One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  in mine ear that sweetest sound:

  Fared far, and far their fane; would Heaven I saw Their shade in

  vision float my couch around:

  And when they went wi’ them they bore my heart * And in my

  tear-floods all of me left drowned.”

  A third monk followed with these extempore lines,

  “Throne you on highmost stead, heart, ears and sight * Your

  wone’s my heart; mine all’s your dwelling-site:

  Sweeter than honey is your name a-lip, * Running, as ‘neath my

  ribs runs vital sprite:

  For Love hath made me as a tooth-pick369 lean * And drowned

  in tears of sorrow and despight:

  Let me but see you in my sleep, belike * Shall clear my cheeks of

  tears that lovely sight.”

  Then a fourth recited the following couplets,

  “Dumb is my tongue and scant my speech for thee * And Love the

  direst torture gars me dree:

  O thou full Moon, whose place is highest Heaven, * For thee but

  double pine and pain in me.”

  And a fifth these,370

  “I love a moon of comely shapely form * Whose slender waist hath

  title to complain:

  Whose lip-dews rival must and long-kept wine; * Whose heavy

  haunches haunt the minds of men:

  My heart each morning burns with pain and pine * And the

  night-talkers note I’m passion-slain;

  While down my cheeks carnelian-like the tears * Of rosy red

  shower down like railing rain.”

  And a sixth the following,

  “O thou who shunnest him thy love misled! * O Branch of Bán, O

  star of highmost stead!

  To thee of pine and passion I complain, * O thou who fired me

  with cheeks rosy-red.

  Did e’er such lover lose his soul for thee, * Or from prostration

  and from prayers fled?”

  And a seventh these,

  “He seized my heart and freed my tears to flow * Brought strength

  to Love and bade my Patience go.

  His charms are sweet as bitter his disdain; * And shafts of love

  his suitors overthrow.

  Stint blame, O blamer, and for past repent * None will believe

  thee who dost Love unknow!”

  And on like wise all the rest of the monks shed tears and repeated verses. As for Danis, the Prior, weeping and wailing redoubled on him, for that he found no way to her enjoyment, and he chanted the following couplets371 ,

  “My patience failed me when my lover went * And fled that day

  mine aim and best intent.

  O Guide o’ litters lead their camels fair, * Haply some day

  they’ll deign with me to tent!

  On parting-day Sleep parted from my lids * And grew my grieving

  and my joy was shent.

  I moan to Allah what for Love I dree’d * My wasted body and my

  forces spent.”

  Then, despairing of her, they took counsel together and with one mind agreed to fashion her image and set it up with them, and applied themselves to this till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and Severer of societies. Meanwhile, Zayn al-Mawasif fared on, without ceasing, to find her lover Masrur, till she reached her own house. She opened the doors, and entered; then she sent to her sister Nasim, who rejoiced with exceeding joy at the news of her return and brought her the furniture and precious stuffs left in her charge. So she furnished the house and dressed it, hanging the curtains over the doors and burning aloes-wood and musk and ambergris and other essences till the whole place reeked with the most delightful perfumes: after which the Adornment of Qualities donned her finest dress and decorations and sat talking with her maids, whom she had left behind when journeying, and related to them all that had befallen her first and last. Then she turned to Hubub and giving her dirhams, bade her fetch them something to eat. So she brought meat and drink and when they had made an end of eating and drinking,372 Zayn al-Mawasif bade Hubub go and see where Masrur was and how it fared with him. Now he knew not of her return; but abode with concern overcast and sorrow might not be overpast; — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zayn al-Mawasif entered her house she was met by her sister Nasim who brought her the furniture and stuffs wherewith she furnished the place; and then she donned her finest dress. But Masrur knew naught of her return and abode with concern overcast and sorrow might not be overpast; no peace prevailed with him nor was patience possible to him. Whenas pine and passion, desire and distraction waxed on him, he would solace himself by reciting verse and go to the house and set him its walls to buss. It chanced that he went out that day to the place where he had parted from his mistress and repeated this rare song,

  “My wrongs hide I, withal they show to sight; * And now mine eyes

  from sleep to wake are dight.

  I cry when melancholy tries my sprite * Last not, O world nor

  work more despight;

  Lo hangs my soul ‘twixt hardship and affright.

  Were the Sultan hight Love but fair to me, * Slumber mine eyes’

  companion were to me,

  My Lords, some little mercy spare to me, * Chief of my tribe: be

  debonnair to me,

  Whom Love cast down, erst rich now pauper-wight!

  Censors may blame thee but I look beyond * Mine ears I stop and

  leave their lies unconned

  And keep my pact wi’ those I love so fond: * They say, ‘Thou

  lov’st a runaway!’ I respond,

  ‘Whist! whenas Fate descends she blinds the sight!’”

  Then he returned to his lodging and sat there weeping, till sleep overcame him, when he saw in a dream as if Zayn al-Mawasif were come to the house, and awoke in tears. So he set off to go thither, improvising these couplets,

  “Shall I be consoled when Love hath mastered the secret of me *

  And my heart is aglow with more than the charcoal’s ardency?

  I love her whose absence I plain before Allah for parting-stower

  * And the shifts of the days and doom which allotted me

  Destiny:

  When shall our meeting be, O wish O’ my heart and will? * O

  favour of fullest Moon, when shall we Re-union see?”

  As he made an end of his recitation, he found himself walking adown in Zayn al-Mawasif’s street and smelt the sweet savour of the pastiles wherewithal she had incensed the house; wherefore his vitals fluttered and his heart was like to leave his breast and desire flamed up in him and distraction redoubled upon him; when lo, and behold! Hubub, on her way to do her lady’s errand suddenly appeared at the head of the street and he rejoiced with joy exceeding. When she saw him, she went up to him and saluting him, gave him the glad news of her mistress’s return, saying, “She hath sent me to bid thee to her.” Whereat he was glad indeed, with gladness naught could exceed; and she took him and returned with him to the house. When Zayn al-Mawasif saw him, she came down to him from the couch and kissed him and he kissed her and she embraced him and he embraced her; nor did they leave kissing and embracing till both swooned away for stress of affection and separation. They lay a long while senseless, and when they revived, Zayn al-Mawasif bade Hubub fetch her a gugglet of sherbet of sugar and another of sherbet of lemons. So she brought what she desired and they sat eating and drinking nor ceased before nightfall, when they fell to recalling all that had befallen them from commencement to conclusion. Then she acquainted him with her return to Al-Islam, whereat he rejoiced and he also became a Moslem. On like wise did her women, and they all repented to Allah Almighty of their infidelity. On the morrow she made send for the Kazi and the witnesses and told them that she was a widow and had completed
the purification-period and was minded to marry Masrur. So they drew up the wedding-contract between them and they abode in all delight of life. Meanwhile, the Jew, when the people of Adan released him from prison, set out homewards and fared on nor ceased faring till he came within three days’ journey of the city. Now as soon as Zayn al-Mawasif heard of his coming she called for her handmaid Hubub and said to her, “Go to the Jews’ burial-place and there dig a grave and plant on it sweet basil and jessamine and sprinkle water thereabout. If the Jew come and ask thee of me, answer, ‘My mistress died twenty days ago of chagrin on thine account.’ If he say, show me her tomb, take him to the grave and after weeping over it and making moan and lament before him, contrive to cast him therein and bury him alive.”373 And Hubub answered, “I hear and I obey.” Then they laid up the furniture in the store closets, and Zayn al-Mawasif removed to Masrur’s lodging, where he and she abode eating and drinking, till the three days were past; at the end of which the Jew arrived and knocked at the door of his house. Quoth Hubub, “Who’s at the door?”; and quoth he, “Thy master.” So she opened to him and he saw the tears railing down her cheeks and said, “What aileth thee to weep and where is thy mistress?” She replied, “My mistress is dead of chagrin on thine account.” When he heard this, he was perplexed and wept with sore weeping and presently said, “O Hubub, where is her tomb?” So she carried him to the Jews’ burial-ground and showed him the grave she had dug; whereupon he shed bitter tears and recited this pair of couplets,374

  “Two things there are, for which if eyes wept tear on tear * Of

  blood, till they were like indeed to disappear,

  They never could fulfil the Tithe of all their due: * And these

  are prime of youth and loss of loveling dear.”

  Then he wept again with bitter tears and recited these also,

  “Alack and Alas! Patience taketh flight: * And from parting of

  friend to sore death I’m dight:

  O how woeful this farness from dear one, and oh * How my heart is

  rent by mine own unright!

  Would Heaven my secret I erst had kept * Nor had told the pangs

  and my liver-blight:

  I lived in all solace and joyance of life * Till she left and

  left me in piteous plight:

  O Zayn al-Mawasif, I would there were * No parting departing my

  frame and sprite:

  I repent me for troth-breach and blame my guilt * Of unruth to

  her whereon hopes I built.”

  When he had made an end of this verse, he wept and groaned and lamented till he fell down a-swoon, whereupon Hubub made haste to drag him to the grave and throw him in, whilst he was insensible yet quick withal. Then she stopped up the grave on him and returning to her mistress acquainted her with what had passed, whereat she rejoiced with exceeding joy and recited these two couplets,

  “The world sware that for ever ’twould gar me grieve: *Tis false,

  O world, so thine oath retrieve375 !

  The blamer is dead and my love’s in my arms: * Rise to herald of

  joys and tuck high thy sleeve376 !”

  Then she and Masrur abode each with other in eating and drinking and sport and pleasure and good cheer, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and Sunderer of societies and Slayer of sons and daughters. And I have also heard tell the following tale of

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  ALI NUR AL-DIN AND MIRIAM THE GIRDLE-GIRL377

  There was once in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before in the parts of Cairo, a merchant named Táj al-Dín who was of the most considerable of the merchants and of the chiefs of the freeborn. But he was given to travelling everywhere and loved to fare over wild and wold, waterless lowland and stony waste, and to journey to the isles of the seas, in quest of dirhams and dinars: wherefore he had in his time encountered dangers and suffered duresse of the way such as would grizzle little children and turn their black hair grey. He was possessed of black slaves and Mamelukes, Eunuchs and concubines, and was the wealthiest of the merchants of his time and the goodliest of them in speech, owning horses and mules and Bactrian camels and dromedaries; sacks great and small of size; goods and merchandise and stuffs such as muslins of Hums, silks and brocades of Ba’allak, cotton of Mery, stuffs of India, gauzes of Baghdad, burnouses of Moorland and Turkish white slaves and Abyssinian castratos and Grecian girls and Egyptian boys; and the coverings of his bales were silk with gold purfled fair, for he was wealthy beyond compare. Furthermore he was rare of comeliness, accomplished in goodliness, and gracious in his kindliness, even as one of his describers doth thus express,

  “A merchant I spied whose lovers * Were fighting in furious

  guise:

  Quoth he, ‘Why this turmoil of people?’ * Quoth I, ‘Trader, for

  those fine eyes!’”

  And saith another in his praise and saith well enough to accomplish the wish of him,

  “Came a merchant to pay us a visit * Whose glance did my heart

  surprise:

  Quoth he, ‘What surprised thee so?’ * Quoth I, ‘Trader, ’twas

  those fine eyes.’”

  Now that merchant had a son called Ali Nur al-Din, as he were the full moon whenas it meeteth the sight on its fourteenth night, a marvel of beauty and loveliness, a model of form and symmetrical grace, who was sitting one day as was his wont, in his father’s shop, selling and buying, giving and taking when the sons of the merchants girt him around and he was amongst them as moon among stars, with brow flower-white and cheeks of rosy light in down the tenderest dight, and body like alabaster-bright even as saith of him the poet,

  “‘Describe me!’ a fair one said. * Said I, ‘Thou art Beauty’s

  queen.’

  And, speaking briefest speech, * ‘All charms in thee are seen.’”

  And as saith of him one of his describers,

  “His mole upon plain of cheek is like * Ambergrís-crumb on marble

  plate,

  And his glances likest the sword proclaim * To all Love’s rebels

  ‘The Lord is Great!’”378

  The young merchants invited him saying, “O my lord Nur al-Din, we wish thee to go this day a-pleasuring with us in such a garden.” And he answered, “Wait till I consult my parent, for I cannot go without his consent.” As they were talking, behold, up came Taj al-Din, and his son looked at him and said, “O father mine, the sons of the merchants have invited me to wend a-pleasuring with them in such a garden. Dost thou grant me leave to go?” His father replied, “Yes, O my son, fare with them;” and gave him somewhat of money. So the young men mounted their mules and asses and Nur al-Din mounted a she-mule and rode with them to a garden, wherein was all that soul desireth and that eye charmeth. It was high of walls which from broad base were seen to rise; and it had a gateway vault-wise with a portico like a saloon and a door azure as the skies, as it were one of the gates of Paradise: the name of the door-keeper was Rizwán,379 and over the gate were trained an hundred trellises which grapes overran; and these were of various dyes, the red like coralline, the black like the snouts of Súdán380 -men and the white like egg of the pigeon-hen. And in it peach and pomegranate were shown and pear, apricot and pomegranate were grown and fruits with and without stone hanging in clusters or alone, — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the sons of the merchants entered the vergier, they found therein all that soul desireth or eye charmeth, grapes of many hues grown, hanging in bunches or alone, even as saith of them the poet,

  “Grapes tasting with the taste of wine * Whose coats like

  blackest Raven’s shine:

  Their sheen, amid the leafage shows, * Like women’s fingers

  henna’d fine.”

  And as saith another o
n the same theme,

  “Grape-bunches likest as they sway * A-stalk, my body frail and

  snell:

  Honey and water thus in jar, * When sourness past, make

  Hydromel.”

  Then they entered the arbour of the garden and saw there Rizwan the gate-keeper sitting, as he were Rizwan the Paradise-guardian, and on the door were written these lines,

  “Garth Heaven-watered wherein clusters waved * On boughs which

  full of sap to bend were fain:

  And, when the branches danced on Zephyr’s palm, * The Pleiads

  shower’d as gifts381 fresh pearls for rain.”

  And within the arbour were written these two couplets,

  “Come with us, friend, and enter thou * This garth that cleanses

  rust of grief:

  Over their skirts the Zephyrs trip382 * And flowers in sleeve

  to laugh are lief.”383

  So they entered and found all manner fruits in view and birds of every kind and hue, such as ringdove, nightingale and curlew; and the turtle and the cushat sang their love lays on the sprays. Therein were rills that ran with limpid wave and flowers suave; and bloom for whose perfume we crave and it was even as saith of it the poet in these two couplets,

  “The Zephyr breatheth o’er its branches, like * Fair girls that

  trip as in fair skirts they pace:

  Its rills resemble swords in hands of knights * Drawn from the

  scabbard and containing-case.”384

  And again as singeth the songster,

  “The streamlet swings by branchy wood and aye * Joys in its

  breast those beauties to display;

  And Zephyr noting this, for jealousy * Hastens and bends the

  branches other way.”

  On the trees of the garden were all manner fruits, each in two sorts, and amongst them the pomegranate, as it were a ball of silver-dross,385 whereof saith the poet and saith right well,

  “Granados of finest skin, like the breasts * Of maid

  firm-standing in sight of male;

  When I strip the skin, they at once display * The rubies

  compelling all sense to quail.”

  And even as quoth another bard,

  “Close prest appear to him who views th’ inside * Red rubies in