by Robert Irwin
‘At supper-time,’ said he, ‘you shall have a greater feast than this.’
So they went out with the food, and to every beggar that passed by they said: ‘Take and eat.’ Then they brought the empty dishes back to Judar, who bad his mother return them to the bag.
‘In the evening Judar went into the room where the bag was hidden and drew from it forty different dishes, which his mother carried up to the eating-chamber. He invited his brothers to eat, and, when the meal was over, told them to take the remainder of the food and distribute it among the beggars. After supper he produced sweets and pastries for them; they ate their fill, and what was left over he told them to carry to the neighbours.
In this fashion he regaled his brothers for ten days, and at the end of that time Salem said to Seleem: ‘What is the meaning of all this? How can our brother provide us every day with such lavish feasts morning, noon, and evening, and then with sweetmeats late at night? And whatever remains he distributes among the poor and needy. Only sultans do such things. Where could he have got this fortune from? Will you not inquire about these various dishes and how they are prepared? We have never seen him buy anything at all or even light a fire; he has no cook and no kitchen.’
‘By Allah, I do not know,’ replied Seleem. ‘Only our mother can tell us the truth about it all.’
Thereupon they contrived a plan and, going to their mother in Judar’s absence, told her that they were hungry. She at once entered the room where the bag was hidden, invoked the jinnee, and returned with a hot meal.
‘Mother, this food is hot,’ they said. ‘And yet you did not cook it, nor did you even blow a fire.’
‘It is from the bag,’ she answered.
‘What bag is that?’ they asked.
‘A magic bag,’ she replied.
And she told them the whole story, adding: ‘You must keep the matter secret.’
‘No one shall know of it,’ they said. ‘But show us how it works.’
Their mother showed them and they proceeded to put in their hands, each asking for a dish of his own choice.
When the two were alone, Salem said to Seleem: ‘How long are we to stay like servants in our brother’s house, living abjectly on his charity? Can we not trick him and take the bag from him, and keep it for our own use?’
‘And how shall we do that?’ asked Seleem.
‘We will sell our brother to the chief captain of Suez,’ Salem replied. ‘We will go to the captain, and invite him to the house with two of his men. You have only to confirm whatever I say to Judar and by the end of the night you will see what I shall do.’
When they had thus agreed to sell their brother, they went to the chief captain of Suez and said to him: ‘Sir, we have come upon some business that will please you.’
‘Good,’ said the captain.
‘We are brothers,’ they went on. ‘We have a third brother, a worthless ne’er-do-well. Our father died and left us a small fortune. We divided the inheritance and our brother took his share and squandered it on lechery and all manner of vices. When he had lost all his money, he began complaining of us to the judges, saying that we had defrauded him of his inheritance. He took us from one court of law to another and in the end we forfeited all our fortune. Now he is at us again. We cannot bear with him any longer and want you to buy him from us.’
‘Can you bring him here upon some pretext?’ the captain asked. ‘Then I can send him off to sea forthwith.’
‘No, we cannot bring him here,’ they answered. ‘But you come to our house and be our guest this evening. Bring two of your sailors with you – no more. When he is sound asleep the five of us can set upon and gag him. Then you can carry him out of the house under cover of darkness and do whatever you please with him.’
‘Very well,’ said the captain. ‘Will you sell him for forty dinars?’
‘We agree to that,’ they replied. ‘Go after dark to such-and-such a street and there you will find one of us waiting for you.’
They returned home and sat talking together for a while. Then Salem went up to Judar and kissed his hand.
‘What can I do for you, brother?’ Judar asked.
‘I have a friend,’ he said, ‘who has invited me many times to his house and done me a thousand kindnesses, as Seleem here knows. Today I called on him and he invited me again. I excused myself, saying: “I cannot leave my brother.” “Let him come too,” he said. I told him you would never consent to that and asked him and his brothers to dine with us tonight. His brothers were sitting there with him and I invited them, thinking they would refuse. However, they all accepted, and asked me to meet them at the gate of the little mosque. I now regret my indiscretion and feel ashamed for asking them without your leave. But will you be so kind as to give them hospitality tonight? If you would rather not, allow me to take them to the neighbours’ house.’
‘But why to the neighbours’?’ Judar protested. ‘Is our house too small or have we no food to give them? Shame on you that you should even ask me. They shall have nothing but the choicest dishes. If you bring home any guests and I happen to be out, you have only to ask our mother and she will provide you with all the food you need and more. Go and bring them. They shall be most welcome.’
Salem kissed Judar’s hand and went off to the gate of the little mosque. The captain and his men came at the appointed hour and he took them home with him. As soon as they entered, Judar rose to receive them. He gave them a kindly welcome and seated them by his side, for he knew nothing of their intent. Then he bade his mother serve a meal of forty courses and the sailors ate their fill, thinking that it was all at Salem’s expense. After that he produced for them sweets and pastries; Salem served the guests with these, while his two brothers remained seated. At midnight the captain and his men begged leave to retire, and Judar got up with them and went to bed. As soon as he fell asleep the five men set upon him and, thrusting a gag into his mouth, bound his arms and carried him out of the house under cover of darkness. The sailors took their victim to Suez, and there, with irons on his feet, he toiled for a whole year as a galley-slave in one of the captain’s ships. So much for Judar.
Next morning the two brothers went in to their mother and asked her whether Judar had woken up.
‘He is still asleep,’ she said. ‘Go and wake him.’
‘Where is he sleeping?’ they asked.
‘With the guests,’ she answered.
‘There is no one there,’ they said. ‘Perhaps he went off with them whilst we were still asleep. It seems our brother has acquired a taste for visiting foreign lands and opening hidden treasures. Last night we overheard him talking to the Moors. “We will take you with us, and open the treasure for you,” they were saying.’
‘But when did he meet the Moors?’ she asked.
‘Did they not dine with us last night?’ they answered.
‘It is probable, then, that he has gone with them,’ said the old woman. ‘But Allah will guide him wherever he goes, for he was born under a lucky star. He is bound to come back laden with riches.’
Upon this she broke down and wept, for she could not bear to be parted from him.
‘Vile woman!’ they exclaimed. ‘Do you love our brother so much? Yet if we went away or returned home, you would neither shed tears nor rejoice. Are we not your sons as much as he?’
‘Yes, you are my sons,’ she answered. ‘But how wicked and ungrateful! Ever since your father died I have not had a moment’s joy with you. But Judar has always been good and kind and generous to me. He is worthy of my tears, for we are all indebted to him.’
Stung by her words, the two abused their mother and beat her. Then they went in and searched the house until they found the two bags. They took the gold and jewels from the second bag, saying: ‘This is our father’s property.’
‘No, by Allah,’ their mother replied. ‘It is your brother’s. Judar brought it with him from the Moors’ country.’
‘You lie!’ they shouted. ‘It is our f
ather’s property. We will dispose of it as we choose.’
They divided the gold and jewels between them. But over the magic bag they fell into a hot dispute.
‘I take this,’ said Salem.
‘No, I take it,’ said Seleem.
‘My children,’ pleaded the old woman, ‘you have divided the first bag, but the second bag is beyond price and cannot be divided. If it is split into two parts, its charm will be annulled. Leave it with me and I will bring out for you whatever food you need, contenting myself with a mouthful. Buy some merchandise and trade with it like honest men. You are my sons, and I am your mother. Let us live in amity and peace, so that you may incur no shame when your brother comes back.’
However, they paid no heed to her and spent the night quarrelling over the magic bag. Now it chanced that an officer of the King’s guards was being entertained in the house next door, of which one of the windows was open. Leaning out of the window, he listened to the angry words that passed between the two brothers and understood the cause of the dispute. Next morning he presented himself before Shams-al-Dowlah, King of Egypt, and informed him of all he had overheard. The King sent at once for Judar’s brothers and tortured them until they confessed all. He took the two bags, threw the brothers into prison, and appointed their mother a daily allowance sufficient for her needs. So much for them.
Now to return to Judar. After toiling for a whole year in Suez, he set sail one day with several of his mates; a violent tempest struck their ship and, hurling it against a rocky cliff, shattered it to pieces. Judar alone escaped alive. Swimming ashore, he journeyed inland until he reached an encampment of bedouin Arabs. They asked him who he was, and he recounted to them his whole story. In the camp there was a merchant from Jedda, who at once took pity upon him.
‘Would you like to enter our service, Egyptian?’ he said. ‘I will furnish you with clothes and take you with me to Jedda.’
Judar accepted the merchant’s offer and accompanied him to Jedda, where he was generously treated. Soon afterwards his master set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and took Judar with him. On their arrival Judar hastened to join the pilgrims’ procession round the Ca’aba. Whilst he was thus engaged in his devotions, he met his friend Abdul Samad the Moor, who greeted him warmly and inquired his news. Judar wept as he recounted to him the tale of his misfortunes, and the Moor took him to his own house and dressed him in a magnificent robe.
‘Your troubles are now ended, Judar,’ he said.
Then he cast a handful of sand on the ground and, divining all that had befallen Salem and Seleem, declared: ‘Your brothers have been thrown into prison by the King of Egypt. But you are welcome here until you have performed the season’s rites. All shall be well with you.’
‘Sir,’ said Judar, ‘I must first go and take my leave of the merchant who brought me here. Then I will come to you straightway.’
‘Do you owe him any money?’ asked the Moor.
‘No,’ Judar replied.
‘Go, then,’ said the Moor, ‘and take leave of him. Honest men must not forget past favours.’
Judar sought out the good merchant and told him that he had met a long-lost brother.
‘Go and bring him here, that he may eat with us,’ said the merchant.
‘There is no need for that,’ Judar answered. ‘He is a man of wealth and has a host of servants.’
‘Then take these,’ said the merchant, handing him twenty dinars, ‘and free me of all obligations towards you.’
Judar took leave of him and went out. On his way he met a beggar and gave him the twenty dinars. Then he rejoined the Moor, and stayed with him until the pilgrimage rites had been completed. When it was time to part, the magician gave him the ring which he had taken from the treasure of Al-Shamardal.
‘This ring,’ he said, ‘will grant you all that you desire. It is served by a jinnee called Rattling Thunder. If you need anything, you have but to rub the seal and he will be at hand to do your bidding.’
The Moor rubbed the seal in front of him, and at once the jinnee appeared, saying: ‘I am here, my master! Ask what you will and it shall be done. Would you restore a ruined city, or lay a populous town in ruin? Would you slay a king, or rout a whole army?’
‘Thunder,’ cried the Moor, ‘this man will henceforth be your master. Serve him well.’
Then he dismissed the jinnee and said to Judar: ‘Go back to your country and take good care of the ring. Do not make light of it, for its magic will give you power over all your enemies.’
‘By your leave, sir,’ Judar replied, ‘I will now set forth for my native land.’
‘Rub the seal,’ said the Moor, ‘and the jinnee will take you there upon his back.’
Judar said farewell to the Moor and rubbed the seal. At once the jinnee appeared before him.
‘Take me to Egypt this very day,’ he commanded.
‘I hear and obey,’ Thunder replied. And carrying Judar upon his back flew with him high up into the air. At midnight he set him down in the courtyard of his mother’s house and vanished.
Judar went in to his mother. She greeted him with many tears and told him how the King had tortured his brothers, thrown them into prison, and taken from them the two bags.
‘Do not grieve any more over that,’ Judar replied. ‘You shall see what I can do. I will bring my brothers back this very instant.’
He rubbed the ring, and the jinnee appeared, saying: ‘I am here, my master! Ask, and you shall be given.’
‘I order you,’ Judar said, ‘to free my brothers from the King’s prison and bring them back forthwith.’
The jinnee vanished into the earth and in the twinkling of an eye emerged from the floor of the prison-house, where the two men lay lamenting their plight and praying for death. When they saw the earth open and the jinnee appear, the brothers fainted away with fright; nor did they recover their senses until they found themselves at home, with Judar and their mother seated by their side.
‘Thank Allah you are safe, brothers!’ said Judar when they came round. ‘I am heartily pleased to see you.’
They hung their heads and burst out crying.
‘Do not weep,’ said Judar. ‘It was Satan, and greed, that prompted you to act as you did. How could you sell me? But I will think of Joseph and console myself; his brothers behaved to him worse than you did to me, for they threw him into a pit. Still, never mind. Turn to Allah and ask His pardon: He will forgive you as I forgive you. And now you are welcome; no harm shall befall you here.’
He thus comforted them until their hearts were set at ease. Then he related to them all he had suffered until he met the Moor and told them of the magic ring.
‘Pardon us this time, brother,’ they said. ‘If we return to our evil practices, then punish us as you deem fit.’
‘Think no more of that,’ he answered. ‘Tell me what the King did to you.’
‘He beat us and threatened us,’ they replied. ‘And he took away the two bags.’
‘By Allah, he shall answer for that!’ Judar exclaimed. And so saying he rubbed the ring.
At the sight of the jinnee the brothers were seized with terror thinking that he would order him to kill them. They threw themselves at their mother’s feet, crying: ‘Protect us, mother! Intercede for us, we beg you!’
‘Do not be alarmed, my children,’ she answered.
‘I order you,’ said Judar to the jinnee, ‘to bring me all the gold and jewels in the King’s treasury. Also fetch me the two bags which the King took from my brothers. Leave nothing there.’
‘I hear and obey,’ replied the jinnee.
He thereupon vanished and instantly returned with the King’s treasures and the two bags.
‘My master,’ he said, ‘I have left nothing in all the treasury.’
Judar put the bag of jewels into his mother’s charge and kept the magic bag by his side. Then he said to the jinnee: ‘I order you to build me a lofty palace this very night and to adorn it with liquid gold an
d furnish it magnificently. The whole must be ready by tomorrow’s dawn.’
‘You shall have your wish,’ replied the jinnee, and disappeared into the earth.
Judar sat feasting with his family and, when they had taken their fill, they got up and went to sleep. Meanwhile Thunder summoned his minions from among the jinn and ordered them to build the palace. Some hewed the stones, some built the walls, some engraved and painted them, some spread the rooms with rugs and tapestries; so that before day dawned the palace stood complete in all its splendour. Then the servant of the ring presented himself before Judar, saying: ‘The task is accomplished, my master. Will you come and inspect your palace?’
Judar went forth with his mother and brothers to see the building and they were amazed at its magnificence and the peerless beauty of its structure. Judar rejoiced as he looked at the edifice towering high on the main road and marvelled that it had cost him nothing.
‘Would you like to live in this palace?’ he asked his mother.
‘I would indeed,’ she answered, calling down blessings upon him.
He rubbed the ring again, and at once the jinnee appeared saying: ‘I am here, my master.’
‘I order you,’ said Judar, ‘to bring me forty beautiful white slave-girls and forty black slave-girls, forty white slave-boys and forty black eunuchs.’
‘I hear and obey,’ the jinnee replied.
The slave of the ring at once departed with forty of his attendants to India, Sind, and Persia, and in a trice returned with a multitude of handsome slaves to Judar’s palace. There he made them stand in full array before their master, who was greatly pleased to see them.
‘Now bring each a splendid robe to put on,’ said Judar, ‘and rich garments for my mother, my brothers, and myself.’
The jinnee brought the robes and dressed the slave-girls.
This is your mistress,’ he said to them. ‘Kiss her hand and obey her orders; serve her well, you blacks and whites.’
He also clothed the slave-boys, and one by one they went up to Judar and kissed his hand. Finally the three brothers put on their fine robes, so that Judar looked like a king and Salem and Seleem like viziers. His house being spacious, Judar assigned a whole wing to each of his brothers with a full retinue of slaves and servants, while he and his mother dwelt in the main suite of the palace. Thus each one of them lived like a sultan in his own apartment. So much for them.
