Arabian Nights

by abc

  thousand rubies, and whose treasure house contains twenty thousand

  diamond crowns, to the Caliph Haroun al Raschid sends greeting.

  Though the offering we present to you is unworthy of your notice,

  we pray you to accept it as a mark of the esteem and friendship

  which we cherish for you, and of which we gladly send you this token,

  and we ask of you a like regard if you deem us worthy of it.

  Adieu, brother."

  The present consisted of a vase carved from a single ruby,

  six inches high and as thick as my finger; this was filled with

  the choicest pearls, large, and of perfect shape and lustre;

  secondly, a huge snake skin, with scales as large as a sequin,

  which would preserve from sickness those who slept upon it.

  Then quantities of aloes wood, camphor, and pistachio-nuts; and lastly,

  a beautiful slave girl, whose robes glittered with precious stones.

  After a long and prosperous voyage we landed at Balsora, and I made

  haste to reach Bagdad, and taking the king's letter I presented

  myself at the palace gate, followed by the beautiful slave,

  and various members of my own family, bearing the treasure.

  As soon as I had declared my errand I was conducted into the

  presence of the Caliph, to whom, after I had made my obeisance,

  I gave the letter and the king's gift, and when he had examined

  them he demanded of me whether the Prince of Serendib was really

  as rich and powerful as he claimed to be.

  "Commander of the Faithful," I replied, again bowing humbly before him,

  "I can assure your Majesty that he has in no way exaggerated his wealth

  and grandeur. Nothing can equal the magnificence of his palace.

  When he goes abroad his throne is prepared upon the back of an elephant,

  and on either side of him ride his ministers, his favourites,

  and courtiers. On his elephant's neck sits an officer, his golden lance

  in his hand, and behind him stands another bearing a pillar of gold,

  at the top of which is an emerald as long as my hand. A thousand

  men in cloth of gold, mounted upon richly caparisoned elephants,

  go before him, and as the procession moves onward the officer

  who guides his elephant cries aloud, `Behold the mighty monarch,

  the powerful and valiant Sultan of the Indies, whose palace

  is covered with a hundred thousand rubies, who possesses twenty

  thousand diamond crowns. Behold a monarch greater than Solomon

  and Mihrage in all their glory!'"

  "Then the one who stands behind the throne answers: "This king,

  so great and powerful, must die, must die, must die!"

  "And the first takes up the chant again, `All praise to Him

  who lives for evermore.'"

  "Further, my lord, in Serendib no judge is needed, for to the king

  himself his people come for justice."

  The Caliph was well satisfied with my report.

  "From the king's letter," said he, "I judged that he was a wise man.

  It seems that he is worthy of his people, and his people of him."

  So saying he dismissed me with rich presents, and I returned

  in peace to my own house.

  When Sindbad had done speaking his guests withdrew, Hindbad having

  first received a hundred sequins, but all returned next day to hear

  the story of the seventh voyage, Sindbad thus began.

  Seventh and Last Voyage

  After my sixth voyage I was quite determined that I would go

  to sea no more. I was now of an age to appreciate a quiet life,

  and I had run risks enough. I only wished to end my days in peace.

  One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends,

  I was told that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me,

  and when he was admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of

  Haroun al Raschid, which I accordingly did. After I had saluted him,

  the Caliph said:

  "I have sent for you, Sindbad, because I need your services.

  I have chosen you to bear a letter and a gift to the King of Serendib

  in return for his message of friendship."

  The Caliph's commandment fell upon me like a thunderbolt.

  "Commander of the Faithful," I answered, "I am ready to do all that

  your Majesty commands, but I humbly pray you to remember that I am

  utterly disheartened by the unheard of sufferings I have undergone.

  Indeed, I have made a vow never again to leave Bagdad."

  With this I gave him a long account of some of my strangest adventures,

  to which he listened patiently.

  "I admit," said he, "that you have indeed had some extraordinary

  experiences, but I do not see why they should hinder you from doing

  as I wish. You have only to go straight to Serendib and give

  my message, then you are free to come back and do as you will.

  But go you must; my honour and dignity demand it."

  Seeing that there was no help for it, I declared myself willing

  to obey; and the Caliph, delighted at having got his own way,

  gave me a thousand sequins for the expenses of the voyage.

  I was soon ready to start, and taking the letter and the present I

  embarked at Balsora, and sailed quickly and safely to Serendib.

  Here, when I had disclosed my errand, I was well received,

  and brought into the presence of the king, who greeted me with joy.

  "Welcome, Sindbad," he cried. "I have thought of you often,

  and rejoice to see you once more."

  After thanking him for the honour that he did me, I displayed the

  Caliph's gifts. First a bed with complete hangings all cloth of gold,

  which cost a thousand sequins, and another like to it of crimson stuff.

  Fifty robes of rich embroidery, a hundred of the finest white

  linen from Cairo, Suez, Cufa, and Alexandria. Then more beds

  of different fashion, and an agate vase carved with the figure

  of a man aiming an arrow at a lion, and finally a costly table,

  which had once belonged to King Solomon. The King of Serendib

  received with satisfaction the assurance of the Caliph's friendliness

  toward him, and now my task being accomplished I was anxious to depart,

  but it was some time before the king would think of letting me go.

  At last, however, he dismissed me with many presents, and I lost

  no time in going on board a ship, which sailed at once, and for four

  days all went well. On the fifth day we had the misfortune to fall

  in with pirates, who seized our vessel, killing all who resisted,

  and making prisoners of those who were prudent enough to submit at once,

  of whom I was one. When they had despoiled us of all we possessed,

  they forced us to put on vile raiment, and sailing to a distant island

  there sold us for slaves. I fell into the hands of a rich merchant,

  who took me home with him, and clothed and fed me well, and after

  some days sent for me and questioned me as to what I could do.

  I answered that I was a rich merchant who had been captured by pirates,

  and therefore I knew no trade.

  "Tell me," said he, "can you shoot with a bow?"

  I replied that this had been one of the pastimes of my youth,

  and that doubtless with practice my skill would come back to me.

  Upon this he provided me with a bow and arrows, and mounting me with

  him upon his own elephant took
the way to a vast forest which lay far

  from the town. When we had reached the wildest part of it we stopped,

  and my master said to me: "This forest swarms with elephants.

  Hide yourself in this great tree, and shoot at all that pass you.

  When you have succeeded in killing one come and tell me."

  So saying he gave me a supply of food, and returned to the town,

  and I perched myself high up in the tree and kept watch. That night

  I saw nothing, but just after sunrise the next morning a large

  herd of elephants came crashing and trampling by. I lost no time

  in letting fly several arrows, and at last one of the great animals

  fell to the ground dead, and the others retreated, leaving me free

  to come down from my hiding place and run back to tell my master

  of my success, for which I was praised and regaled with good things.

  Then we went back to the forest together and dug a mighty trench

  in which we buried the elephant I had killed, in order that when it

  became a skeleton my master might return and secure its tusks.

  For two months I hunted thus, and no day passed without my securing,

  an elephant. Of course I did not always station myself in the

  same tree, but sometimes in one place, sometimes in another.

  One morning as I watched the coming of the elephants I was surprised

  to see that, instead of passing the tree I was in, as they usually did,

  they paused, and completely surrounded it, trumpeting horribly,

  and shaking the very ground with their heavy tread, and when I

  saw that their eyes were fixed upon me I was terrified, and my

  arrows dropped from my trembling hand. I had indeed good reason

  for my terror when, an instant later, the largest of the animals

  wound his trunk round the stem of my tree, and with one mighty

  effort tore it up by the roots, bringing me to the ground entangled

  in its branches. I thought now that my last hour was surely come;

  but the huge creature, picking me up gently enough, set me upon

  its back, where I clung more dead than alive, and followed

  by the whole herd turned and crashed off into the dense forest.

  It seemed to me a long time before I was once more set upon my feet

  by the elephant, and I stood as if in a dream watching the herd,

  which turned and trampled off in another direction, and were soon

  hidden in the dense underwood. Then, recovering myself, I looked

  about me, and found that I was standing upon the side of a great hill,

  strewn as far as I could see on either hand with bones and tusks

  of elephants. "This then must be the elephants' burying place,"

  I said to myself, "and they must have brought me here that I might

  cease to persecute them, seeing that I want nothing but their tusks,

  and here lie more than I could carry away in a lifetime."

  Whereupon I turned and made for the city as fast as I could go,

  not seeing a single elephant by the way, which convinced me that

  they had retired deeper into the forest to leave the way open

  to the Ivory Hill, and I did not know how sufficiently to admire

  their sagacity. After a day and a night I reached my master's house,

  and was received by him with joyful surprise.

  "Ah! poor Sindbad," he cried, "I was wondering what could have become

  of you. When I went to the forest I found the tree newly uprooted,

  and the arrows lying beside it, and I feared I should never see

  you again. Pray tell me how you escaped death."

  I soon satisfied his curiosity, and the next day we went together

  to the Ivory Hill, and he was overjoyed to find that I had told him

  nothing but the truth. When we had loaded our elephant with as

  many tusks as it could carry and were on our way back to the city,

  he said:

  "My brother--since I can no longer treat as a slave one who has

  enriched me thus--take your liberty and may Heaven prosper you.

  I will no longer conceal from you that these wild elephants have

  killed numbers of our slaves every year. No matter what good advice

  we gave them, they were caught sooner or later. You alone have

  escaped the wiles of these animals, therefore you must be under the

  special protection of Heaven. Now through you the whole town will

  be enriched without further loss of life, therefore you shall not

  only receive your liberty, but I will also bestow a fortune upon you."

  To which I replied, "Master, I thank you, and wish you all prosperity.

  For myself I only ask liberty to return to my own country."

  "It is well," he answered, "the monsoon will soon bring the ivory

  ships hither, then I will send you on your way with somewhat to pay

  your passage."

  So I stayed with him till the time of the monsoon, and every

  day we added to our store of ivory till all his ware-houses

  were overflowing with it. By this time the other merchants

  knew the secret, but there was enough and to spare for all.

  When the ships at last arrived my master himself chose the one

  in which I was to sail, and put on board for me a great store of

  choice provisions, also ivory in abundance, and all the costliest

  curiosities of the country, for which I could not thank him enough,

  and so we parted. I left the ship at the first port we came to,

  not feeling at ease upon the sea after all that had happened to me

  by reason of it, and having disposed of my ivory for much gold,

  and bought many rare and costly presents, I loaded my pack animals,

  and joined a caravan of merchants. Our journey was long and tedious,

  but I bore it patiently, reflecting that at least I had not to

  fear tempests, nor pirates, nor serpents, nor any of the other perils

  from which I had suffered before, and at length we reached Bagdad.

  My first care was to present myself before the Caliph, and give him

  an account of my embassy. He assured me that my long absence had

  disquieted him much, but he had nevertheless hoped for the best.

  As to my adventure among the elephants he heard it with amazement,

  declaring that he could not have believed it had not my truthfulness

  been well known to him.

  By his orders this story and the others I had told him were written

  by his scribes in letters of gold, and laid up among his treasures.

  I took my leave of him, well satisfied with the honours and rewards he

  bestowed upon me; and since that time I have rested from my labours,

  and given myself up wholly to my family and my friends.

  Thus Sindbad ended the story of his seventh and last voyage,

  and turning to Hindbad he added:

  "Well, my friend, and what do you think now? Have you ever heard

  of anyone who has suffered more, or had more narrow escapes than

  I have? Is it not just that I should now enjoy a life of ease

  and tranquillity?"

  Hindbad drew near, and kissing his hand respectfully, replied, "Sir, you

  have indeed known fearful perils; my troubles have been nothing compared

  to yours. Moreover, the generous use you make of your wealth proves

  that you deserve it. May you live long and happily in the enjoyment

  in it."

  Sindbad then gave him a hundred sequins, and hence-forward counted

  him among his friends; also he caused hi
m to give up his profession

  as a porter, and to eat daily at his table that he might all his

  life remember Sindbad the Sailor.

  The Little Hunchback

  In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows,

  situated on the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago

  a tailor and his wife who loved each other very much. One day,

  when the tailor was hard at work, a little hunchback came and sat at

  the entrance of the shop, and began to sing and play his tambourine.

  The tailor was amused with the antics of the fellow, and thought

  he would take him home to divert his wife. The hunchback having

  agreed to his proposal, the tailor closed his shop and they set

  off together.

  When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper,

  and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful

  fish which the tailor's wife had cooked with her own hands.

  But unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone,

  and, in spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him,

  died of suffocation in an instant. Besides being very sorry for

  the poor man, the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on

  their own account, for if the police came to hear of it the worthy

  couple ran the risk of being thrown into prison for wilful murder.

  In order to prevent this dreadful calamity they both set about

  inventing some plan which would throw suspicion on some one else,

  and at last they made up their minds that they could do no better than

  select a Jewish doctor who lived close by as the author of the crime.

  So the tailor picked up the hunchback by his head while his wife

  took his feet and carried him to the doctor's house. Then they

  knocked at the door, which opened straight on to a steep staircase.