The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (9 page)

Then he brought me my son, my heartblood, in the guise of a fat young bull. When my son saw me, he shook his head loose from the rope, ran toward me, and, throwing himself at my feet, kept rubbing his head against me. I was astonished and touched with sympathy, pity, and mercy, for the blood hearkened to the blood and the divine bond, and my heart throbbed within me when I saw the tears coursing over the cheeks of my son the young bull, as he dug the earth with his hoofs. I turned away and said to the shepherd, “Let him go with the rest of the flock, and be kind to him, for I have decided to spare him. Bring me another one instead of him.” My wife, this very deer, shouted, “You shall sacrifice none but this bull.” I got angry and replied, “I listened to you and butchered the cow uselessly. I will not listen to you and kill this bull, for I have decided to spare him.” But she pressed me, saying, “You must butcher this bull,” and I bound him and took the knife . . .

But dawn broke, and morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence, leaving the king all curiosity for the rest of the story. Then her sister Dinarzad said, “What an entertaining story!” Shah-razad replied, “Tomorrow night I shall tell you something even stranger, more wonderful, and more entertaining if the king spares me and lets me live.”

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The following night, Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Please, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your little tales.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, dear King, that the old man with the deer said to the demon and to his companions:

I took the knife and as I turned to slaughter my son, he wept, bellowed, rolled at my feet, and motioned toward me with his tongue. I suspected something, began to waver with trepidation and pity, and finally released him, saying to my wife, “I have decided to spare him, and I commit him to your care.” Then I tried to appease and please my wife, this very deer, by slaughtering another bull, promising her to slaughter this one next season. We slept that night, and when God's dawn broke, the shepherd came to me without letting my wife know, and said, “Give me credit for bringing you good news.” I replied, “Tell me, and the credit is yours.” He said, “Master, I have a daughter who is fond of soothsaying and magic and who is adept at the art of oaths and spells. Yesterday I took home with me the bull you had spared, to let him graze with the cattle, and when my daughter saw him, she laughed and cried at the same time. When I asked her why she laughed and cried, she answered that she laughed because the bull was in reality the son of our master the cattle owner, put under a spell by his stepmother, and that she cried because his father had slaughtered the son's mother. I could hardly wait till daybreak to bring you the good news about your son.”

Demon, when I heard that, I uttered a cry and fainted, and when I came to myself, I accompanied the shepherd to his home, went to my son, and threw myself at him, kissing him and crying. He turned his head toward me, his tears coursing over his cheeks, and dangled his tongue, as if to say, “Look at my plight.” Then I turned to the shepherd's daughter and asked, “Can you release him from the spell? If you do, I will give you all my cattle and all my possessions.” She smiled and replied, “Master, I have no desire for your wealth, cattle, or possessions. I will deliver him, but on two conditions: first, that you let me marry him; second, that you let me cast a spell on her who had cast a spell on him, in order to control her and guard against her evil power.” I replied, “Do whatever you wish and more. My possessions are for you and my son. As for my wife, who has done this to my son and made me slaughter his mother, her life is forfeit to you.” She said, “No, but I will let her taste what she has inflicted on others.” Then the shepherd's daughter filled a bowl with water, uttered an incantation and an oath, and said to my son, “Bull, if you have been created in this image by the All Conquering, Almighty Lord, stay as you are, but if you have been treacherously put under a spell, change back to your human form, by the will of God, Creator of the wide world.” Then she sprinkled him with the water, and he shook himself and changed from a bull back to his human form.

As I rushed to him, I fainted, and when I came to myself, he told me what my wife, this very deer, had done to him and to his mother. I said to him, “Son, God has sent us someone who will pay her back for what you and your mother and I have suffered at her hands.” Then, O demon, I gave my son in marriage to the shepherd's daughter, who turned my wife into this very deer, saying to me, “To me this is a pretty form, for she will be with us day and night, and it is better to turn her into a pretty deer than to suffer her sinister looks.” Thus she stayed with us, while the days and nights followed one another, and the months and years went by. Then one day the shepherd's daughter died, and my son went to the country of this very man with whom you have had your encounter. Some time later I took my wife, this very deer, with me, set out to find out what had happened to my son, and chanced to stop here. This is my story, my strange and amazing story.

The demon assented, saying, “I grant you one-third of this man's life.”

Then, O King Shahrayar, the second old man with the two black dogs approached the demon and said, “I too shall tell you what happened to me and to these two dogs, and if I tell it to you and you find it stranger and more amazing than this man's story will you grant me one-third of this man's life?” The demon replied, “I will.” Then the old man began to tell his story, saying . . .

But dawn broke, and morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “This is an amazing story,” and Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!” The king said to himself, “By God, I will not have her put to death until I find out what happened to the man with the two black dogs. Then I will have her put to death, God the Almighty willing.”

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When the following night arrived and Shahrazad was in bed with King Shahrayar, her sister Dinarzad said, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us a little tale. Finish the one you started.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O happy King, that the second old man with the two dogs said:

 

4.
A four-day Muslim feast that celebrates the pilgrimage to Mecca and that is marked by the slaughtering of sheep and cattle as sacrificial offerings to God.

[The Second Old Man's Tale]

DEMON, AS FOR
my story, these are the details. These two dogs are my brothers. When our father died, he left behind three sons, and left us three thousand dinars,
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with which each of us opened a shop and became a shopkeeper. Soon my older brother, one of these very dogs, went and sold the contents of his shop for a thousand dinars, bought trading goods, and, having prepared himself for his trading trip, left us. A full year went by, when one day, as I sat in my shop, a beggar stopped by to beg. When I refused him, he tearfully asked, “Don't you recognize me?” and when I looked at him closely, I recognized my brother. I embraced him and took him into the shop, and when I asked him about his plight, he replied, “The money is gone, and the situation is bad.” Then I took him to the public bath, clothed him in one of my robes, and took him home with me. Then I examined my books and checked my balance, and found out that I had made a thousand dinars and that my net worth was two thousand dinars. I divided the amount between my brother and myself, and said to him, “Think as if you have never been away.” He gladly took the money and opened another shop.

Soon afterward my second brother, this other dog, went and sold his merchandise and collected his money, intending to go on a trading trip. We tried to dissuade him, but he did not listen. Instead, he bought merchandise and trading goods, joined a group of travelers, and was gone for a full year. Then he came back, just like his older brother. I said to him, “Brother, didn't I advise you not to go?” He replied tearfully, “Brother, it was foreordained. Now I am poor and penniless, without even a shirt on my back.” Demon, I took him to the public bath, clothed him in one of my new robes, and took him back to the shop. After we had something to eat, I said to him, “Brother, I shall do my business accounts, calculate my net worth for the year, and after subtracting the capital, whatever the profit happens to be, I shall divide it equally between you and myself.” When I examined my books and subtracted the capital, I found out that my profit was two thousand dinars, and I thanked God and felt very happy. Then I divided the money, giving him a thousand dinars and keeping a thousand for myself. With that money he opened another shop, and the three of us stayed together for a while. Then my two brothers asked me to go on a trading journey with them, but I refused, saying, “What did you gain from your ventures that I can gain?”

They dropped the matter, and for six years we worked in our stores, buying and selling. Yet every year they asked me to go on a trading journey with them, but I refused, until I finally gave in. I said, “Brothers, I am ready to go with you. How much money do you have?” I found out that they had eaten and drunk and squandered everything they had, but I said nothing to them and did not reproach them. Then I took inventory, gathered all I had together, and sold everything. I was pleased to discover that the sale netted six thousand dinars. Then I divided the money into two parts, and said to my brothers, “The sum of three thousand dinars is for you and myself to use on our trading journey. The other three thousand I shall bury in the ground, in case what happened to you happens to me, so that when we return, we will find three thousand dinars to reopen our shops.” They replied, “This is an excellent idea.” Then, demon, I divided my money and buried three thousand dinars. Of the remaining three I gave each of my brothers a thousand and kept a thousand for myself. After I closed my shop, we bought merchandise and trading goods, rented a large seafaring boat, and after loading it with our goods and provisions, sailed day and night, for a month.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister Dinarzad said, “Sister, what a lovely story!” Shahrazad replied, “Tomorrow night I shall tell you something even lovelier, stranger, and more wonderful if I live, the Almighty God willing.”

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The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “For God's sake, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us a little tale.” The king added, “Let it be the completion of the story of the merchant and the demon.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O happy King, that the second old man said to the demon: