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The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 10

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THE BOOK OF THE
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
A Plain and Literal Translation
of the Arabian Nights Entertainments

Translated and Annotated by
Richard F. Burton

VOLUME TEN




To
His Excellency Yacoub Artin Pasha,
Minister of Instruction, Etc. Etc. Etc. Cairo.



My Dear Pasha,
During the last dozen years, since we first met at Cairo,
you have done much for Egyptian folk-lore and you can do much
more. This volume is inscribed to you with a double purpose;
first it is intended as a public expression of gratitude for your
friendly assistance; and, secondly, as a memento that the samples
which you have given us imply a promise of further gift. With
this lively sense of favours to come I subscribe myself

Ever yours friend and fellow worker,

Richard F. Burton

London, July 12, 1886.




Contents of the Tenth Volume



169. Ma'aruf the Cobbler and His Wife Fatimah
Conclusion
Terminal Essay
Appendix I.--
1. Index to the Tales and Proper Names
2. Alphabetical Table of the Notes (Anthropological, &c.)
3. Alphabetical Table of First lines--
a. English
b. Arabic
4. Table of Contents of the Various Arabic Texts--
a. The Unfinished Calcutta Edition (1814-1818)
b. The Breslau Text
c. The Macnaghten Text and the Bulak Edition
d. The same with Mr. Lane's and my Version
Appendix II--
Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and
One Nights and their Imitations, By W. F. Kirby






The Book Of The
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT





MA'ARUF THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE



There dwelt once upon a time in the God-guarded city of Cairo a
cobbler who lived by patching old shoes.[FN#1] His name was
Ma'aruf[FN#2] and he had a wife called Fatimah, whom the folk had
nicknamed "The Dung;"[FN#3] for that she was a whorish, worthless
wretch, scanty of shame and mickle of mischief. She ruled her
spouse and abused him; and he feared her malice and dreaded her
misdoings; for that he was a sensible man but poor-conditioned.
When he earned much, he spent it on her, and when he gained
little, she revenged herself on his body that night, leaving him
no peace and making his night black as her book;[FN#4] for she
was even as of one like her saith the poet:--

How manifold nights have I passed with my wife * In the saddest
plight with all misery rife:
Would Heaven when first I went in to her * With a cup of cold
poison I'd ta'en her life.

One day she said to him, "O Ma'aruf, I wish thee to bring me this
night a vermicelli-cake dressed with bees' honey."[FN#5] He
replied, "So Allah Almighty aid me to its price, I will bring it
thee. By Allah, I have no dirhams to-day, but our Lord will make
things easy."[FN#6] Rejoined she,--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninetieth Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ma'aruf
the Cobbler said to his spouse, "By Allah, I have no dirhams
to-day, but our Lord will make things easy to me!" She rejoined,
"I wot naught of these words; look thou come not to me save with
the vermicelli and bees' honey; else will I make thy night black
as thy fortune whenas thou fellest into my hand." Quoth he,
"Allah is bountiful!" and going out with grief scattering itself
from his body, prayed the dawn-prayer and opened his shop. After
which he sat till noon, but no work came to him and his fear of
his wife redoubled. Then he arose and went out perplexed as to
how he should do in the matter of the vermicelli-cake, seeing he
had not even the wherewithal to buy bread. Presently he came to
the shop of the Kunafah-seller and stood before it, whilst his
eyes brimmed with tears. The pastry-cook glanced at him and said,
"O Master Ma'aruf, why dost thou weep? Tell me what hath befallen
thee." So he acquainted him with his case, saying, "My wife would
have me bring her a Kunafah; but I have sat in my shop till past
mid-day and have not gained even the price of bread; wherefore I
am in fear of her." The cook laughed and said, "No harm shall
come to thee. How many pounds wilt thou have?" "Five pounds,"
answered Ma'aruf. So the man weighed him out five pounds of
vermicelli-cake and said to him, "I have clarified butter, but no
bees' honey. Here is drip-honey,[FN#7] however, which is better
than bees' honey; and what harm will there be, if it be with
drip-honey?" Ma'aruf was ashamed to object, because the
pastry-cook was to have patience with him for the price, and
said, "Give it me with drip-honey." So he fried a vermicelli-cake
for him with butter and drenched it with drip-honey, till it was
fit to present to Kings. Then he asked him, "Dost thou want
bread[FN#8] and cheese?"; and Ma'aruf answered, "Yes." So he gave
him four half dirhams worth of bread and one of cheese, and the
vermicelli was ten nusfs. Then said he, "Know, O Ma'aruf, that
thou owest me fifteen nusfs; so go to thy wife and make merry and
take this nusf for the Hammam;[FN#9] and thou shalt have credit
for a day or two or three till Allah provide thee with thy daily
bread. And straiten not thy wife, for I will have patience with
thee till such time as thou shalt have dirhams to spare." So
Ma'aruf took the vermicelli-cake and bread and cheese and went
away, with a heart at ease, blessing the pastry-cook and saying,
"Extolled be Thy perfection, O my Lord! How bountiful art Thou!"
When he came home, his wife enquired of him, "Hast thou brought
the vermicelli-cake?"; and, replying "Yes," he set it before her.
She looked at it and seeing that it was dressed with
cane-honey,[FN#10] said to him, "Did I not bid thee bring it with
bees' honey? Wilt thou contrary my wish and have it dressed with
cane-honey?" He excused himself to her, saying, "I bought it not
save on credit;" but said she, "This talk is idle; I will not eat
Kunafah save with bees' honey." And she was wroth with it and
threw it in his face, saying, "Begone, thou pimp, and bring me
other than this !" Then she dealt him a buffet on the cheek and
knocked out one of his teeth. The blood ran down upon his breast
and for stress of anger he smote her on the head a single blow
and a slight; whereupon she clutched his beard and fell to
shouting out and saying, "Help, O Moslems!" So the neighbours
came in and freed his beard from her grip; then they reproved and
reproached her, saying, "We are all content to eat Kunafah with
cane-honey. Why, then, wilt thou oppress this poor man thus?
Verily, this is disgraceful in thee!" And they went on to soothe
her till they made peace between her and him. But, when the folk
were gone, she sware that she would not eat of the vermicelli,
and Ma'aruf, burning with hunger, said in himself, "She sweareth
that she will not eat; so I will e'en eat." Then he ate, and when
she saw him eating, she said, "Inshallah, may the eating of it be
poison to destroy the far one's body."[FN#11] Quoth he, "It shall
not be at thy bidding," and went on eating, laughing and saying,
"Thou swarest that thou wouldst not eat of this; but Allah is
bountiful, and to-morrow night, an the Lord decree, I will bring
thee Kunafah dressed with bees' honey, and thou shalt eat it
alone." And he applied himself to appeasing her, whilst she
called down curses upon him; and she ceased not to rail at him
and revile him with gross abuse till the morning, when she bared
her forearm to beat him. Quoth he, "Give me time and I will bring
thee other vermicelli-cake." Then he went out to the mosque and
prayed, after which he betook himself to his shop and opening it,
sat down; but hardly had he done this when up came two runners
from the Kazi's court and said to him, "Up with thee, speak with
the Kazi, for thy wife hath complained of thee to him and her
favour is thus and thus." He recognised her by their description;
and saying, "May Allah Almighty torment her!" walked with them
till he came to the Kazi's presence, where he found Fatimah
standing with her arm bound up and her face-veil besmeared with
blood; and she was weeping and wiping away her tears. Quoth the
Kazi, "Ho man, hast thou no fear of Allah the Most High? Why hast
thou beaten this good woman and broken her forearm and knocked
out her tooth and entreated her thus?" And quoth Ma'aruf, "If I
beat her or put out her tooth, sentence me to what thou wilt; but
in truth the case was thus and thus and the neighbours made peace
between me and her." And he told him the story from first to
last. Now this Kazi was a benevolent man; so he brought out to
him a quarter dinar, saying, "O man, take this and get her
Kunafah with bees' honey and do ye make peace, thou and she."
Quoth Ma'aruf, "Give it to her." So she took it and the Kazi made
peace between them, saying, "O wife, obey thy husband; and thou,
O man, deal kindly with her.[FN#12]" Then they left the court,
reconciled at the Kazi's hands, and the woman went one way,
whilst her husband returned by another way to his shop and sat
there, when, behold, the runners came up to him and said, "Give
us our fee." Quoth he, "The Kazi took not of me aught; on the
contrary, he gave me a quarter dinar." But quoth they "'Tis no
concern of ours whether the Kazi took of thee or gave to thee,
and if thou give us not our fee, we will exact it in despite of
thee." And they fell to dragging him about the market; so he sold
his tools and gave them half a dinar, whereupon they let him go
and went away, whilst he put his hand to his cheek and sat
sorrowful, for that he had no tools wherewith to work. Presently,
up came two ill-favoured fellows and said to him, "Come, O man,
and speak with the Kazi; for thy wife hath complained of thee to
him." Said he, "He made peace between us just now." But said
they, "We come from another Kazi, and thy wife hath complained of
thee to our Kazi." So he arose and went with them to their Kazi,
calling on Allah for aid against her; and when he saw her, he
said to her, "Did we not make peace, good woman?" Whereupon she
cried, "There abideth no peace between me and thee." Accordingly
he came forward and told the Kazi his story, adding, "And indeed
the Kazi Such-an-one made peace between us this very hour."
Whereupon the Kazi said to her, "O strumpet, since ye two have
made peace with each other, why comest thou to me complaining?"
Quoth she, "He beat me after that;" but quoth the Kazi, "Make
peace each with other, and beat her not again, and she will cross
thee no more." So they made peace and the Kazi said to Ma'aruf,
"Give the runners their fee." So he gave them their fee and going
back to his shop, opened it and sat down, as he were a drunken
man for excess of the chagrin which befel him. Presently, while
he was still sitting, behold, a man came up to him and said, "O
Ma'aruf, rise and hide thyself, for thy wife hath complained of
thee to the High Court[FN#13] and Abu Tabak[FN#14] is after
thee." So he shut his shop and fled towards the Gate of
Victory.[FN#15] He had five nusfs of silver left of the price of
the lasts and gear; and therewith he bought four worth of bread
and one of cheese, as he fled from her. Now it was the winter
season and the hour of mid-afternoon prayer; so, when he came out
among the rubbish-mounds the rain descended upon him, like water
from the mouths of water-skins, and his clothes were drenched. He
therefore entered the 'Adiliyah,[FN#16] where he saw a ruined
place and therein a deserted cell without a door; and in it he
took refuge and found shelter from the rain. The tears streamed
from his eyelids, and he fell to complaining of what had betided
him and saying, "Whither shall I flee from this whore? I beseech
Thee, O Lord, to vouchsafe me one who shall conduct me to a far
country, where she shall not know the way to me!" Now while he
sat weeping, behold, the wall clave and there came forth to him
therefrom one of tall stature, whose aspect caused his body-pile
to bristle and his flesh to creep, and said to him, "O man, what
aileth thee that thou disturbest me this night? These two hundred
years have I dwelt here and have never seen any enter this place
and do as thou dost. Tell me what thou wishest and I will
accomplish thy need, as ruth for thee hath got hold upon my
heart." Quoth Ma'aruf, "Who and what art thou?"; and quoth he, "I
am the Haunter[FN#17] of this place." So Ma'aruf told him all
that had befallen him with his wife and he said, "Wilt thou have
me convey thee to a country, where thy wife shall know no way to
thee?" "Yes," said Ma'aruf; and the other, "Then mount my back."
So he mounted on his back and he flew with him from after
supper-tide till daybreak, when he set him down on the top of a
high mountain--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.

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

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Marid
having taken up Ma'aruf the Cobbler, flew off with him and set
him down upon a high mountain and said to him, "O mortal, descend
this mountain and thou wilt see the gate of a city. Enter it, for
therein thy wife cannot come at thee." He then left him and went
his way, whilst Ma'aruf abode in amazement and perplexity till
the sun rose, when he said to himself, "I will up with me and go
down into the city: indeed there is no profit in my abiding upon
this highland." So he descended to the mountain-foot and saw a
city girt by towering walls, full of lofty palaces and
gold-adorned buildings which was a delight to beholders. He
entered in at the gate and found it a place such as lightened the
grieving heart; but, as he walked through the streets the
townsfolk stared at him as a curiosity and gathered about him,
marvelling at his dress, for it was unlike theirs. Presently, one
of them said to him, "O man, art thou a stranger?" "Yes." "What
countryman art thou?" "I am from the city of Cairo the
Auspicious." "And when didst thou leave Cairo?" "I left it
yesterday, at the hour of afternoon-prayer." Whereupon the man
laughed at him and cried out, saying, "Come look, O folk, at this
man and hear what he saith!" Quoth they, "What doeth he say?";
and quoth the townsman, "He pretendeth that he cometh from Cairo
and left it yesterday at the hour of afternoon-prayer!" At this
they all laughed and gathering round Ma'aruf, said to him, "O
man, art thou mad to talk thus? How canst thou pretend that thou
leftest Cairo at mid-afternoon yesterday and foundedst thyself
this morning here, when the truth is that between our city and
Cairo lieth a full year's journey?" Quoth he, "None is mad but
you. As for me, I speak sooth, for here is bread which I brought
with me from Cairo, and see, 'tis yet new." Then he showed them
the bread and they stared at it, for it was unlike their country
bread. So the crowd increased about him and they said to one
another, "This is Cairo bread: look at it;" and he became a
gazing-stock in the city and some believed him, whilst others
gave him the lie and made mock of him. Whilst this was going on,
behold, up came a merchant riding on a she-mule and followed by
two black slaves, and brake a way through the people, saying, "O
folk, are ye not ashamed to mob this stranger and make mock of
him and scoff at him?" And he went on to rate them, till he drave
them away from Ma'aruf, and none could make him any answer. Then
he said to the stranger, "Come, O my brother, no harm shall
betide thee from these folk. Verily they have no shame."[FN#18]
So he took him and carrying him to a spacious and richly-adorned
house, seated him in a speak-room fit for a King, whilst he gave
an order to his slaves, who opened a chest and brought out to him
a dress such as might be worn by a merchant worth a
thousand.[FN#19] He clad him therewith and Ma'aruf, being a
seemly man, became as he were consul of the merchants. Then his
host called for food and they set before them a tray of all
manner exquisite viands. The twain ate and drank and the merchant
said to Ma'aruf, "O my brother, what is thy name?" "My name is
Ma'aruf and I am a cobbler by trade and patch old shoes." "What
countryman art thou?" "I am from Cairo." "What quarter?" "Dost
thou know Cairo?" "I am of its children.[FN#20] I come from the
Red Street.[FN#21]" "And whom dost thou know in the Red Street?"
"I know such an one and such an one," answered Ma'aruf and named
several people to him. Quoth the other, "Knowest thou Shaykh
Ahmad the druggist?[FN#22]" "He was my next neighbour, wall to
wall." "Is he well?" "Yes." "How many sons hath he?" "Three,
Mustafa, Mohammed and Ali." "And what hath Allah done with them?"
"As for Mustafa, he is well and he is a learned man, a
professor[FN#23]: Mohammed is a druggist and opened him a shop
beside that of his father, after he had married, and his wife
hath borne him a son named Hasan." "Allah gladden thee with good
news!" said the merchant; and Ma'aruf continued, "As for Ali, he
was my friend, when we were boys, and we always played together,
I and he. We used to go in the guise of the children of the
Nazarenes and enter the church and steal the books of the
Christians and sell them and buy food with the price. It chanced
once that the Nazarenes caught us with a book; whereupon they
complained of us to our folk and said to Ali's father:--An thou
hinder not thy son from troubling us, we will complain of thee to
the King. So he appeased them and gave Ali a thrashing; wherefore
he ran away none knew whither and he hath now been absent twenty
years and no man hath brought news of him." Quoth the host, "I am
that very Ali, son of Shaykh Ahmad the druggist, and thou art my
playmate Ma'aruf."[FN#24] So they saluted each other and after
the salam Ali said, "Tell me why, O Ma'aruf, thou camest from
Cairo to this city." Then he told him all that had befallen him
of ill-doing with his wife Fatimah the Dung and said, "So, when
her annoy waxed on me, I fled from her towards the Gate of
Victory and went forth the city. Presently, the rain fell heavy
on me; so I entered a ruined cell in the Adiliyah and sat there,
weeping; whereupon there came forth to me the Haunter of the
place, which was an Ifrit of the Jinn, and questioned me. I
acquainted him with my case and he took me on his back and flew
with me all night between heaven and earth, till he set me down
on yonder mountain and gave me to know of this city. So I came
down from the mountain and entered the city, when people crowded
about me and questioned me. I told them that I had left Cairo
yesterday, but they believed me not, and presently thou camest up
and driving the folk away from me, carriedst me this house. Such,
then, is the cause of my quitting Cairo; and thou, what object
brought thee hither?" Quoth Ali, "The giddiness[FN#25] of folly
turned my head when I was seven years old, from which time I
wandered from land to land and city to city, till I came to this
city, the name whereof is Ikhtiyan al-Khatan.[FN#26] I found its
people an hospitable folk and a kindly, compassionate for the
poor man and selling to him on credit and believing all he said.
So quoth I to them:--I am a merchant and have preceded my packs
and I need a place wherein to bestow my baggage. And they
believed me and assigned me a lodging. Then quoth I to them:--Is
there any of you will lend me a thousand dinars, till my loads
arrive, when I will repay it to him; for I am in want of certain
things before my goods come? They gave me what I asked and I went
to the merchants' bazar, where, seeing goods, I bought them and
sold them next day at a profit of fifty gold pieces and bought
others.[FN#27] And I consorted with the folk and entreated them
liberally, so that they loved me, and I continued to sell and
buy, till I grew rich. Know, O my brother, that the proverb
saith, The world is show and trickery: and the land where none
wotteth thee, there do whatso liketh thee. Thou too, an thou say
to all who ask thee, I'm a cobbler by trade and poor withal, and
I fled from my wife and left Cairo yesterday, they will not
believe thee and thou wilt be a laughing-stock among them as long
as thou abidest in the city; whilst, an thou tell them, An Ifrit
brought me hither, they will take fright at thee and none will
come near thee; for they will say, This man is possessed of an
Ifrit and harm will betide whoso approacheth him. And such public
report will be dishonouring both to thee and to me, because they
ken I come from Cairo." Ma'aruf asked:--"How then shall I do?";
and Ali answered, "I will tell thee how thou shalt do, Inshallah!
To-morrow I will give thee a thousand dinars and a she-mule to
ride and a black slave, who shall walk before thee and guide thee
to the gate of the merchants' bazar; and do thou go into them. I
will be there sitting amongst them, and when I see thee, I will
rise to thee and salute thee with the salam and kiss thy hand and
make a great man of thee. Whenever I ask thee of any kind of
stuff, saying, Hast thou brought with thee aught of such a kind?
do thou answer, "Plenty.[FN#28]" And if they question me of thee,
I will praise thee and magnify thee in their eyes and say to
them, Get him a store-house and a shop. I also will give thee out
for a man of great wealth and generosity; and if a beggar come to
thee, bestow upon him what thou mayst; so will they put faith in
what I say and believe in thy greatness and generosity and love
thee. Then will I invite thee to my house and invite all the
merchants on thy account and bring together thee and them, so
that all may know thee and thou know them,"--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

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

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
merchant Ali said to Ma'aruf, "I will invite thee to my house and
invite all the merchants on thy account and bring together thee
and them, so that all may know thee and thou know them, whereby
thou shalt sell and buy and take and give with them; nor will it
be long ere thou become a man of money." Accordingly, on the
morrow he gave him a thousand dinars and a suit of clothes and a
black slave and mounting him on a she-mule, said to him, "Allah
give thee quittance of responsibility for all this,[FN#29]
inasmuch as thou art my friend and it behoveth me to deal
generously with thee. Have no care; but put away from thee the
thought of thy wife's misways and name her not to any." "Allah
requite thee with good!" replied Ma'aruf and rode on, preceded by
his blackamoor till the slave brought him to the gate of the
merchants' bazar, where they were all seated, and amongst them
Ali, who when he saw him, rose and threw himself upon him,
crying, "A blessed day, O Merchant Ma'aruf, O man of good works
and kindness[FN#30]!" And he kissed his hand before the merchants
and said to them, "Our brothers, ye are honoured by
knowing[FN#31] the merchant Ma'aruf." So they saluted him, and
Ali signed to them to make much of him, wherefore he was
magnified in their eyes. Then Ali helped him to dismount from his
she-mule and saluted him with the salam; after which he took the
merchants apart, one after other, and vaunted Ma'aruf to them.
They asked, "Is this man a merchant?;" and he answered, "Yes; and
indeed he is the chiefest of merchants, there liveth not a
wealthier than he; for his wealth and the riches of his father
and forefathers are famous among the merchants of Cairo. He hath
partners in Hind and Sind and Al-Yaman and is high in repute for
generosity. So know ye his rank and exalt ye his degree and do
him service, and wot also that his coming to your city is not for
the sake of traffic, and none other save to divert himself with
the sight of folk's countries: indeed, he hath no need of
strangerhood for the sake of gain and profit, having wealth that
fires cannot consume, and I am one of his servants." And he
ceased not to extol him, till they set him above their heads and
began to tell one another of his qualities. Then they gathered
round him and offered him junkets[FN#32] and sherbets, and even
the Consul of the Merchants came to him and saluted him; whilst
Ali proceeded to ask him, in the presence of the traders, "O my
lord, haply thou hast brought with thee somewhat of such and such
a stuff?"; and Ma'aruf answered,"Plenty." Now Ali had that day
shown him various kinds of costly clothes and had taught him the
names of the different stuffs, dear and cheap. Then said one of
the merchants, "O my lord, hast thou brought with thee yellow
broad cloth?": and Ma'aruf said, "Plenty"! Quoth another, "And
gazelles' blood red[FN#33]?"; and quoth the Cobbler, "Plenty";
and as often as he asked him of aught, he made him the same
answer. So the other said, "O Merchant Ali had thy countryman a
mind to transport a thousand loads of costly stuffs, he could do
so"; and Ali said, "He would take them from a single one of his
store-houses, and miss naught thereof." Now whilst they were
sitting, behold, up came a beggar and went the round of the
merchants. One gave him a half dirham and another a
copper,[FN#34] but most of them gave him nothing, till he came to
Ma'aruf who pulled out a handful of gold and gave it to him,
whereupon he blessed him and went his ways. The merchants
marvelled at this and said, "Verily, this is a King's bestowal
for he gave the beggar gold without count, and were he not a man
of vast wealth and money without end, he had not given a beggar a
handful of gold." After a while, there came to him a poor woman
and he gave her a handful of gold; whereupon she went away,
blessing him, and told the other beggars, who came to him, one
after other, and he gave them each a handful of gold, till he
disbursed the thousand dinars. Then he struck hand upon hand and
said, "Allah is our sufficient aid and excellent is the Agent!"
Quoth the Consul, "What aileth thee, O Merchant Ma'aruf?"; and
quoth he, "It seemeth that the most part of the people of this
city are poor and needy; had I known their misery I would have
brought with me a large sum of money in my saddle-bags and given
largesse thereof to the poor. I fear me I may be long
abroad[FN#35] and 'tis not in my nature to baulk a beggar; and I
have no gold left: so, if a pauper come to me, what shall I say
to him?" Quoth the Consul, "Say, Allah will send thee thy daily
bread[FN#36]!"; but Ma'aruf replied, "That is not my practice and
I am care-ridden because of this. Would I had other thousand
dinars, wherewith to give alms till my baggage come!" "Have no
care for that," quoth the Consul and sending one of his
dependents for a thousand dinars, handed them to Ma'aruf, who
went on giving them to every beggar who passed till the call to
noon-prayer. Then they entered the Cathedral-mosque and prayed
the noon-prayers, and what was left him of the thousand gold
pieces he scattered on the heads of the worshippers. This drew
the people's attention to him and they blessed him, whilst the
merchants marvelled at the abundance of his generosity and
openhandedness. Then he turned to another trader and borrowing of
him other thousand ducats, gave these also away, whilst Merchant
Ali looked on at what he did, but could not speak. He ceased not
to do thus till the call to mid-afternoon prayer, when he entered
the mosque and prayed and distributed the rest of the money. On
this wise, by the time they locked the doors of the bazar,[FN#37]
he had borrowed five thousand sequins and given them away, saying
to every one of whom he took aught, "Wait till my baggage come
when, if thou desire gold I will give thee gold, and if thou
desire stuffs, thou shalt have stuffs; for I have no end of
them." At eventide Merchant Ali invited Ma'aruf and the rest of
the traders to an entertainment and seated him in the upper end,
the place of honour, where he talked of nothing but cloths and
jewels, and whenever they made mention to him of aught, he said,
"I have plenty of it." Next day, he again repaired to the
market-street where he showed a friendly bias towards the
merchants and borrowed of them more money, which he distributed
to the poor: nor did he leave doing thus twenty days, till he had
borrowed threescore thousand dinars, and still there came no
baggage, no, nor a burning plague.[FN#38] At last folk began to
clamour for their money and say, "The merchant Ma'aruf's baggage
cometh not. How long will he take people's monies and give them
to the poor?" And quoth one of them, "My rede is that we speak to
Merchant Ali." So they went to him and said, "O Merchant Ali,
Merchant Ma'aruf's baggage cometh not." Said he, "Have patience,
it cannot fail to come soon." Then he took Ma'aruf aside and said
to him, "O Ma'aruf, what fashion is this? Did I bid thee
brown[FN#39] the bread or burn it? The merchants clamour for
their coin and tell me that thou owest them sixty thousand
dinars, which thou hast borrowed and given away to the poor. How
wilt thou satisfy the folk, seeing that thou neither sellest nor
buyest?" Said Ma'aruf, "What matters it[FN#40]; and what are
threescore thousand dinars? When my baggage shall come, I will
pay them in stuffs or in gold and silver, as they will." Quoth
Merchant Ali, "Allah is Most Great! Hast thou then any baggage?";
and he said, "Plenty." Cried the other, "Allah and the
Hallows[FN#41] requite thee thine impudence! Did I teach thee
this saying, that thou shouldst repeat it to me? But I will
acquaint the folk with thee." Ma'aruf rejoined, "Begone and prate
no more! Am I a poor man? I have endless wealth in my baggage and
as soon as it cometh, they shall have their money's worth two for
one. I have no need of them." At this Merchant Ali waxed wroth
and said, "Unmannerly wight that thou art, I will teach thee to
lie to me and be not ashamed!" Said Ma'aruf, "E'en work the worst
thy hand can do! They must wait till my baggage come, when they
shall have their due and more." So Ali left him and went away,
saying in himself, "I praised him whilome and if I blame him now,
I make myself out a liar and become of those of whom it is said:-
-Whoso praiseth and then blameth lieth twice."[FN#42] And he knew
not what to do. Presently, the traders came to him and said, "O
Merchant Ali, hast thou spoken to him?" Said he, "O folk, I am
ashamed and, though he owe me a thousand dinars, I cannot speak
to him. When ye lent him your money ye consulted me not; so ye
have no claim on me. Dun him yourselves, and if he pay you not,
complain of him to the King of the city, saying:--He is an
impostor who hath imposed upon us. And he will deliver you from
the plague of him." Accordingly, they repaired to the King and
told him what had passed, saying, "O King of the age, we are
perplexed anent this merchant, whose generosity is excessive; for
he doeth thus and thus, and all he borroweth, he giveth away to
the poor by handsful. Were he a man of naught, his sense would
not suffer him to lavish gold on this wise; and were he a man of
wealth, his good faith had been made manifest to us by the coming
of his baggage; but we see none of his luggage, although he
avoucheth that he hath baggage-train and hath preceded it. Now
some time hath past, but there appeareth no sign of his
baggage-train, and he oweth us sixty thousand gold pieces, all of
which he hath given away in alms." And they went on to praise him
and extol his generosity. Now this King was a very covetous man,
a more covetous than Ash'ab[FN#43]; and when he heard tell of
Ma'aruf's generosity and openhandedness, greed of gain got the
better of him and he said to his Wazir, "Were not this merchant a
man of immense wealth, he had not shown all this munificence. His
baggage-train will assuredly come, whereupon these merchants will
flock to him and he will scatter amongst them riches galore. Now
I have more right to this money than they; wherefore I have a
mind to make friends with him and profess affection for him, so
that, when his baggage cometh whatso the merchants would have had
I shall get of him; and I will give him my daughter to wife and
join his wealth to my wealth." Replied the Wazir, "O King of the
age, methinks he is naught but an impostor, and 'tis the impostor
who ruineth the house of the covetous;"--And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

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