The shepherd replied: ‘Leave me, you false and treacherous woman. I shall not come to you or approach you and I have no need of intimacy or union with you. Whoever desires you is without desire for the next world, and whoever desires the next world has no desire for you. You have seduced men throughout the ages. Almighty God watches over His servants and woe betide anyone who is afflicted by your company.’ ‘You stray from what is right,’ she said, ‘and you have missed the path of true guidance. Turn your face to me; look at my loveliness and take advantage of my nearness, as wise men have done before you. They had more experience than you and sounder judgement, but in spite of that they did not do what you have done in rejecting the enjoyment of women. They were eager for what you have abstained from, to be with women and to be intimate with them. That did them no harm either as regards their religion or in their worldly affairs. So change your mind and you will have cause to praise the outcome of this affair.’ The shepherd replied: ‘I reject with loathing all that you say and I will have nothing to do with what you are showing me. You are deceitful and treacherous, faithful to no covenant. How much ugliness lies concealed beneath your beauty! How many pious men have you seduced, leaving them with regret and loss! Get back from me, you who have prepared yourself so well to corrupt others.’ He then threw his cloak over his face so as not to look at hers and he occupied himself in calling on the name of the Lord. When the angel saw how obedient he was to God, he left him and went back to heaven.
Near to the shepherd was a village in which lived a pious man who did not know where the shepherd was. In a dream, this man heard a voice saying: ‘Near you, in a cave on the mountain, is a good man. Go to him and put yourself at his command.’ In the morning, the man set off as he had been directed. When the heat strengthened, he came to a tree beside which was a spring of flowing water. As he rested there, sitting under the shade of the tree, he saw beasts and birds coming to drink from the stream, but when they caught sight of him, they shied away and took off. ‘There is no might and no power except with God!’ exclaimed the ascetic. ‘All my resting here has done has been to harm the beasts and the birds.’ He got up and said in self-reproach: ‘Because I harmed these creatures by sitting here today, what will my excuse be to my Creator and theirs? It was I who frightened them away from their drink, their food and their pasture. How great will be my shame before my Lord on the day when He takes vengeance for the hornless sheep or the sheep with horns!’ Then he wept and recited these lines:
By God, did man but know for what was he created,
He would not sleep the sleep of heedlessness.
First comes death, then resurrection and then Judgement Day,
Bringing with it rebuke and dreadful fears.
Whether we give prohibitions or commands,
We are like the Seven Sleepers, awake but yet asleep.
He wept in sorrow for having sat under the tree by the spring and for having kept the birds and beasts from drinking. Then he turned round and went on his way until he reached the shepherd and went in to see him. They exchanged greetings and the ascetic embraced the shepherd tearfully. The shepherd asked him: ‘What has brought you to this place, where no man has ever visited me?’ The ascetic replied: ‘I saw in a dream one who described to me where you were and who ordered me to go to you and greet you, and it is in obedience to his orders that I am here.’ The shepherd kissed him and took pleasure in his company, sitting with him on the mountain. They both worshipped God in the cave with sincere devotion and they continued to serve their Lord, eating the flesh of the sheep and drinking their milk, with no concern for wealth or children, until death, the certain, came to them. This is the end of their story.
The king said: ‘Shahrazad, you have made me renounce my preoccupation with my kingdom and you have made me regret the excesses to which I went in killing women and girls. Do you have any more stories about birds?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, AND SHE WENT ON:
It is said, O king, that a certain bird flew high up into the sky and then swooped down to settle on a stone in the middle of a running stream. While it was perched there, a bloated human corpse, floating on the surface, was washed against the rock by the current. The bird, a water fowl, went up and, on inspecting it, found that it was the corpse of a man showing wounds made by sword blows and spear thrusts. The bird said to itself: ‘I imagine that this dead man was a malefactor slain by a group of people who combined against him to rid themselves of his evil-doing.’
While it looked on, perplexed and astonished, down came vultures and kites, surrounding the body on all sides. The water fowl was very disturbed and said: ‘I cannot bear to stay here.’ It flew off, looking for somewhere to serve as a refuge until the corpse had time to decay and the carrion eaters had left. It went on flying until it discovered a river in the middle of which was a tree. The bird’s mood had changed to sorrow and grief for its lost home, and it said to itself: ‘Sorrows continue to plague me. I was pleased when I saw that corpse, and I said to myself in my joy: “This is nourishment that God has sent me.” Then my joy turned to grief and my delight to sorrow and distress, for the corpse was taken and snatched away from me by predatory birds who kept me from it. How can I hope to be free from trouble in this world and how am I to rely on it with confidence? As the proverb puts it, this world is the home of those who have no home. It deceives the fool who entrusts it with his wealth, his children, his family and his clan. He continues to put his trust in it, treading proudly on the earth until he rests beneath it, with his nearest and dearest heaping soil over him. Nothing is better for a young man than patient endurance of his cares and troubles. I left my own place and my own land, and I was sad to be parted from my brothers, my friends and my companions.’
While it was plunged in thought, a male tortoise came down the stream, approached the water fowl and, after greeting it, asked: ‘What has made you abandon your friends and leave your home?’ The water fowl replied: ‘This was because it was occupied by enemies and no intelligent man can bear to live next to his enemy. How well has the poet put it:
When an oppressor settles in a land,
All that the people there can do is leave.’
The tortoise replied: ‘If that is the case and things are as you have said, then I shall stay with you and not leave you, seeing to your needs and attending on you. For, as it has been said, there is no loneliness worse than that of the stranger who has been cut off from his family and his native land. It has also been said that there is no misfortune to equal that of parting from good men, and the best consolation for people of intelligence is for them to make friends in their exile and to show patience in the face of misfortune and distress. I hope that you will approve of me as a companion, for I will be your servant and your helper.’
When the water fowl heard what the tortoise had to say, it answered: ‘What you say is true and, by my life, I have experienced the pain and sorrow of separation ever since I left home and parted from my friends and companions. In separation there is a warning for those who take heed and grounds for thought for those who can think. If a man fails to find a companion to console him, what is good is cut off from him for ever and what is bad remains in perpetuity. In all his affairs, the intelligent man must find relief from care in his friends, and he must maintain patience and endurance, as those are two praiseworthy qualities that help him against misfortune and the disasters of Time, warding off fear and anxiety in every affair.’ ‘Beware of anxiety,’ said the tortoise, ‘for it will spoil your life and destroy your manliness.’
They went on talking to each other until the water fowl said to the tortoise: ‘I am still afraid of the misfortunes of Time and of calamitous happenings.’ On hearing this, the tortoise approached the water fowl and, kissing it between the eyes, he said: ‘The company of birds has always derived blessings from you, and your counsel has taught them to recognize what is good. How can they then be left with a burden of cares and damage?’
The tortoise continued to sooth
e the water fowl until it was calmed. It then flew off to where the corpse had been. There were no predatory birds to be seen and all that was left of the corpse were the bones. The water fowl went back and told the tortoise that his enemies had left the place, saying: ‘Know that I want to go home to enjoy the company of my friends, for no man of intelligence can bear to be parted from his homeland.’ The two of them went there together and found nothing to alarm them. At this, the water fowl recited:
There is many a mishap that leaves man powerless,
But God supplies him an escape from it.
It closes in, but when it has encircled him,
To my surprise, it opens up again.
The two companions settled on the island, but while the water fowl was enjoying a happy and peaceful life, fate sent against it a ravenous hawk which struck it in the stomach with its talons and killed it. When its allotted span was ended, caution was no longer of use, and the reason that it had been killed was that it had neglected to glorify God. It is said that its formula of glorification was: ‘Glory be to our Lord in what He decrees and contrives. Glory be to our Lord, Who enriches and impoverishes.’ This is the story of the water fowl and the tortoise.
*
The king said: ‘Shahrazad, through your stories you have provided me with yet more exhortations and warnings. Do you have any stories of wild beasts?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, AND SHE WENT ON:
Know, O king, that a fox and a wolf shared the same den, to which they would go with one another for shelter, and here they would pass the night, although the wolf mistreated the fox. Things went on like this for some time, until it happened that the fox advised the wolf to behave more gently and to abandon his evil ways, adding: ‘Know that if you continue to act arrogantly, God may give the son of Adam power over you, for he is wily, cunning and deceptive; he hunts down birds from the sky and takes fish from the sea; he cuts into mountains and moves them from one place to another; and all this is because of his cunning and his guile. You should act gently and fairly, abandoning evil and coercion, for this will give you a pleasanter life.’ The wolf was not prepared to accept the fox’s advice and said harshly: ‘It is not for you to be talking about important and weighty matters.’ He then felled the fox with a blow which knocked him unconscious. When the fox had recovered his wits, he laughed at the wolf and excused himself for having spoken out of turn. He then recited these lines:
If earlier in my love for you I was at fault
And did something to which you could object,
I now repent my fault, while your forgiveness
Covers the wrongdoer who asks for pardon.
The wolf accepted his apology and stopped mistreating him, while cautioning him: ‘Don’t talk about what does not concern you, or else you will hear what you do not like.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and forty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the wolf said to the fox: ‘Don’t talk about what does not concern you, or else you will hear what you do not like.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ replied the fox. ‘Far be it from me to do anything that displeases you. The wise man has said: “Do not talk about what you have not been asked, and if you have not been addressed, do not reply; leave what doesn’t concern you for what does, and do not offer advice to evil men, for they will repay you with evil.” ’
Although the fox had smiled at the wolf while listening to what he had to say, he was concealing a resolve to deceive the wolf, telling himself that he must do his best to destroy him. So he put up with the wolf ’s maltreatment, saying to himself: ‘Arrogance and falsity cause confusion and lead to destruction. It is said: arrogance is loss; the ignorant have cause to repent; he who fears is safe; justice is one of the characteristics of noble men; and the best thing that can be acquired is culture. My best course is to flatter this tyrant, for there is no doubt he will be overthrown.’
The fox then said to the wolf: ‘The master pardons the servant who has done wrong and forgives him if he confesses his faults. I am a weak servant and I have gone astray in offering you advice. If you knew what pain your blow caused me, you would realize that an elephant would not have been able to withstand it, but I don’t complain of that, thanks to the happiness that it brought me, for, painful as it was, it was followed by joy. The wise man has said: “The blow struck by the teacher is, to start with, very hard, but what follows is sweeter than purified honey.” ’ The wolf said in reply: ‘I have pardoned your fault and forgiven your error, but beware of my strength and acknowledge yourself to be my slave, for you know how I subdue those who oppose me.’ The fox prostrated himself before him, saying: ‘May God prolong your life and may you never cease to overcome your enemies.’
Because of his fear of the wolf, the fox continued to approach him with flattery and blandishment. Then one day he went to the vineyard, where he saw a gap in the wall. He was suspicious, saying to himself: ‘There must be some reason for this gap. The proverb says that whoever sees a hole in the ground and does not avoid it or take care not to walk up to it, deceives and endangers himself. It is well known that some people make a figure of a fox among the vines, setting grapes on plates in front of it, so that a real fox may see that and come towards it only to fall into destruction. I think that this gap is a trick, and as the proverb has it, “Half of cleverness is caution.” Caution suggests that I should take a look at it to see whether it conceals a trap, rather than that I should be led by greed to destroy myself.’ So he went up to the gap in the wall and walked round carefully, studying it. What he found was a huge hole that the owner of the vineyard had dug to trap the beasts that were destroying his vines. ‘You have got what you hoped for,’ he said to himself.
Over the hole was a thin cover, and he drew back from this, saying: ‘Praise be to God that I was wary of this, but I hope that my enemy, the wolf, who has spoiled my life, may fall into it, leaving the vineyard free for my sole possession so that I can live here in security.’ He shook his head, laughing aloud and reciting:
I wish that I could now see in this pit the wolf
Who has distressed me over a long time,
Forcing on me waters of bitterness.
I wish that after this I may be left
Surviving, while the wolf has met his death.
The vineyard would be free of him,
And in it I see booty for myself.
After finishing these lines, the fox went back quickly to the wolf and said: ‘God has made it easy for you to approach the vineyard without trouble, and this is thanks to your good fortune. Congratulations on what God has opened up for you, making it simple for you to win easy booty and find abundant livelihood, which you can enjoy without trouble.’ ‘What leads you to say this?’ asked the wolf. ‘I went to the vineyard,’ the fox told him, ‘and found that its owner was dead, having been killed by a wolf. I then got into the place and found the trees laden with splendid fruit.’ The wolf did not doubt that the fox was telling him the truth and, moved by greed, he got up and went to the gap in the wall. Greed led him on and the fox, who had thrown himself down on the ground as though he were dead, quoted the following lines:
Do you desire union with Laila?
Desire is a harmful burden on man’s neck.
When the wolf was near the gap, the fox said: ‘Go into the vineyard – this will save you the trouble of climbing the wall or knocking it down, and it is for God to complete His favour.’ So the wolf walked on in order to enter the vineyard, but when he got to the middle of the covering of the pit, he fell into it. The fox could not contain himself for joy; his cares and sorrows left him and, in his delight, he chanted:
Time has had pity on my state,
Lamenting my lengthy suffering.
It has brought me what I most desired
And has removed all that I feared.
I shall forgive all its past wrongs.
The wolf has no e
scape from death;
The vineyard will be mine alone
With no fool to associate with me.
Looking down into the pit, he saw the wolf shedding tears of regret and sorrow for himself. The fox wept with him, and the wolf, raising his head, asked: ‘Is it out of pity for me that you are shedding tears, Abu’l-Husain?’ To which the fox replied: ‘No, by Him Who cast you into this pit, I am weeping because of the length of your past life, regretting the fact that this did not happen earlier. Had you fallen before I met you, I would have enjoyed peace and quiet, but you have been allowed to live for the fixed time of your allotted term.’
The wolf said, as if in jest: ‘Go to my mother, you evil-doer, and tell her what has happened to me. She may be able to think of a way to rescue me.’ But the fox replied: ‘It was the extent of your greed and covetousness that has destroyed you by causing you to fall into a pit from which you cannot escape. Don’t you know, you foolish wolf, that, as the well-known proverb has it, “If a man takes no thought for the consequences of his actions, Time will not be his friend and he will not be safe from destruction”?’ ‘Abu’l-Husain,’ said the wolf, ‘you used to pretend to be my friend, to want my favour and to fear my great strength. Don’t show resentment to me for what I did to you. Those who show forgiveness from a position of strength are rewarded by God. As the poet has said:
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 83