the “Saj’a” (rhymed prose) in places explain the grotesque
  combinations. It is difficult to divine why Lane omits it; probably he
  held a hearty laugh not respectable.

   TALE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE SLAVE-GIRL AND THE IMAM ABU YUSUF.

It is said that Ja’afar the Barmecide was one night carousing with
Al-Rashid, who said, “O Ja’afar, it hath reached me that thou hast
bought such and such a slave-girl. Now I have long sought her for she is
passing fair; and my heart is taken up with love of her, so do thou sell
her to me.” He replied, “I will not sell her, O Commander of the
Faithful.” Quoth he, “Then give her to me.” Quoth the other, “Nor will I
give her.” Then Al-Rashid exclaimed, “Be Zubaydah triply divorced an
thou shall not either sell or give her to me!” Then Ja’afar, exclaimed,
“Be my wife triply divorced an I either sell or give her to thee!” After
awhile they recovered from their tipsiness and were aware of having
fallen into a grave dilemma, but knew not by what device to extricate
themselves. Then said Al-Rashid, “None can help us in this strait but
Abú Yúsuf.”[216] So they sent for him, and this was in the middle of the
night; and when the messenger reached him, he arose in alarm, saying to
himself, “I should not be sent for at this tide and time, save by reason
of some question of moment to Al-Islam.” So he went out in haste and
mounted his she-mule, saying to his servant, “Take the mule’s nose-bag
with thee; it may be she hath not finished her feed; and when we come to
the Caliph’s palace, put the bag on her, that she may eat what is left
of her fodder, during the last of the night.” And the man replied, “I
hear and obey.” Now when the Imam was admitted to the presence,
Al-Rashid rose to receive him and seated him on the couch beside himself
(where he was wont to seat none save the Kazi), and said to him, “We
have not sent for thee at this untimely time and tide save to advise us
upon a grave matter, which is such and such and wherewith we know not
how to deal.” And he expounded to him the case. Abu Yusuf answered, “O
Commander of the Faithful, this is the easiest of things.” Then he
turned to Ja’afar and said, “O Ja’afar, sell half of her to the
Commander of the Faithful and give him the other half; so shall ye both
be quit of your oaths.” The Caliph was delighted with this and both did
as he prescribed. Then said Al-Rashid, “Bring me the girl at once,”—
—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.

       Now when it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Harun
al-Rashid commanded, “Bring me the girl at once, for I long for her
exceedingly.” So they brought her and the Caliph said to Abu Yusuf, “I
have a mind to have her forthright; for I cannot bear to abstain from
her during the prescribed period of purification; now how is this to be
done?” Abu Yusuf replied, “Bring me one of thine own male slaves who
hath never been manumitted.” So they brought one and Abu Yusuf said,
“Give me leave to marry her to him; then let him divorce her before
consummation; and thus shall it be lawful for thee to lie with her
before purification.” This second expedient pleased the Caliph yet more
than the first; he sent for the Mameluke and, whenas he came, said to
the Kazi, “I authorise thee to marry her to him.” So the Imam proposed
the marriage to the slave, who accepted it and performed the ceremony;
after which he said to the slave, “Divorce her, and thou shalt have an
hundred dinars.” But he replied, “I won’t do this;” and the Imam went on
to increase his offer, and the slave to refuse till he bid him a
thousand dinars. Then the man asked him, “Doth it rest with me to
divorce her, or with thee or with the Commander of the Faithful?” He
answered, “It is in thy hand.” “Then by Allah,” quoth the slave, “I will
never do it; no, never!” Hearing these words the Caliph was exceeding
wroth and said to the Imam, “What is to be done, O Abu Yusuf?” Replied
he, “Be not concerned, O Commander of the Faithful; the thing is easy.
Make this slave the damsel’s chattel.” Quoth Al-Rashid, “I give him to
her;” and the Imam said to the girl, “Say:—I accept.” So she said, “I
accept;” whereon quoth Abu Yusuf, “I pronounce separation from bed and
board and divorce between them, for that he hath become her property,
and so the marriage is annulled.” With this, Al-Rashid rose to his feet
and exclaimed, “It is the like of thee that shall be Kazi in my time.”
Then he called for sundry trays of gold and emptied them before Abu
Yusuf, to whom he said, “Hast thou wherein to put this?” The Imam
bethought him of the mule’s nose-bag; so he sent for it and, filling it
with gold, took it and went home. And on the morrow, he said to his
friends, “There is no easier nor shorter road to the goods of this world
and the next, than that of religious learning; for, see, I have gotten
all this money by answering two or three questions.” So consider thou, O
polite reader,[217] the pleasantness of this anecdote, for it compriseth
divers goodly features, amongst which are the complaisance of Ja’afar to
Al-Rashid, and the wisdom of the Caliph who chose such a Kazi and the
excellent learning of Abu Yusuf, may Almighty Allah have mercy on their
souls one and all! And they also tell the

-----

Footnote 216:

  A lawyer of the eighth century, one of the chief pupils of the Imam
  Abu Hanifah, and Kazi of Baghdad under the third, fourth and fifth
  Abbasides. The tale is told in the quasi-historical Persian work
  “Nigáristán” (The Picture-gallery), and is repeated by Richardson,
  Diss. 7, xiii. None seem to have remarked that the distinguished
  legist, Abu Yusuf, was on this occasion a law-breaker; the Kazi’s duty
  being to carry out the code, not to break it by the tricks of a
  cunning attorney. In Harun’s day, however, some regard was paid to
  justice; not under his successors, one of whom, Al-Muktadir bi’lláh
  (A.H. 295 = 907), made the damsel Yamika President of the Diwán
  al-Mazálim (Court of the Wronged), a tribunal which took cognizance of
  tyranny and oppression in high places.

Footnote 217:

  Here the writer evidently forgets that Shahrazad is telling the story
  to the King, as Boccaccio (ii. 7) forgets that Pamfilo is speaking.
  Such inconsequences are common in Eastern story-books and a
  goody-goody sentiment is always heartily received as in an English
  theatre.

             TALE OF THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A THIEF.

When Khálid ibn Abdallah al-Kasri[218] was Emir of Bassorah, there came
to him one day a company of men dragging a youth of exceeding beauty and
lofty bearing and perfumed attire; whose aspect expressed good breeding,
abundant wit and dignity of the gravest. They brought him before the
Governor, who asked what it was and they replied, “This fellow is a
thief, whom we caught last night in our dwelling-house.” Whereupon
Khalid looked at him and was pleased with his well-favouredness and
elegant aspect; so he said to the others, “Loose him,” and going up to
the young man, asked what he had to say for himself. He replied, “Verily
the folk have spoken truly and the case is as they have said.” Quoth
Khalid, “And what moved thee to this and thou so noble of port and
comely of mien?” Quoth the other “The lust after worldly good, and the
ordinance of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!).” Rejoined Khalid, “Be
thy mother bereaved of thee![219] Hadst thou not, in thy fair face and
sound sense and good breeding, what should restrain thee from thieving?”
Answered the young man, “O Emir, leave this talk and proceed to what
Almighty Allah hath ordained; this is what my hands have earned, and,
‘God is not unjust towards mankind.’”[220] So Khalid was silent awhile
considering the matter; then he bade the young man draw near him and
said, “Verily, thy confession before witnesses perplexeth me, for I
cannot believe thee to be a thief: haply thou hast some story that is
other than one of theft; and if so tell it me.” Replied the youth, “O
Emir, imagine naught other than what I have confessed to in thy
presence; for I have no tale to tell save that verily I entered these
folks’ house and stole what I could lay hands on, and they caught me and
took the stuff from me and carried me before thee.” Then Khalid bade
clap him in gaol and commanded a crier to cry throughout Bassorah, “O
yes! O yes! Whoso be minded to look upon the punishment of such an one,
the thief, and the cutting-off of his hand, let him be present to-morrow
morning at such a place!” Now when the young man found himself in
prison, with irons on his feet, he sighed heavily and with tears
streaming from his eyes extemporised these couplets:—

 When Khálid menaced off to strike my hand ✿ If I refuse to tell him of
    her case;
 Quoth I, “Far, far fro’ me that I should tell ✿ A love, which ever shall
    my heart engrace;
 Loss of my hand for sin I have confessed ✿ To me were easier than to
    shame her face.”

The warders heard him and went and told Khalid who, when it was dark
night, sent for the youth and conversed with him. He found him clever
and well-bred, intelligent, lively and a pleasant companion; so he
ordered him food and he ate. Then after an hour’s talk said Khalid, “I
know indeed thou hast a story to tell that is no thief’s; so when the
Kazi shall come to-morrow morning and shall question thee about this
robbery, do thou deny the charge of theft and avouch what may avert the
pain and penalty of cutting off thy hand; for the Apostle (whom Allah
bless and keep!) saith:—In cases of doubt, eschew punishment.” Then he
sent him back to prison——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.

        Now when it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khalid, after
conversing with the youth, sent him back to prison, where he passed the
night. And when morning dawned the folk assembled to see his hand cut
off, nor was there a soul in Bassorah, man or woman, but was present to
look upon the punishment of that handsome youth. Then Khalid mounted in
company of the notables of the city and others; and, summoning all four
Kazis, sent for the young man, who came hobbling and stumbling in his
fetters. There was none saw him but wept over him and the women all
lifted up their voices in lamentation as for the dead. Then the Kazi
bade silence the women and said to the prisoner, “These folk avouch that
thou didst enter their dwelling-house and steal their goods: belike thou
stolest less than a quarter dinar[221]?” Replied he, “Nay, I stole that
and more.” “Peradventure,” rejoined the Kazi, “thou art partner with the
folk in some of the goods?” Quoth the young man; “Not so: it was all
theirs, and I had no right in it.” At this the Khalid was wroth and rose
and smote him on the face with his whip, applying to his own case this
couplet:—

 Man wills his wish to him accorded be; ✿ But Allah naught accords save
    what He wills.

Then he called for the butcher to do the work, who came and drew forth
his knife and taking the prisoner’s hand set the blade to it, when,
behold, a damsel pressed through the crowd of women clad in tattered
clothes,[222] and cried out and threw herself on the young man. Then she
unveiled and showed a face like the moon; whereupon the people raised a
mighty clamour and there was like to have been a riot amongst them and a
violent scene. But she cried out her loudest, saying, “I conjure thee,
by Allah, O Emir, hasten not to cut off this man’s hand, till thou have
read what is in this scroll!” So saying, she gave him a scroll, and
Khalid took it and opened it and read therein these couplets:—

 “Ah Khalid! this one is a slave of love distraught, ✿ And these bowed
    eyelashes sent shaft that caused his grief:
 Shot him an arrow sped by eyes of mine, for he, ✿ Wedded to burning
    love, of ills hath no relief:
 He hath avowed a deed he never did, the while ✿ Deeming this better than
    disgrace of lover lief:
 Bear then, I pray, with this distracted lover mine ✿ Whose noble nature
    falsely calls himself a thief!”

When Khalid had read these lines; he withdrew himself from the people
and summoned the girl and questioned her; and she told him that the
young man was her lover and she his mistress; and that thinking to visit
her he came to the dwelling of her people and threw a stone into the
house, to warn her of his coming. Her father and brothers heard the
noise of the stone and sallied out on him; but he, hearing them coming,
caught up all the household stuff and made himself appear a robber to
cover his mistress’s honour. “Now when they saw him they seized him
(continued she), crying:—A thief! and brought him before thee, whereupon
he confessed to the robbery and persisted in his confession, that he
might spare me disgrace; and this he did, making himself a thief, of the
exceeding nobility and generosity of his nature.” Khalid answered, “He
is indeed worthy to have his desire;” and, calling the young man to him,
kissed him between the eyes. Then he sent for the girl’s father and
bespoke him, saying, “O Shaykh, we thought to carry out the law of
mutilation in the case of this young man; but Allah (to whom be Honour
and Glory!) hath preserved us from this, and I now adjudge him the sum
of ten thousand dirhams, for that he would have given his hand for the
preservation of thine honour and that of thy daughter and for the
sparing of shame to you both. Moreover, I adjudge other ten thousand
dirhams to thy daughter, for that she made known to me the truth of the
case; and I ask thy leave to marry her to him.” Rejoined the old man, “O
Emir, thou hast my consent.” So Khalid praised Allah and thanked Him and
improved the occasion by preaching a goodly sermon and a prayerful;——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

        Now when it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Khalid praised
Allah and thanked Him and improved the occasion by preaching a goodly
sermon and a prayerful; after which he said to the young man, “I give
thee to wife the damsel, such an one here present, with her own
permission and her father’s consent; and her wedding settlement shall be
this money, to wit, ten thousand dirhams.” “I accept this marriage at
thy hands,” replied the youth; and Khalid bade them carry the money on
brass trays in procession to the young man’s house, whilst the people
dispersed, fully satisfied. “And surely (quoth he who tells the
tale[223]) never saw I a rarer day than this, for that it began with
tears and annoy; and it ended with smiles and joy.” And in contrast of
this story is this piteous tale of

-----

Footnote 218:

  In the Mac. Edit. (ii. 182) “Al-Kushayri.” Al-Kasri was Governor of
  the two Iraks (_i.e._ Bassorah and Cufa) in the reign of Al-Hisham,
  tenth Ommiade (A.D. 723-741).

Footnote 219:

  Arab. “Thakalata-k Ummak!” This is not so much a curse as a playful
  phrase, like “Confound the fellow.” So “Kátala-k Allah” (Allah slay
  thee) and “Lá abá lak” (thou hast no father or mother). These words
  are even complimentary on occasions, as a good shot or a fine
  recitation, meaning that the praised far excels the rest of his tribe.

Footnote 220:

  Koran, iii. 178.

Footnote 221:

  Arab. “Al-Nisáb” = the minimum sum (about half-a-crown) for which
  mutilation of the hand is prescribed by religious law. The punishment
  was truly barbarous, it chastised a rogue by means which prevented
  hard honest labour for the rest of his life.

Footnote 222:

  To show her grief.

Footnote 223:

  Abú Sa’íd Abd al-Malik bin Kurayb, surnamed Al-Asma’i from his
  grandfather, flor. A.H. 122-306 (= 739-830) and wrote amongst a host
  of compositions the well-known Romance of Antar. See in D’Herbelot the
  right royal directions given to him by Harun al-Rashid.

               JA’AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN-SELLER.

When Harun al-Rashid crucified Ja’afar the Barmecide[224] he commanded
that all who wept or made moan for him should also be crucified; so the
folk abstained from that. Now it chanced that a wild Arab, who dwelt in
a distant wold, used every year to bring to the aforesaid Ja’afar an
ode[225] in his honour, for which he rewarded him with a thousand
dinars; and the Badawi took them and, returning to his own country,
lived upon them, he and his family, for the rest of the year.
Accordingly, he came with his ode at the wonted time and, finding that
Ja’afar had been crucified, betook himself to the place where his body
was hanging, and there made his camel kneel down and wept with sore
weeping and mourned with grievous mourning; and he recited his ode and
fell asleep. Presently Ja’afar the Barmecide appeared to him in a vision
and said, “Verily thou hast wearied thyself to come to us and findest us
as thou seest; but go to Bassorah and ask for a man there whose name is
such and such, one of the merchants of the town, and say to
him:—Ja’afar, the Barmecide, saluteth thee and biddeth thee give me a
thousand dinars, by the token of the bean.” Now when the wild Arab
awoke, he repaired to Bassorah, where he sought out the merchant and
found him and repeated to him what Ja’afar had said in the dream;
whereupon he wept with weeping so sore that he was like to depart the
world. Then he welcomed the Badawi and seated him by his side and made
his stay pleasant and entertained him three days as an honoured guest;
and when he was minded to depart he gave him a thousand and five hundred
dinars, saying, “The thousand are what is commanded to thee, and the
five hundred are a gift from me to thee; and every year thou shalt have
of me a thousand gold pieces.” Now when the Arab was about to take
leave, he said to the merchant, “Allah upon thee, tell me the story of
the bean, that I may know the origin of all this.” He answered:—In the
early part of my life I was poor and hawked hot beans[226] about the
streets of Baghdad to keep me alive. So I went out one raw and rainy
day, without clothes enough on my body to protect me from the weather;
now shivering for excess of cold and now stumbling into the pools of
rain-water, and altogether in so piteous a plight as would make me
shudder with goose-skin to look upon. But it chanced that Ja’afar that
day was seated with his officers and his concubines, in an upper chamber
overlooking the street when his eyes fell on me; so he took pity on my
case and, sending one of his dependents to fetch me to him, said as soon
as he saw me, “Sell thy beans to my people.” So I began to mete out the
beans with a measure I had by me; and each who took a measure of beans
filled the measure with gold pieces till all my store was gone and my
basket was clean empty. Then I gathered together the gold I had gotten,
and Ja’afar said to me, “Hast thou any beans left?” “I know not,”
answered I, and then sought in the basket, but found only one bean. So
Ja’afar took from me the single bean and, splitting it in twain, kept
one half himself and gave the other to one of his concubines, saying,
“For how much wilt thou buy this half bean?” She replied, “For the tale
of all this gold twice-told;” whereat I was confounded and said to
myself, “This is impossible.” But, as I stood wondering, behold, she
gave an order to one of her handmaids and the girl brought me the sum of
the collected monies twice-told. Then said Ja’afar, “And I will buy the
half I have by me for double the sum of the whole,” presently adding,
“Now take the price of thy bean.” And he gave an order to one of his
servants, who gathered together the whole of the money and laid it in my
basket; and I took it and went my ways. Then I betook myself to
Bassorah, where I traded with the monies and Allah prospered me amply,
to Him be the praise and the thanks! So, if I give thee every year a
thousand dinars of the bounty of Ja’afar, it will in no wise injure me.
Consider then the munificence of Ja’afar’s nature and how he was praised
both alive and dead, the mercy of Allah Almighty be upon him! And men
also recount the tale of

-----

Footnote 224:

  There are many accounts of his death; but it is generally held that he
  was first beheaded. The story in the text is also variously told and
  the Persian “Nigáristán” adds some unpleasant comments upon the House
  of Abbas. The Persians, for reasons which will be explained in the
  terminal Essay, show the greatest sympathy with the Barmecides; and
  abominate the Abbasides even more than the latter detested the
  Ommiades.

Footnote 225:

  Not written, as the European reader would suppose.

Footnote 226:

  Arab. “Fúl al-hárr” = beans like horsebeans soaked and boiled as
  opposed to the “Fúl Mudammas” (esp. of Egypt) = unshelled beans
  steamed and boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as “kitchen”
  or relish. Lane (M. E., chapt. v.) calls them after the debased
  Cairene pronunciation, Mudemmes. A legend says that, before the days
  of Pharaoh (always he of Moses), the Egyptians lived on pistachios
  which made them a witty, lively race. But the tyrant remarking that
  the domestic ass, which eats beans, is degenerate from the wild ass,
  uprooted the pistachio-trees and compelled the lieges to feed on beans
  which made them a heavy, gross, cowardly people fit only for burdens.
  Badawis deride “bean-eaters” although they do not loathe the pulse
  like onions. The principal result of a bean diet is an extraordinary
  development of flatulence both in stomach and intestines: hence,
  possibly, Pythagoras who had studied ceremonial purity in Egypt,
  forbade the use, unless he referred to venery or political business. I
  was once sitting in the Greek quarter of Cairo dressed as a Moslem
  when arose a prodigious hubbub of lads and boys, surrounding a couple
  of Fellahs. These men had been working in the fields about a mile east
  of Cairo; and, when returning home, one had said to the other, “If
  thou wilt carry the hoes I will break wind once for every step we
  take.” He was as good as his word and when they were to part he cried,
  “And now for thy bakhshish!” which consisted of a volley of fifty,
  greatly to the delight of the boys.

                     ABU MOHAMMED HIGHT LAZYBONES.

It is told that Harun al-Rashid was sitting one day on the throne of the
Caliphate, when there came in to him a youth of his eunuchry, bearing a
crown of red gold, set with pearls and rubies and all manner of other
gems and jewels, such as money might not buy; and, bussing the ground
between his hands, said, “O Commander of the Faithful, the Lady Zubaydah
kisseth the earth before thee”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say. Whereupon quoth her sister
Dunyazad, “How pleasant is thy tale and profitable; and how sweet is thy
speech and how delectable!” “And where is this,” replied Shahrazad,
“compared with what I shall tell you next night an I live and the King
grant me leave!” Thereupon quoth the King to himself, “By Allah, I will
not slay her until I hear the end of her tale.”

               Now when it was the Three Hundredth Night,

Quoth Dunyazad, “Favour us, O my sister, with thy tale,” and she
replied, “With joy and good will, if the King accord me leave;”
whereupon the King said, “Tell thy tale, O Shahrazad.” So she
pursued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth said to
the Caliph, “The Lady Zubaydah kisseth the earth before thee and saith
to thee, Thou knowest she hath bidden make this crown, which lacketh a
great jewel for its dome-top; and she hath made search among her
treasures, but cannot find a jewel of size to suit her mind.” Quoth the
Caliph to his Chamberlains and Viceregents, “Make search for a great
jewel, such as Zubaydah desireth.” So they sought, but found nothing
befitting her and told the Caliph who, vexed and annoyed thereat,
exclaimed, “How am I Caliph and King of the Kings of the earth and
cannot find so small a matter as a jewel? Woe to you! Ask of the
merchants.” So they enquired of the traders, who replied, “Our lord the
Caliph will not find a jewel such as he requireth save with a man of
Bassorah, by name Abú Mohammed hight Lazybones.” Thereupon they
acquainted the Caliph with this and he bade his Wazir Ja’afar send a
note to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydí, Governor of Bassorah, commanding
him to equip Abu Mohammed Lazybones and bring him into the presence of
the Commander of the Faithful. The Minister accordingly wrote a note to
that effect and despatched it by Masrur, who set out forthright for the
city of Bassorah, and went in to the Emir Mohammed al-Zubaydi, who
rejoiced in him and treated him with the highmost honour. Then Masrur
read him the mandate of the Prince of True Believers, Harun al-Rashid,
to which he replied, “I hear and I obey,” and forthwith despatched him,
with a company of his followers, to Abu Mohammed’s house. When they
reached it, they knocked at the door, whereupon a page came out and
Masrur said to him, “Tell thy lord, The Commander of the Faithful
summoneth thee.” The servant went in and told his master, who came out
and found Masrur, the Caliph’s Chamberlain, and a company of the
Governor’s men at the door. So he kissed ground before Masrur and said,
“I hear and obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful; but first
enter ye my house.” They replied, “We cannot do that, save in haste;
even as the Prince of True Believers commanded us, for he awaiteth thy
coming.” But he said, “Have patience with me a little, till I set my
affairs in order.” So after much pressure and abundant persuasion, they
entered the house with him and found the vestibule hung with curtains of
azure brocade, purfled with red gold, and Abu Mohammed Lazybones bade
one of his servants carry Masrur to the private Hammam. Now this bath
was in the house and Masrur found its walls and floors of rare and
precious marbles, wrought with gold and silver, and its waters mingled
with rose-water. Then the servants served Masrur and his company with
the perfection of service; and, on their going forth of the Hammam, clad
them in robes of honour, brocade-work interwoven with gold. And after
leaving the bath Masrur and his men went in to Abu Mohammed Lazybones
and found him seated in his upper chamber; and over his head hung
curtains of gold-brocade, wrought with pearls and jewels, and the
pavilion was spread with cushions, embroidered in red gold. Now the
owner was sitting softly upon a quilted cloth covering a settee inlaid
with stones of price; and, when he saw Masrur, he went forward to meet
him and bidding him welcome, seated him by his side. Then he called for
the food-trays; so they brought them, and when Masrur saw the tables, he
exclaimed, “By Allah, never did I behold the like of these appointments
in the palace of the Commander of the Faithful!” For indeed the trays
contained every manner of meat all served in dishes of gilded
porcelain.[227] So we ate and drank and made merry till the end of the
day (quoth Masrur) when the host gave to each and every of us five
thousand dinars; and on the morrow he clad us in dresses of honour of
green and gold and entreated us with the utmost worship. Then said
Masrur to him, “We can tarry no longer for fear of the Caliph’s
displeasure.” Answered Abu Mohammed Lazybones, “O my lord, have patience
with us till the morrow, that we may equip ourselves, and we will then
depart with you.” So they tarried with him that day and slept the night;
and next morning Abu Mohammed’s servants saddled him a she-mule with
selle and trappings of gold, set with all manner of pearls and stones of
price; whereupon quoth Masrur to himself, “I wonder when Abu Mohammed
shall present himself in such equipage, if the Caliph will ask him how
he came by all this wealth.” Thereupon they took leave of Al-Zubaydi
and, setting out from Bassorah, fared on, without ceasing to fare till
they reached Baghdad-city and presented themselves before the Caliph,
who bade Abu Mohammed be seated. He sat down and addressed the Caliph in
courtly phrase, saying, “O Commander of the Faithful, I have brought
with me an humble offering by way of homage: have I thy gracious
permission to produce it?” Al-Rashid replied, “There is no harm in
that,”[228] whereupon Abu Mohammed bade his men bring in a chest, from
which he took a number of rarities, and amongst the rest, trees of gold
with leaves of white emerald,[229] and fruits of pigeon-blood rubies and
topazes and new pearls and bright. And as the Caliph was struck with
admiration he fetched a second chest and brought out of it a tent of
brocade, crowned with pearls and jacinths and emeralds and jaspers and
other precious stones; its poles were of freshly-cut Hindi aloes-wood,
and its skirts were set with the greenest smaragds. Thereon were
depicted all manner of animals such as beasts and birds, spangled with
precious stones, rubies, emeralds, chrysolites and balasses and every
kind of precious metal. Now when Al-Rashid saw these things, he rejoiced
with exceeding joy and Abu Mohammed Lazybones said to him, “O Commander
of the Faithful, deem not that I have brought these to thee, fearing
aught or coveting anything; but I knew myself to be but a man of the
people and that such things befitted none save the Commander of the
Faithful. And now, with thy leave, I will show thee, for thy diversion,
something of what I can do.” Al-Rashid replied, “Do what thou wilt, that
we may see.” “To hear is to obey,” said Abu Mohammed and, moving his
lips, beckoned the palace battlements,[230] whereupon they inclined to
him; then he made another sign to them, and they returned to their
place. Presently he made a sign with his eye, and there appeared before
him closets with closed doors, to which he spoke, and lo! the voices of
birds answered him from within. The Caliph marvelled with passing marvel
at this and said to him, “How camest thou by all this, seeing that thou
art known only as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and they tell me that thy
father was a cupper, serving in a public Hammam, who left thee nothing?”
Whereupon he answered, Listen to my story——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and First Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed
Lazybones thus spake to the Caliph:—O Prince of True Believers, listen
to my story, for it is a marvellous and its particulars are wondrous;
were it graven with graver-needles upon the eye-corners it were a warner
to whoso would be warned. Quoth Al-Rashid, “Let us hear all thou hast to
say, O Abu Mohammed!” So he began:—Know then, O Commander of the
Faithful (Allah prolong to thee glory and dominion!), the report of the
folk, that I am known as the Lazybones and that my father left me
nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but a
barber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the idlest
wight on the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my sluggishness
that, if I lay at full length in the sultry season and the sun came
round upon me, I was too lazy to rise and remove from the sun to the
shade. And thus I abode till I reached my fifteenth year, when my father
deceased in the mercy of Allah Almighty and left me nothing. However, my
mother used to go out a-charing and feed me and give me to drink, whilst
I lay on my side. Now it came to pass that one day she came in to me
with five silver dirhams, and said to me, “O my son, I hear that Shaykh
Abú al-Muzaffar[231] is about to go a voyage to China.” (Now this Shaykh
was a good and charitable man who loved the poor.) “So come, O my son,
take these five silver bits; and let us both carry them to him and beg
him to buy thee therewith somewhat from the land of China; so haply thou
mayst make a profit of it by the bounty of Allah, whose name be
exalted!” I was too idle to move for her; but she swore by the Almighty
that, except I rose and went with her, she would bring me neither meat
nor drink nor come in to me, but would leave me to die of hunger and
thirst. Now when I heard her words, O Commander of the Faithful, I knew
she would do as she threatened for her knowledge of my sluggishness; so
I said to her, “Help me to sit up.” She did so, and I wept the while and
said to her, “Bring me my shoes.” Accordingly, she brought them and I
said, “Put them on my feet.” She put them on my feet and I said, “Lift
me up off the ground.” So she lifted me up and I said, “Support me, that
I may walk.” So she supported me and I continued to fare a-foot, at
times stumbling over my skirts, till we came to the river-bank, where we
saluted the Shaykh and I said to him, “O my uncle, art thou Abu
al-Muzaffar?” “At thy service,” answered he, and I, “Take these dirhams
and with them buy me somewhat from the land of China: haply Allah may
vouchsafe me a profit of it.” Quoth the Shaykh to his companions, “Do ye
know this youth?” They answered, “Yes, he is known as Abu Mohammed
Lazybones, and we never saw him stir from his house till this moment.”
Then said he to me, “O my son, give me the silver with the blessing of
Almighty Allah!” So he took the money, saying, “Bismillah—in the name of
Allah!”—and I returned home with my mother. Presently Shaykh Abu
al-Muzaffar set sail, with a company of merchants, and stayed not till
they reached the land of China, where he and his bought and sold; and,
having won what they wished, set out on their homeward voyage. When they
had been three days at sea, the Shaykh said to his company, “Stay the
vessel!” They asked, “What dost thou want?” and he answered, “Know that
I have forgotten the commission wherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones charged
me; so let us turn back that we may lay out his money on somewhat
whereby he may profit.” They cried, “We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty
turn not back with us; for we have traversed a long distance and a sore,
and while so doing we have endured sad hardship and many terrors.” Quoth
he, “There is no help for it but we return;” and they said, “Take from
us double the profit of the five dirhams, and turn us not back.” He
agreed to this and they collected for him an ample sum of money.
Thereupon they sailed on, till they came to an island wherein was much
people; when they moored thereto and the merchants went ashore, to buy
thence a stock of precious metals and pearls and jewels and so forth.
Presently Abu al-Muzaffar saw a man seated, with many apes before him,
and amongst them one whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as
their owner’s attention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon
the plucked one and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon
the man rose and bashed them and bound them and punished them for this;
and all the apes were wroth with the plucked ape on this account and
tunded him the more. When Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar saw this, he felt for
and took compassion upon the plucked ape and said to his master, “Wilt
thou sell me yonder monkey?” Replied the man, “Buy,” and Abu al-Muzaffar
rejoined, “I have with me five dirhams, belonging to an orphan lad. Wilt
thou sell it me for that sum?” Answered the monkey-merchant, “It is a
bargain; and Allah give thee a blessing of him!” So he made over the
beast and received his money; and the Shaykh’s slaves took the ape and
tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for another
island, where they cast anchor; and there came down divers, who plunged
for precious stones, pearls and other gems; so the merchants hired them
to dive for money and they dived. Now when the ape saw them doing this,
he loosed himself from his bonds and, jumping off the ship’s side,
plunged with them, whereupon quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, “There is no Majesty
and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! The
monkey is lost to us with the luck of the poor fellow for whom we bought
him.” And they despaired of him; but, after a while, the company of
divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was the ape, with his
hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down before Abu
al-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said, “There is much
mystery in this monkey!” Then they cast off and sailed till they came to
a third island, called the Isle of the Zunúj,[232] who are a people of
the blacks, which eat the flesh of the sons of Adam. When the blacks saw
them, they boarded them in dug-outs[233] and, taking all in the vessel,
pinioned them and carried them to their King, who bade slaughter certain
of the merchants. So they slaughtered them by cutting their throats and
ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders passed the night in bonds
and were in sore concern. But when it was midnight, the ape arose and
going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed his bonds; and, as the others saw
him free, they said, “Allah grant our deliverance may be at thy hands, O
Abu al-Muzaffar!” But he replied, “Know, that he who delivered me, by
leave of Allah Almighty, was none other than this monkey”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

          Now when it was the Three Hundred and Second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Muzaffar
declared, “None loosed me, by leave of Allah Almighty, save this monkey
and I buy my release of him at a thousand dinars;” whereupon the
merchants rejoined, “And we likewise, each and every, will pay him a
thousand dinars if he release us.” With this the ape arose and went up
to them and loosed their bonds one by one, till he had freed them all,
when they made for the vessel and boarding her, found all safe and
nothing missing from her. So they cast off and set sail; and presently
Abu al-Muzaffar said to them, “O merchants, fulfil your promise to the
monkey.” “We hear and we obey,” answered they; and each one paid him one
thousand dinars, whilst Abu al-Muzaffar brought out to him the like sum
of his own monies, so that a great heap of coin was collected for the
ape. Then they fared on till they reached Bassorah-city where their
friends came out to meet them; and when they had landed the Shaykh said,
“Where is Abu Mohammed Lazybones?” The news reached my mother, who came
to me as I lay asleep and said to me, “O my son, verily the Shaykh Abu
al-Muzaffar hath come back and is now in the city; so rise and go thou
to him and salute him and enquire what he hath brought thee; it may be
Allah Almighty have opened to thee the door of fortune with somewhat.”
Quoth I, “Lift me from the ground and prop me up, whilst I go forth and
walk to the river-bank.” After which I went out and walked on, stumbling
over my skirts, till I met the Shaykh, who exclaimed at sight of me,
“Welcome to him whose money hath been the means of my release and that
of these merchants, by the will of Almighty Allah.” Then he continued,
“Take this monkey I bought for thee and carry him home and wait till I
come to thee.” So I took the ape and went off, saying in my mind, “By
Allah, this is naught but rare merchandise!” and led it home, where I
said to my mother, “Whenever I lie down to sleep, thou biddest me rise
and trade; see now this merchandise with thine own eyes.” Then I sat me
down and as I sat, up came the slaves of Abu al-Muzaffar and said to me,
“Art thou Abu Mohammed Lazybones?” “Yes” answered I; and behold, Abu
al-Muzaffar appeared behind them. So I rose up to him and kissed his
hands: and he said, “Come with me to my home.” “Hearkening and
obedience,” answered I and accompanied him to his house, where he bade
his servants bring me what money the monkey had earned for me. So they
brought it and he said to me, “O my son, Allah hath blessed thee with
this wealth, by way of profit on thy five dirhams.” Then the slaves set
down the treasure in chests, which they had carried on their heads, and
Abu al-Muzaffar gave me the keys saying, “Go before the slaves to thy
house; for in sooth all this wealth is thine.” So I returned to my
mother, who rejoiced in this and said to me, “O my son, Allah hath
blessed thee with all these riches; so put off thy laziness and go down
to the bazar and sell and buy.” At once I shook off my dull sloth, and
opened a shop in the bazar, where the ape used to sit on the same divan
with me, eating with me when I ate and drinking when I drank. But, every
day, he was absent from dawn till noon, when he came back bringing with
him a purse of a thousand dinars, which he laid by my side, and sat
down; and he ceased not so doing for a great while, till I amassed much
wealth, wherewith, O Commander of the Faithful, I purchased houses and
lands, and I planted gardens and I bought me white slaves and negroes
and concubines. Now it came to pass one day, as I sat in my shop, with
the ape sitting at my side on the same carpet, behold, he began to turn
right and left, and I said to myself, “What aileth the beast?” Then
Allah made the ape speak with a ready tongue, and he said to me, “O Abu
Mohammed!” Now when I heard him speak, I was sore afraid; but he said to
me, “Fear not; I will tell thee my case. I am a Marid of the Jinn and
came to thee because of thy poor estate; but to-day thou knowest not the
amount of thy wealth; and now I have need of thee and if thou do my
will, it shall be well for thee.” I asked, “What is it?” and he
answered, “I have a mind to marry thee to a girl like the full moon.”
Quoth I, “How so?”; and quoth he, “To-morrow don thou thy richest dress
and mount thy mule, with the saddle of gold, and ride to the Haymarket.
There enquire for the shop of the Sharif[234] and sit down beside him
and say to him:—I come to thee as a suitor craving thy daughter’s hand.
If he say to thee:—Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family; pull out
a thousand dinars and give them to him, and if he ask more, give him
more and tempt him with money.” Whereto I replied, “To hear is to obey;
I will do thy bidding, Inshallah!” So on the next morning I donned my
richest clothes, mounted my she-mule with trappings of gold and rode to
the Haymarket where I asked for the Sharif’s shop; and finding him there
seated, alighted and saluted him and seated myself beside him——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,

She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed
Lazybones continued:—So I alighted and, saluting him seated myself
beside him and my Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood before me. Said the
Sharif, “Haply, thou hast some business with us which we may have
pleasure of transacting?” Replied I, “Yes, I have business with thee.”
Asked he, “And what is it?”; and I answered, “I come to thee as a suitor
for thy daughter’s hand.” So he said, “Thou hast neither cash nor rank
nor family;” whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand dinars,
red gold, and said to him, “This is my rank[235] and my family”; and he
(whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said:—The best of ranks is wealth. And
how well quoth the poet:—

 Whoso two dirhams hath, his lips have learnt ✿ Speech of all kinds with
    eloquence bedight:
 Draw near[236] his brethren and crave ear of him, ✿ And him thou seest
    haught in pride-full height:
 Were’t not for dirhams wherein glories he, ✿ Hadst found him ‘mid
    mankind in sorry plight.
 When richard errs in words they all reply, ✿ “Sooth thou hast spoken and
    hast said aright!.”
 When pauper speaketh truly all reply ✿ “Thou liest;” and they hold his
    sayings light.[237]
 “Verily dirhams in earth’s every stead ✿ Clothe men with rank and make
    them fair to sight;
 Gold is the very tongue of eloquence; ✿ Gold is the best of arms for
    wight who’d fight!”

Now when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse, he
bowed his head awhile groundwards then raising it, said, “If it must be
so, I will have of thee other three thousand gold pieces.” “I hear and I
obey,” answered I, and sent one of my Mamelukes home for the money. As
soon as he came back with it, I handed it to the Sharif who, when he saw
it in his hands, rose and bidding his servants shut his shop, invited
his brother merchants of the bazar to the wedding; after which he
carried me to his house and wrote out my contract of marriage with his
daughter saying to me, “After ten days, I will bring thee to pay her the
first visit.” So I went home rejoicing and, shutting myself up with the
ape, told him what had passed; and he said “Thou hast done well.” Now
when the time appointed by the Sharif drew near, the ape said to me,
“There is a thing I would have thee do for me; and thou shalt have of me
(when it is done) whatso thou wilt.” I asked, “What is that?” and he
answered, “At the upper end of the chamber wherein thou shalt meet thy
bride, the Sharif’s daughter, stands a cabinet, on whose door is a
ring-padlock of copper and the keys under it. Take the keys and open the
cabinet in which thou shalt find a coffer of iron with four flags, which
are talismans, at its corners; and in its midst stands a brazen basin
full of money, wherein is tied a white cock with a cleft comb; while on
one side of the coffer are eleven serpents and on the other a knife.
Take the knife and slaughter the cock; cut away the flags and upset the
chest, then go back to the bride and do away her maidenhead. This is
what I have to ask of thee.” “Hearkening and obedience,” answered I, and
betook myself to the house of the Sharif. So as soon as I entered the
bride-chamber, I looked for the cabinet and found it even as the ape had
described it. Then I went in unto the bride and marvelled at her beauty
and loveliness and stature and symmetrical grace, for indeed they were
such as no tongue can set forth. I rejoiced in her with exceeding joy;
and in the middle of the night, when my bride slept, I rose and, taking
the keys, opened the cabinet. Then I seized the knife and slew the cock
and threw down the flags and upset the coffer, whereupon the girl awoke
and, seeing the closet open and the cock with cut throat, exclaimed,
“There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious,
the Great! The Marid hath got hold of me!” Hardly had she made an end of
speaking, when the Marid swooped down upon the house and, snatching up
the bride, flew away with her; whereupon there arose a mighty clamour
and behold, in came the Sharif, buffetting his face and crying, “O Abu
Mohammed, what is this deed thou hast done? Is it thus thou requitest
us? I made this talisman in the cabinet fearing for my daughter from
this accursed one who, for these six years, hath sought to steal away
the girl, but could not. But now there is no more abiding for thee with
us; so wend thy ways.” Thereupon I went forth and returned to my own
house, where I made search for the ape but could not find him nor any
trace of him; whereby I knew that it was he who was the Marid, and that
he had carried off my wife and had tricked me into destroying the
talisman and the cock, the two things which hindered him from taking
her, and I repented, rending my raiment and cuffing my face. And there
was no land but was straitened upon me; so I made for the desert
forthright and ceased not wandering on till night overtook me, for I
knew not whither I was going. And whilst I was deep in sad thought
behold, I met two serpents, one tawny and the other white, and they were
fighting to kill each other. So I took up a stone and with one cast slew
the tawny serpent, which was the aggressor; whereupon the white serpent
glided away and was absent for a while, but presently she returned
accompanied by ten other white serpents which glided up to the dead
serpent and tore her in pieces, so that only the head was left. Then
they went their ways and I fell prostrate for weariness on the ground
where I stood; but as I lay, pondering my case lo! I heard a Voice
though I saw no one and the Voice versified with these two couplets:—

 Let Fate with slackened bridle fare her pace, ✿ Nor pass the night with
    mind which cares an ace.
 Between eye-closing and its opening, ✿ Allah can foulest change to
    fairest case.

Now when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern gat
hold of me and I was beyond measure troubled; and behold, I heard a
Voice from behind me extemporise these couplets:—

 O Moslem! thou whose guide is Alcorán, ✿ Joy in what brought safe peace
    to thee, O man.
 Fear not what Satan haply whispered thee, ✿ And in us see a
    Truth-believing clan.

Then said I, “I conjure thee, by the truth of Him thou worshippest, let
me know who thou art!” Thereupon the Invisible Speaker assumed the form
of a man and said, “Fear not; for the report of thy good deed hath
reached us, and we are a people of the true-believing Jinn. So, if thou
lack aught, let us know it, that we may have the pleasure of fulfilling
thy want.” Quoth I, “Indeed I am in sore need, for I am afflicted with a
grievous affliction and no one was ever afflicted as I am!” Quoth he,
“Perchance thou art Abu Mohammed Lazybones?” and I replied, “Yes.” He
rejoined, “I, O Abu Mohammed, am the brother of the white serpent, whose
foe thou slewest; we are four brothers by one father and mother, and we
are all indebted to thee for thy kindness. And know thou that he who
played this trick on thee in the likeness of an ape, is a Marid of the
Marids of the Jinn; and had he not used this artifice, he had never been
able to get the girl; for he hath loved her and had a mind to take her
this long while, but he was hindered of that talisman; and had it
remained as it was, he could never have found access to her. However,
fret not thyself for that; we will bring thee to her and kill the Marid;
for thy kindness is not lost upon us.” Then he cried out with a terrible
outcry——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

          Now when it was the Three Hundred and Fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit
continued, “Verily thy kindness is not lost upon us.” Then he cried out
with a terrible outcry in a horrible voice, and behold, there appeared a
troop of the Jinn, of whom he enquired concerning the ape; and one of
them said, “I know his abiding-place;” and the other asked “Where
abideth he?” Said the speaker “He is in the City of Brass whereon sun
riseth not.” Then said the first Jinni to me, “O Abu Mohammed, take one
of these our slaves, and he will carry thee on his back and teach thee
how thou shalt get back the girl; but know that this slave is a Marid of
the Marids and beware, whilst he is carrying thee, lest thou utter the
name of Allah, or he will flee from thee and thou wilt fall and be
destroyed.” “I hear and obey,” answered I and chose out one of the
slaves, who bent down and said to me, “Mount.” So I mounted on his back,
and he flew up with me into the firmament, till I lost sight of the
earth and saw the stars as they were the mountains of earth fixed and
firm[238] and heard the angels crying, “Praise be to Allah,” in heaven
while the Marid held me in converse, diverting me and hindering me from
pronouncing the name of Almighty Allah.[239] But, as we flew, behold,
One clad in green raiment,[240] with streaming tresses and radiant face,
holding in his hand a javelin whence flew sparks of fire, accosted me,
saying, “O Abu Mohammed, say:—There is no god but _the_ God and Mohammed
is the Apostle of God; or I will smite thee with this javelin.” Now
already I felt heart-broken by my forced silence as regards calling on
the name of Allah; so I said, “There is no god but _the_ God, and
Mohammed is the Apostle of God.” Whereupon the shining One smote the
Marid with his javelin and he melted away and became ashes; whilst I was
thrown from his back and fell headlong towards the earth, till I dropped
into the midst of a dashing sea, swollen with clashing surge. And
behold, I fell hard by a ship with five sailors therein, who seeing me,
made for me and took me up into the vessel; and they began to speak to
me in some speech I knew not; but I signed to them that I understood not
their speech. So they fared on till the last of the day, when they cast
out a net and caught a great fish and they broiled it and gave me to
eat; after which they ceased not sailing on till they reached their city
and carried me to their King and set me in his presence. So I kissed
ground before him, and he bestowed on me a dress of honour and said to
me in Arabic (which he knew well), “I appoint thee one of my officers.”
Thereupon I asked him the name of the city, and he replied, “It is
called Hanád[241] and is in the land of China.” Then he committed me to
his Wazir, bidding him show me the city, which was formerly peopled by
Infidels, till Almighty Allah turned them into stones; and there I abode
a month’s space, diverting myself with viewing the place, nor saw I ever
greater plenty of trees and fruits than there. And when this time had
past, one day, as I sat on the bank of a river, behold, there accosted
me a horseman, who said to me, “Art thou not Abu Mohammed Lazybones?”
“Yes,” answered I; whereupon, he said, “Fear not, for the report of thy
good deed hath reached us.” Asked I, “Who art thou?” and he answered, “I
am a brother of the white serpent, and thou art hard by the place where
is the damsel whom thou seekest.” So saying, he took off his clothes and
clad me therein, saying, “Fear not, for the slave who perished under
thee was one of our slaves.” Then the horseman took me up behind him and
rode on with me to a desert place, when he said, “Dismount now and walk
on between these two mountains, till thou seest the City of Brass;[242]
then halt afar off and enter it not, ere I return to thee and tell thee
how thou shalt do.” “To hear is to obey,” replied I and, dismounting
from behind him, walked on till I came to the city, the walls whereof I
found of brass. Then I began to pace round about it, hoping to find a
gate, but found none; and presently as I persevered behold, the
serpent’s brother rejoined me and gave me a charmed sword which should
hinder any from seeing me,[243] then went his way. Now he had been gone
but a little while, when lo! I heard a noise of cries and found myself
in the midst of a multitude of folk whose eyes were in their breasts;
and seeing me quoth they, “Who art thou, and what cast thee into this
place?” So I told them my story, and they said, “The girl thou seekest
is in this city with the Marid; but we know not what he hath done with
her. Now we are brethren of the white serpent,” adding, “Go thou to
yonder spring and note where the water entereth, and enter thou with it;
for it will bring thee into the city.” I did as they bade me, and
followed the water-course, till it brought me to a Sardáb, a vaulted
room under the earth, from which I ascended and found myself in the
midst of the city. Here I saw the damsel seated upon a throne of gold,
under a canopy of brocade, girt round by a garden full of trees of gold,
whose fruits were jewels of price, such as rubies and chrysolites,
pearls and coral. And the moment she saw me, she knew me and accosted me
with the Moslem salutation, saying, “O my lord, who guided thee hither?”
So I told her all that had passed, and she said, “Know, that the
accursed Marid, of the greatness of his love for me, hath told me what
bringeth him bane and what bringeth him gain; and that there is here a
talisman by means whereof he could, an he would, destroy the city and
all that are therein; and whoso possesseth it, the Ifrits will do his
commandment in everything. It standeth upon a pillar”—Whereat I asked
her, “And where is the pillar?” and she answered, “It is in such a
place.” “And what manner of thing may the talisman be?” said I: said
she, “It is in the semblance of a vulture[244] and upon it is a writing
which I cannot read. So go thou thither and seize it, and set it before
thee and, taking a chafing-dish, throw into it a little musk, whereupon
there will arise a smoke which will draw the Ifrits to thee, and they
will all present themselves before thee, nor shall one be absent; also
they shall be subject to thy word and, whatsoever thou biddest them,
that will they do. Arise therefore and fall to this thing, with the
blessing of Almighty Allah.” I answered, “Hearkening and obedience” and,
going to the column, did as she bade me, whereupon the Ifrits all
presented themselves before me saying, “Here are we, O our lord!
Whatsoever thou biddest us, that will we do.” Quoth I, “Bind the Marid
who brought the damsel hither from her home.” Quoth they, “We hear and
obey,” and off they flew and bound that Marid in straitest bonds and
returned after a while, saying, “We have done thy bidding.” Then I
dismissed them and, repairing to my wife, told her what had happened and
said to her, “O my bride, wilt thou go with me?” “Yes,” answered she. So
I carried her forth of the vaulted chamber whereby I had entered the
city and we fared on, till we fell in with the folk who had shown me the
way to find her.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and Fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that he continued on
this wise:—And we fared on till we fell in with the folk who had shown
me the way to her. So I said to them, “Point me out a path which shall
lead me to my home,” and they did accordingly, and brought us a-foot to
the sea-shore and set us aboard a vessel which sailed on before us with
a fair wind, till we reached Bassorah-city. And when we entered the
house of my father-in-law and her people saw my wife, they rejoiced with
exceeding joy. Then I fumigated the vulture with musk and lo! the Ifrits
flocked to me from all sides, saying, “At thy service; what wilt thou
have us do?” So I bade them transport all that was in the City of Brass
of monies and noble metals and stones of price to my house in Bassorah,
which they did; and I then ordered them to bring me the ape. They
brought him before me, abject and contemptible, and I said to him, “O
accursed, why hast thou dealt thus perfidiously with me?” Then I
commanded the Ifrits to shut him in a brazen vessel;[245] so they put
him in a brazen cucurbite and sealed it with lead. But I abode with my
wife in joy and delight; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, I have
under my hand precious things in such measure and rare jewels and other
treasure and monies on such wise as neither reckoning may express nor
may limits comprise; and, if thou lust after wealth or aught else, I
will command the Jinn at once to do thy desire. But all this is of the
bounty of Almighty Allah. Thereupon the Commander of the Faithful
wondered greatly and bestowed on him imperial gifts, in exchange for his
presents, and entreated him with the favour he deserved. And men also
tell the tale of the

-----

Footnote 227:

  No porcelain was ever, as far as we can discover, made in Egypt or
  Syria of the olden day; but, as has been said, there was a regular
  caravan-intercourse with China. At Damascus I dug into the huge
  rubbish-heaps and found quantities of pottery, but no China. The same
  has lately been done at Clysma, the artificial mound near Suez, and
  the glass and pottery prove it to have been a Roman work which
  defended the mouth of the old classical sweet-water canal.

Footnote 228:

  Arab. “Lá baas ba-zálik,” conversational for “Lá jaram” = there is no
  harm in it, no objection to it; and, sometimes, “it is a matter of
  course.”

Footnote 229:

  A white emerald is yet unknown; but this adds only to the Oriental
  extravagance of the picture. I do not think with Lane (ii. 426) that
  “abyaz” here can mean “bright.” Dr. Steingass suggests a clerical
  error for “khazar” (green).

Footnote 230:

  Arab. “Sharárif” plur. of Shurráfah = crenelles or battlements; mostly
  trefoil-shaped; _remparts coquets_ which a six-pounder would crumble.

Footnote 231:

  Pronounce Abul-Muzaffar = Father of the Conqueror.

Footnote 232:

  I have explained the word in my “Zanzibar, City, Island and Coast,”
  vol. i. chapt. v. There is still a tribe, the Wadoe, reputed cannibal
  on the opposite low East African shore. These blacks would hardly be
  held “sons of Adam.” “Zanj” corrupted to “Zinj” (plur. Zunúj) is the
  Persian “Zang” or “Zangi,” a black, altered by the Arabs, who ignore
  the hard _g_; and, with the suffixion of the Persian -bár (region, as
  in Malabar) we have Zang-bár which the Arabs have converted to
  “Zanjibar,” in poetry “Mulk al Zunúj” = Land of the Zang. The term is
  old; it is the Zingis or Zipgisa of Ptolemy and the Zingium of Cosmas
  Indicopleustes; and it shows the influence of Persian navigation in
  pre-Islamitic ages. For further details readers will consult “The Lake
  Regions of Central Africa” vol. i. chapt. ii.

Footnote 233:

  Arab. “Kawárib” plur. of “Kárib” prop. a dinghy, a small boat
  belonging to a ship. Here it refers to the canoe (a Carib word) pop.
  “dug-out” and classically “monoxyle,” a boat made of a single
  tree-trunk hollowed by fire and trimmed with axe and adze. Some of
  these rude craft which, when manned, remind one of saturnine Caliph
  Omar’s “worms floating on a log of wood,” measure 60 feet long and
  more.

Footnote 234:

  _i.e._ A descendant of Mohammed in general and especially through
  Husayn Ali-son. Here the text notes that the chief of the bazar was of
  this now innumerable stock, who inherit the title through the mother
  as well as through the father.

Footnote 235:

  Arab. “Hasab” (= quantity), the honour a man acquires for himself;
  opposed to “Nasab” (genealogy) honours inherited from ancestry: the
  Arabic well expresses my old motto (adopted by Chinese Gordon):—

                           Honour, not Honours.

Footnote 236:

  Note the difference between “Takaddum” (= standing in presence of,
  also superiority in excellence) and “Takádum” (priority in time).

Footnote 237:

  Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this saying.

Footnote 238:

  A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep the earth in
  place. “And he hath thrown before the earth mountains firmly rooted,
  lest it should move with you.” (Koran, chapt. xvi.) The earth when
  first created was smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion, like
  the celestial orbs; and, when the Angels asked who could stand on so
  tottering a frame, Allah fixed it the next morning by throwing the
  mountains in it and pegging them down. A fair prolepsis of the
  Neptunian theory.

Footnote 239:

  Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying “by God,” but this
  common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples who are
  constantly using the word Allah Wallah, Billah, etc. The Koran
  expressly says, “Make not Allah the scope (object, lit. arrow-butt) of
  your oaths” (chapt. ii. 224); yet the command is broken every minute.

Footnote 240:

  This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet; when Ali
  appears, as a rule he is on horseback.

Footnote 241:

  The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we find that it
  was close to Jinn-land. China was very convenient for this purpose:
  the medieval Moslems, who settled in considerable numbers at Canton
  and elsewhere, knew just enough of it to know their own ignorance of
  the vast empire. Hence the Druzes of the Libanus still hold that part
  of their nation is in the depths of the Celestial Empire.

Footnote 242:

  I am unwilling to alter the old title to “City of Copper” as it should
  be; the pure metal having been technologically used long before the
  alloy of copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City (Night dlxvi. _et
  seq._) was of brass (not copper). The Hindus of Upper India have an
  Iram which they call Hari Chand’s city (Colonel Tod); and I need
  hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint Borondon; Cape
  Fly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the effect of “looming.”

Footnote 243:

  This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of
  Siegfried’s Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of “Fortunatus’ cap” is
  common in Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably arose from the venerable
  practice of inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic
  figures.

Footnote 244:

  Arab. “’Ukáb,” in books an eagle (especially black) and P. N. of
  constellation but in pop. usage = a vulture. In Egypt it is the
  Neophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dijájat
  Far’aun or Pharaoh’s hen. This bird has been known to kill the Báshah
  sparrow-hawk (Jerdon i. 60); yet, curious to say, the reviewers of my
  “Falconry in the Valley of the Indus” questioned the fact, known to so
  many travellers, that the falcon is also killed by this “tiger of the
  air,” despite the latter’s feeble bill (pp. 35-38). I was faring badly
  at their hands when the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue.
  Falconicide is popularly attributed, not only to the vulture, but also
  to the crestless hawk-eagle (Nisætus Bonelli) which the Hindus call
  Morángá = peacock-slayer.

Footnote 245:

  Here I translate “Nahás” = brass; as the “kumkum” (cucurbite) is made
  of mixed metal, not of copper.

    GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.

It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous of
the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Sálih by name, and said
to him, “O Salih, go to Mansúr[246] and say to him:—Thou owest us a
thousand thousand dirhams and we require of thee immediate payment of
this amount. And I command thee, O Salih, unless he pay it between this
hour and sundown, sever his head from his body and bring it to me.” “To
hear is to obey,” answered Salih and, going to Mansur, acquainted him
with what the Caliph had said; whereupon quoth he, “I am a lost man, by
Allah; for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if sold for their
utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred thousand
dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine hundred
thousand?” Salih replied, “Contrive how thou mayst speedily acquit
thyself, else thou art a dead man; for I cannot grant thee an
eye-twinkling of delay after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor
can I fail of aught which the Prince of True Believers hath enjoined on
me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some means of saving thyself ere the
time expire.” Quoth Mansur, “O Salih, I beg thee of thy favour to bring
me to my house, that I may take leave of my children and family and give
my kinsfolk my last injunctions.” Now Salih relateth:—So I went with him
to his house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and the house
was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and calling for
help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, “I have bethought me
that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the hands of the
Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yáhyá bin Khálid.” So we
went to Yahya’s house, and Mansur told him his case, whereat he was sore
concerned and bowed him groundwards for a while; then raising his head,
he called his treasurer and said to him, “How much have we in our
treasury?” “A matter of five thousand dirhams,” answered the treasurer,
and Yahya bade him bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl,
saying, “I am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be laid
waste; so send me somewhat of money.” Al-Fazl sent him a thousand
thousand dirhams, and he despatched a messenger with a like message to
his son Ja’afar, saying, “We have a matter of much moment and for it we
want money;” whereupon Ja’afar at once sent him a thousand thousand
dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides,
till he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But
Salih and the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, “O my
lord, I have laid hold upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look
for the money but to thee, in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so
discharge thou the rest of my debt for me and make me thy freed slave.”
Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a page,
“Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave-girl Danánír
a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her send it to us.” The
page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon quoth
Yahya, “O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the Commander
of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand dinars,[247] and he
gave it to our slave-girl Dananir, the lute-player; and when he sees it
with thee, he will know it and spare thy blood and do thee honour for
our sake; and now, O Mansur, verily thy money is complete.” (Salih
continued) So I took the money and the jewel and carried them to
Al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the way I heard him repeat this
couplet, applying it to his own case:—

 ‘Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; ✿ ‘Twas that I feared me
    lest they shoot their shafts!

Now when I heard this, I marvelled at his evil nature and his depravity
and mischief-making and his ignoble birth and provenance and, turning
upon him, I said, “There is none on the face of the earth better or more
righteous than the Barmecides, nor any baser nor more wrongous than
thou; for they bought thee off from death and delivered thee from
destruction, giving thee what should save thee; yet thou thankest them
not nor praisest them, neither acquittest thee after the manner of the
noble; nay, thou meetest their benevolence with this speech.” Then I
went to Al-Rashid and acquainted him with all that had passed——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and Sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Salih
continued:—So I acquainted the Commander of the Faithful with all that
passed and Al-Rashid marvelled at the generosity and benevolence of
Yahya and the vileness and ingratitude of Mansur and bade restore the
jewel to Yahya, saying, “Whatso we have given it befitteth us not to
take again.” After that Salih returned to Yahya, and acquainted him with
the tale of Mansur and his ill-conduct; whereupon replied he, “O Salih,
when a man is in want, sick at heart and sad of thought, he is not to be
blamed for aught that falleth from him; for it cometh not from the
heart;” and on this wise he took to seeking excuse for Mansur. But Salih
wept and exclaimed, “Never shall the revolving heavens bring forth into
being the like of thee, O Yahya! Alas, and well-away, that one of such
noble nature and generosity should be laid in the dust!” And he repeated
these two couplets:—

 Haste to do kindness thou dost intend; ✿ Thou canst not always on boons
    expend:
 How many from bounty themselves withheld, ✿ Till means of bounty had
    come to end!

And men tell another tale of the

-----

Footnote 246:

  Mansur al-Nimrí, a poet of the time and a protégé of Yahya’s son,
  Al-Fazl.

Footnote 247:

  This was at least four times Mansur’s debt.

 GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA SON OF KHALID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER
                              IN HIS NAME.

There was between Yahyá bin Khálid and Abdullah bin Málik
al-Khuzá’i[248] an enmity which they kept secret; the reason of the
hatred being that Harun al-Rashid loved Abdullah with exceeding love, so
that Yahya and his sons were wont to say that he had bewitched the
Commander of the Faithful. And thus they abode a long while, with
rancour in their hearts, till it fell out that the Caliph invested
Abdullah with the government of Armenia[249] and despatched him thither.
Now soon after he had settled himself in his seat of government, there
came to him one of the people of Irak, a man of good breeding and
excellent parts and abundant cleverness; but he had lost his money and
wasted his wealth and his estate was come to ill case; so he forged a
letter to Abdullah bin Malik in the name of Yahya bin Khalid and set out
therewith for Armenia. Now when he came to the Governor’s gate, he gave
the letter to one of the Chamberlains, who took it and carried it to his
master. Abdullah opened it and read it and, considering it attentively,
knew it to be forged; so he sent for the man, who presented himself
before him and called down blessings upon him and praised him and those
of his court. Quoth Abdullah to him, “What moved thee to weary thyself
on this wise and bring me a forged letter? But be of good heart; for we
will not disappoint thy travail.” Replied the other, “Allah prolong the
life of our lord the Wazir! If my coming annoy thee, cast not about for
a pretext to repel me, for Allah’s earth is wide and He who giveth daily
bread still liveth. Indeed, the letter I bring thee from Yahya bin
Khalid is true and no forgery.” Quoth Abdullah, “I will write a letter
to my agent[250] at Baghdad and command him enquire concerning this same
letter. If it be true, as thou sayest, and genuine and not forged by
thee, I will bestow on thee the Emir-ship of one of my cities; or, if
thou prefer a present, I will give thee two hundred thousand dirhams,
besides horses and camels of price and a robe of honour. But, if the
letter prove a forgery, I will order thou be beaten with two hundred
blows of a stick and thy beard be shaven.” So Abdullah bade confine him
in a chamber and furnish him therein with all he needed, till his case
should be made manifest. Then he despatched a letter to his agent at
Baghdad, to the following effect:—“There is come to me a man with a
letter purporting to be from Yahya bin Khalid. Now I have my suspicions
of this letter: therefore delay thou not in the matter, but go thyself
and look carefully into the case and let me have an answer with all
speed, in order that we may know what is true and what is untrue.” When
the letter reached Baghdad, the agent mounted at once——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

          Now when it was the Three Hundred and Seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the agent of
Abdullah son of Malik al-Khuza’i, on receipt of the letter at Baghdad,
mounted at once and repaired to the house of Yahya bin Khalid, whom he
found sitting with his officers and boon-companions. After the usual
salute he gave him the letter and Yahya read it and said to the agent,
“Come back to me to-morrow for my written answer.” Now when the agent
had gone away, Yahya turned to his companions and said, “What doth he
deserve who forgeth a letter in my name and carrieth it to my foe?” They
answered all and each, saying this and that, and every one proposing
some kind of punishment; but Yahya said, “Ye err in that ye say and this
your counsel is of the baseness of your spirits and the meanness of your
minds. Ye all know the close favour of Abdullah with the Caliph and ye
weet of what is between him and us of anger and enmity; and now Almighty
Allah hath made this man the means of reconciliation between us; and
hath fitted him for such purpose and hath appointed him to quench the
fire of ire in our hearts, which hath been growing these twenty years;
and by his means our differences shall be adjusted. Wherefore it
behoveth me to requite such man by verifying his assertion and amending
his estate; so I will write him a letter to Abdullah son of Malik,
praying that he may use him with increase of honour and continue to him
his liberality.” Now when his companions heard what he said, they called
down blessings on him and marvelled at his generosity and the greatness
of his magnanimity. Then he called for paper and ink and wrote Abdullah
a letter in his own hand, to the following effect:—“In the name of
Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! Of a truth thy letter
hath reached me (Allah give thee long life!) and I am glad to hear of
thy safety and am pleased to be assured of thine immunity and
prosperity. It was thy thought that a certain worthy man had forged a
letter in my name and that he was not the bearer of any message from the
same; but the case is not so, for the letter I myself wrote, and it was
no forgery; and I hope, of thy courtesy and consideration and the
nobility of thy nature, that thou wilt gratify this generous and
excellent man of his hope and wish, and honour him with the honour he
deserveth and bring him to his desire and make him the special object of
thy favour and munificence. Whatso thou dost with him, it is to me that
thou dost the kindness, and I am thankful to thee accordingly.” Then he
superscribed the letter and after sealing it, delivered it to the agent,
who despatched it to Abdullah. Now when the Governor read it, he was
charmed with its contents, and sending for the man, said to him,
“Whichever of the two promised boons is the more acceptable to thee that
will I give thee.” The man replied, “The money gift were more acceptable
to me than aught else,” whereupon Abdullah ordered him two hundred
thousand dirhams and ten Arab horses, five with housings of silk and
other five with richly ornamented saddles, used in state processions;
besides twenty chests of clothes and ten mounted white slaves and a
proportionate quantity of jewels of price. Moreover, he bestowed on him
a dress of honour and sent him to Baghdad in great splendour. So when he
came thither, he repaired to the door of Yahya’s house, before he went
to his own folk, and craved permission to enter and have audience. The
Chamberlain went in to Yahya and said to him, “O my lord, there is one
at the door who craveth speech of thee; and he is a man of apparent
wealth, courteous in manner, comely of aspect and attended by many
servants.” Then Yahya bade admit him; and, when he entered and kissed
the ground before him, Yahya asked him, “Who art thou?” He answered,
“Hear me, O my lord, I am he who was done dead by the tyranny of
fortune, but thou didst raise me to life again from the grave of
calamities and exalt me to the paradise of my desires. I am the man who
forged a letter in thy name and carried it to Abdullah bin Malik
al-Khuza’i.” Yahya asked, “How hath he dealt with thee and what did he
give thee?”; and the man answered, “He hath given me, thanks to thy hand
and thy great liberality and benevolence and to thy comprehensive
kindness and lofty magnanimity and thine all-embracing generosity, that
which hath made me a wealthy man and he hath distinguished me with his
gifts and favours. And now I have brought all that he gave me and here
it is at thy door; for it is thine to decide and the command is in thy
hand.” Rejoined Yahya, “Thou hast done me better service than I did thee
and I owe thee a heavy debt of gratitude and every gift the white
hand[251] can give, for that thou hast changed into love and amity the
hate and enmity that were between me and a man whom I respect and
esteem. Wherefore I will give thee the like of what Abdullah bin Malik
gave thee.” Then he ordered him money and horses and chests of apparel,
such as Abdullah had given him; and thus that man’s fortune was restored
to him by the munificence of these two generous ones. And folk also
relate the tale of the

-----

Footnote 248:

  Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid. The Bres. Edit. (vii. 254)
  begins, “They tell that there arose full enmity between Ja’afar
  Barmecide and a Sahib of Misr” (Wazir or Governor of Egypt). Lane (ii.
  429) quotes to this purpose amongst Arab historians Fakhr al-Dín (De
  Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe i., p. 26, edit. ii.).

Footnote 249:

  Arab. “Armaníyah” which Egyptians call after their mincing fashion
  “Irminiyeh:” hence “Ermine” (Mus Ponticus). Armaniyah was much more
  extensive than our Armenia, now degraded to a mere province of Turkey,
  and the term is understood to include the whole of the old Parthian
  Empire.

Footnote 250:

  Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a “Wakíl” in Constantinople to
  intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.

Footnote 251:

  The symbol of generosity, of unasked liberality, the “black hand”
  being that of niggardness.

                CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE SCHOLAR

It is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of Abbas,
there was none more accomplished in all branches of knowledge than he.
Now on two days in each week, he was wont to preside at conferences of
the learned, when the lawyers and theologians disputed in his presence,
each sitting in his several rank and room. One day as he sat thus, there
came into the assembly a stranger, clad in ragged white clothes, who
took seat in an obscure place behind the doctors of the law. Then the
assembly began to speak and debate difficult questions, it being the
custom that the various propositions should be submitted to each in
turn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle addition or rare
conceit, should make mention of it. So the question went round till it
came to the strange man, who spake in his turn and made a goodlier
answer than any of the doctors’ replies; and the Caliph approved his
speech.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

          Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
Al-Maamun approved his speech and ordered him to come up from his low
place to a high stead. Now when the second question came to him, he made
a still more notable answer, and Al-Maamun ordered him to be preferred
to a yet higher seat; and when the third question reached him, he made
answer more justly and appropriately than on the two previous occasions,
and Al-Maamun bade him come up and sit near himself. Presently the
discussion ended when water was brought and they washed their hands;
after which food was set on and they ate; and the doctors arose and
withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to depart with them and,
calling him to himself, treated him with especial favour and promised
him honour and profit. Thereupon they made ready the séance of wassail;
the fair-faced cup-companions came and the pure wine[252] went round
amongst them, till the cup came to the stranger, who rose to his feet
and spake thus, “If the Commander of the Faithful permit me, I will say
one word.” Answered the Caliph, “Say what thou wilt.” Quoth the man,
“Verily the Exalted Intelligence (whose eminence Allah increase!)
knoweth that his slave was this day, in the august assembly, one of the
unknown folk and of the meanest of the company; and the Commander of the
Faithful raised his rank and brought him near to himself, little as were
the wit and wisdom he displayed, preferring him above the rest and
advancing him to a station and a degree whereto his thought aspired not.
But now he is minded to part him from that small portion of intellect
which raised him high from his lowness and made him great after his
littleness. Heaven forfend and forbid that the Commander of the Faithful
should envy his slave what little he hath of understanding and worth and
renown! Now, if his slave should drink wine, his reason would depart far
from him and ignorance draw near to him and steal away his good
breeding; so would he revert to that low and contemptible degree, whence
he sprang, and become ridiculous and despicable in the eyes of the folk.
I hope, therefore, that the August Intelligence, of his power and bounty
and royal generosity and magnanimity, will not despoil his slave of this
jewel.” When the Caliph Al-Maamun heard his speech, he praised him and
thanked him and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high
honour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand silver pieces.
Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel; and in
every assembly he was wont to exalt him and show him favour over all the
other doctors of law and religion till he became the highest of them all
in rank. And Allah is All-knowing.[253] Men also tell a tale of

-----

Footnote 252:

  Arab. “Ráh” = pure (and old) wine. Arabs, like our classics, usually
  drank their wine tempered. So Imr al-Kays in his Mu’allakah says,
  “Bring the well-tempered wine, that seems to be saffron-tinctured;
  and, when water-mixed, o’erbrims the cup.” (v. 2).

Footnote 253:

  There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these “goody-goody”
  preachments; but they read and forget them as readily as Westerns.

                      ALI SHAR[254] AND ZUMURRUD.

There lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long gone
before, in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd al-Dín, who had
great wealth and many slaves and servants, white and black, young and
old; but he had not been blessed with a child until he reached the age
of threescore, when Almighty Allah vouchsafed him a son, whom he named
Alí Shár. The boy grew up like the moon on the night of fulness; and
when he came to man’s estate and was endowed with all kinds of
perfections, his father fell sick of a death-malady and, calling his son
to him, said, “O my son, the fated hour of my decease is at hand, and I
desire to give thee my last injunctions.” He asked, “And what are they,
O my father?”; and he answered, “O my son, I charge thee, be not
over-familiar with any[255] and eschew what leadeth to evil and
mischief. Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked; for he is
like the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his smoke shall bother
thee: and how excellent is the saying of the poet:[256]—

                In thy whole world there is not one,
                Whose friendship thou may’st count upon,
                Nor plighted faith that will stand true,
                When times go hard, and hopes are few.
                Then live apart and dwell alone,
                Nor make a prop of any one,
                I’ve given a gift in that I’ve said,
                Will stand thy friend in every stead.”

And what another saith:—

    Men are a hidden malady; ✿ Rely not on the sham in them:
    For perfidy and treachery ✿ Thou’lt find, if thou examine them.

And yet a third saith:—

 Cònverse with men hath scanty weal, except ✿ To while away the time in
    chat and prate:
 Then shun their intimacy, save it be ✿ To win thee lore, or better thine
    estate.

And a fourth saith:—

 If a sharp-witted wight e’er tried mankind, ✿ I’ve eaten that which only
    tasted he:[257]
 Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, ✿ Their faith I found was
    but hypocrisy.

Quoth Ali, “O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what
more shall I do?” Quoth he, “Do good whenas thou art able; be ever kind
and courteous to men and regard as riches every occasion of doing a good
turn; for a design is not always easily carried out”; and how well saith
the poet:—

 ‘Tis not at every time and tide unstable, ✿ We can do kindly acts and
    charitable:
 When thou art able hasten thee to act, ✿ Lest thine endeavour prove anon
    unable!

Said Ali, “I have heard thee and I will obey thee.”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth replied,
“I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?” And his sire
continued, “Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be mindful
of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou wilt
come to want the least of mankind. Know that the measure of a man’s
worth is according to that which his right hand hendeth”: and how well
saith the poet:[258]—

 When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, ✿ And when it waxeth
    all men friendship show:
 How many a foe for wealth became my friend, ✿ Wealth lost, how many a
    friend became a foe!

Asked Ali, “What more?” And Majd al-Din answered, “O my son, take
counsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy
heart’s desire. Have compassion on those who are below thee, so shall
those who are above thee have compassion on thee; and oppress none, lest
Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How well saith the poet:—

 Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, ✿ For man’s true course hides
    not from minds of two:
 Man is a mirror which but shows his face, ✿ And by two mirrors he his
    back shall view.

And as saith another:[259]—

                  Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,
                  To gain the purpose that thou hast
                  And be thou kindly to all men
                  So kindly thou’lt be called again;
                  For not a deed the hand can try,
                  Save ‘neath the hand of God on high,
                  Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny,
                  Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.

And as saith yet another:[260]—

 Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the tyrannical is in
    danger of revenges.
 Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down curses
    on thee, and God’s eye sleepeth not.

Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth away
the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well saith
the poet:—

 By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul ✿ Join body, nor
    while speech the words of me explain:
 No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[261] ✿ Nor
    choose a friend save those who are of cups unfain.

This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah
stand to thee in my stead.” Then he swooned away and kept silent awhile;
and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and pronounced
the profession of the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy of the
Almighty. So his son wept and lamented for him and presently made proper
preparation for his burial; great and small walked in his funeral
procession and Koran-readers recited Holy Writ about his bier; nor did
Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they prayed over
him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two couplets upon his
tomb:—

 Thou wast create of dust and cam’st to life, ✿ And learned’st in
    eloquence to place thy trust;
 Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest ✿ A corpse, as though ne’er taken
    from the dust.

Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him
with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep
the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards,
when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the
shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah’s
creatures, in accordance with his father’s injunction. This wise he
continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to
him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he
turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of
righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair women
night and day; for he said to himself, “Of a truth my father amassed
this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I leave it? By
Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet:—

   An through the whole of life ✿ Thou gett’st and gain’st for self;
   Say, when shalt thou enjoy ✿ Thy gains and gotten pelf?”

And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and
all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his
riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his
shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his
body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and
thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day,
when he had sat from daybreak to mid-afternoon without breaking his
fast, he said in his mind, “I will go round to those on whom I spent my
monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day.” So he went the
round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one’s door of
them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached
with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

           Now when it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling
his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants’ bazar
where he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to himself,
“I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By Allah, I
will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!” So he made
his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for sale who
was five feet tall,[262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and
high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time in beauty
and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one, describing
her:—

 As she willèd she was made, and in such a way that when ✿ She was cast
    in Nature’s mould neither short nor long was she:
 Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, ✿ Where
    combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:

 The full moon is her face[263] and the branchlet is her shape, ✿ And the
    musk-pod is her scent—what like her can there be?
 ‘Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, ✿ And in every
    lovely limblet another moon we see!

And her name was Zumurrud—the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he
marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, “By Allah, I will not stir
hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!”
So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he had
a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his parents.
Then the broker stood at the damsel’s head and said, “Ho, merchants! Ho,
ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the
mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker, the
sought of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open the biddings’
door and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach for evermore.”
Thereupon quoth one merchant, “Mine for five hundred dinars;” “and ten,”
quoth another. “Six hundred,” cried an old man named Rashíd al-Din, blue
of eye[264] and foul of face. “And ten,” cried another. “I bid a
thousand,” rejoined Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival merchants were
tongue-tied, and held their peace and the broker took counsel with the
girl’s owner, who said, “I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she
shall choose: so consult her.” Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud
and said to her, “O mistress of moons, this merchant hath a mind to buy
thee.” She looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him as we have said,
replied, “I will not be sold to a greybeard, whom decrepitude hath
brought to such evil plight. Allah inspired his saying who saith:—

 I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld ✿ My hoary
 hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display’d;

 She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:— ✿ ‘No!
    no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath made,
 For hoary head and grizzled chin I’ve no especial love: ✿ What! stuff my
    mouth with cotton[265] ere in sepulchre I’m laid?’”

Now when the broker heard her words he said, “By Allah, thou art
excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!” So he told her
owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said,
“Consult her concerning another.” Thereupon a second man came forward
and said, “Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she
would have none of;” but she looked at him and seeing that his beard was
dyed, said “What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening of the
hoary face?” And she made a great show of wonderment and repeated these
couplets:—

 Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! ✿ A neck,
    by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite:[266]
 A beard the meetest racing-ground where gnats and lice contend, ✿ A brow
    fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and bite.[267]
 O thou enravisht by my cheek and beauties of my form, ✿ Why so translate
    thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
 Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, ✿ And hiding for
    foul purposes their venerable white!
 Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, ✿ Like
    Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by night.[268]

And how well saith another:—

 Quoth she, “I see thee dye thy hoariness:”[269] ✿ “To hide, O ears and
    eyes! from thee,” quoth I:
 She roared with laugh and said, “Right funny this; ✿ Thou art so lying
    e’en thy hair’s a lie!”

Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, “By Allah thou hast
spoken sooth!” The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated
the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was
wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said,
“Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;” but, when he did so,
she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, “This man is
one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith:[270]—

 Consort not with the Cyclops e’en a day; ✿ Beware his falsehood and his
    mischief fly:
 Had this monocular a jot of good, ✿ Allah had ne’er brought blindness to
    his eye!”

Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, “Wilt thou be sold to
this man?” She looked at him and seeing that he was short of
stature[271] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, “This is
he of whom the poet speaketh:—

 I have a friend who hath a beard ✿ Allah to useless length unroll’d:
 ‘Tis like a certain[272] winter night, ✿ Longsome and darksome, drear
    and cold.”

Said the broker, “O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are
present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.” So she looked
round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies,
till her glance fell on Ali Shar,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.

         Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl’s
glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which
cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he
was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air;
and she said, “O broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord,
owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet thus
describeth:—

      Displaying that fair face ✿ The tempted they assailed;
      Who, had they wished me safe ✿ That lovely face had veiled!”

For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water
of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[273] his spittle is a cure for the sick
and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of
him:—

 His honey-dew of lips is wine; his breath ✿ Musk and those teeth, smile
    shown, are camphor’s hue:
 Rizwán[274] hath turned him out o’ doors, for fear ✿ The Houris lapse
    from virtue at the view;
 Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when ✿ In pride the full moon
    sails, excuse is due.

Lord of the curling locks and rose-red cheeks and ravishing look of whom
saith the poet:—

 The fawn-like one a meeting promised me ✿ And eye expectant waxed and
    heart upstirred:
 His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; ✿ But, in their
    languish,[275] can he keep his word?

And as saith another:—

 Quoth they, “Black letters on his cheek are writ! ✿ How canst thou love
    him and a side-beard see?”
 Quoth I, “Cease blame and cut your chiding short; ✿ If those be letters
    ‘tis a forgery:”
 Gather his charms all growths of Eden-garth ✿ Whereto those
    Kausar[276]-lips bear testimony.

When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali Shar,
he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of her
beauty; but her owner said to him, “Marvel not at her splendour which
shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the choicest
verses of the poets; for, besides this, she can repeat the glorious
Koran, according to the seven readings,[277] and the august Traditions,
after ascription and authentic transmission; and she writeth the seven
modes of handwriting[278] and she knoweth more learning and knowledge
than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are better than gold and
silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth them for fifty gold
pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to make a curtain.”
Exclaimed the broker, “O happy the man who hath her in his house and
maketh her of his choicest treasures!”; and her owner said to him, “Sell
her to whom she will.” So the broker went up to Ali Shar and, kissing
his hands, said to him, “O my lord, buy thou this damsel, for she hath
made choice of thee.”[279] Then he set forth to him all her charms and
accomplishments, and added, “I give thee joy if thou buy her, for this
be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His giving.” Whereupon Ali bowed
his head groundwards awhile, laughing at himself and secretly saying,
“Up to this hour I have not broken my fast; yet I am ashamed before the
merchants to own that I have no money wherewith to buy her.” The damsel,
seeing him hang down his head, said to the broker, “Take my hand and
lead me to him, that I may show my beauty to him and tempt him to buy
me; for I will not be sold to any but to him.” So the broker took her
hand and stationed her before Ali Shar, saying, “What is thy good
pleasure, O my lord?” But he made him no answer, and the girl said to
him, “O my lord and darling of my heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt
not bid for me? Buy me for what thou wilt and I will bring thee good
fortune.” So he raised his eyes to her and said, “Is buying perforce?
Thou art dear at a thousand dinars.” Said she, “Then buy me, O my lord,
for nine hundred.” He cried, “No,” and she rejoined, “Then for eight
hundred;” and though he again said, “Nay,” she ceased not to abate the
price, till she came to an hundred dinars. Quoth he, “I have not by me a
full hundred.” So she laughed and asked, “How much dost thou lack of an
hundred?” He answered, “By Allah, I have neither an hundred dinars, nor
any other sum; for I own neither white coin nor red cash, neither dinar
nor dirham. So look out thou for another and a better customer.” And
when she knew that he had nothing, she said to him, “Take me by the hand
and carry me aside into a by-lane, as if thou wouldst examine me
privily.” He did so and she drew from her bosom a purse containing a
thousand dinars, which she gave him, saying, “Pay down nine hundred to
my price and let the hundred remain with thee by way of provision.” He
did as she bid him and, buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down
the price from her own purse and carried her to his house. When she
entered it, she found a dreary desolate saloon without carpets or
vessels; so she gave him other thousand dinars, saying, “Go to the bazar
and buy three hundred dinars’ worth of furniture and vessels for the
house and three dinars’ worth of meat and drink.”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

          Now when it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
slave-girl, “Bring us meat and drink for three dinars; furthermore a
piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern
thread and sewing-silk of seven colours.” Thus he did, and she furnished
the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which they went to
bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay the night
embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the poet:[280]—

 Cleave fast to her thou lovest and let the envious rail amain; For
    calumny and envy ne’er to favour love were fain.
 Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And, from thy
    lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did drain.
 Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And ‘spite the
    envier, thereto I surely will attain.
 There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon. Than when one
    couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
 Each to the other’s bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight. Whilst
    hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks enchain,
 Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But on cold
    iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
 Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, canst thou assain
    a heart diseased or heal a cankered brain?
 If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede thee
    cast the world away and with that one remain.

So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed
firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the
curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purfled it with
silver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round
about it all manner birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a feral
but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days, till she
had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and ironed it and
gave it to her lord, saying, “Carry it to the bazar and sell it to one
of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou sell it to a
passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and thee, for we
have foes who are not unthoughtful of us.” “I hear and I obey,” answered
he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a merchant, as she
bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for another curtain and
gold and silver and silken thread as before and what they needed of
food, and brought all this to her, giving her the rest of the money. Now
every eight days she made a curtain, which he sold for fifty dinars, and
on this wise passed a whole year. At the end of that time, he went as
usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he gave to the broker; and
there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him sixty dinars for it; but he
refused, and the Christian continued bidding higher and higher, till he
came to an hundred dinars and bribed the broker with ten ducats. So the
man returned to Ali Shar and told him of the proffered price and urged
him to accept the offer and sell the article at the Nazarene’s
valuation, saying, “O my lord, be not afraid of this Christian for that
he can do thee no hurt.” The merchants also were urgent with him; so he
sold the curtain to the Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and,
taking the money, set off to return home. Presently, as he walked, he
found the Christian walking behind him; so he said to him, “O
Nazarene,[281] why dost thou follow in my footsteps?” Answered the other
“O my lord, I want a something at the end of the street, Allah never
bring thee to want!”; but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before
the Christian overtook him; so he said to him, “O accursed, what aileth
thee to follow me wherever I go?” Replied the other, “O my lord, give me
a draught of water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy
reward!”[282] Quoth Ali Shar to himself, “Verily, this man is an Infidel
who payeth tribute and claimeth our protection[283] and he asketh me for
a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

        Now when it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to
himself, “This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a
draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!” So he entered the
house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him
and said to him, “O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?” He replied,
“Yes;” and she asked, “To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart
presageth a parting.” And he answered, “To whom but to a merchant?”
Thereupon she rejoined, “Tell me the truth of the case, that I may order
my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?” And he, “To give the
broker to drink,” upon which she exclaimed, “There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!”; and she
repeated these two couplets:[284]—

 O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the embrace of
    the beloved deceive thee!
 Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the end of
    every union is disjunction.

Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the
vestibule and said to him, “How comest thou here and how darest thou, O
dog, enter my house without my leave?” Answered he, “O my lord, there is
no difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never intended
to stir hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee for thy
kindness and favour, thy bounty and generosity.” Then he took the mug
and emptying it, returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and waited for
him to rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said to him, “Why
dost thou not rise and wend thy way?”; and he answered, “O my lord, be
not of those who do a kindness and then make it a reproach, nor of those
of whom saith the poet:[285]—

 They’re gone who when thou stoodest at their door ✿ Would for thy wants
    so generously cater:
 But stand at door of churls who followed them, ✿ They’d make high favour
    of a draught of water!”

And he continued, “O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee
give me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of
bread or a biscuit with an onion.” Replied Ali Shar, “Begone, without
more chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in the house.” He persisted,
“O my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars
and bring us something from the market, if but a single scone, that
bread and salt may pass between us.”[286] With this, quoth Ali Shar to
himself, “This Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred dinars
and bring him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at him.” And
the Nazarene added, “O my lord, I want but a small matter to stay my
hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food is that
which doeth away appetite, not rich viands”; and how well saith the
poet:—

 Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, ✿ How is it then[287] in woes of
    want I wone?
 Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard ✿ For Caliph-king and beggar
    woebegone.

Then quoth Ali Shar, “Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee
somewhat from the market;” and quoth the Christian, “To hear is to
obey.” So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a
padlock, put the key in his pocket: after which he went to market and
bought fried cheese and virgin honey and bananas[288] and bread, with
which he returned to the house. Now when the Christian saw the
provision, he said, “O my lord, this is overmuch; ‘tis enough for half a
score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me.” Replied
Ali, “Eat by thyself, I am full;” and the Christian rejoined, “O my
lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a
whore.” Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat
down and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his
hand;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

        Now when it was the Three Hundred and Fourteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar sat down
and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; but
the Nazarene privily took a banana and peeled it; then, splitting it in
twain, put into one half concentrated Bhang, mixed with opium, a drachm
whereof would overthrow an elephant; and he dipped it in the honey and
gave it to Ali Shar, saying, “O my lord, by the truth of thy religion, I
adjure thee to take this.” So Ali Shar, being ashamed to make him
forsworn, took it and swallowed it; but hardly had it settled well in
his stomach, when his head forwent both his feet and he was as though he
had been a year asleep. As soon as the Nazarene saw this, he rose to his
feet as he had been a scald wolf or a cat-o’-mount[289] at bay and,
taking the saloon key, left Ali Shar prostrate and ran off to rejoin his
brother. And the cause of his so doing was that the Nazarene’s brother
was the same decrepit old man who purposed to buy Zumurrud for a
thousand dinars, but she would none of him and jeered him in verse. He
was an Unbeliever inwardly, though a Moslem outwardly, and had called
himself Rashid al-Din;[290] and when Zumurrud mocked him and would not
accept of him, he complained to his brother, the aforesaid Christian who
played this sleight to take her from her master Ali Shar; whereupon his
brother, Barsúm by name, said to him, “Fret not thyself about the
business; for I will make shift to seize her for thee, without expending
either dinar or dirham.” Now he was a skilful wizard, crafty and wicked;
so he watched his time and ceased not his practices till he played Ali
Shar the trick before related; then, taking the key, he went to his
brother and acquainted him with what had passed. Thereupon Rashid al-Din
mounted his she-mule and repaired with his brother and his servants to
the house of Ali Shar, taking with him a purse of a thousand dinars,
wherewith to bribe the Chief of Police, should he meet him. He opened
the saloon-door, and the men who were with him rushed in upon Zumurrud
and forcibly seized her, threatening her with death, if she spoke; but
they left the place as it was and took nothing therefrom. Lastly, they
left Ali Shar lying in the vestibule after they had shut the door on him
and laid the saloon key by his side. Then the Christian carried the girl
to his own house and setting her amongst his handmaids and concubines,
said to her, “O strumpet, I am the old man whom thou didst reject and
lampoon; but now I have thee, without paying dinar or dirham.” Replied
she (and her eyes streamed with tears), “Allah requite thee, O wicked
old man, for sundering me and my lord!” He rejoined, “Wanton minx and
whore that thou art, thou shalt see how I will punish thee! By the truth
of the Messiah and the Virgin, except thou obey me and embrace my faith,
I will torture thee with all manner of torture!” She replied, “By Allah,
though thou cut my flesh to bits I will not forswear the faith of
Al-Islam! It may be Almighty Allah will bring me speedy relief, for He
doth even as He is lief, and the wise say:—Better body to scathe than a
flaw in faith.” Thereupon the old man called his eunuchs and women,
saying, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down and he ceased not to
beat her with grievous beating, whilst she cried for help and no help
came; then she no longer implored aid but fell to saying, “Allah is my
sufficiency, and He is indeed all-sufficient!” till her groans ceased
and her breath failed her and she fell into a fainting-fit. Now when his
heart was soothed by bashing her, he said to the eunuchs, “Drag her
forth by the feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing
to eat.” And after quietly sleeping that night, on the morrow the
accursed old man sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade
the Castrato return her to her place. When the burning of the blows had
cooled, she said, “There is no God but _the_ God and Mohammed is the
Apostle of God! Allah is my sufficiency and excellent is my Guardian!”
And she called for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
keep!)——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

         Now when it was the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zumurrud called
for succour upon our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!). Such
was her case; but as regards Ali Shar, he ceased not sleeping till next
day, when the Bhang quitted his brain and he opened his eyes, and cried
out, “O Zumurrud”; but no one answered him. So he entered the saloon and
found the empty air and the fane afar;[291] whereby he knew that it was
the Nazarene who had played him this trick. And he groaned and wept and
lamented and again shed tears, repeating these couplets:—

 O Love thou’rt instant in thy cruellest guise; ✿ Here is my heart ‘twixt
    fears and miseries:
 Pity, O lords, a thrall who, felled on way ✿ Of Love, erst wealthy now a
    beggar lies:
 What profits archer’s art if, when the foe ✿ Draw near, his bowstring
    snap ere arrow flies:
 And when griefs multiply on generous man ✿ And urge, what fort can fend
    from destinies?
 How much and much I warded parting, but ✿ ‘When Destiny descends she
    blinds our eyes?’

And when he had ended his verse, he sobbed with loud sobs and repeated
also these couplets:—

 Enrobes with honour sands of camp her foot-step wandering lone; ✿ Pines
    the poor mourner as she wins the stead where wont to wone:
 She turns to resting-place of tribe, and yearns thereon to view ✿ The
    spring-camp lying desolate with ruins overstrown:
 She stands and questions of the site, but with the tongue of case ✿ The
    mount replies, ‘There is no path that leads to union, none!
 ‘Tis as the lightning flash erewhile bright glittered o’er the camp ✿
    And died in darkling air no more to be for ever shown.’

And he repented when repentance availed him naught, and wept and rent
his raiment. Then he hent in hand two stones and went round about the
city, beating his breast with the stones and crying, “O Zumurrud!”
whilst the small boys flocked round him, calling out, “A madman! A
madman!” and all who knew him wept for him, saying, “This is such an
one: what evil hath befallen him?” Thus he continued doing all that day
and, when night darkened on him, he lay down in one of the city-lanes
and slept till morning. On the morrow, he went round about town with the
stones till eventide, when he returned to his saloon to pass therein the
night. Presently, one of his neighbours saw him, and this worthy old
woman said to him, “O my son, Heaven give thee healing! How long hast
thou been mad?” And he answered her with these two couplets:[292]—

 They said, Thou ravest upon the person thou lovest. And I replied, The
    sweets of life are only for the mad.
 Drop the subject of my madness, and bring her upon whom I rave. If she
    cure my madness do not blame me.

So his old neighbour knew him for a lover who had lost his beloved and
said, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! O my son, I wish thou wouldest acquaint me with the
tale of thine affliction. Peradventure Allah may enable me to help thee
against it, if it so please Him.” So he told her all that had befallen
him with Barsum the Nazarene and his brother the wizard who had named
himself Rashid al-Din and, when she understood the whole case, she said,
“O my son, indeed thou hast excuse.” And her eyes railed tears and she
repeated these two couplets:—

 Enough for lovers in this world their ban and bane: ✿ By Allah, lover
    ne’er in fire of Sakar fries:
 For, sure, they died of love-desire they never told ✿ Chastely, and to
    this truth tradition testifies.[293]

And after she had finished her verse, she said, “O my son, rise at once
and buy me a crate, such as the jewel-pedlars carry; buy also bangles
and seal-rings and bracelets and ear-rings and other gew-gaws wherein
women delight and grudge not the cash. Put all the stock into the crate
and bring it to me and I will set it on my head and go round about, in
the guise of a huckstress and make search for her in all the houses,
till I happen on news of her—Inshallah!” So Ali Shar rejoiced in her
words and kissed her hands, then, going out, speedily brought her all
she required; whereupon she rose and donned a patched gown and threw
over her head a honey-yellow veil, and took staff in hand and, with the
basket on her head, began wandering about the passages and the houses.
She ceased not to go from house to house and street to street and
quarter to quarter, till Allah Almighty led her to the house of the
accursed Rashid al-Din the Nazarene where, hearing groans within, she
knocked at the door,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

         Now when it was the Three Hundred and Sixteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old woman
heard groans within the house, she knocked at the door, whereupon a
slave-girl came down and opening to her, saluted her. Quoth the old
woman, “I have these trifles for sale: is there any one with you who
will buy aught of them?” “Yes,” answered the damsel and, carrying her
indoors, made her sit down; whereupon all the slave-girls came round her
and each bought something of her. And as the old woman spoke them fair
and was easy with them as to price, all rejoiced in her, because of her
kind ways and pleasant speech. Meanwhile, she looked narrowly at the ins
and outs of the place to see who it was she had heard groaning, till her
glance fell on Zumurrud, when she knew her and she began to show her
customers yet more kindness. At last she made sure that Zumurrud was
laid prostrate; so she wept and said to the girls, “O my children, how
cometh yonder young lady in this plight?” Then the slave-girls told her
all what had passed, adding, “Indeed this matter is not of our choice;
but our master commanded us to do thus, and he is now on a journey?” She
said, “O my children, I have a favour to ask of you, and it is that you
loose this unhappy damsel of her bonds, till you know of your lord’s
return, when do ye bind her again as she was; and you shall earn a
reward from the Lord of all creatures.” “We hear and obey,” answered
they and at once loosing Zumurrud, gave her to eat and drink. Thereupon
quoth the old woman, “Would my leg had been broken, ere I entered your
house!” And she went up to Zumurrud and said to her, “O my daughter,
Heaven keep thee safe; soon shall Allah bring thee relief.” Then she
privily told her that she came from her lord, Ali Shar, and agreed with
her to be on the watch for sounds that night, saying, “Thy lord will
come and stand by the pavilion-bench and whistle[294] to thee; and when
thou hearest him, do thou whistle back to him and let thyself down to
him by a rope from the window, and he will take thee and go away with
thee.” So Zumurrud thanked the old woman, who went forth and returned to
Ali Shar and told him what she had done, saying, “Go this night, at
midnight, to such a quarter, for the accursed carle’s house is there and
its fashion is thus and thus. Stand under the window of the upper
chamber and whistle; whereupon she will let herself down to thee; then
do thou take her and carry her whither thou wilt.” He thanked her for
her good offices and with flowing tears repeated these couplets:—

 Now with their says and saids[295] no more vex me the chiding race; ✿ My
    heart is weary and I’m worn to bone by their disgrace:
 And tears a truthful legend[296] with a long ascription-chain ✿ Of my
    desertion and distress the lineage can trace.
 O thou heart-whole and free from dole and dolours I endure, ✿ Cut short
    thy long persistency nor question of my case:
 A sweet-lipped one and soft of sides and cast in shapeliest mould ✿ Hath
    stormed my heart with honied lure and honied words of grace.
 No rest my heart hath known since thou art gone, nor ever close ✿ These
    eyes, nor patience-aloe scape the hopes I dare to trace:
 Ye have abandoned me to be the pawn of vain desire, ✿ In squalid state
    ‘twixt enviers and they who blame to face:
 As for forgetting you or love ‘tis thing I never knew; ✿ Nor in my
    thought shall ever pass a living thing but you.

And when he ended his verses, he sighed and shed tears and repeated also
these couplets:—

 Divinely were inspired his words who brought me news of you; ✿ For
    brought he unto me a gift was music in mine ear:
 Take he for gift, if him content, this worn-out threadbare robe, ✿ My
    heart, which was in pieces torn when parting from my fere.

He waited till night darkened and, when came the appointed time, he went
to the quarter she had described to him and saw and recognised the
Christian’s house; so he sat down on the bench under the gallery.
Presently drowsiness overcame him and he slept (Glory be to Him who
sleepeth not!), for it was long since he had tasted sleep, by reason of
the violence of his passion, and he became as one drunken with slumber.
And while he was on this wise——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.

        Now when it was the Three Hundred and Seventeenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that while he lay
asleep, behold, a certain thief, who had come out that night and prowled
about the skirts of the city to steal somewhat, happened by the decree
of Destiny, on the Nazarene’s house. He went round about it, but found
no way of climbing up into it, and presently on his circuit he came to
the bench, where he saw Ali Shar asleep and stole his turband; and, as
he was taking it, suddenly Zumurrud looked out and seeing the thief
standing in the darkness, took him for her lord; whereupon she let
herself down to him by the rope with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold.
Now when the robber saw that, he said to himself, “This is a wondrous
thing, and there must needs be some marvellous cause to it.” Then he
snatched up the saddle-bags, and threw Zumurrud over his shoulders and
made off with both like the blinding lightning. Quoth she, “Verily, the
old woman told me that thou wast weak with illness on my account; and
here thou art, stronger than a horse.” He made her no reply; so she put
her hand to his face and felt a beard like the broom of palm-frond used
for the Hammam,[297] as if he were a hog which had swallowed feathers
and they had come out of his gullet; whereat she took fright and said to
him, “What art thou?” “O strumpet,” answered he, “I am the sharper
Jawán[298] the Kurd, of the band of Ahmad al-Danaf; we are forty
sharpers, who will all piss our tallow into thy womb this night, from
dusk to dawn.” When she heard his words, she wept and beat her face,
knowing that Fate had gotten the better of her and that she had no
resource but resignation and to put her trust in Allah Almighty. So she
took patience and submitted herself to the ordinance of the Lord,
saying, “There is no god but _the_ God! As often as we escape from one
woe, we fall into a worse.” Now the cause of Jawan’s coming thither was
this: he had said to Calamity-Ahmad, “O Sharper-captain,[299] I have
been in this city before and know a cavern without the walls which will
hold forty souls; so I will go before you thither and set my mother
therein. Then will I return to the city and steal somewhat for the luck
of all of you and keep it till you come; so shall you be my guests and I
will show you hospitality this day.” Replied Ahmad al-Danaf, “Do what
thou wilt.” So Jawan went forth to the place before them and set his
mother in the cave; but, as he came out he found a trooper lying asleep,
with his horse picketed beside him; so he cut his throat and, taking his
clothes and his charger and his arms, hid them with his mother in the
cave, where also he tethered the horse. Then he betook himself to the
city and prowled about, till he happened on the Christian’s house and
did with Ali Shar’s turband and Zumurrud and her saddle-bags as we have
said. He ceased not to run, with Zumurrud on his back, till he came to