The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (45 page)

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 the king spares me and lets me live!”

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The following night Shahrazad said:

It is related, O King, that Ja'far said to the caliph:

I heard, O Commander of the Faithful, that the vizier went to Badr al-Din, untied him, and, taking off all his clothes, save for a shirt, led him slowly until he came to the door of the room from which the bride had come out to be unveiled before him and in which he had slept with her and taken her virginity. When he looked at the room, he recognized it, and when he saw the bed, the net, and the chair, he was amazed and bewildered. Advancing one foot and drawing the other back, he rubbed his eyes and said to himself in his confusion, “Glory be to the Almighty God! Am I awake or asleep?” Sit al-Husn lifted the net and said to him “Ah, my lord, will you not come in? You have stayed too long in the privy; come back to bed!” When Badr al-Din heard her words and saw her face, he smiled in amazement and said, “By God, you are right; I did stay too long in the privy!” But as he entered the room, he recalled the events of the last ten years, and as he kept looking at the room and recalling those events, he was confounded and felt lost, not knowing what to make of this. He looked at the turban, the robe, and the dagger on the chair, went to the bed and felt the trousers and the purse under the mattress, and finally burst out laughing, and said, “By God, this is a good one; by God, this is a good one!” Sit al-Husn asked, “My lord, why do you stare at the room and laugh for no reason?” When he heard her words, he laughed again and asked, “How long have I been absent from you?” She replied, “Ah, may the Compassionate and Merciful God preserve you! Ah, haven't you gone out but a while ago to relieve yourself and come back? Have you lost your wits?”

Badr al-Din laughed and said, “By God, lady, you are right. I left you and, forgetting myself, fell asleep in the privy. I recall as if I dreamt that I lived in Damascus for ten years, working as a cook, and that one day a young boy and his servant visited my shop.” Then, touching his forehead and feeling the scar from the blow, he cried out, “No, by God, it must have been true, for the boy hit me with a stone and cut my forehead open. By God, my friend, it would seem that it really happened.” Then he reflected for a while and said, “By God, my lady, it seems to me that when I embraced you and we fell asleep, a little while ago, I dreamt that I went to Damascus without turban or trousers and worked there as a cook.” Then he reflected again and said, “Yes, by God, my lady, it seems as if I dreamt that I cooked a pomegranate dish that lacked pepper. Yes, by God, my lady, I must have slept in the privy and seen all this in a dream, except that, by God, my lady, it was a long dream.” Sit al-Husn said, “For God's sake, my lord, tell me what else you dreamed?” Badr al-Din replied, “My lady, had I not awakened, they would have crucified me.” She asked, “For what reason?” He replied, “Because I cooked a pomegranate dish that lacked pepper. It seemed as if they smashed my dishes, ruined my shop, tied me and shackled me, and put me in a chest. Then they brought a carpenter to make a wooden crosslike figure to nail me on. It all happened because the pomegranate dish lacked pepper. Thank God that all of this happened to me in a dream and not in reality.” Sit al-Husn laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her embrace. But he reflected again and said, “My lady, what happened to me must indeed have been real, but there is no power and no strength, save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent. By God, what a strange story!”

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 the king spares me and lets me live!”

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The following night Shahrazad said:

It is related, O King, that Ja'far said to the caliph:

That night Badr al-Din lay down in a state of confusion, now saying, “I was dreaming,” now, “I was awake.” He kept looking in astonishment at the room, the objects, and the bride, saying to himself, “By God, till now I have not even completed one night with her.” Then he would reflect again and say, “It must have been real,” until it was morning and his uncle came in, bidding him good morning. When Badr al-Din saw him, he recognized him and was utterly confused. He said, “In fact, aren't you the one who gave the orders to beat, tie, shackle, and crucify me because of the pomegranate dish?” The vizier replied, “Son, the truth is out, for what was hidden has been revealed. You are my true nephew, and I did all this only to be sure that you were indeed the one who had consummated the marriage with my daughter that night. You recognized your turban, your clothes, and your gold purse, as well as the scroll written by my brother and hidden in the lining of your turban. Had the man we brought here been other than you, he would not have recognized these objects.” Then he recited the following verses:

Our fate is fickle, for such is our state

That one day may depress, one day elate.

Then the vizier called for Badr al-Din's mother, and when she saw her son, she threw herself at him, wept bitterly, and recited the following verses:

When we meet, we will complain

Of our afflictions, that day,

For the feelings of the heart

No messenger can convey,

Nor is the voicing of grief

Keeping the feelings at bay.

No messenger ever knows

How to say what I can say.

Then she told him how she had endured after his departure, and he too told her how he had suffered, and they thanked God for their reunion. The following day the vizier went to the king and acquainted him with the situation, and the king was exceedingly amazed and ordered that the story be recorded. Thereafter, the vizier and his nephew and daughter lived the best of lives in prosperity and ease, eating and drinking and enjoying themselves to the end of their days.

Ja'far concluded: “This, O Commander of the Faithful, is what happened to the vizier of Basra and the vizier of Egypt.” The caliph said, “By God, Ja'far, this is the wonder of wonders,” and ordered that the story be recorded. Then he freed the slave and gave the young man one of his choice concubines, settled on him a sufficient income, and made him one of his companions to the end of his days.

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The following night Shahrazad said:

 

4.
Fictitious names, like most of the names in the Nights. Al-Misri means “of Egypt” and al-Basri means “of Basra.”

5.
Then and now the capital of Egypt, situated on the Nile River near the pyramids.

6.
The custom still prevails in some parts of the Middle East to present the bride in different dresses to the bridegroom.

7.
Then and now the capital of Syria.

8.
A country situated on the southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

9.
Homs, Hama, and Aleppo: then and now cities in Syria.

1.
Then and now cities in northern Iraq. Dyarbakir and Mardin: then and now cities in eastern Turkey.

2.
Semiprecious stone of a bright blue color.

3.
Then and now one of the great mosques of the Muslim world, built between
A.D
. 705 and 714.

4.
The famous market of Damascus whose main street leads to the Umayyad Mosque.

[The Story of the Hunchback]

IT IS RELATED,
O King, that there lived once in China a tailor who had a pretty, compatible, and loyal wife. It happened one day that they went out for a stroll to enjoy the sights at a place of entertainment, where they spent the whole day in diversions and fun, and when they returned home at the end of the day, they met on the way a jolly hunchback. He was smartly dressed in a folded inner robe and an open outer robe, with gathered sleeves and an embroidered collarband, in the Egyptian style, and sporting a scarf and a tall green hat, with knots of yellow silk stuffed with ambergris.
⁵
The hunchback was short, like him of whom the poet 'Antar
⁶
said:

Lovely the hunchback who can hide his hump,

Like a pearl hidden in an oyster shell,

A man who looks like a castor oil branch,

From which dangles a rotten citric lump.

He was busy playing on the tambourine, singing, and improvising all kinds of funny gestures. When they drew near and looked at him, they saw that he was drunk, reeking of wine. Then he placed the tambourine under his arm and began to beat time by clapping his hands, as he sang the following verses:

Go early to the darling in yon jug;

Bring her to me,

And fete her as you fete a pretty girl,

With joy and glee,

And make her as pure as a virgin bride,

Unveiled to please,

That I may honor my friend with a cup

Of wine from Greece.

If you, my friend, care for the best in life,

Life can repay,

Then at this moment fill my empty cup,

Without delay.

Don't you, my tantalizer, on the plain

The gardens see?

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange 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!”

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