One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Then said King Muraash, ‘O my brother, I have a mind to show thee our country and the city of Japhet son of Noah, on whom be peace!’ ‘O King,’ replied Gherib, ‘do what seemeth good to thee.’ So he called for horses and mounting, he and Gherib and Sehim, set out with a thousand Marids, as they were a piece of a mountain cut endlong. They fared on, diverting themselves with the sight of valleys and mountains, till they came to the city of Japhet son of Noah (on whom be peace), where the townsfolk all, great and small, came forth to meet King Muraash and brought them into the city in great state. Then Muraash went up to the palace of Japhct son of Noah and sat down on the throne of his kingship, which was of alabaster, ten stages high, hung with all manner coloured silks and trellised with wands of gold. The people of the city stood before him and he said to them, ‘O descendants of Japhet, what did your fathers and grandfathers worship?’ Quoth they, ‘We found them worshipping the fire and followed their example, as thou well knowest.’ ‘O folk,’ rejoined Muraash, ‘it hath been manifested to us that the fire is but one of the creatures of God the Most High, Creator of all things; and when we knew this, we submitted ourselves to God, the One, the All-powerful Maker of night and day and the revolving sphere, whom no sight comprehendeth, but who comprehendeth all sights, for He is the Subtle, the All-wise, So do ye likewise, and ye shall be saved from the wrath of the Almighty and from the fiery torment in the world to come.’ And they embraced Islam with heart and tongue.

  Then Muraash took Gherib by the hand and showed him the palace and its ordinance and all the marvels it contained, till they came to the armoury, wherein were the arms of Japhet son of Noah. Here Gherib saw a sword hanging to a peg of gold and said, ‘O King, whose sword is that?’ Quoth Muraash, ‘It is the sword of Japhet son of Noah, wherewith he was wont to do battle against men and Jinn. The sage Jerdoun forged it and graved on its back names of might. It is named El Mahic, for that it never descends upon a man, but it annihilates him, nor upon a genie, but it crushes him; and it one smote therewith a mountain, it would over-throw it.’ When Gherib heard tell of the virtues of the sword, he said, ‘I desire to look on this sword;’ and Muraash said, ‘As thou wilt.’ So Gherib put out his hand and taking the sword, drew it from its sheath; whereupon it flashed and death crept and glittered on its edge ; and it was twelve spans long and three broad. Now Gherib wished to take it, and Muraash said, ‘If thou canst wield it, take it.’ ‘ It is well,’ answered Gherib, and took it up, and it was in his hand as a staff; wherefore all who were present, men and Jinn, marvelled and said, ‘Well done, O prince of cavaliers!’ Then said Muraash, ‘Lay thy hand on this treasure, that the Kings of the earth sigh for in vain, and mount, that I may show thee the city.’

  Then they took horse and rode forth the palace, with Jinn and men attending them on foot, and passed through the streets and thoroughfares of the town, threading their way through ranks of palaces and deserted mansions and gilded doorways, till they issued from the gates and entered gardens full of fruit-laden trees and running waters and birds speaking and celebrating the praises of Him to whom belong power and eternity; nor did they cease to take their pleasance in the land till nightfall, when they returned to the palace of Japhet son of Noah and they brought them the table of food. So they ate and Gherib turned to the King of the Jinn and said to him, ‘O King, I would fain return to my people and my troops; for I know not their plight after me.’ ‘By Allah, O my brother,’ answered Muraash, ‘I will not part with thee for a full month, till I have had my fill of thy sight.’

  Gherib could not say him nay, so he abode with him in the city of Japhet, eating and drinking and making merry, till the month was up, when Muraash clad him and Sehim in dresses of honour of gold-inwoven silk and set on Gherib’s head a crown jewelled with pearls and diamonds of inestimable value. Moreover, he gave him great store of presents of emeralds and balass rubies and diamonds and other jewels and ingots of gold and silver and ambergris and musk and brocaded silks and other rarities and things of price. All these he made up into loads for him and calling five hundred Marids, said to them, ‘Make ready to set out on the morrow, that we may bring King Gherib and Sehim back to their own country.’ And they answered, saying, ‘We hear and obey.’ So they passed the night in the city, purposing to depart on the morrow, but, next morning, as they were about to set forth, they espied a great host advancing upon the city, with horses neighing and drums beating and trumpets sounding, to the number of threescore and ten thousand Marids, flying and diving, under a king called Bercan, and the earth was filled with them.

  Now this Bercan was lord of the City of Cornelian and the Castle of Gold and under his rule were five strongholds, in each five hundred thousand Marids; and he and his people worshipped the fire, not the Omnipotent King. He was the son of Muraash’s father’s brother and the cause of his coming was on this wise. It chanced that there was among the subjects of King Muraash a misbelieving Marid, who professed Islam hypocritically, and he stole away from his people and made for the Valley of Cornelian, where he went in to King Bercan and kissing the earth before him, wished him abiding glory and fair fortune. Then he told him of Muraash’s conversion to Islam, and Bercan said, ‘How came he to forsake his faith?’ So the rebel told him what had passed and Bercan snorted and puffed and railed at the sun and the moon and the sparkling fire, saying, ‘By the virtue of my faith, I will surely slay my cousin and his people and this mortal, nor will I leave one of them on life !’ Then he cried out to the tribes of the Jinn and choosing of them seventy thousand Marids, set out and fared on till he came to the city of Japhet and encamped before its gates. When Muraash saw this, he despatched a Marid to learn what the stranger host wanted, bidding him return in haste. So the messenger repaired to Bercan’s camp, where the Marids hastened to meet him and said to him, ‘Who art thou?’ Quoth he, ‘I bear a message from King Muraash;’ whereupon they carried him in to Bercan, before whom he prostrated himself saying, ‘O my lord, my master hath sent me to thee, to know what brings thee hither.’ ‘Return to thy lord,’ replied Bercan, ‘and say to him, “This is thy cousin Bercan, who is come to salute thee.”’ So the messenger returned and told Muraash, who said to Gherib, ‘Abide here whilst I go and salute my cousin and return to thee.’ Then he mounted and rode to Bercan’s camp.

  Now this was a trick of Bercan, to bring Muraash out and seize upon him, and he said to his Marids, who were about him, ‘When ye see me embrace my cousin, lay hold of him and bind his hands behind him. And they answered, saying, ‘We hear and obey.’ So, when Muraash came up and entered Bercan’s pavilion, the latter rose to him and embraced him, whereupon the Jinn fell upon Muraash and seized him and bound him. He looked at Bercan and said, ‘What manner of thing is this?’ Quoth Bercan, ‘O dog of the Jinn, wilt thou leave the faith of thy fathers and grandfathers and enter a faith thou knowest not?’ ‘O son of my uncle,’ rejoined Muraash, ‘indeed I have found the faith of Abraham the Friend to be the true faith and all other than it vain.’ ‘And who told thee of this?’ asked Bercan. ‘Gherib, King of Irak,’ answered Muraash, ‘whom I hold in the highest honour.’ ‘By the fire and the light and the shade and the heat,’ cried Bercan, ‘I will slay both thee and him!’ And he cast him into prison.

  Now, when Muraash’s henchman saw what had befallen his lord, he fled back to the city and told the King’s men, who cried out and mounted. Quoth Gherib, ‘What is to do?’ And they told him what had passed, whereupon he cried out to Sehim, saying, ‘Saddle me one of the chargers that King Muraash gave me.’ ‘O my brother,’ said Sehim, ‘wilt thou do battle with the Jinn?’ ‘Yes,’ answered Gherib; ‘I will fight them with the sword of Japhet son of Noah, seeking help of the God of Abraham the Friend, (on whom be peace,) for He is Lord and Creator of all things. So Sehim saddled him a sorrel horse of the horses of the Jinn, as he were a castle, and he armed and mounting, rode out with the tribes of the Jinn, aimed cap-a-pie. Then Bercan and his host mounted also and the two hosts drew cut in battalia in face o
f one another. The first to open the chapter of war was Gherib, who spurred his charger into the mid-field and drew the enchanted sword, whence issued a glittering light, that dazzled the eyes of all the Jinn and struck terror to their heart. Then he played with the sword, till their wits were amazed, and cried out, saying, ‘God is Most Great! I am Gherib, King of Irak. There is no faith save the faith of Abraham the Friend!’

  When Bercan heard Gherib’s words, he said, ‘This is he who seduced my cousin from his faith; so, by the virtue of my faith, I will not sit down on my throne till I have cut off the head of this Gherih and made an end of his life and forced my cousin and his people back to their faith: and whoso baulketh me, I will destroy him.’ Then he mounted a paper-white elephant, as he were a tower plastered with gypsum, and goaded him with a pike of steel, whereupon the elephant trumpeted and made for the middle of the field. When Bercan drew near Gherih, he cried out to him, saying, ‘O dog of mankind, what made thee come into our land, to debauch my cousin and his people and pervert them from one faith to another? Know that this day is the last of thy worldly days.’ And Gherib answered, saying, ‘Avaunt, O vilest of the jinn!’ Therewith Berean drew a javelin and poising it in his hand, cast it at Gherib; but it missed him. So he threw a second javelin at him; but Gherib caught it in mid-air and hurled it at the elephant. It smote him on the flank and came out on the other side, whereupon the beast fell down dead and Bercan was cast to the ground, like a great palm-tree. Before he could stir, Gherib smote him with the sword of Japhet flatlings on the nape of the neck, and he fell down in a swoon; whereupon the Marids swooped down on him and bound him.

  When Bercan’s people saw their king a prisoner, they drove at the others, seeking to rescue him, but Gherib and the true-believing Jinn fell upon them and bravo for Gherib! indeed that day he pleased God who answereth prayer and slaked his vengeance with the enchanted sword! Whomsoever he smote, he clove him in sunder and before his soul could depart, he became a heap of asshes in the fire; whilst the two hosts of the Jinn cast flames of fire at one another, till the battle-field was wrapped in smoke. And Gherib tourneyed right and left among the infidels and they gave way before him, till be came to King Bercan’s pavilion, with Kailjan and Courjan on his either hand, and cried out to them, saying, ‘Loose your lord!’ So they unbound Muraash and broke his fetters and he said to them, ‘Bring me my arms and my winged horse.’

  Now he had two flying horses, one of which he gave to Gherib and the other he mounted himself, after he had donned his battle-harness. Then he and Gherib fell upon the enemy, flying through the air on their winged horses, and the true-believing Jinn followed them, shouting, ‘God is Most Great!’ till the earth and hills and valleys and mountains answered them. The infidels fled before them and they returned, after having slain more than thirty thousand Marids and Satans, to the city of Japhet, where the two kings sat down on their beds of estate and sought for Bercan, but found him not; for, whilst they were diverted from him by stress of battle, an Afrit of his servants made his way to him and loosing him, carried him to his folk, of whom he found part slain and the rest in full flight. So he flew up with the King into the air and set him down in the City of Cornelian and Castle of Gold, where Bercan seated himself on the throne of his king-ship. Presently, those of his people who had escaped from the battle came in to him and gave him joy of his safety; and he said, ‘O folk, where is safety? My army is slain and they took me prisoner and have rent in pieces my repute among the tribes of the Jinn.’ ‘O King,’ answered they, ‘it is ever thus that kings still smite and are smitten.’ Quoth he, ‘Needs must I take my revenge and wipe out my reproach, else shall I be for ever dishonoured among the tribes of the Jinn.’ Then he wrote letters to the governors of his fortresses, who came to him with three hundred and twenty thousand fierce Marids and Satans; and he bade them make ready to set out in three days’ time.

  Meanwhile, when Muraash discovered Bercan’s escape, it was grievous to him and he said, ‘Had we set a hundred Marids to guard him, he had not fled; but whither shall he go from us?’ Then said he to Gherib, ‘Know, O my brother, that Bercan is perfidious and will never rest from avenging himself on us, but will assuredly assemble his clans and return upon us; wherefore I am minded to forestall him and fall on him, on the heels of his defeat, whilst he is yet weak by reason thereof.’ ‘This is well see;’ replied Gherib; and Muraash said, ‘O my brother, let the Marids bear thee back to thine own country and leave me to fight the battles of the Faith against the infidels, that I may be lightened of the burden of my sins.’ ‘By the virtue of the Clement, the Bountiful, the Protector,’ answered Gherib, ‘I will not go hence till I do to death all the mis-believing Jinn and God hasten their souls to the fire and evil shall be the abiding-place [to which they go;] and none shall be saved but those who worship God the One, the Victorious! But do thou send Sehim back to the city of Oman, so haply he may be healed of his sickness.’ For Sehim was sick. So Muraash bade the Marids take up Sehim and the treasures and bear them to the city of Oman; and they took them and made for the land of men.

  Then Muraash wrote letters to all his governors and captains of fortresses and they came to him with eight-score thousand men. So they made them ready and departed for the City of Cornelian. In one day, they marched a year’s journey and halted in a valley, where they encamped and passed the night. Next morning, as they were about to set forth, the vanguard of Bercan’s army appeared, whereupon the Jinn cried out and the two hosts met and fell upon each other in that valley, that the earth trembled with the shock. Then there befell a sore strife and the battle swayed to and fro with a might clamour. Jest gave place to earnest and there was an end of parley, whilst long lives were cut short and trouble and confusion befell the unbelievers; for Gherib charged them, proclaiming the Unity of God, the Worshipful, the Exalted, and shore through necks and made heads roll in the dust; nor did the dark betide before nigh seventy thousand of the infidels were slain, and of the true believers over ten thousand Marids had fallen. Then the drums beat the retreat, and the two hosts drew apart. So Gherib and Muraash returned to their tents, after they had wiped their arms, and the evening meal being set before them, they ate and gave each other joy of their safety. As for Bercan, he returned to his tent, grieving for the slaughter of his champions, and said to his officers, ‘If we abide here and do battle thus with them, we shall be cut off to the last man in three days’ time.’ Quoth they, ‘And how shall we do, O King?’ ‘We will fall upon them under cover of the night,’ said Bercan, ‘whilst they sleep, and not one of them shall be left to tell the tale. So take your arms and when I give the word of command, fall on your enemies as one man.’

  Now there was amongst them a Marid named Jendel whose heart inclined to Islam; so, when he heard the Infideis’ plot, he stole away from them and going in to King Muraash and King Gherib, told them what Bercan had devised; whereupon Muraash turned to Gherib and said to him, ‘O my brother, what shall we do?’ Quoth Gherib, ‘To-night we will fall upon the infidels and chase them into the mountains and deserts, if it be the will of the Omnipotent King.’ Then he summoned the captains of the Jinn and said to them, ‘Arm yourselves, you and your men, and as soon as it is dark, steal out of your tents on foot and hide among the mountains; and when ye see the enemy engaged among the tents, do ye fall upon them from all quarters. Strengthen your hearts and put your faith in your Lord, and ye shall conquer; and behold, I am with you!’ So, as soon as it was dark, the infidels attacked the camp, invoking the aid of the light and the fire; but, when they came among the tents, the Muslims fell upon them, calling for help on the Lord of the Worlds and saying, ‘O Most Merciful of those that show mercy, O Creator of all created things!’ till they left them like mown grass, cut down and dead. By the morning the most part of the unbelievers were bodies without souls and the rest made for the marshes and deserts, whilst Gherib and Muraash returned in triumph and making prize of the enemy’s baggage, rested till the morrow, when they set out for the City o
f Cornelian.

  As for Bercan, when he saw that the battle had turned against him and that the most part of his men were slain, he fled with the remnant of his folk to his capital city, where he entered his palace and assembling his tribes, said to them, ‘O folk, whoso hath aught of price, let him take it and follow me to the Mountain Caf, to the Blue King, lord of the Parti-coloured Palace; for he it is who shall avenge us.’ So they took their women and children and goods and made for the Mountain Caf. Presently Muraash and Gherib arrived at the City of Cornelian and found the gates open and none left to give them news; whereupon they entered and Muraash took Gherib, that he might show him the city, whose walls were builded of emeralds and its gates of red cornelian, with nails of silver, and the roofs of its houses and mansions ceiled with aloes and sandal-wood. So they took their pleasance in its streets and alleys, till they came to the palace of gold and entering, passed through seven vestibules, till they came to a building, whose walls were of royal balass rubies and its pavement of emerald and jacinth. The two kings were astounded at the goodliness of the place and fared on from vestibule to vestibule, till they came to the inner court of the palace, wherein they saw four estrades, each different from the others, and in the midst a fountain of red gold, compassed about with golden lions, from whose mouths issued water. The estrade at the upper end was hung and carpeted with brocaded silks of various colours and thereon stood two thrones of red gold, inlaid with pearls and jewels. So Muraash and Gherib sat down on the thrones and held high state in the palace of gold. Then said Gherib to Muraash, ‘What thinkest thou to do?’ And Muraash answered, saying, ‘O King of men, I have despatched a hundred horse to learn where Bercan is, that we may pursue him.’