Time gars me tremble. Ah, how sore the balk!
While Time in pride of strength doth ever stalk.
Time was I walked nor ever felt I tired,
Now am I tired albe' I never walk!
And the Sheikh held by the hand a youth cast in beauty's mold, all
elegance and perfect grace, so fair that his comeliness deserved to be
proverbial, for he was as a green bough or the tender young of the
roe, ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul
with his coquetry and amorous ways. They stinted not their going, O my
lady, till all went down by the trapdoor and did not reappear for an
hour, or rather more; at the end of which time the slaves and the
old man came up without the youth and, replacing the iron plate and
carefully closing the door slab as it was before, they returned to the
ship and made sail and were lost to my sight.
When they turned away to depart, I came down from the tree and,
going to the place I had seen them fin up, scraped off and removed the
earth, and in patience possessed my soul till I had cleared the
whole of it away. Then appeared the trapdoor, which was of wood, in
shape and size like a millstone, and when I lifted it up, it disclosed
a winding staircase of stone. At this I marveled and, descending the
steps tier I reached the last, found a fair hall, spread with
various kinds of carpets and silk stuffs, wherein was a youth
sitting upon a raised couch and leaning back on a round cushion with a
fan in his hand and nosegays and posies of sweet scented herbs and
flowers before him. But he was alone and not a soul near him in the
great vault. When he saw me he turned pale, but I saluted him
courteously and said: "Set thy mind at ease and calm thy fears. No
harm shall come near thee. I am a man like thyself and the son of a
king to boot, whom the decrees of Destiny have sent to bear thee
company and cheer thee in thy loneliness. But now tell me, what is thy
story and what causeth thee to dwell thus in solitude under the
ground?"
When he was assured that I was of his kind and no Jinni, he rejoiced
and his fine color returned, and, making me draw near to him, he said:
"O my brother, my story is a strange story and 'tis this. My father is
a merchant jeweler possessed of great wealth, who hath white and black
slaves traveling and trading on his account in ships and on camels,
and trafficking with the most distant cities, but he was not blessed
with a child, not even one. Now on a certain night he dreamed a
dream that he should be favored with a son, who would be
short-lived, so the morning dawned on my father, bringing him woe
and weeping. On the following night my mother conceived and my
father noted down the date of her becoming pregnant. Her time being
fulfilled, she bare me, whereat my father rejoiced and made banquets
and called together the neighbors and fed the fakirs and the poor, for
that he had been blessed with issue near the end of his days. Then
he assembled the astrologers and astronomers who knew the places of
the planets, and the wizards and wise ones of the time, and men
learned in horoscopes and nativities, and they drew out my birth
scheme and said to my father: "Thy son shall live to fifteen years,
but in his fifteenth there is a sinister aspect. An he safely tide
it over, he shall attain a great age. And the cause that threateneth
him with death is this. In the Sea of Peril standeth the Mountain
Magnet hight, on whose summit is a horseman of yellow laton seated
on a horse also of brass and bearing on his breast a tablet of lead.
Fifty days after this rider shall fall from his steed thy son will die
and his slayer will be he who shoots down the horseman, a Prince named
Ajib son of King Khazib."
My father grieved with exceeding grief to hear these words, but
reared me in tenderest fashion and educated me excellently well till
my fifteenth year was told. Ten days ago news came to him that the
horseman had fallen into the sea and he who shot him down was named
Ajib son of King Khazib." My father thereupon wept bitter tears at the
need of parting with me and became like one possessed of a Jinni.
However, being in mortal fear for me, he built me this place under the
earth, and stocking it with all required for the few days still
remaining, he brought me hither in a ship and left me here. Ten are
already past, and when the forty shall have gone by without danger
to me, he will come and take me away, for he hath done all this only
in fear of Prince Ajib. Such, then, is my story and the cause of my
loneliness."
When I heard his history I marveled and said in my mind, "I am the
Prince Ajib who hath done all this, but as Allah is with me I will
surely not slay him!" So said I to him: "O my lord, far from thee be
this hurt and harm and then, please Allah, thou shalt not suffer
cark nor care nor aught disquietude, for I will tarry with thee and
serve thee as a servant, and then wend my ways. And after having borne
thee company during the forty days, I will go with thee to thy home,
where thou shalt give me an escort of some of thy Mamelukes with
whom I may journey back to my own city, and the Almighty shall requite
thee for me." He was glad to hear these words, when I rose and lighted
a large wax candle and trimmed the lamps and the three lanterns, and I
set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat talking
over various matters till the greater part of the night was gone, when
he lay down to rest and I covered him up and went to sleep myself.
Next morning I arose and warmed a little water, then lifted him
gently so as to awake him and brought him the warm water, wherewith he
washed his face, and said to me: "Heaven requite thee for me with
every blessing, O youth! By Allah, if I get quit of this danger and am
saved from him whose name is Ajib bin Khazib, I will make my father
reward thee and send thee home healthy and wealthy. And if I die, then
my blessing be upon thee." I answered, "May the day never dawn on
which evil shall betide thee, and may Allah make my last day before
thy last day!" Then I set before him somewhat of food and we ate,
and I got ready perfumes for fumigating the hall, wherewith he was
pleased. Moreover I made him a mankalah cloth; and we played and ate
sweetmeats and we played again and took our pleasure till nightfall,
when I rose and lighted the lamps, and set before him somewhat to eat,
and sat telling him stories till the hours of darkness were far spent.
Then he lay down to rest and I covered him up and rested also.
And thus I continued to do, O my lady, for days and nights, and
affection for him took root in my heart and my sorrow was eased, and I
said to myself: "The astrologers lied when they predicted that he
should be slain by Ajib bin Khazib. By Allah, I will not slay him."
I ceased not ministering to him and conversing and carousing with
him and telling him all manner tales for thirty-nine days. On the
fortieth night the youth rejoiced and said: "O my brother,
Alhamdolillah!- praise be to Allah- who hath preserved me from death,
and this is by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me,
and I prayed God that He restore thee to thy native land. But now, O
my brother, I would thou warm me some water for the ghusl ablution and
do thou kindly bathe me and change my clothes." I replied, "With
love and gladness," and I heated water in plenty and carrying it in to
him, washed his body all over, the washing of health, with meal of
lupins, and rubbed him well and changed his clothes and spread him a
high bed whereon he lay down to rest, being drowsy after bathing.
Then said he, "O my brother, cut me up a watermelon, and sweeten
it with a little sugar candy." So I went to the storeroom and bringing
out a fine watermelon, I found there, set it on a platter and laid
it before him saying, "O my master, hast thou not a knife?" "Here it
is," answered he, "over my head upon the high shelf." So I got up in
haste and, and, taking the knife, drew it from its sheath, but my foot
slipped in stepping down and I fell heavily upon the youth holding
in my hand the knife, which hastened to fulfill what had been
written on the Day that decided the destinies of man, and buried
itself, as if planted, in the youth's heart. He died on the instant.
When I saw that he was slain and knew that I had slain him, mauger
myself I cried out with an exceeding loud and bitter cry and beat my
face and rent my raiment and said: "Verily we be Allah's and unto
Him we be returning, O Moslems! O folk fain of Allah! There remained
for this youth but one day of the forty dangerous days which the
astrologers and the learned had foretold for him, and the
predestined death of this beautiful one was to be at my hand. Would
Heaven I had not tried to cut the watermelon! What dire misfortune
is this I must bear, lief or loath? What a disaster! What an
affliction! O Allah mine, I implore thy pardon and declare to Thee
my innocence of his death. But what God willeth, let that come to
pass."
When I was certified that I had slain him, I arose and, ascending
the stairs, replaced the trapdoor and covered it with earth as before.
Then I looked out seaward and saw the ship cleaving the waters and
making for the island, wherefore I was afeard and said, "The moment
they come and see the youth done to death, they will know 'twas I
who slew him and will slay me without respite." So I climbed up into a
high tree and concealed myself among its leaves, and hardly had I done
so when the ship anchored and the slaves landed with the ancient
man, the youth's father, and made direct for the place, and when
they removed the earth they were surprised to see it soft. Then they
raised the trapdoor and went down and found the youth lying at full
length, clothed in fair new garments, with a face beaming after the
bath, and the knife deep in his heart. At the sight they shrieked
and wept and beat their faces, loudly cursing the murderer, whilst a
swoon came over the Sheikh so that the slaves deemed him dead,
unable to survive his son. At last they wrapped the slain youth in his
clothes and carried him up and laid him on the ground, covering him
with a shroud of silk.
Whilst they were making for the ship the old man revived, and,
gazing on his son who was stretched out, fell on the ground and
strewed dust over his head and smote his face and plucked out his
beard, and his weeping redoubled as he thought of his murdered son and
he swooned away once more. After a while a slave went and fetched a
strip of silk whereupon they lay the old man and sat down at his head.
All this took place and I was on the tree above them watching
everything that came to pass, and my heart became hoary before my head
waxed gray, for the hard lot which was mine, and for the distress
and anguish I had undergone, and I fell to reciting:
"How many a joy by Allah's will hath fled
With flight escaping sight of wisest head!
How many a sadness shall begin the day,
Yet grow right gladsome ere the day is sped!
How many a weal trips on the heels of ill,
Causing the mourner's heart with joy to thrill!"
But the old man, O my lady, ceased not from his swoon till near sunset, when he came to himself and, looking upon his dead son, he recalled what had happened, and how what he had dreaded had come to pass, and he beat his face and head. Then he sobbed a single sob and his soul fled his flesh. The slaves shrieked aloud, "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and redoubled their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead master to the ship side by side with his dead son and, having transported all the stuff from the dwelling to the vessel, set sail and disappeared from mine eyes. I descended from the tree and, raising the trapdoor, went down into the underground dwelling, where everything reminded me of the youth, and I looked upon the poor remains of him and began repeating these verses:
"Their tracks I see, and pine with pain and pang,
And on deserted hearths I weep and yearn.
And Him I pray who doomed them depart
Some day vouchsafe the boon of safe return."
Then, O my lady, I went up again by the trapdoor, and every day I used to wander round about the island and every night I returned to the underground hall. Thus I lived for a month, till at last, looking at the western side of the island, I observed that every day the tide ebbed, leaving shallow water for which the flow did not compensate, and by the end of the month the sea showed dry land in that direction. At this I rejoiced, making certain of my safety, so I arose and, fording what little was left of the water, got me to the mainland, where I fell in with great heaps of loose sand in which even a camel's hoof would sink up to the knee. However, I emboldened my soul and, wading through the sand, behold, a fire shone from afar burning with a blazing light. So I made for it hoping haply to find succor and broke out into these verses:
"Belike my Fortune may her bridle turn
And Time bring weal although he's jealous hight,
Forward my hopes, and further all my needs,
And passed ills with present weals requite."
And when I drew near the fire aforesaid, lo! it was a palace with
gates of copper burnished red which, when the rising sun shone
thereon, gleamed and glistened from afar, showing what had seemed to
me a fire. I rejoiced in the sight, and sat down over against the
gate, but I was hardly settled in my seat before there met me ten
young men clothed in sumptuous gear, and all were blind of the left
eye, which appeared as plucked out. They were accompanied by a Sheikh,
an old, old man, and much I marveled at their appearance, and their
all being blind in the same eye. When they saw me, they saluted me
with the salaam and asked me of my case and my history, whereupon I
related to them all what had befallen me and what full measure of
misfortune was mine. Marveling at my tale, they took me to the
mansion, where I saw ranged round the hall ten couches each with its
blue bedding and coverlet of blue stuff and a-middlemost stood a
smaller couch furnished like them with blue and nothing else.
As we entered each of the youths took his seat on his own couch
and the old man seated himself upon the smaller one in the middle,
saying to me, "O youth, sit thee down on the floor, and ask not of our
case nor of the loss of our eyes." Presently he rose up and set before
each young man some meat in a charger and drink in a larger mazer,
treating me in like manner, and after that they sat questioning me
concerning my adventures and what had betided me. And I kept telling
them my tale till the night was far spent. Then said the young men: "O
our Sheikh, wilt not thou set before us our ordinary? The time is
come." He replied, "With love and gladness," and rose and, entering
a closet, disappeared, but presently returned bearing on his head
ten trays each covered with a strip of blue stuff. He set a tray
before each youth and, lighting ten wax candles, he stuck one upon
each tray, and drew off the covers and lo! under them was naught but
ashes and powdered charcoal and kettle soot. Then all the young men
tucked up their sleeves to the elbows and fell a-weeping and wailing
and they blackened their faces and smeared their clothes and
buffeted their brows and beat their breasts, continually exclaiming,
"We were sitting at our ease, but our frowardness brought us
unease!" They ceased not to do thus till dawn drew nigh, when the
old man rose and heated water for them, and they washed their face and
donned other and clean clothes.
Now when I saw this, O my lady, for very wonderment my senses left
me and my wits went wild and heart and head were full of thought, till
I forgot what had betided me and I could not keep silence, feeling I
fain must speak out and question them of these strangenesses. So I
said to them: "How come ye to do this after we have been so
openhearted and frolicsome? Thanks be to Allah, ye be all sound and
sane, yet actions such as these befit none but madmen or those
possessed of an evil spirit. I conjure you by all that is dearest to
you, why stint ye to tell me your history, and the cause of your
losing your eyes and your blackening your faces with ashes and
soot?" Hereupon they turned to me and said, "O young man, hearken
not to thy youthtide's suggestions, and question us no questions."
Then they slept and I with them, and when they awoke the old man
brought us somewhat oi food. And after we had eaten and the plates and
goblets had been removed, they sat conversing till nightfall, when the
old man rose and lit the wax candles and lamps and set meat and
drink before us.
After we had eaten and drunken we sat conversing and carousing in
companionage till the noon of night, when they said to the old man,
"Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at hand!" So he
rose and brought them the trays of soot and ashes, and they did as
they had done on the preceding night, nor more, nor less. I abode with
them after this fashion for the space of a month, during which time
they used to blacken their faces with ashes every night, and to wash
and change their raiment when the morn was young, and I but marveled
the more and my scruples and curiosity increased to such a point
that I had to forgo even food and drink.
At last I lost command of myself, for my heart was aflame with
fire unquenchable and lowe unconcealable, and I said, "O young men,
will ye not relieve my trouble and acquaint me with the reason of thus
blackening your faces and the meaning of your words, 'We were
sitting at our ease, but our frowardness brought us unease'?" Quoth
they, "'Twere better to keep these things secret." Still I was
bewildered by their doings to the point of abstaining from eating
and drinking and at last wholly losing patience, quoth I to them:
"There is no help for it. Ye must acquaint me with what is the
reason of these doings." They replied: "We kept our secret only for
thy good. To gratify thee will bring down evil upon thee and thou wilt
become a monocular even as we are." I repeated, "There is no help
for it, and if ye will not, let me leave you and return to mine own
people and be at rest from seeing these things, for the proverb saith:
"Better ye 'bide and I take my leave;
For what eye sees not heart shall never grieve."
Thereupon they said to me, "Remember, O youth, that should ill
befall thee, we will not again harbor thee nor suffer thee to abide
amongst us." And bringing a ram, they slaughtered it and skinned it.
Lastly they gave me a knife, saying: "Take this skin and stretch
thyself upon it and we will sew it around thee. Presently there
shall come to thee a certain bird, hight roc, that will catch thee
up in his pounces and tower high in air and then set thee down on a
mountain. When thou feelest he is no longer flying, rip open the
pelt with this blade and come out of it. The bird will be scared and
will fly away and leave thee free. After this fare for half a day, and
the march will place thee at a palace wondrous fair to behold,
towering high in air and builded of khalanj, lign aloes and
sandalwood, plated with red gold, and studded with all manner emeralds
and costly gems fit for seal rings. Enter it and thou shalt will to
thy wish, for we have all entered that palace, and such is the cause
of our losing our eyes and of our blackening our faces. Were we now to
tell thee our stories it would take too long a time, for each and
every of us lost his left eye by an adventure of his own."
I rejoiced at their words, and they did with me as they said, and
the bird roc bore me off and set me down on the mountain. Then I
came out of the skin and walked on till I reached the palace. The door
stood open as I entered and found myself in a spacious and goodly
hall, wide exceedingly, even as a horse course. And around it were a
hundred chambers with doors of sandal and aloe woods plated with red
gold and furnished with silver rings by way of knockers. At the head
or upper end of the hall I saw forty damsels, sumptuously dressed
and ornamented and one and all bright as moons. None could ever tire
of gazing upon them, and all so lovely that the most ascetic devotee
on seeing them would become their slave and obey their will. When they
saw me the whole bevy came up to me and said: "Welcome and well come
and good cheer to thee, O our lord! This whole month have we been
expecting thee. Praised be Allah Who hath sent us one who is worthy of
us, even as we are worthy of him!"
Then they made me sit down upon a high divan and said to me, "This
day thou art our lord and master, and we are thy servants and thy
handmaids, so order us as thou wilt." And I marveled at their case.
Presently one of them arose and set meat before me and I ate and
they ate with me whilst others warmed water and washed my hands and
feet and changed my clothes, and others made ready sherbets and gave
us to drink, and all gathered around me, being full of joy and
gladness at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed with me till
nightfall, when five of them arose and laid the trays and spread
them with flowers and fragrant herbs and fruits, fresh and dried,
and confections in profusion. At last they brought out a fine wine
service with rich old wine, and we sat down to drink and some sang
songs and others played the lute and psaltery and recorders and
other instruments, and the bowl went merrily round. Hereupon such
gladness possessed me that I forgot the sorrows of the world one and
all and said: "This is indeed life. O sad that 'tis fleeting!"
I enjoyed their company till the time came for rest, and our heads
were all warm with wine, when they said, "O our lord, choose from
amongst us her who shall be thy bedfellow this night and not lie
with thee again till forty days be past." So I chose a girl fair of
face and perfect in shape, with eyes kohl-edged by nature's hand, hair
long and jet-black, with slightly parted teeth and joining brows.
'Twas as if she were some limber graceful branchlet or the slender
stalk of sweet basil to amaze and to bewilder man's fancy. So I lay
with her that night. None fairer I ever knew. And when it was morning,
the damsels carried me to the hammam bath and bathed me and robed me
in fairest apparel. Then they served up food, and we ate and drank and
the cup went round till nightfall, when I chose from among them one
fair of form and face, soft-sided and a model of grace, such a one
as the poet described when he said:
On her fair bosom caskets twain I scanned,
Sealed fast with musk seals lovers to withstand.
With arrowy glances stand on guard her eyes,
Whose shafts would shoot who dares put forth a hand.
With her I spent a most goodly night, and, to be brief, O my
mistress, I remained with them in all solace and delight of life,
eating and drinking, conversing and carousing, and every night lying
with one or other of them. But at the head of the New Year they came
to me in tears and bade me farewell, weeping and crying out and
clinging about me, whereat I wondered and said: "What may be the
matter? Verily you break my heart!" They exclaimed, "Would Heaven we
had never known thee, for though we have companied with many, yet
never saw we a pleasanter than thou or a more courteous." And they
wept again. "But tell me more clearly," asked I, "what causeth this
weeping which maketh my gall bladder like to burst?" And they
answered: "O lord and master, it is severance which maketh us weep,
and thou, and thou only, art the cause of our tears. If thou hearken
to us we need never be parted, and if thou hearken not we part
forever, but our hearts tell us that thou wilt not listen to our words
and this is the cause of our tears and cries." "Tell me how the case
standeth."
"Know, O our lord, that we are the daughters of kings who have met
here and have lived together for years, and once in every year we
are perforce absent for forty days. And afterward we return and
abide here for the rest of the twelvemonth eating and drinking and
taking our pleasure and enjoying delights. We are about to depart
according to our custom, and we fear lest after we be gone thou
contraire our charge and disobey our injunctions. Here now we commit
to thee the keys of the palace, which containeth forty chambers, and
thou mayest open of these thirty and nine, but beware (and we
conjure thee by Allah and by the lives of us!) lest thou open the
fortieth door, for therein is that which shall separate us for
ever." Quoth I, "Assuredly I will not open it if it contain the
cause of severance from you." Then one among them came up to me and
falling on my neck wept and recited these verses:
"If Time unite us after absent-while,
The world harsh-frowning on our lot shall smile,
And if thy semblance deign adorn mine eyes,
I'll pardon Time past wrongs and bygone guile."
And I recited the following:
"When drew she near to bid adieu with her heart unstrung,
While care and longing on that day her bosom wrung,
Wet pearls she wept and mine like red camelians rolled
And, joined in sad riviere, around her neck they hung."
When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah, I will never open that fortieth door, never and nowise!" and I bade her farewell. Thereupon all departed flying away like birds, signaling with their hands farewells as they went and leaving me alone in the palace. When evening drew near I opened the door of the first chamber and entering it found myself in a place like one of the pleasaunces of Paradise. It was a garden with trees of freshest green and ripe fruits of yellow sheen, and its birds were singing clear and keen and rills ran wimpling through the fair terrene. The sight and sounds brought solace to my sprite, and I walked among the trees, and I smelt the breath of the flowers on the breeze and heard the birdies sing their melodies hymning the One, the Almighty, in sweetest litanies, and I looked upon the apple whose hue is parcel red and parcel yellow, as said the poet:
Apple whose hue combines in union mellow
My fair's red cheek, her hapless lover's yellow.
Then I looked upon the pear whose taste surpasseth sherbet and
sugar, and the apricot whose beauty striketh the eye with
admiration, as if she were a polished ruby.
Then I went out of the place and locked the door as it was before.
When it was the morrow I opened the second door, and entering found
myself in a spacious plain set with tall date palms and watered by a
running stream whose banks were shrubbed with bushes of rose and
jasmine, while privet and eglantine, oxeye, violet and lily,
narcissus, origane, and the winter gilliflower carpeted the borders.
And the breath of the breeze swept over these sweet-smelling growths
diffusing their delicious odors right and left, perfuming the world
and filling my soul with delight. After taking my pleasure there
awhile I went from it and, having closed the door as it was before,
opened the third door, wherein I saw a high open hall pargetted with
particolored marbles and pietra dura of price and other precious
stones, and hung with cages of sandalwood and eagle wood, full of
birds which made sweet music, such as the "thousand-voiced," and the
cushat, the merle, the turtledove, and the Nubian ringdove. My heart
was filled with pleasure thereby, my grief was dispelled, and I
slept in that aviary till dawn.
Then I unlocked the door of the fourth chamber, and therein found
a grand saloon with forty smaller chambers giving upon it. All their
doors stood open, so I entered and found them full of pearls and
jacinths and beryls and emeralds and corals and carbuncles, and all
manner precious gems and jewels, such as tongue of man may not
describe. My thought was stunned at the sight and I said to myself,
"These be things methinks united which could not be found save in
the treasuries of a King of Kings, nor could the monarchs of the
world have collected the like of these!" And my heart dilated and my
sorrows ceased. "For," quoth I, "now verily am I the Monarch of the
Age, since by Allah's grace this enormous wealth is mine, and I have
forty damsels under my hand, nor is there any to claim them save
myself." Then I gave not over opening place after place until nine and
thirty days were passed, and in that time I had entered every
chamber except that one whose door the Princesses had charged me not
to open.
But my thoughts, O my mistress, ever ran on that forbidden fortieth,
and Satan urged me to open it for my own undoing, nor had I patience
to forbear, albeit there wanted of the trusting time but a single day.
So I stood before the chamber aforesaid and, after a moment's
hesitation, opened the door, which was plated with red gold, and
entered. I was met by a perfume whose like I had never before smelt,
and so sharp and subtle was the odor that it made my senses drunken as
with strong wine, and I fell to the ground in a fainting fit which
lasted a full hour. When I came to myself I strengthened my heart, and
entering, found myself in a chamber whose floor was bespread with
saffron and blazing with light from branched candelabra of gold and
lamps fed with costly oils, which diffused the scent of musk and
ambergris. I saw there also two great censers each big as a mazer
bowl, flaming with lign aloes, nadd perfume, ambergris, and honeyed
scents, and the place was full of their fragrance.
Presently, O my lady, I espied a noble steed, black as the murks
of night when murkiest, standing ready saddled and bridled (and his
saddle was of red gold) before two mangers, one of clear crystal
wherein was husked sesame, and the other also of crystal containing
water of the rose scented with musk. When I saw this I marveled and
said to myself, "Doubtless in this animal must be some wondrous
mystery." And Satan cozened me so I led him without the palace and
mounted him, but he would not stir from his place. So I hammered his
sides with my heels, but he moved not, and then I took the rein whip
and struck him withal. When he felt the blow, he neighed a neigh
with a sound like deafening thunder and, opening a pair of wings, flew
up with me in the firmament of heaven far beyond the eyesight of
man. After a full hour of flight he descended and alighted on a
terrace roof and shaking me off his back, lashed me on the face with
his tad and gouged out my left eye, causing it roll along my cheek.
Then he flew away. I went down from the terrace and found myself
again amongst the ten one-eyed youths sitting upon their ten couches
with blue covers, and they cried out when they saw me: "No welcome
to thee, nor aught of good cheer! We all lived of lives the happiest
and we ate and drank of the best. Upon brocades and cloths of gold
we took our rest, and we slept with our heads on beauty's breast,
but we could not await one day to gain the delights of a year!"
Quoth I, "Behold, I have become one like unto you and now I would have
you bring me a tray full of blackness, wherewith to blacken my face,
and receive me into your society." "No, by Allah," quoth they, "thou
shalt not sojourn with us, and now get thee hence!" So they drove me
away.
Finding them reject me thus, I foresaw that matters would go hard
with me, and I remembered the many miseries which Destiny had
written upon my forehead, and I fared forth from among them
heavy-hearted and tearful-eyed, repeating to myself these words: "I
was sitting at mine ease, but my frowardness brought me to unease."
Then I shaved beard and mustachios and eyebrows, renouncing the world.
and wandered in Kalandar garb about Allah's earth, and the Almighty
decreed safety for me till I arrived at Baghdad, which was on the
evening of this very night. Here I met these two other Kalandars
standing bewildered, so I saluted them saying, "I am a stranger!"
and they answered, "And we likewise be strangers!" By the freak of
Fortune we were like to like, three Kalandars and three monoculars all
blind of the left eye.
Such, O my lady, is the cause of the shearing of my beard and the
manner of my losing an eye. Said the lady to him, "Rub thy head and
wend thy ways," but he answered, "By Allah, I will not go until I hear
the stories of these others." Then the lady, turning toward the Caliph
and Ja'afar and Masrur, said to them, "Do ye also give an account of
yourselves, you men!" Whereupon Ja'afar stood forth and told her
what he had told the portress as they were entering the house, and
when she heard his story of their being merchants and Mosul men who
had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant you your lives each for
each sake, and now away with you all." So they all went out, and
when they were in the street, quoth the Caliph to the Kalandars, "O
company, whither go ye now, seeing that the morning hath not yet
dawned?" Quoth they, "By Allah, O our lord, we know not where to
go." "Come and pass the rest of the night with us," said the Caliph
and, turning to Ja'afar, "Take them home with thee, and tomorrow bring
them to my presence that we may chronicle their adventures."
Ja'afar did as the Caliph bade him and the Commander of the Faithful
returned to his palace, but sleep gave no sign of visiting him that
night and he lay awake pondering the mishaps of the three Kalandar
Princes, and impatient to know the history of the ladies and the two
black bitches. No sooner had morning dawned than he went forth and sat
upon the throne of his sovereignty and, turning to Ja'afar, after
all his grandees and officers of state were gathered together, he
said, "Bring me the three ladies and the two bitches and the three
Kalandars."
So Ja'afar fared forth and brought them all before him (and the
ladies were veiled). Then the Minister turned to them and said in
the Caliph's name: "We pardon you your maltreatment of us and your
want of courtesy, in consideration of the kindness which forewent
it, and for that ye knew us not. Now however I would have you to
know that ye stand in presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas,
Harun al-Rashid, brother of Caliph Musa al-Hadi, son of Al-Mansur, son
of Mohammed the brother of Al-Saffah bin Mohammed who was first of the
royal house. Speak ye therefore before him the truth and the whole
truth!" When the ladies heard Ja'afar's words touching the Commander
of the Faithful, the eldest came forward and said, "O Prince of True
Believers, my story is one which were it graven with needle gravers
upon the eye corners, were a warner for whoso would be warned and an
example for whoso can take profit from example." And she began to tell
The Eldest Lady's Tale.