I was enchanted and overjoyed by the place, which served to dispel my cares and sorrows, except for the fact that not one of Almighty God’s creatures was there.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the one hundred and sixteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE YOUNG MAN TOLD TAJ AL-MULUK:
I was enchanted and overjoyed by the place, except for the fact that not one of Almighty God’s creatures was there. There were no slaves, male or female, to be seen, and there was no one in charge of the arrangements or guarding the contents of the room. I sat waiting for the arrival of my heart’s darling until the first hour of the night had passed, and then the second and the third, but she still did not come.
I was feeling very hungry as it was a long time since I had eaten, thanks to the violence of my passion, but when I saw that place and realized that my cousin had interpreted the gestures of my beloved correctly, I relaxed and then experienced hunger pangs. My appetite had been stimulated by the aroma of the food on the table when I got there, and certain that I was going to achieve union, I felt a longing for something to eat. So I went to the table, removed the covering and found in the middle of it a china dish containing four chickens, roasted and seasoned with spices. Set around the dish were four bowls containing a mixture of sweet and sour, one with sweetmeats, another with pomegranate seeds, a third with baqlava and a fourth with honey doughnuts. I ate some of the doughnuts and a piece of the meat, and I then turned to the baqlava and ate what I could. I went on to the sweetmeats and took a spoonful, then two and three and four, which I followed with a mouthful of chicken. My stomach was full and my joints relaxed. Sleeplessness had made me sluggish and so, after washing my hands, I rested my head on a cushion and was overcome by sleep.
I don’t know what happened to me after that, and I only woke up when the heat of the sun was scorching me, as it had been days since I had slept. When I did wake it was to find salt and charcoal scattered over my stomach. I stood up and shook out my clothes, looking to the right and left but seeing no one, and I found that I had been sleeping on the bare marble. Bewilderment filled me, together with great distress. Tears ran down my cheeks and I got up, feeling sorry for myself, and made for home. When I got there, I found my cousin striking her breast with her hand and shedding enough tears to rival a rain cloud. She was reciting:
The zephyr’s breath flows from the guarded land,
And as it blows, it rouses love.
Come to us, breath of the east wind,
For every lover has his own allotted fate.
Could we control passion, we would embrace,
As the lover clasps the breast of his true love.
After my cousin’s face, God has outlawed for me
All pleasures in this life that time can show.
I wish I knew whether his heart, like mine,
Is melting in the burning heat of love.
When she saw me, she got up quickly, wiping away her tears and approaching me with soft words. ‘Cousin,’ she said, ‘God has shown you kindness in your love in that He has caused your beloved to love you, while I weep in sorrow for parting from you, who both blame me and excuse me, but may God not blame you for my sake.’ She smiled at me, although with exasperation, spoke gently to me and removed my robe, which she spread out. ‘By God,’ she said, ‘this is not the scent of one who has enjoyed his beloved, so tell me all that happened to you, cousin.’ I told her the whole story, and again she smiled angrily, and said: ‘My heart is full of pain, but may no one live who can distress you. This woman treats you with great haughtiness and, by God, cousin, she makes me afraid for you. The salt, you should know, means that you were sunk in sleep, like unpleasant food which causes disgust, and you have to be salted lest you be spat out. You claim to be a noble lover, but lovers are forbidden to sleep and so your claim is false. In the same way, her love for you is false, as she saw you sleeping and did not wake you, which she would have done had she really loved you. By the charcoal she means to say: “May God blacken your face, in that you have falsely claimed to be in love, while in fact you are a child who thinks only of eating, drinking and sleeping.” This is what she meant – may God Almighty free you from her.’
When I heard what she had to say, I struck my breast with my hand and said: ‘By God, it is true; I slept, although lovers do not sleep. I wronged myself and how could I have done myself more harm than by eating and falling asleep? What am I to do?’ Weeping bitterly, I asked my cousin: ‘Tell me what to do. Have pity on me that God may pity you, for otherwise I shall die.’ My cousin, being deeply in love with me…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the one hundred and seventeenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE YOUNG MAN TOLD TAJ AL-MULUK:
I asked my cousin: ‘Tell me what to do. Have pity on me that God may pity you.’ My cousin, being deeply in love with me, agreed to do this, but she added: ‘I have told you many times that if I could go in and out as I pleased I would quickly bring the two of you together and take you under my protection, simply in order to please you. If God Almighty wills it, I shall do my best to unite you, but listen to what I say and obey me. Go back to the same place in the evening and sit where you were before. Take care not to eat anything, for eating induces sleep and you must not sleep. She will not come until the first quarter of the night has passed – may God protect you from her evil.’
Gladdened by hearing what she had to say, I started to pray God to bring on night. When it came, I was about to go out when my cousin reminded me that after my meeting with the lady, when I was about to leave, I was to quote the lines that she had recited earlier. I agreed to this and when I went to the garden, I found the place prepared in the same way that it had been on the first occasion, with all the necessary food and drink, dried fruits, sweet-smelling flowers, and so on. I went to the room and was attracted by what I could smell of the aroma of food. I restrained myself several times, but at last I could not resist and so I got up and went to the table. I lifted the cover and found a plate of chicken, surrounded by four bowls containing four different types of food. I took a mouthful of each and then I ate what I wanted of the sweetmeats, followed by a piece of meat. I tasted a saffron sorbet which I liked, and I drank a quantity of it with a spoon until I had had enough and my stomach was full. My eyelids closed and, taking a cushion, I placed it under my head, saying: ‘I will rest on it but I shall not sleep.’ Then I closed my eyes and fell asleep, not waking until the sun had risen.
On my stomach I found a large dice cube, a tab stick,* a date stone and a carob seed. There were no furnishings in the place or indeed anything else, and it looked as though there had never been anything there the night before. I got up, brushed off what was on me and left in anger, and when I got back home, I found my cousin once again sighing deeply, and reciting these lines:
An emaciated body and a wounded heart,
With tears that flood down over cheeks,
A lover whose love is hard to harvest,
But all that beauties do is beautiful.
Cousin, you have filled my heart with passion
And my eyes’ wounds are caused by tears.
I reproached her and scolded her, and she wept. Then, wiping away her tears, she came to me, kissed me and clasped me to her breast. I kept my distance from her, however, reproaching myself, and she said: ‘It seems as though you went to sleep again, cousin.’ ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘but when I woke up, I found a large dice cube, a tab stick, a date stone and a carob seed, and I don’t know why she did this.’ I then burst into tears and, going up to her, I asked her to interpret the signs for me, to tell me what I should do and to help me in my predicament. ‘Willingly,’ she replied. ‘By the tab stick which she placed on your stomach she means to say that although you were present your heart was absent, and she is
telling you that love is not like that and you are not to count yourself among the lovers. With the date stone she is telling you that, were you a lover, your heart would be consumed by passion and you would not enjoy the pleasure of sleep, for the pleasure of love is like a date which sets light to a coal in the heart. As for the carob seed, she is telling you that the lover’s heart endures weariness, and she is saying: “Face separation from me with the patience of Job.” ’
When I heard this interpretation, fire spread through my heart and I became more and more sorrowful. I cried out, saying: ‘God decreed that I should sleep because of my ill fortune,’ and then I said: ‘Cousin, by my life, I implore you to think of some scheme that will allow me to get to her.’ Weeping, she said: ‘ ‘Aziz, my cousin, my heart is so full of thoughts that I cannot speak, but if you go there tonight and take care not to sleep, you will get what you want. This is all the advice that I can give.’ ‘God willing, I shall not sleep,’ I replied, ‘and I shall do as you tell me.’ So ‘Aziza got up and fetched food, saying: ‘Eat as much as you want now, so you won’t have to think of it later.’ I ate my fill and when night came, ‘Aziza got up and brought me a splendid robe which she made me wear, and she got me to swear that I would quote to the lady the lines that she mentioned earlier. She also cautioned me again against sleeping, and I then left her and set off for the garden.
When I got to the room, I looked out at the garden and started to prop open my eyes with my fingers, shaking my head as it grew dark.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the one hundred and eighteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE YOUNG MAN TOLD TAJ AL-MULUK:
I came to the garden and reached the room. Then I looked out at the garden and started to prop open my eyes with my fingers, shaking my head as it grew dark. Sleeplessness, however, had made me hungry and this hunger grew worse as the aroma of food wafted over me. So I went to the table, removed the covering and ate a mouthful of every sort of food that there was, together with a piece of meat. Then I went to the wine jug, telling myself that I would drink one glass, which I did, but I followed this with a second and a third, up to a total of ten, and when a breath of wind blew over me, I collapsed on the ground like a dead man. I stayed like that until daybreak, and when I came to my senses, I found myself outside the garden with a sharp knife and an iron dirham lying on my stomach. I shuddered and, taking the things with me, I went back home.
There I found my cousin weeping and saying: ‘I am wretched and unhappy in this house and my only help is in tears.’ As soon as I entered, I fell down at full length in a faint, with the knife and the dirham falling from my hand. When I had recovered, I told her what had happened to me and that I had not achieved my goal. Her sorrow increased when she saw my passionate tears, and she said: ‘There is nothing that I can do. I advised you not to sleep, but you didn’t listen, so what I say is of no use to you at all.’ ‘By God,’ I said to her, ‘explain to me the meaning of the knife and the iron dirham.’ She replied: ‘By the iron dirham, she means her right eye, and she is taking an oath by it, saying: “By the Lord of creation, and by my right eye, if you come back again and fall asleep, I shall use this knife to cut your throat.” Her cunning makes me afraid for you, cousin, and my heart is so full of sorrow for you that I cannot speak. If you are sure that you will not fall asleep if you go back, then go, and if you guard against sleep, you will get what you want, but if after going back you fall asleep as usual, be sure that she will cut your throat.’
‘What am I to do, then, cousin?’ I asked. ‘For God’s sake, help me in this misfortune.’ ‘Willingly,’ she replied, ‘but I will only see your affair through if you listen to what I have to say and obey me.’ When I agreed that I would do this, she said: ‘I shall tell you when it is time to go,’ and, taking me in her arms, she placed me on the bed and continued to massage me until I was overcome by drowsiness and fell fast asleep. She took a fan and sat by my head, fanning my face until the end of the day. She then woke me up, and when I was roused, I found her sitting by my head, fan in hand, weeping. The tears had dampened her dress. When she saw that I was awake, she wiped them away and brought me some food. When I refused this, she said: ‘Didn’t I tell you to listen to me? Eat,’ and so I ate obediently. She started to put the food in my mouth and I chewed it until I was full. Then she gave me sugared jujube juice to drink; she washed my hands and dried them with a kerchief, after which she sprinkled me with rosewater and I sat with her, feeling in perfect health. When night fell, she gave me my robe to put on and said: ‘Cousin, stay awake for the whole night and don’t go to sleep. She will not come until the last part of the night, and if it is God’s will, you will be united with her, but don’t forget my instructions.’ Then she wept, and I was pained at heart by all those tears of hers and I asked what instructions they were that she meant. ‘When you leave her,’ she said, ‘recite the lines that I quoted to you earlier.’
I then left cheerfully and went to the garden, where I went up to the room and sat down, feeling sated and staying wakeful for the first quarter of the night. I sat there for what seemed like a year, but I still stayed awake until three quarters of it had gone and the cocks had crowed. This prolonged wakefulness made me very hungry, so I got up and went to the table, where I ate my fill. My head felt heavy and I was about to fall asleep when I saw a light approaching from a distance. I got up, washed my hands and my mouth and roused myself. It was not long before the lady came, surrounded by ten slave girls, like a moon among stars. She was wearing a dress of green satin, embroidered with red gold. She was as the poet has described:
She comes walking proudly to her lovers dressed in green,
With buttons undone and her hair unloosed.
‘What is your name?’ I asked her and she said:
‘I am she who has burned lovers’ hearts on coals of fire.’
I complained to her of love’s hardships I endured;
She said: ‘In your ignorance you complain to rock.’
‘Although your heart be rock,’ I said,
‘Yet God has brought pure water out of rock.’
When she saw me, she laughed and said: ‘How is it that you are awake and have not been overcome by sleep? Since you have been wakeful all night, I realize that you are a lover, for it is a characteristic of lovers that they pass sleepless nights, enduring the pains of longing.’ She then went up to her slave girls and gestured to them, after which they left her. She came to me, clasped me to her breast and kissed me. I kissed her and, when she sucked my upper lip, I kissed her lower lip. I stretched out my hand to her waist and squeezed it and we both came to the ground at the same time. She undid her drawers, which slipped down to her anklets. We started our love play, with embraces, coquetry, soft words, bites, twining of legs, and a circumambulation of the House and its corners. This went on until her joints relaxed and she fainted away, losing consciousness. That night was a delight to the heart and joy to the eye, as the poet has said:
For me the pleasantest of all nights was the one
In which I did not let the wine cup slacken in its work.
I kept my eyelids from their sleep
And joined the girl’s earring to her anklet.
We slept together until morning. I then wanted to leave, but she held me back and said: ‘Stay, so that I can tell you something…’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the one hundred and nineteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE YOUNG MAN TOLD TAJ AL-MULUK:
I was about to leave, but she held me back and said: ‘Stay, so that I can tell you something and give you instructions.’ So I stopped and she undid a knotted kerchief and took out this piece of material, which she unfolded in front of me and on which I found a gazelle pictured like this. I was filled with admiration for it and I took it, ar
ranging with her that I should come to her every night in that garden. Then I left her, being full of joy, and in my joy I forgot the lines of poetry which my cousin had told me to recite. When the lady gave me the material with the picture of the gazelle, she had told me that this was her sister’s work, and when I asked her sister’s name, she said ‘Nur al-Huda’. She told me to keep the piece of material, after which I said goodbye to her and left joyfully.
I walked back and went in to find my cousin lying down, but when she saw me she got up, shedding tears, and coming up to me she kissed my chest. Then she asked whether I had recited the lines as she had told me, but I said: ‘I forgot it, but what distracted my attention was this gazelle,’ and I threw down the piece of material in front of her. She became very agitated and, being unable to control herself, she shed tears and recited these lines:
You, who seek for separation, go slowly,
And do not be deceived by an embrace.
Go slowly; Time’s nature is treacherous;
The end of companionship lies in parting.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 67