One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Now, by your life, my heart may not ‘gainst severance endure, Though certain ruin union were and sure discomfiture!

  ‘To-morrow,’ quoth your wraith to me, ‘reunion shall betide;’ And who to-morrow, ‘spite the foe, shall life to me ensure?

  Nay, since your parting-day, my lords, I swear it by your life, No sweet of life delighteth me; all pleasance I abjure;

  And if God order that I die for love of you, I die Chiefest of all the martyrs slain of love unblest and pure.

  Within my heart a fawn hath made her grazing-stead, whose form, Like sleep, hath bed mine eyes and nought can back to me allure.

  If she in lists of law deny the shedding of my blood, Lo, in her cheeks against herself it beareth witness sure.

  When Nour el Huda was certified that the little ones were indeed Hassan’s children and that her sister, the princess Menar es Sena, was his wife, of whom he was come in quest, she was beyond measure enraged against her and railed at Hassan and reviled him and kicked him in the breast, so that he fell on his back in a swoon. Then she cried out at him, saying, ‘Arise, fly for thy life! But that I swore no evil should betide thee from me, if thy story proved true, I would slay thee with mine own hand forthright!’ And she cried out at the old woman, who fell on her face for fear, and said to her, ‘By Allah, but that I am loath to break the oath that I swore, I would put both thee and him to death after the foulest fashion!’ [Then, turning to Hassan,] ‘Arise,’ [added she,] ‘go out from before me in safety and return to thine own country, for I swear by my fortune. if ever mine eye behold thee or if any bring thee in to me after this, I will smite of thy head and that of whoso bringeth thee!’ Then she cried out to her officers, saying, ‘Put him out from before me!’ So they put him out; and when he came to himself, he recited the following verses:

  You’re far away, yet to my thought you’re nearest of all folk; You’re absent, yet within my heart for evermore you dwell.

  By Allah, ne’er have I inclined to other than to you! I’ve borne with patience the unright of fortune foul and fell.

  My nights in love-longing for you for ever pass and end, And in my Heart a flame there is and raging fires of hell.

  Severance I ne’er could brook an hour; so how, now months have passed O’er me estranged from her I love, can I my sufferings tell?

  Jealous of every lightest breeze that blew on thee was I, Exceeding jealous, yea, of aught the tender fair befell.

  Then he once more fell down in a swoon, and when he came to himself, he found himself without the palace, whither they had dragged him on his face. (Now this was grievous to Shewahi; but she dared not remonstrate with the queen by reason of the violence of her wrath.) So he rose, stumbling in his skirts and hardly crediting his escape from Nour el Huda, and went forth, distracted and knowing not whither to go. The world, for all its wideness, was straitened upon him and he found none to comfort him nor any to whom he might resort for counsel or refuge; wherefore he gave himself up for lost, for that he availed not to journey [to his own country] and knew none to travel with him, neither knew he the way [thither] nor might pass through the Valley of Jinn and the Land of Beasts and the Island of Birds. So he bewept himself, till he fainted, and when he revived, he bethought him of his children and his wife and of that which might befall her with her sister, repenting him of having come to those parts and hearkened to none, and recited the following verses:

  Let mine eyes weep for loss of her I love, with tears like rain: Rare is my solace and my woes increase on me amain.

  The cup of severance unmixt I’ve drunken to the dregs. Wbo shall avail the loss of friends and dear ones to sustain?

  Ye spread the carpet of reproach ‘twixt me and you; ah when, O carpet of reproach, wilt thou be folded up again?

  I wake; ye sleep. If ye pretend that I’ve forgot your love, Lo, I’ve forgotten to forget, and solace all is vain.

  Indeed, my heart is racked with love and longing for your sight And you the only leaches are can heal me of my pain.

  See ye not what is fall’n on me through your abandonment? I am abased to high and low, because of your disdain.

  Fain would I hide my love for you: longing discovers it, For burnt and seared with passion’s fires are all my heart and brain.

  Have ruth on me, compassionate my case, for still to keep Our plighted faith in secrecy and trust I have been fain.

  Will fortune reunite me aye with you, my heart’s desire, You unto whom my soul cleaves still, bound fast with many a chain?

  My entrails ulcerated are with separation’s pangs: Would God with tidings from your camp to favour us you’d deign!

  Then he went on, till he came without the city, where he found the river and fared on along its bank, knowing not whither he went.

  To return to his wife, Menar es Sena. As she was about to set out, on the second day after the departure of the old woman with her children, there came in to her one of the king her father’s chamberlains and kissed the earth before her, saying, ‘O princess, the king thy father salutes thee and bids thee to him.’ So she rose and accompanied the chamberlain to her father, who made her sit by his side on the couch, and said to her, ‘O my daughter, know that I have had a dream this night, which maketh me fear for thee and that long sorrow will betide thee from this thy journey.’ ‘How so, O my father,’ asked she, ‘and what didst thou see in thy dream?’ Quoth he, ‘I dreamt that I entered a hidden treasure, wherein was great store of jewels and jacinths and other riches; but meseemed nought pleased of all this me save seven beazels, which were the finest things there. I chose out one of the seven jewels, for it was the smallest and finest and most lustrous of them and its beauty pleased me; so I took it in my hand and went forth. When I came without the door of the treasure, I opened my hand and turned over the jewel, rejoicing, when, behold, there swooped down on me out of the sky a strange bird from a far land (for it was not of the birds of our country), and snatching it from my hand, returned with it whence it came. Whereupon grief and concern and vexation overcame me and exceeding chagrin, which troubled me so that I awoke, mourning and lamenting for the loss of the jewel. So I summoned the interpreters and expounders of dreams and related to them my dream, and they said to me, “Thou hast seven daughters, the youngest of whom thou wilt lose, and she will be taken from thee perforce, without thy consent.” Now thou art the youngest and dearest of my daughters and the most loving of them to me, and thou art about to journey to thy sister, and I know not what may befall thee from her; so go thou not, but return to thy palace.’

  When the princess heard her father’s words, her heart fluttered and she feared for her children and bent her head awhile. Then she raised it and said to him, ‘O King, Queen Nour el Huda hath made ready for me an entertainment and looks for my coming to her, hour by hour. She hath not seen me these four years and if I delay to visit her, she will be wroth with me. The most of my stay with her will be a month and then I will return to thee. Besides, who is there can travel our land and make his way to the Wac Islands? Who can avail to reach the White Country and the Black Mountain and come to the Land of Camphor and the Castle of Crystal, and how shall he traverse the Island of Birds and the Land of Beasts and the Valley of Jinn and enter our islands? If any stranger came hither, he would be drowned in the seas of destruction: so be of good heart and cheerful eye concerning my journey; for none may avail to tread our earth.’ And she ceased not to persuade him, till he gave her leave to go and bade a thousand horse escort her to the river and abide there, till she entered her sister’s city and palace [and returned to them], when they should take her and carry her back to him. Moreover, he charged her sojourn with her sister two days [only] and return to him in haste; and she answered, ‘I hear and obey.’ Then she went forth and he with her and bade her farewell.

  Now his words had sunken deep into her heart and she feared for her children; but it availeth not to fortify oneself by caretaking against the assaults of destiny. So she set out and fared on diligentl
y three days, till she came to the river and pitched her tents on its banks. Then she crossed the stream, with some of her officers and attendants, and going up to the city and the palace, went in to Queen Nour el Huda, with whom she found her children, and they were weeping and crying out, ‘O our father!’ At this, the tears ran from her eyes and she wept and strained them to her bosom, saying, ‘What put you in mind of your father at this time? Would the hour had never been, in which I left him! If I knew him to be in the house of the world, I would carry you to him.’ Then she bemoaned herself and her husband and her children’s weeping and recited these verses:

  Distance despite, belovéd mine, and inhumanity, I turn to you with yearning love, wherever you may be.

  Mine eyes towards your country turn and all my heart bewails The days of union, when in love and peace foregathered we.

  How many a night in mutual love, unstirred by doubt, we spent, What while caresses and fair faith delighted you and me!

  When her sister saw her press her children to her bosom, saying, ‘It is I who have wrought thus with myself and my children and have ruined my own house!’ she saluted her not, but said to her, ‘O harlot, whence hadst thou these children? Hast thou married without thy father’s knowledge or hast thou committed fornication? If thou have played the whore, it behoves that thou be exemplarily punished; and if thou have married without our knowledge, why didst thou leave thy husband and sever thy children from their father and bring them hither? Thou hast hidden thy children from us. Thinkest thou we know not of this? God the Most High, He who knoweth the secret things, hath made known to us thy case and discovered thy shame.’

  Then she bade her guards seize her and bind her hands behind her and shackle her with shackles of iron. So they did as she commanded and she beat her grievously, that her skin was torn, and crucified her by the hair; after which she cast her in prison and wrote the king her father a letter acquainting him with her case and saying, ‘There hath appeared in our country a man, a mortal, by name Hassan, and our sister Menar es Sena avoucheth that she is lawfully married to him and hath by him two sons, whom she hath hidden from us and thee; nor did she discover aught of herself till there came to us this man and informed us that he married her and she abode with him a long while; after which she took her children and departed, without his knowledge, after bidding his mother tell her son, whenas longing betided him, to come to her in the Wac Islands. So we laid hands on the man and sent the old woman Shewahi to fetch her and her children, enjoining her to bring us the children in advance of her. And she did so, whilst Menar es Sena equipped herself, and set out to visit me.

  When the children were come, I sent for Hassan, and he knew them and they him; wherefore I was certified that they were indeed his children and that she was his wife and that his story was true and he was not to blame, but that the blame and disgrace rested with my sister. Now I feared the soiling of our honour before the people of our islands; so, when this lewd traitress came in to me, I was incensed against her and beat her grievously and crucified her by the hair and cast her into prison. Behold, I have acquainted thee with her case and it is thine to command, and that thou orderest us, we will do. Thou knowest that in this affair is dishonour and disgrace to us and to thee, and belike the people of the islands will hear of it, and we shall become a byword amongst them; wherefore it befits that thou return us an answer with speed.’

  Then she delivered the letter to a courier and he carried it to the king, who, when he read it, was exceeding wroth with his daughter Menar es Sena and wrote to Nour el Huda, saying, ‘I commit her case to thee and give thee power over her life; so, if the thing be as thou sayest, put her to death, without consulting me.’ When the queen received her father’s letter, she sent for Menar es Sena and they brought her, drowned in her blood and pinioned with her hair, fettered with heavy shackles of iron and clad in hair-cloth; and she stood before her, abject and cast down. When she saw herself in this condition of humiliation and exceeding abasement, she called to mind her former high estate and wept sore and recited the following verses:

  O Lord, my foes do cast about to slay me and conceive I cannot anywise escape from out the snares they weave.

  But, lo, in Thee I put my trust, their works to bring to nought; For Thou the fearful’s refuge art, the hope of those that grieve.

  Then she wept, till she fell down in a swoon, and presently coming to herself, repeated the following verses:

  Troubles familiar with my heart are grown and I with them, Erst shunning; for the generous are sociable still.

  Not one mere kind alone of woe doth lieger with me lie; Praised be God! There are with me thousands of kinds of ill.

  And also these:

  Full many a sorry chance doth light upon a man and fill His life with trouble; yet with God the issue bideth still.

  His case is sore on him; but, when its meshes straitened are To utt’rest, they relax, although he deem they never will.

  Then the queen sent for a ladder of wood and made the eunuchs bind her with cords thereto, on her back, with her arms spread out; after which she uncovered her head and wound her hair about the ladder; for pity for her was rooted out from her heart. When Menar es Sena saw herself in this state of abjection and humiliation, she cried out and wept; but none succoured her. Then said she to the queen, ‘O my sister, how is thy heart hardened against me? Hast thou no mercy on me nor on these little children?’ But her words only hardened her sister’s heart and she reviled her, saying, ‘O wanton! O harlot! May God have no mercy on whoso hath mercy on thee! How should I have pity on thee, O traitress?’ ‘I appeal to the Lord of the Heavens,’ replied Menar es Sena, ‘concerning that wherewith thou reproached me and whereof I am innocent! By Allah, I have done no whoredom, but am lawfully married to him, and my Lord knoweth if I speak truth or not! Indeed, my heart is wroth with thee, by reason of thine excessive hard-heartedness against me! How canst thou accuse me of harlotry, without knowledge? But my Lord will deliver me from thee and if that whereof thou accusest me be true, may He punish me for it!’ Quoth Nour el Huda, ‘How darest thou bespeak me thus?’ and beat her till she swooned away; whereupon they sprinkled water on her till she revived; and indeed her charms were wasted for excess of beating and humiliation and the straitness of her bonds. Then she recited these verses:

  If I’ve in aught offended against you Or anywise done that I should not do,

  To you, repentant for what’s past, I come And as a suppliant, for forgiveness sue.

  When Nour el Huda heard this, her wrath redoubled and she said to her, ‘O harlot, wilt thou speak before me in verse and seek to excuse thyself for the heinous sin, thou hast done? It was my desire that thou shouldst return to thy husband, that I might witness thy depravity and assurance; for thou gloriest in thy lewdness and profligacy and the heinousness of thy conduct.’ Then she called for a palm-stick and tucking up her sleeves, beat her from head to foot; after which she called for a whip of plaited thongs, wherewith if one smote an elephant, he would start off at speed, and beat her on her back and stomach and every part of her body, till she swooned away.

  When the old woman Shewahi saw this, she fled forth from the queen’s presence, weeping and cursing her; but Nour el Huda cried out to her guards, saying, ‘Fetch her to me!’ So they ran after her and seizing her, brought her back to the queen, who caused throw her on the ground and bidding them lay hold of her, rose and took the whip, with which she beat her, till she fainted, when she said to her waiting-women, ‘Drag this ill- omened old woman forth on her face and put her out.’ And they did as she bade them.

  Meanwhile, Hassan walked on beside the river, in the direction of the desert, distracted, troubled and despairing of life; and indeed he was dazed and knew not night from day, for stress of affliction. He fared on thus, till he came to a tree, to which he saw a scroll hanging, so he took it and found these verses written thereon:

  I ordered thy case, without hindrance or let, Whilst thou in the womb of thy mother
wast yet.

  I made her heart yearn to thee, so she was fain To tend thee and thee to her bosom to set.

  We will compensate thee and requite thee for all That hath wrought to afflict thee of trouble and fret;

  So up and submit thee to Us, for indeed We will aid thee to that thou desirest to get.

  When he read this, he made sure of deliverance from trouble and reunion with those he loved. Then he went on a few steps and found himself alone in a wild and perilous desert, in which there was none to company with him; whereupon his heart sank within him for fear and loneliness and he trembled in every nerve, for that frightful place, and recited the following verses:

  O East wind, if thou passest by my loved ones’ dwelling-place, Abundant greeting bear to them from me and full of grace,

  And tell them I the hostage am of passion, verily, And that my longing for their sight all longing doth outpace.

  Happily, for sympathy, a wind shall blow on me from them And the corruption of my bones relive thereto, percase.

  Then he walked on a few steps farther beside the river, till he came upon two little boys of the sons of the magicians, beside whom lay a wand of brass, graven with talismans, and a skull-cap of leather, made in three pieces and wroughten in steel with names and figures. The boys were disputing and beating one another, till the blood ran down between them; whilst each said, ‘None shall take the wand but I.’ Hassan interposed and parted them, saying, ‘What is the cause of this your contention?’ ‘O uncle,’ answered they, ‘be thou judge of our case, for God the Most High hath surely sent thee to do justice between us.’ ‘Tell me your case,’ said Hassan; ‘and I will judge between you.’ So one of them said to him, ‘We are brothers-german and our father was a mighty magician, who dwelt in a cavern in yonder mountain. He died and left us this cap and wand; and my brother says, “None shall have the wand but I,” whilst I say the like; so be thou judge between us and deliver us from each other.’ Quoth Hassan, ‘What is the difference between the wand and the cap and what is their value? The wand appears to be worth six farthings and the cap three.’ But they answered, ‘Thou knowest not their properties.’ ‘And what are their properties?’ asked Hassan. ‘Each of them hath a wonderful secret virtue,’ replied they, ‘wherefore the wand is worth the revenue of all the Wac Islands and their provinces and dependencies, and the cap the like.’ And Hassan said, ‘By Allah, O my sons, discover to me their secret virtues.’