One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Eight elements of high renown are all comprised in thee; By them

  may Fortune never cease thy bounder slave to be!

  Munificence and knowledge sure, glory and piety, Fair fluent

  speech and eloquence and might and victory.

  When the King saw him, he made him sit down by his side and said to him, ‘By Allah, O my son, an thou be not an astrologer, venture not thy life nor submit thyself to my condition; for I have bound myself to strike off the head of whoso goeth in to my daughter and healeth her not of her disorder; but him who healeth her I will marry to her. So let not thy beauty and grace delude thee; for, by Allah, if thou cure her not, I will assuredly cut off thy head!’ ‘I knew of this condition before I came hither,’ answered Kemerezzeman, ‘and am ready to abide by it.’ Then King Ghaïour took the Cadis to witness against him and delivered him to an eunuch, saying, ‘Carry this fellow to the lady Budour.’ So the eunuch took him by the hand and led him along the gallery; but Kemerezzeman out-went him and pushed on before, whilst the eunuch ran after him, saying, ‘Out on thee! Hasten not to destroy thyself. By Allah, never yet saw I astrologer so eager for his own destruction: thou knowest not the calamities that await thee.’ But Kemerezzeman turned away his face and repeated the following verses:

  A learnéd man, I’m ignorant before thy beauties bright; Indeed, I

  know not what I say, confounded at thy sight.

  If I compare thee to the sun, thou passest not away, Whilst the

  sun setteth from the sky and fails anon of light.

  Perfect, indeed, thy beauties are; they stupefy the wise Nor ev’n

  the eloquent avail to praise thy charms aright.

  The eunuch stationed Kemerezzeman behind the curtain of the princess’s door and the prince said to him, ‘Whether of the two wilt thou liefer have me do, cure thy lady from here or go in and cure her within the curtain?’ The eunuch marvelled at his words and answered, ‘It were more to thine honour to cure her from here.’ So Kemerezzeman sat down behind the curtain and taking out pen and inkhorn and paper, wrote the following: ‘This is the letter of one whom passion torments and whom desire consumes and sorrow and misery destroy; one who despairs of life and looks for nothing but death, whose mourning heart has neither comforter nor helper, whose sleepless eyes have none to succour them against affliction, whose day is passed in fire and his night in torment, whose body is wasted for much emaciation and there comes to him no messenger from his beloved:

  I write with a heart devoted to thee and the thought of thee And

  an eyelid, wounded for weeping tears of the blood of me.

  And a body that love and affliction and passion and long desire

  Have clad with the garment of leanness and wasted utterly.

  I plain me to thee of passion, for sore hath it baffled me Nor is

  there a corner left me where patience yet may be.

  Wherefore, have mercy, I prithee, show favour unto me, For my

  heart, my heart is breaking for love and agony.

  The cure of hearts is union with the beloved and whom his love maltreateth, God is his physician. If either of us have broken faith, may the false one fail of his desire! There is nought goodlier than a lover who is faithful to a cruel beloved one.’ Then, for a subscription, he wrote, ‘From the distracted and despairing lover, him whom love and longing disquiet, from the captive of passion and transport, Kemerezzeman, son of Shehriman, to the peerless beauty, the pearl of the fair Houris, the Lady Budour, daughter of King Ghaïour. Know that by night I am wakeful and by day distraught, consumed with ever-increasing wasting and sickness and longing and love, abounding in sighs, rich in floods of tears, the prisoner of passion, the slain of desire, the debtor of longing, the boon-companion of sickness, he whose heart absence hath seared. I am the sleepless one, whose eyes close not, the slave of love, whose tears run never dry, for the fire of my heart is still unquenched and the flaming of my longing is never hidden.’ Then in the margin he wrote this admired verse:

  Peace from the stores of the grace of my Lord be rife On her in whose hand are my heart and soul and life!

  And also these:

  Vouchsafe thy converse unto me some little, so, perchance, Thou

  mayst have ruth on me or else my heart be set at ease.

  Yea, for the transport of my love and longing after thee, Of all

  I’ve suffered I make light and all my miseries.

  God guard a folk whose dwelling-place is far removed from mine,

  The secret of whose love I’ve kept in many lands and seas!

  But fate, at last, hath turned on me a favourable face And on my

  loved one’s threshold-earth hath cast me on my knees.

  Budour beside me in the bed I saw and straight my moon, Lit by

  her sun, shone bright and blithe upon my destinies.

  Then by way of subscription, he wrote the following verses:

  Ask of my letter what my pen hath written, and the scroll Will

  tell the passion and the pain that harbour in my soul.

  My hand, what while my tears rain down, writes and desire makes

  moan Unto the paper by the pen of all my weary dole.

  My tears roll ever down my cheeks and overflow the page; Nay, I’d

  ensue them with my blood, if they should cease to roll.

  And at the end he added this other verse:

  I send thee back herewith the ring I took whilere of thee, Whenas we companied; so send me that thou hadst of me.

  Then he folded up Budour’s ring inside the letter and sealing it, gave it to the eunuch, who went in with it to the princess. She took it from him and opening it, found in it her own ring. Then she read the letter and when she understood its purport and knew that her beloved stood behind the curtain, her reason fled and her breast dilated for joy; and she repeated the following verses:

  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 should 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.

  Then she rose and setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon the iron collar, till she broke it from her neck and snapped the chains; then going forth, she threw herself on Kemerezzeman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon billing. 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 has God indeed vouchsafed us reunion after separation? Praised be He who hath reknit our loves, after despair!’ When the eunuch saw this, he ran to King Ghaïour and kissing the earth before him, said, ‘O my lord, know that this is indeed the prince and paragon of astrologers; for he hath cured thy daughter from behind the curtain, without going in to her.’ ‘Look to it well,’ said the King; ‘is this news true?’ ‘O my lord,’ answered the eunuch, ‘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.’ So the King arose and went in to his daughter, who, when she saw him, rose and covered her face, reciting the following verses:

  I love not the toothstick; ’tis hateful to me, For I, when I name

  it, say, “Other than thee.”

  But I love, notwithstanding, the capparis-tree, For, whenas I

  name it I say, “Thee I see.”

  The King was transported for joy at her recovery and kissed her between the eyes, for he loved her very dearly; then turning to Kemerezzeman, he asked him who he was and whence he came. The prince told him his name and rank and that he was the son of King Shehriman, and related to him the whole story from beginning to end; whereat Ghaïour marvelled and said, ‘Verily, your story de
serves to be recorded in books and read after you, generation after generation.’ Then he summoned Cadis and witnesses forthright and married the two lovers; after which he bade decorate the city seven days long. So they decorated the city and held high festival, and all the troops donned their richest clothes, whilst the drums beat and the criers announced the glad tidings. Then they spread the tables with all manner meats and unveiled the princess before Kemerezzeman, and behold, each was like unto the other in beauty and elegance and amorous grace. So the King rejoiced in the issue of her affair and in her marriage and praised God for that He had made her to fall in love with a goodly youth of the sons of the kings. Then Kemerezzeman went in to her and lay with her that night and took his will of her, whilst she in like manner fufilled her desire of him and enjoyed his beauty and grace; and they clipped each other till the morning. On the morrow, the King made a banquet and spreading the tables with the richest meats, kept open house a whole month to all comers from the Islands of the Inner and the Outer Seas. Now, when Kemerezzeman had thus attained his desire and had tarried awhile with the princess Budour, he bethought him of his father and saw him in a dream, saying, ‘O my son, is it thus thou dealest with me?’ and reciting the following verses:

  The moon o’ the dark by his neglect my spirit doth appal And to

  the watching of his stars hath made my eyelids thrall.

  But soft, my heart! It may be yet he will return to thee; And

  patience, soul, beneath the pain he’s smitten thee withal!

  Kemerezzeman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled at what he had seen, whereupon the princess questioned him and he told her his dream. Then they both went in to King Ghaïour and telling him what had passed, besought his leave to depart. He gave the prince the leave he sought; but the princess said, ‘O my father, I cannot endure to be parted from him.’ Quoth Ghaïour, ‘Then go thou with him,’ and gave her leave to be absent a whole year, charging her to visit him once in every year thereafterward. So she kissed his hand and Kemerezzeman did the like; after which he proceeded to equip them for the journey, furnishing them with horses and dromedaries of choice and a litter for his daughter, besides mules and camels laden with victual and all manner of travelling gear. Moreover, he gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them and bestowed on Kemerezzeman ten splendid suits of cloth of gold, embroidered with jewels, together with a treasury of money and ten riding horses and as many she-camels. When the day of departure arrived, the King accompanied them to the farthest limits of his islands, where, going in to his daughter Budour in the litter, he kissed her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating the following verses:

  O thou that seekest parting, stay thy feet, For sure embraces are

  a lover’s right.

  Softly, for fortune’s nature is deceit And parting is the end of

  love-delight.

  Then, leaving her, he kissed her husband and commended his daughter to his care; after which he bade him farewell and giving the signal for departure, returned to his capital with his troops. The prince and princess and their suite fared on without stopping a whole month, at the end of which time they came to a spacious champaign, abounding in pasturage, where they alighted and pitched their tents. They ate and drank and rested, and the princess Budour lay down to sleep. Presently, Kemerezzeman went in to her and found her lying asleep, in a shift of apricot-coloured silk, that showed all it should have covered, and a coif of cloth of gold embroidered with pearls and jewels. The breeze raised her shift and showed her breasts and navel and a belly whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples contained an ounce of benzoin ointment. At this sight, his love and passion for her redoubled, and he recited the following verses:

  If, whilst within my entrails the fires of hell did stir And

  flames raged high about me, ‘twere spoken in my ear,

  “Which wilt thou have the rather, a draught of water cold Or

  sight of her thou lovest?” I’d say, “The sight of her.”

  Then he put his hand to the ribbon of her trousers and drew it and loosed it, for that his soul lusted after her, when he saw a jewel, red as dragon’s blood, made fast to the band. He untied and examined it and seeing two lines of writing graven thereon, in a character not to be read, marvelled and said in himself, ‘Except she set great store by this, she had not tied it to the ribbon of her trousers nor hidden it in the most private place about her person, that she might not be parted from it. I wonder what she doth with it and what is the secret that is in it.’ So saying, he took it and went without the tent to look at it in the light; but as he was examining it, a bird swooped down on him and snatching it from his hand, flew off with it and lighted on the ground at a little distance. Fearing to lose the talisman, he ran after the bird; but it flew on before him, keeping just out of his reach, and drew him on from place to place and from hill to hill, till the night came on and the air grew dark, when it roosted on a high tree. Kemerezzeman stopped under the tree, confounded and faint for hunger and weariness, and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but knew not the way, for the darkness had overtaken him. So he exclaimed, ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ and lying down under the tree, slept till the morning, when he awoke and saw the bird also awake and fly away. He arose and walked after it, and it flew on little by little before him, after the measure of his going; at which he smiled and said, ‘By Allah, this is a strange thing! Yesterday, the bird flew before me as fast as I could run; and to-day, knowing that I am tired and cannot run, it flieth after the measure of my walking. By Allah, this is wonderful! But, whether it lead me to my death or to my life, I must needs follow it, wherever it goeth, for it will surely not abide save in some inhabited land. So he followed the bird, eating of the fruits of the earth and drinking of its waters, for ten days’ space, and every night the bird roosted on a tree. 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, was lost to view: and Kemerezzeman marvelled at this and exclaimed, ‘Praised be God, who hath brought me hither in safety!’ 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 weariness and hunger and strangerhood and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he repeated the following cinquains:

  I strove to hide the load that love on me did lay; In vain, and

  sleep for me is changed to wake alway.

  Whenas wanhope doth press my heart both night and day, I cry

  aloud, “O Fate, hold back thy hand, I pray.

  For all my soul is sick with dolour and dismay!”

  If but the Lord of Love were just indeed to me, Sleep had not

  fled mine eyes by his unkind decree.

  Have pity, sweet, on one that is for love of thee Worn out and

  wasted sore; once rich and great was he,

  Now beggared and cast down by love from his array.

  The railers chide at thee full sore; I heed not, I, But stop my

  ears to them and give them back the lie.

  “Thou lov’st a slender one,” say they; and I reply, “I’ve chosen

  her and left all else beneath the sky.”

  Enough; when fate descends, the eyes are blinded aye.

  As soon as he was rested, he rose and walked on, little by little, till he came to the city-gate and entered, knowing not whither he should go. He traversed the city from end to end, without meeting any of the townsfolk, entering by the land-gate and faring on till he came out at the sea-gate, for the city stood on the sea-shore. Presently, he found himself among the orchards and gardens of the place and passed among the trees, till he came to a garden-gate and stopped before it, whereupon the keeper came out to him and saluted him. The prince returned his greeting and the other bade him welcome, saying, ‘Praised be God that thou hast come off saf
e from the people of the city! Quick, come into the garden, ere any of the townsfolk see thee.’ So Kemerezzeman entered the garden, amazed, and said to the keeper, ‘Who and what then are the people of this city?’ ‘Know,’ answered the other,’ that the people of this city are all Magians: but, God on thee, tell me how and why thou camest hither.’ Accordingly, Kemerezzeman told him all that had befallen him, at which the gardener marvelled greatly and said, ‘Know, O my son, that from this place to the cities of Islam is four months’ journey by sea and a whole year by land. We have a ship that sails yearly hence with merchandise to the Ebony Islands, which are the nearest Muslim country, and thence to the Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shehriman.’ Kemerezzeman considered awhile and concluding that he could not do better than abide with the gardener and become his assistant, said to him, ‘Wilt thou take me into thy service, to help thee in this garden?’ ‘Willingly,’ answered the gardener and clothing him in a short blue gown, that reached to his knees, taught him to lead the water to the roots of the trees. So Kemerezzeman abode with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and weeping floods of tears; for he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood and separation from his beloved, and he ceased not to repeat verses upon her, amongst others the following: