The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition)

by Muhsin Mahdi

  It is related, O King, that when the caliph, together with Ja’far and Masrur, entered and sat down, the girls turned to them and said, “You are welcome, and we are delighted to have you as our guests, but on one condition?” They asked, “What is your condition?” The girls replied, “That you will be eyes without tongues and will not inquire about whatever you see. You will ‘speak not of what concerns you not, lest you hear what pleases you not.’” They replied, “Yes, as you wish, for we have no need to meddle.” Pleased with them, the girls sat to entertain them, drinking and conversing with them. The caliph was astonished to see three dervishes, all blind in the right eye, and he was especially astonished to see girls with such beauty, charm, eloquence, and generosity, in such a lovely place, with a music band consisting of three one-eyed dervishes. But he felt that at that moment he could not ask any questions. They continued to converse and drink, and then the dervishes rose, bowed, and played another round of music; then they sat down and passed the cup around.

  When the wine had taken hold, the mistress of the house rose, bowed, and, taking the shopper by the hand, said, “Sister, let us do our duty.” Both sisters replied, “Very well.” The doorkeeper got up, cleared the table, got rid of the peels and shells, replenished the incense, and cleared the middle of the hall. Then she made the dervishes sit on a sofa at one side of the hall and seated the caliph, Ja’far, and Masrur on another sofa at the other side of the hall. Then she shouted at the porter, saying, “You are very lazy. Get up and lend us a hand, for you are a member of the household.” The porter got up and, girding himself, asked, “What is up?” She replied, “Stand where you are.” Then the shopper placed a chair in the middle of the hall, opened a cupboard, and said to the porter, “Come and help me.” When the porter approached, he saw two black female hounds with chains around their necks. He took them and led them to the middle of the hall. Saying, “It is time to perform our duty,” the mistress of the house came forward, rolled up her sleeves, took a braided whip, and called to the porter, “Bring me one of the bitches.” The porter dragged one of the bitches by the chain and brought her forward, while she wept and shook her head at the girl. As the porter stood holding the chain, the girl came down on the bitch with hard blows on the sides, while the bitch howled and wept. The girl kept beating the bitch until her arm got weary. Then she stopped, threw the whip away, and, taking the chain from the porter, embraced the bitch and began to cry. The bitch too began to cry, and the two cried together for a long time. Then the girl wiped the bitch’s tears with her handkerchief, kissed her on the head, and said to the porter, “Take her back to her place, and bring me the other.” The porter took the bitch to the cupboard and brought the other bitch to the girl, who did to her as she had done to the first, beating her until she fainted. Then she took the bitch, cried with her, kissed her on the head, and asked the porter to take her back to her sister, and he took her back. When those who were present saw what happened, how the girl beat the bitch until the bitch fainted, and how she cried with the bitch and kissed her on the head, they were completely amazed and began to speak under their breath. The caliph himself felt troubled and lost all patience as he burned with curiosity to know the story of these two bitches. He winked to Ja’far, but Ja’far, turning to him, said with a sign, “This is not the time to inquire.”

  O happy King, when the girl finished punishing the two bitches, the doorkeeper said to her, “My lady, go and sit on your couch, so that I in turn may fulfill my desire.” Saying, “Very well,” the girl went to the far end of the hall and seated herself on the couch, with the caliph, Ja’far, and Masrur seated in a row to her right and the dervishes and the porter, to her left, and although the lamps glowed, the candles burned, and the incense filled the place, these men were depressed and felt that their evening was spoiled. Then the doorkeeper sat on the chair.

  But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “Sister, what an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I live!”

  THE THIRTY-FIFTH NIGHT

  The following night, Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “Very well”:

  I heard, O happy King, that the doorkeeper sat on the chair and said to her sister the shopper, “Get up and pay me my due.” The shopper rose, entered a chamber, and soon brought back a bag of yellow satin with two green silk tassels ornamented with red gold and two beads of pure ambergris. She sat in front of the doorkeeper, drew a lute out of the bag, and with its side resting on her knee, held it in her lap. Then she tuned the lute and, plucking the strings with her fingertips, began to play and sing the following verses of the Kan wa Kan variety:1

  My love, you are my aim,

  And you are my desire.

  Your company is constant joy,

  Your absence, hellish fire.

  You are the madness of my life,

  My one infatuation,

  A love in which there is no shame,

  A blameless adoration.

  The shirt of agony I wore

  Revealed my secret passion,

  Betrayed my agitated heart

  And left me in confusion.

  My tears to all declared my love,

  As o’er my cheeks they flowed,

  My treacherous tears betrayed me

  And all my secrets showed.

  O, cure me from my dire disease;

  You are the sickness and the cure,

  But he whose remedy you are

  Will suffer evermore.

  Your brilliant eyes have wasted me,

  Your jet-black hair has me in thrall,

  Your rosy cheeks have vanquished me

  And told my tale to all.

  My hardship is my martyrdom,

  The sword of love, my death.

  How often have the best of men

  This way ended their breath?

  I will not cease from loving you,

  Nor unlock what is sealed.

  Love is my law and remedy,

  Whether hid or revealed.

  Blessed my eyes that gazed on you,

  O treasured revelation;

  Which has left me confused, alone,

  In helpless adoration.

  When the girl finished the poem, her sister let out a loud cry and moaned, “Oh, oh, oh!” Then she grabbed her dress by the collar and tore it down to the hem, baring her entire body, and fell down in a swoon. When the caliph looked at her, he saw that her whole body, from her head to her toe, bore the marks of the whip, which left it black and blue. Seeing the girl’s condition and not knowing the cause, he and his companions were troubled, and he said to Ja’far, “By God, I will not wait a moment until I get to the bottom of this and ask for an explanation for what has happened, the flogging of the girl, the whipping of the two bitches, then the crying and the kissing.” Ja’far replied, “My lord, this is not the time to ask for an explanation, especially since they have imposed on us the condition that we speak not of what concerns us not, for ‘he who speaks of what concerns him not hears what pleases him not.’”

  Then the shopper rose and, entering the chamber, came out with a fine dress that she put on her sister, replacing the one her sister had torn, and sat down. The sister said to the shopper, “For God’s sake, give me some more to drink,” and the shopper took the cup, filled it, and handed it to her. Then the shopper held the lute in her lap, improvised a number of measures, and sang the following verses:

  If I bemoan your absence, what will you say?

  If I pine with longing, what is the way?

  If I dispatch someone to tell my tale,

  The lover’s complaint no one can convey.

  If I with patience try to bear my pain,

  After the loss of love, I can’t endure the blow.

  Nothing remains but longing and
regret

  And tears that over the cheeks profusely flow.

  You, who have long been absent from my eyes,

  Will in my loving heart forever stay.

  Was it you who have taught me how to love,

  And from the pledge of love never to stray?

  When the sister finished her song, the girl cried out, “Oh, oh, oh!” and, overcome by passion, again grabbed her dress by the collar and tore it to the hem. Then she shrieked and fell down in a swoon. Again the shopper entered the chamber and came out with a dress even better than the first. Then she sprinkled her sister’s face with rosewater, and when her sister came to herself, she put the dress on her. Then the sister said, “For God’s sake, sister, pay me and finish off, for there remains only this one song.” “With the greatest pleasure,” replied the shopper, and she took the lute and began to play and sing the following verses:

  How long shall I endure this cruel disdain?

  Have I not paid enough with tears of woe?

  For how long suffer your willful neglect,

  As if it were a vengeful, envious foe?

  Be kind! Your cruel ways inflict a cruel pain,

  Master, ’tis time to me you pity show.

  O gentlemen, avenge this thrall of love,

  Who neither sleep nor patience does now know.

  Is it the law of love that one my love enjoys,

  While I alone do emptyhanded go?

  My lord, let him my unjust tyrant be;

  Many the toils and trials I undergo.

  When she finished her song …

  But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “Tomorrow night I shall tell you something stranger, more amazing, and more entertaining if the king spares me and lets me live!”

  THE THIRTY-SIXTH NIGHT

  The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, tell us the rest of the girls’ story.” Shahrazad said:

  It is related, O King, that when the girl heard the third song, she cried out, “By God, this is good.” Then she grabbed her dress and tore it, and, as she fell down in a swoon, she revealed on her chest marks like welts from a whip. The dervishes muttered. “We wish that we had never entered this house, but had rather spent the night on the rubbish mounds outside the city, for our visit has been spoiled by such heartrending sights.” The caliph turned to them and asked, “How so?” and they replied, “O distinguished gentleman, our minds are troubled by this matter.” The caliph asked, “But you are members of the household; perhaps you can explain to me the story of these two black bitches and this girl.” They replied, “By God, we know nothing and we have never laid eyes on this place until tonight.” Surprised, the caliph said, “Then this man who sits beside you should know the explanation.” They winked at the porter, questioning him, but he replied, “By the Almighty God, ‘In love all are alike,’ for even though I have been raised in Baghdad, never in my life have I entered this house until today. I did spend an amazing day with them. Still, I kept wondering that they were all women without men.” They said to him, “By God, we took you to be one of them, but now we find that you are in the same predicament as we are.”

  Then the caliph said, “Adding Ja’far and Masrur, we are seven men, and they are only three women, without even a single man. Let us ask them for an explanation; if they don’t answer by choice, they will answer by force.” They agreed to proceed with this plan, but Ja’far said, “This is not right; let them be, for we are their guests and, as you know, they made a condition that we promised to keep. It is better to keep silent about this matter, for little remains of the night, and soon each of us will go his own way.” Then he winked at the caliph and whispered to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, be patient for this one last hour of the night, and tomorrow morning I will come back and bring them before you to tell us their story.” But the caliph yelled at him, saying, “Damn it, I can no longer wait for an explanation. Let the dervishes question them.” Ja’far replied, “This is not a good idea.” Then they talked at length and disputed as to who should first put the question, and at last all agreed on the porter.

  When the girls heard their clamor, one of them asked, “Men, what is the matter?” The porter approached her and said, “My lady, these men express the wish that you acquaint them with the story of the two black bitches and why you punish them and then weep over them, and they wish to know the story of your sister and how it was that she got flogged with the whip, like a man. That is all; that is what they want to know.” Turning to them, the girl asked, “Is it true what he says about you?” They all replied, “Yes,” except Ja’far, who remained silent. When the girl heard their reply, she said, “O guests, you have wronged us. Have we not told you of our condition, that ‘he who speaks of what concerns him not will hear what pleases him not’? We took you into our home and fed you with our food, but after all this you meddled and did us wrong. Yet the fault is not so much yours as hers who let you in and brought you to us.” Then she rolled up her sleeves and struck the floor three times, crying out, “Come at once,” and a door opened and out came seven black men, with drawn swords in their hands. Then with the palm of the sword, each man dealt one of the men a blow that threw him on his face to the ground, and in no time they had the seven guests tied by the hands and bound each to each. Then they led them in a single file to the center of the hall, and each black man stood with his sword drawn above the head of his man. Then they said to the girl, “O most honorable and most virtuous lady, permit us to strike off their heads.” She replied, “Wait a while until I question them, before you strike off their heads.” The porter cried, “God protect me. O lady, slay me not for another’s sin. All these men have sinned and offended, except me. By God, we had a delightful day. If only we could have escaped these one-eyed dervishes, whose entrance into any city blights it, destroys it, and lays it waste!” Then he began to weep and recite the following verses:

  Fair is the forgiveness of mighty men,

  And fairest when to weakest men ’tis shown.

  Break off not the first friendship for the last,

  By the bond of the love that has between us grown.

  The girl, despite her anger, laughed, and, coming up to the group, said, “Tell me who you are, for you have only one hour to live. Were you not men of rank or eminent among your people or powerful rulers, you would not have dared to offend us.” The caliph said to Ja’far, “Damn it, tell her who we are, lest we be slain by mistake.” Ja’far replied, “This is part of what we deserve.” The caliph yelled at him, saying, “This is no time for your witticisms.” Then the lady approached the dervishes and asked, “Are you brothers?” They replied, “No, by God, mistress, we are not, nor are we mendicants.” Then she asked one of them, “Were you born blind in one eye?” and he replied, “No, by God my lady. It was an amazing event and a strange mischance that caused me to lose my eye, shave off my beard, and become a dervish. Mine is a tale that, if it were engraved with needles at the corner of the eye, would be a warning to those who wish to consider.” Then she questioned the second dervish, and he said the same, and questioned the third, and again he replied like the other two. Then they added, “By God, lady, each one of us comes from a different city, and each one of us is the son of a king, a prince sovereign over land and people.” The girl turned to the black men and said, “Whoever tells us his tale and explains what has happened to him and what has brought him to our place, let him stroke his head and go,2 but whoever refuses, strike off his head.”

  But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I stay alive!”

  THE THIRTY-SEVENTH NIGHT

  The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely
little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

  I heard, O King, that after the girl spoke, the first to come forth was the porter, who said, “Mistress, you know that the reason I came to this place was that I was hired as a porter by this shopper, who led me from the vintner to the butcher, and from the butcher to the greengrocer, and from the greengrocer to the fruit vendor, and from the fruit vendor to the dry grocer, then to the confectioner, to the druggist, and finally to this house. This is my tale.” The girl replied, “Stroke your head and go.” But he replied, “By God, I will not go until I hear the tales of the others.”

  Then the first dervish came forward and said:

  3. Then and now capital of Iraq, at that time capital of the Abbasid caliphate and its empire, situated on the Tigris River. It is the scene of several of the stories of the Nights.

  4. Then and now an important city in northern Iraq.

  5. The eighth month of the lunar Muslim year.

  6. Actually Abu-Tamman, an Arab poet of the ninth century, and author of the Hamasa.

  7. Members of a Muslim order of mendicant monks, vowed to a life of poverty.

  8. Harun al-Rashid was the fifth Abbasid caliph, who ruled from A.D. 786 to 809; his rule is considered to be the golden age of the Arab empire, and his court in Baghdad is idealized in the Nights. Ja’far al-Barmaki was Harun al-Rashid’s vizier and frequent companion, to whose family Harun delegated the administrative duties of the empire until, grown suspicious of their rising power, he had Ja’far and virtually the entire clan exterminated.

  9. A black eunuch who was Harun al-Rashid’s executioner and bodyguard.

  1. A verse form in quatrains, which originated in Baghdad. At first the subject matter consisted of narratives that began with the word “kan,” meaning “once upon a time”; later the form included love lyrics and maxims.

  2. I.e., stroke your head in satisfaction, or in appreciation that you still have it, and go.