The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 2

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  I went to the sharif’s house, and when I entered the room I saw the cupboard that the monkey had described. When I found myself alone with my bride, I was astonished and delighted by her indescribable beauty and grace, together with the symmetry of her form. At midnight, when she was asleep, I got up and, after taking the keys, I opened the cupboard. I took the knife, killed the cock, threw down the flags and overturned the chest. My bride woke up and when she saw that the chest had been opened and the cock killed, she exclaimed: ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the Most High, the Omnipotent! The marid has got me.’ Before she had finished speaking the marid had swooped on the house and carried her off. In the commotion that followed the sharif came in, striking his own face. ‘What have you done to us, Abu Muhammad,’ he exclaimed, ‘and is this how you repay us? I made this talisman in the cupboard as I was afraid for my daughter because of this damned marid, who has been trying unsuccessfully to take her for six years. There is no place left for you here so go on your way.’ I left the sharif’s house and, after returning to my own, I looked for the monkey but failed to find him or, indeed, any trace of him, and so I realized that he was the marid who had taken my bride and had tricked me into destroying the talisman and the cock which had stood in his way.

  In my regret I tore my clothes and struck my own face. Nowhere could I find ease, so I left immediately, making for the desert, and walked on until evening, too preoccupied to notice where I was going. Then, suddenly, two snakes came towards me, one dark and the other white. They were fighting each other and I picked up a rock from the ground and used it to kill the dark one, which had been the aggressor. The white snake went out of sight for a while, and then came back with ten other white snakes. They approached the dead snake and tore it into bits, leaving nothing but its head, after which they went away. I was so tired that I lay down where I was, and while I was lying there, thinking over what had happened to me, I heard a voice, although I could see no one there. The voice was reciting these lines:

  Leave the fates to move unchecked, and pass the night free from care;

  In the blink of an eye God changes one state to another.

  When I heard that, Commander of the Faithful, I was very worried and concerned. Then, from behind me, I heard more lines being recited:

  Muslim, guided by the Quran, be glad,

  For you have reached safety.

  Have no fear of the seductions of the devil;

  We are a people who follow true belief.

  I said: ‘I conjure you, by the truth of the God whom you worship, to tell me who you are.’ The disembodied voice then took human shape and said: ‘Have no fear. We know about your good deed and we belong to the jinn who believe in the Prophet. If there is anything that you need, tell us and we will carry it out.’ ‘I do have a great need,’ I replied, ‘as I have suffered a great misfortune whose like has probably not afflicted anyone else.’ ‘Are you perhaps Abu Muhammad the sluggard?’ the newcomer asked, and when I said that I was, he said: ‘Abu Muhammad, I am the brother of the white snake whose enemy you killed. We are four full brothers, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude for the service you did us. You must know that it was a marid of the jinn who took the shape of a monkey and played this trick on you, for otherwise he would never have been able to take the girl. He had loved her for a long time and had wanted to carry her off, but the talisman prevented him, and had it remained he would not have been able to reach her. But don’t distress yourself over this, for we will bring you to your bride and kill the marid, and the good deed you did us will not go unrewarded.’ He then gave a great and terrible cry…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that ABU MUHAMMAD WENT ON:

  The ‘ifrit said: ‘The good deed you did us will not go unrewarded.’ He then gave a great and terrible cry after which he was joined by a group of jinn, whom he asked about the monkey. ‘I know where he lives,’ said one of them, and on being asked where this was, he told us: ‘In the City of Brass, over which the sun never rises.’

  The leader told me: ‘Take one of our slaves and he will carry you on his back and teach you how to recover your bride. But you must know that he is a marid and so while he is carrying you don’t mention the Name of God, or else he will flee from you and you will fall to your death.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ I said, and I picked one of the slaves of the jinn, who bent down and told me to mount. When I had done that, he flew up into the air with me until I had lost sight of the earth. The stars appeared as firmly rooted mountains, and I could hear the heavenly angels glorifying God. All this while, the marid was talking to me, distracting me and diverting me from any mention of Almighty God. Then, while I was being carried, a figure wearing green robes, with flowing locks of hair and a gleaming face, approached me, carrying a lance in his hand, from which flew sparks of fire. ‘Abu Muhammad,’ he ordered me, ‘recite: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Prophet of God,” or else I shall strike you with this lance.’ I was already in a state of distress from having been forced to keep silent and not pronounce the Name of Almighty God, so I recited the confession of faith. The lance carrier then struck the marid with his lance and he dissolved into ashes, leaving me to fall from his back down again to earth. I landed in a rough sea with clashing waves, but a ship with a five-man crew saw me, came up and carried me on board.

  The sailors started to talk to me in an unknown language and I had to make signs to them to show them that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They sailed on until evening, when they cast a net and caught a fish, which they grilled and with which they fed me. The voyage continued until they reached their city, where they brought me to stand before their king. After I had kissed the ground, the king, who knew Arabic, presented me with a robe of honour and told me: ‘I appoint you as one of my assistants.’ I asked him the name of the city and he told me that it was a Chinese city named Hanad. He then handed me over to the vizier with instructions to show me the city. In early times its inhabitants had been unbelievers, but Almighty God had transformed them into stones. I enjoyed inspecting it and I had never seen a place with more trees and fruits.

  After I had been there a month, I went to a river and sat down by the bank. While I was sitting there, a rider came up and asked if I was Abu Muhammad the sluggard. When I said that I was, he said: ‘Have no fear; word of your good deed has reached us.’ I asked him who he was and he said: ‘I am the brother of the snake, and the girl whom you want to reach is close at hand.’ He then took off his clothes and dressed me in them, repeating: ‘Have no fear,’ and adding: ‘The marid who was killed while carrying you was one of our slaves.’ Next he took me up behind him and rode with me to a desert, where he told me to dismount. ‘Go on between these two mountains,’ he said, ‘until you see the City of Brass. Stop at a distance from it and don’t enter until I come back to you and tell you what to do.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ I said.

  I got down from behind the rider and walked on until I got to the city. Its wall, I could see, was of brass, and I started to walk around it in the hopes of finding a gate, but I couldn’t discover one. While I was circling around it, the snake’s brother suddenly came up to me; he gave me a talismanic sword that would keep people from seeing me, and then went off on his way. He had not been gone long before there was a loud cry and I saw a large number of creatures whose eyes were in their chests. On catching sight of me, they asked me who I was and what had brought me there. I explained things to them and they said: ‘The girl you mentioned is with the marid in the city here, but we don’t know what he has done with her. We ourselves are brothers of the snake.’ They went on: ‘Go to that spring there; see where the water enters it and go into its channel, as this will bring you into the city.’ I did that and the channel took me to a subterranean vault from which I came out to find myself in the ce
ntre of the city. There I discovered my bride seated on a golden throne draped with brocade, while around the throne was a garden with golden trees, whose fruits were precious stones such as sapphires, chrysolites, pearls and corals.

  When she saw me, she recognized me and was the first to greet me. ‘Master,’ she said, ‘who has brought you here?’ When I told her what had happened, she said: ‘You must know that this damned marid is so deeply in love with me that he has told me what can hurt him and what will help him. In the city is a talisman with which, if he wanted, he could kill everyone in the city and by means of which he can force the ‘ifrits to obey any order that he gives. The talisman is on a pillar.’ I asked her where the pillar was and she described the spot. Then I asked her what it was and she said: ‘It is a carved eagle with writing on it that I cannot read. Take it in your hands, fetch a brazier and throw in some musk. The smoke that it gives out will attract the ‘ifrits, so that when you have done that every single one of them will present himself before you. They will obey your orders and do anything at all that you tell them. So get up and do that with the blessing of Almighty God.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ I said.

  I then went off to that pillar and carried out all her instructions, as a result of which the ‘ifrits assembled in front of me saying: ‘Here we are, master; we shall do whatever you tell us.’ ‘Bind the marid who brought this girl from her home,’ I told them and obediently they went to him, tied him tightly and brought him back to me. ‘We have done what you told us,’ they said, and then, on my instructions, they went off, while I myself went back to my bride, told her what had happened and asked her if she would come with me. ‘Yes,’ she said, and so I took her out through the subterranean vault by which I had found my way in, and we made our way on until we came to the creatures who had guided me to her.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that ABU MUHAMMAD SAID:

  We made our way on until we came to the creatures who had guided me to her. I asked them to show me how to get home, which they did. They went with me to the seashore and put me on a ship, which, with favourable winds, took us to the city of Basra, and there my bride went to her father’s house, where her family were overjoyed to see her. I myself burned musk as incense for the eagle talisman and the ‘ifrits came to me from all sides, saying: ‘Here we are, master. What do you want us to do?’ I told them to fetch all the wealth, precious stones and jewels that were in the City of Brass and to bring them to my house in Basra. When they had done that, I asked them to bring me the monkey, who was humble and dejected when they fetched him. ‘Why did you deceive me, you damned creature?’ I asked him, and then on my orders the ‘ifrits put him in a narrow brass bottle with a stopper of lead.

  I and my wife have been living in happiness and joy and I now have treasures, wonderful jewels and quantities of wealth beyond all count or limit. If you want money or anything else, I will give my orders to the ‘ifrits, who will fetch it for you immediately. All that comes about through the grace of Almighty God.

  The Commander of the Faithful was filled with wonder at this and he presented Muhammad with princely gifts and appropriate benefits in exchange for what Muhammad had brought him.

  A story is also told that in the days before Harun al-Rashid grew jealous of the Barmecides, he summoned one of his officers, a man named Salih. When Salih came, Harun told him to go to Mansur and to say to him: ‘You owe me a million dirhams and you must bring me this sum immediately.’ Harun added to Salih: ‘If he does not produce it for you before sunset, cut off his head and bring it to me.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ said Salih, and he went to Mansur and told him what the caliph had said. ‘I am a dead man,’ said Mansur. ‘If I sold my goods and everything that I own at the highest possible price, that would not fetch more than a hundred thousand dirhams, so where am I going to get the remaining nine hundred thousand?’ Salih replied: ‘Think of some way to save yourself, but be quick or else you are dead. I cannot let you have a moment more than the time that the caliph has specified, as I have to obey his orders to the letter. Hurry to find some way out of this, before time runs out.’ ‘Salih,’ replied Mansur, ‘I ask you to please take me home so that I may say goodbye to my children and my family and give my instructions to my relatives.’ SALIH SAID:

  I went back to his house with him, and when he started to take his leave of his family there was a great outcry throughout the house, with loud weeping, shrieks and cries for help from Almighty God. I told him: ‘It has occurred to me that God might save you through the help of the Barmecides, so come with me to the house of Yahya ibn Khalid.’ We went to him and when I told him about Mansur’s dilemma he was filled with sorrow. He looked down at the ground for a while and then he raised his head and summoned his treasurer. ‘How much is there in your treasury?’ he asked, and on being told that there were five thousand dirhams, Yahya told the man to bring them to him. He then sent a messenger to his son al-Fadl with a note to say: ‘I have been offered for sale some splendid estates that will never lose their value, so send me some money.’ Al-Fadl sent him a million dirhams, after which he sent another man to his son Ja‘far with a message to say that he was involved in some important business and needed money. Ja‘far immediately sent him a million dirhams, and he continued sending requests to other members of his family until he had collected from them a huge sum of money for Mansur, although neither I nor Mansur knew of this.

  Mansur said to Yahya: ‘I cling to the skirts of your robe as I don’t know where to get this money except from you, this being your habitual generosity. Pay off the remainder of my debt and make me your freed slave.’ Yahya bent his head and wept. Then he told his page: ‘The Commander of the Faithful gave my slave girl Dananir a jewel of great price. Go to her and tell her to send it to me.’ The page went and brought it, after which Yahya told Mansur: ‘I bought this from the merchants for the Commander of the Faithful. I paid two hundred thousand dinars for it and he then gave it to my slave girl Dananir, the lute player. When he sees it with you, he will recognize it and treat you generously and spare your life for our sake and to do us honour. You now have the full sum.’

  I took the money and the jewel to al-Rashid. Mansur went with me and while we were on our way, I heard him quoting this verse:

  It was not out of affection that I went to them,

  But for fear of being shot with arrows.

  I was amazed by his evil nature, his wickedness and depravity and the vileness of his origins and his birth. I said in answer to him: ‘There are no better people on the face of the earth than the Barmecides and no one fouler or more base than you. They have ransomed you from death and saved you from destruction, conferring a favour on you by freeing you from this, and, far from showing gratitude and praising them like a man of nobility, you reward their generosity by saying this.’ I then went to al-Rashid and told him the whole story…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that Salih said: ‘I then went to al-Rashid and told him the whole story. He was astonished by Yahya’s generosity, liberality and chivalrous nature as well as by the baseness and wickedness of Mansur. He ordered the jewel to be returned to Yahya, saying: “I cannot take back any gift that I have given.” ’

  Salih went back to Yahya and told him how badly Mansur had behaved, but he said to him: ‘Salih, when a man is short of money, distressed and preoccupied, he cannot be blamed for what he says, as this does not come from his heart.’ He went on trying to find an excuse for Mansur until Salih wept and said: ‘The celestial sphere as it revolves cannot bring into existence another man like you. How sad it is that a man with a generous nature like yours should be buried beneath the ground.’ Then he recited these lines:

  Has
ten to do whatever good deed occurs to you

  For generosity is not always possible.

  How many a man has held back from a generous action

  He could have done, and then has been restrained by poverty.

  A story is also told that there was a secret feud between Yahya ibn Khalid and ‘Abd Allah ibn Malik al-Khuza‘i, which they kept hidden. The reason for this was that Harun al-Rashid, the Commander of the Faithful, was so fond of ‘Abd Allah that Yahya ibn Khalid and his sons used to say that ‘Abd Allah had bewitched him. After the two men had long nursed hatred in their hearts, it happened that al-Rashid sent ‘Abd Allah off to be governor of Armenia. When he had settled on the provincial throne, he was approached by an Iraqi, a cultured man of shrewd intelligence but of limited resources, whose money was gone and whose circumstances had declined. This man had travelled to visit him in Armenia with a forged letter purporting to have been sent to him by Yahya ibn Khalid. When he arrived at the palace door, he gave the letter to one of the chamberlains, who took it and passed it to ‘Abd Allah. ‘Abd Allah opened it, read it and studied it carefully. Realizing that it was a forgery, he sent for the Iraqi, who, on coming before him, blessed and praised him and his court. ‘Abd Allah asked him: ‘What prompted you to take this trouble to come to me with a forged letter? Don’t be distressed, however, for I shall see that your efforts do not go unrewarded.’ The Iraqi replied: ‘If my arrival is unwelcome, there is no need for you to think of a pretext to keep me away. God’s earth is wide and He, the Provider, lives for ever. The letter that I have brought you from Yahya ibn Khalid is genuine and not a forgery.’ ‘Abd Allah said: ‘I shall write to my agent in Baghdad and tell him to make enquiries about it. If it is really genuine and not forged, I shall appoint you as an emir over part of my territories, or else, if you prefer a gift, I shall give you two hundred thousand dirhams, together with horses, fine camels and a robe of honour. If, on the other hand, it is a forgery, I shall condemn you to two hundred lashes and have your beard shaved off.’