The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1

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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[FN#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 that 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 in structions and cease not
thy fostering care of him. So she took me and taught me the
tenets of Al-Islam with the divine ordinances[FN#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[FN#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 malpractises 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,[FN#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.

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 alseep, 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.[FN#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 dash 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[FN#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[FN#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 engraver on the seal-ring of
Solomon[FN#326] (with whom be peace!) unless thou deal to each of
these bitches three hundred stripes every day I will come and
imprison thee forever 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[FN#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 wheels 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
diners in gold according to the holy law of inheritance.[FN#328]
Thus I became passing rich an my reputation spread far and wide,
for I had made me ten changes of raiment, each worth a thousand
diners One day as I was sitting at home, behold, there came in to
me an old woman[FN#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.[FN#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.[FN#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 get 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 hast comforted mine!
But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself to do me this service at
this hour; be thou ready by supper time,[FN#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,[FN#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 merge with royal Nu'uman's[FN#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 margaritas. 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 Kisra's or
Kaisar's night!
Wantons the rose on thy roseate cheek, * O cheek as the blood of
the dragon[FN#335] bright!
Slim waisted, languorous, sleepy eyed, * With charms which
promise all love
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
practiced 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;[FN#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.[FN#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!"[FN#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[FN#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[FN#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,[FN#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[FN#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?''[FN#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[FN#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,[FN#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 what 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." "Tomorrow," 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,
"tomorrow 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[FN#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:--

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