One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  “Thou hast granted more favours than ever I craved; * Thou hast

  satisfied needs which my heart enslaved:

  I will thank thee and thank whileas life shall last, * And my

  bones will praise thee in grave engraved!”

  Hardly had the fisherman ended his verse, when the lice began to crawl over the Caliph’s skin, and he fell to catching them on his neck with his right and left and throwing them from him, while he cried, “O fisherman, woe to thee! what be this abundance of lice on thy gaberdine.” “O my lord,” replied he, “they may annoy thee just at first, but before a week is past thou wilt not feel them nor think of them.” The Caliph laughed and said to him, “Out on thee! Shall I leave this gaberdine of thine so long on my body?” Quoth the fisherman, “I would say a word to thee but I am ashamed in presence of the Caliph!”; and quoth he, “Say what thou hast to say.” “It passed through my thought, O Commander of the Faithful,” said the fisherman, “that, since thou wishest to learn fishing so thou mayest have in hand an honest trade whereby to gain thy livelihood, this my gaberdine besitteth thee right well.”57 The Commander of the Faithful laughed at this speech, and the fisherman went his way. Then the Caliph took up the basket of fish and, strewing a little green grass over it, carried it to Ja’afar and stood before him. Ja’afar thinking him to be Karim the fisherman feared for him and said, “O Karim, what brought thee hither? Flee for thy life, for the Caliph is in the garden to-night and, if he see thee, thy neck is gone.” At this the Caliph laughed and Ja’afar recognized him and asked, “Can it be thou, our lord the Sultan?”; and he answered, “Yes, O Ja’afar, and thou art my Wazir and I and thou came hither together; yet thou knowest me not; so how should Shaykh Ibrahim know me, and he drunk? Stay here, till I came back to thee.” “To hear is to obey,” said Ja’afar. Then the Caliph went up to the door of the pavilion and knocked a gentle knock, whereupon said Nur al-Din,” O Shaykh Ibrahim, some one taps at the door.” “Who goes there?” cried the Shaykh and the Caliph replied, “It is I, O Shaykh Ibrahim!” “Who art thou,” quoth he, and quoth the other, “I am Karim the fisherman: I hear thou hast a feast, so I have brought thee some fish, and of a truth ’tis good fish.” When Nur al-Din heard the mention of fish, he was glad, he and the damsel, and they both said to the Shaykh, “O our lord, open the door and let him bring us his fish.” So Shaykh Ibrahim opened and the Caliph came in (and he in fisherman guise), and began by saluting them. Said Shaykh Ibrahim, “Welcome to the blackguard, the robber, the dicer! Let us see thy fish.” So the Caliph showed them his catch and behold, the fishes were still alive and jumping, whereupon the damsel exclaimed, “By Allah! O my lord, these are indeed fine fish: would they were fried!” and Shaykh Ibrahim rejoined, “By Allah, O my lady, thou art right.” Then said he to the Caliph, “O fisherman, why didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried? Up now and cook them and bring them back to us.” “On my head be thy commands!” said the Caliph, “I will fry thee a dish and bring it.” Said they, “Look sharp.” Thereupon he went and ran till he came up to Ja’afar when he called to him, “Hallo, Ja’afar!”; and he replied, “Here am I, O Commander of the Faithful, is all well?” “They want the fish fried,” said the Caliph, and Ja’afar answered, “O Commander of the Faithful, give it to me and I’ll fry it for them.” “By the tombs of my forbears,” quoth the Caliph, “none shall fry it but I, with mine own hand!” So he went to the gardener’s hut, where he searched and found all that he required, even to salt and saffron and wild marjoram and else besides. Then he turned to the brasier and, setting on the frying-pan, fried a right good fry. When it was done, he laid it on a banana-leaf, and gathering from the garden wind-fallen fruits, limes and lemons, carried the fish to the pavilion and set the dish before them. So the youth and the damsel and Shaykh Ibrahim came forward and ate; after which they washed their hands and Nur al-Din said to the Caliph, “By Allah, O fisherman, thou hast done us a right good deed this night.” Then he put hand in pouch and, taking out three of the dinars which Sanjar had given him, said, “O fisherman, excuse me. By Allah had I known thee before that which hath lately befallen me, I had done away the bitterness of poverty from thy heart; but take thou this as the best I can do for thee.” Then he threw the gold pieces to the Caliph, who took them and kissed them and put them in pouch. Now his sole object in doing all this was to hear the damsel sing; so he said to Nur al-Din, “Thou hast rewarded me most liberally, but I beg of thy boundless bounty that thou let this damsel sing an air, that I may hear her.”58 So Nur al- Din said, “O Anis al-Jalis!” and she answered “Yes!” and he continued, “By my life, sing us something for the sake of this fisherman who wisheth so much to hear thee.” Thereupon she took the lute and struck the strings, after she had screwed them tight and tuned them, and sang these improvised verses,

  “The fawn of a maid hent her lute in hand * And her music made us

  right mettlesome:

  For her song gave hearing to ears stone-deaf, * While Brava!

  Brava! exclaimed the dumb.”

  Then she played again and played so ravishingly, that she charmed their wits and burst out improvising and singing these couplets,

  “You have honoured us visiting this our land, * And your

  splendour illumined the glooms that blent:

  So ’tis due that for you I perfume my place * With rose-water,

  musk and the camphor-scent!”

  Hereupon the Caliph was agitated, and emotion so overpowered him that he could not command himself for excess of pleasure, and he exclaimed, “By Allah, good! by Allah, good! by Allah, good!”59 Asked Nur al-Din, “O fisherman, doth this damsel please thee?” and the Caliph answered, “Ay, by Allah!” Whereupon said Nur al-Din, “She is a gift to thee, a gift of the generous who repenteth him not of his givings and who will never revoke his gift!” Then he sprang to his feet and, taking a loose robe, threw it over the fisherman and bade him receive the damsel and be gone. But she looked at him and said, “O my lord, art thou faring forth without farewell? If it must be so, at least stay till I bid thee good-bye and make known my case.” And she began versifying in these verses,

  “When love and longing and regret are mine, * Must not this body

  show of ills a sign?

  My love! say not, ‘Thou soon shalt be consoled’; * When state

  speaks state none shall allay my pine.

  If living man could swim upon his tears, * I first should float

  on waters of these eyne:

  O thou, who in my heart infusedst thy love, * As water mingles in

  the cup with wine,

  This was the fear I feared, this parting blow. * O thou whose

  love my heart-core ne’er shall tyne!

  O Bin Khákán! my sought, my hope, my will, * O thou whose love

  this breast make wholly thine!

  Against thy lord the King thou sinn’dst for me, * And winnedst

  exile in lands peregrine:

  Allah ne’er make my lord repent my loss * To cream60 o’ men

  thou gavest me, one right digne.”

  When she had ended her verses, Nur al-Din answered her with these lines,

  “She bade me farewell on our parting day, * And she wept in the

  fire of our bane and pains:

  ‘What wilt thou do when fro’ thee I’m gone?’ * Quoth I, ‘say this

  to whom life remains!’”

  When the Caliph heard her saying in her verse,

  “To Karim, the cream of men thou gavest me;”

  his inclination for her redoubled and it seemed a hard matter and a grievous to part them; so quoth he to the youth, “O my lord, truly the damsel said in her verses that thou didst transgress against her master and him who owned her; so tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it hath a claim on thee?” “By Allah, O fisherman,” replied Nur al-Din, “there befel me and this damsel a wondrous tale and a marvellous matter: an ‘t were graven with needle-gravers on the eye-corners it woul
d be a warner to whoso would be warned.” Cried the Caliph, “Wilt thou not tell me thy story and acquaint me with thy case? Haply it may bring thee relief, for Allah’s aid is ever nearhand.” “O fisherman,” said Nur al-Din, “Wilt thou hear our history in verse or in prose?” “Prose is a wordy thing, but verses,” rejoined the Caliph, “are pearls on string.” Then Nur al-Din bowed his head, and made these couplets,

  “O my friend! reft of rest no repose I command, * And my grief is

  redoubled in this far land:

  Erst I had a father, a kinder ne’er was; * But he died and to

  Death paid the deodand:

  When he went from me, every matter went wrong * Till my heart was

  nigh-broken, my nature unmanned:

  He bought me a handmaid, a sweeting who shamed * A wand of the

  willow by Zephyr befanned:

  I lavisht upon her mine heritage, * And spent like a nobleman

  puissant and grand:

  Then to sell her compelled, my sorrow increased; * The parting

  was sore but I mote not gainstand:

  Now as soon as the crier had called her, there bid * A wicked old

  fellow, a fiery brand:

  So I raged with a rage that I could not restrain, * And snatched

  her from out of his hireling’s hand;

  When the angry curmudgeon made ready for blows, * And the fire of

  a fight kindled he and his band,

  I smote him in fury with right and with left, * And his hide,

  till well satisfied, curried and tanned:

  Then in fear I fled forth and lay hid in my house, * To escape

  from the snares which my foeman had spanned:

  So the King of the country proclaimed my arrest; * When access to

  me a good Chamberlain fand:

  And warned me to flee from the city afar, * Disappear, disappoint

  what my enemies planned:

  Then we fled from our home ‘neath the wing of the night, * And

  sought us a refuge by Baghdad strand:

  Of my riches I’ve nothing on thee to bestow, * O Fisher, except

  the fair gift thou hast scanned:

  The loved of my soul, and when I from her part, * Know for sure

  that I give thee the blood of my heart.”61

  When he had ended his verse, the Caliph said to him, “O my lord Nur al-Din, explain to me thy case more fully,” So he told him the whole story from beginning to end, and the Caliph said to him, “Whither dost thou now intend?” “Allah’s world is wide,” replied he. Quoth the Caliph, “I will write thee a letter to carry to the Sultan Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, which when he readeth, he will not hurt nor harm thee in aught.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Thirty-eighth Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph said to Nur al-Din Ali, “I will write thee a letter to carry to the Sultan Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, which when he readeth, he will not hurt nor harm thee in aught,” Nur al-Din asked “What! is there in the world a fisherman who writeth to Kings? Such a thing can never be!”; and the Caliph answered, “Thou sayest sooth, but I will tell thee the reason. Know that I and he learnt in the same school under one schoolmaster, and that I was his monitor. Since that time Fortune befriended him and he is become a Sultan, while Allah hath abased me and made me a fisherman; yet I never send to him to ask aught but he doeth my desire; nay, though I should ask of him a thousand favours every day, he would comply.” When Nur al-Din heard this he said, “Good! write that I may see.” So the Caliph took ink-case and reed-pen and wrote as follows,— “In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! But after.62 This letter is written by Harun al-Rashid, son of Al-Mahdi, to his highness Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, whom I have encompassed about with my favour and made my viceroy in certain of my dominions. The bearer of these presents is Nur al-Din Ali, son of Fazl bin Khákán the Wazir. As soon as they come to thy hand divest thyself forthright of the kingly dignity and invest him therewith; so oppose not my commandment and peace be with thee.” He gave the letter to Nur al-Din, who took it and kissed it, then put it in his turband and set out at once on his journey. So far concerning him; but as regards the Caliph, Shaykh Ibrahim stared to him (and he still in fisher garb) and said, “O vilest of fishermen, thou hast brought us a couple of fish worth a score of half-dirhams,63 and hast gotten three dinars for them; and thinkest thou to take the damsel to boot?” When the Caliph heard this, he cried out at him, and signed to Masrur who discovered himself and rushed in upon him. Now Ja’afar had sent one of the gardener-lads to the doorkeeper of the palace to fetch a suit of royal raiment for the Prince of the Faithful; so the man went and, returning with the suit, kissed the ground before the Caliph and gave it him. Then he threw of the clothes he had on64 and donned kingly apparel. Shaykh Ibrahim was still sitting upon his chair and the Caliph tarried to behold what would come next. But seeing the Fisherman become the Caliph, Shaykh Ibrahim was utterly confounded and he could do nothing but bite his finger- ends65 and say, “Would I knew whether am I asleep or am I awake!” At last the Caliph looked at him and cried, “O Shaykh Ibrahim, what state is this in which I see thee?” Thereupon he recovered from his drunkenness and, throwing himself upon the ground, repeated these verses,

  “Pardon the sinful ways I did pursue; * Ruth from his lord to

  every slave is due:

  Confession pays the fine that sin demands; * Where, then, is that

  which grace and mercy sue?”66

  The Caliph forgave him and bade carry the damsel to the city- palace, where he set apart for her an apartment and appointed slaves to serve her, saying to her, “Know that we have sent thy lord to be Sultan in Bassorah and, Almighty Allah willing, we will dispatch him the dress of investiture and thee with it.” Meanwhile, Nur al-Din Ali ceased not travelling till he reached Bassorah, where he repaired to the Sultan’s palace and he shouted a long shout.67 The Sultan heard him and sent for him; and when he came into his presence, he kissed the ground between his hands and, producing the letter, presented it to him. Seeing the superscription in the writing of the Commander of the Faithful, the Sultan rose to his feet and kissed it three times; and after reading it said, “I hear and I obey Allah Almighty and the Commander of the Faithful!” Then he summoned the four Kazis68 and the Emirs and was about to divest himself of the rule royal, when behold, in came Al Mu’ín bin Sáwí. The Sultan gave him the Caliph’s letter and he read it, then tore it to pieces and putting it into his mouth, chewed it69 and spat it out. “Woe to thee,” quoth the Sultan (and indeed he was sore angered); “what induced thee to do this deed?” “Now by thy life! O our lord the Sultan,” replied Mu’ín, “this man hath never foregathered with the Caliph nor with his Wazir; but he is a gallows-bird, a limb of Satan, a knave who, having come upon a written paper in the Caliph’s hand, some idle scroll, hath made it serve his own end. The Caliph would surely not send him to take the Sultanate from thee without the imperial autograph70 and the diploma of investiture, and he certainly would have despatched with him a Chamberlain or a Minister. But he hath come alone and he never came from the Caliph, no, never! never! never!” “What is to be done?” asked the Sultan, and the Minister answered, “Leave him to me and I will take him and keep him away from thee, and send him in charge of a Chamberlain to Baghdad-city. Then, if what he says be sooth, they will bring us back autograph and investiture; and if not, I will take my due out of this debtor.” When the Sultan heard the Minister’s words he said, “Hence with thee and him too.” Al Mu’ín took trust of him from the King and, carrying him to his own house, cried out to his pages who laid him flat and beat him till he fainted. Then he let put upon his feet heavy shackles and carried him to the jail, where he called the jailor, one Kutayt,71 who came and kissed the ground before him. Quoth the Wazir, “O Kutayt, I wish thee to take this fellow and throw him into one of
the underground cells72 in the prison and torture him night and day.” “To hear is to obey,” replied the jailor and, taking Nur al-Din into the prison, locked the door upon him. Then he gave orders to sweep a bench behind the door and, spreading on it a sitting-rug and a leather-cloth, seated Nur al-Din thereon and loosed his shackles and entreated him kindly. The Wazir sent every day enjoining the jailor to beat him, but he abstained from this, and so continued to do for forty days. On the forty-first day there came a present from the Caliph; which when the Sultan saw, it pleased him and he consulted his Ministers on the matter, when one of them said, “Perchance this present was for the new Sultan.” Cried Al-Mu’ín, “We should have done well had we put him to death at his first coming;” and the Sultan cried “By Allah, thou hast reminded me of him! Go down to the prison and fetch him, and I will strike off his head.” “To hear is to obey,” replied Al-Mu’ín: then he stood up and said, “I will make proclamation in the city: — Whoso would solace himself with seeing the beheading of Nur al-Din bin al-Fazl bin Khákán, let him repair to the palace! So follower and followed, great and small will flock to the spectacle, and I shall heal my heart and harm my foe.” “Do as thou wilt,” said the Sultan. The Wazir went off (and he was glad and gay), and ordered the Chief of Police to make the afore-mentioned proclamation. When the people heard the crier, they all sorrowed and wept, even the little ones at school and the traders in their shops; and some strove to get places for seeing the sight, whilst others went to the prison with the object of escorting him thence. Presently, the Wazir came with ten Mamelukes to the jail and Kutayt the jailor asked him, “Whom seekest thou, O our lord the Wazir?”; whereto he answered, “Bring me out that gallows- bird.” But the jailor said, “He is in the sorriest of plights for the much beating I have given him.” Then he went into the prison and found Nur al-Din repeating these verses,