The Thousand and One Nights Volume I Part 41

[346] Ch. ii. v. 173.

[347] Ch. iv. v. 34.

[348] Or, according to some, ten thousand dirhems.

[349] More than one is unusual; but, at the funeral of Mo?ammad 'Alee Basha, which I witnessed in Cairo, about eighty buffaloes were thus driven in the procession: in the narrow streets of the city, however, many of them disappeared, one after another, so that few reached the tomb.--ED.

[350] If the reader desire more detailed information on the subject of this note, I refer him to my work on the Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. ch. xv.

[351] Chrestomathie Arabe, vol. i. p. 106; 2nd ed.

[352] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil wa-Murs.h.i.+d el-Mutaah-hil, sect. 7.

[353] Elmacini Historia Saracenica, page 120.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VII.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE FORTY-FOURTH.

THE STORY OF GHaNIM THE SON OF EIYOOB, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE.

It hath been told me, O happy King, said Shahrazad, that there was, in ancient times, a certain merchant of Damascus,[VII_1] possessed of wealth, who had a son like the moon at the full, of eloquent tongue, called Ghanim the son of Eiyoob,[VII_2] the Distracted Slave of Love; and this son had a sister, named Fitneh,[VII_3] on account of her excessive beauty and loveliness. Their father died, leaving them large property, among which were a hundred loads[VII_4] of silk and brocade, and bags[VII_5] of musk, and upon these loads was written, This is intended for Baghdad:--it having been his desire to journey to that city.

So, when G.o.d (whose name be exalted!) had taken his soul, and some time had elapsed, his son took these loads, and journeyed with them to Baghdad.--This was in the time of Haroon Er-Rasheed.--He took leave of his mother and relations and townspeople before his departure, and went forth, placing his dependence upon G.o.d (whose name be exalted!), and G.o.d decreed him safety, so that he arrived at Baghdad, whither there travelled in his company a party of merchants. He hired for himself a handsome house, and furnished it with carpets and cus.h.i.+ons, and suspended curtains in it; and there he deposited those loads, together with the mules and camels, and remained until he had rested himself; and the merchants of Baghdad, and its great men, came and saluted him. He then took a wrapper containing ten pieces of costly stuff, with the prices written upon them, and went forth with them to the market of the merchants, who met him and saluted him, treated him with honour and welcomed him, and seated him at the shop of the Sheykh of the market; and he sold the pieces, gaining, for every piece of gold, two. So Ghanim rejoiced; and he proceeded to sell the stuffs by little and little, and continued to do so for a whole year.

After this, on the first day of the following year, he came to the same market, but found its gate shut, and, inquiring the cause of this, he was answered, One of the merchants hath died, and all the rest of them have gone to walk in his funeral-procession. Wilt thou then, added his informant, gain a recompense[VII_6] by walking with them?--He replied, Yes;--and he asked respecting the place of the funeral. So they guided him thither; and he performed the ablution,[VII_7] and walked with the other merchants until they arrived at the place of prayer, where they prayed over the dead. The merchants then walked all together before the corpse to the burial-ground, Ghanim following them, until the procession arrived at the burial-ground outside the city, and they proceeded among the tombs until they came to that in which the corpse was to be deposited. They found that the family of the deceased had pitched a tent over the tomb, and placed there the candles and lamps; and they buried the dead, and the readers sat reciting the ?ur-an at the tomb. The merchants sat with them; and so also did Ghanim the son of Eiyoob; but he was overcome by bashfulness, saying within himself, I cannot quit them until I have departed with them. They sat listening to the recitation of the ?ur-an until the period of nightfall, when the servants placed before them the supper and sweetmeats, and they ate till they were satisfied, and washed their hands, and resumed their seats.

The heart of Ghanim was now troubled with reflections upon his merchandize, and he was fearful of the thieves, and said within himself, I am a stranger, and suspected of possessing wealth, and if I pa.s.s the night far away from my abode, the thieves will steal the money and the loads. So, fearing for his property, he arose and went forth from among the company, asking their leave to depart on account of some business that he had to transact, and followed the beaten track until he came to the gate of the city: but it was then midnight, and he found the gate of the city shut, and saw no one coming or going, and heard not a sound save the barking of the dogs, and the howling of the wolves; whereupon he exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in G.o.d! I was in fear for my property, and came hither on account of it, and have found the gate shut, and now I have become in fear for my life!--He then returned to seek for himself a place in which to sleep until the morning: and, finding a private burial-place enclosed by four walls, with a palm-tree within it, and a gate-way of hard stone, open, he entered it, and desired to sleep; but sleep came not to him.

Tremor and gloom overcame him, thus lying among the tombs, and he rose upon his feet, and, opening the door, looked out, and beheld a light gleaming in the distance in the direction of the city-gate. He advanced a few steps, and saw the light approaching in the way which led to the burial-place in which he was taking refuge; whereupon Ghanim feared for himself, and hastily closed the door, and climbed up into the palm-tree, and concealed himself in the midst of its branches. The light continued to approach the tomb by little and little until it came very near; and as he looked attentively at it, he perceived three black slaves, two of whom were bearing a chest, the other having in his hand an adze and a lantern; and as they drew near, one of the two slaves who were bearing the chest said, What aileth thee, O ?awab?[VII_8]--to which the other of the two replied, What aileth thee, O Kafoor?[VII_9] The former rejoined, Were we not here at the hour of nightfall, and did we not leave the door open?--Yes, answered the other: what thou sayest is true.--See then, resumed the first speaker, it is shut and barred.--Upon this, the third, who was carrying the adze and light, and whose name was Bakheet,[VII_10] said, How small is your sense! Know ye not that the owners of the gardens go forth from Baghdad and repair hither, and, evening overtaking them, enter this place, and shut the door upon themselves, through fear, lest the blacks, like ourselves, should take them and roast them and eat them?[VII_11]--Thou hast spoken truth, they answered; but there is none among us of less sense than thyself.--Verily, he replied, ye will not believe me until we enter the burial-place and find some one in it: and I imagine that, if any one be in it, and have seen the light, he hath betaken himself to the top of the palm-tree.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

When Ghanim heard these words of the slave, he said within himself, How cunning is this slave! May Allah disgrace the blacks for their malice and villainy! There is no strength nor power but in G.o.d, the High, the Great! What will deliver me from this difficulty?--The two who were bearing the chest then said to him who had the adze, Climb over the wall, and open to us the door, O Bakheet; for we are fatigued with carrying the chest upon our necks: and if thou open to us the door, we will give thee one of the persons whom we take, and we will fry him for thee excellently, so that not a drop of his fat shall be lost. But he replied, I am afraid of a thing that my little sense hath suggested to me: let us throw over the chest behind the door; for it is our deposite.

They said to him, If we throw it, it will break.--I am afraid, he rejoined, that there may be, within the tomb, robbers who slay men and steal their property; for when evening overtaketh them they enter these places to divide what they have taken.--O thou of little sense, exclaimed the two others; can they enter here?--They then put down the chest, and climbed up the wall, and descended, and opened the door, while the third slave, Bakheet, stood waiting for them with the light, and a basket containing some plaster: after which they seated themselves, having closed the door; and one of them said, O my brother, we are tired with walking and taking up and putting down, and opening the door and shutting it, and it is now midnight, and we have not strength remaining to open the tomb and to bury the chest; wherefore we will sit here three hours to rest ourselves, and then rise and accomplish our business: but each of us shall in the mean time tell his story, and relate all that hath happened to him from beginning to end.

So the first, who carried the light, told his story; but it was of a nature unfit to be here repeated;[VII_12] after which, another of the slaves thus began.

THE STORY OF THE SLAVE KaFOOR.[VII_13]

Know, O my brothers, that I was, at the commencement of my career, a boy of eight years, and I used to tell one lie to the slave-merchants every year, so that they fell out with each other in consequence, and the slave-merchant my master, becoming impatient of me, committed me to the broker, desiring him to cry, Who will buy this slave with his fault? He was therefore asked, What is his fault?--and answered, He telleth one lie every year. And a merchant approached the broker, and said to him, How much have they bidden for this slave with his fault? He answered, They have bidden six hundred pieces of silver.--Then thou shalt have twenty for thyself, replied the merchant. So the broker introduced him to the slave-merchant, who received from him the money, and the broker conveyed me to the dwelling of the merchant, and took his brokerage.

The merchant clad me in a dress suitable to my condition, and I continued with him for the remainder of the year, until the new year commenced with prosperity. It was a blessed year, plenteous in the produce of the earth, and the merchants began to give entertainments, every day one taking his turn to do so, until it was my master's turn to give an entertainment in a garden within the city. So he went, and the other merchants also, and he took for them what they required of food and other provisions, and they sat eating and drinking and carousing till noon, when my master wanted something from the house, and said, O slave, mount the mule, and go to the house, and bring, from thy mistress, such a thing, and return quickly.

I obeyed, therefore, and went to the house; but when I approached it, I shrieked out, and shed tears; whereupon the people of the quarter a.s.sembled together, old and young; and my master's wife and daughters, hearing my cry, opened the door, and asked me what was the matter. I answered them, My master was sitting beneath an old wall, he and his friends, and it fell upon them; and when I beheld what happened to them, I mounted the mule, and came in haste to inform you. And when his children and wife heard these words, they shrieked, and tore their clothes, and slapped their faces, and the neighbours came to them. Then my master's wife overturned the furniture of the house, one thing upon another, and pulled down its shelves, and broke its shutters and its windows, and smeared its walls with mud and indigo, and said to me, Wo to thee, O Kafoor! Come hither and help me, and demolish these cupboards, and smash these vessels and this China-ware.--So I went to her, and destroyed with her the shelves of the house and all that was upon them, and its cupboards and what they contained, and went about over the terraces and through every place until I had laid waste the whole, crying all the while, Oh my master! My mistress then went forth, with her face uncovered, and only with her head-veil, and the girls and boys went with her, saying to me, O Kafoor, walk on before us, and shew us the place where thy master lieth dead beneath the wall, that we may take him forth from under the ruins, and carry him in a bier, and bring him to the house, and convey his corpse in a handsome manner to the burial. So I walked before them, crying, Oh my master!--and they followed me with their faces and heads uncovered,[VII_14] crying, Oh our misfortune! Oh our calamity!--and there was none among the men, nor among the women, nor among the children, nor a maiden, nor an old woman, [in the quarter,] who did not accompany us; and all of them slapped themselves in the excess of their lamentation. Thus I went with them through the city; and the people asking the news, they informed them of that which they had heard from me; and the people exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in G.o.d, the High, the Great! We will go to the Walee, and acquaint him.--And when they arrived before the Walee, they informed him; and he mounted, and took with him labourers with axes and baskets, and they followed my footsteps, accompanied by a crowd of people.

I preceded them, weeping and crying out, and throwing dust upon my head, and slapping my face; and when I came to the party in the garden, and my master beheld me, I slapped my face, and exclaimed, Oh my mistress! who will have pity upon me after my mistress? Would that I had been her sacrifice!--When my master, therefore, saw me, he was confounded, his countenance became pale, and he said, What aileth thee, O Kafoor, and what is this predicament, and what is the news? I answered him, When thou sentest me to the house to bring thee what thou wantedst, I went thither and entered the house, and found that the wall of the saloon had fallen, and that the whole saloon had tumbled down upon my mistress and her children.--And did not thy mistress, said he, escape? I answered, No: not one of them escaped; and the first of them that died was my mistress the elder.--But did my youngest daughter escape? he asked. I answered, No.--And what, said he, hath become of the mule that I ride: is she safe?--No, O my master, I answered: for the walls of the house and the walls of the stable tumbled down upon all that was in the house; even upon the sheep and the geese and the hens, and all of them became a ma.s.s of flesh beneath the ruins; not one of them escaped. He then said to me, And thy master the elder? I answered, No: not one escaped; and now there remains neither house nor inhabitant, nor any trace of them; and as to the sheep and the geese and the hens, the cats and dogs have now eaten them.--And when my master heard my words, the light became darkness before his face, and he was no longer master of his senses nor of his reason, and was unable to stand upon his feet: he was paralyzed, and the strength of his back failed him, and he rent his clothes and plucked his beard and slapped his face and threw his turban from his head, and ceased not to slap his face until the blood flowed from it: and he began to cry, Ah! Oh my children! Ah! Oh my wife! Ah! Oh my misfortune! Unto whom hath happened the like of that which hath happened to me?--The merchants, also, his companions, joined with him in cries and lamentations, and were moved with pity for his case, and rent their clothes; and my master went forth from the garden, beating himself for the calamity that had [as he supposed] befallen him, and redoubled the blows upon his face, seeming as though he were drunk.

And as the party thus went out from the gate of the garden, they beheld a great dust, and heard tumultuous cries, and, looking in that direction, saw the crowd approaching them. This crowd was the Walee and his attendants, and a concourse of people who had come to gratify their curiosity, with the merchant's family behind them, shrieking and crying with violent lamentation and excessive grief; and the first who accosted my master were his wife and children. On beholding these, he was confounded, and laughed, and said to them, How are ye; and what hath happened to you in the house, and what hath befallen you? And when they saw him, they exclaimed, Praise be to G.o.d for thy safety! And they threw themselves upon him, and his children clung to him, crying out, Oh our father! Praise be to G.o.d for thy safety, O our father!--and his wife said to him, Praise be to G.o.d who hath shewn us thy face in safety!--and she was stupified, and her reason fled from her at that which she beheld. She then said to him, How didst thou escape with thy friends?--And how, said he, were ye in the house?--We were all well, they answered, in prosperity and health, and no evil hath befallen our house, save that thy slave Kafoor came to us with his head uncovered and his clothes rent, crying out, Oh my master! Oh my master!--and we said to him, What is the matter, O Kafoor?--and he answered, My master was sitting under a wall in the garden, and it fell upon him, and he died.--By Allah, replied my master, he came to me just now, crying, Oh my mistress! Oh the children of my mistress!--and said, My mistress and her children are all dead!

[Ill.u.s.tration]

He then looked aside, and, seeing me with my turban falling from my head, while I still cried out and wept violently and threw dust upon my head, he called out to me: so I approached him, and he said to me, Wo to thee! O malevolent slave! O misbegotten wretch! O thou of accursed race!

What events hast thou brought about! But, by Allah, I will strip off thy skin from thy flesh, and cut thy flesh from thy bones!--By Allah, replied I, thou canst not do to me anything; for thou boughtest me with my fault, on this condition, the witnesses testifying that thou boughtest me with my fault, thou knowing it, and it was, that I was accustomed to tell one lie every year; and this is but half a lie, and when the year is complete I will tell the other half of it; so it will be an entire lie. But upon this, he cried out at me, O most accursed of slaves! is this but half a lie? Nay, it is an exceeding calamity! Depart from me; for thou art free![VII_15]--By Allah, I replied, if thou liberate me, I will not liberate thee until the year be complete, and I tell the remaining half of the lie; and when I have completed it, then take me to the market, and sell me as thou boughtest me with my fault, and liberate me not; for I have no trade by means of which to procure my subsistence: this is a legal proposition that I have stated to thee, laid down by the lawyers in the Chapter of Emanc.i.p.ation.[VII_16]--While we were thus talking, the crowd approached, with the people of the quarter, women and men, come to mourn, and the Walee with his attendants: and my master and the other merchants went to the Walee, and acquainted him with the case, and that this was but half a lie; and when the people who were present heard this, they were astonished at this lie, and struck with the utmost wonder; and they cursed and reviled me; while I stood laughing, and saying, How can my master kill me when he bought me with this fault?

So when my master went to the house, he found it in a state of ruin (and it was I who destroyed the greater part, and broke in it things worth a large sum of money); and his wife said to him, It was Kafoor who broke the vessels and the China-ware. Upon this, his rage increased, and he exclaimed, By Allah! in my life I have never seen such a misbegotten wretch as this slave; yet he calleth it half a lie! What then would have been the result had it been a whole lie! In that case he had destroyed a city, or two cities!--Then, in the excess of his rage, he went to the Walee, who inflicted upon me a severe beating, so that I became insensible, and swooned away; after which, my master contrived means of obtaining for me a high price, and I ceased not to excite disturbances in the places into which I was sold, and was transferred from Emeer to Emeer and from Grandee to Grandee, by sale and purchase, until I entered the palace of the Prince of the Faithful, and now my spirit is broken, and my strength hath failed.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF GHaNIM THE SON OF EIYOOB, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE.

When the other slaves had heard his story, they laughed at it, and said to him, Verily thou art a villain, the son of a villain: thou hast told an abominable lie. The first and second then said to the third slave, Relate to us thy story.--O sons of my uncle, he replied, all that hath just been related is nonsense: but my story is long, and this is not a time to tell it; for the morning, O sons of my uncle, is near, and perhaps it may overtake us with this chest still before us, and we shall be disgraced among the public, and our lives will be lost; haste then to work, and when we have finished, and returned home, I will relate to you my story. So they put down the light, and dug a trench of the size of the chest between four tombs; Kafoor digging, and ?awab removing the earth in baskets, until they had dug to the depth of half a fathom, when they put the chest into the trench, and replaced the earth over it, and went forth from the enclosure, and, having closed the gate, disappeared from before the eyes of Ghanim the son of Eiyoob.

When, therefore, they had left the place vacant unto Ghanim, and he knew that he was alone, his mind became busied respecting the contents of the chest, and he said within himself, What can this chest contain? He waited until daybreak gleamed and shone forth, and then descended from the palm-tree, and removed the earth with his hand until he had uncovered the chest and disengaged it, when he took a stone, and struck with it the lock, and broke it; and lifting up the cover, he looked in, and beheld a sleeping damsel, stupified with benj,[VII_17] but still breathing: she was of beautiful and lovely person, and decked with ornaments of gold, and necklaces of jewels, worth a kingdom, and of a value that no money would equal. When Ghanim the son of Eiyoob beheld her, he knew that she had been the object of a plot, and, being convinced of this, he pulled her up until he had lifted her out of the chest, and laid her upon her back; and as soon as she scented the breeze, and the air entered her nostrils and her mouth and throat, she sneezed, and then was choked, and coughed, whereupon there fell from her throat a round piece of benj, of such potency that if an elephant smelt it he would sleep from one night to another. She then opened her eyes, and, looking round, said, with an eloquent voice, Wo to thee, O wind!

Thou neither satisfiest the thirsty, nor cheerest by thy presence the satisfied with drink! Where is Zahr-el-Bustan?--But no one answered her.

Then looking aside, she exclaimed, ?abee?ah! Shejeret-ed-Durr!

Noor-el-Huda! Nejmet-e?-?ub?! Art thou awake?[VII_18] Nuzheh!

?ulweh! ?areefeh! Speak ye!--But no one answered her. And she looked round about her, and exclaimed, Alas for me, that I am transported to the tombs! O Thou who knowest the secrets of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and recompensest on the day of resurrection! who hath brought me from among the curtains and the veils, and placed me amid four tombs?

[Ill.u.s.tration]

While she was saying all this, Ghanim stood still; but he now said to her, O my mistress, there are neither veils nor palaces nor tombs for thee here: this is none other than thy slave Ghanim the son of Eiyoob, whom the King who is omniscient with respect to hidden things hath impelled hither that he may deliver thee from these troubles, and that the utmost of thy desires may be accomplished unto thee.--And he was silent; and when she became convinced of the truth of the case, she exclaimed, I testify that there is no deity but G.o.d, and I testify that Mo?ammad is G.o.d's Apostle! Then looking towards Ghanim, with her hands placed upon her breast, she said to him, with a sweet voice, O auspicious youth, who brought me unto this place? For now I have recovered my senses.--O my mistress, he answered, three eunuchs came bearing this chest:--and he related to her all that had happened, and how the evening had overtaken him, so that he became the means of her preservation, and that otherwise she had died of suffocation; and he inquired of her respecting her history.--O youth, she replied, praise be to G.o.d who hath cast me into the hands of one like thee! Rise therefore now, and put me into the chest, and go forth to the road, and as soon as thou shalt find any one who lets out a.s.ses or other beasts, or a muleteer, hire him to transport this chest, and convey me to thy house; and when I am in thy abode it will be well, and I will relate to thee my story, and acquaint thee with my tale, and good fortune will accrue to thee through my means.--So Ghanim rejoiced, and he went forth into the desert tract.

The day had begun to gleam, the sun rose in splendour, and the people come walking forth; and Ghanim hired a man with a mule, and brought him to the burial-place. He then lifted the chest, after he had put the damsel into it, and, with his heart smitten by love for her, proceeded with her, full of joy, for she was a damsel worth ten thousand pieces of gold, and was decked with ornaments and apparel of enormous value.

Scarcely had he found himself at his house when he put down the chest, and opened it, and took forth from it the damsel, who looked, and saw that the place was a handsome dwelling furnished with variegated carpets, and she observed the gay colours and various embellishments, and beheld stuffs packed up, and loads of goods, and other property: so she knew that he was a great merchant, and a man of wealth. She then uncovered her face, and looked at him, and observed him to be a handsome young man, and loved him; and she said to him, Bring us something to eat. He answered her, On the head and the eye be thy commands:--and went to the market, and bought a roasted lamb, and a dish of sweetmeat, and procured some dried fruits, and candles and wine, and the requisite apparatus for perfumes. Then returning to the house, he took in the things, and when the damsel saw him, she laughed, and kissed him, and embraced him, and began to caress him, so that the love which he felt increased, and took entire possession of his heart. They then ate and drank until the approach of night, and their love was mutual: for they were both of the same age, and both equal in comeliness; and when the night approached, the Distracted Slave of Love, Ghanim the son of Eiyoob, rose and lighted the candles and lamps, and the chamber glistened: he then brought forth the wine-service, and prepared the table, and sat down with her; he filling and handing to her, and she filling and handing to him, while they both toyed and laughed and recited verses: their gaiety increased, and they were engrossed by mutual love.--Extolled be the perfection of the Uniter of Hearts!--Thus they continued until it was near morning, when sleep overcame them, and each of them slept apart from the other till morning came.

Ghanim the son of Eiyoob then arose, and went forth to the market, and bought what was requisite of vegetables and meat and wine and other provisions, and brought them to the house; and he again sat with her to eat, and they ate until they were satisfied; after which he brought the wine, and they drank and toyed together till their cheeks reddened and their eyes became more intensely black;[VII_19] and Ghanim said, O my mistress, have compa.s.sion on the captive of thy love, and him whom thine eyes have slain. I had remained sound of heart but for thee.--Then he wept a while; and she replied, O my master, and light of mine eye, By Allah, I love thee and confide in thee; but I know that thou canst not be united to me.--And what hindereth? said he. She answered, I will this night relate to thee my story, that thou mayest accept my excuse. But they continued thus a whole month; and after this, one night, when Ghanim was complaining to her of his pa.s.sion, she said to him, I will now explain to thee my case, that thou mayest know my dignity, and that my secret may be revealed to thee, and my excuse become manifest to thee. He replied, Well. And she took hold of a band which confined a part of her dress, and said to him, O my master, read what is on this border. So he took the border in his hand, and looked at it, and found worked upon it in gold, I am thine, and thou art mine, O descendant of the Prophet's Uncle.[VII_20] And when he had read this, he let fall his hand, and said to her, Reveal to me thy history. She answered, Well:--and thus began:--

Know that I am a favourite slave of the Prince of the Faithful, and my name is ?oot-el-?uloob.[VII_21] The Prince of the Faithful, after he had reared me in his palace, and I had grown up, observed my qualities, and the beauty and loveliness with which my Lord had endowed me, and loved me excessively: he took me and lodged me in a private apartment, and appointed me ten female slaves to serve me, and then gave me those ornaments which thou seest with me. After this, the Khaleefeh went forth one day on a journey to one of the surrounding provinces, and the lady Zubeydeh came to one of the female slaves who were in my service, and said, When thy mistress ?oot-el-?uloob sleepeth, put this piece of benj into her nose and her drink, and thou shalt receive from me a sum of money that will satisfy thee. The slave replied, Most willingly:--and she received the benj from her, rejoicing on account of the money, and because she had been originally Zubeydeh's slave; and she insinuated the benj into me, whereupon I fell upon the floor, with my head bent down to my feet, and seemed to be in another world. And when she could devise no other stratagem, she put me into that chest, and privily summoned the black slaves, and, after having given presents to them and to the door-keepers, sent me with the black slaves on the night when thou wast reposing at the top of the palm-tree: and they did with me as thou sawest, and my deliverance was effected through thy means.

Then thou broughtest me unto this place, where thou hast treated me with the utmost kindness. This is my story; and I know not what hath happened to the Khaleefeh during my absence. Know, therefore, my dignity; and divulge not my case.

When Ghanim the son of Eiyoob heard these words of ?oot-el-?uloob, and discovered that she was the favourite of the Khaleefeh, he drew back, in his awe of the Khaleefeh, and sat alone at one side of the chamber, blaming himself, and reflecting upon his situation, perplexed by love of her to whom he could not be united; and he wept from the violence of his desire, and the fierceness of his pa.s.sion and distraction, and began to complain of fortune and its injustice.--Extolled be the perfection of Him who causeth the hearts of the generous to be troubled with love, and endueth not the mean with so much of it as equalleth the weight of a grain!--And upon this, ?oot-el-?uloob rose to him, and embraced and kissed him, and, her heart being entirely captivated by his love, she revealed what she had hidden of the extent of her pa.s.sion, and encircled his neck with her arms, and kissed him again; but he withdrew from her embrace, in his fear of the Khaleefeh. They then conversed a while, drowned in the sea of mutual love, and so remained until day, when Ghanim arose, and went forth to the market as usual, and procured what was requisite, and, returning to the house, found ?oot-el-?uloob weeping: but as soon as she beheld him, she ceased from her tears, and smiled, and said to him, Thou hast made me desolate by thine absence, O beloved of my heart! By Allah, this hour during which thou hast been away from me hath appeared as a year; for I cannot endure thy separation; and see, I have thus shewn thee my state, through the violence of my pa.s.sion. Arise therefore now, and mind not what hath happened, but take me as thy wife.--But he replied, I seek refuge with Allah! This is a thing that cannot be. How should the dog sit in the place of the lion? What belongeth to my lord is forbidden me to approach.--He then tore himself from her, and sat apart; and she increased in love through his refusal.--In this manner they pa.s.sed three long months; and whenever she made any advances to him he withdrew from her, and said, Whatever belongeth to the master is forbidden to the slave.--Such was the case of the Distracted Slave of Love, Ghanim the son of Eiyoob.

Meanwhile, Zubeydeh, during the absence of the Khaleefeh, having acted thus with ?oot-el-?uloob, became perplexed, saying within herself, What shall I say to the Khaleefeh when he cometh and inquireth respecting her; and what shall be my answer to him? She then called for an old woman who resided with her, and acquainted her with her secret, and said to her, What shall I do, now that ?oot-el-?uloob is no more? The old woman answered, when she understood the affair, Know, O my mistress, that the return of the Khaleefeh is near; but I will send to a carpenter, and desire him to make a wooden image of a corpse, and they shall dig for it a grave, and thou shalt light candles and lamps around it, and command every one who is in the palace to wear black,[VII_22]

and order thy female slaves and eunuchs, as soon as they know of the Khaleefeh's return from his journey, to raise lamentations in the vestibules, and when he enters and asks the news, they shall answer him, ?oot-el-?uloob is dead; and may G.o.d abundantly compensate thee for the loss of her!--and from the esteem with which she was regarded by our mistress, she hath buried her in her own palace. So when he heareth this, he will weep, and the event will distress him. Then he will cause the readers to sit up by night at her tomb to perform recitations of the ?ur-an: and if he say within himself, Surely the daughter of my uncle, through her jealousy, hath been led to destroy ?oot-el-?uloob,--or the distraction of love overpower him, and he give orders to take her forth from the tomb, fear not from that; for if they dig down to the image in the form of a human being, and take it forth, shrouded in costly grave-clothes, and the Khaleefeh desire to remove the grave-clothes from it, to behold her, do thou prevent him, and the fear of the world to come will withhold him; and do thou say to him, To behold her corpse uncovered is unlawful. Then he will believe her death, and will return her image to its place, and thank thee for thy conduct, and thou shalt escape, if it please G.o.d, from this difficulty.--When the lady Zubeydeh, therefore, heard what she said, she approved it, and bestowed upon her a dress of honour, and commanded her to do this, having given her a sum of money. So the old woman set about the business immediately, and ordered the carpenter to make for her an image as above described; and when it was finished, she brought it to the lady Zubeydeh, and she shrouded it, and lighted the candles and lamps, and spread the carpets around the tomb, and clad herself in black, ordering the female slaves to do the same; and the news was spread through the palace, that ?oot-el-?uloob had died.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Some time after this, the Khaleefeh returned from his journey, and went up to his palace; but his mind was occupied only with ?oot-el-?uloob; and seeing the pages and eunuchs and female slaves all clad in black, his heart was agitated; and when he entered the palace of the lady Zubeydeh, and beheld her also clad in black, he inquired the reason of it, and they informed him of the death of ?oot-el-?uloob. Upon hearing this, he fell down in a swoon; and when he recovered, he asked where was her tomb; and the lady Zubeydeh answered, Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that, on account of the esteem in which she was held by me, I buried her in my palace. So the Khaleefeh, entering the palace in his travelling-dress, proceeded to visit the tomb of ?oot-el-?uloob, and found the carpets spread, and the candles and lamps lighted; and when he beheld this, he thanked her for what she had done. But afterwards he became perplexed, and wavered a while between belief and disbelief, until suspicion overcame him, and he gave orders to open the tomb and to take her out: when, however, he saw the grave-clothes, and was about to remove them that he might behold her, he feared G.o.d (whose name be exalted!), and the old woman said, Restore her to her place. Then immediately the Khaleefeh commanded to bring the professors of religion and law, and the readers, and they performed recitations of the whole of the ?ur-an at her tomb, while he sat by the side of it weeping until he became insensible.

He continued to frequent the tomb for the s.p.a.ce of a month; after which it happened that he entered the ?areem, after the emeers and wezeers had dispersed from before him to their houses, and he slept a while, and a female slave sat at his head, and another at his feet; and after sleep had overcome him he awoke, and opened his eyes, and heard the damsel who was at his head say to her who was at his feet, Wo to thee, O Kheyzuran!--Wherefore, O ?a?eeb?[VII_23] said the other.--Our lord, rejoined the first, is ignorant of what hath happened; so he sitteth up by night at a tomb in which there is nothing but a carved image, the work of the carpenter.--And what then, asked the other damsel, hath befallen ?oot-el-?uloob? Her companion answered, Know that our mistress Zubeydeh sent some benj by a female slave, and she stupified her with it, and when the benj had taken effect upon her, she put her in a chest, and sent her away with ?awab and Kafoor, commanding them to throw her into the tomb. Upon this, Kheyzuran said, Wo to thee, O ?a?eeb! Is not the lady ?oot-el-?uloob dead?--Heaven preserve her youth from death!

answered ?a?eeb: I heard the lady Zubeydeh say that ?oot-el-?uloob was with a young merchant named Ghanim of Damascus, and that she had been with him, including this day, four months; and our lord here weepeth and pa.s.seth sleepless nights at a tomb in which there is no corpse.--Thus they conversed together, while the Khaleefeh heard their words; and when they had finished their conversation, and he had become acquainted with the event, that this tomb was a false one, and that ?oot-el-?uloob had been with Ghanim the son of Eiyoob for the s.p.a.ce of four months, he was violently incensed, and arose, and summoned the emeers of his court; whereupon the Wezeer Ja?far El-Barmekee presented himself and kissed the ground before him, and the Khaleefeh said to him, in anger, Descend, O Ja?far, with a body of men, and inquire for the house of Ghanim the son of Eiyoob, and a.s.sault it suddenly, and bring him hither with my female slave ?oot-el-?uloob; and I will a.s.suredly torture him.