One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  His name was King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and he had two Viziers, one called Muin ben Sawa and the other Fezl ben Khacan. Fezl was the most generous man of his time; noble and upright of life, all hearts concurred in loving him, and the wise complied with his counsel, whilst all the people wished him long life; for that he was a compend of good qualities, encouraging good and preventing evil and mischief. The Vizier Muin, on the contrary, was a hater of mankind and loved not good, being indeed altogether evil; even as says of him the poet:

  Look thou consort with the generous, sons of the gen’rous; for

  lo! The generous, sons of the gen’rous, beget the gen’rous,

  I trow.

  And let the mean-minded men, sons of the mean-minded, go, For the

  mean-minded, sons of the mean, beget none other than so.

  And as much as the people loved Fezl, so much did they hate Muin. It befell one day, that the King, being seated on his throne, with his officers of state about him, called his Vizier Fezl and said to him, ‘I wish to have a slave-girl of unsurpassed beauty, perfect in grace and symmetry and endowed with all praiseworthy qualities.’ Said the courtiers, ‘Such a girl is not to be had for less than ten thousand dinars!’ whereupon the King cried out to his treasurer and bade him carry ten thousand dinars to Fezl’s house. The treasurer did so, and the Vizier went away, after the King had charged him to go to the market every day and employ brokers and had given orders that no girl worth more than a thousand dinars should be sold, without being first shown to the Vizier. Accordingly, the brokers brought him all the girls that came into their hands, but none pleased him, till one day a broker came to his house and found him mounting his horse, to go to the palace; so he caught hold of his stirrup and repeated the following verses:

  O thou whose bounties have restored the uses of the state, O

  Vizier helped of heaven, whose acts are ever fortunate!

  Thou hast revived the virtues all were dead among the folk. May

  God’s acceptance evermore on thine endeavours wait!

  Then said he, ‘O my lord, she for whom the august mandate was issued is here.’ ‘Bring her to me,’ replied the Vizier. So he went away and returned in a little with a damsel of elegant shape, swelling-breasted, with melting black eyes and smooth cheeks, slender-waisted and heavy-hipped, clad in the richest of clothes. The dew of her lips was sweeter than syrup, her shape more symmetrical than the bending branch and her speech softer than the morning zephyr, even as says one of those who have described her:

  A wonder of beauty! Her face full moon of the palace sky; Of a

  tribe of gazelles and wild cows the dearest and most high!

  The Lord of the empyrean hath given her pride and state,

  Elegance, charm and a shape that with the branch may vie;

  She hath in the heaven of her face a cluster of seven stars, That

  keep the ward of her cheek to guard it from every spy.

  So if one think to steal a look, the imps of her glance Consume

  him straight with a star, that shoots from her gleaming eye.

  When the Vizier saw her she pleased him exceedingly, so he turned to the broker and said to him, ‘What is the price of this damsel?’ ‘Her price is ten thousand dinars,’ replied he, ‘and her owner swears that this sum will not cover the cost of the chickens she hath eaten, the wine she hath drunk and the dresses of honour bestowed on her teachers; for she hath learnt penmanship and grammar and lexicology and the exposition of the Koran and the rudiments of law and theology, medicine and the calendar, as well as the art of playing on instruments of music.’ Then said the Vizier, ‘Bring me her master.’ So the broker brought him at once, and behold, he was a foreigner, who had lived so long that time had worn him to bones and skin. Quoth the Vizier to him, ‘Art thou content to sell this damsel to the Sultan for ten thousand dinars?’ ‘By Allah,’ replied the merchant, ‘if I made him a present of her, it were but my duty!’ So the Vizier sent for the money and gave it to the slave-dealer, who said, ‘By the leave of our lord the Vizier, I have something to say.’ ‘Speak,’ said the Vizier: and the slave-dealer said, ‘If thou wilt be ruled by me, thou wilt not carry the damsel to the King to-day, for she is newly off a journey; the change of air has affected her and the journey has fretted her. But let her abide in thy palace ten days, that she may recover her good looks. Then send her to the bath and dress her in the richest of clothes and go up with her to the Sultan, and this will be more to thy profit.’ The Vizier considered the man’s advice and approved it; so he took her to his palace, where he appointed her a separate lodging and a daily allowance of meat and drink and so forth, and she abode thus awhile.

  Now the Vizier Fezl had a son like the rising full moon, with shining visage, red cheeks covered with a tender down and a mole like a grain of ambergris; as says of him the poet and therein errs not:

  A moon, whose glances slay the folk, on whom he turns his

  eye; A branch, whose graces break all hearts, as he goes

  stately by

  Slack as the night his browlocks are, his face the hue of gold;

  Fair is his person, and his shape the spear-shaft doth

  outvie.

  Ah me, how hard his heart, how soft and slender is his waist! Why

  is the softness not transferred from this to that, ah why?

  Were but the softness of his sides made over to his heart, He’d

  ne’er to lovers be unjust nor leave them thus to sigh.

  O thou that blam’st my love of thee, excuse me rather thou, Nor

  chide me, if my body pine for languor like to die.

  The fault, indeed, lies not with me, but with my heart and eye;

  So chide me not, but let me be in this my misery.

  Now he knew not the affair of the damsel, and his father had lessoned her, saying, ‘Know, O my daughter, that I have bought thee for the bed of the King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and I have a son who leaves no girl in the quarter but he has to do with her; so be on thy guard against him and beware of letting him see thy face or hear thy voice.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ replied she; and the Vizier left her and went away. Some days after this it chanced, as Fate would have it, that the damsel went to the bath in the house, where some of the serving-women washed her, after which she arrayed herself in rich apparel, and her beauty and grace redoubled. Then she went in to the Vizier’s wife and kissed her hand; and the lady said to her, ‘May it profit thee, O Enis el Jelis! How didst thou find the bath?’ ‘O my lady,’ answered she, ‘I lacked but thy presence there.’ Thereupon said the mistress to her waiting-women, ‘Come with me to the bath, for it is some days since I went thither.’ ‘We hear and obey,’ answered they; and rose and accompanied her to the bath, after Enis el Jelis had retired to her own chamber and the lady had set two little slave-girls to keep the door, charging them to let none go in to the damsel. Presently, as Enis el Jelis sat resting after the bath, in came the Vizier’s son, whose name was Noureddin Ali, and asked after his mother and her women, to which the two little slaves replied that they had gone to the bath. The damsel heard Noureddin’s voice and said to herself, ‘I wonder what like is this youth, of whom his father says that there is not a girl in the quarter but he has had to do with her. By Allah, I long to see him!’ So she rose, fresh as she was from the bath, and going to the door, looked at Noureddin and saw that he was like the moon at its full. The sight cost her a thousand sighs, and Noureddin, chancing to look that way, caught a glance of her that caused him also a thousand regrets, and each fell into the snare of the other’s love. Then he went up to the two little slaves and cried out at them, whereupon they fled before him and stood afar off to see what he would do. And behold, he went up to the door of the damsel’s chamber and entering, said to her, ‘Art thou she whom my father bought for me?’ ‘Yes,’ answered she: whereupon Noureddin, who was heated with wine, went up to her and embraced her, whilst she wreathed her arms about his neck and met him with kisses and si
ghs and amorous gestures. Then he sucked her tongue and she his, and he did away her maidenhead. When the two little slaves saw their young master go in to the damsel, they cried out and shrieked. So, as soon as he had done his desire, he rose and fled, fearing the issue of his conduct. When the Vizier’s wife heard the slaves’ cries, she sprang up and came out of the bath, with the sweat dripping from her, saying, ‘What is this clamour in the house?’ Then she came up to the two little slaves, and said to them, ‘Out on you! what is the matter?’ ‘Our lord Noureddin came in and beat us,’ answered they: ‘so we fled and he went in to the damsel and embraced her, and we know not what he did after this: but when we cried out to thee, he fled.’ Thereupon, the mistress went in to Enis el Jelis and enquired what had happened. ‘O my lady,’ answered she, ‘as I was sitting here, there came in a handsome young man, who said to me, “Art thou she whom my father bought for me?” I answered, “Yes;” (for by Allah, O my lady, I believed that he spoke the truth!) and with this he came up to me and embraced me.’ ‘Did he nought else with thee?’ asked the lady. ‘Yes,’ replied Enis el Jelis: ‘he took of me three kisses.’ ‘He did not leave thee without deflowering thee!’ cried the Vizier’s wife, and fell to weeping and buffeting her face, she and her women, fearing that Noureddin’s father would kill him. Whilst they were thus, in came the Vizier and asked what was the matter, and his wife said to him, ‘Swear that thou wilt hearken to what I say.’ ‘It is well,’ replied he. So she told him what his son had done, and he was greatly afflicted and tore his clothes and buffeted his face and plucked out his beard. ‘Do not kill thyself,’ said his wife: ‘I will give thee the ten thousand dinars, her price, of my own money.’ But he raised his head and said to her, ‘Out on thee! I have no need of her price, but I fear to lose both life and goods.’ ‘How so?’ asked his wife, and he said, ‘Dost thou not know that yonder is our enemy Muin ben Sawa, who, when he hears of this affair, will go up to the Sultan and say to him, “Thy Vizier, who thou wilt have it loves thee, had of thee ten thousand dinars and bought therewith a slave-girl, whose like was never seen; but when he saw her, she pleased him and he said to his son, ‘Take her: thou art worthier of her than the Sultan.’ So he took her and did away her maidenhead, and she is now with him.” The King will say, “Thou liest!” To which Muin will reply, “With thy leave, I will fall on him at unawares and bring her to thee.” The King will order him to do this, and he will come down upon the house and take the damsel and bring her before the King, who will question her and she will not be able to deny what has passed. Then Muin will say, “O my lord, thou knowest that I give thee true counsel, but I am not in favour with thee.” Thereupon the Sultan will make an example of me, and I shall be a gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost.’ Quoth his wife, ‘Tell none of this thing, which has happened privily, but commit thy case to God and trust in Him to deliver thee from this strait.’ With this the Vizier’s heart was set at rest, and his wrath and chagrin subsided.

  Meanwhile, Noureddin, fearing the issue of the affair, spent the whole day in the gardens and came back by night to his mother’s apartment, where he slept and rising before day, returned to the gardens. He lived thus for a whole month, not showing his face to his father, till at last his mother said to the Vizier, ‘O my lord, shall we lose our own son as well as the damsel? If things continue thus for long, the lad will flee forth from us.’ ‘What is to be done?’ said he: and she answered, ‘Do thou watch this night, and when he comes, seize on him and frighten him. I will rescue him from thee and do thou then make peace with him and give him the girl, for she loves him and he her; and I will pay thee her price.’ So the Vizier watched that night and when his son came, he seized him and throwing him down, knelt on his breast and made as if he would cut his throat; but his mother came to his succour and said to her husband, ‘What wilt thou do with him?’ Quoth he, ‘I mean to kill him.’ And Noureddin said to his father ‘Am I of so little account with thee?’ Whereupon the Vizier’s eyes filled with tears and he replied, ‘O my son, is the loss of my goods and my life of so little account in thine eyes?’ Quoth Noureddin, ‘Hear, O my father, what the poet says:

  Pardon me: true, I have sinned: yet the sagacious man Ceases

  never to pardon freely the erring wight.

  Surely, therefore, thy foe may hope for pardon from thee, Since

  he is in the abyss and thou on honour’s height!’

  Then the Vizier rose from off his breast, saying, ‘O my son, I forgive thee!’ for his heart was softened. Noureddin rose and kissed the hand of his father, who said to him, ‘If I knew that thou wouldst deal fairly by Enis el Jelis, I would give her to thee.’ ‘O my father,’ replied Noureddin, ‘how should I not deal fairly by her?’ Quoth the Vizier, ‘O my son, I charge thee not to take another wife nor concubine to share with her nor sell her.’ ‘O my father,’ answered Noureddin, ‘I swear to thee that I will do none of these things.’ Then he went in to the damsel and abode with her a whole year, whilst God caused the King to forget the affair. The matter, indeed, came to Muin’s ears, but he dared not speak of it, by reason of the favour in which the Vizier Fezl stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year, the Vizier Fezl went one day to the bath and coming out, whilst still in a sweat, the air smote him and he caught cold and took to his bed. His malady gained upon him and sleeplessness was long upon him; so he called his son Noureddin and said to him, ‘O my son, know that fortune is lotted out and the term of life fixed, and needs must every soul drain the cup of death.’ And he repeated the following verses:

  I’m dead: yet glory be to Him that dieth not; For that I needs

  must die, indeed, full well I wot,

  He is no king, who dies with kingship in his hand, For sovranty

  belongs to Him that dieth not.

  Then he continued, ‘O my son, I have no charge to lay on thee, except that thou fear God and look to the issue of thine actions and cherish the damsel Enis el Jelis.’ ‘O my father,’ said Noureddin, ‘who is like unto thee? Indeed thou art renowned for the practice of virtue and the praying of the preachers for thee in the pulpits.’ Quoth Fezl, ‘O my son, I hope for acceptance from God the Most High.’ Then he pronounced the two professions of the faith and was numbered among the blessed. The palace was filled with crying and lamentation, and the news of his death reached the King and the people of the city, and even the children in the schools wept for Fezi ben Khacan. Then his son Noureddin arose and took order for his funeral, and the Amirs and Viziers and grandees were present, amongst them the Vizier Muin ben Sawa; and as the funeral train came forth of the palace, one of the mourners recited the following verses:

  The fifth day I departed and left my friends alone: They laid me

  out and washed me upon a slab of stone;

  Then stripped me of the raiment that on my body was, That they

  might put upon me clothes other than my own

  On four men’s necks they bore me unto the place of prayer And

  prayed a prayer above me by no prostration known.

  Then in a vaulted dwelling they laid me. Though the years Shall

  waste, its door will never be open to them thrown.

  When they had laid him in the earth, Noureddin returned with the folk; and he lamented with groans and tears and the tongue of the case repeated the following verses:

  On the fifth day they departed in the eventide, and I Took of

  them the last leave-taking, when they went and left me here.

  When they turned away and left me, lo! the soul with them did go.

  And I said, “Return.” It answered, “Where, alas! should I

  recur;

  Shall I come back to a body whence the life and blood are flown?

  Nothing now but bones are left it, rattling in the

  sepulchre.

  Lo! my eyes, excess of weeping hath put out their sight, I trow,

  And a deafness eke is fallen on my ears: I cannot hear.”

  He abode a long w
hile in great grief for his father, till one day, as he sat in his house, there came a knocking at the door; so he rose and opening the door, found there a man who had been one of his father’s friends and boon-companions. He entered and kissing Noureddin’s hand, said to him, ‘O my lord, he who has left the like of thee is not dead; and to this pass (death) came even the lord of the first and the last. O my lord, take comfort and leave mourning!’ Thereupon Noureddin rose and going to the guest-chamber, transported thither all that he needed. Then his friends gathered together to him and he took his slave-girl again and collecting round him ten of the sons of the merchants, began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment after entertainment and dispensing gifts and favours with a lavish hand, till one day his steward came to him and said, ‘O my lord Noureddin, hast thou not heard the saying, “He who spends and does not reckon, becomes poor without knowing it?”’ And he repeated the following verses:

  I’ll hold my money fast, knowing, as well as I know, That ’tis my

  sword and shield against my every foe.

  If I should lavish it on those who love me not, My luck among the

  folk would change to grief and woe.

  So I will eat and drink my wealth for my own good Nor upon any

  man a single doit bestow.

  I will preserve with care my money from all those By nature base

  and true to none. ’Tis better so

  Than that I e’er should say unto the mean of soul, “Lend me so

  much I’ll pay to-morrow five-fold mo,”

  And see my friend avert his face and turn away, Leaving my soul

  cast down, as ‘twere a dog’s, I trow!

  O what a sorry lot is his, who hath no pelf, E’en though his

  virtues bright like to the sun should show!

  ‘O my lord,’ continued the steward, ‘this lavish expense and prodigal giving waste away wealth.’ When Noureddin heard his steward’s words, he looked at him and said, ‘I will not hearken to one word of all thou hast said, for I have heard the following saying of the poet: