One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kazis said to Zayn al-Mawasif, “O admirable of attributes and singular among beauties! Be not thy heart other than hearty for our doing thy desire and thy winning to thy will.” So she called down blessings on them and farewelled them and went her ways, the while her husband abode with his friends at the marriage-banquet and knew naught of her doings. Then she proceeded to beseech the notaries and scribes and the notables and the Chiefs of Police to succour her against that unbelieving miscreant and deliver her from the torment she suffered from him. Then she wept with sore weeping and improvised these couplets,

  “Rain showers of torrent tears, O Eyne and see * An they will

  quench the fires that flame in me:

  After my robes of gold-embroidered silk * I wake to wear the

  frieze of monkery:

  And all my raiment reeks of sulphur-fumes * When erst my shift

  shed musky fragrancy:

  And hadst thou, O Masrúr, my case descried, * Ne’er hadst thou

  borne my shame and ignomy.

  And eke Hubúb in iron chains is laid * By Miscreant who unknows

  God’s Unity.

  The creed of Jewry I renounce and home, * The Moslem’s Faith

  accepting faithfully

  Eastwards362 I prostrate self in fairest guise * Holding the

  only True Belief that be:

  Masrúr! forget not love between us twain * And keep our vows and

  troth with goodly gree:

  I’ve changed my faith for sake of thee, and I * For stress of

  love will cleave to secrecy:

  So haste to us, an us in heart thou bear, * As noble spirit, nor

  as laggard fare.”

  After this she wrote a letter to Masrur, describing to him all that the Jew had done with her from first to last and enclosed the verses aforesaid. Then she folded the scroll and gave it to her maid Hubub, saying, “Keep this in thy pocket, till we send it to Masrur.” Upon these doings lo and behold! in came the Jew and seeing them joyous, said to them, “How cometh it that I find you merry? Say me, hath a letter reached you from your bosom friend Masrur?” Replied Zayn al-Mawasif, “We have no helper against thee save Allah, extolled and exalted be He! He will deliver us from thy tyranny, and except thou restore us to our birth-place and homestead, we will complain of thee tomorrow to the Governor of this town and to the Kazi.” Quoth he, “Who struck off the shackles from your legs? But needs must I let make for each of you fetters ten pounds in weight and go round about the city with you.” Replied Hubub, “All that thou purposest against us thou shall fall into thyself, so it please Allah the Most High, by token that thou hast exiled us from our homes, and to-morrow we shall stand, we and thou, before the Governor of the city.” They nighted on this wise and next morning the Jew rose up in haste and went out to order new shackles, whereupon Zayn al-Mawasif arose and repaired with her women to the court-house, where she found the four Kazis and saluted them. They all returned her salutation and the Kazi of Kazis said to those about him, “Verily this damsel is lovely as the Venus-star363 and all who see her love her and bow before her beauty and loveliness.” Then he despatched four sergeants, who were Sharífs,364 saying, “Bring ye the criminal after abjectest fashion.” So, when the Jew returned with the shackles and found none in the house, he was confounded; but, as he abode in perplexity, suddenly up came the officers and laying hold of him beat him with a sore beating and dragged him face downwards before the Kazi. When the judge saw him, he cried out in his face and said to him, “Woe to thee, O foe of God, is it come to such a pass with thee that thou doest the deed thou hast done and bringest these women far from their country and stealest their monies and wouldst make them Jews? How durst thou seek to make miscreants of Moslems?” Answered the Jew, “O my lord this woman is my wife.” Now when the Kazis heard this, they all cried out, saying, “Throw this hound on the ground and come down on his face with your sandals and beat him with sore blows, for his offence is unpardonable.” So they pulled off his silken gear and clad him in his wife’s raiment of hair-cloth, after which they threw him down and plucked out his beard and belaboured him about the face with sandals. Then they sat him on an ass, face to crupper, arsi-versy, and making him take its tail in his hand, paraded him round about the city, ringing the bell before him in every street; after which they brought him back to the judges in sorriest plight; and the four Kazis with one voice condemned him to have his feet and hands cut off and lastly to be crucified. When the accursed heard this sentence his sense forsook him and he was confounded and said, “O my lords the Kazis, what would ye of me?” They replied, “Say thou, ‘This damsel is not my wife and the monies are her monies, and I have transgressed against her and brought her far from her country.’” So he confessed to this and the Kazis recorded his confession in legal form and taking the money from him, gave it to Zayn al-Mawasif, together with the document. Then she went away and all who saw her were confounded at her beauty and loveliness, whilst each of the Kazis looked for her committing herself to him. But, when she came to her lodging, she made ready all matters she needed and waited till night. Then she took what was light of load and weighty of worth, and setting out with her maids under cover of the murks three days with their nights fared on without stopping. Thus it was with her; but as regards the Kazis they ordered the Jew to prison. — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixtieth Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kazis ordered the Jew to prison and on the morrow they looked for Zayn al-Mawasif coming to them, they and their assessors; but she presented herself not to any of them. Then said the Chief Kazi, “I wish to-day to make an excursion without the town on business there.” So he mounted his she-mule and taking his page with him, went winding about the streets of the town, searching its length and width for Zayn al-Mawasif, but never finding her. On this errand he came upon the other three Kazis, going about on the same, each deeming himself the only one to whom she had given tryst. He asked them whither they were riding and why they were going about the streets; when they told him their business, whereby he saw that their plight was as his plight and their quest as his quest. So they all four rode throughout the city, seeking her, but could hit on no trace of her and returned to their houses, sick for love, and lay down on the bed of langour. Presently the Chief Kazi bethought himself of the blacksmith; so he sent for him and said to him, “O blacksmith, knowest thou aught of the damsel whom thou didst direct to me? By Allah, an thou discover her not to me, I will whack thee with whips.” Now when the smith heard this, he recited these couplets365 ,

  “She who my all of love by love of her hath won * Owns every

  Beauty and for others leaves she none:

  She gazes, a gazelle; she breathes, fresh ambergris * She waves,

  a lake; she sways, a bough; she shines, a Sun.”

  Then said the blacksmith, “By Allah, O my lord, since she fared forth from thy worshipful presence,366 I have not set eyes on her; no, not once. Indeed she took possession of my heart and wits and all my talk and thoughts are of her. I went to her lodging but found her not, nor found I any who could give me news of her, and it is as if she had dived into the depths of the sea or had ascended to the sky.” Now when the Kazi heard this, he groaned a groan, that his soul was like to depart therefor, and he said, “By Allah, well it were had we never seen her!” Then the smith went away, whilst the Kazi fell down on his bed and became sick of langour for her sake, and on like wise fared it with the other three Kazis and assessors. The mediciners paid them frequent calls, but found in them no ailment requiring a leach: so the city-notables went in to the Chief Kazi and saluting him, questioned him of his case; whereupon he sighed and showed them that was in his heart, reciting these couplets,

  “Stint ye this blame; eno
ugh I suffer from Love’s malady * Nor

  chide the Kazi frail who fain must deal to folk decree!

  Who doth accuse my love let him for me find some excuse: * Nor

  blame; for lovers blameless are in lover-slavery!

  I was a Kázi whom my Fate deigned aid with choicest aid * By writ

  and reed and raisčd me to wealth and high degree;

  Till I was shot by sharpest shaft that knows nor leach nor cure *

  By Damsel’s glance who came to spill my blood and murther

  me.

  To me came she, a Moslemah and of her wrongs she ‘plained * With

  lips that oped on Orient-pearls ranged fair and orderly:

  I looked beneath her veil and saw a wending moon at full * Rising

  below the wings of Night engloomed with blackest blee:

  A brightest favour and a mouth bedight with wondrous smiles; *

  Beauty had brought the loveliest garb and robed her

  cap-ŕ-pie.

  By Allah, ne’er beheld my eyes a face so ferly fair * Amid

  mankind whoever are, Arab or Ajamí.

  My Fair! What promise didst thou make what time to me thou

  said’st * ‘Whenas I promise I perform, O Kazi, faithfully.’

  Such is my stead and such my case calamitous and dire * And ask

  me not, ye men of spunk, what dreadful teen I dree.”

  When he ended his verse he wept with sore weeping and sobbed one sob and his spirit departed his body, which seeing they washed him and shrouded him and prayed over him and buried him graving on his tomb these couplets,

  “Perfect were lover’s qualities in him was brought a-morn, *

  Slain by his love and his beloved, to this untimely grave:

  Kázi was he amid the folk, and aye ’twas his delight * To foster

  all the folk and keep a-sheath the Justice-glaive:

  Love caused his doom and ne’er we saw among mankind before * The

  lord and master louting low before his thrallčd slave.”

  Then they committed him to the mercy of Allah and went away to the second Kazi, in company with the physician, but found in him nor injury nor ailment needing a leach. Accordingly they questioned him of his case and what preoccupied him; so he told them what ailed him, whereupon they blamed him and chid him for his predicament and he answered them with these couplets,

  “Blighted by her yet am I not to blame; * Struck by the dart at

  me her fair hand threw.

  Unto me came a woman called Hubúb * Chiding the world from year

  to year anew:

  And brought a damsel showing face that shamed * Full moon that

  sails through Night-tide’s blackest hue,

  She showed her beauties and she ‘plained her plain * Which tears

  in torrents from her eyelids drew:

  I to her words gave ear and gazed on her * Whenas with smiling

  lips she made me rue.

  Then with my heart she fared where’er she fared * And left me

  pledged to sorrows soul subdue.

  Such is my tale! So pity ye my case * And this my page with

  Kazi’s gear indue.”

  Then he sobbed one sob and his soul fled his flesh; whereupon they gat ready his funeral and buried him commending him to the mercy of Allah; after which they repaired to the third Kazi and the fourth, and there befel them the like of what befel their brethren.367 Furthermore, they found the Assessors also sick for love of her, and indeed all who saw her died of her love or, an they died not, lived on tortured with the lowe of passion. — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

  She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the city folk found all the Kazis and the Assessors sick for love of her, and all who saw her died lovesick or, an they died not, lived on tortured with the lowe of passion for stress of pining to no purpose — Allah have mercy on them one and all! Meanwhile Zayn al- Mawasif and her women drave on with all diligence till they were far distant from the city and it so fortuned that they came to a convent by the way, wherein dwelt a Prior called Danis and forty monks.368 When the Prior saw her beauty, he went out to her and invited her to alight, saying, “Rest with us ten days and after wend your ways.” So she and her damsels alighted and entered the convent; and when Danis saw her beauty and loveliness, she debauched his belief and he was seduced by her: wherefore he fell to sending the monks, one after other with love-messages; but each who saw her fell in love with her and sought her favours for himself, whilst she excused and denied herself to them. But Danis ceased not his importunities till he had dispatched all the forty, each one of whom fell love-sick at first sight and plied her with blandishments never even naming Danis; whilst she refused and rebuffed them with harsh replies. At last when Danis’s patience was at an end and his passion was sore on him, he said in himself, “Verily, the sooth-sayer saith, ‘Naught scratcheth my skin but my own nail and naught like my own feet for mine errand may avail.’” So up he rose and made ready rich meats, and it was the ninth day of her sojourn in the convent where she had purposed only to rest. Then he carried them in to her and set them before her, saying, “Bismillah, favour us by tasting the best of the food at our command.” So she put forth her hand, saying, “For the name of Allah the Compassionating, the Compassionate!” and ate, she and her handmaidens. When she had made an end of eating, he said to her, “O my lady, I wish to recite to thee some verses.” Quoth she, “Say on,” and he recited these couplets,

  “Thou hast won my heart by cheek and eye of thee, * I’ll praise

  for love in prose and poesy.

  Wilt fly a lover, love-sick, love-distraught * Who strives in

  dreams some cure of love to see?

  Leave me not fallen, passion-fooled, since I * For pine have left

  uncared the Monast’ry:

  O Fairest, ’tis thy right to shed my blood, * So rue my case and

  hear the cry of me!”

  When Zayn al-Mawasif heard his verses, she answered him with these two couplets,

  “O who suest Union, ne’er hope such delight * Nor solicit my

  favours, O hapless wight!

  Cease to hanker for what thou canst never have: * Next door are

  the greedy to sore despight.”

  Hearing this he returned to his place, pondering in himself and knowing not how he should do in her affair, and passed the night in the sorriest plight. But, as soon as the darkness was darkest Zayn al-Mawasif arose and said to her handmaids, “Come, let us away, for we cannot avail against forty men, monks, each of whom requireth me for himself.” Quoth they, “Right willingly!” So they mounted their beasts and issued forth the convent gate, — Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-second Night,

  She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zayn al-Mawasif and her handmaids issued forth the convent gate and, under favour of the night, rode on till they overtook a caravan, with which they mingled and found it came from the city of ‘Adan wherein the lady had dwelt. Presently, Zayn al-Mawasif heard the people of the caravan discoursing of her own case and telling how the Kazis and Assessors were dead of love for her and how the townsfolk had appointed in their stead others who released her husband from prison. Whereupon she turned to her maids and asked them, “Heard ye that?”; and Hubub answered, “If the monks were ravished with love of thee, whose belief it is that shunning women is worship, how should it be with the Kazis, who hold that there is no monkery in Al-Islam? But let us make our way to our own country, whilst our affair is yet hidden.” So they drave on with all diligence. Such was their case; but as regards the monks, on the morrow, as soon as it was day they repaired to Zayn al-Mawasif’s lodging, to salute her, but found the place empty, and their hearts sickened within them. So the first monk rent his raiment and
improvised these couplets,

  “Ho ye, my friends, draw near, for I forthright * From you

  depart, since parting is my lot:

  My vitals suffer pangs o’ fiery love; * Flames of desire in heart

  burn high and hot,

  For sake of fairest girl who sought our land * Whose charms th’

  horizon’s full moon evens not.

  She fared and left me victimed by her love * And slain by shaft

  those lids death-dealing shot.”

  Then another monk recited the following couplets,

  “O ye who with my vitals fled, have ruth * On this unhappy: haste

  ye homeward-bound:

  They fared, and fared fair Peace on farthest track * Yet lingers