One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Next day the ploughman took the ox and yoked him to the plough and set him to work as usual. The ox began to fall short in his work, and the ploughman beat him till he broke the yoke and fled, following out the ass’s precepts; but the man overtook him and beat him till he despaired of life. Yet for all that, he did nothing but stand still and fall down till the evening. Then the ploughman took him home and tied him in his stall; but he withdrew from the manger and neither frisked nor stamped nor bellowed as usual, and the man wondered at this. Then he brought him the beans and straw, but he smelt at them and left them and lay down at a distance and passed the night without eating. Next morning, the ploughman came and found the straw and beans untouched and the ox lying on his back, with his stomach swollen and his legs in the air; so he was concerned for him and said to himself, ‘He has certainly fallen ill, and this is why he would not work yesterday.’ Then he went to his master and told him that the ox was ill and would not touch his fodder. Now the farmer knew what this meant, for that he had overheard the talk between the ox and the ass as before mentioned. So he said, ‘Take that knave of an ass and bind the yoke on his neck and harness him to the plough and try and make him do the ox’s work.’ So the ploughman took the ass and made him work all day beyond his strength to accomplish the ox’s task; and he beat him till his skin and ribs were sore and his neck flayed with the yoke. When the evening came and the ass resumed home, he could hardly drag himself along. But as for the ox, he had lain all day, resting, and had eaten his fodder cheerfully and with a good appetite; and all day long he had called down blessings on the ass for his good counsel, not knowing what had befallen him on his account. So when the night came and the ass returned to the stable, the ox arose and said to him, ‘Mayst thou be gladdened with good news, O Father Wakeful! Through thee, I have rested today and have eaten my food in peace and comfort.’ The ass made him no answer, for rage and vexation and fatigue and the beating he had undergone; but he said to himself, ‘All this comes of my folly in giving another good advice; as the saying goes, “I was lying at full length, but my officiousness would not let me be.” But I will go about with him and return him to his place, else I shall perish.’ Then he went to his manger weary, whilst the ox thanked him and blessed him. “And thou, O my daughter,” said the Vizier, “like the ass, wilt perish through thy lack of sense, so do thou oft quiet and cast not thyself into perdition; indeed I give thee good counsel and am affectionately solicitous for thee.” “O my father,” answered she, “nothing will serve me but I must go up to this king and become his wife.” Quoth he, “An thou hold not thy peace and bide still, I will do with thee even as the merchant did with his wife.” “And what was that?” asked she. “Know,” answered he, “that the merchant and his wife and children came out on the terrace, it being a moonlit night and the moon at its full. Now the terrace overlooked the byre; and presently, as he sat, with his children playing before him, the merchant heard the ass say to the ox, ‘Tell me, O Father Stupid, what dost thou mean to do tomorrow?’ ‘What but that thou advisest me?’ answered the ox. ‘Thine advice was as good as could be and has gotten me complete rest, and I will not depart from it in the least; so when they bring me my fodder, I will refuse it and feign sickness and swell out my belly.’ The ass shook his head and said, ‘Beware of doing that I’ ‘Why?’ asked the ox, and the ass answered, ‘Know that I heard our master say to the labourer, “If the ox do not rise and eat his fodder today, send for the butcher to slaughter him, and give his flesh to the poor and make a rug of his skin.” And I fear for thee on account of this. So take my advice, ere ill-hap betide thee, and when they bring thee the fodder, eat it and arise and bellow and paw the ground with thy feet, or our master will assuredly slaughter thee.’ Whereupon the ox arose and bellowed and thanked the ass, and said, ‘Tomorrow, I will go with them readily.’ Then he ate up all his fodder, even to licking the manger with his tongue.

  When the merchant heard this, he was amused at the ass’s trick, and laughed, till he fell backward. ‘Why dost thou laugh?’ asked his wife; and he said, ‘I laughed at something that I saw and heard, but it is a secret and I cannot disclose it, or I shall die.’ Quoth she, ‘There is no help for it but thou must tell me the reason of thy laughter, though thou die for it.’ ‘I cannot reveal it,’ answered he, ‘for fear of death.’ ‘It was at me thou didst laugh,’ said she, and ceased not to importune him till he was worn out and distracted. So he assembled all his family and kinsfolk and summoned the Cadi and the witnesses, being minded to make his last dispositions and impart to her the secret and die, for indeed he loved her with a great love, and she was the daughter of his father’s brother and the mother of his children. Moreover, he sent for all her family and the neighbours, and when they were all assembled, he told them the state of the case and announced to them the approach of his last hour. Then he gave his wife her portion and appointed guardians of his children and freed his slave girls and took leave of his people. They all wept, and the Cadi and the witnesses wept also and went up to the wife and said to her, ‘We conjure thee, by Allah, give up this matter, lest thy husband and the father of thy children die. Did he not know that if he revealed the secret, he would surely die, he would have told thee.’ But she replied, ‘By Allah, I will not desist from him, till he tell me, though he die for it.’ So they forbore to press her. And all who were present wept sore, and there was a general mourning in the house. Then the merchant rose and went to the cow-house, to make his ablutions and pray, intending after to return and disclose his secret and die.

  Now he had a cock and fifty hens and a dog, and he heard the latter say in his lingo to the cock, ‘How mean is thy wit, O cock! May he be disappointed who reared thee! Our master is in extremity and thou clappest thy wings and crowest and fliest from one hen’s back to another’s! God confound thee! Is this a time for sport and diversion? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?’ ‘And what ails our master, O dog?’ asked the cock. The dog told him what had happened and how the merchant’s wife had importuned him, till he was about to tell her his secret and die, and the cock said, ‘Then is our master little of wit and lacking in sense; if he cannot manage his affairs with a single wife, his life is not worth prolonging. See, I have fifty wives. I content this one and anger that, stint one and feed another, and through my good governance they are all under my control. Now, our master pretends to sense and accomplishments, and he has but one wife and yet knows not how to manage her.’ Quoth the dog, ‘What, then, should our master do?’ ‘He should take a stick,’ replied the cock, ‘and beat her soundly, till she says, “I repent, O my lord! I will never again ask a question as long as I live.” And when once he has done this, he will be free from care and enjoy life. But he has neither sense nor judgment.’

  When the merchant heard what the cock said, he went to his wife (after he had hidden a rattan in an empty store-room) and said to her, ‘Come with me into this room, that I may tell thee my secret and die and none see me.’ So she entered gladly, thinking that he was about to tell her his secret, and he locked the door; then he took the rattan and brought it down on her back and ribs and shoulders, saying, ‘Wilt thou ask questions about what is none of thy business?’ He beat her till she was well-nigh senseless, and she cried out, ‘By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions, and indeed I repent sincerely!’ And she kissed his hands and feet. Then he unlocked the door and went out and told the company what had happened, whereat they rejoiced, and mourning was changed into joy and gladness. So the merchant learnt good management from a cock, and he and his wife lived happily until death.

  And thou, O my daughter,” added the Vizier, “except thou desist from this thing, I will do with thee even as the merchant did with his wife.” “I will never desist,” answered she, “nor is it this story that can turn me from my purpose; and an thou yield not to me, I will go up myself to the King and complain to him of thee, in that thou grudges the like of me to the like of him.” Quoth her father, “Must it be so?” And she answered “
Yes.” So being weary of striving with her and despairing of turning her from her purpose, he went up to King Shehriyar and kissing the earth before him, told him about his daughter and how she would have him give her to him that next night; whereat the King marvelled and said to him, “How is this? By Him who raised up the heavens, if thou bring her to me, I shall say to thee on the morrow, ‘Take her and put her to death.’ And if thou kill her not, I will kill thee without fail.” “O king of the age,” answered the Vizier, “it is she who will have it so; and I told her all this, but she will not hear me and insists upon passing this night with thy highness.” “It is well,” answered Shehriyar; “go and make her ready, and tonight bring her to me.” So the Vizier returned to his daughter and told her what had passed, saying, “May God not bereave us of thee!” But Shehrzad rejoiced with an exceeding joy and made ready all that she needed, and said to her sister Dunyazad, “O my sister, note well what I shall enjoin thee. When I go up to the Sultan, I will send after thee, and when thou comest to me and seest that the King has done his will of me, do thou say to me, ‘O my sister, an thou be not asleep, tell us some of thy delightful stories, to pass away the watches of this our night.’ Do this and (God willing) it shall be the means of my deliverance and of the ridding of the folk of this calamity, and by it I will turn the King from his custom.” Dunyazad answered, “It is well.” And the Vizier carried Shehrzad to the King, who took her to his bed and fell to toying with her. But she wept, and he said to her, “Why dost thou weep?” “O king of the age,” answered she, “I have a young sister and I desire to take leave of her this night and that she may take leave of me before the morning.” So he sent for Dunyazad, and she waited till the Sultan had done his desire of her sister and they were all three awake, when she coughed and said, “O my sister, an thou be not asleep, tell us one of thy pleasant stories, to beguile the watches of our night, and I will take leave of thee before the morning.” “With all my heart,” answered Shehrzad, “if the good king give me leave.” The King being wakeful, was pleased to hear a story and said, “Tell on.” Whereat she rejoiced greatly and said, “It is related, O august king, that

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.

  There was once a merchant, who had much substance and traded largely in foreign countries. One day, as he was riding through a certain country, whither he had gone to collect what was due to him, there overtook him the heat of the day and presently he espied a garden before him; so he made towards it for shelter and alighting, sat down under a walnut tree, by a spring of water. Then he put his hand to his saddle bags and took out a cake of bread and a date and ate them and threw away the date stone, when behold, there started up before him a gigantic Afrit, with a naked sword in his hand, who came up to him and said, ‘Arise, that I may slay thee, even as thou hast slain my son.’ ‘How did I slay thy son?’ asked the merchant, and the genie replied, ‘When thou threwest away the date stone, it smote my son, who was passing at the time, on the breast, and he died forthright.’ When the merchant heard this, he said, ‘Verily we are God’s and to Him we return! There is no power and no virtue but in God, the Most High, the Supreme! If I killed him, it was by misadventure, and I prithee pardon me.’ But the genie said, ‘There is no help for it but I must kill thee.’ Then he seized him and throwing him down, raised his sword to strike him: whereupon the merchant wept and said, ‘I commit my affair to God!’ and recited the following verses:

  Fate has two days, untroubled one, the other lowering, And life

  two parts, the one content, the other sorrowing.

  Say unto him that taunteth us with fortune’s perfidy, ‘At whom

  but those whose heads are high doth Fate its arrows fling?’

  If that the hands of Time have made their plaything of our life,

  Till for its long protracted kiss ill-hap upon us spring,

  Dost thou not see the hurricane, what time the wild winds blow,

  Smite down the stately trees alone and spare each lesser

  thing?

  Lo! in the skies are many stars, no one can tell their tale, But

  to the sun and moon alone eclipse brings darkening.

  The earth bears many a pleasant herb and many a plant and tree:

  But none is stoned save only those to which the fair fruit

  cling.

  Look on the sea and how the waifs float up upon the foam, But in

  its deepest depths of blue the pearls have sojourning.

  ‘Cut short thy speech,’ said the genie, ‘for, by Allah, there is no help for it but I must kill thee.’ ‘Know, O Afrit,’ replied the merchant, ‘that I have a wife and children and much substance, and I owe debts and hold pledges: so let me return home and give every one his due, and I vow by all that is most sacred that I will return to thee at the end of the year, that thou mayest do with me as thou wilt, and God is witness of what I say.’ The genie accepted his promise and released him, whereupon he returned to his dwelling-place and paid his debts and settled all his affairs. Moreover, he told his wife and children what had happened and made his last dispositions, and tarried with his family till the end of the year. Then he rose and made his ablutions and took his winding sheet under his arm and bidding his household and kinsfolk and neighbours farewell, set out, much against his will, to perform his promise to the genie; whilst his family set up a great noise of crying and lamentation. He journeyed on till he reached the garden, where he had met with the genie, on the first day of the new year, and there sat down to await his doom. Presently, as he sat weeping over what had befallen him, there came up an old man, leading a gazelle by a chain, and saluted the merchant, saying, ‘What ails thee to sit alone in this place, seeing that it is the resort of the Jinn?’ The merchant told him all that had befallen him with the Afrit, and he wondered and said, ‘By Allah, O my brother, thy good faith is exemplary and thy story is a marvellous one! If it were graven with needles on the corners of the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can profit by example.’ Then he sat down by his side, saying, ‘By Allah, O my brother, I will not leave thee till I see what befalls thee with this Afrit.’ So they sat conversing, and fear and terror got hold upon the merchant and trouble increased upon him, notwithstanding the old man’s company. Presently another old man came up, leading two black dogs, and saluting them, inquired why they sat in a place known to be haunted by Jinn, whereupon the merchant repeated his story to him. He had not sat long with them when there came up a third old man leading a dappled she-mule, and after putting to them the same question and receiving a like answer, sat down with them to await the issue of the affair. They had sat but a little while longer, when behold, there arose a cloud of dust and a great whirling column approached from the heart of the desert. Then the dust lifted and discovered the genie, with a drawn sword in his hand and sparks of fire issuing from his eyes. He came up to them and dragged the merchant from amongst them, saying, ‘Rise, that I may slay thee as thou slewest my son, the darling of my heart!’ Whereupon the merchant wept and bewailed himself and the three old men joined their cries and lamentations to his. Then came forward the first old man, he of the gazelle, and kissed the Afrit’s hand and said to him, ‘O genie and crown of the kings of the Jinn, if I relate to thee my history with this gazelle and it seem to thee wonderful, wilt thou grant me a third of this merchant’s blood?’ ‘Yes, O old man,’ answered the genie, ‘if thou tell me thy story and I find it wonderful, I will remit to thee a third of his blood.’ Then said the old man, ‘Know, O Afrit, that

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  The First Old Man’s Story.