One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Presently, I saw some chests and opening one of them, found it full of gold in bags; so I laid hold upon the bags, but they crumbled away in my grasp, whilst the gold abode unchanged. I took of it what I could carry and said to myself, “Were my brothers here, they might take their fill of this gold and possess themselves of these treasures that have no owner.” Then I entered another shop and found therein more than this, but could carry no more than I had: so I left this market and went on to another and thence to another and another, diverting myself with the sight of all manner creatures of various kinds, all stone, even to the cats and the dogs, till I came to the goldsmiths’ bazaar, where I saw men sitting in their shops, with their wares about them, some in their hands and others in trays of wicker-work. When I saw this, I threw down the money and loaded myself with goldsmiths’ ware, as much as I could carry. Then I went on to the jewel market and saw there the jewellers, every one of them stone, seated in their shops, each with a tray before him, full of all manner precious stones, jacinths and diamonds and emeralds and balass rubies and so forth; whereupon I threw away the goldsmiths’ ware and took as many jewels as I could carry, regretting that my brothers were not with me, so they might take what they would thereof.

  Then I left the jewel market and went on till I came to a great door, gilded and decorated after the fairest fashion, within which were benches and in the porch sat eunuchs and guards and horsemen and footmen and officers of police, all clad in the richest of raiment; but they were all stones. I touched one of them and his clothes crumbled away from his body like cobwebs. Then I entered and saw a palace without equal for its building and the goodliness of its ordinance and of the curious works that were therein. Here I found an audience-chamber, full of grandees and viziers and officers and emirs, seated upon chairs and every one of them stone. Moreover, I saw a throne of red gold, inlaid with pearls and jewels, and seated thereon a man arrayed in the most sumptuous raiment and bearing on his head an imperial crown, set with precious stones, that shed a light like the light of the day; but, when I came up to him, I found him stone.

  Then I went on to the gate of the harem and entering, found myself in the queen’s presence-chamber, wherein I saw a throne of red gold, inlaid with pearls and jewels, and the queen seated thereon. On her head she wore a crown diademed with precious jewels, and round about her were women like moons, seated upon chairs and clad in the most sumptuous raiment of all colours. There also stood eunuchs, with their hands upon their breasts, in the attitude of service, and indeed this hall confounded the beholder’s wits with what was therein of gilding and rare painting and carving and magnificent furniture. There hung the most brilliant pendants of limpid crystal, and in every hollow of the crystal was an unique jewel, to whose price money might not avail. So I threw down that which was with me and fell to taking of these jewels what I could carry, bewildered as to what I should take and what I should leave, for indeed I saw the place as it were a treasure of the treasures of the cities.

  Presently, I espied a little door open and within it stairs: so I entered and mounting forty stairs, heard a human voice reciting the Koran in a low voice. I followed the sound till I came to a silken curtain, laced with wires of gold, whereon were strung pearls and coral and rubies and emeralds, that gave forth a light like the light of the stars. The voice came from behind the curtain: so I raised it and discovered a gilded door, whose beauty amazed the mind. I opened the door and found myself in a saloon, as it were an enchanted treasure-house upon the surface of the earth, and therein a girl as she were the shining sun amiddleward the cloudless sky. She was clad in the costliest of raiment and decked with the most precious jewels, and withal she was of surpassing beauty and grace, full of symmetry and elegance and perfection, with slender waist and heavy buttocks and spittle such as heals the sick and languorous eyelids, as it were she of whom the poet would speak, when he saith:

  My salutation to the shape that through the wede doth show And to the roses in the cheeks’ full-flowering meads that blow!

  It is as if the Pleiades upon her forehead hung And all night’s other stars did deck her breast, like pearls arow.

  An if a wede of purest rose she donned, the leaves for sure Would from her body’s fresh-plucked fruits enforce the blood to flow;

  And if into the salt sea’s flood one day she chanced to spit, Sweeter than honey to the taste its briny tides would grow.

  If to a graybeard, leant upon a staff, she deigned her grace To grant, a lion-tamer straight he would become, I trow.

  When I saw her, I fell passionately in love with her and going straight up to her, found her seated on a high couch, reciting from memory the Book of God, to whom belong might and majesty. Her voice was like the sound of the gates of Paradise, when Rizwan opens them, and the words fell from her lips like a shower of jewels; whilst her face was of surpassing beauty, bright and blossom-white, even as saith the poet of the like of her:

  O thou whose speech and fashions charm with their seductive grace, Longing and wistfulness for thee increase on me apace.

  Two things in thee the votaries of passion still consume, David his tones melodious and Joseph’s lovely face.

  When I heard her melodious voice reciting the sublime Koran, my heart recited from her assassinating glances, “Peace, a word from a compassionate Lord;” but I hesitated in my speech and could not say the salutation aright, for my mind and sight were confounded and I was become as saith the poet:

  Love-longing moved me not to err in speech nor entered I The camp but that the shedding of my blood I might aby;

  Nor do I hearken to a word spoken by our censurers, But unto her whom I adore in words I testify.

  Then I braced myself against the stress of passion and said to her, “Peace be upon thee, O noble lady and treasured jewel! May God cause the foundations of thy fair fortune to endure and uplift the pillars of thy glory!” “And on thee from me be peace and salutation and honour, O Abdallah, O son of Fazil!” answered she. “Welcome and fair welcome to thee, O my beloved and solace of my eyes!” “O my lady,” rejoined I, “whence knowest thou my name and who art thou and what aileth the people of this city, that they are become stones? I would have thee tell me the truth of the case, for indeed I am wondered at this city and its folk and that I have found none [alive] therein but thee. So, God on thee, tell me the cause of all this, according to the truth!” Quoth she, “Sit, O Abdallah, and God willing, I will talk with thee and acquaint thee in full with the truth of my case and that of this city and its people; and there is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!”

  So I sat down by her side and she said to me, “Know, O Abdallah, (may God have mercy on thee!) that I am the daughter of the king of this city and that it is my father whom thou sawest seated on the high throne in the divan, and those who are about him were the grandees of his realm and the officers of his household. He was a king of exceeding prowess and had under his hand a thousand thousand and six-score thousand troopers. The number of the emirs of his realm was four-and-twenty thousand, all of them governors and dignitaries. He ruled over a thousand cities, besides towns and hamlets and fortresses and citadels and villages, and the amirs of the [wild] Arabs under his hand were a thousand in number, each ruling over twenty thousand horse. Moreover, he had riches and treasures and precious stones and jewels and things of price, such as eye never saw nor ear heard of. He used to conquer kings and do to death champions and warriors in battle and in the listed field, so that the mighty feared him and the Chosroës humbled themselves to him. For all this, he was a misbeliever, ascribing partners to God and worshipping idols, instead of his Lord, and his troops were all idolaters like himself.

  One day, as he sat on the throne of his kingship, compassed about with the grandees of his realm, there came in to him a man, whose face lighted up the whole divan with its brightness. My father looked at him and saw him clad in a green habit, tall of stature and with hands that reached below his knees. He was of reverend
and majestic aspect and light shone from his face. Quoth he to my father, ‘O rebel, O idolater, how long wilt thou be deluded to worship idols and leave the service of the All-knowing King? Say, “I testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His servant and His apostle,” and embrace Islam, thou and thy people, and put away from you the worship of idols, for they neither advantage nor intercede. None is worshipworth save God alone, who raised up the heavens without pillars and spread out the earths, in mercy to His creatures.’

  ‘Who art thou,’ asked my father, ‘O man that rejectest the worship of idols, that thou sayst thus? Fearest thou not that they will be wroth with thee?’ ‘The idols are stones,’ answered the stranger; ‘their wrath cannot hurt me nor their favour profit me. So do thou send for thine idol which thou worshippest and bid all thy people bring each his idol: and when they are all present, do ye pray them to be wroth with me and I will pray my Lord to be wroth with them, and ye shall see the difference between the anger of the creature and that of the Creator. For your idols, ye fashioned them yourselves and the devils clad themselves therewith as with a garment, and they it is who speak to you from within the bellies of the idols, for your idols are made and my God is the maker, to whom nought is impossible. If the True appear to you, do ye follow it, and if the False, do ye leave it.’ Quoth they, ‘Give us a proof of thy god, that we may see it. And he answered, ‘Give me proof of your gods.’ So the king bade every one who had an idol bring it, and all the troops brought their idols to the divan.

  Now I was sitting behind a curtain, whence I could look upon my father’s divan, and I had an idol of emerald, the bigness of a man. My father demanded it, so I sent it to the divan, where they set it up beside that of my father, which was of jacinth, whilst the vizier’s idol was of diamond. As for those of the grandees and notables, some were of ruby and some of cornelian, others of coral or Comorin aloes-wood and yet others of ebony or silver or gold; and each had his own idol, after the measure of that which he could afford; whilst the idols of the common soldiers and of the people were some of granite, some of wood, some of pottery and some of mud; and they were all of various colours, yellow and red and green and black and white. Then said the stranger to my father, ‘Pray your idol and these idols to be wroth with me.’

  So they ranged the idols in a divan, setting my father’s idol on a chair of gold at the upper end, with mine by its side, and ranking the others each according to the condition of him who owned it and worshipped it. Then my father arose and prostrating himself to his own idol, said to it, ‘O my god, thou art the Bountiful Lord, nor is there among the idols a greater than thou. Thou knowest that this man cometh to me, attacking thy divinity and making mock of thee; yea, he avoucheth that he hath a god stronger than thou and biddeth us leave worshipping thee and worship his god. So be thou wroth with him, O my god!’ And he went on to supplicate the idol; but it returned him no answer neither bespoke him with aught; whereupon quoth he, ‘O my god, this is not of thy wont, for thou usest to answer me, when I speak to thee. How cometh it that I find thee silent and speaking not? Art thou unheeding or asleep? Awake; succour me and speak to me!’ And he shook it with his hand; but it spoke not neither stirred from its stead.

  Quoth the stranger, ‘What aileth thine idol that it speaketh not?’ And the king replied, ‘Methinks he is unheeding or asleep.’ ‘O enemy of God,’ exclaimed the other, ‘how canst thou worship a god that speaketh not nor availeth unto aught and not worship my God, who is a speedy answerer of prayer and who is ever present and never absent, never unheeding nor sleeping, whom conjecture may not apprehend, who seeth and is not seen and who is able unto all things? Thy god is powerless and cannot ward off hurt from itself; and indeed an accursed devil hath clothed himself therewith as with a garment, that he might lead thee astray and delude thee. But now hath its devil departed; so do thou worship God and testify that there is no god but He and that none is worshipful nor worshipworth save He, nor is there any good but His good. As for thy god, he cannot ward off hurt from himself; so how shall he ward it from thee? See with thine own eyes his impotence.’

  So saying, he went up to the idol and dealt him a buffet on the neck, that he fell to the ground; whereupon the king waxed wroth and said to the bystanders, ‘This heretic hath smitten my god. Slay him!’ So they would have arisen to smite him, but none of them could avail to stir from his place. Then he propounded Islam to them; but they refused to become Muslims and he said, ‘I will show you the wrath of my Lord.’ Quoth they, ‘Let us see it.’ So he spread out his hands and said, ‘O my God and my Lord, Thou art my stay and my hope; answer Thou my prayer against these froward folk, who eat of Thy bounty and worship other than Thee. O Thou the Truth, O Almighty One, O Creator of Night and Day, I beseech Thee to turn these people into stones, for Thou art omnipotent, nor is aught impossible to Thee, and Thou art able unto all things!’ And God transformed the people of this city into stones; but, as for me, when I saw the manifest proof of His deity, I submitted myself to Him and was saved from that which befell the rest.

  Then the stranger drew near unto me and said to me, ‘Felicity was fore-ordained to thee of God and He had a purpose in this.’ And he went on to instruct me and I took unto him the oath and covenant. I was then seven years of age and am now thirty years old. Then said I to him, ‘O my lord, all that is in the city and all its folk are become stones, by thine effectual prayer, and I am saved, for that I embraced Islam at thy hands. Wherefore thou art become my sheikh; so do thou tell me thy name and extend to me thy succour and provide me with that whereon I may subsist.’ Quoth he, ‘My name is Aboulabbas el Khizr;’ and he planted me a pomegranate-tree, which grew up forthright and putting out leaf, flowered and fruited and bore one pomegranate; whereupon quoth he, ‘Eat of that wherewith God the Most High provideth thee and worship Him with the worship that is His due.’

  Then he taught me the tenets of Islam and the canons of prayer and the way of worship, together with the recital of the Koran, and I have now worshipped God in this place three-and-twenty years. Each day the tree yields me a pomegranate and I eat it and am sustained thereby from day to day. Moreover, every Friday, El Khizr (on whom be peace!) comes to me and it is he who acquainted me with thy name and gave me the glad tidings of thy coming hither, saying to me, ‘When he cometh, entreat him with honour and give ear unto his commandment and gainsay him not; but be thou his wife and he shall be thy husband, and go with him whither he will.’ So, when I saw thee, I knew thee, and this is the story of this city and of its people, and peace be on thee!” Then she showed me the pomegranate-tree, whereon was one pomegranate, which she took and eating one-half thereof herself, gave me the other to eat, and never did I taste aught sweeter or more delicious than this pomegranate or more satisfying.

  After this, I said to her, “Art thou content, as the Sheikh el Khizr charged thee, to be my wife and go with me to my own country and abide with me in the city of Bassora?” “Yes,” answered she, “if it please God the Most High. I hearken to thy word and obey thy commandment, without gainsaying.” Then I made a binding covenant with her and she carried me into her father’s treasury, whence we took what we could carry and going forth the city, fared on till we came to my brothers, whom I found searching for me. “Where hast thou been?” asked they. “Indeed thou hast tarried long from us, and our hearts were troubled for thee.” And the captain of the ship said to me, “O merchant Abdallah, the wind has been fair for us this great while, and thou hast hindered us from setting sail.” “There is no harm in that,” answered I. “Assuredly delay is good and my absence hath wrought us nothing but profit; for indeed, there hath betided me therein the attainment of [our] hopes and gifted of God is he who saith:

  When to a land I fare in quest of good, perdie, I know not of the twain, which fortune mine shall be;

  Whether ‘twill prove the good whereafter I do seek Or else the evil hap that seeketh after me.”

  Then said I to them, “See what hath fallen to me
in my absence.” And I showed them that which was with me of things of price and told them what I had seen in the City of Stone, adding, “If ye had hearkened to me and gone with me, ye had gotten great good thereby.” But they said, “By Allah, had we gone, we had not dared to go in to the king of the city!”

  Then I said to my brothers, “No harm shall befall you; for that which I have will suffice us all and I will share it with you.” So saying, I divided my booty into four parts and gave one to each of my brothers and to the captain, taking the fourth for myself, [after setting aside] somewhat [which] I gave to the servants and sailors, who rejoiced and blessed me: and all were content with what I gave them, save my brothers, who changed countenance and rolled their eyes. I perceived that covetise had gotten possession of them; so I said to them, “O my brothers, methinketh what I have given you doth not content you; but we are brothers and there is no difference between us. My good and yours are one [and the same] thing, and if I die, none will inherit of me but you.” And I went on to soothe them.

  Then I carried the lady on board the ship and lodged her in the cabin, where I sent her somewhat to eat and we sat talking, I and my brothers. “O our brother,” said they, “what wilt thou do with yonder damsel of surpassing beauty?” And I answered, “I mean to marry her, as soon as I reach Bassora, and make a splendid wedding and go in to her there.” “O my brother,” said one of them, “verily, this young lady excelleth in beauty and grace and the love of her is fallen on my heart; wherefore I desire that thou give her to me and I will marry her.” “I too desire this,” said the other. “Give her to me, that I may marry her.” “O my brothers,” answered I, “she took of me an oath and a covenant that I would marry her myself; so, if I give her to one of you, I shall be false to my oath and to the covenant between her and me, and belike she will be broken-hearted, for she came not with me but on condition that I should marry her. So how can I give her to wife to other than myself? As for your loving her, I love her more than you, for she is my treasure-trove, and as for my giving her to one of you, that is a thing that may not be. But, if we reach Bassora in safety, I will look you out two girls of the best of the damsels of Bassora and demand them for you in marriage and pay the dower of my own monies and make one wedding and we will all three go in to our brides on one [and the same] night. But leave this damsel, for she is of my portion.”