One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When she had read the letter, she said, ‘O Abdallah, I will do nought till I go to my father and show him the mandate of the king of mankind and return to thee in haste.’ So saying, she signed to the earth, which opened, and she disappeared therein, whilst Abdallah’s heart was transported for joy and he said, ‘God advance the Commander of the Faithful!’ As for Saïdeh, she went in to her father and acquainting him with that which had passed, gave him the Khalif’s letter, which he kissed and laid on his head. Then he read it and said, ‘O my daughter, verily, the ordinance of the king of mankind hath course with us and his commandments are executory amongst us, nor can we gainsay him: so go thou and release the two men forthwith and say to them, “Ye are [free] by the intercession of the king of mankind.” For, should he be wroth with us, he would destroy us to the last of us: so do not thou impose on us that whereto we are unable.’

  ‘O my father,’ said she, ‘if the king of mankind were wroth with us, what could he do with us?’ Quoth he, ‘He hath power over us for several reasons. In the first place, he is a man and hath thus pre-eminence over us; secondly, he is the Vicar of God; and thirdly, he is constant in praying the two-bow prayer of the foredawn; wherefore, if all the tribes of the Jinn assembled together against him from the seven worlds, they could do him no hurt. But he, should he be wroth with us, he would pray the two-bow prayer of the foredawn and cry out upon us one cry, whereupon we should all present ourselves before him obediently and be before him as sheep before the butcher. If he would, he could command us to depart our abiding-places to a desert country wherein we might not sojourn; and if he desired to destroy us, he would bid us destroy ourselves, whereupon we should destroy one another. Wherefore we may not disobey his commandment, for, if we did this, he would consume us, nor could we flee from before him. Thus is it with every true believer who is diligent in praying the two-bow prayer of the foredawn; his commandment is effectual over us: so be not thou the means of our destruction, because of two mortals, but go forthright and release them, ere the anger of the Commander of the Faithful fall upon us.’

  So she returned to Abdallah and acquainted him with her father’s words, saying, ‘Kiss me the hands of the Commander of the Faithful and seek his approof for us.’ Then she brought out the cup and filling it with water, conjured over it and spoke words that might not be understood; after which she sprinkled the dogs with the water, saying, ‘Quit the form of dogs and return to that of men!’ Whereupon they became men as before and the spell of the enchantment was dissolved from them. Quoth they, ‘I testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is the Apostle of God!’ And fell on their brother’s feet and hands, kissing them and beseeching his forgiveness: but he said, ‘Do ye forgive me.’ Then they both repented with a sincere repentance, saying, ‘Verily, Satan the Accursed tempted us and covetise deluded us: but our Lord hath requited us after our deserts, and forgiveness is of the fashion of the generous.’ And they went on to supplicate their brother and weep and profess repentance for that which they had done.

  Then said he to them, ‘What did ye with my wife whom I brought from the City of Stone?’ Quoth they, ‘When Satan tempted us and we cast thee into the sea, there befell strife between us, each saying, “I will have her to wife.” Which when she heard, she came up from the cabin and said to us, “Contend not because of me, for I will not belong to either of you. My husband is gone into the sea and I will follow him.” So saying, she cast herself overboard and died.’ ‘Verily,’ exclaimed Abdallah, ‘she died a martyr! But there is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ Then he wept sore for her and said to his brothers, ‘It was not well of you to do this thing and bereave me of my wife!’ And they answered, ‘Indeed, we have sinned, but our Lord hath requited us our deed and this was a thing that God decreed unto us, ere He created us.’ And he accepted their excuse; but Saïdeh said to him, ‘Have they done all these things to thee and wilt thou forgive them?’ ‘O my sister,’ answered he, ‘whoso hath power and spareth, his reward is with God.’ Then said she, ‘Be on thy guard against them, for they are traitors.’ And she took leave of him and went away.

  Abdallah and his brothers passed the rest of the night in eating and drinking and merriment and good cheer, and on the morrow, he sent them to the bath and clad each of them, on his coming forth, in a suit worth much money. Then he called for the tray of food and they set it before him and he ate, he and his brothers. When his attendants saw the latter and knew them for his brothers, they saluted them and said to him, ‘O our lord, may God give thee joy of thy reunion with thy dear brothers! Where have they been this while?’ Quoth he, ‘It was they whom ye saw in the guise of dogs; praised be God who hath delivered them from prison and grievous torment!’

  Then he carried them to the Khalif’s Divan and kissing the earth before the prince, wished him continuance of honour and fortune and cease of evil and enmity. ‘Welcome, O Amir Abdallah!’ said the Khalif. ‘Tell me what hath befallen thee.’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful (whose power God increase!),’ replied he, ‘when I carried my brothers home to my lodging, my heart was at rest concerning them, for that thou hadst pledged thyself to their release and I said in myself, “Kings fail not of aught for which they endeavour, for the divine favour aideth them.” So I did off the collars from their necks, putting my trust in God, and ate with them from the [same] tray, which when my attendants saw, they made light of my wit and said to each other, “He is surely mad! How can the governor of Bassora, who is greater than the vizier, eat with dogs?” Then they threw away what was in the tray, saying, “We will not eat the dogs’ leavings.” And they went on to impeach my reason, whilst I heard what they said, but made them no answer, because of their ignorance that the dogs were my brothers. When the hour of sleep came, I sent them away and addressed myself to sleep; but, ere I could think, the earth clave in sunder and out came Saïdeh, the Red King’s daughter, enraged against me, with eyes like fire.’ And he went on to relate to the Khalif what had passed between him and her and her father and how she had restored his brothers to human form, adding, ‘And here they are before thee, O Commander of the Faithful!’

  The Khalif looked at them and seeing two young men like moons, said, ‘God requite thee for me with good, O Abdallah, for that thou hast acquainted me with an advantage whereof I knew not! Henceforth, God willing, I will never leave to pray these two inclinations before the breaking of the dawn, what while I abide on life.’ Then he reproved Abdallah’s brothers for that wherein they had sinned against him of time past and they excused themselves before the Khalif, who said, ‘Join hands and forgive one another and God pardon what is past!’ After which he turned to Abdallah and said to him, ‘O Abdallah, make thy brothers thine assistants and be careful of them.’ Then he charged them to be obedient to their brother and bade them return to Bassora, after he had bestowed on them abundant largesse. So they went down from the divan, whilst the Khalif rejoiced in this advantage that he had gotten by the fashion aforesaid, to wit, his assiduity in praying two inclinations before dawn, and said, ‘He spoke truth who said, “The misfortunes of some folk profit others.”’

  Abdallah and his brothers departed from Baghdad in all honour and worship and increase of dignity, and fared on till they drew near Bassora, when the notables and chief men of the place came out to meet them and brought them into the city in state that had not its match. Moreover, they adorned the city in their honour and all the folk shouted out blessings on Abdallah, whilst he scattered gold and silver amongst them. But none took heed to his brothers; wherefore jealousy and envy entered their hearts, for all he tendered them as one tenders an ailing eye; but the more he cherished them, the more they redoubled in hatred and envy of him: and indeed it is said on the subject:

  I seek to win me the good will of all folk, small and great, But hardly him who envieth me I may conciliate.

  How shall a man conciliate him who envieth him a good, Since but the ceasing of that good will satisfy his hate?r />
  Then he gave each of them a concubine, that had not her like, and slaves and servants, black and white and male and female, forty of each kind. Moreover, he gave each of them fifty thoroughbred horses and they got them guards and followers. And he assigned to them revenues and appointed them stipends and allowances and made them his assistants, saying to them, ‘O my brothers, you and I are equal and there is no distinction between us and after God and the Khalif, the commandment is mine and yours. So rule you in Bassora in my absence and in my presence, and your commandments shall be executory; but look that ye fear God in your ordinances and beware of oppression, for oppression, if it endure, ruineth [a country]; and apply yourselves unto justice, for justice, if it endure, maketh [a country] to flourish. Oppress not the believers, or they will curse you and your report will come to the ears of the Khalif, wherefore dishonour will betide both you and me. Go not therefore about to oppress any, but whatsoever ye covet of the goods of the folk, take it from my goods, over and above that whereof ye have need; for it is not unknown to you what is handed down of unequivocal verses [of the Koran] on the subject of oppression, and gifted of God is he who saith:

  Oppression in man’s soul doth latent sit And nought but lack of power concealeth it.

  A man of sense no business undertakes Until he sees the time therefor is fit.

  The wise man’s tongue is in his heart, but in His mouth the heart of him who lacketh wit.

  He who’s not greater than his wit is slain Of the least stress that unto him is writ.

  Men may their lineage hide, but it appears Still in the things they do and they omit

  Whoso in origin is aught but good, No word of good his lips shall e’er emit.

  He is his peer in folly, to a fool Who doth the ordering of his deeds commit;

  And who reveals his secret to the folk His enemies awakens unto it.

  With his own business be a man content Nor mell with what concerneth him no whit.’

  And he went on to admonish his brothers and enjoin them to justice and forbid them from oppression, doubting not but they would love him the better for his lavishment of good counsel upon them, and he trusted in them and entreated them with the utmost honour; but, for all his generosity to them, they only waxed in hatred and envy of him, till, one day, the two being together [alone], Nasir said to Mensour, ‘O my brother, how long shall we be subject to our brother Abdallah, and he in this estate of lordship and commandment? After being a merchant, he is become an Amir, and from being little, he is grown great: but we, we grow not great nor is there aught of rank or worth left us; for, behold, he laugheth at us and maketh us his assistants! What is the meaning of this? Is it not that we are his servants and under his commandment? But, what while he abideth on life, our rank will never be raised nor shall we be of any account; wherefore we shall not attain to our wish, except we slay him and take his good, nor will it be possible to take his good, save after his death. So, when we have killed him, we shall become lords and will take all that is in his treasuries of jewels and [other] things of price and divide them between us. Then will we send the Khalif a present and demand of him the government of Cufa, and thou shalt be governor of Bassora and I of Cufa, or thou shalt be governor of Cufa and I of Bassora. On this wise each of us shall have a rank and a condition, but we shall never compass this, except we do away with him.’

  ‘Thou sayest sooth,’ answered Mensour; ‘but how shall we do to kill him?’ Quoth Nasir, ‘We will make an entertainment in the house of one of us and bid him thereto and serve him with the utmost assiduity. Then will we watch the night with him in converse and tell him stories and jests and anecdotes, till his heart is dissolved with watching, when we will spread him a bed, that he may lie down to sleep. When he is asleep, we will kneel upon him and strangle him and cast him into the river; and on the morrow, we will say, “His sister the Jinniyeh came to him, as he sat talking with us, and said to him, ‘O scum of mankind, who art thou that thou shouldst complain of me to the Commander of the Faithful? Deemest thou that we are afraid of him? If he be a king, we too are kings, and if he mend not his manners with us, we will kill him by the foulest of deaths. But meantime I will kill thee, that we may see what the Commander of the Faithful can do.’ So saying, she caught him up and the earth opened and she disappeared with him; which when we saw, we swooned away. Then we came to ourselves and we know not what is become of him.” Then will we send to the Khalif and tell him of this and he will invest us with the government in his room. After awhile, we will send him a rich present and seek of him the government of Cufa, and one of us shall abide in Bassora and the other in Cufa. So shall the land be pleasant to us and we will subdue the people and attain our desire.’ ‘Thou counsellest well, O my brother,’ answered Mensour and they agreed upon this thing.

  So Nasir made an entertainment and said to Abdallah, ‘O my brother, verily I am thy brother, and I would have thee and my brother Mensour heal my heart and eat of my guest-meal in my house, so I may glory in thee and that it may be said, “The Amir Abdallah hath eaten of his brother Nasir’s guest-meal;” whereby my heart will be solaced.’ ‘So be it, O my brother,’ answered Abdallah. ‘There is no distinction between me and thee, and my house is thy house; but since thou biddest me, none refuseth hospitality save the churl.’ Then he turned to Mensour and said to him, ‘Wilt thou go with me to thy brother Nasir’s house and eat of his guest-meal and ease his heart?’ ‘As thy head liveth, O my brother,’ replied Mensour, ‘I will not go with thee, except thou swear to me that, after thou comest forth of my brother Nasir’s house, thou wilt enter my house and eat of my banquet! Is Nasir thy brother and am not I thy brother? So, even as thou healest his heart, do thou heal mine.’ ‘With all my heart,’ answered Abdallah. ‘When I come out from Nasir’s house, I will enter thine, for thou art my brother even as he.’ So Nasir kissed his hand and going forth of the divan, made ready his banquet.

  On the morrow, Abdallah took horse and repaired, with his brother Mensour and a company of his officers, to Nasir’s house, where they sat down, he and Mensour and his company. Then Nasir set the table of food before them and bade them welcome; so they ate and drank; after which the tray and the platters were removed and they washed their hands. They passed the day in eating and drinking and merry-making and good cheer till night-fall, when they supped and prayed the prayers of sundown, and evensong. Then they sat carousing, and Nasir and Mensour fell to telling stories, first one and then the other, whilst Abdallah hearkened. Now they three were alone in a pavilion, the rest of the company being in another place, and they ceased not to tell tales and jests and pleasant traits and anecdotes, till Abdallah’s heart was dissolved within him for watching and sleep overcame him. So they spread him a bed and he put off his clothes and lay down.

  They lay down beside him on another couch and waited till they saw that he was drowned in sleep, when they arose and knelt upon him: whereupon he awoke and seeing them kneeling on his breast, said to them, ‘What is this, O my brothers?’ ‘We are no brothers of thine,’ answered they, ‘nor do we know thee, lack-courtesy that thou art! Thy death is become better than thy life.’ Then they gripped him by the throat and throttled him till he lost his senses and abode without motion, so that they deemed him dead. Now the pavilion in which they were overlooked the river; so they cast him therein; but, when he fell, God sent to his aid a dolphin, which was wont to come under the pavilion, for that the kitchen had a window that gave upon the water, and as often as they killed any beast there, it was their wont to throw the offal into the river and the dolphin came and picked it up from the surface of the water; wherefore it still resorted to the place. That day they had cast out much offal, by reason of the banquet; so the dolphin ate more than of wont and gained strength. When it heard the splash of Abdallah’s fall, it hastened to the spot, where it saw a man, and God guided it, so that it took him on its back and crossing the river, made with him for the other bank, where it cast him ashore.

  Now the place w
here the dolphin cast him up was a beaten way, and presently up came a caravan and finding him lying on the river-bank, said, ‘Here is a drowned man, whom the river hath cast up.’ Now the chief of the caravan was a man of worth and sound judgment, skilled in all sciences and versed in the art of medicine: so he said to them, ‘O folk, what is to do?’ And they answered, saying, ‘Here is a drowned man.’ Whereupon he went up to Abdallah and examining him, said to them, ‘O folk, there is yet life in this young man, who is a person of condition and a nursling of honour and fortune, and God willing, there is still hope in him.’ Then he took him and clothing him in warm apparel, nursed him and tended him three days’ journey, till he revived; but he was exceeding weak, by reason of the shock, and the chief of the caravan proceeded to medicine him with such simples as he knew, what while they fared on, without ceasing, till they had travelled thirty days’ journey from Bassora and came to a city in the land of the Persians, by name Auj. Here they alighted at a khan and spread Abdallah a bed, where he lay groaning all night and disturbing the folk with his groans.

  On the morrow the porter of the khan came to the chief of the caravan and said to him, ‘What is this sick man thou hast with thee? Verily, he disturbeth us.’ Quoth the chief, ‘I found him by the way, shipwrecked and cast up by the river, and have tended him, but to no effect, for he recovereth not.’ ‘Show him to the Sheikheh Rajiheh,’ said the porter. ‘Who is she?’ asked the chief of the caravan, and the porter answered, saying, ‘There is with us a holy woman, a comely and clean maid, called Rajiheh, to whom they carry whoso hath any ailment; and he lies the night in her house and awakes on the morrow, whole and ailing nothing.’ Quoth the chief, ‘Direct me to her;’ and the porter said, ‘Take up thy sick man. So he took up Abdallah and the porter forewent him, till he came to a hermitage, where he saw folk entering with votive offerings and other folk coming forth, rejoicing. The porter went in, till he came to the curtain, and said, ‘Permission, O Sheikheh Rajiheh! Take this sick man.’ Quoth she, ‘Bring him within the curtain.’ And the porter said to Abdallah, ‘Enter.’