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

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  ‘No harm shall come to you,’ the girl said, adding: ‘And I hope that you may bless the result of your adventure.’ She then asked me my trade and I told her that I was a trader in the market of Baghdad. ‘Can you recite any poetry?’ she asked. ‘A very little,’ I replied. ‘Tell me some,’ she said, ‘and recite something.’ ‘Visitors tend to be at a loss,’ I said, ‘so you should begin.’ ‘You are right,’ she said, and she then recited some delicate lines, the choicest passages from poets both old and new. Listening, I could not make up my mind which to admire more, her grace and beauty or the excellence of her recitation. She then asked me: ‘Have you now lost your bewilderment?’ ‘Yes, by God,’ I told her. ‘Then would you like to recite me something?’ she said, and so I recited a sufficient number of lines from a number of old poets. She approved of this, exclaiming: ‘By God, I didn’t think that culture like this was to be found among market traders.’ She then ordered food to be brought.

  Dunyazad praised the sweetness and excellence of her sister Shahrazad’s pleasant and agreeable story, but Shahrazad replied that it could not compare to what she would tell on the following night if the king were to spare her life.

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the two hundred and eightieth night, she repeated that it could not compare to what she would tell on the following night if the king were to spare her life. The king told her to finish the story. ‘To hear is to obey,’ she said, AND CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that according to Ishaq al-Mausili, when food had been brought, as the girl had ordered, she began to take it and set it in front of him. he said:

  In the room were all kinds of scented plants, together with exotic fruits such as were only to be found in royal palaces. The girl called for wine, and after drinking a cup she passed another to me and said: ‘This is the time for conversation and anecdotes.’ I began, telling her: ‘I have heard that such-and-such happened and that someone said such-and-such,’ and going on until I had told her a number of pleasant tales. She was delighted and said: ‘It astonishes me that a trader knows stories like these, for they are kings’ tales.’ ‘I had a neighbour who used to talk and drink with kings,’ I explained, ‘and when he was at leisure I used to go to his house, so it may be that what I have told you came from him.’

  She congratulated me on how well I had remembered the stories and we then began to talk. Whenever I fell silent she would take up the conversation and in this way we passed the greater part of the night, enjoying the perfumed scent of the aloes wood. I was in a state of such pleasure that, had al-Ma’mun imagined it could be found, his longing for it would have made him rush off instantly. ‘You are the most refined and witty of men,’ she told me, ‘and a man of outstanding culture. There is only one thing left.’ ‘What is that?’ I asked. ‘The ability to chant poetry to the lute,’ she said. ‘I used to be very fond of that in the old days,’ I told her, ‘but as I had no natural skill, I gave it up. I am still enthusiastic about it, however, and I would like now to perform well so as to bring this night to a perfect end.’ ‘You seem to be hinting that you would like a lute fetched,’ she said. ‘It is up to you,’ I answered. ‘You are doing the favours and it is to you that I owe thanks for this.’

  She ordered a lute to be brought and when it came she sang elegantly with the sweetest of voices, plucking the strings with consummate skill. ‘Do you know whose tune this is,’ she asked, ‘and who the poet was?’ When I said no, she told me that the poet was So-and-So and that the air was by Ishaq al-Mausili. ‘Bless you,’ I said, ‘is Ishaq really as good as this?’ ‘Oh, oh!’ she exclaimed. ‘Ishaq is the outstanding artist in this field.’ ‘Praise to be God,’ I said, ‘Who has given to this man what He has not given to anyone else!’ ‘Think how it would be if you could hear him sing this himself,’ she said, and we went on talking like this until at daybreak an old woman, who seemed to be her nurse, came in and said: ‘It is time.’ At that, the girl got up and said: ‘Keep our encounter secret, for meetings must be held in confidence.’

  Nights 281 to 294

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the girl said: ‘Keep our encounter secret, for meetings must be held in confidence.’ ISHAQ AL-MAUSILI WENT ON:

  ‘May I be your ransom,’ I told her. ‘I didn’t need to be told that.’ Then I took my leave of her and she sent a slave girl to lead me to the door of the house. When the girl had opened it for me I left and went off to my house, where I performed the dawn prayer and then fell asleep.

  A messenger arrived from al-Ma’mun and I went off and spent the day with him. When it was evening I thought over what had happened on the day before, as this was an experience which none but a fool would willingly forgo. So, after leaving the palace, I went and took my seat in the basket and was pulled up to where I had been the day before. ‘You are zealous,’ said the girl. ‘No, heedless,’ I replied, and we started to talk as we had done on the previous evening, exchanging conversation, recitations and strange tales until it was dawn. I then left, went home, performed the dawn prayer and fell asleep. I was again summoned by al-Ma’mun, with whom I spent the day. When it was evening, he told me to sit where I was until he had come back from doing something. When he had gone, leaving me, I found myself tempted by memories of what I had enjoyed and so, ignoring the fact that I was supposed to stay with him, I jumped up and ran off back to the basket. When I had been pulled up and gone to her room, the girl said: ‘Are you really my friend?’ ‘Yes, by God,’ I replied. ‘And are you treating this as your own house?’ ‘May I be your ransom,’ I answered. ‘The dues of hospitality extend for three days and if I come back after that, you have the right to shed my blood.’

  We sat there as before, but when it was nearly time for me to leave I realized that al-Ma’mun would ask me questions and would not be satisfied unless I explained the whole story to him. So I said to the girl: ‘I see that you have a great fondness for singing. I have a cousin who is more handsome than I am, nobler and more cultured. He knows more about Ishaq al-Mausili than any other of God’s creation.’ ‘Are you making importunate requests like a parasite?’ she asked. ‘It is for you to decide this,’ I replied, and she said: ‘If your cousin is as you describe him then I would not object to making his acquaintance.’

  When the time had come for me to go, I got up and set off back to my own house, but before I had got there al-Ma’mun’s messengers pounced on me and carried me off by force.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that ISHAQ SAID:

  Before I reached my house, al-Ma’mun’s messengers pounced on me and carried me off by force. They brought me to him and I found him sitting on a throne. He was angry with me and asked me whether I had abandoned my allegiance to him. ‘No, by God, Commander of the Faithful,’ I replied. ‘Then what do you have to say?’ he went on. ‘Tell me the truth.’ ‘I shall,’ I promised, ‘but in private.’ He made a sign to those who were there and when they had retired I told him the story, adding: ‘I promised her that you would visit her.’ ‘Well done,’ he said. We spent the day enjoying our pleasures, but al-Ma’mun’s heart was set on the girl and when it was time we went off. I kept warning him to avoid addressing me by name in front of her and adding: ‘In her presence I shall act as your attendant.’ We agreed on that and walked on to the place where the basket was. In fact, there were two baskets there and so we took our seats in them and were hauled up to the usual place. The girl came and greeted us and when al-Ma’mun saw her he was bewildered by her beauty and grace. She began to tell him stories and recite poems for him, after which she had wine brought, from which we drank. She showed interest and ple
asure in him and he did the same with her. Then, after she had taken the lute and sung an air, she asked me whether ‘my cousin’, pointing to al-Ma’mun, was also a trader. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You are very like one another,’ she told me.

  After al-Ma’mun had drunk three ratls, he was filled with joy and delight. ‘O Ishaq,’ he said, and I replied: ‘Here I am, Commander of the Faithful.’ ‘Sing this air,’ he told me, but when the girl realized that he was the caliph, she went off into another room. When I had finished singing, the caliph told me to find out who the owner of the house might be. An old woman quickly answered that the house belonged to al-Hasan ibn Sahl. ‘Bring him to me,’ ordered the caliph. The old woman went off for a time and then al-Hasan came in. ‘Do you have a daughter?’ the caliph asked him. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘she is called Khadija.’ The caliph then asked if she was married, and when her father said no, he said: ‘I ask you for her hand.’ ‘She is your slave,’ her father said, ‘and it is for you to dispose of her, Commander of the Faithful.’ ‘I will pay you thirty thousand dinars as her dowry to be brought to you this coming morning. After you have got the money, bring Khadija to me tomorrow night.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ said al-Hasan.

  The caliph and I then left. ‘Ishaq,’ he said to me, ‘don’t tell this story to anyone,’ and I kept it secret until he died. I never had such good company as I had in those four days, sitting with al-Ma’mun by day and with Khadija at night. By God, I never saw any man to match al-Ma’mun or any woman to match Khadija or to come near her in understanding, intelligence or powers of expression. God knows better.

  A story is also told that at the time of the pilgrimage, when the pilgrims were circumambulating the Ka‘ba in a closely packed throng, a man took hold of its covering, uttering a heartfelt prayer: ‘O God, I ask You to see that she becomes angry with her husband so that I may lie with her.’ A number of the pilgrims who heard this laid hands on the man and, after soundly beating him, they took him to the emir in charge of the pilgrimage. ‘Emir,’ they told him, ‘we found this man in the holy places saying such-and-such.’ The emir ordered him to be hanged, but he said: ‘Emir, by the truth of the Apostle of God, may God bless him and give him peace, listen to my story and then do what you want with me.’

  The emir told him to speak, and the man said:

  You must know, emir, that I am a cleaner, working in the slaughterhouses of sheep, and taking the blood and filth to the rubbish dumps. One day, when I was going with my laden donkey, I found people running away and one of them told me: ‘Go into this lane or else you’ll be killed.’ When I asked why they were running, a eunuch told me: ‘A great man’s wife is coming and the eunuchs are clearing people out of the way in front of her, and are striking them with no thought for who they are.’ I took my donkey into a blind alley…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE MAN SAID:

  I took my donkey into a blind alley and stood there waiting for the crowds to clear away. I saw eunuchs carrying sticks and with them were about thirty women, among whom was one like the branch of a ban tree or a thirsty gazelle, perfectly endowed with beauty, grace and coquetry. The others were her attendants.

  When she got to the mouth of the alley where I was standing, she turned right and left and then summoned a eunuch. When he came, she whispered something in his ear, after which he went up and laid hold of me, while the people ran away. Another eunuch then came and took my donkey away, after which my captor tied me with a rope and pulled me along after him. I had no idea what was going on and behind us the people were shouting: ‘God does not permit this! This is a poor cleaner; why should he be tied up with ropes?’ They were telling the eunuchs: ‘Show him mercy, that God may show mercy to you, and let him go.’

  I said to myself: ‘The eunuchs must have seized me because their mistress was disgusted by the smell of the filth, or she may be pregnant or sick. There is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent.’ I walked on behind the eunuchs until they arrived at the door of a large house. They went on in and I followed until I came to a great hall whose beauties I cannot describe, except to say that it was furnished with magnificence. The women came in while I was still tethered to the eunuch and I told myself that they were certain to beat me to death there and that no one would know of my fate.

  After that, however, they brought me to a fine bath that was in the hall, and while I was there, three slave girls came and sat around me. ‘Take off your rags,’ they told me, and so I took them off and one of the girls started to rub my feet, while another washed my head and the third massaged me. When they had finished, they set down a bundle of clothes for me and told me to put them on. ‘By God,’ I said, ‘I don’t know how,’ and so they came and dressed me, laughing at me as they did it. After that they brought flasks of rosewater, which they sprinkled over me. I then went with them to another hall, indescribably beautiful in its pictures and furnishings. On entering I found a lady, attended by a number of slave girls, sitting on a couch made of cane…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE MAN SAID:

  On entering the hall, I found a lady sitting on a couch made of cane with ivory legs. When she saw me she got up, and after she had called me to her I joined her, and when she told me to sit down I took my place beside her. She instructed the maids to bring food and they produced for me splendid dishes of all kinds of food. In all my life I had never known their names, let alone what they were like. I ate my fill, and after the plates had been cleared away and we had washed our hands, the lady ordered fruit to be brought. It was instantly produced and she told me to eat, which I did. When we had finished, she had a set of drinking glasses of varied colours brought in, and incense of all kinds was wafted from braziers. A girl like a moon got up and poured us wine to the notes of a lute’s strings, and as a result I became drunk and so did the lady sitting beside me.

  While all this was going on I thought that I must be dreaming, but afterwards the lady gestured to one of the girls to spread us a couch, which she did, putting it where her mistress wanted. The lady then got up and, taking me by the hand, she led me to the couch, where she and I slept together until morning. Every time I pressed her to my breast, I could smell the scent of musk and perfume coming from her, leading me to think that I was either dreaming or in Paradise.

  In the morning, she asked me where I lived and I told her where it was. She then told me to leave and gave me a kerchief embroidered with gold and silver in which something was tied up. ‘Use this for a visit to the baths,’ she told me, and I said to myself happily: ‘If there are five flus here, this is today’s meal.’ I left her as though I was leaving Paradise, and when I got to my lodging I undid the knotted kerchief and there I found fifty mithqals of gold. I buried this and bought bread and condiments for two flus, after which I ate my meal and sat by my door, thinking over what had happened to me. While I was doing this, a slave girl came up to me and said: ‘My mistress wants you.’ I went with her to the door of the lady’s house, and after the girl had asked permission for me to enter, I went in and kissed the ground in front of the lady. She told me to be seated and, as before, she ordered food and drink to be fetched, and, as on the previous night, I slept with her.

  In the morning, she gave me another kerchief containing another fifty mithqals of gold. I took it, left the house and went back to my lodgings, where I buried the gold. This went on for eight days; I would go to her every day in the afternoon and leave at daybreak. On the eighth night, however, while I was sleeping with her, a slave girl came running in. ‘Get up,’ she told me, ‘and go into this room.’ I did that and found that the room overlooked the road. While I was sitting there, I sud
denly heard a great noise and a clatter of horses’ hooves in the alley. I looked out of a window over the door and from this I saw a horse ridden by a young man like the rising moon on the night it becomes full. He was accompanied by mamluks, and attended by soldiers on foot. On reaching the door he dismounted and entered the hall, where he found the lady seated on a couch. He kissed the ground before her, and then went up and kissed her hands. She did not speak to him, but he continued to humble himself before her until he won her over, after which he slept with her that night.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when the lady had been won over by her husband, he slept with her that night. THE MAN WENT ON:

  In the morning his men came for him and he mounted and rode out of the gate. The lady then came to me and asked: ‘Did you see him?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘He is my husband,’ she said, ‘but I have to tell you what happened between us. One day, he and I were sitting in the garden of the house when all of a sudden he got up and left me. After a long time, finding him slow to return, I got up and went to the lavatory, thinking that he might be there. When I couldn’t find him I went into the kitchen, where I asked a girl whom I found there, and she showed me my husband lying with one of the kitchen maids. At that I swore a solemn oath that I would commit adultery with the filthiest and dirtiest of men. By the time the eunuch laid hands on you, I had spent four days going round the town looking for someone to fit this description, and I hadn’t come across anyone who fitted it better than you, and that was why I sought you out. What happened was decreed for us by God and I have fulfilled the oath that I swore.’ Then she added: ‘If my husband takes the kitchen maid and lies with her again, I’ll restore to you the favours that you have enjoyed.’