The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (30 page)

T
HE
F
IFTY
-N
INTH
N
IGHT

The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us the rest of the story.” Shahrazad replied, “Very well”:

It is related, O King, that the third dervish said to the girl:

My lady, the girls sat around me, and when night came, five of them rose and set up a banquet with plenty of nuts and fragrant herbs. Then they brought the wine vessels and we sat to drink, with the girls sitting all around me, some singing, some playing the flute, the psalter, the lute, and all other musical instruments, while the bowls and cups went round. I was so happy that I forgot every sorrow in the world, saying to myself, “‘This is the life; alas, that it is fleeting.'” I enjoyed myself with them until most of the night was gone and we were drunk. Then they said to me, “O our lord, choose from among us whomever you wish to spend this night with you and not return to be your bedfellow again until forty days will have passed.” I chose a girl who had a lovely face and dark eyes, with black hair, joining brows, and a mouth with slightly parted teeth. Perfect in every way, like a willow bough or a stalk of sweet basil, her beauty struck the eye and bewildered the mind. She was like the one of whom the poet said,

She bent and swayed like a ripe willow bough,

O more lovely, sweet, and delicious sight!

She smiled and her glittering mouth revealed

The flashing stars that answered light with light.

She loosened her black tresses, and the morn

Became a dusky, black, and darkling night,

And when her radiant face shone in the dark,

From east to west the gloomy world turned bright.

'Tis foolish to compare her to a roe;

How can such fledgling thing such beauties show,

Such lovely body, such honeydew lips,

Such sweet nectar to drink, such joy to know,

Such wide eyes that with the arrows of love

The tortured victim pierce; how can the roe?

I loved her madly like a pagan boy,

No wonder when with love one is laid low.

That night I slept with her and spent the best of nights.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister said, “Sister, what a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I stay alive!”

T
HE
S
IXTIETH
N
IGHT

The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Please, sister, tell us the rest of the story of the third dervish.” Shahrazad replied, “Very well”:

I heard, O King, that the third dervish said to the girl:

When it was morning, the girls took me to a bath in the palace, and after they bathed me, they dressed me in fine clothes. Then they served food, and after we ate they served wine, and as the cup was passed around, we drank into the night. Then they said, “Choose from among us whomever you wish to spend the night with; we are your maids, awaiting your command.” I chose a girl with a lovely face and a soft body, like her of whom the poet said:

I saw two caskets on her bosom fair,

Shielded with musk seals from lovers' embrace.

Against assault she guarded them with darts

And arrowy glances from her lovely face.

I spent with her a lovely night, and when morning came, I bathed and put on new clothes.

My lady, to make a long story short, for a full year I lived with them a carefree life, eating and drinking, carousing, and spending every night with one of them. But one day, at the beginning of the new year, they began to wail and cry, bidding me farewell, clinging to me, and weeping. Amazed at their behavior, I asked, “What is the matter, for you are breaking my heart?” They replied, “We wish that we had never known you, for we had lived with many men but never met one more pleasant than you. May God never deprive us of you,” and they wept. I asked, “Why do you weep, for to me your tears are gall?” They replied with one voice, “The reason is our separation from you, of which none other than you yourself is the cause. If you listen to us, we will not be separated, but if you disobey us, we will. Our hearts tell us that you will not obey and that it will happen, and this is the cause of our weeping.” I said, “Explain the matter.” They replied, “Our lord and master, we are the daughters of kings, and we have lived together here for many years. It has been our custom to go away once a year for forty days and return to live here for the rest of the year, eating and drinking and taking our pleasure and enjoying ourselves here. Now this is how you will disobey us. We are about to leave for forty days. We commit to you now all the keys to this palace, which contains one hundred chambers. Eat and drink and enjoy looking around in every chamber, for each one you open will occupy you a full day, but there is one chamber you must never open or even approach, for it is its opening that will cause our separation. You have ninety-nine chambers to open and to enjoy looking at what is in them as you please, but if you open the one with the door of red gold, that will cause our separation.”

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I stay alive!”

T
HE
S
IXTY
-F
IRST
N
IGHT

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that the third dervish said to the girl:

My lady, the forty girls said, “O our lord, the cause of our separation is in your hand. For God's sake and for our sake, enjoy looking into all ninety-nine chambers, but don't open the hundredth, lest we be separated. Be patient for forty days, and we shall come back to you.” Then one of them came up to me, embraced me, wept, and repeated the following verses:

When she drew near to bid adieu, her heart

Burning with love and longing in her breast,

Her tears and mine, wet pearls and carnelians,

A necklace made for her and came to rest.

I bid her farewell, saying, “By God, I will never open that door.” Then the girls left, shaking at me admonishing fingers.

When they departed and I was left alone in the palace, I said to myself, “By God, I will never open that door and never cause our separation.” Then I went and opened the first chamber, and when I entered, I found myself in a garden with streams, trees, and abundant fruits. It was a garden like Paradise, with tall trees, intertwining branches, ripe fruits, singing birds, and running waters. Pleased with the sight, I walked through the trees, enjoying the perfume of the flowers and the song of the birds, which hymned together the glory of the Almighty One. I saw apples like those of which the poet said:

Two colors, in one apple joining, seemed

Two cheeks in the embrace of love's desire,

Two cheeks that, as from sleep they startled stood,

One yellow turned with fright, one burned with fire.

And I saw pears sweeter than sugar and rosewater and more aromatic than musk and ambergris and saw quinces like those of which the poet said:

The quince has gathered every pleasing taste,

Thereby the queen of fruits she has been crowned.

Her taste is wine, a waft of musk her scent.

Her hue is gold, her shape, like the moon, round.

And I saw plums so lovely that they dazzled the eyes like polished rubies. At last I went out of the garden and closed the door.

The following day I opened another door, and when I entered, I found myself in a large field full of palm trees and encircled by a running stream whose banks were covered with roses, jasmine, mignonettes, irises, daffodils, narcissus, violets, daisies, gillyflowers, and lilies of the valley; and as the breeze blew over these aromatic plants, the whole field was filled with the sweet aroma. After I enjoyed and diverted myself there for a while, I went out and closed the door. Then I opened a third door and found myself in a large hall covered with all kinds of colored marble, rare metals, and precious stones and hung with cages of aloe- and sandalwood, full of all kinds of singing birds, such as nightingales, thrushes, pigeons, ringdoves, turtledoves, silver doves, and Nubian doves. There I enjoyed myself, felt happy, and forgot my cares.

Then I went to sleep, and in the morning I opened a fourth door and found myself in a large hall, surrounded by forty chambers whose doors stood open. I entered every chamber and found them full of jewels, such as pearls, emeralds, rubies, corals, and carbuncles, as well as gold and silver. I was amazed at such abundance and said to myself, “Such wealth could belong only to the greatest of kings, for no ordinary monarch could assemble such a fortune, not even if all the monarchs of the world joined together.” I felt happy and carefree, saying to myself, “I am the king of the age, for these jewels and this wealth are mine, and these girls belong to me and to me alone.” O my lady, I enjoyed myself in chamber after chamber until thirty-nine days had passed and there remained only one day and one night. During that time, I had opened all ninety-nine chambers, and there remained only the hundredth, the one the girls had cautioned me not to open.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “Sister, what an amazing and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”

T
HE
S
IXTY
-S
ECOND
N
IGHT

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that the dervish said:

There remained only that one chamber to complete the hundred, and I began to feel obsessed and tempted with it, as Satan urged me to open it and cause my undoing. Even though there remained but one night for the appointed time for the girls to return and spend a whole year with me, I was no longer able to restrain myself and, succumbing to the devil, at last opened the door plated with gold. As soon as I entered, I was met by a perfume that, as I smelled it, sent me reeling to the floor and made me swoon for a long time. When I came to myself, I summoned my courage and entered the chamber. I found the floor strewn with saffron and saw lamps of gold and silver, fed with costly oils, and saw fragrant candles burning with aloes and ambergris. I also saw two incense burners, each as large as a kneading bowl, full of glowing embers in which burned the incense of aloewood, ambergris, musk, and frankincense, and as the incense burned, the smoke rose to blend with the odors of the candles and the saffron, filling the chamber with perfume.

O my lady, I then saw a deep-black horse as black as the darkest night, bridled and ready with a saddle of red gold, as it stood before two mangers of clear crystal, one filled with husked sesame, the other with rosewater scented with musk. When I saw the horse, I was exceedingly amazed, and said to myself, “There is something of great importance about this horse.” Then the devil took hold of me again, and I took the horse from his place and led him outside the palace. I got on his back and tried to ride him, but he refused to move. I kicked him, but he did not stir. Then I took the whip and hit him angrily, and as soon as he felt the blow, he neighed with a sound like roaring thunder and, spreading a pair of wings, flew up with me and disappeared in the sky. A while later he landed on the roof of another palace and, throwing me off his back, lashed my face with his tail with a blow so hard that it gouged out my eye and made it roll on my cheek, leaving me one-eyed. I cried, “There is no power and no strength save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent. I have taunted the one-eyed young men until I became one-eyed like them.”