The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4
R >>
Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 | 19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28
When it was the Three Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Masrur
cried out to the Caliph, "O my lord, strike off my head; haply
that will dispel thine unease and do away the restlessness that
is upon thee." So Al-Rashid laughed at his saying and said, "See
which of the boon-companions is at the door." Thereupon he went
out and returning, said, "O my lord, he who sits without is Ali
bin Mansur of Damascus, the Wag."[FN#327] "Bring him to me,"
quoth Harun: and Masrur went out and returned with Ibn Mansur,
who said, on entering, "Peace be with thee, O Commander of the
Faithful!" The Caliph returned his salutation and said to him, "O
Ibn Mansur, tell us some of thy stories." Said the other, "O
Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen
with my eyes or what I have only heard tell?" Replied the Caliph,
"If thou have seen aught worth telling, let us hear it; for
hearing is not like seeing." Said Ibn Mansur, "O Commander of the
Faithful, lend me thine ear and thy heart;" and he answered, "O
Ibn Mansur, behold, I am listening to thee with mine ears and
looking at thee with mine eyes and attending to thee with my
heart." So Ibn Mansur began: "Know then, O Commander of the
Faithful, that I receive a yearly allowance from Mohammed bin
Sulayman al-Hashimi, Sultan of Bassorah; so I went to him once
upon a time, as usual, and found him ready to ride out hunting
and birding. I saluted him and he returned my salute, and said,
'O son of Mansur, mount and come with us to the chase:' but I
said, 'O my lord, I can no longer ride; so do thou station me in
the guest-house and give thy chamberlains and lieutenants charge
over me.' And he did so and departed for his sport. His people
entreated me with the utmost honour and entertained me with the
greatest hospitality; but said I to myself, 'By Allah, it is a
strange thing that for so long I have been in the habit of coming
from Baghdad to Bassorah, yet know no more of this town than from
palace to garden and from garden to palace. When shall I find an
occasion like this to view the different parts and quarters of
Bassorah? I will rise forthwith and walk forth alone and divert
myself and digest what I have eaten.' Accordingly I donned my
richest dress and went out a walking about Bassorah. Now it is
known to thee, O Commander of the Faithful, that it hath seventy
streets, each seventy leagues[FN#328] long, the measure of Irak;
and I lost myself in its by-streets and thirst overcame me.
Presently, as I went along, O Prince of True Believers, behold, I
came to a great door, whereon were two rings of brass,[FN#329]
with curtains of red brocade drawn before it. And on either side
of the door was a stone bench and over it was a trellis, covered
with a creeping vine that hung down and shaded the door way. I
stood still to gaze upon the place, and presently heard a
sorrowful voice, proceeding from a heart which did not rejoice,
singing melodiously and chanting these cinquains,
'My body bides the sad abode of grief and malady, * Caused by a
fawn whose land and home are in a far countrie:
O ye two Zephyrs of the wold which caused such pain in me * By
Allah, Lord of you! to him my heart's desire, go ye
And chide him so perchance ye soften him I pray.
And tell us all his words if he to hear your speech shall deign,
* And unto him the tidings bear of lovers 'twixt you twain:
And both vouchsafe to render me a service free and fain, * And
lay my case before him showing how I e'er complain:
And say, 'What ails thy bounder thrall this wise to
drive away,
Without a fault committed and without a sin to show; * Or heart
that leans to other wight or would thy love forego:
Or treason to our plighted troth or causing thee a throe?' * And
if he smile then say ye twain in accents soft and slow,
'An thou to him a meeting grant 'twould be the kindest
way!
For he is gone distraught for thee, as well indeed, he might *
His eyes are wakeful and he weeps and wails the livelong
night :'
If seem he satisfied by this why then 'tis well and right, * But
if he show an angry face and treat ye with despite,
Trick him and 'Naught we know of him!' I beg you both
to say.'
Quoth I to myself, 'Verily, if the owner of this voice be fair,
she conjoineth beauty of person and eloquence and sweetness of
voice.' Then I drew near the door, and began raising the curtain
little by little, when lo! I beheld a damsel, white as a full
moon when it mooneth on its fourteenth night, with joined
eyebrows twain and languorous lids of eyne, breasts like
pomegranates twin and dainty, lips like double carnelian, a mouth
as it were the seal-of Solomon, and teeth ranged in a line that
played with the reason of proser and rhymer, even as saith the
poet,
'O pearly mouth of friend, who set those pretty pearls in line, *
And filled thee full of whitest chamomile and reddest wine?
Who lent the morning-glory in thy smile to shimmer and shine *
Who with that ruby-padlock dared thy lips to seal-and sign!
Who looks on thee at early morn with stress of joy and bliss *
Goes mad for aye, what then of him who wins a kiss of
thine?'[FN#330]
And as saith another,
'O pearl-set mouth of friend * Pity poor Ruby's cheek
Boast not o'er one who owns * Thee, union and unique.'
In brief she comprised all varieties of loveliness and was a
seduction to men and women, nor could the gazer satisfy himself
with the sight of her charms; for she was as the poet hath said
of her,
'When comes she, slays she; and when back he turns, * She makes
all men regard with loving eyes:
A very sun! a very moon! but still * Prom hurt and harmful ills
her nature flies.
Opes Eden's garden when she shows herself, * And full moon see we
o'er her necklace rise.'
How as I was looking at her through an opening of the curtain,
behold, she turned; and, seeing me standing at the door, said to
her handmaid, 'See who is at the door.' So the slave-girl came up
to me and said, 'O Shaykh, hast thou no shame, or do impudent
airs suit hoary hairs?' Quoth I, 'O my mistress, I confess to the
hoary hairs, but as for impudent airs, I think not to be guilty
of unmannerliness.' Then the mistress broke in, 'And what can be
more unmannerly than to intrude thyself upon a house other than
thy house and gaze on a Harim other than thy Harim?' I pleaded,
'O my lady, I have an excuse;' and when she asked, 'And what is
thine excuse?' I answered, 'I am a stranger and so thirsty that I
am well nigh dead of thirst.' She rejoined, 'We accept thine
excuse,' --And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When It was the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
lady rejoined, 'We accept thine excuse,' and calling one of her
slave maids, said to her, 'O Lutf,[FN#331] give him to drink in
the golden tankard.' So she brought me a tankard of red gold, set
with pearls and gems of price, full of water mingled with virgin
musk and covered with a napkin of green silk, and I addressed
myself to drink and was long about my drinking, for I stole
glances at her the while, till I could prolong my stay no longer.
Then I returned the tankard to the girl, but did not offer to go;
and she said to me, 'O Shaykh, wend thy way.' But I said, 'O my
lady, I am troubled in mind.' She asked me 'for what?' and I
answered, 'For the turns of Time and the change of things.'
Replied she, 'Well mayst thou be troubled thereat for Time
breedeth wonders. But what hast thou seen of such surprises that
thou shouldst muse upon them?' Quoth I, 'I was thinking of the
whilom owner of this house, for he was my intimate in his
lifetime.' Asked she, 'What was his name?'; and I answered,
'Mohammed bin Ali the Jeweller and he was a man of great wealth.
Tell me did he leave any children?' Said she, 'Yes, he left a
daughter, Budur by name, who inherited all his wealth?' Quoth I,
'Meseemeth thou art his daughter?' 'Yes,' answered she, laughing;
then added, 'O Shaykh, thou best talked long enough; now wend thy
ways.' Replied I, 'Needst must I go, but I see thy charms are
changed by being out of health; so tell me thy case; it may be
Allah will give thee comfort at my hands.' Rejoined she, 'O
Shayth, if thou be a man of discretion, I will discover to thee
my secret; but first tell me who thou art, that I may know
whether thou art worthy of confidence or not; for the poet
saith,[FN#332]
'None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of
mankind remaineth concealed.
I have kept my secret in a house with a lock, whose key is lost
and whose door is sealed.'
Thereto I replied, 'O my lady, an thou wouldest know who I am, I
am Ali bin Mansur of Damascus, the Wag, cup-companion to the
Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid.' Now when she heard
my name, she came down from her seat and saluting me, said,
'Welcome, O Ibn Mansur! Now will I tell thee my case and entrust
thee with my secret. I am a lover separated from her beloved.' I
answered, 'O my lady, thou art fair and shouldest be on love
terms with none but the fair. Whom then dost thou love?' Quoth
she, 'I love Jubayr bin Umayr al-Shaybani, Emir of the Banu
Shayban;[FN#333]' and she described to me a young man than whom
there was no prettier fellow in Bassorah. I asked, 'O my lady,
have interviews or letters passed between you?' and she answered
'Yes, but our love was tongue-love souls, not heart and souls-
love; for he kept not his trust nor was he faithful to his
troth.' Said I, 'O my lady, and what was the cause of your
separation?', and she replied, 'I was sitting one day whilst my
handmaid here combed my hair. When she had made an end of combing
it, she plaited my tresses, and my beauty and loveliness charmed
her; so she bent over me and kissed my cheek.[FN#334] At that
moment he came in unawares, and, seeing the girl kiss my cheek,
straightways turned away in anger, vowing eternal-separation and
repeating these two couplets,
'If another share in the thing I love, * I abandon my love and
live lorn of love.
My beloved is worthless if aught she will, * Save that which her
lover doth most approve.
And from the time he left me to this present hour, O Ibn Mansur,
he hath neither written to me nor answered my letters.' Quoth I,
'And what purposes" thou to do?' Quoth she, 'I have a mind to
send him a letter by thee. If thou bring me back an answer, thou
shalt have of me five hundred gold pieces; and if not, then an
hundred for thy trouble in going and coming.' I answered, 'Do
what seemeth good to thee; I hear and I obey thee.' Whereupon she
called to one of her slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and paper,'
and she wrote thereon these couplets,
'Beloved, why this strangeness, why this hate? * When shall thy
pardon reunite us two?
Why dost thou turn from me in severance? * Thy face is not the
face I am wont to know.
Yes, slanderers falsed my words, and thou to them * Inclining,
madest spite and envy grow.
An hast believed their tale, the Heavens forbid * Now thou
believe it when dost better bow!
By thy life tell what hath reached thine ear, * Thou know'st what
said they and so justice show.
An it be true I spoke the words, my words * Admit interpreting
and change allow:
Given that the words of Allah were revealed, * Folk changed the
Torah[FN#335] and still changing go:
What slanders told they of mankind before! * Jacob heard Joseph
blamed by tongue of foe.
Yea, for myself and slanderer and thee * An awful day of
reckoning there shall be.'
Then she sealed the letter and gave it to me; and I took it and
carried it to the house of Jubayr bin Umayr, whom I found absent
a hunting. So I sat down to wait for him; and behold, he returned
from the chase; and when I saw him, O Prince of True Believers,
come riding up, my wit was confounded by his beauty and grace. As
soon as he sighted me sitting at the house-door, he dismounted
and coming up to me embraced me and saluted me; and meseemed I
embraced the world and all therein. Then he carried me into his
house and, seating me on his own couch, called for food. They
brought a table of Khalanj-wood of Khorasan with feet of gold,
whereon were all manners of meats, fried and roasted and the
like. So I seated myself at the table and examining it with care
found these couplets engraved upon it:"[FN#336]--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
When it was the Three Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali son of
Mansur continued: "So I seated myself at the table of Jubayr bin
Umayr al-Shaybani and, examining it with care, found these
couplets engraved upon it,
'On these which once were-chicks,
Your mourning glances fix,
Late dwellers in the mansion of the cup,
Now nearly eaten up!
Let tears bedew
The memory of that stew,
Those partridges, once roast,
Now lost!
The daughters of the grouse in plaintive strain
Bemourn, and still bemourn, and mourn again!
The children of the fry,
We lately saw
Half smothered in pilau
With buttery mutton fritters smoking by!
Alas! my heart, the fish!
Who filled his dish,
With flaky form in varying colours spread
On the round pastry cake of household bread!
Heaven sent us that kabob!
For no one could
(Save heaven he should rob)
Produce a thing so excellently good,
Or give us roasted meat
With basting oil so savourily replete!
But, oh! mine appetite, alas! for thee!
Who on that furmeaty
So sharpset west a little while ago--
That furmeaty, which mashed by hands of snow,
A light reflection bore,
Of the bright bracelets that those fair hands wore;
Again remembrance glads my sense
With visions of its excellence!
Again I see the cloth unrolled
Rich worked in many a varied fold!
Be patient, oh! my soul, they say
Fortune rules all that's new and strange,
And though she pinches us to day,
To-morrow brings full rations, and a change!'[FN#337]
Then said Jubayr, 'Put forth thy hand to our food and ease our
heart by eating of our victual.' Answered I, 'By Allah, I will
not eat a mouthful, till thou grant me my desire.' He asked,
'What is thy desire?'; so I brought out the letter and gave it to
him; but, when he had read it and mastered its contents, he tore
it in pieces and throwing it on the floor, said to me, 'O Ibn
Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy desire
which concerneth the writer of this letter, for I have no answer
to her.' At this I rose in anger; but he caught hold of my
skirts, saying, 'O Ibn Mansur, I will tell thee what she said to
thee, albeit I was not present with you.' I asked, 'And what did
she say to me?'; and he answered, 'Did not the writer of this
letter say to thee, If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt
have of me five hundred ducats; and if not, an hundred for thy
pains?' 'Yes,' replied I; and he rejoined, 'Abide with me this
day and eat and drink and enjoy thyself and make merry, and thou
shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So I sat with him and ate
and drank and made merry and enjoyed myself and entertained him
with talk deep in to the night;[FN#338] after which I said to
him, 'O my master, is there no music in thy house.' He answered,
'Verily for many a day we have drunk without music.' Then he
called out, saying, 'Ho, Shajarat al-Durr?' Whereupon a slave-
girl answered him from her chamber and came in to us, with a lute
of Hindu make, wrapped in a silken bag. And she sat down and,
laying the lute in her lap, preluded in one and twenty modes;
then, returning to the first, she sang to a lively measure these
couplets,
'We have ne'er tasted of Love's sweets and bitter draught, * No
difference kens 'twixt presence-bliss and absence-stress;
And so, who hath declined from Love's true road, * No diference
kens 'twixt smooth and ruggedness:
I ceased not to oppose the votaries of love, * Till I had tried
its sweets and bitters not the less:
How many a night my pretty friend conversed with me * And sipped
I from his lips honey of love liesse:
Now have I drunk its cup of bitterness, until * To bondman and to
freedman I have proved me base.
How short-aged was the night together we enjoyed, * When seemed
it daybreak came on nightfall's heel to press!
But Fate had vowed to disunite us lovers twain, * And she too
well hath kept her vow, that votaress.
Fate so decreed it! None her sentence can withstand: * Where is
the wight who dares oppose his Lord's command?'
Hardly had she finished her verses, when her lord cried out with
a great cry and fell down in a fit; whereupon exclaimed the
damsel, 'May Allah not punish thee, O old man! This long time
have we drunk without music, for fear the like of this falling
sickness befal our lord. But now go thou to yonder chamber and
there sleep.' So I went to the chamber which she showed me and
slept till the morning, when behold, a page brought me a purse of
five hundred dinars and said to me, 'This is what my master
promised thee; but return thou not to the damsel who sent thee,
god let it be as though neither thou nor we had ever heard of
this matter.' 'Hearkening and obedience,' answered I and taking
the purse, went my way. Still I said to myself, 'The lady must
have expected me since yesterday; and by Allah there is no help
but I return to her and tell her what passed between me and him:
otherwise she will revile me and revile all who come from my
country.' So I went to her and found her standing behind the
door; and when she saw me she said, 'O Ibn Mansur, thou hast done
nothing for me?' I asked, 'Who told thee of this?'; and she
answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, yet another thing hath been revealed to
me;[FN#339] and it is that, when thou handedst him the letter, he
tore it in pieces. and throwing it on the floor, said to thee: 'O
Ibn Mansur, I will grant thee whatever thou askest save thy
desire which concerneth the writer of this letter; for I have no
answer to her missive.' Then didst thou rise from beside him in
anger; but he laid hold of thy skirts, saying: 'O son of Mansur,
abide with me to day, for thou art my guest, and eat and drink
and make merry; and thou shalt have thy five hundred ducats.' So
thou didst sit with him, eating and drinking and making merry,
and entertainedst him with talk deep into the night and a slave-
girl sang such an air and such verses, whereupon he fell down in
a fit.' So, O Commander of the Faithful, I asked her 'West thou
then with us?'; and she answered, 'O Ibn Mansur, hast thou not
heard the saying of the poet,
'The hearts of lovers have eyes I ken, * Which see the unseen by
vulgar men.'
However, O Ibn Mansur, the night and day shift not upon anything
but they bring to it change.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady
exclaimed, 'O Ibn Mansur, the night and the day shift not upon
anything but they bring to it change!' Then she raised her glance
to heaven and said, 'O my God and my Leader and my Lord, like as
Thou hast afflicted me with love of Jubayr bin Umayr, even so do
Thou afflict him with love of me, and transfer the passion from
my heart to his heart!'[FN#340] Then she gave me an hundred
sequins for my trouble in going and coming and I took it and
returned to the palace, where I found the Sultan come home from
the chase; so I got my pension of him and fared back to Baghdad.
And when next year came, I repaired to Bassorah, as usual, to
seek my pension, and the Sultan paid it to me; but, as I was
about to return to Baghdad, I bethought me of the Lady Budur and
said to myself, 'By Allah, I must needs go to her and see what
hath befallen between her and her lover!' So I went to her house
and finding the street before her door swept and sprinkled and
eunuchs and servants and pages standing before the entrance, said
to myself, 'Most like grief hath broken the lady's heart and she
is dead, and some Emir or other hath taken up his abode in her
house.' So I left it and went on to the house of Jubayr, son of
Umayr the Shaybani, where I found the benches of the porch broken
down and ne'er a page at the door, as of wont and said to myself,
'Haply he too is dead.' Then I stood still before the door of his
house and with my eyes running over with tears, bemoaned it in
these couplets,
'O Lords of me, who fared but whom my heart e'er followeth, *
Return and so my festal-days with you shall be renewed!
I stand before the home of you, bewailing your abode; * Quiver
mine eyelids and my eyes with tears are ever dewed:
I ask the house and its remains that seem to weep and wail, *
'Where is the man who whilom wont to lavish goods and
good?''
It saith, 'Go, wend thy way; those friends like travellers have
fared * From Springtide-camp, and buried lie of earth and
worms the food!'
Allah ne'er desolate us so we lose their virtues' light * In
length and breadth, but ever be the light in spirit viewed!'
As I, O Prince of True Believers, was thus keening over the folk
of the house,[FN#341] behold, out came a black slave therefrom
and said to me, 'Hold thy peace, O Shaykh! May thy mother be reft
of thee! Why do I see thee bemoaning the house in this wise?'
Quoth I, 'I frequented it of yore, when it belonged to a good
friend of mine.' Asked the slave, 'What was his name?'; and I
answered, 'Jubayr bin Umayr the Shaybani.' Rejoined he, And what
hath befallen him? Praised be Allah, he is yet here with us in
the enjoyment of property and rank and prosperity, except that
Allah hath stricken him with love of a damsel called the Lady
Budur;, and he is so whelmed by his love of her and his longing
for her, that he is like a great rock cumbering the ground. If he
hunger, he saith not, 'Give me meat;' nor, if he thirst, doth he
say, 'Give me drink.' Quoth I, 'Ask leave for me to go in to
him.' Said the slave, 'O my lord, wilt thou go in to one who
understandeth or to one who understandeth not?'; and I said
'There is no help for it but I see him whatever be the case.'
Accordingly he went in to ask and presently returned with
permission for me to enter, whereupon I went in to Jubayr and
found him like a rock that cumbereth the ground, understanding
neither sign nor speech; and when I spoke to him he answered me
not. Then said one of his servants, 'O my lord, if thou remember
aught of verse, repeat it and raise thy voice; and he will be
aroused by this and speak with thee.' So I versified in these two
couplets,
'Hast quit the love of Moons[FN#342] or dost persist? * Dost wake
o' nights or close in sleep thine eyes?
If aye thy tears in torrents flow, then learn * Eternal-thou
shalt dwell in Paradise.'[FN#343]
When he heard these verses he opened his eyes and said; 'Welcome,
O son of Mansur! Verily, the jest is become earnest.' Quoth I, 'O
my lord, is there aught thou wouldst have me do for thee?'
Answered he, 'Yes, I would fain write her a letter and send it to
her by thee. If thou bring me back her answer, thou shalt have of
me a thousand dinars; and if not, two hundred for thy pains.' So
I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;'--And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibn Mansur
continued: "So I said, 'Do what seemeth good to thee;' whereupon
he called to one of his slave-girls, 'Bring me ink case and
paper;' and wrote these couplets,
'I pray in Allah's name, O Princess mine, be light * On me, for
Love hath robbed me of my reason's sight'
'Slaved me this longing and enthralled me love of you; * And clad
in sickness garb, a poor and abject wight.
I wont ere this to think small things of Love and hold, * O
Princess mine, 'twas silly thing and over-slight.
But when it showed me swelling surges of its sea, * To Allah's
hest I bowed and pitied lover's plight.
An will you, pity show and deign a meeting grant, * An will you
kill me still forget not good requite.'[FN#344]
Then he sealed the letter and gave it to me. So I took it and,
repairing to Budur's house, raised the door-curtain little by
little, as before, and looking in behold, I saw ten damsels,
high-bosomed virgins, like moons, and the Lady Budur as she were
the full moon among the stars, sitting in their midst, or the
sun, when it is clear of clouds and mist; nor was there on her
any trace of pain or care. And as I looked and marvelled at her
case, she turned her glance upon me and, seeing me standing at
the door, said to me, 'Well come, and welcome and all hail to
thee, O Ibn Mansur! Come in.' So I entered and saluting her gave
her the letter; and she read it and when she understood it, she
said laughingly to me, 'O Ibn Mansur, the poet lied not when he
sang,
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 | 19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28