by Muhsin Mahdi
She went out of the mausoleum, took a bowl, and, filling it with water, uttered a spell over it, and the water began to boil and bubble as in a caldron over fire. Then she sprinkled the young man with the water and said, “By the power of my spell, if the Creator has created you in this form, or if he has turned you into this form out of anger at you, stay as you are, but if you have been transformed by my magic and cunning, turn back to your normal form, by the will of God, Creator of the world.” The young man shook himself at once and stood up, erect and sound, and he rejoiced and thanked God for his deliverance. Then his wife said to him, “Get out of my sight and don’t ever come back, for if you do and I see you here, I shall kill you.” She yelled at him, and he went away.
Then she returned to the mausoleum and, descending to the tomb, called out, “My sweet lord, come out and let me see your handsome face.” The king replied in a muffled voice, “You have rid me of the limb, but failed to rid me of the body.” She asked, “My sweet lord, what do you mean by the body?” He replied, “Damn you, cursed woman, it is the inhabitants of this city and its four islands, for every night at midnight, the fish raise their heads from the lake to implore and invoke God against me, and this is why I do not recover. Go to them and deliver them at once; then come back to hold my hand and help me rise, for I am beginning to feel better already.” When she heard him, she rejoiced and replied joyfully, “Yes, my lord, yes, with God’s help, my sweetheart.” Then she rose, went to the lake, and took a little of its water.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “What an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and I live!”
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH NIGHT
The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “If you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:
It is related, O King, that the wife uttered some words over the lake, and the fish began to dance, and at that instant the spell was lifted, and the townspeople resumed their usual activities and returned to their buying and selling. Then she went back to the palace, entered the mausoleum, and said, “My lord, give me your gracious hand and rise.” The king replied in a muffled voice, “Come closer to me.” She moved closer, while he urged her “Come closer still,” and she moved until her body touched his. Then he pushed her back and with one stroke of the sword sliced her in half, and she fell in two to the ground.
Then the king went out and, finding the enchanted young man waiting for him, congratulated him on his deliverance, and the young man kissed his hand, thanked him, and invoked God’s blessing on him. Then the king asked him, “Do you wish stay here or come with me to my city?” The young man replied, “King of the age, and Lord of the world, do you know the distance between your city and mine?” The king replied, “It is a half-day journey.” The young man said, “O King, you are dreaming, for between your city and mine it is a full year’s journey. You reached us in half a day because the city was enchanted.” The king asked, “Still, do you wish to stay here in your city or come with me?” The young man replied, “O King, I shall not part from you, even for one moment.” The king was happy and said, “Thank God who has given you to me. You shall be a son to me, for I have never had one.” They embraced, holding each other closely, and felt happy. Then they walked together back to the palace, and when they entered the palace, the enchanted young king announced to the eminent men of his kingdom and to his retinue that he was going on a journey.
He spent ten days in preparation, packing what he needed, together with the gifts that the princes and merchants of the city had given him for his journey. Then he set out with the king, with his heart on fire to be leaving his city for a whole year. He left, with fifty Mamluks and many guides and servants, bearing one hundred loads of gifts, rarities, and treasures, as well as money. They journeyed on, evening and morning, night and day, for a whole year until God granted them safe passage and they reached their destination. Then the king sent someone to inform the vizier of his safe return, and the vizier came out with all the troops and most of the townspeople to meet him. Having given him up for lost, they were exceedingly happy, and the city was decorated and its streets were spread with silk carpets. The vizier and the soldiers dismounted and, kissing the ground before the king, congratulated him on his safety and invoked God’s blessing on him.
Then they entered the city, and the king sat on his throne and, meeting with the vizier, explained to him why he had been absent for an entire year. He told him the story of the young man and how he, the king, had dealt with the young man’s wife and saved him and the city, and the vizier turned to the young man and congratulated him on his deliverance. Then the princes, viziers, chamberlains, and deputies took their places, and the king bestowed on them robes of honor, gifts, and other favors. Then he sent for the fisherman, who was the cause of saving the young man and the city, and when the fisherman stood before the king, the king bestowed on him robes of honor, and then asked him, “Do you have any children?” The fisherman replied that he had one boy and two girls. The king had them brought before him, and he himself married one of the girls, while he married the other to the enchanted young man. Moreover, the king took the fisherman’s son into his service and made him one of his attendants. Then he conferred authority on the vizier, appointing him king of the city of the Black Islands, supplied him with provisions and fodder for the journey, and ordered the fifty Mamluks, who had come with them, as well as a host of other people, to go with him. He also sent with him many robes of honor and many fine gifts for all the princes and prominent men there. The vizier took his leave, kissed the king’s hand, and departed. The king, the enchanted young man, and the fisherman lived peacefully thereafter, and the fisherman became one of the richest men of his time, with daughters married to kings.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “What an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH NIGHT
The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:
8. I.e., if a master calligrapher could by a miracle of his art write the entire story at the corner of an eye, it would then be read as a double miracle, one for the extraordinary events, one for the extraordinary art.
9. Legendary mountain cited for its remoteness.
1. Zoroastrian priests. Zoroastrianism is the religion of ancient Persia, based on the recognition of the dual principle of good and evil or light and darkness.
2. Literally “single” a verse form.
[The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies]
I HEARD, O happy King, that once there lived in the city of Baghdad3 a bachelor who worked as a porter. One day he was standing in the market, leaning on his basket, when a woman approached him. She wore a Mosul4 cloak, a silk veil, a fine kerchief embroidered with gold, and a pair of leggings tied with fluttering laces. When she lifted her veil, she revealed a pair of beautiful dark eyes graced with long lashes and a tender expression, like those celebrated by the poets. Then with a soft voice and a sweet tone, she said to him, “Porter, take your basket and follow me.” Hardly believing his ears, the porter took his basket and hurried behind her, saying, “O lucky day, O happy day.” She walked before him until she stopped at the door of a house, and when she knocked, an old Christian came down, received a dinar from her and handed her an olive green jug of wine. She placed the jug in the basket and said, “Porter, take your basket and follow me.” Saying, “Very well, O auspicious day, O lucky day, O happy day,” the porter lifted the basket and followed her until she stopped at the fruit vendor’s, wh
ere she bought yellow and red apples, Hebron peaches and Turkish quinces, and seacoast lemons and royal oranges, as well as baby cucumbers. She also bought Aleppo jasmine and Damascus lilies, myrtle berries and mignonettes, daisies and gillyflowers, lilies of the valley and irises, narcissus and daffodils, violets and anemones, as well as pomegranate blossoms. She placed everything in the porter’s basket and asked him to follow her.
Then she stopped at the butcher’s and said, “Cut me off ten pounds of fresh mutton.” She paid him, and he cut off the pieces she desired, wrapped them, and handed them to her. She placed them in the basket, together with some charcoal, and said, “Porter, take your basket and follow me.” The porter, wondering at all these purchases, placed his basket on his head and followed her until she came to the grocer’s, where she bought whatever she needed of condiments, such as olives of all kinds, pitted, salted, and pickled, tarragon, cream cheese, Syrian cheese, and sweet as well as sour pickles. She placed the container in the basket and said, “Porter, take your basket and follow me.” The porter carried his basket and followed her until she came to the dry grocer’s, where she bought all sorts of dry fruits and nuts: Aleppo raisins, Iraqi sugar canes, pressed Ba’albak figs, roasted chick-peas, as well as shelled pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts. She placed everything in the porter’s basket, turned to him, and said, “Porter take your basket and follow me.”
The porter carried the basket and followed her until she came to the confectioner’s, where she bought a whole tray full of every kind of pastry and sweet in the shop, such as sour barley rolls, sweet rolls, date rolls, Cairo rolls, Turkish rolls, and open-worked Balkan rolls, as well as cookies, stuffed and musk-scented kataifs, amber combs, ladyfingers, widows’ bread, Kadi’s tidbits, eat-and-thanks, and almond pudding. When she placed the tray in the basket, the porter said, to her, “Mistress, if you had let me know, I would have brought with me a nag or a camel to carryall these purchases.” She smiled and walked ahead until she came to the druggist’s, where she bought ten bottles of scented waters, lilywater, rosewater scented with musk, and the like, as well as ambergris, musk, aloewood, and rosemary. She also bought two loaves of sugar and candles and torches. Then she put everything in the basket, turned to the porter, and said, “Porter, take your basket and follow me.” The porter carried the basket and walked behind her until she came to a spacious courtyard facing a tall, stately mansion with massive pillars and a double door inlaid with ivory and shining gold. The girl stopped at the door and knocked gently.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister said, “Sister, what a lovely and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live! May God grant him long life.”
THE TWENTY-NINTH NIGHT
The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “I hear and obey”:
I heard, O wise and happy King, that as the porter stood with the basket, at the door, behind the girl, marveling at her beauty, her charm, and her elegant, eloquent, and liberal ways, the door was unlocked, and the two leaves swung open. The porter, looking to see who opened the door, saw a full-bosomed girl, about five feet tall. She was all charm, beauty, and perfect grace, with a forehead like the new moon, eyes like those of a deer or wild heifer, eyebrows like the crescent in the month of Sha’ban,5 cheeks like red anemones, mouth like the seal of Solomon, lips like red carnelian, teeth like a row of pearls set in coral, neck like a cake for a king, bosom like a fountain, breasts like a pair of big pomegranates resembling a rabbit with uplifted ears, and belly with a navel like a cup that holds a pound of benzoin ointment. She was like her of whom the poet aptly said:
On stately sun and full moon cast your sight;
Savor the flowers and lavender’s delight.
Your eyes have never seen such white in black,
Such radiant face with hair so deeply dark.
With rosy cheeks, Beauty proclaimed her name,
To those who had not yet received her fame.
Her swaying heavy hips I joyed to see,
But her sweet, slender waist brought tears to me.
When the porter saw her, he lost his senses and his wits, and the basket nearly fell from his head, as he exclaimed, “Never in my life have I seen a more blessed day than this!” Then the girl who had opened the door said to the girl who had done the shopping, “Sister, what are you waiting for? Come in and relieve this poor man of his heavy burden.” The shopper and the porter went in, and the doorkeeper locked the door and followed them until they came to a spacious, well-appointed, and splendid hall. It had arched compartments and niches with carved woodwork; it had a booth hung with drapes; and it had closets and cupboards covered with curtains. In the middle stood a large pool full of water, with a fountain in the center, and at the far end stood a couch of black juniper wood, covered with white silk and set with gems and pearls, with a canopylike mosquito net of red silk, fastened with pearls as big as hazelnuts or bigger. The curtain was unfastened, and a dazzling girl emerged, with genial charm, wise mien, and features as radiant as the moon, She had an elegant figure, the scent of ambergris, sugared lips, Babylonian eyes, with eyebrows as arched as a pair of bent bows, and a face whose radiance put the shining sun to shame, for she was like a great star soaring in the heavens, or a dome of gold, or an unveiled bride, or a splendid fish swimming in a fountain, or a morsel of luscious fat in a bowl of milk soup. She was like her of whom the poet said:
Her smile reveals twin rows of pearls
Or white daisies or pearly hail.
Her forelock like the night unfurls;
Before her light the sun is pale.
The third girl rose from the couch and strutted slowly until she joined her sisters in the middle of the hall, saying, “Why are you standing? Lift the load off this poor man,” The doorkeeper stood in front of the porter, and the shopper stood behind him, and with the help of the third girl, they lifted the basket down and emptied its contents, stacking up the fruits and pickles on one side and the flowers and fresh herbs on the other. When everything was arranged, they gave the porter one dinar and said …
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “What an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “If I am alive tomorrow night, I shall tell you something stranger and more amazing than this.”
THE THIRTIETH NIGHT
The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, tell us the rest of the story of the three girls.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:
I heard, O King, that when the porter saw how charming and beautiful the girls were and saw how much they had stacked of wine, meat, fruits, nuts, sweets, fresh herbs, candles, charcoal, and the like for drinking and carousing, without seeing any man around, he was very astonished and stood there, hesitant to leave. One of the girls asked him, “Why don’t you go? Do you find your pay too little?” and, turning to her sister, said, “Give him another dinar.” The porter replied, “By God, ladies, my pay is not little, for I deserve not even two dirhams, but I have been wondering about your situation and the absence of anyone to entertain you. For as a table needs four legs to stand on, you being three, likewise need a fourth, for the pleasure of men is not complete without women, and the pleasure of women is not complete without men. The poet says:
For our delight four things we need, the lute,
The harp, the zither, and the double flute,
Blending with the scent of four lovely flowers,
Roses, myrtles, anemones, and gillyflowers.
Only in four such things join together,
Money, and wine, and youth, and a lover.
You are three and you need a fourth, a man.” His words pleased the girls, who laughed and said, “How can we manage that
, being girls who keep our business to ourselves, for we fear to entrust our secrets where they may not be kept. We have read in some book what ibn al-Tammam6 has said:
Your own secret to none reveal;
It will be lost when it is told.
If your own breast cannot conceal,
How can another better hold?”
When the porter heard their words, he replied, “Trust me; I am a sensible and wise man. I have studied the sciences and attained knowledge; I have read and learned, and presented my knowledge and cited my authorities. I reveal the good and conceal the bad, and I am well-behaved. I am like the man of whom the poet said:
Only the faithful does a secret keep;
None but the best can hold it unrevealed.
I keep a secret in a well-shut house
Of which the key is lost and the lock sealed.”
When the girls heard what he said, they replied, “You know very well that this table has cost us a lot and that we have spent a great deal of money to get all these provisions. Do you have anything to pay in return for the entertainment? For we shall not let you stay unless we see your share; otherwise you will drink and enjoy yourself with us at our expense.” The mistress of the house said, “‘Without gain, love is not worth a grain.’” The doorkeeper added, “Have you got anything, my dear? If you are emptyhanded, go emptyhanded.” But the shopper said, “Sisters, stop teasing him, for by God, he served me well today; no one else would have been as patient with me. Whatever his share will come to, I shall pay for him myself.” The porter, overjoyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked her, saying, “By God, it was you who brought me my first business today and I still have the dinar you gave me; take it back and take me, not as a companion but as a servant.” The girls replied, “You are very welcome to join us.”
Then the shopper, girding herself, began to arrange this and that. She first tidied up, strained the wine, stacked up the flasks, and arranged the bowls, goblets, cups, decanters, plates, and serving spoons, as well as various utensils in silver and gold. Having prepared all the requisites, she set the table by the pool and laid it with all kinds of food and drink. Then she invited them to the banquet and sat down to serve. Her sisters joined her, as did the porter, who thought that he was in a dream. She filled the first cup and drank it, filled the second and offered it to one of her sisters, who drank it, filled a third and gave it to the other sister to drink, and filled a fourth and gave it to the porter, who held it in his hand and, saluting with a bow, thanked her and recited the following verses: