One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Thereupon Gherib rose and kissed the earth, saying, “O, King of the age, thou art a king and I am but a poor man, and belike thou wilt ask a heavy dowry.’ ‘O my son,’ replied the King, ‘know that Khired Shah, lord of Shiraz, seeks her in marriage and hath appointed a hundred thousand dinars to her dower; but I have chosen thee before all men, that I may make thee the shield of my kingship and the sword of my vengeance.’ Then he turned to his chief officers and said to them, ‘Bear witness against me that I give my daughter Fekhr Taj in marriage to my son Gherib.’ With that he joined hands with him and she became his wife. Then said Gherib, ‘Appoint me a dower and I will bring it to thee, for I have in the Castle of Sasa wealth and treasures beyond count.’ ‘O my son,’ answered Sabour, ‘I want of thee neither gold nor treasure and I will take nothing for her dower save the head of Jemrcan, King of Desht and the city of Ahwaz.’ ‘O King of the age,’ rejoined Gherib, ‘I will fetch my people and go to thine enemy and lay waste his realm.’ Quoth Sabour, ‘May God requite thee with good!’ and dismissed the assembly, thinking that, if Gherib went forth against Jemrcan, be would never return.

  Next morning, the King mounted with Gherib and all his troops and rode forth to the tilting-ground, where he said to his men, ‘Do ye tilt with spears and gladden my heart.’ So the Persian cavaliers tilted, one against the other, and Gherib said, ‘O King of the age, I have a mind to tilt with the horsemen of the Persians, but on one condition.’ ‘What is that?’ asked the King. ‘It is,’ answered Gherib, ‘that I shall don a light tunic and take a headless spear, with a pennon dipped in saffron, whilst the Persians tilt against me with sharp spears. If any conquer me, I will give myself to him; but, if I conquer him, I will mark him on the breast and he shall leave the lists.’ Then the King cried to the commander of the troops to bring forward the champions of the Persians; so he chose out twelve hundred of his stoutest champions, and the King said to them, in the Persian tongue, ‘Whoso slayeth this Bedouin may ask of me what he will.’ So they strove with each other for the precedence and advanced upon Gherib and truth was distinguished from falsehood and jest from earnest. Quoth Gherib, ‘I put my trust in God, the God of Abraham the Friend, Who hath power over all and from whom nothing is hidden, the One, the Almighty, whom the sight comprehendeth not!’

  Then a giant of the Persian champions pricked out to him, but Gherib let him not stand long before him ere he marked him and filled his breast with saffron, and as he turned away, he smote him on the nape with [the butt of] his spear, and he fell to the ground and his pages carried him forth of the lists. Then a second champion came forth against him and he overcame him and marked him on the breast; and thus did he with champion after champion, till he had overcome them all and marked them on the breast; for God the Most High gave him the victory over them and they went forth of the lists. Then the servants set food before them and they ate and drank till Gherib’s wits were dazed. By and by, he went out upon an occasion and would have returned, but lost his way and entered the palace of Fekhr Taj. When she saw him, her reason fled and she cried out to her women, saying, ‘Go to your own places!’ So they withdrew and she rose and kissed Gherib’s hand, saying, ‘Welcome to my lord, who delivered me from the Ghoul! Indeed I am thine handmaid for ever.’ Then she drew him to her bed and embraced him, whereupon desire was hot upon him and he broke her seal and lay with her till the morning. Now the King thought that he had departed; but on the morrow he went in to him and Sabour rose to him and made him sit by his side.

  Then entered the [tributary] kings and kissing the earth, stood on either hand and fell to talking of Gherib’s valour and saying, ‘Extolled be He who gave him such prowess, and he so young in years!’ As they were thus engaged, the King espied from the palace-windows the dust of horse approaching and cried out to his scouts, saying, ‘Out on you! Go and bring me news of yonder dust!’ So one of them took horse and riding off, returned after awhile and said, ‘O King, this is the dust of a hundred horse, and the name of their chief is Sehim el Leil.’ Quoth Gherib, ‘O my lord, this is my brother, whom I had sent on an errand, and I will go forth to meet him.’ So saying, he mounted, with his hundred men of the Benou Kehtan and a thousand Persians, and rode forth to meet his brother in great state, [that is to say if greatness may be attributed to the creature] for [real] greatness belongeth to God alone. When they came up with each other, they dismounted and embraced, and Gherib said to Sehim, ‘O my brother, hast thou brought our tribe to the Castle of the Ghoul of the Mountain and the Valley of Flowers?’ ‘O my brother,’ answered Sehim, ‘when the perfidious dog Merdas heard that thou hadst mastered the Ghoul of the Mountain and his stronghold, he was sore chagrined and said, “Except I depart hence, Gherib will come and take my daughter Mehdiyeh without dower.” So he took his daughter and his goods and set out with his tribe for Irak, where he entered the city of Cufa and put himself under the protection of King Agib, seeking to give him his daughter to wife.’ When Gherib heard his brother’s story, he well-nigh gave up the ghost for rage and said, ‘By the virtue of the faith of submission, the faith of Abraham the Friend, and by the Supreme Lord, I will assuredly go to the land of Irak and make fierce war upon it.’

  Then they returned to the city and going in to the King, kissed the earth before him. He rose to Gherib and saluted Sehim; after which the former told him what had happened and he put ten captains at his command, under each one’s hand ten thousand horse of the stoutest of the Persians and the Arabs, who equipped themselves and were ready to depart at the end of three days. Then Gherib set out and journeyed till he reached the Castle of Sasa, where the Ghoul and his sons came forth to meet him and dismounting, kissed his feet in the stirrups. He told them all that had passed and the Ghoul said, ‘O my lord, do thou abide in this castle, whilst I repair to Irak with my sons and servants and lay waste town and hamlet and bring thee all its defenders bound hand and foot.’ But Gherib thanked him and said, ‘O Saadan, we will all go.’ So they all made ready and set out for Irak, leaving a thousand horse to guard the castle.

  Meanwhile, Merdas arrived at the city of Cufa and going in to Agib, kissed the earth before him and wished him what is usually wished to kings. Then he made him a handsome present, saying, ‘O my lord, I come to throw myself on thy protection.’ ‘Tell me who hath wronged thee,’ answered Agib, ‘that I may protect thee against him, though it were Sabour, King of the Persians and Turco mans and Medes.’ ‘O King,’ replied Merdas, ‘he who bath wronged me is none other than a youth whom I reared in my bosom. I found him in his mother’s lap in a certain valley and took her to wife. She brought me a son, whom I named Sehim el Leil, and her own son, whose name was Gherib, grew up on my knees and became a consuming lightning and a great calamity, for he slew El Hemel, prince of the Benou Nebhan, and routed footmen and overcame horsemen. Now I have a daughter, who befits thee alone, and he sought her of me; so I required of him the head of the Ghoul of the Mountain [to her dowry;] wherefore he went to him and engaging him in single combat, made him prisoner and took the castle of Sasa ben Shith ben Sheddad ben Aad, wherein are the treasures of the ancients and the moderns, and the Ghoul is become one of his liegemen. Moreover, I hear that he is become a Muslim and goeth about, summoning the folk to his faith. He is now gone to carry the princess of Persia, whom he delivered from the Ghoul, back to her father, King Sabour, and will not return but with the treasures of the Persians.’

  When Agib heard Merdas’s story, he changed colour and was in ill case and made sure of destruction; then he said to Merdas, ‘Is his mother with thee or with him?’ ‘She is with me,’ answered Merdas; ‘in my tents.’ Quoth Agib, ‘What is her name?’ and Merdas said, ‘Her name is Nusreh.’ ‘It is indeed she,’ rejoined Agib and sent for her. When she came before him, he looked on her and knew her and said to her, ‘O accursed woman, where are the two slaves I sent with thee?’ ‘They slew each other on my account,’ replied she; whereupon he drew his sword and smote her and cut her in twain. Then they took her up and c
ast her out; but trouble entered into Agib’s heart and he said to Merdas, ‘Give me thy daughter to wife.’ ‘She is one of thine handmaids,’ answered he; ‘I give her to thee to wife, and I am thy slave.’ Quoth Agib, ‘I desire to look upon this whoreson, Gherib, that I may make an end of him and cause him taste all manner of torments.’ Then he bade give Merdas, to his daughter’s dowry, thirty thousand dinars and a hundred pieces of silk fringed and brocaded with gold and a hundred pieces of bordered stuffs and handkerchiefs and collars of gold. So he went forth with this splendid dowry and set himself to equip Mehdiyeh with all diligence.

  Meanwhile, Gherib fared on till he came to El Jezireh, which is the first town of Irak and is a walled and fortified city, and here he called a halt. When the people of the city saw his army encamp before it, they shut the gates and manned the walls, then went to the king of the city, who was called Damigh for that he used to brain the champions in the open field, and told him. So he looked forth from the battlements of the palace and seeing an immense army of Persians encamped before the city, said to the citizens, ‘O folk, what do yonder Persians want?’ ‘We know not,’ answered they.

  Now Damigh had among his officers a man called Sebul-kifar, keen of wit and subtle as he were a flame of fire; so he called him and bade him go to the stranger host and find out who they were and what they wanted and return quickly. Accordingly, he sped like the wind to the Persian camp, where a company of Arabs met him and said to him, ‘Who art thou and what dost thou want?’ Quoth he, ‘I am a messenger and an ambassador from the lord of the city to your chief.’ So they took him and carried him through the lines of tents and standards, till they came to Gherib’s pavilion and told him of the envoy. He bade them bring him in and they did so, whereupon he kissed the earth before Gherib and wished him length of days and honour. Quoth Gherib, ‘What is thine errand?’ and Sebulkifar answered, saying, ‘I am an envoy from the lord of the city of Jezireh, Damigh, brother of King Kundemir, lord of the city of Cufa and the land of Irak.’ When Gherib heard his father’s name, the tears ran from his eyes and he looked at the messenger and said, ‘What is thy name?’ ‘My name is Sebulkifar,’ answered he. ‘O Sebulkifar,’ said Gherib, ‘return to thy master and tell him that the commander of this host is called Gherib, son of Kundemir, King of Cufa, whom his son Agib slew, and he is come to avenge his father on the perfidious dog Agib.’

  So Sebulkifar returned to the city, rejoicing, and told Damigh all he had heard. The latter thought himself in a dream and said to the messenger, ‘O Sebulkifar, is this thou tellest me true?’ ‘ As thy head liveth,’ replied Sebulkifar, ‘it is true.’ Then Damigh took horse forthright with his chief officers and rode out to the camp, where Gherib met him and they embraced and saluted one another; after which Gherib carried him to his pavilion and they sat down on beds of estate. And Damigh rejoiced in Gherib, his brother’s son, and turning to him, said, ‘I also have yearned to avenge thy father, but could not avail against the dog thy brother; for that his troops are many and mine few.’ ‘O uncle,’ replied Gherib, ‘I am come to avenge my father and blot out our reproach and rid the realm of Agib.’ Quoth Damigh, ‘O son of my brother, thou hast two wreaks to take, that of thy father and that of thy mother.’ ‘And what ails my mother?’ asked Gherib. ‘Thy brother Agib hath slain her,’ replied Damigh and told him what had befallen, whereupon Gherib’s reason fled and he swooned away and came nigh upon death. No sooner did he come to himself than he cried out to the troops, saying, ‘To horse!’ But Damign said to him, ‘O son of my brother, wait till I make ready mine estate and mount with my men and fare with thee and at thy stirrup.’ ‘O uncle,’ replied Gherib, ‘I have no patience to wait; do thou equip thy troops and join me at Cufa.’

  So Gherib mounted with his troops and rode, till he came to the town of Babel, whose folk took fright at him. Now there was in this town a king called Jemek, under whose hand were twenty thousand horsemen, and there gathered themselves together to him from the villages [round about] other fifty thousand horse, who pitched their tents under the walls of the city. Then Gherib wrote a letter and sent it to King Jemek by a messenger, who came up to the city-gate and cried out, saying, ‘I am a messenger;’ whereupon the keeper of the gate went in and told Jemek, who said, ‘Bring him to me.’ So the messenger entered and kissing the earth before the King, gave him the letter. Jemek opened it and read as follows: ‘Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds and of all things, Who provideth all creatures and hath power over all! These from Gherib, son of Kundemir, lord of Irak and Cufa, to Jemek. As soon as this letter reaches thee, let not thy reply be other than to break thine idols and confess the unity of the All-knowing King, Creator of light and darkness and of all things, the All-powerful; and except thou do as I bid thee, I will make this day the blackest of thy days. Peace be on those who follow in the way of righteousness, fearing the issues of frowardness, and obey the Most High King, Lord of this world and the next, Him who saith to a thing, “Be;” and it is’

  When Jemek read this letter, his eyes rolled and his colour changed and he cried out to the messenger, saying, ‘Go to thy lord and say to him, “To-morrow, at daybreak there shall be battle and conflict and it shall appear who is the master.”’ So he returned and told Gherib, who bade his men make ready for battle, whilst Jemek pitched his tents in face of Gherib’s camp and his troops poured forth like the swollen sea and passed the night in expectation of battle. As soon as it was day, the two hosts mounted and drew up in battle array and beat their drums and spurred their swift horses, filling the plains; and the champions came out.

  The first who sallied forth to the field was the Ghoul of the Mountain, bearing on his shoulder a terrible big tree, and he cried out between the two hosts, saying, ‘I am Saadan the Ghoul: who is for fighting, who is for jousting? Let no sluggard or weakling come forth to me.’ And he called out to his slaves, saying, ‘Out on you! Bring me firewood and fire, for I am hungry.’ So the slaves brought firewood and kindled a fire midmost the lists. Then there came out to him a man of the infidels, an Amalekite of the unbelieving Amalekites, bearing on his shoulder a mace as it were the mast of a ship, and drove at the Ghoul, saying, ‘Woe to thee, O Saadan!’ When the Ghoul heard this, be was angered and raising his club, aimed at the infidel a blow, that whistled through the air. The other met the stroke with his mace, but it beat down his guard and descending with its own weight and that of the mace upon his head, beat in his brain-pan, and he fell like a great palm-tree; whereupon Saadan cried to his slaves, saying, ‘Take this fat calf and roast him quickly.’ So they hastened to skin the infidel and roasted him and brought him to the Ghoul, who ate his flesh and crunched his bones.

  When the infidels saw how Saadan did with their fellow, their skins quaked and their colour changed and their hearts died within them and they said to one another, ‘Whoso goeth out against this Ghoul, he eats him and cracks his bones and maketh him to lack the wind of the world.’ Wherefore they quailed for fear of the Ghoul and his sons and turned to fly, making for the town; but Gherib cried out to his troops, saying, ‘Up and after them!’ So the Persians and the Arabs drove after the King of Babel and his host and smote them with the sword, till they slew of them twenty thousand or more. Moreover, the fugitives crowded together in the gate of the city and there they slew of them much people; and they could not win to shut the gate. So the Persians and the Arabs entered with them, fighting, and Saadan, taking a mace from one of the slain, fought his way through the foe and broke into the King’s palace, where be met with Jemek and smote him with the mace, that he fell senseless to the ground. Then he fell upon those who were in the palace and pounded them into fragments, till those who were left cried out for quarter and Saadan said to them, ‘Bind your king.’ So they bound Jemek and took him up, and Saadan drove them before him like sheep and brought them before Gherib, after the most part of the people of the city had perished by the swords of the latter’s host.

  When Jemek came to himself, he found himself bo
und and heard Saadan say, ‘I will sup to-night off this king Jemek;’ whereupon he turned to Gherib and said to him, ‘I throw myself on thy mercy.’ ‘Become a Muslim,’ replied Gherib, ‘and thou shalt be safe from the Ghoul and from the vengeance of the Living [God] who ceaseth not.’ So Jemek professed Islam with heart and tongue and Gherib commanded his bonds to be loosed. Then he expounded the faith to his people and they all became Muslims; after which Jemek returned to the city and despatched thence meat and drink to the camp before Babel, where they passed the night. On the morrow, Gherib gave the signal for departure and they fared on till they came to Meyya Farikin, which they found empty, for its people had heard what had befallen Babel and had fled to Cufa and told Agib. When the latter heard the news, his gorge rose and he assembled his fighting men and bade them make ready to do battle with his brother’s host; after which he numbered them and found them thirty thousand horse and ten thousand foot. So he levied other fifty thousand horse and foot and taking horse with a mighty host, rode forward five days, till he came upon his brother’s army encamped before Mosul and pitched his tent in face of theirs.

  Then Gherib wrote a letter and said to his officers, ‘Which of you will carry this letter to Agib?’ Whereupon up sprang Sehim and said, ‘O King of the age, I will carry thy letter and bring thee back an answer.’ So Gherib gave him the letter and he repaired to the pavilion of Agib, who bade admit him and said to him, ‘Whence comest thou?’ ‘From the King of the Arabs and the Persians,’ answered Sehim, ‘son-in-law of Chosroës, King of the world, who sendeth thee a letter; so do thou return him an answer.’ ‘Give me the letter,’ said Agib. So Sehim gave him the letter and he tore it open and read as follows: ‘In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful! Peace be on Abraham the Friend! As soon as this letter comes to thy hands, do thou confess the unity of the Bountiful King, Causer of causes and Mover of the clouds, and leave worshipping idols. If thou do this thing, thou art my brother and ruler over us and I will pardon thee the deaths of my father and mother, nor will I reproach thee with what thou hast done. But if thou obey not my commandment, behold, I will hasten to thee and cut off thy head and lay waste thy dominions. Verily, I give thee good counsel, and peace be on those who follow in the way of righteousness and obey the Most High King!’