The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (35 page)

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence.

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The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that the young man said:

O Commander of the Faithful, the murdered girl was my wife and the mother of my children. She was my cousin, the daughter of this old man, my uncle, who gave her to me in marriage when she was still a young virgin. We lived together for eleven years, during which time God blessed her and she bore me three sons. She was well-behaved toward me and served me exceedingly well, and I in turn loved her very much. On the first day of this month she fell gravely ill and kept getting worse, but I took great care of her until by the end of the month she slowly began to recover.

One day, before going to the bath, she said to me, “Husband, I want you to satisfy a desire of mine.” I replied, “I hear and obey, even if it were a thousand desires.” She said, “I have a craving for an apple. If I could only smell it and take a bite, I wouldn't care if I die afterward.” I replied, “It shall be done.” Then I went and looked for apples but could not find any anywhere in your whole city. Had I found any, I would have paid a dinar for one. Vexed at my failure to satisfy her craving, I went home and said, “Wife, I was unable to find any apples.” She was upset and, being still ill, suffered a relapse that night. As soon as it was morning, I went out and made the rounds of the orchards, one by one, but found no apples anywhere. At last a very old gardener answered my inquiry, saying, “Son, no apples can be found, except in the orchards of the Commander of the Faithful in Basra, where they are stored by the gardener. I went home and, driven by my love and solicitude for her, I prepared myself for the journey. For two full weeks, O Commander of the Faithful, I journeyed day and night, returning finally with three apples I had bought from the gardener for three dinars. But when I handed them to her, she showed no pleasure in them but laid them aside. Then she suffered another relapse, lay ill, and made me worried about her for ten days.

One day, as I sat in my shop, buying and selling fabrics, I suddenly saw an ugly black slave, as tall as a reed and as broad as a bench, passing by. He was holding in his hand one of the three apples for which I had journeyed for half a month. I called after him, saying, “My good slave, where did you get this apple?” He replied, “I got it from my mistress, for I went to see her today and found her lying ill with three apples by her side. She told me that her pimp of a husband had journeyed for half a month to bring them. After I ate and drank with her, I took one of the apples with me.” When I heard what he said, O Commander of the Faithful, the world turned black before my eyes. I locked up my shop and went home, mad with resentment and fury. When I got home and looked for the apples, I found only two, and when I asked her, “Wife, where is the other apple?” she raised her head and replied, “By God, husband, I don't know.” This convinced me that the slave had told the truth, and I took a sharp knife and, stealing behind her silently, knelt on her breast, worked the knife into her throat, and cut off her head. Then I quickly placed her in a basket, covered her with a woman's cloak, placed a piece of carpet on top of it, and sewed the basket. Then I placed the basket inside a chest, carried it on my head, and threw it into the Tigris. For God's sake, O Commander of the Faithful, avenge her on me and hang me quickly, or I will call you to account on her behalf before the Almighty God. For when I threw her into the river and went home, I found my eldest son crying, and when I asked him, “What is the matter with you?” he replied I “O father, this morning I stole one of the three apples you had brought back for my mother. I took it and went to the market, and as I was standing with my brothers, a tall black slave came by and snatched it from my hand. I protested, saying, ‘For God's sake, good slave, this is one of the apples for which my father journeyed for half a month to Basra to bring back to my mother who was ill. Don't get me into trouble.' But he paid no attention to me, and when I begged him for a second and a third time, he slapped me and went off with it. Scared of my mother, I went with my brothers outside the city and we stayed there in fear until it started to get dark. For God's sake, father, say nothing to her of this, or her illness will get worse.” When I heard my son's words and saw him trembling and weeping, O Commander of the Faithful, I realized that I had killed my wife wrongfully and that she had died unjustly; the accursed slave, hearing about the apples from my son, had slandered her and lied about her. When I realized that, I wept and made my sons weep with me, and when this old man, my uncle and her father, came in, I related to him what had happened, and he wept and made us weep with him till midnight, and for three days afterward we mourned for her and grieved over her unjust death, and all because of that black slave. This is the story of the murdered girl. So by your fathers and forefathers, I beg you to avenge her unjust death on me and kill me for my mistake, for I have no life left after her.

When the caliph heard his words . . .

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence.

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The following night, Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that when the caliph heard the young man's story, he was very much amazed and said, “By God, I will hang none but the accursed slave and I will do a deed that will quench the thirst for vengeance and please the Glorious King.” Then he said to Ja'far, “Go into the city and bring me the slave, or I will strike your neck.” Ja'far left in tears, saying to himself, “There is no escape from death this time, for ‘the jar cannot be saved every time,' but the All-powerful and Omnipotent God who saved me the first time may save me yet a second time. By God, I will stay home for three days until God's will is accomplished.” He stayed home the first day and the second, and by noon of the third day, giving himself up for lost, Ja'far summoned the judges and witnesses and made his will. Then he called his children to him, bade them farewell, and wept. Soon a messenger from the caliph arrived, saying, “The caliph is in a great rage and he swears that this day shall not pass before you are hanged.” Ja'far wept and made all his slaves and members of his household weep for him. After he bade his children and all the members of his household farewell, his little daughter, who was very pretty and whom he loved more than all the others, came up to him, and he embraced her and kissed her, as he wept at parting from his family and his children. But as he embraced her to comfort her, pressing her hard to his aching heart, he felt something round in her pocket. He asked her, “My little girl, what is in your pocket?” and the little one replied, “It is an apple with the name of our Lord the caliph written on it. Rayhan our slave brought it, but he would not let me have it until I gave him two dinars for it.” When Ja'far heard her mention the apple and the slave, he shrieked and, putting his hand in her pocket, took out the apple and, recognizing it, cried out, “O Speedy Deliverer!”

Then he bade the slave be brought before him, and when the slave came, Ja'far said, “Damn you, Rayhan, where did you get this apple?” The slave replied, “Although ‘a lie may save a man, the truth is better and safer.' By God, my lord, I did not steal this apple from your palace or from the palace of the Commander of the Faithful or from his gardens. Four days ago, as I was walking through one of the alleys of the city, I saw some children at play, and when one of them dropped this apple, I beat him and snatched it from him. He cried and said to me, ‘Kind gentleman, this apple belongs to my mother who is ill. She had told my father that she had a craving for apples, and he journeyed for half a month to Basra and brought her back three apples, of which I stole this one; give it back to me.' But I refused to give it back to him; instead, I brought it here and sold it to my little lady for two dinars. This is the story of the apple.” When Ja'far heard his words, he marveled at the story and at the discovery that the cause of all the trouble turned out to be none other than one of his own slaves. He rejoiced and, taking the slave by the hand, led him before the caliph and related to him the whole story from beginning to end. The Commander of the Faithful was greatly astonished and laughed until he fell on his back. Then he asked Ja'far, “Do you mean to tell me that this slave of yours is the cause of all the trouble?” Ja'far replied, “Yes, Commander of the Faithful.” Seeing that the caliph was greatly struck by the coincidences of the story, Ja'far said to the Commander of the Faithful, “Do not marvel at this story, for it is not as amazing as the story of the two viziers, Nur al-Din Ali al-Misri and Badr al-Din Hasan al-Basri.” The caliph asked, “O my vizier, is the story of these two viziers truly more amazing than this one?” Ja'far replied, “Yes, it is indeed more amazing and more extraordinary, but I will not relate it to you, save on one condition.” Eager to hear the story, the caliph said, “Come on, my vizier, and let me hear it. If it is indeed more amazing than the events we have just witnessed, I will pardon your slave, but if it is not, I will kill him. Come on: tell me what you know.” Ja'far said:

 

3.
One of the two great rivers that cross Iraq from north to south, the other being the Euphrates.

[The Story of the Two Viziers, Nur al-Din Ali al-Misri and Badr al-Din Hasan al-Basri]
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I HEARD, O
Commander of the Faithful, that a long time ago there lived in the province of Egypt a just, trusted, kind, generous, courageous, and powerful king, who associated with the learned and loved the poor. He had a wise, experienced, and influential vizier who was careful, cautious, and skilled in the affairs of state. This vizier, who was a very old man, had two sons who were like two moons or two lovely deer in their perfect elegance, beauty, and grace. The elder was called Shams al-Din Muhammad, the younger, Nur al-Din Ali. The younger surpassed his brother in beauty; indeed in his day God had created none more beautiful. One day as it had been foreordained, their father the vizier died, and the king mourned him and summoned the two sons, bestowed on them robes of honor and other favors and said, “You shall take your father's place and be joint viziers of Egypt.” They kissed the ground before him and withdrew and for a full month they performed the ceremonial mourning for their father. Then they assumed their position, taking turns, each performing his duty for a week at a time, and each accompanying the king on one journey at a time. The two lived in the same house and their word was one.

It happened that one night, before the elder brother was to set out on a journey with the king the next morning, the two brothers sat chatting. The elder brother said, “Brother, I wish that you and I would marry two sisters, draw our marriage contracts on the same day, and go in to our wives on the same night.” Nur al-Din replied, “Brother, do as you wish, for this is an excellent idea, but let us wait until you come back from your journey, and with God's blessing we shall seek two girls in marriage.” The elder brother said to Nur al-Din, “Tell me, brother, if you and I perform our wedding on the same day and consummate our marriage on the same night and if your wife and mine conceive on our wedding night and at the end of their pregnancy give birth on the same day and if your wife gives birth to a boy and my wife to a girl, tell me, will you marry your son to my daughter?” Nur al-Din replied, “Yes, brother Shams al-Din,” adding, “But what dowry will you require from my son for your daughter?” The elder brother replied, “I will take at least three thousand dinars, three orchards, and three farms in addition to an amount specified in the contract.” Nur al-Din replied, “Brother Shams al-Din, why such an excessive dowry? Are we not brothers, and is not each of us a vizier who knows his obligations? It behooves you to offer your daughter to my son without a dowry, for the male is worthier than the female. But you treat me like the man who said to another who came to ask for help ‘Very well, I will help you, but wait till tomorrow,' prompting the other to repeat the following verses: