One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  I’ll never change nor yet forget your love: how shall Forgetfulness betide the wistful, longing swain?

  Peace, salutation-wise, from me, with musk commixt In letters, be on you again and yet again!’

  Nesim marvelled at his eloquence and the goodliness of his speech and the elegance of his verses and was moved to compassion for him. Then she sealed the letter with virgin musk and incensed it with aloes-wood and ambergris, after which she committed it to a merchant, bidding him deliver it not save to Zein el Mewasif or her maid Huboub.

  When the letter reached her sister, she knew it for Mesrour’s inditing and recognized himself in the grace of its expression. So she kissed it and laid it on her eyes, whilst the tears streamed from her lids and she gave not over weeping, till she fainted. When she came to herself, she called for pen and paper and wrote him the following answer: ‘This letter is to my lord and master, the king of my heart and my secret soul. Indeed, wakefulness agitateth me and melancholy increaseth on me and I have no patience to endure thine absence, O thou whose beauty excels the sun and moon! Desire deprives me of rest and passion destroys me; and how should it be otherwise with me, seeing that I am of the number of the perishing? O glory of the world and ornament of life, shall her cup be sweet, whose vital spirits are cut off? For that she is neither with the quick nor with the dead.’ And she added these verses:

  Thy letter, O Mesrour, hath stirred affliction up in me; I have no patience for thy loss nor solacement, perdie.

  My bowels, when I read the script, yearn and the desert herbs I water with my tears that flow for ever like a sea.

  Were I a bird, I’d fly to thee, upon the wings of night: I know not, after thee, if wine or sweet or bitter be.

  Forbidden unto me is life, since thy departure hence: I have no power to brook the fire of severance from thee.

  Then she sprinkled the letter with powdered musk and ambergris and committed it to a merchant, bidding him deliver it to none save her sister Nesim. When it reached the latter, she sent it to Mesrour, who kissed it and laid it on his eyes and wept till he fainted.

  Presently, the Jew heard of their correspondence and began again to travel from place to place with Zein el Mewasif and her damsels, till she said to him, ‘Glory to God! How long wilt thou journey with us and carry us afar from our homes?’ Quoth he, ‘I will fare on with you a year’s journey, so no more letters may reach you from Mesrour. I see how you take all my good and give it to him; so all that I miss I shall take from you: and I shall see if Mesrour will profit you or avail to deliver you from my hand.’ Then he stripped her and her damsels of their silken apparel and clad them in raiment of hair-cloth; after which he repaired to a blacksmith and bade him make three pairs of iron shackles. When they were ready, he brought the smith in to his wife and said to him, ‘Put the shackles on the legs of these three damsels.’

  The first that came forward was Zein el Mewasif, and when the blacksmith saw her, his reason forsook him and he bit his fingers and his wit fled forth his head and sore was his transport. So he said to the Jew, ‘What is these women’s crime?’ ‘They are my slave-girls,’ answered the other, ‘and have stolen my good and fled from me.’ ‘May God disappoint thine expectation!’ cried the smith. ‘Were this girl before the Chief Cadi, he would not reprove her, though she committed a hundred offences a day. Indeed, she hath no thief’s favour and she may not brook the laying of irons on her legs.’ And he went on to intercede with him, beseeching him not to fetter her. When she saw this, she said to her husband, ‘I conjure thee by Allah, bring me not forth before yonder strange man!’ Quoth he, ‘Why then camest thou out before Mesrour?’ And she made him no reply. Then he accepted the blacksmith’s intercession, so far as to allow him to put a light pair of shackles on her legs, for that she had a delicate body, which might not brook harshness, whilst he laid her handmaids in heavy irons, and they ceased not, all three, to wear hair-cloth day and night, till their bodies became wasted and their colour changed.

  As for the blacksmith, he returned home in great concern, for that exceeding love was fallen on his heart for Zein el Mewasif; and he fell to reciting the following verses:

  Blacksmith, may thy right hand wither, in that it did ill entreat Yon fair maid by clapping fetters on her ankles and her feet.

  Thou hast chained a lovely lady, gentle, soft and delicate: Of the wonderful’st of wonders was she fashioned and complete.

  Not of iron were her anklets, were she justly used, I trow: Gold, indeed, alone were worthy of that loveling fair and sweet.

  If the Cadi of the Cadis saw her charms, he’d pity her And upon the highest places in her glory would her seat.

  Now it chanced that the Chief Cadi passed by the smith’s house and heard him repeat these lines; so he sent for him and said to him, ‘O blacksmith, who is she on whom thou callest so instantly and with whose love thy heart is occupied?’ The smith rose to his feet and kissing the Cadi’s hand, answered, ‘May God prolong the days of our lord the Cadi and give him ease of his life!’ Then he set forth to him Zein el Mewasif’s beauty and grace and symmetry and elegance and perfection and how she had a lovely face and a slender waist and heavy buttocks and acquainted him with the sorry plight in which she was for abasement and duresse and lack of victual.

  When the Cadi heard this, he said, ‘O blacksmith, send her to us, that we may do her justice, for thou art become accountable for her, and except thou guide her to us, God will punish thee at the Day of Resurrection.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ replied the smith and betook himself forthright to Zein el Mewasif’s lodging, but found the door locked and heard her reciting the following verses, in a plaintive voice, that came from a sorrowful heart:

  In mine own land I was, conjoined with those I hold most dear, And my belovéd filled me cups of gladness bright and clear.

  They passed ‘twixt us with what we would of solace and of mirth; Nor knew we, morn or even, aught of dreariment or fear.

  Indeed, a time we did fulfil, that gladdened us whilere With cup and lute and dulcimer and festival and cheer,

  Till fortune and its shifts dissolved our fellowship; my love Departed and the time of peace with him evanished sheer.

  Would that the crow of parting might be caused forbear our stead And would the dawn of my delight in passion might appear!

  When he heard this, he wept like the downpouring of the clouds. Then he knocked at the door and the women said, ‘Who is at the door?’ ‘It is I, the blacksmith,’ answered he and told them what the Cadi had said and how he would have them appear before him and make their plaint to him, that he might do them justice on their adversary. ‘How can we go to him,’ replied Zein el Mewasif, ‘seeing the door is locked on us and our feet shackled and the Jew hath the keys?’ Quoth the smith, ‘I will make keys for the locks and open the door and the shackles therewith.’ ‘But who will show us the Cadi’s house?’ asked she; and he said, ‘I will describe it to you.’ ‘But how,’ continued she, ‘can we appear before him, clad as we are in hair-cloth, smoked with sulphur?’ And he answered, ‘He will not reproach this to you, considering your case.’ So saying, he went forthright and made keys for the locks, wherewith he opened the door and the shackles, and loosing the latter from their legs, carried them forth and directed them to the Cadi’s house. Then Huboub did off the hair-cloth garments from her mistress’s body and carried her to the bath, where she washed her and clad her in silken raiment, and her colour returned to her.

  Now, as luck would have it, her husband was abroad at a bride-feast in the house of one of the merchants; so she adorned herself after the fairest fashion and betook herself to the Cadi, who rose to receive her. She saluted him with dulcet speech and sweet words, transfixing him the while with the arrows of her glances, and said, ‘May God prolong the life of our lord the Cadi and strengthen him to do justice!’ Then she acquainted him with the affair of the blacksmith and that which he had done them of kindness and with the heart-confounding torments that the Jew had inflicted o
n her and her women and how they had been like to perish, nor was there any deliverance found for them [till the smith set them free]. ‘O damsel,’ said the Cadi, ‘what is thy name?’ ‘My name is Zein el Mewasif,’ answered she, ‘and this my maid’s name is Huboub.’ Quoth he, ‘Thy name accordeth with its owner and its words conform to its meaning.’ Whereupon she smiled and veiled her face, and he said to her, ‘O Zein el Mewasif, hast thou a husband or not?’ ‘I have no husband,’ answered she. ‘And what is thy faith?’ asked he. ‘That of Islam,’ replied she, ‘and the religion of the best of men.’ Quoth he, ‘Swear to me by the Law, full of instances and admonitions, that thou art a Muslim.’ So she swore to him and pronounced the profession of the faith.

  Then said he, ‘How comes it that thou wastest thy youth with this Jew?’ And she answered, ‘Know, O Cadi (may God prolong thy days in contentment and bring thee to thy hopes and seal thine acts with benefits!), that my father left me, after his death, fifteen thousand dinars, which he put into the hands of this Jew, that he might trade therewith and share the profit with me, the capital being secured by acknowledgment according to law. When my father died, the Jew coveted me and sought me in marriage of my mother, who said, “How shall I cause her leave her faith and become a Jewess? By Allah, I will denounce thee to the authorities!” He was affrighted at her words and taking the money, fled to the town of Aden. When we heard where he was, we came to Aden in search of him, and when we foregathered with him, he told us that he was trading in stuffs [with the money] and buying goods upon goods. So we believed him and he ceased not to beguile us till he cast us into prison and fettered us and tortured us exceeding sore; and we are strangers and have no helper save God the Most High and our lord the Cadi.’

  When the Cadi heard this, he said to Huboub, ‘Is this indeed thy mistress and are ye strangers and is she unmarried?’ And she answered, ‘Yes.’ Quoth he, ‘Marry her to me and be manumission [of my slaves] and fasting and pilgrimage and almsgiving [of all my estate] incumbent on me, if I do you not justice on this dog and punish him for that which he hath done!’ And she answered, ‘I hear and obey.’ Then said he, ‘Go, comfort thy heart and that of thy lady; and to-morrow, if it please God the Most High, I will send for this infidel and do you justice on him and ye shall see wonders of his punishment.’ So Huboub called down blessings upon him and went forth from him, [she and her mistress,] leaving him distracted with passion and love-longing and desire. Then they enquired for the house of the second Cadi and presenting themselves before him, told him the same story. On likewise did she with the third and the fourth, till she had made her complaint to all the four Cadis, each of whom lusted after her and besought her to marry him, to which she consented; nor knew any one of the four that which had happened to the others. All this passed without the knowledge of the Jew, who slept the night in the house of the bride-feast.

  On the morrow, Huboub clad her mistress in her richest raiment and presented herself with her before the four Cadis in the hall of justice. As soon as she entered, she uncovered her face and saluted the magistrates, who returned her salutation and every one of them knew her. One was writing, and the pen dropped from his hand, another was talking, and his tongue became embarrassed, and a third was reckoning and blundered in his reckoning; and they said to her, ‘O delightsome of attributes and surpassing of loveliness, be not thy heart other than easy, for we will assuredly do thee justice and bring thee to thy desire.’ So she called down blessings on them and going forth, proceeded to beseech the notaries and scribes to succour her against that unbelieving miscreant and deliver her from the torment she suffered from him. Then she wrote a letter to Mesrour, setting forth to him all that the Jew had done with her from first to last and ending with the following verses:

  Rain down tears, O mine eyes, as the deluge they were, So perchance in their flood may be quenched my despair.

  Once I clad me in raiment of gold-wroughten silk: Now the raiment of monks and of friars I wear;

  Yea, and sulphur’s the scent of my clothes; betwixt that And sweet basil and musk what a difference is there!

  Thou wouldst never permit my abasement, Mesrour, Nor my bondage, if but of my case thou wert ware;

  And Huboub too’s in fetters with one who denies The One, the Requiter of foul and of fair.

  Lo, the ways of the Jews and their faith I’ve renounced And my faith is the noblest of faiths hence fore’er.

  To the Clement a Muslim’s prostration I make And to follow the law of Mohammed I swear.

  Forget not our loves of old time, O Mesrour, And keep thou our vows and our troth plight with care.

  My faith for thy love and thy sake I have changed And my secret for passion I’ll never declare;

  So, if, like to the noble, our love thou’ve preserved, Be no laggard, but hasten to us to repair.

  Then she folded the letter and gave it to her maid Huboub, saying, ‘Keep it in thy pocket, till we send it to Mesrour.’

  Presently in came the Jew and seeing them joyous, said to them, ‘How comes it that I find you merry? Hath a letter reached you from your friend Mesrour?’ ‘We have no helper against thee save God, blessed and exalted be He!’ replied Zein el Mewasif. ‘He will deliver us from thy tyranny, and except thou restore to us our country and home, we will complain of thee to-morrow to the Cadi and governor of this town.’ Quoth he, ‘Who did off the shackles from your legs? But needs must I let make each of you shackles ten pounds in weight and go round about the city with you.’ ‘All that thou purposest against us,’ replied Huboub, ‘thou shalt fall into thyself, so it please God the Most High, by token that thou hast exiled us from our homes, and to-morrow we shall stand, we and thou, before the governor of the city.’

  On this wise they passed the night and the next morning the Jew went out to order fresh shackles, whereupon Zein el Mewasif rose and repaired with her women to the court-house, where she found the four Cadis and saluted them. They all returned her salutation and the Chief Cadi said to those about him, ‘Verily this damsel is lovely as Ez Zehra and all who see her love her and prostrate themselves to her beauty and grace.’ Then he despatched four sergeants, who were sherifs, to fetch the Jew after the most abject fashion: so, when he returned with the shackles and found none in the house, he was confounded; but, as he abode in perplexity, up came the officers and laying hold of him, beat him soundly and dragged him face, downward, before the Cadi. When the latter saw him, he cried out in his face and said to him, ‘Out on thee, O enemy of God, is it come to such a pass with thee that thou dost thus and bringest these women far from their country and stealest their good and wouldst make them Jews? How darest thou seek to pervert Muslims?’ ‘O my lord,’ answered the Jew, ‘this woman is my wife.’

  When the Cadis heard this, they all cried out, saying, ‘Cast this dog on the ground and smite him on the face with your sandals and beat him soundly, for his offence is unpardonable.’ So they pulled off his silken clothes and clad him in his wife’s raiment of hair-cloth, after which they threw him down and plucked out his beard and belaboured him about the face with sandals. Then they set him on an ass, face to crupper, and causing him take its tail in his hand, paraded him round about the town, after which they brought him back to the Cadis, who all condemned him to have his feet and hands cut off and after be crucified. When the accursed wretch heard this, his wit forsook him and he was confounded and said, ‘O my lords the Cadis, what would ye of me?’ ‘Say,’ answered they, “‘This damsel is not my wife and the money is her money, and I have transgressed against her and brought her far from her country.”’ So he confessed to this and the Cadis recorded his confession in legal form and taking the money from him, gave it to Zein el Mewasif, together with their voucher. Then she went away and all who saw her were confounded at her beauty and grace, whilst each of the Cadis looked for her to fall to his share. But, when she came to her lodging, she made ready all that she needed and waited till night. Then she took what was light of carriage and heavy of worth,
and setting out with her maids, under cover of the darkness, fared on three days and three nights without stopping.

  Meanwhile, the Cadis ordered the Jew to prison and on the morrow they looked for her coming to them, they and their assessors; but she presented herself not to any of them. Then said the Chief Cadi, ‘I wish to-day to go a-pleasuring without the town on an occasion I have.’ So he mounted his mule and taking his servant with him, went coasting about the streets of the town, searching high and low for Zein el Mewasif, but to no effect.

  Presently he came upon the other three Cadis, going about on the same errand, each deeming himself the only one to whom she had pledged herself. He asked them what they did there and they told him their business, whereby he saw that their plight was as his plight and their quest as his quest. So they all four went round about the city, seeking her, but could light on no trace of her and returned to their houses, sick for love, and lay down on the bed of languor. Presently the Chief Cadi bethought himself of the blacksmith; so he sent for him and said to him, ‘O blacksmith, knowest thou what is come of the damsel whom thou didst direct to me? By Allah, an thou discover her not to me, I will beat thee with whips.’ When the smith heard this, he recited the following verses:

  Her, that possesseth me in love, kind Fortune did endow With beauty all nor aught thereof to others did allow.

  The eye of a gazelle she hath; her scent is ambergris; She shines, a sun, and undulates, a lake, and sways, a bough.

  Then said he, ‘By Allah, O my lord, since she went out from thy worshipful presence, I have not set eyes on her! Indeed, she took possession of my heart and senses and all my talk and thought is of her. I went to her house, but found her not, nor found I any who could give me news of her, and it is as if she had plunged into the abysses of the sea or been caught up into the sky.’

  When the Cadi heard this, he gave a groan, that his soul was like to depart therefor, and said, ‘By Allah, it would have been well, had we never seen her!’ Then the smith went away, whilst the Cadi fell down on his bed and became sick of languor for her sake, and on like wise fared it with the other three Cadis and the assessors. The physicians paid them frequent visits, but found in them no ailment requiring a leach: so the chief men of the city went in to the Chief Cadi and saluting him, questioned him of his case; whereupon he sighed and discovered to them that which was in his heart, reciting the following verses: