The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

  The story is told that in the palace of al-Mutawakkil ‘ala’llah, the Commander of the Faithful, there were four hundred concubines, two hundred being Rumis and two hundred either half-breeds or Abyssinians. ‘Ubaid ibn Tahir had given him another four hundred, half of whom were white and the other half Abyssinians and half-breeds. Among these latter was a Basran named Mahbuba, a girl of radiant beauty and grace, as well as wit and coquetry. She could play the lute, she was an excellent singer and she could compose poetry, as well as writing a calligraphic hand. Al-Mutawakkil was so infatuated by her that he could not bear to be parted from her for a single hour. When she saw how fond he was of her, she grew proud and became ungrateful for his favours, causing him to leave her in anger and to give orders that no one in the palace should speak to her.

  This went on for some days, but al-Mutawakkil still felt attracted to her and one morning he told his companions that on the previous night he had dreamt of having been reconciled with her. ‘We hope that God Almighty will see that this happens when you are awake,’ they told him, and while he was speaking a servant girl came in and whispered something to him that made him get up and go to the harem. What the girl had told him was that the sound of someone singing to the lute had been heard from Mahbuba’s room and that no one knew why this was. When al-Mutawakkil got to the room, he heard Mahbuba singing these lines to a beautiful air:

  I wander through the palace but see no one;

  I complain, but no one speaks to me.

  It is as though I am guilty of a sin,

  And no repentance now can rescue me.

  Will no one intercede for me with a king

  Who visited me in a dream and made his peace with me,

  But then when dawn had broken,

  He left me once again and broke our ties?

  Al-Mutawakkil was astonished to hear these lines and wondered at the strange coincidence that had led Mahbuba to have a dream that matched his own. He entered her room, and, when she saw him, she jumped up before bending over his feet, kissing them and exclaiming: ‘Master, this is what I saw in a dream last night and when I woke up I composed those lines!’ Al-Mutawakkil told her that he had had the same dream, and they then embraced and made up, after which he stayed with her for seven days and nights. Mahbuba had used musk to write al-Mutawakkil’s name, Ja‘far, on her cheek, and when he saw this he recited:

  She wrote ‘Ja‘far’ in musk upon her cheek;

  My life would ransom one who wrote this word.

  Her fingers traced a single line on her cheek,

  But many are the lines they have left in my heart.

  Among mankind Ja‘far possesses you;

  May God use the wine of your kisses to help a stream flow.*

  When al-Mutawakkil died, he was forgotten by all his slave girls apart from Mahbuba…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when al-Mutawakkil died, he was forgotten by all his slave girls apart from Mahbuba, who continued to mourn for him until her death, when she was buried at his side. May God have mercy on them.

  A story is told that in the days of al-Hakim bi-amri-’llah there was a butcher in Cairo named Wardan who dealt in mutton. Every day a woman used to come to him with a dinar which weighed almost as much as two and a half Egyptian dinars. With her would be a porter with a basket and she would ask Wardan for a lamb which he would give her in exchange for her dinar. She would pass the lamb to the porter and take it home, only to return next morning, and so every single day Wardan would get a dinar from her. This went on for a long time until one day Wardan, thinking the matter over, said to himself: ‘There is something remarkable here in that this woman never misses a day but always buys my meat for cash.’ Once, when she was not there, he asked the porter where he went with her each day. ‘I don’t know what to make of it,’ the man replied. ‘Every day she gets me to carry the lamb which she buys from you and then she spends another dinar on what else is needed for a meal, together with fruit, candles and dessert. She gets two bottles of wine from a Christian, whom she pays with another dinar, and I have to carry the whole lot to the vizier’s gardens. She then blindfolds me so that I can’t see where to put my feet, and she leads me by the hand, going I don’t know where, until she says: “Put it down here.” She has another basket there and, after giving me the empty one, she takes my hand and leads me back to the place where she blindfolded me. There she unties the blindfold and gives me ten dirhams.’

  Wardan wished him well, but became even more doubtful and suspicious of the woman. He passed a disturbed night and the next morning, when she came as usual, bought the lamb for the dinar and went off after giving it to the porter, he left his boy in charge of the shop and followed her without her noticing him.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that Wardan left his boy in charge of the shop and followed her without her noticing him. HE SAID:

  I kept her in sight until she left the city, staying under cover behind her until she came to the vizier’s gardens. She blindfolded the porter and I tracked her from place to place until she reached the mountain. When she got to where there was a great stone, she took the basket from the porter and I waited until she had gone off with him and then come back. She removed all the contents of the basket and disappeared for a while. I went up to the stone, which I rolled aside, and when I went down into the hole it had left, I found at the bottom a brass trapdoor lying open and a flight of steps leading downwards. I went down very slowly and reached a long and brightly lit hall, through which I went until I saw what looked like the door of a room. I explored the corner by the door and discovered a recess in which there were steps leading up on the outside of the door. I climbed these and found another small niche which had a window overlooking the room. Peering in, I saw that the woman had cut off the best bits of the lamb and put them in a cooking pot, while she threw the rest of it down for an enormous bear, who ate it all, and when she had finished cooking, she herself ate her fill. She then arranged the fruit and the dessert and, after setting out the wine, she started to drink, pouring one glass for herself and then a golden bowl for the bear. When the wine had gone to her head she stripped off her clothes and lay back. The bear mounted her and she gave him the best of what is reserved for the sons of Adam. When it had finished it sat down, but then jumped on her again and lay with her, before taking another rest. This went on ten times, before both of them collapsed unconscious and motionless.

  I said to myself: ‘It is time to take the opportunity,’ and so I went down with a knife that would cut bones even more easily than flesh. When I reached them, I found that they were still totally motionless in their exhaustion, and so I set the knife to the bear’s throat and then rested my weight on it until it came out on the other side, severing the head from the body. The bear had given a huge snort like thunder and this roused the woman in panic. When she saw the dead beast, and me standing knife in hand, she let out such a piercing shriek that I thought that her soul had left her body. Then she said: ‘Wardan, is this how you repay my kindness?’ ‘Enemy of your own self,’ I replied, ‘are you so short of men that you act in this foul way?’ She looked down at the ground without replying and then, staring at the bear with its severed head, she said: ‘Wardan, which would you prefer to do, listen to what I tell you and so live in safety…’

  Nights 355 to 374

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that WARDAN WENT ON:

  The woman said: ‘Wardan, which would you prefer to do, listen to what I tell you and so live in safety and luxury until the en
d of your days, or disobey me and so bring about your own death?’ ‘I choose to listen to you,’ I said, ‘so say what you want.’ ‘Cut my throat, then,’ she said, ‘as you have cut the throat of the bear, and then take what you want of this treasure and go off on your way.’ ‘I am better than the bear,’ I told her, ‘so turn in repentance to Almighty God and I will marry you, after which we can live on this treasure for the rest of our lives.’ ‘Wardan,’ she said, ‘there is no chance of this, for how can I live now that the bear is dead? By God, if you won’t cut my throat, I shall kill you, and if you bandy words with me you will die. This is the advice that I have for you.’ I said: ‘I shall kill you, then, and you will go to hell, with God’s curse on you.’ So I seized her by the hair and cut her throat and she went to hell cursed by God, the angels and all mankind.

  After that, I looked round the place and found more gold, ring stones and pearls than any king could collect. So I took the porter’s basket, put in as much as I could carry and covered it with the cloak that I was wearing. I then carried it out of the treasure chamber and went off. When I reached the gate of Cairo I saw ten of al-Hakim’s guards advancing, followed by al-Hakim himself. ‘Wardan,’ he called to me, and I said: ‘At your service, your majesty.’ ‘Have you killed the bear and the woman?’ he asked. When I told him that I had, he told me to put down the basket that I was carrying on my head, and said: ‘Don’t be anxious. All the wealth that you have with you is yours and no one will try to take it from you.’ When I had placed the basket in front of him, he uncovered it, and after looking at its contents, he said: ‘Tell me about the woman and the bear, although I know what happened as though I had been there with you.’ As I told him the story he kept saying: ‘That is true,’ and then he told me to come with him to the treasure chamber. I went there with him and when he found the trapdoor shut he said: ‘Lift it, Wardan, for no one but you can open up this treasure chamber. An enchantment has been laid on it in your name and with your description.’ I protested that I wouldn’t be able to open it, but he said: ‘Come on with the blessing of God.’ So I moved forward, calling on the Name of Almighty God, and when I stretched out my hand to the trapdoor, it came up as though it weighed nothing at all. Al-Hakim then said: ‘Go down and bring up what you find there, for since the time that the place was built, it has been decreed that only someone bearing your Name and fitting your description would be able to enter it. I have seen it written that you were destined to kill the bear and the woman, and I have been waiting for this to happen.’

  Wardan went on: ‘I went down, and when I had brought out all the treasure for al-Hakim, he called for pack animals and had it removed, but he gave me my basket and its contents. I took this back home and then opened a shop in the market.’ This market still exists and is known as ‘the market of Wardan’.

  The story is told that the daughter of a certain sultan fell in love with a black slave who deflowered her, and she then developed such a passion for sexual intercourse that she could not do without it for a single hour. She complained of this to one of her ladies, who told her that nothing could copulate more frequently than an ape. As it happened, an ape-leader with a large ape passed beneath her window. The girl unveiled her face and, looking down, winked at the ape, which burst its bonds and chains and came up to her. She kept it hidden away in her room and it spent its time, night and day, in eating, drinking and copulating. Her father found out about this and was about to have her put to death…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that her father found out about this and was about to have her put to death when she discovered her danger. She dressed as a mamluk, mounted a horse and took with her a mule which she loaded with huge amounts of gold, precious stones and materials. Accompanied by the ape she travelled to Cairo, where she lodged in a house by the desert. Every day she would buy meat from a young butcher, but she would only go to him in the afternoon, when she would be pale-faced and haggard, leading the young man to think that there had to be some strange reason behind this. One day, when she had come to him as usual to fetch her meat, he followed her unnoticed, staying behind her as she went from place to place until she reached her house in the desert and went in. THE YOUNG MAN SAID:

  I watched her from a corner of the house and saw that, when she had settled down there, she lit a fire, cooked the meat and ate as much as she wanted, after which she gave the rest to the ape that was with her, which also ate its fill. Next, she took off the mamluk’s clothes that she was wearing and dressed herself in women’s finery, and I realized that this was, in fact, a woman. She brought out wine, drank it and poured some for the ape, after which it copulated with her some ten times until she fainted. The ape spread a silk sheet over her and then went off to its own quarters, but when I came down into the middle of the room, it noticed me. It was just about to attack me, when I rushed at it with a knife that I had with me, and slit open its belly. The girl woke up in fear and alarm and, on seeing the state that the ape was in, she let out so terrible a cry that she almost gave up the ghost and then fell down in a faint.

  When she recovered she said to me: ‘What led you to do that? For God’s sake, send me after the ape.’ I humoured her and told her that I would guarantee to sleep with her as often as the ape had done until eventually her fears were calmed. I then married her, but I found myself unable to satisfy her or to endure the demands she made on me. When I complained about this to an old woman and told her my wife’s history, she told me what to do, saying: ‘Bring me a cooking pot and fill it with pungent vinegar and then fetch a ratl’s weight of feverfew.’ When I had done this, she put the ingredients in the pot, set the pot on the fire and got it to boil furiously. She then told me to lie with the girl, which I did until she fainted. While she was unconscious, the old woman picked her up and set the lips of her vagina to the mouth of the pot. The vapour entered her and then something came out. When I looked at this, it turned out to be a pair of worms, one black and the other yellow. The old woman explained that the black worm had been produced when she had slept with the black slave and the yellow when she had lain with the ape.

  When she recovered consciousness, she stayed with me for a long time and no longer looked for sexual intercourse, as God, to my astonishment, had freed her from this appetite.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the young man said: ‘God, to my astonishment, had freed her from this appetite. I told her what had happened and she continued to enjoy the easiest and pleasantest of lives with me, and she adopted the old woman as a mother.’

  She, her husband and the old woman lived in happiness and joy until they were visited by the destroyer of delights and the parter of companions. Praise be to the living God, Who does not die and in Whose hands lie power and sovereignty.

  A story is told that in the old days there was a king of great power and dignity who had three daughters, each like the shining full moon or like flowery meadows, and one son like the moon. One day, as the king was seated on his throne of state, three wise men came into his presence, one of whom had with him a golden peacock, the second a brazen trumpet and the third a horse made of ivory and ebony. ‘What are these things,’ asked the king, ‘and what purpose do they serve?’ The man with the peacock told him: ‘The useful thing about this peacock is that at the end of every hour, night or day, it claps its wings and shrieks.’ The man with the trumpet said: ‘When this trumpet is placed over the city gate, it acts as the city’s guardian, for when an enemy enters, it sounds a call so that the man can be recognized and arrested.’ The man with the horse said: ‘This horse is useful in that, when a man mounts it, it will take him to whatever land he wants.’

  ‘I shall not reward
you,’ said the king, ‘until I have tested the uses of these things.’ First he tested the peacock and found that it did what its master said it would, and he followed this by testing the trumpet, with the same result. ‘Ask me to grant you a wish,’ he told the two wise men, to which they said: ‘Our wish is that you should marry each of us to one of your daughters.’ Accordingly the king gave them each a princess in marriage. The third of the trio, the man with the horse, then came forward, kissed the ground before the king and said: ‘O sovereign of the age, grant me a favour in the same way that you have granted favours to my companions.’ The king said that he must first test the horse, and at that the prince came forward and said: ‘I shall mount it and try it out, father, to see how useful it is.’ The king gave him permission to do this, and the prince came up and mounted it, but, however much he moved his legs, the horse would not budge from where it was. ‘Where is this speed that you claimed for it, wise man?’ the prince asked, but at that the man came up to him and showed him a screw that would make it rise in the air. ‘Turn this,’ he said, and when the prince turned it, the horse started to move and then flew up with him into the sky, going on and on until it was out of sight.

  The prince was startled, and regretted having mounted it, telling himself that this was a trick that the man had played on him in order to get him killed. ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent!’ he exclaimed, and he then started to examine all the parts of the horse’s body. While he was doing this, he noticed a protuberance like a cock’s comb on its right shoulder and another on its left. As these were the only projections that he saw, he rubbed the one on the right shoulder of the horse, but as this made it go further up into the sky, he took his hand away. Then he looked at the knob on the left shoulder, and when he rubbed it, the horse’s motion changed from a climb to a descent. It continued to come slowly down to earth, with the prince taking what care he could.