The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6

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When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
neighbours proposed to heap fuel about the cabinet and to burn it
the Kazi bawled out to them, "Do it not!" And they said to one
another, "Verily the Jinn make believe to be mortals and speak
with men's voices." Thereupon the Kazi repeated somewhat of the
Sublime Koran and said to the neighbours, "Draw near to the
cabinet wherein we are." So they drew near, and he said, "I am so
and so the Kazi, and ye are such an one and such an one, and we
are here a company." Quoth the neighbours, "Who brought you
here?" And he told them the whole case from beginning to end.
Then they fetched a carpenter, who opened the five doors and let
out Kazi, Wazir, Wali, King and carpenter in their queer
disguises; and each, when he saw how the others were accoutred,
fell a-laughing at them. Now she had taken away all their
clothes; so every one of them sent to his people for fresh
clothes and put them on and went out, covering himself therewith
from the sight of the folk. "Consider, therefore, O our lord the
King" (said the Wazir), "what a trick this woman played off upon
the folk! And I have heard tell also a tale of

The Three Wishes,[FN#215] or the Man who Longed to see the
Night of Power.

A certain man had longed all his life to look upon the Night of
Power,[FN#216] and one night it befel that he gazed at the sky
and saw the angels, and Heaven's gates thrown open; and he beheld
all things prostrating themselves before their Lord, each in its
several stead. So he said to his wife, "Harkye, such an one,
verily Allah hath shown me the Night of Power, and it hath been
proclaimed to me, from the invisible world, that three prayers
will be granted unto me; so I consult thee for counsel as to what
shall I ask." Quoth she, "O man, the perfection of man and his
delight is in his prickle; therefore do thou pray Allah to
greaten thy yard and magnify it." So he lifted up his hands to
heaven and said, "O Allah, greaten my yard and magnify it."
Hardly had he spoken when his tool became as big as a column and
he could neither sit nor stand nor move about nor even stir from
his stead; and when he would have carnally known his wife, she
fled before him from place to place. So he said to her, "O
accursed woman, what is to be done? This is thy list, by reason
of thy lust." She replied, "No, by Allah, I did not ask for this
length and huge bulk, for which the gate of a street were too
strait. Pray Heaven to make it less." So he raised his eyes to
Heaven and said, "O Allah, rid me of this thing and deliver me
therefrom." And immediately his prickle disappeared altogether
and he became clean smooth. When his wife saw this, she said, "I
have no occasion for thee, now thou are become pegless as a
eunuch, shaven and shorn;" and he answered her, saying, "All this
comes of thine ill-omened counsel and thine imbecile judgment. I
had three prayers accepted of Allah, wherewith I might have
gotten me my good, both in this world and in the next, and now
two wishes are gone in pure waste, by thy lewd will, and there
remaineth but one." Quoth she, "Pray Allah the Most High to
restore thee thy yard as it was." So he prayed to his Lord and
his prickle was restored to its first estate. Thus the man lost
his three wishes by the ill counsel and lack of wit in the woman;
"And this, O King" (said the Wazir), "have I told thee, that thou
mightest be certified of the thoughtlessness of women and their
inconsequence and silliness and see what cometh of hearkening to
their counsel. Wherefore be not persuaded by them to slay thy
son, thy heart's core, who shall cause thy remembrance to survive
thee." The King gave ear to his Minister's words and forbore to
put his son to death; but, on the seventh day, the damsel came
in, shrieking, and after lighting a great fire in the King's
presence, made as she would cast herself therein; whereupon they
laid hands on her and brought her before him. He asked her, "Why
hast thou done this?"; and she answered, "Except thou do me
justice on thy son, I will cast myself into this very fire and
accuse thee of this on the Day of Resurrection, for I am a-weary
of my life, and before coming into thy presence I wrote my last
will and testament and gave alms of my goods and resolved upon
death. And thou wilt repent with all repentance, even as did the
King of having punished the pious woman who kept the Hammam."
Quoth the King, "How was that?" and quoth she, "I have heard
tell, O King, this tale concerning

The Stolen Necklace.

There was once a devotee, a recluse, a woman who had devoted
herself to religion. Now she used to resort to a certain King's
palace,[FN#217] whose dwellers were blessed by her presence and
she was held of them in high honour. One day she entered that
palace according to her custom and sat down beside the King's
wife. Presently the Queen gave her a necklace, worth a thousand
dinars, saying, "Keep this for me, O woman, whilst I go to the
Hammam." So she entered the bath, which was in the palace, and
the pious woman remaining in the place where the Queen was and
awaiting her return laid the necklace on the prayer-carpet and
stood up to pray. As she was thus engaged, there came a
magpie[FN#218] which snatched up the necklace, while she went out
to obey a call of nature and carrying it off, hid it inside a
crevice in a corner of the palace-walls. When the Queen came out
of the bath, she sought the necklace of the recluse, who also
searched for it, but found it not nor could light on any trace of
it; so she said to the King's wife, "By Allah, O my daughter,
none hath been with me. When thou gavest me the necklace, I laid
it on the prayer-carpet, and I know not if one of the servants
saw it and took it without my heed, whilst I was engaged in
prayer. Almighty Allah only knoweth what is come of it!" When the
King heard what had happened, he bade his Queen put the
bath-woman to the question by fire and grievous blows, --And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
King bade his Queen question the bath-woman with fire and
grievous blows, they tortured her with all manner tortures, but
could not bring her to confess or to accuse any. Then he
commanded to cast her into prison and manacle and fetter her; and
they did as he bade. One day, after this, as the King sat in the
inner court of his palace, with the Queen by his side and water
flowing around him, he saw the pie fly into a crevice in a corner
of the wall and pull out the necklace, whereupon he cried out to
a damsel who was with him, and she caught the bird and took the
necklace from it. By this the King knew that the pious bath-woman
had been wronged and repented of that he had done with her. So he
sent for her to the presence and fell to kissing her head and
with many tears sought pardon of her. Moreover, he commanded much
treasure to be given to her, but she refused and would none of
it. However, she forgave him and went away, swearing never again
to enter any one's house. So she betook herself to wandering in
the mountains and valleys and worshipped God until she died, and
Almighty Allah have mercy upon her! "And for an instance of the
malice of the male sex" (continued the damsel), "I have heard, O
King, tell this tale of

The Two Pigeons.[FN#219]

A pair of pigeons once stored up wheat and barley in their nest
during the winter, and when the summer came, the grain shrivelled
and became less; so the male pigeon said to his wife, "Thou hast
eaten of this grain." Replied she, "No, by Allah, I have never
touched it!" But he believed not her words and beat her with his
wings and pecked her with his bill, till he killed her. When the
cold season returned, the corn swelled out and became as before,
whereupon he knew that he had slain his wife wrongously and
wickedly, and he repented whenas repentance availed him naught.
Then he lay down by her side, mourning over her and weeping for
grief, and left meat and drink, till he fell sick and died. "But"
(added the damsel), "I know a story of the malice of men more
extraordinary than either of these." Quoth the King, "Let us hear
what thou hast to tell;" and quoth she, "I have heard tell, O
King, this

Story of Prince Behram and the Princess Al-Datma.

There was once a King's daughter, who had no equal in her time
for beauty and loveliness and symmetrical stature and grace,
brilliancy, amorous lace and the art of ravishing the wits of the
masculine race and her name was Al-Datma. She used to boast,
"Indeed there is none like me in this age." Nor was there one
more accomplished than she in horsemanship and martial exercises
and all that behoveth a cavalier. So all the Kings' sons sought
her to wife; but she would take none of them, saying, "No man
shall marry me except he overcome me at lunge of lance and stroke
of sword in fair field and patent plain. If any can do this, I
will willingly wed him; but, if I overcome him, I will take his
horse and clothes and arms and write with fire upon his forehead,
'This is the freed man of Al-Datma.'" Now the sons of the Kings
flocked to her from every quarter far and near, and she overcame
them and put them to shame, stripping them of their arms and
branding them with fire. Presently the son of a King of the Kings
of the Persians, by name Behram ibn Taji, heard of her and
journeyed from afar to her father's court, bringing with him men
and horses and great store of wealth and royal treasures. When he
drew near the city, he sent her parent a rich present and the
King came out to meet him and honoured him with the utmost
honour. Then the King's son sent a message to him by his Wazir,
demanding his daughter's hand in marriage; but the King answered,
saying, "O my son, as regards my daughter Al-Datma, I have no
power over her, for she hath sworn by her soul to marry none
except he overcome her in the listed field." Quoth the Prince, "I
journeyed hither from my father's court with no other object but
this; I came here to woo and for thine alliance to sue;" quoth
the King, "Thou shalt meet her tomorrow." So next day he sent to
bid his daughter who, making ready for battle, donned her harness
of war, and the folk, hearing of the coming joust, flocked from
all sides to the field. Presently the Princess rode into the
lists, armed cap-a-pie and belted and with vizor down, and the
Persian King's son came out singlehanded to meet her, equipped at
all points after the fairest of fashions. Then they drove at each
other and fought a great while, wheeling and falsing, advancing
and retreating, till the Princess, finding in him such courage
and cavalarice as she had seen in none else, began to fear for
herself lest he put her to shame before the bystanders and knew
that he would assuredly overcome her. So she resolved to trick
him and, raising her vizor, lo! her face appeared more brilliant
than the full moon, which when he saw, he was confounded by her
beauty and his strength failed and his spirit faltered. When she
perceived this, she fell upon him unawares in his moment of
weakness, and tare him from his saddle, and he became in her
hands as he were a sparrow in the clutches of an eagle, knowing
not what was done with him for amazement and confusion. So she
took his steed and clothes and armour and, branding him with
fire, let him wend his ways. When he recovered from his stupor,
he abode several days without meat or drink or sleep for despite
and love of the girl which had taken hold upon his heart. Then he
sent a letter by certain of his slaves to his father, advising
him that he could not return home till he had won his will of the
Princess or died for want of her. When his sire got the letter,
he was sore concerned for his son and would have succoured him by
sending troops and soldiers; but his Wazirs dissuaded him from
this and exhorted him to patience; so he committed his affair to
Almighty Allah. Meanwhile, the Prince cast about for a means of
coming to his desire; and presently, disguising himself as a
decrepit old man, with a white beard over his own black beard
repaired to a garden of the Princess wherein she used to walk
most of her days. Here he sought out the gardener and said to
him, "I am a stranger from a far country and from my youth
upwards I have been a gardener, and in the grafting of trees and
the culture of fruits and flowers and care of the vine none is
more skilled than I." When the gardener heard this, he rejoiced
in him with exceeding joy and carried him into the garden, where
he commended him to his underlings, and the Prince betook himself
to the service of the garden and the tending of the trees and the
bettering of their fruits and improving the Persian water-wheels
and disposing the irrigation-channels. One day, as he was thus
employed, lo! he saw some slaves enter the garden, leading mules
laden with carpets and vessels, and asked them the meaning of
this, to which they answered, "The Princess is minded to take her
pleasure." When he heard these words he hastened to his lodging
and, fetching some of the jewels and ornaments he had brought
with him from home, sat down in the garden and spread somewhat of
them out before him, shaking and making a show of extreme old
age,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.

When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the son of
the Persian King, after disguising himself as an old man shotten
in years and taking a seat in the garden, spread out somewhat of
the jewels and ornaments before him and made a show of shaking
and trembling as if for decrepitude and the weakness of extreme
senility. After an hour or so a company of damsels and eunuchs
entered with the Princess in their midst, as she were the moon
among the stars, and dispersed about the garden, plucking the
fruits and diverting themselves. Presently they espied a man
sitting under one of the trees; and, making towards him (who was
the Prince), found him a very old man, whose hands and feet
trembled for decrepitude, and before him store of precious jewels
and royal ornaments. So they marvelled at his case and asked him
what he did there with the jewels; when he answered, "With these
trinkets I would fain buy me to wife one of you." They laughed
together at him and said, "If one of us marry thee, what wilt
thou do with her?" Said he, "I will give her one kiss and divorce
her." Then quoth the Princess, "I give thee this damsel to wife."
So he rose and coming up to her, leaning on his staff and
shivering and staggering, kissed her and gave her the jewels and
ornaments; whereat she rejoiced and they, laughing at him, went
their way. Next day, they came again to the garden, and finding
him seated in the same place, with more jewels and ornaments than
before spread in front of him, asked him, "O Shaykh, what wilt
thou do with this jewellery?"; and he answered, saying, "I wish
therewith to take one of you to wife even as yesterday." So the
Princess said, "I marry thee to this damsel;" and he came up to
her and kissed her and gave her the jewels, and they all went
their ways. But, seeing such generosity to her handmaids, the
Princess said in herself, "I have more right to all these fine
things than these baggages, and no harm can betide me." So when
morning morrowed she went down from her chamber singly into the
garden, in the habit of one of her damsels, and presenting
herself privily before the Prince, said to him, "O Shaykh, the
King's daughter hath sent me to thee, that thou mayst marry me."
He looked at her and knew her; so he answered, "With love and
gladness," and gave her jewels and ornaments of the finest and
costliest. Then he rose to kiss her, and she off her guard and
fearing nothing but, when he came up to her, he suddenly laid
hold of her with a strong hand and instantly throwing her down,
on the ground abated her maidenhead.[FN#220] Then he pulled the
beard from his face and said to her, "Dost thou not know me?"
Asked she, "Who art thou?" and he answered, "I am Behram, the
King's son of Persia, who have changed my favour and am become a
stranger to my people and estate for thy sake and have lavished
my treasures for thy love." So she rose from under him in silence
and answered not his address nor spake a word of reply to him,
being dazed for what had befallen her and seeing nothing better
than to be silent, for fear of shame; and she bethought herself
and said, "If I kill myself it will be useless and if I do him
die, his death will profit me naught;" and presently added,
"Nothing will serve me but that I elope with him to his own
country." Then she gathered together her monies and treasures and
sent to him, acquainting him therewith, to the intent that he
also might equip himself with his wealth and needs; and they
agreed upon a night on which to depart. So, at the appointed
time, they mounted race-horses and set out under cover of the
gloom, nor did morning morrow till they had traversed a great
distance; and they ceased not faring forwards till they drew near
his father's capital in the land of the Persians. When the King
heard of his son's coming, he rode out to meet him with his
troops and rejoiced in him with exceeding joy. Then, after a few
days, he sent the Princess's father a splendid present, and a
letter to the effect that his daughter was with him and demanding
her wedding equipage. Al-Datma's father came out to meet the
messengers with the greatest gladness (for that he had deemed his
daughter lost and had grieved sore for her loss): after which he
made bride-feasts and, summoning the Kazi and the witnesses, let
draw up the marriage-contract between his daughter and the Prince
of Persia. He invested the envoys with robes of honour, then he
made ready her equipage and despatched it to her; and Prince
Behram abode with her till death sundered their union. "See
therefore, O King" (continued the favourite), "the malice of men
in their dealing with women. As for me, I will not go back from
my due till I die." So the King once more commanded to put his
son to death; but the seventh Wazir came in to him and kissing
the ground before him, said, "O King, have patience with me
whilst I speak these words of good counsel to thee; how many
patient and slow-moving men unto their hope attain, and how many
who are precipitate fall into shameful state! Now I have seen how
this damsel hath profligately excited the King by lies to
horrible and unnatural cruelties; but I his Mameluke, whom he
hath overwhelmed with his favours and bounties, do proffer him
true and loyal rede; for that I, O King, know of the malice of
women that which none knoweth save myself; and in particular
there hath reached me, on this subject, the story of the old
woman and the son of the merchant with its warning instances."
Asked the King, "And what fell out between them, O Wazir?" and
the seventh Wazir answered, "I have heard tell, O King, the tale
of

The House with the Belvedere.[FN#221]

A wealthy merchant had a son who was very dear to him and who
said to him one day, "O my father, I have a boon to beg of thee."
Quoth the merchant, "O my son, what is it, that I may give it
thee and bring thee to thy desire, though it were the light of
mine eyes." Quoth the youth, "Give me money, that I may journey
with the merchants to the city of Baghdad and see its sights and
sail on the Tigris and look upon the palace of the
Caliphs[FN#222]; for the sons of the merchants have described
these things to me and I long to see them for myself." Said the
father, "O my child, O my little son, how can I endure to part
from thee?" But the youth replied, ' I have said my say and there
is no help for it but I journey to Baghdad with thy consent or
e'en without it: such a longing for its sight hath fallen upon me
as can only be assuaged by the going hither." --And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
merchant's son said to his sire, "There is no help for it but
that I journey to Baghdad." Now when the father saw that there
was no help for it, he provided his son with goods to the value
of thirty thousand gold pieces and sent him with certain
merchants in whom he trusted, committing him to their charge.
Then he took leave of the youth, who journeyed with his friends
the merchants till they reached Baghdad, the House of Peace,
where he entered the market and hired him a house, so handsome
and delectable and spacious and elegant that on seeing it he well
nigh lost his wits for admiration; for therein were pavilions
facing one another, with floors of coloured marbles and ceilings
inlaid with gold and lapis lazuli, and its gardens were full of
warbling birds. So he asked the door keeper[FN#223] what was its
monthly rent, and he replied, "Ten dinars." Quoth the young man,
"Speakest thou soothly or dost thou but jest with me?" Quoth the
porter, "By Allah, I speak naught but the truth, for none who
taketh up his abode in This house lodgeth in it more than a
week[FN#224] or two." "And how is that?" quoth the youth; and
quoth the porter, "O my son, whoso dwelleth in this house cometh
not forth of it, except sick or dead, wherefore it is known
amongst all the folk of Baghdad so that none offereth to inhabit
it, and thus cometh it that its rent is fallen so low." Hearing
this the young merchant marvelled with exceeding marvel and said,
"Needs must there be some reason for this sickening and
perishing." However after considering awhile and seeking refuge
with Allah from Satan the Stoned, he rented the house and took up
his abode there. Then he put away apprehension from his thought
and busied himself with selling and buying; and some days passed
by without any such ill case befalling him in the house, as the
doorkeeper had mentioned. One day as he sat upon the bench before
his door, there came up a grizzled crone, as she were a snake
speckled white and black, calling aloud on the name of Allah,
magnifying Him inordinately and, at the same time, putting away
the stones and other obstacles from the path.[FN#225] Seeing the
youth sitting there, she looked at him and marvelled at his case;
where upon quoth he to her, "O woman, dost thou know me or am I
like any thou knowest?" When she heard him speak, she toddled up
to him and saluting him with the salaam, asked, "How long hast
thou dwelt in this house?" Answered he, "Two months, O my
mother;" and she said, "It was hereat I marvelled; for I, O my
son, know thee not, neither dost thou know me, nor yet art thou
like unto any one I know; but I marvelled for that none other
than thou hath taken up his abode in this house but hath gone
forth from it, dead or dying, saving thee alone. Doubtless, O my
son, thou hast periled thy young years; but I suppose thou hast
not gone up to the upper story neither looked out from the
belvedere there." So saying, she went her way and he fell a
pondering her words and said to himself, "I have not gone up to
the top of the house; nor did I know that there was a belvedere
there." Then he arose forthright and going in, searched the by
ways of the house till he espied, in a wall corner among the
trees, a narrow door between whose posts[FN#226] the spider had
woven her webs, and said in himself, "Haply the spider hath not
webbed over the door, but because death and doom is within."
However, he heartened himself with the saying of God the Most
High, "Say, nothing shall befall us but what Allah hath written
for us;"[FN#227] and opening the door, ascended a narrow flight
of stairs, till he came to the terrace roof, where he found a
belvedere, in which he sat down to rest and solace himself with
the view. Presently, he caught sight of a fine house and a well
cared for hard by, surmounted by a lofty belvedere, over looking
the whole of Baghdad, in which sat a damsel fair as a Houri. Her
beauty took possession of his whole heart and made away with his
reason, bequeathing to him the pains and patience of Job and the
grief and weeping of Jacob. And as he looked at her and
considered her curiously, an object to enamour an ascetic and
make a devotee lovesick, fire was lighted in his vitals and he
cried, "Folk say that whoso taketh up his abode in this house
dieth or sickeneth. An this be so, yon damsel is assuredly the
cause. Would Heaven I knew how I shall win free of this affair,
for my wits are clean gone!" Then he descended from the terrace,
pondering his case, and sat down in the house, but being unable
to rest, he went out and took his seat at the door, absorbed in
melancholy thought when, behold, up came the old woman afoot,
praising and magnifying Allah as she went. When he saw her, he
rose and accosting her with a courteous salaam and wishes for her
life being prolonged said to her, "O my mother, I was healthy and
hearty till thou madest mention to me of the door leading to the
belvedere; so I opened it and ascending to the top Of the house,
saw thence what stole away my senses; and now methinks I am a
lost man, and I know no physician for me but thyself." When she
heard this, she laughed and said, "No harm shall befall thee
Inshallah so Allah please!" Whereupon he rose and went into the
house and coming back with an hundred dinars in his sleeve, said
to her, "Take this, O my mother, and deal with me the dealing of
lords with slaves and succour me quickly for, if I die, a claim
for my blood will meet thee on the Day of Doom." Answered she,
"With love and gladness; but, O my son, I expect thou lend me
thine aid in some small matter, whereby hangs the winning of thy
wish." Quoth he, "What wouldst thou have me do, O my mother?"
Quoth she, "Go to the silk market and enquire for the shop of Abu
al-Fath bin Kaydam. Sit thee down on his counter and salute him
and say to him, 'Give me the face veil[FN#228] thou hast by thee
orfrayed with gold:' for he hath none handsomer in his shop. Then
buy it of him, O my son, at his own price however high and keep
it till I come to thee to morrow, Allah Almighty willing." So
saying, she went away and he passed the night upon live coals of
the Ghaza[FN#229]-wood. Next morning he took a thousand ducats in
his pocket and repairing to the silk market, sought out the shop
of Abu al-Fath to whom he was directed by one of the merchants.
He found him a man of dignified aspect, surrounded by pages,
eunuchs and attendants; for he was a merchant of great wealth and
consideration befriended by the Caliph; and of the blessings
which Allah the Most High had bestowed upon him was the damsel
who had ravished the young man's heart. She was his wife and had
not her match for beauty, nor was her like to be found with any
of the sons of the Kings. The young man saluted him and Abu
al-Fath returned his salaam and bade him be seated. So he sat
down by him and said to him, "O merchant, I wish to look at such
a face veil." Accordingly he bade his slave bring him a bundle of
silk from the inner shop And opening it, brought out a number of
veils, whose beauty amazed the youth. Among them was the veil he
sought; so he bought it for fifty gold pieces and bore it home
well pleased.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

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