THE TALE OF THE THREE APPLES
They relate, O King of the age and lord of the time and of these
days, that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid summoned his Wazir Ja'afar
one night and said to him, 'I desire to go down into the city and
question the common folk concerning the conduct of those charged
with its governance; and those of whom they complain we will
depose from office and those whom they commend we will promote."
Quoth Ja'afar, "Hearkening and obedience!" So the Caliph went
down with Ja'afar and Eunuch Masrur to the town and walked about
the streets and markets and, as they were threading a narrow
alley, they came upon a very old man with a fishing-net and crate
to carry small fish on his head, and in his hand a staff; and, as
he walked at a leisurely pace, he repeated these lines:--
"They say me: --Thou shinest a light to mankind * With thy lore
as the night which the Moon doth uplight!
I answer, "A truce to your jests and your gibes; * Without luck
what is learning?--a poor-devil wight!
If they take me to pawn with my lore in my pouch, * With my
volumes to read and my ink-case to write,
For one day's provision they never could pledge me; * As likely
on Doomsday to draw bill at sight:"
How poorly, indeed, doth it fare wi' the poor, * With his pauper
existence and beggarly plight:
In summer he faileth provision to find; * In winter the
fire-pot's his only delight:
The street-dogs with bite and with bark to him rise, * And each
losel receives him with bark and with bite:
If he lift up his voice and complain of his wrong, * None pities
or heeds him, however he's right;
And when sorrows and evils like these he must brave * His
happiest homestead were down in the grave."
When the Caliph heard his verses he said to Ja'afar, "See this
poor man and note his verses, for surely they point to his
necessities." Then he accosted him and asked, "O Shaykh, what be
thine occupation?" and the poor man answered, "O my lord, I am a
fisherman with a family to keep and I have been out between
mid-day and this time; and not a thing hath Allah made my portion
wherewithal to feed my family. I cannot even pawn myself to buy
them a supper and I hate and disgust my life and I hanker after
death." Quoth the Caliph, "Say me, wilt thou return with us to
Tigris' bank and cast thy net on my luck, and whatsoever turneth
up I will buy of thee for an hundred gold pieces?" The man
rejoiced when he heard these words and said, "On my head be it! I
will go back with you;" and, returning with them river-wards,
made a cast and waited a while; then he hauled in the rope and
dragged the net ashore and there appeared in it a chest padlocked
and heavy. The Caliph examined it and lifted it finding it
weighty; so he gave the fisherman two hundred dinars and sent him
about his business; whilst Masrur, aided by the Caliph, carried
the chest to the palace and set it down and lighted the candles.
Ja'afar and Masrur then broke it open and found therein a basket
of palm-leaves corded with red worsted. This they cut open and
saw within it a piece of carpet which they lifted out, and under
it was a woman's mantilla folded in four, which they pulled out;
and at the bottom of the chest they came upon a young lady, fair
as a silver ingot, slain and cut into nineteen pieces. When the
Caliph looked upon her he cried, "Alas!" and tears ran down his
cheeks and turning to Ja'afar he said, "O dog of Wazirs, [FN#354]
shall folk be murdered in our reign and be cast into the river to
be a burden and a responsibility for us on the Day of Doom? By
Allah, we must avenge this woman on her murderer and he shall be
made die the worst of deaths!" And presently he added, " Now, as
surely as we are descended from the Sons of Abbas, [FN#355] if
thou bring us not him who slew her, that we do her justice on
him, I will hang thee at the gate of my palace, thee and forty of
thy kith and kin by thy side." And the: Caliph was wroth with
exceeding rage. Quoth Ja'afar, "Grant me three days' delay;" and
quoth the Caliph, "We grant thee this." So Ja'afar went out from
before him and returned to his own house, full of sorrow and
saying to himself, "How shall I find him who murdered this
damsel, that I may bring him before the Caliph? If I bring other
than the murderer, it will be laid to my charge by the Lord: in
very sooth I wot not what to do." He kept his house three days
and on the fourth day the Caliph sent one of the Chamberlains for
him and, as he came into the presence, asked him, "Where is the
murderer of the damsel?" to which answered Ja'afar, "O Commander
of the Faithful, am I inspector of " murdered folk that I should
ken who killed her?" The Caliph was furious at his answer and
bade hang him before the palace-gate and commanded that a crier
cry through the streets of Baghdad, "Whoso would see the hanging
of Ja'afar, the Barmaki, Wazir of the Caliph, with forty of the
Barmecides, [FN#356] his cousins and kinsmen, before the
palace-gate, let him come and let him look!" The people flocked
out from all the quarters of the city to witness the execution of
Ja'afar and his kinsmen, not knowing the cause. Then they set up
the gallows and made Ja'afar and the others stand underneath in
readiness for execution, but whilst every eye was looking for the
Caliph's signal, and the crowd wept for Ja'afar and his cousins
of the Barmecides, lo and behold! a young man fair of face and
neat of dress and of favour like the moon raining light, with
eyes black and bright, and brow flower-white, and cheeks red as
rose and young down where the beard grows, and a mole like a
grain of ambergris, pushed his way through the people till he
stood immediately before the Wazir and said to him, "Safety to
thee from this strait, O Prince of the Emirs and Asylum of the
poor! I am the man who slew the woman ye found in the chest, so
hang me for her and do her justice on me!" When Ja'afar heard the
youth's confession he rejoiced at his own deliverance. but
grieved and sorrowed for the fair youth; and whilst they were yet
talking behold, another man well stricken in years pressed
forwards through the people and thrust his way amid the populace
till he came to Ja'afar and the youth, whom he saluted saying,
"Ho thou the Wazir and Prince sans-peer! believe not the words of
this youth. Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her
wreak on me this moment; for, an thou do not thus, I will require
it of thee before Almighty Allah." Then quoth the young man, "O
Wazir, this is an old man in his dotage who wotteth not whatso he
saith ever, and I am he who murdered her, so do thou avenge her
on me!" Quoth the old man, "O my son, thou art young and desirest
the joys of the world and I am old and weary and surfeited with
the world: I will offer my life as a ransom for thee and for the
Wazir and his cousins. No one murdered the damsel but I, so Allah
upon thee, make haste to hang me, for no life is left in me now
that hers is gone." The Wazir marvelled much at all this
strangeness and, taking the young man and the old man, carried
them before the Caliph, where, after kissing the ground seven
times between his hands, he said, "O Commander of the Faithful, I
bring thee the murderer of the damsel!" "Where is he?" asked the
Caliph and Ja'afar answered, "This young man saith, I am the
murderer, and this old man giving him the lie saith, I am the
murderer, and behold, here are the twain standing before thee."
The Caliph looked at the old man and the young man and asked,
"Which of you killed the girl?" The young man replied, "No one
slew her save I;" and the old man answered, "Indeed none killed
her but myself." Then said the Caliph to Ja'afar, "Take the twain
and hang them both;" but Ja'afar rejoined, "Since one of them was
the murderer, to hang the other were mere injustice."[FN#357] "By
Him who raised the firmament and dispread the earth like a
carpet," cried the youth, "I am he who slew the damsel;" and he
went on to describe the manner of her murder and the basket, the
mantilla and the bit of carpet, in fact all that the Caliph had
found upon her. So the Caliph was certified that the young man
was the murderer; whereat he wondered and asked him, 'What was
the cause of thy wrongfully doing this damsel to die and what
made thee confess the murder without the bastinado, and what
brought thee here to yield up thy life, and what made thee say Do
her wreak upon me?" The youth answered, "Know, O Commander of the
Faithful, that this woman was my wife and the mother of my
children; also my first cousin and the daughter of my paternal
uncle, this old man who is my father's own brother. When I
married her she was a maid [FN#358] and Allah blessed me with
three male children by her; she loved me and served me and I saw
no evil in her, for I also loved her with fondest love. Now on
the first day of this month she fell ill with grievous sickness
and I fetched in physicians to her; but recovery came to her
little by little. and, when I wished her to go to the Hammam.
bath, she said, "There is a something I long for before I go to
the bath and I long for it with an exceeding longing." To hear is
to comply," said I. "And what is it?" Quoth she, "I have a queasy
craving for an apple, to smell it and bite a bit of it." I
replied, "Hadst thou a thousand longings I would try to satisfy
them!" So I went on the instant into the city and sought for
apples but could find none; yet, had they cost a gold piece each,
would I have bought them. I was vexed at this and went home and
said, "O daughter of my uncle. by Allah I can find none!" She was
distressed, being yet very weakly, and her weakness in. creased
greatly on her that night and I felt anxious and alarmed on her
account. As soon as morning dawned I went out again and made the
round of the gardens, one by one, but found no apples anywhere.
At last there met me an old gardener. of whom I asked about them
and he answered, "O my son, this fruit is a rarity with us and is
not now to be found save in the garden of the Commander of the
Faithful at Bassorah, where the gardener keepeth it for the
Caliph's eating." I returned to my house troubled by my
ill-success; and my love for my wife and my affection moved me to
undertake the journey. So I gat me ready and set out and
travelled fifteen days and nights, going and coming, and brought
her three apples which I bought from the gardener for three
dinars. But when I went in to my wife and set them before her,
she took no pleasure in them and let them lie by her side; for
her weakness and fever had increased on her and her malady lasted
without abating ten days, after which time she began to recover
health. So I left my house and be. taking me to my shop sat there
buying and selling; and about midday behold, a great ugly black
slave, long as a lance and broad as a bench, passed by my shop
holding in hand one of the three apples wherewith he was playing.
Quoth I, "O my good slave, tell me whence thou tookest that
apple, that I may get the like of it?" He laughed and answered,
"I got it from my mistress, for I had been absent and on my
return I found her lying ill with three apples by her side, and
she said to me, 'My horned wittol of a husband made a journey for
them to Bassorah and bought them for three dinars.' So I ate and
drank with her and took this one from her." [FN#359] When I heard
such words from the slave, O Commander of the Faithful, the world
grew black before my face, and I arose and locked up my shop and
went home beside myself for excess of rage. I looked for the
apples and finding only two of the three asked my wife, "O my
cousin, where is the third apple?"; and raising her head
languidly she answered, "I wet not, O son of my uncle, where 'tis
gone!" This convinced me that the slave had spoken the truth, so
I took a knife and coming behind her got upon her breast without
a word said and cut her throat. Then I hewed off her head and her
limbs in pieces and, wrapping her in her mantilla and a rag of
carpet, hurriedly sewed up the whole which I set in a chest and,
locking it tight, loaded it on my he-mule and threw it into the
Tigris with my own hands. So Allah upon thee, O Commander of the
Faithful, make haste to hang me, as I fear lest she appeal for
vengeance on Resurrection Day. For, when I had thrown her into
the river and none knew aught of it, as I went back home I found
my eldest son crying and yet he knew naught of what I had done
with his mother. I asked him, "What hath made thee weep, my boy?"
and he answered, "I took one of the three apples which were by my
mammy and went down into the lane to play with my brethren when
behold, a big long black slave snatched it from my hand and said.
'Whence hadst thou this?' Quoth I, 'My father travelled far for
it, and brought it from Bassorah for my mother who was ill and
two other apples for which he paid three ducats.' He took no heed
of my words and I asked for the apple a second and a third time,
but he cuffed me and kicked me and went off with it. I was afraid
lest my mother should swinge me on account of the apple, so for
fear of her I went with my brother outside the city and stayed
there till evening closed in upon us; and indeed I am in fear of
her; and now by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of this or
it may add to her ailment!" When I heard what-my child said I
knew that the slave was he who had foully slandered my wife, the
daughter of my uncle, and was certified that I had slain her
wrong. fully. So I wept with exceeding weeping and presently this
old man, my paternal uncle and her father, came in; and I told
him what had happened and he sat down by my side and wept and we
ceased not weeping till midnight. We have kept up mourning for
her these last five days and we lamented her in the deepest
sorrow for that she was unjustly done to die. This came from the
gratuitous lying of the slave, the blackamoor, and this was the
manner of my killing her; so I conjure thee, by the honour of
thine ancestors, make haste to kill me and do her justice upon
me, as there is no living for me after her!" The Caliph marvelled
at his words and said, "By Allah, the young man is excusable: I
will hang none but the accursed slave and I will do a deed which
shall comfort the ill-at-ease and suffering, and which shall
please the All-glorious King."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
When it was the Twentieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
swore he would hang none but the slave, for the youth was
excusable. Then he turned to Ja'afar and said to him, "Bring
before me this accursed slave who was the sole cause of this
calamity; and, if thou bring him not before me within three days,
thou shalt be slain in his stead." So Ja'afar fared forth weeping
and saying. "Two deaths have already beset me, nor shall the
crock come of safe from every shock.' [FN#360] In this matter
craft and cunning are of no avail; but He who preserved my life
the first time can preserve it a second time. By Allah, I will
not leave my house during the three days of life which remain to
me and let the Truth (whose perfection be praised!) do e'en as He
will." So he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day he
summoned the Kazis and legal witnesses and made his last will and
testament, and took leave of his children weeping. Presently in
came a messenger from the Caliph and said to him, "The Commander
of the Faithful is in the most violent rage that can be, and he
sendeth to seek thee and he sweareth that the day shall certainly
not pass without thy being hanged unless the slave be forth.
coming." When Ja'afar heard this he wept, and his children and
slaves and all who were in the house wept with him. After he had
bidden adieu to everybody except his youngest daughter, he
proceeded to farewell her; for he loved this wee one, who was a
beautiful child, more than all his other children; and he pressed
her to his breast and kissed her and wept bitterly at parting
from her; when he felt something round inside the bosom of her
dress and asked her, "O my little maid, what is in thy bosom
pocket?"; "O my father," she replied, "it is an apple with the
name of our Lord the Caliph written upon it. Rayhán our slave
brought it to me four days ago and would not let me have it till
I gave him two dinars for it." When Ja'afar heard speak of the
slave and the apple, he was glad and put his hand into his
child's pocket [FN#361] and drew out the apple and knew it and
rejoiced saying, "O ready Dispeller of trouble " [FN#362] Then he
bade them bring the slave and said to him, "Fie upon thee,
Rayhan! whence haddest thou this apple?" "By Allah, O my master,"
he replied, "though a lie may get a man once off, yet may truth
get him off, and well off, again and again. I did not steal this
apple from thy palace nor from the gardens of the Commander of
the Faithful. The fact is that five days ago, as I was walking
along one of the alleys of this city, I saw some little ones at
play and this apple in hand of one of them. So I snatched it from
him and beat him and he cried and said, 'O youth this apple is my
mother's and she is ill. She told my father how she longed for an
apple, so he travelled to Bassorah and bought her three apples
for three gold pieces, and I took one of them to play withal.' He
wept again, but I paid no heed to what he said and carried it off
and brought it here, and my little lady bought it of me for two
dinars of gold. And this is the whole story." When Ja'afar heard
his words he marvelled that the murder of the damsel and all this
misery should have been caused by his slave; he grieved for the
relation of the slave to himself, while rejoicing over his own
deliverance, and he repeated these lines: --
"If ill betide thee through thy slave, * Make him forthright thy
sacrifice:
A many serviles thou shalt find, * But life comes once and never
twice."
Then he took the slave's hand and, leading him to the Caliph,
related the story from first to last and the Caliph marvelled
with extreme astonishment, and laughed till he fell on his back
and ordered that the story be recorded and be made public amongst
the people. But Ja'afar said, "Marvel not, O Commander of the
Faithful, at this adventure, for it is not more wondrous than the
History of the Wazir Núr al-Dín Ali of Egypt and his brother
Shams al-Dín Mohammed. -- Quoth the Caliph, "Out with it; but
what can be stranger than this story?" And Ja'afar answered, "O
Commander of the Faithful, I will not tell it thee, save on
condition that thou pardon my slave;" and the Caliph rejoined,
"If it be indeed more wondrous than that of the three apples, I
grant thee his blood, and if not I will surely slay thy slave."
So Ja'afar began in these words the
