One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Twice be the message to my love made known, And take the answer

  from his lips alone.

  To thee, O monarch of the fair, I come And stand, of this my case

  to make my moan.

  O thou my sovereign, dear my heart and life, That in my inmost

  bosom hast thy throne,

  Prithee, bestow a kiss upon thy slave; If not as gift, then even

  as a loan.

  I will repay it, (mayst thou never fail!) Even as I took it, not

  a little gone.

  Or, if thou wish for more than thou didst lend, Take and content

  thee; it is all thine own.

  May health’s fair garment ever gladden thee, Thee that o’er me

  the wede of woe hast thrown!

  Her singing charmed Ali ben Bekkar, and he said to her, ‘Sing me more of the like of these verses.’ So she struck the strings and sang as follows:

  By excess of estrangement, beloved mine, Thou hast taught long

  weeping unto my eyne.

  O joy of my sight and its desire, O goal of my hopes, my

  worship’s shrine,

  Have pity on one, whose eyes are drowned In the sorrowful lover’s

  tears of brine!

  When she had finished, Shemsennehar said to another damsel, ‘Sing us somewhat, thou.’ So she played a lively measure and sang the following verses:

  His looks ’twas made me drunken, in sooth, and not his wine; And

  the grace of his gait has banished sleep from these eyes of

  mine.

  ’Twas not the wine-cup dazed me, but e’en his glossy curls; His

  charms it was that raised me and not the juice o’ the vine.

  His winding browlocks have routed my patience, and my wit Is done

  away by the beauties his garments do enshrine.

  When Shemsennehar heard this, she sighed heavily, and the song pleased her. Then she bade another damsel sing; so she took the lute and chanted the following:

  A face that vies, indeed, with heaven’s lamp, the sun; The

  welling of youth’s springs upon him scarce begun.

  His curling whiskers write letters wherein the sense Of love in

  the extreme is writ for every one.

  Beauty proclaimed of him, whenas with him it met, “A stuff in

  God’s best loom was fashioned forth and done!”

  When she had finished, Ali Ben Bekkar. said to the damsel nearest him, ‘Sing us somewhat, thou.’ So she took the lute and sang these verses:

  The time of union’s all too slight For coquetry and prudish

  flight.

  Not thus the noble are. How long This deadly distance and

  despite?

  Ah, profit by the auspicious time, To sip the sweets of

  love-delight.

  Ali ben Bekkar followed up her song with plentiful tears; and when Shemsennehar saw him weeping and groaning and lamenting, she burned with love-longing and desire and passion and transport consumed her. So she rose from the couch and came to the door of the alcove, where Ali met her and they embraced and fell down a-swoon in the doorway; whereupon the damsels came to them and carrying them into the alcove, sprinkled rose-water upon them. When they revived, they missed Aboulhusn, who had hidden himself behind a couch, and the young lady said, ‘Where is Aboulhusn?’ So he showed himself to her from beside the couch, and she saluted him, saying, ‘I pray God to give me the means of requiting thee thy kindness!’ Then she turned to Ali ben Bekkar and said to him, ‘O my lord, passion has not reached this pass with thee, without doing the like with me; but there is nothing for it but to bear patiently what hath befallen us.’ ‘By Allah, O my lady,’ rejoined he, ‘converse with thee may not content me nor gazing upon thee assuage the fire of my heart, nor will the love of thee, that hath mastered my soul, leave me, but with the passing away of my life.’ So saying, he wept and the tears ran down upon his cheeks, like unstrung pearls. When Shemsennehar saw him weep, she wept for his weeping; and Aboulhusn exclaimed, ‘By Allah, I wonder at your plight and am confounded at your behaviour; of a truth, your affair is amazing and your case marvellous. If ye weep thus, what while ye are yet together, how will it be when ye are parted? Indeed, this is no time for weeping and wailing, but for foregathering and gladness; rejoice, therefore, and make merry and weep no more.’ Then Shemsennehar signed to a damsel, who went out and returned with handmaids bearing a table, whereon were silver dishes, full of all manner rich meats. They set the table before them, and Shemsennehar began to eat and to feed Ali ben Bekkar, till they were satisfied, when the table was removed and they washed their hands. Presently the waiting-women brought censors and casting bottles and sprinkled them with rose-water and incensed them with aloes and ambergris and other perfumes; after which they set on dishes of graven gold, containing all manner of sherbets, besides fruits and confections, all that the heart can desire or the eye delight in, and one brought a flagon of carnelian, full of wine. Then Shemsennehar chose out ten handmaids and ten singing-women to attend on them and dismissing the rest to their apartments, bade some of those who remained smite the lute. They did as she bade them and one of them sang the following verses:

  My soul be a ransom for him who returned my salute with a smile

  And revived in my breast the longing for union after

  despair!

  The hands of passion have brought my secret thoughts to the light

  And that which is in my bosom unto my censors laid bare.

  The very tears of my eyes press betwixt me and him, As though

  they, even as I, enamoured of him were.

  When she had finished, Shemsennehar rose and filling a. cup, drank it off, then filled it again and gave it to Ali ben Bekkar; after which she bade another damsel sing; and she sang the following verses:

  My tears, as they flow, are alike to my wine, as I brim it up!

  For my eyes pour forth of their lids the like of what froths

  in my cup.

  By Allah, I know not, for sure, whether my eyelids it is Run over

  with wine or else of my tears it is that I sup!

  Then Ali ben Bekkar drank off his cup and returned it to Shemsennehar. She filled it again and gave it to Aboulhusn, who drank it off. Then she took the lute, saying, ‘None shall sing over my cup but myself.’ So she tuned the strings and sang these verses:

  The hurrying tears upon his cheeks course down from either eye’

  For very passion, and love’s fires within his heart flame

  high.

  He weeps whilst near to those he loves, for fear lest they

  depart: So, whether near or far they be, his tears are never

  dry.

  And again:

  Our lives for thee, O cupbearer, O thou whom beauty’s self From

  the bright parting of thy hair doth to the feet army!

  The full moon from thy collar-folds rises, the

  Pleiades Shine from thy mouth and in thine hands there

  beams the sun of day.

  I trow, the goblets wherewithal thou mak’st us drunk are those

  Thou pourest to us from thine eyes, that lead the wit

  astray.

  Is it no wonder that thou art a moon for ever full And that thy

  lovers ’tis, not thou, that wane and waste away?

  Art thou a god, that thou, indeed, by favouring whom thou wilt

  And slighting others, canst at once bring back to life and

  slay?

  GCod moulded beauty from thy form and eke perfumed the breeze With

  the sheer sweetness of the scent that cleaves to thee alway.

  None of the people of this world, an angel sure thou art, Whom

  thy Creator hath sent down, to hearten our dismay.

  When Ali and Aboulhusn and the bystanders heard Shemsennehar’s song, they were transported and laughed and sported; but while they were thus engaged, up came a damsel, trembling for fear, and said, ‘O my lady,
Afif and Mesrour and Merjan and others of the Commander of the Faithful’s eunuchs, whom I know not, are at the door.’ When they heard this they were like to die of fright, but Shemsennehar laughed and said, ‘Have no fear.’ Then said she to the damsel, ‘Hold them in parley, whilst we remove hence.’ And she caused shut the doors of the alcove upon Ali and Aboulhusn and drew the curtains over them; after which she shut the door of the saloon and went out by the privy gate into the garden, where she seated herself on a couch she had there and bade one of the damsels rub her feet. Then she dismissed the rest of her women and bade the portress admit those who were at the door; whereupon Mesrour entered, he and his company, twenty men with drawn swords, and saluted her. Quoth she, ‘Wherefore come-ye?’ And they answered, ‘The Commander of the Faithful salutes thee. He wearies for thy sight and would have thee to know that this with him is a day of great joy and gladness and he is minded to seal his gladness with thy present company: wilt thou then go to him or shall he come to thee?’ At this she rose, and kissing the earth, said, ‘I hear and obey the commandment of the Commander of the Faithful.’ Then she summoned the chief (female) officers of her household and other damsels and made a show of complying with the Khalif’s orders and commanding them to make preparations for his reception, albeit all was in readiness; and she said to the eunuchs, ‘Go to the Commander of the Faithful and tell him that I await him after a little space, that I may make ready for him a place with carpets and so forth.’ So they returned in haste to the Khalif, whilst Shemsennehar, doffing her (outer) clothing, repaired to her beloved Ali ben Bekkar and strained him to her bosom and bade him farewell, whereat he wept sore and said, ‘O my lady, this leave-taking will lead to the ruin of my soul and the loss of my life; but I pray God to grant me patience to bear this my love, wherewith He hath smitten me!’ ‘By Allah, answered she, ‘none will suffer perdition but I; for thou wilt go out to the market and company with those that will divert thee, and thine honour will be in safety and thy passion concealed; whilst I shall fall into trouble and weariness nor find any to console me, more by token that I have given the Khalif a rendezvous, wherein haply great peril shall betide me, by reason of my love and longing passion for thee and my grief at being parted from thee. For with what voice shall I sing and with what heart shall I present me before the Khalif and with what speech shall I entertain the Commander of the Faithful and with what eyes shall I look upon a place where thou art not and take part in a banquet at which thou art not present and with what taste shall I drink wine of which thou partakest not?’ ‘Be not troubled,’ said Aboulhusn ‘but take patience and be not remiss in entertaining the Commander of the Faithful this night, neither show him any neglect, but be of good courage.’ At this juncture, up came a damsel, who said to Shemsennehar, ‘O my lady, the Khalif’s pages are come.’ So she rose to her feet and said to the maid, ‘Take Aboulhusn and his friend and carry them to the upper gallery giving upon the garden and there leave them, till it be dark; when do thou make shift to carry them forth.’ Accordingly, the girl carried them up to the gallery and locking the door upon them, went away. As they sat looking on the garden, the Khalif appeared, preceded by near a hundred eunuchs with drawn swords and compassed about with a score of damsels, as they were moons, holding each a lighted flambeau. They were clad in the richest of raiment and on each one’s head was a crown set with diamonds and rubies. The Khalif walked in their midst with a majestic gait, whilst Mesrour and Afif and Wesif went before him and Shemsennehar and all her damsels rose to receive him and meeting him at the garden door, kissed the earth before him; nor did they cease to go before him, till they brought him to the couch, whereon he sat down, whilst all the waiting-women and eunuchs stood before him and there came fair maids and slave-girls with lighted flambeaux and perfumes and essences and instruments of music. Then he bade the singers sit down, each in her room, and Shemsennehar came up and seating herself on a stool by the Khalif’s side, began to converse with him, whilst Ali and the jeweller looked on and listened, unseen of the prince. The Khalif fell to jesting and toying with Shemsennehar and bade throw open the (garden) pavilion. So they opened the doors and windows and lighted the flambeaux till the place shone in the season of darkness even as the day. The eunuchs removed thither the wine-service and (quoth Aboulhusn), ‘I saw drinking-vessels and rarities, whose like mine eyes never beheld, vases of gold and silver and all manner precious stones and jewels, such as beggar description, till indeed meseemed I was dreaming, for excess of amazement at what I saw!’ But as for Ali ben Bekkar, from the moment Shemsennehar left him, he lay prostrate on the ground for excess of passion and desire and when he revived, he fell to gazing upon these things that had not their like, and saying to Aboulhusn, ‘O my brother, I fear lest the Khalif see us or come to know of us; but the most of my fear is for thee. For myself, I know that I am surely lost past recourse, and the cause of my destruction is nought but excess of passion and love-longing and desire and separation from my beloved, after union with her; but I beseech God to deliver us from this predicament.’ Then they continued to look on, till the banquet was spread before the Khalif, when he turned to one of the damsels and said to her, ‘O Gheram, let us hear some of thine enchanting songs.’ So she tool: the lute and tuning it, sang as follows:

  The longing of a Bedouin maid, whose folk are far away, Who

  yearns after the willow of the Hejaz and the bay, —

  Whose tears, when she on travellers lights, might for their water

  serve And eke her passion, with its heat, their bivouac-fire

  purvey, —

  Is not more fierce nor ardent than my longing for my love, Who

  deem: that I commit a crime in loving him alway.

  When Shemsennehar heard this, she slipped off the stool on which she sat and fell to the earth insensible; where upon the damsels came and lifted her up. When Ali ben Bekkar saw this from the gallery, he also fell down senseless, and Aboulhusn said, ‘Verily Fate hath apportioned passion equally between you!’ As he spoke, in came the damsel who had brought them thither and said to him, ‘O Aboulhusn, arise and come down, thou and thy friend, for of a truth the world is grown strait upon us and I fear lest our case be discovered or the Khalif become aware of you: so, except you descend at once, we are dead folk. ‘How shall this youth descend,’ replied he, ‘seeing that he hath not strength to rise?’ With this she fell to sprinkling rose-water on Ali ben Bekkar, till he came to himself, when Aboulhusn lifted him up and the damsel stayed him. So they went down from the gallery and walked on awhile, till they came to a little iron door, which the damsel opened, and they found themselves on the Tigris’ bank. Here they sat down on a stone bench, whilst the girl clapped her hands and there came up a man with a little boat, to whom said she, ‘Carry these two young men to the other bank.’ So they all three entered the boat and the man put off with them; and as they launched out into the stream, Ali ben Bekkar looked back towards the Khalif’s palace and the pavilion and the garden and bade them farewell with these verses:

  I stretch forth a feeble hand to bid farewell to thee, With the

  other upon my burning breast, beneath the heart of me.

  But be not this the last of the love betwixt us twain And let not

  this the last of my soul’s refreshment be.

  The damsel said to the boatman, ‘Make haste with them.’ So he plied his oars swiftly till they reached the opposite bank, where they landed, and she took lease of them, saying, ‘It were my wish not to leave you, but I can go no farther than this.’ Then she turned back, whilst Ali ben Bekkar lay on the ground before Aboulhusn and could not rise, till the latter said to him, ‘This place is not sure and I am in fear of our lives, by reason of the thieves and highwaymen and men of lawlessness.’ With this Ali arose and essayed to walk a little, but could not. Now Aboulhusn had friends in that quarter, so he made for the house of one of them, in whom he trusted and who was of his intimates, and knocked at the door. The man came out quickly and seeing them, b
ade them welcome and brought them into his house, where he made them sit down and talked with them and asked them whence they came. Quoth Aboulhusn ‘We came out but now, being moved thereto by a man with whom I had dealings and who hath in his hands monies of mine. It was told me that he was minded to flee into foreign countries with my money; so I came out to-night in quest of him, taking with me this my friend Ali ben Bekkar for company but he hid from us and we could get no speech of him So we turned back, empty-handed, and knew not whither to go, for it were irksome to us to return home at this hour of the night; wherefore we came to thee, knowing thy wonted courtesy and kindness.’ ‘Ye are right welcome,’ answered the host, and studied to do them honour. They abode with him the rest of the night, and as soon as it was day, they left him and made their way back to the city. When they came to Aboulhusn’s house, the latter conjured his friend to enter; so they went in and lying down on the bed, slept awhile. When they awoke, Aboulhusn bade his servants spread the house with rich carpets saying in himself, ‘Needs must I divert this youth and distract him from thoughts of his affliction, for I know his case better than another.’ Then he called for water for Ali ben Bekkar, and the latter rose and making his ablutions, prayed the obligatory prayers that he had omitted for the past day and night; after which he sat down and began to solace himself with talk with his friend. When Aboulhusn saw this, he turned to him and said, ‘O my lord, it were better for thy case that thou abide with me this night, so thy heart may be lightened and the anguish of love-longing that is upon thee be dispelled and thou make merry with us and haply the fire of thy heart be allayed.’ ‘O my brother,’ answered Ali, ‘do what seemeth good to thee; for I may not anywise escape from what hath befallen me.’ Accordingly, Aboulhusn arose and bade his servants summon some of the choicest of his friends and sent for singers and musicians. Meanwhile he made ready meat and drink for them, and they came and sat eating and drinking and making merry till nightfall Then they lit the candles, and the cups of friendship and good fellowship went round amongst them, and the time passed pleasantly with them. Presently, a singing-woman took the lute and sang the following verses: