"For others these hardships and labors I bear,
And theirs is the pleasure and mine is the care,
As the bleacher who blacketh his brow in the sun
To whiten the raiment which other men wear.
But thou, O fool, art full of zeal, and thou toilest and moilest
before the master, and thou tearest and wearest and slayest thyself
for the comfort of another. Hast thou never heard the saw that saith
'None to guide and from the way go wide'? Thou wendest forth at the
call to dawn prayer and thou returnest not till sundown, and through
the livelong day thou endurest all manner hardships: to wit, beating
and belaboring and bad language.
"Now hearken to me, Sir Bull! When they tie thee to thy stinking
manger, thou pawest the ground with thy forehand and lashest out
with thy hind hoofs and pushest with thy horns and bellowest aloud, so
they deem thee contented. And when they throw thee thy fodder, thou
fallest on it with greed and hastenest to line thy fair fat paunch.
But if thou accept any advice, it will be better for thee, and thou
wilt lead an easier life even than mine. When thou goest afield and
they lay the thing called yoke on thy neck, be down and rise not
again, though haply they swings thee. And if thou rise, lie down a
second time. And when they bring thee home and offer thee thy beans,
fall backward and only sniff at thy meat and withdraw thee and taste
it not, and be satisfied with thy crushed straw and chaff. And on this
wise feign thou art sick, and cease not doing thus for a day or two
days or even three days; so shalt thou have rest from toil and moil."
When the Bull heard these words, he knew the ass to be his friend
and thanked him, saying, "Right is thy rede," and prayed that all
blessings might requite him, and cried: "O Father Wakener! Thou hast
made up for my failings." (Now the merchant, O my daughter, understood
all that passed between them.) Next day the driver took the bull
and, settling the plow on his neck, made him work as wont. But the
bull began to shirk his plowing, according to the advice of the ass,
and the plowman drubbed him till he broke the yoke and made off. But
the man caught him up and leathered him till he despaired of his life.
Not the less, however, would he do nothing but stand still and drop
down till the evening. Then the herd led him home and stabled him in
his stall, but he drew back from his manger and neither stamped nor
ramped nor butted nor bellowed as he was wont to do, whereat the man
wondered. He brought him the beans and husks, but he sniffed at them
and left them and lay down as far from them as he could and passed the
whole night fasting. The peasant came next morning and, seeing the
manger full of beans, the crushed straw untasted, and the ox lying
on his back in sorriest plight, with legs outstretched and swollen
belly, he was concerned for him, and said to himself, "By Allah, he
hath assuredly sickened, and this is the cause why he would not plow
yesterday."
Then he went to the merchant and reported: "O my master, the bull is
ailing. He refused his fodder last night- nay, more, he hath not
tasted a scrap of it this morning." Now the merchant-farmer understood
what all this meant, because he had overheard the talk between the
bull and the ass, so quoth he, "Take that rascal donkey, and set the
yoke on his neck, and bind him to the plow and make him do bull's
work." Thereupon the plowman took the ass, and worked him through the
livelong day at the bull's task. And when be failed for weakness, he
made him eat stick till his ribs were sore and his sides were sunken
and his neck was rayed by the yoke. And when he came home in the
evening he could hardly drag his limbs along, either forehand or
hind legs. But as for the bull, he had passed the day lying at full
length, and had eaten his fodder with an excellent appetite, and he
ceased not calling down blessings on the ass for his good advice,
unknowing what had come to him on his account.
So when night set in and the ass returned to the byre, the bull rose
up before him in honor, and said: "May good tidings gladden thy heart,
O Father Wakener! Through thee I have rested all this day, and I
have eaten my meat in peace and quiet." But the ass returned no reply,
for wrath and heartburning and fatigue and the beating he had
gotten. And he repented with the most grievous of repentance, and
quoth he to himself: "This cometh of my folly in giving good
counsel. As the saw saith, I was in joy and gladness, naught save my
officiousness brought me this sadness. And now I must take thought and
put a trick upon him and return him to his place, else I die." Then he
went aweary to his manger while the bull thanked him and blessed him.
And even so, O my daughter (said the Wazir) thou wilt die for lack
of wits. Therefore sit thee still and say naught and expose not thy
life to such stress, for, by Allah, I offer thee the best advice,
which cometh of my affection and kindly solicitude for thee. "O my
father," she answered, "needs must I go up to this King and be married
to him." Quoth he, "Do not this deed," and quoth she, "Of a truth I
will." Whereat he rejoined, "If thou be not silent and bide still, I
will do with thee even what the merchant did with his wife." "And what
did be?" asked she.
Know then (answered the Wazir) that after the return of the ass
the merchant came out on the terrace roof with his wife and family,
for it was a moonlit night and the moon at its full. Now the terrace
overlooked the cow house, and presently as he sat there with his
children playing about him, the trader heard the ass say to the
bull, "Tell me, O Father Broad-o'-Brow, what thou purposest to do
tomorrow." The bull answered: "What but continue to follow thy
counsel, O Aliboron? Indeed it was as good as good could be, and it
hath given me rest and repose, nor will I now depart from it one
tittle. So when they bring me my meat, I will refuse it and blow out
my belly and counterfeit crank." The ass shook his head and said,
"Beware of so doing, O Father of a Bull!" The buff asked, "Why?" and
the ass answered, "Know that I am about to give thee the best of
counsel, for verily I heard our owner say to the herd, 'If the bull
rise not from his place to do his work this morning and if he retire
from his fodder this day, make him over to the butcher that he may
slaughter him and give his flesh to the poor, and fashion a bit of
leather from his hide.' Now I fear for thee on account of this. So
take my advice ere a calamity befall thee, and when they bring thee
thy fodder, eat it and rise up and bellow and paw the ground, or our
master will assuredly slay thee. And peace be with thee!"
Thereupon the bull arose and lowed aloud and thanked the ass, and
said, "Tomorrow I will readily go forth with them." And he at once ate
up all his meat and even licked the manger. (All this took place and
the owner was listening to their talk.) Next morning the trader and
his wife went to the bull's crib and sat down, and the driver came and
led forth the bull, who, seeing his owner, whisked his tail and
brake wind, and frisked about so lustily that the merchant laughed a
loud laugh and kept laughing till he fell on his back. His wife
asked him, "Whereat laughest thou with such loud laughter as this?"
and he answered her, "I laughed at a secret something which I have
heard and seen but cannot say lest I die my death." She returned,
"Perforce thou must discover it to me, and disclose the cause of thy
laughing even if thou come by thy death!" But he rejoined, "I cannot
reveal what beasts and birds say in their lingo for fear I die."
Then quoth she: "By Allah, thou liest! This is a mere pretext. Thou
laughest at none save me, and now thou wouldest hide somewhat from me.
But by the Lord of the Heaven, an thou disclose not the cause I will
no longer cohabit with thee, I will leave thee at once." And she sat
down and cried.
Whereupon quoth the merchant: "Woe betide thee! What means thy
weeping? Fear Allah, and leave these words and query me no more
questions." "Needs must thou tell me the cause of that laugh," said
she, and he replied: "Thou wettest that when I prayed Allah to
vouchsafe me understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds, I
made a vow never to disclose the secret to any under pain of dying
on the spot." "No matter!" cried she. "Tell me what secret passed
between the bull and the ass and die this very hour an thou be so
minded." And she ceased not to importune him till he was worn-out
and clean distraught. So at last he said, "Summon thy father and thy
mother and our kith and kin and sundry of our neighbors." Which she
did, and he sent for the kazi and his assessors, intending to make his
will and reveal to her his secret and die the death; for he loved
her with love exceeding because she was his cousin, the daughter of
his father's brother, and the mother of his children, and he had lived
with her a life of a hundred and twenty years.
Then, having assembled all the family and the folk of his
neighborhood, he said to them, "By me there hangeth a strange story,
and 'tis such that if I discover the secret to any, I am a dead
man." Therefore quoth every one of those present to the woman,
"Allah upon thee, leave this sinful obstinacy and recognize the
right of this matter, lest haply thy husband and the father of thy
children die." But she rejoined, "I will not turn from it till he tell
me, even though he come by his death." So they ceased to urge her, and
the trader rose from amongst them and repaired to an outhouse to
perform the wuzu ablution, and he purposed thereafter to return and to
tell them his secret and to die.
Now, Daughter Scheherazade, that merchant had in his outhouses
some fifty hens under one cock, and whilst making ready to farewell
his folk he heard one of his many farm dogs thus address in his own
tongue the cock, who was flapping his wings and crowing lustily and
jumping from one hen's back to another and treading all in turn,
saying: "O Chanticleer! How mean is thy wit and how shameless is thy
conduct! Be he disappointed who brought thee up. Art thou not
ashamed of thy doings on such a day as this?" "And what," asked the
rooster, "hath occurred this day?" when the dog answered; "Dost thou
not know that our master is this day making ready for his death? His
wife is resolved that he shall disclose the secret taught to him by
Allah, and the moment he so doeth he shall surely die. We dogs are all
a-mourning, but thou clappest thy wings and clarionest thy loudest and
treadest hen after hen. Is this an hour for pastime and pleasuring?
Art thou not ashamed of thyself?"
"Then by Allah," quoth the cock, "is our master a lackwit and a
man scanty of sense. If he cannot manage matters with a single wife,
his life is not worth prolonging. Now I have some fifty dame partlets,
and I please this and provoke that and starve one and stuff another,
and through my good governance they are all well under my control.
This our master pretendeth to wit and wisdom, and she hath but one
wife and yet knoweth not how to manage her." Asked the dog, "What
then, O Cock, should the master do to will clear of his strait?" "He
should arise forthright," answered the cock, "and take some twigs from
yon mulberry tree and give her a regular back-basting and
ribroasting till she cry: 'I repent, O my lord! I will never ask
thee a question as Ion, as I live!' Then let him beat her once more
and soundly, and when he shall have done this, he shall sleep free
from care and enjoy life. But this master of ours owns neither sense
nor judgment."
"Now, Daughter Scheherazade," continued the Wazir, "I will do to
thee as did that husband to that wife." Said Scheherazade, "And what
did he do?" He replied, "When the merchant heard the wise words spoken
by his cock to his dog, he arose in haste and sought his wife's
chamber, after cutting for her some mulberry twigs and hiding them
there. And then he called to her, "Come into the closet, that I may
tell thee the secret while no one seeth me, and then die." She entered
with him and he locked the door and came down upon her with so sound a
beating of back and shoulders, ribs, arms, and legs, saying the
while "Wilt thou ever be asking questions about what concerneth thee
not?" that she was well-nigh senseless. Presently she cried out: "I am
of the repentant! By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions, and
indeed I repent sincerely and wholesomely." Then she kissed his hand
and feet and he led her out of the room submissive, as a wife should
be. Her parents and all the company rejoiced and sadness and
mourning were changed into joy and gladness.
Thus the merchant learnt family discipline from his cock and he
and his wife lived together the happiest of lives until death. And
thou also, O my daughter! continued the Wazir, unless thou turn from
this matter I will do by thee what that trader did to his wife. But
she answered him with much decision: "I will never desist, O my
father, nor shall this tale change my purpose. Leave such talk and
tattle. I will not listen to thy words and if thou deny me, I will
marry myself to him despite the nose of thee. And first I will go up
to the King myself and alone and I will say to him: 'I prayed my
father to wive me with thee, but he refused, being resolved to
disappoint his lord, grudging the like of me to the like of thee'."
Her father asked, "Must this needs be?" and she answered, "Even so."
Hereupon the Wazir, being weary of lamenting and contending,
persuading and dissuading her, all to no purpose, went up to King
Shahryar and, after blessing him and kissing the ground before him,
told him all about his dispute with his daughter from first to last
and how he designed to bring her to him that night. The King
wondered with exceeding wonder, for he had made an especial
exception of the Wazir's daughter, and said to him: "O most faithful
of counsellors, how is this? Thou wettest that I have sworn by the
Raiser of the Heavens that after I have gone into her this night I
shall say to thee on the morrow's 'Take her and slay her!' And if thou
slay her not, I will slay thee in her stead without fail." "Allah
guide thee to glory and lengthen thy life, O King of the Age,"
answered the Wazir. "It is she that hath so determined. All this
have I told her and more, but she will not hearken to me and she
persisteth in passing this coming night with the King's Majesty." So
Shahryar rejoiced greatly and said, "'Tis well. Go get her ready,
and this night bring her to me." The Wazir returned to his daughter
and reported to her the command, saying, "Allah make not thy father
desolate by thy loss!"
But Scheherazade rejoiced with exceeding joy and get ready all she
required and said to her younger sister, Dunyazade: "Note well what
directions I entrust to thee! When I have gone into the King I will
send for thee, and when thou comest to me and seest that he hath had
his carnal will of me, do thou say to me: 'O my sister, an thou be
not sleepy, relate to me some new story, delectable and delightsome,
the better to speed our waking hours.' And I will tell thee a tale
which shall be our deliverance, if so Allah please, and which shall
turn the King from his bloodthirsty custom." Dunyazade answered
"With love and gladness."
So when it was night, their father the Wazir carried Scheherazade to
the King, who was gladdened at the sight and asked, "Hast thou brought
me my need?" And he answered, "I have." But when the King took her
to his bed and fell to toying with her and wished to go in to her, she
wept, which made him ask, "What aileth thee?" She replied, "O King
of the Age, I have a younger sister, and lief would I take leave of
her this night before I see the dawn." So he sent at once for
Dunyazade and she came and kissed the ground between his hands, when
he permitted her to take her seat near the foot of the couch. Then the
King arose and did away with his bride's maidenhead and the three fell
asleep.
But when it was midnight Scheherazade awoke and signaled to her
sister Dunyazade, who sat up and said, "Allah upon thee, O my
sister, recite to us some new story, delightsome and delectable,
wherewith to while away the waking hours of our latter night." "With
joy and goodly gree," answered Scheherazade, "if this pious and
auspicious King permit me." "Tell on," quoth the King, who chanced
to be sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased with the
prospect of hearing her story. So Scheherazade rejoiced, and thus,
on the first night of the Thousand Nights and a Night, she
began her recitations.