Edward Harper Parker - "Ancient China Simplified"

Evelyn Snead Barnett - "Jerry's Reward"

Various - "Knickerbocker, or New York Monthly Magazine, March 1844"

Richard F. Burton - "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

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




When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
treasurer wept for their weeping; then the two brothers embraced
and bade farewell and one said to the other, "All this cometh of
the malice of those traitresses, my mother and thy mother; and
this is the reward of my forbearance towards thy mother and of
thy for bearance towards my mother! But there is no Might and
there is no Majesty save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning."[FN#364]
And As'ad em braced his brother, sobbing and repeating these
couplets,

"O Thou to whom sad trembling wights in fear complain! *
O ever ready whatso cometh to sustain!
The sole resource for me is at Thy door to knock, *
At whose door knock an Thou to open wilt not deign?
O Thou whose grace is treasured in the one word, Be![FN#365] *
Favour me, I beseech, in Thee all weals contain."

Now when Amjad heard his brother's weeping he wept also and
pressing him to his bosom repeated these two couplets,

"O Thou whose boons to me are more than one! *
Whose gifts and favours have nor count nor bound!
No stroke of all Fate's strokes e'er fell on me, *
But Thee to take me by the hand I found."

Then said Amjad to the treasurer, "I conjure thee by the One,
Omnipotent, the Lord of Mercy, the Beneficent! slay me before my
brother As'ad, so haply shall the fire be quencht in my heart's
core and in this life burn no more." But As'ad wept and
exclaimed, "Not so: I will die first;" whereupon quoth Amjad, "It
were best that I embrace thee and thou embrace me, so the sword
may fall upon us and slay us both at a single stroke." Thereupon
they embraced, face to face and clung to each other straitly,
whilst the treasurer tied up the twain and bound them fast with
cords, weeping the while. Then he drew his blade and said to
them, "By Allah, O my lords, it is indeed hard to me to slay you!
But have ye no last wishes that I may fulfil or charges which I
may carry out, or message which I may deliver?" Replied Amjad,
"We have no wish; and my only charge to thee is that thou set my
brother below and me above him, that the blow may fall on me
first, and when thou hast killed us and returnest to the King and
he asketh thee, 'What heardest thou from them before their
death?'; do thou answer, 'Verily thy sons salute thee and say to
thee, Thou knewest not if we were innocent or guilty, yet hast
thou put us to death and hast not certified thyself of our sin
nor looked into our case.' Then do thou repeat to him these two
couplets,

'Women are Satans made for woe o' men; *
I fly to Allah from their devilish scathe:
Source of whatever bale befel our kind, *
In wordly matters and in things of Faith.'"

Continued Amjad, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat
to our sire these two couplets."--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was ad the Two Hundred and Twenty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Amjad
added, speaking to the treasurer, "We desire of thee naught but
that thou repeat to our sire these two couplets which thou hast
just now heard; and I conjure thee by Allah to have patience with
us, whilst I cite to my brother this other pair of couplets."
Then he wept with sore weeping and began,

"The Kings who fared before us showed *
Of instances full many a show:
Of great and small and high and low *
How many this one road have trod!"

Now when the treasurer heard these words from Amjad, he wept till
his beard was wet, whilst As'ad's eyes brimmed with tears and he
in turn repeated these couplets,

"Fate frights us when the thing is past and gone; *
Weeping is not for form or face alone[FN#366]:
What ails the Nights?[FN#367] Allah blot out our sin, *
And be the Nights by other hand undone!
Ere this Zubayr-son[FN#368] felt their spiteful hate, *
Who fled for refuge to the House and Stone:
Would that when Kharijah was for Amru slain[FN#369] *
They had ransomed Ali with all men they own."

Then, with cheeks stained by tears down railing he recited also
these verses,

"In sooth the Nights and Days are charactered *
By traitor falsehood and as knaves they lie;
The Desert-reek[FN#370] recalls their teeth that shine; *
All horrid blackness is their K of eye:
My sin anent the world which I abhor *
Is sin of sword when sworders fighting hie."

Then his sobs waxed louder and he said,

"O thou who woo'st a World[FN#371] unworthy, learn *
'Tis house of evils, 'tis Perdition's net:
A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep *
The next: then perish house of fume and fret!
Endless its frays and forays, and its thralls *
Are ne'er redeemed, while endless risks beset.
How many gloried in its pomps and pride, *
Till proud and pompous did all bounds forget,
Then showing back of shield she made them swill[FN#372] *
Full draught, and claimed all her vengeance debt.
For know her strokes fall swift and sure, altho' *
Long bide she and forslow the course of Fate:
So look thou to thy days lest life go by *
Idly, and meet thou more than thou hast met;
And cut all chains of world-love and desire *
And save thy soul and rise to secrets higher."

Now when As'ad made an end of these verses, he strained his
brother Amjad in his arms, till they twain were one body, and the
treasurer, drawing his sword, was about to strike them, when
behold, his steed took fright at the wind of his upraised hand,
and breaking its tether, fled into the desert. Now the horse had
cost a thousand gold pieces and on its back was a splendid saddle
worth much money; so the treasurer threw down his sword, and ran
after his beast.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when his
horse ran away, the treasurer ran after it in huge concern, and
ceased not running to catch the runaway till it entered a
thicket. He followed it whilst it dashed through the wood,
smiting the earth with its hoofs till it raised a dust-cloud
which towered high in air; and snorting and puffing and neighing
and waxing fierce and furious. Now there happened to be in this
thicket a lion of terrible might; hideous to sight, with eyes
sparkling light: his look was grim and his aspect struck fright
into man's sprite. Presentry the treasurer turned and saw the
lion making towards him; but found no way of escape nor had he
his sword with him. So he said in himself, "There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
This strait is come upon me for no other cause but because of
Amjad and As'ad; and indeed this journey was unblest from the
first!" Meanwhile the two Princes were grievously oppressed by
the heat and grew sore athirst, so that their tongues hung out
and they cried for succour, but none came to their relief and
they said, "Would to Heaven we had been slain and were at peace
from this pain! But we know not whither the horse hath fled, that
the treasurer is gone and hath left us thus pinioned. If he would
but come back and do us die, it were easier to us than this
torture to aby." Said As'ad, "O my brother, be patient, and the
relief of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall assuredly
come to us; for the horse started not away save of His favour
towards us, and naught irketh us but this thirst." Upon this he
stretched and shook himself and strained right and left, till he
burst his pinion-bonds; then he rose and unbound his brother and
catching up the Emir's sword, said, "By Allah, we will not go
hence, till we look after him and learn what is become of him."
Then they took to following on the trail till it led them to the
thicket and they said to each other, "Of a surety, the horse and
the treasurer have not passed out of this wood." Quoth As'ad,
"Stay thou here, whilst I enter the thicket and search it;" and
Amjad replied, "I will not let thee go in alone: nor will we
enter it but together; so if we escape, we shall escape together
and if we perish, we shall perish together." Accordingly both
entered and found that the lion had sprang upon the treasurer,
who lay like a sparrow in his grip, calling upon Allah for aid
and signing with his hands to Heaven. Now when Amjad saw this, he
took the sword and, rushing upon the lion, smote him between the
eyes and laid him dead on the ground. The Emir sprang up,
marvelling at this escape and seeing Amjad and As'ad, his
master's sons, standing there, cast himself at their feet and
exclaimed, "By Allah, O my lords, it were intolerable wrong in me
to do you to death. May the man never be who would kill you!
Indeed, with my very life, I will ransom you."--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
treasurer to Amjad and As'ad, "With my life will I ransom you
both!" Then he hastily rose and, at once embracing them, enquired
how they had loosed their bonds and come thither; whereupon they
told him how the bonds of one of them had fallen loose and he had
unbound the other, whereto they were helped by the purity of
their intentions, and how they had tracked his trail till they
came upon him. So he thanked them for their deed and went with
them forth of the thicket; and, when they were in the open
country, they said to him, "O uncle, do our father's bidding." He
replied, "Allah forbid that I should draw near to you with hurt!
But know ye that I mean to take your clothes and clothe you with
mine; then will I fill two vials with the lion's blood and go
back to the King and tell him I have out vou to death. But as for
you two, fare ye forth into the lands, for Allah's earth is wide;
and know, O my lords, that it paineth me to part from you." At
this, they all fell a-weeping; then the two youths put off their
clothes and the treasurer habited them with his own. Moreover he
made two parcels of their dress and, filling two vials with the
lion's blood, set the parcels before him on his horse's back.
Presently he took leave of them and, making his way to the city,
ceased not faring till he went in to King Kamar al-Zaman and
kissed the ground between his hands. The King saw him changed in
face and troubled (which arose from his adventure with the lion)
and, deeming this came of the slaughter of his two sons, rejoiced
and said to him, "Hast thou done the work?" "Yes, O our lord,"
replied the treasurer and gave him the two parcels of clothes and
the two vials full of blood. Asked the King, "What didst thou
observe in them; and did they give thee any charge?" Answered the
treasurer, "I found them patient and resigned to what came down
upon them and they said to me, 'Verily, our father is excusable;
bear him our salutation and say to him, 'Thou art quit of our
killing. But we charge thee repeat to him these couplets,

'Verily women are devils created for us. We seek refuge with God
from the artifice of the devils.
They are the source of all the misfortunes that have appeared
among mankind in the affairs of the world and of
religion.'''[FN#373]

When the King heard these words of the treasurer, he bowed his
head earthwards, a long while and knew his sons' words to mean
that they had been wrongfully put to death. Then he bethought
himself of the perfidy of women and the calamities brought about
by them; and he took the two parcels and opened them and fell to
turning over his sons' clothes and weeping,--And Shahrazed
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King
Kamar la-Zaman opened the two bundles and fell to turning over
his sons' clothes and weeping, it so came to pass that he found,
in the pocket of his son As'ad's raiment, a letter in the hand of
his wife enclosing her hair strings; so he opened and read it and
understanding the contents knew that the Prince had been falsely
accused and wrongously. Then he searched Amjad's parcel of dress
and found in his pocket a letter in the handwriting of Queen
Hayat al-Nufus enclosing also her hair-strings; so he opened and
read it and knew that Amjad too had been wronged; whereupon he
beat hand upon hand and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there
is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I have slain
my sons unjustly." And he buffeted his face, crying out, "Alas,
my sons! Alas, my long grief!" Then he bade them build two tombs
in one house, which he styled "House of Lamentations," and had
graved thereon his sons' names; and he threw himself on Amjad's
tomb, weeping and groaning and lamenting, and improvised these
couplets,

"O moon for ever set this earth below, *
Whose loss bewail the stars which stud the sky!
O wand, which broken, ne'er with bend and wave *
Shall fascinate the ravisht gazer's eye;
These eyne for jealousy I 'reft of thee, *
Nor shall they till next life thy sight descry:
I'm drowned in sea of tears for insomny *
Wherefore, indeed in Sahirah-stead[FN#374] I lie."

Then he threw himself on As'ad's tomb, groaning and weeping and
lamenting and versifying with these couplets,

"Indeed I longed to share unweal with thee, *
But Allah than my will willed otherwise:
My grief all blackens 'twixt mine eyes and space, *
Yet whitens all the blackness from mine eyes:[FN#375]
Of tears they weep these eyne run never dry, *
And ulcerous flow in vitals never dries:
Right sore it irks me seeing thee in stead[FN#376] *
Where slave with sovran for once levelled lies."

And his weeping and wailing redoubled; and, after he had ended
his lamentations and his verse, he forsook his friends and
intimates, and denying himself to his women and his family, cut
himself off from the world in the House of Lamentations, where he
passed his time in weeping for his sons. Such was his case; but
as regards Amjad and As'ad they fared on into the desert eating
of the fruits of the earth and drinking of the remnants of the
rain for a full month, till their travel brought them to a
mountain of black flint[FN#377] whose further end was unknown;
and here the road forked, one line lying along the midway height
and the other leading to its head. They took the way trending to
the top and gave not over following it five days, but saw no end
to it and were overcome with weariness, being unused to walking
upon the mountains or elsewhere.[FN#378] At last, despairing of
coming to the last of the road, they retraced their steps and,
taking the other, that led over the midway heights,--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princes
Amjad and As'ad returned from the path leading to the Mountain-
head and took that which ran along the midway heights, and walked
through all that day till nightfall, when As'ad, weary with much
travel, said to Amjad, "O my brother, I can walk no farther, for
I am exceeding weak." Replied Amjad, "O my brother, take courage!
May be Allah will send us relief." So they walked on part of the
night, till the darkness closed in upon them, when As'ad became
weary beyond measure of weariness and cried out, "O my brother, I
am worn out and spent with walking," and threw himself upon the
ground and wept. Amjad took him in his arms and walked on with
him, bytimes sitting down to rest till break of day, when they
came to the mountain-top and found there a stream of running
water and by it a pomegranate-tree and a prayer-niche.[FN#379]
They could hardly believe their eyes when they saw it; but,
sitting down by that spring, drank of its water and ate of the
fruit of that granado-tree; after which they lay on the ground
and slept till sunrise, when they washed and bathed in the spring
and, eating of the pomegranates, slept again till the time of
mid-afternoon prayer. Then they thought to continue their
journey, but As'ad could not walk, for both his feet were
swollen. So they abode there three days till they were rested,
after which they set out again and fared on over the mountain
days and nights, tortured by and like to die of thirst, till they
sighted a city gleaming afar off, at which they rejoiced and made
towards it. When they drew near it, they thanked Allah (be His
Name exalted!) and Amjad said to As'ad, "O my brother, sit here,
whilst I go to yonder city and see what it is and whose it is and
where we are in Allah's wide world, that we may know through what
lands we have passed in crossing this mountain, whose skirts had
we followed, we had not reached this city in a whole year. So
praised be Allah for safety!" Replied As'ad, "By Allah, O my
brother, none shall go down into that city save myself, and may I
be thy ransom! If thou leave me alone, be it only for an hour, I
shall imagine a thousand things and be drowned in a torrent of
anxiety on shine account, for I cannot brook shine absence from
me." Amjad rejoined, "Go then and tarry not. So As'ad took some
gold pieces, and leaving his brother to await him, descended the
mountain and ceased not faring on till he entered the city. As he
threaded the streets he was met by an old man age-decrepit, whose
beard flowed down upon his breast and forked in twain;[FN#380] he
bore a walking-staff in his hand and was richly clad, with a
great red turband on his head. When As'ad saw him, he wondered at
his dress and his mien; nevertheless, he went up to him and
saluting him said, "Where be the way to the market, O my master?"
Hearing these words the Shaykh smiled in his face and replied, "O
my son, meseemeth thou art a stranger?" As'ad rejoined, "Yes, I
am a stranger."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh
who met As'ad smiled in his face and said to him, "O my son,
meseemeth thou art a stranger?" and As'ad replied, "Yes, I am a
stranger." Then rejoined the old man, "Verily, thou gladdenest
our country with thy presence, O my son, and thou desolatest
shine own land by reason of shine absence. What wantest thou of
the market?" Quoth As'ad, "O uncle, I have a brother, with whom I
have come from a far land and with whom I have journeyed these
three months; and, when we sighted this city, I left him, who is
my elder brother, upon the mountain and came hither, purposing to
buy victual and what else, and return therewith to him, that we
might feed thereon." Said the old man, "Rejoice in all good, O my
son, and know thou that to-day I give a marriage-feast, to which
I have bidden many guests, and I have made ready plenty of meats,
the best and most delicious that heart can desire. So if thou
wilt come with me to my place, I will give thee freely all thou
lackest without asking thee a price or aught else. Moreover I
will teach thee the ways of this city; and, praised be Allah, O
my son, that I, and none other have happened upon thee." "As thou
wilt," answered As'ad, "do as thou art disposed, but make haste,
for indeed my brother awaiteth me and his whole heart is with
me." The old man took As'ad by the hand and carried him to a
narrow lane, smiling in his face and saying, "Glory be to Him who
hath delivered thee from the people of this city!" And he ceased
not walking till he entered a spacious house, wherein was a
saloon and behold, in the middle of it were forty old men, well
stricken in years, collected together and forming a single ring
as they sat round about a lighted fire, to which they were doing
worship and prostrating themselves.[FN#381] When As'ad saw this,
he was confounded and the hair of his body stood on end though he
knew not what they were; and the Shaykh said to them, "O Elders
of the Fire, how blessed is this day!" Then he called aloud,
saying, "Hello, Ghazban!" Whereupon there came out to him a tall
black slave of frightful aspect, grim-visaged and flat nosed as
an ape who, when the old man made a sign to him, bent As'ad's
arms behind his back and pinioned them; after which the Shaykh
said to him, "Let him down into the vault under the earth and
there leave him and say to my slave girl Such-an-one, 'Torture
him night and day and give him a cake of bread to eat morning and
evening against the time come of the voyage to the Blue Sea and
the Mountain of Fire, whereon we will slaughter him as a
sacrifice.'" So the black carried him out at another door and,
raising a flag in the floor, discovered a flight of twenty steps
leading to a chamber[FN#382] under the earth, into which he
descended with him and, laying his feet in irons, gave him over
to the slave girl and went away. Meanwhile, the old men said to
one another, "When the day of the Festival of the Fire cometh, we
will sacrifice him on the mountain, as a propitiatory offering
whereby we shall pleasure the Fire." Presently the damsel went
down to him and beat him a grievous beating, till streams of
blood flowed from his sides and he fainted; after which she set
at his head a scone of bread and a cruse of brackish water and
went away and left him. In the middle of the night, he revived
and found himself bound and beaten and sore with beating: so he
wept bitter tears; and recalling his former condition of honour
and prosperity, lordship and dominion, and his separation from
his sire and his exile from his native land.--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say,

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when As'ad
found himself bound and beaten and sore with beating he recalled
his whilome condition of honour and prosperity and dominion and
lordship, and he wept and groaned aloud and recited these
couplets,

"Stand by the ruined stead and ask of us; *
Nor deem we dwell there as was state of us:
The World, that parter, hath departed us; *
Yet soothes not hate-full hearts the fate of us:
With whips a cursed slave girl scourges us, *
And teems her breast with rancorous hate of us:
Allah shall haply deign to unpart our lives, *
Chastise our foes, and end this strait of us."

And when As'ad had spoken his poetry, he put out his hand towards
his head and finding there the crust and the cruse full of
brackish water he ate a bittock, just enough to keep life in him,
and drank a little water, but could get no sleep till morning for
the swarms of bugs[FN#383] and lice. As soon as it was day, the
slave girl came down to him and changed his clothes, which were
drenched with blood and stuck to him, so that his skin came off
with the shirt; wherefor he shrieked aloud and cried, "Alas!" and
said, "O my God, if this be Thy pleasure, increase it upon me! O
Lord, verily Thou art not unmindful of him that oppresseth me; do
Thou then avenge me upon him!" And he groaned and repeated the
following verses,

"Patient, O Allah! to Thy destiny *
I bow, suffice me what Thou deign decree:
Patient to bear Thy will, O Lord of me, *
Patient to burn on coals of Ghaza-tree:
They wrong me, visit me with hurt and harm; *
Haply Thy grace from them shall set me free:
Far be's, O Lord, from thee to spare the wronger *
O Lord of Destiny my hope's in Thee!"

And what another saith,

"Bethink thee not of worldly state, *
Leave everything to course of Fate;
For oft a thing that irketh thee *
Shall in content eventuate;
And oft what strait is shall expand, *
And what expanded is wax strait.
Allah will do what wills His will *
So be not thou importunate!
But 'joy the view of coming weal *
Shall make forget past bale and bate."

And when he had ended his verse, the slave-girl came down upon
him with blows till he fainted again; and, throwing him a flap of
bread and a gugglet of saltish water, went away and left him sad
and lonely, bound in chains of iron, with the blood streaming
from his sides and far from those he loved. So he wept and called
to mind his brother and the honours he erst enjoyed.--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that As'ad
called to mind his brother and the honours he erst enjoyed; so he
wept and groaned and complained and poured forth tears in floods
and improvised these couplets,

"Easy, O Fate! how long this wrong, this injury, *
Robbing each morn and eve my brotherhood fro' me?
Is't not time now thou deem this length sufficiency *
Of woes and, O thou Heart of Rock, show clemency?
My friends thou wrongedst when thou madst each enemy *
Mock and exult me for thy wrongs, thy tyranny:
My foeman's heart is solaced by the things he saw *
In me, of strangerhood and lonely misery:
Suffice thee not what came upon my head of dole, *
Friends lost for evermore, eyes wan and pale of blee?
But must in prison cast so narrow there is naught *
Save hand to bite, with bitten hand for company;
And tears that tempest down like goodly gift of cloud, *
And longing thirst whose fires weet no satiety.
Regretful yearnings, singulfs and unceasing sighs, *
Repine, remembrance and pain's very ecstacy:
Desire I suffer sore and melancholy deep, *
And I must bide a prey to endless phrenesy:
I find me ne'er a friend who looks with piteous eye, *
And seeks my presence to allay my misery:
Say, liveth any intimate with trusty love *
Who for mine ills will groan, my sleepless malady?
To whom moan I can make and, peradventure, he *
Shall pity eyes that sight of sleep can never see?
The flea and bug suck up my blood, as wight that drinks *
Wine from the proffering hand of fair virginity:
Amid the lice my body aye remindeth me *
Of orphan's good in Kazi's claw of villainy:
My home's a sepulchre that measures cubits three, *
Where pass I morn and eve in chained agony:
My wines are tears, my clank of chains takes music's stead, *
Cares my dessert of fruit and sorrows are my bed."

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.