One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When a rich man grows poor, his lustre dies away, Like to the

  setting sun that pales with ended day.

  Absent, his name is not remembered among men: Present, he hath no

  part in life and its array.

  He passes through the streets and fain would hide his head And

  pours out floods of tears in every desert way.

  By Allah, when distress and want descend on men, But strangers

  midst their kin and countrymen are they.

  Then I left the Khan and walked along Bein el Kesrein till I came to the Zuweyleh Gate, where I found the folk crowded together and the gate blocked up for the much people. As Fate would have it, I saw there a trooper, against whom I pressed, without meaning it, so that my hand came on his pocket and I felt a purse inside. I looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging from the pocket, knew that it belonged to the purse. The crowd increased every moment and just then, a camel bearing a load of wood jostled the trooper on the other side and he turned to ward it off from him, lest it should tear his clothes. When I saw this, Satan tempted me; so I pulled the string and drew out a little purse of blue silk, full of something that chinked like money. Hardly had I done so, when the soldier turned and feeling his pocket lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he turned to me and raising his mace, smote me on the head I fell to the ground, whilst the people came round us and seizing the soldier’s horse by the bridle, said to him, ‘Is it because he pushed against thee in the throng, that thou smitest this young man such a blow?’ But he cried out at them and said, ‘This fellow is an accursed thief!’ With this I came to myself and stood up, and the folk looked at me and said, ‘This is a comely youth and would not steal aught.’ Some took part for me and others against me and there was a great clamour, and the people pulled at me and would have rescued me from the trooper; but as Fate would have it, the chief of the police and the captain and officers of the watch entered by the gate at this moment; and the prefect, seeing the crowd about the soldier and myself, enquired what was the matter. ‘O my lord,’ replied the soldier, ‘this fellow is a thief. I had a blue purse in my pocket, containing twenty dinars, and he took it, whilst I was in the crush.’ ‘Was any one else by thee?’ asked the magistrate, and the trooper answered, ‘No.’ Then the prefect cried out to the officers of the watch, who seized me and stripping me by his order, found the purse in my clothes. He took it and found in it twenty dinars, as the soldier had said, whereat he was wroth and calling to the officers to bring me before him, said to me, ‘O young man tell me the truth. Didst thou steal this purse?’ At this I hung down my head and said to myself, ‘It is useless for me to say I did not steal the purse, for they found it in my clothes: and if I confess to the theft, I fall into trouble.’ So I raised my head and said, ‘Yes: I took it.’ When the prefect heard what I said, he wondered and called for witnesses, who came forward and attested by confession. Then he bade the hangman cut off my right hand, and he did so; after which he would have cut off my left foot also; but the trooper took pity on me and interceded for me with the prefect, who left me and went away; whilst the folk remained round me and gave me a cup of wine to drink. As for the trooper, he gave me the purse, saying, ‘Thou art a comely youth, and it befits not that thou be a thief.’ And I repeated the following verses:

  By Allah, trusty brother mine, I am indeed no thief, Nor, O most

  bountiful of men, a highwayman am I.

  But the vicissitudes of fate overthrew me suddenly, And care and

  stress and penury full sorely did me try.

  It was not thou, but God who cast the fatal shaft at me, The

  shaft that made from off my head the crown of honour fly.

  Then he left me, and I went away, after having wrapt my hand in a piece of rag and thrust it into my bosom. I betook me to my mistress’s house, faint and ill at ease and pale by reason of what had befallen me, and threw myself on the couch. She saw that my colour was changed and said to me, ‘What ails thee and why do I see thee thus changed?’ ‘My head irks me,’ answered I; ‘I am not well.’ When she heard this, she was vexed and concerned for me and said to me, ‘Fret not my heart, O my lord! Sit up and raise thy head and let me know what has happened to thee to-day, for thy face tells me a tale.’ ‘Spare me this talk,’ replied I. But she wept and said, ‘Meseems thou art tired of me, for I see that thou art contrary to thy wont.’ But I was silent, and she continued to talk to me, though I made her no answer, till nightfall, when she brought me food: but I refused it, fearing to let her see me eat with my left hand, and said to her, ‘I do not care to eat at present.’ Quoth she ‘Tell me what has befallen thee to-day and what ails thee, that thou art troubled and broken in heart and spirit.’ ‘Presently,’ replied I; ‘I will tell thee at my leisure.’ Then she brought me wine, saying, ‘Take it for it will dispel thy care: thou must indeed drink and tell me what is thy matter with thee.’ ‘Must I tell thee?’ said I; and she answered, ‘Yes.’ Then said I, ‘If it must be so, give me to drink with thine own hand.’ So she filled and drank then filled again and gave me the cup. I took it from her with my left hand and repeated the following verses with tears running from my eyes:

  When God would execute His will in anything On one endowed with

  sight, hearing and reasoning,

  He stops his ears and blinds his eyes and draws his wit From him,

  as one draws out the hairs to paste that cling;

  Till, His decrees fulfilled, He gives him back his wit, That

  therewithal he may receive admonishing.

  At this she gave a loud cry and said to me, ‘What makes thee weep? Thou settest my heart on fire. And what ails thee to take the cup with thy left hand?’ ‘I have a boil on my right hand,’ answered I; and she said, ‘Put it out and I will lance it for thee.’ ‘It is not ripe for lancing,’ answered I; ‘so do not torment me, for I will not show it thee at present.’ Then I drank off the cup, and she plied me with wine till I became drowsy and fell asleep in my place; whereupon she looked at my right arm and saw that it was but a stump without a hand. So she searched me and found the purse of gold and my severed hand wrapt in a piece of rag. With this, there overcame her such grief as none ever knew, and she ceased not to lament for my sake till the morning. When I awoke, I found she had made me a dish of broth of four boiled fowls, which she brought to me, together with a cup of wine. I ate and drank and laying down the purse, would have gone out; but she said to me, ‘Whither goest thou?’ ‘Where my business calls me,’ replied I; and she said, ‘Thou shalt not go: sit down.’ So I sat down, and she said, ‘Has thy love for me brought thee to such a pass, that thou hast wasted thy substance and lost thy hand on my account? Since this is so, I call God to witness against me that I will never part with thee: and thou shalt see the truth of my words.’ Then she sent for the Cadi and the witnesses and said to them, ‘Draw up a contract of marriage between me and this young man and bear witness that I have received the dowry.’ So they drew up our marriage contract, and she said to them, ‘Be witness that all my money that is in this chest and all that belongs to me and all my slaves, male and female, are the property of this young man.’ So they took act of this and withdrew, after having received their fees. Then she took me by the hand and leading me to a closet, opened a large chest and said to me, ‘See what is herein.’ I looked and behold, it was full of handkerchiefs. Quoth she, ‘This is the money I had of thee; for every time thou gavest me a handkerchief, with fifty dinars in it, I wrapped it together and threw it into this chest; so now take thy money, for indeed it returns to thee, and thou to-day art become of high estate. Fate afflicted thee, so that thou didst lose thy right hand for my sake, and I can never requite thee: nay, though I gave my life, it were little and I should still remain thy debtor.’ Then she said to me, ‘Take possession of thy property!’ and transferred the contents of the other chest to that which contained the money I had given her. At this, my heart was gladdened and my grief forsook
me, and I rose and kissed and thanked her. Quoth she, ‘Thou hast lost thy hand for love of me, and how can I requite thee? By Allah, if I gave my life for thy love, it were far short of thy due!’ Then she made over to me by deed all her clothes and jewels and other property and lay not down to sleep that night, being in sore concern on my account, till I told her all that had befallen me. I passed the night with her; but before we had lived together a month’s time, she fell grievously ill and sickness was upon her, by reason of her grief for the loss of my hand; and she endured but fifty days before she was numbered of the folk of the other world. So I laid her in the ground and had recitations of the Koran made over her tomb and gave much money in alms for her; after which I returned to the house and found that she had left much substance in money and houses and lands. Among her storehouses was one full of sesame, whereof I sold part to thee; and it was the fact of my being busied in selling the rest of my goods and all that was in the storehouses, that diverted my attention from thee; nor have I till now made an end of receiving the price. This, then, is the reason of the cutting off of my right hand and of my eating with the left. Now thou shalt not baulk me in what I am about to say, for that I have eaten of thy victual; and it is that I make thee a gift of the money that is in thy hands.” “Indeed,” replied I, “thou hast shown me the utmost kindness and liberality.” Then said he, “Wilt thou journey with me to my native country, whither I am about to return with a lading of Cairo and Alexandria stuffs?” “I will well,” answered I, and appointed with him for the end of the month. So I sold all I had and bought merchandise; then we set out, he and I, and journeyed till we came to this town, where he sold his goods, and buying others in their stead, set out again for Egypt. But it was my lot to abide here, so that there befell me in my strangerhood what befell last night. This, then, is my story, O King of the age. Is it not more marvellous than that of the hunchback?’ ‘Not so,’ answered the King; ‘and needs must you all be hanged.’ Then came forward the controller of the Sultan’s kitchen and said, ‘With thy leave, I will tell thee what happened to me but lately and if it be more marvellous than the story of the hunchback, do thou grant us our lives.’ ‘So be it,’ answered the King. Then said the controller, ‘Know, O King, that

  John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents