One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-first Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young merchant, after recounting to the Caliph the matter of the bag and its containing jewels of all sorts, continued, “Presently, O Commander of the Faithful, said one of the men on the chairs, ‘O company of merchants, we will sell but this to-day, by way of spending-money, for that we are weary.’ So the merchants fell to bidding one against other for the jewels and bid till the price reached four hundred dinars. Then said to me the owner of the bag (for he was an old acquaintance of mine, and when he saw me, he came down to me and saluted me), ‘Why dost thou not speak and bid like the rest of the merchants?’ I said, ‘O my lord, by Allah, the shifts of fortune have run against me and I have lost my wealth and have only an hundred dinars left in the world.’ Quoth he, ‘O Omбni, after this vast wealth, can only an hundred dinars remain to thee?’ And I was abashed before him and my eyes filled with tears; whereupon he looked at me and indeed my case was grievous to him. So he said to the merchants, ‘Bear witness against me that I have sold all that is in this bag of various gems and precious stones to this man for an hundred gold pieces, albeit I know them to be worth so many thousand dinars, and this is a present from me to him.’ Then he gave me the saddle-bag and the carpet, with all the jewels that were thereon, for which I thanked him, and each and every of the merchants present praised him. Presently I carried all this to the jewel-market and sat there to sell and buy. Now among the precious stones was a round amulet of the handi-work of the masters,290 weighing half a pound: it was red of the brightest, a carnelian on both whose sides were graven characts and characters, like the tracks of ants; but I knew not its worth. I sold and bought a whole year, at the end of which I took the amulet291 and said, ‘This hath been with me some while, and I know not what it is nor what may be its value.’ So I gave it to the broker who took it and went round with it and returned, saying, ‘None of the merchants will give me more than ten dirhams for it.’ Quoth I, ‘I will not sell it at that price;’ and he threw it in my face and went away. Another day I again offered it for sale and its price reached fifteen dirhams; whereupon I took it from the broker in anger and threw it back into the tray. But a few days after, as I sat in my shop, there came up to me a man, who bore the traces of travel, and saluting me, said, ‘By thy leave, I will turn over what thou hast of wares.’ Said I, ‘’Tis well,’ and indeed, O Commander of the Faithful, I was still wroth by reason of the lack of demand for the talisman. So the man fell to turning over my wares, but took nought thereof save the amulet, which when he saw, he kissed his hand and cried, ‘Praised be Allah!’ Then said he to me, ‘O my lord, wilt thou sell this?’; and I replied, ‘Yes,’ being still angry. Quoth he, ‘What is its price?’ And I asked, ‘How much wilt thou give?’ He answered, ‘Twenty dinars’: so I thought he was making mock of me and exclaimed, ‘Wend thy ways.’ But he resumed, ‘I will give thee fifty dinars for it.’ I made him no answer, and he continued, ‘A thousand dinars.’ But I was silent, declining to reply, whilst he laughed at my silence and said, ‘Why dost thou not return me an answer?’ ‘Hie thee home,’ repeated I and was like to quarrel with him. But he bid thousand after thousand, and I still made him no reply, till he said, ‘Wilt thou sell it for twenty thousand dinars?’ I still thought he was mocking me; but the people gathered about me and all of them said, ‘Sell to him, and if he buy not, we will all up and at him and drub him and thrust him forth the city.’ So quoth I to him, ‘Wilt thou buy or dost thou jest?’; and quoth he, ‘Wilt thou sell or dost thou joke?’ I said, ‘I will sell if thou wilt buy;’ then he said, ‘I will buy it for thirty thousand dinars; take them and make the bargain;’ so I cried to the bystanders, ‘Bear witness against him,’ adding to him, ‘But on condition that thou acquaint me with the virtues and profit of this amulet for which thou payest all this money.’ He answered, ‘Close the bargain, and I will tell thee this;’ I rejoined, ‘I sell it to thee;’ and he retorted, ‘Allah be witness of that which thou sayst and testimony!’ Then he brought out the gold and giving it to me took the amulet, and set it in his bosom; after which he turned to me and asked, ‘Art thou content?’ Answered I, ‘Yes,’ and he said to the people, ‘Bear witness against him that he hath closed the bargain and touched the price, thirty thousand dinars.’ Then he turned to me and said, ‘Harkye, my poor fellow, hadst thou held back from selling, by Allah I would have bidden thee up to an hundred thousand dinars, nay, even to a thousand thousand!’ When I heard these words, O Commander of the Faithful, the blood fled my face, and from that day there overcame it this pallor thou seest. Then said I to him, ‘Tell me the reason of this and what is the use of this amulet.’ And he answered, saying, ‘Know that the King of Hind hath a daughter, never was seen a thing fairer than she, and she is possessed with a falling sickness.292 So the King summoned the Scribes and men of science and Divines, but none of them could relieve her of this. Now I was present in the assembly; so I said to him, ‘O King, I know a man called Sa’adu’llбh the Babylonian, than whom there is not on the face of the earth one more masterly in these matters, and if thou see fit to send me to him, do so.’ Said he, ‘Go to him;’ and quoth I, ‘Bring me a piece of carnelian.’ Accordingly he gave me a great piece of carnelian and an hundred thousand dinars and a present, which I took, and with which I betook myself to the land of Babel. Then I sought out the Shaykh and when he was shown to me I delivered to him the money and the present, which he accepted and sending for a lapidary, bade him fashion the carnelian into this amulet. Then he abode seven months in observation of the stars, till he chose out an auspicious time for engraving it, when he graved upon it these talismanic characters which thou seest, and I took it and returned with it to the King.’” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-second Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man said to the Commander of the Faithful, “‘So after the Shaykh had spoken, I took this talisman and returned with it to the King. Now the Princess was bound with four chains, and every night a slave-girl lay with her and was found in the morning with her throat cut. The King took the amulet and laid it upon his daughter who was straightway made whole. At this he rejoiced with exceeding joy and invested me with a vest of honour and gave alms of much money; and he caused set the amulet in the Princess’s necklace. It chanced, one day, that she embarked with her women in a ship and went for a sail on the sea. Presently, one of her maids put out her hand to her, to sport with her, and the necklace brake asunder and fell into the waves. From that hour the possessor293 of the Princess returned to her, wherefore great grief betided the King and he gave me much money, saying, ‘Go thou to Shaykh Sa’adu’llah and let him make her another amulet, in lieu of that which is lost.’ I journeyed to Babel, but found the old man dead; whereupon I returned and told the King, who sent me and ten others to go round about in all countries, so haply we might find a remedy for her: and now Allah hath caused me happen on it with thee.’ Saying these words, he took from me the amulet, O Commander of the Faithful, and went his ways. Such, then, is the cause of the wanness of my complexion. As for me, I repaired to Baghdad, carrying all my wealth with me, and took up my abode in the lodgings where I lived whilome. On the morrow, as soon as it was light, I donned my dress and betook myself to the house of Tahir ibn al-Alaa, that haply I might see her whom I loved, for the love of her had never ceased to increase upon my heart. But when I came to his home, I saw the balcony broken down and the lattice builded up; so I stood awhile, pondering my case and the shifts of Time, till there came up a serving-man, and I questioned him, saying, ‘What hath God done with Tahir ibn al-Alaa?’ He answered, ‘O my brother, he hath repented to Almighty Allah.294 ‘ Quoth I, ‘What was the cause of his repentance?’; and quoth he, ‘O my brother, in such a year there came to him a merchant, by name Abu al-Hasan the Omani, who abode with his daughter awh
ile, till his wealth was all spent, when the old man turned him out, broken-hearted. Now the girl loved him with exceeding love, and when she was parted from him, she sickened of a sore sickness and came nigh upon death. As soon as her father knew how it was with her, he sent after and sought for Abu al-Hasan through the lands, pledging himself to bestow upon whoso should produce him an hundred thousand dinars; but none could find him nor come on any trace of him; and she is now hard upon death.’ Quoth I, ‘And how is it with her sire?’ and quoth the servant, ‘He hath sold all his girls, for grief of that which hath befallen him, and hath repented to Almighty Allah.’ Then asked I, ‘What wouldst thou say to him who should direct thee to Abu al-Hasan the Omani?’; and he answered, ‘Allah upon thee, O my brother, that thou do this and quicken my poverty and the poverty of my parents!295 ‘ I rejoined, ‘Go to her father and say to him, Thou owest me the reward for good news, for that Abu al-Hasan the Omani standeth at the door.’ With this he set off trotting, as he were a mule loosed from the mill, and presently came back, accompanied by Shaykh Tahir himself, who no sooner saw me than he returned to his house and gave the man an hundred thousand dinars which he took and went away blessing me. Then the old man came up and embraced me and wept, saying, ‘O my lord, where hast thou been absent all this while? Indeed, my daughter hath been killed by reason of her separation from thee; but come with me into the house.’ So we entered and he prostrated himself in gratitude to the Almighty, saying, ‘Praised be Allah who hath reunited us with thee!’ Then he went in to his daughter and said to her, ‘The Lord hath healed thee of this sickness;’ and said she, ‘O my papa, I shall never be whole of my sickness, save I look upon the face of Abu al-Hasan.’ Quoth he, ‘An thou wilt eat a morsel and go to the Hammam, I will bring thee in company with him.’ Asked she, ‘Is it true that thou sayst?’; and he answered, ‘By the Great God, ’tis true!’ She rejoined, ‘By Allah, if I look upon his face, I shall have no need of eating!’ Then said he to his page, ‘Bring in thy lord.’ Thereupon I entered, and when she saw me, O Prince of True Believers, she fell down in a swoon, and presently coming to herself, recited this couplet,

  ‘Yea, Allah hath joined the parted twain, * When no thought they thought e’er to meet again.’

  Then she sat upright and said, ‘By Allah, O my lord, I had not deemed to see thy face ever more, save it were in a dream!’ So she embraced me and wept, and said, ‘O Abu al-Hasan, now will I eat and drink.’ The old man her sire rejoiced to hear these words and they brought her meat and drink and we ate and drank, O Commander of the Faithful. After this, I abode with them awhile, till she was restored to her former beauty, when her father sent for the Kazi and the witnesses and bade write out the marriage-contract between her and me and made a mighty great bride-feast; and she is my wife to this day and this is my son by her.” So saying he went away and returned with a boy of rare beauty and symmetry of form and favour to whom said he, “Kiss the ground before the Commander of the Faithful.” He kissed ground before the Caliph, who marvelled at his beauty and glorified his Creator; after which Al-Rashid departed, he and his company, saying, “O Ja’afar, verily, this is none other than a marvellous thing, never saw I nor heard I aught more wondrous.” When he was seated in the palace of the Caliphate, he cried, “O Masrur!” who replied, “Here am I, O my lord!” Then said he, “Bring the year’s tribute of Bassorah and Baghdad and Khorasan, and set it in this recess.296 “ Accordingly he laid the three tributes together and they were a vast sum of money, whose tale none might tell save Allah. Then the Caliph bade draw a curtain before the recess and said to Ja’afar, “Fetch me Abu al-Hasan.” Replied Ja’afar, “I hear and obey,” and going forth, returned presently with the Omani, who kissed ground before the Caliph, fearing lest he had sent for him because of some fault that he had committed when he was with him in his house. Then said Al-Rashid, “Harkye, O Omani!” and he replied, “Adsum, O Prince of True Believers! May Allah ever bestow his favours upon thee!” Quoth the Caliph, “Draw back yonder curtain.” Thereupon Abu al-Hasan drew back the curtain from the recess and was confounded and perplexed at the mass of money he saw there. Said Al-Rashid, “O Abu al-Hasan, whether is the more, this money or that thou didst lose by the amulet?297 “; and he answered, “This is many times the greater, O Commander of the Faithful!” Quoth the Caliph, “Bear witness, all ye who are present, that I give this money to this young man.” So Abu al-Hasan kissed ground and was abashed and wept before the Caliph for excess of joy. Now when he wept, the tears ran down from his eyelids upon his cheeks and the blood returned to its place and his face became like the moon on the night of its fulness. Whereupon quoth the Caliph, “There is no god but the God! Glory be to Him who decreeth change upon change and is Himself the Everlasting who changeth not!” Saying these words, he bade fetch a mirror and showed Abu al-Hasan his face therein, which when he saw, he prostrated himself, in gratitude to the Most High Lord. Then the Caliph bade transport the money to Abu al-Hasan’s house and charged the young man not to absent himself from him, so he might enjoy his company as a cup-companion. Accordingly he paid him frequent visits, till Al-Rashid departed to the mercy of Almighty Allah; and glory be to Him who dieth not the Lord of the Seen and the Unseen! And among tales they tell is one touching

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  IBRAHIM AND JAMILAH.298

  Al-Khasнb,299 Wazir of Egypt, had a son named Ibrahнm, than whom there was none goodlier, and of his fear for him, he suffered him not to go forth, save to the Friday prayers. One day, as the youth was returning from the mosque, he came upon an old man, with whom were many books; so he lighted down from his horse and seating himself beside him, began to turn over the tomes and examine them. In one of them he espied the semblance of a woman which all but spoke, never was seen on the earth’s face one more beautiful; and as this captivated his reason and confounded his wit, he said to the old man, “O Shaykh, sell me this picture.” The bookseller kissed ground between his hands and said, “O my lord, ’tis thine without price.300 “ Ibrahim gave him an hundred dinars and taking the book in which was the picture, fell to gazing upon it and weeping night and day, abstaining from meat and drink and sleep. Then said he in his mind, “An I ask the bookseller of the painter of this picture, haply he will tell me; and if the original be living, I will seek access to her; but, if it be only a picture, I will leave doting upon it and plague myself no more for a thing which hath no real existence.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.