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 Six Hundred and Sixteenth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Judar,
when his brethren had finished their under meal, said to his
mother, "Put back the platters in the saddle bags." And when it
was eventide, he entered the saloon and took forth of the saddle
bags a table of forty dishes; after which he went up to the upper
room and, sitting down between his brothers, said to his mother,
"Bring the supper."[FN#286] So she went down to the saloon and,
finding there the dishes ready, laid the tray and brought up the
forty dishes, one after other. Then they ate the evening meal,
and when they had done, Judar said to his brothers, "Take and
feed the poor and needy." So they took what was left and gave
alms thereof, and presently he brought forth to them sweetmeats,
whereof they ate, and what was left he bade them give to the
neighbours. On the morrow, they brake their fast after the same
fashion, and thus they fared ten days, at the end of which time
quoth Salim to Salim, "How cometh it that our brother setteth
before us a banquet in the morning, a banquet at noon, and a
banquet at sundown, besides sweetmeats late at night, and all
that is left he giveth to the poor? Verily, this is the fashion
of Sultans. Yet we never see him buy aught, and he hath neither
kitchener nor kitchen, nor doth he light a fire. Whence hath he
this great plenty? Hast thou not a mind to discover the cause of
all this?" Quoth Salim, "By Allah, I know not: but knowest thou
any who will tell us the truth of the case?" Quoth Salim, "None
will tell us save our mother." So they laid a plot and repairing
to their mother one day, in their brother's absence, said to her,
"O our mother, we are hungry." Replied she, "Rejoice, for ye
shall presently be satisfied;" and going into the saloon, sought
of the servant of the saddle bags hot meats, which she took out
and set before her sons. "O our mother," cried they, "this meat
is hot; yet hast thou not cooked, neither kindled a fire." Quoth
she, "It cometh from the saddle bags;" and quoth they, "What
manner of thing be these saddle bags?" She answered, "They are
enchanted; and the required is produced by the charm:" she then
told her sons their virtue, enjoining them to secrecy. Said they,
"The secret shall be kept, O our mother, but teach us the manner
of this." So she taught them the fashion thereof and they fell to
putting their hands into the saddle bags and taking forth
whatever they had a mind to. But Judar knew naught of this. Then
quoth Salim privily to Salim, "O my brother, how long shall we
abide with Judar servant wise and eat of his alms? Shall we not
contrive to get the saddle bags from him and make off with them?"
"And how shall we make shift to do this?" "We will sell him to
the galleys." "How shall we do that?" "We two will go to the
Rais, the Chief Captain of the Sea of Suez and bid him to an
entertainment, with two of his company. What I say to Judar do
thou confirm, and at the end of the night I will show thee what I
will do." So they agreed upon the sale of their brother and going
to the Captain's quarters said to him, "O Rais, we have come to
thee on an errand that will please thee." "Good," answered he;
and they continued, "We two are brethren, and we have a third
brother, a lewd fellow and good for nothing. When our father
died, he left us some money, which we shared amongst us, and he
took his part of the inheritance and wasted it in frowardness and
debauchery, till he was reduced to poverty, when he came upon us
and cited us before the magistrates, avouching that we had taken
his good and that of his father, and we disputed the matter
before the judges and lost the money. Then he waited awhile and
attacked us a second time, until he brought us to beggary; nor
will he desist from us, and we are utterly weary of him;
wherefore we would have thee buy him of us." Quoth the Captain,
"Can ye cast about with him and bring him to me here? If so, I
will pack him off to sea forthright." Quoth they "We cannot
manage to bring him here; but be thou our guest this night and
bring with thee two of thy men, not one more; and when he is
asleep, we will aid one another to fall upon him, we five, and
seize and gag him. Then shalt thou carry him forth the house,
under cover of the night, and after do thou with him as thou
wilt." Rejoined the Captain, "With all my heart! Will ye sell him
for forty dinars?" and they, "Yes, come after nightfall to such a
street, by such a mosque, and thou shalt find one of us awaiting
thee." And he replied, "Now be off." Then they repaired to Judar
and waited awhile, after which Salim went up to him and kissed
his hand. Quoth Judar, "What ails thee, O my brother?" And he
made answer, saying, "Know that I have a friend, who hath many a
time bidden me to his house in thine absence and hath ever
hospitably entreated me, and I owe him a thousand kindnesses, as
my brother here wotteth. I met him to day and he invited me to
his house, but I said to him, 'I cannot leave my brother Judar.'
Quoth he, 'Bring him with thee'; and quoth I, 'He will not
consent to that; but if ye will be my guests, thou and thy
brothers'[FN#287] * * * * * (for his brothers were sitting with
him); and I invited them thinking that they would refuse. But he
accepted my invitation for all of them, saying, 'Look for me at
the gate of the little mosque,[FN#288] and I will come to thee, I
and my brothers.' And now I fear they will come and am ashamed
before thee. So wilt thou hearten my heart and entertain them
this night, for thy good is abundant, O my brother? Or if thou
consent not, give me leave to take them into the neighbours'
houses." Replied Judar, "Why shouldst thou carry them into the
neighbours' houses? Is our house then so strait or have we not
wherewith to give them supper? Shame on thee to consult me! Thou
hast but to call for what thou needest and have rich viands and
sweetmeats and to spare. Whenever thou bringest home folk in my
absence, ask thy mother, and she will set before thee victual
more than enough. Go and fetch them; blessings have descended
upon us through such guests." So Salim kissed his hand and going
forth, sat at the gate of the little mosque till after sundown,
when the Captain and his men came up to him, and he carried them
to the house. When Judar saw them he bade them welcome and seated
them and made friends of them, knowing not what the future had in
store for him at their hands. Then he called to his mother for
supper, and she fell to taking dishes out of the saddlebags,
whilst he said, "Bring such and such meats," till she had set
forty different dishes before them. They ate their sufficiency
and the tray was taken away, the sailors thinking the while that
this liberal entertainment came from Salim. When a third part of
the night was past, Judar set sweetmeats before them and Salim
served them, whilst his two brothers sat with the guests, till
they sought to sleep. Accordingly Judar lay down and the others
with him, who waited till he was asleep, when they fell upon him
together and gagging and pinioning him, before he was awake,
carried him forth of the house,[FN#289] under cover of the
night,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.

When it was the Six Hundred and Seventeenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that they seized
Judar and carrying him forth of the house under cover of the
night, at once packed him off to Suez, where they shackled him
and set him to work as a galley slave; and he ceased not to serve
thus in silence a whole year.[FN#290] So far concerning Judar;
but as for his brothers, they went in next morning to his mother
and said to her, "O our mother, our brother Judar is not awake."
Said she, "Do ye wake him." Asked they, "Where lieth he?" and she
answered, "With the guests." They rejoined, "Haply he went away
with them whilst we slept, O mother. It would seem that he had
tasted of strangerhood and yearned to get at hidden hoards; for
we heard him at talk with the Moors, and they said to him, 'We
will take thee with us and open the treasure to thee.'" She
enquired, "Hath he then been in company with Moors?;" and they
replied, saying, "Were they not our guests yester night?" And
she, "Most like he hath gone with them, but Allah will direct him
on the right way; for there is a blessing upon him and he will
surely come back with great good." But she wept, for it was
grievous to her to be parted from her son. Then said they to her,
"O accursed woman, dost thou love Judar with all this love,
whilst as for us, whether we be absent or present, thou neither
joyest in us nor sorrowest for us? Are we not thy sons, even as
Judar is thy son?" She said, "Ye are indeed my sons: but ye are
reprobates who deserve no favour of me, for since your father's
death I have never seen any good in you; whilst as for Judar, I
have had abundant good of him and he hath heartened my heart and
entreated me with honour; wherefore it behoveth me to weep for
him, because of his kindness to me and to you." When they heard
this, they abused her and beat her; after which they sought for
the saddle bags, till they found the two pairs and took the
enchanted one and all the gold from one pouch and jewels from the
other of the unenchanted, saying, "This was our father's good."
Said their mother, "Not so, by Allah!, it belongeth to your
brother Judar, who brought it from the land of the Magharibah."
Said they, "Thou liest, it was our father's property; and we will
dispose of it, as we please." Then they divided the gold and
jewels between them; but a brabble arose between them concerning
the enchanted saddle bags, Salim saying, "I will have them;" and
Salim, saying, "I will take them;" and they came to high words.
Then said she, "O my sons, ye have divided the gold and the
jewels, but this may not be divided, nor can its value be made up
in money; and if it be cut in twain, its spell will be voided; so
leave it with me and I will give you to eat from it at all times
and be content to take a morsel with you. If ye allow me aught to
clothe me, 'twill be of your bounty, and each of you shall
traffic with the folk for himself. Ye are my sons and I am your
mother; wherefore let us abide as we are, lest your brother come
back and we be disgraced." But they accepted not her words and
passed the night, wrangling with each other. Now it chanced that
a Janissary[FN#291] of the King's guards was a guest in the house
adjoining Judar's and heard them through the open window. So he
looked out and listening, heard all the angry words that passed
between them and saw the division of the spoil. Next morning he
presented himself before the King of Egypt, whose name was Shams
al-Daulah,[FN#292] and told him all he had heard, whereupon he
sent for Judar's brothers and put them to the question, till they
confessed; and he took the two pairs of Saddle bags from them and
clapped them in prison, appointing a sufficient daily allowance
to their mother. Now as regards Judar, he abode a whole year in
service at Suez, till one day, being in a ship bound on a voyage
over the sea, a wind arose against them and cast the vessel upon
a rock projecting from a mountain, where she broke up and all on
board were drowned and none get ashore save Judar. As soon as he
landed he fared on inland, till he reached an encampment of
Badawi, who questioned him of his case, and he told them he had
been a sailor.[FN#293] Now there was in camp a merchant, a native
of Jiddah, who took pity on him and said to him, "Wilt thou take
service with me, O Egyptian, and I will clothe thee and carry
thee with me to Jiddah?" So Judar took service with him and
accompanied him to Jiddah, where he showed him much favour. After
awhile, his master the merchant set out on a pilgrimage to
Meccah, taking Judar with him, and when they reached the city,
the Cairene repaired to the Haram temple, to circumambulate the
Ka'abah. As he was making the prescribed circuits,[FN#294] he
suddenly saw his friend Abd al-Samad the Moor doing the like;--
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the Six Hundred and Eighteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Judar, as
he was making the circuits, suddenly saw his friend Abd al-Samad
also circumambulating; and when the Maghribi caught sight of him,
he saluted him and asked him of his state; whereupon Judar wept
and told him all that had befallen him. So the Moor carried him
to his lodging and entreated him with honour, clothing him in a
dress of which the like was not, and saying to him, "Thou hast
seen the end of thine ills, O Judar." Then he drew out for him a
geomantic figure, which showed what had befallen Salim and Salim
and said to Judar, "Such and such things have befallen thy
brothers and they are now in the King of Egypt's prison; but thou
art right welcome to abide with me and accomplish thine
ordinances of pilgrimage and all shall be well." Replied Judar,
"O my lord, let me go and take leave of the merchant with whom I
am and after I will come back to thee." "Dost thou owe money?"
asked the Moor, and he answered, "No." Said Abd al-Samad, "Go
thou and take leave of him and come back forth right, for bread
hath claims of its own from the ingenuous." So Judar returned to
the merchant and farewelled him, saying, "I have fallen in with
my brother."[FN#295] "Go bring him here," said the merchant, "and
we will make him an entertainment." But Judar answered, saying,
"He hath no need of that; for he is a man of wealth and hath many
servants." Then the merchant gave Judar twenty dinars, saying,
"Acquit me of responsibility";[FN#296] and he bade him adieu and
went forth from him. Presently, he saw a poor man, so he gave him
the twenty ducats and returned to the Moor, with whom he abode
till they had accomplished the pilgrimage rites when Abd al-Samad
gave him the seal ring, that he had taken from the treasure of
Al-Shamardal, saying, "This ring will win thee thy wish, for it
enchanteth and hath a servant, by name Al-Ra'ad al-Kasif; so
whatever thou hast a mind to of the wants of this world, rub this
ring and its servant will appear and do all thou biddest him."
Then he rubbed the ring before him, whereupon the Jinni appeared,
saying, "Adsum, O my lord! Ask what thou wilt and it shall be
given thee. Hast thou a mind to people a ruined city or ruin a
populous one? to slay a king or to rout a host?" "O Ra'ad," said
Abd al-Samad, "this is become thy lord; do thou serve him
faithfully." Then he dismissed him and said to Judar, "Rub the
ring and the servant will appear and do thou command him to do
whatever thou desirest, for he will not gainsay thee. Now go to
thine own country and take care of the ring, for by means of it
thou wilt baffle thine enemies; and be not ignorant of its
puissance." "O my lord," quoth Judar, "with thy leave, I will set
out homewards." Quoth the Maghribi, "Summon the Jinni and mount
upon his back; and if thou say to him, 'Bring me to my native
city this very day,' he will not disobey thy commandment." So he
took leave of Moor Abd al-Samad and rubbed the ring, whereupon
Al-Ra'ad presented himself, saying, "Adsum; ask and it shall be
given to thee." Said Judar, "Carry me to Cairo this day;" and he
replied, "Thy will be done;" and, taking him on his back, flew
with him from noon till midnight, when he set him down in the
courtyard of his mother's house and disappeared. Judar went in to
his mother, who rose weeping, and greeted him fondly, and told
him how the King had beaten his brothers and cast them into gaol
and taken the two pairs of saddle bags; which when he heard, it
was no light matter to him and he said to her, "Grieve not for
the past; I will show thee what I can do and bring my brothers
hither forth right." So he rubbed the ring, whereupon its servant
appeared, saying, "Here am I! Ask and thou shalt have." Quoth
Judar, "I bid thee bring me my two brothers from the prison of
the King." So the Jinni sank into the earth and came not up but
in the midst of the gaol where Salim and Salim lay in piteous
plight and sore sorrow for the plagues of prison,[FN#297] so that
they wished for death, and one of them said to the other, "By
Allah, O my brother, affliction is longsome upon us! How long
shall we abide in this prison? Death would be relief." As he
spoke, behold, the earth clove in sunder and out came Al-Ra'ad,
who took both up and plunged with them into the earth. They
swooned away for excess of fear, and when they recovered, they
found themselves in their mother's house and saw Judar seated by
her side. Quoth he, "I salute you, O my brothers! you have
cheered me by your presence." And they bowed their heads and
burst into tears. Then said he, "Weep not, for it was Satan and
covetise that led you to do thus. How could you sell me? But I
comfort myself with the thought of Joseph, whose brothers did
with him even more than ye did with me, because they cast him
into the pit."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Six Hundred and Nineteenth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Judar
said to his brothers, "How could you do with me thus? But repent
unto Allah and crave pardon of Him, and He will forgive you both,
for He is the Most Forgiving, the Merciful. As for me, I pardon
you and welcome you: no harm shall befall you." Then he comforted
them and set their hearts at ease and related to them all he had
suffered, till he fell in with Shaykh Abd al-Samad, and told them
also of the seal ring. They replied, "O our brother, forgive us
this time; and, if we return to our old ways, do with us as thou
wilt." Quoth he, "No harm shall befall you; but tell me what the
King did with you." Quoth they, "He beat us and threatened us
with death and took the two pairs of saddle bags from us." "Will
he not care?"[FN#298] said Judar, and rubbed the ring, whereupon
Al-Ra'ad appeared. When his brothers saw him, they were frighted
and thought Judar would bid him slay them; so they fled to their
mother, crying, "O our mother, we throw our selves on thy
generosity; do thou intercede for us, O our mother!" And she said
to them, "O my sons, fear nothing!" Then said Judar to the
servant, "I command thee to bring me all that is in the King's
treasury of goods and such; let nothing remain and fetch the two
pairs of saddle bags he took from my brothers." "I hear and I
obey," replied Al-Ra'ad; and, disappearing straight way gathered
together all he found in the treasury and returned with the two
pairs of saddle bags and the deposits therein and laid them
before Judar, saying, "O my lord, I have left nothing in the
treasury." Judar gave the treasure to his mother bidding her keep
it and laying the enchanted saddle bags before him, said to the
Jinni, "I command thee to build me this night a lofty palace and
overlay it with liquid gold and furnish it with magnificent
furniture: and let not the day dawn, ere thou be quit of the
whole work." Replied he, "Thy bidding shall be obeyed;" and sank
into the earth. Then Judar brought forth food and they ate and
took their ease and lay down to sleep. Meanwhile, Al-Ra'ad
summoned his attendant Jinn and bade them build the palace. So
some of them fell to hewing stones and some to building, whilst
others plastered and painted and furnished; nor did the day dawn
ere the ordinance of the palace was complete; whereupon Al-Ra'ad
came to Judar and said to him, "O my lord, the palace is finished
and in best order, an it please thee to come and look on it." So
Judar went forth with his mother and brothers and saw a palace,
whose like there was not in the whole world; and it confounded
all minds with the goodliness of its ordinance. Judar was
delighted with it while he was passing along the highway and
withal it had cost him nothing. Then he asked his mother, "Say
me, wilt thou take up thine abode in this palace?" and she
answered, "I will, O my son," and called down blessings upon him.
Then he rubbed the ring and bade the Jinni fetch him forty
handsome white hand maids and forty black damsels and as many
Mamelukes and negro slaves. "Thy will be done," answered Al-Ra'ad
and betaking himself, with forty of his attendant Genii to Hind
and Sind and Persia, snatched up every beautiful girl and boy
they saw, till they had made up the required number. Moreover, he
sent other four score, who fetched comely black girls, and forty
others brought male chattels and carried them all to Judar's
house, which they filled. Then he showed them to Judar, who was
pleased with them and said, "Bring for each a dress of the
finest." "Ready!" replied the servant. Then quoth he, "Bring a
dress for my mother and another for myself, and also for my
brothers." So the Jinni fetched all that was needed and clad the
female slaves, saying to them, "This is your mistress: kiss her
hands and cross her not, but serve her, white and black." The
Mamelukes also dressed them selves and kissed Judar's hands; and
he and his brothers arrayed themselves in the robes the Jinni had
brought them and Judar became like unto a King and his brothers
as Wazirs. Now his house was spacious; so he lodged Salim and his
slave girls in one part thereof and Salim and his slave girls in
another, whilst he and his mother took up their abode in the new
palace; and each in his own place was like a Sultan. So far
concerning them; but as regards the King's Treasurer, thinking to
take something from the treasury, he went in and found it
altogether empty, even as saith the poet,

"'Twas as a hive of bees that greatly thrived; * But, when the
bee swarm fled, 'twas clean unhived."[FN#299]

So he gave a great cry and fell down in a fit. When he came to
himself, he left the door open and going in to King Shams
al-Daulah, said to him, "O Commander of the Faithful,[FN#300] I
have to inform thee that the treasury hath become empty during
the night." Quoth the King, 'What hast thou done with my monies
which were therein?" Quoth he, "By Allah, I have not done aught
with them nor know I what is come of them! I visited the place
yesterday and saw it full; but to day when I went in, I found it
clean empty, albeit the doors were locked, the walls were
unpierced[FN#301] and the bolts[FN#302] are unbroken; nor hath a
thief entered it." Asked the King, "Are the two pairs of saddle
bags gone?" "Yes," replied the Treasurer; whereupon the King's
reason flew from his head,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Six Hundred and Twentieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Treasurer informed the King that all in the treasury had been
plundered, including the two pairs of saddlebags, the King's
reason flew from his head and he rose to his feet, saying, "Go
thou before me." Then he followed the Treasurer to the treasury
and he found nothing there, whereat he was wroth with him; and he
said to them, "O soldiers! know that my treasury hath been
plundered during the night, and I know not who did this deed and
dared thus to outrage me, without fear of me." Said they, "How
so?"; and he replied, "Ask the Treasurer." So they questioned
him, and he answered, saying, "Yesterday I visited the treasury
and it was full, but this morning when I entered it I found it
empty, though the walls were unpierced and the doors unbroken."
They all marvelled at this and could make the King no answer,
when in came the Janissary, who had denounced Salim and Salim,
and said to Shams al-Daulah, "O King of the age, all this night I
have not slept for that which I saw." And the King asked, "And
what didst thou see?" "Know, O King of the age," answered the
Kawwas, "that all night long I have been amusing myself with
watching builders at work; and, when it was day, I saw a palace
ready edified, whose like is not in the world. So I asked about
it and was told that Judar had come back with great wealth and
Mamelukes and slaves and that he had freed his two brothers from
prison, and built this palace, wherein he is as a Sultan." Quoth
the King, "Go, look in the prison." So they went thither and not
finding Salim and Salim, returned and told the King, who said,
"It is plain now who be the thief; he who took Salim and Salim
out of prison it is who hath stolen my monies." Quoth the Wazir,
"O my lord, and who is he?"; and quoth the King, "Their brother
Judar, and he hath taken the two pairs of saddle bags; but, O
Wazir do thou send him an Emir with fifty men to seal up his
goods and lay hands on him and his brothers and bring them to me,
that I may hang them." And he was sore enraged and said, "Ho, off
with the Emir at once, and fetch them, that I may put them to
death." But the Wazir said to him, "Be thou merciful, for Allah
is merciful and hasteth not to punish His servants, whenas they
sin against Him. More over, he who can build a palace in a single
night, as these say, none in the world can vie with him; and
verily I fear lest the Emir fall into difficulty for Judar. Have
patience, therefore, whilst I devise for thee some device of
getting at the truth of the case, and so shalt thou win thy wish,
O King of the age." Quoth the King, "Counsel me how I shall do, O
Wazir." And the Minister said, "Send him an Emir with an
invitation; and I will make much of him for thee and make a show
of love for him and ask him of his estate; after which we will
see. If we find him stout of heart, we will use sleight with him,
and if weak of will, then do thou seize him and do with him thy
desire." The King agreed to this and despatched one of his Emirs,
Othman highs, to go and invite Judar and say to him, "The King
biddeth thee to a banquet;" and the King said to him, "Return
not, except with him." Now this Othman was a fool, proud and
conceited; so he went forth upon his errand, and when he came to
the gate of Judar's palace, he saw before the door an eunuch
seated upon a chair of gold, who at his approach rose not, but
sat as if none came near, though there were with the Emir fifty
footmen. Now this eunuch was none other than Al-Ra'ad al-Kasif,
the servant of the ring, whom Judar had commanded to put on the
guise of an eunuch and sit at the palace gate. So the Emir rode
up to him and asked him, ' O slave, where is thy lord?"; whereto
he answered, "In the palace;" but he stirred not from his leaning
posture; whereupon the Emir Othman waxed wroth and said to him,
'O pestilent slave, art thou not ashamed, when I speak to thee,
to answer me, sprawling at thy length, like a gallows bird?"
Replied the eunuch "Off and multiply not words." Hardly had
Othman heard this, when he was filled with rage and drawing his
mace[FN#303] would have smitten the eunuch, knowing not that he
was a devil; but Al-Ra'ad leapt upon him and taking the mace from
him, dealt him four blows with it. Now when the fifty men saw
their lord beaten, it was grievous to them; so they drew their
swords and ran to slay the slave; but he said, "Do ye draw on us,
O dogs?" and rose at them with the mace, and every one whom he
smote, he broke his bones and drowned him in his blood. So they
fell back before him and fled, whilst he followed them, beating
them, till he had driven them far from the palace gate; after
which he returned and sat down on his chair at the door, caring
for none.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.

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