‘While they were in this state, suddenly they heard a mighty voice like the rumbling of thunder, calling out in tones that could be heard far and near: “Citizens, turn away from the worship of fire and worship God, the Merciful King.” The people were startled and they all came to my father, the king, and asked: “What is this alarming voice that we have heard, astounding and terrifying us?” “Do not be alarmed or frightened by it,” he replied, “and do not let it turn you from your religion.” Their hearts inclined to what he said; they persisted in their worship of fire and they acted even more wickedly until a year had passed from the first time that they had heard the voice. They then heard it for a second time and, after three years, for a third time – once each year – but they still clung to their beliefs. Then, at dawn one day, divine wrath descended and they, together with their animals and their flocks, were turned to black stone. I was the only one to escape and since that happened, I have been living like this – praying, fasting and reciting the Quran – but I can no longer endure being alone, with no one to keep me company.’
I had lost my heart to him, so I asked him whether he would go to Baghdad with me where he could meet the men of learning and the faqihs, and so add to his knowledge, understanding and grasp of religious law. ‘Know,’ I went on, ‘that the slave who stands before you is the mistress of her people, with command over men, eunuchs and slaves. I have a ship laden with merchandise and it was fate that led us here in order that we should see these things, and it was ordained by destiny that you and I should meet.’
I continued to prompt him to leave with me, flattering him and using my wiles until he agreed to accept.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the eighteenth night, SHE SAID:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the lady continued to prompt him to leave with her until he said yes. THE LADY WENT ON:
I spent the night at his feet, unable to believe what had happened to me because of my joy. In the morning, we got up and, going to the treasuries, we took what was both light to carry and valuable, after which we left the castle and went down to the city. There we met the slaves and the ship’s captain, who were searching for me and who were filled with joy when they saw me. I told them, to their astonishment, what I had seen and explained to them the story of the young man and the reason for the curse that had struck the city, as well as what had happened to its people. When my sisters, now these two bitches, saw me with the young man, they became jealous of me and angry, and they secretly schemed against me. We boarded the ship gaily, overjoyed at the profit we had made, although I was more pleased because of the young man. We stayed waiting for a wind, and when it blew fair, we made sail and set off. My sisters sat with me and we started to talk. ‘What are you going to do with this handsome young man?’ they asked. ‘I intend to take him as my husband,’ I replied. Then, turning, I went up to him and said: ‘Sir, I want to say something to you and I would ask you not to refuse me. When we reach Baghdad, our city, I shall propose myself to you in marriage; you shall be my husband and I shall be your wife.’ He agreed to this, and I turned to my sisters and said: ‘This young man is enough for me, so whatever profit others have made, they can keep.’ ‘That is well done of you,’ they said, but secretly they continued to plot against me.
On we sailed with a fair wind until we left the Sea of Fear and reached safety. After a few more days of sailing, we came in sight of the walls of Basra. Evening fell and we settled down to sleep, but then my sisters got up, carried me on my mattress and threw me into the sea. They did the same thing with the young man, and as he could not swim well, he was drowned and God entered him in the roll of the martyrs. I wish that I had drowned with him, but God decreed that I should be saved, and so while I was floating in the sea, He provided me with a plank of wood on to which I climbed. The waves then swept me along until they threw me up on the shore of an island. There I walked for the rest of the night and, when morning came, I saw a track just broad enough for a human foot that connected the island to the mainland.
The sun had now risen and I dried my clothes in the sunlight, ate some of the island fruits and drank from its water. Then I set off on the track and went on walking until I was close to the mainland and only two hours away from the city. Suddenly, I saw a snake as thick as a palm tree darting towards me, and as it came I could see it swerving to right and to left until it reached me. Its tongue was trailing along the ground for the length of a span and it was sweeping aside the dust with the whole length of its body. It was being pursued by a dragon, thin and long as a lance. In its flight the snake turned to the right and the left, but the dragon seized its tail. The snake shed tears and its tongue lolled out because of its violent efforts to escape. Feeling sorry for it, I picked up a stone and threw it at the dragon’s head, killing it instantly, after which the snake unfolded a pair of wings and flew up into the sky until it passed out of my sight.
I sat there in amazement, but I was tired and sleepy and so, for a time, I fell asleep where I was. When I awoke I found at my feet a girl with two bitches who was massaging my feet. I felt embarrassed by her presence and so I sat up and said: ‘Sister, who are you?’ ‘How quickly you have forgotten me,’ she replied. ‘I am the one to whom you did a service, killing my foe and sowing the seed of gratitude. I am the snake whom you saved from the dragon. I am one of the jinn, as was the dragon. He was my enemy and it was only because of you that I escaped from him. After that, I flew on the wind to the ship from which your sisters threw you overboard, and after taking all its cargo to your house, I sank it. As for your sisters, I turned them into two black bitches, for I know the whole story of their dealings with you, but as for the young man, he had already drowned.’ She then carried me off, together with the bitches, and set me down on the roof of my house, in the middle of which I could see all the goods that had been on the ship, not one thing being missing.
Then the snake girl said: ‘By the inscription on the ring of our lord Solomon, on whom be peace, if you do not give each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I shall come and turn you into a bitch like them.’ I told her that I would obey, and so, Commander of the Faithful, I have gone on beating them, although I feel pity for them and they realize that this is not my fault and accept my excuse. This is my story.
The caliph was filled with wonder, and he then asked the doorkeeper the reason for the whip scars on her body. ‘Commander of the Faithful,’ she replied, ‘when my father died he left a great quantity of wealth, and soon afterwards I married the wealthiest man of his time.’ she went on:
I stayed with him for a year, but he too then died and from him I inherited eighty thousand gold dinars, this being my portion in accordance with Islamic law. I was then exceedingly rich; my reputation spread, and I had ten costumes made, each worth a thousand dinars. As I was sitting one day, in came an old woman with pendulous cheeks, thinning eyebrows, popping eyes, broken teeth and a blotched face. She was bleary-eyed, with a head that looked as though it had been covered in plaster, grey hair and a bent body covered in scabs. Her skin was discoloured and she was dribbling mucus, as the poet has described:
An old woman of evil omen – may God have no mercy on her youth
Or pardon her sins the day she comes to die –
She could lead a thousand bolting mules
With a spider’s web for reins, so domineering is she.
On entering, this woman greeted me and after she had kissed the ground before me, she said: ‘I have a fatherless daughter and tonight is her wedding and the ceremony of her unveiling. We are strangers with no acquaintances in this city and our hearts are broken. Were you to come to the wedding, you would win reward and recompense from God, as the ladies of the city would hear that you were going and would come themselves. You would then mend my daughter’s broken heart, for her only helper is God.’ She then wept, kissed my feet and recited the lines:
Your presence there
would honour us,
And that we would acknowledge.
While if you do not come,
We have no substitute and no replacement.
Moved by pity and compassion, I agreed, saying: ‘I shall do something for her, if God wills, and she shall be married in my clothes with my jewellery and my finery.’ The old woman was delighted: she bent down to kiss my feet and said: ‘May God reward you and mend your heart as you have mended mine. But do not trouble yourself to do this service now. If you are ready in the evening, I will come and fetch you.’ She then kissed my hand and left. I was ready when she came back and she said: ‘My lady, the women of the town have come. I told them that you were going to be there and they were delighted and are waiting for you to arrive.’ So I drew my veil and got up, taking my maids with me, and I went on until we came to a lane that had been swept and sprinkled with water, and where a cool breeze was blowing. There we arrived at an arched gate with a strongly built marble dome, leading to the door of a palace that soared from the ground to touch the clouds. Over the gate these lines were inscribed:
I am a house built for pleasure
And consecrated for all time to joy and relaxation.
In my centre is a fountain with gushing waters
That clear away all sorrows.
Flowers border it – anemones and the rose,
Myrtle, narcissus blooms and camomile.
When we got to the door, the old woman knocked, and when it was opened, we went in to find a hall spread with carpets, in which lighted lamps were hanging and candles were ranged, with gems and precious stones. We walked through the hall until we came to a room of unparalleled splendour, spread with silken rugs and lit by hanging lamps and two rows of candles. In the centre of it there was a couch of juniper wood studded with pearls and gems and covered with a buttoned canopy of satin. Before we knew what was happening, out came a girl. I looked at her, Commander of the Faithful, and saw that she was more perfect than the moon at its full, with a forehead brighter than daybreak, as the poet has said:
In the palaces of the Caesars she is a maiden
From among the bashful ones of the Chosroes’ courts.
On her cheeks are rosy tokens;
How beautiful are those red cheeks.
A slender girl with a languid, sleepy glance,
She encompasses all beauty’s graces.
The lock of hair that hangs above her forehead
Is the night of care set over joyful dawn.
She emerged from beneath the canopy and greeted me as her dear and revered sister, giving me a thousand welcomes and reciting:
Were the house to know who comes to visit it,
It would kiss in joyfulness the place where you have trod.
And call out with its silent voice:
‘Welcome to the generous and noble one.’
She then sat down and said: ‘Sister, I have a brother who has seen you at a number of weddings and festivals. He is a young man more handsome than I am, and he is deeply in love with you because of the richness of beauty and grace that you possess. He has heard that you are the mistress of your people, as he is the master of his. Because he wished to attach himself to you, he played this trick in order that I should meet you. He wants to marry you in accordance with the ordinance of God and of His Apostle, and there is no disgrace in what is lawful.’ When I heard what she had to say and saw that I was now inside the house, I told her that I would agree. She was delighted and, after clapping her hands, she opened a door from which emerged a young man in the bloom of his youth, immaculately dressed, well built, handsome, graceful, splendid and perfect, with engaging manners. His eyebrows were like an archer’s bow and his eyes could steal hearts with licit magic, as the poet’s description has it:
His face is like a crescent moon,
Where marks of good fortune are like pearls.
How excellent also are the lines:
Blessed is his beauty and blessed is our God.
How great is He who formed and shaped this man!
Alone he has acquired all loveliness,
And in his beauty all mankind strays lost.
Upon his cheek beauty has written these words:
‘I testify there is no handsome man but he.’
When I looked at him, my heart turned to him and I fell in love. He sat beside me and I talked to him for an hour, after which the girl clapped her hands for a second time. The door of a side room opened and from it emerged a qadi with four witnesses, who greeted us and then sat down. The marriage contract between me and the young man was drawn up, after which the others withdrew. ‘May this be a blessed night,’ said my bridegroom, turning to me. ‘But, my lady,’ he added, ‘I impose one condition on you.’ ‘What is that?’ I asked. He got up and fetched a copy of the Quran and said: ‘Swear that you will not look at any other man but me, or incline to him.’ I swore to that, to his great joy. He embraced me and my whole heart was filled with love for him. Servants then set out a table and we ate and drank our fill. Night fell and he took me to bed, where we continued to kiss and embrace until morning.
We continued in this state for a month, living in happiness and joy, and at the end of that time I asked my husband’s leave to go to market to buy some material. After he had given me permission, I put on an outdoor mantle, and taking with me the old woman and a servant girl, I went down to the market. There I sat in the shop of a young merchant who was known to the old woman. She told me that he was a youth whose father had died, leaving him a huge amount of money. ‘He has a great stock of goods,’ she added. ‘You will find whatever you want, and no trader in the market has finer fabrics.’ Then she told the man to produce for me the most expensive stuff that he had and he replied: ‘To hear is to obey.’ The old woman then began to sing his praises, but I told her: ‘There is no necessity for this. All we want is to get what we need and then to go back home.’
The man brought out what we were looking for and we produced the money for him, but he refused to take anything and said: ‘This is a guest gift for you today from me.’ I said to the old woman: ‘If he refuses to accept the money, then give him back the stuff.’ ‘By God,’ he said, ‘I shall not accept anything from you, and all this is a gift from me in exchange for a single kiss, which is of more value to me than everything that is in my shop.’ ‘What good will a kiss do you?’ asked the old woman, but then she told me: ‘You heard what he said, daughter. What harm will a kiss do you, and you can then take what you want?’ ‘Don’t you know that I have sworn an oath?’ I asked, but she went on: ‘Stay silent and let him kiss you. You will have done nothing wrong and you can take back this money.’ She continued to inveigle me, until I fell into the trap and agreed. I then covered my eyes and hid myself from the passers-by with the edge of my veil. He put his mouth on my cheek beneath my veil and, after kissing me, he bit me hard, piercing the skin of my cheek so that I fainted.
The old woman held me to her breast and when I recovered my senses, I found the shop closed, with her grieving over me and saying: ‘God has averted what could have been worse.’ Then she said to me: ‘Come back to the house with me and pull yourself together, lest you be shamed. When you get home, go to bed, pretend to be sick and cover yourself up. I will fetch you something with which to treat this bite and it will soon be better.’ After a while, I got up, full of care and extremely fearful, and I walked very slowly home, where I acted as though I was sick. At nightfall, in came my husband. He asked: ‘My lady, what happened to you while you were out?’ ‘I’m not well,’ I said, ‘and I have a headache.’ He looked at me, lit a candle and came up to me. ‘What is this wound on your tender cheek?’ he asked. ‘After receiving your permission to go out today to buy materials, I left the house but was pushed by a camel carrying firewood; my veil was torn and, as you can see, I got this wound on my cheek, for the streets are narrow here.’ ‘Tomorrow I will go to the governor,’ he said, ‘and tell him to hang everyone who sells firewood in the city.’ I implo
red him not to burden himself with the guilt of wronging someone, adding: ‘I was riding on a donkey which threw me and I fell on the ground where I struck a piece of wood which grazed my cheek and wounded me.’ He said: ‘Tomorrow I shall go to Ja‘far the Barmecide and tell him what happened to you, so that he may put every donkey driver in this city to death.’ ‘Are you going to kill everyone because of me?’ I asked. ‘What happened was a matter of fate and destiny.’ ‘It must be done,’ he said, and he kept on insisting on this until, when he got up, I turned around and spoke sharply to him.
At that, Commander of the Faithful, he realized what had happened to me. ‘You have been false to your oath,’ he said, letting out a great cry. The door opened and seven black slaves came in. On his orders, they dragged me from my bed and threw me down in the middle of the room. He told one of them to hold my shoulders and to sit on my head, while another was to sit on my knees and hold my feet. A third came with a sword in his hand and my husband ordered him to strike me with the sword and cut me in two and then said: ‘Let each of you take a piece and throw it into the Tigris as food for the fish. This is the reward of those who betray their oaths and are false to their love.’ He grew even more angry and recited these verses:
If I must have a partner in my love,
Even though passion slay me, I shall drive love from my soul.
I say to my soul: ‘Die nobly,
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 17