by Muhsin Mahdi
No sooner had the day dawned than he sat on his throne, and when Ja’far entered and kissed the ground before him, he said, “This is no time for dawdling. Go and bring me the two ladies, so that I may hear the story of the two bitches, and bring the dervishes with you,” yelling at him, “Hurry!” Ja’far withdrew and came back soon with the three girls and the three dervishes. Then placing the dervishes next to him and the girls behind a curtain, he said, “Women, we forgive you because of your generosity and kindness to us. If you do not know who is the one sitting before you, I shall introduce him. You are in the presence of the seventh of the sons of ‘Abbas, al-Rashid, son of al-Mahdi son of al-Hadi and brother of al-Saffah son of Mansur. Take courage, be frank, and tell the truth and nothing but the truth, and do not lie, for ‘you should be truthful even if the truth sends you to burning Hell.’ Explain to the caliph why you beat the two black bitches, why you weep after you beat them, and why they weep with you.”
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what a strange and amazing 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 SIXTY-THIRD NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that when the girl who was the mistress of the house heard what Ja’far said to her on behalf of the Commander of the Faithful, she said:
8. The phoenix, a mythological bird.
[The Tale of the First Lady, the Mistress of the House]
MY CASE IS so strange and my tale is so amazing that were it engraved with needles at the corner of the eye, it would be a lesson for those who wish to consider. The two black bitches are my sisters by the same mother and father. These two girls, the one whose body bears the marks of the rod and the other who is the shopper are sisters by another mother. When our father died and the inheritance was divided, the three of us lived with our mother, while the other two sisters lived with their own mother. After a while, our mother also died, leaving us three thousand dinars, which we divided equally among ourselves. Since I was the youngest of the three, my two sisters prepared their dowries and got married before me.
The husband of the eldest sister bought merchandise with his money and hers, and the two of them set out on their travels. They were absent for five years, during which time he threw away and wasted all her money. Then he deserted her, leaving her to wander alone in foreign lands, trying to find her way back home. After five years she returned to me, dressed like a beggar in tattered clothes and a dirty old cloak. She was in a most miserable plight. When I saw her, I was stunned, and I asked her, “Why are you in this condition?” She replied, “Words are useless, for ‘the pen has brought to pass that which had been decreed.’” O Commander of the Faithful, I took her at once to the bath, dressed her with new clothes, prepared for her some broth, and gave her some wine to drink. I took care of her for a month, and then I said to her, “Sister, you are the eldest, and you have now taken the place of our mother. You and I will share my wealth equally, for God has blessed my share of the inheritance, and I have made much money by spinning and producing silk.” I treated her with the utmost kindness, and she lived with me for a whole year, during which time our minds were on our other sister. Shortly she too came home in a worse plight than the first. I treated her just as I had treated the other, clothing her and taking care of her.
A little later, they said to me, “Sister, we would like to get married, for it is not fitting that we live without husbands.” I replied, “Sister, there is little good in marriage, for it is hard to find a good man. You got married, but nothing good came of it. Let us stay together and live by ourselves.” But, O Commander of the Faithful, they did not listen to my advice and married again without my consent. This time I was obliged to provide them with dowries from my own pocket. Soon their husbands betrayed them; they took what they could, cleared out, and left their wives behind. My two sisters came to me with apologies, saying, “Sister, although you are younger than the two of us in years, you are older in wisdom. We will never mention marriage again. Take us back, and we shall be your servants to earn our upkeep.” I replied, “Sisters, none is dearer to me than you.” I took them in and treated them even more generously than before. We spent the third year together, and all that time my wealth kept increasing, and my circumstances kept getting better and better.
One day, O Commander of the Faithful, I resolved to take my merchandise to Basra.9 I fitted a large ship and loaded it with merchandise, provisions, and other necessities. Then we set out, and for many days we sailed under a fair wind. Soon we discovered that we had strayed from our course, and for twenty days we were lost on the high seas. At the end of the twentieth day, the lookout man, climbing the masthead, cried out, “Good news!” Then he joyfully came down, saying, “I have seen what seems to be a city that looks like a fat pigeon.” We were happy, and in less than an hour our ship entered the harbor, and I disembarked to visit the city. When I came to the gate, I saw people standing there with staves in their hands, but as I drew nearer, I saw that they had been turned by a curse into stone. I went into the city and saw that all the people in their shops had been turned into stone. Not one of them breathed or gave a sign of life. I walked through the streets and found out that the entire city had been turned into hard stone. When I came to the upper end of the city, I saw a door plated with red gold, draped with a silk curtain, and hung with a lamp. Saying to myself, “By God, this is strange! Can it be that there are human beings here!” I entered through the door and found myself in a hall that led to another and then another, and as I kept going from hall to hall all alone, without meeting anyone, I became apprehensive. Then I entered the harem quarters and found myself in an apartment bearing the royal insignia and hung throughout with drapes of gold brocade. There I saw the queen, the king’s wife, wearing a dress decorated with opulent pearls, each as big as a hazelnut, and a crown studded with precious stones.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “Sister, what an 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 SIXTY-FOURTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O King, that the girl who was the mistress of the house said to the caliph:
O Commander of the Faithful, the queen wore a crown studded with all kinds of gems, and the apartment was spread with silk tapestries embroidered with gold. In the middle of the hall I saw an ivory bed plated with burnished gold, set with two bosses of green emeralds, and draped with a canopylike net strung with pearls. I saw something glitter, sending rays through the net, and when I approached and put my head in, I saw there, O Commander of the Faithful, set on a pedestal, a gem as big as an ostrich egg, with an incandescent glow and a brilliant light that dazzled the eyes. I also saw silk bedding and a silk coverlet, and beside the pillow, I saw two lighted candles. But there was nobody in the bed. I marveled at the sight, and astonished to find the gem and the two lighted candles, I said to myself, “Someone must have lighted these candles.” Then I proceeded to other rooms and came to the kitchen, then the wine cellar, then the king’s treasure chambers. I continued to explore the palace, going from room to room, absorbed in the wonderful sights and the amazing state of the city’s inhabitants, until I forgot myself and was surprised by the night. I searched for the gate of the castle, but I lost my way and could not find it, and for a long time I wandered in the dark without finding a place of refuge save the canopied bed with the candles. I lay down there, covered myself with the coverlet, and tried to go to sleep, but I could not.
At midnight I heard a sweet voice chanting the Quran. I rose, glad to hear someone, and followed the voice until I came to a chamber, whose door stood ajar. I peered through and saw what looked like a place of worship and recitation,
with a prayer niche lighted with hanging lamps and two candles. On a prayer carpet stood a section of the Quran set on a stand, and on the carpet sat a handsome young man reciting the Holy Book. I was amazed to find that this young man was the only one among the people of the city to have escaped the curse and thought that there was a mystery behind this. I opened the door and, entering the chamber, greeted him and said, “Blessed be God who has granted you to me, to be the cause of our deliverance and help our ship return to our native land. O holy man, by the Holy Book you are reciting, answer my question.” He looked at me with a smile and said, “O good woman, tell me first what caused you to come here, and I shall relate to you what happened to me and to the people of this city and why they were cursed while I was not.” I told him our story and how our ship had strayed for twenty days. Then I questioned him again about the city and its people, and he replied, “O sister, be patient, and I shall tell you.” Then he closed the Quran, put it aside, and seated me, O Commander of the Faithful …
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and Dinarzad said, “O sister, what a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “Sister, what is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE SIXTY-FIFTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
It is related, O happy King, that the girl who was the mistress of the house said to the caliph:
O Commander of the Faithful, the young man placed the Quran in the prayer niche and seated me by his side. When I looked at him, I saw a face as beautiful as the full moon, like the one of whom the poet said:
The stargazer one night charted the stars
And saw his fair form shining like a moon
Who vied in brilliance with the hiding sun
And left in darkness the bewildered moon.
It was a face on which the supreme God has bestowed the robe of beauty, which was embroidered with the grace of his perfect cheeks. He was like the one of whom the poet said:
By his enchanting eyelids and his slender waist,
By his beguiling eyes so keen, so fair,
By his sharp glances and his tender sides,
By his white forehead and his jet black hair,
By eyebrows that have robbed my eyes of sleep
And made me subject to their mighty will,
By lovely sidelocks that curl, coil, and charm
And all rejected lovers with their beauty kill,
By the soft myrtle of his rosy cheeks,
By his carnelian lips and mouth of pearls,
Which sends the fragrance of the honey breath,
And the sweet wine which in its sweetness purls,
By his graceful neck and his boughlike frame,
Which bears two pomegranates on the breast,
By his charming, tender, and slender waist,
And hips that quiver while they move or rest,
By his soft silky skin and charming touch
And all the beauty that his own does seem,
By his open hand and his truthful tongue,
And noble pedigree and high esteem,
By these I swear that his life-giving breath
Gives the musk being and perfumes the air,
That the sun pales before him and the moon
Is nothing but a paring of his nail; I swear.
O Commander of the Faithful, I looked at him and sighed, for he had captivated my heart. I said to him, “O my dear lord, tell me the story of your city.” He said, “O woman of God, this city is the capital of my father the king whom you must have seen turned into black stone inside this cursed palace, together with my mother the queen whom you found inside the net. They and all the people of the city were Magians1 who, instead of the Omnipotent Lord, worshiped the fire, to which they prayed and by which they swore. My father, who had been blessed with me late in life, reared me in affluence, and I grew and throve. It happened that there lived with us a very old woman who used to teach me the Quran, saying, ‘“You should worship none but the Almighty God,”’ and I learned the Quran without telling my father or the rest of my family. One day we heard a mighty voice proclaiming, ‘O people of this city, leave your fire worship and worship the Merciful God.’ But they refused to obey. A year later the voice cried out again and did the same the following year. Suddenly one morning the city turned into stone, and none was saved except myself. Here I sit now, as you see, to worship God, but I have grown weary of loneliness, for there is none to keep me company.”
I said to him (for he had captured my heart and mastered my life and soul), “Come with me to the city of Baghdad, for this girl standing before you is the head of her family, mistress over servants and slaves, and a businesswoman of considerable wealth, part of which is on the very ship that, after straying, now anchors outside your city, by the will of God who drove us here that I might meet you.” I continued to press him, O Commander of the Faithful, until he consented. I spent that night, hardly believing my fortune, asleep at his feet. When morning dawned, we rose and, taking from his father’s treasure chambers whatever was light in weight and great in worth, the two of us went from the castle to the city and found the captain, my sisters, and my servants looking for me. When they saw me, they were happy, and when I related to them the story of the young man and the city, they were amazed. But when my two sisters, these very bitches, saw the young man with me, they envied me, O Commander of the Faithful, and harbored ill feelings toward me. Then we went aboard, all of us feeling happy at our gain, most of all I, because of the young man, and sat waiting for the wind to blow before setting sail.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “O sister, what a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE SIXTY-SIXTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
It is related, O happy King, that the girl who was the mistress of the house said to the caliph:
O Commander of the Faithful, when the wind began to blow, we set sail, and, as we sat chatting, my sisters asked me, “Sister, what will you do with this young man?” I replied, “I will make him my husband.” Then I turned to him and said, “O my lord, I want you to follow my wish that when we reach Baghdad, our native city, I offer you myself in marriage as your maidservant, and we will be husband and wife.” The young man replied, “Yes, indeed, for you are my lady and my mistress, and I will obey you in everything.” Then I turned to my sisters and said, “Whatever goods we have brought are yours; my only reward is this young man; he is mine and I am his.” But my sisters turned green with envy over him and harbored ill feelings toward me. We sailed on under a fair wind until we entered the Sea of Safety and began to approach Basra. When night came, and the young man and I fell asleep, my two sisters, who had been waiting patiently, carried me with my bed and threw me into the sea. They did the same thing to the young man. He drowned, but I was saved; I wish that I had drowned with him. I was cast on a raised island, and when I came to myself and saw myself surrounded by water, I realized that my sisters had betrayed me, and I thanked God for my safety. Meantime, the ship sailed on like a flash of lightning, while I stood alone through the night.
When morning dawned, I saw a dry strip of land connecting the island to the shore. I crossed it; then I wrung out my clothes and spread them to dry in the sun. When they were dry, I ate some dates and drank some fresh water I had found there; then I proceeded to walk until there remained only two hours between me and the city. As I sat to rest, I suddenly saw a long serpent, as thick as the trunk of a palm tree, gliding sideways and sweeping the sand in her way, as she speeded toward me. When she drew near, I saw that she was being pursued by a long and slender serpent, as slender as a spear and as long as two. He had seized her by the tail, while she, with a tongue about ten inches long, rolling in the dust, and eyes streaming with tears, wriggled
right and left, trying to escape. Feeling pity for her, O Commander of the Faithful, I ran toward a big stone, picked it up, and calling on God for help, hit him with it and killed him. As soon as he rolled dead, the serpent opened a pair of wings, flew up, and disappeared from my sight.
Then I sat down to rest and dozed off, and when I awoke, I saw a black girl, together with two bitches, sitting at my feet, massaging them. Sitting up, I asked, “O friend, who are you?” She replied, “How soon you have forgotten me. I am she for whom you have done the good deed and sowed the seed of gratitude. I am the serpent who was in distress until it pleased you, with the help of the Almighty God, to kill my foe. In order to reward you, I hurried after the ship and carried to your house everything that belonged to you. Then I ordered my attendants to sink the ship, for I knew how you had been kind to your sisters all your life and how they had treated you, how out of envy over the young man, they threw you both into the sea and caused him to drown. Here they are, these two black bitches, and I swear by the Creator of the heavens that if you disobey my command, I will take you and imprison you under the earth.” Then the girl shook and, turning into a bird, picked up me and my two sisters and flew up with us until she set us down in my house, where I found all my property, which she had brought from the ship. Then she said to me, “I swear by ‘Him who made the two seas flow’—this is my second oath—that if you disobey my command, I will turn you into a bitch like them. I charge you to give them every night three hundred blows with the rod, as a punishment for what they did.” I replied, “I shall obey,” and she departed and left me. Since that time, I have been forced to punish them every night until they bleed. I feel very sorry for them, and, knowing that I am not to blame for their punishment, they forgive me. This is the cause of my beating them and crying with them, and this is my story and the end of my history.