One Thousand and One Nights, page 704
‘Thou west create of dust and cam’st to life, * And learned’st in
eloquence to place thy trust;
Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though
ne’er taken from the dust.”
Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards, when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah’s creatures, in accordance with his father’s injunction. This wise he continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair women night and day; for he said to himself, “Of a truth my father amassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,
‘An through the whole of life * Thou gett’st and gain’st for
self;
Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?’”
And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day, when he had sat from day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his fast, he said in his mind, “I will go round to those on whom I spent my monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day.” So he went the round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one’s door of them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants, — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants’ bazar where he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to himself, “I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By Allah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!” So he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for sale who was five feet tall,262 beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one, describing her,
“As she willиd she was made, and in such a way that when * She
was cast in Nature’s mould neither short nor long was she:
Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *
Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:
The full moon is her face263 and the branchlet is her shape,
* And the musk-pod is her scent — what like her can there be?
’Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in
every lovely limblet another moon we see!”
And her name was Zumurrud — the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, “By Allah, I will not stir hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!” So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker stood at the damsel’s head and said, “Ho, merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open the biddings’ door and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach for evermore.” Thereupon quoth one merchant, “Mine for five hundred dinars;” “And ten,” quoth another. “Six hundred,” cried an old man named Rashнd al-Din, blue of eye264 and foul of face. “And ten,” cried another. “I bid a thousand,” rejoined Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace and the broker took counsel with the girl’s owner, who said, “I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her.” Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, “O mistress of moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee.” She looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, “I will not be sold to a gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah inspired his saying who saith,
‘I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My
hoary hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display’d;
She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud: —
* ‘No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath
made
For hoary head and grizzled chin I’ve no especial-love: * What!
stuff my mouth with cotton265 ere in sepulchre I’m
laid?’”
Now when the broker heard her words he said, “By Allah, thou art excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!” So he told her owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said, “Consult her concerning another.” Thereupon a second man came forward and said, “Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she would have none of;” but she looked at him and seeing that his beard was dyed, said “What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening of the hoary face?” And she made a great show of wonderment and repeated these couplets,
“Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *
A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite266
A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *
A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and
bite.267
O thou enravish” by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so
translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And
hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!
Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *
Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by
night.268
And how well saith another’
Quoth she, ‘I see thee dye thy hoariness:’269 * ‘To hide, O
ears and eyes! from thee,’ quoth I:
She roared with laugh and said, ‘Right funny this; * Thou art so
lying e’en
Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, “By Allah thou hast spoken sooth!” The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said, “Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;” but, when he did so, she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, “This man is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith,270
‘Consort not with the Cyclops e’en a day; * Beware his falsehood
and his mischief fly:
Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne’er brought
blindness to his eye!’”
Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, “Wilt thou be sold to this man?” She looked at him and seeing that he was short of stature271 and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, “This is he of whom the poet speaketh,
‘I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length
unroll’d:
’Tis like a certain272 winter night, * Longsome and
darksome, drear and cold.’”
Said the broker, “O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.” So she looked round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies, till her glance fell on Ali Shar, — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl’s glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, “O broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet thus describeth,
‘Displaying that fair face * The tempted they assailed
Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!’
For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;273 his spittle is a cure for the sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of him,
‘His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those
teeth, smile shown, are camphor’s hue:
Rizwбn274 hath turned him out o’ doors, for fear * The
Houris lapse from virtue at the view
Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full
moon sails, excuse is due.’
Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of whom saith the poet,
‘The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant
waxed and heart unstirred:
His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their
languish,275 can he keep his word?’
And as saith another,
‘Quoth they, ‘Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst
thou love him and a side-beard see?’
Quoth I, ‘Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be
letters ’tis a forgery:’
Gather his charms all growths of Eden garth * Whereto those
Kausar276 -lips bear testimony.’”
When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali Shar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of her beauty; but her owner said to him, “Marvel not at her splendour which shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the choicest verses of the poets; for besides this, she can repeat the glorious Koran, according to the seven readings,277 and the august Traditions, after ascription and authentic transmission; and she writeth the seven modes of handwriting278 and she knoweth more learning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are better than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to make a curtain.” Exclaimed the broker, “O happy the man who hath her in his house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!”; and her owner said to him, “Sell her to whom she will.” So the broker went up to Ali Shar and, kissing his hands, said to him, “O my lord, buy thou this damsel, for she hath made choice of thee.”279 Then he set forth to him all her charms and accomplishments, and added, “I give thee joy if thou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His giving.” Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at himself and secretly saying, “Up to this hour I have not broken my fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money wherewith to buy her.” The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said to the broker, “Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my beauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any but to him.” So the broker took her hand and stationed her before Ali Shar, saying, “What is thy good pleasure, O my lord?” But he made him no answer, and the girl said to him, “O my lord and darling of my heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what thou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune.” So he raised his eyes to her and said, “Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars.” Said she, “Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred.” He cried, “No,” and she rejoined, “Then for eight hundred;” and though he again said, “Nay,” she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred dinars. Quoth he, “I have not by me a full hundred.” So she laughed and asked, “How much dost thou lack of an hundred?” He answered, “By Allah, I have neither an hundred dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither white coin nor red cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for another and a better customer.” And when she knew that he had nothing, she said to him, “Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by- lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily.” He did so and she drew from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave him, saying, “Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred remain with thee by way of provision.” He did as she bid him and, buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own purse and carried her to his house. When she entered it, she found a dreary desolate saloon without carpets or vessels; so she gave him other thousand dinars, saying, “Go to the bazar and buy three hundred dinars’ worth of furniture and vessels for the house and three dinars’ worth of meat and drink.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King that quoth the slave-girl, “Bring us meat and drink for three dinars, furthermore a piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern thread and sewing silk of seven colours.” Thus he did, and she furnished the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which they went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay the night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the poet,280
“Cleave fast to her thou lovestand let the envious rail amain,
For calumny and envy ne’er to favour love were fain.
Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And,
from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did
drain.
Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And ‘spite
the envier, thereto I surely will attain.
There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon, Than
when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
Each to the other’s bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight,
Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
enchain
Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, Canst thou
assain a heart diseased or heal-a cankered brain?
If in thy time thou kind but one to love thee and be true, I rede
thee cast the world away and with that one remain.”
So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purpled it with silver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round about it all manner of birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a feral but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days, till she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and ironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, “Carry it to the bazar and sell it to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou sell it to a passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and thee, for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us.” “I hear and I obey,” answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a merchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for another curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as before and what they needed of food, and brought all this to her, giving her the rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain, which he sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the end of that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he gave to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him sixty dinars for it; but he refused, and the Christian continued bidding higher and higher, till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed the broker with ten ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told him of the proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell the article at the Nazarene’s valuation, saying, “O my lord, be not afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt.” The merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off to return home. Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking behind him; so he said to him, “O Nazarene,281 why dost thou follow in my footsteps?” Answered the other “O my lord, I want a something at the end of the street, Allah never bring thee to want!”; but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the Christian overtook him; so he said to him, “O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me wherever I go?” Replied the other, “O my lord, give me a draught of water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!”282 Quoth Ali Shar to himself, “Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute and claimeth our protection283 and he asketh me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to himself, “This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!” So he entered the house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him and said to him, “O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?” He replied, “Yes;” and she asked, “To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart presageth a parting.” And he answered, “To whom but to a merchant?” Thereupon she rejoined, “Tell me the truth of the case, that I may order my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?” And he, To give the broker to drink,” upon which she exclaimed, There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!”; and she repeated these two couplets,284
