The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (72 page)

The jeweler did not dare to leave his hiding place, and when the master of the house came down and saw someone he did not recognize hiding in a corner of the hallway, he retreated with fright and returned with a drawn sword and asked, “Who are you?” The jeweler replied, “I am your friend so and so.” The man threw the sword away and said to the jeweler, “I am sorry for what has happened to you. May the Generous God restore your substance.” The jeweler said, “O my lord, tell me who were the men who raided my house.” The man replied, “They are the same men who robbed so and so and killed so and so. Yesterday they saw you bring in many fine and valuable utensils, and they plotted to rob you. I think that they have either kidnapped your guest or killed him.”

Then the two men went to the jeweler's house, and when they entered, they found it stripped of everything and completely devastated, with broken doors and torn-out windows. The sight stunned the jeweler and broke his heart, and when he pondered upon his plight, what had happened to him and what he had done to himself, he began to worry about how to break the news to the friends from whom he had borrowed all the gold and silver utensils and how to make excuses to them. He also worried about Shams al-Nahar and Ali ibn-Bakkar and feared lest the caliph should find out about them from one of the maids and put him to death. He turned to his neighbor and asked, “My friend, what shall I do and what do you advise?” The man replied, “Be patient, keep calm, and trust in the Almighty God, for these same robbers have murdered some members of the household of the prefect of the police as well as the caliph's own guard. The police are looking for them and patroling the streets, but no one has yet found them or dared to confront them, because there are so many of them.” Accordingly, the jeweler called on God to protect him from harm and went home.

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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I heard, O happy King, that the jeweler called on God to protect him from harm and went home, saying to himself, “What has happened to me is just what Abu al-Hasan feared.” Soon the people began to rush to him from all sides, some consoling him, some saying nothing, and others demanding their goods, while he thanked some, explained to some, and defended himself to others, feeling so unhappy that he did not touch any food all day.

While the jeweler remained in this condition, one of his servants came in and said, “My lord, there is a man at the door asking for you, a stranger whom I have never seen before.” When the jeweler went out, the man greeted him and said, “I have something to tell you.” The jeweler said, “Come in.” But the man replied, “No, let us go to your other house.” The jeweler said, “Do I have any other house left?” The man replied, “I know your plight and I bring you comfort.” The jeweler related later: “I said to myself, ‘I will go with him wherever he wishes.' Then we went out and walked on until we came to my other house. But when he saw it, he said, ‘This house has no door, and we cannot sit here. Let us go somewhere else.' Then he took me from place to place, without stopping at any, until the night overtook us.” The jeweler followed the man in bewilderment, without asking any questions, until they reached the open country and found themselves at the riverbank. Then the man said, “Follow me,” and began to run, and the jeweler, summoning all his strength, ran after him until they came to a boat. They got into the boat, and the boatman rowed them to the other side, where they landed. Then the man took the jeweler by the hand and led him to a long street that he had neither trodden before nor known to which part of Baghdad it belonged.

Soon the man stopped at a door, opened it, and, taking the jeweler in, locked it with a large iron key and brought him before ten men dressed alike. The jeweler greeted them, and they returned his greeting and bade him be seated, and he sat down, suffering from exhaustion and fright. Then they brought him some cold water with which he washed his hands and face and gave him some wine, which he drank. Then they brought food, and they all ate together.

The jeweler said to himself, “If they had meant me any harm, they would not have eaten with me.” After they washed their hands, they returned to their places, and when the jeweler took his seat before them, they asked him, “Do you know us?” He replied, “I do not know you, nor do I know the man who brought me here or where we are.” They said, “Tell us your case without lying.” The jeweler said, “My case is strange; do you know anything about it?” They replied, “Yes, it was we who took your goods yesterday and carried off your friend and the girl who was in your house.” The jeweler said, “May God save you! Where are my friend and the girl?” They pointed to two doors facing them and said, “They are there, each in a separate room. They insisted that none besides you should know of their situation, and since then we have never met them or questioned them. Their fine attire has puzzled us and stopped us from killing them. Tell us the truth about them, and do not worry about yourself or them.”

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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The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that when the jeweler heard what they said, he almost died of fright and said to them, “If generosity was lost, none would harbor it but you; if there existed a secret one fears to reveal, none would keep it but you; and if one faced a difficult problem, none would solve it but you.” He went on to expatiate in his praise until he saw that it would be more expedient and more useful to tell the truth at once than to conceal it, particularly since it was bound to come out eventually. So he told them the whole story, and when he finished, they asked, “Is this young man then Ali ibn-Bakkar and this young woman Shams al-Nahar?” He replied, “Yes, I have told you everything and kept nothing from you.” They were upset and, expressing regret, went to the two lovers and apologized to them. The jeweler related later: “Then they said to me, ‘Part of what we took from your house is gone, but here is what is left of it,' and they gave me back most of the gold and silver utensils, saying, ‘We will carry them to your other house.'

“Then they divided themselves into two groups, one to go with me, the other with the two lovers, who stood, almost died of fright, but their fear and desire to escape made them move and leave the house. As we walked, I turned to them and asked, ‘What happened to the girl and to your two maids?' Shams al-Nahar replied, ‘I know nothing about them.' The men led us until we came to the riverbank. Then they made us get into the same boat and rowed us to the other side. We landed, but no sooner had we stood on firm ground than we found ourselves surrounded by a group of horsemen. The robbers leapt into the boat like eagles and flew away, while we stood motionless on the shore. The horsemen asked, ‘Who are you?' and after some hesitation I replied, ‘We were kidnapped yesterday by these robbers, but we implored them meekly until they took pity on us and released us, as you have seen.' They looked at me and Ali ibn-Bakkar and Shams al-Nahar and said, ‘You are not telling the truth. Tell us who you are, what are your names, and in what quarter you live.' I did not know what to answer, but Shams al-Nahar took the captain of the troop aside, and as soon as she spoke with him, he dismounted and, setting her on his horse, began to lead it along by the bridle. Two of his men did the same with Ali ibn-Bakkar and myself, and we rode on until we reached a spot on the riverbank where the captain called out to someone who came pulling two boats. The captain made the two lovers and myself get into one, while his men got into the other. Then the boatmen rowed us until, feeling almost dead from fright, we reached the caliph's palace [where the captain disembarked with Shams al-Nahar], then motioned to the boatman, who rowed us across the river to a spot that led to our quarter. We landed with two guards appointed for our protection, and when we reached Ali ibn-Bakkar's house, the two guards bade us good-bye. As soon as they were gone, we collapsed on the spot and lay fast asleep through that night and the next day. When I came to myself, it was nightfall, and I saw Ali ibn-Bakkar lying motionless, with the men and women of his household weeping over him. When they saw that I was awake, they made me sit up and said, ‘Tell us what has happened to him, for you are the cause of his misfortune and ruin.' I said, ‘O people . . .'”

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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The following night Shahrazad replied to her sister, “Yes, I will continue the story”:

I heard, O happy King, that the jeweler said: “When they questioned me about Ali ibn-Bakkar, I said, ‘O people, do not press me, for his story cannot be told in public.' But while I was imploring them and trying to make them afraid of scandal, Ali ibn-Bakkar moved in his bed. The assembled people rejoiced, and some of them departed, while others stayed. But they refused to let me go home and do as I pleased. They sprinkled his face with rosewater scented with powdered musk, and when he came to himself, they began to question him, but he was too weak to answer and motioned to them to let me go home.

“I went out, hardly believing in my escape, and came home, supported by two men. When my people saw me, they cried and beat their faces, but I motioned to them to stop. They did, and I sent the two men away and went to sleep. I slept the whole night, and when I awoke, I found my family, children, and friends standing around me. They asked, ‘What has happened to you!' I called for water and washed my face and hands; then I called for wine and drank it, then changed my clothes and, after thanking my visitors, said, ‘Wine overcame me and made me feel sick.' When the people left, I apologized to my family and promised to replace what they had lost. They told me that some of the goods had been returned already, that someone had thrown them into the hallway and disappeared in a hurry. For two days, I lay quietly at home and was unable to do much.