A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Volume 7 (of 17)

Quoth one fair coquette with her amorous grace
Whose teeth for the sweet of her speech flashèd bright:—
Would he come to my bed during sleep ’twere delight
But a visit on wake were delightsomer sight!
When she ended, her verse by her smiling was gilt:
Then the second ’gan singing as nightingale might:—
Naught came to salute me in sleep save his shade
But welcome, fair welcome, I cried to the spright!
But the third I preferred for she said in reply,
With expression most apposite, exquisite:—
My soul and my folk I engage for the youth
Musk-scented I see in my bed every night!
So when I considered their words to decide,
And not make me the mock of the cynical wight;
I pronounced for the youngest, declaring her verse
Of all verses be that which is nearest the right.

Then I gave the scroll to the slave-girl, who went upstairs with it, and behold, I heard a noise of dancing and clapping of hands and Doomsday astir. Quoth I to myself, “’Tis no time for me to stay here.” So I came down from the platform and was about to go away, when the damsel cried out to me, “Sit down, O Asma’i!” Asked I, “Who gave thee to know that I was Al-Asma’i?” and she answered, “O Shaykh, an thy name be unknown to us, thy poetry is not!” So I sat down again and suddenly the door opened and out came the first damsel, with a dish of fruits and another of sweetmeats. I ate of both and praised their fashion and would have ganged my gait; but she cried out, “Sit down, O Asma’i!” Wherewith I raised my eyes to her and saw a rosy palm in a saffron sleeve, meseemed it was the full moon rising splendid in the cloudy East. Then she threw me a purse containing three hundred dinars and said to me, “This is mine and I give it to thee by way of douceur in requital of thy judgment.” Quoth the Caliph, “Why didst thou decide for the youngest?” and quoth Al-Asma’i, “O Commander of the Faithful, whose life Allah prolong! the eldest said:—I should delight in him, if he visited my couch in sleep. Now this is restricted and dependent upon a condition which may befal or may not befal; whilst, for the second, an image of dreams came to her in sleep, and she saluted it; but the youngest’s couplet said that she actually lay with her lover and smelt his breath sweeter than musk and she engaged her soul and her folk for him, which she had not done, were he not dearer to her than her sprite.” Said the Caliph, “Thou didst well, O Asma’i,” and gave him other three hundred ducats in payment of his story. And I have heard a tale concerning

IBRAHIM OF MOSUL AND THE DEVIL.[118 - Lane introduced this tale into vol. i., p. 223, notes on chapt. iii., apparently not knowing that it was in The Nights. He gives a mere abstract, omitting all the verse, and he borrowed it either from the Halbat Al-Kumayt (chapt. xiv.) or from Al-Mas’údí (chapt. cxi.). (See the French translation, vol. vi. p. 340). I am at pains to understand why M. C. Barbier de Maynard writes “Réchid” with an accented vowel; although French delicacy made him render, by “fils de courtisane,” the expression in the text, “O biter of thy mother’s enlarged (or uncircumcised) clitoris” (Bazar).]

Quoth Abu Ishak Ibrahim al-Mausili:—I asked Al-Rashid once to give me a day’s leave that I might be private with the people of my household and my brethren, and he gave me leave for Saturday the Sabbath. So I went home and betook myself to making ready meat and drink and other necessaries and bade the doorkeepers shut the doors and let none come in to me. However, presently, as I sat in my sitting-chamber, with my women who were looking after my wants, behold, there appeared an old man of comely and reverend aspect,[119 - In Al-Mas’údí the Devil is “a young man fair of favour and formous of figure,” which is more appropriate to a “Tempter.” He also wears light stuffs of dyed silks.] clad in white clothes and a shirt of fine stuff with a doctor’s turband on his head and a silver-handled staff in his hand, and the house and porch were full of the perfumes wherewith he was scented. I was greatly vexed at his coming in to me and thought to turn away the doorkeepers; but he saluted me after the goodliest fashion and I returned his greeting and bade him be seated. So he sat down and began entertaining me with stories of the Arabs and their verses, till my anger left me and methought my servants had sought to pleasure me by admitting a man of such good breeding and fine culture. Then I asked him, “Art thou for meat?”; and he answered, “I have no need of it.” “And for drink?” quoth I, and quoth he, “That is as thou wilt.” So I drank off a pint of wine and poured him out the like. Then said he, “O Abu Ishak, wilt thou sing us somewhat, so we may hear of thine art that wherein thou excellest high and low?” His words angered me; but I swallowed my anger and taking the lute played and sang. “Well done, O Abu Ishak!”[120 - It would have been more courteous in an utter stranger to say, O my lord.] said he; whereat my wrath redoubled and I said to myself, “Is it not enough that he should intrude upon me, without my leave, and importune me thus, but he must call me by name, as though he knew not the right way to address me?” Quoth he, “An thou wilt sing something more we will requite thee.” I dissembled my annoyance and took the lute and sang again, taking pains with what I sang and rising thereto altogether, in consideration of his saying, “We will requite thee.”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Shaykh said to Abu Ishak, “If thou wilt sing something more we will requite thee,” I dissembled my annoyance (continued Ibrahim) and, taking the lute, sang again with great attention to my singing and rising altogether thereto, in consideration of his saying, “We will requite thee.” He was delighted, and cried, “Well done, O my lord!”; presently adding, “Dost thou give me leave to sing?” “As thou wilt,” answered I, deeming him weak of wit, in that he should think to sing in my presence, after that which he had heard from me. So he took the lute and swept the strings, and by Allah, I fancied they spoke in Arabic tongue, with a sweet and liquid and murmurous voice; then he began and sang these couplets:—

I bear a hurt heart, who will sell me for this
A heart whole and free from all canker and smart?
Nay, none will consent or to barter or buy
Such loss, ne’er from sorrow and sickness to part:
I groan wi’ the groaning of wine-wounded men
And pine for the pining ne’er freeth my heart.

And by Allah, meseemed the doors and the walls and all that was in the house answered and sang with him, for the beauty of his voice, so that I fancied my very limbs and clothes replied to him, and I abode amazed and unable to speak or move, for the trouble of my heart. Then he sang these couplets:—

Culvers of Liwa![121 - The Arab Tempe (of fiction, not of grisly fact).] to your nests return;
Your mournful voices thrill this heart of mine.
Then back a-copse they flew, and well-nigh took
My life and made me tell my secret pine.
With cooing call they one who’s gone, as though
Their breasts were maddened with the rage of wine:
Ne’er did mine eyes their like for culvers see
Who weep yet tear-drops never dye their eyne.

And also these couplets:—

O Zephyr of Najd, when from Najd thou blow,
Thy breathings heap only new woe on woe!
The turtle bespake me in bloom of morn
From the cassia-twig and the willow-bough
She moaned with the moaning of love-sick youth
And exposed love-secret I ne’er would show:
They say lover wearies of love when near
And is cured of love an afar he go:
I tried either cure which ne’er cured my love;
But that nearness is better than farness I know:[122 - These four lines are in Al-Mas’údi, chapt. cxviii. Fr. trans. vii. 313, but that author does not tell us who wrote them.]
Yet,—the nearness of love shall no ’vantage prove
An whoso thou lovest deny thee of love.

Then said he, “O Ibrahim, sing this song after me, and preserving the mode thereof in thy singing, teach it to thy slave-girls.” Quoth I, “Repeat it to me.” But he answered, “There needs no repetition; thou hast it by heart nor is there more to learn.” Then he suddenly vanished from my sight. At this I was amazed and running to my sword drew it and made for the door of the Harim, but found it closed and said to the women, “What have ye heard?” Quoth they, “We have heard the sweetest of singing and the goodliest.” Then I went forth amazed, to the house-door and, finding it locked, questioned the doorkeepers of the old man. They replied, “What old man? By Allah, no one hath gone in to thee this day!” So I returned pondering the matter, when, behold, there arose from one of the corners of the house, a Vox et præterea nihil, saying, “O Abu Ishak, no harm shall befal thee. ’Tis I, Abú Murrah,[123 - i.e. Father of Bitterness = the Devil. This legend of the Foul Fiend appearing to Ibrahim of Mosul (and also to Isam, N. dcxcv.) seems to have been accepted by contemporaries and reminds us of similar visitations in Europe—notably to Dr. Faust. One can only exclaim, “Lor, papa, what nonsense you are talking!” the words of a small girl whose father thought proper to indoctrinate her into certain Biblical stories. I once began to write a biography of the Devil; but I found that European folk-lore had made such an unmitigated fool of the grand old Typhon-Ahriman as to take away from him all human interest.] who have been thy cup-companion this day, so fear nothing!” Then I mounted and rode to the palace, where I told Al-Rashid what had passed, and he said, “Repeat to me the airs thou heardest from him.” So I took the lute and played and sang them to him; for, behold, they were rooted in my heart. The Caliph was charmed with them and drank thereto, albeit he was no confirmed wine-bibber, saying, “Would he would some day pleasure us with his company, as he hath pleasured thee!”[124 - In Al-Mas’údi the Caliph exclaims, “Verily thou hast received a visit from Satan!”] Then he ordered me a present and I took it and went away. And men relate this story anent

THE LOVERS OF THE BANU UZRAH.[125 - Al-Mas’udi, chapt. cxix. (Fr. transl. vii., 351) mentions the Banu Odhrah as famed for lovers and tells the pathetic tale of ’Orwah and ’Afrá.]

Quoth Masrur the Eunuch:—The Caliph Harun Al-Rashid was very wakeful one night and said to me, “See which of the poets is at the door to-night.” So I went out and finding Jamíl bin Ma’amar al-Uzrí[126 - Jamil bin Ma’amar the poet has been noticed in Vol. ii. 102; and he has no business here as he died years before Al-Rashid was born. The tale begins like that of Ibn Mansúr and the Lady Budúr (Night cccxxvii.), except that Mansur does not offer his advice.] in the antechamber, said to him, “Answer the Commander of the Faithful.” Quoth he, “I hear and I obey,” and going in with me, saluted the Caliph, who returned his greeting and bade him sit down. Then he said to him, “O Jamil, hast thou any of thy wonderful new stories to tell us?” He replied, “Yes, O Commander of the Faithful: wouldst thou fainer hear that which I have seen with mine eyes or that which I have only heard?” Quoth the Caliph, “Tell me something thou hast actually beheld.” Quoth Jamil, “’Tis well, O Prince of True Believers; incline thy heart to me and lend me thine ears.” The Caliph took a bolster of red brocade, purfled with gold and stuffed with ostrich-feathers and, laying it under his thighs, propped up both elbows thereon; then he said to Jamil, “Now[127 - Arab “Halumma,” an interjection = bring! a congener of the Heb. “Halúm,” the grammarians of Kufah and Bassorah are divided concerning its origin.] for thy tale, O Jamil!” Thereupon he begun:—Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that I was once desperately enamoured of a certain girl and used to pay her frequent visits.–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saving her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph had propped his elbows upon the brocaded cushion, he said, “Out with thy tale, O Jamil!” and the poet begun:—Know, O Commander of the Faithful, I was desperately in love with a girl and used often to visit her, because she was my desire and delight of all the things of this world. After a while, her people removed with her, by reason of scarcity of pasture, and I abode some time without seeing her, till I grew restless for desire and longed for her sight and the flesh[128 - Arab. “Nafs-í” which here corresponds with our canting “the flesh,” the “Old Adam,” &c.] urged me to journey to her. One night, I could hold out no longer; so I rose and saddling my she-camel, bound on my turban and donned my oldest dress.[129 - Arab. “Atmárí” used for travel. The Anglo-Americans are the only people who have the common sense to travel (where they are not known) in their “store clothes” and reserve the worst for where they are known.] Then I baldricked myself with my sword and slinging my spear behind me, mounted and rode forth in quest of her. I fared on fast till, one night, it was pitch dark and exceeding black, yet I persisted in the hard task of climbing down Wadys and up hills, hearing on all sides the roaring of lions and howling of wolves and the cries of the wild beasts. My reason was troubled thereat and my heart sank within me; but for all that my tongue ceased not to call on the name of Almighty Allah. As I went along thus, sleep overtook me and the camel carried me aside out of my road, till, presently, something[130 - e.g., a branch or bough.] smote me on the head, and I woke, startled and alarmed, and found myself in a pasturage full of trees and streams and birds on the branches, warbling their various speech and notes. As the trees were tangled I alighted and, taking my camel’s halter in hand, fared on softly with her, till I got clear of the thick growth and came out into the open country, where I adjusted her saddle and mounted again, knowing not where to go nor whither the Fates should lead me; but, presently, peering afar into the desert, I espied a fire in its middle depth. So I smote my camel and made for the fire. When I drew near, I saw a tent pitched, and fronted by a spear stuck in the ground, with a pennon flying[131 - Arab. “Ráyah káimah,” which Lane translates a “beast standing”!] and horses tethered and camels feeding, and said in myself, “Doubtless there hangeth some grave matter by this tent, for I see none other than it in the desert.” So I went up thereto and said, “Peace be with you, O people of the tent, and the mercy of Allah and His blessing!” Whereupon there came forth to me a young man as youths are when nineteen years old, who was like the full moon shining in the East, with valour written between his eyes, and answered, saying, “And with thee be the Peace, and Allah’s mercy and His blessing! O brother of the Arabs, methinks thou hast lost thy way?” Replied I, “Even so, direct me right, Allah have mercy on thee!” He rejoined, “O brother of the Arabs, of a truth this our land is infested with lions and the night is exceeding dark and dreary, beyond measure cold and gloomy, and I fear lest the wild beasts rend thee in pieces; wherefore do thou alight and abide with me this night in ease and comfort, and to-morrow I will put thee in the right way.” Accordingly, I dismounted and hobbled my she-camel with the end of her halter;[132 - Tying up the near foreleg just above the knee; and even with this a camel can hop over sundry miles of ground in the course of a night. The hobbling is shown in Lane (Nights vol. ii., p. 46).] then I put off my heavy upper clothes and sat down. Presently the young man took a sheep and slaughtered it and kindled a brisk fire; after which he went into the tent and bringing out finely powdered salt and spices, fell to cutting off pieces of mutton and roasting them over the fire and feeding me therewith, weeping at one while and sighing at another. Then he groaned heavily and wept sore and improvised these couplets:—

There remains to him naught save a flitting breath
And an eye whose babe ever wandereth.
There remains not a joint in his limbs, but what
Disease firm fixt ever tortureth.
His tears are flowing, his vitals burning;
Yet for all his tongue still he silenceth.
All foemen in pity beweep his woes;
Ah for freke whom the foeman pitieth!

By this I knew, O Commander of the Faithful, that the youth was a distracted lover (for none knoweth passion save he who hath tasted the passion-savour), and quoth I to myself, “Shall I ask him?” But I consulted my judgment and said, “How shall I assail him with questioning, and I in his abode?” So I restrained myself and ate my sufficiency of the meat. When we had made an end of eating, the young man arose and entering the tent, brought out a handsome basin and ewer and a silken napkin, whose ends were purfled with red gold and a sprinkling-bottle full of rose-water mingled with musk. I marvelled at his dainty delicate ways and said in my mind, “Never wot I of delicacy in the desert.” Then we washed our hands and talked a while, after which he went into the tent and making a partition between himself and me with a piece of red brocade, said to me, “Enter, O Chief of the Arabs, and take thy rest; for thou hast suffered more of toil and travel than sufficeth this night and in this thy journey.” So I entered and finding a bed of green brocade, doffed my dress and passed a night such as I had never passed in my life.–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Ninetieth Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jamil spoke, saying:—Never in my life passed I a night like that. I pondered the young man’s case, till the world was dark and all eyes slept, when I was aroused by the sound of a low voice, never heard I a softer or sweeter. I raised the curtain which hung between us and saw a damsel (never beheld I a fairer of face), by the young man’s side and they were both weeping and complaining, one to other of the pangs of passion and desire and of the excess of their longing for union.[133 - As opposed to “Severance” in the old knightly language of love, which is now apparently lost to the world. I tried it in the Lyrics of Camoens and found that I was speaking a forgotten tongue, which mightily amused the common sort of critic and reviewer.] Quoth I, “By Allah, I wonder who may be this second one! When I entered this tent, there was none therein save this young man.” And after reflection I added, “Doubtless this damsel is of the daughters of the Jinn and is enamoured of this youth; so they have secluded themselves with each other in this solitary place.” Then I considered her closely and behold, she was a mortal and an Arab girl, whose face, when she unveiled, shamed the shining sun, and the tent was lit up by the light of her countenance. When I was assured that she was his beloved, I bethought me of lover-jealousy; so I let drop the curtain and covering my face, fell asleep. As soon as it was dawn I arose and donning my clothes, made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed such prayers as are obligatory and which I had deferred. Then I said, “O brother of the Arabs, wilt thou direct me into the right road and thus add to thy favours?” He replied, “At thy leisure, O chief of the Arabs, the term of the guest-rite is three days,[134 - More exactly three days and eight hours, after which the guest becomes a friend, and as in the Argentine prairies is expected to do friend’s duty. The popular saying is, “The entertainment of a guest is three days; the viaticum (jáizah) is a day and a night, and whatso exceedeth this is alms.”] and I am not one to let thee go before that time.” So I abode with him three days, and on the fourth day as we sat talking, I asked him of his name and lineage. Quoth he “As for my lineage, I am of the Banú Odhrah; my name is such an one, son of such an one and my father’s brother is called such an one.” And behold, O Commander of the Faithful, he was the son of my paternal uncle and of the noblest house of the Banu Uzrah. Said I, “O my cousin, what moved thee to act on this wise, secluding thyself in the waste and leaving thy fair estate and that of thy father and thy slaves and handmaids?” When he heard my words, his eyes filled with tears and he replied, “Know, O my cousin, that I fell madly in love of the daughter of my father’s brother, fascinated by her, distracted for her, passion-possessed as by a Jinn, wholly unable to let her out of my sight. So I sought her in marriage of her sire, but he refused and married her to a man of the Banu Odhrah, who went in to her and carried her to his abiding-place this last year. When she was thus far removed from me and I was prevented from looking on her, the fiery pangs of passion and excess of love-longing and desire drove me to forsake my clan[135 - Arab. “’Ashírah.” Books tell us there are seven degrees of connection among the Badawin: Sha’ab, tribe or rather race, nation (as the Anazah) descended from a common ancestor; Kabílah the tribe proper (whence les Kabyles); Fasílah (sept), Imárah, Ashirah (all a man’s connections); Fakhiz (lit. the thigh, i.e., his blood relations) and Batn (belly) his kith and kin. Practically Kabílah is the tribe, Ashírah the clan, and Bayt the household; while Hayy may be anything between tribe and kith and kin.] and friends and fortune and take up my abode in this desert, where I have grown used to my solitude.” I asked, “Where are their dwellings?” and he answered, “They are hard by, on the crest of yonder hill; and every night, at the dead time, when all eyes sleep, she stealeth secretly out of the camp, unseen of any one, and I satisfy my desire of her converse and she of mine.[136 - This is the true platonic love of noble Arabs, the Ishk ’uzrí, noted in vol. ii., 104.] So I abide thus, solacing myself with her a part of the night, till Allah work out that which is to be wrought; either I shall compass my desire, in spite[137 - Arab. “’Alà raghm,” a favourite term. It occurs in theology; for instance, when the Shi’ahs are asked the cause of such and such a ritual distinction they will reply, “Ala raghmi ’l-Tasannun”: lit. = to spite the Sunnis.] of the envious, or Allah will determine for me and He is the best of determinators.” Now when the youth told me his case, O Commander of the Faithful, I was concerned for him and perplexed by reason of my jealousy for his honour; so I said to him, “O son of my uncle, wilt thou that I point out to thee a plan and suggest to thee a project, whereby (please Allah) thou shalt find perfect welfare and the way of right and successful issue whereby the Almighty shall do away from thee that thou dreadest?” He replied, “Say on, O my cousin”; and quoth I, “When it is night and the girl cometh, set her on my she-camel which is swift of pace, and mount thou thy steed, whilst I bestride one of these dromedaries. So will we fare on all night and when the morrow morns, we shall have traversed wolds and wastes, and thou wilt have attained thy desire and won the beloved of thy heart. The Almighty’s earth is wide, and by Allah, I will back thee with heart and wealth and sword.”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Six Hundred and Ninety-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Jamil advised the elopement and night journey, promising his aid as long as he lived, the youth accepted and said, “O cousin, wait till I take counsel with her, for she is quick-witted and prudent and hath insight into affairs.” So (continued Jamil) when the night darkened and the hour of her coming arrived, and he awaiting her at the appointed tide, she delayed beyond her usual time, and I saw him go forth the door of the tent and opening his mouth, inhale the wafts of breeze that blew from her quarter, as if to snuff her perfume, and he repeated these two couplets:—

Breeze of East who bringest me gentle air
From the place of sojourn where dwells my fair:
O Breeze, of the lover thou bearest sign,
Canst not of her coming some signal bear?

Then he entered the tent and sat weeping awhile; after which he said to me, “O my cousin, some mischance must have betided the daughter of mine uncle, or some accident must have hindered her from coming to me this night,” presently adding, “But abide where thou art, till I bring thee the news.” And he took sword and shield and was absent a while of the night, after which he returned, carrying something in hand and called aloud to me. So I hastened to him and he said, “O my cousin, knowest thou what hath happened?” I replied, “No, by Allah!” Quoth he, “Verily, I am distraught concerning my cousin this night; for, as she was coming to me, a lion met her in the way and devoured her, and there remaineth of her but what thou seest.” So saying, he threw down what he had in his hand, and behold, it was the damsel’s turband and what was left of her bones. Then he wept sore and casting down his bow,[138 - In the text “Al-Kaus” for which Lane and Payne substitute a shield. The bow had not been mentioned but—n’importe, the Arab reader would say. In the text it is left at home because it is a cowardly, far-killing weapon compared with sword and lance. Hence the Spaniard calls and justly calls the knife the “bravest of arms” as it wants a man behind it.] took a bag and went forth again saying, “Stir not hence till I return to thee, if it please Almighty Allah.” He was absent a while and presently returned, bearing in his hand a lion’s head, which he threw on the ground and called for water. So I brought him water, with which he washed the lion’s mouth and fell to kissing it and weeping; and he mourned for her exceedingly and recited these couplets:—

Ho thou lion who broughtest thyself to woe,
Thou art slain and worse sorrows my bosom rend!
Thou hast reft me of fairest companionship,
Made her home Earth’s womb till the world shall end.