When I woke up, I found that she had prepared me a dish of four boiled chickens, and she gave me a glass of wine. I ate and drank and then laid down the purse and was about to go out, when she said: ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To wherever it may be,’ I replied. ‘Don’t go,’ she said, ‘but sit down.’ I did as she said, and she asked: ‘Have you loved me so much that you have spent all your money and lost your hand? I take you as my witness – and God is the truest witness – that I shall never leave you, and you shall see that what I say is true.’ Then she sent for the notaries, and when they came she said: ‘Draw up a marriage contract for me and this young man and bear witness that I have already received my dowry.’ They did as they were told, and then she said: ‘Bear witness that all my wealth, which is in this chest, and that all my slaves and servant girls are his property.’ This they did, and I accepted the transfer of ownership, after which they took their fee and left.
She then took me by the hand and led me to a closet, where she opened a large chest, telling me to look at its contents. I looked and saw that it was full of kerchiefs. ‘This is your money which I took from you, for all the kerchiefs that you gave me, each with its fifty dinars, I put together and dropped into this chest. Take your money, for it has been returned to you, and today you have become a great man. It was because of me that you became a victim of fate and lost your hand. For this I can make you no fair return, as even if I gave my life, it would not be enough by way of repayment.’ Then she added: ‘Take charge of your wealth,’ and so I transferred what was in her chest to mine and added my money to what I had given her. I was filled with joy; my cares left me and I got up, kissed her and thanked her. ‘You have given your hand out of love for me,’ she said, ‘so how can I repay you?’ And she repeated: ‘If I gave my life in love for you, it would not be enough and I would not have settled the debt that I owe you.’
Then she made over to me by formal deed all that she owned – dresses, jewellery and everything else. She spent the night with me, distressed by my own distress, until I told her all that had happened to me. After we had had less than a month together, she became very sick, and her illness intensified, until after only fifty days she was removed to the next world. I made the funeral preparations for her, buried her, arranged for the Quran to be recited over her grave, and distributed money and alms in her name, after which I went away from her tomb. I then found out that she had left a huge store of money, together with properties and estates, and among the storehouses was one filled with sesame, some of which I sold to you. I have been too busy to settle with you over this period because I have been selling off the rest of the goods, together with everything that was in the storehouses, and up till now I have not finished collecting the purchase price. As for you, you must not refuse what I propose. I have eaten your food and so I make you a present of the price of the sesame that you have with you. You now know why my right hand was cut off and why I eat with my left.
‘You have done me a very great kindness,’ I said. The young merchant then asked: ‘Would you like to go with me to my own country? I have bought trade goods from Cairo and Alexandria, so will you come?’ I agreed to this and arranged to meet him on the first day of the next month. I then sold all that I had and used the price to buy more trade goods, after which the young man and I travelled to this country of yours. The young man sold his goods, bought replacement stock and went back to Egypt, while it was my fate to be sitting here tonight when all this happened to me, a stranger. Is this not more remarkable than the story of the hunchback, O king of the age?’
The king replied: ‘I must very certainly hang you all.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the twenty-seventh night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the king replied: ‘I must very certainly hang you all.’ At that, the king’s inspector came forward and said: ‘With your permission, I will tell you a story of what happened to me just before I found this hunchback. If it is more remarkable than the previous tale, will you spare all our lives?’ The king agreed, AND THE INSPECTOR WENT ON:
You must know, your majesty, that last night I was with a group who had organized a recitation of the Quran, for which the faqihs had been brought together. When the reciters had performed their task and finished, a table was set out and among the foods that were produced was a dish made with sugar, almonds and vinegar. We came forward to eat, but one of our number held back and refused to join in. We urged him, but he swore that he would not eat any of it, and when we pressed him, he said: ‘Don’t force me. What happened to me the last time I ate this is enough for me,’ and he recited:
Shoulder your belongings and be on your way;
If you like this kohl, anoint yourself with it.
When he had finished speaking, we urged him to tell us why he had refused the dish. ‘If I have to eat it,’ he said, ‘I can only do that after I have washed my hands forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times with galingale; that is, a total of a hundred and twenty times.’ At that, our host gave orders to his servants, who brought water and the other things for which he had asked, after which he washed his hands as I have described. He then came reluctantly, sat down and stretched out his hand, apparently in fear, plunged it into the dish and started to force himself to eat, filling us with surprise. His hand was shaking and when he raised it up, we could see that the thumb was missing and that he was eating with four fingers. We asked what had happened to his thumb, whether he had been born like that or whether he had suffered an accident. ‘Brothers,’ he replied, ‘it is not only this thumb, but the other one as well, together with both my big toes. Wait till you see.’ He then uncovered his left hand, and we found that it was like the right, and similarly that the big toes were missing from his feet. This sight added to our astonishment and we told him that we could not wait to hear his story, the reason for his mutilation, and why he washed his hands a hundred and twenty times. HE BEGAN:
Know that my father was one of the leading merchants of Baghdad in the days of Harun al-Rashid, and he was passionately fond of drinking wine and listening to the lute and other musical instruments. As a result, on his death he had nothing to leave. I arranged for the funeral and had the Quran recited over his grave. After a period of mourning, I opened up his shop, but I found that there was very little there and that he was in debt. I placated his creditors and persuaded them to wait, after which I started to trade, making them a weekly payment. Things went on like this for a time until I had paid off the debts and had added to my capital.
Then one day as I was sitting there, before I knew what was happening, a girl appeared, wearing jewellery and fine clothes, riding on a mule, with one slave in front of her and another behind. I had never seen anything more lovely. She halted the mule at the entrance to the covered market and went in, with her eunuch following and protesting: ‘Come out, my lady, and don’t let anyone know, lest we find ourselves in the fire.’ He stood guarding her from sight as she looked at the merchants’ shops, of which, as she found, mine was the only one open. She walked in, with the eunuch behind her, and sat down. The girl greeted me in the loveliest and sweetest voice that I had ever heard, and when she uncovered her face, I saw that she was as radiant as the moon. The glance that I threw her was followed by a thousand sighs, and love for her became fixed in my heart. Looking again and again at her face, I recited:
Say to the lovely girl in the veil of the ringdove’s colouring:
‘It is certain that only death will relieve me from the torture you inflict.
Grant me union, that may perhaps give me life.
Here is my hand stretched to you, hoping for bounty.’
On hearing this, she replied:
I cannot bear the pangs of love, but may you find relief,
Whereas my heart loves none but you.
If my eyes look at any loveliness but yours,
May this parting lea
d to no delight.
I have sworn an oath never to forget your love;
My heart is sad, though proud that we once met.
Passion has poured a brimming glass of love.
Would that it poured for you what it has poured for me.
Take my corpse with you on your travels,
And where you halt, bury me facing you.
Call my name by my grave, and then my bones
Will groan in answer when they hear your call.
If I were asked what I desire from God, I would reply:
‘His favour, Merciful is He, followed by yours.’
When she had finished these lines, she asked me whether I had attractive materials for sale. ‘My lady,’ I replied, ‘your servant is poor, but if you wait until the other merchants open up their shops, I shall fetch you what you want.’ We then talked together, with me drowning in the sea of love and lost in my passion for her, until the other merchants opened their shops. I went to them and fetched her all that she wanted, at a price of five thousand dirhams, after which the eunuch took the purchases that she handed to him, and they both left the covered market. Her mule was brought up and she mounted, without having told me where she came from, something that I was too bashful to ask. The merchants made me guarantee the purchase price, and so I shouldered the debt of five thousand dirhams, and went back home, drunk with love. My servants brought me my evening meal but I only ate a mouthful, thinking of the girl’s beauty and grace. I tried to sleep but no sleep would come, and I stayed in this restless state for a week.
At that point, the merchants asked me for their money, but I persuaded them to wait for another week. At the end of this, the girl appeared, riding on her mule, accompanied by a eunuch and two slaves. She greeted me and said: ‘Sir, I have been slow in paying you for the materials. Bring the money-changer and take the cash.’ The money-changer duly came and the eunuch produced the money, which then I took. The girl and I talked together until the market opened, when she told me to get her other materials. I fetched these for her from the merchants, and she then went off without having said anything to me about the price. This was something I regretted after she had gone, since it had cost me a thousand dinars to get what she wanted, and as soon as she was out of sight, I asked myself: ‘What is this love? She gave me five thousand dirhams but I have just spent a thousand dinars.’ I was sure that I would find myself reduced to poverty thanks to what I owed the merchants. ‘I am the only one whom they know,’ I said to myself, ‘and this woman is nothing but a swindler who has used her beauty and grace to fool me. She thought of me as a little boy and laughed at me and I never even asked her where she lived.’
These misgivings stayed with me, and for more than a month she did not return. The merchants came to press me for their money and they forced me to sell my property, leaving me facing ruin. I was sitting, lost in thought, when before I knew it, there she was, dismounting at the gate of the market. She came into my shop and, when I saw her, my cares left me and I forgot my troubles. She came up and talked to me sweetly and then said: ‘Fetch the money-changer and have your money weighed out,’ after which she gave me the price of the goods that she had taken and added in a profit. Then she talked with me in so relaxed a way that I almost died of joy and delight. ‘Have you a wife?’ she asked. ‘No,’ I told her, ‘I know no women at all,’ and I burst into tears. ‘Why are you crying?’ she asked, and I replied: ‘It’s all right.’
I then took some of the dinars and gave them to the eunuch, asking him to act as my go-between in the affair, but he laughed at me and said: ‘She loves you more than you love her. She didn’t need the stuff that she bought from you and she bought it only because of her love for you. Ask her whatever you want; she will not say no to you.’ The lady saw me giving money to him, and she came back and sat down. Then I said to her: ‘Be generous to your servant and give him what he asks.’ I told her what was in my heart and she agreed to my request. ‘Do you bring my messages,’ she told the eunuch, and to me she said: ‘Do what the eunuch tells you.’ She got up and left, while I went and handed over their money to the merchants, being left with a profit.
I then received no further news of her, and such was my regret I could not sleep at night, but after a few days the eunuch came back. I welcomed him with respect and asked him about his mistress. ‘She is ill,’ he said, and I asked him to explain her position to me. ‘This girl,’ he told me, ‘was brought up by the Lady Zubaida, the wife of the caliph Harun al-Rashid, and she is one of her maidservants. She asked to be allowed to come and go as she pleased, and she has reached a position of authority. She talked about you to her mistress and asked whether she would marry her to you. “No, I shall not,” replied Lady Zubaida, “until I see the young man, and then, if he is a suitable match for you, I shall give consent.” We need to smuggle you into the palace now; if you succeed, you will be able to marry the girl, but if you are found out, your head will be cut off. What do you say?’ ‘I will go with you,’ I said, ‘and endure the fate you have described.’ The eunuch said: ‘Go tonight to the mosque, pray and spend the night there – that is the mosque which the Lady Zubaida built by the Tigris.’
I willingly agreed and in the evening I went to the mosque, performed my prayers and spent the night there. At daybreak, eunuchs arrived in a little boat, bringing with them several empty chests, which they brought to the mosque, before going off again. One of them stayed behind and, when I looked at him, I recognized him as my go-between. A little later, the girl arrived. When she came forward, I got up and embraced her; she kissed me and burst into tears, after which we talked for some time. Then she took me and put me in a chest, which she locked. She approached the eunuch, who had with him a large quantity of goods, and these she started to take and pack in the other chests, locking them one after the other until she had packed them all. The servants then loaded them on the boat and set off for Lady Zubaida’s palace.
I became anxious, saying to myself that my lust would lead to my death, and wondering whether I would or would not succeed. I started to weep inside the chest and prayed God to deliver me from my plight. The servants continued their journey until they had brought all the chests to the gate of the caliph’s palace, carrying in mine together with the others. They passed by a number of eunuchs entrusted with the protection of the harem, together with some of the harem women, until they came to a senior eunuch. Roused from his sleep, he shouted to the girl: ‘What is in these chests?’ ‘They are full of goods for Lady Zubaida,’ she said. ‘Open them up one by one,’ he ordered, ‘so that I can look at the contents.’ ‘Why do you want them opened?’ she objected, but he shouted at her: ‘Don’t waste time; these chests must be opened!’
He got to his feet and the first chest that he wanted to be opened was the one in which I was hidden. When it was brought to him, I lost my senses; I was so afraid that I was unable to control myself and my urine seeped from the chest. The girl cried to the eunuch: ‘You have destroyed me and destroyed yourself, as you have spoiled something worth ten thousand dinars. In this chest are coloured dresses and four manns’ of Zamzam water. The container has just fallen open and the water has leaked out over the clothes in the chest, ruining their colours.’ ‘Take your chests and go, God damn you,’ said the eunuch. So the servants hurriedly carried off the chest that I was in, bringing the others with it.
While they were on their way, I heard someone saying: ‘Woe, woe, the caliph, the caliph!’ When I heard that, I almost died of fright, exclaiming: ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent’ – words which never bring shame on those who repeat them. To which I added: ‘This is a disaster that I have brought on myself.’ I then heard the caliph asking my mistress what was in the chests. ‘Clothes belonging to the Lady Zubaida,’ she said. ‘Open them for me,’ he ordered, and when I heard that, I felt that I had truly died, saying to myself: ‘By God, this is the last day of my life in this world. If I escape, I shall marry he
r – no question about it – but if I am found out, then my head will be cut off.’ I started to recite: ‘I bear witness that there is no god but God and Muhammad is the Apostle of God.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the twenty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O auspicious king, that the young man recited the confession of faith. HE WENT ON:
I heard the girl say: ‘The contents of these chests has been left in my charge. There are some dresses for the Lady Zubaida and she wants no one to look at them.’ ‘The chests must be opened,’ said the caliph, ‘and I shall inspect what is in them.’ Then he shouted to the eunuchs: ‘Bring them to me,’ at which I was so certain that I was going to die that I lost consciousness.
Meanwhile, the eunuchs began to bring forward the chests one by one, and the caliph looked at their contents: rare perfumes, costly materials and splendid dresses. They carried on opening the chests as the caliph inspected the dresses and whatever else was in them, until the only one left was the chest which contained me. The eunuchs had reached out to open it when the girl rushed up to the caliph and said: ‘This chest in front of you is only to be opened in the presence of Lady Zubaida, for it is the one that contains her secret.’ When the caliph heard this, he ordered that they should all be taken into her quarters. The eunuchs came and carried me in my chest before setting it down in the middle of the hall among the other ones. My mouth was dry, but the girl let me out and said: ‘All’s well; don’t be afraid. You can relax happily. Sit down until the Lady Zubaida comes, and it may be your good fortune to win me.’
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 27