This is just one section from the ``Arabian Nights'' in the translation of
Sir Richard Francis Burton. Here is an
overview.
Conclusion
NOW during this time Scheherazade had borne the King three boy
children, so when she had made an end of the story, she rose to her
feet and kissing ground before him, said, "O King of the Time and
unique one of the Age and the Tide, I am thine handmaid, and these
thousand nights and a night have I entertained thee with stories of
folk gone before and admonitory instances of the men of yore. May I
then make bold to crave a boon of thy Highness?" He replied, "Ask, O
Scheherazade, and it shall be granted to thee." Whereupon she cried
out to the nurses and the eunuchs, saying, "Bring me my children."
So they brought them to her in haste, and they were three boy
children, one walking, one crawling, and one suckling. She took
them, and setting them before the King, again kissed the ground and
said: "O King of the Age, these are thy children, and I crave that
thou release me from the doom of death, as a dole to these infants.
For an thou kill me, they will become motherless and will find none
among women to rear them as they should he reared."
When the King heard this, he wept, and straining the boys to his
bosom, said: "By Allah, O Scheherazade, I pardoned thee before the
coming of these children, for that I found thee chaste, pure,
ingenuous, and pious! Allah bless thee and thy father and thy mother
and thy root and thy branch! I take the Almighty to witness against me
that I exempt thee from aught that can harm thee." So she kissed his
hands and feet and rejoiced with exceeding joy, saying, "The Lord make
thy life long and increase thee in dignity and majesty!" presently
adding: "Thou marveledst at that which befell thee on the part of
women; yet there betided the Kings of the Chosroes before thee greater
mishaps and more grievous than that which hath befallen thee; and
indeed I have set forth unto thee that which happened to caliphs and
kings and others with their women, but the relation is longsome and
hearkening groweth tedious, and in this is all-sufficient warning
for the man of wits and admonishment for the wise."
Then she ceased to speak, and when King Shahryar heard her speech
and profited by that which she said, he summoned up his reasoning
powers and cleansed his heart and caused his understanding revert
and turned to Allah Almighty and said to himself: "Since there
befell the Kings of the Chosroes more than that which hath befallen
me, never whilst I live shall I cease to blame myself for the past. As
for this Scheherazade, her like is not found in the lands, so praise
be to Him who appointed her a means for delivering His creatures
from oppression and slaughter!" Then he arose from his seance and
kissed her head, whereat she rejoiced, she and her sister Dunyazade,
with exceeding joy.
When the morning morrowed, the king went forth and sitting down on
the throne of the kingship, summoned the lords of his land,
whereupon the chamberlains and nabobs and captains of the host went in
to him and kissed ground before him. He distinguished the Wazir,
Scheherazade's sire, with special favor and bestowed on him a costly
and splendid robe of honor and entreated him with the utmost kindness,
and said to him: "Allah protect thee for that thou gavest me to wife
thy noble daughter, who hath been the means of my repentance from
slaying the daughters of folk. Indeed I have found her pure and pious,
chaste and ingenuous, and Allah hath vouchsafed me by her three boy
children, wherefore praised be He for his passing favor." Then he
bestowed robes of honor upon his wazirs and emirs and chief
officers, and he set forth to them briefly that which had betided
him with Scheherazade and how he had turned from his former ways and
repented him of what he had done and purposed to take the Wazir's
daughter, Scheherazade, to wife and let draw up the marriage
contract with her. When those who were present heard this, they kissed
the ground before him and blessed him and his betrothed
Scheherazade, and the Wazir thanked her. Then Shahryar made an end
of his sitting in all weal, whereupon the folk dispersed to their
dwelling places and the news was bruited abroad that the King purposed
to marry the Wazir's daughter, Scheherazade.
Then he proceeded to make ready the wedding gear, and presently he
sent after his brother, King Shah Zaman, who came, and King Shahryar
went forth to meet him with the troops. Furthermore, they decorated
the city after the goodliest fashion, and diffused scents from censers
and burnt aloes wood and other perfumes in all the markets and
thoroughfares, and rubbed themselves with saffron, what while the
drums beat and the flutes and pipes sounded and mimes and
mountebanks played and plied their arts and the King lavished on
them gifts and largess. And in very deed it was a notable day. When
they came to the palace, King Shahryar commanded to spread the
tables with beasts roasted whole and sweetmeats and all manner of
viands, and bade the crier cry to the folk that they should come up to
the Divan and eat and drink, and that this should be a means of
reconciliation between him and them. So high and low, great and small,
came up unto him, and they abode on that wise, eating and drinking
seven days with their nights.
Then the King shut himself up with his brother and related to him
that which had betided him with the Wazir's daughter, Scheherazade,
during the past three years, and told him what he had heard from her
of proverbs and parables, chronicles and pleasantries, quips and
jests, stories and anecdotes, dialogues and histories and elegies
and other verses. Whereat King Shah Zaman marveled with the
uttermost marvel and said: "Fain would I take her younger sister to
wife, so we may be two brothers german to two sisters german, and
they on like wise be sisters to us; for that the calamity which befell
me was the cause of our discovering that which befell thee, and all
this time of three years past I have taken no delight in woman, save
that I lie each night with a damsel of my kingdom, and every morning
I do her to death. But now I desire to marry thy wife's sister,
Dunyazade."
When King Shahryar heard his brother's words, he rejoiced with joy
exceeding and arising forthright, went in to his wife, Scheherazade,
and acquainted her with that which his brother purposed, namely that
he sought her sister, Dunyazade in wedlock, whereupon she answered: "O
King of the Age, we seek of him one condition; to wit, that he take up
his abode with us, for that I cannot brook to be parted from my sister
an hour, because we were brought up together and may not endure
separation each from other. If he accept this pact, she is his
handmaid." King Shahryar returned to his brother and acquainted him
with that which Scheherazade had said, and he replied: "Indeed, this
is what was in my mind, for that I desire nevermore to be parted
from thee one hour. As for the kingdom, Allah the Most High shall send
to it whomso He chooseth, for that I have no longer a desire for the
kinship." When King Shahryar heard his brother's words, he rejoiced
exceedingly and said: "Verily, this is what I wished, O my brother. So
Alhamdolillah- praised be Allah- who hath brought about union between
us."
Then he sent after the kazis and ulema, captains and notables, and
they married the two brothers to the two sisters. The contracts were
written out and the two Kings bestowed robes of honor of silk and
satin on those who were present, whilst the city was decorated and the
rejoicings were renewed. The King commanded each emir and wazir and
chamberlain and nabob to decorate his palace, and the folk of the city
were gladdened by the presage of happiness and contentment. King
Shahryar also bade slaughter sheep and set up kitchens and made
bride feasts and fed all comers, high and low; and he gave alms to the
poor and needy and extended his bounty to great and small. Then the
eunuchs went forth, that they might perfume the hammam for the brides,
so they scented it with rose-water and willow-flower water and pods of
musk and fumigated it with Kakili eagle wood and ambergris. Then
Scheherazade entered, she and her sister Dunyazade, and they
cleansed their heads and clipped their hair.
When they came forth of the hammam bath, they donned raiment and
ornaments such as men were wont prepare for the Kings of the Chosroes;
and among Scheherazade's apparel was a dress purfled with red gold and
wrought with counterfeit presentments of birds and beasts. And the two
sisters encircled their necks with necklaces of jewels of price, in
the like whereof Iskandar rejoiced not, for therein were great
jewels such as amazed the wit and dazzled the eye. And the imagination
was bewildered at their charms, for indeed each of them was brighter
than the sun and the moon. Before them they lighted brilliant
flambeaux of wax in candelabra of gold, but their faces outshone the
flambeaux, for that they had eyes sharper than unsheathed swords and
the lashes of their eyelids bewitched all hearts. Their cheeks were
rosy red and their necks and shapes gracefully swayed and their eyes
wantoned like the gazelle's. And the slave girls came to meet them
with instruments of music. Then the two Kings entered the hammam bath,
and when they came forth, they sat down on a couch set with pearls and
gems, whereupon the two sisters came up to them and stood between
their hands, as they were moons, bending and leaning from side to side
in their beauty and loveliness.
Presently they brought forward Scheherazade and displayed her, for
the first dress, in a red suit, whereupon King Shahryar rose to look
upon her and the wits of all present, men and women, were bewitched
for that she was even as saith of her one of her describers:
A sun on wand in knoll of sand she showed,
Clad in her cramoisy-hued chemisette.
Of her lips' honeydew she gave me drink
And with her rosy cheeks quencht fire she set.
Then they attired Dunyazade in a dress of blue brocade and she
became as she were the full moon when it shineth forth. So they
displayed her in this, for the first dress, before King Shah Zaman,
who rejoiced in her and well-nigh swooned away for love longing and
amorous desire. Yea, he was distraught with passion for her whenas
he saw her, because she was as saith of her one of her describers in
these couplets:
She comes appareled in an azure vest,
Ultramarine as skies are deckt and dight.
I view'd th' unparalleled sight, which showed my eyes
A summer moon upon a winter night.
Then they returned to Scheherazade and displayed her in the second
dress, a suit of surpassing goodliness, and veiled her face with her
hair like a chin veil. Moreover, they let down her side locks, and she
was even as saith of her one of her describers in these couplets:
O hail to him whose locks his cheeks o'ershade,
Who slew my life by cruel hard despite.
Said I, "Hast veiled the morn in night?" He said,
"Nay I but veil moon in hue of night."
Then they displayed Dunyazade in a second and a third and a fourth
dress, and she paced forward like the rising sun, and swayed to and
fro in the insolence of beauty, and she was even as saith the poet
of her in these couplets:
The sun of beauty she to all appears
And, lovely coy, she mocks all loveliness.
And when he fronts her favor and her smile
A-morn, the sun of day in clouds must dress.
Then they displayed Scheherazade in the third dress and the fourth and
the fifth, and she became as she were a ban branch snell or a
thirsting gazelle, lovely of face and perfect in attributes of
grace, even as saith of her one in these couplets:
She comes like fullest moon on happy night,
Taper of waist with shape of magic might.
She hath an eye whose glances quell mankind,
And ruby on her cheeks reflects his light.
Enveils her hips the blackness of her hair-
Beware of curls that bite with viper bite!
Her sides are silken-soft, that while the heart
Mere rock behind that surface 'scapes our sight.
From the fringed curtains of her eyne she shoots
Shafts that at furthest range on mark alight.
Then they returned to Dunyazade and displayed her in the fifth dress
and in the sixth, which was green, when she surpassed with her
loveliness the fair of the four quarters of the world, and outvied
with the brightness of her countenance the full moon at rising tide,
for she was even as saith of her the poet in these couplets:
A damsel 'twas the tirer's art had decked with snare and sleight,
And robed with rays as though the sun from her had borrowed light.
She came before us wondrous clad in chemisette of green,
As veiled by his leafy screen Pomegranate hides from sight.
And when he said, "How callest thou the fashion of thy dress?"
She answered us in pleasant way with double meaning dight:
"We call this garment crevecoeur, and rightly is it hight,
For many a heart wi' this we brake and harried many a sprite."
Then they displayed Scheherazade in the sixth and seventh dresses
and clad her in youth's clothing, whereupon she came forward swaying
from side to side and coquettishly moving, and indeed she ravished
wits and hearts and ensorceled all eyes with her glances. She shook
her sides and swayed her haunches, then put her hair on sword hilt and
went up to King Shahryar, who embraced her as hospitable host
embraceth guest, and threatened her in her ear with the taking of
the sword, and she was even as saith of her the poet in these words:
Were not the murk of gender male,
Than feminines surpassing fair,
Tirewomen they had grudged the bride,
Who made her beard and whiskers wear!
Thus also they did with her sister Dunyazade, and when they had made
an end of the display, the King bestowed robes of honor on all who
were present and sent the brides to their own apartments. Then
Scheherazade went in to King Shahryar and Dunyazade to King, Shah
Zaman, and each of them solaced himself with the company of his
beloved consort and the hearts of the folk were comforted.
When morning morrowed, the Wazir came in to the two Kings and kissed
ground before them, wherefore they thanked him and were large of
bounty to him. Presently they went forth and sat down upon couches
of kingship, whilst all the wazirs and emirs and grandees and lords of
the land presented themselves and kissed ground. King Shahryar ordered
them dresses of honor and largess, and they prayed for the
permanence and prosperity of the King and his brother.
Then the two sovereigns appointed their sire-in-law, the Wazir, to
be Viceroy in Samarkand, and assigned him five of the chief emirs to
accompany him, charging them attend him and do him service. The
Minister kissed the ground and prayed that they might be vouchsafed
length of life. Then he went in to his daughters, whilst the eunuchs
and ushers walked before him, and saluted them and farewelled them.
They kissed his hands and gave him joy of the kingship and bestowed on
him immense treasures, after which he took leave of them and setting
out, fared days and nights till he came near Samarkand, where the
townspeople met him at a distance of three marches and rejoiced in him
with exceeding joy. So he entered the city and they decorated the
houses, and it was a notable day. He sat down on the throne of his
kingship and the wazirs did him homage and the grandees and emirs of
Samarkand, and all prayed that he might be vouchsafed justice and
victory and length of continuance. So he bestowed on them robes of
honor and entreated them with distinction, and they made him Sultan
over them.
As soon as his father-in-law had departed for Samarkand, King
Shahryar summoned the grandees of his realm and made them a stupendous
banquet of all manner of delicious meats and exquisite sweetmeats.
He also bestowed on them robes of honor and guerdoned them, and
divided the kingdoms between himself and his brother in their
presence, whereat the folk rejoiced. Then the two Kings abode, each
ruling a day in turn, and they were ever in harmony each with other,
while on similar wise their wives continued in the love of Allah
Almighty and in thanksgiving to Him. And the peoples and the provinces
were at peace and the preachers prayed for them from the pulpits,
and their report was bruited abroad and the travelers bore tidings
of them to all lands.
In due time King Shahryar summoned chroniclers and copyists and bade
them write all that had betided him with his wife, first and last.
So they wrote this and named it The Stories of the Thousand Nights and
a Night. The book came to thirty volumes, and these the King laid up
in his treasury. And the two brothers abode with their wives in all
pleasaunce and solace of life and its delights, for that indeed
Allah the Most High had chanced their annoy into joy, and on this wise
they continued till there took them the Destroyer of delights and
the Severer of societies, the Desolator of dwelling places and Gamerer
of graveyards, and they were translated to the ruth of Almighty Allah.
Their houses fell waste and their palaces lay in ruins and the kings
inherited their riches.
Then there reigned after them a wise ruler, who was just,
keen-witted, and accomplished, and loved tales and legends, especially
those which chronicle the doings of sovereigns and sultans, and he
found in the treasury these marvelous stories and wondrous
histories, contained in the thirty volumes aforesaid. So he read in
them a first book and a second and a third and so on to the last of
them, and each book astounded and delighted him more than that which
preceded it, till he came to the end of them. Then he admired whatso
he had read therein of description and discourse and rare traits and
anecdotes and moral instances and reminiscences, and bade the folk
copy them and dispread them over all lands and climes, wherefore their
report was bruited abroad and the people named them The Marvels and
Wonders of the Thousand Nights and a Night. This is all that hath come
down to us of the origin of this book, and Allah is All-knowing. So
Glory he to Him Whom the shifts of Time waste not away, nor doth aught
of chance or change affect His sway, Whom one case diverteth not
from other case and Who is sole in the attributes of perfect grace.
And prayer and peace he upon the Lord's Pontiff and Chosen One among
His creatures, our lord MOHAMMED, the Prince of mankind, through
whom we supplicate Him for a goodly and a godly
Finis
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