One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  “You are in every way this day our prey; * And ever we prayčd

  your sight to see:

  The Ruthful drave you Hodhayfah-wards * To the Brave, the Lion

  who sways the free:

  Say, amid you’s a man who would heal his ills, * With whose lust

  of battle shrewd blows agree?

  Then by Allah meet me who come to you * And whoso is wronged

  shall the wronger be.”358

  Thereupon there sallied forth to him Zuhayr bin Habíb, and they wheeled about and wiled a while, then they exchanged strokes. Al-Haris forewent his foe in smiting and stretched him weltering in his gore; whereupon Hodhayfah cried out to him, “Gifted of Allah359 art thou, O Haris! Call out another of them.” So he cried aloud, “I say, who be a champion?” But they of Baghdad held back from him; and when it appeared to Al-Haris that consternation was amongst them, he charged down upon them and overrolled the first of them upon the last of them and slew of them twelve men. Then the evening caught him and the Baghdadis began addressing themselves to flight. No sooner had the morning morrowed than they found themselves reduced to a fourth part of their number and there was not one of them had dismounted from his horse. Wherefore they made sure of destruction and Hodhayfah rushed out between the two lines (now he was reckoned good for a thousand knights) and cried out, “Harkye, my masters of Baghdad! Let none come forth to me but your Emir, so I may talk with him and he with me; and he shall meet me in combat singular and I will meet him, and may he who is clear of offence come off safe.” Then he repeated his words and said, “How is it I see your Emir refuse me a reply?” But Sa’ad, the Emir of the army of Baghdad, answered him not, and indeed his teeth chattered in his mouth, when he heard him summon him to the duello. Now when Al-Abbas heard Hodhayfah’s challenge and saw Sa’ad in this case, he came up to the Emir and asked him, “Wilt thou suffer me to answer him and I will be thy substitute in replying him and in monomachy with him and will make my life thy sacrifice?” Sa’ad looked at him and seeing knighthood shining from between his eyes, said to him, “O youth, by the virtue of Mustafŕ the Chosen Prophet (whom Allah save and assain), tell me who thou art and whence thou comest to bring us victory.”360 Quoth the Prince, “This is no place for questioning;” and quoth Sa’ad to him, “O Knight, up and at Hodhayfah! Yet, if his Satan prove too strong for thee, afflict not thyself on thy youth.”361 Al-Abbas cried, “Allah is He of whom help is to be sought;”362 and, taking his arms, fortified his purpose and went down into the field, as he were a fort of the forts or a mountain’s contrefort. Thereupon Hodhayfah cried out to him, saying, “Haste thee not, O youth! Who art thou of the folk?” He replied, “I am Sa’ad ibn al-Wakidi, commander of the host of King Ins, and but for thy pride in challenging me, I had not come forth to thee; for thou art no peer for me to front nor as mine equal dost thou count nor canst thou bear my brunt. Wherefore get thee ready for the last march363 seeing that there abideth but a little of thy life.” When Hodhayfah heard this speech, he threw himself backwards,364 as if in mockery of him, whereat Al-Abbas was wroth and called out to him, saying, “O Hodhayfah, guard thyself against me.” Then he rushed upon him, as he were a swooper of the Jinn,365 and Hodhayfah met him and they wheeled about a long while. Presently, Al-Abbas cried out at Hodhayfah a cry which astounded him and struck him a stroke, saying, “Take this from the hand of a brave who feareth not the like of thee.” Hodhayfah met the sabre-sway with his shield, thinking to ward it off from him; but the blade shore the target in sunder and descending upon his shoulder, came forth gleaming from the tendons of his throat and severed his arm at the armpit; whereupon he fell down, wallowing in his blood, and Al-Abbas turned upon his host; not had the sun departed the dome of the welkin ere Hodhayfah’s army was in full flight before Al-Abbas and the saddles were empty of men. Quoth Sa’ad, “By the virtue of Mustafa the Chosen Prophet, whom Allah save and assain, I saw Al-Abbas with the blood upon his saddle-pads, in clots like camels’ livers, smiting with the sword right and left, till he scattered them abroad in every gorge and wold; and when he hied him back to the camp, the men of Baghdad were fearful of him.” But as soon as they saw this victory which had betided them over their foes, they turned back and gathering together the weapons and treasures and horses of those they had slain, returned to Baghdad, victorious, and all by the knightly valour of Al-Abbas. As for Sa’ad, he foregathered with his lord, and they fared on in company till they came to the place where Al-Abbas had taken horse, whereupon the Prince dismounted from his charger and Sa’ad said to him, “O youth, wherefore alightest thou in other than thy place? Indeed, thy rights be incumbent upon us and upon our Sultan; so go thou with us to the dwellings, that we may ransom thee with our souls.” Replied Al-Abbas, “O Emir Sa’ad, from this place I took horse with thee and herein is my lodging. So, Allah upon thee, mention not me to the king, but make as if thou hadst never seen me because I am a stranger in the land.” So saying, he turned away from him and Sa’ad fared on to his palace, where he found all the courtiers in attendance on the king and recounting to him that which had betided them with Al-Abbas. Quoth the king, “Where is he?” and quoth they, “He is with the Emir Sa’ad.” So, when the Emir entered, the king looked, but found none with him; and Sa’ad, seeing at a glance that he longed to look upon the youth, cried out to him, saying, “Allah prolong the king’s days! Indeed, he refuseth to present himself before thee, without order or leave.” Asked the king, “O Sa’ad, whence cometh this man?” and the Emir answered, “O my lord, I know not; but he is a youth fair of favour, amiable of aspect, accomplished in address, ready of repartee, and valour shineth from between his eyes.” Quoth the king, “O Sa’ad, fetch him to me, for indeed thou describest to me at full length a mighty matter.”366 And he answered, saying, “By Allah, O my lord, hadst thou but seen our case with Hodhayfah, when he challenged me to the field of fight and the stead of cut-and-thrust and I held back from doing battle with him! Then, as I thought to go forth to him, behold, a knight gave loose to his bridle-rein and called out to me, saying, ‘O Sa’ad, wilt thou suffer me to be thy substitute in waging war with him and I will ransom thee with myself?’ and quoth I, ‘By Allah, O youth, whence comest thou?’ and quoth he, ‘This be no time for thy questions, while Hodhayfah standeth awaiting thee.’” Thereupon he repeated to the king all that had passed between himself and Al-Abbas from first to last; whereat cried Ins bin Kays, “Bring him to me in haste, so we may learn his tidings and question him of his case.” “’Tis well,” replied Sa’ad, and going forth of the king’s presence, repaired to his own house, where he doffed his war-harness and took rest for himself. On this wise fared it with the Emir Sa’ad, but as regards Al-Abbas, when he dismounted from his destrier, he doffed his war-gear and reposed himself awhile; after which he brought out a body-dress of Venetian367 silk and a gown of green damask and donning them, bound about his head a turband of Damietta stuff and zoned his waist with a kerchief. Then he went out a-walking in the highways of Baghdad and fared on till he came to the bazar of the traders. There he found a merchant, with chess before him; so the Prince stood watching him, and presently the other looked up at him and asked him, “O youth, what wilt thou bet upon the game?” He answered, “Be it thine to decide.” Said the merchant, “Then be it an hundred dinars,” and Al-Abbas consented to him; whereupon quoth he, “Produce the money, O youth, so the game may be fairly stablished.” Accordingly Al-Abbas brought out a satin purse, wherein were a thousand dinars, and laid down an hundred dinars therefrom on the edge of the carpet, whilst the merchant produced the like, and indeed his reason fled for joy when he saw the gold in possession of Al-Abbas. The folk flocked about them, to divert themselves with watching the play, and they called the bystanders to witness the wager and after the stakes were duly staked, the twain fell a-playing. Al-Abbas forebore the merchant, so he might lead him on, and dallied with him a full hour; and the merchant won and took of him the hundred dinars. Then said the Prince, “Wilt thou play another pa
rtie?” and the other said, “O youth, I will not play again, save for a thousand dinars.” Quoth the youth, ‘Whatsoever thou stakest, I will match thy stake with its like.” So the merchant brought out a thousand dinars and the Prince covered them with other thousand. Then the game began, but Al-Abbas was not long with him ere he beat him in the house of the elephant368 nor did he cease to do thus till he had beaten him four times and won of him four thousand dinars. This was all the merchant had of money; so he said, “O youth, I will play thee another game for the shop.” Now the value of the shop was four thousand dinars; so they played and Al-Ahbas beat him and won his shop, with whatso was therein; upon which the other arose, shaking his clothes,369 and said to him, “Up, O youth, and take thy shop.” Accordingly Al-Abbas arose and repairing to the shop, took possession thereof, after which he returned to the place where he had left his servant ‘Amir, and found there the Emir Sa’ad, who was come to bid him to the presence of the king. The Prince consented to this and accompanied him till they came before King Ins bin Kays, whereupon he kissed the ground and saluted him and exaggerated370 the salutation. So the king asked him, “Whence comest thou, O youth, and whither goest thou?” and he answered, “I come from Al-Yaman.” Then said the king, “Hast thou a need we may fulfil to thee; for indeed thou hast strong claims to our favour after that which thou didst in the matter of Hodhayfah and his folk.” And he commanded to cast over him a mantle of Egyptian satin, worth an hundred dinars. He also bade his treasurer give him a thousand dinars and said to him, “O youth, take this in part of that which thou deservest of us; and if thou prolong thy sojourn with us, we will give thee slaves and servants.” Al-Abbas kissed ground and said, “O king, Allah grant thee abiding weal, I deserve not all this.” Then he put his hand to his pouch and pulling out two caskets of gold, in each of which were rubies whose value none could estimate, gave them to the king, saying, “O king, Allah cause thy welfare to endure, I conjure thee by that which the Almighty hath vouchsafed thee, heal my heart by accepting these two caskets, even as I have accepted thy present.” So the king accepted the two caskets and Al-Abbas took his leave and went away to the bazar. Now when the merchants saw him, they accosted him and said, “O youth, wilt thou not open thy shop?” As they were addressing him, up came a woman, having with her a boy bare of head, and stood looking at Al-Abbas, till he turned to her, when she said to him, “O youth, I conjure thee by Allah, look at this boy and have ruth on him, for that his father hath forgotten his skull-cap in the shop he lost to thee; so, an thou see fit to give it him, thy reward be with Allah! For indeed the child maketh our hearts ache with his excessive weeping, and the Lord be witness for us that, had they left us aught wherewith to buy him a cap in its stead, we had not sought it of thee.” Replied Al-Abbas, “O adornment of womankind,371 indeed, thou bespeakest me with thy fair speech and supplicatest me with thy goodly words! But bring me thy husband.” So she went and fetched the merchant, whilst a crowd collected to see what Al-Abbas would do. When the man came, he returned him the gold he had won of him, art and part, and delivered him the keys of the shop, saying, “Requite us with thy pious prayers.” Therewith the woman came up to him and kissed his feet, and in like fashion did the merchant her husband: and all who were present blessed him, and there was no talk but of Al-Abbas. Thus fared it with him; but as for the merchant, he bought him a head of sheep372 and slaughtering it, roasted it and dressed birds and other meats of various kinds and colours and purchased dessert and sweetmeats and fresh fruits; then he repaired to Al-Abbas and conjured him to accept of his hospitality and visit his home and eat of his provaunt. The Prince consented to his wishes and went with him till they came to his house, when the merchant bade him enter: so Al-Abbas went in and saw a goodly house, wherein was a handsome saloon, with a vaulted ceiling. When he entered the saloon, he found that the merchant had made ready food and dessert and perfumes, such as may not be described; and indeed he had adorned the table with sweet-scented flowers and sprinkled musk and rose-water upon the food; and he had smeared the saloon walls with ambergris and had burned aloes-wood therein and Nadd. Presently, Al-Abbas looked out of the window of the saloon and saw by its side a house of goodly ordinance, tall of base and wide of space, with rooms manifold and two upper stories crowning the whole; but therein was no sign of inhabitants. So he said to the merchant, “Verily, thou exaggeratest in doing us honour; but, by Allah, I will not eat of thy meat until thou tell me what hath caused the voidance of yonder house.” Said he, “O my lord, that was Al-Ghitrif’s house and he passed away to the mercy of the Almighty and left no heir save myself; whereupon the mansion became mine, and by Allah, an thou have a mind to sojourn in Baghdad, take up thine abode in this house, whereby thou mayst be in my neighbourhood; for that verily my heart inclineth unto thee with affection and I would have thee never absent from mine eyes, so I may still have my fill of thee and hearken to thy speech.” Al-Abbas thanked him and said to him, “By Allah, thou art indeed friendly in thy converse and thou exaggeratest in thy discourse, and needs must I sojourn in Baghdad. As for the house, if it please thee to lodge me, I will abide therein; so accept of me its price.” Therewith he put hand to his pouch and bringing out from it three hundred dinars, gave them to the merchant, who said in himself, “Unless I take his dirhams, he will not darken my doors.” So he pocketed the monies and sold him the mansion, taking witnesses against himself of the sale. Then he arose and set food before Al-Abbas and they sat down to his good things; after which he brought him dessert and sweetmeats whereof they ate their sufficiency, and when the tables were removed they washed their hands with musked rose-water and willow-water. Then the merchant brought Al-Abbas a napkin scented with the smoke of aloes-wood, on which he wiped his right hand, and said to him, “O my lord, the house is become thy house; so bid thy page transport thither the horses and arms and stuffs.” The Prince did this and the merchant rejoiced in his neighbourhood and left him not night nor day,373 so that Al-Abbas said to him, “By the Lord, we distract thee from thy livelihood.” He replied, “Allah upon thee, O my lord, name not to me aught of this, or thou wilt break my heart, for the best of traffic art thou and the best of livelihood.” So there befel straight friendship between them and all ceremony was laid aside. Meanwhile374 the king said to his Wazir, “How shall we do in the matter of yonder youth, the Yamáni, on whom we thought to confer gifts, but he hath gifted us with tenfold our largesse and more, and we know not an he be a sojourner with us or not?” Then he went into the Harim and gave the rubies to his wife Afifah, who asked him, “What is the worth of these with thee and with other of the kings?” Quoth he, “They are not to be found save with the greatest of sovrans nor can any price them with monies.” Quoth she, “Whence gottest thou them?” So he recounted to her the story of Al-Abbas from beginning to end, and she said, “By Allah, the claims of honour are imperative on us and the King hath fallen short of his devoir; for that we have not seen him bid the youth to his assembly, nor hath he seated him on his left hand.” When the king heard his wife’s words, it was as if he had been asleep and awoke; so he went forth the Harim and bade kill poultry and dress meats of every kind and colour. Moreover, he assembled all his courtiers and let bring sweetmeats and dessert and all that beseemeth the tables of kings. Then he adorned his palace and despatched after Al-Abbas a man of the chief officers of his household, who found him coming forth of the Hammam, clad in a jerkin375 of fine goats’ hair and over it a Baghdádi scarf; his waist was girt with a Rustaki376 kerchief and on his head he wore a light turband of Damietta377 stuff. The messenger wished him joy of the bath and exaggerated in doing him honour: then he said to him, “The king biddeth thee in weal.”378 “To hear is to obey,” quoth Al-Abbas and accompanied the officer to the king’s palace. Now Afifah and her daughter Mariyah were behind the curtain, both looking at him; and when he came before the sovran he saluted him and greeted him with the greeting of kings, whilst all present gazed at him and at his beauty and loveliness and perfect grace. Th
e king seated him at the head of the table; and when Afifah saw him and considered him straitly, she said, “By the virtue of Mohammed, prince of the Apostles, this youth is of the sons of the kings and cometh not to these parts save for some noble purpose!” Then she looked at Mariyah and saw that her favour was changed, and indeed her eye-balls were as dead in her face and she turned not her gaze from Al-Abbas a twinkling of the eyes, for that the love of him had sunk deep into her heart. When the queen saw what had befallen her daughter, she feared for her from reproach concerning Al-Abbas; so she shut the casement-wicket that the Princess might not look upon him any more. Now there was a pavilion set apart for Mariyah, and therein were boudoirs and bowers, balconies and lattices, and she had with her a nurse, who served her as is the fashion with the daughters of the Kings. When the banquet was ended and the folk had dispersed, the King said to Al-Abbas, “I would fain have thee abide with me and I will buy thee a mansion, so haply we may requite thee for thy high services; and indeed imperative upon us is thy due and magnified in our eyes is thy work; and soothly we have fallen short of thy deserts in the matter of distance.”379 When the youth heard the king’s speech, he rose and sat down380 and kissing ground, returned thanks for his bounty and said, “I am the King’s thrall, wheresoever I may be, and under his eye.” Then he told him the tale of the merchant and the manner of the buying of the house, and the king said, “In very truth I would fain have had thee in my neighbourhood and by side of me.” Presently Al-Abbas took leave of the king and went away to his own house. Now it chanced that he passed under the palace of Mariyah, the king’s daughter, and she was sitting at a casement. He happened to look round and his eyes met those of the Princess, whereupon his wit departed and he was ready to swoon away, whilst his colour changed, and he said, “Verily, we are Allah’s and unto Him are we returning!” But he feared for himself lest severance betide him; so he concealed his secret and discovered not his case to any of the creatures of Allah Almighty. When he reached his quarters, his page Amir said to him, “I seek refuge for thee with Allah, O my lord, from change of colour! Hath there betided thee a pain from the Lord of All-might or aught of vexation? In good sooth, sickness hath an end and patience doeth away trouble.” But the Prince returned him no answer. Then he brought out ink-case381 and paper and wrote these couplets: