One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-third Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King’s wife sent to the King to say, “These are not my property; nay, these gems are finer than those of my necklace. So oppress not this man; but, if he will sell them, buy them for thy daughter Umm al-Su’ъd,248 that we may set them in a necklace for her.” When the eunuch returned and told the King what the Queen said, he damned the Syndic of the jewellers, him and his company, with the damnation of Бd and Thamъd,249 and they said to him, “O King of the age, we knew this man for a poor fisherman and deemed such things too much for him,250 so we supposed that he had stolen them.” Cried the King, “O ye filthy villains, begrudge ye a True Believer good fortune? Why did ye not make due enquiry of him? Haply Allah Almighty hath vouchsafed him these things from a source whereupon he reckoned not. Why did ye make him out a thief and disgrace him amongst the folk? Begone, and may Allah never bless you!” So they went out affrighted and the King said to Abdullah, “O man (Allah bless thee in all He hath bestowed on thee!), no harm shall befal thee; but tell me truly, whence gottest thou these jewels; for I am a King yet have I not the like of them.” The fisherman replied, “O King of the age, I have a fish-basket full of them at home and the case is thus and thus.” Then he told him of his friendship with the Merman, adding, “We have made a covenant together that I shall bring him every day a basket full of fruit and that he shall fill me the basket with these jewels.” Quoth the King, O man this is thy lucky lot; but wealth needeth rank,251 I will defend thee for the present against men’s domineering; but haply I shall be deposed or die and another rule in my stead, and he shall slay thee because of his love of the goods of this world and his covetousness. So I am minded to marry thee to my daughter and make thee my Wazir and bequeath thee the kingdom after me, so none may hanker for thy riches when I am gone. Then said he, “Hie with this man to the Hammam.” So they bore him to the Baths and bathed his body and robed him in royal raiment, after which they brought him back to the King, and he made him his Wazir and sent to his house couriers and the soldiers of his guard and all the wives of the notables, who clad his wife and children in Kingly costume and mounting the woman in a horse- litter, with the little child in her lap, walked before her to the palace, escorted by the troops and couriers and officers. They also brought her elder children in to the King who made much of them, taking them in his lap and seating them by his side; for they were nine children male and the King had no son and heir nor had he been blessed with any child save this one daughter, Umm al-Su’ud hight. Meanwhile the Queen entreated Abdullah’s wife with honour and bestowed favours on her and made her Waziress to her. Then the King bade draw up the marriage contract between his daughter and Abdullah of the Land252 who assigned to her, as her dower, all the gems and precious stones in his possession, and they opened the gates of festival. The King commanded by proclamation to decorate the city, in honour of his daughter’s wedding. Then Abdullah went in unto the Princess and abated her maidenhead. Next morning the King looked out of the lattice and saw Abdullah carrying on his head a fish-crate full of fruit. So he called to him, “What hast thou there, O my son- in-law, and whither wendest thou?” The fisherman replied, “To my friend, Abdullah the Merman;” and the King said, “O my son-in- law, this is no time to go to thy comrade.” Quoth Abdullah, “Indeed, I fear to break tryst with him, lest he reckon me a liar and say, ‘The things of the world have diverted thee from me,’” and quoth the King, “Thou speakest sooth: go to thy friend and God help thee!” So he walked through the city on his way to his companion; and, as he went, he heard the folk who knew him say, “There goeth the King’s son-in-law to exchange fruit for gems;” whilst those who knew him not said, “Ho, fellow, how much a pound? Come, sell to me.” And he answered, saying, “Wait till I come back to thee,” for that he would not hurt the feelings of any man. Then he fared on till he came to the sea-shore and foregathered with his friend Abdullah the Merman, to whom he delivered the fruit, receiving gems in return. He ceased not doing thus till one day, as he passed by the baker’s oven, he found it closed; and so he did ten days, during which time the oven remained shut and he saw nothing of the baker. So he said to himself, “This is a strange thing! Would I wot whither the baker went!” Then he enquired of his neighbour, saying, “O my brother, where is thy neighbour the baker and what hath Allah done with him?”; and the other responded, “O my lord, he is sick and cometh not forth of his house.” “Where is his house?” asked Abdullah; and the other answered, “In such a quarter.” So he fared thither and enquired of him; but, when he knocked at the door, the baker looked out of window and seeing his friend the fisherman, full basket on head, came down and opened the door to him. Abdullah entered and throwing himself on the baker embraced him and wept, saying, “How dost thou, O my friend? Every day, I pass by thine oven and see it unopened; so I asked thy neighbour, who told me that thou wast sick; therefore I enquired for thy house, that I might see thee.” Answered the baker, “Allah requite thee for me with all good! Nothing aileth me; but it reached me that the King had taken thee, for that certain of the folk had lied against thee and accused thee of being a robber wherefore I feared and shut shop and hid myself.” “True,” said Abdullah and told him all that had befallen him with the King and the Shaykh of the jewellers’ bazar, adding “Moreover, the King hath given me his daughter to wife and made me his Wazir;” and, after a pause, “So do thou take what is in this fish-basket to thy share and fear naught.” Then he left him, after having done away from him his affright, and returned with the empty crate to the King, who said to him, “O my son-in-law, ’twould seem thou hast not foregathered with thy friend the Merman to-day.” Replied Abdullah, “I went to him but that which he gave me I gave to my gossip the baker, to whom I owe kindness.” “Who may be this baker?” asked the King; and the fisherman answered, “He is a benevolent man, who did with me thus and thus in the days of my poverty and never neglected me a single day nor hurt my feelings.” Quoth the King, “What is his name?”; and quoth the fisherman “His name is Abdullah the Baker; and my name is Abdullah of the Land and that of my friend the Merman Abdullah of the Sea.” Rejoined the King, “And my name also is Abdullah; and the servants of Allah253 are all brethren. So send and fetch thy friend the baker, that I may make him my Wazir of the left.”254 So he sent for the baker who speedily came to the presence, and the King invested him with the Wazirial uniform and made him Wazir of the left, making Abdullah of the Land his Wazir of the right. — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King made his son-in-law, Abdullah of the Land, Wazir of the right and Abdullah the baker Wazir of the left. In such condition the fisherman abode a whole year, every day carrying for the Merman the crate full of fruit and receiving it back, full of jewels; and when fruit failed from the gardens, he carried him raisins and almonds and filberts and walnuts and figs and so forth; and all that he brought for him the Merman accepted and returned him the fish-basket full of jewels according to his custom. Now it chanced one day that he carried him the crate, full of dry255 fruits as was his wont, and his friend took them from him. Then they sat down to converse, Abdullah the fisherman on the beach and Abdullah the Merman in the water near the shore, and discoursed; and the talk went round between them, till it fell upon the subject of sepulchres; whereat quoth the Merman, “O my brother, they say that the Prophet (whom Allah assain and save!) is buried with you on the land. Knowest thou his tomb?” Abdullah replied, “Yes; it lieth in a city called Yathrib.256 “ Asked the Merman, “And do the people of the land visit it?” “Yes,” answered the fisherman, and the other said, “I give you joy, O people of the land, of visiting257 that noble Prophet and compassionate, which whoso visiteth meriteth his intercession! Hast thou made such visitation, O my brother?” Replied the fisherman,
“No: for I was poor and had not the necessary sum258 to spend by the way, nor have I been in easy case but since I knew thee and thou bestowedst on me this good fortune. But such visitation behoveth me after I have pilgrimed to the Holy House of Allah259 and naught withholdeth me therefrom but my love to thee, because I cannot leave thee for one day.” Rejoined the Merman, “And dost thou set the love of me before the visitation of the tomb of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!), who shall intercede for thee on the Day of Review before Allah and shall save thee from the Fire and through whose intercession thou shalt enter Paradise? And dost thou, for the love of the world, neglect to visit the tomb of thy Prophet260 Mohammed, whom God bless and preserve?” Replied Abdullah, “No, by Allah, I set the visitation of the Prophet’s tomb above all else, and I crave thy leave to pray before it this year.” The Merman rejoined, “I grant thee leave, on condition that when thou shalt stand by his sepulchre thou salute him for me with the Salam. Furthermore I have a trust to give thee; so come thou with me into the sea, that I may carry thee to my city and entertain thee in my house and give thee a deposit; which when thou takest thy station by the Prophet’s tomb, do thou lay thereon, saying, ‘O apostle of Allah, Abdullah the Merman saluteth thee, and sendeth thee this present, imploring thine intercession to save him from the Fire.’” Said the fisherman, “O my brother, thou wast created in the water and water is thy abiding-place and doth thee no hurt, but, if thou shouldst come forth to the land, would any harm betide thee?” The Merman replied, “Yes; my body would dry up and the breezes of the land would blow upon me and I should die.” Rejoined the fisherman, “And I, in like manner, was created on the land and the land is my abiding-place; but, an I went down into the sea, the water would enter my belly and choke me and I should die.” Retorted the other, “Have no fear for that, for I will bring thee an ointment, wherewith when thou hast anointed thy body, the water will do thee no hurt, though thou shouldst pass the lave of thy life going about in the great deep: and thou shalt lie down and rise up in the sea and naught shall harm thee.” Quoth the fisherman, “An the case by thus, well and good; but bring me the ointment, so that I may make trial of it;” and quoth the Merman, “So be it;” then, taking the fish-basket disappeared in the depths. He was absent awhile, and presently returned with an unguent as it were the fat of beef, yellow as gold and sweet of savour. Asked the fisherman, “What is this, O my brother?”; and answered the Merman, “’Tis the liver-fat of a kind of fish called the Dandбn,261 which is the biggest of all fishes and the fiercest of our foes. His bulk is greater than that of any beast of the land, and were he to meet a camel or an elephant, he would swallow it at a single mouthful.” Abdullah enquired, “O my brother, what doth this baleful beast?”; and the Merman replied, “He eateth of the beasts of the sea. Hast thou not heard the saying, ‘Like the fishes of the sea: forcible eateth feeble?262 ‘“ “True; but have you many of these Dandans in the sea?” “Yes, there be many of them with us. None can tell their tale save Almighty Allah.” “Verily, I fear lest, if I go down with thee into the deep a creature of this kind fall in with me and devour me.” “Have no fear: when he seeth thee, he will know thee for a son of Adam and will fear thee and flee. He dreadeth none in the sea as he dreadeth a son of Adam; for that an he eateth a man he dieth forthright, because human fat is a deadly poison to this kind of creature; nor do we collect its liver-speck save by means of a man, when he falleth into the sea and is drowned; for that his semblance becometh changed and ofttimes his flesh is torn; so the Dandan eateth him, deeming him the same of the denizens of the deep, and dieth. Then we light upon our enemy dead and take the speck of his liver and grease ourselves so that we can over-wander the main in safety. Also, wherever there is a son of Adam, though there be in that place an hundred or two hundred or a thousand or more of these beasts, all die forthright an they but hear him, — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,

  She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah of the sea said to Abdullah of the Land, “And if a thousand or more of this kind hear an Adamite cry a single cry, forthright all die nor hath one of them power to remove from his place; so, whenever a son of Adam falleth into the sea, we take him and anoint him with this fat and go round about the depths with him, and whenever we see a Dandan or two or three or more, we bid him cry out and they all die forthright for his once crying.” Quoth the fisherman, “I put my trust in Allah;” and, doffing his clothes, buried them in a hole which he dug in the beach; after which he rubbed his body from head to heels with that ointment. Then he descended into the water and diving, opened his eyes and the brine did him no hurt. So he walked right and left, and if he would, he rose to the sea-face, and if he would, he sank to the base. And he beheld the water as it were a tent over his head; yet it wrought him no hurt. Then said the Merman to him, “What seest thou, O my brother?”; and said he, “O my brother, I see naught save weal263 ; and indeed thou spakest truth in that which thou saidst to me; for the water doth me no hurt.” Quoth the Merman, “Follow me.” So he followed him and they ceased not faring on from place to place, whilst Abdullah discovered before him and on his right and left mountains of water and solaced himself by gazing thereon and on the various sorts of fish, some great and some small, which disported themselves in the main. Some of them favoured buffaloes264 others oxen and others dogs and yet others human beings; but all to which they drew near fled, whenas they saw the fisherman, who said to the Merman, “O my brother, how is it that I see all the fish, to which we draw near, flee from us afar?” Said the other, “Because they fear thee, for all things that Allah hath made fear the son of Adam.265 “ The fisherman ceased not to divert himself with the marvels of the deep, till they came to a high mountain and fared on beside it. Suddenly, he heard a mighty loud cry and turning, saw some black thing, the bigness of a camel or bigger, coming down upon him from the liquid mountain and crying out. So he asked his friend, “What is this, O my brother?”; and the Merman answered, “This is the Dandan. He cometh in search of me, seeking to devour me; so cry out at him, O my brother, ere he reach us; else he will snatch me up and devour me.” Accordingly Abdullah cried out at the beast and behold, it fell down dead; which when he saw, he said, “Glorified be the perfection of God and His praise! I smote it not with the sword nor knife; how cometh it that, for all the vastness of the creature’s bulk, it could not bear my cry, but died?” Replied the Merman, “Marvel not, for, by Allah, O my brother, were there a thousand or two thousand of these creatures, yet could they not endure the cry of a son of Adam.” Then they walked on, till they made a city, whose inhabitants the fisherman saw to be all women, there being no male among them; so he said to his companion, “O my brother, what city is this and what are these women?” “This is the city of women; for its inhabitants are of the women of the sea.” “Are there any males among them?” “No!” “Then how do they conceive and bear young, without males?266 “ “The King of the sea banisheth them hither and they conceive not neither bear children. All the women of the sea, with whom he is wroth, he sendeth to this city, and they cannot leave it; for, should one of them come forth therefrom, any of the beasts of the sea that saw her would eat her. But in other cities of the main there are both males and females.” Thereupon asked the fisherman, “Are there then other cities than this in the sea?”; and the Merman answered, “There are many.” Quoth the fisherman, “And is there a Sultan over you in the sea?” “Yes,” quoth the Merman. Then said Abdullah “O my brother, I have indeed seen many marvels in the main!” But the Merman said, “And what hast thou seen of its marvels?267 Hast thou not heard the saying, ‘The marvels of the sea are more manifold than the marvels of the land?’” “True,” rejoined the fisherman and fell to gazing upon those women, whom he saw with faces like moons and hair like women’s hair, but their hands and feet were in their middle and they had tails like fishes’ tails. Now when the Merman had
shown him the people of the city, he carried him forth therefrom and forewalked him to another city, which he found full of folk, both males and females, formed like the women aforesaid and having tails; but there was neither selling nor buying amongst them, as with the people of the land, nor were they clothed, but went all naked and with their same uncovered. Said Abdullah “O my brother, I see males and females alike with their shame exposed,268 “ and the other said, “This is because the folk of the sea have no clothes.” Asked the fisherman, “And how do they when they marry?” The Merman answered, “They do not marry; but every one who taketh a liking to a female doth his will of her.” Quoth Abdullah, “This is unlawful! Why doth he not ask her in marriage and dower her and make her a wedding festival and marry her, in accordance with that which is pleasing to Allah and His Apostle?”; and quoth the other, “We are not all of one religion: some of us are Moslems, believers in The Unity, others Nazarenes and what not else; and each marrieth in accordance with the ordinances of his creed; but those of us who marry are mostly Moslems.” The fisherman continued, “Ye are naked and have neither buying nor selling among you: of what then is your wives’ dowry? Do ye give them jewels and precious stones?” The Merman rejoined, “Gems with us are only stones without worth: but upon the Moslem who is minded to marry they impose a dowry of a certain number of fishes of various kinds that he must catch, a thousand or two thousand, more or less, according to the agreement between himself and the bride’s father. As soon as he bringeth the amount required, the families of the bride and bridegroom assemble and eat the marriage-banquet; after which they bring him in to his bride, and he catcheth fish and feedeth her; or, if he be unable, she catcheth fish and feedeth him.” Enquired the fisherman, “And how if a woman commit adultery?”; and the other replied, “If a woman be convicted of this case, they banish her to the City of Women; and if she be with child by her gallant, they leave her till she be delivered; then, if she give birth to a girl, they banish her with her, calling her adulteress, daughter of adulteress, and she abideth a maid till she die; but, if the woman give birth to a male child, they carry it to the Sultan of the Sea, who putteth it to death.” Abdullah marvelled at this and the Merman carried him to another city and thence to another and yet another, till he had diverted him with the sight of eighty cities, and he saw the people of each city unlike those of every other. Then said he to the Merman, “O my brother, are there yet other cities in the main?”; whereto said the other, “And what hast thou seen of the cities of the sea and its wondrous spectacles? By the virtue of the noble Prophet, the benign, the compassionate, were I to show thee every day a thousand cities for a thousand years, and in each city a thousand marvels, I should not have shown thee one carat of the four-and- twenty carats of the cities of the sea and its miracles! I have but shown thee our own province and country, nothing more.” The fisherman thus resumed, “O my brother, since this is the case, what I have seen sufficeth me, for I am a-weary of eating fish, and these fourscore days I have been in thy company, thou hast fed me, morning and night, upon nothing but raw fish, neither broiled nor boiled.” “And what is broiled or boiled?” “We broil fish with fire and boil it in water and dress it in various ways and make many dishes of it.” “And how should we come by fire in the sea? We know not broiled nor boiled nor aught else of the kind.” “We also fry it in olive-oil and oil of sesame.269 “ How should be come by olive-oil and oil of sesame in the sea? Verily we know nothing of that thou namest.” “True, but O my brother, thou hast shown me many cities; yet hast thou not shown me thine own city.” “As for mine own city, we passed it a long way, for it is near the land whence we came, and I left it and came with thee hither, thinking only to divert thee with the sight of the greater cities of the sea.” “That which I have seen of them sufficeth me; and now I would have thee show me thine own city.” “So be it,” answered Abdullah of the Sea; and, returning on his traces, carried him back thither and said to him, “This is my city.” Abdullah of the Land looked and saw a city small by comparison with those he had seen; then he entered with his comrade of the deep and they fared on till they came to a cave. Quoth the Merman, “This is my house and all the houses in the city are like this, caverns great and small in the mountains; as are also those of every other city of the sea. For whoso is minded to make him a house must repair to the King and say to him, ‘I wish to make me a house in such a place.’ Whereupon the King sends with him a band of the fish called ‘Peckers,’270 which have beaks that crumble the hardest rock, appointing for their wage a certain quantum of fish. They betake themselves to the mountain chosen by the intended owner and therein pierce the house, whilst the owner catcheth fish for them and feedeth them, till the cave is finished, when they wend their ways and the house-owner taketh up his abode therein. On such wise do all the people of the sea; they traffic not one with other nor serve each other save by means of fish; and their food is fish and they themselves are a kind of fish.271 “ Then he said to him, “Enter!” So Abdullah entered and the Merman cried out, saying, “Ho, daughter mine!” when behold, there came to him a damsel with a face like the rondure of the moon and hair long, hips heavy, eyes black-edged and waist slender; but she was naked and had a tail. When she saw Abdullah of the Land she said to her sire, “O my father, what is this No-tail272 thou hast brought with thee?” He replied, “O my daughter this is my friend of the land, from whom I used to bring thee the fruits of the ground. Come hither and salute him with the salam.” So she came forward and saluted the fisherman with loquent tongue and eloquent speech; and her father said to her, “Bring meat for our guest, by whose visit a blessing hath betided us:273 “ whereupon she brought him two great fishes, each the bigness of a lamb, and the Merman said to him, “Eat.” So he ate for stress of hunger, despite himself; because he was tired of eating fish and they had naught else save fish. Before long, in came the Merman’s wife, who was beautiful of form and favour and with her two children, each having in his hand a young fish, which he craunched as a man would craunch a cucumber. When she saw the fisherman with her husband, she said, “What is this No-tail?” And she and her sons and their sister came up to him and fell to examining the back parts of Abdullah of the Land, and saying, “Yea, by Allah, he is tailless!”; and they laughed at him. So he said to the Merman, “O my brother, hast thou brought me hither to make me a butt and a laughing-stock for thy children and thy consort?” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.