Another has said:
There is many a woman whose anklets may be dumb,
But on her girdle ornaments are tinkling.
One man is rich; another complains of poverty.
In her ignorance she wants me to forget you through her beauty,
But, after true belief, I will not accept impiety.
I swear by the down on your cheek that shames her locks of hair,
No lovely virgin can turn me from you.
Another has said:
You are unique in beauty; your love is my religion
Which I prefer above all other creeds.
Because of you I have abandoned women,
So that people think today I am a monk.
Another has said:
Do not compare a woman to a beardless boy,
And do not listen to a censurer who says this is a sin.
There is a difference between a woman whose foot the face kisses,
And a gazelle who turns to kiss the earth.
Another has said:
May I be your ransom; I have picked you out
Because you neither menstruate nor ovulate.
Were I inclined to lie with pretty girls,
The wide land would be too narrow for my children.
Another has said:
Coquetry left her angry and she said,
Having invited me and been refused,
“If you don’t lie with me as man with wife,
Do not blame me when you are cuckolded.
Your tool is soft as wax,
And every time I rub it, it gets flabbier.”
Another has said:
When I refused to lie with her, she said:
“Fool, yours is the height of folly.
If you won’t take my vulva as a place of prayer,
Here is another that you may prefer.”
Another has said:
She offered a smooth vulva, but I said: “I don’t do that.”
She gave up, saying, “Whoever is turned away from it
Is turned away:* no one these days uses the front.”
She then turned round for me
A backside like molten silver.
Well done, well done, my mistress!
May I never be distressed by your loss.
Well done, you who are wider spread
Than are the victories of our lord, the king.
Yet another has said:
Men ask for pardon with their hands and women with their legs.
What a good work it is God raises to the bottom.’
When Qamar al-Zaman heard all these lines and realized that he could not avoid what Budur wanted, he said: ‘King of the age, if this must be, promise me that you will only do it with me once, even if that does not serve to correct your perverted nature, and that you will never ask me again. Then perhaps God may allow what I have done wrong to be put right.’ She replied: ‘I promise you that, in the hope that God may forgive us and, in His grace, wipe away our great sins. The celestial sphere that covers us is not too narrow to contain us, and to bring forgiveness after the heinous evils that we have done, leading us from the darkness of error to the light of truth. The lines of the poet have been approved which run:
People have suspected us; their hearts and minds
Are set to prove it true. Come let us show them right,
So that we may save them this one time
From wronging us and then we can repent.’
She gave him guarantees and promises, swearing by God, the necessarily Existent, that they would do this only one single time, adding that passion for him was leading her to death and destruction. On this condition, he got up and went with her to her private room in order to quench the fires of her love, repeating the formula: ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the All-High, the Omnipotent, and this is the decree of the Great and Omniscient God.’ Then, full of shame and shedding tears of apprehension, he undid his trousers. Budur smiled as she led him to the bed. ‘After tonight you will see nothing to distress you,’ she said, and she leaned towards him, kissing and embracing him and twining her legs with his. Then she said: ‘Stretch out your hand between my thighs to the usual place, and maybe it will stand up.’ He wept, saying: ‘I am not good at any of this.’ ‘By my life,’ she said, ‘if you do what I tell you, you will find it pleasant.’ So he put out his hand, with a deep sigh, and he found that her thighs were softer than butter and smoother than silk. It gave him pleasure to touch them and he moved his hand round and about to explore, until he came to a dome full of blessings and of movement. ‘Perhaps this king is a hermaphrodite, neither male nor female,’ he said to himself. ‘O king,’ he said to Budur, ‘I cannot find that you have an instrument like those of men, so why do you do this?’ Budur laughed out loud. ‘My darling,’ she said, ‘how quickly you have forgotten the nights that we spent together.’
Then she revealed herself and Qamar al-Zaman recognized that this was indeed his wife, Princess Budur, daughter of King al-Ghayur, lord of the islands and the seas. He embraced her and she embraced him; they exchanged kisses and then lay with one another on the bed, reciting these lines:
When with bent elbow he came to my embrace, moving beside me,
The hardness of his heart was softened
And, after refusal and rebellion, he agreed.
He feared the censurers might see when he appeared;
He came prepared to avoid the charge of premeditated fault.
His waist complained of buttocks which, when he walked,
Burdened his feet with a full camel’s load.
His glances served him as a girded sword;
The dark locks of his smooth hair were as mail.
His fragrance brought news of his happy coming,
And I ran out as a bird flies from a cage.
I laid my cheek on the ground before his shoe;
The dust he trod served as antimony for my eye.
I raised the banners of union with an embrace,
And I undid the knot of malign fortune.
I held a feast of joy and to its summons came
Delight, now purified of turbid cares.
The full moon sprinkled stars over the mouth,
These being bubbles dancing on the face of wine.
I busied myself in the prayer niche of pleasure
With that sin which never brings a sinner to repent.
I swear by the Verses of Light in his face that here
For me the sura of Sincerity is not forgot.
Princess Budur then told Qamar al-Zaman everything that had happened to her from beginning to end, after which, in his turn, he told her his story. He then began to reproach her, asking her what had induced her to do what she did to him that night. ‘Don’t blame me,’ she said, ‘I only did it as a joke, for amusement and pleasure.’ When daylight returned, Budur sent word to King Armanus, Hayat al-Nufus’s father, telling him who she really was and that she was the wife of Qamar al-Zaman. She told him their story, explaining why they had parted and adding that his daughter was still a virgin. When King Armanus heard all this, he was astonished and ordered that it should be recorded in letters of gold. Then, turning to Qamar al-Zaman, he asked whether he would be willing to become his son-in-law and to marry Hayat al-Nufus, his daughter. ‘Let me first consult Princess Budur,’ he replied, ‘to whom my debt is greater than I can count.’ He did this and she replied: ‘This is a good idea. Marry her and I will be her servant, for she conferred many benefits, favours and boons on me and, in particular, we are in her country and her father has overwhelmed me with his kindliness.’ Seeing that Budur was favourably inclined and was not jealous of Hayat al-Nufus, he agreed with her on the proposal.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and seventeenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Qamar al-Zaman agreed on the proposal with his wife, Budur. He then to
ld King Armanus that she was in favour of the marriage and would act as a servant for Hayat al-Nufus. The king was delighted to hear this. He went out, took his seat on the royal throne and assembled all his viziers, emirs, chamberlains and officers of state, to whom he told the story of Qamar al-Zaman and his wife, Princess Budur, from start to finish. He added that he proposed to marry his daughter, Hayat al-Nufus, to Qamar al-Zaman, and to set him in the place of his wife, Budur, as ruler over them. They all said: ‘As he is the husband of Princess Budur, who was our ruler before him and whom we took to be the king’s son-in-law, we are all content that he should rule us. We shall be his servants and we shall not abandon our allegiance to him.’ This greatly pleased King Armanus, and after assembling the qadis, the witnesses and the leaders of his state, he had a marriage contract drawn up between Qamar al-Zaman and his daughter, Princess Hayat al-Nufus. He organized wedding celebrations, gave magnificent banquets, distributed splendid robes of honour to all the emirs and army commanders, and gave alms to the poor and needy. Everyone rejoiced in the rule of Qamar al-Zaman and they prayed that he would enjoy continuing glory, good fortune, happiness and honour.
On coming to power, Qamar al-Zaman cancelled the market taxes and freed any who were still in prison. He conducted himself laudably and his married life was one of happiness, pleasure, faithfulness and joy. He spent alternate nights with each of his wives, and the longer this continued, his cares and sorrows cleared away, and he forgot his father, King Shahriman, and the royal dignity that he had enjoyed. Almighty God then provided him with two sons like radiant moons, one by each of his wives. Of these, the elder, Budur’s son, was called al-Malik al-Amjad, while the younger, al-Malik al-As‘ad, was the son of Hayat al-Nufus and he was more handsome than al-Amjad, his brother.
The two were brought up in the midst of luxury and elegance, in an atmosphere of the finest good breeding. They studied calligraphy, science, administration and horsemanship until they reached the peak of perfection and they were so handsome that men and women alike were captivated by them. By the time that they were almost seventeen, they were inseparable, eating and drinking together and not parting from each other for however short a time, to the envy of all the people. When they reached man’s estate, their qualities were perfect, and when their father left on a journey, he would seat them alternately in his judgement hall, where each of them would deliver judgements to the people for one day at a time.
As fate had decreed, love for al-As‘ad, Hayat al-Nufus’s son, entered the heart of his father’s wife Budur, while the same thing happened to Hayat al-Nufus with regard to Budur’s son, al-Amjad. Each lady used to fondle the other’s son, kissing him and pressing him to her heart, while, on seeing this, the mother would think that it was merely the result of affection and maternal feeling. Such was their infatuation for the two boys that both ladies fell deeply in love and each, when the other’s son came in, would clasp him to her breast, wishing that he might never leave her.
When they found that things were going too slowly and they had discovered no way to achieve union, they abstained from food and drink and abandoned the pleasure of sleep. It then happened that the king went off on a hunting trip, leaving his sons to take his place as ruler, each for a day at a time, as had been the custom.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and eighteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when the king went off hunting, he told his sons to take his place as ruler, each for a day at a time, as had been the custom. On the first day, it was Budur’s son, al-Amjad, who sat giving judgements, issuing orders and prohibitions, appointing and dismissing officials, granting and refusing requests. Hayat al-Nufus, al-As‘ad’s mother, wrote him a letter of supplication in which she made it clear that she was attached to him by ties of love, disclosing her feelings and telling him that she wanted union with him. On the paper she had written in rhymed prose: ‘From the unfortunate lover, the sad one parted from her beloved, whose youth has been squandered on your love and who, because of you, has suffered prolonged torment. It would take too long to describe in a letter the length of my grief, the sorrow that I endure, the passionate love that is in my heart, my tears and moans, the wounds in my sad heart, the sequence of my sorrows, the cares that follow on each other’s heels, how separation pains me, my melancholy and my burning passion. These things pass all reckoning. Earth and sky are too narrow for me and I have nothing to look for or any hope except in you. I am near my end, enduring the terrors of death. My burning passion and the pains of abandonment and separation grow worse. Were I to describe my longing, there would not be enough paper to suffice. In my affliction and my emaciation, I recite these lines:
Were I to set out my burning agony,
My illness, passion and distress,
There would be no scrolls left in all the world,
No pens, no ink, no paper.’
She then folded the paper and placed it in a piece of precious silk scented with musk and ambergris, including with it some of her hair bands whose cost would swallow up fortunes. Wrapping everything in a kerchief, she gave it to a eunuch with orders to take it to al-Malik al-Amjad.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and nineteenth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that she gave the note to a eunuch with orders to take it to al-Malik al-Amjad. The eunuch went off, not knowing the fate that awaited him, for He Who knows the unseen directs affairs as He wills. When the eunuch came into al-Amjad’s presence, he kissed the ground in front of him and handed him the kerchief with the letter. Al-Amjad took the kerchief from him and, undoing it, he saw the letter, which he proceeded to open. When he had read it and grasped its meaning, he realized that his father’s wife was contemplating treachery and had played his father false in her heart. In a fury, he blamed all women for their actions, exclaiming: ‘God damn women, traitresses as they are, lacking in both intelligence and religious scruples.’ Then, unsheathing his sword, he said to the eunuch: ‘Damn you, you evil slave, do you dare to carry a message of treachery from the wife of your master? By God, there is no good in you. Your colour is black and so is the record of your deeds. You are ugly to look at and your nature is despicable.’ He then struck him on the neck with his sword, severing his head from his body, after which he folded the kerchief together with its contents and put it in his pocket. Next, he went to his mother, and after telling her what had happened, he abused and reviled her, saying: ‘Each of you women is worse than the rest. I swear by Almighty God that were I not afraid of acting indecorously with regard to my father and my brother, I would go to Hayat al-Nufus and cut off her head as I did to her eunuch.’
After this, still in a furious rage, he left his mother, Budur. Meanwhile, when Hayat al-Nufus heard what he had done to her eunuch, she reviled him and cursed him, plotting to use trickery against him. He himself spent the night sick with anger, disgust and anxiety, finding no pleasure in food, drink or sleep. The next morning, his brother, al-Malik al-As‘ad, went out and took his father’s place to deliver judgements among the people. Meanwhile, his mother, Hayat al-Nufus, had fallen ill after hearing that al-Amjad had killed her eunuch. After al-As‘ad had taken his seat that day, he made just decisions, appointing and dismissing officials, giving out commands and prohibitions, and making generous gifts.
He stayed sitting there until it was nearly time for the afternoon prayer. It was then that Queen Budur, al-Amjad’s mother, sent for a wily old woman and told her what was in her heart. She then took a sheet of paper on which to write to al-As‘ad, her husband’s son. Complaining of the extent of love and passion that she felt for him, she wrote in rhymed prose: ‘From one who is dying of passionate longing to the handsomest and best of mankind, who is proud of his beauty and boasts of his elegance, shunning those who seek union with him and abstaining from a
ny relationship with the humble and submissive. This is sent from the distressed lover to the harsh and impatient al-Malik al-As‘ad, with his surpassing beauty and excelling loveliness, whose face is a bright moon, with a gleaming forehead and glistening radiance. The letter is addressed to one whose love has wasted away my body and split my flesh from my bones. Know that my patience is at an end; I do not know what to do. Longing and sleeplessness have made me restive; neither endurance nor sleep are kind to me, and my constant companions are sorrow and wakefulness. I am troubled by the passion of love, together with the emaciation and illness that beset me because of this. May my life be your ransom, even if you are content to kill your lover. May God preserve you and protect you from all evil.’ After this, she wrote the following lines:
Time has decreed that I should love you,
Whose beauty is that of a shining moon.
Yours is all loveliness and radiance;
Your splendour is unique among mankind.
I am content that you should be my torturer,
For it may be you will spare me a glance.
How happy is the one who dies of love for you.
In those who do not love no good is to be found.
She then wrote these other lines:
To you, As‘ad, I complain of the fire of passion;
Pity the slave of love who burns with longing.
How long am I to be tossed to and fro
By passion, love, care, sleeplessness and suffering?
I complain of a sea and then of fire within my heart.
This is a wonder, you who are my desire.
Blamer, abandon blame and seek to flee from love.
Tears flood down from my eyes.
How often did I cry out in distress when you abandoned me,
But my laments and cries did me no good?
You made me ill, shunning me in a way I cannot bear.
You are the doctor; help me with what I have to have as cure.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 101