The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (76 page)

While Anis al-Jalis sat resting in her chamber after the exertions of the bath, Nur al-Din Ali, the vizier's son, entered his mother's apartment, and when he saw the two maids sitting by the door, he asked them about his mother, and they replied . . .

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, “Very well,” and said:

I heard, O happy King, that Nur al-Din asked the two maids about his mother, and they replied, “She went to the bath.” When Anis al-Jalis heard Nur al-Din, she said to herself, “I wonder what the young man who is talking looks like and if he is the one they warned me about.” She ran, still fresh from the bath, and, going to the door, looked at Nur al-Din, and when she saw that he was like the full moon, she sighed. Nur al-Din, chancing to turn his head, saw Anis al-Jalis, and when he looked on her, he too sighed, as each fell in to the snares of love for the other. Then he went up to the two little maids and yelled at them, and they fled from him in fear and stood at a distance to see what he would do. He went to the door of the chamber and, opening it, entered and asked Anis al-Jalis, “Are you the one whom my father bought for me?” She replied, “Yes, by God, my lord, I am the one.” So Nur al-Din, who was drunk, went to her, took her legs, and pressed them to his sides, while she locked her arms around his neck and began to give him adept and passionate kisses, and he at once undid her trousers and took her virginity. When the little maids saw what happened, they cried out and screamed, while Nur al-Din, fearing the consequences of his action, got up and fled.

When the vizier's wife heard the cries, she came out of the bath in a hurry to see what was causing the commotion in the house. She came up to the two maids and said, “Woe to you, what is the matter?” They replied, “Our lord Nur al-Din came and beat us, and since we were unable to stop him, we fled, while he entered Anis al-Jalis's chamber and embraced her for a while, but we don't know what he did afterward, except that he came out running.” The vizier's wife went into Anis al-Jalis's chamber and asked her, “O my daughter, what happened to you?” Anis al-Jalis replied, “O my lady, as I was sitting here, a handsome young man suddenly came in and asked me, ‘Aren't you the one whom my father bought for me?' and I replied, ‘Yes,' for, by God, my lady, I thought that he was telling the truth. Then he came up to me and embraced me.” The vizier's wife asked, “Did he do you-know-what to you?” Anis al-Jalis replied, “Yes, but he did it only three times.” The vizier's wife said, “I hope that you will not have to pay for this!” and she and the maids began to cry and beat their faces, for they feared that Nur al-Din's father would kill him.

While they were in this condition, the vizier came in and asked, “Damn it, what is the matter?” But nobody dared tell him what had happened. He came up to his wife.

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 I stay alive!”

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The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that the vizier came up to his wife and said, “Tell me the truth.” She replied, “I will not tell you until you swear that you will do whatever I say.” He said, “Very well.” She said, “Your son went in to Anis al-Jalis and took her virginity.” When the vizier heard his wife words, he sagged down to the ground, beat his face until his nose began to bleed, and plucked out the wisps of his beard. His wife said to him, “My lord, you are killing yourself. I will give you ten thousand dinars, the price of the girl, from my own money.” But he raised his head and said to her, “Damn it, I don't need her price. I am afraid of losing both my life and my possessions.” She asked, “My lord, how so?” He replied, “Don't you know that our enemy al-Mu'in ibn-Sawi is lying in wait for us, and when he hears of the affair, he will go to the king and say to him, ‘O my lord, your vizier, who, according to you, loves you and cares for your welfare, has taken ten thousand dinars from you and bought a girl, whose like was never seen, but when he saw her, he liked her and said to his son, “Take this girl for yourself, for you deserve her more than the king.” So, my lord, the young man took her and took her virginity and she is now with him.' Then the king will reply, ‘You are lying,' and the vizier will say, ‘With your leave, I will bring the slave-girl to you.' The king will order him to do so, and he will come, attack us, and take the girl to the king, who will question her, and she will not be able to deny what has happened. Then the vizier will say to the king, ‘O my lord, I have done this only so that you may know that I give you true counsel and care for your welfare. By God, my lord, I have not been fortunate, yet everybody is jealous of me.' When the king hears this, he will give orders to kill me and plunder my property.” When his wife heard this, she said to him, “My lord, don't you know that God's graces are hidden from us?” He replied, “Yes.” She added, “O my lord, commit yourself to the Almighty God, and I will pray to Him that none will discover the affair of the girl or hear anything about it, for, my lord, ‘The Master of what lies hidden controls what lies hidden.'” When the vizier heard his wife's words, he calmed down and drank a cup of wine.

As for Nur al-Din, fearing the consequences of the affair, he spent the whole day in the gardens and places of entertainment, away from his companions, and came back at night. When he knocked, the maids opened the door for him, and he went to sleep but left before daylight. He lived like this for a whole month, without showing his face to his father, until his mother said to her husband, “My lord, you have lost the girl and now you are going to lose your own son. If things continue like this, he will run away.” The vizier asked, “What shall we do?” She replied, “My lord, stay awake and wait for him tonight, and when he comes home late at night, seize him and scare him, and I will rescue him from you. Then you will make your peace with him and give him the girl, for she loves him and he loves her, and I will pay you her price.”

The vizier waited until his son came home, and when he heard him knocking at the door, he rose and hid in a dark corner, while the maids opened the door. When the young man entered, he suddenly felt someone seize him and throw him down to the ground, and when he raised his head to see who had done this to him, he saw his father.

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

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The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that the young man saw that the man who had thrown him down was his father, who then knelt on his breast and pulled out a knife as if to cut his throat. At that moment the vizier's wife came up from behind and said, “What do you want to do with him?” He replied, “I want to kill him.” Nur al-Din asked, “My lord, do you find it so easy to kill me?” His father looked at him, and, as the divine power moved him and his eyes filled with tears, he said, “Son, do you find it so easy to make me lose my life and my possessions?” The young man replied, “O my lord, the poet says:

Pardon my crime, for every mighty judge

Is used to mercy some offenders show.

I stand before you, guilty of all sins,

But you the ways of grace and mercy know.

For he who seeks forgiveness from above

Should pardon the offenders here below.”

When he heard this, the vizier felt compassion for his son and rose up from his chest. Then Nur al-Din kissed his father's hands and feet, and his father said to him, “O Nur al-Din, if I knew that you would treat Anis al-Jalis fairly, I would give her to you.” Nur al-Din asked, “My lord, how do you wish me to treat her?” His father replied, “Do not take an additional wife, or abuse her, or sell her.” Nur al-Din replied, “My lord, I swear to you,” and he swore to do none of these things. Then he went in to Anis al-Jalis and for a whole year lived with her the happiest of lives, while God caused the king to forget the affair of the slave-girl. Meanwhile al-Mu'in ibn-Sawi was unable to speak of the affair because of the intimacy of the Vizier Fadl al-Din with the king.

One day, at the end of the year, the Vizier Fadl al-din went to the bath and, coming out, still in perspiration, caught a chill, became feverish, and took to his bed. When he got worse, until he was no longer able to sleep, he called his son, and when the son came, his father wept and said, “O my son, you should know that fortune is allotted, that life is allocated, and that everyone must die. The poet says:

I am mortal and know that I must die;

Glory to the eternal Lord and King.

He is no king who is subject to death;

The sovereignty is His who fears no mortal thing.

“O my son, I have no charge to give you, save to fear God, to weigh the consequences of your actions, and to look after Anis al-Jalis.” Nur al-Din said, “O my father, who can be like you, you who are known for your good deeds and the blessings invoked upon them from the pulpits?” His father replied, “O my son, I pray for God's acceptance.” Then his death throes began, and when he expired, the cries of the women of his household filled the palace. The king received the news, and when the citizens heard of the death of the vizier Fadl al-Din ibn-Khaqan, everyone cried, the children in their schools, the men in their mosques, and the women in their homes. Then Nur al-Din proceeded to prepare his father for burial, and all the citizens, headed by the princes, viziers, and officers of state, attended. The young man gave him the most lavish preparations, and when he was buried, a poet mourned him with the following verses:

On Thursday I left my dear ones for good,

And my friends washed me on a slab of wood,

And stripped me of the clothes that I had on

And made me other than my own clothes don

And on four shoulders carried me away

And in the mosque did on my body pray;

A standing prayer on me they performed,

As all my friends around my body swarmed.

At last they took me to a vaulted hut

Whose door will to the end of time stay shut.