The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

  The woman left his court in a state of bewilderment, not knowing where to go. She was met by a five-year-old child who, seeing the state that she was in, asked her what the matter was. She ignored him as he was so young, but, after he had repeated the question three times, she said: ‘A group of people came into my garden and left with me a purse containing a thousand dinars, telling me not to hand it over to any one of them unless all the others were present. They then went in to enjoy themselves looking round the garden, after which one of them came to me and asked me to give him the purse. “Not until your friends are here,” I told him. “But I have their permission,” he said and, when I still wouldn’t give it to him, he shouted to the others: “She won’t give it to me.” They were close by and they called back to me: “Give it to him.” So I gave him the purse and he took it and went off. Then, when they found that he was slow in returning, they came out and asked me why I hadn’t given him the comb. “He didn’t say anything about a comb,” I told them. “It was only the purse that he talked about.” Then they laid hold of me and took me before the qadi, who made me responsible for the return of the purse.’ ‘Give me a dirham to buy sweets with,’ said the child, ‘and I’ll tell you how to get out of this.’ She gave him the dirham and asked him what he had to say. ‘Go back to the qadi,’ he told her, ‘and say to him: “It was agreed between the five of us that I should only give back the purse when all four of them were there.” ’ So back she went to the qadi and repeated what the child had said to her. ‘Was this your agreement?’ the qadi asked the three, and when they confirmed that it was, he said: ‘Produce your companion for me and then you can have the purse.’ So the woman left and went away safe and without having suffered any loss.

  *

  When the king, the viziers and the courtiers heard what the prince had to say, they exclaimed: ‘Your majesty, your son is the most outstanding of the people of this age!’ They called down blessings on him and on his father, who clasped the prince to his breast and kissed him between the eyes. He then asked him about the slave girl and the prince swore by the Omnipotent God and His noble Prophet that it was she who had tried to seduce him. His father believed him and said: ‘It is for you to decide her case. If you wish, I shall have her executed, or else do what you want with her.’ ‘Banish her from the city,’ said the prince, after which he lived with his father enjoying the most pleasant and luxurious of lives until they were visited by the destroyer of delights and the parter of companions. This is the end of the story of the king, his son, the slave girl and the seven viziers.

  I have also heard that there once was a merchant called ‘Umar who left three children, the eldest Salim, the youngest Judar and the middle one Saliim. He brought them up until they reached manhood, but his favourite was Judar. When this was clear to his brothers, they became jealous of Judar and started to dislike him. Realizing this, their father, who was then an old man, was afraid that, if he were to die, they might cause trouble for their brother, and so he summoned a number of his relations, together with judicial administrators and men of learning. He told them to bring out the money and the materials that he owned, and when they had done this he told them to divide all this into four parts according to the principles laid down by Islamic law. When they had made the division, he gave one portion to each of his sons and kept one for himself. Then he said: ‘This was all my wealth. Now that I have distributed it, there’s no more for them to have either from me or from each other and so, when I die, there is no need for them to quarrel. I have given them their inheritance during my lifetime and the portion that I have kept for myself will go to my wife, their mother, to help with her living expenses.’

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when the merchant had made a fourfold division of his money and the materials he owned, he gave each of his sons one share and kept the fourth for himself, telling them that this would go to their mother, to help with her living expenses. Soon after this ‘Umar died and, far from being content with what he had done, his other sons wanted to get more from Judar, claiming that it was he who had their father’s money. The case was taken to court and the Muslims who had been present at the division of the inheritance gave evidence as to what they knew of it. The judge then kept them from encroaching on each other’s share, but the dispute had been costly both for Judar and for his brothers. The latter abandoned their claim for a while, but then schemed against Judar for a second time, and again the case was taken to court, losing them all money. In spite of that they kept on trying to damage Judar, taking the case from one unjust judge to another, losing their own money and wasting his, until all their father’s inheritance had been spent on bribery. Judar’s brothers then went to their mother and, after jeering at her, they took her money, beat her and drove her away. She went to tell Judar what they had done and began to curse them. ‘Don’t curse them, mother,’ Judar said, ‘for God will repay both of them for this. But both they and I are poor, and this wrangling costs money. We have often taken the case before judges, but, far from doing us any good, we have lost all that our father left us and have been disgraced by those who have been called as witnesses. Am I then to have another quarrel with them because of you and take the case to court? This cannot be, so stay here with me and I shall share what food I have with you. Pray for me and God will give both of us our daily bread. Leave them to face God’s punishment for what they have done and console yourself with the lines:

  If the fool wrongs you, let him be,

  And wait awhile for his punishment.

  Avoid unhealthy wrongdoing;

  A mountain that wrongs another will be ground to dust.’

  Judar continued to console his mother until she accepted the situation and stayed with him. He then equipped himself with a fishing net and went out every day in a different direction, to the river or the pools or anywhere else where there was water. Some days he would earn ten nusfs and on others twenty or thirty. He spent the money on his mother, while at the same time having enough to eat and drink well. His brothers, meanwhile, practised no craft and were unable to trade; they were crushed by poverty and distress, having squandered all that they had taken from their mother, and they became wretched and naked beggars. At times they would approach their mother in all humility, complaining of hunger, and in her tenderness of heart she would give them any food that had gone bad, or if there was anything that had been cooked the day before she would tell them to eat it up quickly and leave before their brother came. ‘He wouldn’t find this easy to accept,’ she would tell them, ‘and were he to harden his heart against me, you would disgrace me in his eyes.’ They would then wolf down the food and go off.

  One day when they came she put out a cooked dish for them, together with some bread, and they began to eat. At that moment, to their mother’s shame and confusion, in came their brother, Judar. She hung her head before him, afraid that he might be angry with her, but he smiled at his visitors and welcomed them, exclaiming: ‘This is a blessed day! How is it that you have come on such a day to visit me?’ He embraced them lovingly and went on: ‘I never wanted you to keep away from me and not come here to see me or your mother.’ ‘By God, brother,’ they told him, ‘we have been longing for you and we only kept away because we were ashamed of what happened between us, which we bitterly regret. That was the work of the devil, may Almighty God curse him, and you and our mother are our only blessing.’

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when Judar came home and found his brothers, he welcomed them and said: ‘You are my only blessing.’ His mother called down blessings on him and praised his generosity, after which he again welcomed his brothers and invited them to stay, saying: ‘God is generous and I
bring in plenty to live on.’ The three were reconciled and Judar’s brothers spent the night there sharing his supper and eating breakfast the next day.

  He then took his net and left, relying on God, the Provider. His brothers went off and when they came back at noon their mother produced a meal for them, while he himself returned in the evening bringing with him meat and vegetables. Things went on like this for a month, with Judar catching fish, selling them and spending the money he earned on his mother and his brothers, the two of whom doing nothing but eating and amusing themselves. It then happened that one day Judar took his net to the river and made a cast, only to find when he drew it out that it was empty. He made a second cast but again it was empty, and he told himself: ‘There are no fish here.’ So he went and cast his net somewhere else, but again without success and, although he continued to wander round from one place to another from dawn to dusk, he failed to catch even one single small fish. ‘This is strange,’ he told himself. ‘Are there not any fish in the river any longer and, if so, why?’

  With the net over his shoulder he went back sorrowfully and full of care, worried about his brothers and his mother since he had no idea what to give them to eat. He came to a baker’s oven around which was a crowd of people with money in their hands wanting to buy bread, while the baker himself was paying no attention to them. He stood there sighing and the baker called out a welcome to him and asked him if he was wanting bread. When he made no reply, the baker said: ‘If you don’t have the money, take what you need and you can pay me later.’ So Judar asked for ten nusfs’ worth of bread, and the baker gave him an extra ten in cash, telling him to bring him twenty nusfs’ worth of fish the next day. Judar swore to do that, and he took the bread as well as the money, with which he bought a piece of meat and some vegetables, saying: ‘Tomorrow God will help me out of my difficulties.’

  When he had gone back home and his mother had cooked the food, he ate his evening meal and went to sleep. The next day he took his net and, when his mother told him to sit down and have his breakfast, he refused, telling her to eat with his brothers. He then went to the river, but after three casts he had to try somewhere else and this went on until the afternoon, by which time he had caught nothing at all. He walked away dispiritedly on a route on which he couldn’t avoid passing the baker, and when the baker saw him there, he weighed out the bread and produced the coins, saying: ‘Come on, take this and go. If you caught nothing today, you will tomorrow.’ Judar wanted to present his excuses, but the baker said: ‘Go off; there is no need to explain. If you had caught anything you would have been carrying it with you, and when I saw you empty-handed I realized that you had got nothing. If this happens again tomorrow, don’t be ashamed to come for bread, as you can pay me later.’

  On the third day he visited the pools until the afternoon, but he found nothing at all there and so he had to return to the baker to fetch the bread and the coins. This went on for seven days, after which he became depressed and made up his mind to go to Lake Qarun. He was on the point of making a cast there when, before he knew it, up rode a Maghribi on a mule. The rider was wearing a splendid robe, and the mule, all of whose trappings were embroidered, carried over its back embroidered saddlebags. The man dismounted and said: ‘Peace be on you, Judar, son of ‘Umar,’ to which Judar replied: ‘And peace be on you, pilgrim.’ ‘Judar,’ said the man, ‘there is something I want you to do, and if you do it, it will bring you a great deal of good. You will be my companion and manage my affairs.’ Judar asked him what he had in mind, promising to do what he wanted without fail. ‘Recite the Fatiha,’ the man told him, and when they had both done this, the man brought out a silk cord and told him to tie his hands behind his back as firmly as possible. ‘Then throw me into the lake,’ he went on, ‘and wait a little. If you see my hand raised from the water before the rest of me appears, then throw your net at me and pull me in quickly, but if you see my foot, then leave me, for you will know that I am dead. In that case take the mule and the saddlebags and go to the traders’ market, where you will find a Jew called Shumai‘a. Give him the mule and he will hand you a hundred dinars. Take them and go on your way, but keep the matter secret.’

  Judar tied the man’s arms tightly as the man kept telling him to tie the cord tighter, and Judar then did as he was told, throwing him into the lake, where he sank from sight. For a time Judar stayed watching, but then he saw the man’s legs coming out of the water. Realizing that he must be dead, he took the mule and went off to the traders’ market, where he saw the Jew sitting on a chair in the doorway of his storehouse. At the sight of the mule, the Jew exclaimed: ‘He must be dead!’, adding: ‘And it was his greed that killed him.’ He then took the mule from Judar, gave him a hundred dinars and told him to keep the affair secret. Judar went off with the money, after which he got what bread he needed from the baker and gave him a dinar in return. The baker calculated his debt and told him: ‘I now owe you two days’ worth of bread.’

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the baker calculated what Judar owed him for the bread and told him: ‘I now owe you two days’ worth of bread.’ Judar went from the baker to the butcher, to whom he gave another dinar. He took his meat and told the man to credit what was left over from the dinar to his account. Then he fetched vegetables and went home, where he found his brothers pestering his mother for something to eat. She was saying: ‘Wait for your brother to come, as I haven’t anything here at all.’ So he went in and told them to take the food and eat it, at which they fell on the bread like ghuls. He gave the rest of the gold to his mother, telling her: ‘When my brothers come, give them some money to buy food with while I am away.’

  He then spent the night at home, and the next morning, taking his net with him, he went back to Lake Qarun. He was about to make a cast when another Maghribi, even more splendidly equipped than the first, rode up on a mule with a pair of saddlebags and two small boxes, one in each bag. He addressed Judar by name, and when they had exchanged greetings the newcomer asked whether another Maghribi had come on the day before riding a mule like his. Judar was nervous and denied having seen anyone lest he be asked where the man had gone, as if he then said that he had drowned in the lake, the newcomer might accuse him of having been responsible. The man was not taken in by his denial and said: ‘Poor fellow, that was my brother, who got here before me.’ Judar repeated: ‘I don’t know anything about this,’ but the man went on: ‘Didn’t you tie him up and throw him into the lake, after he had told you that if his hands appeared you were to throw your net and pull him out quickly but that if his feet came up he would be dead? In that case you were to take his mule to the Jew, Shumai‘a, who would give you a hundred dinars. It was his feet that appeared and you did take the mule to the Jew, who did give you the money.’ ‘If you know all that, why do you ask?’ said Judar, and the man replied: ‘Because I want you to do the same thing to me as you did to my brother.’ He then produced a silk cord and said: ‘Tie me up and throw me in. If what happened to my brother happens to me, take the mule to the Jew and get a hundred dinars from him. Come on now.’ Judar went forward and, having tied him up, he gave him a push so that he fell into the lake and sank. When Judar had waited for some time, he saw the man’s feet emerging from the water and he exclaimed: ‘He has died miserably! God willing, Maghribis will come to me every day to be tied up and die, and if I get a hundred dinars for each dead man, that will be enough for me.’

  He then went off with the mule, and on seeing him the Jew said: ‘The other one must be dead.’ ‘Long life to you,’ replied Judar, and the Jew repeated: ‘This is the reward of the greedy,’ after which he took the mule and gave Judar a hundred dinars. Judar went off with the money to give to his mother, who asked where he had got it. When he told her, she said: ‘You shouldn’t go to Lake Qarun again, as I’m afraid that you may co
me to some harm at the hands of these Maghribis.’ ‘Mother,’ he told her, ‘I only throw them into the water because they want me to. What am I supposed to do? This business brings me in a hundred dinars a day and I come home quickly. By God, I’m not going to stop going to the lake until there are no more Maghribis to be seen.’

  On the third day he went off and, as he was standing there, another Maghribi appeared riding on a mule with saddlebags, even more splendidly equipped than the first two. He greeted Judar by name, causing him to wonder to himself how they all came to know him, and when he had returned the greeting, the man asked him whether any Maghribis had passed by that spot. ‘Yes, two,’ he said, and the man then asked where they had gone. ‘I tied them up and threw them into this lake, where they drowned,’ Judar told him, adding: ‘And this is what will happen to you too.’ The man laughed and said: ‘Poor fellow, every living creature meets its destined fate,’ after which he dismounted from his mule and, producing the silken cord, he told Judar to do the same thing with him as he had done with the others. ‘Put your hands behind your back so that I can tie them, for I am in a hurry and time is passing,’ said Judar. The man did this and Judar tied him up and gave him a push so that he fell into the lake. He then stood waiting and this time the Maghribi raised his hands out of the water and called to him to throw his net. Judar did this and when he had pulled the man in, he discovered that he was clutching two fish coloured like red coral, one in each hand. ‘Open the boxes,’ the man told him, and when this had been done, he put one fish in each of them and then closed them up. He then embraced Judar and kissed him on both cheeks, saying: ‘May God rescue you from every hardship. Had you not thrown me the net and pulled me out, I would have gone on holding these fish and stayed submerged until I died, for I should not have been able to get out of the water.’ ‘For God’s sake, pilgrim,’ Judar said, ‘tell me about the two who drowned earlier and about these two fish as well as about the Jew.’