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

by Penguin; Robert Irwin; Malcolm Lyons; Ursula Lyons

  I dyed what Time had dyed; mine did not last, although Time’s did.

  Those were the days I trailed the skirts of youth,

  And was enjoyed from behind and from in front.

  ‘How eloquent you are, old woman,’ I said. ‘How sincerely attached you are to what is sinful and how false in your claim to have repented of sin!’

  A story is told that ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir once inspected a slave girl named Mu’nis who was being offered for sale and who was an excellent and cultured poetess. He asked her name, which he knew already, and when she told him that it was Mu’nis, he looked down at the ground for a time and then, raising his head towards her, he recited:

  What have you to say to one emaciated by sickness

  For love of you, and reduced to bewilderment?

  ‘May God honour the emir,’ she said, and recited:

  When I see a lover injured

  By the disease of love, I show him favour.

  Prompted by admiration for her, he then bought her for seventy thousand dirhams and on her he fathered the distinguished ‘Ubaid Allah, the author of al-Ma’athir.

  ABU’L-‘AINA’ SAID:

  There were two women in our street, one of whom had a man as a lover while the second had a beardless boy. They met one night on the roof of one of their houses, which was near mine, without realizing that I was there. The boy’s lover said to the other: ‘How can you put up with the roughness of his beard, sister, when it falls against your breast as you kiss, and his moustache rubs against your lips and your cheeks?’ ‘You silly creature,’ said her companion, ‘isn’t a tree only adorned by its leaves, while a cucumber is decorated by its covering? Have you seen anything in the world uglier than a bald man whose beard has been plucked? Don’t you know that a beard for a man is what locks of hair are for a woman, and what is the difference between cheeks and beards? Don’t you know that Almighty God, praise be to Him, has created an angel in the heavens who cries out: “Glory be to Him, Who has adorned men with beards and women with locks of hair,” and if these were not alike in attractiveness they would not have been linked together. Foolish thing, how am I going to spread myself out under a boy, who will finish before me, and abandon a man, who leans towards me and holds me tightly, enters slowly, and when he has finished comes back for more? His movements are skilful and he comes back again and again.’ Her friend took her advice and said: ‘By the Lord of the Ka‘ba, I have forgotten about my lover.’

  A story is told that there was a wealthy merchant in Cairo named Hasan al-Jauhari al-Baghdadi, a man with huge resources of money, as well as innumerable jewels, precious stones and properties. God had provided him with a handsome son, well built, rosy-cheeked, a splendid youth, the acme of beauty. His father named him ‘Ali al-Misri and had him taught the Quran, scientific studies, eloquence and literature until he became outstandingly learned. It then happened that his father, under whose supervision his son had been working as a trader, fell ill and his condition worsened until he was sure that he was about to die. He summoned his son…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when he was so ill that he was sure of death, he summoned his son, ‘Ali al-Misri, and said: ‘My son, this world passes away but the next world remains. Every living creature must taste death, and as my own is near at hand, I want to give you some instructions. If you act on them, you will remain safe and happy until you meet Almighty God, while if you do not, you will accumulate troubles and have cause to regret not having followed them.’ ‘Ali said: ‘How could I possibly not listen to you and act as you tell me, when it is an obligation and a duty for me to hear and obey you?’

  Hasan then went on: ‘My son, I have left you properties, estates, goods and huge quantities of money, so much so that were you to spend five hundred dinars a day, it would not make a hole in the total. In return, you must show piety towards God and follow His chosen Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, by keeping to what tradition has recorded of his commands and prohibitions. Be assiduous in acting well, doing good and associating with the virtuous and the learned. You must look after the poor and needy and avoid stinginess, miserly conduct and associating with doubtful characters and evil men. Treat your servants and your family with kindness and do the same with your wife. She comes from a noble family and is pregnant with your child, and it may be that God will provide you, through her, with virtuous descendants.’

  Hasan continued to exhort his son, weeping and saying: ‘I pray to the generous God, Lord of the throne, the Omnipotent, to save you, my son, from any difficulty into which you may fall and provide you with a speedy release from troubles.’ ‘Ali for his part wept bitterly and said: ‘What you say dissolves me with grief because you seem to be saying goodbye.’ ‘Yes,’ said his father, ‘for I know the state I am in. Do not forget my instructions.’ Then he started to pronounce the confession of faith and to recite verses from the Quran, until, when he was at the point of death, he told his son to come near. When he did so, his father kissed him and gave a last sigh. Then his soul left his body and was received into the mercy of Almighty God.

  ‘Ali was stricken with grief and the house was filled with noisy wailing. Hasan’s friends gathered around him and ‘Ali prepared his body for burial, rendering the last honours to him. He had the bier carried out with all pomp to where prayers were said over him, and then on to the cemetery, where the appropriate passages of the Quran were recited as he was buried. The mourners then returned to his house and paid ‘Ali their condolences before going on their way. ‘Ali had the Friday ceremonies of mourning and the recitations of the entire Quran performed for forty days, during which he stayed at home, only going out in order to pray. On Fridays he would visit the grave and he continued praying, reciting the Quran and performing acts of devotion until his companions from among the other young merchants came to visit him. ‘How long are you going to go on mourning,’ they asked, ‘while you neglect your own affairs and your trade, as well as abandoning your friends? This is going on too long and doing an increasing amount of harm to your health.’ When they came to him, their associate was Iblis, the damned, who was whispering to them.

  They began to encourage ‘Ali to go off with them to the market, and again it was Iblis who tempted him to agree so that he left the house in their company…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the young merchants came to ‘Ali and began to encourage him to go off with them to the market. He agreed to do that, as had been decreed by Almighty God, glory be to Him. ‘Mount your mule,’ they told him, ‘and come with us to such-and-such an orchard, where we can enjoy ourselves and you can shed your cares and sorrows.’ So ‘Ali mounted his mule and, taking his slave with him, he set off with them to the orchard to which they were headed. When they arrived, one of them went to prepare a meal, which he brought there, and they ate happily and then sat talking until the end of the day, when they mounted and rode off, each to spend the night in his own house. The next morning they came back and told ‘Ali to come with them. ‘Where to?’ he asked, and they told him that they were going to another orchard, more attractive and more pleasant than the first one. ‘Ali went there with them, and on their arrival one of them went and prepared a meal, which he brought to the orchard, together with strong wine. They ate and then produced the wine, telling ‘Ali: ‘This is what removes care and burnishes pleasure.’ They kept on encouraging him to indulge until they overcame his scruples and he joined them in drinking. They stayed talking and drinking until the end of the day and then went home. ‘Ali, whose head was spinning because of what he had drunk, went to his wife’s room and when she saw him in this state she asked why he was so c
hanged. ‘We were enjoying ourselves today,’ he told her, ‘when one of our friends brought us something to drink. I drank with the others and felt giddy.’ His wife said: ‘Have you forgotten your father’s injunction and done what he told you not to do by associating with men of dubious reputation?’ ‘These aren’t doubtful characters,’ he told her, ‘but young merchants, men with comfortable fortunes.’

  He continued to go out with his friends day after day, visiting place after place, eating and drinking, until they said to him: ‘We have all done our turns and now it is yours.’ He agreed to this willingly and the next morning he produced the necessary food and drink in twice the quantity that the others had done and he took with him cooks, attendants and coffee-makers. They made their way to al-Rauda and the Nilometer and there they stayed for a whole month, eating, drinking, listening to music and enjoying themselves. At the end of the month ‘Ali discovered that he had spent a sizeable amount of money, but Iblis, the damned, deluded him, saying: ‘If you spent this much every day you would be no less wealthy.’ As a result he paid no attention to his expenditure and carried on in the same way for three years in spite of the advice of his wife, who kept reminding him of what his father had said.

  He paid no attention to her until he had used up all the ready cash that he had. Then he began to sell his jewels and spend what he got from them until this too was exhausted, after which he turned to his houses and property, until there was nothing of these left at all. Next came his estates and orchards, which he disposed of one after the other, and when these had gone he was left with nothing apart from the house in which he lived. He started to pull out its marble and its timbers, spending the money that these fetched until this too had gone, and then, when he was left with no source of spending money, he sold the house itself and spent what he got for it. Its purchaser told him to find somewhere else to live as he needed the house for himself. On thinking the matter over, ‘Ali decided that he had no need of a house except as a place for his wife, who had presented him with a son and a daughter. He had no servants left, and as there was only himself and his family he took a large room in a courtyard, and, after having been pampered in splendour with quantities of servants and wealth, he lived there, no longer having money enough for his daily bread. ‘This was what I used to warn you about,’ said his wife, ‘and I kept telling you to remember your father’s instructions, but you wouldn’t listen to me and there is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent. How are your little children going to be fed? Get up and go round your friends, the young merchants, and maybe they will give you something for today’s food.’

  So ‘Ali got up and went to his friends, one after the other, but they refused to see him, heaping painful insults on him and refusing to give him anything. He went back and told this to his wife, who went to her neighbours to beg…

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when ‘Ali came back to his wife empty-handed, she went to her neighbours to beg them to give her some food for that day. She went in to see a woman whom she had known in the old days and when she entered, the woman, seeing the state that she was in, welcomed her, shed tears and asked what had happened to her. So ‘Ali’s wife told her everything that her husband had done and the woman repeated her welcome and insisted that she come to her for all she needed, with no question of anything being asked in return. ‘Ali’s wife thanked her and was then given enough to see her and her family through an entire month. Taking this, she set off home and when ‘Ali saw her he wept and asked her where she had got it. ‘From So-and-So,’ she told him, ‘for when I let her know what had happened to us, she was generosity itself and told me to ask her for anything that we needed.’ ‘As you have this support,’ said her husband, ‘I can go off somewhere in the hope that Almighty God may grant us relief.’

  He took his leave of his wife, kissed his children and left without knowing where he was going, walking on until he came to Bulaq, where he saw a ship that was going to Damietta. A man who had been a friend of his father’s caught sight of him and greeted him, asking where he was off to. ‘Damietta,’ ‘Ali replied, adding: ‘I want to make enquiries about some friends of mine and visit them before coming back.’ The man took him home, entertained him and provided him with provisions as well as some cash before seeing him on board the ship. When it reached Damietta, ‘Ali disembarked and went off, still with no idea where he was going, but as he was walking a merchant saw him and, taking pity on him, took him to his house. ‘Ali stayed with this man for some time, but at last he asked himself how long he was going to continue sitting in other people’s houses. He went out and found a ship that was about to sail to Syria. His host gave him provisions and brought him on board, after which ‘Ali set off and eventually reached Damascus.

  As he was tramping the streets of Damascus he was seen by a virtuous man who brought him to his house, where he stayed for a time. Then, when he had gone out, he came across a caravan that was leaving for Baghdad. He went back to take his leave of the merchant with whom he had been staying and he then set off with the caravan. Almighty God, glory be to Him, inspired another merchant with pity for him, and ‘Ali continued to eat and drink with this man until the caravan was only a day’s journey from Baghdad. It was then attacked by highwaymen, who seized everything it was carrying, and each of the few who escaped made for some place of refuge. ‘Ali himself headed for Baghdad, which he reached at sunset, arriving as the gatekeepers were about to shut the gate. He called to them to let him in, which they did, and they then asked him where he was from and where he was going. ‘I’ve come from Cairo,’ he told them, ‘and I had with me merchants, laden mules, slaves and servants. I went on ahead of them to look for somewhere to store my goods, but as I did so and was riding on my mule, a band of highwaymen intercepted me. They took my mule and my goods and I was at my last gasp when I managed to escape from them.’

  The gatekeepers gave him a hospitable welcome and invited him to pass the night with them, saying that in the morning they would look out somewhere suitable for him. ‘Ali hunted in his pocket and found a dinar left over from the ones that he had been given by the merchant in Bulaq. He gave this to one of the gatekeepers and told him to take it and spend it on something for them to eat. The man went off to the market and used the money to buy bread and cooked meat, which they all ate together, after which ‘Ali spent the night with them. The next morning one of them took him off to a merchant in the city, to whom he told the story. The man believed it and, thinking ‘Ali to be a trader himself, coming with merchandise, he showed him his shop and treated him with respect. He then sent to his house for a splendid robe and took him to the baths.

  ‘ALI SAID:

  When we came out he took me back home, where he provided me with a meal, and after eating we relaxed. My host then told one of his slaves to take me off and show me two houses in such-and-such a quarter and to give me the key of whichever of them I preferred. The two of us set off and came to a street in which there were three new houses standing side by side. They were locked and the slave opened the first of them, which I looked around, and when we came out we went and inspected the second. ‘Which key do you want me to give you?’ the slave asked, but I said: ‘Whose is this big house?’ ‘Ours,’ he said, and so I told him to open it up for me to look at. ‘You don’t want to have anything to do with that one,’ the slave told me, and when I asked why, he told me that jinn lived there, adding: ‘Whoever spends the night in it is found dead next morning. We don’t open the door to bring out the corpse, but we have to go up to the roof of one of the other houses and fetch it out that way. This is why my master has left it empty, saying that he is not going to give it to anyone again.’ I told him to open it for me to inspect, saying to myself: ‘This is what I’ve been looking for. I shall spend the night here and by morning I shal
l be dead, having found relief from my present ills.’ The slave unlocked the door, and when I went in, I found that it was a place of incomparable splendour. ‘This is the one I choose,’ I said, ‘so give me the key.’ ‘Not before I have consulted my master,’ he replied.

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

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the slave refused to hand over the key before he had consulted his master. Then the slave went back to his master and told him: ‘The Egyptian merchant says that he will only live in the big house.’

  The owner came to ‘Ali and told him that he shouldn’t stay there, but ‘Ali insisted, saying that he wasn’t worried by the gossip. The owner told him to draw up a document stating that, were anything to happen to ‘Ali, the owner himself would not have any responsibility for it. ‘Ali agreed, and after a court witness had been summoned a document was written and kept by the owner, who then handed over the key to ‘Ali. He took it and went into the house, to which the owner sent a slave with bedding, which he spread out over a bench behind the door before going back.

  When ‘Ali went in, he saw a well in the courtyard of the house and over it was suspended a bucket. He lowered this into the well, filled it and used it to perform the ritual ablution, and after the obligatory prayer he sat down for a time. A slave then brought him his evening meal from the owner’s house, together with a lamp, a candle and a candlestick, as well as a bowl, a ewer and a jug, before leaving him and going home. ‘Ali lit the candle and ate his meal, after which he relaxed before performing the evening prayer. He then told himself: ‘Come on, take the bedding upstairs and sleep up there, as that will be better than sleeping here.’ So he did this, and upstairs he found a huge room with a gilded ceiling and a floor and walls of coloured marble.