He then left the village to return to the hunt, but at the end of the day he came back and, passing by the same door on his own, he again asked for a drink. The same girl came out and when she saw and recognized him she went back in to fetch it for him. This time Anushirwan was astonished by how long she took and he asked her why this was.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and ninetieth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Anushirwan tried to hurry the girl, asking her why she was taking so long. She told him: ‘One stalk didn’t produce as much as you needed, so I had to press three, and they didn’t give as much as the single one had done earlier.’ Anushirwan asked the reason for that and she told him: ‘It was because the king’s intentions had changed.’ ‘How did you get that idea?’ he asked, and she said: ‘I have heard men of intelligence saying that when a ruler’s good intentions towards his people change, their blessings vanish and their advantages are diminished.’
Anushirwan laughed and gave up his idea of raising the tax. He then married the girl on the spot, being impressed by her cleverness and intelligence as well as by her eloquence.
A story is told that in the town of Bukhara there was a water carrier who for thirty years had been in the habit of delivering water to the house of a goldsmith. This goldsmith had an unusually beautiful and attractive wife, characterized by piety and chastity. One day, when the water carrier came as usual and poured his water into the cistern of the house, the woman happened to be standing in the courtyard. He went up to her and took her hand, which he rubbed and squeezed before going off and leaving her. When her husband came back from the market she said: ‘I want you to tell me what it was that you did in the market today to anger Almighty God.’ He denied having done anything of the kind but she insisted: ‘Yes, by God, you must have done something to anger Him, and unless you tell me the truth I shall not stay in your house and neither of us will see the other again.’ ‘I’ll do that,’ he said, and he went on to explain: ‘I happened to be sitting in my shop as usual when a woman came in and told me to make her a bracelet. She left and I made the bracelet for her from gold and put it up on a shelf and then, when she came back, I fetched it for her. She held out her hand and I put the bracelet on her forearm, but I was taken aback by the whiteness of her hand and the captivating beauty of her arm, remembering the poet’s lines:
Arms glittering with the beauty of bracelets,
Like fire that burns over running water.
It is as though her forearm, encircled with gold,
Is water girdled amazingly with fire.
So I took her hand, squeezed it and folded it over.’
‘God is greater!’ exclaimed his wife. ‘Why did you do that? This is surely why the water carrier who has been coming to our house for thirty years without ever betraying our trust took my hand today and squeezed it and folded it.’ ‘We shall ask for God’s protection,’ her husband said. ‘I repent of my fault and you must ask God to pardon me.’ ‘May He pardon both you and me,’ said his wife, ‘and grant us well-being.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and ninety-first night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the goldsmith’s wife said: ‘May God pardon both you and me and grant us well-being.’
The next day, the water carrier came and threw himself down before the woman, rubbing himself with dust. He excused himself and said: ‘My lady, pardon me for what the devil prompted me to do when he led me astray and seduced me.’ ‘Go off on your way,’ the woman said: ‘The fault wasn’t yours but was caused by my husband when he did what he did in his shop and God arranged for him to be punished in this world.’
It is reported that when his wife told him what the water carrier had done, the goldsmith said: ‘This is tit-for-tat and had I done more, so would he.’ This saying passed into common use among the people. A wife must keep to her husband both outwardly and inwardly and be content when he gives her a little, if he cannot give more. She should follow the example of ‘A’isha the truthful and Fatima al-Zahra’, so that she may be numbered among the virtuous company of the early Muslims.
A story is told that Chosroe, a Persian king, was fond of fish and one day while he was seated in his audience hall with his wife, Shirin, a fisherman came in with a large fish which he presented to him. Chosroe was pleased with the fish and ordered that the man be given four thousand dirhams. Shirin told him that he had done wrong and when he asked why, she said: ‘After this, when you give this sum to any one of your retainers, he will be contemptuous and say: “The king only gave me what he gave the fisherman,” while, if you give him less, he will say: “The king despises me and has given me less than he gave the fisherman.” ’ Chosroe said: ‘You are right, but it doesn’t befit kings to take back what they have given, and the matter is over and done with.’ Shirin said: ‘I can find you a way to reclaim your gift,’ and when Chosroe asked her how to do this, she explained: ‘If you want to do that, call him back and ask him whether the fish is male or female. If he says that it is male, tell him that we want a female, and if he says it is female, tell him that we want a male.’ Chosroe sent after the fisherman, who was a man of quick intelligence, and when Chosroe asked him on his return whether the fish was male or female, he kissed the ground and said: ‘It is neither the one nor the other but is a hermaphrodite.’ At this, Chosroe laughed and ordered him to be given another four thousand dirhams.
The fisherman now went to the treasurer for his eight thousand dirhams, which he then put in a bag that he had with him. He hoisted this on his shoulder and was about to leave when one of the coins fell out. He put down his bag and leaned down to pick it up, watched by Chosroe and Shirin. ‘Your majesty,’ said Shirin, ‘did you see this fellow’s baseness and meanness? When one dirham fell out he could not bear to leave it for one of your pages to pick up.’ When Chosroe heard this, he was filled with disgust at the fisherman and said: ‘You are right, Shirin.’ He had the fisherman recalled and said: ‘You mean-spirited fellow, you are not a proper man. Why, with all this money over your shoulder, did you bend down for the sake of a single dirham and were too miserly to leave it where it was?’ The fisherman kissed the ground and said: ‘May God grant long life to the king. I didn’t pick it up because of its value to me but because on one side of it was an image of the king and on the other his name. I was afraid that someone might tread on it unwittingly and, as this would be a slight to the king’s name and his image, I might be held responsible for it.’ The king admired and approved of his answer and ordered him to be given another four thousand dirhams. He then told a herald to proclaim throughout his kingdom: ‘No one should follow the advice of women, as whoever does this will lose two dirhams for each one that he would otherwise have lost.’
A story is told that Yahya ibn Khalid the Barmecide had left the palace on his way back home when at the door of his house he saw a man who got up and greeted him as he approached. ‘Yahya,’ the man said, ‘I am in need of what you have, and God is my intermediary with you.’ Yahya ordered that he be given an apartment of his own within his house and that he be brought a thousand dirhams a day by his treasurer, together with the choicest selection of his own food. This went on for a whole month, but at the end of this time the man, who had been given thirty thousand dirhams, became afraid that the sum was so large that Yahya might take it back from him and as a result he left secretly.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and ninety-second night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the man took the dirhams and left. Yahya was told of this and said: ‘By God, had he stayed with me for all his days I wouldn’t have stopped providing for him and treating him with the generosity due to a guest.’
The merits an
d virtues of the Barmecides could not be counted and this was particularly true of Yahya, in whom all glorious qualities were combined, as the poet said:
I asked generosity: ‘Are you free-born?’ ‘No,’ it replied,
‘I am a slave belonging to Yahya ibn Khalid.’
‘Did he purchase you?’ I asked. ‘Far from it,’ it answered,
‘He inherited me from a long line of his ancestors.’
The story is told that Ja‘far ibn Musa al-Hadi had a lute girl called al-Badr al-Kabir, unrivalled in her time for beauty of face, symmetry of form, subtle wit and knowledge of singing as well as of instrumental playing. So beautiful, graceful and accomplished was she that when Muhammad al-Amin ibn Zubaida heard of her, he asked Ja‘far to sell her to him. Ja‘far replied: ‘You know that it is not fitting for a man like me to sell slave girls and haggle over concubines. Were it not for the fact that she has been brought up in my house, I would not grudge her to you but would send her to you as a gift.’
One day, al-Amin in search of enjoyment went to Ja‘far’s house and Ja‘far provided him with the proper entertainment for friends and told al-Badr to entertain him by singing, at which she tuned her strings and sang the sweetest of melodies. Al-Amin began to enjoy himself by drinking and he told the cupbearers to keep on plying Ja‘far with drink so as to make him drunk. He then took al-Badr with him and went off to his palace, but he did not lay a hand on her. The next morning, he sent for Ja‘far and on his arrival he gave him wine and told al-Badr to sing for him from behind the curtain of the harem. When Ja‘far heard her voice he recognized it, but although he was angry, because of his noble spirit and magnanimity he concealed this and showed no change in his friendly behaviour.
When the drinking party was over, al-Amin told one of his followers to fill the boat on which Ja‘far had come with dirhams, dinars, jewels of all types, sapphires, splendid robes and dazzling wealth. The man carried on doing this until he had placed in the boat a thousand bags of money and a thousand pearls, each worth twenty thousand dirhams. He went on adding treasures of all sorts until the boatmen had to appeal to him to stop, saying that the boat couldn’t carry any more. They were then told to take all this to Ja‘far’s house. This is an example of the magnanimity of those great men, may God have mercy on them.
A story is told that Sa‘id ibn Salim al-Bahili, in the time of Harun al-Rashid, was reduced to the direst of straits, being burdened with a quantity of debts that he could not settle. HE SAID:
I was at a loss, not knowing how to cope, as I had the greatest difficulty in paying them off; creditors were besieging my door and I was constantly harried by throngs of them. There was nothing that I could do and, faced by mounting cares and finding my circumstances so altered for the worse, I went to ‘Abd Allah ibn Malik al-Khuza‘i and asked him to help me with advice and to think of some plan to allow me to escape from my difficulties. He told me: ‘No one can free you from the cares and worries that are distressing you, except for the Barmecides.’ ‘Who can put up with their haughtiness or endure their arrogance?’ I asked, but he replied: ‘You will have to do that if you want your affairs set to rights.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and ninety-third night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that ‘Abd Allah ibn Malik al-Khuza‘i told Sa‘id ibn Salim al-Bahili: ‘You will have to put up with that if you want your affairs set to rights.’ SA‘ID IBN SALIM AL-BAHILI WENT ON:
I left him and went to visit al-Fadl and Ja‘far, the sons of Yahya ibn Khalid, to whom I told my tale and explained my circumstances. They said: ‘May God grant you His aid so that His favour may allow you to do without that of His creatures, and may He treat you with such liberality that He alone will be enough for you, for He can do whatever He wishes. He knows the needs of His servants and is gracious to them.’ I went off and when I returned to ‘Abd Allah, distracted and disconsolate, I repeated to him what they had said. ‘Stay here with me today,’ he told me, ‘to see what Almighty God decrees.’ I had been sitting with him for some time when in came my own servant, who said: ‘Master, there are large numbers of laden mules at our door and a man who says that he is the agent of al-Fadl and Ja‘far, the sons of Yahya ibn Khalid.’ ‘Abd Allah said to me: ‘I hope this is a happy ending for you. You’d better get up and see what is happening.’
I left him and ran quickly back home, where I saw a man with a note in his hand. In it was written: ‘After we had heard what you had to say when you were with us, we went to the caliph and told him that circumstances had forced you to endure the humiliation of begging. He told us to bring you a million dirhams from the treasury, but we said: “He will have to pay this over to his creditors to settle his debts, so how will he be able to meet his own expenses?” The caliph then ordered that you be given a further three hundred thousand dirhams, while each of us has contributed another million of our own, bringing the total to three million, three hundred thousand, to help you put your affairs in order.’
Note the generosity of these noble men, may Almighty God have mercy on them.
A story is told that a woman played a trick on her husband who had brought her a fish one Friday telling her to cook it and serve it to him after the Friday prayer. He then went about his business, but his wife was visited by a male friend of hers who asked her to come to a wedding at his house. She accepted and went off with him, leaving the fish in a jar that she had there. She stayed away from home until the following Friday, and although her husband searched through the houses for her and made enquiries, no one could tell him anything. When she came back on the Friday, she took the live fish from the jar. The neighbours gathered round and when her husband told them his story…
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the three hundred and ninety-fourth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when she came back on the Friday, she took the live fish from the jar. The neighbours gathered round and when her husband told them his story, they disbelieved him, saying that the fish couldn’t possibly have stayed alive so long. As they were convinced that he must be mad, they put him under restraint and started to laugh at him. For his part, he shed tears and recited these lines:
Here is an old woman who ranks high as an evil-doer;
The lines on her face bear witness to debauchery.
A bawd while she menstruates and a harlot when she is clean,
She divides her time between fornication and pimping.
A story is told that in the old days there was a pious woman among the children of Israel, devout and God-fearing. Every day she would go to pray in a chapel beside which was an orchard, and when she went to the chapel she would go into the orchard and perform her ritual ablution. The orchard had two elderly guards who fell in love with her and tried to seduce her. When she rejected them, they threatened that, unless she allowed them to lie with her, they would testify that she had committed fornication. ‘God will protect me from your evil,’ she told them, at which they opened the orchard gate and cried out. People came from all directions to ask what was the matter and the men said: ‘We found this girl with a young man, who was making love to her, but he got away from us.’ In those days the people would disgrace fornicators by public proclamation for three days and then stone them to death. In the case of this woman, during each of the three days of proclamation the two men came up to her and put their hands on her head, saying to her: ‘Praise be to God, Who has brought punishment down upon you.’
When the people were about to stone her, they were followed by Daniel, who was then twelve years old, and this was the first of his miracles, blessing and peace be on our Prophet and on him. When he caught up with them he said: ‘Don’t be in a hurry to stone her until I have given my judgement.’ He sat down on a chair that they had placed for him, and he then separated the two old men, he being the first
to do this in the case of witnesses. Then he asked one of them what he had seen, and when the man told him what he said had happened, he asked where in the orchard this had taken place. ‘In the east side, beneath a pear tree,’ the man said. Daniel then put the same questions to the second man, who told his story and said that it had happened on the west side beneath an apple tree. While all this was going on, the girl was standing looking upwards with her hands raised towards the heavens, praying to Almighty God for deliverance. God then sent down a thunderbolt as punishment; the two old men were consumed by fire and God established the innocence of the girl. This was the first of the miracles of the prophet Daniel, upon whom be peace.
The story is told that the Commander of the Faithful Harun al-Rashid went out one day with Abu Ya‘qub al-Nadim, Ja‘far the Barmecide and Abu Nuwas. As they were going through the desert they saw an old man leaning on his donkey, and Harun told Ja‘far to ask him where he came from. ‘From Basra,’ the man said.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights Page 26