One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  If thou demand fair play of Fate, therein thou dost it wrong; And

  blame it not, for twas not made, indeed, for equity.

  Take what lies ready to thy hand and lay concern aside, For

  troubled days and days of peace in life must surely be.

  Meanwhile, the Vizier, his uncle, tarried in Damascus three days, then departed for Hems, and passing through that city, fared on by way of Hemah and Aleppo and thence through Diarbekir, Maridin and Mosul, making enquiries at every place he came to, till he arrived at Bassora, where he halted and presented himself before the Sultan, who received him with honour and consideration and asked the reason of his coming. The Vizier related to him his history and told him that Noureddin Ali was his brother, whereupon the Sultan commended the latter’s soul to the mercy of God and said, “Sir, he was my Vizier for fifteen years, and I loved him greatly. Then he died, leaving a son, who abode here but two months after his father’s death; since which time he hath disappeared and we have never come upon any news of him. But his mother, who was the daughter of my former Vizier, is still with us.” Shemseddin rejoiced to hear that his nephew’s mother was still alive and said, “O King, I wish to see her.” The King at once gave him leave to visit her; so he betook himself to his brother Noureddin’s house and went round about it and kissed its threshold. And he bethought him of his brother and how he had died in a strange land and wept and repeated the following verses:

  I wander through the halls, the halls where Leila lived, And kiss

  the lifeless walls that of her passage tell.

  It is not for the house that I with passion burn, But for the

  cherished ones that erst therein did dwell.

  Then he entered the gate and found himself in a spacious courtyard, at the end whereof was a door vaulted over with hard stone, inlaid with vari-coloured marbles. He walked round about the house, and casting his eyes on the walls, saw the name of his brother Noureddin written on them in letters of gold. So he went up to the inscription and kissed it and wept for his brother’s loss and repeated the following verses:

  I sue unto the rising sun, each morn, for news of thee, And of

  the lightning’s lurid gleam I do for thee enquire.

  The hands of passion and of pain sport with me all the night; Yet

  I complain not of the ills I suffer from desire.

  O my beloved, if the times be yet for me prolonged, be all

  consumed with separation’s fire.

  Lo! if thy sight one happy day should bless my longing eyes,

  There is no other thing on earth that I of Fate require.

  Think not that other loves avail to solace me for thee; My heart

  can hold no love but thine, my faith can never tire.

  Then he walked on till he came to the lodging of his brother’s widow. Now from the day of her son’s disappearance, she had given herself up to weeping and lamentation day and night; and when the years grew long upon her, she made him a tomb of marble midmost the saloon and there wept for him day and night, sleeping not but thereby. When the Vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her weeping and repeating verses, so he went in to her and saluting her, informed her that he was her husband’s brother and told her all that had passed between them, and how her son Bedreddin Hassan had spent a whole night with his daughter, twelve years ago, but had disappeared in the morning, and how she had conceived by him and borne a son, whom he had brought with him. When Bedreddin’s mother heard this news of her son and grandson and that the former was haply still alive and saw her husband’s brother, she threw herself at his feet and kissed them, repeating the following verses:

  May God be good to him who brought me news that they were come;

  For never more delightful news unto my ears were borne.

  If he would take a worn-out weds for boon, I’d proffer him A

  heart that at the parting hour was all to pieces torn.

  Then the Vizier sent for Agib; and his grandmother embraced him and wept, but Shemseddin said to her, “This is no time for weeping; it behoves thee to make ready to go with us to Egypt; perhaps God will reunite us with thy son, my nephew.” “I hear and obey,” answered she, and rising at once, collected her goods and treasures and equipped herself and her handmaids for the journey, whilst the Vizier went to take his leave of the Sultan of Bassora, who sent by him gifts and rarities to the Sultan of Egypt. Then he set out at once on his homeward journey and travelled till he came to Damascus, where he halted and pitched his tents as before, saying to his suite, “We will halt here a week, to buy presents and curiosities for the Sultan.” Now the tie of blood drew Agib to his father, so he said to the eunuch, “O Laic, I have a mind to go a-walking; so come, let us go down into the streets of Damascus and see what is become of the cook whose victuals we ate and whose head we broke, for indeed he was kind to us and we used him scurvily.” The eunuch replied, “I hear and obey.” So they left the tents and going down into the city, stayed not till they came to the cookshop, where they found Bedreddin Hassan standing at the door. It was near the time of afternoon-prayer, and as chance would have it, he had just prepared a mess of pomegranate-seed. Agib looked at him and saw the scar of the blow on his forehead; wherefore his heart yearned to him and he said, “Peace be on thee! Know that my heart is with thee.” When Bedreddin saw him, his bowels were troubled and his heart throbbed, and he bowed his head and would have spoken, but could not. Then he raised his head and looked at his son humbly and imploringly and repeated the following verses:

  I longed to look on him I love; but when I saw his face, I was as

  one amazed and lost the use of tongue and eyes.

  I bowed my head down to his feet for reverence and awe, And would

  have hidden what I felt, but could it not disguise.

  Volumes of plaining and reproach I had within my heart; Yet, when

  we met, no word I spoke nor uttered aught but sighs.

  Then he said to them, “Heal my heart and eat of my food, for, by Allah, I cannot look at you but my heart throbs! I should not have followed you the other day, but that I was beside myself.” “By Allah,” replied Agib, “thou art too fond of us! We ate with thee before and thou madest us repent of it, in that thou followedst us and wouldst have put us to shame; so we will not eat with thee, except thou swear not to go out after us nor follow us. Else we will not visit thee again during our present stay, for we abide here a week, that my grandfather may take presents for the King.” And Bedreddin said, “I grant you this.” So Agib and the eunuch entered, and Bedreddin set before them a dish of pomegranate-seed. Quoth Agib, “Sit down and eat with us, so haply God may grant us relief.” At this Bedreddin was glad and sat down and ate with them, with his eyes fixed on Agib’s face, for indeed his heart and entrails were taken with his love, till the boy said to him, “What a tiresome dotard thou art! Leave thy staring in my face.” When Bedreddin heard this, he repeated the following verses:

  Thy face excites in all men’s hearts a love they do not own;

  Folded in silence and concealed, it may not be made known.

  O thou whose beauty puts to shame the splendour of the moon,

  Whose grace recalls the shining sight of morning newly

  blown,

  In thy bright visage is a sign that may not be fulfilled, And

  there all beauties that incite to tenderness are shown.

  Must I then die of thirst, what while thy lips with nectar flow?

  Thy face is Paradise to me; must I in hell-fire groan?

  So they ate till they were satisfied, when Bedreddin rose and poured water on their hands, wiping them with a napkin of silk, which he loosed from his waist; after which he sprinkled rose-water on them from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he went out and returned with a pitcher of sherbet, flavoured with rose-water and musk, which he set before them, saying, “Complete your favours to me, by drinking of this sherbet.” So Agib took the pitcher and drank and passed it to the eunuch, an
d it went round amongst them till their stomachs were full, for they had eaten and drunken beyond their wont. Then they went away and made haste in walking till they reached the tents, and Agib went in to his grandmother, who kissed him, and thinking of her son Bedreddin Hassan, wept and repeated the following verses:

  But for my hope that God would yet our severed loves unite, I had

  not lived for life to me is void of all delight.

  I swear there’s nothing in my heart but love of thee alone, By

  God, who reads the heart and brings the hidden things to

  light!

  And she said to Agib, “O my son, where hast thou been?” Quoth he, “We have been in the city of Damascus. Then she rose and set before him confection of pomegranate-seed and said to the eunuch, “Sit down and eat with thy young master.” The eunuch said to himself, “By Allah, we have no mind to eat!” but he sat down, and so did Agib, though his belly was full of what he had already eaten and drunk. Now the conserve lacked sugar, so he took a piece of bread and dipped it therein and ate, but found it insipid, for that he was already surfeited, and exclaimed, “Faugh! what is this nasty mess?” “O my son,” said his grandmother, “dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this myself, and there is not a cook in the land can compare with me, except it be thy father Bedreddin Hassan.” “O my lady,” replied Agib, “this thy dish is naught; for we saw but now in the city a cook who dresses pomegranate-seed, so that the very smell of it opens the heart and the taste would give a full man an appetite; and as for thy mess, compared with his, it is worth neither much nor little.” When his grandmother heard this, she was exceeding wroth and said to the eunuch, “Out on thee, dost thou corrupt my grandson and take him into cookshops?” The eunuch was frightened and denied, saying, “We did not enter the shop, but only saw it in passing.” “By Allah!” said Agib, “we went in and ate, and it was better than thine.” Then his grandmother rose and went and told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the eunuch and sending for him, said to him, “Why didst thou take my son into a cookshop?” “We did not go in,” replied the eunuch. But Agib said, “We did go in and ate of pomegranate-seed, till we were full; and the cook gave us to drink of iced sherbet of sugar.” At this, the Vizier’s anger redoubled and he questioned the eunuch, but he still denied. Then said the Vizier, “If what thou sayest be true, sit down and eat before us.” So he sat down and tried to eat, but could not and threw away the morsel, saying, “O my lord, indeed I am full since yesterday.” By this, the Vizier knew that he had eaten at the cook’s and bade his slaves throw him down and beat him. So they drubbed him, till he roared for mercy and said, “O my lord, do not beat me, and I will tell thee the truth.” Whereupon the Vizier stopped the beating and said, “Speak the truth.” Quoth the eunuch, “Know then that we did enter the shop of a cook, who was dressing pomegranate seed, and he set some of it before us; by Allah, I never ate the like of it in my life, nor did I ever taste aught nastier than that which is before us!” Bedreddin’s mother was enraged at this and said to the eunuch, “Thou must go back to the cook and fetch us a dish of his pomegranate-seed and show it to thy master, that he may say which is the better, his or mine.” “Good,” answered he. So she gave him a dish and half a dinar, and he returned to the shop and said to Bedreddin, “We have made a wager about thy cookery in our lord’s household, for they have pomegranate-seed there also; so give me half a dinar’s worth of thy confection and let it be of thy best, for I have eaten my bellyful of stick on account of thy cookery.” Bedreddin laughed and answered, “By Allah, none can dress this dish aright but myself and my mother, and she is far away.” Then he filled the dish with pomegranate-seed and finishing it off with musk and rose-water, gave it to the eunuch, who hastened back with it and delivered it to Bedreddin’s mother. No sooner had she tasted it and remarked the excellence of its flavour and cookery, than she knew who had dressed it and shrieked and fell down in a swoon, to the amazement of the Vizier, who sprinkled rose-water on her, till she came to herself and said, “If my son be yet of this world, none made this conserve but he! Without doubt, this cook is my son Bedreddin Hassan, for none knew how to dress this dish but he and I, and I taught him.” The Vizier rejoiced greatly at her words, and said, “O how I long to see my brother’s son! I wonder if the days will indeed reunite us with him! But it is to God alone that we look for reunion with him.” Then he went out forthright and said to his men, “Let twenty of you go to the cook’s shop and demolish it; then tie his hands behind him with the linen of his turban, saying, ‘It was thou madest that vile mess of pomegranate-seed,’ and bring him hither by force, but without doing him any hurt.” And they replied, “It is well.” Then he mounted and riding to the palace, foregathered with the Viceroy of Damascus and showed him the Sultan’s letters-patent. He kissed them and laying them on his head, said to the Vizier, “Who is it hath offended against thee?” Quoth the Vizier, “He is a cook of this city.” So the Viceroy at once despatched his chamberlains to the shop and they went thither and found it in ruins and everything in it broken; for whilst the Vizier was at the palace, his men had done his bidding and carried Bedreddin to the tents, where they were then awaiting their master’s return, whilst Bedreddin said, “I wonder what they can have found in the pomegranate-seed to bring matters to this pass!” When the Vizier returned to the tents, after having gotten the Viceroy’s permission to take his debtor and depart with him, he called for the cook, and they brought Bedreddin before him, with his hands bound behind his back. When he saw his uncle, he wept sore and said, “O my lord, what is my offence against thee?” “Art thou he who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?” asked Shemseddin. “Yes,” replied Bedreddin; “didst thou find aught in it to call for the cutting off of my head?” Quoth the Vizier, “That were the least of thy desert.” “O my lord,” said Bedreddin, “wilt thou not tell me my crime and what ails the pomegranate-seed?” “Presently,” answered the Vizier and called to his men, saying, “Bring the camels.” So they struck camp and the Vizier caused Bedreddin to be put into a chest, which they locked and set on a camel. Then they departed and journeyed till nightfall, when they halted to eat and took Bedreddin out of his chest and fed him and locked him up again. Then they set out again and travelled till they reached Kumreh, where they took him out of the chest and brought him before the Vizier, who said to him, “Art thou he who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?” “Yes, O my lord,” answered he; and Shemseddin said, “Shackle him.” So they shackled him and returned him to the chest and fared on again, till they arrived at Cairo and halted in the suburb of Er Reidaniyeh. Then the Vizier commanded to take Bedreddin out of his chest and sent for a carpenter, to whom he said, “Make a cross of wood for this fellow.” Quoth Bedreddin, “What wilt thou do with it?” “I mean to nail thee upon it,” replied the Vizier, “and parade thee throughout the city.” “And why wilt thou use me thus? asked Bedreddin; and the Vizier answered, “Because of thy villainous mess of pomegranate-seed and for that it lacked pepper.” “And because it lacked pepper,” said Bedreddin, “wilt thou do all this to me? Is it not enough that thou hast laid my shop in ruins and smashed my gear and imprisoned me and fed me but once a day?” “It lacked pepper,” answered the Vizier; “and nothing less than death is thy desert.” At this Bedreddin wondered and mourned for himself, till the Vizier said to him, “Of what art thou thinking?” “I was thinking of crack-brains like unto thee,” answered Bedreddin, “for hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst not treat me thus.” Quoth the Vizier, “It behoves me to punish thee, lest thou do the like again.” And Bedreddin said, “Verily, my offence were over-punished by the least of what thou hast already done to me.” “It avails not,” answered Shemseddin; “I must crucify thee.” All this time the carpenter was shaping the cross, whilst Bedreddin looked on; and thus they did till nightfall, when the Vizier took him and clapped him in the chest, saying, “The thing shall be done tomorrow.” Then he waited till he knew Bedreddin to be asleep, when he mounted and
taking the chest up before him, rode into the town to his own house, where he alighted and said to his daughter, the Lady of Beauty, “Praised be God who hath reunited thee with thy cousin! Arise and order the house as it was on thy wedding-night.” So the servants arose and lit the candles, whilst the Vizier took out his plan of the bride chamber and directed them what to do, till they had set everything in its place, so that whoever saw it would not doubt but it was the very night of the wedding. Then he made them lay Bedreddin’s turban on the stool, where he had left it, and his trousers and purse under the mattress, and bade his daughter undress herself and go to bed, as on the wedding-night, adding, “When he comes in to thee, say to him, ‘Thou has tarried long in the wardrobe,’ and call him to lie with thee and hold him in converse till the morning, when we will explain the whole matter to him.” Then he took Bedreddin out of the chest and laid him in the vestibule, after he had unbound him and taken off his clothes, leaving him in a shirt of fine silk, and he still asleep and knowing nothing. Presently he turned over and awoke, and finding himself in a lighted vestibule, said to himself, “Surely, I am dreaming.” Then he rose and opening the inner door, found himself in the chamber, where he had passed his wedding-night, and knew the alcove and the stool by the bed-side, with his turban and clothes. When he saw this, he was confounded and advanced one foot and drew the other back, saying, “Am I asleep or awake?” And he began to rub his forehead and say, wondering, “By Allah, this is the chamber of the bride that was unveiled before me! But where can I be? I was surely but now in a chest.” Whilst he was debating with himself, the Lady of Beauty lifted the curtain of the alcove and said to him, “O my lord, wilt thou not come in? Thou hast tarried long in the wardrobe.” When he heard what she said and saw her face, he laughed and said, “This is certainly an imbroglio of dreams!” Then he entered, sighing, and recalled what had happened and was perplexed, and his affair became confused to him and he knew not what to think. Presently, he caught sight of his turban and trousers, so he handled the latter and feeling the purse of a thousand dinars, said, “God alone is all knowing! I am certainly in the mazes of a dream.” Then said the Lady of Beauty to him, “What ails thee to stand agape and seem perplexed? Thou wast not thus the first part of the night.” He laughed and said to her, “How long have I been absent from thee?” “God preserve thee!” exclaimed she. “The name of God encompass thee! Thou didst but go out an hour ago to do an occasion and return. Hast thou lost thy wits?” When Bedreddin heard this, he laughed and said, “Thou art right; but when I went out from thee, I forgot myself in the closet and dozed and dreamt that I was a cook in Damascus and abode there twelve years and that there came to me a boy, the son of some great man, and with him an eunuch.” Here he put his hand to his forehead and feeling the scar made by the stone, said, “By Allah, O lady, it must have been true, for here is the scar made by the stone, with which he smote me and cut my forehead open. So it would seem as if it had really happened. But perhaps I dreamt it, when we embraced and fell asleep together: for meseemed I journeyed to Damascus without turban or drawers and set up as a cook there.” Then he was perplexed and considered awhile and said, “By Allah, I fancied also that I made a mess of pomegranate-seed and put too little pepper in it. By Allah, I must have slept in the closet and dreamt all this!” “God on thee,” said the Lady of Beauty, “tell me what else thou didst dream.” “By Allah,” replied he, “had I not woke up, they would have nailed me to a cross of wood!” “Wherefore?” asked she; and he said, “Because of the lack of pepper in the pomegranate-seed. Meseemed they demolished my shop and broke my utensils in pieces and put me in a chest; then they sent for a carpenter to make a cross and would have crucified me thereon. But praised be God who caused all this to happen to me in sleep and not on wake!” The Lady of Beauty laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her caresses; then he thought again and said, “By Allah, I cannot help thinking it must have been a reality after all! Indeed I know not what to think of it all.” Then he lay down and passed the night in a state of perplexity, saying now, “I was dreaming,” and now, “I was awake,” till the morning, when his uncle Shemseddin entered and saluted him. When Bedreddin saw him, he said to him, “By Allah, art thou not he who gave orders to bind me and demolish my shop and would have nailed me on a cross, and all because a mess of pomegranate-seed lacked pepper?” “O my son,” replied the Vizier, “know that the truth has appeared and that which was hidden is divulged. Thou art my brother’s son, and I did all this with thee but that I might certify myself that thou wast indeed he who lay with my daughter on her wedding-night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou knewest the chamber and thy turban and clothes and purse and the scrolls in thy handwriting and that of my brother, for I had never seen thee and did not know thee; and I have brought thy mother with me from Bassora.” So saying, he threw himself on him and they embraced and wept for excess of joy. Then said the Vizier to Bedreddin, “O my son, all this came of what passed between thy father and myself.” And he told him what had taken place between them and the manner of his father’s flight to Bassora; after which he sent for Agib, and when his father saw him, he exclaimed, “This is he who threw the stone at me!” Quoth the Vizier, “This is thy son.” And Bedreddin threw himself on Agib and repeated the following verses: