The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  I stayed awake as though in love with wakefulness,

  Wasting away until it was as though it was for me

  That sickness was created.

  Tears soaked my cheeks and scalded them.

  Would that I knew whether, after our parting, we shall meet again.

  She began to sing in various tones songs containing delightful poetry and which bewildered our thoughts, so that the room itself almost danced with joy in appreciation of her singing, and our minds and thoughts were stolen away. Then, when we were all seated and the wine cups had passed around, the slave girl recited tunefully:

  The beloved kept his promise of union on a night

  Which I shall count as being worth many nights.

  What a night it was that Time then granted us,

  Unnoticed by those who denounce and censure us.

  To my delight, he spent the night

  Clasping me with his right hand while I clasped him with my left.

  I embraced him and sucked his saliva’s wine,

  Enjoying both the honeyed drink and the honey seller.

  While we were drowning in an ocean of pleasure, a small servant girl came in, trembling with fear. ‘My lady,’ she said, ‘look for a way to get out. The house is surrounded; they have found you although we don’t know how this has happened.’ On hearing this, I stood up in a panic, just as the slave girl was saying: ‘Disaster has overtaken you.’ The wide world seemed too narrow for me. I looked at the door and could find no way of escape at first, but then I managed to get to the house of one of my neighbours, where I hid myself. I found that people had gone into my own house and were making a great disturbance, and this convinced me that the caliph had heard about us and had ordered the police chief to take us by surprise and to bring us to him. I had no idea what to do, and so I stayed where I was until midnight, unable to leave my hiding place.

  The owner of the house then came, and to his great alarm he sensed that someone was there. So he came towards me out of his room with a drawn sword in his hand, saying: ‘Who’s there?’ ‘I’m your neighbour, the jeweller,’ I replied. On recognizing me, he went off and came back with a light. He then approached me and said: ‘Brother, I am distressed by what has happened to you tonight.’ ‘Tell me who it was in my house?’ I asked him. ‘Who broke down the door and went in? For I ran off here and don’t know what happened.’ He said: ‘Thieves visited our neighbours yesterday and killed one of them, plundering his goods. They saw you yesterday moving stuff here, and so they came and took what you had, killing your guests.’

  My neighbour and I went to my house and found it empty and stripped bare. Taken aback, I said to myself: ‘I don’t care about the loss of the furnishings. Some of what has gone I had borrowed from my friends, but it doesn’t matter, as they will recognize that I have the excuse that my house was plundered and my goods taken. I’m afraid, however, that the affair of ‘Ali ibn Bakkar and the caliph’s concubine may come out and that will lead to my death.’ Turning to my neighbour, I said: ‘You are my brother, my neighbour and my shield against exposure, so what do you advise me to do?’ ‘Lie low,’ he told me. ‘The men who entered your house and took your goods also killed a distinguished group of palace officials, as well some of the police chief ’s men. State guards are on all the roads looking for them and should they happen to find them, you will get what you want without any effort on your own part.’

  On hearing this, the jeweller went back to the other house where he lived.

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and sixty-fourth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that on hearing this, the jeweller went back to the other house where he lived. He said to himself: ‘What has happened is what Abu’l-Hasan feared. He went off to Basra and it is I who have fallen into the trap.’ Word of the plundering of his house now began to spread and people came up to him from all sides, some taking malicious pleasure in his misfortune, while others were helpful and sympathetic. He poured out his complaints to them and would neither eat nor drink because of his distress. Then, while he was sitting sorrowfully, one of his servants came in and told him that there was a man at the door asking for him. The jeweller went out to greet him and found someone unknown to him, who told him that he had something to say to him in private. The jeweller took him into his house, where he asked what he had to say. ‘Go with me to your second house,’ said the man. ‘Do you know my second house?’ asked the jeweller. The man replied: ‘I know all about you and I have news by which God will dispel your cares.’ THE JEWELLER WENT ON:

  I told myself that I had better do what he wanted, and so I accompanied him to the house. When he saw it, he said: ‘There is neither door nor doorman here. We can’t sit in this place, so take me somewhere else.’ I stayed with him as he went round from one place to another, until night fell and I had still not asked him any questions. He kept on walking with me until we came out into open country. ‘Follow me,’ he said, and he started to walk faster, with me hurrying behind him, encouraging myself to carry on. We then got to the river, where we were met by a small boat, and the boatman rowed us across to the far bank. The man got out and when I followed, he took my hand and led me into a street that I had never been to in my life – I didn’t even know what district it was in. He stopped at the door of a house, opened it and entered, taking me in with him, after which he fastened the door with an iron lock. He then brought me into a hall and I was confronted by ten men who looked so similar that they seemed to be one and the same person. They were, in fact, brothers.

  We exchanged greetings and they told us to sit down, which we did. I was almost dead with tiredness and so they brought me rosewater which they sprinkled on my face. They then poured me wine and fetched food, which some of them ate with me. ‘If there were anything harmful in this food,’ I said to myself, ‘they would not share it with me.’ When we had washed our hands, they each went back to their places, after which they asked whether I recognized them. ‘No,’ I said, ‘I have never seen you in my life; I have never seen the man who brought me to you, and I have never seen this place.’ ‘Tell us about yourself and without lying,’ they said. ‘You must know,’ I replied, ‘that my case is strange and remarkable. Do you know anything about me?’ ‘Yes,’ they said. ‘It was we who took your goods last night, and we also took your friend and the girl who was singing with him.’ ‘May God protect you,’ I said. ‘Where is my friend and where is the singer?’ ‘Here,’ they said, pointing in a certain direction and adding: ‘But, by God, brother, you are the only one who knows their secret. Since we brought them here, none of us have been to see them and we have not asked them about themselves, because we saw that they had an aura of dignity about them, which is what stopped us from killing them. Tell us the truth about them and we shall spare your life and theirs.’

  When I heard this, I almost died of fear and I said to them: ‘Brothers, if chivalry were lost, you can be sure that it is only with you that it would be found. If I had a secret which I was afraid to make known, it is in your hearts that it would be hidden.’ I went on in this exaggerated way, and then I thought that it would be better and more useful to come out with the story rather than to conceal it. So I told them everything that had happened to me, from start to finish. They listened to my tale and then asked: ‘Is this young man ‘Ali ibn Bakkar and is the girl Shams al-Nahar?’ When I said yes, they were taken aback and went and apologized to the pair. ‘Some of what we took from your house has gone, but here is the rest of it,’ they said, and they returned most of my belongings, guaranteeing to bring them back to their place in my house and to restore all the rest. My fears were laid to rest, but the ten then split into two groups, one on my side and the other against me. It was then that we left the house.

  So much for me, but as for ‘Ali and Shams al-Nahar, they had almost died of fear before I approached them and greeted them. I asked them: ‘What d
o you suppose has happened to the slave girl and the two maids? Where did they go?’ But they said that they knew nothing about them. We then went to where a boat was anchored, and when our escort put us on board, this turned out to be the same one on which I had crossed earlier. The boatman rowed us across to the other side, where we were made to disembark, but before we had time to sit down and rest on the bank, we found ourselves encircled by horsemen who swooped down on all sides like eagles. The men who had brought us hurried to their feet; the boat came back for them and they jumped in and were ferried off by the boatman, disappearing from sight after they had reached mid-stream, while we stayed on the bank unable either to move or to sit still.

  The riders asked us where we had come from and we were at a loss to know what to say. I told them: ‘Those people whom you saw with us were a bunch of scoundrels whom we don’t know. We ourselves are singers. They wanted to take us to sing to them, and it was only by politeness and soft words that we escaped from them. They had just let us go before going off, as you saw.’ The riders looked at Shams al-Nahar and ‘Ali and said to me: ‘You are not telling the truth. Tell us who you are, where you have come from, where are you based and in what quarter you live.’

  I had no idea what to say, but Shams al-Nahar jumped up and, after approaching their captain, she had a private word with him. He then dismounted and set her on his horse, which he started to lead by its reins. One trooper did the same for ‘Ali and another for me. The captain walked on with us to a spot on the river bank where he called out in a foreign language, and a number of people came up from the land side, bringing two boats. We were then rowed up to the caliph’s palace, being almost dead with fear, but we went on until we reached a place from which we could get home. There we disembarked and we walked with an escort of riders, who made friendly conversation with us until we got to ‘Ali’s house. Before going in, we said goodbye to them and they went off on their way. We ourselves could hardly move and could not tell morning from evening, staying like that until dawn.

  At the end of the day, ‘Ali collapsed in a faint, and as he lay stretched out and motionless, women and men wept over him. Some of his family came and woke me up. ‘Tell us what has happened to him,’ they said, ‘and what is this state he is in.’ ‘Listen to me,’ I said…

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and sixty-fifth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the jeweller said: ‘Listen to me; don’t harm me, but wait patiently, for he will recover and tell you his story himself.’ HE WENT ON:

  I then spoke forcefully to them, threatening them with an open scandal. Then, while we were talking, to the delight of his family ‘Ali suddenly stirred on his bed. The others left, but his family would not let me go. They sprinkled rosewater on his face, and when he had recovered consciousness and sniffed the air, they started to ask him questions. He tried to tell them, but his tongue was not quick enough to produce the answers and so he gestured to them to let me go home. This they did and I left, scarcely believing that I had escaped. I was accompanied by two men until I reached my own house, and when my family saw me in this state, they cried out and struck their faces, until I gestured to them to keep quiet, which they did. My escort went off, after which I lay down on my bed for the rest of the night and did not wake until morning.

  When I woke, I found my family clustered around me. They asked me what misfortune had overtaken me, but I just told them to bring me something to drink. When I had drunk enough from what they brought, I said: ‘What has happened has happened,’ and they then left. Afterwards I made my excuses to my friends and asked them whether any of my missing goods had been returned. They said: ‘Some of them have, for a man came and threw them into the doorway of the house, but we didn’t catch sight of him.’ I comforted myself and stayed at home for two days, unable to get up, but then I took heart and walked to the baths.

  I was very tired and full of concern for ‘Ali and Shams al-Nahar, since during this period I had heard no news of them. I could not go to ‘Ali’s house, but neither could I rest quietly at home as I was afraid for my own safety, repenting to Almighty God for what I had done and praising Him for having preserved me. After a time, I thought of making my way to a certain quarter and then coming straight back. As I was about to set off, I looked at a woman whom I saw standing nearby, and discovered that she was the slave girl of Shams al-Nahar. As soon as I recognized her, I hurried away, but she followed me. I was afraid of her, and every time I looked at her the more alarmed I became. She kept saying: ‘Stop, I want to talk to you,’ but, rather than turning back, I walked on until I reached a mosque in a place where there was nobody to be seen. ‘Go in here,’ the girl said, ‘so that I can say something to you. There is nothing to be afraid of.’ As she pressed me so earnestly, I went into the mosque and she followed me. I prayed, performing two rak‘as and then I went up to her, sighing, and asked her what she wanted. She asked me how I was, and I told her what had happened to myself and to ‘Ali.

  I asked her about herself, and she said: ‘When I saw the men breaking down the door of your house and bursting in, I was afraid, thinking that if they had been sent by the caliph to seize me and my mistress, we would face immediate death. So the two maids and I made our escape by way of the roof. We jumped down from a height and in our flight we took shelter among some people who then took us to the caliph’s palace. We were in the worst of states, but we managed to conceal what had happened, although we remained tossing on coals of anxiety until it grew dark. Then I opened the river door and called to the boatman who had taken us out the night before. I told him that we had had no news of my mistress and I asked him to take me in his boat so that I could go and search for her along the river and perhaps hear some word of her. He did this and I stayed on the river until midnight, when I saw another boat approaching the door, with one man rowing, another standing and a woman lying between the two of them. The boatman rowed up to the bank; the woman got out, and when I looked at her, I saw that this was Shams al-Nahar. I disembarked to meet her, being overjoyed to see her after I had lost hope.’

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the hundred and sixty-sixth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the girl told the jeweller: ‘I was overjoyed to see her, after I had lost hope. When I came to her, she told me to pay a thousand dinars to the man who had brought her, and then the two maids and I carried her in and put her on her bed. She spent the night in a distressed state, and in the morning I kept the slave girls and the eunuchs from coming in to see her that day. On the following day, she had recovered although to me it seemed as though she had just emerged from a tomb. I sprinkled her face with rosewater, changed her clothes and washed her hands and feet, continuing this gentle treatment until I had given her some food to eat and something to drink. She showed no inclination for any of this, but after she had sniffed the air, she regained her health.

  ‘I then began to reproach her, saying: “My lady, you must watch out and take care of yourself. You have seen what happened to us and you have brought down enough trouble on yourself, almost getting yourself killed.” “My good girl,” she said to me, “death would have been easier to bear than what happened to me. I thought that I was certain to be killed. When the thieves took me from the jeweller’s house, they asked me who I was and when I told them that I was a singing girl, they believed me. They then asked ‘Ali about himself, who he was and what was his position, and he told them that he was one of the common people. They took us with them to their base and such was our fear that we hurried on with them. When they got us there, they looked closely at me and noted the clothes that I was wearing, as well as my necklaces and jewels. They became suspicious and said: ‘These necklaces never belonged to a singing girl, so speak the truth and tell us what your real position is.’ I gave them no reply, saying to
myself that they would now kill me because of my ornaments and clothing. When I stayed silent, they turned to ‘Ali and said: ‘You don’t look like a common man – who are you and where do you come from?’ But he said nothing and, still concealing our secret, we burst into tears.

  ‘ “God then softened the hearts of the robbers and they asked us who was the owner of the house in which we had been. We told them the name of the jeweller, at which one of them said: ‘I know him well and I know where he is. He will be in his second house and I undertake to fetch him straight away.’ They then agreed to keep me and ‘Ali separate, telling us to relax and not to fear that our secret would be revealed, promising we would be safe. Their companion went and fetched the jeweller and he told them about us. We joined him and one of the robbers fetched a boat. They put us on board, took us across to the other shore, set us on the bank and then went off. Riders of the night watch came up and asked who we were. I spoke with their captain and told him that I was Shams al-Nahar, the caliph’s favourite. I said that, after drinking deeply, I had gone out to visit one of my acquaintances among the vizier’s wives, and had fallen into the hands of robbers who had taken me to that spot, and who had then run away when they saw the captain’s men. I added that I was well able to reward him. Having heard what I had to say, he recognized me and, after dismounting, he set me on his horse and had the same thing done for ‘Ali and the jeweller. I am still on fire with anxiety about them, especially ‘Ali’s friend, the jeweller. So go to him, greet him and ask him for news of ‘Ali.”