One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  I made my wrist her pillow, yea, and lay with her the night, Saying to it, “Be long,” what while the full moon glittered white.

  Ah me, that night! God never did the like thereof create; Its first was sweetness and its last was bitter to my spright.

  Then he kisses her and she kisses him; and I have heard that a certain king, when his wife fell sick and died, buried himself alive with her, submitting of his own accord to death, for the love of her and the strait companionship that was between them. Moreover, a certain king sickened and died, and when they were about to bury him, his wife said to her people, “Let me bury myself alive with him: else will I slay myself and my blood will be on your heads.” So, when they saw she would not be turned from this thing, they left her, and she cast herself into the grave with her dead husband, of the greatness of her love and tenderness over him.’ And she ceased not to ply the princess with anecdotes of [mutual fidelity] between men and women, till there ceased that which was in her heart of aversion to the male sex; and when she saw that she had succeeded in renewing in her [the natural] inclination [of women] to men, she said to her, ‘It is time to go and walk in the garden.’ So they went out and walked among the trees.

  Presently the prince chanced to turn and his eyes fell on Heyat en Nufous; and when he saw the justness of her shape and her rosy cheeks and the blackness of her eyes and her exceeding grace and loveliness and her excelling beauty and elegance and her abounding perfection, his reason was confounded and he could not take his eyes off her. His judgement failed him for passion and love overpassed all limits in him; his entrails were occupied with her service and his heart was aflame with the fire of love- longing, so that he swooned away and fell to the ground senseless. When he came to himself, she had passed from his sight and was hidden from him among the trees; so he sighed from his inmost heart and repeated the following verses:

  Whenas mine eyes her charms beheld, do wonder-excellent, With passion and with love-longing my heart in twain was rent

  And I became forthright o’erthrown, cast down upon the ground, Nor knows the princess that which is with me of languishment.

  She turned and ravished in the act the slave of passion’s heart: By God, have pity on my pain; have pity and relent!

  O Lord, make access near to me, vouchsafe me her I love, Ere to the graveyard I descend and all my life is spent.

  I’ll kiss her half a score of times and ten, and other ten Be on his wasted cheek who’s pined for longing and lament!

  The old woman ceased not to carry the princess about the garden, till she brought her to the place where the prince lay in wait, when she said, ‘O thou whose bounties are hidden, vouchsafe us assurance from that we fear!’ The prince, hearing the signal, left his hiding-place and walked among the trees, swaying to and fro with a proud and graceful gait and a shape that shamed the branches. His brow was pearled with sweat and his cheeks red as the afterglow, extolled be the perfection of God the Supreme in that He hath created! When the princess caught sight of him, she gazed a long while on him and saw his beauty and grace and symmetry and his eyes that wantoned, gazelle- wise, and his shape that outvied the branches of the myrobalan; wherefore her reason was confounded and her soul captivated and her heart transfixed with the arrows of his glances. Then she said to the old woman, ‘O my nurse, whence came yonder handsome youth?’ ‘Where is he, O my lady?’ enquired the nurse. ‘There he is,’ answered Heyat en Nufous; ‘close at hand, among the trees.’ The old woman turned right and left, as if she knew not of his presence, and said, ‘Who can have taught this youth the way into the garden?’ Quoth Heyat en Nufous, ‘Who shall give us news of him? Glory be to Him who created men! Dost thou know him, O my nurse?’ ‘O my lady,’ answered the old woman, ‘he is the young merchant who wrote to thee by me.’ Quoth the princess (and indeed she was drowned in the sea of her desire and the fire of her passion and love-longing), ‘O my nurse, how goodly is this youth! Indeed he is fair of favour. Methinks, there is not on the face of the earth a goodlier than he!’

  When the old woman was assured that the love of him had gotten possession of the princess, she said to her, ‘O my lady, did I not tell thee that he was a comely youth of a bright visage?’ ‘O my nurse,’ replied Heyat en Nufous, ‘kings’ daughters know not the ways of the world nor the manners of those that be therein, for that they company with none, neither give nor take. But how shall I do to present myself to him, and what shall I say to him and what will he say to me?’ ‘What device is left me?’ said the old woman. ‘Indeed, we were confounded in this matter by thy behaviour.’ And the princess said, ‘Know, O my nurse, that if any ever died of passion, I shall do so, and behold, I look for nothing but instant death, by reason of the fire of my love-longing.’ When the old woman heard her words and saw the transport of her passion for him, she answered, saying, ‘O my lady, as for his coming to thee, there is no way thereto; and indeed thou art excused from going to him, because of thy tender age; but follow me and I will accost him. So shalt thou not be put to shame, and in the twinkling of an eye there shall betide familiarity between you.’ ‘Go before me,’ said the princess; ‘for the decree of God may not be averted.’

  So they went up to the place where Ardeshir sat, as he were the moon at its full, and the old woman said to him, ‘See, O youth, who is present before thee! It is the King’s daughter of the age, Heyat en Nufous: bethink thee of her rank and the honour she doth thee in coming to thee and rise and stand before her, out of respect for her.’ The prince sprang to his feet forthright and his eyes met hers, whereupon they both became as they were drunken without wine. Then the love of him and desire redoubled upon the princess and she opened her arms and he his, and they embraced; but love-longing and passion overcame them and they swooned away and lay a great while without sense. The old woman, fearing scandal, carried them b0th into the pavilion and sitting down at the door, said to the two waiting-women, ‘Seize the occasion to take your pleasure in the gardens for the princess sleeps.’ So they returned to their diversion.

  Presently, the lovers recovered from their swoon and found themselves in the pavilion, whereupon quoth the prince, ‘God on thee, O princess of fair ones, is this a dream or an illusion of sleep?’ Then they embraced and intoxicated themselves without wine, complaining each to each of the anguish of passion; and the prince recited the following verses:

  The sun of the day shines out from her forehead’s lambent snow And eke from her cheeks flames forth the red of the afterglow;

  And whenas athwart the veil her charms to the sight appear, The star of the skyline sets for shame and away doth go.

  If lightnings flash from her teeth, in the break of her smiling lips, The veils of the dark are drawn and day through the dusk doth show

  And when with her graceful shape she sways in her swimming gait, The cassia-boughs in the leaf are jealous of her, I trow.

  Her sight is enough for me; I care for no other bliss; To God I commend her, the Lord of the heavens and the earth below!

  The full moon borrows a part of her beauties, and eke the sun To imitate her were fain, but needs must the strife forego.

  For whence should it get her shape and the flexile grace of her gait, And whence should the moon the charms of her mind and her body know?

  So shall reproach it to me, if I’m all in her love absorbed, ‘Twixt discord in her and accord divided, ‘twixt gladness and woe?

  ’Tis she who hath captived my heart with the amorous grace of her port; And what shall the true lover’s heart protect from so charming a foe?

  When he had made an end of these verses, the princess strained him to her bosom and kissed him on the mouth and between the eyes; whereupon life returned to him and he fell to complaining to her of that which he suffered for stress of love and tyranny of passion and excess of transport and distraction and all he had endured for the hardness of her heart. She kissed his hands and feet and unveiled her head, whereupon the darkness gathered and the full moons arose and shone
therein. Then said she to him, ‘O my beloved and the term of my wishes, would the day of estrangement had never been and God grant it may never return between us!’ And they embraced and wept together, whilst she recited the following verses:

  Thou that the full moon sham’st and eke the sun of day, Thou hast unto thy face committed me to slay;

  So with a glance’s sword, that shore the heart, on me It fell; and where shall one from glances flee away?

  Thine eyebrows are a bow, whence at my heart a hunched Arrows of flaming fire and passion and dismay.

  The gathering of thy cheeks is paradise to me: How shall my heart endure from gathering them, I pray?

  Thy graceful-swaying shape is as a flowered branch, From which are gathered fruits, the burden of the spray.

  In love of thee, indeed, I’ve put away restraint: Thou drawest me perforce and mak’st me waken aye.

  God aid thee with the light of splendour and contract The distance and make near the visitation-day!

  Have pity on a heart that’s seared for love of thee And entrails that appeal to thee to be their stay!

  Then passion overcame her and she was distraught for love and wept copious tears, streaming down like rain. This inflamed the prince’s heart and he in turn became troubled and distracted for love of her. So he kissed her hands and wept sore, and they ceased not from tender reproaches and converse and reciting verses, nor was there aught between them other than this, until the call to afternoon prayer, when they bethought them of parting and she said to him, ‘O light of mine eyes and kernel of my heart, the time of parting is come: when shall we meet again?’ ‘By Allah,’ replied he (and indeed her words pierced him as with arrows), ‘I love not the mention of parting!’ Then she went forth of the pavilion, and he turned and saw her sighing sighs that would melt the rock and weeping tears like rain; whereupon he for love was sunken in the sea of desolations and recited the following verses:

  Distraction, O wish of the heart, are anew For love of thee irketh me: how shall I do?

  By thy face, like the dawn when it breaks through the dark, And thy locks, that resemble the night in their hue,

  And thy shape like the branch, when it bends in the breeze And the North wind shakes from it the pearls of the dew,

  And the glance of thine eyes like the antelope’s gaze, That the eyes of the noble and generous ensue,

  And thy waist worn to nought by the weight of thy hips, These so heavy, so slender the other to view;

  By the wine of thy spittle, the sweetest of drink, Pure musk and fresh water, to thee do I sue;

  O gazelle of the tribe, let thine image in sleep Ease my soul of the grief that enforceth it rue!

  When she heard his verses in praise of her, she turned back and embracing him, with a heart on fire for the anguish of parting, fire which nought might assuage save kisses and embraces, said, ‘Quoth the byword, Patience behoves a lover and not the lack of it. And I will surely contrive a means for our reunion.’ Then she bade him adieu and went away, knowing not where she set her feet, for stress of love; nor did she stay her steps till she found herself in her own chamber. When she was gone, passion and love-longing redoubled upon the prince and the delight of sleep was forbidden to him, whilst she in her turn tasted not food and her patience failed and her heart sickened for desire.

  As soon as it was day, she sent for her nurse, who came and found her in sorry plight. Quoth the princess, ‘Question me not of my case; for all I suffer is due to thee. Where is the beloved of my heart?’ ‘O my lady,’ answered the old woman, ‘when did he leave thee? Hath he been absent from thee more than this night?’ ‘Can I endure from him an hour?’ rejoined Heyat en Nufous. ‘Come, find some means to bring us together speedily, for my soul is like to depart [my body].’ ‘O my lady,’ said the old woman, ‘have patience till I contrive thee some subtle device, whereof none shall be ware.’ ‘By the Great God,’ cried the princess, ‘except thou bring him to me this very day, I will tell the King that thou hast corrupted me, and he will cut of thy head!’ Quoth the nurse, ‘I conjure thee, by Allah, have patience with me, for this is a dangerous matter!’ And she humbled herself to her, till she granted her three days’ delay, saying, ‘O my nurse, the three days will be as three years to me; and if the fourth day pass and thou bring him not, I will go about to slay thee.’

  The old woman left her and returned to her lodging, where she abode till the morning of the fourth day, when she summoned the tirewomen of the town and sought of them fine paint and dyes for the painting and adorning of a virgin girl, and they brought her cosmetics of the best. Then she sent for the prince and bringing forth of her chest a suit of woman’s apparel, worth five thousand dinars, and a kerchief fringed with all manner jewels, said to him ‘O my son, hast thou a mind to foregather with Heyat en Nufous?’ ‘Yes,’ answered he. So she took a pair of tweezers and pulled out the hairs of his face and anointed his eyes with kohl. Then she stripped him and painted him with henna from his nails to his shoulders and from his insteps to his thighs and tattooed him about the body, till he was like red roses on tables of alabaster. After a little, she washed him and dried him and bringing out a shift and a pair of trousers, made him put them on. Then she clad him in the dress aforesaid and binding the kerchief about his head, veiled him and taught him how to walk, saying, ‘Advance thy left and draw back thy right.’ He did as she bade him and walked before her, as he were a houri escaped from Paradise. Then said she to him, ‘Fortify thy heart, for we are going to the King’s palace, where there will without fail be guards and eunuchs at the gate; and if thou take fright at them and show hesitation or fear, they will suspect thee and examine thee, and we shall both lose our lives: wherefore an thou feel thyself unable to do this, tell me.’ ‘This thing hath no terrors for me,’ answered he; ‘so take courage and be of good cheer.’

  Then she went out and he followed her, till they came to the gate of the palace which was full of eunuchs. She turned and looked at him, to see if he were troubled or no, and finding him unchanged, went on. The chief eunuch looked at the nurse and knew her, but seeing a damsel following her, whose charms confounded the reason, he said in himself, ‘As for the old woman, she is the nurse; but who is the girl with her? There is none in our land resembleth her in favour or approacheth her in beauty save the princess Heyat en Nufous, who is cloistered and never goeth out. Would I knew how she came into the street and whether or no it was by leave of the King!’ Then he rose to discover the matter and nigh thirty eunuchs followed him; which when the old woman saw, her reason fled for fear and she said, ‘There is no power and no virtue, save in God! Verily, we are God’s and to Him we return! Without doubt we are dead folk this time.’ When the chief eunuch heard her say this, fear gat hold upon him, by reason of that which he knew of the princess’s violence and that her father was ruled by her, and he said in himself, ‘Belike the King hath commanded the nurse to carry his daughter forth upon some occasion of hers, whereof she would have none know; and if I stop her, she will be wroth with me and will say, “This fellow stopped me, that he might pry into my affairs.’ So she will go about to kill me, and I have no call to meddle in this matter.’

  So saying, he turned back, and the thirty eunuchs with him, and drove the people from the door of the palace; whereupon the nurse entered and saluted the eunuchs with her head, whilst they stood to do her honour and returned her salutation. The prince followed her from door to door, and [God] the Protector protected them, so that they passed all the guards, till they came to the seventh door, which was that of the great pavilion, wherein was the King’s throne, and communicated with the apartments of his women and the saloons of the harem, as well as with his daughter’s palace. Here the old woman halted and said, ‘Glory be to God, O my son, who hath brought us thus far in safety! We cannot foregather with the princess except by night; for night covers the fearful.’ ‘True,’ answered he; ‘but what is to be done?’ Quoth she, ‘Behind the door is a dark and deep cistern, with a cover theret
o, wherein thou must hide thyself till nightfall.’ So he entered the cistern, and she went away and left him there till ended day, when she returned and carried him into the palace, till they came to the door of Heyat en Nufous’s apartment. The old woman knocked at the door and a little maid came out and said, ‘Who is there?’ ‘It is I,’ answered the nurse; whereupon the maid returned and told the princess, who said, ‘Let her enter, with her companion.’

  So they entered and found that the princess had made ready the sitting-chamber and ranged the lamps and lighted candles of wax in chandeliers of gold and silver and spread the divans and estrades with carpets and cushions. Moreover, she had set on food and fruits and confections and perfumed the place with musk and aloes-wood and ambergris. She was seated among the candles and the lamps, and the light of her face outshone the lustre of them all. When she saw the old woman, she said to her, ‘O nurse, where is the beloved of my heart?’ ‘O my lady,’ answered she, ‘I cannot find him ; but I have brought thee his own sister; and here she is.’ ‘Art thou mad?’ exclaimed the princess. ‘What need have I of his sister? If a man’s head irk him, doth he bind up his hand?’ ‘No, by Allah, O my lady!’ replied the old woman. ‘But look on her, and if she please thee, let her be with thee.’ So saying, she uncovered the prince’s face, whereupon Heyat en Nufous knew him and running to him) pressed him to her bosom, and he pressed her to his. Then they both fell down in a swoon and lay without sense a long while. The old woman sprinkled rose-water upon them, till they came to themselves, when she kissed him on the mouth more than a thousand times and recited these verses:

  My heart’s belov’d in the darkness visited me; I rose in honour of him, till down sat he.

  “O thou my only desire,” quoth I, “by night Thou dost me visit nor fearest the guards should see!”