Arabian Nights

by Richard Burton

  The vizier walked up to him and lifted his head out of the cesspool hole, and the hunchback ran out of the privy for dear life and did not bother to check whether the sun had risen or not. Indeed, he headed straight for the sultan and told him everything that had happened to him. In the meantime, the vizier returned to the door of the bride’s private chamber, very worried about her, and he said to her, “Daughter, explain this strange matter to me!”

  “It’s simple,” she answered. “The bridegroom to whom they displayed me last night lay with me all night and took my virginity, so that now I am with child by him. He is my husband, and if you don’t believe me, his turban, dagger, and trousers are beneath the bed along with something wrapped up in them.”

  When her father heard this, he entered the private chamber and found the turban which had been left there by Badar al-Din Hasan, and he took it in his hand, turned it over, and said, “This is the turban worn by viziers. The only difference is that it’s made of Mosul material.” So he opened it, and, finding what seemed to be an amulet sewn up in the fez, he unsewed the lining and took it out. Then he lifted up the trousers that contained the purse of the thousand gold pieces. After opening the purse, he found the written receipt of the Jew made out to Badar al-Din Hasan, son of Nur al-Din, the Egyptian, and the thousand dinars were also there. No sooner had Shams al-Din read this than he uttered a loud cry and fell to the ground in a faint. As soon as he revived and understood the gist of the matter, he was astonished and said, “This must be the will of Allah the Almighty! Do you want to know, daughter, who it was who took your virginity?”

  “Yes, of course,” she replied.

  “Truly, it was your cousin, the son of my brother, and this thousand dinars is your dowry. Praise be to Allah! If only I knew how all this has come about!” Then he opened the amulet that had been sewn in the lining of the turban and found a piece of paper in the handwriting of his deceased brother. When he saw the handwriting, he kissed it again and again, and he wept over his dead brother. Then he read the scroll and discovered the recorded dates of his brother’s marriage with the daughter of the vizier of Bassorah, the night that he took her virginity, and the birth of Badar al-Din Hasan, and all his brother’s doings up to the day of his death. He was greatly astounded by all this and shook with joy. Then he compared the dates with his own marriage, the taking of his wife’s virginity, and the birth of their daughter, Sitt al-Husan, and he found that they matched perfectly with those of his brothers. Then he took the document, went with it to the sultan, and told him everything that had happened from first to last. Indeed, the sultan was so impressed by the wondrous events that he ordered them to be recorded at once.

  Now the vizier stayed with his daughter expecting his brother’s son to return, but he did not appear. So the vizier waited a second day, a third, and so on until the seventh day, but there was no news of him. So he said, “By Allah, I’m going to do something that’s never been done before!” And he took pen and ink and drew a plan of the whole house on a sheet of paper. He showed the whereabouts of the private chamber with the curtain in such a place and the furniture in another and so on until he had noted everything that was in the room. Then he folded up the sketch and ordered all the furniture to be collected along with Badar al-Din’s garments, the turban, robe, and purse. Afterward he had everything taken to his house, where he locked them up with a padlock on which he set his seal. Finally he declared that the lock was not to be opened until his nephew, Badar al-Din Hasan, returned.

  After nine months passed, the vizier’s daughter gave birth to a son as radiant as the full moon, the image of his father in beauty, loveliness, shape, and grace. Once the umbilical cord was cut and his eyelids penciled with charcoal to strengthen his eyes, they named him Ajib the Wonderful and gave him to the nurses and governesses. His early years passed rapidly, and when he became seven, his grandfather sent him to school and ordered the master to teach him the Koran and to educate him well. He remained at the school four years until he began to bully his schoolmates and abuse them.

  “Who among you is like me?” he cried. “I’m the son of the vizier of Egypt!”

  Finally, the other boys went to the assistant master to complain about how harshly Ajib had been treating them, and he said to them, “I’ll tell you something you can do to him so that he’ll stop coming to school. When he enters tomorrow, sit down around him, and one of you is to say to the other, ‘By Allah, nobody is allowed to play this game unless he tells us the names of his mama and his papa, for he who doesn’t know the names of his mother and father is a bastard, a son of adultery, and he won’t be permitted to play with us.”

  When morning dawned, the boys went to school, and they flocked around Ajib and said, “Let’s play a game, and no one can join unless he tells us the name of his mother and father.” And everyone agreed. Then one of them cried out, “My name’s Majid, and my mommy’s name is Alawiyah, and my daddy’s Izz al-Din.” Another spoke up, followed by a third, until it was Ajib’s turn, and he said, “My name’s Ajib, and my mother’s is Sitt al-Husan, and my father’s Shams al-Din, the vizier of Cairo.”

  “By Allah,” they cried out, “the vizier’s not your true father!”

  “Yes, the vizier is my father!” Ajib responded.

  Then the boys all laughed and clapped their hands at him and cried out, “He doesn’t know who his papa is! Get away from us! Nobody can play our game unless he knows his father’s name.”

  Thereupon, they ran around him, laughed at him, and derided him. So he became choked up with tears, and his feelings were hurt. Then the assistant master said to him, “We know that the vizier is your grandfather, the father of your mother, Sitt al-Husan, and not your father. But neither you nor we know your father, for the sultan married your mother to the hunchbacked horse groom. Supposedly a jinnee came and slept with her, but nobody knows your father for sure. So stop bragging about yourself and mocking the little ones at the school until you know whether you have a legal father. Until then you’ll pass among them as a child of adultery. Even a huckster’s son knows his own father, but you only know your grandfather and not your father. So, be sensible and don’t brag or exaggerate anymore!”

  When Ajib heard these insulting words from the assistant master and the schoolboys and understood their reproach, he left the school at once and ran to his mother. But he was crying so bitterly that his tears prevented him from speaking for a while. When she heard his sobs and saw his tears, her heart felt as though it were on fire for him, and she said, “My son, why are you weeping? May Allah keep the tears from your eyes. Tell me what has happened to you.”

  So he told her all that he had heard from the boys and the assistant master and ended by asking, “And who is my father?”

  “Your father is the vizier of Egypt,” she replied.

  “Don’t lie to me!” he answered. “The vizier is your father, not mine! Who’s my father? If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll kill myself with this dagger.”

  When his mother heard him speak about his father, she recalled her cousin, the bridal night, and all that happened then, and she wept. Then she wailed and shrieked loudly, and her son did the same. All at once the vizier came in, and he was extremely upset by the way they were lamenting.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked.

  So the Lady of Beauty told him what had happened between her son and his schoolmates, and he also began to weep, since he recalled what had occurred between him and his brother and what had happened to his daughter and how he had failed to solve the mystery of her giving birth to Ajib. Then he got up and went straight to the sultan and told his tale, after which he asked his permission to travel to Bassorah and inquire about his brother’s son. In addition, he requested that the sultan write him letters, authorizing him to take Badar al-Din into his custody, no matter where he might be. And he wept before the king, who took pity on him and wrote royal letters to his deputies in different cities and countries. So now the vizier rejoiced
and prayed that Allah might help him. After taking leave of his sovereign, the vizier returned to his house, where he equipped himself, his daughter, and grandson Ajib with all the necessary things for a long journey. Then they set out and traveled three days until they arrived at Damascus, where the vizier set up camp on the open space called Al-Hasa. After pitching the tents, he said to his servants, “We’ll stop here for two days.”

  So his servants went into town on several occasions to sell and buy this and that. They also went to the Hammam bath and visited the cathedral mosque of the Banu Umayyah, the Ommiades, which has nothing like it in the world. Ajib also went with his attendant eunuch to enjoy the city, and the servant followed with a staff of almond wood so heavy that if he struck a camel with it the beast would never rise again. When the people of Damascus saw Ajib’s handsome features and perfect grace (for he was a marvel of comeliness and loveliness, softer than the cool breeze of the north, sweeter than the fresh water that the thirsty man drinks, and more pleasant than the good health that everyone desires), many followed him, while others ran on before him and sat alongside the road until he came by so that they could gaze at him. Then, as destiny had decreed, the eunuch stopped opposite the shop of Ajib’s father, Badar al-Din Hasan, whose beard had grown long and thick and who had matured during the twelve years that had passed. During that time the cook had died, and Hasan of Bassorah had inherited his goods and shop, for he had been formally adopted before the kazi and witnesses. Now, when his son and the eunuch happened to stop near his shop, he gazed at Ajib with a throbbing heart and was drawn to him through blood and natural affection. Since he had just finished making a conserve of pomegranate grains with sugar, he called to his son, Ajib, and said, “My lord, you’ve overwhelmed my heart, and I would feel honored if you would grace my house and ease my soul by joining me in a repast of meat.”

  Then his eyes streamed with tears that he could not prevent, for he thought about all that he had gone through and all that he had become. When Ajib heard his father’s words, his heart also yearned to be with him, and he looked at the eunuch and said, “To tell the truth, my good guard, my heart goes out to this cook. He is like one that has a son far away from him. So let us enter and warm his heart by accepting his hospitality. Perhaps, if we do so, Allah may reunite me with my father.”

  When the eunuch heard these words, he cried, “By Allah, what a thing to do! Shall the sons of viziers be seen eating in a common cook’s shop? Indeed, I’ve kept the folk off you with my staff so they won’t even dare look at you. And now I won’t permit you to enter this shop at all.”

  When Hasan of Bassorah heard this speech, he was astounded and turned to the eunuch with tears pouring down his cheeks, and Ajib said, “Truly, my heart loves him!”

  But the eunuch responded, “Stop this talk! I won’t let you go in.”

  Thereupon, Hasan turned to the eunuch and said, “Worthy sir, why won’t you warm my soul by entering my shop? Oh, you who are like a chestnut, dark but inside white of heart! Discreet and polite, angels would vie for your service.”

  The eunuch was pleased by these words, and so he took Ajib by the hand and went into the cook’s shop. Then Hasan offered them saucers with pomegranate grains wonderfully coated with almonds and sugar and said, “You have honored me with your company. Please eat, and may you have good health and happiness!”

  In response, Ajib said to his father, “Sit down and eat with us so that Allah might perhaps unite us with the man we long for.”

  “My son,” said Hasan, “have you suffered the loss of a loved one in your tender years?”

  “Indeed, I have,” answered Ajib. “My heart burns for the loss of a beloved who is none other than my father. This is why I and my grandfather have gone out to search the world for him. It’s such a pity that we haven’t found him, for I long to meet him!” Then he wept a great deal, and his father also wept upon seeing him weep and also on account of his own bereavement, for he recalled his long separation from his mother and dear friends. And the eunuch was moved to compassion. Then they ate together until they were satisfied, and Ajib and the slave rose and left the shop. Immediately Hasan felt as though his soul had left his body and had gone with them, even though he did not know that Ajib was his son. Since he did not want to lose sight of the boy, he locked up his shop and hurried after them. And he walked so fast that he caught up with them before they had gone through the west gate. Now the eunuch turned toward him and said, “What’s the matter with you?”

  “When you left me,” Badar al-Din replied, “it seemed as though my soul had gone with you, and since I had some business outside the city gate, I thought I might keep you company until I took care of my affairs.”

  The eunuch was angry and said to Ajib, “This is just what I had feared! We ate that unlucky mouthful (which we are bound to respect), and now this fellow is following us from place to place, for the vulgar can do nothing but vulgar things.”

  Upon seeing the cook behind them, Ajib’s face reddened with anger, and he said to the servant, “Let him walk the highway of the Moslems, but when we turn off to go to our tents and he’s still following us, we’ll send him packing!” Then he bowed his head and moved on with the eunuch walking behind him. But Hasan was not daunted, and he followed them to the plain Al-Hasa, and as they drew near, Ajib became very angry, fearing that the eunuch might tell his grandfather what had happened. His indignation was particularly great because his grandfather might learn that the cook had followed them after they had entered the cook’s shop. So he turned and looked at Hasan of Bassorah and found his eyes fixed on his own, for the father had become a body without a soul, and it seemed to Ajib that his eyes were treacherous or that he was some lewd fellow. So his rage increased and, stooping down, he picked up a stone weighing half a pound and threw it at his father. It struck him on the forehead, cutting it open from eyebrow to eyebrow and causing the blood to stream down. Then Hasan fell to the ground in a swoon while Ajib and the eunuch made for the tents. When Hasan came to himself, he wiped away the blood, tore off a strip from his turban, and bandaged his head. Then he began reprimanding himself and said, “I shouldn’t have shut my shop and followed the boy! It wasn’t right. Now he probably thinks that I’m some evil-minded fellow.”

  Then he returned to his place, where he opened up the shop and proceeded to sell his sweetmeats as usual. However, he yearned to see his mother in Bassorah and wept when he thought about her. In the meantime, the vizier stayed in Damascus three days and then traveled to Emesa, making inquiries about Hasan along the way. From there he journeyed to Bassorah by way of Hamah, Aleppo, Diyar Bakr, Maridin, and Mosul. As soon as he secured lodgings there, he presented himself to the sultan, who treated him with high honor and respect due to his rank. When the sultan asked him the reason for his coming to Bassorah, the vizier told him all about his past and that the minister Nur al-Din was his brother. Upon hearing this, the sultan exclaimed, “May Allah have mercy on him!” Then he added, “My good sahib, he was my vizier for fifteen years, and I loved him very much. Then he died leaving a son who dwelled here for only one month after his father’s death. Since that time, he’s disappeared, and nobody has had any news of him. But his mother, who is the daughter of my former minister, is still with us.”

  When Shams al-Din heard that his nephew’s mother was alive and well, he rejoiced and said, “Oh king, I would very much like to meet her.”

  The sultan gave him permission right away to visit her, and so he went to the mansion of his brother, Nur al-Din, where he cast sorrowful glances at all the things in and around it and kissed the threshold. Then he began weeping as he thought about his brother and how he had died in a strange land far away from kith and kin and friends. As he passed through the gate into a courtyard, he found a vaulted doorway built of hardest syenite with an inlay of different kinds of multicolored marble. After walking though this doorway, he wandered about the house and saw the name of his brother, Nur al-Din, written in gold upon
the walls. So he went up to the inscription and kissed it and wept while thinking of how he had been separated from his brother and how he had now lost him forever. Then he walked on until he came to the apartment of the mother of Badar al-Din.

  From the time of her son Badar al-Din’s disappearance, his mother had never stopped weeping for him. And when the years grew long and lonely, she had a tomb of marble built in the middle of the salon, and she used to weep for him day and night and always slept close by. When the vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her voice and stood behind the door while she addressed the sepulcher. As she was talking, he entered and greeted her. Then he informed her that he was her husband’s brother and told her the entire story of what had happened between them. In addition, he related to her how her son Badar al-Din Hasan had spent a whole night with his daughter ten years ago but had disappeared in the morning, and he ended by saying, “My daughter gave birth to a boy through your son, and your grandson is with me.”

  When she heard the news that her boy Badar al-Din was still alive, and when she saw her brother-in-law, she arose and threw herself at his feet and kissed them. Then the vizier sent for Ajib, and his grandmother stood up, embraced him, and wept. But Shams al-Din said, “This is no time for weeping. This is the time to get you ready for a journey to Eygpt. Let us hope that Allah will reunite you and me with your son and my nephew.”

  “As you wish,” she said and immediately began to gather together her baggage, jewels, equipment, and slave girls for the trip while the vizier went to take his leave from the sultan of Bassorah, who requested that he carry presents and rare items from him to the sultan of Egypt. Then he set out at once on the homeward journey and came to Damascus, where he stayed at the same place. After pitching tents, he said to his company, “We’ll stay here one week to buy presents and rare things for the sultan.”