One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  The Six Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

  Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that when Al-Rashid heard their strains, he shook with pleasure and wonder and joyance and enjoyment until he rent his robes118 and the house-master beholding this said to him, “O our lord, be the heart of thine enemies thus rended asunder!” Now there was amongst the handmaids a songstress who began to sing and to improvise these couplets,

  “My world goes strait when thou art a-gone * And when fled from

  my ken in my heart dost wone119

  And I love my love with a love as fond * As Jacob him who in pit

  was thrown.”

  Hereupon Ja’afar was delighted with exceeding delight and rent his raiment even as the Caliph had done, but when the house-master saw this from him he ordered for the twain a suit of clothes that befitted them and bade strip them of the rended garments and clothed them in the new. Presently the young man said, “O my lords, your time is gleesome and Allah make it to you gladsome and broaden your hearts and from you fend everything loathsome and lasting to you be honour and all that is blithesome.” Hereupon he ordered another damsel to chaunt that was with her and when Masrur the Eunuch heard it he tare his garment as had been done by Al-Rashid and the Wazir, when the house-master bade bring for him a suit that besitted him and they donned it after doffing the torn clothes. Then the youth ordered a handmaid of the fourth set who sang a tune and spake these couplets,

  “Thou hast a lover of looks lune-bright * And lighter than

  crescent120 he shows to sight;

  For the sheen of the crescent shall ever wane * But he shall grow

  to a perfect light.”121

  Hearing this Manjab the master of the house shrieked out a mighty loud shriek and tare his upper dress and fell aswoon to the ground, and as Al-Rashid looked upon him (and he bestrown in his fainting fit) he beheld upon his sides the stripes of scourging with rods and palm-sticks. At this sight he was surprised and said, “O Ja’afar, verily I marvel at this youth and his generosity and munificence and fine manners, especially when I look upon that which hath befallen him of beating and bastinadoing, and in good sooth this is a wondrous matter.” Quoth the other, “O our lord, haply someone hath harmed him in much money and his enemy took flight and the owner of the property administered to him this beating122 or peradventure someone lied concerning him, and he fell into the hands of the rulers and the Sultan bade bastinado him, or again perchance his tongue tripped and his fate was fulfilled to him.” Quoth Al-Rashid, “O Ja’afar, this youth be not in the conditions thou hast mentioned to me,” and, replied the other, “Sooth thou hast said, O our lord; by cause that indeed this young man, when we asked him for a gugglet of water invited us into his place and honoured us with all this honour and heartened our hearts and this was of the stress of his generosity and his abundant goodness.” Al-Rashid continued to converse with his Wazir while the young man did not recover from his swoon for a while of time, when another maiden of the maidens spoke out reciting these couplets,

  “He adorns the branch of his tribal-tree, * Loves the fawn his

  song as his sight she see;

  And beauty shines in his every limb * While in every heart he

  must stablished be.”

  Hereat the young man came to himself and shrieked a mighty loud shriek more violent than the first and put forth his hand to his garment and rent it in rags and fell swooning a second time, when his sides were bared more fully than before until the whole of his back appeared and Al-Rashid was straitened thereby as to his breast and his patience made protest, and he cried, “O Ja’afar, there is no help but that I ask concerning the wheals of this bastinadoing.” And as they talked over the matter of the youth behold, he came to his senses and his slaves brought him a fresh suit and caused him don it, whereupon Al-Rashid came forward and said, “O young man, thou hast honoured us and favoured us and entreated us with such kindness as other than thyself could never do nor can any requite us with the like; withal there remaineth a somewhat in my heart” — And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

  The Six Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,

  Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will.” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that Al-Rashid said to the youth, the master of the house, “Withal there remaineth a somewhat in my heart which if I manifest not to thee will abide there to my displeasure in my thought; and, albeit there is nothing to equal that thou hast done with us, still I desire of thee and of the excellence of thy kindness a fulfilling of thy favour.” Said the youth, “What dost thou wish of me, ho thou the lord?” and said the Caliph, “I would have thee inform me concerning the scars upon thy sides and let me know for what cause they be there.” Now when the young man heard these words he bowed his brow groundwards and wept awhile, then he wiped his face and raised his head and asked, “What hath urged you to this? But the fault is from me and I merit a penalty even greater. O sons of impurity, say me have you not read the lines written over the doors of my house that here you are speaking of what concerneth you not and so right soon shall ye hear what pleaseth you not? However, had ye never entered my house you would not have known of my case and my shame123 and withal sooth spoke he who said amongst his many sayings,

  ‘We sowed kindness-seed but they wrought us wrong * Which is caitiff-work and a traitor-deed.’”

  Resumed the young man, “O vilest of folk, you asked of me a gugglet of water, and I brought you into my house and honoured and welcomed you and you ate of my victual and my salt, after which I led you into my Harem with the fancy that ye were honest men and behold you are no men. Woe to you, what may ye be?” On this wise he continued to chide and revile them unknowing that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid stood before him, and presently the Prince of True Believers made reply, “We be folk of Bassorah.” “Truth you have spoken,” cried the other, “nothing cometh from Bassorah save the meanest of men and the weakest of wits but now rise up, O ye dung124 of mankind, O ye foulest of folk, and go forth from us and may Allah curse him who speaketh of whatso concerneth him not.” All this and Ja’afar and Masrur rose to their feet for shame of the youth and of what they had heard from him of ill language and they went from beside him. But Al-Rashid’s temper was ruffled and his jugulars swelled and the Hashimi vein stood out between his eyes and he cried, “Woe to thee, O Ja’afar! go this moment to Such-an-one the Wali and bid him muster his men of whom each one must have in hand an implement of iron, and let him repair to the mansion of this youth and raze it till it return to be level with the ground, nor let the morning dawn and show a trace thereof upon the face of earth.” Quoth Ja’afar to Al-Rashid, “O Prince of True Believers, from the very first we feared for all this, and did we not make condition on the subject? However, O our lord, the good man is not ruined by the good man and this work is not righteous; nay, ’tis wholly unright, and one of the sages hath said, ‘The mild in mind is not known save in the hour of wrath.’ But, O Prince of faithful men and O Caliph of the Lord who the worlds dost vice-reign, thou swarest an oath that although the vilest of men should ill-speak thee yet wouldest thou not requite him with evil, nor retur
n him aught of reply nor keep aught of rancour in thy heart for his unmannerly address. Moreover, O our lord, the youth hath no default at all and the offence is from us, for that he forbade and forefended us and wrote up in many a place the warning words, Whoso speaketh of what concerneth him not, shall hear what pleaseth him not. Therefore he unmeriteth the pain of death. Now what we had better do in this case is as follows: — Send thou for the Wali and bid him bring the youth and when he is present between thy hands, encounter him with kindness that his fear may find rest and his affright be arrested after which he shall inform thee of whatso befel him.” Cried Al-Rashid, “This is the right rede and Allah requite thee with weal, O Ja’afar. ’Tis the like of thee should be Wazir of the Councillors and Counseller of the Kings.” Hereupon Harun al-Rashid returned to his palace in company with Masrur the eunuch, and they entered the aforesaid private door whereby they had gone forth, nor was any aware of them. But when Ja’afar reached his abode he took thought in his mind as to how he should act and how he should send the Wali to the young man and bring him into the presence; and presently he retraced his way afoot and going to the Chief of Police acquainted him with the matter of the youth and carefully described his house and said to him, “Needs must thou bring him to us in the front of morning, but do thou be courteous in thy dealing and show him comradeship and startle him not nor cause him aught of fear.” After this Ja’afar dismissed the Wali and returned to his own quarters. And when the morning morrowed the Chief of Police, having chosen him as escort a single Mameluke, made for the house of the youth, and when he had reached it knocked at the door, upon which the owner came out to him and the Wali knew him by the description wherewith Ja’afar had described him, so he bade him accompany him. Hereat the heart of the young man fluttered. — And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night, an the Sovran suffer me to survive.” Now when it was the next night and that was

  The Six Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,

  Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the youth’s heart fluttered when the Chief of Police summoned him to go in his company and he was smitten by sore fear; but the Wali said to him, “No harm shall befal thee: obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful.” Now when he heard these words Manjab was terrified with sorer alarm and affright, so by leave of the Wali he entered his house and farewelled his family and familiars after which he fared forth with the Chief of Police saying, “Hearkening and obedience to Allah and to the Prince of True Believers.” Then he mounted his beast and the two rode together until they reached the Palace of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid where they craved admission to the presence; and, when leave was granted, the youth went in and standing between the hands of Harun he encouraged his intent and made his tongue eloquent and kissed ground between the royal hands and sat respectfully before him. Then he began with a tongue that was free of fear and showed naught of apprehension and spake the following lines,

  “Hail to this place for such be honoured stead * Of God’s

  viceregent known to all and some:

  Palace of Al-Rashid, our lord, which aye * Excelleth Heaven

  higher still become:

  I haste that may I write what should be writ * And eloquent the

  writ albe ’tis dumb.”

  After which he said, “The peace be upon thee, O Commander of the Faithful, and Allah prolong thy life and gladden unto thee what He hath given.” Hereat Al-Rashid raised his head, and returning his greeting signed to the Wazir Ja’afar who, as was his wont, stood by his side, and the Minister taking the youth’s hand, led him up to Al-Rashid and seated him beside him. “Draw near me,” said Harun al-Rashid, and the young man did accordingly until he was close to the King who thus addressed him, “O young man, what is thy name?” The other replied, “I am Manjab hight wherefrom hath been cut off all cause of delight and who for a year hath suffered parlous plight.” “O Manjab,” quoth the Caliph, “favour for favour and the beginner is the better, and ill for ill and the first is the worst, and whoso seed of good soweth shall reap it, and whoso planteth evil shall harvest it, and know thou, O Manjab, that yesterday we were thy guests, and that in thee was no default, but we transgressed against thee when thou honouredst us with most high honour, and favouredst us with the highmost favours. I desire, however, that thou relate to me the cause of the blows upon thy body and no harm shall befal thee.” The youth replied, “O Prince of True Believers, an thou desire to hear my tale order me a cushion to be placed on my right hand, and deign lend unto me three things, to wit, thine ears and thine eyes and thy heart, for verily my adventure is wondrous and were it graven with needle-gravers on the eye-corners it would be a warning to whoso would be warned and a matter of thought to whoso would think. Learn, O Commander of the Faithful, that my father was a jeweller man, a connoisseur in gems, who owned no son save myself; but when I had increased in age and had grown in stature and Allah had given me comeliness and perfection and beauty and brilliancy and plenty and good fortune, and my sire had brought me up with the best of education, Allah vouchsafed to him a daughter. Now as I had reached the age of twenty years my parent departed to the ruth of Allah Almighty, bequeathing to me a thousand thousand dinars and fiefs and tenements and landed estates, so I let perform for him a sufficiency of mortuary-ceremonies after committing him to mother earth, and caused read twenty perlections of the Koran, and bestowed for him in alms a mighty matter. I abode a-mourning for him a month full told, and when the term was ended my heart turned to diversion and disport and eating and drinking, and I made presents and gave away and doled charities of that my property, and I bought other tenements at the highest price. After this I purchased me singing damsels of the greatest value, and whosoever of my friends and companions was pleased with a musician girl I would hand her over to him without price; nay, I would present her in free gift, and if any saw aught of my belongings which pleased him and said to me, ‘This is nice,’ I would bestow it upon him without money-claim. Furthermore I robed all my familiars in honourable robes, and honoured them with the highest honour, lavishing all that was by me, and whatever my hand possessed, ever quoting these lines,

  ‘Rise, O comrade of cup, and to joy incline; * I’ve no patience,

  O brother, from pressing of wine:

  See’st not how night with her hosts be fled * Routed, and morn

  doth her troops align?

  How with Nadd and ambergris, rarest scents, * Rose laughs and

  smiles on us Eglantine?

  This, my lord, is joy, this is pure delight. * Not standing at

  doors which the books confine.’

  But when my mother, O Commander of the Faithful, espied these doings she reproached me, yet would I not be reproved. Then she saw that my wealth would be wasted, so she divided it between me and her, to each one half, a moiety for herself and her daughter, and the rest for myself. And presently she left me, carrying away her good and separated herself from me, abiding afar and leaving me to enjoy my frivolity and intoxication. I ceased not eating and drinking and diversion and disport, and enjoying the all-conquering faces of the beautiful,125 until the days smote me with their shafts, and all my wealth fell away from me and naught remained to me either above me or below me, and I ceased to be master of aught. Then my condition waxed strait, and as nothing was left to me at home I sold the pots and pans until I lacked even a sleeping-mat, and I used to patch my skirt with my sleeve. And naught profited me, neither friend nor familiar nor lover, n
or remained there any one of them to feed me with a loaf of bread; so my case became hard and the folk entreated me evilly, nor was there one of my comrades or compeers who would take thought for me; nay more, when I met any of them on the road or at the receptions they would turn away their faces from me. So at last I took to pulling up the slabs126 of the house floor and selling them by way of a livelihood, and one day as I did on this wise, lo and behold! there opened in the floor a large vault whereinto I descended.” — And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day, and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable;” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night, and that was