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Title: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of
10)

Translator: Sir Richard Francis Burton

Release date: February 20, 2016 [eBook #51252]
Most recently updated: May 21, 2025

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF
THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT — VOLUME 01 (OF 10) ***

"TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE."

(Puris omnia para)

—Arab Proverb.

"Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole."

—"Decameron"—conclusion.
"Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum
Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget."

—Martial.
"Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre,
Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes."

—Rabelais.
"The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories
makes us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these
truly enchanting fictions."
—Crichton's "History of Arabia."

PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN
NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. NOW ENTITULED

THE BOOK OF THE
Thousand Nights and a Night

WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES
ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MOSLEM
MEN AND A TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE
HISTORY OF T H E N I G H T S

VOLUME I.

BY
RICHARD F. BURTON

PRINTED BY THE BURTON CLUB FOR PRIVATE
SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Shammar Edition

Limited to one thousand numbered sets, of which this is

Number 547

Printed in U. S. A.

Inscribed to the Memory

OF

MY LAMENTED FRIEND

John Frederick Steinhaeuser,

(CIVIL SURGEON, ADEN)

WHO

A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO

ASSISTED ME IN THIS TRANSLATION.

THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.

This work, laborious as it may appear, has been to me a labour of love, an
unfailing source of solace and satisfaction. During my long years of official
banishment to the luxuriant and deadly deserts of Western Africa, and to the
dull and dreary half-clearings of South America, it proved itself a charm, a
talisman against ennui and despondency. Impossible even to open the pages
without a vision starting into view; without drawing a picture from the
pinacothek of the brain; without reviving a host of memories and
reminiscences which are not the common property of travellers, however
widely they may have travelled. From my dull and commonplace and
"respectable" surroundings, the Jinn bore me at once to the land of my
predilection, Arabia, a region so familiar to my mind that even at first sight,
it seemed a reminiscence of some by-gone metempsychic life in the distant
Past. Again I stood under the diaphanous skies, in air glorious as æther,
whose every breath raises men's spirits like sparkling wine. Once more I
saw the evening star hanging like a solitaire from the pure front of the
western firmament; and the after-glow transfiguring and transforming, as by
magic, the homely and rugged features of the scene into a fairy-land lit with
a light which never shines on other soils or seas. Then would appear the
woollen tents, low and black, of the true Badawin, mere dots in the
boundless waste of lion-tawny clays and gazelle-brown gravels, and the
camp-fire dotting like a glow-worm the village centre. Presently, sweetened
by distance, would be heard the wild weird song of lads and lasses, driving
or rather pelting, through the gloaming their sheep and goats; and the
measured chant of the spearsmen gravely stalking behind their charge, the
camels; mingled with the bleating of the flocks and the bellowing of the
humpy herds; while the rere-mouse flitted overhead with his tiny shriek,
and the rave of the jackal resounded through deepening glooms, and—most
musical of music—the palm-trees answered the whispers of the night-
breeze with the softest tones of falling water.

And then a shift of scene. The Shaykhs and "white-beards" of the tribe
gravely take their places, sitting with outspread skirts like hillocks on the
plain, as the Arabs say, around the camp-fire, whilst I reward their
hospitality and secure its continuance by reading or reciting a few pages of
their favourite tales. The women and children stand motionless as
silhouettes outside the ring; and all are breathless with attention; they seem
to drink in the words with eyes and mouths as well as with ears. The most
fantastic flights of fancy, the wildest improbabilities, the most impossible of
impossibilities, appear to them utterly natural, mere matters of every-day
occurrence. They enter thoroughly into each phase of feeling touched upon
by the author: they take a personal pride in the chivalrous nature and
knightly prowess of Taj al-Mulúk; they are touched with tenderness by the
self-sacrificing love of Azízah; their mouths water as they hear of heaps of
untold gold given away in largesse like clay; they chuckle with delight
every time a Kázi or a Fakír—a judge or a reverend—is scurvily entreated
by some Pantagruelist of the Wilderness; and, despite their normal
solemnity and impassibility, all roar with laughter, sometimes rolling upon
the ground till the reader's gravity is sorely tried, at the tales of the
garrulous Barber and of Ali and the Kurdish Sharper. To this magnetising
mood the sole exception is when a Badawi of superior accomplishments,
who sometimes says his prayers, ejaculates a startling "Astaghfaru'llah"—I
pray Allah's pardon!—for listening, not to Carlyle's "downright lies," but to
light mention of the sex whose name is never heard amongst the nobility of
the Desert.
Nor was it only in Arabia that the immortal Nights did me such notable
service: I found the wildlings of Somali-land equally amenable to its
discipline; no one was deaf to the charm and the two women-cooks of my
caravan, on its way to Harar, were incontinently dubbed by my men
"Shahrazad" and "Dinazad."
It may be permitted me also to note that this translation is a natural outcome
of my Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah. Arriving at Aden in the (so-
called) winter of 1852, I put up with my old and dear friend, Steinhaeuser,
to whose memory this volume is inscribed; and, when talking over Arabia
and the Arabs, we at once came to the same conclusion that, while the name
of this wondrous treasury of Moslem folk-lore is familiar to almost every
English child, no general reader is aware of the valuables it contains, nor

indeed will the door open to any but Arabists. Before parting we agreed to
"collaborate" and produce a full, complete, unvarnished, uncastrated copy
of the great original, my friend taking the prose and I the metrical part; and
we corresponded upon the subject for years. But whilst I was in the Brazil,
Steinhaeuser died suddenly of apoplexy at Berne in Switzerland and, after
the fashion of Anglo-India, his valuable MSS. left at Aden were dispersed,
and very little of his labours came into my hands.
Thus I was left alone to my work, which progressed fitfully amid a host of
obstructions. At length, in the spring of 1879, the tedious process of
copying began and the book commenced to take finished form. But, during
the winter of 1881-82, I saw in the literary journals a notice of a new
version by Mr. John Payne, well known to scholars for his prowess in
English verse, especially for his translation of "The Poems of Master
Francis Villon, of Paris." Being then engaged on an expedition to the Gold
Coast (for gold), which seemed likely to cover some months, I wrote to the
"Athenæum" (Nov. 13, 1881) and to Mr. Payne, who was wholly
unconscious that we were engaged on the same work, and freely offered
him precedence and possession of the field till no longer wanted. He
accepted my offer as frankly, and his priority entailed another delay lasting
till the spring of 1885. These details will partly account for the lateness of
my appearing, but there is yet another cause. Professional ambition
suggested that literary labours, unpopular with the vulgar and the half-
educated, are not likely to help a man up the ladder of promotion. But
common sense presently suggested to me that, professionally speaking, I
was not a success; and, at the same time, that I had no cause to be ashamed
of my failure. In our day, when we live under a despotism of the lower
"middle-class" Philister who can pardon anything but superiority, the prizes
of competitive services are monopolised by certain "pets" of the
Médiocratie, and prime favourites of that jealous and potent majority—the
Mediocrities who know "no nonsense about merit." It is hard for an outsider
to realise how perfect is the monopoly of commonplace, and to comprehend
how fatal a stumbling-stone that man sets in the way of his own
advancement who dares to think for himself, or who knows more or who
does more than the mob of gentlemen-employés who know very little and
who do even less.

Yet, however behindhand I may be, there is still ample room and verge for
an English version of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments."
Our century of translations, popular and vernacular, from (Professor
Antoine) Galland's delightful abbreviation and adaptation (A.D. 1704), in
no wise represent the eastern original. The best and latest, the Rev. Mr.
Foster's, which is diffuse and verbose, and Mr. G. Moir Bussey's, which is a
re-correction, abound in gallicisms of style and idiom; and one and all
degrade a chef-d'œuvre of the highest anthropological and ethnographical
interest and importance to a mere fairy-book, a nice present for little boys.
After nearly a century had elapsed, Dr. Jonathan Scott (LL.D. H.E.I.C.'s S.,
Persian Secretary to the G. G. Bengal; Oriental Professor, etc., etc.), printed
his "Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters, translated from the Arabic and Persian,"
(Cadell and Davies, London, A.D. 1800); and followed in 1811 with an
edition of "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments" from the MS. of Edward
Wortley Montague (in 6 vols., small 8vo, London: Longmans, etc.). This
work he (and he only) describes as "Carefully revised and occasionally
corrected from the Arabic." The reading public did not wholly reject it,
sundry texts were founded upon the Scott version and it has been
imperfectly reprinted (4 vols., 8vo, Nimmo and Bain, London, 1883). But
most men, little recking what a small portion of the original they were
reading, satisfied themselves with the Anglo-French epitome and
metaphrase. At length in 1838, Mr. Henry Torrens, B.A., Irishman, lawyer
("of the Inner Temple") and Bengal Civilian, took a step in the right
direction; and began to translate, "The Book of the Thousand Nights and
One Night," (1 vol., 8vo, Calcutta: W. Thacker and Co.) from the Arabic of
the Ægyptian (!) MS. edited by Mr. (afterwards Sir) William H.
Macnaghten. The attempt, or rather the intention, was highly creditable; the
copy was carefully moulded upon the model and offered the best example
of the verbatim et literatim style. But the plucky author knew little of
Arabic, and least of what is most wanted, the dialect of Egypt and Syria.
His prose is so conscientious as to offer up spirit at the shrine of letter; and
his verse, always whimsical, has at times a manner of Hibernian whoop
which is comical when it should be pathetic. Lastly he printed only one
volume of a series which completed would have contained nine or ten.
That amiable and devoted Arabist, the late Edward William Lane does not
score a success in his "New Translation of the Tales of a Thousand and One

Nights" (London: Charles Knight and Co., MDCCCXXXIX.) of which
there have been four English editions, besides American, two edited by E.
S. Poole. He chose the abbreviating Bulak Edition; and, of its two hundred
tales, he has omitted about half and by far the more characteristic half: the
work was intended for "the drawing-room table;" and, consequently, the
workman was compelled to avoid the "objectionable" and aught
"approaching to licentiousness." He converts the Arabian Nights into the
Arabian Chapters, arbitrarily changing the division and, worse still, he
converts some chapters into notes. He renders poetry by prose and
apologises for not omitting it altogether: he neglects assonance and he is at
once too Oriental and not Oriental enough. He had small store of Arabic at
the time—Lane of the Nights is not Lane of the Dictionary—and his pages
are disfigured by many childish mistakes. Worst of all, the three handsome
volumes are rendered unreadable as Sale's Koran by their anglicised Latin,
their sesquipedalian un-English words, and the stiff and stilted style of half
a century ago when our prose was, perhaps, the worst in Europe. Their
cargo of Moslem learning was most valuable to the student, but utterly out
of place for readers of "The Nights;" re-published, as these notes have been
separately (London, Chatto, 1883), they are an ethnological text-book.
Mr. John Payne has printed, for the Villon Society and for private
circulation only, the first and sole complete translation of the great
compendium, "comprising about four times as much matter as that of
Galland, and three times as much as that of any other translator;" and I
cannot but feel proud that he has honoured me with the dedication of "The
Book of The Thousand Nights and One Night." His version is most
readable: his English, with a sub-flavour of the Mabinogionic archaicism, is
admirable; and his style gives life and light to the nine volumes whose
matter is frequently heavy enough. He succeeds admirably in the most
difficult passages and he often hits upon choice and special terms and the
exact vernacular equivalent of the foreign word, so happily and so
picturesquely that all future translators must perforce use the same
expression under pain of falling far short. But the learned and versatile
author bound himself to issue only five hundred copies, and "not to
reproduce the work in its complete and uncastrated form." Consequently his
excellent version is caviaire to the general—practically unprocurable.

And here I hasten to confess that ample use has been made of the three
versions above noted, the whole being blended by a callida junctura into a
homogeneous mass. But in the presence of so many predecessors a writer is
bound to show some raison d'être for making a fresh attempt and this I
proceed to do with due reserve.
Briefly, the object of this version is to show what "The Thousand Nights
and a Night" really is. Not, however, for reasons to be more fully stated in
the terminal Essay, by straining verbum reddere verbo, but by writing as the
Arab would have written in English. On this point I am all with Saint
Jerome (Pref. in Jobum) "Vel verbum e verbo, vel sensum e sensu, vel ex
utroque commixtum, et medie temperatum genus translationis." My work
claims to be a faithful copy of the great Eastern Saga-book, by preserving
intact, not only the spirit, but even the mécanique, the manner and the
matter. Hence, however prosy and long-drawn out be the formula, it retains
the scheme of the Nights because they are a prime feature in the original.
The Ráwí or reciter, to whose wits the task of supplying details is left, well
knows their value: the openings carefully repeat the names of the dramatis
personæ and thus fix them in the hearer's memory. Without the Nights no
Arabian Nights! Moreover it is necessary to retain the whole apparatus:
nothing more ill-advised than Dr. Jonathan Scott's strange device of
garnishing The Nights with fancy head-pieces and tail-pieces or the
splitting-up of Galland's narrative by merely prefixing "Nuit," etc., ending
moreover, with the ccxxxivth Night: yet this has been done, apparently with
the consent of the great Arabist Sylvestre de Sacy (Paris, Ernest Bourdin).
Moreover, holding that the translator's glory is to add something to his
native tongue, while avoiding the hideous hag-like nakedness of Torrens
and the bald literalism of Lane, I have carefully Englished the picturesque
turns and novel expressions of the original in all their outlandishness; for
instance, when the dust-cloud raised by a tramping host is described as
"walling the horizon." Hence peculiar attention has been paid to the tropes
and figures which the Arabic language often packs into a single term; and I
have never hesitated to coin a word when wanted, such as "she snorted and
snarked," fully to represent the original. These, like many in Rabelais, are
mere barbarisms unless generally adopted; in which case they become
civilised and common currency.

Despite objections manifold and manifest, I have preserved the balance of
sentences and the prose rhyme and rhythm which Easterns look upon as
mere music. This "Saj'a," or cadence of the cooing dove, has in Arabic its
special duties. It adds a sparkle to description and a point to proverb,
epigram and dialogue; it corresponds with our "artful alliteration" (which in
places I have substituted for it) and, generally, it defines the boundaries
between the classical and the popular styles which jostle each other in The
Nights. If at times it appear strained and forced, after the wont of rhymed
prose, the scholar will observe that, despite the immense copiousness of
assonants and consonants in Arabic, the strain is often put upon it
intentionally, like the Rims cars of Dante and the Troubadours. This rhymed
prose may be "un-English" and unpleasant, even irritating to the British ear;
still I look upon it as a sine quâ non for a complete reproduction of the
original. In the terminal Essay I shall revert to the subject.
On the other hand when treating the versicle portion, which may represent a
total of ten thousand lines, I have not always bound myself by the metrical
bonds of the Arabic, which are artificial in the extreme, and which in
English can be made bearable only by a tour de force. I allude especially to
the monorhyme, Rim continuat or tirade monorime, whose monotonous
simplicity was preferred by the Troubadours for threnodies. It may serve
well for three or four couplets but, when it extends, as in the Ghazal-
canzon, to eighteen, and in the Kasidah, elegy or ode, to more, it must either
satisfy itself with banal rhyme-words, when the assonants should as a rule
be expressive and emphatic; or, it must display an ingenuity, a smell of the
oil, which assuredly does not add to the reader's pleasure. It can perhaps be
done and it should be done; but for me the task has no attractions: I can
fence better in shoes than in sabots. Finally I print the couplets in Arab form
separating the hemistichs by asterisks.
And now to consider one matter of special importance in the book—its
turpiloquium. This stumbling-block is of two kinds, completely distinct.
One is the simple, naïve and child-like indecency which, from Tangiers to
Japan, occurs throughout general conversation of high and low in the
present day. It uses, like the holy books of the Hebrews, expressions
"plainly descriptive of natural situations;" and it treats in an
unconventionally free and naked manner of subjects and matters which are
usually, by common consent, left undescribed. As Sir William Jones

observed long ago, "that anything natural can be offensively obscene never
seems to have occurred to the Indians or to their legislators; a singularity (?)
pervading their writings and conversation, but no proof of moral depravity."
Another justly observes, Les peuples primitifs n'y entendent pas malice: ils
appellent les choses par leurs noms et ne trouvent pas condamnable ce qui
est naturel. And they are prying as children. For instance the European
novelist marries off his hero and heroine and leaves them to consummate
marriage in privacy; even Tom Jones has the decency to bolt the door. But
the Eastern story-teller, especially this unknown "prose Shakespeare," must
usher you, with a flourish, into the bridal chamber and narrate to you, with
infinite gusto, everything he sees and hears. Again we must remember that
grossness and indecency, in fact les turpitudes, are matters of time and
place; what is offensive in England is not so in Egypt; what scandalises us
now would have been a tame joke tempore Elisæ. Withal The Nights will
not be found in this matter coarser than many passages of Shakspeare,
Sterne, and Swift, and their uncleanness rarely attains the perfection of
Alcofribas Nasier, "divin maître et atroce cochon." The other element is
absolute obscenity, sometimes, but not always, tempered by wit, humour
and drollery; here we have an exaggeration of Petronius Arbiter, the
handiwork of writers whose ancestry, the most religious and the most
debauched of mankind, practised every abomination before the shrine of the
Canopic Gods.
In accordance with my purpose of reproducing the Nights, not virginibus
puerisque, but in as perfect a picture as my powers permit, I have carefully
sought out the English equivalent of every Arabic word, however low it
may be or "shocking" to ears polite; preserving, on the other hand, all
possible delicacy where the indecency is not intentional; and, as a friend
advises me to state, not exaggerating the vulgarities and the indecencies
which, indeed, can hardly be exaggerated. For the coarseness and crassness
are but the shades of a picture which would otherwise be all lights. The
general tone of The Nights is exceptionally high and pure. The devotional
fervour often rises to the boiling-point of fanaticism. The pathos is sweet,
deep and genuine; tender, simple and true, utterly unlike much of our
modern tinsel. Its life, strong, splendid and multitudinous, is everywhere
flavoured with that unaffected pessimism and constitutional melancholy
which strike deepest root under the brightest skies and which sigh in the
face of heaven:—

Vita quid est hominis? Viridis floriscula mortis;
Sole Oriente oriens, sole cadente cadens.

Poetical justice is administered by the literary Kází with exemplary
impartiality and severity; "denouncing evil doers and eulogising deeds
admirably achieved." The morale is sound and healthy; and at times we
descry, through the voluptuous and libertine picture, vistas of a
transcendental morality, the morality of Socrates in Plato. Subtle corruption
and covert licentiousness are utterly absent; we find more real "vice" in
many a short French roman, say La Dame aux Camelias, and in not a few
English novels of our day than in the thousands of pages of the Arab. Here
we have nothing of that most immodest modern modesty which sees covert
implication where nothing is implied, and "improper" allusion, when
propriety is not outraged; nor do we meet with the Nineteenth Century
refinement; innocence of the word not of the thought; morality of the
tongue not of the heart, and the sincere homage paid to virtue in guise of
perfect hypocrisy. It is, indeed, this unique contrast of a quaint element,
childish crudities and nursery indecencies and "vain and amatorious" phrase
jostling the finest and highest views of life and character, shown in the
kaleidoscopic shiftings of the marvellous picture with many a "rich truth in
a tale's pretence"; pointed by a rough dry humour which compares well with
"wut;" the alternations of strength and weakness, of pathos and bathos, of
the boldest poetry (the diction of Job) and the baldest prose (the Egyptian of
to-day); the contact of religion and morality with the orgies of African
Apuleius and Petronius Arbiter—at times taking away the reader's breath—
and, finally, the whole dominated everywhere by that marvellous Oriental
fancy, wherein the spiritual and the supernatural are as common as the
material and the natural; it is this contrast, I say, which forms the chiefest
charm of The Nights, which gives it the most striking originality and which
makes it a perfect expositor of the medieval Moslem mind.
Explanatory notes did not enter into Mr. Payne's plan. They do with mine: I
can hardly imagine The Nights being read to any profit by men of the West
without commentary. My annotations avoid only one subject, parallels of
European folk-lore and fabliaux which, however interesting, would
overswell the bulk of a book whose speciality is anthropology. The
accidents of my life, it may be said without undue presumption, my long
dealings with Arabs and other Mahommedans, and my familiarity not only

with their idiom but with their turn of thought, and with that racial
individuality which baffles description, have given me certain advantages
over the average student, however deeply he may have studied. These
volumes, moreover, afford me a long-sought opportunity of noticing
practices and customs which interest all mankind and which "Society" will
not hear mentioned. Grote, the historian, and Thackeray, the novelist, both
lamented that the bégueulerie of their countrymen condemned them to keep
silence where publicity was required; and that they could not even claim the
partial licence of a Fielding and a Smollett. Hence a score of years ago I
lent my best help to the late Dr. James Hunt in founding the
Anthropological Society, whose presidential chair I first occupied (pp. 2-4
Anthropologia; London, Balliere, vol. i., No. 1, 1873). My motive was to
supply travellers with an organ which would rescue their observations from
the outer darkness of manuscript, and print their curious information on
social and sexual matters out of place in the popular book intended for the
Nipptisch and indeed better kept from public view. But, hardly had we
begun when "Respectability," that whited sepulchre full of all uncleanness,
rose up against us. "Propriety" cried us down with her brazen blatant voice,
and the weak-kneed brethren fell away. Yet the organ was much wanted and
is wanted still. All now known barbarous tribes in Inner Africa, America
and Australia, whose instincts have not been overlaid by reason, have a
ceremony which they call "making men." As soon as the boy shows proofs
of puberty, he and his coevals are taken in hand by the mediciner and the
Fetisheer; and, under priestly tuition, they spend months in the "bush,"
enduring hardships and tortures which impress the memory till they have
mastered the "theorick and practick" of social and sexual relations.
Amongst the civilised this fruit of the knowledge-tree must be bought at the
price of the bitterest experience, and the consequences of ignorance are
peculiarly cruel. Here, then, I find at last an opportunity of noticing in
explanatory notes many details of the text which would escape the reader's
observation, and I am confident that they will form a repertory of Eastern
knowledge in its esoteric phase. The student who adds the notes of Lane
("Arabian Society," etc., before quoted) to mine will know as much of the
Moslem East and more than many Europeans who have spent half their
lives in Orient lands. For facility of reference an index of anthropological
notes is appended to each volume.

The reader will kindly bear with the following technical details.
Steinhaeuser and I began and ended our work with the first Bulak ("Bul.")
Edition printed at the port of Cairo in A.H. 1251=A.D. 1835. But when
preparing my MSS. for print I found the text incomplete, many of the
stories being given in epitome and not a few ruthlessly mutilated with head
or feet wanting. Like most Eastern scribes the Editor could not refrain from
"improvements," which only debased the book; and his sole title to excuse
is that the second Bulak Edition (4 vols. A.H. 1279=A.D. 1863), despite its
being "revised and corrected by Sheik Mahommed Qotch Al-Adewi," is
even worse; and the same may be said of the Cairo Edit. (4 vols. A.H.
1297=A.D. 1881). The Calcutta ("Calc.") Edition, with ten lines of Persian
preface by the Editor, Ahmed al-Shirwani (A.D. 1814), was cut short at the
end of the first two hundred Nights, and thus made room for Sir William
Hay Macnaghten's Edition (4 vols, royal 4to) of 1839-42. This ("Mac."), as
by far the least corrupt and the most complete, has been assumed for my
basis with occasional reference to the Breslau Edition ("Bres.") wretchedly
edited from a hideous Egyptian MS. by Dr. Maximilian Habicht (1825-43).
The Bayrut Text "Alif-Leila we Leila" (4 vols. gt. 8vo, Beirut. 1881-83) is a
melancholy specimen of The Nights taken entirely from the Bulak Edition
by one Khalil Sarkis and converted to Christianity; beginning without
Bismillah, continued with scrupulous castration and ending in ennui and
disappointment. I have not used this missionary production.
As regards the transliteration of Arabic words I deliberately reject the artful
and complicated system, ugly and clumsy withal, affected by scientific
modern Orientalists. Nor is my sympathy with their prime object, namely to
fit the Roman alphabet for supplanting all others. Those who learn
languages, and many do so, by the eye as well as by the ear, well know the
advantages of a special character to distinguish, for instance, Syriac from
Arabic, Gujrati from Marathi. Again this Roman hand bewitched may have
its use in purely scientific and literary works; but it would be wholly out of
place in one whose purpose is that of the novel, to amuse rather than to
instruct. Moreover the devices perplex the simple and teach nothing to the
learned. Either the reader knows Arabic, in which case Greek letters, italics
and "upper case," diacritical points and similar typographic oddities are, as
a rule with some exceptions, unnecessary; or he does not know Arabic,
when none of these expedients will be of the least use to him. Indeed it is a
matter of secondary consideration what system we prefer, provided that we

mostly adhere to one and the same, for the sake of a consistency which
saves confusion to the reader. I have especially avoided that of Mr. Lane,
adopted by Mr. Payne for special reasons against which it was vain to
protest: it represents the debased brogue of Egypt or rather of Cairo; and
such a word as Kemer (ez-Zeman) would be utterly unpronounceable to a
Badawi. Nor have I followed the practice of my learned friend, Reverend G.
P. Badger, in mixing bars and acute accents; the former unpleasantly remind
man of those hateful dactyls and spondees, and the latter should, in my
humble opinion, be applied to long vowels which in Arabic double, or
should double, the length of the shorts. Dr. Badger uses the acute symbol to
denote accent or stress of voice; but such appoggio is unknown to those
who speak with purest articulation; for instance whilst the European
pronounces Mus-cat´, and the Arab villager Mas´-kat; the Children of the
Waste, "on whose tongues Allah descended," articulate Mas-kat. I have
therefore followed the simple system adopted in my "Pilgrimage," and have
accented Arabic words only when first used, thinking it unnecessary to
preserve throughout what is an eyesore to the reader and a distress to the
printer. In the main I follow "Johnson on Richardson," a work known to
every Anglo-Orientalist as the old and trusty companion of his studies early
and late; but even here I have made sundry deviations for reasons which
will be explained in the terminal Essay. As words are the embodiment of
ideas and writing is of words, so the word is the spoken word; and we
should write it as pronounced. Strictly speaking, the e-sound and the o-
sound (viz. the Italian o-sound not the English which is peculiar to us and
unknown to any other tongue) are not found in Arabic, except when the
figure Imálah obliges: hence they are called "Yá al-Majhúl" and "Waw al-
Majhúl" the unknown y (í) and u. But in all tongues vowel-sounds, the flesh
which clothes the bones (consonants) of language, are affected by the
consonants which precede and more especially which follow them,
hardening and softening the articulation; and deeper sounds accompany
certain letters as the sád (‫ )ص‬compared with the sín (‫)س‬. None save a
defective ear would hold, as Lane does, "Maulid" (=birth-festival) "more
properly pronounced 'Molid.'" Yet I prefer Khokh (peach) and Jokh (broad-
cloth) to Khukh and Jukh; Ohod (mount) to Uhud; Obayd (a little slave) to
Ubayd; and Hosayn (a fortlet, not the P. N. Al-Husayn) to Husayn. As for
the short e in such words as "Memlúk" for "Mamlúk" (a white slave),
"Eshe" for "Asha" (supper), and "Yemen" for "Al-Yaman," I consider it a

flat Egyptianism, insufferable to an ear which admires the Badawi
pronunciation. Yet I prefer "Shelebi" (a dandy) from the Turkish Chelebi, to
"Shalabi;" "Zebdani" (the Syrian village) to "Zabdani," and "Fes and
Miknes" (by the figure Imálah) to "Fás and Miknás," our "Fez and
Mequinez."
With respect to proper names and untranslated Arabic words I have rejected
all system in favour of common sense. When a term is incorporated in our
tongue, I refuse to follow the purist and mortify the reader by startling
innovation. For instance, Aleppo, Cairo and Bassorah are preferred to
Halab, Kahirah and Al-Basrah; when a word is half-naturalised, like
Alcoran or Koran, Bashaw or Pasha, which the French write Pacha; and
Mahomet or Mohammed (for Muhammad), the modern form is adopted
because the more familiar. But I see no advantage in retaining, simply
because they are the mistakes of a past generation, such words as "Roc" (for
Rukh), Khalif (a pretentious blunder for Khalífah and better written Caliph)
and "genie" (=Jinn) a mere Gallic corruption not so terrible, however, as "a
Bedouin" (=Badawi). As little too would I follow Mr. Lane in foisting upon
the public such Arabisms as "Khuff" (a riding-boot), "Mikra'ah" (a palm-
rod) and a host of others for which we have good English equivalents. On
the other hand I would use, but use sparingly, certain Arabic exclamations,
as "Bismillah" (=in the name of Allah!) and "Inshallah" (=if Allah please!),
which have special applications and which have been made familiar to
English ears by the genius of Fraser and Morier.
I here end these desultory but necessary details to address the reader in a
few final words. He will not think lightly of my work when I repeat to him
that with the aid of my annotations supplementing Lane's, the student will
readily and pleasantly learn more of the Moslem's manners and customs,
laws and religion than is known to the average Orientalist; and, if my
labours induce him to attack the text of The Nights he will become master
of much more Arabic than the ordinary Arab owns. This book is indeed a
legacy which I bequeath to my fellow-countrymen in their hour of need.
Over devotion to Hindu, and especially to Sanskrit literature, has led them
astray from those (so-called) "Semitic" studies, which are the more requisite
for us as they teach us to deal successfully with a race more powerful than
any pagans—the Moslem. Apparently England is ever forgetting that she is
at present the greatest Mohammedan empire in the world. Of late years she

has systematically neglected Arabism and, indeed, actively discouraged it in
examinations for the Indian Civil Service, where it is incomparably more
valuable than Greek and Latin. Hence, when suddenly compelled to assume
the reins of government in Moslem lands, as Afghanistan in times past and
Egypt at present, she fails after a fashion which scandalises her few (very
few) friends; and her crass ignorance concerning the Oriental peoples which
should most interest her, exposes her to the contempt of Europe as well as
of the Eastern world. When the regretable raids of 1883-84, culminating in
the miserable affairs of Tokar, Teb and Tamasi, were made upon the gallant
Sudani Negroids, the Bisharin outlying Sawakin, who were battling for the
holy cause of liberty and religion and for escape from Turkish task-masters
and Egyptian tax-gatherers, not an English official in camp, after the death
of the gallant and lamented Major Morice, was capable of speaking Arabic.
Now Moslems are not to be ruled by raw youths who should be at school
and college instead of holding positions of trust and emolument. He who
would deal with them successfully must be, firstly, honest and truthful and,
secondly, familiar with and favourably inclined to their manners and
customs if not to their law and religion. We may, perhaps, find it hard to
restore to England those pristine virtues, that tone and temper, which made
her what she is; but at any rate we (myself and a host of others) can offer
her the means of dispelling her ignorance concerning the Eastern races with
whom she is continually in contact.
In conclusion I must not forget to notice that the Arabic ornamentations of
these volumes were designed by my excellent friend Yacoub Artin Pasha, of
the Ministry of Instruction, Cairo, with the aid of the well-known writing-
artist, Shaykh Mohammed Muunis the Cairene. My name, Al-Hajj Abdullah
(=the Pilgrim Abdallah) was written by an English calligrapher, the
lamented Professor Palmer who found a premature death almost within
sight of Suez.
RICHARD F. BURTON.
Wanderers' Club, August 15, 1885.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
STORY OF KING SHAHRYAR AND HIS BROTHER 2
a. Tale of the Bull and the Ass 16
(Lane, vol. I., 1-16.)
1. TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI 24
(Chapt. I. Story of the Merchant and the Jinnee: p. 43.)
a. The First Shaykh's Story 27
(Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle: p. 48.)
b. The Second Shaykh's Story 32
(Story of the Second Sheykh and the two Black Hounds: p. 52.)
c. The Third Shaykh's Story 36
(Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule: p. 56.)
2. THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI 38
(Chapt. II. Story of the Fisherman: p. 78.)
a. Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban 45
(Story of King Yoonan and the Sage Dooban: p. 84.)
ab. Story of King Sindibad and his Falcon 50
ac. Tale of the Husband and the Parrot 52
(Story of the Husband and the Parrot: p. 89.)
ad. Tale of the Prince and the Ogress 54
(Story of the Envious Wezeer and the Prince and the Ghoolah: p.
91.)

b. Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince 69
(Story of the Young King of the Black Islands: p. 106.)
3. THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD 82
(Chapt. III. Story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad, and of
the three Royal Mendicants, etc.: p. 136.)
a. The First Kalandar's Tale 104
(Story of the First Royal Mendicant: p. 150.)
b. The Second Kalandar's Tale 113
(Story of the Second Royal Mendicant: p. 157.)
ba. Tale of the Envier and the Envied 123
(Story of the Envier and the Envied: p. 166.)
c. The Third Kalandar's Tale 139
(Story of the Third Royal Mendicant: p. 178.)
d. The Eldest Lady's Tale 162
e. Tale of the Portress 173
Conclusion of the Story of the Porter and Three 184
Ladies
4. TALE OF THE THREE APPLES 186
(Chapt. IV. Story of the Three Apples, etc.: p. 250.)
5. TALE OF NUR AL-DIN ALI AND HIS SON BADR AL-DIN 195
HASAN
(Story of Noor ed-Deen and his Son, and of Shems ed-Deen and
his Daughter: p. 253.)
6. THE HUNCHBACK'S TALE 255
(Chapt. V. Story of the Humpback: p. 238.)
a. The Nazarene Broker's Story 262
(Story told by the Christian Broker: p. 334.)
b. The Reeve's Tale 278
(Story told by the Sultan's Steward: p. 348.)

c. Tale of the Jewish Doctor 288
(Story told by the Jewish Physician: p. 359.)
d. Tale of the Tailor 300
(Story told by the Tailor: p. 368.)
e. The Barber's Tale of Himself 317
(The Barber's Story of Himself: p. 383.)
ea. The Barber's Tale of his First Brother 319
(The Barber's Story of His First Brother: p. 385.)
eb. The Barber's Tale of his Second Brother 324
(The Barber's Story of His Second Brother: p. 389.)
ec. The Barber's Tale of his Third Brother 328
(The Barber's Story of His Third Brother: p. 392)
ed. The Barber's Tale of his Fourth Brother 331
(The Barber's Story of His Fourth Brother: p. 396.)
ee. The Barber's Tale of his Fifth Brother 335
(The Barber's Story of His Fifth Brother: p. 400.)
ef. The Barber's Tale of his Sixth Brother 343
(The Barber's Story of His Sixth Brother.)
The End of the Tailor's Tale 348

THE BOOK OF THE
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT.
(ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH.)

In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionating, the Compassionate!

RAISE BE TO ALLAH ✿ THE BENEFICENT KING ✿ THE
CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE ✿ LORD OF THE THREE
WORLDS ✿ WHO SET UP THE FIRMAMENT WITHOUT
PILLARS IN ITS STEAD ✿ AND WHO STRETCHED OUT
THE EARTH EVEN AS A BED ✿ AND GRACE, AND
PRAYER-BLESSING BE UPON OUR LORD MOHAMMED ✿ LORD OF
APOSTOLIC MEN ✿ AND UPON HIS FAMILY AND COMPANION-
TRAIN ✿ PRAYER AND BLESSINGS ENDURING AND GRACE WHICH
UNTO THE DAY OF DOOM SHALL REMAIN ✿ AMEN! ✿ O THOU OF
THE THREE WORLDS SOVEREIGN!

And afterwards. Verily the works and words of those gone before us have
become instances and examples to men of our modern day, that folk may
view what admonishing chances befel other folk and may therefrom take
warning; and that they may peruse the annals of antique peoples and all that
hath betided them, and be thereby ruled and restrained:—Praise, therefore,
be to Him who hath made the histories of the Past an admonition unto the
Present! Now of such instances are the tales called "A Thousand Nights and
a Night," together with their far-famed legends and wonders. Therein it is
related (but Allah is All-knowing of His hidden things and All-ruling and
All-honoured and All-giving and All-gracious and All-merciful![1]) that, in
tide of yore and in time long gone before, there was a King of the Kings of
the Banu Sásán in the Islands of India and China, a Lord of armies and

guards and servants and dependents.[2] He left only two sons, one in the
prime of manhood and the other yet a youth, while both were Knights and
Braves, albeit the elder was a doughtier horseman than the younger. So he
succeeded to the empire; when he ruled the land and lorded it over his
lieges with justice so exemplary that he was beloved by all the peoples of
his capital and of his kingdom. His name was King Shahryár,[3] and he made
his younger brother, Shah Zamán hight, King of Samarcand in Barbarian-
land. These two ceased not to abide in their several realms and the law was
ever carried out in their dominions; and each ruled his own kingdom, with
equity and fair-dealing to his subjects, in extreme solace and enjoyment;
and this condition continually endured for a score of years. But at the end of
the twentieth twelvemonth the elder King yearned for a sight of his younger
brother and felt that he must look upon him once more. So he took counsel
with his Wazir[4] about visiting him, but the Minister, finding the project
unadvisable, recommended that a letter be written and a present be sent
under his charge to the younger brother with an invitation to visit the elder.
Having accepted this advice the King forthwith bade prepare handsome
gifts, such as horses with saddles of gem-encrusted gold; Mamelukes, or
white slaves; beautiful handmaids, high-breasted virgins, and splendid
stuffs and costly. He then wrote a letter to Shah Zaman expressing his warm
love and great wish to see him, ending with these words, "We therefore
hope of the favour and affection of the beloved brother that he will
condescend to bestir himself and turn his face us-wards. Furthermore we
have sent our Wazir to make all ordinance for the march, and our one and
only desire is to see thee ere we die; but if thou delay or disappoint us we
shall not survive the blow. Wherewith peace be upon thee!" Then King
Shahryar, having sealed the missive and given it to the Wazir with the
offerings aforementioned, commanded him to shorten his skirts and strain
his strength and make all expedition in going and returning. "Harkening and
obedience!" quoth the Minister, who fell to making ready without stay and
packed up his loads and prepared all his requisites without delay. This
occupied him three days, and on the dawn of the fourth he took leave of his
King and marched right away, over desert and hill-way, stony waste and
pleasant lea without halting by night or by day. But whenever he entered a
realm whose ruler was subject to his Suzerain, where he was greeted with
magnificent gifts of gold and silver and all manner of presents fair and rare,
he would tarry there three days,[5] the term of the guest-rite; and, when he

left on the fourth, he would be honourably escorted for a whole day's
march. As soon as the Wazir drew near Shah Zaman's court in Samarcand
he despatched to report his arrival one of his high officials, who presented
himself before the King; and, kissing ground between his hands, delivered
his message. Hereupon the King commanded sundry of his Grandees and
Lords of his realm to fare forth and meet his brother's Wazir at the distance
of a full day's journey; which they did, greeting him respectfully and
wishing him all prosperity and forming an escort and a procession. When he
entered the city he proceeded straightway to the palace, where he presented
himself in the royal presence; and, after kissing ground and praying for the
King's health and happiness and for victory over all his enemies, he
informed him that his brother was yearning to see him, and prayed for the
pleasure of a visit. He then delivered the letter which Shah Zaman took
from his hand and read: it contained sundry hints and allusions which
required thought; but, when the King had fully comprehended its import, he
said, "I hear and I obey the commands of the beloved brother!" adding to
the Wazir, "But we will not march till after the third day's hospitality." He
appointed for the Minister fitting quarters of the palace; and, pitching tents
for the troops, rationed them with whatever they might require of meat and
drink and other necessaries. On the fourth day he made ready for wayfare
and got together sumptuous presents befitting his elder brother's majesty,
and stablished his chief Wazir viceroy of the land during his absence. Then
he caused his tents and camels and mules to be brought forth and
encamped, with their bales and loads, attendants and guards, within sight of
the city, in readiness to set out next morning for his brother's capital. But
when the night was half spent he bethought him that he had forgotten in his
palace somewhat which he should have brought with him, so he returned
privily and entered his apartments, where he found the Queen, his wife,
asleep on his own carpet-bed, embracing with both arms a black cook of
loathsome aspect and foul with kitchen grease and grime. When he saw this
the world waxed black before his sight and he said, "If such case happen
while I am yet within sight of the city what will be the doings of this
damned whore during my long absence at my brother's court?" So he drew
his scymitar and, cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, left them
on the carpet and returned presently to his camp without letting anyone
know of what had happened. Then he gave orders for immediate departure
and set out at once and began his travel; but he could not help thinking over

his wife's treason and he kept ever saying to himself, "How could she do
this deed by me? How could she work her own death?," till excessive grief
seized him, his colour changed to yellow, his body waxed weak and he was
threatened with a dangerous malady, such an one as bringeth men to die. So
the Wazir shortened his stages and tarried long at the watering-stations and
did his best to solace the King. Now when Shah Zaman drew near the
capital of his brother he despatched vaunt-couriers and messengers of glad
tidings to announce his arrival, and Shahryar came forth to meet him with
his Wazirs and Emirs and Lords and Grandees of his realm; and saluted him
and joyed with exceeding joy and caused the city to be decorated in his
honour. When, however, the brothers met, the elder could not but see the
change of complexion in the younger and questioned him of his case
whereto he replied, "'Tis caused by the travails of wayfare and my case
needs care, for I have suffered from the change of water and air! but Allah
be praised for reuniting me with a brother so dear and so rare!" On this wise
he dissembled and kept his secret, adding, "O King of the time and Caliph
of the tide, only toil and moil have tinged my face yellow with bile and hath
made my eyes sink deep in my head." Then the two entered the capital in all
honour; and the elder brother lodged the younger in a palace overhanging
the pleasure garden; and, after a time, seeing his condition still unchanged,
he attributed it to his separation from his country and kingdom. So he let
him wend his own ways and asked no questions of him till one day when he
again said, "O my brother, I see that art grown weaker of body and yellower
of colour." "O my brother," replied Shah Zaman "I have an internal wound:"
[6]
still he would not tell him what he had witnessed in his wife. Thereupon
Shahryar summoned doctors and surgeons and bade them treat his brother
according to the rules of art, which they did for a whole month; but their
sherbets and potions naught availed, for he would dwell upon the deed of
his wife, and despondency, instead of diminishing, prevailed, and leechcraft
treatment utterly failed. One day his elder brother said to him, "I am going
forth to hunt and course and to take my pleasure and pastime; maybe this
would lighten thy heart." Shah Zaman, however, refused, saying, "O my
brother, my soul yearneth for naught of this sort and I entreat thy favour to
suffer me tarry quietly in this place, being wholly taken up with my
malady." So King Shah Zaman passed his night in the palace and, next
morning, when his brother had fared forth, he removed from his room and
sat him down at one of the lattice-windows overlooking the pleasure

grounds; and there he abode thinking with saddest thought over his wife's
betrayal and burning sighs issued from his tortured breast. And as he
continued in this case lo! a postern of the palace, which was carefully kept
private, swung open and out of it came twenty slave girls surrounding his
brother's wife who was wondrous fair, a model of beauty and comeliness
and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced with the grace of a
gazelle which panteth for the cooling stream. Thereupon Shah Zaman drew
back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a
place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice
and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain
amiddlemost a great basin of water; then they stripped off their clothes and
behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten
were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen,
who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, "Here to me, O my
lord Saeed!" and then sprang with a drop-leap from one of the trees a big
slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly
hideous sight.[7] He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her
neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding
his legs round hers, as a button-loop clasps a button, he threw her and
enjoyed her. On like wise did the other slaves with the girls till all had
satisfied their passions, and they ceased not from kissing and clipping,
coupling and carousing till day began to wane; when the Mamelukes rose
from the damsels' bosoms and the blackamoor slave dismounted from the
Queen's breast; the men resumed their disguises and all, except the negro
who swarmed up the tree, entered the palace and closed the postern-door as
before. Now, when Shah Zaman saw this conduct of his sister-in-law he
said in himself, "By Allah, my calamity is lighter than this! My brother is a
greater King among the kings than I am, yet this infamy goeth on in his
very palace, and his wife is in love with that filthiest of filthy slaves. But
this only showeth that they all do it[8] and that there is no woman but who
cuckoldeth her husband, then the curse of Allah upon one and all and upon
the fools who lean against them for support or who place the reins of
conduct in their hands. So he put away his melancholy and despondency,
regret and repine, and allayed his sorrow by constantly repeating those
words, adding "'Tis my conviction that no man in this world is safe from
their malice!" When supper-time came they brought him the trays and he
ate with voracious appetite, for he had long refrained from meat, feeling

unable to touch any dish however dainty. Then he returned grateful thanks
to Almighty Allah, praising Him and blessing Him, and he spent a most
restful night, it having been long since he had savoured the sweet food of
sleep. Next day he broke his fast heartily and began to recover health and
strength, and presently regained excellent condition. His brother came back
from the chase ten days after, when he rode out to meet him and they
saluted each other; and when King Shahryar looked at King Shah Zaman he
saw how the hue of health had returned to him, how his face had waxed
ruddy and how he ate with an appetite after his late scanty diet. He
wondered much and said, "O my brother, I was so anxious that thou
wouldst join me in hunting and chasing, and wouldst take thy pleasure and
pastime in my dominion!" He thanked him and excused himself; then the
two took horse and rode into the city and, when they were seated at their
ease in the palace, the food-trays were set before them and they ate their
sufficiency. After the meats were removed and they had washed their hands,
King Shahryar turned to his brother and said, "My mind is overcome with
wonderment at thy condition. I was desirous to carry thee with me to the
chase but I saw thee changed in hue, pale and wan to view, and in sore
trouble of mind too. But now Alhamdolillah—glory be to God!—I see thy
natural colour hath returned to thy face and that thou art again in the best of
case. It was my belief that thy sickness came of severance from thy family
and friends, and absence from capital and country, so I refrained from
troubling thee with further questions. But now I beseech thee to expound to
me the cause of thy complaint and thy change of colour, and to explain the
reason of thy recovery and the return to the ruddy hue of health which I am
wont to view. So speak out and hide naught! When Shah Zaman heard this
he bowed ground-wards awhile his head, then raised it and said, "I will tell
thee what caused my complaint and my loss of colour; but excuse my
acquainting thee with the cause of its return to me and the reason of my
complete recovery: indeed I pray thee not to press me for a reply." Said
Shahryar, who was much surprised by these words, "Let me hear first what
produced thy pallor and thy poor condition." "Know, then, O my brother,"
rejoined Shah Zaman, "that when thou sentest thy Wazir with the invitation
to place myself between thy hands, I made ready and marched out of my
city; but presently I minded me having left behind me in the palace a string
of jewels intended as a gift to thee. I returned for it alone and found my
wife on my carpet-bed and in the arms of a hideous black cook. So I slew

the twain and came to thee, yet my thoughts brooded over this business and
I lost my bloom and became weak. But excuse me if I still refuse to tell thee
what was the reason of my complexion returning." Shahryar shook his
head, marvelling with extreme marvel, and with the fire of wrath flaming
up from his heart, he cried, "Indeed, the malice of woman is mighty!" Then
he took refuge from them with Allah and said, "In very sooth, O my brother,
thou hast escaped many an evil by putting thy wife to death,[9] and right
excusable were thy wrath and grief for such mishap which never yet befel
crowned King like thee. By Allah, had the case been mine, I would not have
been satisfied without slaying a thousand women and that way madness
lies! But now praise be to Allah who hath tempered to thee thy tribulation,
and needs must thou acquaint me with that which so suddenly restored to
thee complexion and health, and explain to me what causeth this
concealment." "O King of the Age, again I pray thee excuse my so doing!"
"Nay, but thou must." "I fear, O my brother, lest the recital cause thee more
anger and sorrow than afflicted me." "That were but a better reason," quoth
Shahryar, "for telling me the whole history, and I conjure thee by Allah not
to keep back aught from me." Thereupon Shah Zaman told him all he had
seen, from commencement to conclusion, ending with these words, "When
I beheld thy calamity and the treason of thy wife, O my brother, and I
reflected that thou art in years my senior and in sovereignty my superior,
mine own sorrow was belittled by the comparison, and my mind recovered
tone and temper: so throwing off melancholy and despondency, I was able
to eat and drink and sleep, and thus I speedily regained health and strength.
Such is the truth and the whole truth." When King Shahryar heard this he
waxed wroth with exceeding wrath, and rage was like to strangle him; but
presently he recovered himself and said, "O my brother, I would not give
thee the lie in this matter, but I cannot credit it till I see it with mine own
eyes." "An thou wouldst look upon thy calamity," quoth Shah Zaman, "rise
at once and make ready again for hunting and coursing,[10] and then hide
thyself with me, so shalt thou witness it and thine eyes shall verify it."
"True," quoth the King; whereupon he let make proclamation of his intent
to travel, and the troops and tents fared forth without the city, camping
within sight, and Shahryar sallied out with them and took seat amidmost his
host, bidding the slaves admit no man to him. When night came on he
summoned his Wazir and said to him, "Sit thou in my stead and let none
wot of my absence till the term of three days." Then the brothers disguised

themselves and returned by night with all secrecy to the palace, where they
passed the dark hours: and at dawn they seated themselves at the lattice
overlooking the pleasure grounds, when presently the Queen and her
handmaids came out as before, and passing under the windows made for the
fountain. Here they stripped, ten of them being men to ten women, and the
King's wife cried out, "Where art thou, O Saeed?" The hideous blackamoor
dropped from the tree straightway; and, rushing into her arms without stay
or delay, cried out, "I am Sa'ad al-Din Saood!"[11] The lady laughed heartily,
and all fell to satisfying their lusts, and remained so occupied for a couple
of hours, when the white slaves rose up from the handmaidens' breasts and
the blackamoor dismounted from the Queen's bosom: then they went into
the basin and, after performing the Ghusl, or complete ablution, donned
their dresses and retired as they had done before. When King Shahryar saw
this infamy of his wife and concubines he became as one distraught and he
cried out, "Only in utter solitude can man be safe from the doings of this
vile world! By Allah, life is naught but one great wrong." Presently he
added, "Do not thwart me, O my brother, in what I propose;" and the other
answered, "I will not." So he said, "Let us up as we are and depart forthright
hence, for we have no concern with Kingship, and let us over-wander
Allah's earth, worshipping the Almighty till we find some one to whom the
like calamity hath happened; and if we find none then will death be more
welcome to us than life." So the two brothers issued from a second private
postern of the palace; and they never stinted wayfaring by day and by night,
until they reached a tree a-middle of a meadow hard by a spring of sweet
water on the shore of the salt sea. Both drank of it and sat down to take their
rest; and when an hour of the day had gone by, lo! they heard a mighty roar
and uproar in the middle of the main as though the heavens were falling
upon the earth; and the sea brake with waves before them, and from it
towered a black pillar, which grew and grew till it rose sky-wards and
began making for that meadow. Seeing it, they waxed fearful exceedingly
and climbed to the top of the tree, which was a lofty; whence they gazed to
see what might be the matter. And behold, it was a Jinni,[12] huge of height
and burly of breast and bulk, broad of brow and black of blee, bearing on
his head a coffer of crystal. He strode to land, wading through the deep, and
coming to the tree whereupon were the two Kings, seated himself beneath
it. He then set down the coffer on its bottom and out of it drew a casket,
with seven padlocks of steel, which he unlocked with seven keys of steel he

took from beside his thigh, and out of it a young lady to come was seen,
white-skinned and of winsomest mien, of stature fine and thin, and bright as
though a moon of the fourteenth night she had been, or the sun raining
lively sheen. Even so the poet Utayyah hath excellently said:—
She rose like the morn as she shone through the night ✿ And she gilded the grove with her gracious
sight:
From her radiance the sun taketh increase when ✿ She unveileth and shameth the moonshine
bright.
Bow down all beings between her hands ✿ As she showeth charms with her veil undight.
And she floodeth cities[13] with torrent tears ✿ When she flasheth her look of leven-light.

The Jinni seated her under the tree by his side and looking at her said, "O
choicest love of this heart of mine! O dame of noblest line, whom I
snatched away on thy bride night that none might prevent me taking thy
maidenhead or tumble thee before I did, and whom none save myself hath
loved or hath enjoyed: O my sweetheart! I would lief sleep a little while."

He then laid his head upon the lady's thighs; and, stretching out his legs
which extended down to the sea, slept and snored and snarked like the roll
of thunder. Presently she raised her head towards the tree-top and saw the
two Kings perched near the summit; then she softly lifted off her lap the
Jinni's pate which she was tired of supporting and placed it upon the
ground; then standing upright under the tree signed to the Kings, "Come ye
down, ye two, and fear naught from this Ifrít."[14] They were in a terrible
fright when they found that she had seen them and answered her in the
same manner, "Allah upon thee[15] and by thy modesty, O lady, excuse us
from coming down!" But she rejoined by saying, "Allah upon you both that
ye come down forthright, and if ye come not, I will rouse upon you my
husband, this Ifrit, and he shall do you to die by the illest of deaths;" and
she continued making signals to them. So, being afraid, they came down to
her and she rose before them and said, "Stroke me a strong stroke, without
stay or delay, otherwise will I arouse and set upon you this Ifrit who shall
slay you straightway." They said to her, "O our lady, we conjure thee by
Allah, let us off this work, for we are fugitives from such and in extreme
dread and terror of this thy husband. How then can we do it in such a way
as thou desirest?" "Leave this talk: it needs must be so;" quoth she, and she
swore them by Him[16] who raised the skies on high, without prop or pillar,
that, if they worked not her will, she would cause them to be slain and cast
into the sea. Whereupon out of fear King Shahryar said to King Shah
Zaman, "O my brother, do thou what she biddeth thee do;" but he replied, "I
will not do it till thou do it before I do." And they began disputing about
futtering her. Then quoth she to the twain, "How is it I see you disputing
and demurring; if ye do not come forward like men and do the deed of kind
ye two, I will arouse upon you the Ifrit." At this, by reason of their sore
dread of the Jinni, both did by her what she bade them do; and, when they
had dismounted from her, she said, "Well done!" She then took from her
pocket a purse and drew out a knotted string, whereon were strung five
hundred and seventy[17] seal rings, and asked, "Know ye what be these?"
They answered her saying, "We know not!" Then quoth she; "These be the
signets of five hundred and seventy men who have all futtered me upon the
horns of this foul, this foolish, this filthy Ifrit; so give me also your two seal
rings, ye pair of brothers. When they had drawn their two rings from their
hands and given them to her, she said to them, "Of a truth this Ifrit bore me
off on my bride-night, and put me into a casket and set the casket in a coffer

and to the coffer he affixed seven strong padlocks of steel and deposited me
on the deep bottom of the sea that raves, dashing and clashing with waves;
and guarded me so that I might remain chaste and honest, quotha! that none
save himself might have connexion with me. But I have lain under as many
of my kind as I please, and this wretched Jinni wotteth not that Destiny may
not be averted nor hindered by aught, and that whatso woman willeth the
same she fulfilleth however man nilleth. Even so saith one of them:—
Rely not on women; ✿ Trust not to their hearts,
Whose joys and whose sorrows ✿ Are hung to their parts!
Lying love they will swear thee ✿ Whence guile ne'er departs:
Take Yusuf[18] for sample ✿ 'Ware sleights and 'ware smarts!
Iblis[19] ousted Adam ✿ (See ye not?) thro' their arts.

And another saith:—
"Stint thy blame, man! 'Twill drive to a passion without bound; ✿ My fault is not so heavy as fault
in it hast found.
If true lover I become, then to me there cometh not ✿ Save what happened unto many in the by-
gone stound.
For wonderful is he and right worthy of our praise ✿ Who from wiles of female wits kept him safe
and kept him sound."

Hearing these words they marvelled with exceeding marvel, and she went
from them to the Ifrit and, taking up his head on her thigh as before, said to
them softly, "Now wend your ways and bear yourselves beyond the bounds
of his malice." So they fared forth saying either to other, "Allah! Allah!"
and, "There be no Majesty and there be no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great; and with Him we seek refuge from women's malice and
sleight, for of a truth it hath no mate in might. Consider, O my brother, the
ways of this marvellous lady with an Ifrit who is so much more powerful
than we are. Now since there hath happened to him a greater mishap than
that which befel us and which should bear us abundant consolation, so
return we to our countries and capitals, and let us decide never to intermarry
with womankind and presently we will show them what will be our action."
Thereupon they rode back to the tents of King Shahryar, which they reached
on the morning of the third day; and, having mustered the Wazirs and
Emirs, the Chamberlains and high officials, he gave a robe of honour to his
Viceroy and issued orders for an immediate return to the city. There he sat
him upon his throne and sending for the Chief Minister, the father of the
two damsels who (Inshallah!) will presently be mentioned, he said, "I

command thee to take my wife and smite her to death; for she hath broken
her plight and her faith." So he carried her to the place of execution and did
her die. Then King Shahryar took brand in hand and repairing to the
Serraglio slew all the concubines and their Mamelukes.[20] He also sware
himself by a binding oath that whatever wife he married he would abate her
maidenhead at night and slay her next morning to make sure of his honour;
"For," said he, "there never was nor is there one chaste woman upon the
face of earth." Then Shah Zaman prayed for permission to fare homewards;
and he went forth equipped and escorted and travelled till he reached his
own country. Meanwhile Shahryar commanded his Wazir to bring him the
bride of the night that he might go in to her; so he produced a most
beautiful girl, the daughter of one of the Emirs and the King went in unto
her at eventide and when morning dawned he bade his Minister strike off
her head; and the Wazir did accordingly for fear of the Sultan. On this wise
he continued for the space of three years; marrying a maiden every night
and killing her the next morning, till folk raised an outcry against him and
cursed him, praying Allah utterly to destroy him and his rule; and women
made an uproar and mothers wept and parents fled with their daughters till
there remained not in the city a young person fit for carnal copulation.
Presently the King ordered his Chief Wazir, the same who was charged with
the executions, to bring him a virgin as was his wont; and the Minister went
forth and searched and found none; so he returned home in sorrow and
anxiety fearing for his life from the King. Now he had two daughters,
Shahrázád and Dunyázád hight,[21] of whom the elder had perused the
books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples
and instances of by-gone men and things; indeed it was said that she had
collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and
departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by
heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and
accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read
and well bred. Now on that day she said to her father, "Why do I see thee
thus changed and laden with cark and care? Concerning this matter quoth
one of the poets:—
Tell whoso hath sorrow ✿ Grief never shall last:
E'en as joy hath no morrow ✿ So woe shall go past."

When the Wazir heard from his daughter these words he related to her, from
first to last, all that had happened between him and the King. Thereupon
said she, "By Allah, O my father, how long shall this slaughter of women
endure? Shall I tell thee what is in my mind in order to save both sides from
destruction?" "Say on, O my daughter," quoth he, and quoth she, "I wish
thou wouldst give me in marriage to this King Shahryar; either I shall live
or I shall be a ransom for the virgin daughters of Moslems and the cause of
their deliverance from his hands and thine."[22] "Allah upon thee!" cried he
in wrath exceeding that lacked no feeding, "O scanty of wit, expose not thy
life to such peril! How durst thou address me in words so wide from
wisdom and un-far from foolishness? Know that one who lacketh
experience in worldly matters readily falleth into misfortune; and whoso
considereth not the end keepeth not the world to friend, and the vulgar say:
—I was lying at mine ease: nought but my officiousness brought me
unease." "Needs must thou," she broke in, "make me a doer of this good
deed, and let him kill me an he will: I shall only die a ransom for others."
"O my daughter," asked he, "and how shall that profit thee when thou shalt
have thrown away thy life?" and she answered, "O my father it must be,
come of it what will!" The Wazir was again moved to fury and blamed and
reproached her, ending with, "In very deed I fear lest the same befal thee
which befel the Bull and the Ass with the Husbandman." "And what," asked
she, "befel them, O my father?" Whereupon the Wazir began the

TALE OF THE BULL[23] AND THE ASS.

Know, O my daughter, that there was once a merchant who owned much
money and many men, and who was rich in cattle and camels; he had also a
wife and family and he dwelt in the country, being experienced in
husbandry and devoted to agriculture. Now Allah Most High had endowed
him with understanding the tongues of beasts and birds of every kind, but
under pain of death if he divulged the gift to any. So he kept it secret for
very fear. He had in his cowhouse a Bull and an Ass each tethered in his
own stall one hard by the other. As the merchant was sitting near hand one
day with his servants and his children were playing about him, he heard the
Bull say to the Ass, "Hail and health to thee O Father of Waking![24] for that
thou enjoyest rest and good ministering; all under thee is clean-swept and
fresh-sprinkled; men wait upon thee and feed thee, and thy provaunt is
sifted barley and thy drink pure spring-water, while I (unhappy creature!)
am led forth in the middle of the night, when they set on my neck the
plough and a something called Yoke; and I tire at cleaving the earth from
dawn of day till set of sun. I am forced to do more than I can and to bear all
manner of ill-treatment from night to night; after which they take me back
with my sides torn, my neck flayed, my legs aching and mine eyelids sored
with tears. Then they shut me up in the byre and throw me beans and
crushed-straw,[25] mixed with dirt and chaff; and I lie in dung and filth and
foul stinks through the livelong night. But thou art ever in a place swept and
sprinkled and cleansed, and thou art always lying at ease, save when it
happens (and seldom enough!) that the master hath some business, when he
mounts thee and rides thee to town and returns with thee forthright. So it
happens that I am toiling and distrest while thou takest thine ease and thy
rest; thou sleepest while I am sleepless; I hunger still while thou eatest thy
fill, and I win contempt while thou winnest good will." When the Bull
ceased speaking, the Ass turned towards him and said, "O Broad-o'-Brow,[26]
O thou lost one! he lied not who dubbed thee Bull-head, for thou, O father
of a Bull, hast neither forethought nor contrivance; thou art the simplest of
simpletons,[27] and thou knowest naught of good advisers. Hast thou not
heard the saying of the wise:—

For others these hardships and labours I bear ✿ And theirs is the pleasure and mine is the care;
As the bleacher who blacketh his brow in the sun ✿ To whiten the raiment which other men wear."
[28]

But thou, O fool, art full of zeal and thou toilest and molest before the
master; and thou tearest and wearest and slayest thyself for the comfort of
another. Hast thou never heard the saw that saith, None to guide and from
the way go wide? Thou wendest forth at the call to dawn-prayer and thou
returnest not till sundown; and through the livelong day thou endurest all
manner hardships; to wit, beating and belabouring and bad language. Now
hearken to me, Sir Bull! when they tie thee to thy stinking manger, thou
pawest the ground with thy forehand and lashest out with thy hind hoofs
and pushest with thy horns and bellowest aloud, so they deem thee
contented. And when they throw thee thy fodder thou fallest on it with
greed and hastenest to line thy fair fat paunch. But if thou accept my advice
it will be better for thee and thou wilt lead an easier life even than mine.
When thou goest a-field and they lay the thing called Yoke on thy neck, lie
down and rise not again though haply they swinge thee; and, if thou rise, lie
down a second time; and when they bring thee home and offer thee thy
beans, fall backwards and only sniff at thy meat and withdraw thee and taste
it not, and be satisfied with thy crushed straw and chaff; and on this wise
feign thou art sick, and cease not doing thus for a day or two days or even
three days, so shalt thou have rest from toil and moil." When the Bull heard
these words he knew the Ass to be his friend and thanked him, saying,
"Right is thy rede;" and prayed that all blessings might requite him, and
cried, "O Father Wakener![29] thou hast made up for my failings." (Now[30]
the merchant, O my daughter, understood all that passed between them.)
Next day the driver took the Bull, and settling the plough on his neck,[31]
made him work as wont; but the Bull began to shirk his ploughing,
according to the advice of the Ass, and the ploughman drubbed him till he
broke the yoke and made off; but the man caught him up and leathered him
till he despaired of his life. Not the less, however, would he do nothing but
stand still and drop down till the evening. Then the herd led him home and
stabled him in his stall: but he drew back from his manger and neither
stamped nor ramped nor butted nor bellowed as he was wont to do; whereat
the man wondered. He brought him the beans and husks, but he sniffed at
them and left them and lay down as far from them as he could and passed
the whole night fasting. The peasant came next morning; and, seeing the

manger full of beans, the crushed-straw untasted and the ox lying on his
back in sorriest plight, with legs outstretched and swollen belly, he was
concerned for him, and said to himself, "By Allah, he hath assuredly
sickened and this is the cause why he would not plough yesterday." Then he
went to the merchant and reported, "O my master, the Bull is ailing; he
refused his fodder last night; nay more, he hath not tasted a scrap of it this
morning." Now the merchant-farmer understood what all this meant,
because he had overheard the talk between the Bull and the Ass, so quoth
he, "Take that rascal donkey, and set the yoke on his neck, and bind him to
the plough and make him do Bull's work." Thereupon the ploughman took
the Ass, and worked him through the livelong day at the Bull's task; and,
when he failed for weakness, he made him eat stick till his ribs were sore
and his sides were sunken and his neck was flayed by the yoke; and when
he came home in the evening he could hardly drag his limbs along, either
forehand or hind-legs. But as for the Bull, he had passed the day lying at
full length and had eaten his fodder with an excellent appetite, and he
ceased not calling down blessings on the Ass for his good advice,
unknowing what had come to him on his account. So when night set in and
the Ass returned to the byre the Bull rose up before him in honour, and said,
"May good tidings gladden thy heart, O Father Wakener! through thee I
have rested all this day and I have eaten my meat in peace and quiet." But
the Ass returned no reply, for wrath and heart-burning and fatigue and the
beating he had gotten; and he repented with the most grievous of
repentance; and quoth he to himself: "This cometh of my folly in giving
good counsel; as the saw saith, I was in joy and gladness, nought save my
officiousness brought me this sadness. But I will bear in mind my innate
worth and the nobility of my nature; for what saith the poet?
Shall the beautiful hue of the Basil[32] fail ✿ Tho' the beetle's foot o'er the Basil crawl?
And though spider and fly be its denizens ✿ Shall disgrace attach to the royal hall?
The cowrie,[33] I ken, shall have currency ✿ But the pearl's clear drop, shall its value fall?

And now I must take thought and put a trick upon him and return him to his
place, else I die." Then he went aweary to his manger, while the Bull
thanked him and blessed him. And even so, O my daughter, said the Wazir,
thou wilt die for lack of wits; therefore sit thee still and say naught and
expose not thy life to such stress; for, by Allah, I offer thee the best advice,
which cometh of my affection and kindly solicitude for thee. "O my father,"

she answered, "needs must I go up to this King and be married to him."
Quoth he, "Do not this deed;" and quoth she, "Of a truth I will:" whereat he
rejoined, "If thou be not silent and bide still, I will do with thee even what
the merchant did with his wife." "And what did he?" asked she. Know then,
answered the Wazir, that after the return of the Ass the merchant came out
on the terrace-roof with his wife and family, for it was a moonlit night and
the moon at its full. Now the terrace overlooked the cowhouse and
presently, as he sat there with his children playing about him, the trader
heard the Ass say to the Bull, "Tell me, O father Broad o' Brow, what thou
purposest to do to-morrow?" The Bull answered, "What but continue to
follow thy counsel, O Aliboron? Indeed it was as good as good could be and
it hath given me rest and repose; nor will I now depart from it one tittle: so,
when they bring me my meat, I will refuse it and blow out my belly and
counterfeit crank." The Ass shook his head and said, "Beware of so doing,
O Father of a Bull!" The Bull asked, "Why," and the Ass answered, "Know
that I am about to give thee the best of counsel, for verily I heard our owner
say to the herd, If the Bull rise not from his place to do his work this
morning and if he retire from his fodder this day, make him over to the
butcher that he may slaughter him and give his flesh to the poor, and
fashion a bit of leather[34] from his hide. Now I fear for thee on account of
this. So take my advice ere a calamity befal thee; and when they bring thee
thy fodder eat it and rise up and bellow and paw the ground, or our master
will assuredly slay thee: and peace be with thee!" Thereupon the Bull arose
and lowed aloud and thanked the Ass, and said, "To-morrow I will readily
go forth with them;" and he at once ate up all his meat and even licked the
manger. (All this took place and the owner was listening to their talk.) Next
morning the trader and his wife went to the Bull's crib and sat down, and
the driver came and led forth the Bull who, seeing his owner, whisked his
tail and brake wind, and frisked about so lustily that the merchant laughed a
loud laugh and kept laughing till he fell on his back. His wife asked him,
"Whereat laughest thou with such loud laughter as this?"; and he answered
her, "I laughed at a secret something which I have heard and seen but
cannot say lest I die my death." She returned, "Perforce thou must discover
it to me, and disclose the cause of thy laughing even if thou come by thy
death!" But he rejoined, "I cannot reveal what beasts and birds say in their
lingo for fear I die. Then quoth she, "By Allah, thou liest! this is a mere
pretext: thou laughest at none save me, and now thou wouldest hide

somewhat from me. But by the Lord of the Heavens! an thou disclose not
the cause I will no longer cohabit with thee: I will leave thee at once." And
she sat down and cried. Whereupon quoth the merchant, "Woe betide thee!
what means thy weeping? Fear Allah and leave these words and query me
no more questions." "Needs must thou tell me the cause of that laugh," said
she, and he replied, "Thou wottest that when I prayed Allah to vouchsafe
me understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds, I made a vow never to
disclose the secret to any Under pain of dying on the spot." "No matter,"
cried she, "tell me what secret passed between the Bull and the Ass and die
this very hour an thou be so minded;" and she ceased not to importune him
till he was worn out and clean distraught. So at last he said, "Summon thy
father and thy mother and our kith and kin and sundry of our neighbours,"
which she did; and he sent for the Kazi[35] and his assessors, intending to
make his will and reveal to her his secret and die the death; for he loved her
with love exceeding because she was his cousin, the daughter of his father's
brother, and the mother of his children, and he had lived with her a life of
an hundred and twenty years. Then, having assembled all the family and the
folk of his neighbourhood, he said to them, "By me there hangeth a strange
story, and 'tis such that if I discover the secret to any, I am a dead man."
Therefore quoth every one of those present to the woman, "Allah upon thee,
leave this sinful obstinacy and recognise the right of this matter, lest haply
thy husband and the father of thy children die." But she rejoined, "I will not
turn from it till he tell me, even though he come by his death." So they
ceased to urge her; and the trader rose from amongst them and repaired to
an outhouse to perform the Wuzu-ablution,[36] and he purposed thereafter to
return and to tell them his secret and to die. Now, daughter Shahrazad, that
merchant had in his out-houses some fifty hens under one cock, and whilst
making ready to farewell his folk he heard one of his many farm-dogs thus
address in his own tongue the Cock, who was flapping his wings and
crowing lustily and jumping from one hen's back to another and treading all
in turn, saying "O Chanticleer! how mean is thy wit and how shameless is
thy conduct! Be he disappointed who brought thee up?[37] Art thou not
ashamed of thy doings on such a day as this?" "And what," asked the
Rooster, "hath occurred this day?," when the Dog answered, "Dost thou not
know that our master is this day making ready for his death? His wife is
resolved that he shall disclose the secret taught to him by Allah, and the
moment he so doeth he shall surely die. We dogs are all a-mourning; but

thou clappest thy wings and clarionest thy loudest and treadest hen after
hen. Is this an hour for pastime and pleasuring? Art thou not ashamed of
thyself?"[38] "Then by Allah," quoth the Cock, "is our master a lack-wit and
a man scanty of sense: if he cannot manage matters with a single wife, his
life is not worth prolonging. Now I have some fifty Dame Partlets; and I
please this and provoke that and starve one and stuff another; and through
my good governance they are all well under my control. This our master
pretendeth to wit and wisdom, and he hath but one wife, and yet knoweth
not how to manage her." Asked the Dog, "What then, O Cock, should the
master do to win clear of his strait?" "He should arise forthright," answered
the Cock, "and take some twigs from yon mulberry-tree and give her a
regular back-basting and rib-roasting till she cry:—I repent, O my lord! I
will never ask thee a question as long as I live! Then let him beat her once
more and soundly, and when he shall have done this he shall sleep free from
care and enjoy life. But this master of ours owns neither sense nor
judgment." "Now, daughter Shahrazad," continued the Wazir, "I will do to
thee as did that husband to that wife." Said Shahrazad, "And what did he
do?" He replied, "When the merchant heard the wise words spoken by his
Cock to his Dog, he arose in haste and sought his wife's chamber, after
cutting for her some mulberry-twigs and hiding them there; and then he
called to her, "Come into the closet that I may tell thee the secret while no
one seeth me and then die." She entered with him and he locked the door
and came down upon her with so sound a beating of back and shoulders,
ribs, arms and legs, saying the while, "Wilt thou ever be asking questions
about what concerneth thee not?" that she was well nigh senseless.
Presently she cried out, "I am of the repentant! By Allah, I will ask thee no
more questions, and indeed I repent sincerely and wholesomely." Then she
kissed his hand and feet and he led her out of the room submissive as a wife
should be. Her parents and all the company rejoiced and sadness and
mourning were changed into joy and gladness. Thus the merchant learnt
family discipline from his Cock and he and his wife lived together the
happiest of lives until death. And thou also, O my daughter! continued the
Wazir, "Unless thou turn from this matter I will do by thee what that trader
did to his wife." But she answered him with much decision, "I will never
desist, O my father, nor shall this tale change my purpose. Leave such talk
and tattle. I will not listen to thy words and, if thou deny me, I will marry
myself to him despite the nose of thee. And first I will go up to the King

myself and alone and I will say to him:—I prayed my father to wive me
with thee, but he refused, being resolved to disappoint his lord, grudging the
like of me to the like of thee." Her father asked, "Must this needs be?" and
she answered, "Even so." Hereupon the Wazir being weary of lamenting
and contending, persuading and dissuading her, all to no purpose, went up
to King Shahryar and, after blessing him and kissing the ground before him,
told him all about his dispute with his daughter from first to last and how he
designed to bring her to him that night. The King wondered with exceeding
wonder; for he had made an especial exception of the Wazir's daughter, and
said to him, "O most faithful of Counsellors, how is this? Thou wottest that
I have sworn by the Raiser of the Heavens that after I have gone into her
this night I shall say to thee on the morrow's morning:—Take her and slay
her! and, if thou slay her not, I will slay thee in her stead without fail."
"Allah guide thee to glory and lengthen thy life, O King of the age,"
answered the Wazir, "it is she that hath so determined: all this have I told
her and more; but she will not hearken to me and she persisteth in passing
this coming night with the King's Majesty." So Shahryar rejoiced greatly
and said, "'Tis well; go get her ready and this night bring her to me." The
Wazir returned to his daughter and reported to her the command saying,
"Allah make not thy father desolate by thy loss!" But Shahrazad rejoiced
with exceeding joy and gat ready all she required and said to her younger
sister, Dunyazad, "Note well what directions I entrust to thee! When I have
gone into the King I will send for thee and when thou comest to me and
seest that he hath had his carnal will of me, do thou say to me:—O my
sister, an thou be not sleepy, relate to me some new story, delectable and
delightsome, the better to speed our waking hours;" and I will tell thee a
tale which shall be our deliverance, if so Allah please, and which shall turn
the King from his blood-thirsty custom." Dunyazad answered "With love
and gladness." So when it was night their father the Wazir carried
Shahrazad to the King who was gladdened at the sight and asked, "Hast
thou brought me my need?" and he answered, "I have." But when the King
took her to his bed and fell to toying with her and wished to go in to her she
wept; which made him ask, "What aileth thee?" She replied, "O King of the
age, I have a younger sister and lief would I take leave of her this night
before I see the dawn." So he sent at once for Dunyazad and she came and
kissed the ground between his hands, when he permitted her to take her seat
near the foot of the couch. Then the King arose and did away with his

bride's maidenhead and the three fell asleep. But when it was midnight
Shahrazad awoke and signalled to her sister Dunyazad who sat up and said,
"Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite to us some new story, delightsome and
delectable, wherewith to while away the waking hours of our latter night."
[39]
"With joy and goodly gree," answered Shahrazad, "if this pious and
auspicious King permit me." "Tell on," quoth the King who chanced to be
sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased with the prospect of hearing
her story. So Shahrazad rejoiced; and thus, on the first night of the
Thousand Nights and a Night, she began with the

1. Ailaho A'alam, a deprecatory formula, used because the writer is
going to indulge in a series of what may possibly be untruths.

2. The "Sons of Sásán" are the famous Sassanides whose dynasty ended
with the Arabian Conquest (A.D. 641). "Island" (Jazírah) in Arabic
also means "Peninsula," and causes much confusion in geographical
matters.

3. Shahryár not Shahriyar (Persian)="City-friend." The Bulak edition
corrupts it to Shahrbáz (City-hawk), and the Breslau to Shahrbán or
"Defender of the City," like Marz-ban=Warden of the Marshes. Shah
Zamán (Persian)="King of the Age:" Galland prefers Shah Zenan, or
"King of women," and the Bul. edit. changes it to Shah Rummán,
"Pomegranate King." Al-Ajam denotes all regions not Arab (Gentiles
opposed to Jews, Mlechchhas to Hindus, Tajiks to Turks, etc., etc.),
and especially Persia; Ajami (a man of Ajam) being an equivalent of
the Gr. Βάρβαρος. See Vol. ii., p. 1.

4. Galland writes "Vizier," a wretched frenchification of a mincing
Turkish mispronunciation; Torrens, "Wuzeer" (Anglo-Indian and
Gilchristian); Lane, "Wezeer" (Egyptian or rather Cairene); Payne,
"Vizier," according to his system; Burckhardt (Proverbs), "Vizír;" and
Mr. Keith-Falconer, "Vizir." The root is popularly supposed to be
"wizr" (burden) and the meaning "Minister;" Wazír al-Wuzará being
"Premier." In the Koran (chapt. xx., 30) Moses says, "Give me a
Wazir of my family, Harun (Aaron) my brother." Sale, followed by
the excellent version of the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, translates a

"Counsellor," and explains by "One who has the chief administration
of affairs under a prince." But both learned Koranists learnt their
Orientalism in London, and, like such students generally, fail only
upon the easiest points, familiar to all old dwellers in the East.

5. This three-days term (rest-day, drest-day and departure day) seems to
be an instinct-made rule in hospitality. Among Moslems it is a Sunnat
or practice of the Prophet.

6. i.e., I am sick at heart.

7. Debauched women prefer negroes on account of the size of their
parts. I measured one man in Somali-land who, when quiescent,
numbered nearly six inches. This is a characteristic of the negro race
and of African animals: e.g. the horse; whereas the pure Arab, man
and beast, is below the average of Europe; one of the best proofs by
the by, that the Egyptian is not an Asiatic, but a negro partially
whitewashed. Moreover, these imposing parts do not increase
proportionally during erection; consequently, the "deed of kind" takes
a much longer time and adds greatly to the woman's enjoyment. In
my time no honest Hindi Moslem would take his womenfolk to
Zanzibar on account of the huge attractions and enormous
temptations there and thereby offered to them. Upon the subject of
Imsák=retention of semen and "prolongation of pleasure," I shall find
it necessary to say more.

8. The very same words were lately spoken in England proving the
eternal truth of The Nights which the ignorant call "downright lies."

9. The Arab's Tue la!

10. Arab. "Sayd wa kanas": the former usually applied to fishing; hence
Sayda (Sidon)=fish-town. But noble Arabs (except the Caliph Al-
Amin) do not fish; so here it means simply "sport," chasing, coursing,
birding (oiseler), and so forth.

11. In the Mac. Edit, the negro is called "Mas'úd"; here he utters a kind of
war-cry and plays upon the name, Sa'ád, Sa'íd, Sa'úd, and Mas'ud, all

being derived from one root, "Sa'ad"=auspiciousness, prosperity.

12. The Arab singular (whence the French "génie"); fem. Jinniyah; the
Div and Rakshah of old Guebre-land and the "Rakshasa," or
"Yaksha," of Hinduism. It would be interesting to trace the evident
connection, by no means "accidental," of "Jinn" with the "Genius"
who came to the Romans through the Asiatic Etruscans, and whose
name I cannot derive from "gignomai" or "genitus." He was unknown
to the Greeks, who had the Daimon (δαίμον), a family which
separated, like the Jinn and the Genius, into two categories, the good
(Agatho-dæmons) and the bad (Kako-dæmons). We know nothing
concerning the status of the Jinn amongst the pre-Moslemitic or
pagan Arabs: the Moslems made him a supernatural anthropoid
being, created of subtile fire (Koran, chapts. xv. 27; lv. 14), not of
earth like man, propagating his kind, ruled by mighty kings, the last
being Ján bin Ján, missionarised by Prophets and subject to death and
Judgment. From the same root are "Junún"=madness (i.e., possession
or obsession by the Jinn) and "Majnún"=a madman. According to R.
Jeremiah bin Eliazar in Psalm xli. 5, Adam was excommunicated for
one hundred and thirty years, during which he begat children in his
own image (Gen. v. 3) and these were Mazikeen or Shedeem—Jinns.
Further details anent the Jinn will presently occur.

13. Arab "Amsár" (cities): in Bul. Edit. "Amtár" (rains), as in Mac. Edit.
So Mr. Payne (I., 5) translates:—
And when she flashes forth the lightning of her glance, She maketh eyes to rain, like
showers, with many a tear.

I would render it, "She makes whole cities shed tears;" and prefer it
for a reason which will generally influence me—its superior
exaggeration and impossibility.

14. Not "A-frit," pronounced Aye-frit, as our poets have it. This variety of
the Jinn, who, as will be shown, are divided into two races like
mankind, is generally, but not always, a malignant being, hostile and
injurious to mankind (Koran xxvii. 39).

15. i.e., "I conjure thee by Allah;" the formula is technically called
"Inshád."

16. This introducing the name of Allah into an indecent tale is essentially
Egyptian and Cairene. But see Boccacio ii. 6; and vii. 9.

17. So in the Mac. Edit.; in others "ninety." I prefer the greater number as
exaggeration is a part of the humour. In the Hindu "Kathá Sárit
Ságara" (Sea of the Streams of Story), the rings are one hundred and
the catastrophe is more moral; the good youth Yashodhara rejects the
wicked one's advances; she awakes the water-sprite, who is about to
slay him, but the rings are brought as testimony and the improper
young person's nose is duly cut off. (Chapt. lxiii.; p. 80, of the
excellent translation by Prof. C. H. Tawney: for the Bibliotheca
Indica: Calcutta, 1881.) The Kathá, etc., by Somadeva (century xi), is
a poetical version of the prose compendium, the "Vrihat Kathá"
(Great Story) by Gunadhya (cent. vi).

18. The Joseph of the Koran, very different from him of Genesis. We
shall meet him often enough in The Nights.

19. "Iblis," vulgarly written "Eblis," from a root meaning The Despairer,
with a suspicious likeness to Diabolos; possibly from "Balas," a
profligate. Some translate it The Calumniator, as Satan is the Hater.
Iblis (who appears in the Arab. version of the N. Testament)
succeeded another revolting angel Al-Haris; and his story of pride,
refusing to worship Adam, is told four times in the Koran from the
Talmud (Sanhedrim 29). He caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise
(ii. 34); he still betrays mankind (xxv. 31), and at the end of time he,
with the other devils, will be "gathered together on their knees round
Hell" (xix. 69). He has evidently had the worst of the game and we
wonder, with Origen, Tillotson, Burns and many others, that he does
not throw up the cards.

20. A similar tale is still told at Akká (St. John d'Acre) concerning the
terrible "butcher"—Jazzár (Djezzar) Pasha. One can·hardly pity
women who are fools enough to run such risks. According to Frizzi,

Niccolò, Marquis of Este, after beheading Parisina, ordered all the
faithless wives of Ferrara to be treated in like manner.

21. "Shahrázád (Persian)=City-freer; in the older version Scheherazade
(probably both from Shirzád=lion-born). "Dunyázád=World-freer.
The Bres. Edit. corrupts the former to Sháhrzád or Sháhrazád; and the
Mac. and Calc. to Shahrzád or Shehrzád. I have ventured to restore
the name as it should be. Galland for the second prefers Dinarzade (?)
and Richardson Dinazade (Dinázád=Religion-freer): here I have
followed Lane and Payne; though in "First Footsteps" I was misled
by Galland. See Vol. ii. p. 1.

22. Probably she proposed to "Judith" the King. These learned and clever
young ladies are very dangerous in the East.

23. In Egypt, etc., the bull takes the place of the Western ox. The Arab.
word is "Taur" (Thaur, Saur); in old Persian "Tora" and Lat. "Taurus,"
a venerable remnant of the days before the "Semitic" and "Aryan"
families of speech had split into two distinct growths. "Taur" ends in
the Saxon "Steor" and the English "Steer."

24. Arab. "Abú Yakzán"=the Wakener; because the ass brays at dawn.

25. Arab. "Tibn"; straw crushed under the sledge: the hay of Egypt,
Arabia, Syria, etc. The old country custom is to pull up the corn by
handfuls from the roots, leaving the land perfectly bare: hence the
"plucking up" of Hebrew Holy Writ. The object is to preserve every
atom of "Tibn."

26. Arab. "Yá Aftah": Al-Aftah is an epithet of the bull, also of the
chameleon.

27. Arab. "Balid," a favourite Egyptianism often pleasantly confounded
with "Wali" (a Santon); hence the latter comes to mean "an innocent,"
a "ninny."

28. From the Calc. Edit., Vol. I., p. 29.

29. Arab. "Abu Yakzán" is hardly equivalent with "Père l'Eveillé."

30. In Arab. the wa (‫ )َو‬is the sign of parenthesis.

31. In the nearer East the light little plough is carried a-field by the bull
or ass.

32. Ocymum basilicum, the "royal herb," so much prized all over the
East, especially in India, where, under the name of "Tulsi," it is a
shrub sacred to the merry god Krishna. I found the verses in a MS.
copy of the Nights.

33. Arab. "Sadaf," the Kauri, or cowrie, brought from the Maldive and
Lakdive Archipelago. The Kámús describes this "Wada'" or Concha
Veneris as "a white shell [whence to "shell out"] which is taken out of
the sea, the fissure of which is white like that of the date-stone. It is
hung about the neck to avert the evil eye." The pearl in Arab. is
"Murwarid," hence evidently "Margarita" and Margaris (woman's
name).

34. Arab. "Kat'a" (bit of leather): some read "Nat'a," a leather used by
way of table-cloth, and forming a bag for victuals; but it is never
made of bull's hide.

35. The Older "Cadi," a judge in religious matters. The Shuhúd, or
Assessors, are officers of the Mahkamah or Kazi's Court.

36. Of which more in a future page. He thus purified himself
ceremonially before death.

37. This is Christian rather than Moslem: a favourite Maltese curse is
"Yahrak Kiddísak man rabba-k!"=burn the Saint who brought thee
up!

38. A popular Egyptian phrase: the dog and the cock speak like Fellahs.

39. i.e. between the last sleep and dawn when they would rise to wash
and pray.

TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI.

It is related, O auspicious King, that there was a merchant of the merchants
who had much wealth, and business in various cities. Now on a day he
mounted horse and went forth to recover monies in certain towns, and the
heat sore oppressed him; so he sat beneath a tree and, putting his hand into
his saddle-bags, took thence some broken bread and dry dates and began to
break his fast. When he had ended eating the dates he threw away the
stones with force and lo! an Ifrit appeared, huge of stature and brandishing
a drawn sword, wherewith he approached the merchant and said, "Stand up
that I may slay thee, even as thou slewest my son!" Asked the merchant,
"How have I slain thy son?" and he answered, "When thou atest dates and
threwest away the stones they struck my son full in the breast as he was
walking by, so that he died forthwith."[40] Quoth the merchant, "Verily from
Allah we proceeded and unto Allah are we returning. There is no Majesty,
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I slew thy
son, I slew him by chance medley. I pray thee now pardon me." Rejoined
the Jinni, "There is no help but I must slay thee." Then he seized him and
dragged him along and, casting him to the earth, raised the sword to strike
him; whereupon the merchant wept, and said, "I commit my case to
Allah," and began repeating these couplets:—

Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing that of bane ✿ And holdeth Life a twain of halves,
this of pleasure that of pain.
See'st not when blows the hurricane, sweeping stark and striking strong ✿ None save the forest
giant feels the suffering of the strain?
How many trees earth nourisheth of the dry and of the green ✿ Yet none but those which bear the
fruits for cast of stone complain.
See'st not how corpses rise and float on the surface of the tide ✿ While pearls o' price lie hidden in
the deepest of the main!
In Heaven are unnumberèd the many of the stars ✿ Yet ne'er a star but Sun and Moon by eclipse is
overta'en.
Well judgest thou the days that saw thy faring sound and well ✿ And countedst not the pangs and
pain whereof Fate is ever fain.
The nights have kept thee safe and the safety brought thee pride ✿ But bliss and blessings of the
night are 'genderers of bane!

When the merchant ceased repeating his verses the Jinni said to him, "Cut
thy words short, by Allah! needs must I slay thee." But the merchant spake
him thus, "Know, O thou Ifrit, that I have debts due to me and much wealth
and children and a wife and many pledges in hand; so permit me to go
home and discharge to every claimant his claim; and I will come back to
thee at the head of the new year. Allah be my testimony and surety that I
will return to thee; and then thou mayest do with me as thou wilt and Allah
is witness to what I say." The Jinni took sure promise of him and let him go;
so he returned to his own city and transacted his business and rendered to
all men their dues and after informing his wife and children of what had
betided him, he appointed a guardian and dwelt with them for a full year.
Then he arose, and made the Wuzu-ablution to purify himself before death
and took his shroud under his arm and bade farewell to his people, his
neighbours and all his kith and kin, and went forth despite his own nose.[41]
They then began weeping and wailing and beating their breasts over him;
but he travelled until he arrived at the same garden, and the day of his
arrival was the head of the New Year. As he sat weeping over what had
befallen him, behold, a Shaykh,[42] a very ancient man, drew near leading a
chained gazelle; and he saluted that merchant and wishing him long life
said, "What is the cause of thy sitting in this place and thou alone and this
be a resort of evil spirits?" The merchant related to him what had come to
pass with the Ifrit, and the old man, the owner of the gazelle, wondered and
said, "By Allah, O brother, thy faith is none other than exceeding faith and
thy story right strange; were it graven with gravers on the eye-corners, it
were a warner to whoso would be warned." Then seating himself near the

merchant he said, "By Allah, O my brother, I will not leave thee until I see
what may come to pass with thee and this Ifrit." And presently as he sat and
the two were at talk the merchant began to feel fear and terror and
exceeding grief and sorrow beyond relief and ever-growing care and
extreme despair. And the owner of the gazelle was hard by his side; when
behold, a second Shaykh approached them, and with him were two dogs
both of greyhound breed and both black. The second old man after saluting
them with the salam, also asked them of their tidings and said "What
causeth you to sit in this place, a dwelling of the Jánn?"[43] So they told him
the tale from beginning to end, and their stay there had not lasted long
before there came up a third Shaykh, and with him a she-mule of bright bay
coat; and he saluted them and asked them why they were seated in that
place. So they told him the story from first to last: and of no avail, O my
master, is a twice-told tale! There he sat down with them, and lo! a dust-
cloud advanced and a mighty sand-devil appeared amidmost of the waste.
Presently the cloud opened and behold, within it was that Jinni hending in
hand a drawn sword, while his eyes were shooting fire-sparks of rage. He
came up to them and, haling away the merchant from among them, cried to
him, "Arise that I may slay thee, as thou slewest my son, the life-stuff of my
liver."[44] The merchant wailed and wept, and the three old men began
sighing and crying and weeping and wailing with their companion.
Presently the first old man (the owner of the gazelle) came out from among
them and kissed the hand of the Ifrit and said, "O Jinni, thou Crown of the
Kings of the Jann! were I to tell thee the story of me and this gazelle and
thou shouldst consider it wondrous wouldst thou give me a third part of this
merchant's blood?" Then quoth the Jinni "Even so, O Shaykh! if thou tell
me this tale, and I hold it a marvellous, then will I give thee a third of his
blood." Thereupon the old man began to tell

THE FIRST SHAYKH'S STORY.

Know O Jinni! that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle, my
own flesh and blood, and I married her when she was a young maid, and I
lived with her well-nigh thirty years, yet was I not blessed with issue by her.
So I took me a concubine,[45] who brought to me the boon of a male child
fair as the full moon, with eyes of lovely shine and eyebrows which formed
one line, and limbs of perfect design. Little by little he grew in stature and
waxed tall; and when he was a lad fifteen years old, it became needful I
should journey to certain cities and I travelled with great store of goods. But
the daughter of my uncle (this gazelle) had learned gramarye and
egromancy and clerkly craft[46] from her childhood; so she bewitched that
son of mine to a calf, and my handmaid (his mother) to a heifer, and made
them over to the herdsman's care. Now when I returned after a long time
from my journey and asked for my son and his mother, she answered me,
saying "Thy slave-girl is dead, and thy son hath fled and I know not whither
he is sped." So I remained for a whole year with grieving heart, and
streaming eyes until the time came for the Great Festival of Allah.[47] Then
sent I to my herdsman bidding him choose for me a fat heifer; and he
brought me one which was the damsel, my handmaid, whom this gazelle
had ensorcelled. I tucked up my sleeves and skirt and, taking a knife,
proceeded to cut her throat, but she lowed aloud and wept bitter tears.
Thereat I marvelled and pity seized me and I held my hand, saying to the
herd, "Bring me other than this." Then cried my cousin, "Slay her, for I
have not a fatter nor a fairer!" Once more I went forward to sacrifice her,
but she again lowed aloud, upon which in ruth I refrained and commanded
the herdsmen to slay her and flay her. He killed her and skinned her but
found in her neither fat nor flesh, only hide and bone; and I repented when
penitence availed me naught. I gave her to the herdsman and said to him,
"Fetch me a fat calf;" so he brought my son ensorcelled. When the calf saw
me, he brake his tether and ran to me, and fawned upon me and wailed and
shed tears; so that I took pity on him and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a
heifer and let this calf go!" Thereupon my cousin (this gazelle) called aloud
at me, saying, "Needs must thou kill this calf; this is a holy day and a
blessed, whereon naught is slain save what be perfect-pure; and we have not

amongst our calves any fatter or fairer than this!" Quoth I, "Look thou upon
the condition of the heifer which I slaughtered at thy bidding and how we
turn from her in disappointment and she profited us on no wise; and I repent
with an exceeding repentance of having killed her: so this time I will not
obey thy bidding for the sacrifice of this calf." Quoth she, "By Allah the
Most Great, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! there is no help for
it; thou must kill him on this holy day, and if thou kill him not to me thou
art no man and I to thee am no wife." Now when I heard those hard words,
not knowing her object I went up to the calf, knife in hand——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.[48]
Then quoth her sister to her, "How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and
how sweet and how tasteful!" And Shahrazad answered her, "What is this to
that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would
spare me?" Then said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her,
until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." So they slept the rest of that
night in mutual embrace till day fully brake. Then the King went forth to his
audience-hall[49] and the Wazir went up with his daughter's shroud under his
arm. The King issued his orders, and promoted this and deposed that, until
the end of the day; and he told the Wazir no whit of what had happened. But
the Minister wondered thereat with exceeding wonder; and when the Court
broke up King Shahryar entered his palace.

Now when it was the Second Night,

said Dunyazad to her sister Shahrazad, "O my sister, finish for us that story
of the Merchant and the Jinni;" and she answered, "With joy and goodly
gree, if the King permit me." Then quoth the King, "Tell thy tale;" and
Shahrazad began in these words: It hath reached me, O auspicious King and
Heaven-directed Ruler! that when the merchant purposed the sacrifice of
the calf but saw it weeping, his heart relented and he said to the herdsman,
"Keep the calf among my cattle." All this the old Shaykh told the Jinni who
marvelled much at these strange words. Then the owner of the gazelle
continued:—O Lord of the Kings of the Jann, this much took place and my
uncle's daughter, this gazelle, looked on and saw it, and said, "Butcher me
this calf, for surely it is a fat one;" but I bade the herdsman take it away and
he took it and turned his face homewards. On the next day as I was sitting
in my own house, lo! the herdsman came and, standing before me said, "O

my master, I will tell thee a thing which shall gladden thy soul, and shall
gain me the gift of good tidings."[50] I answered, "Even so." Then said he,
"O merchant, I have a daughter, and she learned magic in her childhood
from an old woman who lived with us. Yesterday when thou gavest me the
calf, I went into the house to her, and she looked upon it and veiled her
face; then she wept and laughed alternately and at last she said:—O my
father, hath mine honour become so cheap to thee that thou bringest in to
me strange men? I asked her:—Where be these strange men and why wast
thou laughing, and crying?; and she answered, Of a truth this calf which is
with thee is the son of our master, the merchant; but he is ensorcelled by his
stepdame who bewitched both him and his mother: such is the cause of my
laughing; now the reason of his weeping is his mother, for that his father
slew her unawares. Then I marvelled at this with exceeding marvel and
hardly made sure that day had dawned before I came to tell thee." When I
heard, O Jinni, my herdsman's words, I went out with him, and I was
drunken without wine, from the excess of joy and gladness which came
upon me, until I reached his house. There his daughter welcomed me and
kissed my hand, and forthwith the calf came and fawned upon me as before.
Quoth I to the herdsman's daughter, "Is this true that thou sayest of this
calf?" Quoth she, "Yea, O my master, he is thy son, the very core of thy
heart." I rejoiced and said to her, "O maiden, if thou wilt release him thine
shall be whatever cattle and property of mine are under thy father's hand."
She smiled and answered, "O my master, I have no greed for the goods nor
will I take them save on two conditions; the first that thou marry me to thy
son and the second that I may bewitch her who bewitched him and imprison
her, otherwise I cannot be safe from her malice and malpractices." Now
when I heard, O Jinni, these, the words of the herdsman's daughter, I
replied, "Beside what thou askest all the cattle and the household stuff in
thy father's charge are thine and, as for the daughter of my uncle, her blood
is lawful to thee." When I had spoken, she took a cup and filled it with
water: then she recited a spell over it and sprinkled it upon the calf, saying,
"If Almighty Allah created thee a calf, remain so shaped, and change not;
but if thou be enchanted, return to thy whilom form, by command of Allah
Most Highest!" and lo! he trembled and became a man. Then I fell on his
neck and said, "Allah upon thee, tell me all that the daughter of my uncle
did by thee and by thy mother." And when he told me what had come to
pass between them I said, "O my son, Allah favoured thee with one to

restore thee, and thy right hath returned to thee." Then, O Jinni, I married
the herdsman's daughter to him, and she transformed my wife into this
gazelle, saying:—Her shape is a comely and by no means loathsome. After
this she abode with us night and day, day and night, till the Almighty took
her to Himself. When she deceased, my son fared forth to the cities of Hind,
even to the city of this man who hath done to thee what hath been done;[51]
and I also took this gazelle (my cousin) and wandered with her from town
to town seeking tidings of my son, till Destiny drove me to this place where
I saw the merchant sitting in tears. Such is my tale! Quoth the Jinni, "This
story is indeed strange, and therefore I grant thee the third part of his
blood." Thereupon the second old man, who owned the two greyhounds,
came up and said, "O Jinni, if I recount to thee what befel me from my
brothers, these two hounds, and thou see that it is a tale even more
wondrous and marvellous than what thou hast heard, wilt thou grant to me
also the third of this man's blood?" Replied the Jinni, "Thou hast my word
for it, if thine adventures be more marvellous and wondrous." Thereupon he
thus began

THE SECOND SHAYKH'S STORY.
Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jann! that these two dogs are my brothers
and I am the third. Now when our father died and left us a capital of three
thousand gold pieces,[52] I opened a shop with my share, and bought and
sold therein, and in like guise did my two brothers, each setting up a shop.
But I had been in business no long while before the elder sold his stock for
a thousand dinars, and after buying outfit and merchandise, went his ways
to foreign parts. He was absent one whole year with the caravan; but one
day as I sat in my shop, behold, a beggar stood before me asking alms, and I
said to him, "Allah open thee another door!"[53] Whereupon he answered,
weeping the while, "Am I so changed that thou knowest me not?" Then I
looked at him narrowly, and lo! it was my brother, so I rose to him and
welcomed him; then I seated him in my shop and put questions concerning
his case. "Ask me not," answered he; "my wealth is awaste and my state
hath waxed un-stated!" So I took him to the Hammám-bath[54] and clad him
in a suit of my own and gave him lodging in my house. Moreover, after
looking over the accounts of my stock-in-trade and the profits of my
business, I found that industry had gained me one thousand dinars, while
my principal, the head of my wealth, amounted to two thousand. So I
shared the whole with him, saying, "Assume that thou hast made no journey
abroad but hast remained at home; and be not cast down by thine ill-luck."
He took the share in great glee and opened for himself a shop; and matters
went on quietly for a few nights and days. But presently my second brother
(yon other dog), also setting his heart upon travel, sold off what goods and
stock-in-trade he had, and albeit we tried to stay him he would not be
stayed: he laid in an outfit for the journey, and fared forth with certain
wayfarers. After an absence of a whole year he came back to me, even as
my elder brother had come back; and when I said to him, "O my brother,
did I not dissuade thee from travel?" he shed tears and cried, "O my brother,
this be destiny's decree: here I am a mere beggar, penniless[55] and without a
shirt to my back." So I led him to the bath, O Jinni, and clothing him in new
clothes of my own wear, I went with him to my shop and served him with
meat and drink. Furthermore I said to him, "O my brother, I am wont to cast
up my shop-accounts at the head of every year, and whatso I shall find of

surplusage is between me and thee."[56] So I proceeded, O Ifrit, to strike a
balance and, finding two thousand dinars of profit, I returned praises to the
Creator (be He extolled and exalted!) and made over one half to my brother,
keeping the other to myself. Thereupon he busied himself with opening a
shop and on this wise we abode many days. After a time my brothers began
pressing me to travel with them; but I refused, saying, "What gained ye by
your voyage that I should gain thereby?" As I would not give ear to them
we went back each to his own shop where we bought and sold as before.
They kept urging me to travel for a whole twelvemonth, but I refused to do
so till full six years were past and gone when I consented with these words,
"O my brothers, here am I, your companion of travel: now let me see what
monies you have by you." I found, however, that they had not a doit, having
squandered their substance in high diet and drinking and carnal delights. Yet
I spoke not a word of reproach; so far from it I looked over my shop
accounts once more, and sold what goods and stock-in trade were mine;
and, finding myself the owner of six thousand ducats, I gladly proceeded to
divide that sum into halves, saying to my brothers, "These three thousand
gold pieces are for me and for you to trade withal," adding, "Let us bury the
other moiety underground that it may be of service in case any harm befal
us, in which case each shall take a thousand wherewith to open shops."
Both replied, "Right is thy recking;" and I gave to each one his thousand
gold pieces, keeping the same sum for myself, to wit, a thousand dinars. We
then got ready suitable goods and hired a ship and, having embarked our
merchandise, proceeded on our voyage, day following day, a full month,
after which we arrived at a city, where we sold our venture; and for every
piece of gold we gained ten. And as we turned again to our voyage we
found on the shore of the sea a maiden clad in worn and ragged gear, and
she kissed my hand and said, "O master, is there kindness in thee and
charity? I can make thee a fitting return for them." I answered, "Even so;
truly in me are benevolence and good works, even though thou render me
no return." Then she said, "Take me to wife, O my master, and carry me to
thy city, for I have given myself to thee; so do me a kindness and I am of
those who be meet for good works and charity: I will make thee a fitting
return for these and be thou not shamed by my condition." When I heard her
words, my heart yearned towards her, in such sort as willed it Allah (be He
extolled and exalted!); and took her and clothed her and made ready for her
a fair resting-place in the vessel, and honourably entreated her. So we

voyaged on, and my heart became attached to her with exceeding
attachment, and I was separated from her neither night nor day, and I paid
more regard to her than to my brothers. Then they were estranged from me,
and waxed jealous of my wealth and the quantity of merchandise I had, and
their eyes were opened covetously upon all my property. So they took
counsel to murder me and seize my wealth, saying, "Let us slay our brother
and all his monies will be ours;" and Satan made this deed seem fair in their
sight; so when they found me in privacy (and I sleeping by my wife's side)
they took us both up and cast us into the sea. My wife awoke startled from
her sleep and, forthright becoming an Ifritah,[57] she bore me up and carried
me to an island and disappeared for a short time; but she returned in the
morning and said "Here am I, thy faithful slave, who hath made thee due
recompense; for I bore thee up in the waters and saved thee from death by
command of the Almighty. Know that I am a Jinniyah, and as I saw thee my
heart loved thee by will of the Lord, for I am a believer in Allah and in His
Apostle (whom Heaven bless and preserve!). Thereupon I came to thee
conditioned as thou sawest me and thou didst marry me, and see now I have
saved thee from sinking. But I am angered against thy brothers and
assuredly I must slay them." When I heard her story I was surprised and,
thanking her for all she had done, I said, "But as to slaying my brothers this
must not be." Then I told her the tale of what had come to pass with them
from the beginning of our lives to the end, and on hearing it quoth she,
"This night will I fly as a bird over them and will sink their ship and slay
them." Quoth I, "Allah upon thee, do not thus, for the proverb saith, O thou
who doest good to him that doth evil, leave the evil doer to his evil deeds.
Moreover they are still my brothers." But she rejoined, "By Allah, there is
no help for it but I slay them." I humbled myself before her for their pardon,
whereupon she bore me up and flew away with me till at last she set me
down on the terrace-roof of my own house. I opened the doors and took up
what I had hidden in the ground; and after I had saluted the folk I opened
my shop and bought me merchandise. Now when night came on I went
home, and there I saw these two hounds tied up; and, when they sighted me,
they arose and whined and fawned upon me; but ere I knew what happened
my wife said, "These two dogs be thy brothers!" I answered, "And who hath
done this thing by them?" and she rejoined, "I sent a message to my sister
and she entreated them on this wise, nor shall these two be released from
their present shape till ten years shall have passed." And now I have arrived

at this place on my way to my wife's sister that she may deliver them from
this condition, after their having endured it for half a score of years. As I
was wending onwards I saw this young man, who acquainted me with what
had befallen him, and I determined not to fare hence until I should see what
might occur between thee and him. Such is my tale! Then said the Jinni,
"Surely this is a strange story and therefor I give thee the third portion of
his blood and his crime." Thereupon quoth the third Shaykh, the master of
the mare-mule, to the Jinni, "I can tell thee a tale more wondrous than these
two, so thou grant me the remainder of his blood and of his offence," and
the Jinni answered, "So be it!" Then the old man began

THE THIRD SHAYKH'S STORY.
Know, O Sultan and head of the Jann, that this mule was my wife. Now it
so happened that I went forth and was absent one whole year; and when I
returned from my journey I came to her by night, and saw a black slave
lying with her on the carpet-bed, and they were talking, and dallying, and
laughing, and kissing and playing the close-buttock game. When she saw
me, she rose and came hurriedly at me with a gugglet[58] of water; and,
muttering spells over it, she besprinkled me and said, "Come forth from this
thy shape into the shape of a dog;" and I became on the instant a dog. She
drove me out of the house, and I ran through the doorway nor ceased
running until I came to a butcher's stall, where I stopped and began to eat
what bones were there. When the stall-owner saw me, he took me and led
me into his house, but as soon as his daughter had sight of me she veiled her
face from me, crying out, "Dost thou bring men to me and dost thou come
in with them to me?" Her father asked, "Where is the man?"; and she
answered, "This dog is a man whom his wife hath ensorcelled and I am able
to release him." When her father heard her words, he said, "Allah upon
thee, O my daughter, release him." So she took a gugglet of water and, after
uttering words over it, sprinkled upon me a few drops, saying, "Come forth
from that form into thy former form." And I returned to my natural shape.
Then I kissed her hand and said, "I wish thou wouldest transform my wife
even as she transformed me." Thereupon she gave me some water, saying,
"As soon as thou see her asleep, sprinkle this liquid upon her and speak
what words thou heardest me utter, so shall she become whatsoever thou
desirest." I went to my wife and found her fast asleep; and, while sprinkling
the water upon her, I said, "Come forth from that form into the form of a
mare-mule." So she became on the instant a she-mule, and she it is whom
thou seest with thine eyes, O Sultan and head of the Kings of the Jann!
Then the Jinni turned towards her and said, "Is this sooth?" And she nodded
her head and replied by signs, "Indeed, 'tis the truth: for such is my tale and
this is what hath befallen me." Now when the old man had ceased speaking
the Jinni shook with pleasure and gave him the third of the merchant's
blood.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say. Then quoth Dunyazad, "O, my sister, how pleasant is thy

tale, and how tasteful; how sweet and how grateful!" She replied, "And
what is this compared with that I could tell thee, the night to come, if I live
and the King spare me?"[59] Then thought the King, "By Allah, I will not
slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." So they
rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. After this the King went
forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the
court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and
deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan
broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.

Now when it was the Third Night,

And the King had had his will of the Wazir's daughter, Dunyazad, her sister,
said to her, "Finish for us that tale of thine;" and she replied, "With joy and
goodly gree! It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the third old
man told a tale to the Jinni more wondrous than the two preceding, the Jinni
marvelled with exceeding marvel; and, shaking with delight, cried, "Lo! I
have given thee the remainder of the merchant's punishment and for thy
sake have I released him." Thereupon the merchant embraced the old men
and thanked them, and these Shaykhs wished him joy on being saved and
fared forth each one for his own city. Yet this tale is not more wondrous
than the fisherman's story." Asked the King, "What is the fisherman?s
story?" And she answered by relating the tale of

40. Travellers tell of a peculiar knack of jerking the date-stone, which
makes it strike with great force: I never saw this "Inwá" practised, but
it reminds me of the water-splashing with one hand in the German
baths.

41. i.e., sorely against his will.

42. Arab. "Shaykh"=an old man (primarily), an elder, a chief (of the tribe,
guild, etc.); and honourably addressed to any man. Comp. among the
neo-Latins "Sieur," "Signore," "Señor," "Senhor," etc. from Lat.
"Senior," which gave our "Sire" and "Sir." Like many in Arabic the
word has a host of different meanings and most of them will occur in
the course of The Nights. Ibrahim (Abraham) was the first Shaykh or

man who became grey. Seeing his hairs whiten he cried, "O Allah
what is this?" and the answer came that it was a sign of dignified
gravity. Hereupon he exclaimed, "O Lord increase this to me!" and so
it happened till his locks waxed snowy white at the age of one
hundred and fifty. He was the first who parted his hair, trimmed his
mustachios, cleaned his teeth with the Miswák (tooth-stick), pared his
nails, shaved his pecten, snuffed up water, used ablution after stool
and wore a shirt (Tabari).

43. The word is mostly plural=Jinnís: it is also singular=a demon; and
Ján bin Ján has been noticed.

44. With us moderns "liver" suggests nothing but malady: in Arabic and
Persian as in the classic literature of Europe it is the seat of passion,
the heart being that of affection. Of this more presently.

45. Originally in Al-Islam the concubine (Surriyat, etc.) was a captive
taken in war and the Koran says nothing about buying slave-girls. But
if the captives were true believers the Moslem was ordered to marry
not to keep them. In modern days concubinage has become an
extensive subject. Practically the disadvantage is that the slave-girls,
knowing themselves to be the master's property, consider him bound
to sleep with them; which is by no means the mistress's view. Some
wives, however, when old and childless, insist, after the fashion of
Sarah, upon the husband taking a young concubine and treat her like
a daughter—which is rare. The Nights abound in tales of concubines,
but these are chiefly owned by the Caliphs and high officials who did
much as they pleased. The only redeeming point in the system is that
it obviated the necessity of prostitution which is, perhaps, the greatest
evil known to modern society.

46. Arab. "Al-Kahánah"=the craft of a "Káhin" (Heb. Cohen) a diviner,
soothsayer, etc.

47. Arab. "Id al-kabír"=The Great Festival; the Turkish Bayrám and
Indian Bakar-eed (Kine-fête), the pilgrimage-time, also termed
"Festival of the Kurbán" (sacrifice) because victims are slain; Al-
Zuha (of Undurn or forenoon), Al-Azhá (of serene night) and Al-Nahr

(of throat-cutting). For full details I must refer readers to my
"Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah" (3
vols. 8vo. London, Longmans, 1855). I shall have often to refer to it.

48. Arab. "Kalám al-mubáh," i.e., that allowed or permitted to her by the
King, her husband.

49. Moslem Kings are expected, like the old Guebre Monarchs, to hold
"Darbar" (i.e., give public audience) at least twice a day, morning and
evening. Neglect of this practice caused the ruin of the Caliphate and
of the Persian and Moghul Empires: the great lords were left
uncontrolled and the lieges revolted to obtain justice. The Guebre
Kings had two levée places, the Rozistan (day station) and the
Shabistan (night-station—istán or stán being a nominal form of
istádan, to stand, as Hindo-stán). Moreover one day in the week the
sovereign acted as "Mufti" or Supreme Judge.

50. Arab. "Al-Bashárah," the gift everywhere claimed in the East and in
Boccaccio's Italy by one who brings good news. Those who do the
reverse expose themselves to a sound strappado.

51. A euphemistic formula, to avoid mentioning unpleasant matters. I
shall note these for the benefit of students who would honestly
prepare for the public service in Moslem lands.

52. Arab. "Dinár," from the Latin denarius (a silver coin worth ten ounces
of brass) through the Greek δηνάριον: it is a Koranic word (chapt.
iii.) though its Arab equivalent is "Miskál." It also occurs in the Kathá
before quoted, clearly showing the derivation. In the "Book of
Kalilah and Dimnah" it is represented by the Daric or Persian Dinár,
δαρεικός, from Dárá=a King (whence Darius). The Dinar, sequin or
ducat, contained at different times from 10 and 12 (Abu Hanifah's
day) to 20 and even 25 dirhams or drachmas; and, as a weight,
represented a drachma and a half. Its value greatly varied, but we
may assume it here at nine shillings or ten francs to half a sovereign.
For an elaborate article on the Dinar see Yule's "Cathay and the Way
Thither" (ii., pp. 439-443).

53. The formula used in refusing alms to an "asker" or in rejecting an
insufficient offer: "Allah will open to thee!" (some door of gain—not
mine)! Another favourite ejaculation is "Allah Karim" (which Turks
pronounce "Kyereem")=Allah is All-beneficent: meaning Ask Him,
not me.

54. The public bath. London knows the word through "The Hummums."

55. Arab. "Dirham" (Plur. diráhim, also used in the sense of money,
"siller"), the Gr. δραχμή and the drachuma of Plautus (Trin. 2, 4, 23).
The word occurs in the Panchatantra also showing the derivation; and
in the Syriac Kalilah wa Dimnah it is "Zúz." This silver piece was=6
obols (9¾d.) and as a weight=66½ grains. The Dirham of The Nights
was worth six "Dánik," each of these being a fraction over a penny.
The modern Greek Drachma is=one franc.

56. In Arabic the speaker always puts himself first, even if he address the
King, without intending incivility.

57. A she-Ifrit, not necessarily an evil spirit.

58. Arab. "Kullah" (in Egypt pron. "gulleh"), the wide-mouthed jug,
called in the Hijaz "baradiyah;" "daurak" being the narrow. They are
used either for water or sherbet and, being made of porous clay,
"sweat," and keep the contents cool; hence all old Anglo-Egyptians
drink from them, not from bottles. Sometimes they are perfumed with
smoke of incense, mastich or Kafal (Amyris Kafal). For their graceful
shapes See Lane's "Account of the Manners and Customs of the
Modern Egyptians" (chapt. v). I quote, here and elsewhere, from the
fifth edition, London, Murray, 1860.

59. "And what is?" etc. A popular way of expressing great difference. So
in India:—"Where is Rajah Bhoj (the great King) and where is Gangá
the oilman?"

THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI.

It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was a Fisherman well
stricken in years who had a wife and three children, and withal was of poor
condition. Now it was his custom to cast his net every day four times, and
no more. On a day he went forth about noontide to the sea shore, where he
laid down his basket; and, tucking up his shirt and plunging into the water,
made a cast with his net and waited till it settled to the bottom. Then he
gathered the cords together and haled away at it, but found it weighty; and
however much he drew it landwards, he could not pull it up; so he carried
the ends ashore and drove a stake into the ground and made the net fast to
it. Then he stripped and dived into the water all about the net, and left not
off working hard until he had brought it up. He rejoiced thereat and,
donning his clothes, went to the net, when he found in it a dead jackass
which had torn the meshes. Now when he saw it, he exclaimed in his grief,
"There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the
Great!" Then quoth he, "This is a strange manner of daily bread;" and he
began reciting in extempore verse:—
O toiler through the glooms of night in peril and in pain ✿ Thy toiling stint for daily bread comes
not by might and main!
Seest thou not the fisher seek afloat upon the sea ✿ His bread, while glimmer stars of night as set in
tangled skein.
Anon he plungeth in despite the buffet of the waves ✿ The while to sight the bellying net his eager
glances strain;
Till joying at the night's success, a fish he bringeth home ✿ Whose gullet by the hook of Fate was
caught and cut in twain.
When buys that fish of him a man who spent the hours of night ✿ Reckless of cold and wet and
gloom in ease and comfort fain,
Laud to the Lord who gives to this, to that denies his wishes ✿ And dooms one toil and catch the
prey and other eat the fishes.[60]

Then quoth he, "Up and to it; I am sure of His beneficence, Inshallah!" So
he continued:—

When thou art seized of Evil Fate, assume ✿ The noble soul's long-suffering: 'tis thy best:
Complain not to the creature; this be 'plaint ✿ From one most Ruthful to the ruthlessest.

The Fisherman, when he had looked at the dead ass, got it free of the toils
and wrung out and spread his net; then he plunged into the sea, saying, "In
Allah's name!" and made a cast and pulled at it, but it grew heavy and
settled down more firmly than the first time. Now he thought that there
were fish in it, and he made it fast, and doffing his clothes went into the
water, and dived and haled until he drew it up upon dry land. Then found he
in it a large earthen pitcher which was full of sand and mud; and seeing this
he was greatly troubled and began repeating these verses[61]:—
Forbear, O troubles of the world, ✿ And pardon an ye nill forbear:
I went to seek my daily bread ✿ I find that breadless I must fare:
For neither handcraft brings me aught ✿ Nor Fate allots to me a share:
How many fools the Pleiads reach ✿ While darkness whelms the wise and ware.

So he prayed pardon of Allah and, throwing away the jar, wrung his net and
cleansed it and returned to the sea the third time to cast his net and waited
till it had sunk. Then he pulled at it and found therein potsherds and broken
glass; whereupon he began to speak these verses:—
He is to thee that daily bread thou canst nor loose nor bind ✿ Nor pen nor writ avail thee aught thy
daily bread to find:
For joy and daily bread are what Fate deigneth to allow; ✿ This soil is sad and sterile ground, while
that makes glad the hind.
The shafts of Time and Life bear down full many a man of worth ✿ While bearing up to high
degree wights of ignoble mind.
So come thou, Death! for verily life is not worth a straw ✿ When low the falcon falls withal the
mallard wings the wind:
No wonder 'tis thou seest how the great of soul and mind ✿ Are poor, and many a losel carle to
height of luck designed.
This bird shall overfly the world from east to furthest west ✿ And that shall win her every wish
though ne'er she leave the nest.

Then raising his eyes heavenwards he said, "O my God!"[62] verily Thou
wottest that I cast not my net each day save four times;[63] the third is done
and as yet Thou hast vouchsafed me nothing. So this time, O my God, deign
give me my daily bread. Then, having called on Allah's name,[64] he again
threw his net and waited its sinking and settling; whereupon he haled at it
but could not draw it in for that it was entangled at the bottom. He cried out

in his vexation "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah!"
and he began reciting:—
Fie on this wretched world, an so it be ✿ I must be whelmed by grief and misery:
Tho' gladsome be man's lot when dawns the morn ✿ He drains the cup of woe ere eve he see:
Yet was I one of whom the world when asked ✿ "Whose lot is happiest?" oft would say "'Tis he!"

Thereupon he stripped and, diving down to the net, busied himself with it
till it came to land. Then he opened the meshes and found therein a
cucumber-shaped jar of yellow copper,[65] evidently full of something,
whose mouth was made fast with a leaden cap, stamped with the seal-ring
of our Lord Sulayman son of David (Allah accept the twain!). Seeing this

the Fisherman rejoiced and said, "If I sell it in the brass-bazar 'tis worth ten
golden dinars." He shook it and finding it heavy continued, "Would to
Heaven I knew what is herein. But I must and will open it and look to its
contents and store it in my bag and sell it in the brass-market." And taking
out a knife he worked at the lead till he had loosened it from the jar; then he
laid the cup on the ground and shook the vase to pour out whatever might
be inside. He found nothing in it; whereat he marvelled with an exceeding
marvel. But presently there came forth from the jar a smoke which spired
heavenwards into æther (whereat he again marvelled with mighty marvel),
and which trailed along earth's surface till presently, having reached its full
height, the thick vapour condensed, and became an Ifrit, huge of bulk,
whose crest touched the clouds while his feet were on the ground. His head
was as a dome, his hands like pitchforks, his legs long as masts and his
mouth big as a cave; his teeth were like large stones, his nostrils ewers, his
eyes two lamps and his look was fierce and lowering. Now when the
fisherman saw the Ifrit his side muscles quivered, his teeth chattered, his
spittle dried up and he became blind about what to do. Upon this the Ifrit
looked at him and cried, "There is no god but the God, and Sulayman is the
prophet of God;" presently adding, "O Apostle of Allah, slay me not; never
again will I gainsay thee in word nor sin against thee in deed."[66] Quoth the
Fisherman, "O Márid,[67] diddest thou say, Sulayman the Apostle of Allah;
and Sulayman is dead some thousand and eight hundred years ago,[68] and
we are now in the last days of the world! What is thy story, and what is thy
account of thyself, and what is the cause of thy entering into this cucurbit?"
Now when the Evil Spirit heard the words of the Fisherman, quoth he;
"There is no god but the God: be of good cheer, O Fisherman!" Quoth the
Fisherman, "Why biddest thou me to be of good cheer?" and he replied,
"Because of thy having to die an ill death in this very hour." Said the
Fisherman, "Thou deservest for thy good tidings the withdrawal of
Heaven's protection, O thou distant one![69] Wherefore shouldest thou kill
me and what thing have I done to deserve death, I who freed thee from the
jar, and saved thee from the depths of the sea, and brought thee up on the
dry land?" Replied the Ifrit, "Ask of me only what mode of death thou wilt
die, and by what manner of slaughter shall I slay thee." Rejoined the
Fisherman, "What is my crime and wherefore such retribution?"
Quoth the Ifrit, "Hear my story, O Fisherman!" and he answered, "Say on,
and be brief in thy saying, for of very sooth my life-breath is in my

nostrils."[70] Thereupon quoth the Jinni, "Know, that I am one among the
heretical Jann and I sinned against Sulayman, David-son (on the twain be
peace!) I together with the famous Sakhr al-Jinni;[71] whereupon the Prophet
sent his minister, Asaf son of Barkhiyá, to seize me; and this Wazir brought
me against my will and led me in bonds to him (I being downcast despite
my nose) and he placed me standing before him like a suppliant. When
Sulayman saw me, he took refuge with Allah and bade me embrace the True
Faith and obey his behests; but I refused, so sending for this cucurbit[72] he
shut me up therein, and stopped it over with lead whereon he impressed the
Most High Name, and gave his orders to the Jann who carried me off, and
cast me into the midmost of the ocean. There I abode an hundred years,
during which I said in my heart, "Whoso shall release me, him will I enrich
for ever and ever." But the full century went by and, when no one set me
free, I entered upon the second five score saying, "Whoso shall release me,
for him I will open the hoards of the earth." Still no one set me free and thus
four hundred years passed away. Then quoth I, "Whoso shall release me, for
him will I fulfil three wishes." Yet no one set me free. Thereupon I waxed
wroth with exceeding wrath and said to myself, "Whoso shall release me
from this time forth, him will I slay and I will give him choice of what
death he will die; and now, as thou hast released me, I give thee full choice
of deaths." The Fisherman, hearing the words of the Ifrit, said, "O Allah!
the wonder of it that I have not come to free thee save in these days!"
adding, "Spare my life, so Allah spare thine; and slay me not, lest Allah set
one to slay thee." Replied the Contumacious One, "There is no help for it;
die thou must; so ask me by way of boon what manner of death thou wilt
die." Albeit thus certified the Fisherman again addressed the Ifrit saying,
"Forgive me this my death as a generous reward for having freed thee;" and
the Ifrit, "Surely I would not slay thee save on account of that same
release." "O Chief of the Ifrits," said the Fisherman, "I do thee good and
thou requitest me with evil! in very sooth the old saw lieth not when it saith:
—
We wrought them weal, they met our weal with ill; ✿ Such, by my life! is every bad man's labour:
To him who benefits unworthy wights ✿ Shall hap what hapt to Ummi-Amir's neighbour.[73]

Now when the Ifrit heard these words he answered, "No more of this talk,
needs must I kill thee." Upon this the Fisherman said to himself, "This is a
Jinni; and I am a man to whom Allah hath given a passably cunning wit, so

I will now cast about to compass his destruction by my contrivance and by
mine intelligence; even as he took counsel only of his malice and his
frowardness."[74] He began by asking the Ifrit, "Hast thou indeed resolved to
kill me?" and, receiving for all answer, "Even so," he cried, "Now in the
Most Great Name, graven on the seal-ring of Sulayman the Son of David
(peace be with the holy twain!), an I question thee on a certain matter wilt
thou give me a true answer?" The Ifrit replied "Yea;" but, hearing mention
of the Most Great Name, his wits were troubled and he said with trembling,
"Ask and be brief." Quoth the Fisherman, "How didst thou fit into this
bottle which would not hold thy hand; no, nor even thy foot, and how came
it to be large enough to contain the whole of thee?" Replied the Ifrit, "What!
dost not believe that I was all there?" and the Fisherman rejoined, "Nay! I
will never believe it until I see thee inside with my own eyes."—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Fourth Night,

Her sister said to her, "Please finish us this tale, an thou be not sleepy!" so
she resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "I will never and nowise believe thee until I see
thee inside it with mine own eyes;" the Evil Spirit on the instant shook[75]
and became a vapour, which condensed, and entered the jar little and little,
till all was well inside when lo! the Fisherman in hot haste took the leaden
cap with the seal and stoppered therewith the mouth of the jar and called
out to the Ifrit, saying, "Ask me by way of boon what death thou wilt die!
By Allah, I will throw thee into the sea[76] before us and here will I build me
a lodge; and whoso cometh hither I will warn him against fishing and will
say:—In these waters abideth an Ifrit who giveth as a last favour a choice of
deaths and fashion of slaughter to the man who saveth him!" Now when the
Ifrit heard this from the Fisherman and saw himself in limbo, he was
minded to escape, but this was prevented by Solomon's seal; so he knew
that the Fisherman had cozened and outwitted him, and he waxed lowly and
submissive and began humbly to say, "I did but jest with thee." But the
other answered, "Thou liest, O vilest of the Ifrits, and meanest and
filthiest!" and he set off with the bottle for the sea side; the Ifrit calling out
"Nay! Nay!" and he calling out "Aye! Aye!" Thereupon the Evil Spirit
softened his voice and smoothed his speech and abased himself, saying,

"What wouldest thou do with me, O Fisherman?" "I will throw thee back
into the sea," he answered; "where thou hast been housed and homed for a
thousand and eight hundred years; and now I will leave thee therein till
Judgment-day: did I not say to thee:—Spare me and Allah shall spare thee;
and slay me not lest Allah slay thee? yet thou spurnedst my supplication and
hadst no intention save to deal ungraciously by me, and Allah hath now
thrown thee into my hands and I am cunninger than thou." Quoth the Ifrit,
"Open for me that I may bring thee weal." Quoth the Fisherman, "Thou
liest, thou accursed! my case with thee is that of the Wazir of King Yúnán
with the sage Dúbán."[77] "And who was the Wazir of King Yunan and who
was the sage Duban; and what was the story about them?" quoth the Ifrit,
whereupon the Fisherman began to tell

THE TALE OF THE WAZIR AND THE SAGE DUBAN.

"Know, O thou Ifrit, that in days of yore and in ages long gone before, a
King called Yunan reigned over the city of Fars of the land of the Roum."[78]
He was a powerful ruler and a wealthy, who had armies and guards and
allies of all nations of men; but his body was afflicted with a leprosy which
leaches and men of science failed to heal. He drank potions and he
swallowed powders and he used unguents, but naught did him good and
none among the host of physicians availed to procure him a cure. At last
there came to his city a mighty healer of men and one well stricken in years,
the sage Duban hight. This man was a reader of books, Greek, Persian,
Roman, Arabian, and Syrian; and he was skilled in astronomy and in
leechcraft, the theorick as well as the practick; he was experienced in all
that healeth and that hurteth the body; conversant with the virtues of every
plant, grass and herb, and their benefit and bane; and he understood
philosophy and had compassed the whole range of medical science and
other branches of the knowledge-tree. Now this physician passed but few
days in the city, ere he heard of the King's malady and all his bodily
sufferings through the leprosy with which Allah had smitten him; and how
all the doctors and wise men had failed to heal him. Upon this he sat up
through the night in deep thought and, when broke the dawn and appeared
the morn and light was again born, and the Sun greeted the Good whose
beauties the world adorn,[79] he donned his handsomest dress and going in to
King Yunan, he kissed the ground before him: then he prayed for the
endurance of his honour and prosperity in fairest language and made
himself known saying, "O King, tidings have reached me of what befel thee
through that which is in thy person; and how the host of physicians have
proved themselves unavailing to abate it; and lo! I can cure thee, O King;
and yet will I not make thee drink of draught or anoint thee with ointment."
Now when King Yunan heard his words he said in huge surprise, "How wilt
thou do this? By Allah, if thou make me whole I will enrich thee even to thy
son's son and I will give thee sumptuous gifts; and whatso thou wishest
shall be thine and thou shalt be to me a cup-companion[80] and a friend." The
King then robed him with a dress of honour and entreated him graciously
and asked him, "Canst thou indeed cure me of this complaint without drug

and unguent?" and he answered, "Yes! I will heal thee without the pains and
penalties of medicine." The King marvelled with exceeding marvel and
said, "O physician, when shall be this whereof thou speakest, and in how
many days shall it take place? Haste thee, O my son!" He replied, "I hear
and I obey; the cure shall begin to-morrow." So saying he went forth from
the presence, and hired himself a house in the city for the better storage of
his books and scrolls, his medicines and his aromatic roots. Then he set to
work at choosing the fittest drugs and simples and he fashioned a bat
hollow within, and furnished with a handle without, for which he made a
ball; the two being prepared with consummate art. On the next day when
both were ready for use and wanted nothing more, he went up to the King;
and, kissing the ground between his hands bade him ride forth on the parade
ground[81] there to play at pall and mall. He was accompanied by his suite,
Emirs and Chamberlains, Wazirs and Lords of the realm and, ere he was
seated, the sage Duban came up to him, and handing him the bat said, "Take
this mall and grip it as I do; so! and now push for the plain and leaning well
over thy horse drive the ball with all thy might until thy palm be moist and
thy body perspire: then the medicine will penetrate through thy palm and
will permeate thy person. When thou hast done with playing and thou
feelest the effects of the medicine, return to thy palace, and make the Ghusl-
ablution[82] in the Hammam-bath, and lay thee down to sleep; so shalt thou
become whole; and now peace be with thee!" Thereupon King Yunan took
the bat from the Sage and grasped it firmly; then, mounting steed, he drove
the ball before him and gallopped after it till he reached it, when he struck it
with all his might, his palm gripping the bat handle the while; and he ceased
not malling the ball till his hand waxed moist and his skin, perspiring,
imbibed the medicine from the wood. Then the sage Duban knew that the
drugs had penetrated his person and bade him return to the palace and enter
the Hammam without stay or delay; so King Yunan forthright returned and
ordered them to clear for him the bath. They did so, the carpet spreaders
making all haste, and the slaves all hurry and got ready a change of raiment
for the King. He entered the bath and made the total ablution long and
thoroughly; then donned his clothes within the Hammam and rode
therefrom to his palace where he lay him down and slept. Such was the case
with King Yunan, but as regards the sage Duban, he returned home and
slept as usual and when morning dawned he repaired to the palace and
craved audience. The King ordered him to be admitted; then, having kissed

the ground between his hands, in allusion to the King he recited these
couplets with solemn intonation:—
Happy is Eloquence when thou art named her sire ✿ But mourns she whenas other man the title
claimed.
O Lord of fairest presence, whose illuming rays ✿ Clear off the fogs of doubt aye veiling deeds
high famed,
Ne'er cease thy face to shine like Dawn and rise of Morn ✿ And never show Time's face with heat
of ire inflamed!
Thy grace hath favoured us with gifts that worked such wise ✿ As rain-clouds raining on the hills
by wolds enframed:
Freely thou lavishedst thy wealth to rise on high ✿ Till won from Time the heights whereat thy
grandeur aimed.

Now when the Sage ceased reciting, the King rose quickly to his feet and
fell on his neck; then, seating him by his side he bade dress him in a
sumptuous dress; for it had so happened that when the King left the
Hammam he looked on his body and saw no trace of leprosy: the skin was
all clean as virgin silver. He joyed thereat with exceeding joy, his breast

broadened[83] with delight and he felt thoroughly happy. Presently, when it
was full day he entered his audience-hall and sat upon the throne of his
kingship whereupon his Chamberlains and Grandees flocked to the
presence and with them the sage Duban. Seeing the leach the King rose to
him in honour and seated him by his side; then the food trays furnished with
the daintiest viands were brought and the physician ate with the King, nor
did he cease companying him all that day. Moreover, at nightfall he gave
the physician Duban two thousand gold pieces, besides the usual dress of
honour and other gifts galore, and sent him home on his own steed. After
the Sage had fared forth King Yunan again expressed his amazement at the
leach's art, saying, "This man medicined my body from without nor
anointed me with aught of ointments: by Allah, surely this is none other
than consummate skill! I am bound to honour such a man with rewards and
distinction, and take him to my companion and my friend during the
remainder of my days." So King Yunan passed the night in joy and gladness
for that his body had been made whole and had thrown off so pernicious a
malady. On the morrow the King went forth from his Serraglio and sat upon
his throne, and the Lords of Estate stood about him, and the Emirs and
Wazirs sat as was their wont on his right hand and on his left. Then he asked
for the Sage Duban, who came in and kissed the ground before him, when
the King rose to greet him and, seating him by his side, ate with him and
wished him long life. Moreover he robed him and gave him gifts, and
ceased not conversing with him until night approached. Then the King
ordered him, by way of salary, five dresses of honour and a thousand dinars.
[84]
The physician returned to his own house full of gratitude to the King.
Now when next morning dawned the King repaired to his audience-hall,
and his Lords and nobles surrounded him and his Chamberlains and his
Ministers, as the white encloseth the black of the eye.[85] Now the King had
a Wazir among his Wazirs, unsightly to look upon, an ill-omened spectacle;
sordid, ungenerous, full of envy and evil will. When this Minister saw the
King place the physician near him and give him all these gifts, he jaloused
him and planned to do him a harm, as in the saying on such subject, "Envy
lurks in every body;" and the saying, "Oppression hideth in every heart:
power revealeth it and weakness concealeth it." Then the Minister came
before the King and, kissing the ground between his hands, said, "O King of
the age and of all time, thou in whose benefits I have grown to manhood, I
have weighty advice to offer thee, and if I withhold it I were a son of

adultery and no true-born man; wherefore an thou order me to disclose it I
will so do forthwith." Quoth the King (and he was troubled at the words of
the Minister), "And what is this counsel of thine?" Quoth he, "O glorious
monarch, the wise of old have said:—Whoso regardeth not the end, hath not
Fortune to friend; and indeed I have lately seen the King on far other than
the right way; for he lavisheth largesse on his enemy, on one whose object
is the decline and fall of his kingship: to this man he hath shown favour,
honouring him with over honour and making of him an intimate. Wherefore
I fear for the King's life." The King, who was much troubled and changed
colour, asked, "Whom dost thou suspect and anent whom doest thou hint?"
and the Minister answered, "O King, an thou be asleep, wake up! I point to
the physician Duban." Rejoined the King, "Fie upon thee! This is a true
friend who is favoured by me above all men, because he cured me with
something which I held in my hand, and he healed my leprosy which had
baffled all physicians; indeed he is one whose like may not be found in
these days—no, not in the whole world from furthest east to utmost west!
And it is of such a man thou sayest such hard sayings. Now from this day
forward I allot him a settled solde and allowances, every month a thousand
gold pieces; and, were I to share with him my realm 'twere but a little
matter. Perforce I must suspect that thou speakest on this wise from mere
envy and jealousy as they relate of the King Sindibad."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her permitted say.
Then quoth Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how
tasteful, how sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is this
compared with what I could tell thee on the coming night if the King deign
spare my life?" Then said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her
until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." So they rested that
night in mutual embrace until the dawn. Then the King went forth to his
Hall of Rule, and the Wazir and the troops came in, and the audience-
chamber was thronged; and the King gave orders and judged and appointed
and deposed and bade and forbade during the rest of that day till the Court
broke up, and King Shahryar returned to his palace.

Now when it was the Fifth Night,

Her sister said, "Do finish for us thy story if thou be not sleepy," and she
resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King and mighty Monarch,

that King Yunan said to his Minister, "O Wazir, thou art one whom the evil
spirit of envy hath possessed because of this physician, and thou plottest for
my putting him to death, after which I should repent me full sorely, even as
repented King Sindibad for killing his falcon." Quoth the Wazir, "Pardon
me, O King of the age, how was that?" So the King began the story of

KING SINDIBAD AND HIS FALCON.

It is said (but Allah is All-knowing![86]) that there was a King of the Kings
of Fars, who was fond of pleasuring and diversion, especially coursing and
hunting. He had reared a falcon which he carried all night on his fist, and
whenever he went a-chasing he took with him this bird; and he bade make
for her a golden cup-let hung round her neck to give her drink therefrom.
One day as the King was sitting quietly in his palace, behold, the high
falconer of the household suddenly addressed him, "O King of the age, this
is indeed a day fit for birding." The King gave orders accordingly and set
out taking the hawk on fist; and they fared merrily forwards till they made a
Wady[87] where they planted a circle of nets for the chase; when lo! a gazelle
came within the toils and the King cried, "Whoso alloweth yon gazelle to
spring over his head and loseth her, that man will I surely slay." They
narrowed the nets about the gazelle when she drew near the King's station;
and, planting herself on her hind quarter, crossed her forehand over her
breast, as if about to kiss the earth before the King. He bowed his brow low
in acknowledgment to the beast; when she bounded high over his head and
took the way of the waste. Thereupon the King turned towards his troops
and, seeing them winking and pointing at him, he asked, "O Wazir, what are
my men saying?" and the Minister answered, "They say thou didst proclaim
that whoso alloweth the gazelle to spring over his head, that man shall be
put to death." Quoth the King, "Now, by the life of my head! I will follow
her up till I bring her back." So he set off gallopping on the gazelle's trail
and gave not over tracking till he reached the foot-hills of a mountain-chain
where the quarry made for a cave. Then the King cast off at it the falcon
which presently caught it up and, swooping down, drove her talons into its
eyes, bewildering and blinding it;[88] and the King drew his mace and struck
a blow which rolled the game over. He then dismounted; and, after cutting
the antelope's throat and flaying the body, hung it to the pommel of his

saddle. Now the time was that of the siesta[89] and the wold was parched and
dry, nor was any water to be found anywhere; and the King thirsted and his
horse also; so he went about searching till he saw a tree dropping water, as
it were melted butter, from its boughs. Thereupon the King who wore
gauntlets of skin to guard him against poisons took the cup from the hawk's
neck, and filling it with the water set it before the bird, and lo! the falcon
struck it with her pounces and upset the liquid. The King filled it a second
time with the dripping drops, thinking his hawk was thirsty; but the bird
again struck at the cup with her talons and overturned it. Then the King
waxed wroth with the hawk and filling the cup a third time offered it to his
horse: but the hawk upset it with a flirt of wings. Quoth the King, "Allah
confound thee, thou unluckiest of flying things! thou keepest me from
drinking, and thou deprivest thyself also, and the horse." So he struck the
falcon with his sword and cut off her wing; but the bird raised her head and
said by signs, "Look at that which hangeth on the tree!" The King lifted up
his eyes accordingly and caught sight of a brood of vipers, whose poison-
drops he mistook for water; thereupon he repented him of having struck off
his falcon's wing, and mounting horse, fared on with the dead gazelle, till he
arrived at the camp, his starting place. He threw the quarry to the cook
saying, "Take and broil it," and sat down on his chair, the falcon being still
on his fist when suddenly the bird gasped and died; whereupon the King
cried out in sorrow and remorse for having slain that falcon which had
saved his life. Now this is what occurred in the case of King Sindibad; and I
am assured that were I to do as thou desirest I should repent even as the
man who killed his parrot. Quoth the Wazir, "And how was that?" And the
King began to tell

THE TALE OF THE HUSBAND AND THE PARROT.[90]

A certain man and a merchant to boot had married a fair wife, a woman of
perfect beauty and grace, symmetry and loveliness, of whom he was mad-
jealous, and who contrived successfully to keep him from travel. At last an
occasion compelling him to leave her, he went to the bird-market and
bought him for one hundred gold pieces a she-parrot which he set in his
house to act as duenna, expecting her to acquaint him on his return with
what had passed during the whole time of his absence; for the bird was

kenning and cunning and never forgot what she had seen and heard. Now
his fair wife had fallen in love with a young Turk,[91] who used to visit her,
and she feasted him by day and lay with him by night. When the man had
made his journey and won his wish he came home; and, at once causing the
Parrot be brought to him, questioned her concerning the conduct of his
consort whilst he was in foreign parts. Quoth she, "Thy wife hath a man-
friend who passed every night with her during thine absence." Thereupon
the husband went to his wife in a violent rage and bashed her with a bashing
severe enough to satisfy any body. The woman, suspecting that one of the
slave-girls had been tattling to the master, called them together and
questioned them upon their oaths, when all swore that they had kept the
secret, but that the Parrot had not, adding, "And we heard her with our own
ears." Upon this the woman bade one of the girls to set a hand-mill under
the cage and grind therewith and a second to sprinkle water through the
cage-roof and a third to run about, right and left, flashing a mirror of bright
steel through the livelong night. Next morning when the husband returned
home after being entertained by one of his friends, he bade bring the Parrot
before him and asked what had taken place whilst he was away. "Pardon
me, O my master," quoth the bird, "I could neither hear nor see aught by
reason of the exceeding murk and the thunder and lightning which lasted
throughout the night." As it happened to be the summer-tide the master was
astounded and cried, "But we are now in mid Tammúz,[92] and this is not the
time for rains and storms." "Ay, by Allah," rejoined the bird, "I saw with
these eyes what my tongue hath told thee." Upon this the man, not knowing
the case nor smoking the plot, waxed exceeding wroth; and, holding that his
wife had been wrongously accused, put forth his hand and pulling the Parrot
from her cage dashed her upon the ground with such force that he killed her
on the spot. Some days afterwards one of his slave-girls confessed to him
the whole truth,[93] yet would he not believe it till he saw the young Turk,
his wife's lover, coming out of her chamber, when he bared his blade[94] and
slew him by a blow on the back of the neck; and he did the same by the
adulteress; and thus the twain, laden with mortal sin, went straightways to
Eternal Fire. Then the merchant knew that the Parrot had told him the truth
anent all she had seen and he mourned grievously for her loss, when
mourning availed him not. The Minister, hearing the words of King Yunan,
rejoined, "O Monarch, high in dignity, and what harm have I done him, or
what evil have I seen from him that I should compass his death? I would not

do this thing, save to serve thee, and soon shalt thou sight that it is right;
and if thou accept my advice thou shalt be saved, otherwise thou shalt be
destroyed even as a certain Wazir who acted treacherously by the young
Prince." Asked the King, "How was that?" and the Minister thus began

THE TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE OGRESS.

A certain King, who had a son over much given to hunting and coursing,
ordered one of his Wazirs to be in attendance upon him whithersoever he
might wend. One day the youth set out for the chase accompanied by his
father's Minister; and, as they jogged on together, a big wild beast came in
sight. Cried the Wazir to the King's son, "Up and at yon noble quarry!" So
the Prince followed it until he was lost to every eye and the chase got away
from him in the waste; whereby he was confused and he knew not which
way to turn, when lo! a damsel appeared ahead and she was in tears. The
King's son asked, "Who art thou?" and she answered, "I am daughter to a
King among the Kings of Hind, and I was travelling with a caravan in the
desert when drowsiness overcame me, and I fell from my beast unwittingly;
whereby I am cut off from my people and sore bewildered." The Prince,
hearing these words, pitied her case and, mounting her on his horse's
crupper, travelled until he passed by an old ruin,[95] when the damsel said to
him, "O my master, I wish to obey a call of nature": he therefore set her
down at the ruin where she delayed so long that the King's son thought that
she was only wasting time; so he followed her without her knowledge and
behold, she was a Ghúlah,[96] a wicked Ogress, who was saying to her
brood, "O my children, this day I bring you a fine fat youth[97] for dinner;"
whereto they answered, "Bring him quick to us, O our mother, that we may
browse upon him our bellies full." The Prince hearing their talk, made sure
of death and his side-muscles quivered in fear for his life, so he turned away
and was about to fly. The Ghulah came out and seeing him in sore affright
(for he was trembling in every limb) cried, "Wherefore art thou afraid?" and
he replied, "I have hit upon an enemy whom I greatly fear." Asked the
Ghulah, "Diddest thou not say:—I am a King's son?" and he answered,
"Even so." Then quoth she, "Why dost not give thine enemy something of
money and so satisfy him?" Quoth he, "He will not be satisfied with my
purse but only with my life, and I mortally fear him and am a man under

oppression." She replied, "If thou be so distressed, as thou deemest, ask aid
against him from Allah, who will surely protect thee from his ill-doing and
from the evil whereof thou art afraid." Then the Prince raised his eyes
heavenwards and cried, "O Thou who answerest the necessitous when he
calleth upon Thee and dispellest his distress; O my God! grant me victory
over my foe and turn him from me, for Thou over all things art Almighty."
The Ghulah, hearing his prayer, turned away from him, and the Prince
returned to his father, and told him the tale of the Wazir; whereupon the
King summoned the Minister to his presence and then and there slew him.
"Thou likewise, O King, if thou continue to trust this leach, shalt be made
to die the worst of deaths. He verily thou madest much of and whom thou
entreatedest as an intimate, will work thy destruction. Seest thou not how he
healed the disease from outside thy body by something grasped in thy
hand? Be not assured that he will not destroy thee by something held in like
manner!" Replied King Yunan, "Thou hast spoken sooth, O Wazir, it may
well be as thou hintest O my well-advising Minister; and belike this Sage
hath come as a spy searching to put me to death; for assuredly if he cured
me by a something held in my hand, he can kill me by a something given
me to smell." Then asked King Yunan, "O Minister, what must be done with
him?" and the Wazir answered, "Send after him this very instant and
summon him to thy presence; and when he shall come strike him across the
neck; and thus shalt thou rid thyself of him and his wickedness, and deceive
him ere he can deceive thee." "Thou hast again spoken sooth, O Wazir,"
said the King and sent one to call the Sage who came in joyful mood for he
knew not what had appointed for him the Compassionate; as a certain poet
saith by way of illustration:—
O Thou who fearest Fate, confiding fare, ✿ Trust all to Him who built the world, and wait:
What Fate saith "Be" perforce must be, my lord! ✿ And safe art thou from th' undecreed of Fate.

As Duban the physician entered he addressed the King in these lines:—
An fail I of my thanks to thee nor thank thee day by day ✿ For whom composed I prose and verse,
for whom my say and lay?
Thou lavishedst thy generous gifts ere they were craved by me ✿ Thou lavishedst thy boons
unsought sans pretext or delay
How shall I stint my praise of thee, how shall I cease to laud ✿ The grace of thee in secresy and
patentest display?
Nay; I will thank thy benefits, for aye thy favours lie ✿ Light on my thought and tongue, though
heavy on my back they weigh.

And he said further on the same theme:—
Turn thee from grief nor care a jot! ✿ Commit thy needs to Fate and Lot!
Enjoy the Present passing well ✿ And let the Past be clean forgot;
For whatso haply seemeth worse ✿ Shall work thy weal as Allah wot:
Allah shall do whate'er He wills ✿ And in His will oppose Him not.

And further still:—
To th' All-wise Subtle One trust worldly things ✿ Rest thee from all whereto the worldling clings:
Learn wisely well naught cometh by thy will ✿ But e'en as willeth Allah, King of Kings.

And lastly:—
Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief ✿ Full often grief the wisest hearts outwore:
Thought is but folly in the feeble slave ✿ Shun it and so be savèd evermore.

Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?"
and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!"
But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and utterly to
destroy thee." Duban the Wise wondered at this strange address with
exceeding wonder and asked, "O King, and wherefore wouldest thou slay
me, and what ill have I done thee?" and the King answered, "Men tell me
thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I
be killed by thee;" then he called to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off
the head of this traitor and deliver us from his evil practices." Quoth the
Sage, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay
thee." And he repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit,
and yet thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan
only rejoined, "I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou healedst
me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy killing me by
something given me to smell or otherwise." Said the physician, "This then,
O King, is thy requital and reward; thou returnest only evil for good." The
King replied, "There is no help for it; die thou must and without delay."
Now when the physician was certified that the King would slay him without
waiting, he wept and regretted the good he had done to other than the good.
As one hath said on this subject:—
Of wit and wisdom is Maymúnah[98] bare ✿ Whose sire in wisdom all the wits outstrippeth:
Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay ✿ Save by good sense, else trippeth he and slippeth.

Hereupon the Sworder stepped forward and bound the Sage Duban's eyes
and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By thy leave;" while the physician
wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee, and slay me not or
Allah shall slay thee," and began repeating:—
I was kind and 'scapèd not, they were cruel and escaped; ✿ And my kindness only led me to
Ruination Hall;
If I live I'll ne'er be kind; if I die, then all be damned ✿ Who follow me, and curses their kindliness
befal.

"Is this," continued Duban, "the return I meet from thee? Thou givest me,
meseems, but crocodile-boon." Quoth the King, "What is the tale of the
crocodile?", and quoth the physician, "Impossible for me to tell it in this my
state; Allah upon thee, spare me, as thou hopest Allah shall spare thee." And
he wept with exceeding weeping. Then one of the King's favourites stood
up and said, "O King! grant me the blood of this physician; we have never
seen him sin against thee, or doing aught save healing thee from a disease
which baffled every leach and man of science." Said the King, "Ye wot not
the cause of my putting to death this physician, and this it is. If I spare him,
I doom myself to certain death; for one who healed me of such a malady by
something held in my hand, surely can slay me by something held to my
nose; and I fear lest he kill me for a price, since haply he is some spy whose
sole purpose in coming hither was to compass my destruction. So there is
no help for it; die he must, and then only shall I be sure of my own life."
Again cried Duban, "Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and slay me not
or Allah shall slay thee." But it was in vain. Now when the physician, O
Ifrit, knew for certain that the King would kill him, he said, "O King, if
there be no help but I must die, grant me some little delay that I may go
down to my house and release myself from mine obligations and direct my
folk and my neighbours where to bury me and distribute my books of
medicine. Amongst these I have one, the rarest of rarities, which I would
present to thee as an offering: keep it as a treasure in thy treasury." "And
what is in the book?" asked the King and the Sage answered, "Things
beyond compt; and the least of secrets is that if, directly after thou hast cut
off my head, thou open three leaves and read three lines of the page to thy
left hand, my head shall speak and answer every question thou deignest ask
of it." The King wondered with exceeding wonder and shaking[99] with
delight at the novelty, said, "O physician, dost thou really tell me that when
I cut off thy head it will speak to me?" He replied, "Yes, O King!" Quoth

the King, "This is indeed a strange matter!" and forthwith sent him closely
guarded to his house, and Duban then and there settled all his obligations.
Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where Emirs and Wazirs,
Chamberlains and Nabobs, Grandees and Lords of Estate were gathered
together, making the presence-chamber gay as a garden of flower-beds. And
lo! the physician came up and stood before the King, bearing a worn old
volume and a little étui of metal full of powder, like that used for the eyes.
[100]
Then he sat down and said, "Give me a tray." So they brought him one
and he poured the powder upon it and levelled it and lastly spake as
follows: "O King, take this book but do not open it till my head falls; then
set it upon this tray, and bid press it down upon the powder, when forthright
the blood will cease flowing. That is the time to open the book." The King
thereupon took the book and made a sign to the Sworder, who arose and
struck off the physician's head, and placing it on the middle of the tray,
pressed it down upon the powder. The blood stopped flowing, and the Sage
Duban unclosed his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King!" The King
opened the book, and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to
his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the first leaf, and in
like way the second, and the third, each leaf opening with much trouble;
and when he had unstuck six leaves he looked over them and, finding
nothing written thereon, said, "O physician, there is no writing here!"
Duban replied, "Turn over yet more;" and he turned over three others in the
same way. Now the book was poisoned; and before long the venom
penetrated his system, and he fell into strong convulsions and he cried out,
"The poison hath done its work!" Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began
to improvise:—
There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway ✿ But they soon became as though they
had never, never been:
Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were opprest ✿ By Fortune, who requited them with
ban and bane and teen:
So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats ✿ "Take this for that, nor vent upon
Fortune's ways thy spleen."

No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over dead.
Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the
Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him; but he refused so to do and
decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O Ifrit, if
thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee.——And Shahrazad

perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say: then quoth
Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale and how tasteful; how
sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is this compared with
what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live and the King spare me?"
Said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest
of her story, for truly it is wondrous." They rested that night in mutual
embrace until dawn: then the King went forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and
troops came in and the audience-hall was crowded; so the King gave orders
and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that
day, when the court broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.

Now when it was the Sixth Night,

Her sister, Dunyazad, said to her. "Pray finish for us thy story;" and she
answered, "I will if the King give me leave." "Say on," quoth the King. And
she continued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "If thou hadst spared me I would have spared
thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now I will do thee
die by jailing thee in this jar, and I will hurl thee into this sea." Then the
Marid roared aloud and cried, "Allah upon thee, O Fisherman don't! Spare
me, and pardon my past doings; and, as I have been tyrannous, so be thou
generous, for it is said among sayings that go current:—O thou who doest
good to him who hath done thee evil, suffice for the ill-doer his ill-deeds,
and do not deal with me as did Umamah to 'Atikah."[101] Asked the
Fisherman, "And what was their case?" and the Ifrit answered, "This is not
the time for story-telling and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell
thee the tale." Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no help
but that thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for thy
getting out of it for ever and ever. Vainly I placed myself under thy
protection,[102] and I humbled myself to thee with weeping, while thou
soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury deserving this at thy
hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil act, I worked thee nought
but weal in releasing thee from that jail of thine. Now I knew thee to be an
evil-doer when thou diddest to me what thou didst, and know, that when I
have cast thee back into this sea, I will warn whomsoever may fish thee up
of what hath befallen me with thee, and I will advise him to toss thee back
again; so shalt thou abide here under these waters till the End of Time shall

make an end of thee." But the Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble
occasion for generosity and I make covenant with thee and vow never to do
thee hurt and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out of want."
The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not to trouble him
as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and, after making firm the
plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most Highest he opened
the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose up till all of it was fully
out; then it thickened and once more became an Ifrit of hideous presence,
who forthright administered a kick to the bottle and sent it flying into the
sea. The Fisherman, seeing how the cucurbit was treated and making sure of
his own death, piddled in his clothes and said to himself, "This promiseth
badly;" but he fortified his heart, and cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said"[103]:—
Perform your covenant; for the performance of your covenant shall be
inquired into hereafter. Thou hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath
not to play me false lest Allah play thee false, for verily he is a jealous God
who respiteth the sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee as said the
Sage Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare thee!" The Ifrit
burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the Fisherman, "Follow me;"
and the man paced after him at a safe distance (for he was not assured of
escape) till they had passed round the suburbs of the city. Thence they
struck into the uncultivated grounds, and crossing them descended into a
broad wilderness, and lo! in the midst of it stood a mountain-tarn. The Ifrit
waded in to the middle and again cried, "Follow me;" and when this was
done he took his stand in the centre and bade the man cast his net and catch
his fish. The Fisherman looked into the water and was much astonished to
see therein vari-coloured fishes, white and red, blue and yellow; however he
cast his net and, hauling it in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of each
colour. Thereat he rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said to him,
"Carry these to the Sultan and set them in his presence; then he will give
thee what shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my excuse, for
by Allah at this time I wot none other way of benefiting thee, inasmuch I
have lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have not seen the face of
the world save within this hour. But I would not have thee fish here save
once a day." The Ifrit then gave him Godspeed, saying, "Allah grant we
meet again;"[104] and struck the earth with one foot, whereupon the ground
clove asunder and swallowed him up. The Fisherman, much marvelling at
what had happened to him with the Ifrit, took the fish and made for the city;

and as soon as he reached home he filled an earthen bowl with water and
therein threw the fish which began to struggle and wriggle about. Then he
bore off the bowl upon his head and, repairing to the King's palace (even as
the Ifrit had bidden him) laid the fish before the presence; and the King
wondered with exceeding wonder at the sight, for never in his lifetime had
he seen fishes like these in quality or in conformation. So he said, "Give
those fish to the stranger slave-girl who now cooketh for us," meaning the
bond-maiden whom the King of Roum had sent to him only three days
before, so that he had not yet made trial of her talents in the dressing of
meat. Thereupon the Wazir carried the fish to the cook and bade her fry
them,[105] saying, "O damsel, the King sendeth this say to thee:—I have not
treasured thee, O tear o' me! save for stress-time of me; approve, then, to us
this day thy delicate handiwork and thy savoury cooking; for this dish of
fish is a present sent to the Sultan and evidently a rarity." The Wazir, after
he had carefully charged her, returned to the King, who commanded him to
give the Fisherman four hundred dinars: he gave them accordingly, and the
man took them to his bosom and ran off home stumbling and falling and
rising again and deeming the whole thing to be a dream. However, he
bought for his family all they wanted and lastly he went to his wife in huge
joy and gladness. So far concerning him; but as regards the cookmaid, she
took the fish and cleansed them and set them in the frying-pan, basting
them with oil till one side was dressed. Then she turned them over and,
behold, the kitchen wall clave asunder, and therefrom came a young lady,
fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which Kohl-lines
enchase.[106] Her dress was a silken head-kerchief fringed and tasseled with
blue: a large ring hung from either ear; a pair of bracelets adorned her
wrists; rings with bezels of priceless gems were on her fingers; and she hent
in hand a long rod of rattan-cane which she thrust into the frying-pan,
saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your covenant?" When the cook-
maiden saw this apparition she swooned away. The young lady repeated her
words a second time and a third time, and at last the fishes raised their
heads from the pan, and saying in articulate speech "Yes! Yes!" began with
one voice to recite:—
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ And if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we
cry!

After this the young lady upset the frying-pan and went forth by the way
she came in and the kitchen wall closed upon her. When the cook-maiden
recovered from her fainting-fit, she saw the four fishes charred black as
charcoal, and crying out, "His staff brake in his first bout,"[107] she again fell
swooning to the ground. Whilst she was in this case the Wazir came for the
fish, and looking upon her as insensible she lay, not knowing Sunday from
Thursday, shoved her with his foot and said, "Bring the fish for the Sultan!"
Thereupon recovering from her fainting-fit she wept and informed him of
her case and all that had befallen her. The Wazir marvelled greatly and
exclaiming, "This is none other than a right strange matter!", he sent after
the Fisherman and said to him, "Thou, O Fisherman, must needs fetch us
four fishes like those thou broughtest before." Thereupon the man repaired
to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, lo! four fishes were
therein exactly like the first. These he at once carried to the Wazir, who
went in with them to the cook-maiden and said, "Up with thee and fry these
in my presence, that I may see this business." The damsel arose and
cleansed the fish, and set them in the frying-pan over the fire; however they
remained there but a little while ere the wall clave asunder and the young
lady appeared, clad as before and holding in hand the wand which she again
thrust into the frying-pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your
olden covenant?" And behold, the fish lifted their heads, and repeated "Yes!
Yes!" and recited this couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we
cry!

And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.

Now when it was the Seventh Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the fishes
spoke, and the young lady upset the frying-pan with her rod, and went forth
by the way she came and the wall closed up, the Wazir cried out, "This is a
thing not to be hidden from the King," So he went and told him what had
happened, whereupon quoth the King, "There is no help for it but that I see
this with mine own eyes." Then he sent for the Fisherman and commanded
him to bring four other fish like the first and to take with him three men as

witnesses. The Fisherman at once brought the fish: and the King, after
ordering them to give him four hundred gold pieces, turned to the Wazir and
said, "Up and fry me the fishes here before me!" The Minister, replying "To
hear is to obey," bade bring the frying-pan, threw therein the cleansed fish
and set it over the fire; when lo! the wall clave asunder, and out burst a
black slave like a huge rock or a remnant of the tribe Ad[108] bearing in hand
a branch of a green tree; and he cried in loud and terrible tones, "O fish! O
fish! be ye all constant to your antique covenant?" whereupon the fishes
lifted their heads from the frying-pan and said, "Yes! Yes! we be true to our
vow;" and they again recited the couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we
cry!

Then the huge blackamoor approached the frying-pan and upset it with the
branch and went forth by the way he came in. When he vanished from their
sight the King inspected the fish; and, finding them all charred black as
charcoal, was utterly bewildered and said to the Wazir, "Verily this is a
matter whereanent silence cannot be kept, and as for the fishes, assuredly
some marvellous adventure connects with them." So he bade bring the
Fisherman and asked him, saying "Fie on thee, fellow! whence come these
fishes?" and he answered, "From a tarn between four heights lying behind
this mountain which is in sight of thy city." Quoth the King, "How many
days' march?" Quoth he, "O our lord the Sultan, a walk of half hour." The
King wondered and, straightway ordering his men to march and horsemen
to mount, led off the Fisherman who went before as guide, privily damning
the Ifrit. They fared on till they had climbed the mountain and descended
unto a great desert which they had never seen during all their lives; and the
Sultan and his merry men marvelled much at the wold set in the midst of
four mountains, and the tarn and its fishes of four colours, red and white,
yellow and blue. The King stood fixed to the spot in wonderment and asked
his troops and all present, "Hath any one among you ever seen this piece of
water before now?" and all made answer, "O King of the age, never did we
set eyes upon it during all our days." They also questioned the oldest
inhabitants they met, men well stricken in years, but they replied, each and
every, "A lakelet like this we never saw in this place." Thereupon quoth the
King, "By Allah I will neither return to my capital nor sit upon the throne of
my forbears till I learn the truth about this tarn and the fish therein." He

then ordered his men to dismount and bivouac all around the mountain;
which they did; and summoning his Wazir, a Minister of much experience,
sagacious, of penetrating wit and well versed in affairs, said to him, "'Tis in
my mind to do a certain thing, whereof I will inform thee; my heart telleth
me to fare forth alone this night and root out the mystery of this tarn and its
fishes. Do thou take thy seat at my tent-door, and say to the Emirs and
Wazirs, the Nabobs and the Chamberlains, in fine to all who ask thee:—The
Sultan is ill at ease, and he hath ordered me to refuse all admittance;[109] and
be careful thou let none know my design." And the Wazir could not oppose
him. Then the King changed his dress and ornaments and, slinging his
sword over his shoulder, took a path which led up one of the mountains and
marched for the rest of the night till morning dawned; nor did he cease
wayfaring till the heat was too much for him. After his long walk he rested
for a while, and then resumed his march and fared on through the second
night till dawn, when suddenly there appeared a black point in the far
distance. Hereat he rejoiced and said to himself, "Haply some one here shall
acquaint me with the mystery of the tarn and its fishes." Presently, drawing
near the dark object he found it a palace built of swart stone plated with
iron; and, while one leaf of the gate stood wide open, the other was shut.
The King's spirits rose high as he stood before the gate and rapped a light
rap; but hearing no answer he knocked a second knock and a third; yet there
came no sign. Then he knocked his loudest but still no answer, so he said,
"Doubtless 'tis empty." Thereupon he mustered up resolution, and boldly
walked through the main gate into the great hall and there cried out aloud,
"Holla, ye people of the palace! I am a stranger and a wayfarer; have you
aught here of victual?" He repeated his cry a second time and a third but
still there came no reply; so strengthening his heart and making up his mind
he stalked through the vestibule into the very middle of the palace and
found no man in it. Yet it was furnished with silken stuffs gold-starred; and
the hangings were let down over the door-ways. In the midst was a spacious
court off which set four open saloons each with its raised daïs, saloon,
facing saloon; a canopy shaded the court and in the centre was a jetting
fount with four figures of lions made of red gold, spouting from their
mouths water clear as pearls and diaphanous gems. Round about the palace
birds were let loose and over it stretched a net of golden wire, hindering
them from flying off; in brief there was everything but human beings. The
King marvelled mightily thereat, yet felt he sad at heart for that he saw no

one to give him an account of the waste and its tarn, the fishes, the
mountains and the palace itself. Presently as he sat between the doors in
deep thought behold, there came a voice of lament, as from a heart grief-
spent and he heard the voice chanting these verses:—
I hid what I endured of him[110] and yet it came to light, ✿ And nightly sleep mine eyelids fled and
changed to sleepless night:
Oh world! Oh Fate! withhold thy hand and cease thy hurt and harm ✿ Look and behold my hapless
sprite in dolour and affright:
Wilt ne'er show ruth to highborn youth who lost him on the way ✿ Of Love, and fell from wealth
and fame to lowest basest wight.
Jealous of Zephyr's breath was I as on your form he breathed ✿ But whenas Destiny descends she
blindeth human sight,[111]
What shall the hapless archer do who when he fronts his foe ✿ And bends his bow to shoot the
shaft shall find his string undight?
When cark and care so heavy bear on youth[112] of generous soul ✿ How shall he 'scape his lot and
where from Fate his place of flight?

Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet; and,
following the sound, found a curtain let down over a chamber-door. He
raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting upon a couch about a cubit
above the ground; and he fair to the sight, a well shaped wight, with
eloquence dight; his forehead was flower-white, his cheek rosy bright, and a
mole on his cheek-breadth like an ambergris-mite; even as the poet doth
indite:—
A youth slim-waisted from whose locks and brow ✿ The world in blackness and in light is set.
Throughout Creation's round no fairer show ✿ No rarer sight thine eye hath ever met:
A nut-brown mole sits throned upon a cheek ✿ Of rosiest red beneath an eye of jet.[113]

The King rejoiced and saluted him, but he remained sitting in his caftan of
silken stuff purfled with Egyptian gold and his crown studded with gems of
sorts; but his face was sad with the traces of sorrow. He returned the royal
salute in most courteous wise adding, "O my lord, thy dignity demandeth
my rising to thee; and my sole excuse is to crave thy pardon."[114] Quoth the
King, "Thou art excused, O youth; so look upon me as thy guest come
hither on an especial object. I would thou acquaint me with the secrets of
this tarn and its fishes and of this palace and thy loneliness therein and the
cause of thy groaning and wailing." When the young man heard these words
he wept with sore weeping;[115] till his bosom was drenched with tears and
began reciting:—

Say him who careless sleeps what while the shaft of Fortune flies ✿ How many doth this shifting
world lay low and raise to rise?
Although thine eye be sealed in sleep, sleep not th' Almighty's eyes ✿ And who hath found Time
ever fair, or Fate in constant guise?

Then he sighed a long-fetched sigh and recited:—
Confide thy case to Him, the Lord who made mankind; ✿ Quit cark and care and cultivate content
of mind;
Ask not the Past or how or why it came to pass: ✿ All human things by Fate and Destiny were
designed!

The King marvelled and asked him, "What maketh thee weep, O young
man?" and he answered, "How should I not weep, when this is my case!"
Thereupon he put out his hand and raised the skirt of his garment, when lo!
the lower half of him appeared stone down to his feet while from his navel
to the hair of his head he was man. The King, seeing this his plight, grieved
with sore grief and of his compassion cried, "Alack and well-away! in very
sooth, O youth, thou heapest sorrow upon my sorrow. I was minded to ask
thee the mystery of the fishes only: whereas now I am concerned to learn
thy story as well as theirs. But there is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great.[116] Lose no time, O youth, but tell me
forthright thy whole tale." Quoth he, "Lend me thine ears, thy sight and
thine insight;" and quoth the King, "All are at thy service!" Thereupon the
youth began, "Right wondrous and marvellous is my case and that of these
fishes; and were it graven with gravers upon the eye-corners it were a
warner to whoso would be warned." "How is that?" asked the King, and the
young man began to tell

THE TALE OF THE ENSORCELLED PRINCE.

Know then, O my lord, that whilome my sire was King of this city, and his
name was Mahmúd, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of what
are now these four mountains. He ruled threescore and ten years, after
which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as Sultan in his stead.
I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my paternal uncle,[117] and she
loved me with such abounding love that whenever I was absent she ate not
and she drank not until she saw me again. She cohabited with me for five
years till a certain day when she went forth to the Hammam bath; and I
bade the cook hasten to get ready all requisites for our supper. And I entered
this palace and lay down on the bed where I was wont to sleep and bade
two damsels to fan my face, one sitting by my head and the other at my
feet. But I was troubled and made restless by my wife's absence and could
not sleep; for although my eyes were closed my mind and thoughts were
wide awake. Presently I heard the slave-girl at my head say to her at my
feet, "O Mas'údah, how miserable is our master and how wasted in his
youth and oh! the pity of his being so betrayed by our mistress, the accursed
whore!"[118] The other replied, "Yes indeed: Allah curse all faithless women
and adulterous; but the like of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth
something better than this harlot who lieth abroad every night." Then quoth
she who sat by my head, "Is our lord dumb or fit only for bubbling that he
questioneth her not!" and quoth the other, "Fie on thee! doth our lord know
her ways or doth she allow him his choice? Nay, more, doth she not drug
every night the cup she giveth him to drink before sleep-time, and put
Bhang[119] into it? So he sleepeth and wotteth not whither she goeth, nor
what she doeth; but we know that, after giving him the drugged wine, she
donneth her richest raiment and perfumeth herself and then she fareth out
from him to be away till break of day; then she cometh to him, and burneth
a pastile under his nose and he awaketh from his deathlike sleep." When I
heard the slave-girls' words, the light became black before my sight and I
thought night would never fall. Presently the daughter of my uncle came
from the baths; and they set the table for us and we ate and sat together a
fair half-hour quaffing our wine as was ever our wont. Then she called for
the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping and reached me the cup;

but, seeming to drink it according to my wont, I poured the contents into
my bosom; and, lying down, let her hear that I was asleep. Then, behold,
she cried, "Sleep out the night, and never wake again: by Allah, I loathe
thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my soul turneth in disgust from
cohabiting with thee; and I see not the moment when Allah shall snatch
away thy life!" Then she rose and donned her fairest dress and perfumed her
person and slung my sword over her shoulder; and, opening the gates of the
palace, went her ill way. I rose and followed her as she left the palace and
she threaded the streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke
words I understood not, and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if
broken and the gate-leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without
her noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying mounds[120] and a
reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud-bricks. As she entered the
door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the interior. And
lo! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous negro slave with his upper lip
like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open pot; lips which might
sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot. He was to boot a leper and a
paralytic, lying upon a strew of sugar-cane trash and wrapped, in an old
blanket and the foulest rags and tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and
he raised his head so as to see her and said, "Woe to thee! what call hadst
thou to stay away all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black
brethren, who drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not
content to drink because of thine absence." Then she, "O my lord, my
heart's love and coolth of my eyes,[121] knowest thou not that I am married to
my cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company?
And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise before
making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and howlet hoot,
and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed its very stones to
the back side of Mount Káf."[122] Rejoined the slave, "Thou liest, damn thee!
Now I swear an oath by the valour and honour of blackamoor men (and
deem not our manliness to be the poor manliness of white men), from to-
day forth if thou stay away till this hour, I will not keep company with thee
nor will I glue my body with thy body and strum and belly-bump. Dost play
fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts?
stinkard! bitch! vilest of the vile whites!" When I heard his words, and saw
with my own eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world
waxed dark before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. But

my wife humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and
saying, "O my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to
cheer me but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O
my beloved, O light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing
herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right
glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat-trousers, and
said, "O my master what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to eat?"
"Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the bottom the
broiled bones of some rats we dined on; pick at them, and then go to that
slop-pot where thou shalt find some leavings of beer[123] which thou mayest
drink." So she ate and drank and washed her hands, and went and lay down
by the side of the slave, upon the cane-trash and, stripping herself stark
naked, she crept in with him under his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters.
When I saw my wife, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed[124]
"I clean lost my wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered and took
the sword which she had with her and drew it, determined to cut down the
twain. I first struck at the slave's neck and thought that the death decree had
fallen on him:"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Eighth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
ensorcelled Prince said to the King, "When I smote the slave with intent to
strike off his head, I thought that I had slain him; for he groaned a loud

hissing groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of the gullet and the two
arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so I sheathed the sword and
fared forth for the city; and, entering the palace, lay upon my bed and slept
till morning when my wife aroused me and I saw that she had cut off her
hair and had donned mourning garments. Quoth she:—O son of my uncle,
blame me not for what I do; it hath just reached me that my mother is dead,
and my father hath been killed in holy war, and of my brothers one hath lost
his life by a snake-sting and the other by falling down some precipice; and I
can and should do naught save weep and lament. When I heard her words I
refrained from all reproach and said only:—Do as thou list; I certainly will
not thwart thee. She continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one whole
year from the beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was finished
she said to me:—I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a cupola,
which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House of
Lamentations."[125] Quoth I again:—Do as thou list! Then she builded for
herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its centre a dome under
which showed a tomb like a Santon's sepulchre. Thither she carried the
slave and lodged him; but he was exceeding weak by reason of his wound,
and unable to do her love-service; he could only drink wine and from the
day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet he lived on because his appointed
hour[126] was not come. Every day, morning and evening, my wife went to
him and wept and wailed over him and gave him wine and strong soups,
and left not off doing after this manner a second year; and I bore with her
patiently and paid no heed to her. One day, however, I went in to her
unawares; and I found her weeping and beating her face and crying:—Why
art thou absent from my sight, O my heart's delight? Speak to me, O my
life; talk with me, O my love? Then she recited these verses:—
For your love my patience fails and albeit you forget ✿ I may not; nor to other love my heart can
make reply:
Bear my body, bear my soul wheresoever you may fare ✿ And where you pitch the camp let my
body buried lie:
Cry my name above my grave, and an answer shall return ✿ The moaning of my bones responsive
to your cry.[127]

Then she recited, weeping bitterly the while:—

The day of my delight is the day when draw you near ✿ And the day of mine affright is the day you
turn away:
Though I tremble through the night in my bitter dread of death ✿ When I hold you in my arms I am
free from all affray.

Once more she began reciting:—
Though a-morn I may awake with all happiness in hand ✿ Though the world all be mine and like
Kisra-kings[128] I reign;
To me they had the worth of the winglet of the gnat ✿ When I fail to see thy form, when I look for
thee in vain.

When she had ended for a time her words and her weeping I said to her:—O
my cousin, let this thy mourning suffice, for in pouring forth tears there is
little profit! Thwart me not, answered she, in aught I do, or I will lay violent
hands on myself! So I held my peace and left her to go her own way; and
she ceased not to cry and keen and indulge her affliction for yet another
year. At the end of the third year I waxed aweary of this longsome
mourning, and one day I happened to enter the cenotaph when vexed and
angry with some matter which had thwarted me, and suddenly I heard her
say:—O my lord, I never hear thee vouchsafe a single word to me! Why
dost thou not answer me, O my master? and she began reciting:—
O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his beauty set in shade ✿ Hast thou darkened that countenance all-
sheeny as the noon?
O thou tomb! neither earth nor yet heaven art to me ✿ Then how cometh it in thee are conjoined my
sun and moon?

When I heard such verses as these rage was heaped upon my rage; I cried
out:—Well-away! how long is this sorrow to last? and I began repeating:—
O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his horrors set in blight? ✿ Hast thou darkenèd his countenance that
sickeneth the soul?
O thou tomb! neither cess-pool nor pipkin art to me ✿ Then how cometh it in thee are conjoinèd
soil and coal?

When she heard my words she sprang to her feet crying:—Fie upon thee,
thou cur! all this is of thy doings; thou hast wounded my heart's darling and
thereby worked me sore woe and thou hast wasted his youth so that these
three years he hath lain abed more dead than alive! In my wrath I cried:—O
thou foulest of harlots and filthiest of whores ever futtered by negro slaves
who are hired to have at thee![129] Yes indeed it was I who did this good

deed; and snatching up my sword I drew it and made at her to cut her down.
But she laughed my words and mine intent to scorn crying: To heel, hound
that thou art! Alas[130] for the past which shall no more come to pass nor
shall any one avail the dead to raise. Allah hath indeed now given into my
hand him who did to me this thing, a deed that hath burned my heart with a
fire which died not and a flame which might not be quenched! Then she
stood up; and, pronouncing some words to me unintelligible, she said:—By
virtue of my egromancy become thou half stone and half man; whereupon I
became what thou seest, unable to rise or to sit, and neither dead nor alive.
Moreover she ensorcelled the city with all its streets and garths, and she
turned by her gramarye the four islands into four mountains around the tarn
whereof thou questionest me; and the citizens, who were of four different
faiths, Moslem, Nazarene, Jew and Magian, she transformed by her
enchantments into fishes; the Moslems are the white, the Magians red, the
Christians blue and the Jews yellow.[131] "And every day she tortureth me
and scourgeth me with an hundred stripes, each of which draweth floods of
blood and cutteth the skin of my shoulders to strips; and lastly she clotheth
my upper half with a hair-cloth and then throweth over them these robes."
Hereupon the young man again shed tears and began reciting:—
In patience, O my God, I endure my lot and fate; ✿ I will bear at will of Thee whatsoever be my
state:
They oppress me; they torture me; they make my life a woe ✿ Yet haply Heaven's happiness shall
compensate my strait:
Yea, straitened is my life by the bane and hate o' foes ✿ But Mustapha and Murtazá[132] shall ope
me Heaven's gate.

After this the Sultan turned towards the young Prince and said, "O youth,
thou hast removed one grief only to add another grief; but now, O my
friend, where is she; and where is the mausoleum wherein lieth the
wounded slave?" "The slave lieth under yon dome," quoth the young man,
"and she sitteth in the chamber fronting yonder door. And every day at
sunrise she cometh forth, and first strippeth me, and whippeth me with an
hundred strokes of the leathern scourge, and I weep and shriek; but there is
no power of motion in my lower limbs to keep her off me. After ending her
tormenting me she visiteth the slave, bringing him wine and boiled meats.
And to-morrow at an early hour she will be here." Quoth the King, "By
Allah, O youth, I will assuredly do thee a good deed which the world shall
not willingly let die, and an act of derring-do which shall be chronicled long

after I am dead and gone by." Then the King sat him by the side of the
young Prince and talked till nightfall, when he lay down and slept; but, as
soon as the false dawn[133] showed, he arose and doffing his outer
garments[134] bared his blade and hastened to the place wherein lay the slave.
Then was he ware of lighted candles and lamps, and the perfume of
incenses and unguents; and, directed by these, he made for the slave and
struck him one stroke killing him on the spot: after which he lifted him on
his back and threw him into a well that was in the palace. Presently he
returned and, donning the slave's gear, lay down at length within the
mausoleum with the drawn sword laid close to and along his side. After an
hour or so the accursed witch came; and, first going to her husband, she
stripped off his clothes and, taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while he
cried out, "Ah! enough for me the case I am in! take pity on me, O my
cousin!" But she replied, "Didst thou take pity on me and spare the life of
my true love on whom I doated?" Then she drew the cilice over his raw and
bleeding skin and threw the robe upon all and went down to the slave with a
goblet of wine and a bowl of meat-broth in her hands. She entered under the
dome weeping and wailing, "Well-away!" and crying, "O my lord! speak a
word to me! O my master! talk awhile with me!" and began to recite these
couplets:—
How long this harshness, this unlove, shall bide? ✿ Suffice thee not tear-floods thou hast espied?
Thou dost prolong our parting purposely ✿ And if wouldst please my foe, thou'rt satisfied!

Then she wept again and said, "O my lord! speak to me, talk with me!" The
King lowered his voice and, twisting his tongue, spoke after the fashion of
the blackamoors and said "'lack! 'lack! there be no Ma'esty and there be no
Might save in Allauh, the Gloriose, the Greät!" Now when she heard these
words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground fainting; and when her
senses returned she asked, "O my lord, can it be true that thou hast power of
speech?" and the King making his voice small and faint answered, "O my
cuss! dost thou deserve that I talk to thee and speak with thee?" "Why and
wherefore?" rejoined she; and he replied "The why is that all the livelong
day thou tormentest thy hubby; and he keeps calling on 'eaven for aid until
sleep is strange to me even from evenin' till mawnin', and he prays and
damns, cussing us two, me and thee, causing me disquiet and much bother:
were this not so, I should long ago have got my health; and it is this which
prevents my answering thee." Quoth she, "With thy leave I will release him

from what spell is on him;" and quoth the King, "Release him and let's have
some rest!" She cried, "To hear is to obey;" and, going from the cenotaph to
the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water and spake over it
certain words which made the contents bubble and boil as a cauldron
seetheth over the fire. With this she sprinkled her husband saying, "By
virtue of the dread words I have spoken, if thou becamest thus by my spells,
come forth out of that form into thine own former form." And lo and
behold! the young man shook and trembled; then he rose to his feet and,
rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, "I testify that there is no god but
the God, and in very truth Mohammed is His Apostle, whom Allah bless
and keep!" Then she said to him, "Go forth and return not hither, for if thou
do I will surely slay thee;" screaming these words in his face. So he went
from between her hands; and she returned to the dome and, going down to
the sepulchre, she said, "O my lord, come forth to me that I may look upon
thee and thy goodliness!" The King replied in faint low words, "What[135]
thing hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the branch but not of the root."
She asked, "O my darling! O my negroling! what is the root?" And he
answered, "Fie on thee, O my cuss! The people of this city and of the four
islands every night when it's half passed lift their heads from the tank in
which thou hast turned them to fishes and cry to Heaven and call down its
anger on me and thee; and this is the reason why my body's baulked from
health. Go at once and set them free; then come to me and take my hand,
and raise me up, for a little strength is already back in me." When she heard
the King's words (and she still supposed him to be the slave) she cried
joyously, "O my master, on my head and on my eyes be thy command,
Bismillah[136]!" So she sprang to her feet and, full of joy and gladness, ran
down to the tarn and look a little of its water In the palm of her hand—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the young
woman, the sorceress, took in hand some of the tarn-water and spake over it
words not to be understood, the fishes lifted their heads and stood up on the
instant like men, the spell on the people of the city having been removed.
What was the lake again became a crowded capital; the bazars were
thronged with folk who bought and sold; each citizen was occupied with his

own calling and the four hills became islands as they were whilome. Then
the young woman, that wicked sorceress, returned to the King and (still
thinking he was the negro) said to him, "O my love! stretch forth thy
honoured hand that I may assist thee to rise." "Nearer to me," quoth the
King in a faint and feigned tone. She came close as to embrace him when
he took up the sword lying hid by his side and smote her across the breast,
so that the point showed gleaming behind her back. Then he smote her a
second time and cut her in twain and cast her to the ground in two halves.
After which he fared forth and found the young man, now freed from the
spell, awaiting him and gave him joy of his happy release while the Prince
kissed his hand with abundant thanks. Quoth the King, "Wilt thou abide in
this city or go with me to my capital?" Quoth the youth, "O King of the age,
wottest thou not what journey is between thee and thy city?" "Two days and
a half," answered he; whereupon said the other, "An thou be sleeping, O
King, awake! Between thee and thy city is a year's march for a well-girt
walker, and thou haddest not come hither in two days and a half save that
the city was under enchantment. And I, O King, will never part from thee;
no, not even for the twinkling of an eye." The King rejoiced at his words
and said, "Thanks be to Allah who hath bestowed thee upon me! From this
hour thou art my son and my only son, for that in all my life I have never
been blessed with issue." Thereupon they embraced and joyed with
exceeding great joy; and, reaching the palace, the Prince who had been
spell-bound informed his lords and his grandees that he was about to visit
the Holy Places as a pilgrim, and bade them get ready all things necessary
for the occasion. The preparations lasted ten days, after which he set out
with the Sultan, whose heart burned in yearning for his city whence he had
been absent a whole twelvemonth. They journeyed with an escort of
Mamelukes[137] carrying all manners of precious gifts and rarities, nor
stinted they wayfaring day and night for a full year until they approached
the Sultan's capital, and sent on messengers to announce their coming. Then
the Wazir and the whole army came out to meet him in joy and gladness, for
they had given up all hope of ever seeing their King; and the troops kissed
the ground before him and wished him joy of his safety. He entered and
took seat upon his throne and the Minister came before him and, when
acquainted with all that had befallen the young Prince, he congratulated him
on his narrow escape. When order was restored throughout the land the
King gave largesse to many of his people, and said to the Wazir, "Hither the

Fisherman who brought us the fishes!" So he sent for the man who had been
the first cause of the city and the citizens being delivered from enchantment
and, when he came into the presence, the Sultan bestowed upon him a dress
of honour, and questioned him of his condition and whether he had
children. The Fisherman gave him to know that he had two daughters and a
son, so the King sent for them and, taking one daughter to wife, gave the
other to the young Prince and made the son his head-treasurer. Furthermore
he invested his Wazir with the Sultanate of the City in the Black Islands
whilome belonging to the young Prince, and dispatched with him the escort
of fifty armed slaves together with dresses of honour for all the Emirs and
Grandees. The Wazir kissed hands and fared forth on his way; while the
Sultan and the Prince abode at home in all the solace and the delight of life;
and the Fisherman became the richest man of his age, and his daughters
wived with the Kings, until death came to them. And yet, O King! this is
not more wondrous than the story of

60. Here, as in other places, I have not preserved the monorhyme, but
have ended like the English sonnet with a couplet; as a rule the last
two lines contain a "Husn makta'" or climax.

61. Lit. "he began to say (or speak) poetry," such improvising being still
common amongst the Badawin as I shall afterwards note. And
although Mohammed severely censured profane poets, who "rove as
bereft of their senses through every valley" and were directly inspired
by devils (Koran xxvi.), it is not a little curious to note that he himself
spoke in "Rajaz" (which see) and that the four first Caliphs all "spoke
poetry." In early ages the verse would not be written, if written at all,
till after the maker's death. I translate "inshád" by "versifying" or
"repeating" or "reciting," leaving it doubtful if the composition be or
be not original. In places, however, it is clearly improvised and then
as a rule it is model doggrel.

62. Arab. "Allahumma"=Yá Allah (O Allah) but with emphasis; the Fath
being a substitute for the voc. part. Some connect it with the Heb.
"Alihím," but that fancy is not Arab. In Al-Hariri and the rhetoricians

it sometimes means to be sure; of course; unless indeed; unless
possibly=Greek νὴ δἰα.

63. Probably in consequence of a vow. These superstitious practices,
which have many a parallel amongst ourselves, are not confined to
the lower orders in the East.

64. i.e., saying "Bismillah!" the pious ejaculation which should precede
every act. In Boccaccio (viii., 9) it is "remembering Iddio e' Santí."

65. Arab. Nahás asfar=brass, opposed to "Nahás" and "Nahás
ahmar,"=copper.

66. This alludes to the legend of Sakhr al-Jinni, a famous fiend cast by
Solomon David-son into Lake Tiberias whose storms make it a
suitable place. Hence the "Bottle imp," a world-wide fiction of folk-
lore: we shall find it in the "Book of Sindibad," and I need hardly
remind the reader of Le Sage's "Diable Boiteux," borrowed from "El
Diablo Cojuelo," the Spanish novel by Luiz Velez de Guevara.

67. Márid (lit. "contumacious" from the Heb. root Marad to rebel,
whence "Nimrod" in late Semitic) is one of the tribes of the Jinn,
generally but not always hostile to man. His female is "Máridah."

68. As Solomon began to reign (according to vulgar chronometry) in
B.C. 1015, the text would place the tale circ. A.D. 785,=A.H. 169.
But we can lay no stress on this date which may be merely fanciful.
Professor Tawney very justly compares this Moslem Solomon with
the Hindu King, Vikramáditya, who ruled over the seven divisions of
the world and who had as many devils to serve him as he wanted.

69. Arab. "Yá Ba'íd" a euphemism here adopted to prevent using grossly
abusive language. Others will occur in the course of these pages.

70. i.e. about to fly out; "My heart is in my mouth." The Fisherman
speaks with the dry humour of a Fellah.

71. "Sulayman," when going out to ease himself, entrusted his seal-ring
upon which his kingdom depended to a concubine "Amínah" (the
"Faithful"), when Sakhr, transformed to the King's likeness, came in
and took it. The prophet was reduced to beggary, but after forty days
the demon fled throwing into the sea the ring which was swallowed
by a fish and eventually returned to Sulayman. This Talmudic fable is
hinted at in the Koran (chapt. xxxviii.), and commentators have
extensively embroidered it. Asaf, son of Barkhiya, was Wazir to
Sulayman and is supposed to be the "one with whom was the
knowledge of the Scriptures" (Koran, chapt. xxxvii.), i.e. who knew
the Ineffable Name of Allah. See the manifest descendant of the
Talmudic-Koranic fiction in the "Tale of the Emperor Jovinian" (No.
lix.) of the Gesta Romanorum, the most popular book of mediæval
Europe composed in England (or Germany) about the end of the
thirteenth century.

72. Arab. "Kumkum," a gourd-shaped bottle, of metal, china or glass,
still used for sprinkling scents. Lane gives an illustration (chapt. viii.,
Mod. Egypt.).

73. Arab. meaning "the Mother of Amir," a nickname for the hyena,
which bites the hand that feeds it.

74. The intellect of man is stronger than that of the Jinni; the Ifrit,
however, enters the jar because he has been adjured by the Most
Great Name and not from mere stupidity. The seal-ring of Solomon
according to the Rabbis contained a chased stone which told him
everything he wanted to know.

75. The Mesmerist will notice this shudder which is familiar to him as
preceding the "magnetic" trance.

76. Arab. "Bahr" which means a sea, a large river, a sheet of water, etc.,
lit. water cut or trenched in the earth. Bahri in Egypt means Northern;
so Yamm (Sea, Mediterranean) in Hebrew is West.

77. In the Bul. Edit. "Ruyán," evidently a clerical error. The name is
fanciful not significant.

78. The geography is ultra-Shakspearean. "Fars" (whence "Persia") is the
central Province of the grand old Empire now a mere wreck; "Rúm"
(which I write Roum, in order to avoid Jamaica) is the neo-Roman or
Byzantine Empire; while "Yunan" is the classical Arab term for
Greece (Ionia) which unlearned Moslems believe to be now under
water.

79. The Sun greets Mohammed every morning even as it dances on
Easter-Day for Christendom. Risum teneatis?

80. Arab. "Nadím," a term often occurring. It denotes one who was
intimate enough to drink with the Caliph, a very high honour and a
dangerous. The last who sat with "Nudamá" was Al-Razi bi'llah A.H.
329=940. See Al-Siyuti's famous "History of the Caliphs" translated
and admirably annotated by Major H. S. Jarrett, for the Bibliotheca
Indica, Calcutta, 1880.

81. Arab. Maydán (from Persian); Lane generally translates it "horse-
course," and Payne "tilting-yard." It is both and something more; an
open space, in or near the city, used for reviewing troops, races,
playing the Jeríd (cane-spear) and other sports and exercises: thus Al-
Maydan=Gr. hippodrome. The game here alluded to is our "polo," or
hockey on horseback, a favourite with the Persian Kings, as all old
illustrations of the Shahnamah show. Maydan is also a natural plain
for which copious Arabic has many terms; Fayhah or Sath (a plain
generally), Khabt (a low lying plain), Bat'há (a low sandy flat),
Mahattah (a plain fit for halting) and so forth. (Pilgrimage iii., 11.)

82. For details concerning the "Ghusl" see Night xliv.

83. A popular idiom and highly expressive, contrasting the upright
bearing of the self-satisfied man with the slouch of the miserable and
the skirt-trailing of the woman in grief. I do not see the necessity of
such Latinisms as "dilated" or "expanded."

84. All these highest signs of favour foreshow, in Eastern tales and in
Eastern life, an approaching downfall of the heaviest; they are so

great that they arouse general jealousy. Many of us have seen this at
native courts.

85. This phrase is contained in the word "ihdák"=encompassing, as the
conjunctiva does the pupil.

86. I have noted this formula, which is used even in conversation when
about to relate some great unfact.

87. We are obliged to English the word by "valley," which is about as
correct as the "brook Kedron," applied to the grisliest of ravines. The
Wady (in old Coptic wah, oah, whence "Oasis") is the bed of a
watercourse which flows only after rains. I have rendered it by
"Fiumara" (Pilgrimage i., 5, and ii., 196, etc.), an Italian or rather a
Sicilian word which exactly describes the "wady."

88. I have described this scene which Mr. T. Wolf illustrated by an
excellent lithograph in "Falconry, etc." (London, Van Voorst,
MDCCCLII.).

89. Arab. "Kaylúlah," midday sleep; called siesta from the sixth
canonical hour.

90. This parrot-story is world-wide in folk-lore and the belief in
metempsychosis, which prevails more or less over all the East, there
lends it probability. The "Book of Sindibad" (see Night dlxxix. and
"The Academy," Sept. 20, 1884, No. 646) converts it into the "Story
of the Confectioner, his Wife and the Parrot;" and it is the base of the
Hindostani text-book, "Tota-Kaháni" (Parrot-chat), an abridgement of
the Tutinámah (Parrot-book) of Nakhshabi (circ. A.D. 1300), a
congener of the Sanskrit "Suka Saptati," or Seventy Parrot-stories.
The tale is not in the Bul. or Mac. Edit. but occurs in the Bresl. (i., pp.
90, 91) much mutilated; and better in the Calc. Edit. I cannot here
refrain from noticing how vilely the twelve vols. of the Breslau Edit.
have been edited; even a table of contents being absent from the first
four volumes.

91. The young "Turk" is probably a late addition, as it does not appear in
many of the MSS., e.g. the Bresl. Edit. The wife usually spreads a
cloth over the cage; this in the Turkish translation becomes a piece of
leather.

92. The Hebrew-Syrian month July used to express the height of summer.
As Herodotus tells us (ii. 4) the Egyptians claimed to be the
discoverers of the solar year and the portioners of its course into
twelve parts.

93. This proceeding is thoroughly characteristic of the servile class; they
conscientiously conceal everything from the master till he finds a
clew; after which they tell him everything and something more.

94. Until late years, merchants and shopkeepers in the nearer East all
carried swords, and held it a disgrace to leave the house unarmed.

95. The Bresl. Edit. absurdly has Jazírah (an island).

96. The Ghúlah (fem. of Ghúl) is the Heb. Lilith or Lilis; the classical
Lamia; the Hindu Yogini and Dakini; the Chaldean Utug and Gigim
(desert-demons) as opposed to the Mas (hill-demon) and Telal (who
steal into towns); the Ogress of our tales and the Bala yaga (Granny-
witch) of Russian folk-lore. Etymologically "Ghul" is a calamity, a
panic fear; and the monster is evidently the embodied horror of the
grave and the grave-yard.

97. Arab. "Shább" (Lat. juvenis) between puberty and forty or according
to some fifty; when the patient becomes a "Rajul ikhtiyár" (man of
free will) politely termed, and then a Shaykh or Shaybah (grey-beard,
oldster).

98. Some proverbial name now forgotten. Torrens (p. 48) translates it
"the giglot" (Fortune?) but "cannot discover the drift."

99. Arab. "Ihtizáz," that natural and instinctive movement caused by
good news suddenly given, etc.

100. Arab "Kohl," in India, Surmah, not a "collyrium," but powdered
antimony for the eyelids. That sold in the bazars is not the real grey
ore of antimony but a galena or sulphuret of lead. Its use arose as
follows. When Allah showed Himself to Moses on Sinai through an
opening the size of a needle, the Prophet fainted and the Mount took
fire: thereupon Allah said, "Henceforth shalt thou and thy seed grind
the earth of this mountain and apply it to your eyes!" The powder is
kept in an étui called Makhalah and applied with a thick blunt needle
to the inside of the eyelid, drawing it along the rim; hence etui and
probe denote the sexual rem in re and in cases of adultery the
question will be asked, "Didst thou see the needle in the Kohl-pot?"
Women mostly use a preparation of soot or lamp-black (Hind. Kajala,
Kajjal) whose colour is easily distinguished from that of Kohl. The
latter word, with the article (Al-Kohl) is the origin of our "alcohol;"
though even M. Littré fails to show how "fine powder" became
"spirits of wine." I found this powder (wherewith Jezebel "painted"
her eyes) a great preservative from ophthalmia in desert-travelling:
the use in India was universal, but now European example is
gradually abolishing it.

101. The tale of these two women is now forgotten.

102. Arab. "Atadakhkhal". When danger threatens it is customary to seize
a man's skirt and cry "Dakhíl-ak!" (=under thy protection). Among
noble tribes the Badawi thus invoked will defend the stranger with his
life. Foreigners have brought themselves into contempt by thus
applying to women or to mere youths.

103. The formula of quoting from the Koran.

104. Lit. "Allah not desolate me" (by thine absence). This is still a popular
phrase—Lá tawáhishná=Do not make me desolate, i.e. by staying
away too long; and friends meeting after a term of days exclaim
"Auhashtani!"=thou hast made me desolate, Je suis désolé.

105. Charming simplicity of manners when the Prime Minister carries the
fish (shade of Vattel!) to the cookmaid. The "Gesta Romanorum" is
nowhere more naive.

106. Arab. "Kahílat al-taraf"=lit. eyelids lined with Kohl; and figuratively
"with black lashes and languorous look." This is a phrase which
frequently occurs in The Nights and which, as will appear, applies to
the "lower animals" as well as to men. Moslems In Central Africa
apply Kohl not to the thickness of the eyelid but upon both outer lids,
fixing it with some greasy substance. The peculiar Egyptian (and
Syrian) eye with its thick fringes of jet-black lashes, looking like
lines of black drawn with soot, easily suggests the simile. In England
I have seen the same appearance amongst miners fresh from the
colliery.

107. Of course applying to her own case.

108. Prehistoric Arabs who measured from 60 to 100 cubits high: Koran,
chapt. xxvi., etc. They will often be mentioned in The Nights.

109. Arab. "Dastúr" (from Persian)=leave, permission. The word has two
meanings (see Burckhardt, Arab. Prov. No. 609) and is much used,
e.g. before walking up stairs or entering a room where strange women
might be met. So "Tarík"=Clear the way (Pilgrimage, iii., 319). The
old Persian occupation of Egypt, not to speak of the Persian-speaking
Circassians and other rulers has left many such traces in popular
language. One of them is that horror of travellers—"Bakhshísh" pron.
bakh-sheesh and shortened to shísh from the Pers. "baksheesh." Our
"Christmas box" has been most unnecessarily derived from the same,
despite our reading:—
Gladly the boy, with Christmas box in hand.

And, as will be seen, Persians have bequeathed to the outer world
worse things than bad language, e.g. heresy and sodomy.

110. He speaks of his wife, but euphemistically in the masculine.

111. A popular saying throughout Al-Islam.

112. Arab. "Fata": lit=a youth; a generous man, one of noble mind (as
youth-tide should be). It corresponds with the Lat. "vir," and has

much the meaning of the Ital. "Giovane," the Germ. "Junker" and our
"gentleman."

113. From the Bul. Edit.

114. The vagueness of his statement is euphemistic.

115. This readiness of shedding tears contrasts strongly with the external
stoicism of modern civilization; but it is true to Arab character; and
Easterns, like the heroes of Homer and Italians of Boccaccio, are not
ashamed of what we look upon as the result of feminine hysteria—"a
good cry."

116. The formula (constantly used by Moslems) here denotes displeasure,
doubt how to act and so forth. Pronounce, "Lá haula wa lá kuwwata
illá bi 'lláhi 'l-Aliyyi 'l-Azim." As a rule mistakes are marvellous:
Mandeville (chapt. xii.) for "Lá iláha illa 'lláhu wa Muhammadun
Rasúlu 'llah" writes "La ellec sila, Machomete rores alla." The former
(lá haula, etc.), on account of the four peculiar Arabic letters, is
everywhere pronounced differently; and the exclamation is called
"Haulak" or "Haukal."

117. An Arab holds that he has a right to marry his first cousin, the
daughter of his father's brother, and if any win her from him a death
and a blood-feud may result. It was the same in a modified form
amongst the Jews and in both races the consanguineous marriage was
not attended by the evil results (idiotcy, congenital deafness, etc.)
observed in mixed races like the English and the Anglo-American.
When a Badawi speaks of "the daughter of my uncle" he means wife;
and the former is the dearer title, as a wife can be divorced, but blood
is thicker than water.

118. Arab. "Kahbah;" the coarsest possible term. Hence the unhappy
"Cava" of Don Roderick the Goth, which simply means The Whore.

119. The Arab "Banj" and Hindú "Bhang" (which I use as most familiar)
both derive from the old Coptic "Nibanj" meaning a preparation of
hemp (Cannabis sativa seu Indica); and here it is easy to recognise

the Homeric "Nepenthe." Al-Kazwini explains the term by "garden
hemp" (Kinnab bostáni or Sháhdánaj). On the other hand not a few
apply the word to the henbane (hyoscyamus niger) so much used in
mediæval Europe. The Kámús evidently means henbane
distinguishing it from "Hashish al haráfísh"=rascals' grass, i.e. the
herb Pantagruelion. The "Alfáz Adwiya" (French translation) explains
"Tabannuj" by "Endormir quelqu'un en lui faisant avaler de la
jusquiame." In modern parlance Tabannuj is=our anæsthetic
administered before an operation, a deadener of pain like myrrh and a
number of other drugs. For this purpose hemp is always used (at least
I never heard of henbane); and various preparations of the drug are
sold at an especial bazar in Cairo. See the "powder of marvellous
virtue" in Boccaccio, iii., 8; and iv., 10. Of these intoxicants, properly
so termed, I shall have something to say in a future page.
The use of Bhang doubtless dates from the dawn of civilisation,
whose earliest social pleasures would be inebriants. Herodotus (iv. c.
75) shows the Scythians burning the seeds (leaves and capsules) in
worship and becoming drunken with the fumes, as do the S. African
Bushmen of the present day. This would be the earliest form of
smoking: it is still doubtful whether the pipe was used or not. Galen
also mentions intoxication by hemp. Amongst Moslems, the Persians
adopted the drink as an ecstatic, and about our thirteenth century
Egypt, which began the practice, introduced a number of preparations
to be noticed in the course of The Nights.

120. The rubbish heaps which outlie Eastern cities, some (near Cairo) are
over a hundred feet high.

121. Arab. "Kurrat al-ayn;" coolness of eyes as opposed to a hot eye
("sakhin") i.e. one red with tears. The term is true and picturesque so
I translate it literally. All coolness is pleasant to dwellers in burning
lands: thus in Al-Hariri Abu Zayd says of Bassorah, "I found there
whatever could fill the eye with coolness." And a "cool booty" (or
prize) is one which has been secured without plunging into the flames
of war, or simply a pleasant prize.

122. Popularly rendered Caucasus (see Night cdxcvi): it corresponds so far
with the Hindu "Udaya" that the sun rises behind it; and the "false
dawn" is caused by a hole or gap. It is also the Persian Alborz, the
Indian Meru (Sumeru), the Greek Olympus, and the Rhiphæan Range
(Veliki Camenypoys) or great starry girdle of the world, etc.

123. Arab. "Mizr" or "Mizar;" vulg. Búzah; hence the medical Lat. Buza,
the Russian Buza (millet beer), our "booze," the O. Dutch "buyzen"
and the German "busen." This is the old ποθὸς θεῖος of negro and
negroid Africa; the beer of Osiris, of which dried remains have been
found in jars amongst Egyptian tombs. In Equatorial Africa it is
known as "Pombe;" on the Upper Nile "Merissa" or "Mirisi" and
amongst the Kafirs (Caffers) "Tshuala," "Oala" or "Boyala:" I have
also heard of "Buswa" in Central Africa which may be the origin of
"Buzah." In the West it became ζῦθος, (Romaic πίῤῥα), Xythum and
cerevisia or cervisia, the humor ex hordeo, long before the days of
King Gambrinus. Central Africans drink it in immense quantities: in
Unyamwezi the standing bedsteads, covered with bark-slabs, are all
made sloping so as to drain off the liquor. A chief lives wholly on
beef and Pombe which is thick as gruel below. Hops are unknown:
the grain, mostly Holcus, is made to germinate, then pounded, boiled
and left to ferment. In Egypt the drink is affected chiefly by Berbers,
Nubians and slaves from the Upper Nile; but it is a superior article
and more like that of Europe than the "Pombe." I have given an
account of the manufacture in The Lake Regions of Central Africa,
vol. ii., p. 286. There are other preparations, Umm-bulbul (mother
nightingale), Dinzáyah and Súbiyah, for which I must refer to the
Shaykh El-Tounsy.

124. There is a terrible truth in this satire, which reminds us of the noble
dame who preferred to her handsome husband the palefrenier laid,
ord et infâme of Queen Margaret of Navarre (Heptameron No. xx.)
We have all known women who sacrificed everything despite
themselves, as it were, for the most worthless of men. The world
stares and scoffs and blames and understands nothing. There is for
every woman one man and one only in whose slavery she is "ready to
sweep the floor." Fate is mostly opposed to her meeting him but,

when she does, adieu husband and children, honour and religion, life
and "soul." Moreover Nature (human) commands the union of
contrasts, such as fair and foul, dark and light, tall and short;
otherwise mankind would be like the canines, a race of extremes,
dwarf as toy-terriers, giants like mastiffs, bald as Chinese "remedy
dogs," or hairy as Newfoundlands. The famous Wilkes said only a
half-truth when he backed himself, with an hour's start, against the
handsomest man in England; his uncommon and remarkable ugliness
(he was, as the Italians say, un bel brutto), was the highest
recommendation in the eyes of very beautiful women.

125. Every Moslem burial-ground has a place of the kind where
honourable women may sit and weep unseen by the multitude. These
visits are enjoined by the Apostle:—Frequent the cemetery, 'twill
make you think of futurity! Also:—Whoever visiteth the graves of his
parents (or one of them) every Friday, he shall be written a pious son,
even though he might have been in the world, before that, a
disobedient. (Pilgrimage ii., 71.) The buildings resemble our
European "mortuary chapels." Saíd, Pasha of Egypt, was kind enough
to erect one on the island off Suez, for the "use of English ladies who
would like shelter whilst weeping and wailing for their dead." But I
never heard that any of the ladies went there.

126. Arab. "Ajal"=the period of life, the appointed time of death: the word
is of constant recurrence and is also applied to sudden death. See
Lane's Dictionary, s.v.

127. "The dying Badawi to his tribe" (and lover) appears to me highly
pathetic. The wild people love to be buried upon hill-slopes whence
they can look down upon the camp; and they still call out the names
of kinsmen and friends as they pass by the grave-yards. A similar
piece occurs in Wetzstein (p. 27, "Reisebericht ueber Hauran," etc.):
—

O bear with you my bones where the camel bears his load ✿ And bury me before you, if
buried I must be;
And let me not be buried 'neath the burden of the vine ✿ But high upon the hill whence
your sight I ever see!
As you pass along my grave cry aloud and name your names ✿ The crying of your names
shall revive the bones of me:
I have fasted through my life with my friends, and in my death, ✿ I will feast when we
meet, on that day of joy and glee.

128. The Akásirah (plur. of Kasrá=Chosroës) is here a title of the four
great dynasties of Persian Kings. 1. The Peshdadian or Assyrian race,
proto-historics for whom dates fail; 2. The Káyánián (Medes and
Persians) who ended with the Alexandrian invasion in B.C. 331; 3.
The Ashkánián (Parthenians or Arsacides) who ruled till A.D. 202;
and 4. The Sassanides which have already been mentioned. But
strictly speaking "Kisri" and "Kasra" are titles applied only to the
latter dynasty and especially to the great King Anushirwan. They
must not be confounded with "Khusrau" (P.N. Cyrus, Ahasuerus?
Chosroës?); and yet the three seem to have combined in "Cæsar,"
Kaysar and Czar. For details especially connected with Zoroaster see
vol. I, p. 380 of the Dabistan or School of Manners, translated by
David Shea and Anthony Troyer, Paris, 1843. The book is most
valuable, but the proper names are so carelessly and incorrectly
printed that the student is led into perpetual error.

129. The words are the very lowest and coarsest; but the scene is true to
Arab life.

130. Arab. "Hayhát:" the word, written in a variety of ways is
onomatopoetic, like our "heigh-ho!" it sometimes means "far from
me (or you) be it!" but in popular usage it is simply "Alas."

131. Lane (i., 134) finds a date for the book in this passage. The Soldan of
Egypt, Mohammed ibn Kala'ún, in the early eighth century
(Hijrah=our fourteenth), issued a sumptuary law compelling
Christians and Jews to wear indigo-blue and saffron-yellow turbans,
the white being reserved for Moslems. But the custom was much
older and Mandeville (chapt. ix.) describes it in A.D. 1322 when it
had become the rule. And it still endures; although abolished in the
cities it is the rule for Christians, at least in the country parts of Egypt
and Syria. I may here remark that such detached passages as these are
absolutely useless for chronology: they may be simply the additions
of editors or mere copyists.

132. The ancient "Mustapha"=the Chosen (prophet, i.e. Mohammed), also
titled Al-Mujtabá, the Accepted (Pilgrimage, ii., 309). "Murtazá"=the

Elect, i.e. the Caliph Ali is the older "Mortada" or "Mortadi" of
Ockley and his day, meaning "one pleasing to (or acceptable to)
Allah." Still older writers corrupted it to "Mortis Ali" and readers
supposed this to be the Caliph's name.

133. The gleam (zodiacal light) preceding the true dawn; the Persians call
the former Subh-i-kázib (false or lying dawn) opposed to Subh-i-
sádik (true dawn) and suppose that it is caused by the sun shining
through a hole in the world-encircling Mount Kaf.

134. So the Heb. "Arún"=naked, means wearing the lower robe only;=our
"in his shirt."

135. Here we have the vulgar Egyptian colloquialism "Aysh" (= Ayyu
shayyin) for the classical "Má" = what.

136. "In the name of Allah!" here said before taking action.

137. Arab. "Mamlúk" (plur. Mamálik) lit. a chattel; and in The Nights a
white slave trained to arms. The "Mameluke Beys" of Egypt were
locally called the "Ghuzz." I use the convenient word in its old
popular sense;
'Tis sung, there's a valiant Mameluke
In foreign lands ycleped (Sir Luke)—

Hudibras.

And hence, probably, Molière's "Mamamouchi"; and the modern
French use "Mamaluc." See Savary's Letters, No. xl.

THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD.

Once upon a time there was a Porter in Baghdad, who was a bachelor and
who would remain unmarried. It came to pass on a certain day, as he stood
about the street leaning idly upon his crate, behold, there stood before him
an honourable woman in a mantilla of Mosul[138] silk, broidered with gold
and bordered with brocade; her walking-shoes were also purfled with gold
and her hair floated in long plaits. She raised her face-veil[139] and, showing
two black eyes fringed with jetty lashes, whose glances were soft and
languishing and whose perfect beauty was ever blandishing, she accosted
the Porter and said in the suavest tones and choicest language, "Take up
thy crate and follow me." The Porter was so dazzled he could hardly
believe that he heard her aright, but he shouldered his basket in hot haste
saying in himself, "O day of good luck! O day of Allah's grace!" and
walked after her till she stopped at the door of a house. There she rapped,
and presently came out to her an old man, a Nazarene, to whom she gave a
gold piece, receiving from him in return what she required of strained wine
clear as olive oil; and she set it safely in the hamper, saying, "Lift and
follow." Quoth the Porter, "This, by Allah, is indeed an auspicious day, a
day propitious for the granting of all a man wisheth." He again hoisted up
the crate and followed her; till she stopped at a fruiterer's shop and bought
from him Shámi[140] apples and Osmáni quinces and Omani[141] peaches,
and cucumbers of Nile growth, and Egyptian limes and Sultáni oranges
and citrons; besides Aleppine jasmine, scented myrtle berries, Damascene
nenuphars, flower of privet[142] and camomile, blood-red anemones, violets,
and pomegranate-bloom, eglantine and narcissus, and set the whole in the
Porter's crate, saying, "Up with it." So he lifted and followed her till she
stopped at a butcher's booth and said, "Cut me off ten pounds of mutton."
She paid him his price and he wrapped it in a banana-leaf, whereupon she
laid it in the crate and said "Hoist, O Porter." He hoisted accordingly, and
followed her as she walked on till she stopped at a grocer's, where she

bought dry fruits and pistachio-kernels, Tihámah raisins, shelled almonds
and all wanted for dessert, and said to the Porter, "Lift and follow me." So
he up with his hamper and after her till she stayed at the confectioner's,
and she bought an earthen platter, and piled it with all kinds of sweetmeats
in his shop, open-worked tarts and fritters scented with musk and "soap-
cakes," and lemon-loaves and melon-preserves,[143] and "Zaynab's combs,"
and "ladies' fingers," and "Kazi's tit-bits" and goodies of every description;
and placed the platter in the Porter's crate. Thereupon quoth he (being a
merry man), "Thou shouldest have told me, and I would have brought with
me a pony or a she-camel to carry all this market-stuff." She smiled and
gave him a little cuff on the nape saying, "Step out and exceed not in
words for (Allah willing!) thy wage will not be wanting." Then she
stopped at a perfumer's and took from him ten sorts of waters, rose scented
with musk, orange-flower, water-lily, willow flower, violet and five others;
and she also bought two loaves of sugar, a bottle for perfume-spraying, a
lump of male incense, aloe-wood, ambergris and musk, with candles of
Alexandria wax; and she put the whole into the basket, saying, "Up with
thy crate and after me." He did so and followed until she stood before the
greengrocer's, of whom she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine
and in oil; with tarragon and cream-cheese and hard Syrian cheese; and she
stowed them away in the crate saying to the Porter, "Take up thy basket
and follow me." He did so and went after her till she came to a fair
mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall, fine place to which columns
gave strength and grace: and the gate thereof had two leaves of ebony
inlaid with plates of red gold. The lady stopped at the door and, turning her
face-veil sideways, knocked softly with her knuckles whilst the Porter
stood behind her, thinking of naught save her beauty and loveliness.
Presently the door swung back and both leaves were opened, whereupon
he looked to see who had opened it; and behold, it was a lady of tall figure,
some five feet high; a model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and
symmetry and perfect grace. Her forehead was flower-white; her cheeks
like the anemone ruddy bright; her eyes were those of the wild heifer or
the gazelle, with eyebrows like the crescent-moon which ends Sha'abán
and begins Ramazán;[144] her mouth was the ring of Sulayman,[145] her lips
coral-red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile petals.
Her throat recalled the antelope's, and her breasts, like two pomegranates
of even size, stood at bay as it were;[146] her body rose and fell in waves

below her dress like the rolls of a piece of brocade, and her navel[147] would
hold an ounce of benzoin ointment. In fine she was like her of whom the
poet said:—
On Sun and Moon of palace cast thy sight ✿ Enjoy her flower-like face, her fragrant light:
Thine eyes shall never see in hair so black ✿ Beauty encase a brow so purely white:
The ruddy rosy cheek proclaims her claim ✿ Though fail her name whose beauties we indite:
As sways her gait I smile at hips so big ✿ And weep to see the waist they bear so slight.

When the Porter looked upon her his wits were waylaid, and his senses
were stormed so that his crate went nigh to fall from his head, and he said to
himself, "Never have I in my life seen a day more blessed than this day!"
Then quoth the lady-portress to the lady-cateress, "Come in from the gate
and relieve this poor man of his load." So the provisioner went in followed
by the portress and the Porter and went on till they reached a spacious
ground-floor hall,[148] built with admirable skill and beautified with all
manner colours and carvings; with upper balconies and groined arches and
galleries and cupboards and recesses whose curtains hung before them. In
the midst stood a great basin full of water surrounding a fine fountain, and
at the upper end on the raised dais was a couch of juniper-wood set with
gems and pearls, with a canopy like mosquito-curtains of red satin-silk
looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger. Thereupon sat a lady
bright of blee, with brow beaming brilliancy, the dream of philosophy,
whose eyes were fraught with Babel's gramarye[149] and her eyebrows were
arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery and her
lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see. Her stature was straight as the
letter ]150[‫ ا‬and her face shamed the noon-sun's radiancy; and she was even
as a galaxy, or a dome with golden marquetry or a bride displayed in
choicest finery or a noble maid of Araby.[151] Right well of her sang the bard
when he said:—
Her smiles twin rows of pearls display ✿ Chamomile-buds or rimey spray
Her tresses stray as night let down ✿ And shames her light the dawn o' day.

[152]
The third lady rising from the couch stepped forward with graceful
swaying gait till she reached the middle of the saloon, when she said to her
sisters, "Why stand ye here? take it down from this poor man's head!" Then
the cateress went and stood before him, and the portress behind him while
the third helped them, and they lifted the load from the Porter's head; and,

emptying it of all that was therein, set everything in its place. Lastly they
gave him two gold pieces, saying, "Wend thy ways, O Porter." But he went
not, for he stood looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty
was theirs, and their pleasant manners and kindly dispositions (never had he
seen goodlier); and he gazed wistfully at that good store of wines and
sweet-scented flowers and fruits and other matters. Also he marvelled with
exceeding marvel, especially to see no man in the place and delayed his
going; whereupon quoth the eldest lady, "What aileth thee that goest not;
haply thy wage be too little?" And, turning to her sister the cateress, she
said, "Give him another dinar!" But the Porter answered, "By Allah, my
lady, it is not for the wage; my hire is never more than two dirhams; but in
very sooth my heart and my soul are taken up with you and your condition.
I wonder to see you single with ne'er a man about you and not a soul to bear
you company; and well you wot that the minaret toppleth o'er unless it stand
upon four, and you want this same fourth; and women's pleasure without
man is short of measure, even as the poet said:—
Seest not we want for joy four things all told ✿ The harp and lute, the flute and flageolet;
And be they companied with scents four-fold ✿ Rose, myrtle, anemone and violet;
Nor please all eight an four thou wouldst withhold ✿ Good wine and youth and gold and pretty pet.

You be three and want a fourth who shall be a person of good sense and
prudence; smart witted, and one apt to keep careful counsel." His words
pleased and amused them much; and they laughed at him and said, "And
who is to assure us of that? We are maidens and we fear to entrust our secret
where it may not be kept, for we have read in a certain chronicle the lines of
one Ibn al-Sumam:—
Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold ✿ Lost is a secret when that secret's told:
An fail thy breast thy secret to conceal ✿ How canst thou hope another's breast shall hold?

And Abu Nowás[153] said well on the same subject:—
Who trusteth secret to another's hand ✿ Upon his brow deserveth burn of brand!"

When the Porter heard their words he rejoined, "By your lives! I am a man
of sense and a discreet, who hath read books and perused chronicles; I
reveal the fair and conceal the foul and I act as the poet adviseth:—

None but the good a secret keep ✿ And good men keep it unrevealed:
It is to me a well-shut house ✿ With keyless locks and door ensealed."[154]

When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application addressed to
them they said, "Thou knowest that we have laid out all our monies on this
place. Now say, hast thou aught to offer us in return for entertainment? For
surely we will not suffer thee to sit in our company and be our cup-
companion, and gaze upon our faces so fair and so rare without paying a
round sum.[155] Wottest thou not the saying:—
Sans hope of gain
Love's not worth a grain?"

Whereto the lady-portress added, "If thou bring anything thou art a
something; if no thing, be off with thee, thou art a nothing;" but the
procuratrix interposed, saying, "Nay, O my sisters, leave teasing him, for by
Allah he hath not failed us this day, and had he been other he never had kept
patience with me, so whatever be his shot and scot I will take it upon
myself." The Porter, overjoyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked
her saying, "By Allah, these monies are the first fruits this day hath given
me." Hearing this they said, "Sit thee down and welcome to thee," and the
eldest lady added, "By Allah, we may not suffer thee to join us save on one
condition, and this it is, that no questions be asked as to what concerneth
thee not, and frowardness shall be soundly flogged." Answered the Porter,
"I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and my eyes be it! Lookye, I am
dumb, I have no tongue." Then arose the provisioneress and tightening her
girdle set the table by the fountain and put the flowers and sweet herbs in
their jars, and strained the wine and ranged the flasks in row and made
ready every requisite. Then sat she down, she and her sisters, placing amidst
them the Porter who kept deeming himself in a dream; and she took up the
wine flagon, and poured out the first cup and drank it off, and likewise a
second and a third.[156] After this she filled a fourth cup which she handed to
one of her sisters; and, lastly, she crowned a goblet and passed it to the
Porter, saying:—
Drink the dear draught, drink free and fain ✿ What healeth every grief and pain.

He took the cup in his hand and, louting low, returned his best thanks and
improvised:—

Drain not the bowl save with a trusty friend ✿ A man of worth whose good old blood all know:
For wine, like wind, sucks sweetness from the sweet ✿ And stinks when over stench it haply blow:

Adding:—
Drain not the bowl, save from dear hand like thine ✿ The cup recalls thy gifts; thou, gifts of wine.

After repeating this couplet he kissed their hands and drank and was drunk
and sat swaying from side to side and pursued:—
All drinks wherein is blood the Law unclean ✿ Doth hold save one, the bloodshed of the vine:
Fill! fill! take all my wealth bequeathed or won ✿ Thou fawn! a willing ransom for those eyne.

Then the cateress crowned a cup and gave it to the portress, who took it
from her hand and thanked her and drank. Thereupon she poured again and
passed to the eldest lady who sat on the couch, and filled yet another and
handed it to the Porter. He kissed the ground before them; and, after
drinking and thanking them, he again began to recite:—
Here! Here! by Allah, here! ✿ Cups of the sweet, the dear!
Fill me a brimming bowl ✿ The Fount o' Life I speer

Then the Porter stood up before the mistress of the house and said, "O lady,
I am thy slave, thy Mameluke, thy white thrall, thy very bondsman;" and he
began reciting:—
A slave of slaves there standeth at thy door ✿ Lauding thy generous boons and gifts galore:
Beauty! may he come in awhile to 'joy ✿ Thy charms? for Love and I part nevermore!

She said to him, "Drink; and health and happiness attend thy drink." So he
took the cup and kissed her hand and recited these lines in sing-song:—
I gave her brave old wine that like her cheeks ✿ Blushed red or flame from furnace flaring up:
She bussed the brim and said with many a smile ✿ How durst thou deal folk's cheek for folk to sup?
"Drink!" (said I) "these are tears of mine whose tinct ✿ Is heart-blood sighs have boilèd in the cup."

She answered him in the following couplet:—
"An tears of blood for me, friend, thou hast shed ✿ Suffer me sup them, by thy head and eyes!"

Then the lady took the cup, and drank it off to her sisters' health, and they
ceased not drinking (the Porter being in the midst of them), and dancing and
laughing and reciting verses and singing ballads and ritornellos. All this
time the Porter was carrying on with them, kissing, toying, biting, handling,
groping, fingering; whilst one thrust a dainty morsel in his mouth, and

another slapped him; and this cuffed his cheeks, and that threw sweet
flowers at him; and he was in the very paradise of pleasure, as though he
were sitting in the seventh sphere among the Houris[157] of Heaven. They
ceased not doing after this fashion until the wine played tricks in their heads
and worsted their wits; and, when the drink got the better of them, the
portress stood up and doffed her clothes till she was mother-naked.
However, she let down her hair about her body by way of shift, and
throwing herself into the basin disported herself and dived like a duck and
swam up and down, and took water in her mouth, and spurted it all over the
Porter, and washed her limbs, and between her breasts, and inside her thighs
and all around her navel. Then she came up out of the cistern and throwing
herself on the Porter's lap said, "O my lord, O my love, what callest thou
this article?" pointing to her slit, her solution of continuity. "I call that thy
cleft," quoth the Porter, and she rejoined, "Wah! wah! art thou not ashamed
to use such a word?" and she caught him by the collar and soundly cuffed
him. Said he again, "Thy womb, thy vulva;" and she struck him a second
slap crying, "O fie, O fie, this is another ugly word; is there no shame in
thee?" Quoth he, "Thy coynte;" and she cried, "O thou! art wholly destitute
of modesty?" and thumped him and bashed him. Then cried the Porter, "Thy
clitoris,"[158] whereat the eldest lady came down upon him with a yet sorer
beating, and said, "No;" and he said, "'Tis so," and the Porter went on
calling the same commodity by sundry other names, but whatever he said
they beat him more and more till his neck ached and swelled with the blows
he had gotten; and on this wise they made him a butt and a laughing-stock.
At last he turned upon them asking, "And what do you women call this
article?" Whereto the damsel made answer, "The basil of the bridges."[159]
Cried the Porter, "Thank Allah for my safety: aid me and be thou propitious,
O basil of the bridges!" They passed round the cup and tossed off the bowl
again, when the second lady stood up; and, stripping off all her clothes, cast
herself into the cistern and did as the first had done; then she came out of
the water and throwing her naked form on the Porter's lap pointed to her
machine and said, "O light of mine eyes, do tell me what is the name of this
concern?" He replied as before, "Thy slit;" and she rejoined, "Hath such
term no shame for thee?" and cuffed him and buffeted him till the saloon
rang with the blows. Then quoth she, "O fie! O fie! how canst thou say this
without blushing?" He suggested, "The basil of the bridges;" but she would
not have it and she said, "No! no!" and struck him and slapped him on the

back of the neck. Then he began calling out all the names he knew, "Thy
slit, thy womb, thy coynte, thy clitoris;" and the girls kept on saying, "No!
no!" So he said, "I stick to the basil of the bridges;" and all the three
laughed till they fell on their backs and laid slaps on his neck and said, "No!
no! that's not its proper name." Thereupon he cried, "O my sisters, what is
its name?" and they replied, "What sayest thou to the husked sesame-seed?"
Then the cateress donned her clothes and they fell again to carousing, but
the Porter kept moaning, "Oh! and Oh!" for his neck and shoulders, and the
cup passed merrily round and round again for a full hour. After that time the
eldest and handsomest lady stood up and stripped off her garments,
whereupon the Porter took his neck in hand, and rubbed and shampoo'd it,
saying, "My neck and shoulders are on the way of Allah!"[160] Then she
threw herself into the basin, and swam and dived, sported and washed; and
the Porter looked at her naked figure as though she had been a slice of the
moon[161] and at her face with the sheen of Luna when at full, or like the
dawn when it brighteneth, and he noted her noble stature and shape, and
those glorious forms that quivered as she went; for she was naked as the
Lord made her. Then he cried "Alack! Alack!" and began to address her,
versifying in these couplets:—
"If I liken thy shape to the bough when green ✿ My likeness errs and I sore mistake it;
For the bough is fairest when clad the most ✿ And thou art fairest when mother-naked."

When the lady heard his verses she came up out of the basin and, seating
herself upon his lap and knees, pointed to her genitory and said, "O my
lordling, what be the name of this?" Quoth he, "The basil of the bridges;"
but she said, "Bah, bah!" Quoth he, "The husked sesame;" quoth she,
"Pooh, pooh!" Then said he, "Thy womb;" and she cried, "Fie, Fie! art thou
not ashamed of thyself?" and cuffed him on the nape of the neck. And
whatever name he gave declaring "'Tis so," she beat him and cried "No!
no!" till at last he said, "O my sisters, and what is its name?" She replied, "It
is entitled the Khan[162] of Abu Mansur;" whereupon the Porter replied, "Ha!
ha! O Allah be praised for safe deliverance! O Khan of Abu Mansur!" Then
she came forth and dressed and the cup went round a full hour. At last the
Porter rose up, and stripping off all his clothes, jumped into the tank and
swam about and washed under his bearded chin and armpits, even as they
had done. Then he came out and threw himself into the first lady's lap and
rested his arms upon the lap of the portress, and reposed his legs in the lap

of the cateress and pointed to his prickle[163] and said, "O my mistresses,
what is the name of this article?" All laughed at his words till they fell on
their backs, and one said, "Thy pintle!" But he replied, "No!" and gave each
one of them a bite by way of forfeit. Then said they, "Thy pizzle!" but he
cried "No," and gave each of them a hug;——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Tenth Night,

Quoth her sister Dunyazad, "Finish for us thy story;" and she answered,
"With joy and goodly gree." It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
damsels stinted not saying to the Porter "Thy prickle, thy pintle, thy pizzle,"
and he ceased not kissing and biting and hugging until his heart was
satisfied, and they laughed on till they could no more. At last one said, "O
our brother, what, then, is it called?" Quoth he, "Know ye not?" Quoth they,
"No!" "Its veritable name," said he, "is mule Burst-all, which browseth on
the basil of the bridges, and muncheth the husked sesame, and nighteth in
the Khan of Abu Mansur." Then laughed they till they fell on their backs,
and returned to their carousal, and ceased not to be after this fashion till
night began to fall. Thereupon said they to the Porter, "Bismillah,[164] O our
master, up and on with those sorry old shoes of thine and turn thy face and
show us the breadth of thy shoulders!" Said he, "By Allah, to part with my
soul would be easier for me than departing from you: come let us join night
to day, and to-morrow morning we will each wend our own way." "My life
on you," said the procuratrix, "suffer him to tarry with us, that we may
laugh at him: we may live out our lives and never meet with his like, for
surely he is a right merry rogue and a witty."[165] So they said, "Thou must
not remain with us this night save on condition that thou submit to our
commands, and that whatso thou seest, thou ask no questions thereanent,
nor enquire of its cause." "All right," rejoined he, and they said, "Go read
the writing over the door." So he rose and went to the entrance and there
found written in letters of gold wash; "WHOSO SPEAKETH OF WHAT
[166]
CONCERNETH HIM NOT, SHALL HEAR WHAT PLEASETH HIM NOT!" The Porter
said, "Be ye witnesses against me that I will not speak on whatso
concerneth me not." Then the cateress arose, and set food before them and
they ate; after which they changed their drinking-place for another, and she
lighted the lamps and candles and burned ambergris and aloes-wood, and

set on fresh fruit and the wine service, when they fell to carousing and
talking of their lovers. And they ceased not to eat and drink and chat,
nibbling dry fruits and laughing and playing tricks for the space of a full
hour when lo! a knock was heard at the gate. The knocking in no wise
disturbed the seance, but one of them rose and went to see what it was and
presently returned, saying, "Truly our pleasure for this night is to be
perfect." "How is that?" asked they; and she answered, "At the gate be three
Persian Kalandars[167] with their beards and heads and eyebrows shaven; and
all three blind of the left eye—which is surely a strange chance. They are
foreigners from Roum-land with the mark of travel plain upon them; they
have just entered Baghdad, this being their first visit to our city; and the
cause of their knocking at our door is simply because they cannot find a
lodging. Indeed one of them said to me:—Haply the owner of this mansion
will let us have the key of his stable or some old outhouse wherein we may
pass this night; for evening had surprised them and, being strangers in the
land, they knew none who would give them shelter. And, O my sisters, each
of them is a figure o' fun after his own fashion; and if we let them in we
shall have matter to make sport of." She gave not over persuading them till
they said to her, "Let them in, and make thou the usual condition with them
that they speak not of what concerneth them not, lest they hear what
pleaseth them not." So she rejoiced and going to the door presently returned
with the three monoculars whose beards and mustachios were clean shaven.
[168]
They salam'd and stood afar off by way of respect; but the three ladies
rose up to them and welcomed them and wished them joy of their safe
arrival and made them sit down. The Kalandars looked at the room and saw
that it was a pleasant place, clean swept and garnished with flowers; and the
lamps were burning and the smoke of perfumes was spiring in air; and
beside the dessert and fruits and wine, there were three fair girls who might
be maidens; so they exclaimed with one voice, "By Allah, 'tis good!" Then
they turned to the Porter and saw that he was a merry-faced wight, albeit he
was by no means sober and was sore after his slappings. So they thought
that he was one of themselves and said, "A mendicant like us! whether Arab
or foreigner."[169] But when the Porter heard these words, he rose up, and
fixing his eyes fiercely upon them, said, "Sit ye here without exceeding in
talk! Have you not read what is writ over the door? surely it befitteth not
fellows who come to us like paupers to wag your tongues at us." "We crave
thy pardon, O Fakír,"[170] rejoined they, "and our heads are between thy

hands." The ladies laughed consumedly at the squabble; and, making peace
between the Kalandars and the Porter, seated the new guests before meat
and they ate. Then they sat together, and the portress served them with
drink; and, as the cup went round merrily, quoth the Porter to the askers,
"And you, O brothers mine, have ye no story or rare adventure to amuse us
withal?" Now the warmth of wine having mounted to their heads they
called for musical instruments; and the portress brought them a tambourine
of Mosul, and a lute of Irák, and a Persian harp; and each mendicant took
one and tuned it; this the tambourine and those the lute and the harp, and
struck up a merry tune while the ladies sang so lustily that there was a great
noise.[171] And whilst they were carrying on, behold, some one knocked at
the gate, and the portress went to see what was the matter there. Now the
cause of that knocking, O King (quoth Shahrazad) was this, the Caliph,
Hárún al-Rashíd, had gone forth from the palace, as was his wont now and
then, to solace himself in the city that night, and to see and hear what new
thing was stirring; he was in merchant's gear, and he was attended by
Ja'afar, his Wazir, and by Masrúr his Sworder of Vengeance.[172] As they
walked about the city, their way led them towards the house of the three
ladies; where they heard the loud noise of musical instruments and singing
and merriment; so quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, "I long to enter this house and
hear those songs and see who sing them." Quoth Ja'afar, "O Prince of the
Faithful; these folk are surely drunken with wine, and I fear some mischief
betide us if we get amongst them." "There is no help but that I go in there,"
replied the Caliph, "and I desire thee to contrive some pretext for our
appearing among them." Ja'afar replied, "I hear and I obey;"[173] and
knocked at the door, whereupon the portress came out and opened. Then
Ja'afar came forward and kissing the ground before her said, "O my lady,
we be merchants from Tiberias-town: we arrived at Baghdad ten days ago;
and, alighting at the merchants' caravanserai, we sold all our merchandise.
Now a certain trader invited us to an entertainment this night; so we went to
his house and he set food before us and we ate: then we sat at wine and
wassail with him for an hour or so when he gave us leave to depart; and we
went out from him in the shadow of the night and, being strangers, we
could not find our way back to our Khan. So haply of your kindness and
courtesy you will suffer us to tarry with you this night, and Heaven will
reward you!"[174] The portress looked upon them and seeing them dressed
like merchants and men of grave looks and solid, she returned to her sisters

and repeated to them Ja'afar's story; and they took compassion upon the
strangers and said to her, "Let them enter." She opened the door to them,
when said they to her, "Have we thy leave to come in?" "Come in," quoth
she; and the Caliph entered followed by Ja'afar and Masrur; and when the
girls saw them they stood up to them in respect and made them sit down
and looked to their wants, saying, "Welcome, and well come and good
cheer to the guests, but with one condition!" "What is that?" asked they, and
one of the ladies answered, "Speak not of what concerneth you not, lest ye
hear what pleaseth you not." "Even so," said they; and sat down to their
wine and drank deep. Presently the Caliph looked on the three Kalandars
and, seeing them each and every blind of the left eye, wondered at the sight;
then he gazed upon the girls and he was startled and he marvelled with
exceeding marvel at their beauty and loveliness. They continued to carouse
and to converse and said to the Caliph, "Drink!" but he replied, "I am
vowed to Pilgrimage;"[175] and drew back from the wine. Thereupon the
portress rose and spreading before him a table-cloth worked with gold, set
thereon a porcelain bowl into which she poured willow flower water with a
lump of snow and a spoonful of sugar-candy. The Caliph thanked her and
said in himself, "By Allah, I will recompense her to-morrow for the kind
deed she hath done." The others again addressed themselves to conversing
and carousing; and, when the wine gat the better of them, the eldest lady
who ruled the house rose and making obeisance to them took the cateress
by the hand, and said, "Rise, O my sister and let us do what is our devoir."
Both answered "Even so!" Then the portress stood up and proceeded to
remove the table-service and the remnants of the banquet; and renewed the
pastiles and cleared the middle of the saloon. Then she made the Kalandars
sit upon a sofa at the side of the estrade, and seated the Caliph and Ja'afar
and Masrur on the other side of the saloon; after which she called the Porter,
and said, "How scant is thy courtesy! now thou art no stranger; nay, thou art
one of the household." So he stood up and, tightening his waist-cloth,
asked, "What would ye I do?" and she answered, "Stand in thy place." Then
the procuratrix rose and set in the midst of the saloon a low chair and,
opening a closet, cried to the Porter, "Come help me," So he went to help
her and saw two black bitches with chains round their necks; and she said to
him, "Take hold of them;" and he took them and led them into the middle of
the saloon. Then the lady of the house arose and tucked up her sleeves
above her wrists and, seizing a scourge, said to the Porter, "Bring forward

one of the bitches." He brought, her forward, dragging her by the chain,
while the bitch wept, and shook her head at the lady who, however, came
down upon her with blows on the sconce; and the bitch howled and the lady
ceased not beating her till her forearm failed her. Then, casting the scourge
from her hand, she pressed the bitch to her bosom and, wiping away her
tears with her hands, kissed her head. Then said she to the Porter, "Take her
away and bring the second;" and, when he brought her, she did with her as
she had done with the first. Now the heart of the Caliph was touched at
these cruel doings; his chest straitened and he lost all patience in his desire
to know why the two bitches were so beaten. He threw a wink at Ja'afar
wishing him to ask, but the Minister turning towards him said by signs, "Be
silent!" Then quoth the portress to the mistress of the house, "O my lady,
arise and go to thy place that I in turn may do my devoir."[176] She answered,
"Even so"; and, taking her seat upon the couch of juniper-wood, pargetted
with, gold and silver, said to the portress and cateress, "Now do ye what ye
have to do." Thereupon the portress sat upon a low seat by the couch side;
but the procuratrix, entering a closet, brought out of it a bag of satin with
green fringes and two tassels of gold. She stood up before the lady of the
house and shaking the bag drew out from it a lute which she tuned by
tightening its pegs; and when it was in perfect order, she began to sing these
quatrains:—
Ye are the wish, the aim of me ✿ And when, O love, thy sight I see[177]
The heavenly mansion openeth;[178] ✿ But Hell I see when lost thy sight.
From thee comes madness; nor the less ✿ Comes highest joy, comes ecstasy:
Nor in my love for thee I fear ✿ Or shame and blame, or hate and spite.
When Love was throned within my heart ✿ I rent the veil of modesty;
And stints not Love to rend that veil ✿ Garring disgrace on grace to alight;
The robe of sickness then I donned ✿ But rent to rags was secrecy:
Wherefore my love and longing heart ✿ Proclaim your high supremest might;
The tear-drop railing adown my cheek ✿ Telleth my tale of ignomy:
And all the hid was seen by all ✿ And all my riddle ree'd aright.
Heal then my malady, for thou ✿ Art malady and remedy!
But she whose cure is in thy hand ✿ Shall ne'er be free of bane and blight;
Burn me those eyne that radiance rain ✿ Slay me the swords of phantasy;
How many hath the sword of Love ✿ Laid low, their high degree despite?
Yet will I never cease to pine ✿ Nor to oblivion will I flee.
Love is my health, my faith, my joy ✿ Public and private, wrong or right.
O happy eyes that sight thy charms ✿ That gaze upon thee at their gree!
Yea, of my purest wish and will ✿ The slave of Love I'll aye be hight.

When the damsel heard this elegy in quatrains she cried out "Alas! Alas!"
and rent her raiment, and fell to the ground fainting; and the Caliph saw
scars of the palm-rod[179] on her back and welts of the whip; and marvelled
with exceeding wonder. Then the portress arose and sprinkled water on her
and brought her a fresh and very fine dress and put it on her. But when the
company beheld these doings their minds were troubled, for they had no
inkling of the case nor knew the story thereof; so the Caliph said to Ja'afar,
"Didst thou not see the scars upon the damsel's body? I cannot keep silence
or be at rest till I learn the truth of her condition and the story of this other
maiden and the secret of the two black bitches." But Ja'afar answered, "O
our lord, they made it a condition with us that we speak not of what
concerneth us not, lest we come to hear what pleaseth us not." Then said the
portress, "By Allah, O my sister, come to me and complete this service for
me." Replied the procuratrix, "With joy and goodly gree;" so she took the
lute; and leaned it against her breasts and swept the strings with her finger-
tips, and began singing:—
Give back mine eyes their sleep long ravishèd ✿ And say me whither be my reason fled:
I learnt that lending to thy love a place ✿ Sleep to mine eyelids mortal foe was made.
They said, "We held thee righteous, who waylaid ✿ Thy soul?" "Go ask his glorious eyes," I said.
I pardon all my blood he pleased to spill ✿ Owning his troubles drove him blood to shed.
On my mind's mirror sun-like sheen he cast ✿ Whose keen reflection fire in vitals bred
Waters of Life let Allah waste at will ✿ Suffice my wage those lips of dewy red:
An thou address my love thou'lt find a cause ✿ For plaint and tears or ruth or lustihed.
In water pure his form shall greet your eyne ✿ When fails the bowl nor need ye drink of wine.[180]

Then she quoted from the same ode:—
I drank, but the draught of his glance, not wine; ✿ And his swaying gait swayed to sleep these eyne:
'Twas not grape-juice gript me but grasp of Past ✿ 'Twas not bowl o'erbowled me but gifts divine:
His coiling curl-lets my soul ennetted ✿ And his cruel will all my wits outwitted.[181]

After a pause she resumed:—
If we 'plain of absence what shall we say? ✿ Or if pain afflict us where wend our way?
An I hire a truchman[182] to tell my tale ✿ The lovers' plaint is not told for pay:
If I put on patience, a lover's life ✿ After loss of love will not last a day:
Naught is left me now but regret, repine ✿ And tears flooding cheeks for ever and aye:
O thou who the babes of these eyes[183] hast fled ✿ Thou art homed in heart that shall never stray;
Would heaven I wot hast thou kept our pact ✿ Long as stream shall flow, to have firmest fay?
Or hast forgotten the weeping slave ✿ Whom groans afflict and whom griefs waylay?
Ah, when severance ends and we side by side ✿ Couch, I'll blame thy rigours and chide thy pride!

Now when the portress heard her second ode she shrieked aloud and said,
"By Allah! 'tis right good!"; and laying hands on her garments tore them, as
she did the first time, and fell to the ground fainting. Thereupon the
procuratrix rose and brought her a second change of clothes after she had
sprinkled water on her. She recovered and sat upright and said to her sister
the cateress, "Onwards, and help me in my duty, for there remains but this
one song." So the provisioneress again brought out the lute and began to
sing these verses:—
How long shall last, how long this rigour rife of woe ✿ May not suffice thee all these tears thou
seest flow?
Our parting thus with purpose fell thou dost prolong ✿ Is't not enough to glad the heart of envious
foe?
Were but this lying world once true to lover-heart ✿ He had not watched the weary night in tears of
woe:
Oh pity me whom overwhelmed thy cruel will ✿ My lord, my king, 'tis time some ruth to me thou
show:
To whom reveal my wrongs, O thou who murdered me? ✿ Sad, who of broken troth the pangs must
undergo!
Increase wild love for thee and phrenzy hour by hour ✿ And days of exile minute by so long, so
slow;
O Moslems, claim vendetta[184] for this slave of Love ✿ Whose sleep Love ever wastes, whose
patience Love lays low:
Doth law of Love allow thee, O my wish! to lie ✿ Lapt in another's arms and unto me cry "Go!"?
Yet in thy presence, say, what joys shall I enjoy ✿ When he I love but works my love to overthrow?

When the portress heard the third song she cried aloud; and, laying hands
on her garments, rent them down to the very skirt and fell to the ground
fainting a third time, again showing the scars of the scourge. Then said the
three Kalandars, "Would Heaven we had never entered this house, but had
rather nighted on the mounds and heaps outside the city! for verily our visit
hath been troubled by sights which cut to the heart." The Caliph turned to
them and asked, "Why so?" and they made answer, "Our minds are sore
troubled by this matter." Quoth the Caliph, "Are ye not of the household?"
and quoth they, "No; nor indeed did we ever set eyes on the place till within
this hour." Hereat the Caliph marvelled and rejoined, "This man who sitteth
by you, would he not know the secret of the matter?" and so saying he
winked and made signs at the Porter. So they questioned the man but he
replied, "By the All-might of Allah, in love all are alike![185] I am the growth
of Baghdad, yet never in my born days did I darken these doors till to-day
and my companying with them was a curious matter." "By Allah," they

rejoined, "we took thee for one of them and now we see thou art one like
ourselves." Then said the Caliph, "We be seven men, and they only three
women without even a fourth to help them; so let us question them of their
case; and, if they answer us not, fain we will be answered by force." All of
them agreed to this except Ja'afar who said,[186] "This is not my recking; let
them be; for we are their guests and, as ye know, they made a compact and
condition with us which we accepted and promised to keep: wherefore it is
better that we be silent concerning this matter; and, as but little of the night
remaineth, let each and every of us gang his own gait." Then he winked at
the Caliph and whispered to him, "There is but one hour of darkness left
and I can bring them before thee to-morrow, when thou canst freely
question them all concerning their story." But the Caliph raised his head
haughtily and cried out at him in wrath, saying, "I have no patience left for
my longing to hear of them: let the Kalandars question them forthright."
Quoth Ja'afar, "This is not my rede." Then words ran high and talk
answered talk; and they disputed as to who should first put the question, but
at last all fixed upon the Porter. And as the jangle increased the house-
mistress could not but notice it and asked them, "O ye folk! on what matter
are ye talking so loudly?" Then the Porter stood up respectfully before her
and said, "O my lady, this company earnestly desire that thou acquaint them
with the story of the two bitches and what maketh thee punish them so
cruelly; and then thou fallest to weeping over them and kissing them; and
lastly they want to hear the tale of thy sister and why she hath been
bastinado'd with palm-sticks like a man. These are the questions they charge
me to put, and peace be with thee."[187] Thereupon quoth she who was the
lady of the house to the guests, "Is this true that he saith on your part?" and
all replied, "Yes!" save Ja'afar who kept silence. When she heard these
words she cried, "By Allah, ye have wronged us, O our guests, with
grievous wronging; for when you came before us we made compact and
condition with you, that whoso should speak of what concerneth him not
should hear what pleaseth him not. Sufficeth ye not that we took you into
our house and fed you with our best food? But the fault is not so much
yours as hers who let you in." Then she tucked up her sleeves from her
wrists and struck the floor thrice with her hand crying, "Come ye quickly;"
and lo! a closet door opened and out of it came seven negro slaves with
drawn swords in hand to whom she said, "Pinion me those praters' elbows
and bind them each to each." They did her bidding and asked her, "O veiled

and virtuous! is it thy high command that we strike off their heads?"; but
she answered, "Leave them awhile that I question them of their condition,
before their necks feel the sword." "By Allah, O my lady!" cried the Porter,
"slay me not for other's sin; all these men offended and deserve the penalty
of crime save myself. Now by Allah, our night had been charming had we
escaped the mortification of those monocular Kalandars whose entrance
into a populous city would convert it into a howling wilderness." Then he
repeated these verses:—
How fair is ruth the strong man deigns not smother! ✿ And fairest fair when shown to weakest
brother:
By Love's own holy tie between us twain, ✿ Let one not suffer for the sin of other.

When the Porter ended his verse the lady laughed——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Eleventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady, after
laughing at the Porter despite her wrath, came up to the party and spake
thus, "Tell me who ye be, for ye have but an hour of life; and were ye not
men of rank and, perhaps, notables of your tribes, you had not been so
froward and I had hastened your doom." Then said the Caliph, "Woe to
thee, O Ja'afar, tell her who we are lest we be slain by mistake; and speak
her fair before some horror befal us." "'Tis part of thy deserts," replied he;
whereupon the Caliph cried out at him saying, "There is a time for witty
words and there is a time for serious work." Then the lady accosted the
three Kalandars and asked them, "Are ye brothers?"; when they answered,
"No, by Allah, we be naught but Fakirs and foreigners." Then quoth she to
one among them, "Wast thou born blind of one eye?"; and quoth he, "No,
by Allah, 'twas a marvellous matter and a wondrous mischance which
caused my eye to be torn out, and mine is a tale which, if it were written
upon the eye-corners with needle-gravers, were a warner to whoso would
be warned."[188] She questioned the second and third Kalandar; but all
replied like the first, "By Allah, O our mistress, each one of us cometh from
a different country, and we are all three the sons of Kings, sovereign Princes
ruling over suzerains and capital cities." Thereupon she turned towards
them and said, "Let each and every of you tell me his tale in due order and
explain the cause of his coming to our place; and if his story please us let

him stroke his head[189] and wend his way." The first to come forward was
the Hammál, the Porter, who said, "O my lady, I am a man and a porter.
This dame, the cateress, hired me to carry a load and took me first to the
shop of a vintner; then to the booth of a butcher; thence to the stall of a
fruiterer; thence to a grocer who also sold dry fruits; thence to a
confectioner and a perfumer-cum-druggist and from him to this place where
there happened to me with you what happened. Such is my story and peace
be on us all!" At this the lady laughed and said, "Rub thy head and wend thy
ways!"; but he cried, "By Allah, I will not stump it till I hear the stories of
my companions." Then came forward one of the Monoculars and began to
tell her

THE FIRST KALANDAR'S TALE.

Know, O my lady, that the cause of my beard being shorn and my eye being
out-torn was as follows. My father was a King and he had a brother who
was a King over another city; and it came to pass that I and my cousin, the
son of my paternal uncle, were· both born on one and the same day. And
years and days rolled on; and, as we grew up, I used to visit my uncle every
now and then and to spend a certain number of months with him. Now my
cousin and I were sworn friends; for he ever entreated me with exceeding
kindness; he killed for me the fattest sheep and strained the best of his
wines, and we enjoyed long conversing and carousing. One day when the
wine had gotten the better of us, the son of my uncle said to me, "O my
cousin, I have a great service to ask of thee; and I desire that thou stay me
not in whatso I desire to do!" And I replied, "With joy and goodly will."
Then he made me swear the most binding oaths and left me; but after a little
while he returned leading a lady veiled and richly apparelled with
ornaments worth a large sum of money. Presently he turned to me (the
woman being still behind him) and said, "Take this lady with thee and go
before me to such a burial ground" (describing it, so that I knew the place),
"and enter with her into such a sepulchre[190] and there await my coming."
The oaths I swore to him made me keep silence and suffered me not to
oppose him; so I led the woman to the cemetery and both I and she took our
seats in the sepulchre; and hardly had we sat down when in came my
uncle's son, with a bowl of water, a bag of mortar and an adze somewhat
like a hoe. He went straight to the tomb in the midst of the sepulchre and,
breaking it open with the adze set the stones on one side; then he fell to
digging into the earth of the tomb till he came upon a large iron plate, the
size of a wicket-door; and on raising it there appeared below it a staircase
vaulted and winding. Then he turned to the lady and said to her, "Come now
and take thy final choice!" She at once went down by the staircase and
disappeared; then quoth he to me, "O son of my uncle, by way of
completing thy kindness, when I shall have descended into this place,
restore the trap-door to where it was, and heap back the earth upon it as it
lay before; and then of thy great goodness mix this unslaked lime which is
in the bag with this water which is in the bowl and, after building up the

stones, plaster the outside so that none looking upon it shall say:—This is a
new opening in an old tomb. For a whole year have I worked at this place
whereof none knoweth but Allah, and this is the need I have of thee;"
presently adding, "May Allah never bereave thy friends of thee nor make
them desolate by thine absence, O son of my uncle, O my dear cousin!"
And he went down the stairs and disappeared for ever. When he was lost to
sight I replaced the iron plate and did all his bidding till the tomb became as
it was before; and I worked almost unconsciously for my head was heated
with wine. Returning to the palace of my uncle, I was told that he had gone
forth a-sporting and hunting; so I slept that night without seeing him; and,
when the morning dawned, I remembered the scenes of the past evening
and what happened between me and my cousin; I repented of having
obeyed him when penitence was of no avail, I still thought, however, that it
was a dream. So I fell to asking for the son of my uncle; but there was none
to answer me concerning him; and I went out to the grave-yard and the
sepulchres, and sought for the tomb under which he was, but could not find
it; and I ceased not wandering about from sepulchre to sepulchre, and tomb
to tomb, all without success, till night set in. So I returned to the city, yet I
could neither eat nor drink; my thoughts being engrossed with my cousin,
for that I knew not what was become of him; and I grieved with exceeding
grief and passed another sorrowful night, watching until the morning. Then
went I a second time to the cemetery, pondering over what the son of mine
uncle had done; and, sorely repenting my hearkening to him, went round
among all the tombs, but could not find the tomb I sought. I mourned over
the past, and remained in my mourning seven days, seeking the place and
ever missing the path. Then my torture of scruples[191] grew upon me till I
well nigh went mad, and I found no way to dispel my grief save travel and
return to my father. So I set out and journeyed homeward; but as I was
entering my father's capital a crowd of rioters sprang upon me and pinioned
me.[192] I wondered thereat with all wonderment, seeing that I was the son of
the Sultan, and these men were my father's subjects and amongst them were
some of my own slaves. A great fear fell upon me, and I said to my soul,[193]
"Would heaven I knew what hath happened to my father!" I questioned
those that bound me of the cause of their so doing, but they returned me no
answer. However, after a while one of them said to me (and he had been a
hired servant of our house), "Fortune hath been false to thy father; his
troops betrayed him and the Wazir who slew him now reigneth in his stead

and we lay in wait to seize thee by the bidding of him." I was well-nigh
distraught and felt ready to faint on hearing of my father's death; when they
carried me off and placed me in presence of the usurper. Now between me
and him there was an olden grudge, the cause of which was this. I was fond
of shooting with the stone-bow,[194] and it befel one day, as I was standing
on the terrace-roof of the palace, that a bird lighted on the top of the Wazir's
house when he happened to be there. I shot at the bird and missed the mark;
but I hit the Wazir's eye and knocked it out as fate and fortune decreed.
Even so saith the poet:—
We tread the path where Fate hath led ✿ The path Fate writ we fain must tread:
And man in one land doomed to die ✿ Death no where else shall do him dead.

And on like wise saith another:—
Let Fortune have her wanton way ✿ Take heart and all her words obey:
Nor joy nor mourn at anything ✿ For all things pass and no things stay.

Now when I knocked out the Wazir's eye he could not say a single word, for
that my father was King of the city; but he hated me ever after and dire was
the grudge thus caused between us twain. So when I was set before him
hand-bound and pinioned, he straightway gave orders for me to be
beheaded. I asked, "For what crime wilt thou put me to death?"; whereupon
he answered, "What crime is greater than this?" pointing the while to the
place where his eye had been. Quoth I, "This I did by accident not of malice
prepense;" and quoth he, "If thou didst it by accident, I will do the like by
thee with intention."[195] Then cried he, "Bring him forward," and they
brought me up to him, when he thrust his finger into my left eye and
gouged it out; whereupon I became one-eyed as ye see me. Then he bade
bind me hand and foot, and put me into a chest and said to the sworder,
"Take charge of this fellow, and go off with him to the waste lands about the
city; then draw thy scymitar and slay him, and leave him to feed the beasts
and birds." So the headsman fared forth with me and when he was in the
midst of the desert, he took me out of the chest (and I with both hands
pinioned and both feet fettered) and was about to bandage my eyes before
striking off my head. But I wept with exceeding weeping until I made him
weep with me and, looking at him I began to recite these couplets:—

I deemed you coat-o'-mail that should withstand ✿ The foeman's shafts; and you proved foeman's
brand;
I hoped your aidance in mine every chance ✿ Though fail my left to aid my dexter hand:
Aloof you stand and hear the railer's gibe ✿ While rain their shafts on me the giber-band:
But an ye will not guard me from my foes ✿ Stand clear, and succour neither these nor those!

And I also quoted:—
I deemed my brethren mail of strongest steel ✿ And so they were—from foes to fend my dart!
I deemed their arrows surest of their aim; ✿ And so they were—when aiming at my heart!

When the headsman heard my lines (he had been sworder to my sire and he
owed me a debt of gratitude) he cried, "O my lord, what can I do, being but
a slave under orders?" presently adding, "Fly for thy life and nevermore
return to this land, or they will slay thee and slay me with thee, even as the
poet said:—
Take thy life and fly whenas evils threat; ✿ Let the ruined house tell its owner's fate:
New land for the old thou shalt seek and find ✿ But to find new life thou must not await.
Strange that men should sit in the stead of shame, ✿ When Allah's world is so wide and great!
And trust not other, in matters grave ✿ Life itself must act for a life beset:
Ne'er would prowl the lion with maned neck, ✿ Did he reckon on aid or of others reck."

Hardly believing in my escape, I kissed his hand and thought the loss of my
eye a light matter in consideration of my escaping from being slain. I
arrived at my uncle's capital; and, going in to him, told him of what had
befallen my father and myself; whereat he wept with sore weeping and said,
"Verily thou addest grief to my grief, and woe to my woe; for thy cousin
hath been missing these many days; I wot not what hath happened to him,
and none can give me news of him." And he wept till he fainted. I sorrowed
and condoled with him; and he would have applied certain medicaments to
my eye, but he saw that it was become as a walnut with the shell empty.
Then said he, "O my son, better to lose eye and keep life!" After that I could
no longer remain silent about my cousin, who was his only son and one
dearly loved, so I told him all that had happened. He rejoiced with extreme
joyance to hear news of his son and said, "Come now and show me the
tomb;" but I replied, "By Allah, O my uncle, I know not its place, though I
sought it carefully full many times, yet could not find the site." However, I
and my uncle went to the grave-yard and looked right and left, till at last I
recognised the tomb and we both rejoiced with exceeding joy. We entered
the sepulchre and loosened the earth about the grave; then, upraising the

trap-door, descended some fifty steps till we came to the foot of the
staircase when lo! we were stopped by a blinding smoke. Thereupon said
my uncle that saying whose sayer shall never come to shame, "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" and
we advanced till we suddenly came upon a saloon, whose floor was strewed
with flour and grain and provisions and all manner necessaries; and in the
midst of it stood a canopy sheltering a couch. Thereupon my uncle went up
to the couch and inspecting it found his son and the lady who had gone
down with him into the tomb, lying in each other's embrace; but the twain
had become black as charred wood; it was as if they had been cast into a pit
of fire. When my uncle saw this spectacle, he spat in his son's face and said,
"Thou hast thy deserts, O thou hog![196] this is thy judgment in the transitory
world, and yet remaineth the judgment in the world to come, a durer and a
more enduring."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Twelfth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kalandar
thus went on with his story before the lady and the Caliph and Ja'afar:—My
uncle struck his son with his slipper[197] as he lay there a black heap of coal.
I marvelled at his hardness of heart, and grieving for my cousin and the
lady, said, "By Allah, O my uncle, calm thy wrath: dost thou not see that all
my thoughts are occupied with this misfortune, and how sorrowful I am for
what hath befallen thy son, and how horrible it is that naught of him
remaineth but a black heap of charcoal? And is not that enough, but thou
must smite him with thy slipper?" Answered he, "O son of my brother, this
youth from his boyhood was madly in love with his own sister;[198] and often
and often I forbade him from her, saying to myself:—They are but little
ones. However, when they grew up sin befel between them; and, although I
could hardly believe it, I confined him and chided him and threatened him
with the severest threats; and the eunuchs and servants said to him:—
Beware of so foul a thing which none before thee ever did, and which none
after thee will ever do; and have a care lest thou be dishonoured and
disgraced among the Kings of the day, even to the end of time. And I added:
—Such a report as this will be spread abroad by caravans, and take heed not
to give them cause to talk or I will assuredly curse thee and do thee to

death. After that I lodged them apart and shut her up; but the accursed girl
loved him with passionate love, for Satan had got the mastery of her as well
as of him and made their foul sin seem fair in their sight. Now when my son
saw that I separated them, he secretly built this souterrain and furnished it
and transported to it victuals, even as thou seest; and, when I had gone out
a-sporting, came here with his sister and hid from me. Then His righteous
judgment fell upon the twain and consumed them with fire from Heaven;
and verily the last judgment will deal them durer pains and more enduring!"
Then he wept and I wept with him; and he looked at me and said, "Thou art
my son in his stead." And I bethought me awhile of the world and of its
chances, how the Wazir had slain my father and had taken his place and had
put out my eye; and how my cousin had come to his death by the strangest
chance: and I wept again and my uncle wept with me. Then we mounted the
steps and let down the iron plate and heaped up the earth over it; and, after
restoring the tomb to its former condition, we returned to the palace. But
hardly had we sat down ere we heard the tom-toming of the kettle-drum and
tantara of trumpets and clash of cymbals; and the rattling of war-men's
lances; and the clamours of assailants and the clanking of bits and the
neighing of steeds; while the world was canopied with dense dust and sand-
clouds raised by the horses' hoofs.[199] We were amazed at sight and sound,
knowing not what could be the matter; so we asked and were told us that
the Wazir who had usurped my father's kingdom had marched his men; and
that after levying his soldiery and taking a host of wild Arabs[200] into
service, he had come down upon us with armies like the sands of the sea;
their number none could tell and against them none could prevail. They
attacked the city unawares; and the citizens, being powerless to oppose
them, surrendered the place: my uncle was slain and I made for the suburbs
saying to myself, "If thou fall into this villain's hands he will assuredly kill
thee." On this wise all my troubles were renewed; and I pondered all that
had betided my father and my uncle and I knew not what to do; for if the
city people or my father's troops had recognised me they would have done
their best to win favour by destroying me; and I could think of no way to
escape save by shaving off my beard and my eyebrows. So I shore them off
and, changing my fine clothes for a Kalandar's rags, I fared forth from my
uncle's capital and made for this city; hoping that peradventure some one
would assist me to the presence of the Prince of the Faithful,[201] and the
Caliph who is the Viceregent of Allah upon earth. Thus have I come hither

that I might tell him my tale and lay my case before him. I arrived here this
very night, and was standing in doubt whither I should go, when suddenly I
saw this second Kalandar; so I salam'd to him, saying:—I am a stranger!
and he answered:—I too am a stranger! And as we were conversing behold,
up came our companion, this third Kalandar, and saluted us saying:—I am a
stranger! And we answered:—We too be strangers! Then we three walked
on and together till darkness overtook us and Destiny drave us to your
house. Such, then, is the cause of the shaving of my beard and mustachios
and eyebrows; and the manner of my losing my right eye. They marvelled
much at this tale and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "By Allah, I have not seen
nor have I heard the like of what hath happened to this Kalandar!" Quoth
the lady of the house, "Rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but he replied, "I
will not go, till I hear the history of the two others." Thereupon the second
Kalandar came forward; and, kissing the ground, began to tell

THE SECOND KALANDAR'S TALE.

Know, O my lady, that I was not born one-eyed and mine is a strange story;
an it were graven with needle-graver on the eye-corners, it were a warner to
whoso would be warned. I am a King, son of a King, and was brought up
like a Prince. I learned intoning the Koran according the seven schools;[202]
and I read all manner books, and held disputations on their contents with
the doctors and men of science; moreover I studied star-lore and the fair
sayings of poets and I exercised myself in all branches of learning until I
surpassed the people of my time; my skill in calligraphy exceeded that of all
the scribes; and my fame was bruited abroad over all climes and cities, and
all the kings learned to know my name. Amongst others the King of Hind
heard of me and sent to my father to invite me to his court, with offerings
and presents and rarities such as befit royalties. So my father fitted out six
ships for me and my people; and we put to sea and sailed for the space of a
full month till we made the land. Then we brought out the horses that were
with us in the ships; and, after loading the camels with our presents for the
Prince, we set forth inland. But we had marched only a little way, when
behold, a dust-cloud up-flew, and grew until it walled[203] the horizon from
view. After an hour or so the veil lifted and discovered beneath it fifty
horsemen, ravening lions to the sight, in steel armour dight. We observed
them straightly and lo! they were cutters-off of the highway, wild as wild
Arabs. When they saw that we were only four and had with us but the ten
camels carrying the presents, they dashed down upon us with lances at rest.
We signed to them, with our fingers, as it were saying, "We be messengers
of the great King of Hind, so harm us not!" but they answered on like wise,
"We are not in his dominions to obey nor are we subject to his sway." Then
they set upon us and slew some of my slaves and put the lave to flight; and I
also fled after I had gotten a wound, a grievous hurt, whilst the Arabs were
taken up with the money and the presents which were with us. I went forth
unknowing whither I went, having become mean as I was mighty; and I
fared on until I came to the crest of a mountain where I took shelter for the
night in a cave. When day arose I set out again, nor ceased after this fashion
till I arrived at a fair city and a well-filled. Now it was the season when
Winter was turning away with his rime and to greet the world with his

flowers came Prime, and the young blooms were springing and the streams
flowed ringing, and the birds were sweetly singing, as saith the poet
concerning a certain city when describing it:—
A place secure from every thought of fear ✿ Safety and peace for ever lord it here:
Its beauties seem to beautify its sons ✿ And as in Heaven its happy folk appear.

I was glad of my arrival for I was wearied with the way, and yellow of face
for weakness and want; but my plight was pitiable and I knew not whither
to betake me. So I accosted a Tailor sitting in his little shop and saluted him;
he returned my salam, and bade me kindly welcome and wished me well
and entreated me gently and asked me of the cause of my strangerhood. I
told him all my past from first to last; and he was concerned on my account
and said, "O youth, disclose not thy secret to any: the King of this city is the
greatest enemy thy father hath, and there is blood-wit[204] between them and
thou hast cause to fear for thy life." Then he set meat and drink before me;
and I ate and drank and he with me; and we conversed freely till nightfall,
when he cleared me a place in a corner of his shop and brought me a carpet
and a coverlet. I tarried with him three days; at the end of which time he
said to me, "Knowest thou no calling whereby to win thy living, O my
son?" "I am learned in the law," I replied, "and a doctor of doctrine; an
adept in art and science, a mathematician and a notable penman." He
rejoined, "Thy calling is of no account in our city, where not a soul
understandeth science or even writing or aught save money-making." Then
said I, "By Allah, I know nothing but what I have mentioned;" and he
answered, "Gird thy middle and take thee a hatchet and a cord, and go and
hew wood in the wold for thy daily bread, till Allah send thee relief; and tell
none who thou art lest they slay thee." Then he bought me an axe and a rope
and gave me in charge to certain woodcutters; and with these guardians I
went forth into the forest, where I cut fuel-wood the whole of my day and
came back in the evening bearing my bundle on my head. I sold it for half a
dinar, with part of which I bought provision and laid by the rest. In such
work I spent a whole year and when this was ended I went out one day, as
was my wont, into the wilderness; and, wandering away from my
companions, I chanced on a thickly grown lowland[205] in which there was
an abundance of wood. So I entered and I found the gnarled stump of a
great tree and loosened the ground about it and shovelled away the earth.
Presently my hatchet rang upon a copper ring; so I cleared away the soil

and behold, the ring was attached to a wooden trap-door. This I raised and
there appeared beneath it a staircase. I descended the steps to the bottom
and came to a door, which I opened and found myself in a noble hall strong
of structure and beautifully built, where was a damsel like a pearl of great
price, whose favour banished from my heart all grief and cark and care; and
whose soft speech healed the soul in despair and captivated the wise and
ware. Her figure measured five feet in height; her breasts were firm and
upright; her cheek a very garden of delight; her colour lively bright; her
face gleamed like dawn through curly tresses which gloomed like night, and
above the snows of her bosom glittered teeth of a pearly white.[206] As the
poet said of one like her:—
Slim-waisted loveling, jetty hair-encrowned ✿ A wand of willow on a sandy mound:

And as saith another:—
Four things that meet not, save they here unite ✿ To shed my heart-blood and to rape my sprite:
Brilliantest forehead; tresses jetty bright; ✿ Cheeks rosy red and stature beauty-dight.

When I looked upon her I prostrated myself before Him who had created
her, for the beauty and loveliness He had shaped in her, and she looked at
me and said, "Art thou man or Jinni?" "I am a man," answered I, and she,
"Now who brought thee to this place where I have abided five-and-twenty
years without even yet seeing man in it." Quoth I (and indeed I found her
words wonder-sweet, and my heart was melted to the core by them), "O my
lady, my good fortune led me hither for the dispelling of my cark and care."
Then I related to her all my mishap from first to last, and my case appeared
to her exceeding grievous; so she wept and said, "I will tell thee my story in
my turn. I am the daughter of the King Ifitamus, lord of the Islands of
Abnús,[207] who married me to my cousin, the son of my paternal uncle; but
on my wedding night an Ifrit named Jirjís[208] bin Rajmús, first cousin that
is, mother's sister's son, of Iblís, the Foul Fiend, snatched me up and, flying
away with me like a bird, set me down in this place, whither he conveyed
all I needed of fine stuffs, raiment and jewels and furniture, and meat and
drink and other else. Once in every ten days he comes here and lies a single
night with me, and then wends his way, for he took me without the consent
of his family; and he hath agreed with me that if ever I need him by night or
by day, I have only to pass my hand over yonder two lines engraved upon
the alcove, and he will appear to me before my fingers cease touching. Four

days have now passed since he was here; and, as there remain six days
before he come again, say me, wilt thou abide with me five days, and go
hence the day before his coming?" I replied "Yes, and yes again! O rare, if
all this be not a dream!" Hereat she was glad and, springing to her feet,
seized my hand and carried me through an arched doorway to a Hammam-
bath, a fair hall and richly decorate. I doffed my clothes, and she doffed
hers; then we bathed and she washed me; and when this was done we left
the bath, and she seated me by her side upon a high divan, and brought me
sherbet scented with musk. When we felt cool after the bath, she set food
before me and we ate and fell to talking; but presently she said to me, "Lay
thee down and take thy rest, for surely thou must be weary." So I thanked
her, my lady, and lay down and slept soundly, forgetting all that had
happened to me. When I awoke I found her rubbing and shampooing my
feet;[209] so I again thanked her and blessed her and we sat for a while
talking. Said she, "By Allah, I was sad at heart, for that I have dwelt alone
underground for these five-and-twenty years; and praise be to Allah, who
hath sent me some one with whom I can converse!" Then she asked, "O
youth, what sayest thou to wine?" and I answered, "Do as thou wilt."
Whereupon she went to a cupboard and took out a sealed flask of right old
wine and set off the table with flowers and scented herbs and began to sing
these lines:—
Had we known of thy coming we fain had dispread ✿ The cores of our hearts or the balls of our
eyes;
Our cheeks as a carpet to greet thee had thrown ✿ And our eyelids had strown for thy feet to
betread.

Now when she finished her verse I thanked her, for indeed love of her had
gotten hold of my heart and my grief and anguish were gone. We sat at
converse and carousal till nightfall, and with her I spent the night—such
night never spent I in all my life! On the morrow delight followed delight
till midday, by which time I had drunken wine so freely that I had lost my
wits, and stood up, staggering to the right and to the left, and said "Come, O
my charmer, and I will carry thee up from this underground vault and
deliver thee from the spell of thy Jinni." She laughed and replied "Content
thee and hold thy peace: of every ten days one is for the Ifrit and the other
nine are thine." Quoth I (and in good sooth drink had got the better of me),
"This very instant will I break down the alcove whereon is graven the
talisman and summon the Ifrit that I may slay him, for it is a practise of

mine to slay Ifrits!" When she heard my words her colour waxed wan and
she said, "By Allah, do not!" and she began repeating:—
This is a thing wherein destruction lies ✿ I rede thee shun it an thy wits be wise.

And these also:—
O thou who seekest severance, draw the rein ✿ Of thy swift steed nor seek o'ermuch t' advance;
Ah stay! for treachery is the rule of life, ✿ And sweets of meeting end in severance.

I heard her verse but paid no heed to her words, nay, I raised my foot and
administered to the alcove a mighty kick——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Thirteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the second Kalandar
thus continued his tale to the lady:—But when, O my mistress, I kicked that
alcove with a mighty kick, behold, the air starkened and darkened and
thundered and lightened; the earth trembled and quaked and the world
became invisible. At once the fumes of wine left my head: I cried to her,
"What is the matter?" and she replied, "The Ifrit is upon us! did I not warn
thee of this? By Allah, thou hast brought ruin upon me; but fly for thy life
and go up by the way thou camest down!" So I fled up the staircase; but, in
the excess of my fear, I forgot sandals and hatchet. And when I had
mounted two steps I turned to look for them, and lo! I saw the earth cleave
asunder, and there arose from it an Ifrit, a monster of hideousness, who said
to the damsel, "What trouble and pother be this wherewith thou disturbest
me? What mishap hath betided thee?" "No mishap hath befallen me" she
answered, "save that my breast was straitened[210] and my heart heavy with
sadness: so I drank a little wine to broaden it and to hearten myself; then I
rose to obey a call of Nature, but the wine had gotten into my head and I
fell against the alcove." "Thou liest, like the whore thou art!" shrieked the
Ifrit; and he looked around the hall right and left till he caught sight of my
axe and sandals and said to her, "What be these but the belongings of some
mortal who hath been in thy society?" She answered, "I never set eyes upon
them till this moment: they must have been brought by thee hither cleaving
to thy garments." Quoth the Ifrit, "These words are absurd; thou harlot! thou
strumpet!" Then he stripped her stark naked and, stretching her upon the

floor, bound her hands and feet to four stakes, like one crucified;[211] and set
about torturing and trying to make her confess. I could not bear to stand
listening to her cries and groans; so I climbed the stair on the quake with
fear; and when I reached the top I replaced the trap-door and covered it with
earth. Then repented I of what I had done with penitence exceeding; and
thought of the lady and her beauty and loveliness, and the tortures she was
suffering at the hands of the accursed Ifrit, after her quiet life of five-and-
twenty years; and how all that had happened to her was for cause of me. I
bethought me of my father and his kingly estate and how I had become a
woodcutter; and how, after my time had been awhile serene, the world had
again waxed turbid and troubled to me. So I wept bitterly and repeated this
couplet:—
What time Fate's tyranny shall most oppress thee ✿ Perpend! one day shall joy thee, one distress
thee!

Then I walked till I reached the home of my friend, the Tailor, whom I
found most anxiously expecting me; indeed he was, as the saying goes, on
coals of fire for my account. And when he saw me he said, "All night long
my heart hath been heavy, fearing for thee from wild beasts or other
mischances. Now praise be to Allah for thy safety!" I thanked him for his
friendly solicitude and, retiring to my corner, sat pondering and musing on
what had befallen me; and I blamed and chided myself for my meddlesome
folly and my frowardness in kicking the alcove. I was calling myself to
account when behold, my friend, the Tailor, came to me and said, "O youth,
in the shop there is an old man, a Persian,[212] who seeketh thee: he hath thy
hatchet and thy sandals which he had taken to the woodcutters,[213] saying, I
was going out at what time the Mu'azzin began the call to dawn-prayer,
when I chanced upon these things and know not whose they are; so direct
me to their owner. The woodcutters recognised thy hatchet and directed him
to thee: he is sitting in my shop, so fare forth to him and thank him and take
thine axe and sandals." When I heard these words I turned yellow with fear
and felt stunned as by a blow; and, before I could recover myself, lo! the
floor of my private room clove asunder, and out of it rose the Persian who
was the Ifrit. He had tortured the lady with exceeding tortures, natheless she
would not confess to him aught; so he took the hatchet and sandals and said
to her, "As surely as I am Jirjis of the seed of Iblis, I will bring thee back the
owner of this and these!"[214] Then he went to the woodcutters with the

pretence aforesaid and, being directed to me, after waiting a while in the
shop till the fact was confirmed, he suddenly snatched me up as a hawk
snatcheth a mouse and flew high in air; but presently descended and
plunged with me under the earth (I being aswoon the while), and lastly set
me down in the subterranean palace wherein I had passed that blissful night.
And there I saw the lady stripped to the skin, her limbs bound to four stakes
and blood welling from her sides. At the sight my eyes ran over with tears;
but the Ifrit covered her person and said, "O wanton, is not this man thy
lover?" She looked upon me and replied, "I wot him not nor have I ever
seen him before this hour!" Quoth the Ifrit, "What! this torture and yet no
confessing;" and quoth she, "I never saw this man in my born days, and it is
not lawful in Allah's sight to tell lies on him." "If thou know him not," said
the Ifrit to her, "take this sword and strike off his head."[215] She hent the
sword in hand and came close up to me; and I signalled to her with my
eyebrows, my tears the while flowing adown my cheeks. She understood
me and made answer, also by signs, "How couldest thou bring all this evil
upon me?" and I rejoined after the same fashion, "This is the time for mercy
and forgiveness." And the mute tongue of my case[216] spake aloud saying:
—
Mine eyes were dragomans for my tongue betied ✿ And told full clear the love I fain would hide:
When last we met and tears in torrents railed ✿ For tongue struck dumb my glances testified:
She signed with eye-glance while her lips were mute ✿ I signed with fingers and she kenned th'
implied:
Our eyebrows did all duty 'twixt us twain; ✿ And we being speechless Love spake loud and plain.

Then, O my mistress, the lady threw away the sword and said, "How shall I
strike the neck of one I wot not, and who hath done me no evil? Such deed
were not lawful in my law!" and she held her hand. Said the Ifrit, "'Tis
grievous to thee to slay thy lover; and, because he hath lain with thee, thou
endurest these torments and obstinately refusest to confess. After this it is
clear to me that only like loveth and pitieth like." Then he turned to me and
asked me, "O man, haply thou also dost not know this woman;" whereto I
answered, "And pray who may she be? assuredly I never saw her till this
instant." "Then take the sword," said he "and strike off her head and I will
believe that, thou wottest her not and will leave thee free to go, and will not
deal hardly with thee." I replied, "That will I do;" and, taking the sword
went forward sharply and raised my hand to smite. But she signed to me
with her eyebrows, "Have I failed thee in aught of love; and is it thus that

thou requitest me?" I understood what her looks implied and answered her
with an eye-glance, "I will sacrifice my soul for thee." And the tongue of
the case wrote in our hearts these lines:—
How many a lover with his eyebrows speaketh ✿ To his beloved, as his passion pleadeth:
With flashing eyne his passion he inspireth ✿ And well she seeth what his pleading needeth.
How sweet the look when each on other gazeth; ✿ And with what swiftness and how sure it
speedeth:
And this with eyebrows all his passion writeth; ✿ And that with eyeballs all his passion readeth.

Then my eyes filled with tears to overflowing and I cast the sword from my
hand saying, "O mighty Ifrit and hero, if a woman lacking wits and faith
deem it unlawful to strike off my head, how can it be lawful for me, a man,
to smite her neck whom I never saw in my whole life. I cannot do such
misdeed though thou cause me drink the cup of death and perdition." Then
said the Ifrit, "Ye twain show the good understanding between you; but I
will let you see how such doings end." He took the sword, and struck off the
lady's hands first, with four strokes, and then her feet; whilst I looked on
and made sure of death and she farewelled me with her dying eyes. So the
Ifrit cried at her, "Thou whorest and makest me a wittol with thine eyes;"
and struck her so that her head went flying. Then turned he to me and said,
"O mortal, we have it in our law that, when the wife committeth advowtry it
is lawful for us to slay her. As for this damsel I snatched her away on her
bride-night when she was a girl of twelve and she knew no one but myself.
I used to come to her once in every ten days and lie with her the night,
under the semblance of a man, a Persian; and when I was well assured that
she had cuckolded me, I slew her. But as for thee I am not well satisfied that
thou hast wronged me in her; nevertheless I must not let thee go unharmed;
so ask a boon of me and I will grant it." Then I rejoiced, O my lady, with
exceeding joy and said, "What boon shall I crave of thee?" He replied, "Ask
me this boon; into what shape I shall bewitch thee; wilt thou be a dog, or an
ass or an ape?" I rejoined (and indeed I had hoped that mercy might be
shown me), "By Allah, spare me, that Allah spare thee for sparing a Moslem
and a man who never wronged thee." And I humbled myself before him
with exceeding humility, and remained standing in his presence, saying, "I
am sore oppressed by circumstance." He replied "Talk me no long talk, it is
in my power to slay thee; but I give thee instead thy choice." Quoth I, "O
thou Ifrit, it would besit thee to pardon me even as the Envied pardoned the
Envier." Quoth he, "And how was that?" and I began to tell him

THE TALE OF THE ENVIER AND THE ENVIED.

They relate, O Ifrit, that in a certain city were two men who dwelt in
adjoining houses, having a common party-wall; and one of them envied the
other and looked on him with an evil eye,[217] and did his utmost endeavour
to injure him; and, albeit at all times he was jealous of his neighbour, his
malice at last grew on him till he could hardly eat or enjoy the sweet
pleasures of sleep. But the Envied did nothing save prosper; and the more
the other strove to injure him, the more he got and gained and throve. At
last the malice of his neighbour and the man's constant endeavour to work
him a harm came to his knowledge; so he said, "By Allah! God's earth is
wide enough for its people;" and, leaving the neighbourhood, he repaired to
another city where he bought himself a piece of land in which was a dried
up draw-well,[218] old and in ruinous condition. Here he built him an oratory
and, furnishing it with a few necessaries, took up his abode therein, and
devoted himself to prayer and worshipping Allah Almighty; and Fakirs and
holy mendicants flocked to him from all quarters; and his fame went abroad
through the city and that country side. Presently the news reached his
envious neighbour, of what good fortune had befallen him and how the city
notables had become his disciples; so he travelled to the place and
presented himself at the holy man's hermitage, and was met by the Envied
with welcome and greeting and all honour. Then quoth the Envier, "I have a
word to say to thee; and this is the cause of my faring hither, and I wish to
give thee a piece of good news; so come with me to thy cell." Thereupon
the Envied arose and took the Envier by the hand, and they went in to the
inmost part of the hermitage; but the Envier said, "Bid thy Fakirs retire to
their cells, for I will not tell thee what I have to say, save in secret where
none may hear us." Accordingly the Envied said to his Fakirs, "Retire to
your private cells;" and, when all had done as he bade them, he set out with
his visitor and walked a little way until the twain reached the ruinous old
well. And as they stood upon the brink the Envier gave the Envied a push
which tumbled him headlong into it, unseen of any; whereupon he fared
forth, and went his ways, thinking to have had slain him. Now this well
happened to be haunted by the Jann who, seeing the case, bore him up and
let him down little by little, till he reached the bottom, when they seated
him upon a large stone. Then one of them asked his fellows, "Wot ye who
be this man?" and they answered, "Nay." "This man," continued the

speaker, "is the Envied hight who, flying from the Envier, came to dwell in
our city, and here founded this holy house, and he hath edified us by his
litanies[219] and his lections of the Koran; but the Envier set out and
journeyed till he rejoined him, and cunningly contrived to deceive him and
cast him into the well where we now are. But the fame of this good man
hath this very night come to the Sultan of our city who designeth to visit
him on the morrow on account of his daughter." "What aileth his daughter?"
asked one, and another answered "She is possessed of a spirit; for Maymun,
son of Damdam, is madly in love with her; but, if this pious man knew the
remedy, her cure would be as easy as could be." Hereupon one of them
inquired, "And what is the medicine?" and he replied, "The black tom-cat
which is with him in the oratory hath, on the end of his tail, a white spot,
the size of a dirham; let him pluck seven white hairs from the spot, then let
him fumigate her therewith and the Marid will flee from her and not return;
so she shall be sane for the rest of her life. All this took place, O Ifrit, within
earshot of the Envied who listened readily. When dawn broke and morn
arose in sheen and shone, the Fakirs went to seek the Shaykh and found him
climbing up the wall of the well; whereby he was magnified in their eyes.
[220]
Then, knowing that naught save the black tom-cat could supply him
with the remedy required, he plucked the seven tail-hairs from the white
spot and laid them by him; and hardly had the sun risen ere the Sultan
entered the hermitage, with the great lords of his estate, bidding the rest of
his retinue to remain standing outside. The Envied gave him a hearty
welcome, and seating him by his side asked him, "Shall I tell thee the cause
of thy coming?" The King answered "Yes." He continued, "Thou hast come
upon pretext of a visitation;[221] but it is in thy heart to question me of thy
daughter." Replied the King, "'Tis even so, O thou holy Shaykh;" and the
Envied continued, "Send and fetch her, and I trust to heal her forthright (an
such it be the will of Allah!). The King in great joy sent for his daughter,
and they brought her pinioned and fettered. The Envied made her sit down
behind a curtain and taking out the hairs fumigated her therewith;
whereupon that which was in her head cried out and departed from her. The
girl was at once restored to her right mind and veiling her face, said, "What
hath happened and who brought me hither?" The Sultan rejoiced with a joy
which nothing could exceed, and kissed his daughter's eyes,[222] and the holy
man's hand; then, turning to his great lords, he asked, "How say ye! What
fee deserveth he who hath made my daughter whole?" and all answered "He

deserveth her to wife;" and the King said, "Ye speak sooth!" So he married
him to her and the Envied thus became son-in-law to the King. And after a
little the Wazir died and the King said, "Whom can I make Minister in his
stead?" "Thy son-in-law," replied the courtiers. So the Envied became a
Wazir; and after a while the Sultan also died and the lieges said, "Whom
shall we make King?" and all cried, "The Wazir." So the Wazir was
forthright made Sultan, and he became King regnant, a true ruler of men.
One day as he had mounted his horse; and, in the eminence of his
kinglihood, was riding amidst his Emirs and Wazirs and the Grandees of his
realm his eye fell upon his old neighbour, the Envier, who stood afoot on
his path; so he turned to one of his Ministers, and said, "Bring hither that
man and cause him no affright." The Wazir brought him and the King said,
"Give him a thousand miskáls[223] of gold from the treasury, and load him
ten camels with goods for trade, and send him under escort to his own
town." Then he bade his enemy farewell and sent him away and forbore to
punish him for the many and great evils he had done. See, O Ifrit, the mercy
of the Envied to the Envier, who had hated him from the beginning and had
borne him such bitter malice and never met him without causing him
trouble; and had driven him from house and home, and then had journeyed
for the sole purpose of taking his life by throwing him into the well. Yet he
did not requite his injurious dealing, but forgave him and was bountiful to
him.[224] Then I wept before him, O my lady, with sore weeping, never was
there sorer, and I recited:—
Pardon my fault, for 'tis the wise man's wont ✿ All faults to pardon and revenge forgo:
In sooth all manner faults in me contain ✿ Then deign of goodness mercy-grace to show:
Whoso imploreth pardon from on High ✿ Should hold his hand from sinners here below.

Said the Ifrit, "Lengthen not thy words! As to my slaying thee fear it not,
and as to my pardoning thee hope it not; but from my bewitching thee there
is no escape." Then he tore me from the ground which closed under my feet
and flew with me into the firmament till I saw the earth as a large white
cloud or a saucer[225] in the midst of the waters. Presently he set me down on
a mountain, and taking a little dust, over which he muttered some magical
words, sprinkled me therewith, saying, "Quit that shape and take thou the
shape of an ape!" And on the instant I became an ape, a tail-less baboon, the
son of a century[226]. Now when he had left me and I saw myself in this ugly
and hateful shape, I wept for myself, but resigned my soul to the tyranny of

Time and Circumstance, well weeting that Fortune is fair and constant to no
man. I descended the mountain and found at the foot a desert plain, long
and broad, over which I travelled for the space of a month till my course
brought me to the brink of the briny sea.[227] After standing there awhile, I
was ware of a ship in the offing which ran before a fair wind making for the
shore: I hid myself behind a rock on the beach and waited till the ship drew
near, when I leaped on board. I found her full of merchants and passengers
and one of them cried, "O Captain, this ill-omened brute will bring us ill-
luck!" and another said, "Turn this ill-omened beast out from among us;"
the Captain said, "Let us kill it!" another said, "Slay it with the sword;" a
third, "Drown it;" and a fourth, "Shoot it with an arrow." But I sprang up
and laid hold of the Rais's[228] skirt, and shed tears which poured down my
chops. The Captain took pity on me, and said, "O merchants! this ape hath
appealed to me for protection and I will protect him; henceforth he is under
my charge: so let none do him aught hurt or harm, otherwise there will be
bad blood between us." Then he entreated me kindly and whatsoever he
said I understood and ministered to his every want and served him as a
servant, albeit my tongue would not obey my wishes; so that he came to
love me. The vessel sailed on, the wind being fair, for the space of fifty
days; at the end of which we cast anchor under the walls of a great city
wherein was a world of people, especially learned men, none could tell their
number save Allah. No sooner had we arrived than we were visited by
certain Mameluke-officials from the King of that city; who, after boarding
us, greeted the merchants and giving them joy of safe arrival said, "Our
King welcometh you, and sendeth you this roll of paper, whereupon each
and every of you must write a line. For ye shall know that the King's
Minister, a calligrapher of renown, is dead, and the King hath sworn a
solemn oath that he will make none Wazir in his stead who cannot write as
well as he could." He then gave us the scroll which measured ten cubits
long by a breadth of one, and each of the merchants who knew how to write
wrote a line thereon, even to the last of them; after which I stood up (still in
the shape of an ape) and snatched the roll out of their hands. They feared
lest I should tear it or throw it overboard; so they tried to stay me and scare
me, but I signed to them that I could write, whereat all marvelled, saying,
"We never yet saw an ape write." And the Captain cried, "Let him write;
and if he scribble and scrabble we will kick him out and kill him; but if he
write fair and scholarly I will adopt him as my son; for surely I never yet

saw a more intelligent and well-mannered monkey than he. Would Heaven
my real son were his match in morals and manners." I took the reed, and
stretching out my paw, dipped it in ink and wrote, in the hand used for
letters,[229] these two couplets:—
Time hath recorded gifts she gave the great; ✿ But none recorded thine which be far higher;
Allah ne'er orphan men by loss of thee ✿ Who be of Goodness mother, Bounty's sire.

And I wrote in Rayháni or larger letters elegantly curved:—[230]
Thou hast a reed[231] of rede to every land, ✿ Whose driving causeth all the world to thrive;
Nil is the Nile of Misraim by thy boons ✿ Who makest misery smile with fingers five.

Then I wrote in the Suls[232] character:—
There be no writer who from Death shall fleet, ✿ But what his hand hath writ men shall repeat:
Write, therefore, naught save what shall serve thee when ✿ Thou see't on Judgment-Day an so thou
see't!

Then I wrote in the character Naskh:—[233]
When to sore parting Fate our love shall doom, ✿ To distant life by Destiny decreed,
We cause the inkhorn's lips to 'plain our pains, ✿ And tongue our utterance with the talking reed.

And I wrote in the Túmár character[234]:—
Kingdom with none endures; if thou deny ✿ This truth, where be the Kings of earlier earth?
Set trees of goodliness while rule endures, ✿ And when thou art fallen they shall tell thy worth.

And I wrote in the character Muhakkak[235]:—
When oped the inkhorn of thy wealth and fame ✿ Take ink of generous heart and gracious hand;
Write brave and noble deeds while write thou can ✿ And win thee praise from point of pen and
brand.

Then I gave the scroll to the officials and, after we all had written our line,
they carried it before the King. When he saw the paper no writing pleased
him save my writing; and he said to the assembled courtiers, "Go seek the
writer of these lines and dress him in a splendid robe of honour; then mount
him on a she-mule,[236] let a band of music precede him and bring him to the
presence." At these words they smiled and the King was wroth with them
and cried "O accursed! I give you an order and you laugh at me?" "O King,"
replied they, "if we laugh 'tis not at thee and not without a cause." "And

what is it?" asked he; and they answered, "O King, thou orderest us to bring
to thy presence the man who wrote these lines; now the truth is that he who
wrote them is not of the sons of Adam,[237] but an ape, a tail-less baboon,
belonging to the ship-Captain." Quoth he, "Is this true that you say?" Quoth
they "Yea! by the rights of thy munificence!" The King marvelled at their
words and shook with mirth and said, "I am minded to buy this ape of the
Captain." Then he sent messengers to the ship with the mule, the dress, the
guard and the state-drums, saying, "Not the less do you clothe him in the
robe of honour and mount him on the mule and let him be surrounded by
the guards and preceded by the band of music." They came to the ship and
took me from the Captain and robed me in the robe of honour and,
mounting me on the she-mule, carried me in state-procession through the
streets; whilst the people were amazed and amused. And folk said to one
another "Halloo! is our Sultan about to make an ape his Minister?"; and
came all agog crowding to gaze at me, and the town was astir and turned
topsy-turvy on my account. When they brought me up to the King and set
me in his presence, I kissed the ground before him three times, and once
before the High Chamberlain and great officers, and he bade me be seated,
and I sat respectfully on shins and knees,[238] and all who were present
marvelled at my fine manners, and the King most of all. Thereupon he
ordered the lieges to retire; and, when none remained save the King's
majesty, the Eunuch on duty and a little white slave, he bade them set
before me the table of food, containing all manner of birds, whatever
hoppeth and flieth and treadeth in nest, such as quail and sand-grouse. Then
he signed to me to eat with him; so I rose and kissed ground before him,
then sat me down and ate with him. And when the table was removed I
washed my hands in seven waters and took the reed-case and reed; and
wrote instead of speaking these couplets:—

Wail for the little partridges on porringer and plate; ✿ Cry for the ruin of the fries and stews well
marinate:
Keen as I keen for loved, lost daughters of the Katá-grouse,[239] ✿ And omelette round the fair
enbrownèd fowls agglomerate:
O fire in heart of me for fish, those deux poissons I saw, ✿ Bedded on new made scones[240] and
cakes in piles to laniate.
For thee, O vermicelli! aches my very maw! I hold ✿ Without thee every taste and joy are clean
annihilate.
Those eggs have rolled their yellow eyes in torturing pains of fire ✿ Ere served with hash and
fritters hot, that delicatest cate,
Praisèd be Allah for His baked and roast and ah! how good ✿ This pulse, these pot-herbs steeped in
oil with eysill combinate!
When hunger sated was, I elbow-propt fell back upon ✿ Meat-pudding[241] wherein gleamed the
bangles that my wits amate.
Then woke I sleeping appetite to eat as though in sport ✿ Sweets from brocaded trays and
kickshaws most elaborate.
Be patient, soul of me! Time is a haughty, jealous wight; ✿ To-day he seems dark-lowering and to-
morrow fair to sight.[242]

Then I rose and seated myself at a respectful distance while the King read
what I had written, and marvelled, exclaiming, "O the miracle, that an ape
should be gifted with this graceful style and this power of penmanship! By
Allah, 'tis a wonder of wonders!"
Presently they set before the King choice wines in flagons of glass and he
drank: then he passed on the cup to me; and I kissed the ground and drank
and wrote on it:—
With fire they boilèd me to loose my tongue,[243] ✿ And pain and patience gave for fellowship:
Hence comes it hands of men upbear me high ✿ And honey-dew from lips of maid I sip!

And these also:—
Morn saith to Night, "withdraw and let me shine;" ✿ So drain we draughts that dull all pain and
pine:[244]
I doubt, so fine the glass, the wine so clear, ✿ If 'tis the wine in glass or glass in wine.

The King read my verse and said with a sigh, "Were these gifts[245] in a man,
he would excel all the folk of his time and age!" Then he called for the
chess-board, and said, "Say, wilt thou play with me?"; and I signed with my
head, "Yes." Then I came forward and ordered the pieces and played with
him two games, both of which I won. He was speechless with surprise; so I
took the pen-case and, drawing forth a reed, wrote on the board these two
couplets:—

Two hosts fare fighting thro' the livelong day ✿ Nor is their battling ever finishèd,
Until, when darkness girdeth them about, ✿ The twain go sleeping in a single bed.[246]

The King read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his Eunuch,
[247]
"O Mukbil, go to thy mistress, Sitt al-Husn,[248] and say her, Come,
speak the King who biddeth thee hither to take thy solace in seeing this
right wondrous ape!" So the Eunuch went out and presently returned with
the lady who, when she saw me veiled her face and said, "O my father! hast
thou lost all sense of honour? How cometh it thou art pleased to send for me
and show me to strange men?" "O Sitt al-Husn," said he, "no man is here
save this little foot-page and the Eunuch who reared thee and I, thy father.
From whom, then, dost thou veil thy face?" She answered, "This whom
thou deemest an ape is a young man, a clever and polite, a wise and learned
and the son of a King; but he is ensorcelled and the Ifrit Jirjaris, who is of
the seed of Iblis, cast a spell upon him, after putting to death his own wife
the daughter of King Ifitamus lord of the Islands of Abnus." The King
marvelled at his daughter's words and, turning to me, said, "Is this true that
she saith of thee?"; and I signed by a nod of my head the answer "Yea,
verily;" and wept sore. Then he asked his daughter "Whence knewest thou
that he is ensorcelled?"; and she answered "O my dear papa, there was with
me in my childhood an old woman, a wily one and a wise and a witch to
boot, and she taught me the theory of magic and its practice; and I took
notes in writing and therein waxed perfect, and have committed to memory
an hundred and seventy chapters of egromantic formulas, by the least of
which I could transport the stones of thy city behind the Mountain Kaf and
the Circumambient Main,[249] or make its site an abyss of the sea and its
people fishes swimming in the midst of it." "O my daughter," said her
father, "I conjure thee, by my life, disenchant this young man, that I may
make him my Wazir and marry thee to him, for indeed he is an ingenious
youth and a deeply learned." "With joy and goodly gree," she replied and,
hending in hand an iron knife whereon was inscribed the name of Allah in
Hebrew characters, she described a wide circle——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Fourteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kalandar
continued his tale thus:—O my lady, the King's daughter hent in hand a
knife whereon were inscribed Hebrew characters and described a wide
circle in the midst of the palace-hall, and therein wrote in Cufic letters
mysterious names and talismans; and she uttered words and muttered

charms, some of which we understood and others we understood not.
Presently the world waxed dark before our sight till we thought that the sky
was falling upon our heads, and lo! the Ifrit presented himself in his own
shape and aspect. His hands were like many-pronged pitchforks, his legs
like the masts of great ships, and his eyes like cressets of gleaming fire. We
were in terrible fear of him but the King's daughter cried at him, "No
welcome to thee and no greeting, O dog!" whereupon he changed to the
form of a lion and said, "O traitress, how is it thou hast broken the oath we
sware that neither should contraire other!" "O accursed one," answered she,
"how could there be a compact between me and the like of thee?" Then said
he, "Take what thou has brought on thyself;" and the lion opened his jaws
and rushed upon her; but she was too quick for him; and, plucking a hair
from her head, waved it in the air muttering over it the while; and the hair
straightway became a trenchant sword-blade, wherewith she smote the lion
and cut him in twain. Then the two halves flew away in air and the head
changed to a scorpion and the Princess became a huge serpent and set upon
the accursed scorpion, and the two fought, coiling and uncoiling, a stiff
fight for an hour at least. Then the scorpion changed to a vulture and the
serpent became an eagle which set upon the vulture, and hunted him for an
hour's time, till he became a black tom-cat, which miauled and grinned and
spat. Thereupon the eagle changed into a piebald wolf and these two battled
in the palace for a long time, when the cat, seeing himself overcome,
changed into a worm and crept into a huge red pomegranate,[250] which lay
beside the jetting fountain in the midst of the palace hall. Whereupon the
pomegranate swelled to the size of a water-melon in air; and, falling upon
the marble pavement of the palace, broke to pieces, and all the grains fell
out and were scattered about till they covered the whole floor. Then the
wolf shook himself and became a snow-white cock, which fell to picking up
the grains purposing not to leave one; but by doom of destiny one seed
rolled to the fountain-edge and there lay hid. The cock fell to crowing and
clapping his wings and signing to us with his beak as if to ask, "Are any
grains left?" But we understood not what he meant, and he cried to us with
so loud a cry that we thought the palace would fall upon us. Then he ran
over all the floor till he saw the grain which had rolled to the fountain edge,
and rushed eagerly to pick it up when behold, it sprang into the midst of the
water and became a fish and dived to the bottom of the basin. Thereupon
the cock changed to a big fish, and plunged in after the other, and the two

disappeared for a while and lo! we heard loud shrieks and cries of pain
which made us tremble. After this the Ifrit rose out of the water, and he was
as a burning flame; casting fire and smoke from his mouth and eyes and
nostrils. And immediately the Princess likewise came forth from the basin
and she was one live coal of flaming lowe; and these two, she and he,
battled for the space of an hour, until their fires entirely compassed them
about and their thick smoke filled the palace. As for us we panted for
breath, being well-nigh suffocated, and we longed to plunge into the water
fearing lest we be burnt up and utterly destroyed; and the King said, "There
is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great!
Verily we are Allah's and unto Him are we returning! Would Heaven I had
not urged my daughter to attempt the disenchantment of this ape-fellow,
whereby I have imposed upon her the terrible task of fighting yon accursed
Ifrit against whom all the Ifrits in the world could not prevail. And would
Heaven we had never seen this ape, Allah never assain nor bless the day of
his coming! We thought to do a good deed by him before the face of Allah,
[251]
and to release him from enchantment, and now we have brought this
trouble and travail upon our heart." But I, O my lady, was tongue-tied and
powerless to say a word to him. Suddenly, ere we were ware of aught, the
Ifrit yelled out from under the flames and, coming up to us as we stood on
the estrade, blew fire in our faces. The damsel overtook him and breathed
blasts of fire at his face and the sparks from her and from him rained down
upon us, and her sparks did us no harm, but one of his sparks alighted upon
my eye and destroyed it making me a monocular ape; and another fell on
the King's face scorching the lower half, burning off his beard and
mustachios and causing his under teeth to fall out; while a third alighted on
the Castrato's breast, killing him on the spot. So we despaired of life and
made sure of death when lo! a voice repeated the saying, "Allah is most
Highest! Allah is most Highest! Aidance and victory to all who the Truth
believe; and disappointment and disgrace to all who the religion of
Mohammed, the Moon of Faith, unbelieve," The speaker was the Princess
who had burnt the Ifrit, and he was become a heap of ashes. Then she came
up to us and said, "Reach me a cup of water." They brought it to her and she
spoke over it words we understood not, and sprinkling me with it cried, "By
virtue of the Truth, and by the Most Great name of Allah, I charge thee
return to thy former shape." And behold, I shook and became a man as
before, save that I had utterly lost an eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The

fire! O my dear papa an arrow from the accursed hath wounded me to the
death, for I am not used to fight with the Jann; had he been a man I had
slain him in the beginning. I had no trouble till the time when the
pomegranate burst and the grains scattered, but I overlooked the seed
wherein was the very life of the Jinni. Had I picked it up he had died on the
spot, but as Fate and Fortune decreed, I saw it not; so he came upon me all
unawares and there befel between him and me a sore struggle under the
earth and high in air and in the water; and, as often as I opened on him a
gate,[252] he opened on me another gate and a stronger, till at last he opened
on me the gate of fire, and few are saved upon whom the door of fire
openeth. But Destiny willed that my cunning prevail over his cunning; and I
burned him to death after I vainly exhorted him to embrace the religion of
Al-Islam. As for me I am a dead woman; Allah supply my place to you!"
Then she called upon Heaven for help and ceased not to implore relief from
the fire; when lo! a black spark shot up from her robed feet to her thighs;
then it flew to her bosom and thence to her face. When it reached her face
she wept and said, "I testify that there is no god but the God and that
Mahommed is the Apostle of God!" And we looked at her and saw naught
but a heap of ashes by the side of the heap that had been the Ifrit. We
mourned for her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I not seen her
lovely face who had worked me such weal become ashes; but there is no
gainsaying the will of Allah. When the King saw his daughter's terrible
death, he plucked out what was left of his beard and beat his face and rent
his raiment; and I did as he did and we both wept over her. Then came in
the Chamberlains and Grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of
ashes and the Sultan in a fainting fit; so they stood round him till he revived
and told them what had befallen his daughter from the Ifrit; whereat their
grief was right grievous and the women and the slave-girls shrieked and
keened,[253] and they continued their lamentations for the space of seven
days. Moreover the King bade build over his daughter's ashes a vast vaulted
tomb, and burn therein wax tapers and sepulchral lamps: but as for the Ifrit's
ashes they scattered them on the winds, speeding them to the curse of Allah.
Then the Sultan fell sick of a sickness that well nigh brought him to his
death for a month's space; and, when health returned to him and his beard
grew again and he had been converted by the mercy of Allah to Al-Islam, he
sent for me and said, "O youth, Fate had decreed for us the happiest of
lives, safe from all the chances and changes of Time, till thou camest to us,

when troubles fell upon us. Would to Heaven we had never seen thee and
the foul face of thee! For we took pity on thee and thereby we have lost our
all. I have on thy account first lost my daughter who to me was well worth
an hundred men; secondly I have suffered that which befel me by reason of
the fire and the loss of my teeth, and my Eunuch also was slain. I blame
thee not, for it was out of thy power to prevent this: the doom of Allah was
on thee as well as on us and thanks be to the Almighty for that my daughter
delivered thee, albeit thereby she lost her own life! Go forth now, O my son,
from this my city, and suffice thee what hath befallen us through thee, even
although 'twas decreed for us. Go forth in peace; and if I ever see thee again
I will surely slay thee." And he cried out at me. So I went forth from his
presence, O my lady, weeping bitterly and hardly believing in my escape
and knowing not whither I should wend. And I recalled all that had befallen
me, my meeting the tailor, my love for the damsel in the palace beneath the
earth, and my narrow escape from the Ifrit, even after he had determined to
do me die; and how I had entered the city as an ape and was now leaving it
a man once more. Then I gave thanks to Allah and said, "My eye and not
my life!" and before leaving the place I entered the bath and shaved my poll
and beard and mustachios and eyebrows; and cast ashes on my head and
donned the coarse black woollen robe of a Kalandar. Then I fared forth, O
my lady, and every day I pondered all the calamities which had betided me,
and I wept and repeated these couplets:—
"I am distraught, yet verily His ruth abides with me, ✿ Tho' round me gather hosts of ills, whence
come I cannot see:
Patient I'll be till Patience self with me impatient wax; ✿ Patient for ever till the Lord fulfil my
destiny:
Patient I'll bide without complaint, a wronged and vanquisht man; ✿ Patient as sunparcht wight that
spans the desert's sandy sea:
Patient I'll be till Aloe's[254] self unwittingly allow ✿ I'm patient under bitterer things than bitterest
aloë:
No bitterer things than aloes or than patience for mankind; ✿ Yet bitterer than the twain to me were
Patience' treachery:
My sere and seamed and seared brow would dragoman my sore ✿ If soul could search my sprite
and there unsecret secrecy:
Were hills to bear the load I bear they'd crumble 'neath the weight; ✿ 'Twould still the roaring wind,
'twould quench the flame-tongue's flagrancy,
And whoso saith the world is sweet certès a day he'll see ✿ With more than aloes' bitterness and
aloes' pungency."

Then I journeyed through many regions and saw many a city intending for
Baghdad, that I might seek audience, in the House of Peace,[255] with the
Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had befallen me. I arrived
here this very night and found my brother in Allah, this first Kalandar,
standing about as one perplexed; so I saluted him with "Peace be upon
thee," and entered into discourse with him. Presently up came our brother,
this third Kalandar, and said to us, "Peace be with you! I am a stranger;"
whereto we replied, "And we too be strangers, who have come hither this
blessed night." So we all three walked on together, none of us knowing the
other's history, till Destiny drave us to this door and we came in to you.
Such then is my story and my reason for shaving my beard and mustachios,
and this is what caused the loss of my eye. Said the house-mistress "Thy
tale is indeed a rare; so rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but he replied, "I
will not budge till I hear my companions' stories." Then came forward the
third Kalandar, and said, "O illustrious lady! my history is not like that of
these my comrades, but more wondrous and far more marvellous. In their
case Fate and Fortune came down on them unawares; but I drew down
destiny upon my own head and brought sorrow on mine own soul, and
shaved my own beard and lost my own eye. Hear then"

THE THIRD KALANDAR'S TALE.

Know, O my lady, that I also am a King and the Son of a King and my name
is Ajíb son of Khazíb. When my father died I succeeded him; and I ruled
and did justice and dealt fairly by all my lieges. I delighted in sea trips, for
my capital stood on the shore, before which the ocean stretched far and
wide; and nearhand were many great islands with sconces and garrisons in
the midst of the main. My fleet numbered fifty merchantmen, and as many
yachts for pleasance, and an hundred and fifty sail ready fitted for holy war
with the Unbelievers. It fortuned that I had a mind to enjoy myself on the
islands aforesaid, so I took ship with my people in ten keel; and, carrying
with me a month's victual, I set out on a twenty days voyage. But one night
a head wind struck us, and the sea rose against us with huge waves; the
billows sorely buffetted us and a dense darkness settled round us. We gave
ourselves up for lost and I said, "Whoso endangereth his days, e'en an he
'scape deserveth no praise." Then we prayed to Allah and besought Him; but
the storm-blasts ceased not to blow against us nor the surges to strike us till
morning broke, when the gale fell, the seas sank to mirrory stillness and the
sun shone upon us kindly clear. Presently we made an island where we
landed and cooked somewhat of food, and ate heartily and took our rest for
a couple of days. Then we set out again and sailed other twenty days, the
seas broadening and the land shrinking. Presently the current ran counter to
us, and we found ourselves in strange waters, where the Captain had lost his
reckoning, and was wholly bewildered in this sea; so said we to the look-
out man,[256] "Get thee to the mast-head and keep thine eyes open." He
swarmed up the mast and looked out and cried aloud, "O Rais, I espy to
starboard something dark, very like a fish floating on the face of the sea,
and to larboard there is a loom in the midst of the main, now black and now
bright." When the Captain heard the look-out's words he dashed his turband
on the deck and plucked out his beard and beat his face saying, "Good news
indeed! we be all dead men; not one of us can be saved." And he fell to
weeping and all of us wept for his weeping and also for our lives; and I
said, "O Captain, tell us what it is the look-out saw." "O my Prince,"
answered he, "know that we lost our course on the night of the storm, which
was followed on the morrow by a two-days' calm during which we made no

way; and we have gone astray eleven days reckoning from that night, with
ne'er a wind to bring us back to our true course. To-morrow by the end of
the day we shall come to a mountain of black stone, hight the Magnet
Mountain;[257] for thither the currents carry us willy-nilly. As soon as we are
under its lea, the ship's sides will open and every nail in plank will fly out
and cleave fast to the mountain; for that Almighty Allah hath gifted the
loadstone with a mysterious virtue and a love for iron, by reason whereof
all which is iron travelleth towards it; and on this mountain is much iron,
how much none knoweth save the Most High, from the many vessels which
have been lost there since the days of yore. The bright spot upon its summit
is a dome of yellow laton from Andalusia, vaulted upon ten columns; and
on its crown is a horseman who rideth a horse of brass and holdeth in hand
a lance of laton; and there hangeth on his bosom a tablet of lead graven with
names and talismans." And he presently added, "And, O King, none
destroyeth folk save the rider on that steed, nor will the egromancy be
dispelled till he fall from his horse."[258] Then, O my lady, the Captain wept
with exceeding weeping and we all made sure of death-doom and each and
every one of us farewelled his friend and charged him with his last will and
testament in case he might be saved. We slept not that night and in the
morning we found ourselves much nearer the Loadstone Mountain, whither
the waters drave us with a violent send. When the ships were close under its
lea they opened and the nails flew out and all the iron in them sought the
Magnet Mountain and clove to it like a network; so that by the end of the
day we were all struggling in the waves round about the mountain. Some of
us were saved, but more were drowned and even those who had escaped
knew not one another, so stupefied were they by the beating of the billows
and the raving of the winds. As for me, O my lady, Allah (be His name
exalted!) preserved my life that I might suffer whatso He willed to me of
hardship, misfortune and calamity; for I scrambled upon a plank from one
of the ships, and the wind and waters threw it at the feet of the Mountain.
There I found a practicable path leading by steps carven out of the rock to
the summit, and I called on the name of Allah Almighty[259]——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Fifteenth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the third
Kalandar said to the lady (the rest of the party sitting fast bound and the
slaves standing with swords drawn over their heads):—And after calling on
the name of Almighty Allah and passionately beseeching Him, I breasted
the ascent, clinging to the steps and notches hewn in the stone, and mounted
little by little. And the Lord stilled the wind and aided me in the ascent, so
that I succeeded in reaching the summit. There I found no resting-place
save the dome, which I entered, joying with exceeding joy at my escape;
and made the Wuzu-ablution[260] and prayed a two-bow prayer[261] a
thanksgiving to God for my preservation. Then I fell asleep under the dome,
and heard in my dream a mysterious Voice[262] saying, "O son of Khazib!
when thou wakest from thy sleep dig under thy feet and thou shalt find a
bow of brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismans and
characts. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on the dome-
top and free mankind from this sore calamity. When thou hast shot him he
shall fall into the sea, and the horse will also drop at thy feet: then bury it in
the place of the bow. This done, the main will swell and rise till it is level
with the mountain-head, and there will appear on it a skiff carrying a man
of laton (other than he thou shalt have shot) holding in his hand a pair of
paddles. He will come to thee and do thou embark with him but beware of
saying Bismillah or of otherwise naming Allah Almighty. He will row thee
for a space of ten days, till he bring thee to certain Islands called the Islands
of Safety, and thence thou shalt easily reach a port and find those who will
convey thee to thy native land; and all this shall be fulfilled to thee so thou
call not on the name of Allah." Then I started up from my sleep in joy and
gladness and, hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious Voice, found the
bow and arrows and shot at the horseman and tumbled him into the main,
whilst the horse dropped at my feet; so I took it and buried it. Presently the
sea surged up and rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long
to wait ere I saw a skiff in the offing coming towards me. I gave thanks to
Allah; and, when the skiff came up to me, I saw therein a man of brass with
a tablet of lead on his breast inscribed with talismans and characts; and I
embarked without uttering a word. The boatman rowed on with me through
the first day and the second and the third, in all ten whole days, till I caught

sight of the Islands of Safety; whereat I joyed with exceeding joy and for
stress of gladness exclaimed, "Allah! Allah! In the name of Allah! There is
no god but the God and Allah is Almighty."[263] Thereupon the skiff
forthwith upset and cast me upon the sea; then it righted and sank deep into
the depths. Now I am a fair swimmer, so I swam the whole day till nightfall,
when my forearms and shoulders were numbed with fatigue and I felt like
to die; so I testified to my Faith, expecting naught but death. The sea was
still surging under the violence of the winds, and presently there came a
billow like a hillock; and, bearing me up high in air, threw me with a long
cast on dry land, that His will might be fulfilled. I crawled up the beach and
doffing my raiment wrung it out to dry and spread it in the sunshine: then I
lay me down and slept the whole night. As soon as it was day, I donned my
clothes and rose to look whither I should walk. Presently I came to a thicket
of low trees; and, making a cast round it, found that the spot whereon I
stood was an islet, a mere holm, girt on all sides by the ocean; whereupon I
said to myself, "Whatso freeth me from one great calamity casteth me into a
greater!" But while I was pondering my case and longing for death behold, I
saw afar off a ship making for the island; so I clomb a tree and hid myself
among the branches. Presently the ship anchored and landed ten slaves,
blackamoors, bearing iron hoes and baskets, who walked on till they
reached the middle of the island. Here they dug deep into the ground, until
they uncovered a plate of metal which they lifted, thereby opening a trap-
door. After this they returned to the ship and thence brought bread and flour,
honey and fruits, clarified butter,[264] leather bottles containing liquors and
many household stuffs; also furniture, table-service and mirrors; rugs,
carpets and in fact all needed to furnish a dwelling; and they kept going to
and fro, and descending by the trap-door, till they had transported into the
dwelling all that was in the ship. After this the slaves again went on board
and brought back with them garments as rich as may be, and in the midst of
them came an old old man, of whom very little was left, for Time had dealt
hardly and harshly with him, and all that remained of him was a bone
wrapped in a rag of blue stuff, through which the winds whistled west and
east. As saith the poet of him:—
Time gars me tremble Ah, how sore the baulk! ✿ While Time in pride of strength doth ever stalk:
Time was I walked nor ever felt I tired, ✿ Now am I tired albe I never walk!

And the Shaykh held by the hand a youth cast in beauty's mould, all
elegance and perfect grace; so fair that his comeliness deserved to be
proverbial; for he was as a green bough or the tender young of the roe,
ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul with his
coquetry and amorous ways.[265] It was of him the poet spake when he said:
—
Beauty they brought with him to make compare; ✿ But Beauty hung her head in shame and care:
Quoth they, "O Beauty, hast thou seen his like?" ✿ And Beauty cried, "His like? not anywhere!"

They stinted not their going, O my lady, till all went down by the trap-door
and did not reappear for an hour, or rather more; at the end of which time
the slaves and the old man came up without the youth and, replacing the
iron plate and carefully closing the door-slab, as it was before, they returned
to the ship and made sail and were lost to my sight. When they turned away
to depart, I came down from the tree and, going to the place I had seen them
fill up, scraped off and removed the earth; and in patience possessed my
soul till I had cleared the whole of it away. Then appeared the trap-door
which was of wood, in shape and size like a millstone; and when I lifted it
up it disclosed a winding staircase of stone. At this I marvelled and,
descending the steps till I reached the last, found a fair hall, spread with
various kinds of carpets and silk stuffs, wherein was a youth sitting upon a
raised couch and leaning back on a round cushion with a fan in his hand and
nosegays and posies of sweet scented herbs and flowers before him;[266] but
he was alone and not a soul near him in the great vault. When he saw me he
turned pale; but I saluted him courteously and said, "Set thy mind at ease
and calm thy fears; no harm shall come near thee; I am a man like thyself
and the son of a King to boot; whom the decrees of Destiny have sent to
bear thee company and cheer thee in thy loneliness. But now tell me, what
is thy story and what causeth thee to dwell thus in solitude under the
ground?" When he was assured that I was of his kind and no Jinni, he
rejoiced and his fine colour returned; and, making me draw near to him he
said, "O my brother, my story is a strange story and 'tis this. My father is a
merchant-jeweller possessed of great wealth, who hath white and black
slaves travelling and trading on his account in ships and on camels, and
trafficking with the most distant cities; but he was not blessed with a child,
not even one. Now on a certain night he dreamed a dream that he should be
favoured with a son, who would be short lived; so the morning dawned on

my father bringing him woe and weeping. On the following night my
mother conceived and my father noted down the date of her becoming
pregnant.[267] Her time being fulfilled she bare me; whereat my father
rejoiced and made banquets and called together the neighbours and fed the
Fakirs and the poor, for that he had been blessed with issue near the end of
his days. Then he assembled the astrologers and astronomers who knew the
places of the planets, and the wizards and wise ones of the time, and men
learned in horoscopes and nativities;[268] and they drew out my birth scheme
and said to my father:—Thy son shall live to fifteen years, but in his
fifteenth there is a sinister aspect; an he safely tide it over he shall attain a
great age. And the cause that threateneth him with death is this. In the Sea
of Peril standeth the Mountain Magnet hight; on whose summit is a
horseman of yellow laton seated on a horse also of brass and bearing on his
breast a tablet of lead. Fifty days after this rider shall fall from his steed thy
son will die and his slayer will be he who shoots down the horseman, a
Prince named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father grieved with exceeding
grief to hear these words; but reared me in tenderest fashion and educated
me excellently well till my fifteenth year was told. Ten days ago news came
to him that the horseman had fallen into the sea and he who shot him down
was named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father thereupon wept bitter tears
at the need of parting with me and became like one possessed of a Jinni.
However, being in mortal fear for me, he built me this place under the earth;
and, stocking it with all required for the few days still remaining, he
brought me hither in a ship and left me here. Ten are already past and, when
the forty shall have gone by without danger to me, he will come and take
me away; for he hath done all this only in fear of Prince Ajib. Such, then, is
my story and the cause of my loneliness." When I heard his history I
marvelled and said in my mind, "I am the Prince Ajib who hath done all
this; but as Allah is with me I will surely not slay him!" So said I to him, O
my lord, far from thee be this hurt and harm and then, please Allah, thou
shalt not suffer cark nor care nor aught disquietude, for I will tarry with thee
and serve thee as a servant, and then wend my ways; and, after having
borne thee company during the forty days, I will go with thee to thy home
where thou shalt give me an escort of some of thy Mamelukes with whom I
may journey back to my own city; and the Almighty shall requite thee for
me. He was glad to hear these words, when I rose and lighted a large wax-
candle and trimmed the lamps and the three lanterns; and I set on meat and

drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat talking over various
matters till the greater part of the night was gone; when he lay down to rest
and I covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning I arose and
warmed a little water, then lifted him gently so as to awake him and brought
him the warm water wherewith he washed his face[269] and said to me,
"Heaven requite thee for me with every blessing, O youth! By Allah, if I get
quit of this danger and am saved from him whose name is Ajib bin Khazib,
I will make my father reward thee and send thee home healthy and wealthy;
and, if I die, then my blessing be upon thee." I answered, "May the day
never dawn on which evil shall betide thee; and may Allah make my last
day before thy last day!" Then I set before him somewhat of food and we
ate; and I got ready perfumes for fumigating the hall, wherewith he was
pleased. Moreover I made him a Mankalah-cloth;[270] and we played and ate
sweetmeats and we played again and took our pleasure till nightfall, when I
rose and lighted the lamps, and set before him somewhat to eat, and sat
telling him stories till the hours of darkness were far spent. Then he lay
down to rest and I covered him up and rested also. And thus I continued to
do, O my lady for days and nights, and affection for him took root in my
heart and my sorrow was eased, and I said to myself, The astrologers
lied[271] when they predicted that he should be slain by Ajib bin Khazib: by
Allah, I will not slay him. I ceased not ministering to him and conversing
and carousing with him and telling him all manner tales for thirty-nine days.
On the fortieth night[272] the youth rejoiced and said, "O my brother,
Alhamdolillah!—praise be to Allah—who hath preserved me from death
and this is by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me; and I pray
God that He restore thee to thy native land. But now, O my brother, I would
thou warm me some water for the Ghusl-ablution and do thou kindly bathe
me and change my clothes." I replied, "With love and gladness;" and I
heated water in plenty and carrying it in to him washed his body all over,
the washing of health,[273] with meal of lupins[274] and rubbed him well and
changed his clothes and spread him a high bed whereon he lay down to rest,
being drowsy after bathing. Then said he, "O my brother, cut me up a water-
melon, and sweeten it with a little sugar-candy."[275] So I went to the store-
room and bringing out a fine water-melon I found there, set it on a platter
and laid it before him saying, "O my master hast thou not a knife?" "Here it
is," answered he, "over my head upon the high shelf." So I got up in haste
and taking the knife drew it from its sheath; but my foot slipped in stepping

down and I fell heavily upon the youth holding in my hand the knife which
hastened to fulfil what had been written on the Day that decided the
destinies of man, and buried itself, as if planted, in the youth's heart. He
died on the instant. When I saw that he was slain and knew that I had slain
him, maugre myself, I cried out with an exceeding loud and bitter cry and
beat my face and rent my raiment and said, "Verily we be Allah's and unto
Him we be returning, O Moslems! O folk fain of Allah! there remained for
this youth but one day of the forty dangerous days which the astrologers
and the learned had foretold for him; and the predestined death of this
beautiful one was to be at my hand. Would Heaven I had not tried to cut the
water-melon. What dire misfortune is this I must bear lief or loath? What a
disaster! What an affliction! O Allah mine, I implore thy pardon and declare
to Thee my innocence of his death. But what God willeth let that come to
pass."[276]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.

Now when it was the Sixteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ajib thus continued
his tale to the lady:—When I was certified that I had slain him, I arose and
ascending the stairs replaced the trap-door and covered it with earth as
before. Then I looked out seawards and saw the ship cleaving the waters
and making for the island, wherefore I was afeard and said, "The moment
they come and see the youth done to death, they will know 'twas I who slew
him and will slay me without respite." So I climbed up into a high tree and
concealed myself among its leaves; and hardly had I done so when the ship
anchored and the slaves landed with the ancient man, the youth's father, and
made direct for the place and when they removed the earth they were
surprised to see it soft.[277] Then they raised the trap-door and went down
and found the youth lying at full length, clothed in fair new garments with a
face beaming after the bath, and the knife deep in his heart. At the sight they
shrieked and wept and beat their faces, loudly cursing the murderer; whilst
a swoon came over the Shaykh so that the slaves deemed him dead, unable
to survive his son. At last they wrapped the slain youth in his clothes and
carried him up and laid him on the ground covering him with a shroud of
silk. Whilst they were making for the ship the old man revived; and, gazing
on his son who was stretched out, fell on the ground and strewed dust over

his head and smote his face and plucked out his beard; and his weeping
redoubled as he thought of his murdered son and he swooned away once
more. After awhile a slave went and fetched a strip of silk whereupon they
lay the old man and sat down at his head. All this took place and I was on
the tree above them watching everything that came to pass; and my heart
became hoary before my head waxed grey, for the hard lot which was mine,
and for the distress and anguish I had undergone, and I fell to reciting:—
"How many a joy by Allah's will hath fled ✿ With flight escaping sight of wisest head!
How many a sadness shall begin the day, ✿ Yet grow right gladsome ere the day is sped!
How many a weal trips on the heels of ill, ✿ Causing the mourner's heart with joy to thrill!"[278]

But the old man, O my lady, ceased not from his swoon till near sunset,
when he came to himself and, looking upon his dead son, he recalled what
had happened, and how what he had dreaded had come to pass; and he beat
his face and head and recited these couplets:—
"Racked is my heart by parting fro' my friends ✿ And two rills ever fro' my eyelids flow:
With them[279] went forth my hopes, Ah, well away! ✿ What shift remaineth me to say or do?
Would I had never looked upon their sight, ✿ What shift, fair sirs, when paths e'er straiter grow?
What charm shall calm my pangs when this wise burn ✿ Longings of love which in my vitals
glow?
Would I had trod with them the road of Death! ✿ Ne'er had befel us twain this parting-blow:
Allah: I pray the Ruthful show me ruth ✿ And mix our lives nor part them evermo'e!
How blest were we as 'neath one roof we dwelt ✿ Conjoined in joys nor recking aught of woe;
Till Fortune shot us with the severance shaft; ✿ Ah who shall patient bear such parting throe?
And dart of Death struck down amid the tribe ✿ The age's pearl that Morn saw brightest show:
I cried the while his case took speech and said:—✿ Would Heaven, my son, Death mote his doom
foreslow!
Which be the readiest road wi' thee to meet ✿ My Son! for whom I would my soul bestow?
If sun I call him no! the sun doth set; ✿ If moon I call him, wane the moons; Ah no!
O sad mischance o' thee, O doom of days, ✿ Thy place none other love shall ever know:
Thy sire distracted sees thee, but despairs ✿ By wit or wisdom Fate to overthrow:
Some evil eye this day hath cast its spell ✿ And foul befal him as it foul befel!"

Then he sobbed a single sob and his soul fled his flesh. The slaves shrieked
aloud "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and redoubled
their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead master to the
ship side by side with his dead son and, having transported all the stuff from
the dwelling to the vessel, set sail and disappeared from mine eyes. I
descended from the tree and, raising the trap-door, went down into the

underground dwelling where everything reminded me of the youth; and I
looked upon the poor remains of him and began repeating these verses:—
Their tracks I see, and pine with pain and pang ✿ And on deserted hearths I weep and yearn:
And Him I pray who doomèd them depart ✿ Some day vouchsafe the boon of safe return.[280]

Then, O my lady, I went up again by the trap-door, and every day I used to
wander round about the island and every night I returned to the
underground hall. Thus I lived for a month, till at last, looking at the
western side of the island, I observed that every day the tide ebbed, leaving
shallow water for which the flow did not compensate; and by the end of the
month the sea showed dry land in that direction. At this I rejoiced making
certain of my safety; so I arose and fording what little was left of the water
got me to the main land, where I fell in with great heaps of loose sand in
which even a camel's hoof would sink up to the knee.[281] However I
emboldened my soul and wading through the sand behold, a fire shone from
afar burning with a blazing light.[282] So I made for it hoping haply to find
succour and broke out into these verses:—
"Belike my Fortune may her bridle turn ✿ And Time bring weal although he's jealous hight;
Forward my hopes, and further all my needs, ✿ And passèd ills with present weals requite."

And when I drew near the fire aforesaid lo! it was a palace with gates of
copper burnished red which, when the rising sun shone thereon, gleamed
and glistened from afar showing what had seemed to me a fire. I rejoiced in
the sight, and sat down over against the gate, but I was hardly settled in my
seat before there met me ten young men clothed in sumptuous gear and all
were blind of the left eye which appeared as plucked out. They were
accompanied by a Shaykh, an old, old man, and much I marvelled at their
appearance, and their all being blind of the same eye. When they saw me,
they saluted me with the Salam and asked me of my case and my history;
whereupon I related to them all what had befallen me, and what full
measure of misfortune was mine. Marvelling at my tale they took me to the
mansion, where I saw ranged round the hall ten couches each with its blue
bedding and coverlet of blue stuff[283] and amiddlemost stood a smaller
couch furnished like them with blue and nothing else. As we entered each
of the youths took his seat on his own couch and the old man seated himself
upon the smaller one in the middle saying to me, "O youth, sit thee down on
the floor and ask not of our case nor of the loss of our eyes." Presently he

rose up and set before each young man some meat in a charger and drink in
a large mazer, treating me in like manner; and after that they sat questioning
me concerning my adventures and what had betided me: and I kept telling
them my tale till the night was far spent. Then said the young men, "O our
Shaykh, wilt not thou set before us our ordinary? The time is come." He
replied, "With love and gladness," and rose and entering a closet
disappeared, but presently returned bearing on his head ten trays each
covered with a strip of blue stuff. He set a tray before each, youth and,
lighting ten wax candles, he stuck one upon each tray, and drew off the
covers and lo! under them was naught but ashes and powdered charcoal and
kettle soot. Then all the young men tucked up their sleeves to the elbows
and fell a-weeping and wailing and they blackened their faces and smeared
their clothes and buffetted their brows and beat their breasts, continually
exclaiming, "We were sitting at our ease but our frowardness brought us
unease!" They ceased not to do thus till dawn drew nigh, when the old man
rose and heated water for them; and they washed their faces, and donned
other and clean clothes. Now when I saw this, O my lady, for very
wonderment my senses left me and my wits went wild and heart and head
were full of thought, till I forgot what had betided me and I could not keep
silence feeling I fain must speak out and question them of these
strangenesses; so I said to them, "How come ye to do this after we have
been so open-hearted and frolicksome? Thanks be to Allah ye be all sound
and sane, yet actions such as these befit none but mad men or those
possessed of an evil spirit. I conjure you by all that is dearest to you, why
stint ye to tell me your history, and the cause of your losing your eyes and
your blackening your faces with ashes and soot?" Hereupon they turned to
me and said, "O young man, hearken not to thy youthtide's suggestions and
question us no questions." Then they slept and I with them and when they
awoke the old man brought us somewhat of food; and, after we had eaten
and the plates and goblets had been removed, they sat conversing till
nightfall when the old man rose and lit the wax candles and lamps and set
meat and drink before us. After we had eaten and drunken we sat
conversing and carousing in companionage till the noon of night, when they
said to the old man, "Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at hand!"
So he rose and brought them the trays of soot and ashes; and they did as
they had done on the preceding night, nor more, nor less. I abode with them
after this fashion for the space of a month during which time they used to

blacken their faces with ashes every night, and to wash and change their
raiment when the morn was young; and I but marvelled the more and my
scruples and curiosity increased to such a point that I had to forego even
food and drink. At last, I lost command of myself, for my heart was aflame
with fire unquenchable and lowe unconcealable and I said, "O young men,
will ye not relieve my trouble and acquaint me with the reason of thus
blackening your faces and the meaning of your words:—We were sitting at
our ease but our frowardness brought us unease?" Quoth they "'Twere better
to keep these things secret." Still I was bewildered by their doings to the
point of abstaining from eating and drinking and, at last wholly losing
patience, quoth I to them, "There is no help for it: ye must acquaint me with
what is the reason of these doings." They replied, "We kept our secret only
for thy good: to gratify thee will bring down evil upon thee and thou wilt
become a monocular even as we are." I repeated, "There is no help for it
and, if ye will not, let me leave you and return to mine own people and be at
rest from seeing these things, for the proverb saith:—
Better ye 'bide and I take my leave: ✿ For what eye sees not heart shall never grieve."

Thereupon they said to me, "Remember, O youth, that should ill befal thee
we will not again harbour thee nor suffer thee to abide amongst us;" and
bringing a ram they slaughtered it and skinned it. Lastly they gave me a
knife saying, "Take this skin and stretch thyself upon it and we will sew it
around thee; presently there shall come to thee a certain bird, hight Rukh,
[284]
that will catch thee up in his pounces and tower high in air and then set
thee down on a mountain. When thou feelest he is no longer flying, rip open
the pelt with this blade and come out of it; the bird will be scared and will
fly away and leave thee free. After this fare for half a day, and the march
will place thee at a palace wondrous fair to behold, towering high in air and
builded of Khalanj,[285] lign-aloes and sandal-wood, plated with red gold,
and studded with all manner emeralds and costly gems fit for seal-rings.
Enter it and thou shalt win to thy wish for we have all entered that palace;
and such is the cause of our losing our eyes and of our blackening our faces.
Were we now to tell thee our stories it would take too long a time; for each
and every of us lost his left eye by an adventure of his own." I rejoiced at
their words and they did with me as they said; and the bird Rukh bore me
off and set me down on the mountain. Then I came out of the skin and
walked on till I reached the palace. The door stood open as I entered and

found myself in a spacious and goodly hall, wide exceedingly, even as a
horse-course; and around it were an hundred chambers with doors of sandal
and aloes woods plated with red gold and furnished with silver rings by way
of knockers.[286] At the head or upper end[287] of the hall I saw forty damsels,
sumptuously dressed and ornamented and one and all bright as moons; none
could ever tire of gazing upon them and all so lovely that the most ascetic
devotee on seeing them would become their slave and obey their will.
When they saw me the whole bevy came up to me and said "Welcome and
well come and good cheer[288] to thee, O our lord! This whole month have
we been expecting thee. Praised be Allah who hath sent us one who is
worthy of us, even as we are worthy of him!" Then they made me sit down
upon a high divan and said to me, "This day thou art our lord and master,
and we are thy servants and thy handmaids, so order us as thou wilt." And I
marvelled at their case. Presently one of them arose and set meat before me
and I ate and they ate with me; whilst others warmed water and washed my
hands and feet and changed my clothes, and others made ready sherbets and
gave us to drink; and all gathered around me being full of joy and gladness
at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed with me till nightfall,
when five of them arose and laid the trays and spread them with flowers
and fragrant herbs and fruits, fresh and dried, and confections in profusion.
At last they brought out a fine wine-service with rich old wine; and we sat
down to drink and some sang songs and others played the lute and psaltery
and recorders and other instruments, and the bowl went merrily round.
Hereupon such gladness possessed me that I forgot the sorrows of the world
one and all and said, "This is indeed life; O sad that 'tis fleeting!" I enjoyed
their company till the time came for rest; and our heads were all warm with
wine, when they said, "O our lord, choose from amongst us her who shall
be thy bed-fellow this night and not lie with thee again till forty days be
past." So I chose a girl fair of face and perfect in shape, with eyes Kohl-
edged by nature's hand;[289] hair long and jet black with slightly parted
teeth[290] and joining brows: 'twas as if she were some limber graceful
branchlet or the slender stalk of sweet basil to amaze and to bewilder man's
fancy; even as the poet said of such an one:—

To even her with greeny bough were vain ✿ Fool he who finds her beauties in the roe:
When hath the roe those lively lovely limbs ✿ Or honey dews those lips alone bestow?
Those eyne, soul-piercing eyne, which slay with love, ✿ Which bind the victim by their shafts laid
low?
My heart to second childhood they beguiled ✿ No wonder: love-sick man again is child!

And I repeated to her the maker's words who said:—
None other charms but thine shall greet mine eyes, ✿ Nor other image can my heart surprize:
Thy love, my lady, captives all my thoughts ✿ And on that love I'll die and I'll arise.

So I lay with her that night; none fairer I ever knew; and, when it was
morning, the damsels carried me to the Hammam-bath and bathed me and
robed me in fairest apparel. Then they served up food, and we ate and drank
and the cup went round till nightfall when I chose from among them one
fair of form and face, soft-sided and a model of grace, such an one as the
poet described when he said:—
On her fair bosom caskets twain I scanned, ✿ Sealed fast with musk-seals lovers to withstand;
With arrowy glances stand on guard her eyes, ✿ Whose shafts would shoot who dares put forth a
hand.

With her I spent a most goodly night; and, to be brief, O my mistress, I
remained with them in all solace and delight of life, eating and drinking,
conversing and carousing and every night lying with one or other of them.
But at the head of the new year they came to me in tears and bade me
farewell, weeping and crying out and clinging about me; whereat I
wondered and said, "What may be the matter? verily you break my heart!"
They exclaimed, "Would Heaven we had never known thee; for, though we
have companied with many, yet never saw we a pleasanter than thou or a
more courteous." And they wept again. "But tell me more clearly," asked I,
"what causeth this weeping which maketh my gall-bladder[291] like to burst;"
and they answered, "O our lord and master, it is severance which maketh us
weep; and thou, and thou only, art the cause of our tears. If thou hearken to
us we need never be parted and if thou hearken not we part for ever; but our
hearts tell us that thou wilt not listen to our words and this is the cause of
our tears and cries." "Tell me how the case standeth?" "Know, O our lord,
that we are the daughters of Kings who have met here and have lived
together for years; and once in every year we are perforce absent for forty
days and afterwards we return and abide here for the rest of the

twelvemonth eating and drinking and taking our pleasure and enjoying
delights: we are about to depart according to our custom; and we fear lest
after we be gone thou contraire our charge and disobey our injunctions.
Here now we commit to thee the keys of the palace which containeth forty
chambers and thou mayest open of these thirty and nine, but beware (and
we conjure thee by Allah and by the lives of us!) lest thou open the fortieth
door, for therein is that which shall separate us for ever."[292] Quoth I,
"Assuredly I will not open it, if it contain the cause of severance from you."
Then one among them came up to me and falling on my neck wept and
recited these verses:—
"If Time unite us after absent-while, ✿ The world harsh frowning on our lot shall smile;
And if thy semblance deign adorn mine eyes,[293] ✿ I'll pardon Time past wrongs and by-gone
guile."

And I recited the following:—
"When drew she near to bid adieu with heart unstrung, ✿ While care and longing on that day her
bosom wrung;
Wet pearls she wept and mine like red carnelians rolled ✿ And, joined in sad rivière, around her
neck they hung."

When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah I will never open that fortieth
door, never and no wise!" and I bade her farewell. Thereupon all departed
flying away like birds; signalling with their hands farewells as they went
and leaving me alone in the palace. When evening drew near I opened the
door of the first chamber and entering it found myself in a place like one of
the pleasaunces of Paradise. It was a garden with trees of freshest green and
ripe fruits of yellow sheen; and its birds were singing clear and keen and
rills ran wimpling through the fair terrene. The sight and sounds brought
solace to my sprite; and I walked among the trees, and I smelt the breath of
the flowers on the breeze; and heard the birdies sing their melodies
hymning the One, the Almighty in sweetest litanies; and I looked upon the
apple whose hue is parcel red and parcel yellow; as said the poet:—
Apple whose hue combines in union mellow ✿ My fair's red cheek, her hapless lover's yellow.

Then I looked upon the quince, and inhaled its fragrance which putteth to
shame musk and ambergris, even as the poet hath said:—

Quince every taste conjoins; in her are found ✿ Gifts which for queen of fruits the Quince have
crowned;
Her taste is wine, her scent the waft of musk; ✿ Pure gold her hue, her shape the Moon's fair round.

Then I looked upon the pear whose taste surpasseth sherbet and sugar; and
the apricot[294] whose beauty striketh the eye with admiration, as if she were
a polished ruby. Then I went out of the place and locked the door as it was
before. When it was the morrow I opened the second door; and entering
found myself in a spacious plain set with tall date-palms and watered by a
running stream whose banks were shrubbed with bushes of rose and
jasmine, while privet and eglantine, oxe-eye, violet and lily, narcissus,
origane and the winter gilliflower carpeted the borders; and the breath of
the breeze swept over these sweet-smelling growths diffusing their
delicious odours right and left, perfuming the world and filling my soul
with delight. After taking my pleasure there awhile I went from it and,
having closed the door as it was before, opened the third door wherein I saw
a high open hall pargetted with particoloured marbles and pietra dura of
price and other precious stones, and hung with cages of sandal-wood and
eagle-wood; full of birds which made sweet music, such as the "Thousand-
voiced,"[295] and the cushat, the merle, the turtle-dove and the Nubian ring-
dove. My heart was filled with pleasure thereby; my grief was dispelled and
I slept in that aviary till dawn. Then I unlocked the door of the fourth
chamber and therein found a grand saloon with forty smaller chambers
giving upon it. All their doors stood open: so I entered and found them full
of pearls and jacinths and beryls and emeralds and corals and carbuncles,
and all manner precious gems and jewels, such as tongue of man may not
describe. My thought was stunned at the sight and I said to myself, "These
be things methinks united which could not be found save in the treasuries of
a King of Kings, nor could the monarchs of the world have collected the
like of these!" And my heart dilated and my sorrows ceased, "For," quoth I,
"now verily am I the monarch of the age, since by Allah's grace this
enormous wealth is mine; and I have forty damsels under my hand nor is
there any to claim them save myself." Then I gave not over opening place
after place until nine and thirty days were passed and in that time I had
entered every chamber except that one whose door the Princesses had
charged me not to open. But my thoughts, O my mistress, ever ran on that
forbidden fortieth[296] and Satan urged me to open it for my own undoing;
nor had I patience to forbear, albeit there wanted of the trysting time but a

single day. So I stood before the chamber aforesaid and, after a moment's
hesitation, opened the door which was plated with red gold, and entered. I
was met by a perfume whose like I had never before smelt; and so sharp
and subtle was the odour that it made my senses drunken as with strong
wine, and I fell to the ground in a fainting fit which lasted a full hour. When
I came to myself I strengthened my heart and, entering, found myself in a
chamber whose floor was bespread with saffron and blazing with light from
branched candelabra of gold and lamps fed with costly oils, which diffused
the scent of musk and ambergris. I saw there also two great censers each big
as a mazer-bowl,[297] flaming with lign-aloes, nadd-perfume,[298] ambergris
and honied scents; and the place was full of their fragrance. Presently, O my
lady, I espied a noble steed, black as the murks of night when murkiest,
standing, ready saddled and bridled (and his saddle was of red gold) before
two mangers, one of clear crystal wherein was husked sesame, and the other
also of crystal containing water of the rose scented with musk. When I saw
this I marvelled and said to myself, "Doubtless in this animal must be some
wondrous mystery;" and Satan cozened me, so I led him without the palace
and mounted him; but he would not stir from his place. So I hammered his
sides with my heels, but he moved not, and then I took the rein-whip[299] and
struck him withal. When he felt the blow, he neighed a neigh with a sound
like deafening thunder and, opening a pair of wings[300] flew up with me in
the firmament of heaven far beyond the eyesight of man. After a full hour of
flight he descended and alighted on a terrace roof and shaking me off his
back lashed me on the face with his tail and gouged out my left eye causing
it roll along my cheek. Then he flew away. I went down from the terrace
and found myself again amongst the ten one-eyed youths sitting upon their
ten couches with blue covers; and they cried out when they saw me, "No
welcome to thee, nor aught of good cheer! We all lived of lives the happiest
and we ate and drank of the best; upon brocades and cloths of gold we took
our rest, and we slept with our heads on beauty's breast, but we could not
await one day to gain the delights of a year!" Quoth I, "Behold I have
become one like unto you and now I would have you bring me a tray full of
blackness, wherewith to blacken my face, and receive me into your
society." "No, by Allah," quoth they, "thou shalt not sojourn with us and
now get thee hence!" So they drove me away. Finding them reject me thus I
foresaw that matters would go hard with me, and I remembered the many
miseries which Destiny had written upon my forehead; and I fared forth

from among them heavy-hearted and tearful-eyed, repeating to myself these
words, "I was sitting at mine ease but my frowardness brought me to
unease." Then I shaved beard and mustachios and eyebrows, renouncing the
world, and wandered in Kalandar-garb about Allah's earth; and the
Almighty decreed safety for me till I arrived at Baghdad, which was on the
evening of this very night. Here I met these two other Kalandars standing
bewildered; so I saluted them saying, "I am a stranger!" and they answered,
"And we likewise be strangers!" By the freak of Fortune we were like to
like, three Kalandars and three monoculars all blind of the left eye. Such, O
my lady, is the cause of the shearing of my beard and the manner of my
losing an eye. Said the lady to him, "Rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but
he answered, "By Allah, I will not go until I hear the stories of these
others." Then the lady, turning towards the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur,
said to them, "Do ye also give an account of yourselves, you men!"
Whereupon Ja'afar stood forth and told her what he had told the portress as
they were entering the house; and when she heard his story of their being
merchants and Mosul-men who had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant you
your lives each for each sake, and now away with you all." So they all went
out and when they were in the street, quoth the Caliph to the Kalandars, "O
company, whither go ye now, seeing that the morning hath not yet
dawned?" Quoth they, "By Allah, O our lord, we know not where to go."
"Come and pass the rest of the night with us," said the Caliph and, turning
to Ja'afar, "Take them home with thee and to-morrow bring them to my
presence that we may chronicle their adventures." Ja'afar did as the Caliph
bade him and the Commander of the Faithful returned to his palace; but
sleep gave no sign of visiting him that night and he lay awake pondering the
mishaps of the three Kalandar-princes and impatient to know the history of
the ladies and the two black bitches. No sooner had morning dawned than
he went forth and sat upon the throne of his sovereignty; and, turning to
Ja'afar, after all his Grandees and Officers of state were gathered together,
he said, "Bring me the three ladies and the two bitches and the three
Kalandars." So Ja'afar fared forth and brought them all before him (and the
ladies were veiled); then the Minister turned to them and said in the Caliph's
name, "We pardon you your maltreatment of us and your want of courtesy,
in consideration of the kindness which forewent it, and for that ye knew us
not: now however I would have you to know that ye stand in presence of
the fifth[301] of the sons of Abbas, Harun al-Rashid, brother of Caliph Músá

al-Hádi, son of Al-Mansúr; son of Mohammed the brother of Al-Saffáh bin
Mohammed who was first of the royal house. Speak ye therefore before him
the truth and the whole truth!" When the ladies heard Ja'afar's words
touching the Commander of the Faithful, the eldest came forward and said,
"O Prince of True Believers, my story is one which, were it graven with
needle-gravers upon the eye-corners were a warner for whoso would be
warned and an example for whoso can take profit from example."——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Seventeenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she stood forth before
the Commander of the Faithful and began to tell

THE ELDEST LADY'S TALE.

Verily a strange tale is mine and 'tis this:—Yon two black bitches are my
eldest sisters by one mother and father; and these two others, she who
beareth upon her the signs of stripes and the third our procuratrix are my
sisters by another mother. When my father died, each took her share of the
heritage and, after a while my mother also deceased, leaving me and my
sisters-german three thousand dinars; so each daughter received her portion
of a thousand dinars and I the same, albe the youngest. In due course of
time my sisters married with the usual festivities and lived with their
husbands, who bought merchandise with their wives' monies and set out on
their travels together. Thus they threw me off. My brothers-in-law were
absent with their wives five years, during which period they spent all the
money they had and, becoming bankrupt, deserted my sisters in foreign
parts amid stranger folk. After five years my eldest sister returned to me in
beggar's gear with her clothes in rags and tatters[302] and a dirty old mantilla;
[303]
and truly she was in the foulest and sorriest plight. At first sight I did
not know my own sister; but presently I recognised her and said "What state
is this?" "O our sister," she replied, "Words cannot undo the done; and the
reed of Destiny hath run through what Allah decreed." Then I sent her to the
bath and dressed her in a suit of mine own, and boiled for her a bouillon and
brought her some good wine and said to her, "O my sister, thou art the
eldest, who still standest to us in the stead of father and mother; and, as for
the inheritance which came to me as to you twain, Allah hath blessed it and
prospered it to me with increase; and my circumstances are easy, for I have
made much money by spinning and cleaning silk; and I and you will share
my wealth alike." I entreated her with all kindliness and she abode with me
a whole year, during which our thoughts and fancies were always full of our
other sister. Shortly after she too came home in yet fouler and sorrier plight
than that of my eldest sister; and I dealt by her still more honorably than I
had done by the first, and each of them had a share of my substance. After a
time they said to me, "O our sister, we desire to marry again, for indeed we
have not patience to drag on our days without husbands and to lead the lives
of widows bewitched;" and I replied, "O eyes of me![304] ye have hitherto
seen scanty weal in wedlock, for now-a-days good men and true are become

rareties and curiosities; nor do I deem your projects advisable, as ye have
already made trial of matrimony and have failed." But they would not
accept my advice and married without my consent: nevertheless I gave
them outfit and dowries out of my money; and they fared forth with their
mates. In a mighty little time their husbands played them false and, taking
whatever they could lay hands upon, levanted and left them in the lurch.
Thereupon they came to me ashamed and in abject case and made their
excuses to me, saying, "Pardon our fault and be not wroth with us;[305] for
although thou art younger in years yet art thou older in wit; henceforth we
will never make mention of marriage; so take us back as thy handmaidens
that we may eat our mouthful." Quoth I, "Welcome to you, O my sisters,
there is naught dearer to me than you." And I took them in and redoubled
my kindness to them. We ceased not to live after this loving fashion for a
full year, when I resolved to sell my wares abroad and first to fit me a
conveyance for Bassorah; so I equipped a large ship, and loaded her with
merchandise and valuable goods for traffic, and with provaunt and all
needful for a voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will ye abide at home whilst I
travel, or would ye prefer to accompany me on the voyage?" "We will travel
with thee," answered they, "for we cannot bear to be parted from thee." So I
divided my monies into two parts, one to accompany me and the other to be
left in charge of a trusty person, for, as I said to myself, "Haply some
accident may happen to the ship and yet we remain alive; in which case we
shall find on our return what may stand us in good stead." I took my two
sisters and we went a-voyaging some days and nights; but the master was
careless enough to miss his course, and the ship went astray with us and
entered a sea other than the sea we sought. For a time we knew naught of
this; and the wind blew fair for us ten days, after which the look-out man
went aloft to see about him and cried, "Good news!" Then he came down
rejoicing and said, "I have seen what seemeth to be a city as 'twere a
pigeon." Hereat we rejoiced and, ere an hour of the day had passed, the
buildings showed plain in the offing and we asked the Captain, "What is the
name of yonder city?" and he answered, "By Allah I wot not, for I never
saw it before and never sailed these seas in my life: but, since our troubles
have ended in safety, remains for you only to land there with your
merchandise and, if you find selling profitable, sell and make your market
of what is there; and if not, we will rest here two days and provision
ourselves and fare away." So we entered the port and the Captain went up

town and was absent awhile, after which he returned to us and said, "Arise;
go up into the city and marvel at the works of Allah with His creatures and
pray to be preserved from His righteous wrath!" So we landed and going up
into the city, saw at the gate men hending staves in hand; but when we drew
near them, behold, they had been translated[306] by the anger of Allah and
had become stones. Then we entered the city and found all who therein
woned into black stones enstoned: not an inhabited house appeared to the
espier, nor was there a blower of fire.[307] We were awe struck at the sight
and threaded the market streets where we found the goods and gold and
silver left lying in their places; and we were glad and said, "Doubtless there
is some mystery in all this." Then we dispersed about the thoroughfares and
each busied himself with collecting the wealth and money and rich stuffs,
taking scanty heed of friend or comrade. As for myself I went up to the
castle which was strongly fortified; and, entering the King's palace by its
gate of red gold, found all the vaiselle of gold and silver, and the King
himself seated in the midst of his Chamberlains and Nabobs and Emirs and
Wazirs; all clad in raiment which confounded man's art. I drew nearer and
saw him sitting on a throne incrusted and inlaid with pearls and gems; and
his robes were of gold-cloth adorned with jewels of every kind, each one
flashing like a star. Around him stood fifty Mamelukes, white slaves,
clothed in silks of divers sorts holding their drawn swords in their hands;
but when I drew near to them lo! all were black stones. My understanding
was confounded at the sight, but I walked on and entered the great hall of
the Harím,[308] whose walls I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped silk
and spread with silken carpets embroidered with golden flowers. Here I saw
the Queen lying at full length arrayed in robes purfled with fresh young[309]
pearls; on her head was a diadem set with many sorts of gems each fit for a
ring[310] and around her neck hung collars and necklaces. All her raiment and
her ornaments were in natural state but she had been turned into a black
stone by Allah's wrath. Presently I espied an open door for which I made
straight and found leading to it a flight of seven steps. So I walked up and
came upon a place pargetted with marble and spread and hung with gold-
worked carpets and tapestry, amiddlemost of which stood a throne of
juniper-wood inlaid with pearls and precious stones and set with bosses of
emeralds. In the further wall was an alcove whose curtains, bestrung with
pearls, were let down and I saw a light issuing therefrom; so I drew near
and perceived that the light came from a precious stone as big as an ostrich-

egg, set at the upper end of the alcove upon a little chryselephantine couch
of ivory and gold; and this jewel, blazing like the sun, cast its rays wide and
side. The couch also was spread with all manner of silken stuffs amazing
the gazer with their richness and beauty. I marvelled much at all this,
especially when seeing in that place candles ready lighted; and I said in my
mind, "Needs must some one have lighted these candles." Then I went forth
and came to the kitchen and thence to the buttery and the King's treasure-
chambers; and continued to explore the palace and to pace from place to
place; I forgot myself in my awe and marvel at these matters and I was
drowned in thought till the night came on. Then I would have gone forth,
but knowing not the gate I lost my way, so I returned to the alcove whither
the lighted candles directed me and sat down upon the couch; and wrapping
myself in a coverlet, after I had repeated somewhat from the Koran, I would
have slept but could not, for restlessness possessed me. When night was at
its noon I heard a voice chanting the Koran in sweetest accents; but the tone
thereof was weak; so I rose, glad to hear the silence broken, and followed
the sound until I reached a closet whose door stood ajar. Then peeping
through a chink I considered the place and lo! it was an oratory wherein
was a prayer-niche[311] with two wax candles burning and lamps hanging
from the ceiling. In it too was spread a prayer-carpet whereupon sat a youth
fair to see; and before him on its stand[312] was a copy of the Koran, from
which he was reading. I marvelled to see him alone alive amongst the
people of the city and entering saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes
and returned my salam. Quoth I, "Now by the Truth of what thou readest in
Allah's Holy Book, I conjure thee to answer my question." He looked upon
me with a smile and said, "O handmaid of Allah, first tell me the cause of
thy coming hither, and I in turn will tell what hath befallen both me and the
people of this city, and what was the reason of my escaping their doom." So
I told him my story whereat he wondered; and I questioned him of the
people of the city, when he replied, "Have patience with me for awhile, O
my sister!" and, reverently closing the Holy Book, he laid it up in a satin
bag. Then he seated me by his side; and I looked at him and behold, he was
as the moon at its full, fair of face and rare of form, soft-sided and slight, of
well-proportioned height, and cheek smoothly bright and diffusing light; in
brief a sweet, a sugar-stick,[313] even as saith the poet of the like of him in
these couplets:—

That night th' astrologer a scheme of planets drew, ✿ And lo! a graceful shape of youth appeared in
view:
Saturn had stained his locks with Saturninest jet, ✿ And spots of nut-brown musk on rosy side-face
blew:[314]
Mars tinctured either cheek with tinct of martial red; ✿ Sagittal shots from eyelids Sagittarius
threw:
Dowered him Mercury with bright mercurial wit; ✿ Bore off the Bear[315] what all man's evil
glances grew:
Amazed stood Astrophil to sight the marvel-birth ✿ When louted low the Moon at full to buss the
Earth.

And of a truth Allah the Most High had robed him in the raiment of perfect
grace and had purfled and fringed it with a cheek all beauty and loveliness,
even as the poet saith of such an one:—
By his eyelids shedding perfume and his fine slim waist I swear, ✿ By the shooting of his shafts
barbed with sorcery passing rare;
By the softness of his sides,[316] and glances' lingering light; ✿ And brow of dazzling day-tide ray
and night within his hair;
By his eyebrows which deny to who look upon them rest, ✿ Now bidding now forbidding, ever
dealing joy and care;
By the rose that decks his cheek, and the myrtle of its moss;[317] ✿ By jacinths bedded in his lips
and pearl his smile lays bare;
By his graceful bending neck and the curving of his breast; ✿ Whose polished surface beareth those
granados, lovely pair;
By his heavy hips that quiver as he passeth in his pride; ✿ Or he resteth with that waist which is
slim beyond compare;
By the satin of his skin, by that fine unsullied sprite; ✿ By the beauty that containeth all things
bright and debonnair;
By that ever-open hand; by the candour of his tongue; ✿ By noble blood and high degree whereof
he's hope and heir;
Musk from him borrows muskiness she loveth to exhale; ✿ And all the airs of ambergris through
him perfume the air;
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, before my love would pale; ✿ And sans his splendour
would appear a paring of his nail.[318]

I glanced at him with one glance of eyes which caused me a thousand sighs;
and my heart was at once taken captive-wise; so I asked him, "O my lord
and my love, tell me that whereof I questioned thee;" and he answered,
"Hearing is obeying! Know, O handmaid of Allah, that this city was the
capital of my father who is the King thou sawest on the throne transfigured
by Allah's wrath to a black stone, and the Queen thou foundest in the alcove
is my mother. They and all the people of the city were Magians who fire
adored in lieu of the Omnipotent Lord[319] and were wont to swear by lowe
and heat and shade and light, and the spheres revolving day and night. My

father had ne'er a son till he was blest with me near the last of his days; and
he reared me till I grew up and prosperity anticipated me in all things. Now
it so fortuned there was with us an old woman well stricken in years, a
Moslemah who, inwardly believing in Allah and His Apostle, conformed
outwardly with the religion of my people; and my father placed thorough
confidence in her for that he knew her to be trustworthy and virtuous; and
he treated her with ever-increasing kindness believing her to be of his own
belief. So when I was well-nigh grown up my father committed me to her
charge saying:—Take him and educate him and teach him the rules of our
faith; let him have the best instructions and cease not thy fostering care of
him. So she took me and taught me the tenets of Al-Islam with the divine
ordinances[320] of the Wuzu-ablution and the five daily prayers and she made
me learn the Koran by rote, often repeating:—Serve none save Allah
Almighty! When I had mastered this much of knowledge she said to me:—
O my son, keep this matter concealed from thy sire and reveal naught to
him lest he slay thee. So I hid it from him and I abode on this wise for a
term of days when the old woman died, and the people of the city redoubled
in their impiety[321] and arrogance and the error of their ways. One day,
while they were as wont, behold, they heard a loud and terrible sound and a
crier crying out with a voice like roaring thunder so every ear could hear,
far and near:—O folk of this city leave ye your fire-worshipping and adore
Allah the All-compassionate King! At this, fear and terror fell upon the
citizens and they crowded to my father (he being King of the city) and
asked him:—What is this awesome voice we have heard, for it hath
confounded us with the excess of its terror?; and he answered:—Let not a
voice fright you nor shake your steadfast sprite nor turn you back from the
faith which is right. Their hearts inclined to his words and they ceased not
to worship the fire and they persisted in rebellion for a full year from the
time they heard the first voice; and on the anniversary came a second cry
and a third at the head of the third year, each year once. Still they persisted
in their malpractices till one day at break of dawn, judgment and the wrath
of Heaven descended upon them with all suddenness, and by the visitation
of Allah all were metamorphosed into black stones,[322] they and their beasts
and their cattle; and none was saved save myself who at the time was
engaged in my devotions. From that day to this I am in the case thou seest,
constant in prayer and fasting and reading and reciting the Koran; but I am
indeed grown weary by reason of my loneliness, having none to bear me

company." Then said I to him (for in very sooth he had won my heart and
was the lord of my life and soul), "O youth, wilt thou fare with me to
Baghdad city and visit the Olema and men learned in the law and doctors of
divinity and get thee increase of wisdom and understanding and theology?
And know that she who standeth in thy presence will be thy handmaid,
albeit she be head of her family and mistress over men and eunuchs and
servants and slaves. Indeed my life was no life before it fell in with thy
youth. I have here a ship laden with merchandise; and in very truth Destiny
drove me to this city that I might come to the knowledge of these matters,
for it was fated that we should meet. And I ceased not to persuade him and
speak him fair and use every art till he consented."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Eighteenth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady ceased
not persuading with soft speech the youth to depart with her till he
consented and said "Yes." She slept that night lying at his feet and hardly
knowing where she was for excess of joy. As soon as the next morning
dawned (she pursued, addressing the Caliph), I arose and we entered the
treasuries and took thence whatever was light in weight and great in worth;
then we went down side by side from the castle to the city, where we were
met by the Captain and my sisters and slaves who had been seeking for me.
When they saw me they rejoiced and asked what had stayed me, and I told
them all I had seen and related to them the story of the young Prince and the
transformation wherewith the citizens had been justly visited. Hereat all
marvelled, but when my two sisters (these two bitches, O Commander of
the Faithful!) saw me by the side of my young lover they jaloused me on his
account and were wroth and plotted mischief against me. We awaited a fair
wind and went on board rejoicing and ready to fly for joy by reason of the
goods we had gotten, but my own greatest joyance was in the youth; and we
waited awhile till the wind blew fair for us and then we set sail and fared
forth. Now as we sat talking, my sisters asked me, "And what wilt thou do
with this handsome young man?"; and I answered, "I purpose to make him
my husband!" Then I turned to him and said, "O my lord, I have that to
propose to thee wherein thou must not cross me; and this it is that, when we
reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer thee my life as thy handmaiden in

holy matrimony, and thou shalt be to me baron and I will be femme to
thee." He answered, "I hear and I obey!; thou art my lady and my mistress
and whatso thou doest I will not gainsay." Then I turned to my sisters and
said, "This is my gain; I content me with this youth and those who have
gotten aught of my property let them keep it as their gain with my good
will." "Thou sayest and doest well," answered the twain, but they imagined
mischief against me. We ceased not spooning before a fair wind till we had
exchanged the sea of peril for the seas of safety and, in a few days, we
made Bassorah-city, whose buildings loomed clear before us as evening
fell. But after we had retired to rest and were sound asleep, my two sisters
arose and took me up, bed and all, and threw me into the sea: they did the
same with the young Prince who, as he could not swim, sank and was
drowned and Allah enrolled him in the noble army of Martyrs.[323] As for me
would Heaven I had been drowned with him, but Allah deemed that I
should be of the saved; so when I awoke and found myself in the sea and
saw the ship making off like a flash of lightning, He threw in my way a
piece of timber which I bestrided, and the waves tossed me to and fro till
they cast me upon an island coast, a high land and an uninhabited. I landed
and walked about the island the rest of the night and, when morning
dawned, I saw a rough track barely fit for child of Adam to tread, leading to
what proved a shallow ford connecting island and mainland. As soon as the
sun had risen I spread my garments to dry in its rays; and ate of the fruits of
the island and drank of its waters; then I set out along the foot-track and
ceased not walking till I reached the mainland. Now when there remained
between me and the city but a two hours' journey behold, a great serpent,
the bigness of a date-palm, came fleeing towards me in all haste, gliding
along now to the right then to the left till she was close upon me, whilst her
tongue lolled ground-wards a span long and swept the dust as she went. She
was pursued by a Dragon[324] who was not longer than two lances, and of
slender build about the bulk of a spear and, although her terror lent her
speed, and she kept wriggling from side to side, he overtook her and seized
her by the tail, whereat her tears streamed down and her tongue was thrust
out in her agony. I took pity on her and, picking up a stone and calling upon
Allah for aid, threw it at the Dragon's head with such force that he died then
and there; and the serpent opening a pair of wings flew into the lift and
disappeared from before my eyes. I sat down marvelling over that
adventure, but I was weary and, drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I

was for a while. When I awoke I found a jet-black damsel sitting at my feet
shampooing them; and by her side stood two black bitches (my sisters, O
Commander of the Faithful!). I was ashamed before her[325] and, sitting up,
asked her, "O my sister, who and what art thou?"; and she answered, "How
soon hast thou forgotten me! I am she for whom thou wroughtest a good
deed and sowedest the seed of gratitude and slewest her foe; for I am the
serpent whom by Allah's aidance thou didst just now deliver from the
Dragon. I am a Jinniyah and he was a Jinn who hated me, and none saved
my life from him save thou. As soon as thou freedest me from him I flew on
the wind to the ship whence thy sisters threw thee, and removed all that was
therein to thy house. Then I ordered my attendant Marids to sink the ship
and I transformed thy two sisters into these black bitches; for I know all that
hath passed between them and thee; but as for the youth, of a truth he is
drowned. So saying she flew up with me and the bitches, and presently set
us down on the terrace-roof of my house, wherein I found ready stored the
whole of what property was in my ship, nor was aught of it missing. Now
(continued the serpent that was), I swear by all engraven on the seal-ring of
Solomon[326] (with whom be peace!) unless thou deal to each of these
bitches three hundred stripes every day I will come and imprison thee for
ever under the earth." I answered, "Hearkening and obedience!"; and away
she flew. But before going she again charged me saying, "I again swear by
Him who made the two seas flow[327] (and this be my second oath) if thou
gainsay me I will come and transform thee like thy sisters." Since then I
have never failed, O Commander of the Faithful, to beat them with that
number of blows till their blood flows with my tears, I pitying them the
while, and well they wot that their being scourged is no fault of mine and
they accept my excuses. And this is my tale and my history! The Caliph
marvelled at her adventures and then signed to Ja'afar who said to the
second lady, the Portress, "And thou, how camest thou by the welts and
wheals upon thy body?" So she began the

TALE OF THE PORTRESS.

Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that I had a father who, after fulfilling
his time, deceased and left me great store of wealth. I remained single for a
short time and presently married one of the richest of his day. I abode with
him a year when he also died, and my share of his property amounted to
eighty thousand dinars in gold according to the holy law of inheritance.[328]
Thus I became passing rich and my reputation spread far and wide, for I had
made me ten changes of raiment, each worth a thousand dinars. One day as
I was sitting at home, behold, there came in to me an old woman[329] with
lantern jaws and cheeks sucked in, and eyes rucked up, and eyebrows scant
and scald, and head bare and bald; and teeth broken by time and mauled,
and back bending and neck-nape nodding, and face blotched, and rheum
running, and hair like a snake black-and-white-speckled, in complexion a
very fright, even as saith the poet of the like of her:—
Ill-omened hag! unshriven be her sins ✿ Nor mercy visit her on dying bed:
Thousand head-strongest he-mules would her guiles, ✿ Despite their bolting, lead with spider
thread.

And as saith another:—
A hag to whom th' unlawful lawfullest ✿ And witchcraft wisdom in her sight are grown:
A mischief-making brat, a demon-maid, ✿ A whorish woman and a pimping crone.[330]

When the old woman entered she salamed to me and kissing the ground
before me, said, "I have at home an orphan daughter and this night are her
wedding and her displaying.[331] We be poor folks and strangers in this city
knowing none inhabitant and we are broken-hearted. So do thou earn for
thyself a recompense and a reward in Heaven by being present at her
displaying and, when the ladies of this city shall hear that thou art to make
act of presence, they also will present themselves; so shalt thou comfort her
affliction, for she is sore bruised in spirit and she hath none to look to save
Allah the Most High." Then she wept and kissed my feet reciting these
couplets:—

Thy presence bringeth us a grace ✿ We own before thy winsome face:
And wert thou absent ne'er an one ✿ Could stand in stead or take thy place.

So pity gat hold on me and compassion and I said, "Hearing is consenting
and, please Allah, I will do somewhat more for her; nor shall she be shown
to her bridegroom save in my raiment and ornaments and jewelry." At this
the old woman rejoiced and bowed her head to my feet and kissed them,
saying, "Allah requite thee weal, and comfort thy heart even as thou has
comforted mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself to do me this
service at this hour; be thou ready by supper-time,[332] when I will come and
fetch thee." So saying she kissed my hand and went her ways. I set about
stringing my pearls and donning my brocades and making my toilette, little
recking what Fortune had in womb for me, when suddenly the old woman
stood before me, simpering and smiling till she showed every tooth stump,
and quoth she, "O my mistress, the city madams have arrived and when I
apprized them that thou promisedst to be present, they were glad and they
are now awaiting thee and looking eagerly for thy coming and for the
honour of meeting thee." So I threw on my mantilla and, making the old
crone walk before me and my handmaidens behind me, I fared till we came
to a street well watered and swept neat, where the winnowing breeze blew
cool and sweet. Here we were stopped by a gate arched over with a dome of
marble stone firmly seated on solidest foundation, and leading to a Palace
whose walls from earth rose tall and proud, and whose pinnacle was
crowned by the clouds,[333] and over the doorway were writ these couplets:
—
I am the wone where Mirth shall ever smile; ✿ The home of Joyance through my lasting while:
And 'mid my court a fountain jets and flows, ✿ Nor tears nor troubles shall that fount defile:
The marge with royal Nu'uman's[334] bloom is dight, ✿ Myrtle, Narcissus-flower and Chamomile.

Arrived at the gate, before which hung a black curtain, the old woman
knocked and it was opened to us; when we entered and found a vestibule
spread with carpets and hung around with lamps all alight and wax candles
in candelabra adorned with pendants of precious gems and noble ores. We
passed on through this passage till we entered a saloon, whose like for
grandeur and beauty is not to be found in this world. It was hung and
carpeted with silken stuffs, and was illuminated with branches, sconces and
tapers ranged in double row, an avenue abutting on the upper or noble end
of the saloon, where stood a couch of juniper-wood encrusted with pearls

and gems and surmounted by a baldaquin with mosquito-curtains of satin
looped up with margarites. And hardly had we taken note of this when there
came forth from the baldaquin a young lady and I looked, O Commander of
the Faithful, upon a face and form more perfect than the moon when fullest,
with a favour brighter than the dawn gleaming with saffron-hued light, even
as the poet sang when he said:—
Thou pacest the palace a marvel-sight, ✿ A bride for a Kisrá's or Kaisar's night!
Wantons the rose on thy roseate cheek, ✿ O cheek as the blood of the dragon[335] bright!
Slim-waisted, languorous, sleepy-eyed, ✿ With charms which promise all love-delight:
And the tire which attires thy tiara'd brow ✿ Is a night of woe on a morn's glad light.

The fair young girl came down from the estrade and said to me, "Welcome
and well come and good cheer to my sister, the dearly-beloved, the
illustrious, and a thousand greetings!" Then she recited these couplets:—
An but the house could know who cometh 'twould rejoice, ✿ And kiss the very dust whereon thy
foot was placed;
And with the tongue of circumstance the walls would say, ✿ "Welcome and hail to one with
generous gifts engraced!"

Then sat she down and said to me, "O my sister, I have a brother who hath
had sight of thee at sundry wedding-feasts and festive seasons: he is a youth
handsomer than I, and he hath fallen desperately in love with thee, for that
bounteous Destiny hath garnered in thee all beauty and perfection; and he
hath given silver to this old woman that she might visit thee; and she hath
contrived on this wise to foregather us twain. He hath heard that thou art
one of the nobles of thy tribe nor is he aught less in his; and, being desirous
to ally his lot with thy lot, he hath practised this device to bring me in
company with thee; for he is fain to marry thee after the ordinance of Allah
and his Apostle; and in what is lawful and right there is no shame." When I
heard these words and saw myself fairly entrapped in the house, I said,
"Hearing is consenting." She was delighted at this and clapped her hands;
[336]
whereupon a door opened and out of it came a young man blooming in
the prime of life, exquisitely dressed, a model of beauty and loveliness and
symmetry and perfect grace, with gentle winning manners and eyebrows
like a bended bow and shaft on cord, and eyes which bewitched all hearts
with sorcery lawful in the sight of the Lord; even as saith some rhymer
describing the like of him:—

His face as the face of the young moon shines ✿ And Fortune stamps him with pearls for signs.[337]

And Allah favour him who said:—
Blest be his beauty; blest the Lord's decree ✿ Who cast and shaped a thing so bright of blee:
All gifts of beauty he conjoins in one; ✿ Lost in his love is all humanity;
For Beauty's self inscribed on his brow ✿ "I testify there be no Good but he!"[338]

When I looked at him my heart inclined to him and I loved him; and he sat
by my side and talked with me a while, when the young lady again clapped
her hands and behold, a side-door opened and out of it came the Kazi with
his four assessors as witnesses; and they saluted us and, sitting down, drew
up and wrote out the marriage-contract between me and the youth and

retired. Then he turned to me and said, "Be our night blessed," presently
adding, "O my lady, I have a condition to lay on thee." Quoth I, "O my lord,
what is that?" Whereupon he arose and fetching a copy of the Holy Book
presented it to me saying, "Swear hereon thou wilt never look at any other
than myself nor incline thy body or thy heart to him." I swore readily
enough to this and he joyed with exceeding joy and embraced me round the
neck while love for him possessed my whole heart. Then they set the
table[339] before us and we ate and drank till we were satisfied; but I was
dying for the coming of the night. And when night did come he led me to
the bride-chamber and slept with me on the bed and continued to kiss and
embrace me till the morning—such a night I had never seen in my dreams. I
lived with him a life of happiness and delight for a full month, at the end of
which I asked his leave[340] to go on foot to the bazar and buy me certain
especial stuffs and he gave me permission. So I donned my mantilla and,
taking with me the old woman and a slave-girl,[341] I went to the khan of the
silk-mercers, where I seated myself in the shop-front of a young merchant
whom the old woman recommended, saying to me, "This youth's father
died when he was a boy and left him great store of wealth: he hath by him a
mighty fine[342] stock of goods and thou wilt find what thou seekest with
him, for none in the bazar hath better stuffs than he." Then she said to him,
"Show this lady the most costly stuffs thou hast by thee;" and he replied,
"Hearkening and obedience!" Then she whispered me, "Say a civil word to
him!"; but I replied, "I am pledged to address no man save my lord." And as
she began to sound his praise I said sharply to her, "We want nought of thy
sweet speeches; our wish is to buy of him whatsoever we need, and return
home." So he brought me all I sought and I offered him his money, but he
refused to take it saying, "Let it be a gift offered to my guest this day!"
Then quoth I to the old woman, "If he will not take the money, give him
back his stuff." "By Allah," cried he, "not a thing will I take from thee: I sell
it not for gold or for silver, but I give it all as a gift for a single kiss; a kiss
more precious to me than everything the shop containeth." Asked the old
woman, "What will the kiss profit thee?"; and, turning to me, whispered, "O
my daughter, thou hearest what this young fellow saith? What harm will it
do thee if he get a kiss from thee and thou gettest what thou seekest at that
price?" Replied I, "I take refuge with Allah from such action! Knowest thou
not that I am bound by an oath?"[343] But she answered, "Now whist! just let
him kiss thee and neither speak to him nor lean over him, so shalt thou keep

thine oath and thy silver, and no harm whatever shall befal thee." And she
ceased not to persuade me and importune me and make light of the matter
till evil entered into my mind and I put my head in the poke[344] and,
declaring I would ne'er consent, consented. So I veiled my eyes and held up
the edge of my mantilla between me and the people passing and he put his
mouth to my cheek under the veil. But while kissing me he bit me so hard a
bite that it tore the flesh from my cheek,[345] and blood flowed fast and
faintness came over me. The old woman caught me in her arms and, when I
came to myself, I found the shop shut up and her sorrowing over me and
saying "Thank Allah for averting which might have been worse!" Then she
said to me, "Come, take heart and let us go home before the matter become
public and thou be dishonoured. And when thou art safe inside the house
feign sickness and lie down and cover thyself up; and I will bring thee
powders and plasters to cure this bite withal, and thy wound will be healed
at the latest in three days." So after a while I arose and I was in extreme
distress and terror came full upon me; but I went on little by little till I
reached the house when I pleaded illness and lay me down. When it was
night my husband came in to me and said, "What hath befallen thee, O my
darling, in this excursion of thine?"; and I replied, "I am not well: my head
acheth badly." Then he lighted a candle and drew near me and looked hard
at me and asked, "What is that wound I see on thy cheek and in the
tenderest part too?" And I answered, "When I went out to-day with thy
leave to buy stuffs, a camel laden with firewood jostled me and one of the
pieces tore my veil and wounded my cheek as thou seest; for indeed the
ways of this city are strait." "To-morrow," cried he, "I will go complain to
the Governor, so shall he gibbet every fuel-seller in Baghdad." "Allah upon
thee," said I, "burden not thy soul with such sin against any man. The fact is
I was riding on an ass and it stumbled, throwing me to the ground; and my
cheek lighted upon a stick or a bit of glass and got this wound." "Then,"
said he, "to-morrow I will go up to Ja'afar the Barmaki and tell him the
story, so shall he kill every donkey-boy in Baghdad." "Wouldst thou destroy
all these men because of my wound," said I, "when this which befel me was
by decree of Allah and His destiny?" But he answered, "There is no help for
it;" and, springing to his feet, plied me with words and pressed me till I was
perplexed and frightened; and I stuttered and stammered and my speech
waxed thick and I said, "This is a mere accident by decree of Allah." Then,
O Commander of the Faithful, he guessed my case and said, "Thou hast

been false to thine oath." He at once cried out with a loud cry, whereupon a
door opened and in came seven black slaves whom he commanded to drag
me from my bed and throw me down in the middle of the room.
Furthermore, he ordered one of them to pinion my elbows and squat upon
my head; and a second to sit upon my knees and secure my feet; and
drawing his sword he gave it to a third and said, "Strike her, O Sa'ad, and
cut her in twain and let each one take half and cast it into the Tigris[346] that
the fish may eat her; for such is the retribution due to those who violate
their vows and are unfaithful to their love." And he redoubled in wrath and
recited these couplets:—
An there be one who shares with me her love, ✿ I'd strangle Love tho' life by Love were slain;
Saying, O Soul, Death were the nobler choice, ✿ For ill is Love when shared 'twixt partners twain.

Then he repeated to the slave, "Smite her, O Sa'ad!" And when the slave
who was sitting upon me made sure of the command he bent down to me
and said, "O my mistress, repeat the profession of Faith and bethink thee if
there be any thing thou wouldst have done; for verily this is the last hour of
thy life." "O good slave," said I, "wait but a little while and get off my head
that I may charge thee with my last injunctions." Then I raised my head and
saw the state I was in, how I had fallen from high degree into lowest
disgrace; and into death after life (and such life!) and how I had brought my
punishment on myself by my own sin; whereupon the tears streamed from
mine eyes and I wept with exceeding weeping. But he looked on me with
eyes of wrath, and began repeating:—
Tell her who turneth from our love to work it injury sore, ✿ And taketh her a fine new love the old
love tossing o'er:
We cry enough o' thee ere thou enough of us shalt cry! ✿ What past between us doth suffice and
haply something more.[347]

When I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, I wept and looked at him
and began repeating these couplets:—

To severance you doom my love and all unmoved remain; ✿ My tear-sore lids you sleepless make
and sleep while I complain:
You make firm friendship reign between mine eyes and insomny; ✿ Yet can my heart forget you
not, nor tears can I restrain:
You made me swear with many an oath my troth to hold for aye; ✿ But when you reigned my
bosom's lord you wrought me traitor-bane:
I loved you like a silly child who wots not what is Love; ✿ Then spare the learner, let her not be by
the master slain!
By Allah's name I pray you write, when I am dead and gone, ✿ Upon my tomb, This died of Love
whose senses Love had ta'en:
Then haply one shall pass that way who fire of Love hath felt, ✿ And treading on a lover's heart
with ruth and woe shall melt.

When I ended my verses tears came again; but the poetry and the weeping
only added fury to his fury, and he recited:—
'Twas not satiety bade me leave the dearling of my soul, ✿ But that she sinned a mortal sin which
clipt me in its clip:
She sought to let another share the love between us twain, ✿ But my True Faith of Unity refuseth
partnership.[348]

When he ceased reciting I wept again and prayed his pardon and humbled
myself before him and spoke him softly, saying to myself, "I will work on
him with words; so haply he will refrain from slaying me, even though he
take all I have." So I complained of my sufferings and began to repeat these
couplets:—
Now, by thy life and wert thou just my life thou hadst not ta'en, ✿ But who can break the
severance-law which parteth lovers twain!
Thou loadest me with heavy weight of longing love, when I ✿ Can hardly bear my chemisette for
weakness and for pain:
I marvel not to see my life and soul in ruin Iain ✿ I marvel much to see my frame such severance-
pangs sustain.

When I ended my verse I wept again; and he looked at me and reviled me in
abusive language,[349] repeating these couplets:—
Thou wast all taken up with love of other man, not me; ✿ 'Twas thine to show me severance-face,
'twas only mine to see:
I'll leave thee for that first thou wast of me to take thy leave ✿ And patient bear that parting blow
thou borest so patiently:
E'en as thou soughtest other love, so other love I'll seek, ✿ And make the crime of murdering love
thine own atrocity.

When he had ended his verses he again cried out to the slave, "Cut her in
half and free us from her, for we have no profit of her." So the slave drew
near me, O Commander of the Faithful, and I ceased bandying verses and
made sure of death and, despairing of life, committed my affairs to
Almighty Allah, when behold, the old woman rushed in and threw herself at
my husband's feet and kissed them and wept and said, "O my son, by the
rights of my fosterage and by my long service to thee, I conjure thee pardon
this young lady, for indeed she hath done nothing deserving such doom.
Thou art a very young man and I fear lest her death be laid at thy door; for
it is said:—Whoso slayeth shall be slain. As for this wanton (since thou
deemest her such) drive her out from thy doors, from thy love and from thy
heart." And she ceased not to weep and importune him till he relented and
said, "I pardon her, but needs must I set on her my mark which shall show
upon her all her life." Then he bade the slaves drag me along the ground
and lay me out at full length, after stripping me of all my clothes;[350] and
when the slaves had so sat upon me that I could not move, he fetched in a
rod of quince-tree and came down with it upon my body, and continued
beating me on the back and sides till I lost consciousness from excess of
pain, and I despaired of life. Then he commanded the slaves to take me
away as soon as it was dark, together with the old woman to show them the
way and throw me upon the floor of the house wherein I dwelt before my
marriage. They did their lord's bidding and cast me down in my old home
and went their ways. I did not revive from my swoon till dawn appeared,
when I applied myself to the dressing of my wounds with ointments and
other medicaments; and I medicined myself, but my sides and ribs still
showed signs of the rod as thou hast seen. I lay in weakly case and confined
to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health returned to
me. At the end of that time I went to the house where all this had happened
and found it a ruin; the street had been pulled down endlong and rubbish-
heaps rose where the building erst was; nor could I learn how this had come
about. Then I betook myself to this my sister on my father's side and found
with her these two black bitches. I saluted her and told her what had betided
me and the whole of my story and she said, "O my sister, who is safe from
the despite of Time and secure? Thanks be to Allah who hath brought thee
off safely;" and she began to say:—
Such is the World, so bear a patient heart ✿ When riches leave thee and when friends depart!

Then she told me her own story, and what had happened to her with her two
sisters and how matters had ended; so we abode together and the subject of
marriage was never on our tongues for all these years. After a while we
were joined by our other sister, the procuratrix, who goeth out every
morning and buyeth all we require for the day and night; and we continued
in such condition till this last night. In the morning our sister went out, as
usual, to make her market and then befel us what befel from bringing the
Porter into the house and admitting these three Kalandar-men.
We entreated them kindly and honourably and a quarter of the night had not
passed ere three grave and respectable merchants from Mosul joined us and
told us their adventures. We sat talking with them but on one condition
which they violated, whereupon we treated them as sorted with their breach
of promise, and made them repeat the account they had given of
themselves. They did our bidding and we forgave their offence; so they
departed from us and this morning we were unexpectedly summoned to thy
presence. And such is our story! The Caliph wondered at her words and
bade the tale be recorded and chronicled and laid up in his muniment-
chambers.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.

Now when it was the Nineteenth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
commanded this story and those of the sister and the Kalandars to be
recorded in the archives and be set in the royal muniment-chambers. Then
he asked the eldest lady, the mistress of the house, "Knowest thou the
whereabouts of the Ifritah who spelled thy sisters?"; and she answered, "O
Commander of the Faithful, she gave me a ringlet of her hair saying:—
Whenas thou wouldest see me, burn a couple of these hairs and I will be
with thee forthright, even though I were beyond Caucasus-mountain."
Quoth the Caliph, "Bring me hither the hair." So she brought it and he threw
the whole lock upon the fire. As soon as the odour of the burning hair
dispread itself, the palace shook and trembled, and all present heard a
rumbling and rolling of thunder and a noise as of wings and lo! the Jinniyah
who had been a serpent stood in the Caliph's presence. Now she was a
Moslemah, so she saluted him and said, "Peace be with thee O Vicar[351] of
Allah;" whereto he replied, "And with thee also be peace and the mercy of

Allah and His blessing." Then she continued, "Know that this damsel sowed
for me the seed of kindness, wherefor I cannot enough requite her, in that
she delivered me from death and destroyed mine enemy. Now I had seen
how her sisters dealt with her and felt myself bound to avenge her on them.
At first I was minded to slay them, but I feared it would be grievous to her,
so I transformed them to bitches; but if thou desire their release, O
Commander of the Faithful, I will release them to pleasure thee and her for
I am of the Moslems." Quoth the Caliph, "Release them and after we will
look into the affair of the beaten lady and consider her case carefully; and if
the truth of her story be evidenced I will exact retaliation[352] from him who
wronged her." Said the Ifritah, "O Commander of the Faithful, I will
forthwith release them and will discover to thee the man who did that deed
by this lady and wronged her and took her property, and he is the nearest of
all men to thee!" So saying she took a cup of water and muttered a spell
over it and uttered words there was no understanding; then she sprinkled
some of the water over the faces of the two bitches, saying, "Return to your
former human shape!" whereupon they were restored to their natural forms
and fell to praising their Creator. Then said the Ifritah, "O Commander of
the Faithful, of a truth he who scourged this lady with rods is thy son Al-
Amin brother of Al-Maamun;[353] for he had heard of her beauty and
loveliness and he played a lover's stratagem with her and married her
according to the law and committed the crime (such as it is) of scourging
her. Yet indeed he is not to be blamed for beating her, for he laid a condition
on her and swore her by a solemn oath not to do a certain thing; however,
she was false to her vow and he was minded to put her to death, but he
feared Almighty Allah and contented himself with scourging her, as thou
hast seen, and with sending her back to her own place. Such is the story of
the second lady and the Lord knoweth all." When the Caliph heard these
words of the Ifritah, and knew who had beaten the damsel, he marvelled
with mighty marvel and said, "Praise be to Allah, the Most High, the
Almighty, who hath shown His exceeding mercy towards me, enabling me
to deliver these two damsels from sorcery and torture, and vouchsafing to
let me know the secret of this lady's history! And now by Allah, we will do
a deed which shall be recorded of us after we are no more." Then he
summoned his son Al-Amin and questioned him of the story of the second
lady, the portress; and he told it in the face of truth; whereupon the Caliph
bade call into presence the Kazis and their witnesses and the three

Kalandars and the first lady with her sisters german who had been
ensorcelled; and he married the three to the three Kalandars whom he knew
to be princes and sons of Kings and he appointed them chamberlains about
his person, assigning to them stipends and allowances and all that they
required, and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. He returned the beaten
lady to his son, Al-Amin, renewing the marriage-contract between them and
gave her great wealth and bade rebuild the house fairer than it was before.
As for himself he took to wife the procuratrix and lay with her that night:
and next day he set apart for her an apartment in his Serraglio, with
handmaidens for her service and a fixed daily allowance. And the people
marvelled at their Caliph's generosity and natural beneficence and princely
wisdom; nor did he forget to send all these histories to be recorded in his
annals. When Shahrazad ceased speaking Dunyazad exclaimed, "O my own
sister, by Allah in very sooth this is a right pleasant tale and a delectable;
never was heard the like of it, but prithee tell me now another story to while
away what yet remaineth of the waking hours of this our night." She
replied, "With love and gladness if the King give me leave;" and he said,
"Tell thy tale and tell it quickly." So she began, in these words,

138. The name of this celebrated successor of Nineveh, where some
suppose The Nights were written, is orig. Μεσοπύλαι (middle-gates)
because it stood on the way where four great highways meet. The
Arab. form "Mausil" (the vulgar "Mosul") is also significant, alluding
to the "junction" of Assyria and Babylonia. Hence our "muslin."

139. This is Mr. Thackeray's "nose-bag." I translate by "walking-shoes"
the Arab "Khuff" which are a manner of loose boot covering the
ankle; they are not usually embroidered, the ornament being reserved
for the inner shoe.

140. i.e. Syria (says Abulfeda) the "land on the left" (of one facing the
east) as opposed to Al-Yaman the "land on the right." Osmani would
mean Turkish, Ottoman. When Bernard the Wise (Bohn, p. 24) speaks
of "Bagada and Axiam" (Mabillon's text) or "Axinarri" (still worse),
he means Baghdad and Ash-Shám (Syria, Damascus), the latter word
puzzling his Editor. Richardson (Dissert. lxxii) seems to support a

hideous attempt to derive Shám from Shámat, a mole or wart,
because the country is studded with hillocks! Al-Shám is often
applied to Damascus-city whose proper name Dimishk belongs to
books: this term is generally derived from Dimáshik b. Káli b. Málik
b. Sham (Shem). Lee (Ibn Batútah, 29) denies that ha-Dimishki
means "Eliezer of Damascus."

141. From Oman=Eastern Arabia.

142. Arab. "Tamar Hanná" lit. date of Henna, but applied to the flower of
the eastern privet (Lawsonia inermis) which has the sweet scent of
freshly mown hay. The use of Henna as a dye is known even in
England. The "myrtle" alluded to may either have been for a perfume
(as it is held an anti-intoxicant) or for eating, the bitter aromatic
berries of the "Ás" being supposed to flavour wine and especially
Raki (raw brandy).

143. Lane. (i. 211) pleasantly remarks, "A list of these sweets is given in
my original, but I have thought it better to omit the names" (!) Dozy
does not shirk his duty, but he is not much more satisfactory in
explaining words interesting to students because they are unfound in
dictionaries and forgotten by the people "Akrás" (cakes) Laymuníyah
(of limes) wa "Maymuníyah" appears in the Bresl. Edit. as
"Ma'amuniyah" which may mean "Ma'amun's cakes" or "delectable
cakes." "Amshát"=(combs) perhaps refers to a fine kind of Kunáfah
(vermicelli) known in Egypt and Syria as "Ghazl al-banát"=girl's
spinning.

144. The new moon carefully looked for by all Moslems because it begins
the Ramazán-fast.

145. Solomon's signet ring has before been noticed.

146. The "high-bosomed" damsel, with breasts firm as a cube, is a
favourite with Arab tale-tellers. Fanno baruffa is the Italian term for
hard breasts pointing outwards.

147. A large hollow navel is looked upon not only as a beauty, but in
children it is held a promise of good growth.

148. Arab. "Ka'ah," a high hall opening upon the central court: we shall
find the word used for a mansion, barrack, men's quarters, etc.

149. Babel=Gate of God (El), or Gate of Ilu (P.N. of God), which the Jews
ironically interpreted "Confusion." The tradition of Babylonia being
the very centre of witchcraft and enchantment by means of its Seven
Deadly Spirits, has survived in Al-Islam; the two fallen angels (whose
names will occur) being confined in a well; Nimrod attempting to
reach Heaven from the Tower in a magical car drawn by monstrous
birds and so forth. See p. 114, Francois Lenormant's "Chaldean
Magic," London, Bagsters.

150. Arab. "Kámat Alfiyyah"=like the letter Alif, a straight perpendicular
stroke. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs, the origin of every alphabet (not
syllabarium) known to man, one form was a flag or leaf of water-
plant standing upright. Hence probably the Arabic Alif-shape; while
other nations preferred other modifications of the letter (ox's head,
etc.), which in Egyptian number some thirty-six varieties, simple and
compound.

151. I have not attempted to order this marvellous confusion of metaphors
so characteristic of The Nights and the exigencies of Al-Saj'a=rhymed
prose.

152. Here and elsewhere I omit the "kála (dice Turpino)" of the original:
Torrens preserves "Thus goes the tale" (which it only interrupts). This
is simply letter-wise and sense-foolish.

153. Of this worthy more at a future time.

154. i.e., sealed with the Kazi or legal authority's seal of office.

155. "Nothing for nothing" is a fixed idea with the Eastern woman: not so
much for greed as for a sexual point d'honneur when dealing with the
adversary—man.

156. She drinks first, the custom of the universal East, to show that the
wine she had bought was unpoisoned. Easterns, who utterly ignore
the "social glass" of Western civilisation, drink honestly to get drunk;
and, when far gone are addicted to horseplay (in Pers. "Badmasti"=le
vin mauvais) which leads to quarrels and bloodshed. Hence it is held
highly irreverent to assert of patriarchs, prophets and saints that they
"drank wine;" and Moslems agree with our "Teatotallers" in denying
that, except in the case of Noah, inebriatives are anywhere mentioned
in Holy Writ.

157. Arab. "Húr al-Ayn," lit. (maids) with eyes of lively white and black,
applied to the virgins of Paradise who will wive with the happy
Faithful. I retain our vulgar "Houri," warning the reader that it is a
masc. for a fem. ("Huríyah") in Arab, although accepted in Persian, a
genderless speech.

158. Arab. "Zambúr," whose head is amputated in female circumcision.
See Night cccclxxiv.

159. Ocymum basilicum noticed in Introduction; the bassilico of
Boccaccio iv. 5. The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah represents it as
"sprouting with something also whose smell is foul and disgusting
and the sower at once sets to gather it and burn it with fire." (The
Fables of Bidpai translated from the later Syriac version by I. G. N.
Keith-Falconer, etc., etc., etc., Cambridge University Press, 1885).
Here, however, Habk is a pennyroyal (mentha puligium), and
probably alludes to the pecten.

160. i.e. common property for all to beat.

161. "A digit of the moon" is the Hindú equivalent.

162. Better known to us as Caravanserai, the "Travellers' Bungalow" of
India: in the Khan, however, shelter is to be had, but neither bed nor
board.

163. Arab. "Zubb." I would again note that this and its synonyms are the
equivalents of the Arabic, which is of the lowest. The tale-teller's

evident object is to accentuate the contrast with the tragical stories to
follow.

164. "In the name of Allah," is here a civil form of dismissal.

165. Lane (i. 124) is scandalized and naturally enough by this scene,
which is the only blot in an admirable tale admirably told. Yet even
here the grossness is but little more pronounced than what we find in
our old drama (e.g., Shakspeare's King Henry V.) written for the
stage, whereas tales like The Nights are not read or recited before
both sexes. Lastly "nothing follows all this palming work:" in Europe
the orgie would end very differently. These "nuns of Theleme" are
physically pure: their debauchery is of the mind, not the body.
Galland makes them five, including the two doggesses.

166. So Sir Francis Walsingham's "They which do that they should not,
should hear that they would not."

167. The old "Calendar," pleasantly associated with that form of almanac.
The Mac. Edit. has "Karandaliyah," a vile corruption, like Ibn
Batutah's "Karandar" and Torrens' "Kurundul:" so in English we have
the accepted vulgarism of "Kernel" for Colonel. The Bul. Edit. uses
for synonym "Su'ulúk"=an asker, a beggar. Of these mendicant
monks, for such they are, much like the Sarabaites of mediæval
Europe, I have treated, and of their institutions and its founder,
Shaykh Sharif Bu Ali Kalandar (ob. A.H. 724=1323-24), at some
length in my "History of Sindh," chapt. viii. See also the Dabistan (i,
136) where the good Kalandar exclaims:—
If the thorn break in my body, how trifling the pain!
But how sorely I feel for the poor broken thorn!

D'Herbelot is right when he says that the Kalandar is not generally
approved by Moslems: he labours to win free from every form and
observance and he approaches the Malámati who conceals all his
good deeds and boasts of his evil doings—our "Devil's hypocrite."

168. The "Kalandar" disfigures himself in this manner to show
"mortification."

169. Arab. "Gharíb:" the porter is offended because the word implies
"poor devil;" esp. one out of his own country.

170. A religious mendicant generally.

171. Very scandalous to Moslem "respectability": Mohammed said the
house was accursed when the voices of women could be heard out of
doors. Moreover the neighbours have a right to interfere and abate the
scandal.

172. I need hardly say that these are both historical personages; they will
often be mentioned, and Ja'afar will be noticed in the terminal Essay.

173. Arab. "Sama'an wa tá'atan;" a popular phrase of assent generally
translated "to hear is to obey;" but this formula may be and must be
greatly varied. In places it means "Hearing (the word of Allah) and
obeying" (His prophet, viceregent, etc.)

174. Arab. "Sawáb"=reward in Heaven. This word for which we have no
equivalent has been naturalised in all tongues (e.g. Hindostani)
spoken by Moslems.

175. Wine-drinking, at all times forbidden to Moslems, vitiates the
Pilgrimage-rite: the Pilgrim is vowed to a strict observance of the
ceremonial law and many men date their "reformation" from the
"Hajj." Pilgrimage, iii., 126.

176. Here some change has been necessary; as the original text confuses
the three "ladies."

177. In Arab-the plural masc. is used by way of modesty when a girl
addresses her lover; and for the same reason she speaks of herself as a
man.

178. Arab. "Al-Na'im;" in full "Jannat al-Na'im"=the Garden of Delights,
i.e. the fifth Heaven made of white silver. The generic name of
Heaven (the place of reward) is "Jannat," lit. a garden; "Firdaus"
being evidently derived from the Persian through the Greek

παράδεισος, and meaning a chase, a hunting-park. Writers on this
subject should bear in mind Mandeville's modesty, "Of Paradise I
cannot speak properly, for I was not there."

179. Arab. "Mikra'ah," the dried mid-rib of a date-frond used for many
purposes, especially the bastinado.

180. According to Lane (i., 229) these and the immediately following
verses are from an ode by Ibn Sahl al-Ishbili. They are in the Bul.
Edit. not the Mac. Edit.

181. The original is full of conceits and plays on words which are not
easily rendered in English.

182. Arab. "Tarjumán," same root as Chald. Targum (=a translation), the
old "Truchman," and through the Ital. "tergomano" our "Dragoman;"
here a messenger.

183. Lit. the "person of the eyes," our "babe of the eyes," a favourite
poetical conceit in all tongues; much used by the Elizabethans, but
now neglected as a silly kind of conceit. See Night ccix.

184. Arab. "Sár" (Thár) the revenge-right recognised by law and custom
(Pilgrimage, iii., 69)

185. That is "We all swim in the same boat."

186. Ja'afar ever acts, on such occasions, the part of a wise and sensible
man compelled to join in a foolish frolic. He contrasts strongly with
the Caliph, a headstrong despot who will not be gainsaid, whatever be
the whim of the moment. But Easterns would look upon this as a
proof of his "kingliness."

187. Arab. "Wa'l-Salám" (pronounce Was-Salám); meaning "and here ends
the matter." In our slang we say, "All right, and the child's name is
Antony."

188. This is a favourite jingle; the play being upon "ibrat" (a needle-
graver) and "'ibrat" (an example, a warning).

189. That is "make his bow;" as the English peasant pulls his forelock.
Lane (i., 249) suggests, as an afterthought, that it means:—"Recover
thy senses; in allusion to a person's drawing his hand over his head
after sleep or a fit." But it occurs elsewhere in the sense of "cut thy
stick."

190. This would be a separate building like our family tomb and probably
domed, resembling that mentioned in "The King of the Black
Islands." Europeans usually call it "a little Wali;" or, as they write it,
"Wely;" the contained for the container; the "Santon" for the
"Santon's tomb." I have noticed this curious confusion (which begins
with Robinson, i. 322) in "Unexplored Syria," i. 161.

191. Arab. "Wiswás;"=diabolical temptation or suggestion. The "Wiswásí"
is a man with scruples (scrupulus, a pebble in the shoe), e.g. one who
fears that his ablutions were deficient, etc.

192. Arab. "Katf"=pinioning by tying the arms behind the back and
shoulders (Kitf), a dire disgrace to freeborn men.

193. Arab. "Nafs."=Heb. Nephesh (Nafash)=soul, life; as opposed to
"Ruach"=spirit and breath. In these places it is equivalent to "I said to
myself." Another form of the root is "Nafas," breath, with an idea of
inspiration: so "Sáhib Nafas" (=master of breath) is a minor saint who
heals by expiration, a matter familiar to mesmerists (Pilgrimage, i.
86).

194. Arab. "Kaus al-Banduk;" the "pellet-bow" of modern India; with two
strings joined by a bit of cloth which supports a ball of dry clay or
stone. It is chiefly used for birding.

195. In the East blinding was a common practice, especially in the case of
junior princes not required as heirs. A deep perpendicular incision
was made down each corner of the eyes; the lids were lifted and the
balls removed by cutting the optic nerve and the muscles. The later

Caliphs blinded their victims by passing a red-hot sword blade close
to the orbit or a needle over the eyeball. About the same time in
Europe the operation was performed with a heated metal basin—the
well-known bacinare (used by Ariosto), as happened to Pier delle
Vigne (Petrus de Vineâ), the "godfather of modern Italian."

196. Arab. "Khinzír" (by Europeans pronounced "Hanzír"), prop. a wild-
boar; but popularly used like our "you pig!"

197. Striking with the shoe, the pipe-stick and similar articles is highly
insulting, because they are not made, like whips and scourges, for
such purpose. Here the East and the West differ diametrically.
"Wounds which are given by instruments which are in one's hands by
chance do not disgrace a man," says Cervantes (D. Q. i., chapt. 15),
and goes on to prove that if a Zapatero (cobbler) cudgel another with
his form or last, the latter must not consider himself cudgelled. The
reverse in the East where a blow of a pipe-stick cost Mahommed Ali
Pasna's son his life: Ishmail Pasha was burned to death by Malik
Nimr, chief of Shendy (Pilgrimage, i., 203). Moreover, the actual
wound is less considered in Moslem law than the instrument which
caused it: so sticks and stones are venial weapons, whilst sword and
dagger, gun and pistol are felonious. See ibid. (i., 336) for a note
upon the weapons with which nations are policed.

198. Incest is now abominable everywhere except amongst the
overcrowded poor of great and civilised cities. Yet such unions were
common and lawful amongst ancient and highly cultivated peoples,
as the Egyptians (Isis and Osiris), Assyrians and ancient Persians.
Physiologically they are injurious only when the parents have
constitutional defects: if both are sound, the issue, as amongst the so-
called "lower animals," is viable and healthy.

199. Dwellers in the Northern Temperates can hardly imagine what a dust-
storm is in sun-parched tropical lands. In Sind we were often obliged
to use candles at midday, while above the dust was a sun that would
roast an egg.

200. Arab. "'Urban," now always used of the wild people, whom the
French have taught us to call les Bedouins; "Badw" being a waste or
desert; and Badawi (fem. Badawíyah, plur. Badáwi and Bidwán), a
man of the waste. Europeans have also learnt to miscall the Egyptians
"Arabs": the difference is as great as between an Englishman and a
Spaniard. Arabs proper divide their race into sundry successive
families. "The Arab al-Arabá" (or al-Aribah, or al-Urubíyat) are the
autochthones, prehistoric, proto-historic and extinct tribes; for
instance, a few of the Adites who being at Meccah escaped the
destruction of their wicked nation, but mingled with other classes.
The "Arab al-Muta'arribah," (Arabised Arabs) are the first advenæ
represented by such noble strains as the Koraysh (Koreish), some still
surviving. The "Arab al-Musta'aribah," (insititious, naturalised or
instituted Arabs, men who claim to be Arabs) are Arabs like the
Sinaites, the Egyptians and the Maroccans descended by
intermarriage with other races. Hence our "Mosarabians" and the
"Marrabais" of Rabelais (not, "a word compounded of Maurus and
Arabs"). Some genealogists, however, make the Muta'arribah
descendants of Kahtan (possible the Joktan of Genesis x., a
comparatively modern document, B.C. 700?); and the Musta'aribah
those descended from Adnán the origin of Arab genealogy. And,
lastly, are the "Arab al-Musta'ajimah," barbarised Arabs, like the
present population of Meccah and Al-Medinah. Besides these there
are other tribes whose origin is still unknown; such as the Mahrah
tribes of Hazramaut, the "Akhdám" (=serviles) of Oman (Maskat);
and the "Ebná" of Al-Yaman: Ibn Ishak supposes the latter to be
descended from the Persian soldiers of Anushirwan who expelled the
Abyssinian invader from Southern Arabia. (Pilgrimage, iii., 31, etc.).

201. Arab. "Amír al-Muuminín." The title was assumed by the Caliph
Omar to obviate the inconvenience of calling himself "Khalífah"
(successor) of the Khalífah of the Apostle of Allah (i.e. Abu Bakr);
which after a few generations would become impossible. It means
"Emir (chief or prince) of the Muumins;" men who hold to the (true
Moslem) Faith, the "Imán" (theory, fundamental articles) as opposed
to the "Dín," ordinance or practice of the religion. It once became a
Wazirial title conferred by Sultan Malikshah (King King-king) on his
Nizám al-Mulk. (Richardson's Dissert. lviii).

202. This may also mean "according to the seven editions of the Koran,"
the old revisions and so forth (Sale, Sect. iii. and D'Herbelot
"Alcoran.") The schools of the "Mukri," who teach the right
pronunciation wherein a mistake might be sinful, are seven, Hamzah,
Ibn Katír, Ya'akúb, Ibn Amir, Kisái, Asim and Hafs, the latter being
the favourite with the Hanafis and the only one now generally known
in Al-Islam.

203. Arab. "Sadd"=wall, dyke, etc. the "bund" or "band" of Anglo-India.
Hence the "Sadd" on the Nile, the banks of grass and floating islands
which "wall" the stream. There are few sights more appalling than a
sandstorm in the desert, the "Zauba'ah" as the Arabs call it. Devils, or
pillars of sand, vertical and inclined, measuring a thousand feet high,
rush over the plain lashing the sand at their base like a sea surging
under a furious whirlwind; shearing the grass clean away from the
roots, tearing up trees, which are whirled like leaves and sticks in air,
and sweeping away tents and houses as if they were bits of paper. At
last the columns join at the top and form, perhaps three thousand feet
above the earth, a gigantic cloud of yellow sand which obliterates not
only the horizon but even the midday sun. These sand-spouts are the
terror of travellers. In Sind and the Punjab we have the dust-storm
which for darkness, I have said, beats the blackest London fog.

204. Arab. Sár=the vendetta, before mentioned, as dreaded in Arabia as in
Corsica.

205. Arab. "Ghútah," usually a place where irrigation is abundant. It
especially applies (in books) to the Damascus-plain because "it
abounds with water and fruit trees." Bochart (Geog. Sacra, p. 90)
derives ‫( עוטה‬utah) from ‫ עוץ‬Uz, son of Arab, who (he says) founded
Damascus. The Ghutah is one of the four earthly paradises, the others
being Basrah (Bassorah), Shiraz and Samarcand. Its peculiarity is the
likeness to a seaport; the Desert which rolls up almost to its doors
being the sea and its ships being the camels. The first Arab to whom
we owe this admirable term for the "Companion of Job" is "Tarafah"
one of the poets of the Suspended Poems: he likens (v.v. 3, 4) the
camels which bore away his beloved to ships sailing from Aduli. But
"ships of the desert" is doubtless a term of the highest antiquity.

206. The exigencies of the "Saj'a," or rhymed prose, disjoint this and many
similar passages.

207. The "Ebony" Islands; Scott's "Isle of Ebene," i., 217.

208. "Jarjarís" in the Bul. Edit.

209. Arab. "Takbís." Many Easterns can hardly sleep without this
kneading of the muscles, this "rubbing" whose hygienic properties
England is now learning.

210. The converse of the breast being broadened, the drooping, "draggle-
tail" gait compared with the head held high and the chest inflated.

211. This penalty is mentioned in the Koran (chapt. v.) as fit for those who
fight against Allah and his Apostle; but commentators are not agreed
if the sinners are first to be put to death or to hang on the cross till
they die. Pharaoh (chapt xx.) threatens to crucify his magicians on
palm-trees, and is held to be the first crucifier.

212. Arab. "'Ajami"=foreigner, esp. a Persian: the latter in The Nights is
mostly a villain. I must here remark that the contemptible condition
of Persians in Al-Hijáz (which I noted in 1852, Pilgrimage i. 327) has
completely changed. They are no longer, "The slippers of Ali and

hounds of Omar:" they have learned the force of union and now,
instead of being bullied, they bully.

213. The Calc. Edit. turns them into Tailors (Khayyátín) and Torrens does
not see the misprint.

214. i.e. Axe and sandals.

215. Lit. "Strike his neck."

216. A phrase which will frequently recur; meaning the situation suggested
such words as these.

217. The smiter with the evil eye is called "A'in" and the person smitten
"Ma'ín" or "Ma'ún."

218. Arab. "Sákiyah," the well-known Persian wheel with pots and
buckets attached to the tire. It is of many kinds, the boxed, etc., etc.;
and it is possibly alluded to in the "pitcher broken at the fountain"
(Ecclesiastes xii. 6) an accident often occurring to the modern
"Noria." Travellers mostly abuse its "dismal creaking" and "mournful
monotony": I have defended the music of the water-wheel in
Pilgrimage ii. 198.

219. Arab. "Zikr" lit. remembering, mentioning (i.e. the names of Allah),
here refers to the meetings of religious for devotional exercises; the
"Zikkírs," as they are called, mostly standing or sitting in a circle
while they ejaculate the Holy Name. These "rogations" are much
affected by Darwayshes, or begging friars, whom Europe politely
divides into "dancing" and "howling"; and, on one occasion, greatly
to the scandal of certain Engländerinns to whom I was showing the
Ezbekiyah I joined the ring of "howlers." Lane (Mod. Egypt, see
index) is profuse upon the subject of "Zikrs" and Zikkírs. It must not
be supposed that they are uneducated men: the better class, however,
prefers more privacy.

220. As they thought he had been there for prayer or penance.

221. Arab. "Ziyárat," a visit to a pious person or place.

222. This is a paternal salute in the East where they are particular about
the part kissed. A witty and not unusually gross Persian book, called
the "Al-Námah" because all questions begin with "Al" (the Arab
article) contains one "Al-Wajib al-busídan?" (what best deserves
bussing?) and the answer is "Kus-i-nau-pashm," (a bobadilla with a
young bush).

223. A weight of 71-72 English grains in gold; here equivalent to the dinar.

224. Compare the tale of The Three Crows in Gammer Grethel, Evening
ix.

225. The comparison is peculiarly apposite; the earth seen from above
appears hollow with a raised rim.

226. A hundred years old.

227. "Bahr" in Arab. means sea, river, piece of water; hence the adjective
is needed.

228. The Captain or Master of the ship (not the owner). In Al Yaman the
word also means a "barber," in virtue of the root, Raas, a head.

229. The text has "in the character Ruká'í," or Riká'í, the correspondence-
hand.

230. A curved character supposed to be like the basil-leaf (rayhán).
Richardson calls it "Rohani."

231. I need hardly say that Easterns use a reed, a Calamus (Kalam applied
only to the cut reed) for our quills and steel pens.

232. Famous for being inscribed on the Kiswah (cover) of Mohammed's
tomb; a large and more formal hand still used for engrossing and for
mural inscriptions. Only seventy-two varieties of it are known
(Pilgrimage, ii., 82).

233. The copying and transcribing hand which is either Arabi or Ajami. A
great discovery has lately been made which upsets all our old ideas of
Cufic, etc. Mr. Löytved of Bayrut has found, amongst the Hauranic
inscriptions, one in pure Naskhi, dating A.D. 568, or fifty years
before the Hijrah; and it is accepted as authentic by my learned friend
M. Ch. Clermont-Ganneau (p. 193, Pal. Explor. Fund; July 1884). In
D'Herbelot and Sale's day the Koran was supposed to have been
written in rude characters, like those subsequently called "Cufic,"
invented shortly before Mohammed's birth by Murámir ibn Murrah of
Anbar in Irák, introduced into Meccah by Bashar the Kindian, and
perfected by Ibn Muklah (Al-Wazir, ob. A.H. 328=940). We must
now change all that. See Catalogue of Oriental Caligraphs, etc., by G.
P. Badger, London, Whiteley, 1885.

234. Capital and uncial letters; the hand in which the Ka'abah veil is
inscribed (Pilgrimage iii. 299, 300).

235. A "Court hand" says Mr. Payne (i. 112): I know nothing of it. Other
hands are: the Ta'alík; hanging or oblique, used for finer MSS. and
having, according to Richardson, "the same analogy to the Naskhi as
our Italic has to the Roman." The Nasta' lík (not Naskh-Ta'alík) much
used in India, is, as the name suggests, a mixture of the Naskhi
(writing of transactions) and the Ta'alík. The Shikastah (broken hand)
everywhere represents our running hand and becomes a hard task to
the reader. The Kirmá is another cursive character, mostly confined to
the receipts and disbursements of the Turkish treasury. The Diváni, or
Court (of Justice) is the official hand, bold and round, a business
character, the lines often rising with a sweep or curve towards the
(left) end. The Jáli or polished has a variety, the Jali-Ta'alik: the Sulsi
(known in many books) is adopted for titles of volumes, royal edicts,
diplomas and so forth; "answering much the same purpose as capitals
with us, or the flourished letters in illuminated manuscripts"
(Richardson). The Tughrái is that of the Tughrá, the Prince's cypher
or flourishing signature in ceremonial writings, and containing some
such sentence as: Let this be executed. There are others e.g. Yákuti
and Sirenkil known only by name. Finally the Maghribi (Moorish)
hand differs in form and diacritical points from the characters used

further east almost as much as German running hand does from
English. It is curious that Richardson omits the Jali (intricate and
convoluted) and the divisions of the Sulusí, Sulsi or Sulus (Thuluth)
character, the Sulus al-Khafíf, etc.

236. Arab. "Baghlah"; the male (Baghl) is used only for loads. This is
everywhere the rule: nothing is more unmanageable than a restive
"Macho"; and he knows that he can always get you off his back when
so minded. From "Baghlah" is derived the name of the native craft
Anglo-Indicè a "Buggalow."

237. In Heb. "Ben-Adam" is any man opp. to "Beni ish" (Psalm iv. 3)=filii
viri, not homines.

238. This posture is terribly trying to European legs; and few white men
(unless brought up to it) can squat for any time on their heels. The
"tailor-fashion," with crossed legs, is held to be free and easy.

239. Arab. "Katá"=Pterocles Alchata, the well-known sand-grouse of the
desert. It is very poor white flesh.

240. Arab. "Khubz" which I do not translate "cake" or "bread," as that
would suggest the idea of our loaf. The staff of life in the East is a
thin flat circle of dough baked in the oven or on the griddle, and
corresponding with the Scotch "scone," the Spanish "tortilla" and the
Australian "flap-jack."

241. Arab. "Harísah," a favourite dish of wheat (or rice) boiled and
reduced to a paste with shredded meat, spices and condiments. The
"bangles" is a pretty girl eating with him.

242. These lines are repeated with a difference in Night cccxxx. They
affect Rims cars, out of the way, heavy rhymes: e.g. here Sakáríj
(plur. of Sakrúj, platters, porringers); Tayáhíj (plur. of Tayhúj, the
smaller caccabis-partridge); Tabáhíj (Persian Tabahjah, an omelet or a
stew of meat, onions, eggs, etc.) Ma'áríj ("in stepped piles" like the
pyramids; which Lane ii. 495, renders "on the stairs"); Makáríj (plur.
of Makraj, a small pot); Damálíj (plur. of dumlúj, a bracelet, a

bangle); Dayábíj (brocades) and Tafáríj (openings, enjoyments). In
Night cccxxx. we find also Sikábíj (plur. of Sikbáj, marinated meat
elsewhere explained); Faráríj (plur. of farrúj, a chicken, vulg. farkh)
and Dakákíj (plur. of dakújah, a small jar). In the first line we have
also (though not a rhyme) Gharánik Gr. Τερανὸς, a crane, preserved
in Romaic. The weeping and wailing are caused by the remembrance
that all these delicacies have been demolished like a Badawi camp.

243. This is the vinum coctum, the boiled wine, still a favourite in
Southern Italy and Greece.

244. Eastern topers delight in drinking at dawn: upon this subject I shall
have more to say in other Nights.

245. Arab. "Adab," a crux to translators, meaning anything between good
education and good manners. In mod. Turk. "Edibiyyet"
(Adabiyat)=belles lettres and "Edebi" or "Edíb"=a littérateur.

246. The Caliph Al-Maamún, who was a bad player, used to say, "I have
the administration of the world and am equal to it, whereas I am
straitened in the ordering of a space of two spans by two spans." The
"board" was then "a square field of well-dressed leather."

247. The Rabbis (after Matth. xix. 12) count three kinds of Eunuchs; (1)
Seris chammah=of the sun, i.e. natural: (2) Seris
Adam=manufactured per homines; and (3) Seris Chammayim=of
God (i.e. religious abstainer). Seris (castrated) or Abd (slave) is the
general Hebrew name.

248. The "Lady of Beauty."

249. "Káf" has been noticed as the mountain which surrounds earth as a
ring does the finger: it is popularly used like our Alp and Alpine. The
"circumambient Ocean" (Bahr al-muhít) is the Homeric Ocean-
stream.

250. The pomegranate is probably chosen here because each fruit is
supposed to contain one seed from Eden-garden. Hence a host of

superstitions (Pilgrimage iii., 104) possibly connected with the
Chaldaic-Babylonian god Rimmon or Ramanu. Hence Persephone or
Ishtar tasted the "rich pomegranate's seed." Lenormant, loc. cit. pp.
166,182.

251. i.e. for the love of God—a favourite Moslem phrase.

252. Arab. "Báb," also meaning a chapter (of magic, of war, etc.),
corresponding with the Persian "Dar" as in Sad-dar, the Hundred
Doors. Here, however, it is figurative "I tried a new mode." This
scene is in the Mabinogion.

253. I use this Irish term=crying for the dead; as English wants the word
for the præfica or myrialogist. The practice is not encouraged in Al-
Islam; and Caliph Abu Bakr said, "Verily a corpse is sprinkled with
boiling water by reason of the lamentations of the living," i.e.
punished for not having taken measures to prevent their profitless
lamentations. But the practice is from Negroland whence it reached
Egypt; and the people have there developed a curious system in the
"weeping-song": I have noted this in "The Lake-Regions of Central
Africa." In Zoroastrianism (Dabistan, chapt. xcvii.) tears shed for the
dead form a river in hell, black and frigid.

254. These lines are hardly translateable. Arab. "Sabr" means "patience" as
well as "aloes," hereby lending itself to a host of puns and double
entendres more or less vile. The aloe, according to Burckhardt, is
planted in grave-yards as a lesson of patience: it is also slung, like the
dried crocodile, over house-doors to prevent evil spirits entering;
"thus hung without earth and water," says Lane (M. E., chapt. xi.), "it
will live for several years and even blossom. Hence (?) it is called
Sabr, which signifies patience." But Sibr as well as Sabr (a root)
means "long-sufferance." I hold the practise to be one of the many
Inner African superstitions. The wild Gallas to the present day plant
aloes on graves, and suppose that when the plant sprouts the deceased
has been admitted to the gardens of Wák, the Creator. (Pilgrimage iii.
350).