffice me what Thou deign decree:
Patient to bear Thy will, O Lord of me, *
Patient to burn on coals of Ghazá-tree:
They wrong me, visit me with hurt and harm; *
Haply Thy grace from them shall set me free:
Far be's, O Lord, from thee to spare the wronger *
O Lord of Destiny my hope's in Thee!"
And what another saith,
"Bethink thee not of worldly state, *
Leave everything to course of Fate;
For oft a thing that irketh thee *
Shall in content eventuate;
And oft what strait is shall expand, *
And what expanded is wax strait.
Allah will do what wills His will *
So be not thou importunate!
But 'joy the view of coming weal *
Shall make forget past bale and bate."
And when he had ended his verse, the slave-girl came down upon him with blows
till he fainted again; and, throwing him a flap of bread and a gugglet of
saltish water, went away and left him sad and lonely, bound in chains of iron,
with the blood streaming from his sides and far from those he loved. So he wept
and called to mind his brother and the honours he erst enjoyed.—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that As'ad called to mind his
brother and the honours he erst enjoyed; so he wept and groaned and complained
and poured forth tears in floods and improvised these couplets,
"Easy, O Fate! how long this wrong, this injury, *
Robbing each morn and eve my brotherhood fro' me?
Is't not time now thou deem this length sufficiency *
Of woes and, O thou Heart of Rock, show clemency?
My friends thou wrongedst when thou madst each enemy *
Mock and exult me for thy wrongs, thy tyranny:
My foeman's heart is solaced by the things he saw *
In me, of strangerhood and lonely misery:
Suffice thee not what came upon my head of dole, *
Friends lost for evermore, eyes wan and pale of blee?
But must in prison cast so narrow there is naught *
Save hand to bite, with bitten hand for company;
And tears that tempest down like goodly gift of cloud, *
And longing thirst whose fires weet no satiety.
Regretful yearnings, singulfs and unceasing sighs, *
Repine, remembrance and pain's very ecstacy:
Desire I suffer sore and melancholy deep, *
And I must bide a prey to endless phrenesy:
I find me ne'er a friend who looks with piteous eye, *
And seeks my presence to allay my misery:
Say, liveth any intimate with trusty love *
Who for mine ills will groan, my sleepless malady?
To whom moan I can make and, peradventure, he *
Shall pity eyes that sight of sleep can never see?
The flea and bug suck up my blood, as wight that drinks *
Wine from the proffering hand of fair virginity:
Amid the lice my body aye remindeth me *
Of orphan's good in Kázi's claw of villainy:
My home's a sepulchre that measures cubits three, *
Where pass I morn and eve in chained agony:
My wines are tears, my clank of chains takes music's stead, *
Cares my dessert of fruit and sorrows are my bed."
And when he had versed his verse and had prosed his prose, he again groaned and
complained and remembered he had been and how he had been parted from his
brother. Thus far concerning him; but as regards his brother Amjad, he awaited
As'ad till mid-day yet he returned not to him: whereupon Amjad's vitals
fluttered, the pangs of parting were sore upon him and he poured forth abundant
tears,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad awaited his
brother As'ad till mid-day and he returned not to him, Amjad's vitals
fluttered; the pangs of parting were sore upon him and he poured forth abundant
tears, exclaiming, "Alas, my brother! Alas, my friend! Alas my grief! How I
feared me we should be separated!" Then he descended from the mountain-top with
the tears running down his cheeks; and, entering the city, ceased not walking
till he made the market. He asked the folk the name of the place and concerning
its people and they said, "This is called the City of the Magians, and its
citizens are mostly given to Fire-worshipping in lieu of the Omnipotent King."
Then he enquired of the City of Ebony and they answered, "Of a truth it is a
year's journey thither by land and six months by sea: it was governed erst by a
King called Armanus; but he took to son- in-law and made King in his stead a
Prince called Kamar al-Zaman distinguished for justice and munificence, equity
and benevolence." When Amjad heard tell of his father, he groaned and wept and
lamented and knew not whither to go. However, he bought a something of food and
carried it to a retired spot where he sat down thinking to eat; but, recalling
his brother, he fell a- weeping and swallowed but a morsel to keep breath and
body together, and that against his will. Then he rose and walked about the
city, seeking news of his brother, till he saw a Moslem tailor sitting in his
shop so he sat down by him and told him his story; whereupon quoth the tailor,
"If he have fallen into the hands of the Magians, thou shalt hardly see him
again: yet it may be Allah will reunite you twain. But thou, O my brother," he
continued wilt thou lodge with me?" Amjad answered, "Yes"; and the tailor
rejoiced at this. So he abode with him many days, what while the tailor
comforted him and exhorted him to patience and taught him tailoring, till he
became expert in the craft. Now one day he went forth to the sea-shore and
washed his clothes; after which he entered the bath and put on clean raiment;
then he walked about the city, to divert himself with its sights and presently
there met him on the way a woman of passing beauty and loveliness, without peer
for grace and comeliness. When she saw him she raised her face-veil and signed
to him by moving her eyebrows and her eyes with luring glances, and versified
these couplets,
"I drooped my glance when seen thee on the way *
As though, O slim-waist! felled by Sol's hot ray:
Thou art the fairest fair that e'er appeared, *
Fairer to-day than fair of yesterday:[FN#384]
Were Beauty parted, a fifth part of it *
With Joseph or a part of fifth would stay;
The rest would fly to thee, shine ownest own; *
Be every soul thy sacrifice, I pray!"
When Amjad heard these her words, they gladdened his heart which inclined to
her and his bowels yearned towards her and the hands of love sported with him;
so he sighed to her in reply and spoke these couplets,
"Above the rose of cheek is thorn of lance;[FN#385] *
Who dareth pluck it, rashest chevisance?
Stretch not thy hand towards it, for night long *
Those lances marred because we snatched a glance!
Say her, who tyrant is and tempter too *
(Though justice might her tempting power enhance):—
Thy face would add to errors were it veiled; *
Unveiled I see its guard hath best of chance!
Eye cannot look upon Sol's naked face; *
But can, when mist-cloud dims his countenance:
The honey-hive is held by honey-bee;[FN#386] *
Ask the tribe-guards what wants their vigilance?
An they would slay me, let them end their ire *
Rancorous, and grant us freely to advance:
They're not more murderous, an charge the whole *
Than charging glance of her who wears the mole."
And hearing these lines from Amjad she sighed with the deepest sighs and,
signing to him again, repeated these couplets,
"'Tis thou hast trodden coyness path not I: *
Grant me thy favours for the time draws nigh:
O thou who makest morn with light of brow, *
And with loosed brow-locks night in lift to stye!
Thine idol-aspect made of me thy slave, *
Tempting as temptedst me in days gone by:
'Tis just my liver fry with hottest love: *
Who worship fire for God must fire aby:
Thou sellest like of me for worthless price; *
If thou must sell, ask high of those who buy."
When Amjad heard these her words he said to her, "Wilt thou come to my lodging
or shall I go with thee to shine?" So she hung her head in shame to the ground
and repeated the words of Him whose Name be exalted, "Men shall have the
pre-eminence above women, because of those advantages wherein Allah hath caused
the one of them to excel the other."[FN#387] Upon this, Amjad took the
hint.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Amjad took the woman's
hint and understood that she wished to go with him whither he was going; he
felt himself bounder to find a place wherein to receive her, but was ashamed to
carry her to the house of his host, the tailor. So he walked on and she walked
after him, and the two ceased not walking from street to street and place to
place, till she was tired and said to him, "O my lord, where is thy house?"
Answered he, "Before us a little way." Then he turned aside into a handsome
by-street, followed by the young woman, and walked on till he came to the end,
when he found it was no thoroughfare and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" Then raising his
eyes, he saw, at the upper end of the lane a great doer with two stone benches;
but it was locked. So Amjad sat down on one of the benches and she on the
other; and she said to him, "O my lord, wherefore waitest thou?" He bowed his
head awhile to the ground then raised it and answered, "I am awaiting my
Mameluke who hath the key; for I bade him make me ready meat and drink and
flowers, to deck the wine-service against my return from the bath." But he said
to himself, "Haply the time will be tedious to her and she will go about her
business, leaving me here, when I will wend my own way." However, as soon as
she was weary of long waiting, she said, "O my lord, thy Mameluke delayeth; and
here are we sitting in the street;" and she arose and took a stone and went up
to the lock. Said Amjad, "Be not in haste, but have patience till the servant
come." However, she hearkened not to him, but smote the wooden bolt with the
stone and broke it in half, whereupon the door opened. Quoth he, "What
possessed thee to do this deed?" Quoth she, "Pooh, pooh, my lord! what matter
it? Is not the house thy house and thy place?" He said, "There was no need to
break the bolt." Then the damsel entered, to the confusion of Amjad, who knew
not what to do for fear of the people of the house; but she said to him, "Why
dost thou not enter, O light of mine eyes and core of my heart?" Replied he, "I
hear and obey; but my servant tarrieth long and I know not if he have done
aught of what I bade him and specially enjoined upon him, or not." Hereupon he
entered, sore in fear of the people of the house, and found himself in a
handsome saloon with four dais'd recesses, each facing other, and containing
closets and raised seats, all bespread with stuffs of silk and brocade; and in
the midst was a jetting fountain of costly fashion, on whose margin rested a
covered tray of meats, with a leather tablecloth hanging up and gem-encrusted
dishes, full of fruits and sweet- scented flowers. Hard by stood drinking
vessels and a candlestick with a single wax-candle therein; and the place was
full of precious stuffs and was ranged with chests and stools, and on each seat
lay a parcel of clothes upon which was a purse full of monies, gold and silver.
The floor was paved with marble and the house bore witness in every part to its
owner's fortune. When Amjad saw all this, he was confounded at his case and
said to himself, "I am a lost man! Verily we are Allah's and to Allah we are
returning!" As for the damsel, when she sighted the place she rejoiced indeed
with a joy nothing could exceed, and said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, thy
servant hath not failed of his duty; for see, he hath swept the place and
cooked the meat and set on the fruit; and indeed I come at the best of times."
But he paid no heed to her, his heart being taken up with fear of the house-
folk; and she said, "Fie, O my lord, O my heart! What aileth thee to stand
thus?" Then she sighed and, giving him a buss which sounded like the cracking
of a walnut, said, "O my lord, an thou have made an appointment with other than
with me, I will gird my middle and serve her and thee. Amjad laughed from a
heart full of rage and wrath and came forwards and sat down, panting and saying
to himself, "Alack, mine ill death and doom when the owner of the place shall
return!" Then she seated herself by him and fell to toying and laughing, whilst
Amjad sat careful and frowning, thinking a thousand thoughts and communing with
himself, "Assuredly the master of the house cannot but come, and then what
shall I say to him? he needs must kill me and my life will be lost thus
foolishly." Presently she rose and, tucking up her sleeves, took a tray of food
on which she laid the cloth and then set it before Amjad and began to eat,
saying, "Eat, O my lord." So he came forward and ate; but the food was not
pleasant to him; on the contrary he ceased not to look towards the door, till
the damsel had eaten her fill, when she took away the tray of the meats and,
setting on the dessert, fell to eating of the dried fruits. Then she brought
the wine service and opening the jar, filled a cup and handed it to Amjad, who
took it from her hand saying to him self, ' Ah, ah! and well away, when the
master of the house cometh and seeth me!"; and he kept his eyes fixed on the
threshold, even with cup in hand. While he was in this case, lo! in came the
master of the house, who was a white slave, one of the chief men of the city,
being Master of the Horse[FN#388] to the King. He had fitted up this saloon for
his pleasures, that he might make merry therein and be private with whom he
would, and he had that day bidden a youth whom he loved and had made this
entertainment for him. Now the name of this slave was Bahádur,[FN#389] and he
was open of hand, generous, munificent and fain of alms-giving and charitable
works.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it wad the Two Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Bahadur, the Master
of the Horse and the owner of the house, came to the door of the saloon and
found it open, he entered slowly and softly and looking in, with head advanced
and out stretched neck, saw Amjad and the girl sitting before the dish of fruit
and the wine-jar in front of them. Now Amjad at that moment had the cup in his
hand and his face turned to the door; and when his glance met Bahadur's eyes
his hue turned pale yellow and his side-muscles quivered, so seeing his trouble
Bahadur signed to him with his finger on his lips, as much as to say, "Be
silent and come hither to me." Whereupon he set down the cup and rose and the
damsel cried, "Whither away?" He shook his head and, signing to her that he
wished to make water, went out into the passage barefoot. Now when he saw
Bahadur he knew him for the master of the house; so he hastened to him and,
kissing his hands, said to him, "Allah upon thee, O my lord, ere thou do me a
hurt, hear what I have to say." Then he told him who he was from first to last
and acquainted him with what caused him to quit his native land and royal
state, and how he had not entered his house of his free will, but that it was
the girl who had broken the lock-bolt and done all this.[FN#390] When Bahadur
heard his story and knew that he was a King's son, he felt for him and, taking
compassion on him, said, "Hearken to me, O Amjad, and do what I bid thee and I
will guarantee thy safety from that thou fearest; but, if thou cross me, I will
kill thee." Amjad replied, "Command me as thou wilt: I will not gainsay thee in
aught; no, never, for I am the freedman of thy bounty." Rejoined Bahadur, "Then
go back forthwith into the saloon, sit down in thy place and be at peace and at
shine ease; I will presently come in to thee, and when thou seest me (remember
my name is Bahadur) do thou revile me and rail at me, saying, 'What made thee
tarry till so late?' And accept no excuse from me; nay, so far from it, rise
and beat me; and, if thou spare me, I will do away thy life. Enter now and make
merry and whatsoever thou seekest of me at this time I will bring thee
forthwith; and do thou spend this night as thou wilt and on the morrow wend thy
way. This I do in honour of thy strangerhood, for I love the stranger and hold
myself bounder to do him devoir." So Amjad kissed his hand, and, returning to
the saloon with his face clad in its natural white and red, at once said to the
damsel, "O my mistress, thy presence hath gladdened this shine own place and
ours is indeed a blessed night." Quoth the girl, "Verily I see a wonderful
change in thee, that thou now welcomest me so cordially!" So Amjad answered,
"By Allah, O my lady, methought my servant Bahadur had robbed me of some
necklaces of jewels, worth ten thousand diners each; however, when I went out
but now in concern for this, I sought for them and found them in their place. I
know not why the slave tarrieth so long and needs must I punish him for it."
She was satisfied with his answer, and they sported and drank and made merry
and ceased not to be so till near sundown, when Bahadur came in to them, having
changed his clothes and girt his middle and put on shoes, such as are worn of
Mamelukes. He saluted and kissed the ground; then held his hands behind him and
stood, with his head hanging down, as one who confesseth to a fault. So Amjad
looked at him with angry eyes and asked, "Why hast thou tarried till now, O
most pestilent of slaves?" Answered Bahadur, "O my lord, I was busy washing my
clothes and knew not of thy being here; for our appointed time was nightfall
and not day-tide." But Amjad cried out at him, saying, "Thou liest, O vilest of
slaves! By Allah, I must needs beat thee." So he rose and, throwing Bahadur
prone on the ground, took a stick and beat him gently; but the damsel sprang up
and, snatching the stick from his hand, came down upon Bahadur so lustily, that
in extreme pain the tears ran from his eyes and he ground his teeth together
and called out for succour; whilst Amjad cried out to the girl "Don't"; and she
cried out, "Let me satisfy my anger upon him!" till at last he pulled the stick
out of her hand and pushed her away. So Bahadur rose and, wiping away his tears
from his cheeks, waited upon them the while, after which he swept the hall and
lighted the lamps; but as often as he went in and out, the lady abused him and
cursed him till Amjad was wroth with her and said, "For Almighty Allah's sake
leave my Mameluke; he is not used to this." Then they sat and ceased not eating
and drinking (and Bahadur waiting upon them) till midnight when, being weary
with service and beating, he fell asleep in the midst of the hall and snored
and snorted; whereupon the damsel, who was drunken with wine, said to Amjad,
"Arise, take the sword hanging yonder and cut me off this slave's head; and, if
thou do it not, I will be the death of thee!" "What possesseth thee to slay my
slave?" asked Amjad; and she answered, "Our joyaunce will not be complete but
by his death. If thou wilt not kill him, I will do it myself." Quoth Amjad, "By
Allah's rights to thee, do not this thing!" Quoth she, "It must perforce be;"
and, taking down the sword, drew it and made at Bahadur to kill him; but Amjad
said in his mind, "This man hath entreated us courteously and sheltered us and
done us kindness and made himself my slave: shall we requite him by
slaughtering him? This shall never be!" Then he said to the woman, "If my
Mameluke must be killed, better I should kill him than thou." So saying, he
took the sword from her and, raising his hand, smote her on the neck and made
her head fly from her body. It fell upon Bahadur who awoke and sat up and
opened his eyes, when he saw Amjad standing by him and in his hand the sword
dyed with blood, and the damsel lying dead. He enquired what had passed, and
Amjad told him all she had said, adding, "Nothing would satisfy her but she
must slay thee; and this is her reward." Then Bahadur rose and, kissing the
Prince's hand, said to him, "Would to Heaven thou hadst spared her! but now
there is nothing for it but to rid us of her without stay or delay, before the
day-break." Then he girded his loins and took the body, wrapped it in an
Abá-cloak and, laying it in a large basket of palm-leaves, he shouldered it
saying, "Thou art a stranger here and knowest no one: so sit thou in this place
and await my return till day-break. If I come back to thee, I will assuredly do
thee great good service and use my endeavours to have news of thy brother; but
if by sunrise I return not, know that all is over with me; and peace be on
thee, and the house and all it containeth of stuffs and money are shine." Then
he fared forth from the saloon bearing the basket; and, threading the streets,
he made for the salt sea, thinking to throw it therein: but as he drew near the
shore, he turned and saw that the Chief of Police and his officers had ranged
themselves around him; and, on recognising him, they wondered and opened the
basket, wherein they found the slain woman. So they seized him and laid him in
bilboes all that night till the morning, when they carried him and the basket,
as it was, to the King and reported the case. The King was sore enraged when he
looked upon the slain and said to Bahadur, "Woe to thee! Thou art always so
doing; thou killest folk and castest them into the sea and takest their goods.
How many murders hast thou done ere this?" Thereupon Bahadur hung his head.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Bahadur hung down his
head groundwards before the King, who cried out at him, saying, "Woe to thee!
Who killed this girl?" He replied, "O my lord! I killed her, and there is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"[FN#391]
So the King in his anger, commanded to hang him; and the hangman went down with
him by the King's commandment, and the Chief of Police accompanied him with a
crier who called upon all the folk to witness the execution of Bahadur, the
King's Master of the Horse; and on this wise they paraded him through the main
streets and the market-streets. This is how it fared with Bahadur; but as
regards Amjad, he awaited his host's return till the day broke and the sun
rose, and when he saw that he came not, he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Would I knew what is
become of him?" And, as he sat musing behold, he heard the crier proclaiming
Bahadur's sentence and bidding the people to see the spectacle of his hanging
at midday; whereat he wept and exclaimed, "Verily, we are Allah's and to Him we
are returning! He meaneth to sacrifice himself unjustly for my sake, when I it
was who slew her. By Allah, this shall never be!" Then he went from the saloon
and, shutting the door after him, hurriedly threaded the streets till he
overtook Bahadur, when he stood before the Chief of Police and said to him, "O
my lord, put not Bahadur to death, for he is innocent. By Allah, none killed
her but I." Now when the Captain of Police heard these words, he took them both
and, carrying them before the King, acquainted him with what Amjad had said;
whereupon he looked at the Prince and asked him, "Didst thou kill the damsel?"
He answered, "Yes" and the King said, "Tell me why thou killedst her, and speak
the truth." Replied Amjad, "O King, it is indeed a marvellous event and a
wondrous matter that hath befallen me: were it graven with needles on the
eye-corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be warned!" Then he told
him his whole story and informed him of all that had befallen him and his
brother, first and last; whereat the King was much startled and surprised and
said to him, "Know that now I find thee to be excusable; but list, O youth!
Wilt thou be my Wazír?" "Hearkening and obedience," answered Amjad whereupon
the King bestowed magnificent dresses of honour on him and Bahadur and gave him
a handsome house, with eunuchs and officers and all things needful, appointing
him stipends and allowances and bidding him make search for his brother As'ad.
So Amjad sat down in the seat of the Wazirate and governed and did justice and
invested and deposed and took and gave. Moreover, he sent out a crier to cry
his brother throughout the city, and for many days made proclamation in the
main streets and market-streets, but heard no news of As'ad nor happened on any
trace of him. Such was his case; but as regards his brother, the Magi ceased
not to torture As'ad night and day and eve and morn for a whole year's space,
till their festival drew near, when the old man Bahram[FN#392] made ready for
the voyage and fitted out a ship for himself.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Bahram, the Magian,
having fitted out a ship for the voyage, took As'ad and put him in a chest
which he locked and had it transported on board. Now it so came to pass that,
at the very time of shipping it, Amjad was standing to divert himself by
looking upon the sea; and when he saw the men carrying the gear and shipping
it, his heart throbbed and he called to his pages to bring him his beast. Then,
mounting with a company of his officers, he rode down to the sea-side and
halted before the Magian's ship, which he commended his men to board and
search. They did his bidding, and boarded the vessel and rummaged in every
part, but found nothing; so they returned and told Amjad, who mounted again and
rode back. But he felt troubled in mind; and when he reached his place and
entered his palace, he cast his eyes on the wall and saw written thereon two
lines which were these couplets,
"My friends! if ye are banisht from mine eyes, *
From heart and mind ye ne'er go wandering:
But ye have left me in my woe, and rob *
Rest from my eyelids while ye are slumbering."
And seeing them Amjad thought of his brother and wept. Such was his case; but
as for Bahram, the Magian, he embarked and shouted and bawled to his crew to
make sail in all haste. So they shook out the sails and departed and ceased not
to fare on many days and nights; and, every other day, Bahram took out As'ad
and gave him a bit of bread and made him drink a sup of water, till they drew
near the Mountain of Fire. Then there came out on them a storm-wind and the sea
rose against them, so that the ship was driven out of her course till she took
a wrong line and fell into strange waters; and, at last they came in sight of a
city builded upon the shore, with a castle whose windows overlooked the main.
Now the ruler of this city was a Queen called Marjánah, and the captain said to
Bahram, "O my lord, we have strayed from our course and come to the island of
Queen Marjanah, who is a devout Moslemah; and, if she know that we are Magians,
she will take our ship and slay us to the last man. Yet needs must we put in
here to rest and refit." Quoth Bahram, "Right is thy recking, and whatso thou
seest fit that will I do!" Said the ship master, "If the Queen summon us and
question us, how shall we answer her?"; and Bahram replied, "Let us clothe this
Moslem we have with us in a Mameluke's habit and carry him ashore with us, so
that when the Queen sees him, she will suppose and say, 'This is a slave.' As
for me I will tell her that I am a slave-dealer[FN#393] who buys and sells
white slaves, and that I had with me many but have sold all save this one, whom
I retained to keep my accounts, for he can read and write." And the captain
said "This device should serve." Presently they reached the city and slackened
sail and cast the anchors; and the ship lay still, when behold, Queen Marjanah
came down to them, attended by her guards and, halting before the vessel,
called out to the captain, who landed and kissed the ground before her. Quoth
she, "What is the lading of this thy ship and whom hast thou with thee?"" Quoth
he, "O Queen of the Age, I have with me a merchant who dealeth in slaves." And
she said, "Hither with him to me"; whereupon Bahram came ashore to her, with
As'ad walking behind him in a slave's habit, and kissed the earth before her.
She asked, "What is thy condition?"; and he answered, "I am a dealer in
chattels." Then she looked at As'ad and, taking him for a Mameluke, asked him,
"What is thy name, O youth?" He answered, "Dost thou ask my present or my
former name?" "Hast thou then two names?" enquired she, and he replied (and
indeed his voice was choked with tears), "Yes; my name aforetime was Al-As'ad,
the most happy, but now it is Al- Mu'tarr—Miserrimus." Her heart inclined to
him and she said, "Canst thou write?" "Yes,'' answered he, and she gave him
ink- case and reed-pen and paper and said to him, "Write somewhat that I may
see it." So he wrote these two couplets,
"What can the slave do when pursued by Fate, *
O justest Judge! whatever be his state?[FN#394]
Whom God throws hand bound in the depths and says, *
Beware lest water should thy body wet?"[FN#395]
Now when she read these lines, she had ruth upon him and said to Bahram, "Sell
me this slave." He replied, "O my lady, I cannot sell him, for I have parted
with all the rest and none is left with me but he." Quoth the Queen, "I must
need have him of thee, either by sale or way of gift." But quoth Bahram, "I
will neither sell him nor give him." Whereat she was wroth and, taking As'ad by
the hand, carried him up to the castle and sent to Bahram, saying, "Except thou
set sail and depart our city this very night, I will seize all thy goods and
break up thy ship." Now when the message reached the Magian, he grieved with
sore grief and cried, "Verily this voyage is on no wise to be commended." Then
he arose and made ready and took all he needed and awaited the coming of the
night to resume his voyage, saying to the sailors, "Provide yourselves with
your things and fill your water-skins, that we may set sail at the last of the
night." So the sailors did their business and awaited the coming of darkness.
Such was their case; but as regards Queen Marjanah, when she had brought As'ad
into the castle, she opened the casements overlooking the sea and bade her
handmaids bring food. They set food before As'ad and herself and both ate,
after which the Queen called for wine.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Queen Marjanah bade
her handmaids bring wine and they set it before her, she fell to drinking with
As'ad. Now, Allah (be He extolled and exalted!) filled her heart with love for
the Prince and she kept filling his cup and handing it to him till his reason
fled; and presently he rose and left the hall to satisfy a call of nature. As
he passed out of the saloon he saw an open door through which he went and
walked on till his walk brought him to a vast garden full of all manner fruits
and flowers; and, sitting down under a tree, he did his occasion. Then he rose
and went up to a jetting fountain in the garden and made the lesser ablution
and washed his hands and face, after which he would have risen to go away; but
the air smote him and he fell back, with his clothes undone and slept, and
night overcame him thus. So far concerning him; but as concerns Bahram, the
night being come, he cried out to his crew, saying, "Set sail and let us
away!"; and the' answered, "We hear and obey, but wait till we fill our water-
skins and then we will set sail." So they landed with their water skins and
went round about the castle, and found nothing but garden-walls: whereupon they
climbed over into the garden and followed the track of feet, which led them to
the fountain; and there they found As'ad lying on his back. They knew him and
were glad to find him; and, after filling their water-skins, they bore him off
and climbed the wall again with him and carried him back in haste to Bahram to
whom they said, "Hear the good tidings of thy winning thy wish; and gladden thy
heart and beat thy drums and sound thy pipes; for thy prisoner, whom Queen
Marjanah took from thee by force, we have found and brought back to thee"; and
they threw As'ad down before him. When Bahram saw him, his heart leapt for joy
and his breast swelled with gladness. Then he bestowed largesse on the sailors
and bade them set sail in haste. So they sailed forthright, intending to make
the Mountain of Fire and stayed not their course till the morning. This is how
it fared with them; but as regards Queen Marjanah, she abode awhile, after
As'ad went down from her, awaiting his return in vain for he came not;
thereupon she rose and sought him, yet found no trace of him. Then she bade her
women light flambeaux and look for him, whilst she went forth in person and,
seeing the garden- door open, knew that he had gone thither. So she went out
into the garden and finding his sandals lying by the fountain, searched the
place in every part, but came upon no sign of him; and yet she gave not over
the search till morning. Then she enquired for the ship and they told her, "The
vessel set sail in the first watch of the night"; wherefor she knew that they
had taken As'ad with them, and this was grievous to her and she was sore
an-angered. She bade equip ten great ships forthwith and, making ready for
fight, embarked in one of the ten with her Mamelukes and slave-women and
men-at-arms, all splendidly accoutred and weaponed for war. They spread the
sails and she said to the captains, "If you overtake the Magian's ship, ye
shall have of me dresses of honour and largesse of money; but if you fail so to
do, I will slay you to the last man." Whereat fear and great hope animated the
crews and they sailed all that day and the night and the second day and the
third day till, on the fourth they sighted the ship of Bahram, the Magian, and
before evening fell the Queen's squadron had surrounded it on all sides, just
as Bahram had taken As'ad forth of the chest and was beating and torturing him,
whilst the Prince cried out for help and deliverance, but found neither helper
nor deliverer: and the grievous bastinado sorely tormented him. Now while so
occupied, Bahram chanced to look up and, seeing himself encompassed by the
Queen's ships, as the white of the eye encompasseth the black, he gave himself
up for lost and groaned and said, "Woe to thee, O As'ad! This is all out of thy
head." Then taking him by the hand he bade his men throw him overboard and
cried, "By Allah I will slay thee before I die myself!" So they carried him
along by the hands and feet and cast him into the sea and he sank; but Allah
(be He extolled and exalted!) willed that his life be saved and that his doom
be deferred; so He caused him to sink and rise again and he struck out with his
hands and feet, till the Almighty gave him relief, and sent him deliverance;
and the waves bore him far from the Magian's ship and threw him ashore. He
landed, scarce crediting his escape, and once more on land he doffed his
clothes and wrung them and spread them out to dry; whilst he sat naked and
weeping over his condition, and bewailing his calamities and mortal dangers,
and captivity and stranger hood. And presently he repeated these two couplets,
"Allah, my patience fails: I have no ward; *
My breast is straitened and clean cut my cord;
To whom shall wretched slave of case complain *
Save to his Lord? O thou of lords the Lord!"
Then, having ended his verse, he rose and donned his clothes but he knew not
whither to go or whence to come; so he fed on the herbs of the earth and the
fruits of the trees and he drank of the streams, and fared on night and day
till he came in sight of a city; whereupon he rejoiced and hastened his pace;
but when he reached it,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it Was the Two Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he reached the city
the shades of evening closed around him and the gates were shut. Now by the
decrees of Pate and man's lot this was the very city wherein he had been a
prisoner and to whose King his brother Amjad was Minister. When As'ad saw the
gate was locked, he turned back and made for the burial-ground, where finding a
tomb without a door, he entered therein and lay down and fell asleep, with his
face covered by his long sleeve.[FN#396] Meanwhile, Queen Marjanah, coming up
with Bahram's ship, questioned him of As'ad. Now the Magian, when Queen
Marjanah overtook him with her ships, baffled her by his artifice and gramarye;
swearing to her that he was not with him and that he knew nothing of him. She
searched the ship, but found no trace of her friend, so she took Bahram and,
carrying him back to her castle, would have put him to death, but he ransomed
himself from her with all his good and his ship; and she released him and his
men. They went forth from her hardly believing in their deliverance, and fared
on ten days' journey till they came to their own city and found the gate shut,
it being eventide. So they made for the burial-ground, thinking to lie the
night there and, going round about the tombs, as Fate and Fortune would have
it, saw the building wherein As'ad lay wide open; whereat Bahram marvelled and
said, "I must look into this sepulchre." Then he entered and found As'ad lying
in a corner fast asleep, with his head covered by his sleeve; so he raised his
head, and looking in his face, knew him for the man on whose account he had
lost his good and his ship, and cried, "What! art thou yet alive?" Then he
bound him and gagged him without further parley, and carried him to his house,
where he clapped heavy shackles on his feet and lowered him into the
underground dungeon aforesaid prepared for the tormenting of Moslems, and he
bade his daughter by name Bostán,[FN#397] torture him night and day, till the
next year, when they would again visit the Mountain of Fire and there offer him
up as a sacrifice. Then he beat him grievously and locking the dungeon door
upon him, gave the keys to his daughter. By and by, Bostan opened the door and
went down to beat him, but finding him a comely youth and a sweet-faced with
arched brows and eyes black with nature's Kohl,[FN#398] she fell in love with
him and asked him, "What is thy name?" "My name is As'ad," answered he; whereat
she cried, "Mayst thou indeed be happy as thy name,[FN#399] and happy be thy
days! Thou deservest not torture and blows, and I see thou hast been
injuriously entreated." And she comforted him with kind words and loosed his
bonds. Then she questioned him of the religion of Al-Islam and he told her that
it was the true and right Faith and that our lord Mohammed had approved himself
by surpassing miracles[FN#400] and signs manifest, and that fire-worship is
harmful and not profitable; and he went on to expound to her the tenets of
Al-Islam till she was persuaded and the love of the True Faith entered her
heart. Then, as Almighty Allah had mixed up with her being a fond affection for
As'ad, she pronounced the Two Testimonies[FN#401] of the Faith and became of
the people of felicity. After this, she brought him meat and drink and talked
with him and they prayed together: moreover, she made him chicken stews and fed
him therewith, till he regained strength and his sickness left him and he was
restored to his former health. Such things befel him with the daughter of
Bahram, the Magian; and so it happened that one day she left him and stood at
the house-door when behold, she heard the crier crying aloud and saying, "Whoso
hath with him a handsome young man, whose favour is thus and thus, and bringeth
him forth, shall have all he seeketh of money; but if any have him and deny it,
he shall be hanged over his own door and his property shall be plundered and
his blood go for naught." Now As'ad had acquainted Bostan bint Bahram with his
whole history: so, when she heard the crier, she knew that it was he who was
sought for and, going down to him, told him the news. Then he fared forth and
made for the mansion of the Wazir, whom, when As'ad saw, exclaimed, "By Allah,
this Minister is my brother Amjad!" Then he went up (and the damsel walking
behind him) to the Palace, where he again saw his brother, and threw himself
upon him; whereupon Amjad also knew him and fell upon his neck and they
embraced each other, whilst the Wazir's Mamelukes dismounted and stood round
them. They lay awhile insensible and, when they came to themselves, Amjad took
his brother and carried him to the Sultan, to whom he related the whole story,
and the Sultan charged him to plunder Bahram's house.—And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Sultan ordered Amjad
to plunder Bahram's house and to hang its owner. So Amjad despatched thither
for that purpose a company of men, who sacked the house and took Bahram and
brought his daughter to the Wazir by whom she was received with all honour, for
As'ad had told his brother the torments he had suffered and the kindness she
had done him. Thereupon Amjad related in his turn to As'ad all that had passed
between himself and the damsel; and how he had escaped hanging and had become
Wazir; and they made moan, each to other, of the anguish they had suffered for
separation. Then the Sultan summoned Bahram and bade strike off his head; but
he said, "O most mighty King, art thou indeed resolved to put me to death?"
Replied the King, "Yes, except thou save thyself by becoming a Moslem." Quoth
Bahram, "O King, bear with me a little while!" Then he bowed his head
groundwards and presently raising it again, made pro fession of The Faith and
islamised at the hands of the Sultan. They all rejoiced at his conversion and
Amjad and As'ad told him all that had befallen them, whereat he wondered and
said, "O my lords, make ready for the journey and I will depart with you and
carry you back to your father's court in a ship." At this they rejoiced and
wept with sore weeping but he said, "O my lords, weep not for your departure,
for it shall reunite you with those you love, even as were Ni'amah and Naomi."
"And what befel Ni'amah and Naomi?" asked they. "They tell," replied Bahram,
"(but Allah alone is All knowing) the following tale of
End of Vol. 3
Arabian Nights, Volume 3
Footnotes
[FN#1] This "horripilation," for which we have the poetical term "goose-flesh,"
is often mentioned in Hindu as in Arab literature.
[FN#2] How often we have heard this in England!
[FN#3] As a styptic. The scene in the text has often been enacted in Egypt
where a favourite feminine mode of murdering men is by beating and bruising the
testicles. The Fellahs are exceedingly clever in inventing methods of
manslaughter. For some years bodies were found that bore no outer mark of
violence, and only Frankish inquisitiveness discovered that the barrel of a
pistol had been passed up the anus and the weapon discharged internally Murders
of this description are known in English history; but never became popular
practice.
[FN#4] Arab. "Zakar," that which betokens masculinity. At the end of the tale
we learn that she also gelded him; thus he was a "Sandal)," a rasé.
[FN#5] See vol. i. p. 104. {see Volume 1, Note 188}
[FN#6] The purity and intensity of her love had attained to a something of
prophetic strain.
[FN#7] Lane corrupts this Persian name to Sháh Zemán (i. 568).
[FN#8] i.e. the world, which includes the ideas of Fate, Time,
Chance.
[FN#9] Arab. "Bárid," silly, noyous, contemptible; as in the proverb
Two things than ice are colder cold:—
An old man young, a young man old.
A "cold-of-countenance"=a fool: "May Allah make cold thy face!"=may it show
want and misery. "By Allah, a cold speech!"=a silly or abusive tirade
(Pilgrimage, ii. 22).
[FN#10] The popular form is, "often the ear loveth before the eye."
[FN#11] Not the first time that royalty has played this prank, nor the last,
perhaps.
[FN#12] i.e. the Lady Dunya.
[FN#13] These magazines are small strongly-built rooms on the ground floor,
where robbery is almost impossible.
[FN#14] Lit. "approbation," "benediction"; also the Angel who keeps the Gates
of Paradise and who has allowed one of the Ghilmán (or Wuldán) the boys of
supernatural beauty that wait upon the Faithful, to wander forth into this
wicked world.
[FN#15] In Europe this would be a plurale majestatis, used only by Royalty. In
Arabic it has no such significance, and even the lower orders apply it to
themselves; although it often has a soupçon of "I and thou."
[FN#16] Man being an "extract of despicable water" (Koran xxxii. 7) ex spermate
genital), which Mr. Rodwell renders "from germs of life," "from sorry water."
[FN#17] i.e. begotten by man's seed in the light of salvation
(Núr al-hudá).
[FN#18] The rolls of white (camphor-like) scarf-skin and sordes which come off
under the bathman's glove become by miracle of Beauty, as brown musk. The
Rubber or Shampooer is called in Egypt "Mukayyis" (vulgarly "Mukayyisáti") or
"bagman," from his "Kís," a bag-glove of coarse woollen stuff. To "Johnny Raws"
he never fails to show the little rolls which come off the body and prove to
them how unclean they are, but the material is mostly dead scarf-skin
[FN#19] The normal phrase on such occasions (there is always a "dovetail" de
rigueur) "Allah give thee profit!"
[FN#20] i.e. We are forced to love him only, and ignore giving him a rival
(referring to Koranic denunciations of "Shirk," or attributing a partner to
Allah, the religion of plurality, syntheism not polytheism): see, he walks
tottering under the weight of his back parts wriggling them whilst they are
rounded like the revolving heavens.
[FN#21] Jannat al-Na'ím (Garden of Delight); the fifth of the seven Paradises
made of white diamond; the gardens and the plurality being borrowed from the
Talmud. Mohammed's Paradise, by the by, is not a greater failure than Dante's.
Only ignorance or pious fraud asserts it to be wholly sensual; and a single
verse is sufficient refutation: "Their prayer therein shall be 'Praise unto
thee, O. Allah!' and their salutation therein shall be 'Peace!' and the end of
their prayer shall be, 'Praise unto God, the Lord of all creatures"' (Koran x.
10-11). See also lvi. 24- 26. It will also be an intellectual condition wherein
knowledge will greatly be increased (lxxxviii viii. 17-20). Moreover the
Moslems, far more logical than Christians, admit into Paradise the so-called
"lower animals."
[FN#22] Sed vitam faciunt balnea, vine, Venus! The Hammam to Easterns is a
luxury as well as a necessity; men sit there for hours talking chiefly of money
and their prowess with the fair; and women pass half the day in it complaining
of their husbands' over-amativeness and contrasting their own chaste and modest
aversion to camel congress.
[FN#23] The frigidarium or cold room, coolness being delightful to the Arab.
[FN#24] The calidarium or hot room of the bath.
[FN#25] The Angel who acts door-keeper of Hell; others say he specially
presides over the torments of the damned (Koran xliii. 78).
[FN#26] The Door-keeper of Heaven before mentioned who, like the Guebre Zamiyád
has charge of the heavenly lads and lasses, and who is often charged by poets
with letting them slip.
[FN#27] Lane (i. 616), says "of wine, milk, sherbet, or any other beverage."
Here it is wine, a practice famed in Persian poetry, especially by Hafiz, but
most distasteful to a European stomach. We find the Mu allakah of Imr al-Keys
noticing "our morning draught." Nott (Hafiz) says a "cheerful cup of wine in
the morning was a favourite indulgence with the more luxurious Persians. And it
was not uncommon among the Easterns, to salute friend by saying."May your
morning potation be agreeable to you!" In the present day this practice is
confined to regular debauchees.
[FN#28] Koran xii. 31. The words spoken by Zulaykhá's women friends and
detractors whom she invited to see Beauty Joseph.
[FN#29] A formula for averting fascination. Koran, chaps. cxiii. 1. "Falak"
means "cleaving" hence the breaking forth of light from darkness, a "wonderful
instance of the Divine power."
[FN#30] The usual delicate chaff.
[FN#31] Such letters are generally written on a full-sized sheet of paper
("notes" are held slighting in the East) and folded till the breadth is reduced
to about one inch. The edges are gummed, the ink, much like our Indian ink, is
smeared with the finger upon the signet ring; the place where it is to be
applied is slightly wetted with the tongue and the seal is stamped across the
line of junction to secure privacy. I have given a specimen of an original
love-letter of the kind in "Scinde, or the Unhappy Valley," chaps. iv.
[FN#32] Arab. "Salb" which may also mean hanging, but the usual term for the
latter in The Nights is "shanak." Crucifixion, abolished by the superstitious
Constantine, was practised as a servile punishment as late as the days of
Mohammed Ali Pasha the Great e malefactors were nailed and tied to the
patibulum or cross-piece without any sup pedaneum or foot-rest and left to
suffer tortures from flies and sun, thirst and hunger. They often lived three
days and died of the wounds mortifying and the nervous exhaustion brought on by
cramps and convulsions. In many cases the corpses were left to feed the kites
and crows; and this added horror to the death. Moslems care little for mere
hanging. Whenever a fanatical atrocity is to be punished, the malefactor should
be hung in pig-skin, his body burnt and the ashes publicly thrown into a common
cesspool.
[FN#33] Arab "Shaytán" the insolent or rebellious one is a common
term of abuse. The word I. Koramc, and borrowed as usual from the
Jews. "Satan" occurs four times in the O.T. of which two are in
Job where, however, he is a subordinate angel.
[FN#34] Arab. "Alak" from the Koran xxii. 5. " O men…consider that we first
created you of dust (Adam); afterwards of seed (Rodwell's "moist germs of
life"); afterwards of a little coagulated (or clots of) blood." It refers to
all mankind except Adam, Eve and Isa. Also chaps. xcvi. 2, which, as has been
said was probably the first composed at Meccah. Mr. Rodwell (v. 10) translates
by 'Servant of God" what should be "Slave of Allah," alluding to Mohammed's
original name Abdullah. See my learned friend Aloys Sprenger, Leben, etc.,
i.155.
[FN#35] The Hindus similarly exaggerate: "He was ready to leap out of his skin
in his delight" (Katha, etc., p. 443).
[FN#36] A star in the tail of the Great Bear, one of the "Banát al-Na'ash," or
a star close to the second. Its principal use is to act foil to bright Sohayl
(Canopus) as in the beginning of Jámí's Layla-Majnún:—
To whom Thou'rt hid, day is darksome night:
To whom shown, Sohá as Sohayl is bright.
See also al-Hariri (xxxii. and xxxvi.). The saying, "I show her Soha and she
shows me the moon" (A. P. i. 547) arose as follows. In the Ignorance a
beautiful Amazon defied any man to take her maidenhead; and a certain Ibn
al-Ghazz won the game by struggling with her till she was nearly senseless. He
then asked her, "How is thine eye-sight: dost thou see Soha?" and she, in her
confusion, pointed to the moon and said, "That is it!"
[FN#37] The moon being masculine (lupus) and the sun feminine.
[FN#38] The "five Shaykhs" must allude to that number of Saints whose names are
doubtful; it would be vain to offer conjectures. Lane and his "Sheykh" (i. 617)
have tried and failed.
[FN#39] The beauties of nature seem always to provoke hunger in
Orientals, especially Turks, as good news in Englishmen.
[FN#40] Pers. "Lájuward": Arab. "Lázuward"; prob. the origin of our "azure,"
through the Romaic and the Ital. azzurro; and, more evidently still,
of lapis lazuli, for which do not see the Dictionaries.
[FN#41] Arab. "Maurid." the desert-wells where caravans drink: also the way to
water wells.
[FN#42] The famous Avicenna, whom the Hebrews called Aben Sina. The early
European Arabists, who seem to have learned Arabic through Hebrew, borrowed
their corruption, and it long kept its place in Southern Europe.
[FN#43] According to the Hindus there are ten stages of love- sickness: (1)
Love of the eyes (2) Attraction of the Manas or mind; (3) Birth of desire; (4)
Loss of sleep; (5) Loss of flesh; (6) Indifference to objects of sense; (7)
Loss of shame, (8) Distraction of thought (9) Loss of consciousness; and (10)
Death.
[FN#44] We should call this walk of "Arab ladies" a waddle: I have never seen
it in Europe except amongst the trading classes of Trieste, who have a
"wriggle" of their own.
[FN#45] In our idiom six doors.
[FN#46] They refrained from the highest enjoyment, intending to marry.
[FN#47] Arab. "Jihád," lit. fighting against something; Koranically, fighting
against infidels non- believers in Al-lslam (chaps. Ix. 1). But the "Mujáhidún"
who wage such war are forbidden to act aggressively (ii. 186). Here it is a war
to save a son.
[FN#48] The lady proposing extreme measures is characteristic: Egyptians hold,
and justly enough, that their women are more amorous than men.
[FN#49] "O Camphor," an antiphrase before noticed. The vulgar also say "Yá
Taljí"=O snowy (our snowball), the polite "Ya Abú Sumrah !" =O father of
brownness.
[FN#50] i.e. which fit into sockets in the threshold and lintel and act as
hinges. These hinges have caused many disputes about how they were fixed, for
instance in caverns without moveable lintel or threshold. But one may observe
that the upper projections are longer than the lower and that the door never
fits close above, so by lifting it up the inferior pins are taken out of the
holes. It is the oldest form and the only form known to the Ancients. In
Egyptian the hinge is called Akab=the heel, hence the proverb Wakaf' al-báb alá
'akabin; the door standeth on its heel; i.e. every thing in proper place.
[FN#51] Hence the addresses to the Deity: Yá Sátir and Yá Sattár- -Thou who
veilest the sins of Thy Servants! said e.g., when a woman is falling from her
donkey, etc.
[FN#52] A necessary precaution, for the headsman who would certainly lose his
own head by overhaste.
[FN#53] The passage has also been rendered, "and rejoiced him by what he said"
(Lane i, 600).
[FN#54] Arab. "Hurr"=noble, independent (opp. to 'Abd=a servile) often used to
express animć nobilitas as in Acts xvii. 11; where the Berans were
"more noble" than the Thessalonians. The Princess means that the Prince would
not lie with her before marriage.
[FN#55] The Persian word is now naturalized as Anglo-Egypeian.
[FN#56] Arab. "khassat hu" = removed his testicles, gelded him.
[FN#57] Here ends the compound tale of Taj al-Muluk cum Aziz plus
Azizah, and we return to the history of King Omar's sons.
[FN#58] "Zibl" popularly pronounced Zabal, means "dung." Khan is "Chief," as
has been noticed; "Zabbál," which Torrens renders literally "dung-drawer," is
one who feeds the Hammam with bois- de-vache, etc.
[FN#59] i.e one who fights the Jihád or "Holy War": it is equivalent to our
"good knight."
[FN#60] Arab. "Malik." Azud al Daulah, a Sultan or regent under the Abbaside
Caliph Al-Tá'i li 'llah (regn. A.H. 363-381) was the first to take the title of
"Malik." The latter in poetry is still written Malík.
[FN#61] A townlet on the Euphrates, in the "awwal Shám," or frontier of Syria.
[FN#62] i.e., the son would look to that.
[FN#63] A characteristic touch of Arab pathos, tender and true.
[FN#64] Arab. "Mawarid" from "ward" = resorting to pool or water- pit (like
those of "Gakdúl") for drinking, as opposed to "Sadr"=returning after having
drunk at it. Hence the "Sádir" (part. act.) takes precedence of the "Wárid" in
Al-Hariri (Ass. of the Badawi).
[FN#65] One of the fountains of Paradise (Koran, chaps. Ixxvi.): the word lit.
means "water flowing pleasantly down the throat." The same chapter mentions
"Zanjabíl," or the Ginger-fount, which to the Infidel mind unpleasantly
suggests "ginger pop."
[FN#66] Arab. "Takhíl" = adorning with Kohl.
[FN#67] The allusions are far-fetched and obscure as in Scandinavian poetry.
Mr. Payne (ii. 314) translates "Naml" by "net." I understand the ant (swarm)
creeping up the cheeks, a common simile for a young beard. The lovers are in
the Lazá (hell) of jealousy etc., yet feel in the Na'ím (heaven) of love and
robe in green, the hue of hope, each expecting to be the favoured one.
[FN#68] Arab. "Ukhuwán," the classical term. There are two chamomiles, the
white (Bábúnaj) and the yellow (Kaysún), these however are Syrian names and
plants are differently called in almost every Province of Arabia
[FN#69] In nomadic life the parting of lovers happens so frequently that it
become. a stock topic in poetry and often, as here, the lover complains of
parting when he is not parted. But the gravamen lies in the word "Wasl" which
may mean union, meeting, reunion Or coition. As Ka'ab ibn Zuhayr began his
famous poem with "Su'ád hath departed," 900 imitators (says Al-Siyuti) adopted
the Násib or address to the beloved and Su'ad came to signify a cruel,
capricious mistress.
[FN#70] As might be expected from a nation of camel-breeders actual cautery
which can cause only counter-irritation, is a favourite nostrum; and the Hadis
or prophetic saying is "Akhir al-dawá (or al-tibb) al-Kayy" = cautery is the
end of medicine- cure; and "Fire and sickness cannot cohabit." Most of the
Badawi bear upon their bodies grisly marks Of this heroic treatment, whose
abuse not unfrequently brings on gangrene. The Hadis (Burckhardt, Proverbs, No.
30) also means "if nothing else avail, take violent measures.
[FN#71] The Spaniards have the same expression: "Man is fire and woman is
tinder."
[FN#72] Arab. "Báshik" from Persian "Báshah" (accipiter Nisus) a fierce little
species of sparrow-hawk which I have described in "Falconry in the Valley of
the Indus" (p. 14, etc.).
[FN#73] Lit. "Coals (fit) for frying pan."
[FN#74] Arab. "Libdah," the sign of a pauper or religious mendicant. He is
addressed "Yá Abu libdah!" (O father of a felt calotte!)
[FN#75] In times of mourning Moslem women do not use perfumes or dyes, like the
Henna here alluded to in the pink legs and feet of the dove.
[FN#76] Koran, chaps. ii. 23. The idea is repeated in some forty
Koranic passages.
[FN#77] A woman's name, often occurring. The "daughters of Sa'ada" are zebras,
so called because "they resemble women in beauty and graceful agility."
[FN#78] Arab. "Tiryák" from Gr. a drug against venomous
bites. It was compounded mainly of treacle, and that of Baghdad and Irák was
long held sovereign. The European equivalent, "Venice treacle," (Theriaca
Andromachi) is an electuary containing many elements. Badawin eat for counter-
poison three heads of garlic in clarified butter for forty days. (Pilgrimage
iii 77 )
[FN#79] Could Cervantes have read this? In Algiers he might easily have heard
it recited by the tale-tellers. Kanmakan is the typical Arab Knight, gentle and
valiant as Don Quixote Sabbáh is the Grazioso, a "Beduin" Sancho Panza. In the
"Romance of Antar" we have a similar contrast with Ocab who says: "Indeed I am
no fighter: the sword in my hand-palm chases only pelicans ;" and, "whenever
you kill a satrap, I'll plunder him."
[FN#80] i.e. The Comely, son of the Spearman, son of the Lion, or
Hero.
[FN#81] Arab. "Ushári." Old Purchas (vi., i. 9) says there are three kinds of
camels (1 ) Huguin (=Hejin) of tall stature and able to carry 1,000 lbs. (2)
Bechete (=Bukhti) the two-humped Bactrian before mentioned and, (3) the
Raguahill (Rahíl) small dromedaries unfit for burden but able to cover a
hundred miles in a day. The "King of Timbukhtu" (not "Bukhtu's well" pop.
Timbuctoo) had camels which reach Segelmesse (Sijalmas) or Darha, nine hundred
miles in eight days at most. Lyon makes the Maherry (also called
El-Heirie=Mahri) trot nine miles an hour for a long time. Other travellers in
North Africa report the Sabayee (Saba'i=seven days weeder) as able to get over
six hundred and thirty miles (or thirty-five caravan stages=each eighteen
miles) in five to seven days. One of the dromedaries in the "hamlah" or caravan
of Mr. Ensor (Journey through Nubia and Darfoor—a charming book) travelled one
thousand one hundred and ten miles in twenty- seven days. He notes that his
beasts were better with water every five to seven days, but in the cold season
could do without drink for sixteen. I found in Al-Hijaz at the end of August
that the camels suffered much after ninety hours without drink (Pilgrimage iii.
14). But these were "Júdi" fine-haired animals as opposed to "Khawár" (the
Khowás of Chesney, p. 333), coarse-haired, heavy, slow brutes which will not
stand great heat.
[FN#82] i.e. Fortune so willed it (euphemistically).
[FN#83] The "minaret" being feminine is usually compared with a fair young
girl. The oldest minaret proper is supposed to have been built in Damascus by
the Ommiade Caliph (No. X.) Al-Walid A.H. 86-96 (=705-715). According to
Ainsworth (ii. 113) the second was at Kuch Hisar in Chaldea.
[FN#84] None of the pure Badawi can swim for the best of reasons, want of
waters.
[FN#85] The baser sort of Badawi is never to be trusted: he is a traitor born,
and looks upon fair play as folly or cowardice. Neither oath nor kindness can
bind him: he unites the cruelty of the cat with the wildness of the wolf. How
many Englishmen have lost their lives by not knowing these elementary truths!
The race has not changed from the days of Mandeville (A.D. 1322) whose
"Arabians, who are called Bedouins and Ascopards (?), are right felonious and
foul, and of a cursed nature." In his day they "carried but one shield and one
spear, without other arm :" now, unhappily for travellers, they have matchlocks
and most tribes can manufacture a something called by courtesy gunpowder.
[FN#86] Thus by Arab custom they become friends.
[FN#87] Our classical term for a noble Arab horse.
[FN#88] In Arab. "Khayl" is=horse; Husan, a stallion; Hudúd, a brood stallion;
Faras, a mare (but sometimes used as a horse and meaning "that tears over the
ground"), Jiyád a steed (noble); Kadísh, a nag (ignoble); Mohr a colt and
Mohrah, a filly. There are dozens of other names but these suffice for
conversation
[FN#89] Al-Katúl, the slayer; Al-Majnún, the mad; both high compliments in the
style inverted.
[FN#90] This was a highly honourable exploit, which would bring the doer fame
as well as gain.
[FN#91] This is a true and life-like description of horse- stealing in the
Desert: Antar and Burckhardt will confirm every word. A noble Arab stallion is
supposed to fight for his rider and to wake him at night if he see any sign of
danger. The owner generally sleeps under the belly of the beast which keeps
eyes and ears alert till dawn.
[FN#92] Arab. "Yaum al tanádi," i.e. Resurrection-day.
[FN#93] Arab. "Bilád al-Súdan"=the Land of the Blacks, negro- land, whence the
slaves came, a word now fatally familiar to English ears. There are, however,
two regions of the same name, the Eastern upon the Upper Nile and the Western
which contains the Niger Valley, and each considers itself the Sudan. And the
reader must not confound the Berber of the Upper Nile, the Berderino who acts
servant in Lower Egypt, with the Berber of Barbary: the former speaks an
African language; the latter a "Semitic" (Arabic) tongue.
[FN#94] "Him" for "her."
[FN#95] Arab. "Sáibah," a she-camel freed from labour under certain conditions
amongst the pagan Arabs; for which see Sale (Prel. Disc. sect. v.).
[FN#96] Arab. "Marba'." In early spring the Badawi tribes leave the Rasm or
wintering-place (the Turco-Persian "Kishlák") in the desert, where winter-rains
supply them, and make for the Yaylák, or summer-quarters, where they find grass
and water. Thus the great Ruwala tribe appears regularly every year on the
eastern slopes of the Anti-Libanus (Unexplored Syria, i. 117), and hence the
frequent "partings."
[FN#97] This "renowning it" and boasting of one's tribe (and oneself) before
battle is as natural as the war-cry: both are intended to frighten the foe and
have often succeeded. Every classical reader knows that the former practice
dates from the earliest ages. It is still customary in Arabia during the
furious tribal fights, the duello on a magnificent scale which often ends in
half the combatants on either side being placed hors-de- combat. A fair
specimen of "renowning it" is Amrú's Suspended Poem with its extravagant
panegyric of the Taghlab tribe (p. 64, "Arabian Poetry for English Readers,"
etc., by W. A. Clouston, Glasgow: privately printed MDCCCLXXXI.; and
transcribed from Sir William Jones's translation).
[FN#98] The "Turk" appeared soon amongst the Abbaside Caliphs. Mohammed was
made to prophecy of them under the title Banú Kantúrah, the latter being a
slave-girl of Abraham. The Imam Al- Shafi'i (A.H. 195=A.D. 810) is said to have
foretold their rule in Egypt where an Ottoman defended him against a
donkey-boy. (For details see Pilgrimage i. 216 ) The Caliph Al-Mu'atasim
bi'llah (A.D. 833-842) had more than 10,000 Turkish slaves and was the first to
entrust them with high office; so his Arab subjects wrote of him:—
A wretched Turk is thy heart's desire;
And to them thou showest thee dam and sire.
His successor Al-Wásik (Vathek, of the terrible eyes) was the first to appoint
a Turk his Sultan or regent. After his reign they became praetorians and led to
the downfall of the Abbasides.
[FN#99] The Persian saying is "First at the feast and last at the fray."
[FN#100] i.e. a tempter, a seducer.
[FN#101] Arab. "Wayl-ak" here probably used in the sense of
"Wayh-ak" an expression of affectionate concern.
[FN#102] Firdausi, the Homer of Persia, affects the same magnificent
exaggeration. The trampling of men and horses raises such a dust that it takes
one layer (of the seven) from earth and adds it to the (seven of the) Heavens.
The "blaze" on the stallion's forehead (Arab. "Ghurrah") is the white gleam of
the morning.
[FN#103] A noted sign of excitement in the Arab blood horse, when the tail
looks like a panache covering the hind-quarter.
[FN#104] i.e. Prince Kanmakan.
[FN#105] The "quality of mercy" belongs to the noble Arab, whereas the ignoble
and the Bada win are rancorous and revengeful as camels.
[FN#106] Arab. "Khanjar," the poison was let into the grooves and hollows of
the poniard.
[FN#107] The Pers. "Bang", Indian "Bhang", Maroccan "Fasúkh" and S. African
"Dakhá." (Pilgrimage i. 64.) I heard of a "Hashish- orgie" in London which
ended in half the experimentalists being on their sofas for a week. The drug is
useful for stokers, having the curious property of making men insensible to
heat. Easterns also use it for "Imsák" prolonging coition of which I speak
presently.
[FN#108] Arab. "Hashsháshín;" whence De Sacy derived "Assassin." A notable
effect of the Hashish preparation is wildly to excite the imagination, a kind
of delirium imaginans sive phantasticum .
[FN#109] Meaning "Well done!" Mashallah (Má sháa 'llah) is an exclamation of
many uses, especially affected when praising man or beast for fear lest
flattering words induce the evil eye.
[FN#110] Arab. "Kabkáb" vulg. "Kubkáb." They are between three and ten inches
high, and those using them for the first time in the slippery Hammam must be
careful.
[FN#111] Arab. "Majlis"=sitting. The postures of coition, ethnologically
curious and interesting, are subjects so extensive that they require a volume
rather than a note. Full information can be found in the Ananga-ranga, or Stage
of the Bodiless One, a treatise in Sanskrit verse vulgarly known as Koka Pandit
from the supposed author, a Wazir of the great Rajah Bhoj, or according to
others, of the Maharajah of Kanoj. Under the title Lizzat al-Nisá (The
Pleasures—or enjoying—of Women) it has been translated into all the languages
of the Moslem East, from Hindustani to Arabic. It divides postures into five
great divisions: (1) the woman lying supine, of which there are eleven
subdivisions; (2) lying on her side, right or left, with three varieties; (3)
sitting, which has ten, (4) standing, with three subdivisions, and (5) lying
prone, with two. This total of twenty- nine, with three forms of "Purusháyit,"
when the man lies supine (see the Abbot in Boccaccio i. 4), becomes thirty-two,
approaching the French quarante façons. The Upavishta, majlis, or sitting
postures, when one or both "sit at squat" somewhat like birds, appear utterly
impossible to Europeans who lack the pliability of the Eastern's limbs. Their
object in congress is to avoid tension of the muscles which would shorten the
period of enjoyment. In the text the woman lies supine and the man sits at
squat between her legs: it is a favourite from Marocco to China. A literal
translation of the Ananga range appeared in 1873 under the name of
Káma-Shástra; or the Hindoo Art of Love (Ars Amoris Indica); but of this only
six copies were printed. It was re-issued (printed but not published) in 1885.
The curious in such matters will consult the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
(London, privately printed, 1879) by Pisanus Fraxi (H. S. Ashbee).
[FN#112] i.e. Le Roi Crotte.
[FN#113] This seems to be a punning allusion to Baghdad, which in
Persian would mean the Garden (bágh) of Justice (dád). See
"Biographical Notices of Persian Poets" by Sir Gore Ouseley,
London, Oriental Translation Fund, 1846
[FN#114] The Kardoukhoi (Carduchi) of Xenophon; also called (Strabo xv.)
"Kárdakís, from a Persian word signifying manliness," which would be "Kardak"=a
doer (of derring do). They also named the Montes Gordći the original Ararat of
Xisisthrus- Noah's Ark. The Kurds are of Persian race, speaking an old and
barbarous Iranian tongue and often of the Shi'ah sect. They are born bandits,
highwaymen, cattle-lifters; yet they have spread extensively over Syria and
Egypt and have produced some glorious men, witness Sultan Saláh al-Din
(Saladin) the Great. They claim affinity with the English in the East, because
both races always inhabit the highest grounds they can find.
[FN#115] These irregular bands who belong to no tribe are the most dangerous
bandits in Arabia, especially upon the northern frontier. Burckhardt, who
suffered from them, gives a long account of their treachery and utter absence
of that Arab "pundonor" which is supposed to characterise Arab thieves.
[FN#116] An euphemistic form to avoid mentioning the incestuous marriage.
[FN#117] The Arab form of our "Kinchin lay."
[FN#118] These are the signs of a Shaykh's tent.
[FN#119] These questions, indiscreet in Europe, are the rule throughout Arabia,
as they were in the United States of the last generation.
[FN#120] Arab. "Khizáb" a paste of quicklime and lamp-black kneaded with
linseed oil which turns the Henna to a dark olive. It is hideously ugly to
unaccustomed eyes and held to be remarkably beautiful in Egypt.
[FN#121] i.e. the God of the Empyrean.
[FN#122] A blow worthy of the Sa'alabah tribe to which he belonged.
[FN#123] i.e. "benefits"; also the name of Mohammed's Mu'ezzin, or crier to
prayer, who is buried outside the Jábiah gate of Damascus. Hence amongst
Moslems, Abyssinians were preferred as mosque-criers in the early ages of
Al-Islam. Egypt chose blind men because they were abundant and cheap; moreover
they cannot take note of what is doing on the adjoining roof terraces where
women and children love to pass the cool hours that begin and end the day.
Stories are told of men who counterfeited blindness for years in order to keep
the employment. In Moslem cities the stranger required to be careful how he
appeared at a window or on the gallery of a minaret: the people hate to be
overlooked and the whizzing of a bullet was the warning to be off. (Pilgrimage
iii. 185.)
[FN#124] His instinct probably told him that this opponent was a low fellow but
such insults are common when "renowning it."
[FN#125] Arab. "Dare' " or "Dira'," a habergeon, a coat of ring- mail,
sometimes worn in pairs. During the wretched "Sudan" campaigns much naďve
astonishment was expressed by the English Press to hear of warriors armed
cap-ŕ-pie in this armour like medieval knights. They did not know that every
great tribe has preserved, possibly from Crusading times, a number of hauberks,
even to hundreds. I have heard of only one English traveller who had a mail
jacket made by Wilkinson of Pall Mall, imitating in this point Napoleon III.
And (according to the Banker-poet, Rogers) the Duke of Wellington. That of
Napoleon is said to have been made of platinum-wire, the work of a Pole who
received his money and an order to quit Paris. The late Sir Robert Clifton
(they say) tried its value with a Colt after placing it upon one of his
coat-models or mannequins. It is easy to make these hauberks arrow-proof or
sword-proof, even bullet-proof if Arab gunpowder be used: but against a modern
rifle-cone they are worse than worthless as the fragments would be carried into
the wound. The British serjeant was right in saying that he would prefer to
enter battle in his shirt: and he might even doff that to advantage and return
to the primitive custom of man—gymnomachy.
[FN#126] Arab. "Jamal" (by Badawin pronounced "Gamal" like the Hebrew) is the
generic term for "Camel" through the Gr. : "Ibl" is also the
camel-species but not so commonly used. "Hajín" is the dromedary (in Egypt,
"Dalúl" in Arabia), not the one- humped camel of the zoologist (C. dromedarius)
as opposed to the two-humped (C. Bactrianus), but a running i.e. a riding
camel. The feminine is Nákah for like mules females are preferred. "Bakr"
(masc.) and "Bakrah" (fem.) are camel-colts. There are hosts of special names
besides those which are general. Mr. Censor is singular when he states (p.40)
"the male (of the camel) is much the safer animal to choose ;" and the custom
of t e universal Ease disproves his assertion. Mr. McCoan ("Egypt as it is")
tells his readers that the Egyptian camel has two humps, in fact, he describes
the camel as it is not.
[FN#127] So, in the Romance of Dalhamah (Zát al-Himmah, the heroine the hero
Al-Gundubah ("one locust-man") smites off the head of his mother's servile
murderer and cries, I have taken my blood-revenge upon this traitor slave'"
(Lane, M. E. chaps. xx iii.)
[FN#128] This gathering all the persons upon the stage before the curtain drops
is highly artistic and improbable.
[FN#129] He ought to have said his dawn prayers.
[FN#130] Here begins what I hold to be the oldest subject matter in The Nights,
the apologues or fables proper; but I reserve further remarks for the Terminal
Essay. Lane has most objectionably thrown this and sundry of the following
stories into a note (vol. ii., pp. 53-69).
[FN#131] In beast stories generally when man appears he shows to disadvantage.
[FN#132] Shakespeare's "stone bow" not Lane's "cross-bow" (ii. 53).
[FN#133] The goad still used by the rascally Egyptian donkey-boy is a sharp
nail at the end of a stick; and claims the special attention of societies for
the protection of animals.
[FN#134] "The most ungrateful of all voices surely is the voice of asses"
(Koran xxxi. 18); and hence the "braying of hell" (Koran Ixvii.7). The vulgar
still believe that the donkey brays when seeing the Devil. "The last animal
which entered the Ark with Noah was the Ass to whose tail Iblis was clinging.
At the threshold the ass seemed troubled and could enter no further when Noah
said to him:—"Fie upon thee! come in." But as the ass was still troubled and
did not advance Noah cried:—"Come in, though the Devil be with thee!", so the
ass entered and with him Iblis. Thereupon Noah asked:—"O enemy of Allah who
brought thee into the Ark ?", and Iblis answered:—"Thou art the man, for thou
saidest to the ass, come in though the Devil be with thee!" (Kitáb al-Unwán fi
Makáid al-Niswán quoted by Lane ii. 54).
[FN#135] Arab. "Rihl," a wooden saddle stuffed with straw and matting. In
Europe the ass might complain that his latter end is the sausage. In England
they say no man sees a dead donkey: I have seen dozens and, unfortunately, my
own.
[FN#136] The English reader will not forget Sterne's old mare. Even Al-Hariri,
the prince of Arab rhetoricians, does not distain to use "pepedit," the effect
being put for the cause—terror. But Mr. Preston (p. 285) and polite men
translate by "fled in haste" the Arabic farted for fear."
[FN#137] This is one of the lucky signs and adds to the value of the beast.
There are some fifty of these marks, some of them (like a spiral of hair in the
breast which denotes that the rider is a cuckold) so ill-omened that the animal
can be bought for almost nothing. Of course great attention is paid to colours,
the best being the dark rich bay ("red" of Arabs) with black points, or the
flea-bitten grey (termed Azrak=blue or Akhzar=green) which whitens with age.
The worst are dun, cream coloured, piebald and black, which last are very rare.
Yet according to the Mishkát al- Masábih (Lane 2, 54) Mohammed said, The best
horses are black (dark brown?) with white blazes (Arab. "Ghurrah") and upper
lips; next, black with blaze and three white legs (bad, because white- hoofs
are brittle):next, bay with white blaze and white fore and hind legs." He also
said, "Prosperity is with sorrel horses;" and praised a sorrel with white
forehead and legs; but he dispraised the "Shikál," which has white stockings
(Arab. "Muhajjil") on alternate hoofs (e.g. right hind and left fore). The
curious reader will consult Lady Anne Blunt's "Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates,
with some Account of the Arabs and their Horses" (1879); but he must remember
that it treats of the frontier tribes. The late Major Upton also left a book
"Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia" (1881); but it is a marvellous production
deriving e.g. Khayl (a horse generically) from Kohl or antimony (p. 275). What
the Editor was dreaming of I cannot imagine. I have given some details
concerning the Arab horse especially in Al-Yaman, among the Zú Mohammed, the Zú
Husayn and the Banu Yam in Pilgrimage iii. 270. As late as Marco Polo's day
they supplied the Indian market via Aden; but the "Eye o Al-Yaman" has totally
lost the habit of exporting horses.
[FN#138] The shovel-iron which is the only form of spur.
[FN#139] Used for the dromedary: the baggage-camel is haltered.
[FN#140] Arab. "Harwalah," the pas gymnastique affected when circumambulating
the Ka'abah (Pilgrimage iii. 208).
[FN#141] "This night" would be our "last night": the Arabs, I repeat, say
"night and day," not "day and night."
[FN#142] The vulgar belief is that man's fate is written upon his skull, the
sutures being the writing.
[FN#143] Koran ii. 191.
[FN#144] Arab. "Tasbíh"=saying, "Subhán' Allah." It also means a rosary (Egypt.
Sebhah for Subhah) a string of 99 beads divided by a longer item into sets of
three and much fingered by the would- appear pious. The professional devotee
carries a string of wooden balls the size of pigeons' eggs.
[FN#145] The pigeon is usually made to say, ' "Wahhidú Rabba-kumu ''llazi
khalaka-kum, yaghfiru lakum zamba-kum" = "Unify (Assert the Unity of) your Lord
who created you; so shall He forgive your sin!" As might be expected this
"language" is differently interpreted. Pigeon-superstitions are found in all
religions and I have noted (Pilgrimage iii, 218) how the Hindu deity of
Destruction- reproduction, the third Person of their Triad, Shiva and his
Spouse (or active Energy), are supposed to have dwelt at Meccah under the
titles of Kapoteshwara (Pigeon-god) and Kapoteshí (Pigeon-goddess).
[FN#146] I have seen this absolute horror of women amongst the
Monks of the Coptic Convents.
[FN#147] After the Day of Doom, when men's actions are registered, that of
mutual retaliation will follow and all creatures (brutes included) will take
vengeance on one another.
[FN#148] The Comrades of the Cave, famous in the Middle Ages of Christianity
(Gibbon chaps. xxxiii.), is an article of faith with Moslems, being part
subject of chapter xviii., the Koranic Surah termed the Cave. These Rip Van
Winkle-tales begin with Endymion so famous amongst the Classics and Epimenides
of Crete who slept fifty-seven years; and they extend to modern days as La
Belle au Bois dormant. The Seven Sleepers are as many youths of Ephesus (six
royal councillors and a shepherd, whose names are given on the authority of
Ali); and, accompanied by their dog, they fled the persecutions of Dakianús
(the Emperor Decius) to a cave near Tarsús in Natolia where they slept for
centuries. The Caliph Mu'awiyah when passing the cave sent into it some
explorers who were all killed by a burning wind. The number of the sleepers
remains uncertain, according to the Koran (ibid. v. 21) three, five or seven
and their sleep lasted either three hundred or three hundred and nine years.
The dog (ibid. v. 17) slept at the cave-entrance with paws outstretched and,
according to the general, was called "Katmir" or "Kitmir;" but Al-Rakím (v. 8)
is also applied to it by some. Others hold this to be the name of the valley or
mountain and others of a stone or leaden tablet on which their names were
engraved by their countrymen who built a chapel on the spot (v. 20). Others
again make the Men of Al-Rakím distinct from the Cave-men, and believe (with
Bayzáwi) that they were three youths who were shut up in a grotto by a
rock-slip. Each prayed for help through the merits of some good deed: when the
first had adjured Allah the mountain cracked till light appeared; at the second
petition it split so that they saw one another and after the third it opened.
However that may be, Kitmir is one of the seven favoured animals: the others
being the Hudhud (hoopoe) of Solomon (Koran xxii. 20); the she-camel of Sálih
(chaps. Ixxxvii.); the cow of Moses which named the Second Surah; the fish of
Jonah; the serpent of Eve, and the peacock of Paradise. For Koranic revelations
of the Cave see the late Thomas Chenery (p. 414 The Assemblies of Al-Hariri:
Williams and Norgate, 1870) who borrows from the historian Tabari.
[FN#149] These lines have occurred in Night cxlvi.: I quote Mr.
Payne by way of variety.
[FN#150] The wolf (truly enough to nature) is the wicked man without redeeming
traits; the fox of Arab folk-lore is the cunning man who can do good on
occasion. Here the latter is called "Sa'alab" which may, I have noted, mean the
jackal; but further on "Father of a Fortlet" refers especially to the fox.
Herodotus refers to the gregarious Canis Aureus when he describes Egyptian
wolves as being "not much bigger than foxes" (ii. 67). Canon Rawlinson, in his
unhappy version, does not perceive that the Halicarnassian means the jackal and
blunders about the hyena.
[FN#151] The older "Leila" or "Leyla": it is a common name and is here applied
to woman in general. The root is evidently "layl"=nox, with, probably, the
idea, "She walks in beauty like the night."
[FN#152] Arab. Abu 'l-Hosayn; his hole being his fort (Unexplored
Syria, ii. 18).
[FN#153] A Koranic phrase often occurring.
[FN#154] Koran v. 35.
[FN#155] Arab. "Bází," Pers. "Báz" (here Richardson is wrong s.v.); a term to a
certain extent generic, but specially used for the noble Peregrine (F.
Peregrinator) whose tiercel is the Sháhín (or "Royal Bird"). It is sometimes
applied to the goshawk (Astur palumbarius) whose proper title, however, is
Shah-báz (King-hawk). The Peregrine extends from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin
and the best come from the colder parts: in Iceland I found that the splendid
white bird was sometimes trapped for sending to India. In Egypt "Bazi" is
applied to the kite or buzzard and "Hidyah" (a kite) to the falcon
(Burckhardt's Prov. 159, 581 and 602). Burckhardt translates "Hidáyah," the
Egyptian corruption, by "an ash-grey falcon of the smaller species common
throughout Egypt and Syria."
[FN#156] Arab. "Hijl," the bird is not much prized in India because it feeds on
the roads. For the Shinnár (caccabis) or magnificent partridge of Midian as
large as a pheasant, see "Midian Revisted" ii. 18.
[FN#157] Arab. "Súf;" hence "Súfi,"=(etymologically) one who wears woollen
garments, a devotee, a Santon; from =wise; from =pure, or from
Safá=he was pure. This is not the place to enter upon such a subject as
"Tasawwuf," or Sufyism; that singular reaction from arid Moslem realism and
materialism, that immense development of gnostic and Neo-platonic
transcendentalism which is found only germinating in the Jewish and Christian
creeds. The poetry of Omar-i-Khayyám, now familiar to English readers, is a
fair specimen; and the student will consult the last chapter of the Dabistan
"On the religion of the Sufiahs." The first Moslem Sufi was Abu Háshim of
Kufah, ob. A. H. 150=767, and the first Convent of Sufis called "Takiyah"
(Pilgrimage i. 124) was founded in Egypt by Saladin the Great.
[FN#158] i.e. when she encamps with a favourite for the night.
[FN#159] The Persian proverb is "Marg-i-amboh jashni dáred"—death in a crowd is
as good as a feast.
[FN#160] Arab. "Kanát", the subterranean water-course called in Persia
"Kyáriz." Lane (ii. 66) translates it "brandish around the spear (Kanát is also
a cane-lance) of artifice," thus making rank nonsense of the line. Al-Hariri
uses the term in the Ass. of the Banu Haram where "Kanát" may be a pipe or
bamboo laid underground.
[FN#161] From Al-Tughrái, the author of the Lámiyat al-Ajam, the "Lay of the
Outlander;" a Kasidah (Ode) rhyming in Lám (the letter "l" being the ráwi or
binder). The student will find a new translation of it by Mr. J. W. Redhouse
and Dr. Carlyle's old version (No. liii.) in Mr. Clouston's "Arabian Poetry."
Muyid al-Din al-Hasan Abu Ismail nat. Ispahan ob. Baghdad A.H. 182) derived his
surname from the Tughrá, cypher or flourish (over the "Bismillah" in royal and
official papers) containing the name of the prince. There is an older "Lamiyat
al-Arab" a pre-Islamitic L-poem by the "brigand-poet" Shanfara, of whom Mr. W.
G. Palgrave has given a most appreciative account in his "Essays on Eastern
Questions," noting the indomitable self-reliance and the absolute individualism
of a mind defying its age and all around it. Al-Hariri quotes from both.
[FN#162] The words of the unfortunate Azízah, vol. ii., p. 323.
[FN#163] Arab. "Háwí"=a juggler who plays tricks with snakes: he is mostly a
Gypsy. The "recompense" the man expects is the golden treasure which the
ensorcelled snake is supposed to guard. This idea is as old as the Dragon in
the Garden of the Hesperides—and older.
[FN#164] The "Father of going out (to prey) by morning"; for dawn is called
Zanab Sirhán the Persian Dum-i-gurg=wolf's tail, i.e. the first brush of light;
the Zodiacal Light shown in morning. Sirhán is a nickname of the wolf—Gaunt
Grim or Gaffer Grim, the German Isengrin or Eisengrinus (icy grim or iron grim)
whose wife is Hersent, as Richent or Hermeline is Mrs. Fox. In French we have
lopez, luppe, leu, e.g.
Venant ŕ la queue, leu, leu,
i.e. going in Indian file. Hence the names D'Urfé and Saint-Loup. In
Scandinavian, the elder sister of German, Ulf and in German (where the Jews
were forced to adopt the name) Wolff whence "Guelph." He is also known to the
Arabs as the "sire of a she-lamb," the figure metonymy called "Kunyat bi
'l-Zidd" (lucus a non lucendo), a patronymic or by-name given for opposition
and another specimen of "inverted speech."
[FN#165] Arab. "Bint' Arús" = daughter of the bridegroom, the Hindustani Mungus
(vulg. Mongoose); a well-known weasel-like rodent often kept tame in the house
to clear it of vermin. It is supposed to know an antidote against snake-poison,
as the weasel eats rue before battle (Pliny x. 84; xx. 13). In Modern Egypt
this viverra is called "Kitt (or Katt) Far'aun" = Pharaoh's cat: so the
Percnopter becomes Pharaoh's hen and the unfortunate (?) King has named a host
of things, alive and dead. It was worshipped and mummified in parts of Ancient
Egypt e.g. Heracleopolis, on account of its antipathy to serpents and because
it was supposed to destroy the crocodile, a feat with Ćlian and others have
overloaded with fable. It has also a distinct antipathy to cats. The ichneumon
as a pet becomes too tame and will not leave its master: when enraged it emits
an offensive stench. I brought home for the Zoological Gardens a Central
African specimen prettily barred. Burckhardt (Prov. 455) quotes a line:—
Rakas' Ibn Irsin wa zamzama l-Nimsu,
(Danceth Ibn Irs whileas Nims doth sing)
and explains Nims by ichneumon and Ibn Irs as a "species of small weasel or
ferret, very common in Egypt: it comes into the house, feeds upon meat, is of
gentle disposition although not domesticated and full of gambols and frolic."
[FN#166] Arab. "Sinnaur" (also meaning a prince). The common name is Kitt which
is pronounced Katt or Gatt; and which Ibn Dorayd pronounces a foreign word
(Syriac?). Hence, despite Freitag, Catus (which Isidore derives from catare, to
look for) = gatto, chat, cat, an animal unknown to the Classics of Europe who
used the mustela or putorius vulgaris and different species of viverrć. The
Egyptians, who kept the cat to destroy vermin, especially snakes, called it
Mau, Mai, Miao (onomatopoetic): this descendent of the Felis maniculata
originated in Nubia; and we know from the mummy pits and Herodotus that it was
the same species as ours. The first portraits of the cat are on the monuments
of "Beni Hasan," B.C. 2500. I have ventured to derive the familiar "Puss" from
the Arab. "Biss (fem. :Bissah"), which is a congener of Pasht (Diana), the
cat-faced goddess of Bubastis (Pi-Pasht), now Zagázig. Lastly, "tabby
(brindled)-cat" is derived from the Attábi (Prince Attab's) quarter at Baghdad
where watered silks were made. It is usually attributed to the Tibbie, Tibalt,
Tybalt, Thibert or Tybert (who is also executioner), various forms of Theobald
in the old Beast Epic; as opposed to Gilbert the gib-cat, either a tom-cat or a
gibbed (castrated) cat.
[FN#167] Arab. "Ikhwán al-Safá," a popular term for virtuous friends who
perfectly love each other in all purity: it has also a mystic meaning. Some
translate it "Brethren of Sincerity," and hold this brotherhood to be Moslem
Freemasons, a mere fancy (see the Mesnevi of Mr. Redhouse, Trubner 1881). There
is a well-known Hindustani book of this name printed by Prof. Forbes in Persian
character and translated by Platts and Eastwick.
[FN#168] Among Eastern men there are especial forms for "making brotherhood."
The "Munhbolá-bhái" (mouth-named brother) of India is well-known. The intense
"associativeness" of these races renders isolation terrible to them, and being
defenceless in a wild state of society has special horrors. Hence the origin of
Caste for which see Pilgrimage (i. 52). Moslems, however, cannot practise the
African rite of drinking a few drops of each other's blood. This, by the by,
was also affected in Europe, as we see in the Gesta Romanoru, Tale lxvii., of
the wise and foolish knights who "drew blood (to drink) from the right arm."
[FN#169] The F. Sacer in India is called "Laghar" and tiercel "Jaghar." Mr.
T.E. Jordan (catalogue of Indian Birds, 1839) says it is rare; but I found it
the contrary. According to Mr. R. Thompson it is flown at kites and antelope:
in Sind it is used upon night-heron (nyctardea nycticorax), floriken or Hobara
(Otis aurita), quail, partridge, curlew and sometimes hare: it gives excellent
sport with crows but requires to be defended. Indian sportsmen, like ourselves,
divide hawks into two orders: the "Siyáh-chasm," or black-eyed birds,
long-winged and noble; the "Gulábi-chasm" or yellow-eyed (like the goshawk)
round-winged and ignoble.
[FN#170] i.e. put themselves at thy mercy.
[FN#171] I have remarked (Pilgrimage iii.307) that all the popular ape-names in
Arabic and Persian, Sa'adán, Maymún, Shádi, etc., express
propitiousness—probably euphemistically applied to our "poor relation."
[FN#172] The serpent does not "sting" nor does it "bite;" it strikes with the
poison-teeth like a downward stab with a dagger. These fangs are always drawn
by the jugglers but they grow again and thus many lives are lost. The popular
way of extracting the crochets is to grasp the snake firmly behind the neck
with one hand and with the other to tantalise it by offering and withdrawing a
red rag. At last the animal is allowed to strike it and a sharp jerk tears out
both eye-teeth as rustics used to do by slamming a door. The head is then held
downwards and the venom drains from its bag in the shape of a few drops of
slightly yellowish fluid which, as conjurers know, may be drunk without danger.
The patient looks faint and dazed, but recovers after a few hours and feels as
if nothing had happened. In India I took lessons from a snake-charmer but soon
gave up the practice as too dangerous.
[FN#173] Arab. "Akh al-Jahálah" = brother of ignorance, an Ignorantin; one
"really and truly" ignorant; which is the value of "Ahk" in such phrases as a
"brother of poverty," or, "of purity."
[FN#174] Lane (ii. 1) writes "Abu-l-Hasan;" Payne (iii. 49) "Aboulhusn" which
would mean "Father of Beauty (Husn)" and is not a Moslem name. Hasan
(beautiful) and its dimin. Husayn, names now so common, were (it is said),
unknown to the Arabs, although Hassán was that of a Tobba King, before the days
of Mohammed who so called his two only grandsons. In Anglo-India they have
become "Hobson and Jobson." The Bresl. Edit. (ii. 305) entitles this story
"Tale of Abu 'l Hasan the Attár (druggist and perfumer) with Ali ibn Bakkár and
what befel them with the handmaid (=járiyah) Shams al-Nahár."
[FN#175] i.e. a descendant, not a Prince.
[FN#176] The Arab shop is a kind of hole in the wall and buyers sit upon its
outer edge (Pilgrimage i. 99).
[FN#177] By a similar image the chamćleon is called Abú Kurrat=Father of
coolness; because it is said to have the "coldest" eye of all animals and
insensible to heat and light, since it always looks at the sun.
[FN#178] This dividing the hemistich words is characteristic of certain tales;
so I have retained it although inevitably suggesting:—
I left Matilda at the U- niversity of Gottingen.
[FN#179] These naďve offers in Eastern tales mostly come from the true
seducer—Eve. Europe and England especially, still talks endless absurdity upon
the subject. A man of the world may "seduce" an utterly innocent (which means
an ignorant) girl. But to "seduce" a married woman! What a farce!
[FN#180] Masculine again for feminine: the lines are as full of word-plays,
vulgarly called puns, as Sanskrit verses.
[FN#181] The Eastern heroine always has a good appetite and eats well. The
sensible Oriental would infinitely despise that maladive Parisienne in whom our
neighbours delight, and whom I long to send to the Hospital.
[FN#182] i.e. her rivals have discovered the secret of her heart.
[FN#183] i.e. blood as red as wine.
[FN#184] The wine-cup (sun-like) shines in thy hand; thy teeth are bright as
the Pleiads and thy face rises like a moon from the darkness of thy
dress-collar.
[FN#185] The masculine of Marjánah (Morgiana) "the she coral-branch ;" and like
this a name generally given to negroes. We have seen white applied to a
blackamoor by way of metonomy and red is also connected with black skins by way
of fun. A Persian verse says :
"If a black wear red, e'en an ass would grin."
[FN#186] Suggesting that she had been sleeping.
[FN#187] Arab. "Raushan," a window projecting and latticed: the word is orig.
Persian: so Raushaná (splendour)=Roxana. It appears to me that this beautiful
name gains beauty by being understood.
[FN#188] The word means any servant, but here becomes a proper name. "Wasífah"
usually= a concubine.
[FN#189] i.e. eagerness, desire, love-longing.
[FN#190] Arab. "Rind," which may mean willow (oriental), bay or aloes wood:
Al-Asma'i denies that it ever signifies myrtle.
[FN#191] These lines occur in Night cxiv.: by way of variety I give (with
permission) Mr. Payne's version (iii. 59).
[FN#192] Referring to the proverb "Al-Khauf maksúm"=fear (cowardice) is equally
apportioned: i.e. If I fear you, you fear me.
[FN#193] The fingers of the right hand are struck upon the palm of the left.
[FN#194] There are intricate rules for "joining" the prayers; but this is
hardly the place for a subject discussed in all religious treatises.
(Pilgrimage iii. 239.)
[FN#195] The hands being stained with Henna and perhaps indigo in stripes are
like the ring rows of chain armour. See Lane's illustration (Mod. Egypt, chaps.
i.).
[FN#196] She made rose-water of her cheeks for my drink and she bit with teeth
like grains of hail those lips like the lotus-fruit, or jujube: Arab. "Unnab"
or "Nabk," the plum of the Sidr or Zizyphus lotus.
[FN#197] Meaning to let Patience run away like an untethered camel.
[FN#198] i.e. her fair face shining through the black hair. "Camphor" is a
favourite with Arab poets: the Persians hate it because connected in their
minds with death; being used for purifying the corpse. We read in Burckhardt
(Prov. 464) "Singing without siller is like a corpse without Hanút"—this being
a mixture of camphor and rose-water sprinkled over the face of the dead before
shrouded. Similarly Persians avoid speaking of coffee, because they drink it at
funerals and use tea at other times.
[FN#199] i.e. she is angry and bites her carnelion lips with pearly teeth.
[FN#200] Arab. "Wa ba'ad;" the formula which follows "Bismillah"—In the name of
Allah. The French translate it or sus, etc. I have noticed the legend about its
having been first used by the eloquent Koss, Bishop of Najran.
[FN#201] i.e. Her mind is so troubled she cannot answer for what she writes.
[FN#202] The Bul. Edit. (i. 329) and the Mac. Edit. (i. 780) give to Shams
al-Nahar the greater part of Ali's answer, as is shown by the Calc. Edit. (230
et seq.) and the Bresl. Edit. (ii. 366 et seq.) Lane mentions this (ii. 74) but
in his usual perfunctory way gives no paginal references to the Calc. or
Bresl.; so that those who would verify the text may have the displeasure of
hunting for it.
[FN#203] Arab. "Bi'smi 'lláhi' r-Rahmáni'r-Rahím." This auspicatory formula was
borrowed by Al-Islam not from the Jews but from the Guebre "Ba nám-i-Yezdán
bakhsháishgar-i-dádár!" (in the name of Yezdan-God—All-generous, All-just!).
The Jews have, "In the name of the Great God;" and the Christians, "In the name
of the Father, etc." The so-called Sir John Mandeville begins his book, In the
name of God, Glorious and Almighty. The sentence forms the first of the Koran
and heads every chapter except only the ninth, an exception for which recondite
reasons are adduced. Hence even in the present day it begins all books, letters
and writings in general; and it would be a sign of Infidelity (i.e.
non-Islamism) to omit it. The difference between "Rahmán" and "Rahím" is that
the former represents an accidental (compassionating), the latter a constant
quality (compassionate). Sale therefore renders it very imperfectly by "In the
name of the most merciful God;" the Latinists better, "In nomine Dei
misericordis, clementissimi" (Gottwaldt in Hamza Ispahanensis); Mr. Badger much
better, "In the name of God, the Pitiful, the Compassionate"—whose only fault
is not preserving the assonance: and Maracci best, "In nomine Dei miseratoris
misericordis."
[FN#204] Arab. Majnún (i.e. one possessed by a Jinni) the well-known model
lover of Layla, a fictitious personage for whom see D'Herbelot (s. v. Megnoun).
She was celebrated by Abu Mohammed Nizam al-Din of Ganjah (ob. A.H. 597=1200)
pop. known as Nizámi, the caustic and austere poet who wrote:—
The weals of this world are the ass's meed!
Would Nizami were of the ass's breed.
The series in the East begins chronologically with Yúsuf and Zulaykhá
(Potiphar's wife) sung by Jámi (nat. A.H. 817=1414); the next in date is
Khusraw and Shirin (also by Nizami); Farhad and Shirin; and Layla and Majnun
(the Night-black maid and the Maniac-man) are the last. We are obliged to
compare the lovers with "Romeo and Juliet," having no corresponding instances
in modern days: the classics of Europe supply a host as Hero and Leander,
Theagenes and Charicleia, etc. etc.
[FN#205] The jeweller of Eastern tales from Marocco to Calcutta, is almost
invariably a rascal: here we have an exception.
[FN#206] This must not be understood of sealing-wax, which, however, is of
ancient date. The Egyptians (Herod. ii. 38) used "sealing earth" ( )
probably clay, impressed with a signet ( ); the Greeks mud-clay (
); and the Romans first cretula and then wax (Beckmann). Medićval Europe had
bees-wax tempered with Venice turpentine and coloured with cinnabar or similar
material. The modern sealing-wax, whose distinctive is shell-lac, was brought
by the Dutch from India to Europe; and the earliest seals date from about A.D.
1560. They called it Ziegel-lak, whence the German Siegel-lack, the French
preferring cire-ŕ-cacheter, as distinguished from cire-ŕ-sceller, the softer
material. The use of sealing-wax in India dates from old times and the
material, though coarse and unsightly, is still preferred by Anglo-Indians
because it resists heat whereas the best English softens like pitch.
[FN#207] Evidently referring to the runaway Abu al-Hasan, not to the
she-Mercury.
[FN#208] An unmarried man is not allowed to live in a respectable quarter of a
Moslem city unless he takes such precaution. Lane (Mod. Egypt. passim) has much
to say on this point; and my excellent friend the late Professor Spitta at
Cairo found the native prejudice very troublesome.
[FN#209] Arab. "Yá fulán"=O certain person (fulano in Span. and
Port.) a somewhat contemptuous address.
[FN#210] Mr. Payne remarks, "These verses apparently relate to
Aboulhusn, but it is possible that they may be meant to refer to
Shemsennehar." (iii. 80.)
[FN#211] Arab. and Pers "Bulúr" (vulg. billaur) retaining the venerable
tradition of the Belus- river. In Al-Hariri (Ass. of Halwán) it means crystal
and there is no need of proposing to translate it by onyx or to identify it
with the Greek , the beryl.
[FN#212] The door is usually shut with a wooden bolt.
[FN#213] Arab. "Ritánah," from "Ratan," speaking any tongue not
Arabic, the allusion being to foreign mercenaries, probably
Turks. In later days Turkish was called Muwalla', a pied horse,
from its mixture of languages.
[FN#214] This is the rule; to guard against the guet-apens.
[FN#215] Arab. "Wálidati," used when speaking to one not of the family in lieu
of the familiar "Ummi"=my mother. So the father is Wálid=the begetter.
[FN#216] This is one of the many euphemistic formulć for such occasions: they
usually begin "May thy head live." etc.
[FN#217] Arab. "Kánún," an instrument not unlike the Austrian zither; it is
illustrated in Lane (ii. 77).
[FN#218] This is often done, the merit of the act being transferred to the soul
of the deceased.
[FN#219] The two amourists were martyrs; and their amours, which appear
exaggerated to the Western mind, have many parallels in the East. The story is
a hopeless affair of love; with only one moral (if any be wanted) viz., there
may be too much of a good thing. It is given very concisely in the Bul. Edit.
vol. i.; and more fully in the Mac. Edit. aided in places by the Bresl. (ii.
320) and the Calc. (ii. 230).
##
[FN#220] Lane is in error (vol. ii. 78) when he corrects this to "Sháh Zemán";
the name is fanciful and intended to be old Persian, on the "weight" of
Kahramán. The Bul. Edit. has by misprint "Shahramán."
[FN#221] The "topothesia" is worthy of Shakespeare's day. "Khálidán" is
evidently a corruption of "Khálidatáni" (for Khálidát), the Eternal, as Ibn
Wardi calls the Fortunate Islands, or Canaries, which owe both their modern
names to the classics of Europe. Their present history dates from A.D. 1385,
unless we accept the Dieppe-Rouen legend of Labat which would place the
discovery in A.D. 1326. I for one thoroughly believe in the priority on the
West African Coast, of the gallant descendants of the Northmen.
[FN#222] Four wives are allowed by Moslem law and for this reason. If you marry
one wife she holds herself your equal, answers you and "gives herself airs";
two are always quarrelling and making a hell of the house; three are "no
company" and two of them always combine against the nicest to make her hours
bitter. Four are company, they can quarrel and "make it up" amongst themselves,
and the husband enjoys comparative peace. But the Moslem is bound by his law to
deal equally with the four, each must have her dresses her establishment and
her night, like her sister wives. The number is taken from the Jews (Arbah
Turim Ev. Hazaer, i.) "the wise men have given good advice that a man should
not marry more than four wives." Europeans, knowing that Moslem women are
cloistered and appear veiled in public, begin with believing them to be mere
articles of luxury, and only after long residence they find out that nowhere
has the sex so much real liberty and power as in the Moslem East. They can
possess property and will it away without the husband's leave: they can absent
themselves from the house for a month without his having a right to complain;
and they assist in all his counsels for the best of reasons: a man can rely
only on his wives and children, being surrounded by rivals who hope to rise by
his ruin. As regards political matters the Circassian women of Constantinople
really rule the Sultanate and there soignez la femme! is the first lesson of
getting on in the official world.
[FN#223] This two-bow prayer is common on the bride-night; and at all times
when issue is desired.
[FN#224] The older Camaralzaman="Moon of the age." Kamar is the moon between
her third and twenty-sixth day: Hilál during the rest of the month: Badr (plur.
Budúr whence the name of the Princess) is the full moon.
[FN#225] Arab "Ra'áyá" plur. of 'Ra'íyat" our Anglo-Indian Ryot, lit. a liege,
a subject; secondarily a peasant, a Fellah.
[FN#226] Another audacious parody of the Moslem "testification" to the one God,
and to Mohammed the Apostle.
[FN#227] Showing how long ago forts were armed with metal plates which we have
applied to war-ships only of late years.
[FN#228] The comparison is abominably true—in the East.
[FN#229] Two fallen angels who taught men the art of magic. They are mentioned
in the Koran (chaps. ii.), and the commentators have extensively embroidered
the simple text. Popularly they are supposed to be hanging by their feet in a
well in the territory of Babel, hence the frequent allusions to "Babylonian
sorcery" in Moslem writings; and those who would study the black art at
head-quarters are supposed to go there. They are counterparts of the Egyptian
Jamnes and Mambres, the Jannes and Jambres of St. Paul (2 Tim. iii. 8).
[FN#230] An idol or idols of the Arabs (Allat and Ozza) before Mohammed (Koran
chaps. ii. 256). Etymologically the word means "error" and the termination is
rather Hebraic than Arabic.
[FN#231] Arab. "Khayt hamayán" (wandering threads of vanity), or
Mukhát al-Shaytan (Satan's snivel),=our "gossamer"=God's summer
(Mutter Gottes Sommer) or God's cymar (?).
[FN#232] These lines occur in Night xvii.; so I borrow from
Torrens (p. 163) by way of variety.
[FN#233] A posture of peculiar submission; contrasting strongly with the
attitude afterwards assumed by Prince Charming.
[FN#234] A mere term of vulgar abuse not reflecting on either parent: I have
heard a mother call her own son, "Child of adultery."
[FN#235] Arab. "Ghazá," the Artemisia (Euphorbia ?) before noticed. If the word
be a misprint for Ghadá it means a kind of Euphorbia which, with the Arák (wild
caper-tree) and the Daum palm (Crucifera thebiaca), is one of the three normal
growths of the Arabian desert (Pilgrimage iii. 22).
[FN#236] Arab. "Banát al-Na'ash," usually translated daughters of the bier, the
three stars which represent the horses in either Bear, "Charles' Wain," or Ursa
Minor, the waggon being supposed to be a bier. "Banát" may be also sons, plur.
of Ibn, as the word points to irrational objects. So Job (ix. 9 and xxxviii.
32) refers to U. Major as "Ash" or "Aysh" in the words, "Canst thou guide the
bier with its sons?" (erroneously rendered "Arcturus with his sons") In the
text the lines are enigmatical, but apparently refer to a death parting.
[FN#237] The Chapters are: 2, 3, 36, 55, 67 and the two last ("Daybreak" cxiii.
and "Men" cxiv.), which are called Al-Mu'izzatáni (vulgar Al-Mu'izzatayn), the
"Two Refuge-takings or Preventives," because they obviate enchantment. I have
translated the two latter as follows:—
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of the Day-break *
from mischief of what He did make *
from mischief of moon eclipse-showing *
and from mischief of witches on cord-knots blowing *
and from mischief of envier when envying."
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of men *
the sovran of men *
the God of men *
from the Tempter, the Demon *
who tempteth in whisper the breasts of men *
and from Jinnis and (evil) men."
[FN#238] The recitations were Náfilah, or superogatory, two short chapters only
being required and the taking refuge was because he slept in a ruin, a noted
place in the East for Ghuls as in the West for ghosts.
[FN#239] Lane (ii. 222) first read "Múroozee" and referred it to the Murúz
tribe near Herat he afterwards (iii. 748) corrected it to "Marwazee," of the
fabric of Marw (Margiana) the place now famed for "Mervousness." As a man of
Rayy (Rhages) becomes Rází (e.g. Ibn Fáris al-Razí), so a man of Marw is
Marázi, not Murúzi nor Márwazi. The "Mikna' " was a veil forming a kind of
"respirator," defending from flies by day and from mosquitos, dews and draughts
by night. Easterns are too sensible to sleep with bodies kept warm by bedding,
and heads bared to catch every blast. Our grandfathers and grandmothers did
well to wear bonnets-de-nuit, however ridiculous they may have looked.
[FN#240] Iblis, meaning the Despairer, is called in the Koran (chaps. xviii.
48) "One of the genii (Jinnis) who departed from the command of his Lord." Mr.
Rodwell (in loco) notes that the Satans and Jinnis represent in the Koran (ii.
32, etc.) the evil-principle and finds an admixture of the Semitic Satans and
demons with the "Genii from the Persian (Babylonian ?) and Indian (Egyptian ?)
mythologies."
[FN#241] Of course she could not see his eyes when they were shut; nor is this
mere Eastern inconsequence. The writer means, "had she seen them, they would
have showed," etc.
[FN#242] The eyes are supposed to grow darker under the influence of wine and
sexual passion.
[FN#243] To keep off the evil eye.
[FN#244] Like Dahnash this is a fanciful P. N., fit only for a Jinni. As a rule
the appellatives of Moslem "genii" end inús (oos), as Tarnús, Huliyánus, the
Jewish in—nas, as Jattunas; those of the Tarsá (the "funkers" i.e. Christians)
in—dús, as Sidús, and the Hindus in—tús, as Naktús (who entered the service of
the Prophet Shays, or Seth, and was converted to the Faith). The King of the
Genii is Malik Katshán who inhabits Mount Kaf; and to the west of him lives his
son-in-law, Abd al-Rahman with 33,000 domestics: these names were given by the
Apostle Mohammed. "Baktanús" is lord of three Moslem troops of the wandering
Jinns, which number a total of twelve bands and extend from Sind to Europe. The
Jinns, Divs, Peris ("fairies") and other pre-Adamitic creatures were governed
by seventy-two Sultans all known as Sulayman and the last I have said was Ján
bin Ján. The angel Háris was sent from Heaven to chastise him, but in the pride
of victory he also revolted with his followers the Jinns whilst the Peris held
aloof. When he refused to bow down before Adam he and his chiefs were eternally
imprisoned but the other Jinns are allowed to range over earth as a security
for man's obedience. The text gives the three orders. flyers. walkers and
divers.
[FN#245] i.e. distracted (with love); the Lakab, or poetical name, of
apparently a Spanish poet.
[FN#246] Nothing is more "anti-pathetic" to Easterns than lean hips and flat
hinder-cheeks in women and they are right in insisting upon the characteristic
difference of the male and female figure. Our modern sculptors and painters,
whose study of the nude is usually most perfunctory, have often scandalised me
by the lank and greyhound-like fining off of the frame, which thus becomes
rather simian than human.
[FN#247] The small fine foot is a favourite with Easterns as well as Westerns.
Ovid (A.A.) is not ashamed "ad teneros Oscula (not basia or suavia) ferre
pedes." Ariosto ends the august person in
Il breve, asciutto, e ritondetto piece,
(The short-sized, clean-cut, roundly-moulded foot).
And all the world over it is a sign of "blood," i.e. the fine nervous
temperament.
[FN#248] i.e. "full moons": the French have corrupted it to
"Badoure"; we to "Badoura." winch is worse.
[FN#249] As has been said a single drop of urine renders the clothes
ceremoniously impure, hence a Stone or a handful of earth must be used after
the manner of the torche-cul. Scrupulous Moslems, when squatting to make water,
will prod the ground before them with the point o f stick or umbrella, so as to
loosen it and prevent the spraying of the urine.
[FN#250] It is not generally known to Christians that Satan has a wife called
Awwá ("Hawwá" being the Moslem Eve) and, as Adam had three sons, the Tempter
has nine, viz., Zu 'l-baysun who rules in bazars. Wassin who prevails in times
of trouble. Awan who counsels kings; Haffan patron of wine-bibbers; Marrah of
musicians and dancers; Masbut of news-spreaders (and newspapers ?); Dulhán who
frequents places of worship and interferes with devotion. Dasim, lord of
mansions and dinner tables, who prevents the Faithful saying "Bismillah" and
"Inshallah," as commanded in the Koran (xviii. 23), and Lakís, lord of Fire
worshippers (Herklots, chap. xxix. sect. 4).
[FN#251] Strong perfumes, such as musk (which we Europeans dislike and
suspect), are always insisted upon in Eastern poetry, and Mohammed's
predilection for them is well known. Moreover the young and the beautiful are
held (justly enough) to exhale a natural fragrance which is compared with that
of the blessed in Paradise. Hence in the Mu'allakah of Imr al-Keys:—
Breathes the scent of musk when they rise to rove, *
As the Zephyr's breath with the flavour o'clove.
It is made evident by dogs and other fine-nosed animals that every human being
has his, or her, peculiar scent which varies according to age and health. Hence
animals often detect the approach of death.
[FN#252] Arab. "Kahlá." This has been explained. Mohammed is said to have been
born with "Kohl'd eyes."
[FN#253] Hawá al-'uzrí, before noticed (Night cxiv.).
[FN#254] These lines, with the Názir (eye or steward), the Hájib (Groom of the
Chambers or Chamberlain) and Joseph, are also repeated from Night cxiv. For the
Nazir see Al-Hariri (Nos. xiii. and xxii.)
[FN#255] The usual allusion to the Húr (Houris) from "Hangar," the white and
black of the eye shining in contrast. The Persian Magi also placed in their
Heaven (Bihisht or Minu) "Huran," or black-eyed nymphs, under the charge of the
angel Zamiyád.
[FN#256] In the first hemistich, "bi-shitt 'it wády" (by the wady-bank): in the
second, "wa shatta 'l wády" ("and my slayer"— i.e. wády act. part. of wady,
killing—"hath paced away").
[FN#257] The double entendre is from the proper names Budúr and Su'ád
(Beatrice) also meaning "auspicious (or blessed) full moons."
[FN#258] Arab. "Házir" (also Ahl al-hazer, townsmen) and Bádi, a Badawi, also
called "Ahl al-Wabar," people of the camel's hair (tent) and A'aráb (Nomadic)
as opposed to Arab (Arab settled or not). They still boast with Ibn Abbas,
cousin of Mohammed, that they have kerchiefs (not turbands) for crowns, tents
for houses, loops for walls, swords for scarves and poems for registers or
written laws.
[FN#259] This is a peculiarity of the Jinn tribe when wearing hideous forms. It
is also found in the Hindu Rakshasa.
[FN#260] Which, by the by, are small and beautifully shaped. The animal is very
handy with them, as I learnt by experience when trying to "Rareyfy" one at
Bayrut.
[FN#261] She being daughter of Al-Dimiryát, King of the Jinns.
Mr. W. F. Kirby has made him the subject of a pretty poem.
[FN#262] These lines have occurred in Night xxii. I give
Torrens's version (p. 223) by way of variety.
[FN#263] Arab. "Kámat Alfiyyah," like an Alif, the first of the Arabic
alphabet, the Heb. Aleph. The Arabs, I have said, took the flag or water leaf
form and departed very far from the Egyptian original (we know from Plutarch
that the hieroglyphic abecedarium began with "a"), which was chosen by other
imitators, namely the bull's head, and which in the cursive form, especially
the Phnician, became a yoke. In numerals "Alif" denotes one or one thousand. It
inherits the traditional honours of Alpha (as opposed to Omega) and in books,
letters and writings generally it is placed as a monogram over the "Bismillah,"
an additional testimony to the Unity. (See vol. i. p. 1.) In medićval
Christianity this place of honour was occupied by the cross: none save the
wildest countries have preserved it, but our vocabulary still retains Criss'
(Christ-)cross Row, for horn-book, on account of the old alphabet and nine
digits disposed in the form of a Latin cross. Hence Tickell ("The Horn-book"):
——Mortals ne'er shall know
More than contained of old the Chris'-cross Row.
[FN#264] The young man must have been a demon of chastity.
[FN#265] Arab. "Kirát" from i.e. bean, the seed of the Abrus
precatorius, in weight=two to three (English) grains; and in length=one
finger-breadth here; 24 being the total. The Moslem system is evidently
borrowed from the Roman "as" and "uncia."
[FN#266] Names of women.
[FN#267] Arab. "Amsa" (lit. he passed the evening) like "asbaha" (he rose in
the morning) "Azhá" (he spent the forenoon) and "bata" (he spent the night),
are idiomatically used for "to be in any state, to continue" without
specification of time or season.
[FN#268] Lit. "my liver ;" which viscus, and not the heart, is held the seat of
passion, a fancy dating from the oldest days. Theocritus says of Hercules, "In
his liver Love had fixed a wound" (Idyl. xiii.). In the Anthologia "Cease,
Love, to wound my liver and my heart" (lib. vii.). So Horace (Odes, i. 2); his
Latin Jecur and the Persian "Jigar" being evident congeners. The idea was long
prevalent and we find in Shakespeare:—
Alas, then Love may be called appetite,
No motion of the liver but the palate.
[FN#269] A marvellous touch of nature, love ousting affection; the same trait
will appear in the lover and both illustrate the deep Italian saying, "Amor
discende, non ascende." The further it goes down the stronger it becomes as of
grand-parent for grand-child and vice versa.
[FN#270] This tenet of the universal East is at once fact and unfact. As a
generalism asserting that women's passion is ten times greater than man's
(Pilgrimage, ii. 282), it is unfact. The world shows that while women have more
philoprogenitiveness, men have more amativeness; otherwise the latter would not
propose and would nurse the doll and baby. Pact, however, in low-lying lands,
like Persian Mazanderan versus the Plateau; Indian Malabar compared with
Marátha-land; California as opposed to Utah and especially Egypt contrasted
with Arabia. In these hot damp climates the venereal requirements and
reproductive powers of the female greatly exceed those of the male; and hence
the dissoluteness of morals would be phenomenal, were it not obviated by
seclusion, the sabre and the revolver. In cold-dry or hot-dry mountainous lands
the reverse is the case; hence polygamy there prevails whilst the low countries
require polyandry in either form, legal or illegal (i,e. prostitution) I have
discussed this curious point of "geographical morality" (for all morality is,
like conscience, both geographical and chronological), a subject so interesting
to the lawgiver, the student of ethics and the anthropologist, in "The City of
the Saints " But strange and unpleasant truths progress slowly, especially in
England.
[FN#271] This morning evacuation is considered, in the East, a sine quâ non of
health; and old Anglo-Indians are unanimous in their opinion of the "bard
fajar" (as they mispronounce the dawn-clearance). The natives of India, Hindús
(pagans) and Hindís (Moslems), unlike Europeans, accustom themselves to
evacuate twice a day, evening as well as morning. This may, perhaps, partly
account for their mildness and effeminacy; for:—
C'est la constipation qui rend l'homme rigoureux.
The English, since the first invasion of cholera, in October, 1831, are a
different race from their costive grandparents who could not dine without a
"dinner-pill." Curious to say the clyster is almost unknown to the people of
Hindostan although the barbarous West Africans use it daily to "wash 'um
belly," as the Bonney-men say. And, as Sonnini notes to propose the process in
Egypt under the Beys might have cost a Frankish medico his life.
[FN#272] The Egyptian author cannot refrain from this characteristic
polissonnerie; and reading it out is always followed by a roar of laughter.
Even serious writers like Al- Hariri do not, as I have noted, despise the
indecency.
[FN#273] "'Long beard and little wits," is a saying throughout the East where
the Kausaj (= man with thin, short beard) is looked upon as cunning and
tricksy. There is a venerable Joe Miller about a schoolmaster who, wishing to
singe his long beard short, burnt it off and his face to boot:—which reminded
him of the saying. A thick beard is defined as one which wholly conceals the
skin; and in ceremonial ablution it must be combed out with the fingers till
the water reach the roots. The Sunnat, or practice of the Prophet, was to wear
the beard not longer than one hand and two fingers' breadth. In Persian "Kúseh"
(thin beard) is an insulting term opposed to "Khush-rísh," a well-bearded man.
The Iranian growth is perhaps the finest in the world, often extending to the
waist; but it gives infinite trouble, requiring, for instance, a bag when
travelling. The Arab beard is often composed of two tufts on the chin-sides and
straggling hairs upon the cheeks; and this is a severe mortification,
especially to Shaykhs and elders, who not only look upon the beard as one of
man's characteristics, but attach a religious importance to the appendage.
Hence the enormity of Kamar al-Zaman's behaviour. The Persian festival of the
vernal equinox was called Kusehnishín (Thin-beard sitting). An old man with one
eye paraded the streets on an ass with a crow in one hand and a scourge and fan
in the other, cooling himself, flogging the bystanders and crying heat! heat!
(garmá! garmá!). For other particulars see Richardson (Dissertation, p. Iii.).
This is the Italian Giorno delle Vecchie, Thursday in Mid Lent, March 12
(1885), celebrating the death of Winter and the birth of Spring.
[FN#274] I quote Torrens (p. 400) as these lines have occurred in
Night xxxviii.
[FN#275] Moslems have only two names for week days, Friday,
Al-Jum'ah or meeting-day, and Al-Sabt, Sabbath day, that is
Saturday. The others are known by numbers after Quaker fashion
with us, the usage of Portugal and Scandinavia.
[FN#276] Our last night.
[FN#277] Arab. "Tayf"=phantom, the nearest approach to our "ghost," that queer
remnant of Fetishism imbedded in Christianity; the phantasma, the shade (not
the soul) of tile dead. Hence the accurate Niebuhr declares, "apparitions
(i.e., of the departed) are unknown in Arabia." Haunted houses are there
tenanted by Ghuls, Jinns and a host of supernatural creatures; but not by
ghosts proper; and a man may live years in Arabia before he ever hears of the
"Tayf." With the Hindus it is otherwise (Pilgrimage iii. 144). Yet the ghost,
the embodied fear of the dead and of death is common, in a greater or less
degree, to all peoples; and, as modern Spiritualism proves, that ghost is not
yet laid.
[FN#278] Mr. Payne (iii. 133) omits the lines which are ŕpropos de rein and
read much like "nonsense verses." I retain them simply because they are in the
text.
[FN#279] The first two couplets are the quatrain (or octave) in
Night xxxv.
[FN#280] Arab. "Ar'ar," the Heb. "Aroer," which Luther and the A.
V. translate "heath." The modern Aramaic name is "Lizzáb"
(Unexplored Syria. i. 68).
[FN#281] In the old version and the Bresl. Edit. (iii. 220) the
Princess beats the "Kahramánah," but does not kill her.
[FN#282] 'This is still the popular Eastern treatment of the insane.
[FN#283] Pers. "Marz-bán" = Warden of the Marches, Margrave. The foster-brother
in the East is held dear as, and often dearer than, kith and kin.
[FN#284] The moderns believe most in the dawn-dream.
—Quirinus
Post mediam noctem visus, quum somnia vera.
(Horace Sat. i. 10, 33,)
[FN#285] The Bresl. Edit. (iii. 223) and Galland have "Torf:"
Lane (ii. 115) "El-Tarf."
[FN#286] Arab. "Maghzal ;" a more favourite comparison is with a tooth pick.
Both are used by Nizami and Al-Hariri, the most "elegant" of Arab writers.
[FN#287] These form a Kasídah, Ode or Elegy= rhymed couplets numbering more
than thirteen: If shorter it is called a "Ghazal." I have not thought it
necessary to preserve the monorhyme.
[FN#288] Sulaymá dim. of Salmá= any beautiful woman Rabáb = the viol mostly
single stringed: Tan'oum=she who is soft and gentle. These fictitious names are
for his old flames.
[FN#289] i.e. wine. The distich is highly fanciful and the conceits would
hardly occur to a
[FN#290] Arab. "Andam," a term applied to Brazil-wood (also called "Bakkam")
and to "dragon's blood," but not, I think, to tragacanth, the "goat's thorn,"
which does not dye. Andam is often mentioned in The Nights.
[FN#291] The superior merit of the first (explorer, etc.) is a lieu commun with
Arabs. So Al-Hariri in Preface quotes his predecessor:—
Justly of praise the price I pay;
The praise is his who leads the way.
[FN#292] There were two Lukmans, of whom more in a future page.
[FN#293] This symbolic action is repeatedly mentioned in The
Nights.
[FN#294] Arab. "Shakhs"=a person, primarily a dark spot. So "Sawád"=blackness,
in Al-Hariri means a group of people who darken the ground by their shade.
[FN#295] The first bath after sickness, I have said, is called
"Ghusl al-Sihhah,"—the Washing of Health.
[FN#296] The words "malady" and "disease" are mostly avoided during these
dialogues as ill-omened words which may bring on a relapse.
[FN#297] Solomon's carpet of green silk which carried him and all his host
through the air is a Talmudic legend generally accepted in Al-Islam though not
countenanced by the Koran. chaps xxvii. When the "gnat's wing" is mentioned,
the reference is to Nimrod who, for boasting that he was lord of all, was
tortured during four hundred years by a gnat sent by Allah up his ear or
nostril.
[FN#298] The absolute want of morality and filial affection in the chaste young
man is supposed to be caused by the violence of his passion, and he would be
pardoned because he "loved much."
[FN#299] I have noticed the geomantic process in my "History of Sindh" (chaps.
vii.). It is called "Zarb al-Ram!" (strike the sand, the French say "frapper le
sable") because the rudest form is to make on the ground dots at haphazard,
usually in four lines one above the other: these are counted and, if
even-numbered, two are taken ( ** ); if odd one ( * ); and thus the four lines
will form a scheme say * * * * * * This is repeated three times,
producing the same number of figures; and then the combination is sought in an
explanatory table or, if the practitioner be expert, he pronounces off-hand.
The Nights speak of a "Takht Raml" or a board, like a schoolboy's slate, upon
which the dots are inked instead of points in sand. The moderns use a "Kura'h,"
or oblong die, upon whose sides the dots, odd and even, are marked; and these
dice are hand-thrown to form the e figure. By way of complication Geomancy is
mixed up with astrology and then it becomes a most complicated kind of
ariolation and an endless study. "Napoleon's Book of Fate," a chap-book which
appeared some years ago, was Geomancy in its simplest and most ignorant shape.
For the rude African form see my Mission to Dahome, i. 332, and for that of
Darfour, pp. 360-69 of Shaykh Mohammed's Voyage before quoted.
[FN#300] Translators understand this of writing marriage contracts; I take it
in a more general sense.
[FN#301] These lines are repeated from Night Ixxv.: with Mr. Payne's permission
I give his rendering (iii. 153) by way of variety.
[FN#302] The comparison is characteristically Arab.
[FN#303] Not her "face": the head, and especially the back of the head, must
always be kept covered, even before the father.
[FN#304] Arab. "Siwák"=a tooth-stick; "Siwá-ka"=lit. other than thou.
[FN#305] Arab. "Arák"=tooth stick of the wild caper-tree; "Ará-ka" lit.=I see
thee. The capparis spinosa is a common desert-growth and the sticks about a
span long (usually called Miswák), are sold in quantities at Meccah after being
dipped in Zemzem water. In India many other woods are used, date-tree,
Salvadora, Achyrantes, phyllanthus, etc. Amongst Arabs peculiar efficacy
accompanies the tooth-stick of olive, "the tree springing from Mount Sinai"
(Koran xxiii. 20); and Mohammed would use no other, because it prevents decay
and scents the mouth. Hence Koran, chaps. xcv. 1. The "Miswák" is held with the
unused end between the ring-finger and minimus, the two others grasp the middle
and the thumb is pressed against the back close to the lips. These articles
have long been sold at the Medical Hall near the "Egyptian Hall," Piccadilly.
They are better than our unclean tooth-brushes because each tooth gets its own
especial rubbing' not a general sweep; at the same time the operation is longer
and more troublesome. In parts of Africa as well as Asia many men walk about
with the tooth-stick hanging by a string from the neck.
[FN#306] The "Mehari," of which the Algerine-French speak, are the dromedaries
bred by the Mahrah tribe of Al-Yaman, the descendants of Mahrat ibn Haydan.
They are covered by small wild camels (?) called Al-Húsh, found between Oman
and Al-Shihr: others explain the word to mean "stallions of the Jinns " and
term those savage and supernatural animals, "Najáib al-Mahriyah"nobles of the
Mahrah.
[FN#307] Arab. "Khaznah"=a thousand purses; now about Ł5000. It denotes a large
sum of money, like the "Badrah," a purse containing 10,000 dirhams of silver
(Al-Hariri), or 80,000 (Burckhardt Prov. 380); whereas the "Nisáb" is a
moderate sum of money, gen. 20 gold dinars=200 silver dirhams.
[FN#308] As The Nights show, Arabs admire slender forms; but the hips and
hinder cheeks must be highly developed and the stomach fleshy rather than lean.
The reasons are obvious. The Persians who exaggerate everything say e.g.
(Husayn Váiz in the Anvár-i-Suhayli):—
How paint her hips and waist ? Who saw
A mountain (Koh) dangling to a straw (káh)?
In Antar his beloved Abla is a tamarisk (T. Orientalis). Others compare with
the palm-tree (Solomon), the Cypress (Persian, esp. Hafiz and Firdausi) and the
Arák or wild Capparis (Arab.).
[FN#309] Ubi aves ibi angel). All African travellers know that a few birds
flying about the bush, and a few palm-trees waving in the wind, denote the
neighbourhood of a village or a camp (where angels are scarce). The reason is
not any friendship for man but because food, animal and vegetable, is more
plentiful Hence Albatrosses, Mother Carey's (Mater Cara, the Virgin) chickens,
and Cape pigeons follow ships.
[FN#310] The stanza is called Al-Mukhammas=cinquains; the quatrains and the
"bob," or "burden" always preserve the same consonance. It ends with a Koranic
lieu commun of Moslem morality.
[FN#311] Moslem port towns usually have (or had) only two gates. Such was the
case with Bayrut, Tyre, Sidon and a host of others; the faubourg-growth of
modern days has made these obsolete. The portals much resemble the entrances of
old Norman castles—Arques for instance. (Pilgrimage i. 185.)
[FN#312] Arab. "Lisám"; before explained.
[FN#313] i.e. Life of Souls (persons, etc.).
[FN#314] Arab. "Insánu-há"=her (i.e. their) man: i.e. the babes of the eyes:
the Assyrian Ishon, dim. of Ish=Man; which the Hebrews call "Bábat" or "Bit"
(the daughter) the Arabs "Bubu (or Hadakat) al-Aye"; the Persians
"Mardumak-i-chashm" (mannikin of the eye); the Greeks and the Latins pupa,
pupula, pupilla. I have noted this in the Lyricks of Camoens (p. 449).
[FN#315] Ma'an bin Zá'idah, a soldier and statesman of the eighth century.
[FN#316] The mildness of the Caliph Mu'áwiyah, the founder of the Ommiades,
proverbial among the Arabs, much resembles the "meekness" of Moses the
Law-giver, which commentators seem to think has been foisted into Numbers xii.
3.
[FN#317] Showing that there had been no consummation of the marriage which
would have demanded "Ghusl," or total ablution, at home or in the Hammam.
[FN#318] I have noticed this notable desert-growth.
[FN#319] 'The "situation" is admirable, solution appearing so difficult and
catastrophe imminent.
[FN#320] This quatrain occurs in Night ix.: I have borrowed from
Torrens (p. 79) by way of variety.
[FN#321] The belief that young pigeon's blood resembles the virginal discharge
is universal; but the blood most resembling man's is that of the pig which in
other points is so very human. In our day Arabs and Hindus rarely submit to
inspection the nuptial sheet as practiced by the Israelites and Persians. The
bride takes to bed a white kerchief with which she staunches the blood and next
morning the stains are displayed in the Harem. In Darfour this is done by the
bridegroom. "Prima Venus debet esse cruenta," say the Easterns with much truth,
and they have no faith in our complaisant creed which allows the hymen-membrane
to disappear by any but one accident.
[FN#322] Not meaning the two central divisions commanded by the
King and his Wazir.
[FN#323] Ironicč.
[FN#324] Arab. "Rasy"=praising in a funeral sermon.
[FN#325] Arab. "Manáyá," plur. of "Maniyat" = death. Mr. R. S. Poole (the
Academy, April 26, 1879) reproaches Mr. Payne for confounding "Muniyat"
(desire) with "Maniyat" (death) but both are written the same except when
vowel-points are used.
[FN#326] Arab. "Iddat," alluding to the months of celibacy which, according to
Moslem law, must be passed by a divorced woman before she can re-marry.
[FN#327] Arab. "Talák bi'l-Salásah"=a triple divorce which cannot be revoked;
nor can the divorcer re-marry the same woman till after consummation with
another husband. This subject will continually recur.
[FN#328] An allusion to a custom of the pagan Arabs in the days of ignorant
Heathenism The blood or brain, soul or personality of the murdered man formed a
bird called Sady or Hámah (not the Humá or Humái, usually translated "phnix")
which sprang from the head, where four of the five senses have their seat, and
haunted his tomb, crying continually, "Uskúni!"=Give me drink (of the slayer's
blood) ! and which disappeared only when the vendetta was accomplished.
Mohammed forbade the belief. Amongst the Southern Slavs the cuckoo is supposed
to be the sister of a murdered man ever calling or vengeance.
[FN#329] To obtain a blessing and show how he valued it.
[FN#330] Well-known tribes of proto-historic Arabs who flourished before the
time of Abraham: see Koran (chaps. xxvi. et passim). They will be repeatedly
mentioned in The Nights and notes.
[FN#331] Arab. "Amtár"; plur. of "Matr," a large vessel of leather or wood for
water, etc.
[FN#332] Arab. "Asáfírí," so called because they attract sparrows (asáfír) a
bird very fond of the ripe oily fruit. In the Romance of "Antar" Asáfír camels
are beasts that fly like birds in fleetness. The reader must not confound the
olives of the text with the hard unripe berries ("little plums pickled in
stale") which appear at English tables, nor wonder that bread and olives are
the beef-steak and potatoes of many Mediterranean peoples It is an excellent
diet, the highly oleaginous fruit supplying the necessary carbon,
[FN#333] Arab. "Tamer al-Hindi"=the "Indian-date," whence our word "Tamarind."
A sherbet of the pods, being slightly laxative, is much drunk during the great
heats; and the dried fruit, made into small round cakes, is sold in the bazars.
The traveller is advised not to sleep under the tamarind's shade, which is
infamous for causing ague and fever. In Sind I derided the "native nonsense,"
passed the night under an "Indian date-tree" and awoke with a fine specimen of
ague which lasted me a week.
[FN#334] Moslems are not agreed upon the length of the Day of Doom when all
created things, marshalled by the angels, await final judgment; the different
periods named are 40 years, 70, 300 and 50,000. Yet the trial itself will last
no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or than "the space between two
milkings of a she-camel." This is bringing down Heaven to Earth with a witness;
but, after all, the Heaven of all faiths, including "Spiritualism," the latest
development, is only an earth more or less glorified even as the Deity is
humanity more or less perfected.
[FN#335] Arab. "Al-Kamaráni," lit. "the two moons." Arab rhetoric prefers it to
"Shamsáni," or {`two suns," because lighter (akhaff), to pronounce. So, albeit
Omar was less worthy than Abu-Bakr the two are called "Al-Omaráni," in vulgar
parlance, Omarayn.
[FN#336] Alluding to the angels who appeared to the Sodomites in the shape of
beautiful youths (Koran xi.).
[FN#337] Koran xxxiii. 38.
[FN#338] "Niktu-hu taklidan" i.e. not the real thing (with a woman). It may
also mean "by his incitement of me." All this scene is written in the worst
form of Persian-Egyptian blackguardism, and forms a curious anthropological
study. The "black joke" of the true and modest wife is inimitable.
[FN#339] Arab. "Jamíz" (in Egypt "Jammayz") = the fruit of the true sycomore
(F. Sycomorus) a magnificent tree which produces a small tasteless fig, eaten
by the poorer classes in Egypt and by monkeys. The "Tín" or real fig here is
the woman's parts; the "mulberry- fig," the anus. Martial (i. 65) makes the
following distinction:—
Dicemus ficus, quas scimus in arbore nasci,
Dicemus ficos, Caeciliane, tuos.
And Modern Italian preserves a difference between fico and fica.
[FN#340] Arab. "Ghániyat Azárá" (plur. of Azrá = virgin): the former is
properly a woman who despises ornaments and relies on "beauty unadorned" (i.e.
in bed).
[FN#341] "Nihil usitatius apud monachos, cardinales, sacrificulos," says
Johannes de la Casa Beneventius Episcopus, quoted by Burton Anat. of Mel. lib.
iii. Sect. 2; and the famous epitaph on the Jesuit,
Ci-git un Jesuite:
Passant, serre les fesses et passe vite!
[FN#342] Arab. "Kiblah"=the fronting-place of prayer, Meccah for Moslems,
Jerusalem for Jews and early Christians. See Pilgrimage (ii. 321) for the
Moslem change from Jerusalem to Meccah and ibid. (ii. 213) for the way in which
the direction was shown.
[FN#343] The Koran says (chaps. ii.): "Your wives are your tillage: go in
therefore unto your tillage in what manner so ever ye will." Usually this is
understood as meaning in any posture, standing or sitting, lying, backwards or
forwards. Yet there is a popular saying about the man whom the woman rides
(vulg. St. George, in France, le Postillon); "Cursed be who maketh woman Heaven
and himself earth!" Some hold the Koranic passage to have been revealed in
confutation of the Jews, who pretended that if a man lay with his wife
backwards, he would beget a cleverer child. Others again understand it of
preposterous venery, which is absurd: every ancient law-giver framed his code
to increase the true wealth of the people—population—and severely punished all
processes, like onanism, which impeded it. The Persians utilise the hatred of
women for such misuse when they would force a wive to demand a divorce and thus
forfeit her claim to Mahr (dowry); they convert them into catamites till, after
a month or so, they lose all patience and leave the house.
[FN#344] Koran lit 9: "He will be turned aside from the Faith (or Truth) who
shall be turned aside by the Divine decree;" alluding, in the text, to the
preposterous venery her lover demands.
[FN#345] Arab. "Futúh" meaning openings, and also victories, benefits. The
lover congratulates her on her mortifying self in order to please him.
[FN#346] "And the righteous work will be exalt": (Koran xxxv. 11) applied
ironically.
[FN#347] A prolepsis of Tommy Moore:—
Your mother says, my little Venus,
There's something not quite right between us,
And you're in fault as much as I,
Now, on my soul, my little Venus,
I swear 'twould not be right between us,
To let your mother tell a lie.
But the Arab is more moral than Mr. Little. as he purposes to repent.
[FN#348] Arab. "Khunsa" flexible or flaccid, from Khans=bending inwards, i.e.
the mouth of a water-skin before drinking. Like Mukhannas, it is also used for
an effeminate man, a passive sodomite and even for a eunuch. Easterns still
believe in what Westerns know to be an impossibility, human beings with the
parts and proportions of both sexes equally developed and capable of
reproduction; and Al-Islam even provides special rules for them (Pilgrimage
iii. 237). We hold them to be Buffon's fourth class of (duplicate) monsters
belonging essentially to one or the other sex, and related to its opposite only
by some few characteristics. The old Greeks dreamed, after their fashion, a
beautiful poetic dream of a human animal uniting the contradictory beauties of
man and woman. The duality of the generative organs seems an old Egyptian
tradition, at least we find it in Genesis (i. 27) where the image of the Deity
is created male and female, before man was formed out of the dust of the ground
(ii. 7). The old tradition found its way to India (if the Hindus did not borrow
the idea from the Greeks); and one of the forms of Mahadeva, the third person
of their triad, is entitled "Ardhanárí"=the Half-woman, which has suggested to
them some charming pictures. Europeans, seeing the left breast conspicuously
feminine, have indulged in silly surmises about the "Amazons."
[FN#349] This is a mere phrase for our "dying of laughter": the queen was on
her back. And as Easterns sit on carpets, their falling back is very different
from the same movement off a chair.
[FN#350] Arab. "Ismid," the eye-powder before noticed.
[FN#351] When the Caliph (e.g. Al-Tá'i li'llah) bound a banner to a spear and
handed it to an officer, he thereby appointed him Sultan or Viceregent.
[FN#352] Arab. "Sháib al-ingház"=lit. a gray beard who shakes head in
disapproval.
[FN#353] Arab. "Ayát" = the Hebr. "Ototh," signs, wonders or
Koranic verses.
[FN#354] The Chapter "Al-Ikhlás" i.e. clearing (oneself from any faith but that
of Unity) is No. cxii. and runs thus:—
Say, He is the One God!
The sempiternal God,
He begetteth not, nor is He begot,
And unto Him the like is not.
It is held to be equal in value to one-third of the Koran, and is daily used in
prayer. Mr. Rodwell makes it the tenth.
[FN#355] The Lady Budur shows her noble blood by not objecting to her friend
becoming her Zarrat (sister-wife). This word is popularly derived from
"Zarar"=injury; and is vulgarly pronounced in Egypt "Durrah" sounding like
Durrah = a parrot (see Burckhardt's mistake in Prov. 314). The native proverb
says, "Ayshat al-durrah murrah," the sister-wife hath a bitter life. We have no
English equivalent; so I translate indifferently co-wife, co-consort,
sister-wife or sister in wedlock.
[FN#356] Lane preserves the article "El-Amjad" and "El-As'ad;" which is as
necessary as to say "the John" or "the James," because neo-Latins have "il
Giovanni" or "il Giacomo." In this matter of the article, however, it is
impossible to lay down a universal rule: in some cases it must be preserved and
only practice in the language can teach its use. For instance, it is always
present in Al-Bahrayn and al-Yaman; but not necessarily so with Irak and Najd.
[FN#357] It is hard to say why this ugly episode was introduced.
It is a mere false note in a tune pretty enough.
[FN#358] The significance of this action will presently appear.
[FN#359] An "Hadís."
[FN#360] Arab. "Sabb" = using the lowest language of abuse. chiefly concerning
women-relatives and their reproductive parts.
[FN#361] The reader will note in the narration concerning the two Queens the
parallelism of the Arab's style which recalls that of the Hebrew poets. Strings
of black silk are plaited into the long locks (an "idiot-fringe" being worn
over the brow) because a woman is cursed "who joineth her own hair to the hair
of another" (especially human hair). Sending the bands is a sign of
affectionate submission; and, in extremes" cases the hair itself is sent.
[FN#362] i.e., suffer similar pain at the spectacle, a phrase often occurring.
[FN#363] i.e., when the eye sees not, the heart grieves not.
[FN#364] i.e., unto Him we shall return, a sentence recurring in almost every
longer chapter of the Koran.
[FN#365] Arab. "Kun," the creative Word (which, by the by, proves the Koran to
be an uncreated Logos); the full sentence being "Kun fa kána" = Be! and it
became. The origin is evidently, "And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light" (Gen. i. 3); a line grand in its simplicity and evidently borrowed
from the Egyptians, even as Yahveh (Jehovah) from "Ankh"=He who lives (Brugsch
Hist. ii. 34).
[FN#366] i.e. but also for the life and the so-called "soul."
[FN#367] Arab. "Layáli"=lit. nights which, I have said, is often applied to the
whole twenty-four hours. Here it is used in the sense of "fortune" or "fate ;"
like "days" and "days and nights."
[FN#368] Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr a nephew of Ayishah, who had rebuilt the
Ka'abah in A.H. 64 (A.D. 683), revolted (A.D. 680) against Yezid and was
proclaimed Caliph at Meccah. He was afterwards killed (A.D. 692) by the famous
or infamous Hajjáj general of Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, the fifth Ommiade,
surnamed "Sweat of a stone" (skin-flint) and "Father of Flies," from his foul
breath. See my Pilgrimage, etc. (iii. 192-194), where are explained the
allusions to the Ka'abah and the holy Black Stone.
[FN#369] These lines are part of an elegy on the downfall of one of the Moslem
dynasties in Spain, composed in the twelfth century by Ibn Abdun al-Andalúsi.
The allusion is to the famous conspiracy of the Khárijites (the first
sectarians in Mohammedanism) to kill Ah, Mu'awiyah and Amru (so written but
pronounced "Amr") al-As, in order to abate intestine feuds m Al-Islam. Ali was
slain with a sword-cut by Ibn Muljam a name ever damnable amongst the Persians;
Mu'awiyah escaped with a wound and Kharijah, the Chief of Police at Fustat or
old Cairo was murdered by mistake for Amru. After this the sectarian wars
began.
[FN#370] Arab. "Saráb"= (Koran, chaps. xxiv.) the reek of the Desert, before
explained. It is called "Lama," the shine, the loom, in Al-Hariri. The world is
compared with the mirage, the painted eye and the sword that breaks in the
sworder's hand.
[FN#371] Arab. "Dunyá," with the common alliteration "dániyah" (=Pers. "dún"),
in prose as well as poetry means the things or fortune of this life opp. to
"Akhirah"=future life.
[FN#372] Arab. "Walgh," a strong expression primarily denoting the lapping of
dogs; here and elsewhere "to swill, saufen."
[FN#373] The lines are repeated from Night ccxxi. I give Lane's version (ii.
162) by way of contrast and—warning.
[FN#374] "Sáhirah" is the place where human souls will be gathered on Doom-day:
some understand by it the Hell Sa'ír (No. iv.) intended for the Sabians or the
Devils generally.
[FN#375] His eyes are faded like Jacob's which, after weeping for Joseph,
"became white with mourning" (Koran, chaps. xxi.). It is a stock comparison.
[FN#376] The grave.
[FN#377] Arab. "Sawwán" (popularly pronounced Suwán) ="Syenite" from Syrene;
generally applied to silex, granite or any hard stone.
[FN#378] A proceeding fit only for thieves and paupers: "Alpinism" was then
unknown. "You come from the mountain" (al-Jabal) means, "You are a
clod-hopper"; and "I will sit upon the mountain"=turn anchorite or magician.
(Pilgrimage i. 106.)
[FN#379] Corresponding with wayside chapels in Catholic countries. The Moslem
form would be either a wall with a prayer niche (Mibráb) fronting Meccah-wards
or a small domed room. These little oratories are often found near fountains,
streams or tree-clumps where travellers would be likely to alight. I have
described one in Sind ("Scinde or the Unhappy Valley" i. 79), and have noted
that scrawling on the walls is even more common in the East than in the West;
witness the monuments of old Egypt bescribbled by the Greeks and Romans. Even
the paws of the Sphinx are covered with such graffiti; and those of Ipsambul or
Abu Símbal have proved treasures to epigraphists.
[FN#380] In tales this characterises a Persian; and Hero Rustam is always so
pictured.
[FN#381] The Parsis, who are the representatives of the old Guebres, turn
towards the sun and the fire as their Kiblah or point of prayer; all deny that
they worship it. But, as in the case of saints' images, while the educated
would pray before them for edification (Labia) the ignorant would adore them
(Dulia); and would make scanty difference between the "reverence of a servant"
and the "reverence of a slave." The human sacrifice was quite contrary to
Guebre, although not to Hindu, custom; although hate and vengeance might prompt
an occasional murder.
[FN#382] These oubliettes are common in old eastern houses as in the medieval
Castles of Europe, and many a stranger has met his death in them. They are
often so well concealed that even the modern inmates are not aware of their
existence.
[FN#383] Arab. "Bakk"; hence our "bug" whose derivation (like that of "cat"
"dog" and "hog") is apparently unknown to the dictionaries, always excepting M.
Littré's.
[FN#384] i.e. thy beauty is ever increasing.
[FN#385] Alluding, as usual, to the eye-lashes, e.g.
An eyelash arrow from an eyebrow bow.
[FN#386] Lane (ii. 168) reads:—"The niggardly female is protected by her
niggardness;" a change of "Nahílah" (bee-hive) into "Bakhílah" (she skin
flint).
[FN#387] Koran iv. 38. The advantages are bodily strength, understanding and
the high privilege of Holy War. Thus far, and thus far only, woman amongst
Moslems is "lesser
[FN#388] Arab. "Amir Yákhúr," a corruption of "Akhor"=stable
(Persian).
[FN#389] A servile name in Persian, meaning "the brave," and a title of honour
at the Court of Delhi when following the name. Many English officers have made
themselves ridiculous (myself amongst the number) by having it engraved on
their seal-rings, e.g. Brown Sáhib Bahádur. To write the word "Behadir" or
"Bahádir" is to adopt the wretched Turkish corruption.
[FN#390] "Jerry Sneak" would be the English reader's comment; but in the East
all charges are laid upon women.
[FN#391] Here the formula means "I am sorry for it, but I couldn't help it."
[FN#392] A noble name of the Persian Kings (meaning the planet
Mars) corrupted in Europe to Varanes.
[FN#393] Arab. "Jalláb," one of the three muharramát or forbiddens, the Hárik
al-hajar (burner of stone) the Káti' al-shajar (cutter of trees, without
reference to Hawarden N. B.) and the Báyi' al-bashar (seller of men, vulg.
Jalláb). The two former worked, like the Italian Carbonari, in desert places
where they had especial opportunities for crime. (Pilgrimage iii. 140.) None of
these things must be practiced during Pilgrimage on the holy soil of
Al-Hijaz—not including Jeddah.
[FN#394] The verses contain the tenets of the Murjiy sect which attaches
infinite importance to faith and little or none to works. Sale (sect. viii.)
derives his "Morgians" from the "Jabrians" (Jabari), who are the direct
opponents of the "Kadarians" (Kadari), denying free will and free agency to man
and ascribing his actions wholly to Allah. Lane (ii. 243) gives the orthodox
answer to the heretical question:—
Water could wet him not if God please guard His own; *
Nor need man care though bound of hands in sea he's thrown:
But if His Lord decree that he in sea be drowned; *
He'll drown albeit in the wild and wold he wone.
It is the old quarrel between Predestination and Freewill which cannot be
solved except by assuming a Law without a Lawgiver.
[FN#395] Our proverb says: Give a man luck and throw him into the sea.
[FN#396] As a rule Easterns, I repeat, cover head and face when sleeping
especially in the open air and moonlight. Europeans find the practice
difficult, and can learn it only by long habit.
[FN#397] Pers. = a flower-garden. In Galland, Bahram has two daughters, Bostama
and Cavam a. In the Bres. Edit. the daughter is "Bostan" and the slave-girl
"Kawám."
[FN#398] Arab. "Kahíl"=eyes which look as if darkened with antimony: hence the
name of the noble Arab breed of horses "Kuhaylat" (Al-Ajuz, etc.).
[FN#399] "As'ad"=more (or most) fortunate.
[FN#400] This is the vulgar belief, although Mohammed expressly disclaimed the
power in the Koran (chaps. xiii. 8), "Thou art commissioned to be a preacher
only and not a worker of miracles." "Signs" (Arab. Ayát) may here also mean
verses of the Koran, which the Apostle of Allah held to be his standing
miracles. He despised the common miracula which in the East are of everyday
occurrence and are held to be easy for any holy man. Hume does not believe in
miracles because he never saw one. Had he travelled in the East he would have
seen (and heard of) so many that his scepticism (more likely that testimony
should be false than miracles be true) would have been based on a firmer
foundation. It is one of the marvels of our age that whilst two-thirds of
Christendom (the Catholics and the "Orthodox" Greeks) believe in "miracles"
occurring not only in ancient but even in our present days, the influential and
intelligent third (Protestant) absolutely "denies the fact."
[FN#401] Arab. "Al-Shahádatáni"; testifying the Unity and the
Apostleship.