The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3

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When it was the One hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Princess Budur fell asleep by the side of Kamar al-Zaman, after
doing that which she did, quoth Maymunah to Dahnash, Night thou,
O accursed, how proudly and coquettishly my beloved bore himself,
and how hotly and passionately thy mistress showed herself to my
dearling? There can be no doubt that my beloved is handsomer than
shine; nevertheless I pardon thee." Then she wrote him a document
of manumission and turned to Kashkash and said, "Go, help Dahnash
to take up his mistress and aid him to carry her back to her own
place, for the night waneth apace and there is but little left of
it." "I hear and I obey;" answered Kashkash. So the two Ifrits
went forward to Princess Budur and upraising her flew away with
her; then, bearing her back to her own place, they laid her on
her bed, whilst Maymunah abode alone with Kamar al-Zaman, gazing
upon him as he slept, till the night was all but spent, when she
went her way. As soon as morning morrowed, the Prince awoke from
sleep and turned right and left, but found not the maiden by him
and said in his mind, "What is this business? It is as if my
father would incline me to marriage with the damsel who was with
me and have now taken her away by stealth, to the intent that my
desire for wedlock may redouble." Then he called out to the
eunuch who slept at the door, saying, "Woe to thee, O damned one,
arise at once!" So the eunuch rose, bemused with sleep, and
brought him basin and ewer, whereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered the
water closet and did his need;[FN#271] then, coming out made the
Wuzu-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayer, after which he sat
telling on his beads the ninety-and-nine names of Almighty Allah.
Then he looked up and, seeing the eunuch standing in service upon
him, said, "Out on thee, O Sawab! Who was it came hither and took
away the young lady from my side and I still sleeping?" Asked the
eunuch, 'O my lord, what manner of young lady?" "The young lady
who lay with me last night," replied Kamar al-Zaman. The eunuch
was startled at his words and said to him, "By Allah, there hath
been with thee neither young lady nor other! How should young
lady have come in to thee, when I was sleeping in the doorway and
the door was locked? By Allah, O my lord, neither male nor female
hath come in to thee!" Exclaimed the Prince, "Thou liest, O
pestilent slave!: is it of thy competence also to hoodwink me and
refuse to tell me what is become of the young lady who lay with
me last night and decline to inform me who took her away?"
Replied the eunuch (and he was affrighted at him), "By Allah, O
my lord, I have seen neither young lady nor young lord!" His
words only angered Kamar al-Zaman the more and he said to him, "O
accursed one, my father hath indeed taught thee deceit! Come
hither." So the eunuch came up to him, and the Prince took him by
the collar and dashed him to the ground; whereupon he let fly a
loud fart[FN#272] and Kamar al-Zaman, kneeling upon him, kicked
him and throttled him till he fainted away. Then he dragged him
forth and tied him to the well-rope, and let him down like a
bucket into the well and plunged him into the water, then drew
him up and lowered him down again. Now it was hard winter
weather, and Kamar al-Zaman ceased not to plunge the eunuch into
the water and pull him up again and douse him and haul him whilst
he screamed and called for help; and the Prince kept on saying
"By Allah, O damned one, I will not draw thee up out of this well
till thou tell me and fully acquaint me with the story of the
young lady and who it was took her away, whilst I slept."--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

When it was the One and Eighty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-
Zaman said to the eunuch, "By Allah! I will not draw thee up out
of this well until thou tell me the story of the young lady and
who it was took her away whilst I slept." Answered the eunuch,
after he had seen death staring him in the face; "O my lord, let
me go and I will relate to thee the truth and the whole tale." So
Kamar al-Zaman pulled him up out of the well, all but dead for
suffering, what with cold and the pain of dipping and dousing,
drubbing and dread of drowning. He shook like cane in hurricane,
his teeth were clenched as by cramp and his clothes were drenched
and his body befouled and torn by the rough sides of the well:
briefly he was in a sad pickle. Now when Kamar al-Zaman saw him
in this sorry plight, he was concerned for him; but, as soon as
the eunuch found himself on the floor, he said to him, "O my
lord, let me go and doff my clothes and wring them out and spread
them in the sun to dry, and don others; after which I will return
to thee forthwith and tell thee the truth of the matter."
Answered the Prince, "O rascal slave! hadst thou not seen death
face to face, never hadst thou confessed to fact nor told me a
word; but go now and do thy will, and then come back to me at
once and tell me the truth." Thereupon the eunuch went out,
hardly crediting his escape, and ceased not running, stumbling
and rising in his haste, till he came in to King Shahriman, whom
he found sitting at talk with his Wazir of Kamar al-Zaman's case.
The King was saying to the Minister, "I slept not last night, for
anxiety concerning my son, Kamar al-Zaman and indeed I fear lest
some harm befal him in that old tower. What good was there in
imprisoning him?" Answered the Wazir, "Have no care for him. By
Allah, no harm will befal him! None at all! Leave him in prison
for a month till his temper yield and his spirit be broken and he
return to his senses." As the two spoke behold, up rushed the
eunuch, in the aforesaid plight, making to the King who was
troubled at sight of him; and he cried "O our lord the Sultan!
Verily, thy son's wits are fled and he hath gone mad, he hath
dealt with me thus and thus, so that I am become as thou seest
me, and he kept saying, 'A young lady lay with me this night and
stole away secretly whilst I slept. Where is she?' And he
insisteth on my letting him know where she is and on my telling
him who took her away. But I have seen neither girl nor boy: the
door was locked all through the night, for I slept before it with
the key under my head, and I opened to him in the morning with my
own hand. When King Shahriman heard this, he cried out, saying,
"Alas, my son!;" and he was enraged with sore rage against the
Wazir, who had been the cause of all this case and said to him,
"Go up, bring me news of my son and see what hath befallen his
mind." So the Wazir rose and, stumbling over his long skirts, in
his fear of the King's wrath, hastened with the slave to the
tower. Now the sun had risen and when the Minister came in to
Kamar al-Zaman, he found him sitting on the couch reciting the
Koran; so he saluted him and seated himself by his side, and said
to him, "O my lord, this wretched eunuch brought us tidings which
troubled and alarmed us and which incensed the King." Asked Kamar
al-Zaman, "And what hath he told you of me to trouble my father?
In good sooth he hath troubled none but me." Answered the Wazir,
"He came to us in fulsome state and told us of thee a thing which
Heaven forfend; and the slave added a lie which it befitteth not
to repeat, Allah preserve thy youth and sound sense and tongue of
eloquence, and forbid to come from thee aught of offense!" Quoth
the Prince, "O Wazir, and what thing did this pestilent slave say
of me?" The Minister replied, "He told us that thy wits had taken
leave of thee and thou wouldst have it that a young lady lay with
thee last night, and thou west instant with him to tell thee
whither she went and thou diddest torture him to that end." But
when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he was enraged with sore
rage and he said to the Wazir, "'Tis manifest to me in very deed
that you people taught the eunuch to do as he did."--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her per
misted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman heard the words of the Wazir he was enraged with sore
rage and said to him, "'Tis manifest to me in very deed that you
people taught the eunuch to do as he did and forbade him to tell
me what became of the young lady who lay with me last night. But
thou, O Wazir, art cleverer than the eunuch, so do thou tell me
without stay or delay, whither went the young lady who slept on
my bosom last night; for it was you who sent her and bade her
steep in my embrace and we lay together till dawn; but, when I
awoke, I found her not. So where is she now?" Said the Wazir, "O
my lord Kamar al-Zaman, Allah's name encompass thee about! By the
Almighty, we sent none to thee last night, but thou layest alone,
with the door locked on thee and the eunuch sleeping behind it,
nor did there come to thee young lady or any other. Regain thy
reason, O my lord, and stablish thy senses and occupy not thy
mind with vanities." Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman who was incensed at
his words, "O Wazir, the young lady in question is my beloved,
the fair one with the black eyes and rosy cheeks, whom I held in
my arms all last night." So the Minister wondered at his words
and asked him, "Didst thou see this damsel last night with shine
own eyes on wake or in sleep?" Answered Kamar al-Zaman, "O ill-
omened old man, dost thou fancy I saw her with my ears? Indeed, I
saw her with my very eyes and awake, and I touched her with my
hand, and I watched by her full half the night, feeding my vision
on her beauty and loveliness and grace and tempting looks. But
you had schooled her and charged her to speak no word to me; so
she feigned sleep and I lay by her side till dawn, when I awoke
and found her gone." Rejoined the Wazir, "O my lord Kamar al-
Zaman, haply thou sawest this in thy sleep; it must have been a
delusion of dreams or a deception caused by eating various kinds
of food, or a suggestion of the accursed devils." Cried the
Prince, "O pestilent old man! wilt thou too make a mock of me and
tell me this was haply a delusion of dreams, when that eunuch
confessed to the young lady, saying, 'At once I will return to
thee and tell thee all about her?'" With these words, he sprang
up and rushed at the Wazir and gripped hold of his beard (which
was long[FN#273]) and, after gripping it, he twisted his hand in
it and haling him off the couch, threw him on the floor. It
seemed to the Minister as though his soul departed his body for
the violent plucking at his beard; and Kamar al-Zaman ceased not
kicking the Wazir and basting his breast and ribs and cuffing him
with open hand on the nape of his neck till he had well-nigh
beaten him to death. Then said the old man in his mind, "Just as
the eunuch-slave saved his life from this lunatic youth by
telling him a lie, thus it is even fitter that I do likewise;
else he will destroy me. So now for my lie to save myself, he
being mad beyond a doubt." Then he turned to Kamar al-Zaman and
said, "O my lord, pardon me; for indeed thy father charged me to
conceal from thee this affair of the young lady; but now I am
weak and weary and wounded with funding; for I am an old man and
lack strength and bottom to endure blows. Have, therefore, a
little patience with me and I will tell thee all and acquaint
thee with the story of the young woman." When the Prince heard
this, he left off drubbing him and said, "Wherefore couldst thou
not tell me the tale until after shame and blows? Rise now,
unlucky old man that thou art, and tell me her story." Quoth the
Wazir, "Say, dost thou ask of the young lady with the fair face
and perfect form?" Quoth Kamar al-Zaman, "Even so! Tell me, O
Wazir, who it was that led her to me and laid her by my side, and
who was it that took her away from me by night; and let me know
forthright whither she is gone, that I myself may go to her at
once. If my father did this deed to me that he might try me by
means of that beautiful girl, with a view to our marriage, I
consent to wed her and free myself of this trouble; for he did
all these dealings with me only because I refused wedlock. But
now I consent and I say again, I consent to matrimony: so tell
this to my father, O Wazir, and advise him to marry me to that
young lady; for I will have none other and my heart loveth none
save her alone. Now rise up at once and haste thee to my father
and counsel him to hurry on our wedding and bring me his answer
within this very hour." Rejoined the Wazir, "'Tis well!" and went
forth from him, hardly believing himself out of his hands. Then
he set off from the tower, walking and tripping up as he went,
for excess of fright and agitation, and he ceased not hurrying
till he came in to King Shahriman.--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-nineth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir,
fared forth from the tower, and ceased not running till he came
in to King Shahriman, who said to him as he sighted him, "O thou
Wazir, what man hath brought thee to grief and whose mischief
hath treated thee in way unlief; how happeneth it that I see thee
dumb foundered and coming to me thus astounded?" Replied the
Wazir, "O King! I bring thee good news." "And what is it?" quoth
Shahriman, and quoth the Wazir, "Know that thy son Kamar al-
Zaman's wits are clean gone and that he hath become stark mad."
Now when the King heard these words of the Minister, light became
darkness in his sight and he said, "O Wazir, make clear to me the
nature of his madness." Answered the Wazir, "O my lord, I hear
and I obey." Then he told him that such and such had passed and
acquainted him with all that his son had done; whereupon the King
said to him, "Hear, O Wazir, the good tidings which I give thee
in return for this thy fair news of my son's insanity; and it
shall be the cutting off of thy head and the forfeiture of my
favour, O most ill-omened of Wazirs and foulest of Emirs! for I
feel that thou hast caused my son's disorder by the wicked advice
and the sinister counsel thou hast given me first and last. By
Allah, if aught of mischief or madness have befallen my son I
will most assuredly nail thee upon the palace dome and make thee
drain the bitterest draught of death!'' Then he sprang up and,
taking the Wazir, with him, fared straight for the tower and
entered it. And when Kamar al-Zaman saw the two, he rose to his
father in haste from the couch whereon he sat and kissing his
hands drew back and hung down his head and stood before him with
his arms behind him, and thus remained for a full hour. Then he
raised his head towards his sire; the tears gushed from his eyes
and streamed down his cheeks and he began repeating,

"Forgive the sin 'neath which my limbs are trembling,
For the slave seeks for mercy from his master;
I've done a fault, which calls for free confession,
Where shall it call for mercy, and forgiveness?''[FN#274]

When the King heard this, he arose and embraced his son, and
kissing him between the eyes, made him sit by his side on the
couch; then he turned to the Wazir, and, looking on him with eyes
of wrath, said, "O dog of Wazirs, how didst thou say of my son
such and such things and make my heart quake for him?" Then he
turned to the Prince and said, "O my son, what is to-day called?"
He answered, "O my father, this day is the Sabbath, and to morrow
is First day: then come Second day, Third, Fourth, Fifth day and
lastly Friday."[FN#275] Exclaimed the King, "O my son, O Kamar
al-Zaman, praised be Allah for the preservation of thy reason!
What is the present month called in our Arabic?" "Zu'l Ka'adah,"
answered Kamar al-Zaman, "and it is followed by Zu'l hijjah; then
cometh Muharram, then Safar, then Rabi'a the First and Rabi'a the
Second, the two Jamadas, Rajab, Sha'aban, Ramazan and Shawwal."
At this the King rejoiced exceedingly and spat in the Wazir's
face, saying, "O wicked old man, how canst thou say that my son
is mad? And now none is mad but thou." Hereupon the Minister
shook his head and would have spoken, but bethought himself to
wait awhile and see what might next befal. Then the King said to
his child, "O my son, what words be these thou saddest to the
eunuch and the Wazir, declaring, 'I was sleeping with a fair
damsel this night?'[FN#276] What damsel is this of whom thou
speakest?" Then Kamar al-Zaman laughed at his father's words and
replied, "O my father, know that I can bear no more jesting; so
add me not another mock or even a single word on the matter, for
my temper hath waxed short by that you have done with me. And
know, O my father, with assured knowledge, that I consent to
marry, but on condition that thou give me to wife her who lay by
my side this night; for I am certain it was thou sentest her to
me and madest me in love with her and then despatchedst a message
to her before the dawn and tookest her away from beside me."
Rejoined the King, "The name of Allah encompass thee about, O my
son, and be thy wit preserved from witlessness!"--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Ninetieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth King
Shahriman to his son Kamar al-Zaman, "The name of Allah encompass
thee about, O my son, and be thy wit preserved from witlessness!
What thing be this young lady whom thou fanciest I sent to thee
last night and then again that I sent to withdraw her from thee
before dawn? By the Lord, O my son, I know nothing of this
affair, and Allah upon thee, tell me if it be a delusion of
dreaming or a deception caused by indisposition. For verily thou
layest down to sleep last night with thy mind occupied anent
marriage and troubled with the talk of it (Allah damn marriage
and the hour when I spake of it and curse him who counselled
it!); and without doubt or diffidence I can say that being moved
in mind by the mention of wedlock thou dreamedst that a handsome
young lady embraced thee and didst fancy thou sawest her when
awake. But all this, O my son, is but an imbroglio of dreams."
Replied Kamar al-Zaman, "Leave this talk and swear to me by
Allah, the All creator, the Omniscient; the Humbler of the tyrant
Caesars and the Destroyer of the Chosroes, that thou knowest
naught of the young lady nor of her woning-place." Quoth the
King, "By the Might of Allah Almighty, the God of Moses and
Abraham, I know naught of all this and never even heard of it; it
is assuredly a delusion of dreams thou hast seen in sleep.' Then
the Prince replied to his sire, "I will give thee a self evident
proof that it happened to me when on wake."--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al
Zamar said to his sire, "I will give thee a self-evident proof
that this happened to me when on wake. Now let me ask thee, did
it ever befal any man to dream that he was battling a sore battle
and after to awake from sleep and find in his hand a sword-blade
besmeared with blood? Answered the King, "No, by Allah, O my son,
this hath never been." Rejoined Kamar al-Zaman, "I will tell thee
what happened to me and it was this. Meseemed I awoke from sleep
in the middle of the past night and found a girl lying by my
side, whose form was like mine and whose favour was as mine. I
embraced her and turned her about with my hand and took her seal-
ring, which I put on my finger, and she pulled off my ring and
put it on hers. Then I went to sleep by her side, but refrained
from her for shame of thee, deeming that thou hadst sent her to
me, intending to tempt me with her and incline me to marriage,
and suspecting thee to be hidden somewhere whence thou couldst
see what I did with her. And I was ashamed even to kiss her on
the mouth for thy account, thinking over this temptation to
wedlock; and, when I awoke at point of day, I found no trace of
her, nor could I come at any news of her, and there befel me what
thou knowest of with the eunuch and with the Wazir. How then can
this case have been a dream and a delusion, when the ring is a
reality? Save for her ring on my finger I should indeed have
deemed it a dream; but here is the ring on my little finger: look
at it, O King, and see what is its worth." So saying he handed
the ring to his father, who examined it and turned it over, then
looked to his son and said, "Verily, there is in this ring some
mighty mystery and some strange secret. What befel thee last
night with the girl is indeed a hard nut to crack, and I know not
how intruded upon us this intruder. None is the cause of all this
posher save the Wazir; but, Allah upon thee, O my son, take
patience, so haply the Lord may turn to gladness this thy grief
and to thy sadness bring complete relief: as quoth one of the
poets,

'Haply shall Fortune draw her rein, and bring *
Fair chance, for she is changeful, jealous, vain:
Still I may woo my want and wishes win, *
And see on heels of care unfair, the fain.'

And now, O my son, I am certified at this hour that thou art not
mad; but thy case is a strange one which none can clear up for
thee save the Almighty." Cried the Prince, "By Allah, O my
father, deal kindly with me and seek out this young lady and
hasten her coming to me; else I shall die of woe and of my death
shall no one know." Then he betrayed the ardour of his passion;
and turned towards his father and repeated these two couplets,

"If your promise of personal call prove untrue, *
Deign in vision to grant me an interview:
Quoth they, 'How can phantom[FN#277] appear to the sight *
Of a youth, whose sight is fordone, perdue?'"

Then, after ending his poetry, Kamar al-Zaman again turned to his
father, with submission and despondency, and shedding tears in
flood, began repeating these lines.--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Ninety-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman had repeated to his father these verses, he wept and
complained and groaned from a wounded heart; and added these
lines,

"Beware that eye glance which hath magic might; *
Wherever turn those orbs it bars our flight:
Nor be deceived by low sweet voice, that breeds *
A fever festering in the heart and sprite:
So soft that silky skin, were rose to touch it *
She'd cry and tear-drops rain for pain and fright:
Did Zephyr e'en in sleep pass o'er her land, *
Scented he'd choose to dwell in scented site:
Her necklets vie with tinkling of her belt; *
Her wrists strike either wristlet dumb with spite:
When would her bangles buss those rings in ear, *
Upon the lover's eyne high mysteries 'light:
I'm blamed for love of her, nor pardon claim; *
Eyes are not profiting which lack foresight:
Heaven strip thee, blamer mine! unjust art thou; *
Before this fawn must every eye low bow."[FN#278]

After which he said, "By Allah, O my father, I cannot endure to
be parted from her even for an hour." The King smote hand upon
hand and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! No cunning contrivance
can profit us in this affair." Then he took his son by the hand
and carried him to the palace, where Kamar al-Zaman lay down on
the bed of languor and the King sat at his head, weeping and
mourning over him and leaving him not, night or day, till at last
the Wazir came in to him and said, "O King of the age and the
time, how long wilt thou remain shut up with thy son and hide
thyself from thy troops. Haply, the order of thy realm may be
deranged, by reason of shine absence from thy Grandees and
Officers of State. It behoveth the man of understanding, if he
have various wounds in his body, to apply him first to medicine
the most dangerous; so it is my counsel to thee that thou remove
thy son from this place to the pavilion which is in the palace
overlooking the sea; and shut thyself up with him there, setting
apart in every week two days, Thursday and Monday, for state
receptions and progresses and reviews. On these days let shine
Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Viceroys and high Officials
and Grandees of the realm and the rest of the levies and the
lieges have access to thee and submit their affairs to thee; and
do thou their needs and judge among them and give and take with
them and bid and forbid. And the rest of the week thou shalt pass
with thy son, Kamar al-Zaman, and cease not thus doing till Allah
shall vouchsafe relief to you twain. Think not, O King, that thou
art safe from the shifts of Time and the strokes of Change which
come like a traveller in the night; for the wise man is ever on
his guard and how well saith the poet,

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