One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Now she had on her head a kerchief of blue brocade; so she laid it aside and tucking up her sleeve, showed a wrist like a shaft of light and passed her hand over the red pieces, saying to him, ‘Look to thyself.’ But he was dazzled at her beauty and the sight of her charms bereft him of reason, so that he became dazed and stupefied and put out his hand to the white men, but it lit upon the red. ‘O Mesrour,’ said she, ‘where are thy senses? The red are mine and the white thine.’ And he replied, ‘Who can look on thee, without losing his senses?’ Then, seeing how it was with him, she took the white from him and gave him the red, and they played and she beat him.

  He ceased not to play with her and she to beat him, whilst he paid her each time ten dinars, till, seeing him to be distracted for love of her, she said to him, ‘O Mesrour, thou wilt never come to thy desire, except thou beat me; and henceforth, I will not play with thee save for a stake of a hundred dinars a game.’ ‘With all my heart,’ answered he and they went on playing, whilst she still beat him and he won not a single game, but paid her a hundred dinars each time; and on this wise they abode till the morning, when he rose. Quoth she, ‘What wilt thou, O Mesrour?’ And he replied, ‘I mean to go to my lodging and fetch somewhat of money: it may be I shall attain my desire.’ ‘Do as seemeth good to thee,’ said she. So he went home and taking all the money he had, returned to her, reciting the following verses:

  Methought I caught a bird in sleep, as I did deem, All in a garden fair with smiling flowers agleam.

  That I shall get of thee the amorous delight, Th’ interpretation is, me-seems, of this my dream.

  Then they fell a-playing again; but she still beat him and he could not beat her once; and on this wise they abode three days, till she had gotten of him all his money: whereupon, ‘O Mesrour,’ said she, ‘what wilt thou do now?’ And he answered, ‘I will stake thee a druggist’s shop.’ ‘What is its worth?’ asked she; and he replied, ‘Five hundred dinars.’ So they played and she won the shop of him in five bouts. Then he staked slave-girls and lands and houses and gardens, and she won them all, till she had gotten of him all he had; whereupon she turned to him and said, ‘Hast thou aught left to stake?’ ‘By Him who made me fall into the snare of thy love,’ answered he, ‘I have neither money nor aught else left, little or much!’ ‘O Mesrour,’ said she, ‘the end of that whose beginning was contentment shall not be repentance; wherefore, if thou repent thee, take back thy good and begone from us, and I will hold thee quit towards me.’ ‘By Him who decreed these things to us,’ replied Mesrour, ‘though thou soughtest to take my life, it were a little thing, compared to thine approof, for I love none but thee!’

  Then said she, ‘Go and fetch the Cadi and the witnesses and make over to me by deed all thy lands and possessions.’ ‘Willingly,’ replied he and going out forthright, returned with the Cadi and the witnesses. When the magistrate saw her, his reason fled and his mind was troubled by reason of the beauty of her fingers, and he said to her, ‘O my lady, I will not draw up the deed of conveyance, save upon condition that thou purchase the lands and houses and slave-girls and that they all pass under thy control and into thy possession.’ ‘We are agreed upon that,’ replied she; ‘write me a deed, whereby all Mesrour’s houses and lands and slave-girls and all his hand possesseth shall pass to Zein el Mewasif and become her property at such a price.’ So he wrote out the deed and the witnesses set their hands thereto; whereupon she took it from the Cadi and said to Mesrour, ‘Now go thy ways.’ But her slave-girl Huboub turned to him and said, ‘Recite us some verses.’ So he improvised the following verses upon [his own case and] the game of chess:

  Of Fate I plain me and for that which hath befall’n me sigh And make my moan of loss by chess and by the [evil] eye,

  For love of one, a damsel fair, slender and delicate; Female or male, there’s not her like of all beneath the sky.

  Arrows upon me from her looks she launched and ‘gainst me brought Troops that would conquer all the world and all men, far and nigh;

  Red men and white men, ay, and knights for shock of battle ranged; Then came she forth to me and did to single fight defy.

  ‘Look to thyself,’ quoth she; but, when she put her fingers out, Mid-most a pitch-black night, most like her sable hair in dye,

  I had no power to move the white, to rescue them from her And passion caused the tide of tears in me run fierce and high.

  On, with the queens, fall pawns and rooks; they charge the host of white, And these give way, discomfited, and turn their backs to fly;

  Yea, and she launched at me, to boot, an arrow of her looks, And to the kernel of my heart the quivering shaft did hie.

  ‘Twixt the two hosts she gave me choice, and I chose that which whiteWas with the whiteness of the moon that shineth in the sky.

  ‘The white, indeed, are those which best beseem to me and they Are what I fain would have; so take the red to thee,’ quoth I.

  Then played she with me for a stake agreed ‘twixt us; but Fate did unto me the wished-for boon of her consent deny.

  Alas, the misery of my heart! Alas, my longing sore For the enjoyment of a maid who with the moon doth vie!

  It is not for my goods and lands my heart is all a-fire But that, alack! familiar ’tis grown with the [evil] eye.

  Distraught I’m grown and stupefied for dreariment, and Fate, For what’s betided me, I chide with many a tear and cry.

  ‘What ails thee to be dazed?’ asked she, and I, ‘Shall wine-bibbers Be whole of wit, when drunkenness their sense doth stupefy?’

  A mortal maid hath ta’en my wit with her fair shape; if it Be soft, her bowels are like rock, uneath to mollify.

  Myself I heartened, saying, ‘Her to-day I shalt possess Upon the wager, fearing not defeat I should aby.

  My heart ceased not to covet her, till I to poverty Became reduced, and beggared now in goods and hope am I.

  Will he who is in love forswear a love that irketh him, Though in the oceans of desire he struggle like to die?

  So is the slave grown penniless, to love and longing thrall, All unaccomplished yet the hope he staked his all to buy.

  Zein el Mewasif marvelled at the eloquence of his tongue and said to him, ‘O Mesrour, leave this madness and return to thy senses and go thy ways; for thou hast wasted all thy substance at the game of chess, yet hast not attained to thy desire, nor hast thou any resource whereby thou mayst accomplish it.’ But he turned to her and said, ‘O my lady, ask of me what thou wilt and I will bring it to thee and lay it at thy feet.’ ‘O Mesrour,’ answered she, ‘thou hast no money left.’ ‘O goal of all hopes,’ rejoined he, ‘if I have no money, the folk will help me.’ Quoth she, ‘Shall the giver turn asker?’ And he said, ‘I have friends and kinsfolk, and whatsoever I seek of them, they will give me.’ Then said she, ‘O Mesrour, I will have of thee four bladders of musk and four vases of civet and four pounds of ambergris and four thousand dinars and four hundred pieces of coloured brocade, wroughten with gold. Bring me these things, and I will grant thee my favours.’ ‘This is a light matter to me, O thou that puttest the moons to shame,’ replied he and went forth to fetch her what she sought.

  She sent Huboub after him, to see what interest he had with the folk of whom he had spoken to her; but, as he went along the streets, he turned and seeing her afar off, waited till she came up to him and said to her, ‘Whither away, O Huboub?’ So she told him what her mistress had said to her and he said, ‘By Allah, O Huboub, I have nothing!’ ‘Then why didst thou promise her?’ asked she; and he answered, ‘How many a promise is unkept of its maker! Fine words needs must be in love-matters.’ When she heard this, she said to him, ‘O Mesrour, be of good heart and cheerful eye, for, by Allah, I will be the means of thy coming to enjoy her!’ Then she left him and returned, weeping sore, to her mistress, to whom said she, ‘O my lady, indeed he is a man of great consideration, well-reputed among the folk.’ Quoth Zein el Mewasif, ‘There is no resource against the ordinance of the Most High! Verily, this
man found not in me a compassionate heart, for that I spoiled him of his substance and he got of me neither affection nor complaisance in granting him the amorous mercy; but, if I incline to his desire, I fear lest the thing be bruited abroad.’ ‘O my lady,’ answered Huboub, ‘verily, his present plight and the loss of his good is grievous upon us, and thou hast with thee none but myself and thy slave-girl Sukoub; so which of us two would dare prate of thee, and we thy hand-maids?’

  With this, she bowed her head and the damsels said to her, ‘O my lady, it is our counsel that thou send after him and show him favour and suffer him not ask of the sordid; for how bitter is asking!’ So she accepted their counsel and calling for inkhorn and paper, wrote him the following verses:

  Fulfilment draws near, O Mesrour: rejoice in fair presage and true, For, to-night, when the darkness falls down, the deed without fail thou shalt do;

  And ask not the sordid, O youth, for money to mend thine estate: Indeed, I was drunken, but now my wit is restored me anew.

  Moreover, thy good that I took shall all unto thee be restored, And to crown, O Mesrour, my largesse, I’ll add thee my favours thereto;

  Since patience thou hadst and in the long-suffering and sweetness there was With a loved one’s unkindness to bear, who wronged thee with rigours undue.

  So hasten forthright to enjoy my possession, fair fall thee thereof! And tarry not neither neglect, lest my folk come to know of us two.

  Then come to us quickly, I pray, and loiter not neither delay, And eat of the fruits of delight, whilst my husband is absent, the Jew.

  Then she folded the letter and gave it to Huboub, who carried it to Mesrour and found him weeping and reciting the following verses, in a transport of passion and love-longing:

  There blew upon my heart a breeze of love and wantonness, And all my entrails crumbled were with passion pitiless.

  My longing, since my loved one’s loss, is passing sore on me And still mine eyelids overflow for very tears’ excess.

  My heart with doubts and fears is racked, which did I but reveal Unto hard rocks and stones, forthright they’d soften for distress.

  Ah, would I knew if I shall live to win to my delight, if, in th’ enjoyment of my wish, my hope I shall possess!

  Shall parting’s nights, the wide outspread, be folded up again And shall I e’er of that be healed which doth my heart oppress?

  As he was repeating these verses, Huboub knocked at the door; so he rose and opened to her, and she entered and gave him the letter. He read it and said to her, ‘O Huboub, what news bringest thou of thy mistress?’ ‘O my lord,’ answered she, ‘in this letter is what dispenses me from answering, for thou art of the folk of understanding.’ And he rejoiced with an exceeding joy and repeated the following verses:

  The letter came, and its contents rejoiced us, heart and brain, And in my very heart of hearts to keep it I were fain.

  Yea, I redouble in desire, whene’er the writ I kiss; For ’tis as if ‘t the very pearl of passion did contain.

  Then he wrote a letter in answer and gave it to Huboub, who returned with it to her mistress and fell to extolling his charms to her and expatiating on his generosity and good qualities; for she was become a helper to him, to bring about his union with her. ‘O Huboub,’ said Zein el Mewasif, ‘indeed he tarrieth to come to us.’ And Huboub answered, ‘He will certainly come speedily.’ Hardly had she made an end of speaking when he knocked at the door, and she opened to him and brought him in to her mistress, who saluted him and bade him welcome and seated him by her side.

  Then she said to Huboub, ‘Bring me a suit of the goodliest of apparel;’ so she brought a dress embroidered with gold and Zein el Mewasif threw it over him, whilst she herself donned one of the richest of dresses and covered her head with a net of pearls of the finest water. About this she bound a fillet of brocade, embroidered with pearls and rubies and other jewels, from beneath which fell down two tresses [of plaited silk], each looped with a pendant of ruby, charactered with glittering gold, and she let down her hair, as it were the sombre night. Moreover she incensed herself with aloes-wood and scented herself with musk and ambergris, and Huboub said to her, ‘God guard thee from the [evil] eye!’ Then she began to walk, with a graceful swimming gait, whilst Huboub, who excelled in verse-making, recited the following in her honour:

  She shames the cassia-branches with every step she tries And sore besets her lovers with glances from her eyes.

  A moon from out the darkness appearing of her hair, It is as from her browlocks the very sun did rise.

  Happy by whom the night long with all her charms she lies And happy he who, swearing by her life, for her dies!

  Zein el Mewasif thanked her and went up to Mesrour, as she were the full moon all displayed. When he saw her, he rose to his feet and exclaimed, ‘Except my thought deceive me, she is no mortal, but one of the brides of Paradise!’ Then she called for food and they brought a table, about whose marge were written the following verses:

  Dip thou with spoons in saucers four and gladden heart and eye With many a various kind of stew and fricassee and fry.

  Thereon fat quails (ne’er shall I cease to love and tender them) And rails and fowls and dainty birds of all the kinds that fly.

  Glory to God for the kabobs, for redness all aglow, And potherbs steeped in vinegar, in porringers thereby!

  Fair fall the rice with sweet milk dressed, wherein the hands did plungeAnd eke the forearms of the fair were buried, bracelet-high!

  How my heart yearneth with regret over two plates of fish That by two manchet-cakes of bread of Tewarij did lie!

  Then they ate and drank and made merry, after which the servants removed the table of food and set on the wine service. The cup and the bowl passed round between them and their hearts were gladdened. Then Mesrour filled the cup and saying, ‘To her whose I am and who is my mistress!’ chanted the following verses:

  I marvel at mine eyes that feed their fill upon the charms Of a fair maid whose beauty bright enlightens every place.

  In all her time she hath no like nor any may compare With her for very goodliness and sweet harmonious grace.

  The willow sapling envies her the slimness of her shape, When, in her symmetry arrayed, she fares with stately pace.

  The crown of her, for radiance, is as the crescent moon, Ay, and the full moon of the dark she shames with shining face.

  Whenas she walks upon the earth, her fragrance wafts abroad A breeze that scents her every hill and every level space.

  ‘O Mesrour,’ said she, ‘whoso keepeth his faith and hath eaten our bread and salt, it behoveth us to give him his due; so put away from thee the thought of what hath passed and I will restore thee thy lands and houses and all I have taken from thee.’ ‘O my lady,’ answered he, ‘I acquit thee of that whereof thou speakest, though thou hadst been false to the oath we swore to each other, thou and I; for I will go and become a Muslim.’ Then said Huboub to her, ‘O my lady, thou art young of years and knowest many things, and I claim the intercession of God the Most High with thee, for, except thou do my bidding and heal my heart, I will not lie the night with thee in the house.’ ‘O Huboub,’ replied her mistress, ‘it shall be as thou wilt: so rise and make us ready another room.’

  So she rose and made ready another room and adorned and perfumed it after the goodliest fashion, on such wise as her mistress loved and preferred, after which she set on fresh food and wine, and the cup went round between them and their hearts were glad. Presently quoth Zein el Mewasif to Mesrour, ‘O Mesrour, the time of union and favour is come; so, as thou studiest for my love, recite us some verses, surpassing of fashion.’ So he recited the following ode:

  I am ta’en captive; in my heart a fire flames up amain, Over a bond of love-delight by sev’rance shorn in twain;

  Ay, and for love of a fair maid, whose shape hath rent my heart, Whose cheeks so soft and delicate my reason do enchain.

  Joined brows and arched and melting eyes of liquid black hath
she And teeth that like the lightning flash, when she to smile doth deign.

  Her years of life are ten and four; my tears, for love of her, Resemble drops of dragon’s blood, as from mine eyes they rain.

  ‘Twixt stream and garden first mine eyes beheld her, as she sat, With face the full moon that outshone in heaven’s high domain.

  I stood to her, on captive wise, for awe, and said, ‘The peace Of God for ever light on thee, O dweller in the fane!’

  Then she, with sweet and dulcet speech, like pearls in order strung, My salutation graciously returned to me again;

  And when she heard my speech to her, she knew for sure what I Desired, and therewithal her heart was hardened ‘gainst her swain.

  ‘Is not this idle talk?’ quoth she, and I made answer, ‘Spare the longing lover to upbraid, who doth of love complain.’

  If thou vouchsafe me thy consent this day, the thing were light; Thy like belovéd is and mine still slaves of love in vain.’

  And when she knew my wish, she smiled and answered, ‘By the Lord Him who created heaven and earth and all that they contain,

  [I am] a Jewess, born and bred in Jewry’s straitest sect And thou unto the Nazarenes as surely doth pertain.

  How think’st thou to enjoy me, then, and art not of my faith? To-morrow, sure, thou wilt repent, if thou this thing obtain.

  Is’t lawful with two faiths to jest in love? The like of me Were blamed of all and looked upon with flouting and disdain.