One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  “O my lady,” answered he, “knowest thou not that which is proper to the boy of symmetry of shape and rosy cheeks and pleasant smile and sweetness of speech? Boys are, in these respects, superior to women; and the proof of this is what is reported of the Prophet, that he said, ‘Stay not thy gaze upon the beardless boys, for in them is the similitude of the black-eyed girls of Paradise.’ Nor indeed is the superiority of the boy over the girl hidden to any, and how well saith Abou Nuwas:

  The least of his virtues it is that thou’rt free From uncleanness with him nor with child can he be.

  And what another poet says:

  Quoth th’ Iman Abou Nuwas, past-master sure was he In every

  canon of debauch and jolly knavery,

  “O ye that love the downy cheeks of younglings, take your fill

  Of a delight, in Paradise that will not founden be.”

  So if one enlarge in praise of a girl and wish to enhance her value by the mention of her charms, he likens her to a boy, because of the illustrious qualities that belong to the latter, even as saith the poet:

  Boylike of buttocks, to and fro, in amorous dalliance, She sways as sway the nodding canes that in the north wind dance.

  If boys, then, were not superior to girls, why should the latter be likened to them? And know also, may God the Most High preserve thee, that a boy is easy to be led, adapting himself to the wish, pleasant of commerce and manners, inclining to assent rather than difference, especially when the down on his face creeps lightly and the hair darkens on his lips and the vermilion of early youth runs in his cheeks, so that he is like the full moon; and how goodly is the saying of Abou Temmam:

  “The whiskers on his cheek appear;” the slanderers said to me;

  Quoth I, “That’s none of his defect; so give me no more

  prate.”

  What time he came of age to bear buttocks that here and there

  Pulled him and over beads of pearl his lips’ hair darkened

  late

  And eke the rose a solemn oath, full fast and binding, swore

  Its ruddy marvels from his cheek should never separate,

  I with my eyelids spoke to him, without the need of speech, And

  for reply thereto was what his eyebrows answered straight.

  His goodliness still goodlier is than that thou knewst of yore,

  And the hair guardeth him from those his charms would

  violate.

  Brighter and sweeter are his charms, now on his cheek the down

  Shows and the hair upon his lips grows dark and delicate;

  And those who chide me for the love of him, when they take up

  Their parable of him and me, say evermore, “His mate.”

  And quoth El Heriri and saith well:

  My censors say, “What is this love and doting upon him? Seest

  not the hair upon his cheeks that sprouts? Where is thy

  wit?”

  Quoth I, “By Allah, an ye chide at me, I rede you note The

  exposition of the truth that in his eyes is writ.

  But for the blackness of the down, that veils his chin and

  cheeks, Upon the brightness of his face no mortal gaze

  might sit.

  A man who sojourns in a land, wherein no herbage is, Whenas the

  very Spring arrives, shall he depart from it?”

  And quoth another:

  “He is consoled,” say the censors of me; but, by heaven, they

  lie! For solace and comfort come hardly to those for

  longing that sigh.

  When the rose of his cheek stood blooming alone, I was not

  consoled; So how should I now find solace, that basil has

  sprung thereby?

  And again:

  A slender one, whose glances and the down upon his cheeks Each

  other, in the slaying of folk, abet and aid.

  A sabre of narcissus withal, he sheddeth blood, The

  hangers of its scabbard of very myrtle made.

  And again:

  Not with his wine I’m drunken, but with his tresses bright,

  That make all creatures drunken, yea, all beneath the sky.

  Each of his charms doth envy the others; ay, and each To be the

  down so silky upon his cheek doth sigh.

  These are the excellences of the boy, that women do not possess, and these suffice and more to give boys the preference in grace and glory over women.”

  “God give thee health!” cried she. “Verily, thou hast imposed the discussion upon thyself; and thou hast spoken and hast not stinted and hast adduced these arguments, in support of thy contention. But now is the truth made manifest; so swerve thou not from the path thereof; and if thou be not content with a summary of proof, I will set it out to thee in detail. God on thee, where is the boy beside the girl and who shall liken the kid to the wild cow? The girl is soft of speech, fair of shape, like a stalk of sweet basil, with teeth like chamomile-petals and hair like halters. Her cheeks are like blood-red anemones and her face like an apple; she hath lips like wine and breasts like double pomegranates and a shape flexile as a willow-wand. Her body is rounded and well-formed: she hath a nose like the point of a shining sword and a forehead brilliant with whiteness and joined eyebrows and black and melting eyes. If she speak, fresh pearls are scattered from her mouth and all hearts are ravished by the daintiness of her charms; when she smiles, thou wouldst think the moon shone out from between her lips and when she gazes, swords flash from her eyes. In her all beauties have their term, and she is the centre of attraction of traveller and stay-at-home. She hath two red lips softer than cream and sweeter of taste than honey, and a bosom, as it were a way between two hills, wherein are a pair of breasts like globes of ivory; likewise, a smooth belly, soft of flanks as palm-flowers and creased with folds and dimples that overlap one another, and luxuriant thighs, like columns of pearl, and buttocks, that beat together like seas of crystal or mountains of light, and two slender feet and hands like ingot of virgin gold. So, O wretched fellow, where are mortal men besides the Jinn? Knowest thou not that mighty kings and captains and noble princes still submit themselves humbly to women and depend on them for delight? Verily, they [women] say, ‘We rule over [all] necks and captivate [all] hearts.’ How many a rich man have they not made poor, how many a powerful one have they not humbled and how many a noble have they not reduced to servitude! Indeed, they seduce the learned and bring the pious to shame and make poor the rich and plunge the favoured of fortune into misery. Yet, for all this, the wise but redouble in love and honour of them, nor do they count this oppression or dishonour. How many a man for them hath transgressed against his Lord and called down on himself the wrath of his father and mother! And all this because of the preponderance of the love of them over hearts. Knowest thou not, O wretched fellow, that for them are palaces built and slave-girls bought, and over them curtains are let down, that for them do tears flow and for them armies levied and pleasure- houses raised up and riches gathered and heads smitten off? And indeed he spoke sooth who said, ‘The world is a commentary upon women.’

  As for thy citation from the Holy Traditions, it is an argument against thee and not for thee; for the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve) compares boys to the houris of Paradise. Now, without doubt, the subject of comparison is more worthy than the object compared with it; so, except women be the worthier and the goodlier, wherefore should other than they be likened to them? As for thy saying that girls are likened to boys, it is not so, but the contrary: boys are likened to girls; for folk say, ‘Yonder boy is like a girl.’ As for that thou quotest from the poets, the verses in question were the product of an unnatural complexion in this respect; and as for the confirmed sodomists and debauchees, that sin against religion, whom God hath condemned in His Holy Book, wherein He denounceth their filthy practices, saying, ‘Do ye betake you to males from the four corners of the world and forsake that which your Lord hath created for you of your wives? Nay, bu
t ye are a froward folk.’ These it is that liken girls to boys, of their exceeding profligacy and frowardness and inclination to follow the devil and their own lusts, so that they say, ‘She is apt for two men;’ and these are all wanderers from the path of right. Quoth their chief Abou Nuwas:

  A slender one, boyish of waist and of wit, For wencher as well as for sodomite fit.

  As for what thou sayest of a boy’s whiskers and moustaches and how they add to his beauty and grace, by Allah, thou wanderest from the right path and sayest that which is other than the truth; for whiskers change the charms of the comely into ugliness; even as saith the poet:

  The whiskers, that sprout on the cheek of the wight, His lovers

  avenge, if he ‘ve done them unright.

  I see not on ‘s face what is like unto smoke, Except that his

  curls are as coals to the sight.

  If the most of his paper thus blackened be, where Is

  there room, deemest thou, for the pen to indite?

  If any prefer him another above, ’Tis ignorance makes them thus

  turn from the light.

  Glory be to God”, continued she, “how is it hidden from thee that the perfection of delight is in women and that abiding pleasure is not to be found but with them? Seeing that God (blessed and exalted be He) hath promised His prophets and saints black-eyed damsels in Paradise and hath appointed them for a recompense of their pious works: and had God the Most High known that the supreme delight was in the possession of other than women, He had rewarded them therewith and promised it to them. And quoth he whom God bless and preserve, ‘The things in which I most delight of [the things of] your world are three: women and perfume and the solace of my eyes in prayer.’ Verily, God hath appointed boys to serve His prophets and saints in Paradise, because Paradise is the abode of delight and pleasance, which could not be complete without the service of boys; but, as to the use of them for aught but service, it is sin and corruption. How well saith the poet:

  Men’s turning unto boys is very frowardness; Who noble women loves is noble none the less. What difference ‘twixt the lewd and him whose bedfellow A houri is, for looks a very sorceress. He rises from her couch and she hath given him scent; He perfumes all the house therewith and each recess. No boy, indeed, is worth to be compared with her: Shall aloes evened be with what not filthiness?”

  Then said she, “O folk, ye have made me overpass the bounds of modesty and the province of free-born women and indulge in idle talk and freedoms of speech, that beseem not people of learning. But the breasts of the noble are the tombs of secrets, and conversations of this kind are in confidence. Moreover, actions are according to intents, and I ask pardon of God for myself and you and all Muslims, seeing that He is forgiving and merciful.”

  With this she held her peace and thereafter would answer us of nought; so we went our way, rejoicing in that we had profited by her discourses and sorrowing to part from her.

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  ABOU SUWEID AND THE HANDSOME OLD WOMAN.

  (Quoth Abou Suweid), I entered a garden one day, I and a company of my friends, to buy somewhat of fruit; and we saw, in a corner of the place, an old woman, who was bright of face, but her hair was white, and she was combing it with a comb of ivory. We stopped before her, but she paid no heed to us neither veiled her face So I said to her’ “O old woman, wert thou to dye thy hair black, thou wouldst be handsomer than a girl. What hinders thee from this?” She raised her head and looking at me with great eyes, recited the following verses:

  That which the years had dyed, I dyed erewhen but, sooth to

  tell, My dye endureth not, whilst that of Time’s

  perdurable

  Clad in the raiment of my youth and beauty, of old days,

  Proudly I walked, and back and front, men had with me to

  mell

  “By Allah,” cried I, “bravo to thee for an old woman! How sincere art thou in thy yearning remembrance of sin and how false in thy presence of repentance from for bidden things!”

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  THE AMIR ALI BEN TAHIR AND THE GIRL MOUNIS.

  There was once shown to the Amir Ali ben Mohammed ben Abdallah ben Tahir a slave-girl, who was excellently handsome and well-bred and an accomplished poetess; and he asked her of her name. ‘May God advance the Amir,’ replied she, ‘my name is Mounis.’ Now he knew this before; so he bowed his head awhile, then raising his eyes to her, recited the following verse:

  What dost thou say of one, on whom sickness and pain have wrought, For love and longing after thee, till he is grown distraught?

  ‘God exalt the Amir!’ answered she and recited this verse in reply:

  An if we saw a lover true, on whom the pangs of love Were sore,

  we would to him vouchsafe the favours that he sought.

  Her reply pleased him; so he bought her for threescore and ten thousand dirhems and begat on her Obeidallah teen Mohammed, after police-magistrate [at Baghdad].

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  THE WOMAN WHO HAD A BOY AND THE OTHER WHO HAD A MAN TO LOVER.

  (Quoth Abou el Ainaä), There were in our street two women, one of whom had to lover a man and the other a beardless boy, and they foregathered one night on the roof of a house, not knowing that I was within hearing. Quoth one to the other, “O my sister, how canst thou brook the harshness of thy lover’s beard, as it falls on thy breast, when he kisses thee, and his moustaches rub thy cheek and lips?” “Silly wench that thou art,” replied the other, “what adorns the tree but its leaves and the cucumber but its bloom? Didst ever see aught uglier than a scald-head, with his beard plucked out? Knowest thou not that the beard is to men as the side-locks to women; and what is the difference between the chin and the cheek? Knowest thou not that God (blessed and exalted be He) hath created an angel in heaven, who saith, ‘Glory be to Him who adorneth men with beards and women with tresses?’ So, were not the beard even as the tresses in comeliness, it had not been coupled with them, O silly woman! How shall I underlie a boy, who will be hasty with me in emission and forestall me in flaccescence, and leave a man, who, when he takes breath, clips close and when he enters, goes leisurely, and when he has done, repeats, and when he pushes, pushes hard, and as often as he withdraws, returns?” The other was edified by her speech and said, “I forswear my lover by the Lord of the Kaabeh!”

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN BAGHDAD.

  There lived once, in the city of Cairo, a merchant by name Hassan the Jeweller of Baghdad, who had great store of wealth in money and jewels and lands and houses beyond count. God had blessed him with a son of perfect beauty and elegance, rosy-cheeked, fair of face and well-shaped, whom he named Ali of Cairo and taught the Koran and science and elocution and the other branches of polite letters, till he became proficient in all manner of knowledge and was under his father’s hand in trade. After awhile, Hassan fell sick and his sickness increased upon him, till he made sure of death and calling his son to him, said, ‘O my son, verily this world passeth away; but the next endureth for ever. Every soul must taste of death; and now, O my son, my last hour is at hand and I desire to lay on thee an injunction, which if thou observe, thou shalt abide in peace and prosperity, till thou meet God the Most High; but if thou follow it not, there shall befall thee weariness galore and thou wilt repent of having transgressed my admonitions.’ ‘O my father,’ replied Ali, ‘how shall I do other than hearken to thee and do after thine enjoinder, seeing that I am bounden by the law of God to obey thee and give ear to thy word?’ ‘O my son,’ rejoined his father, ‘I leave thee lands and houses and goods and wealth past count; wert thou each day to spend thereof five hundred dinars, thou wouldst miss nought of it. But, O my son, look that thou live in the fear of God and follow His Chosen One (whom may He bless and preserve) in what he is reported to have enjoined and fo
rbidden in his traditions. Be thou assiduous in good works and the practice of beneficence and in consorting with men of worth and piety and learning; and look that thou have a care for the poor and needy and shun avarice and meanness and the converse of the wicked or those of doubtful character. Look kindly upon thy servants and family, and also upon thy wife, for she is of the daughters of the notables and is with child by thee; belike God will vouchsafe thee virtuous offspring by her.’ And he went on to exhort him thus, weeping and saying, ‘O my son, I beseech God the Bountiful, the Lord of the Empyrean, to deliver thee from all straits that may betide thee and grant thee His speedy relief!’

  His son wept sore and said, ‘O my father, I am consumed by thy words, for they are as the words of one that saith farewell.’ ‘Yes, O my son,’ replied the merchant, ‘I am ware of my condition: forget thou not my enjoinder.’ Then he fell to repeating the professions of the Faith and reciting [verses of the Koran], until the appointed hour arrived, when he said, ‘Draw near unto me, O my son.’ So Ali drew near and he kissed him; then he sighed and his soul departed his body and he went to the mercy of God the Most High. Therewith great grief fell upon Ali; the noise of lamentation arose in his house and his father’s friends flocked to him. Then he betook himself to preparing him for burial and made him a splendid funeral. They bore him to the place of prayer and prayed over him, then to the cemetery, where they buried him and recited over him what was fitting of the Koran; after which they returned to the house and condoled with the dead man’s son and went each his own way. Moreover, Ali prayed the Friday prayers for his father and let make recitations of the whole Koran for the [accustomed] space of forty days, during which time he abode in the house and went not forth, save to the place of prayer; and every Friday he visited his father’s tomb.