One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When it was the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the two Kings agreed each to rule one day in turn: then made they feasts and offered sacrifices of clean beasts and held high festival; and they abode thus awhile, whilst Sultan Kanmakan spent his nights with his cousin Kuzia Fakan. And after that period, as the two Kings sat rejoicing in their condition and in the happy ending of their troubles, behold, they saw a cloud of dust arise and tower till it walled the world from their eyes. And out of it came a merchant shrieking and crying aloud for succour and saying, “O Kings of the Age! how cometh it that I woned safely in the land of the Infidels and I am plundered in your realm, though it be the biding place of justice113 and peace?” Then King Rumzan went up to him and questioned him of his case and he replied, “I am a merchant and, like other merchants, I have been long absent from my native land, travelling in far countries for some twenty years; and I have a patent of exemption from the city of Damascus which the Viceroy, King Sharrkan (who hath found mercy) wrote me, for the cause that I had made him gift of a slave-girl. Now as I was drawing near my home, having with me an hundred loads of rarities of Hind, when I brought them near Baghdad, which be the seat of your sovereignty and the place of your peace and your justice, out there came upon me wild Arabs and Kurds114 in band gathered together from every land; and they slew my many and they robbed my money and this is what they have done me.” Then the trader wept in presence of King Rumzan, saying that he was an old man and infirm; and he bemoaned himself till the King felt for him and had compassion on him; and likewise did King Kanmakan and they swore that they would sally forth upon the thieves. So they set out amid an hundred horse, each reckoned worth thou sands of men, and the merchant went before them to guide them in the right way; and they ceased not faring on all that day and the livelong night till dawnbreak, when they came to a valley abounding in rills and shady with trees. Here they found the foray dispersed about the valley, having divided that merchant’s bales among them; but there was yet some of the goods left. So the hundred horsemen fell upon them and surrounded them on all sides, and King Rumzan shouted his war cry, and thus also did his nephew Kanmakan, and ere long they made prize of them all, to the number of near three hundred horsemen, banded together of the refuse of rascality.115 They took what they could find of the merchant’s goods and, binding them tightly, brought them to Baghdad, where King Rumzan and his nephew, King Kanmakan, sat down together on one throne and, passing the prisoners in review before them, questioned them of their case and their chiefs. They said, “We have no chiefs but these three men and it was they who gathered us together from all corners and countries.” The Kings said to them, “Point out to us your headmen!”; and, when this was done, they bade lay hands on the leaders and set their comrades free, after taking from them all the goods in their possession and restoring them to the merchant, who examined his stuffs and monies and found that a fourth of his stock was missing. The Kings engaged to make good the whole of his loss, where upon the trader pulled out two letters, one in the handwriting of Sharrkan, and the other in that of Nuzhat al-Zaman; for this was the very merchant who had bought Nuzhat al-Zaman of the Badawi, when she was a virgin, and had forwarded her to her brother Sharrkan; and that happened between them which happened.116 Hereupon King Kanmakan examined the letters and recognised the handwriting of his uncle Sharrkan, and, having heard the history of his aunt, Nuzhat al- Zaman, he went in to her with the second letter written by her to the merchant who had lost through her his monies; Kanmakan also told her what had befallen the trader from first to last. She knew her own handwriting and, recognising the merchant, despatched to him guest gifts and commended him to her brother and nephew, who ordered him largesse of money and black slaves and pages to wait on him; besides which Nuzhat al-Zaman sent him an hundred thousand dirhams in cash and fifty loads of merchandise and presented to him other rich presents. Then she sent for him and when he came, she went up to him and saluted him and told him that she was the daughter of King Omar bin al- Nu’uman and that her brother was King Rumzan and that King Kanmakan was her nephew. Thereupon the merchant rejoiced with great joy, and congratulated her on her safety and on her re- union with her brother, and kissed her hands thanking her for her bounty, and said to her, “By Allah! a good deed is not lost upon thee!” Then she withdrew to her own apartment and the trader sojourned with them three days, after which he took leave of them and set out on his return march to the land of Syria. Thereupon the two Kings sent for the three robber chiefs who were of the highway men, and questioned them of their case, when one of them came forward and said, “Know ye that I am a Badawi who am wont to lie in wait, by the way, to snatch small children117 and virgin girls and sell them to merchants; and this I did for many a year until these latter days, when Satan incited me to join yon two gallows birds in gathering together all the riff-raff of the Arabs and other peoples, that we might plunder merchandise and waylay merchants.” Said the Kings, “Tell us the rarest of the adventures that have befallen thee in kidnapping children and maidens.” Replied he, “O Kings of the Age, the strangest thing that happened to me was that one day, two-and-twenty years ago, I snatched a girl who belonged to the Holy City; she was gifted with beauty and comeliness, despite that she was but a servant and was clad in threadbare clothes, with a piece of camlet-cloth on her head. So I entrapped her by guile as she came out of the caravanserai; and at that very hour mounting her on a camel, made off with her, thinking to carry her to my own people in the Desert and there set her to pasture the camels and gather their droppings in the valley. But she wept with so sore a weeping that after coming down upon her with blows, I took her and carried her to Damascus city where a merchant saw her with me and, being astounded at her beauty and marvelling at her accomplishments, wished to buy her of me and kept on bidding me more and more for her, till at last I sold her to him for an hundred thousand dirhams. After selling her I heard her display prodigious eloquence; and it reached me that the merchant clothed her in handsome gear and presented her to the Viceroy of Damascus, who gave him three times the price which he had paid to me, and this price, by my life! was but little for such a damsel. This, O Kings of the Age, is the strangest thing that ever befel me.” When the two Kings heard her story they wondered thereat, but when Nuzhat al-Zaman heard what the Badawi related, the light became darkness before her face and she cried out and said to her brother Rumzan, “Sure and sans doubt this is the very Badawi who kidnapped me in the Holy City Jerusalem!” Then she told them all that she had endured from him in her stranger hood of hardship, blows, hunger, humiliation, contempt, adding, “And now it is lawful for me to slay him.” So saying she seized a sword and made at him to smite him; and behold, he cried out and said, “O Kings of the Age, suffer her not to slay me, till I shall have told you the rare adventures that have betided me.” And her nephew Kanmakan said to her, “O my aunt, let him tell us his tale, and after that do with him as thou wilt.” So she held her hand and the Kings said to him, “Now let us hear thy history.” Quoth he, “O Kings of the Age, if I tell you a rare tale will ye pardon me?” “Yes,” answered they. Then the Badawi robber-chief began,

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  The Tale of Hammad the Badawi.

  And he said: — Know ye that a short while ago, I was sore wakeful one night and thought the morn would never dawn; so, as soon as it was break of day I rose, without stay or delay; and, slinging over my shoulder my sword, mounted horse and set my lance in rest. Then I rode out to sport and hunt and, as I went along, a company of men accosted me and asked me whither I was bound I told them and they said, “We will keep thee company.” So we all fared on together, and, whilst we were faring, lo and behold! up started an ostrich and we gave her chase, but she escaped our pursuit and spreading wings ceased not to fly before us (and we following by sight) till she lost us in a desert wherein there was neither grass nor water, nor heard we aug
ht therein save hiss of snake and wail of Jinn and howl of Ghul; and when we reached that place the ostrich disappeared nor could we tell whether she had flown up into the sky or into the ground had gone down. Then we turned our horses’ heads and thought to return; but found that to retrace our steps at that time of burning heat would be toilsome and dangerous; for the sultry air was grievous to us, so that we thirsted with sore thirst and our steeds stood still. We made sure of death; but while we were in this case we suddenly espied from afar a spacious mead where gazelles were frisking Therein was a tent pitched and by the tent side a horse tethered and a spear was planted with head glittering in the sun.118 Upon this our hearts revived after we had despaired, and we turned our horses’ heads towards that tent making for the meadow and the water which irrigated it; and all my comrades fared for it and I at their head, and we ceased not faring till we reached the mead. Then we alighted at the spring and watered our beasts. But I was seized with a fever of foolish curiosity and went up to the door of that tent, wherein I saw a young man, without hair on his cheeks, who fellowed the new moon; and on his right hand was a slender-waisted maid, as she were a willow-wand. No sooner did I set eyes on her than love get hold upon my heart and I saluted the youth, who returned my greeting. Then said I, “O my brother, tell me who thou art and what to thee is this damsel sitting by thy side?”119 Thereupon the youth bent his head groundwards awhile, then raised it and replied, “Tell me first who thou art and what are these horsemen with thee?” Answered I, “I am Hammad son of al-Fazari, the renowned knight, who is reckoned among the Arabs as five hundred horse. We went forth from our place this morning to sport and chase and were overcome by thirst; so I came to the door of this tent, thinking haply to get of thee a draught of water.” When he heard these my words, he turned to the fair maiden and said, “Bring this man water and what food there is ready.” So she arose trailing her skirts, whilst the golden bangles tinkled on her ankles and her feet stumbled in her long locks, and she disappeared for a little while. Presently she returned bearing in her right hand a silver vessel full of cold water and in her left hand a bowl brimming with milk and dates, together with some flesh of wild cattle. But I could take of her nor meat nor drink for the excess of my passion, and I applied to her these two couplets, saying,

  “It was as though the sable dye120 upon her palms, *

  Were raven perching on a swathe of freshest snow;

  Thou seest Sun and Moon conjoined in her face, *

  While Sun fear-dimmed and Moon fright-pallid show.”

  After I had eaten and drunk I said to the youth, “Know thou, O Chief of the Arabs, that I have told thee in all truth who and what I am, and now I would fain have thee do the like by me and tell me the truth of thy case.” Replied the young man, “As for this damsel she is my sister.” Quoth I, “It is my desire that thou give me her to wife of thy free will: else will I slay thee and take her by force.” Upon this, he bowed his head groundwards awhile, then he raised his eyes to me and answered, “Thou sayest sooth in avouching thyself a renowned knight and famed in fight and verily thou art the lion of the desert; but if ye all attack me treacherously and slay me in your wrath and take my sister by force, it will be a stain upon your honour. An you be, as ye aver, cavaliers who are counted among the Champions and reck not the shock of foray and fray, give me a little time to don my armour and sling on my sword and set lance in rest and mount war steed. Then will we go forth into the field of fight, I and you; and, if I conquer you, I will kill you to the last man; but if you overcome me and slay me, this damsel, my sister, is yours.” Hearing such words I replied, “This is only just, and we oppose it not.” Then I turned back my horse’s head (for my love for the damsel waxed hotter and hotter) and returned to my companions, to whom I set forth her beauty and loveliness as also the comeliness of the young man who was with her, together with his velour and strength of soul and how he had avouched himself a match for a thousand horse. Moreover, I described to my company the tent and all the riches and rarities therein and said to them, “Know ye that this youth would not have cut himself off from society and have taken up his abode alone in this place, were he not a man of great prowess: so I propose that whoso slayeth the younker shall take his sister.” And they said, “This contenteth us.” Then my company armed themselves and mounting, rode to the tent, where we found that the young man had donned his gear and backed his steed; but his sister ran up to him (her veil being drenched with tears), and took hold of his stirrup and cried out, saying, “Alas!” and, “Woe worth the day!” in her fear for her brother, and recited these couplets,

  “To Allah will I make my moan of travail and of woe, *

  Maybe Iláh of Arsh121 will smite their faces with

  affright:

  Fain would they slay thee, brother mine, with purpose

  felon-fell; * Albe no cause of vengeance was, nor fault

  forewent the fight.

  Yet for a rider art thou known to those who back the steed, *

  And twixt the East and West of knights thou art the prowess

  knight:

  Thy sister’s honour thou shalt guard though little might be

  hers, * For thou’rt her brother and for thee she sueth

  Allah’s might:

  Then let not enemy possess my soul nor ‘thrall my frame, *

  And work on me their will and treat thy sister with

  despight.

  I’ll ne’er abide, by Allah’s truth, in any land or home *

  Where thou art not, though dight it be with joyance and

  delight

  For love and yearning after thee myself I fain will slay, *

  And in the gloomy darksome tomb spread bed upon the clay.”

  But when her brother heard her verse he wept with sore weeping and turned his horse’s head towards his sister and made this answer to her poetry,

  “Stand by and see the derring-do which I to-day will show, *

  When meet we and I deal them blows that rend and cleave and

  split;

  E’en though rush out to seek a bout the lion of the war, *

  The stoutest hearted brave of all and eke the best in wit;

  To him I’ll deal without delay a Sa’alabiyan blow,122 *

  And dye my cane-spear’s joint in blood by wound of foe

  bespit:

  If all I beat not off from thee, O sister, may this frame *

  Be slain, and cast my corpse to birds, for so it would

  befit:

  Yes, for thy dearest sake I’ll strike my blows with might and

  main, * And when we’re gone shall this event in many a book

  be writ.”

  And when he had ended his verse, he said, “O my sister, give ear to what I shall enjoin on thee”; whereto she replied, “Hearkening and obedience.” Quoth he, “If I fall, let none possess thy person;” and thereupon she buffeted her face and said, “Allah forbid, O my brother, that I should see thee laid low and yield myself to thy foe!” With this the youth put out his hand to her and withdrew her veil from her face, whereupon it shone forth as the sun shineth out from the white clouds. Then he kissed her between the eyes and bade her farewell; after which he turned to us and said, “Holla, Knights! Come ye as guests or crave ye cuts and thrusts? If ye come to us as your hosts, rejoice ye in the guest rite; and, if ye covet the shining moon, come ye out against me, knight by knight, into this plain and place of fight.” There upon rushed out to him a doughty rider and the young man said to him, “Tell me thy name and thy father’s name, for I am under an oath not to slay any whose name tallies with mine and whose father’s name is that of my father; and if this be the case with thee, I will give thee up the maid.” Quoth the horseman, “My name is Bilál;”123 and the young man answered him, saying,

  “Thou liest when speaking of ‘benefits,’ while *

  Thou comest to front with shine evillest will

  An of prowess thou’rt prow, to my words give ear, *

  I’m
he who make’ champions in battle-field reel

  With keen blade, like the horn of the cusped moon, *

  So ‘ware thrust the, shall drill through the duress hill!”

  Then they charged down, each at each, and the youth thrust his adversary in the breast so that the lance head issued from his back. With tints, another came out, and the youth cried,

  “Ho thou hound, who art rotten with foulness in grain,124 *

  What high meed is there easy for warrior to gain?

  ’Tis none save the lion of strain purest pure *

  Who uncareth for life in the battle plain!”

  Nor was it long before the youth left him drowned in his blood and cried out, “Who will come forth to me?” So a third horse man rushed out upon the youth and began saying,

  “To thee come I forth with my heart a-flame, *

  And summon my friends and my comrades by name:

  When thou slewest the chief of the Arabs this day, *

  This day thou remainest the pledge of my claim.”

  Now when the youth heard this he answered him in these words,

  “Thou liest, O foulest of Satans that are, *

  And with easings calumnious thou comest to war

  This day thou shalt fall by a death dealing point *

  Where the lances lunge and the scymitars jar!”

  Then he so foined him in the breast that the spear-point issued from his back and he cried out, saying, “Ho! will none come out? So a fourth fared forwards and the youth asked him his name and he answered, “My name is Hilál, the New Moon.” And the youth began repeating,

  “Thou hast failed who would sink me in ruin sea, *

  Thou who camest in malice with perfidy: