The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

  The young man was astonished to hear this and said: ‘There must be something here that is responsible for this,’ but then he thought the matter over and recited the formula: ‘I take refuge with God from Satan, the accursed.’ Dismissing the matter from his mind, he moved in and set about his business, buying and selling. He stayed there for some days without being affected by any of the disasters that the doorkeeper had mentioned, but then one day, as he was seated by the house door, a grey-haired old woman like a spotted snake passed by. She kept on praising and glorifying God, and clearing away stones and obstacles from the road. She seemed surprised to see him sitting there, and he asked her: ‘Do you know me or do I remind you of someone?’ When she heard him speak she hurried up to him and, having greeted him, she asked how long he had been living there. He told her that he had been there for two months, and she said: ‘It was this that surprised me. We don’t know each other, my son, nor do you remind me of anyone. What is remarkable, however, is that everyone else who has lived in this house has either fallen sick or died, and I am certain that you are putting your young life in danger. But perhaps you have not gone up to the top and looked from the belvedere there?’

  She then went on her way, and after she had left him he started to think over what she had said, telling himself that, in fact, he had not gone up to the roof and that he did not know that there was a belvedere. He went back inside straight away and started to search in every corner until in one of them he discovered a small door between whose posts a spider had woven its web. When he saw that, he told himself: ‘It may be that the spider wove this web because inside lies death,’ but he comforted himself with the words of Almighty God: ‘Say: nothing shall come upon us except what has been decreed for us by God.’* So he opened the door, climbed a small flight of stairs and came out on the roof, where he saw the belvedere and sat down to rest and to admire the view. From there he could see an elegant and well-kept house at the top of which was a lofty terrace looking out over the whole of Baghdad. On the terrace was a girl like a houri of Paradise, and love for her immediately occupied his whole heart, robbing him of his wits and bequeathing him the misfortunes of Job and the sorrows of Jacob. When he looked at her more closely, he said to himself: ‘When people say that whoever lives in this house sickens or dies, it may be because of this girl. I wish I knew how to rescue myself, as I am out of my mind.’

  He went down from the roof thinking over his problem and sat down in the house, but finding himself unable to rest he went out and took his seat by the door, not knowing what to do. At that moment the old woman came walking by, calling on the Name of God and glorifying Him as she went. When he saw her, the young man got to his feet and, having first greeted her with good wishes, he went on: ‘Mother, I was well and healthy until you advised me to open the door. I saw the belvedere, opened it up and when I looked from the top of it I saw a sight that stunned me. I think that my death has come on me and I know that no one else can cure me but you.’ When she heard this, she laughed and told him: ‘God willing, no harm will come to you.’ At these words the young man went into the house, and when he came out he was carrying a hundred dinars in his sleeve. ‘Take these, mother,’ he said. ‘Treat me as a master does his slaves and come quickly to my help, for if I die yours will be the blood guilt on the Day of Resurrection.’

  The old woman agreed willingly but said: ‘I want you to help me in a small matter through which you will be able to get what you want.’ When he asked what this was, she told him: ‘The help that I want is for you to go to the silk market and ask for the shop of Abu’l-Fath ibn Qaidam. After they have shown you how to get there, sit down, greet him and ask him for the gold embroidered head-veil, the most beautiful thing that he has there. Then buy it from him, however high the price may be, and keep it with you until, God willing, I come back to you tomorrow.’ After she had left, the young man spent the night twisting and turning as though he was sleeping on burning coals, but then in the morning he put a thousand dinars in his sleeve and went to the silk market. When he asked for the shop of Abu’l-Fath ibn Qaidam, one of the merchants told him where it was, and on his arrival he saw Abu’l-Fath himself, a dignified and wealthy man surrounded by pages, eunuchs and attendants. The crown of his good fortune was his wife, who was the girl on the terrace and who had no equal among the children of kings.

  After an exchange of greetings Abu’l-Fath told his visitor to sit down, and when the merchant’s son had taken his seat he asked to be shown the veil, which he described. Abu’l-Fath told a servant to fetch a silk package from the upper end of the shop, which he then opened and from which he took out a number of veils whose beauty was enough to bewilder his visitor. Then the merchant’s son caught sight of the one that the old woman had described, and bought it for fifty dinars, after which he went happily back to his house.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the young man bought the veil from the merchant and went home. THE SEVENTH VIZIER SAID:

  There he noticed the old woman coming towards him, and at the sight of her he got to his feet and handed over the veil. She then told him to fetch a live coal, and when he had done this she brought the edge of the veil close to the coal and singed it, before folding it up as it had been before. She then took it off with her to Abu’l-Fath’s house, where she knocked on the door. When the girl heard her voice she got up and opened the door, for she knew the old woman, who was one of her mother’s friends and companions. The girl asked what the old woman wanted, adding that her mother had left and gone back home. ‘I knew that she wasn’t here, my daughter,’ the old woman answered. ‘I have just been with her in her house and the only reason that I have come to you is that I was afraid of missing the time of prayer. I know that you are cleanly and that your house is ritually pure, and so I wanted to perform the necessary ablution here.’ The girl let her come in, and when she did, the old woman greeted her and called down blessings on her. The old woman took a jug of water and went into the lavatory, where she performed her ablution before going to pray, but afterwards she told the girl: ‘I think that the eunuchs have been walking in the place where I prayed and so it is unclean. Please find me somewhere else to pray, for my first prayer was invalid.’ The girl then took her by the hand and said: ‘Mother, come and perform your prayer by the couch on which my husband sits.’ When the old woman was brought there she stood up to pray, calling on God and bowing, but then, without the girl noticing, she slipped the gilded veil under a cushion. When she had finished she left, after calling down a blessing on her hostess.

  At the end of the day, Abu’l-Fath came back to his wife and took his seat on the couch. She fetched him food and when he had eaten his fill and washed his hands, he was leaning back on the cushion when his eye happened to fall on the edge of the veil, which was sticking out from under it. He pulled it out and when he looked at it he recognized it and thought that his wife must have been unfaithful to him. He called to her and asked where the veil had come from. She swore that no one apart from him had visited her, and he stayed silent for fear of disgrace, being himself a companion of the caliph. He told himself: ‘If I open up this door, I’ll be shamed throughout Baghdad.’ He couldn’t say anything publicly and he did not speak one word about the matter to his wife, whose name was Mahziya. Instead, he called her and told her that he had heard that her mother was ill with heart pains, and that, as all her women friends were at her mother’s house weeping over her, she should go there too. When she there, she found her mother in good health, and after she had been sitting there for some time, porters arrived carrying all her belongings from Abu’l-Fath’s house. ‘What has happened to you, daughter?’ her mother asked, to which she had to say that she didn’t know. Her mother then burst into tears of grief for Mahziya’s separation from her husband.

  Some days later, the old woman came to her whi
le she was in her mother’s house and greeted her fondly, saying: ‘My darling daughter, you have disturbed me.’ Then she went to Mahziya’s mother and asked: ‘What is the news? What has happened between your daughter and her husband? I hear that he has divorced her, but what did she do to cause all this?’ ‘It may be that thanks to your blessing her husband will go back to her,’ her mother said, ‘so pray for her, sister, for you are one who fasts and stands in prayer all night long.’ The three of them, Mahziya, her mother and the old woman, stayed talking in the house until the old woman said: ‘Don’t worry, my daughter. God willing, I shall soon bring you and your husband together again.’

  She then went to the young man and told him to make preparations for a splendid party as she was going to bring the girl to him that night. He, for his part, set about getting all that was needed in the way of food and drink and then sat waiting for the two of them to arrive. The old woman approached Mahziya’s mother and said: ‘Sister, we are holding a wedding feast and I want you to send your daughter off with me to enjoy herself and forget her cares and worries, after which I shall return her to you just as I found her.’ Mahziya’s mother got up and dressed her daughter in her most splendid clothes, decking her out in the best of her jewellery and finery, after which, when the girl was ready to leave, she went with the old woman to the door and started to give her advice. ‘Take care that no one sets eyes on her,’ she said, ‘for you know the position that her husband holds with the caliph. Don’t delay, but bring her back as quickly as possible.’

  The old woman then went off to the young man’s house, taking with her the girl, who was under the impression that this was the house where the wedding was to be held, but when she went to the sitting room…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE SEVENTH VIZIER SAID:

  When the girl entered the house and went to the sitting room, the young man jumped up to meet her, embraced her and kissed her hands and feet. She was bewildered by his beauty and it seemed to her that the room, with its scented flowers, food and drink, was all part of a dream. When the old woman saw the impression that all this had made on her, she told her to have no fear as she herself would remain there and not leave her for a minute, adding: ‘You are a fitting mate for him and her for you.’ The girl sat there covered in confusion, but the young man kept on joking with her, making her laugh and entertaining her with poems and stories until she relaxed and began to enjoy herself. She ate and drank and, being pleasantly affected by the wine and emotionally moved by the young man’s handsomeness, she took a lute and sang. On seeing that, the young man became drunk but not with wine, and set no store by his own life.

  The old woman left them, and when she came back in the morning she greeted them and asked the girl what kind of a night she had had. ‘A pleasant one,’ Mahziya replied, ‘thanks to your help and your good offices.’ ‘Get up,’ the old woman told her, ‘for we must go back to your mother.’ On hearing this, the young man produced a hundred dinars for her and said: ‘Leave her with me tonight.’ So the old woman went off to Mahziya’s mother and said: ‘Your daughter sends you her greetings, but the bride’s mother has insisted that she stay with her this coming night.’ ‘Give my greetings to both of them, sister,’ said the other, ‘and if the girl is happy with that, then there is no harm in her spending the night there so that she may enjoy herself and come back at her leisure. The only thing that I am afraid of is that her husband may offer her some violence.’

  The old woman played trick after trick on Mahziya’s mother until the girl had stayed away for seven days, on each of which the young man had given her a hundred dinars. At the end of this time, however, the mother said: ‘Bring me my daughter this instant, for she has been away for so long that I am becoming concerned and suspicious.’ The old woman was annoyed by this but left and made her way to the girl. Taking her by the hand she went away with her, leaving the young man lying on his couch in a drunken sleep. When they got home, Mahziya’s mother was delighted and filled with joy to see her daughter and said: ‘I was so concerned about you, my daughter, that I said something that pained my sister here.’ ‘Go and kiss her hands and feet,’ said Mahziya, ‘for she attended to my needs like a servant, and if you don’t do what I tell you then I am no longer your daughter and you are not my mother.’ So her mother immediately got up and made her peace with the old woman.

  When the young man woke from his drunken sleep, although he could not find the girl, he was happy with what he had got, having achieved what he wanted. He was then approached by the old woman, who greeted him and said: ‘What did you think of my performance?’ ‘Very well planned and executed,’ he told her, and she then said: ‘Come on, we have to put right the wrong that we did and restore the girl to her husband, for it was we who got them to part.’ He asked her what he was supposed to do, and she said: ‘Go to Abu’l-Fath’s shop, greet him and sit with him. I shall pass by and when you see me, get up quickly and take hold of me, dragging me by my clothes, abusing me and threatening me. Then demand that I give you the veil and tell Abu’l-Fath: “Don’t you recognize the veil that I bought from you for fifty dinars? What happened was that my slave girl put it on and part of its edge got scorched so she passed it to this old woman to give to someone to repair it for her. The old woman took it and went away, and I haven’t seen her from that day on.” ’ ‘I’ll do that willingly,’ the young man promised, and he set off at once to walk to Abu’l-Fath’s shop. After he had been sitting there for some time, the old woman passed by, holding a string of prayer beads in her hands, which she was counting. At the sight of her, he jumped to his feet, pulled at her clothes and started abusing and reviling her, while she spoke gently to him, saying: ‘My son, you are to be excused.’

  The market traders gathered round the two of them and asked what the matter was. The young man said to them: ‘I bought from this merchant a veil for which I paid fifty dinars. My slave girl put it on briefly, and as she sat in front of a perfumed fire to fumigate it, a spark jumped out and burned a hole on its edge. We passed it over to this old woman, who was to give it to a repairer and then return it to us, but from that time on we have had no sight of her.’ ‘What this young man says is true,’ the old woman said. ‘Yes, I did take it, but then I went to a certain house which I was in the habit of visiting, and I put it somewhere there and forgot about it. I don’t know where it is and, poor woman that I am, I was afraid of its owner and did not dare confront him.’

  While all this was going on, Abu’l-Fath was listening…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE SEVENTH VIZIER SAID:

  When the young man had laid hold of the old woman and spoken to her about the veil, as she had coached him, Abu’l-Fath was listening to everything that was said, and when he had followed the account that the wily old woman had concocted with the young man, he got to his feet and exclaimed: ‘God is greater than all! I ask His pardon, Omnipotent as He is, for the sins I have committed and for the suspicions that I have had. Praise be to God, Who has revealed the truth.’ He went up to the old woman and asked whether she was in the habit of calling on his wife. ‘Yes,’ she told him, ‘I do go to your house and to other houses as well for virtuous purposes, but from the day that I lost the veil no one had told me anything about it.’ ‘Did you ask anyone in my house?’ asked Abu’l-Fath. ‘Sir,’ she said, ‘I did go there to ask, but they told me that you had divorced your wife and so I came back and from that day on I have not asked anyone else.’ Abu’l-Fath turned to the young man and said: ‘Let this old woman go, for I have the veil.’ He fetched it from his shop and then, in the presence of all the market traders, he handed it over to be mended before going to his wife. He pa
id her a sum of money and took her back with profuse apologies, imploring God to pardon him – all this without knowing what the old woman had done.

  This, your majesty, is an example of the wiles of women.

  ‘I have also heard that once a certain prince went out alone on a pleasure trip,’ said the seventh vizier, AND HE CONTINUED:

  He passed by a green meadow with trees, fruits, birds and flowing streams and, being attracted by its beauty, he sat down there and took out some dried fruits that he had with him and started to eat. While he was eating, he noticed that a huge column of smoke was towering into the sky from the meadow and, alarmed by that, he got up and climbed a tree, where he hid himself. From the top of the tree he could see an ‘ifrit coming out of the stream and carrying on his head a locked chest of marble. He put this down in the meadow and when he had unlocked it, out came a human girl like the sun shining in a clear sky. The ‘ifrit sat her down in front of him and looked at her, after which he put his head on her lap and fell asleep. She took hold of his head and propped it against the chest, after which she got up and began to walk to and fro. Happening to look up at the tree, she caught sight of the prince and gestured to him to come down. He refused and she said: ‘If you don’t come down and do with me what I tell you, I shall waken the ‘ifrit and tell him about you, at which he will kill you on the spot.’