One Thousand and One Nights, page 615
When it was the Seventieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Omar son of Al-Nu’uman said in his letter, “And send to us the damsel to the end that she may dispute with them before the doctors and, if she prevail over them, I will return her to thee accompanied with the tribute of Baghdad.” As soon as Sharrkan knew the contents, he went in to his brother in law and said to him, “Bring the damsel to whom I married thee;” and when she came he showed her the letter and said, “O my sister! what answer wouldst thou advise me make to this letter?” Replied she, “Seek advice from thyself!” and presently added (for she yearned after her people and her native land), “Send me together with my husband the Chamberlain, to Baghdad, that I may tell my father my tale and let him know whatso befel me with the Badawi who sold me to the merchant, and that I also inform him how thou boughtest me of the trader and gavest me in marriage to the Chamberlain, after setting me free.” “Be it so,” replied Sharrkan. Then Sharrkan took his daughter, Kuzia Fakan, and committed her to the charge of the wet nurses and the eunuchs, and he made ready the tribute in haste, bidding the Chamberlain travel with the Princess and the treasure to Baghdad. He also furnished him two travelling litters one for himself and the other for his wife. And the Chamberlain replied, “To hear is to obey.” Moreover Sharrkan collected camels and mules and wrote a letter to his father and committed it to the Chamberlain; then he bade farewell to his sister, after he had taken the jewel from her and hung it round his daughter’s neck by a chain of pure gold; and she and her husband set out for Baghdad the same night. Now it so happened that Zau al-Makan and his friend the Fireman had come forth from the hut in which they were, to see the spectacle, and they beheld camels and Bukhti303 dromedaries and bât-mules and torches and lanterns alight; and Zau al-Makan enquired about the loads and their owner and was told that it was the tribute of Damascus going to King Omar bin al-Nu’uman, Lord of the City of Baghdad. He then asked, “Who be the leader of the caravan?” and they answered, “The Head Chamberlain who hath married the damsel so famous for learning and science.” Thereupon Zau al-Makan wept with bitter weeping and was minded of his mother and his father and his sister and his native land, and he said to the Stoker, “I will join this caravan and, little by little, will journey homewards.” Quoth the Fireman, “I would not suffer thee to travel single handed from the Holy City to Damascus, then how shall I be sure of thy safety when thou farest for Baghdad? But I will go with thee and care for thee till thou effectest thine object.” “With joy and good will,” answered Zau al-Makan. Then the Fireman get him ready for the journey and hired an ass and threw saddle bags over it and put therein something of provaunt; and, when all was prepared, he awaited the passage of the caravan. And presently the Chamberlain came by on a dromedary and his footmen about him. Then Zau al-Ma ken mounted the ass and said to his companion, “Do thou mount with me.” But he replied, “Not so: I will be thy servant.” Quoth Zau al-Makan, “There is no help for it but thou ride awhile.” “’Tis well,” quoth the Stoker; “I will ride when I grow tired.” Then said Zau al-Makan, “O my brother, soon shalt thou see how I will deal with thee, when I come to my own folk.” So they fared on till the sun rose and,When it was the hour of the noonday sleep304 the Chamberlain called a halt and they alighted and reposed and watered their camels. Then he gave the signal for departure and, after five days, they came to the city of Hamáh,305 where they set down and made a three days’ halt; — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Seventy-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that they halted in the city of Hamah three days; they then fared forwards and ceased not travelling till they reached another city. Here also they halted three days and thence they travelled till they entered the province Diyár Bakr. Here blew on them the breezes of Baghdad, and Zau al-Makan bethought him of his father and mother and native land, and how he was returning to his sire without his sister: so he wept and sighed and complained, and his regrets grew on him, and he began improvising these couplets,
“Sweetheart! How long must I await by so long suffering teed? *
Nor cometh messenger to tell me where thou dost abide:
Ah me! in very sooth our meeting time was short enow: * Would
Heaven shorter prove to me the present parting-tide!
Now trend my hand and open my robe and thou within shall sight *
How wasted are the limbs of me and yet the waste I hide:
When say they ‘Comfort take for loss of love’ I but reply * ‘By
Allah, till the Day of Doom no comfort shall betide!’”
Thereupon said to him the Fireman, “Leave this weeping and wailing, for we are near the Chamberlain’s tent.” Quoth Zau al- Makan, “Needs must I recite somewhat of verse; haply it may quench the fire of my heart.” “Allah upon thee,” cried the other, “cease this lamentation till thou come to shine own country; then do what thou wilt, and I will be with thee wherever thou art.” Replied Zau al-Makan, “By Allah! I cannot forbear from this!” Then he turned his face towards Baghdad and the moon was shining brightly and shedding her light on the place, and Nuzhat al-Zaman could not sleep that night, but was restless and called to mind her brother and wept. And while she was in tears, he heard Zau al-Makan weeping and improvising the following distichs,
‘Al-Yaman’s306 leven-gleam I see, * And sore despair
despaireth me
For friend who erst abode wi’ me * Crowning my cup with gladdest
gree:
It minds me o’ one who jilted me * To mourn my bitter liberty.
Say sooth, thou fair sheet lightning! shall * We meet once more
in joy and glee?
O blamer! spare to me thy blame * My Lord hath sent this dule to
dree,
Of friend who left me, fain to flee; * Of Time that breeds
calamity:
All bliss hath fled the heart of me * Since Fortune proved mine
enemy.
He307 brimmed a bowl of merest pine, * And made me drain the
dregs, did he:
I see me, sweetheart, dead and gone * Ere I again shall gaze on
thee.
Time! prithee bring our childhood back, * Restore our happy
infancy,
When joy and safety ‘joyed we * From shafts that now they shoot
at me!
Who aids the hapless stranger wight, * That nights in fright and
misery,
That wastes his days in lonely grief, * For ‘Time’s
Delight’308 no more must be?
Doomed us despite our will to bear * The hands of base bores cark
and care.”
When he ended his verse he cried out and fell down in a fainting fit. This is how it fared with him; but as regards Nuzhat al- Zaman, when she heard that voice in the night, her heart was at rest and she rose and in her joy she called the Chief Eunuch, who said to her, “What is thy will?” Quoth she, “Arise and bring me him who recited verses but now.” Replied he, “Of a truth I did not hear him” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Nuzhat Al-Zaman heard her brother reciting, she called the Chief Eunuch and said to him, “Go, fetch me the man who is repeating this poetry!” Replied he, “Of a truth I heard him not and I wot him not and folks are all sleeping.” But she said, “Whomsoever thou seest awake, he is the reciter.” So he went, yet found none on wake save the Stoker; for Zau al-Makan was still insensible, and when his companion saw the Eunuch standing by his head he was afraid of him. Then said the Eunuch, “Art thou he who repeated poetry but now and my lady heard him?” The Stoker fancied that the dame was wroth with the reciter; and, being afraid, he replied, “By Allah, ’twas not I!” Rejoined the Eunuch, “Who then was the reciter?: point him out to me. Thou must know who it was, seeing that thou art awake.” The Fireman feared for Zau al- Makan and said in himself, “Haply the Eunuch will do him some hurt”; so he answered, “By Allah, I know not who it was.” Said the Eunuch, “By Allah, thou liest, for there is none on wake here but thou! So needs must thou know him.” “By Allah,” replied the Fireman, “I tell thee the truth!: some passer by, some wayfarer must have recited the verses and disturbed me and kept me awake; Allah requite him!” Quoth the Eunuch, “If thou happen upon him, point him out to me and I will lay hands on him and bring him to the door of our lady’s litter309 or do thou take him with thine own hand.” Said the Fireman, “Go thou back and I will bring him to thee.” So the Eunuch left him and went his ways; and, going in to his mistress, told her all this and said to her, “None knoweth who it was; it must have been some passer by, some wayfarer.” And she was silent. Meanwhile, Zau al-Makan came to himself and saw that the moon had reached the middle Heavens; the breath of the dawn breeze310 breathed upon him and his heart was moved to longing and sadness; so he cleared his throat and was about to recite verses, when the Fire man asked him, “What wilt thou do?” Answered Zau al-Makan, “I have a mind to repeat somewhat of poetry, that I may quench therewith the fire of my heart.” Quoth the other, “Thou knowest not what befel me whilst thou wast a faint, and how I escaped death only by beguiling the Eunuch.” “Tell me what happened,” quoth Zau al-Makan. Replied the Stoker, “Whilst thou wast aswoon there came up to me but now an Eunuch, with a long staff of almond tree wood in his hand, who took to looking in all the people’s faces, as they lay asleep, and asked me who it was recited the verses, finding none awake but myself. I told him in reply it was some passerby, some wayfarer; so he went away and Allah delivered me from him; else had he killed me. But first he said to me, ‘If thou hear him again, bring him to us.’” When Zau al-Makan heard this he wept and said, “Who is it would forbid me to recite? I will surely recite, befal me what may; for I am near mine own land and care for none.” Rejoined the Fireman, “Thy design is naught save to lose thy life;” and Zau al-Makan retorted, “Needs must I recite verses.” “Verily,” said the Stoker, “needs must there be a parting between me and thee in this place, albeit;I had intended not to leave thee, till I had brought thee to thy native city and reunited thee with thy mother and father. Thou hast now tarried with me a year and a half and I have never harmed thee in aught. What ails thee, then, that thou must needs recite verses, seeing that we are tired out with walking and watching and all the folk are asleep, for they require sleep to rest them of their fatigue?” But Zau al-Makan answered, “I will not be turned away from my purpose.”311 Then grief moved him and he threw off concealment and began repeating these couplets,
“Stand thou by the homes and hail the lords of the ruined stead;
* Cry thou for an answer, belike reply to thee shall be
sped:
If the night and absence irk thy spirit kindle a torch * Wi’
repine; and illuminate the gloom with a gleaming greed:
If the snake of the sand dunes hiss, I shall marvel not at all!
* Let him bite so I bite those beauteous lips of the
luscious red:
O Eden, my soul hath fled in despite of the maid I love: * Had I
lost hope of Heaven my heart in despair were dead.”
And he also improvised the two following distichs,
“We were and were the days enthralled to all our wills, *
Dwelling in union sweet and homed in fairest site:
Who shall restore the home of the beloved, where showed * Light
of the Place for aye conjoined with Time’s
Delight?’’312
And as he ceased his verses, he shrieked three shrieks and fell senseless to the ground and the Fireman rose and covered him. When Nuzhat al-Zaman heard the first improvisation, she called to mind her father and her mother and her brother and their whilome home; then she wept and cried at the Eunuch and said to him, “Woe to thee! He who recited the first time hath recited a second time and I heard him hard by. By Allah, an thou fetch him not to me, I will assuredly rouse the Chamberlain on thee, and he shall beat thee and cast thee out. But take these hundred diners and give them to the singer and bring him to me gently, and do him no hurt. If he refuse, hand to him this purse of a thousand diners, then leave him and return to me and tell me, after thou hast informed thyself of his place and his calling and what countryman he is. Return quickly and linger not.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Seventy-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Nuzhat al- Zaman sent the Eunuch to make enquiries concerning the singer and said, “Beware how thou come back to me and report, I could not find him.” So the Eunuch went out and laid about the people and trod in their tents, but found none awake, all being asleep for weariness, till he came to the Stoker and saw him sitting up, with his head uncovered. So he drew near and seizing him by the hand, said to him, “It was thou didst recite the verses!” The Fireman was afeard for his life and replied, “No, by Allah, O chief of the people, it was not I!” But the Eunuch said, “I will not leave thee till thou show me who it was that recited the verses, for I dread returning to my lady without him.” Now when the Fireman heard these words he feared for Zau al-Makan and wept with exceeding weeping and said to the Eunuch, “By Allah, it was not I, and I know him not. I only heard some passer by, some wayfarer, recite verses: so do not thou commit sin on me, for I am a stranger and come from the Holy City of Jerusalem; and Abraham, the friend of Allah, be with you all.” “Rise up and fare with me,” rejoined the Eunuch, “and tell my lady this with thine own mouth, for I have seen none awake save thyself.” Quoth the Stoker, “Hast thou not come and seen me sitting in the place where I now am, and dost thou not know my station? Thou wottest none can stir from his place, except the watchman seize him. So go thou to thy station and if thou again meet any one after this hour reciting aught of poetry, whether he be near or far, it will be I or some one I know, and thou shalt not learn of him but by me.” Then he kissed the Eunuch’s head and spake him fair till he went away; but the Castrato fetched a round and, returning secretly, came and stood behind the Fireman, fearing to go back to his mistress without tidings. As soon as he was gone, the Stoker arose and aroused Zau al-Makan and said to him, “Come, sit up, that I may tell thee what hath happened.” So Zau al-Makan sat up, and his companion told him what had passed, and he answered, “Let me alone; I will take no heed of this and I care for none, for I am mine own country.”313 Quoth the Stoker, “Why wilt thou obey thy flesh and the devil? If thou fear no one, I fear for thee and for my life, so Allah upon thee! recite nothing more of verses till thou come to thine own land. Indeed, I had not deemed thee so ill conditioned. Dost thou not know that this lady is the wife; of the Chamberlain and is minded to chastise thee for disturbing her? Belike, she is ill or restless for fatigue of the journey and the distance of the place from her home, and this is the second time she hath sent the Eunuch to look for thee.” However Zau al-Makan paid no heed to the Fireman’s words but cried out a third time and began versifying with these couplets,
