The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the slave refused to hand over the key before he had consulted his master. Then the slave went back to his master and told him: ‘The Egyptian merchant says that he will only live in the big house.’

  The owner came to ‘Ali and told him that he shouldn’t stay there, but ‘Ali insisted, saying that he wasn’t worried by the gossip. The owner told him to draw up a document stating that, were anything to happen to ‘Ali, the owner himself would not have any responsibility for it. ‘Ali agreed, and after a court witness had been summoned a document was written and kept by the owner, who then handed over the key to ‘Ali. He took it and went into the house, to which the owner sent a slave with bedding, which he spread out over a bench behind the door before going back.

  When ‘Ali went in, he saw a well in the courtyard of the house and over it was suspended a bucket. He lowered this into the well, filled it and used it to perform the ritual ablution, and after the obligatory prayer he sat down for a time. A slave then brought him his evening meal from the owner’s house, together with a lamp, a candle and a candlestick, as well as a bowl, a ewer and a jug, before leaving him and going home. ‘Ali lit the candle and ate his meal, after which he relaxed before performing the evening prayer. He then told himself: ‘Come on, take the bedding upstairs and sleep up there, as that will be better than sleeping here.’ So he did this, and upstairs he found a huge room with a gilded ceiling and a floor and walls of coloured marble.

  He spread out his bedding and sat reading a portion of the glorious Quran when he was taken unawares by a voice that called out to him: ‘ ‘Ali, son of Hasan, shall I send you down the gold?’ ‘Ali asked where this gold might be, but before he had finished, gold poured down as though shot from a mangonel, and it kept on falling until it had filled the room. When this had stopped, the voice said: ‘Now set me free so that I can go on my way, as my service is done and I have given you what was left in trust for you.’ ‘In the Name of God, the Omnipotent,’ said ‘Ali, ‘I conjure you to tell me how this gold comes to be here.’ ‘Since ancient times,’ the voice replied, ‘it has been kept for you by a talismanic spell. I come to everyone who enters this house and say: “ ‘Ali, son of Hasan, shall I send you down the gold?” This terrifies them and they cry out, after which I come down and break their necks, and then leave. But when you came and I called out your name and that of your father, asking you whether to send down the gold, and you asked where it was, I realized that you were its rightful owner and sent it down. There is another treasure waiting for you in Yemen, and were you to go and get it before coming back here, it would be better for you. Now I want you to set me free so that I may go on my way.’ ‘By God,’ said ‘Ali, ‘I am not going to free you until you fetch me the Yemeni treasure.’ ‘If I do that,’ said the voice, ‘will you free me and free the servant of the other treasure?’ ‘Ali agreed and was asked to swear to this, which he did.

  The servant of the treasure was then about to set off when ‘Ali said: ‘There’s something else that I want you to do for me.’ ‘What is that?’ asked the other, and ‘Ali said: ‘I have a wife and children in such-and-such a place in Cairo and I want you to fetch them to me gently and without harm.’ ‘God willing, I shall bring them with due pomp on a litter attended by eunuchs and servants together with the treasure from Yemen,’ said the servant, who asked for three days’ leave, promising that by the end of this time ‘Ali would have everything delivered to him. He then left, and in the morning ‘Ali went round the room to see whether he could find a safe place in which to store the gold. The room had a dais at whose edge he saw a marble slab with a screw set in it, and when he turned this the slab slid away to reveal a door. ‘Ali opened it, and when he entered he discovered a large chamber containing sacks made from materials sewn together. He started to take these, fill them with gold and carry them to the chamber until he had transferred the whole pile of gold and put it there. Then he shut the door and turned the screw so that the slab went back to its place, after which he went down to sit on the bench behind the front door.

  While he was sitting there, a knock came at the door and when he had got up and opened it he found the owner’s slave. When the man saw him sitting there, he hurried back to his master…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the owner’s slave came and knocked on the door. ‘Ali opened it and when the man saw him sitting there, he hurried back to his master to give him the good news, telling him: ‘The trader who stayed in the haunted house is safe and sound and is sitting on the bench behind the front door.’ His master got up joyfully and set off for the house, taking with him food for breakfast. When he saw ‘Ali, he embraced him, kissed him between the eyes and asked how he had got on. ‘Ali told him: ‘All went well and I slept upstairs in the marble chamber.’ ‘Did anything approach you or did you see anything?’ the man asked. ‘No,’ replied ‘Ali. ‘I recited some passages from the glorious Quran and then slept until morning, when I got up, performed the ritual ablution and prayed, after which I came down and sat on this bench.’ ‘Praise be to God that you are safe,’ he said, after which he got up and left ‘Ali, and then sent him slaves, mamluks and slave girls, together with household effects. They swept out the house from top to bottom and furnished it in lavish style, after which three of the mamluks, together with three black slaves and four slave girls, stayed to serve him while the rest went back to their master’s house. When the other merchants heard about him, they sent him all kinds of valuable gifts, including food, drink and clothing, and they took him to sit with them in the market. They asked him when his merchandise would arrive, and he told them that this would be after three days. At the end of the three days, the servant of the first treasure, who had poured down the gold for him, came to him and said: ‘Get up and see the treasure that I have brought you from Yemen, together with your family. Part of the treasure comes in the form of precious merchandise, but everything that accompanies it in the way of mules, horses, camels, eunuchs and mamluks consists of jinn.’

  When the servant of the treasure reached Cairo, he had found that in ‘Ali’s absence his wife and children had been reduced to nakedness and ever-increasing hunger. He carried them away from their lodging and out of Cairo on a litter, and provided them with magnificent clothes from the Yemeni treasure. When he returned to tell ‘Ali of that, ‘Ali went to invite the Baghdadi merchants to come out of the city with him to meet the caravan that was carrying his goods, adding: ‘Do me the honour of bringing your wives in order to meet mine.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ they said, and after sending for their wives, they sat talking in one of the orchards of the city.

  While they were doing this, a dust cloud was seen rising from the heart of the desert. They got up to see what had caused it, and when it cleared, under it could be seen mules, men, baggage handlers, servants and lantern bearers. They were coming forward singing and dancing, and the leader of the baggage handlers came up to ‘Ali, kissed his hand and said: ‘We have been delayed on the road, sir. We had intended to enter the city yesterday, but we had to wait for four days in the same place for fear of highwaymen, until Almighty God dispersed them for us.’

  The Baghdadi merchants got up, mounted their mules and accompanied the caravan, while their wives waited for ‘Ali’s family to mount and go with them. They entered Baghdad in a great procession, with the merchants admiring the mules loaded with chests, and their wives admiring the dress of ‘Ali’s wife and the clothes of her children, saying to each other: ‘Not even the ruler of Baghdad or any other king, noble, or merchant has clothes like these.’ The procession continued on its way, the men with ‘Ali and the women with his family, until they came to hi
s house…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the procession continued on its way, the men with ‘Ali and the women with his family, until they came to his house, where they dismounted. The laden mules were led into the centre of the courtyard, where their loads were removed and placed in the storerooms. The women went with ‘Ali’s family to the upper room, which they found resembled a luxuriant garden, magnificently furnished, and here they sat in happy enjoyment until noon, when a meal of the most magnificent foods and sweetmeats was brought to them. They ate and tasted the most splendid of drinks, and afterwards used rose-water and incense to perfume themselves. The company then took leave of ‘Ali, and both men and women went back to their own houses. When they had got home, the men began to send the kind of presents to ‘Ali that matched their own wealth, while the women sent gifts of their own to his family. As a result, he and his wife collected a large number of slave girls, slaves and mamluks, as well as accumulating stores of all kinds such as grain, sugar and other goods past all number.

  The owner of the house, the Baghdadi merchant, did not leave ‘Ali but stayed and said: ‘Let the slaves and the servants take the mules and the other animals to another house to rest,’ but ‘Ali told him: ‘They are going to such-and-such a place tonight.’ He then gave them permission to leave the city so that when night fell they could go on their way. As soon as they were sure that they had his permission, they took their leave of him. They went out of the city and then took to the air and flew back to where they came from.

  ‘Ali sat with the owner of the house until the end of the first third of the night, when they broke off their session, the owner returning to his own house and ‘Ali going to his family. He greeted them and asked what had happened to them in the period after he had left them. His wife told him of the hunger they had had to endure, their lack of clothes and their hardship. He praised God for their safety and asked how they had come to Baghdad. His wife said: ‘Last night I was sleeping with the children and then before I knew where I was, someone had lifted them and me up from the ground and we were flying through the air without suffering any harm. This went on until we landed in a place that looked like a Bedouin camp. We saw a number of laden mules and a litter carried by two large mules and surrounded by eunuchs, both boys and men. “Who are you?” I asked them. “What are these loads and where are we?” They said: “We are the servants of ‘Ali ibn Hasan al-Jauhari of Cairo, and he has sent us to take you to him in the city of Baghdad.” “Is it a long or a short way from here to Baghdad?” I asked. “Baghdad is not far away,” they said, “and we can cover the distance while it is still dark.” They then set us on the litter, and by the time that it was morning we had arrived here without having suffered any harm at all.’ ‘And who gave you these clothes?’ ‘Ali asked. His wife said: ‘The leader of the caravan opened one of the chests that were being carried by the mules and took the clothes out of it. He gave me this to wear and produced others for the children, after which he locked the chest and handed me the key, telling me to keep it safe until I could give it to you. I have it here.’

  She brought it out for him and he asked her if she could recognize the chest. ‘Yes, certainly,’ she said, and ‘Ali then went down with her to the storerooms and showed her the chests. When she pointed out the one from which the clothes had been taken, he took the key from her, put it in the lock and opened it. In it he discovered a great quantity of robes, together with the keys of all the other chests. He removed these and started to open the others one by one and to investigate their contents, which consisted of jewels and precious stones the like of which no king possessed. He then locked the chests, took the keys and went with his wife to the upper room. ‘All this comes through the grace of Almighty God,’ he told her, and he led her to the marble slab with the screw, which he turned. He opened the door of the treasure chamber and went in with his wife to show her the gold that he had deposited there.

  ‘Where did you get all this from?’ she asked, and he told her: ‘This came through God’s grace. When I left you in Cairo…’

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when ‘Ali showed his wife the gold, she asked where it had come from. ‘This came through God’s grace,’ he told her, adding: ‘When I left you in Cairo I walked off without knowing where I was going, and when I got to Bulaq, I found a ship that was going to Damietta. I boarded it and when I got to Damietta, a merchant who had known my father met me and hospitably took me in. He asked where I was going and I told him I was on my way to Damascus, where I had friends.’ He then went on to tell his wife everything that had happened to him from beginning to end. She said: ‘All this has happened because of the prayers that your father offered for you before his death, when he used to say: “I pray to God that, if He ever brings you into difficulties, He may grant you speedy relief.” Praise be to Him that He has done this for you and has returned to you more than you lost. So I implore you, my husband, in God’s Name, not to return to your former association with notorious persons but show piety towards Almighty God, both openly and in secret.’ She admonished him and he said: ‘I accept what you say and I ask God to remove evil associates from me, helping me to serve Him obediently and to follow what has been sanctioned by His Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace.’

  ‘Ali, his wife and his children now led the most prosperous of lives. ‘Ali opened a shop in the merchants’ market and stocked it with a quantity of jewels and precious stones, sitting there with his sons and his mamluks. He became one of the leading merchants of Baghdad and news of him reached the king, who sent for him. The king’s messenger arrived to tell him to obey the summons and ‘Ali replied: ‘To hear is to obey.’ He then prepared a gift for the king, taking four trays of red gold which he filled with jewels and precious stones such as no king possessed, and with these he went off to the king. On entering the king’s presence he kissed the ground before him and prayed eloquently for the continuation of his glory and good fortune. ‘Merchant,’ said the king, ‘your presence has delighted our land,’ to which ‘Ali replied: ‘King of the age, your servant has brought you a gift which he hopes you will be generously pleased to accept.’ He then produced the four trays. The king removed their coverings and when he looked at them, he saw jewels more splendid than any of his own, worth immense stores of money. ‘Your gift is acceptable, merchant,’ said the king, ‘and, God willing, we shall repay you with one to match it,’ after which ‘Ali kissed his hands and left.

  The king then summoned his principal officers of state and asked them: ‘How many kings have asked for my daughter’s hand?’ ‘Very many,’ they replied. ‘And did any of them give me a gift like this?’ he went on. ‘No,’ they said in unison, ‘for not one of them has ever had treasures like these.’ The king then said: ‘I have asked God for guidance as to whether I should marry my daughter to this merchant. What is your opinion?’ ‘You should do as you think fit,’ they said, and he then ordered that the trays together with their contents be taken by the eunuchs to the women’s quarters. There he went to his wife and put the trays before her. When she uncovered them, she saw gems more magnificent than any single one that she owned. ‘What king has sent these?’ she asked, adding: ‘Perhaps it is one of the suitors for your daughter’s hand.’ ‘No,’ he told her, ‘this comes from an Egyptian merchant who has arrived in our city. When I heard of this, I sent a messenger to fetch him in order to enjoy his company, thinking that he might have some jewels that I could buy for our daughter’s wedding. He answered the summons, bringing these four trays, which he presented as a gift. I saw that he was a handsome young man, dignified and intelligent, with a graceful appearance, who might even be a prince. I was ple
ased with him and attracted to him, and I would now like to marry him to my daughter.’

  The king went on to tell her how he had shown the present to his officers of state and of the questions he had asked them and of their answers, as well as how he had consulted them about the princess’s marriage and what they had said. ‘What have you to say yourself?’ he then asked.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the king of Baghdad showed the present to his wife and told her of the qualities of ‘Ali, the merchant, and that he proposed to marry his daughter to him. He then asked her what she herself had to say. ‘It is for God and for you to decide, king of the age,’ she replied, ‘and what God wishes will happen.’ ‘God willing, then,’ the king said, ‘we shall marry her to no one but this young man.’ When he went to his court the next morning, he ordered that ‘Ali be brought to him together with all the merchants of Baghdad. When they were all assembled in front of him, he ordered them to sit, and when they were seated, he sent for the qadi of the court. The qadi came and was told by the king to draw up a marriage contract between his daughter and ‘Ali, the Cairene merchant. ‘Forgive me, lord king,’ ‘Ali exclaimed, ‘but it is not right that a merchant like me should become your son-in-law.’ ‘This is a favour that I have granted to you,’ the king replied, ‘together with the vizierate.’ He immediately followed this by investing ‘Ali as vizier, after which ‘Ali took his seat on the vizier’s chair.

  ‘Ali then said: ‘King of the age, you have honoured me by showing me this favour, but listen to what I have to say to you.’ ‘Speak on,’ said the king, ‘and have no fear.’ ‘Ali said: ‘Since you have proclaimed your august intention to give your daughter in marriage, this should be to my son.’ ‘Have you a son?’ asked the king, and when ‘Ali confirmed that he had, the king told him to send for him immediately. ‘To hear is to obey,’ said ‘Ali, and he sent one of his mamluks to fetch his son, who, when he came into the king’s presence, kissed the ground before him and stood there respectfully. Looking at him, the king could see that he was better-looking than his daughter and superior to her in the symmetry of his figure and the perfection of his handsomeness. ‘What is your name?’ the king asked him. ‘Your majesty,’ the fourteen-year-old youth replied, ‘my name is Hasan.’ The king then told the qadi to draw up the marriage contract between his daughter, Husn al-Wujud, and Hasan, son of the merchant ‘Ali of Cairo. The qadi did this, and when this stage had been successfully completed, all those who were present in the king’s court went off on their way.