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The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9




When it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Halimah said to Kamar al-Zaman, "An thou wish for safety travel
with me by other than the wonted way," he replied, "Hearing and
obeying;" and, taking a road other than that used by folk, fared
on without ceasing from region to region till he reached the
confines of Egypt-land[FN#436] and sent his sire a letter by a
runner. Now his father the merchant Abd al-Rahman was sitting in
the market among the merchants, with a heart on fire for
separation from his son, because no news of the youth had reached
him since the day of his departure; and while he was in such case
the runner came up and cried, "O my lords, which of you is called
the merchant Abd al-Rahman?" They said, "What wouldst thou of
him?"; and he said, "I have a letter for him from his son Kamar
al-Zaman, whom I left at Al-Arish."[FN#437] At this Abd al-Rahman
rejoiced and his breast was broadened and the merchants rejoiced
for him and gave him joy of his son's safety. Then he opened the
letter and read as follows, "From Kamar al-Zaman to the merchant
Abd al-Rahman. And after Peace be upon thee and upon all the
merchants! An ye ask concerning us, to Allah be the praise and
the thanks. Indeed we have sold and bought and gained and are
come back in health, wealth and weal." Whereupon Abd al-Rahman
opened the door[FN#438] of rejoicing and made banquets and gave
feasts and entertainments galore, sending for instruments of
music and addressing himself to festivities after rarest fashion.
When Kamar al-Zaman came to Al-Salihiyah,[FN#439] his father and
all the merchants went forth to meet him, and Abd al-Rahman
embraced him and strained him to his bosom and sobbed till he
swooned away. When he came to himself he said, "Oh, 'tis a boon
day O my son, whereon the Omnipotent Protector hath reunited us
with thee!" And he repeated the words of the bard,

"The return of the friend is the best of all boons, * And the joy
cup circles o' morns and noons:
So well come, welcome, fair welcome to thee, * The light of the
time and the moon o' full moons."

Then, for excess of joy, he poured forth a flood of tears from
his eyes and he recited also these two couplets,

"The Moon o' the Time,[FN#440] shows unveiled light; * And, his
journey done, at our door cloth alight:
His locks as the nights of his absence are black * And the sun
upstands from his collar's[FN#441] white."

Then the merchants came up to him and saluting him, saw with him
many loads and servants and a travelling litter enclosed in a
spacious circle.[FN#442] So they took him and carried him home;
and when Halimah came forth from the litter, his father held her
a seduction to all who beheld her. So they opened her an upper
chamber, as it were a treasure from which the talismans had been
loosed;[FN#443] and when his mother saw her, she was ravished
with her and deemed her a Queen of the wives of the Kings. So she
rejoiced in her and questioned her; and she answered, "I am wife
to thy son;" and the mother rejoined, "Since he is wedded to thee
we must make thee a splendid marriage feast, that we may rejoice
in thee and in my son." On this wise it befel her; but as regards
the merchant Abd al-Rahman, when the folk had dispersed and each
had wended his way, he foregathered with his son and said to him,
"O my son, what is this slave-girl thou hast brought with thee
and for how much didst thou buy her?"[FN#444] Kamar al-Zaman
said, "O my father, she is no slave-girl; but 'tis she who was
the cause of my going abroad." Asked his sire, "How so?"; and he
answered, "'Tis she whom the Dervish described to us the night he
lay with us; for indeed my hopes crave to her from that moment
and I sought not to travel save on account of her. The Arabs came
out upon me by the way and stripped me and took my money and
goods, so that I entered Bassorah alone and there befel me there
such and such things;" and he went on to relate to his parent all
that had befallen him from commencement to conclusion. Now when
he had made an end of his story, his father said to him, "O my
son, and after all this didst thou marry her?" "No; but I have
promised her marriage." "Is it thine intent to marry her?" "An
thou bid me marry her, I will do so; otherwise I will not marry
her." Thereupon quoth his father, "An thou marry her, I am quit
of thee in this world and in the next, and I shall be incensed
against thee with sore indignation. How canst thou wed her,
seeing that she hath dealt thus with her husband? For, even as
she did with her spouse for thy sake, so will she do the like
with thee for another's sake, because she is a traitress and in a
traitor there is no trusting. Wherefore an thou disobey me, I
shall be wroth with thee; but, an thou give ear to my word, I
will seek thee out a girl handsomer than she, who shall be pure
and pious, and marry thee to her, though I spend all my substance
upon her; and I will make thee a wedding without equal and will
glory in thee and in her; for 'tis better that folk should say,
Such an one hath married such an one's daughter, than that they
say, He hath wedded a slave-girl sans birth or worth." And he
went on to persuade his son to give up marrying her, by citing in
support of his say, proofs, stories, examples, verses and moral
instances, till Kamar al-Zaman exclaimed, "O my father, since the
case is thus, 'tis not right and proper that I marry her." And
when his father heard him speak on such wise, he kissed him
between the eyes, saying, "Thou art my very son, and as I live, O
my son, I will assuredly marry thee to a girl who hath not her
equal!" Then the merchant set Obayd's wife and her handmaid in a
chamber high up in the house and, before locking the door upon
the twain, he appointed a black slave-girl to carry them their
meat and drink and he said to Halimah, "Ye shall abide imprisoned
in this chamber, thou and thy maid, till I find one who will buy
you, when I will sell you to him. An ye resist, I will slay ye
both, for thou art a traitress, and there is no good in thee."
Answered she, "Do thy will: I deserve all thou canst do with me."
Then he locked the door upon them and gave his Harim a charge
respecting them, saying, "Let none go up to them nor speak with
them, save the black slave-girl who shall give them their meat
and drink through the casement of the upper chamber." So she
abode with her maid, weeping and repenting her of that which she
had done with her spouse. Meanwhile Abd al-Rahman sent out the
marriage brokers to look out a maid of birth and worth for his
son, and the women ceased not to make search, and as often as
they saw one girl, they heard of a fairer than she, till they
came to the house of the Shaykh al-Islam[FN#445] and saw his
daughter. In her they found a virgin whose equal was not in Cairo
for beauty and loveliness, symmetry and perfect grace, and she
was a thousand fold handsomer than the wife of Obayd. So they
told Abd al-Rahman of her and he and the notables repaired to her
father and sought her in wedlock of him. Then they wrote out the
marriage contract and made her a splendid wedding; after which
Abd al-Rahman gave bride feasts and held open house forty days.
On the first day, he invited the doctors of the law and they held
a splendid nativity[FN#446]: and on the morrow, he invited all
the merchants, and so on during the rest of the forty days,
making a banquet every day to one or other class of folk, till he
had bidden all the Olema and Emirs and Antients[FN#447] and
Magistrates, whilst the kettle drums were drummed and the pipes
were piped and the merchant sat to greet the guests, with his son
by his side, that he might solace himself by gazing on the folk,
as they ate from the trays. Each night Abd al-Rahman illuminated
the street and the quarter with lamps and there came every one of
the mimes and jugglers and mountebanks and played all manner
play; and indeed it was a peerless wedding. On the last day he
invited the Fakirs, the poor and the needy, far and near, and
they flocked in troops and ate, whilst the merchant sat, with his
son by his side.[FN#448] And among the paupers, behold, entered
Shaykh Obayd the jeweller and he was naked and weary and bare on
his face the marks of wayfare. When Kamar al-Zaman saw him, he
knew him and said to his sire, "Look, O my father, at yonder poor
man who is but now come in by the door." So he looked and saw him
clad in worn clothes and on him a patched gown[FN#449] worth two
dirhams: his face was yellow and he was covered with dust and was
as he were an offcast of the pilgrims.[FN#450] He was groaning as
groaneth a sick man in need, walking with a tottering gait and
swaying now to the right and then to the left, and in him was
realized his saying who said,[FN#451]

"Lack-gold abaseth man and cloth his worth away, Even as the
setting sun that pales with ended day.
He passeth 'mongst the folk and fain would hide his head; And
when alone, he weeps with tears that never stay.
Absent, none taketh heed to him or his concerns; Present, he hath
no part in life or pleasance aye.
By Allah, whenas men with poverty are cursed, But strangers midst
their kin and countrymen are they!"

And the saying of another,

"The poor man fares by everything opposed: * On him to shut the
door Earth ne'er shall fail:
Thou seest men abhor him sans a sin, * And foes he finds tho none
the cause can tell:
The very dogs, when sighting wealthy man, * Fawn at his feet and
wag the flattering tail;
Yet, an some day a pauper loon they sight, * All at him bark and,
gnashing fangs, assail."

And how well quoth a third,

"If generous youth be blessed with luck and wealth, *
Displeasures fly his path and perils fleet:
His enviers pimp for him and par'site-wise * E'en without tryst
his mistress hastes to meet.
When loud he farts they say 'How well he sings!' * And when he
fizzles[FN#452] cry they, 'Oh, how sweet!'"

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when his
son said to Abd al-Rahman, "Look at yonder pauper!" he asked, "O
my son, who is this?" And Kamar al-Zaman answered, "This is
Master Obayd the jeweller, husband of the woman who is imprisoned
with us." Quoth Abd al-Rahman, "Is this he of whom thou toldest
me?"; and quoth his son, "Yes; and indeed I wot him right well."
Now the manner of Obayd's coming thither was on this wise. When
he had farewelled Kamar al-Zaman, he went to his shop and thence
going home, laid his hand on the door whereupon it opened and he
entered and found neither his wife nor the slave-girl, but saw
the house in sorriest plight, quoting in mute speech his saying
who said,[FN#453]

"The chambers were like a bee hive well stocked: * When their
bees quitted it, they became empty."

When he saw the house void, he turned right and left and
presently went round about the place, like a madman, but came
upon no one. Then he opened the door of his treasure closet, but
found therein naught of his money nor his hoards; whereupon he
recovered from the intoxication of fancy and shook off his
infatuation and knew that it was his wife herself who had turned
the tables upon him and outwitted him with her wiles. He wept for
that which had befallen him, but kept his affair secret, so none
of his foes might exult over him nor any of his friends be
troubled, knowing that, if he disclosed his secret, it would
bring him naught but dishonour and contumely from the folk;
wherefore he said in him self, "O Obayd, hide that which hath
betided thee of affliction and ruination; it behoveth thee to do
in accordance with his saying who said,

'If a man's breast with bane he hides be straitened, * The breast
that tells its hidden bale is straiter still.' "

Then he locked up his house and, making for his shop, gave it in
charge of one of his apprentices to whom said he, "My friend the
young merchant hath invited me to accompany him to Cairo, for
solacing ourselves with the sight of the city, and sweareth that
he will not march except he carry us with him, me and my wife.
So, O my son, I make thee my steward in the shop, and if the King
ask for me, say thou to him, 'He is gone with his Harim to the
Holy House of Allah.'"[FN#454] Then he sold some of his effects
and bought camels and mules and Mamelukes, together with a slave-
girl,[FN#455] and placing her in a litter, set out from Bassorah
after ten days. His friends farewelled him and none doubted but
that he had taken his wife and gone on the Pilgrimage, and the
folk rejoiced in this, for that Allah had delivered them from
being shut up in the mosques and houses every Friday. Quoth some
of them, "Allah grant he may never return to Bassorah, so we may
no more be boxed up in the mosques and houses every Friday!"; for
that this usage had caused the people of Bassorah exceeding
vexation. Quoth another, "Methinks he will not return from this
journey, by reason of the much praying of the people of Bassorah
against him."[FN#456] And yet another, "An he return, 'twill not
be but in reversed case."[FN#457] So the folk rejoiced with
exceeding joy in the jeweller's departure, after they had been in
mighty great chagrin, and even their cats and dogs were
comforted. When Friday came round, however, the crier proclaimed
as usual that the people should repair to the mosques two hours
before prayer time or else hide themselves in their houses,
together with their cats and dogs; whereat their breasts were
straitened and they assembled in general assembly and betaking
themselves to the King's divan, stood between his hands and said,
"O King of the age, the jeweller hath taken his Harim and
departed on the pilgrimage to the Holy House of Allah: so the
cause of our restrains hath ceased to be, and why therefore are
we now shut up?" Quoth the King, "How came this traitor to depart
without telling me? But, when he cometh back from his journey,
all will not be save well[FN#458]: so go ye to your shops and
sell and buy, for this vexation is removed from you." Thus far
concerning the King and the Bassorites; but as for the jeweller,
he fared on ten days' journey, and as he drew near Baghdad, there
befel him that which had befallen Kamar al-Zaman, before his
entering Bassorah; for the Arabs[FN#459] came out upon him and
stripped him and took all he had and he escaped only by feigning
himself dead. As soon as they were gone, he rose and fared on,
naked as he was, till he came to a village, where Allah inclined
to him the hearts of certain kindly folk, who covered his shame
with some old clothes; and he asked his way, begging from town to
town, till he reached the city of Cairo the God guarded. There,
burning with hunger, he went about alms seeking in the market
streets, till one of the townsfolk said to him, "O poor man, off
with thee to the house of the wedding festival and eat and drink;
for to day there is open table for paupers and strangers." Quoth
he, "I know not the way thither": and quoth the other, "Follow me
and I will show it to thee." He followed him, till he brought him
to the house of Abd al-Rahman and said to him, "This is the house
of the wedding; enter and fear not, for there is no doorkeeper at
the door of the festival." Accordingly he entered and Kamar al-
Zaman knew him and told his sire who said, "O my son, leave him
at this present: belike he is anhungered: so let him eat his
sufficiency and recover himself and after we will send for him."
So they waited till Obayd had eaten his fill and washed his hands
and drunk coffee and sherbets of sugar flavoured with musk and
ambergris and was about to go out, when Abd al-Rahman sent after
him a page who said to him, "Come, O stranger, and speak with the
merchant Abd al-Rahman." "Who is he?" asked Obayd; and the man
answered, "He is the master of the feast." Thereupon the jeweller
turned back, thinking that he meant to give him a gift, and
coming up to Abd al-Rahman, saw his friend Kamar al-Zaman and
went nigh to lose his senses for shame before him. But Kamar al-
Zaman rose to him and embracing him, saluted him with the salam,
and they both wept with sore weeping. Then he seated him by his
side and Abd al-Rahman said to his son, "O destitute of good
taste, this is no way to receive friends! Send him first to the
Hammam and despatch after him a suit of clothes of the choicest,
worth a thousand dinars."[FN#460] Accordingly they carried him to
the bath, where they washed his body and clad him in a costly
suit, and he became as he were Consul of the Merchants. Meanwhile
the bystanders questioned Kamar al-Zaman of him, saying, "Who is
this and whence knowest thou him?" Quoth he, "This is my friend,
who lodged me in his house and to whom I am indebted for favours
without number, for that he entreated me with exceeding kindness.
He is a man of competence and condition and by trade a jeweller,
in which craft he hath no equal. The King of Bassorah loveth him
dearly and holdeth him in high honour and his word is law with
him." And he went on to enlarge before them on his praises,
saying, "Verily, he did with me thus and thus and I have shame of
him and know not how to requite him his generous dealing with
me." Nor did he leave to extol him, till his worth was magnified
to the bystanders and he became venerable in their eyes; so they
said, "We will all do him his due and honour him for thy sake.
But we would fain know the reason why he hath departed his native
land and the cause of his coming hither and what Allah hath done
with him, that he is reduced to this plight?" Replied Kamar al-
Zaman, "O folk, marvel not, for a son of Adam is still subject to
Fate and Fortune, and what while he abideth in this world, he is
not safe from calamities. Indeed he spake truly who said these
couplets,

The world tears man to shreds, so be thou not * Of those whom
lure of rank and title draws:
Nay; 'ware of slips and turn from sin aside * And ken that bane
and bale are worldly laws:
How oft high Fortune falls by least mishap * And all things bear
inbred of change a cause!'

Know that I entered Bassorah in yet iller case and worse distress
than this man, for that he entered Cairo with his shame hidden by
rags; but I indeed came into his town with my nakedness
uncovered, one hand behind and another before; and none availed
me but Allah and this dear man. Now the reason of this was that
the Arabs stripped me and took my camels and mules and loads and
slaughtered my pages and serving men; but I lay down among the
slain and they thought that I was dead, so they went away and
left me. Then I arose and walked on, mother naked, till I came to
Bassorah where this man met me and clothed me and lodged me in
his house, he also furnished me with money, and all I have
brought back with me I owe to none save to Allah's goodness and
his goodness. When I departed, he gave me great store of wealth
and I returned to the city of my birth with a heart at ease. I
left him in competence and condition, and haply there hath
befallen him some bale of the banes of Time, that hath forced him
to quit his kinsfolk and country, and there happened to him by
the way the like of what happened to me. There is nothing strange
in this; but now it behoveth me to requite him his noble dealing
with me and do according to the saying of him who saith,

'O who praises" Time with the fairest appraise, * Knowest thou
what Time hath made and unmade?
What thou dost at least be it kindly done,[FN#461] * For with pay
he pays shall man be repaid.'"

As they were talking and telling the tale, behold, up came Obayd
as he were Consul[FN#462] of the Merchants; whereupon they all
rose to salute him and seated him in the place of honour. Then
said Kamar al-Zaman to him, "O my friend, verily, thy day[FN#463]
is blessed and fortunate! There is no need to relate to me a
thing that befel me before thee. If the Arabs have stripped thee
and robbed thee of thy wealth, verily our money is the ransom of
our bodies, so let not thy soul be troubled; for I entered thy
city naked and thou clothedst me and entreatedst me generously,
and I owe thee many a kindness. But I will requite thee."--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say,

When it was the Nine Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar
al-Zaman said to Master Obayd the jeweller, "Verily I entered thy
city naked and thou clothedst me and I owe thee many a kindness.
But I will requite thee and do with thee even as thou didst with
me; nay, more: so be of good cheer and eyes clear of tear." And
he went on to soothe him and hinder him from speech, lest he
should name his wife and what she had done with him nor did he
cease to ply him with saws and moral instances and verses and
conceits and stories and legends and console him, till the
jeweller saw his drift and took the hint and kept silence
concerning the past, diverting himself with the tales and rare
anecdotes he heard and repeating in himself these lines,

"On the brow of the World is a writ; an thereon thou look, * Its
contents will compel thine eyes tears of blood to rain:
For the World never handed to humans a cup with its right, * But
with left it compelled them a beaker of ruin to drain."

Then Kamar al-Zaman and his father took Obayd and carrying him
into the saloon of the Harim, shut themselves up with him; and
Abd al-Rahman said to him, "We did not hinder thee from speaking
before the folk, but for fear of dishonour to thee and to us: but
now we are private; so tell me all that hath passed between thee
and thy wife and my son." So he told him all, from beginning to
end, and when he had made an end of his story, Abd al-Rahman
asked him, "Was the fault with my son or with thy wife?" He
answered, "By Allah, thy son was not to blame, for men must needs
lust after women, and 'tis the bounder duty of women to defend
themselves from men. So the sin lieth with my wife, who played me
false and did with me these deeds."[FN#464] Then Abd al-Rahman
arose and taking his son aside, said to him, "O my son, we have
proved his wife and know her to be a traitress; and now I mean to
prove him and see if he be a man of honour and manliness, or a
wittol."[FN#465] "How so?" asked Kamar al-Zaman; and Abd al-
Rahman answered, "I mean to urge him to make peace with his wife,
and if he consent thereto and forgive her, I will smite him with
a sword and slay him and kill her after, her and her maid, for
there is no good in the life of a cuckold and a queen;[FN#466]
but, if he turn from her with aversion I will marry him to thy
sister and give him more of wealth than that thou tookest from
him." Then he went back to Obayd and said to him, "O master,
verily, the commerce of women requireth patience and magnanimity
and whoso loveth them hath need of fortitude, for that they order
themselves viper wise towards men and evilly entreat them, by
reason of their superiority over them in beauty and loveliness:
wherefore they magnify themselves and belittle men. This is
notably the case when their husbands show them affection; for
then they requite them with hauteur and coquetry and harsh
dealing of all kinds. But, if a man be wroth whenever he seeth in
his wife aught that offendeth him, there can be no fellowship
between them; nor can any hit it off with them who is not
magnanimous and long suffering; and unless a man bear with his
wife and requite her foul doing with forgiveness, he shall get no
good of her conversation. Indeed, it hath been said of them,
'Were they in the sky, the necks of men would incline themwards';
and he who hath the power and pardoneth, his reward is with
Allah. Now this woman is thy wife and thy companion and she hath
long consorted with thee; wherefore it behoveth that thou entreat
her with indulgence which in fellowship is of the essentials of
success. Furthermore, women fail in wit and Faith,[FN#467] and if
she have sinned, she repenteth and Inshallah she will not again
return to that which she whilome did. So 'tis my rede that thou
make peace with her and I will restore thee more than the good
she took; and if it please thee to abide with me, thou art
welcome, thou and she, and ye shall see naught but what shall joy
you both; but, an thou seek to, return to thine own land. For
that which falleth out between a man and his wife is manifold,
and it behoveth thee to be indulgent and not take the way of the
violent." Said the jeweller, "O my lord, and where is my wife?"
and said Abd al-Rahman, "She is in that upper chamber, go up to
her and be easy with her, for my sake, and trouble her not; for,
when my son brought her hither, he would have married her, but I
forbade him from her and shut her up in yonder room, and locked
the door upon her saying in myself, 'Haply her husband will come
and I will hand her over to him safe; for she is fair of favour,
and when a woman is like unto this one, it may not be that her
husband will let her go.' What I counted on is come about and
praised be Allah Almighty for thy reunion with thy wife! As for
my son, I have sought him another woman in marriage and have
married him to her: these banquets and rejoicings are for his
wedding, and to-night I bring him to his bride. So here is the
key of the chamber where thy wife is: take it and open the door
and go in to her and her handmaid and be buxom with her. There
shall be brought you meat and drink and thou shalt not come down
from her till thou have had thy fill of her." Cried Obayd, "May
Allah requite thee for me with all good, O my lord!" and taking
the key, went up, rejoicing. The other thought his words had
pleased him and that he consented thereto; so he took the sword
and following him unseen, stood to espy what should happen
between him and his wife. This is how it fared with the merchant
Abd al-Rahman; but as for the jeweller, when he came to the
chamber door, he heard his wife weeping with sore weeping for
that Kamar al-Zaman had married another than her, and the
handmaid saying to her, "O my lady, how often have I warned thee
and said, 'Thou wilt get no good of this youth: so do thou leave
his company.' But thou heededst not my words and spoiledst thy
husband of all his goods and gayest them to him. After the which
thou forsookest thy place, of thine fondness and infatuation for
him, and camest with him to this country. And now he hath cast
thee out from his thought and married another and hath made the
issue of thy foolish fancy for him to be durance vile." Cried
Halimah, "Be silent, O accursed! Though he be married to another,
yet some day needs must I occur to his thought. I cannot forget
the nights I have spent in his company and in any case I console
myself with his saying who said,

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