Tale of Ghanim bin Ayyub[FN#79], the Distraught, the Thrall o'
Love.
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in times of yore and
in years and ages long gone before, there lived in Damascus a
merchant among the merchants, a wealthy man who had a son like
the moon on the night of his fulness[FN#80] and withal sweet of
speech, who was named Ghánim bin ‘Ayyúb, surnamed the Distraught,
the Thrall o' Love. He had also a daughter, own sister to Ghanim,
who was called Fitnah, a damsel unique in beauty and loveliness.
Their father died and left them abundant wealth.--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
merchant left his two children abundant wealth and amongst other
things an hundred loads[FN#81] of silks and brocades, musk pods
and mother o' pearl; and there was written on every bale, "This
is of the packages intended for Baghdad," it having been his
purpose to make the journey thither, when Almighty Allah took him
to Himself, which was in the time of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.
After a while his son took the loads and, bidding farewell to his
mother and kindred and townsfolk, went forth with a company of
merchants, putting his trust in Allah Almighty, who decreed him
safety, so that he arrived without let or stay at Baghdad. There
he hired for himself a fair dwelling house which he furnished
with carpets and cushions, curtains and hangings; and therein
stored his bales and stabled his mules and camels, after which he
abode a while resting. Presently the merchants and notables of
Baghdad came and saluted him, after which he took a bundle
containing ten pieces of costly stuffs, with the prices written
on them, and carried it to the merchants' bazar, where they
welcomed and saluted him and showed him all honour; and, making
him dismount from his beast, seated him in the shop of the Syndic
of the market, to whom he delivered the package. He opened it
and, drawing out the pieces of stuff, sold them for him at a
profit of two diners on every diner of prime cost. At this Ghanim
rejoiced and kept selling his silks and stuffs one after another,
and ceased not to do on this wise for a full year. On the first
day of the following year he went, as was his wont, to the
Exchange which was in the bazar, but found the gate shut; and
enquiring the reason was told, "One of the merchants is dead and
all the others have gone to follow his bier,[FN#82] and why
shouldst thou not win the meed of good deeds by walking with
them?"[FN#83] He replied "Yes," and asked for the quarter where
the funeral was taking place, and one directed him thereto. So he
purified himself by the Wuzu-ablution[FN#84] and repaired with
the other merchants to the oratory, where they prayed over the
dead, then walked before the bier to the burial place, and
Ghanim, who was a bashful man, followed them being ashamed to
leave them. They presently issued from the city, and passed
through the tombs until they reached the grave where they found
that the deceased's kith and kin had pitched a tent over the tomb
and had brought thither lamps and wax candles. So they buried the
body and sat down while the readers read out and recited the
Koran over the grave; and Ghanim sat with them, being overcome
with bashfulness and saying to himself "I cannot well go away
till they do." They tarried listening to the Koranic perfection
till nightfall, when the servants set supper and
sweetmeats[FN#85] before them and they ate till they were
satisfied; then they washed their hands and again took their
places. But Ghanim's mind was preoccupied with his house and
goods, being in fear of robbers, and he said to himself, "I am a
stranger here and supposed to have money; if I pass the night
abroad the thieves will steal my money bags and my bales to
boot." So when he could no longer control his fear he arose and
left the assembly, having first asked leave to go about some
urgent business; and following the signs of the road he soon came
to the city gate. But it was midnight and he found the doors
locked and saw none going or coming nor heard aught but the
hounds baying and the wolves howling. At this he exclaimed,
"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! I was
in fear for my property and came back on its account, but now I
find the gate shut and I am in mortal fear for my life!" Then he
turned back and, looking out for a place where he could sleep
till morning, presently found a Santon's tomb, a square of four
walls with a date-tree in the central court and a granite
gateway. The door was wide open; so he entered and would fain
have slept, but sleep came not to him; and terror and a sense of
desolation oppressed him for that he was alone amidst the tombs.
So he rose to his feet and, opening the door, looked out and lo!
he was ware of a light afar off in the direction of the city
gate; then walking a little way towards it, he saw that it was on
the road whereby he had reached the tomb. This made him fear for
his life, so he hastily shut the door and climbed to the top of
the dale tree where he hid himself in the heart of the fronds.
The light came nearer and nearer till it was close to the tomb;
then it stopped and he saw three slaves, two bearing a chest and
one with a lanthorn, an adze and a basket containing some mortar.
When they reached the tomb, one of those who were carrying the
case said, "What aileth thee O Sawáb?"; and said the other, "What
is the matter O Káfúr?"[FN#86] Quoth he, "Were we not here at
supper tide and did we not leave the door open?" "Yes," replied
the other, "that is true.'' "See," said Kafur, "now it is shut
and barred." "How weak are your wits!" cried the third who bore
the adze and his name was Bukhayt,[FN#87] "know ye not that the
owners of the gardens use to come out from Baghdad and tend them
and, when evening closes upon them, they enter this place and
shut the door, for fear lest the wicked blackmen, like ourselves,
should catch them and roast 'em and eat 'em."[FN#88] "Thou sayest
sooth," said the two others, "but by Allah, however that may be,
none amongst us is weaker of wits than thou." "If ye do not
believe me," said Bukhayt, "let us enter the tomb and I will
rouse the rat for you; for I doubt not but that, when he saw the
light and us making for the place, he ran up the date tree and
hid there for fear of us." When Ghanim heard this, he said in
himself, "O curstest of slaves! May Allah not have thee in His
holy keeping for this thy craft and keenness of wit! There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great! How shall I win free of these blackamoors?" Then said the
two who bore the box to him of the adze, "Swarm up the wall and
open the gate for us, O Bukhayt, for we are tired of carrying the
chest on our necks; and when thou hast opened the gate thou shalt
have one of those we catch inside, a fine fat rat which we will
fry for thee after such excellent fashion that not a speck of his
fat shall be lost." But Bukhayt answered, "I am afraid of
somewhat which my weak wits have suggested to me: we should do
better to throw the chest over the gateway; for it is our
treasure." "If we throw it 'twill break," replied they; and he
said, "I fear lest there be robbers within who murder folk and
plunder their goods, for evening is their time of entering such
places and dividing their spoil." "O thou weak o' wits," said
both the bearers of the box, "how could they ever get in
here!"[FN#89] Then they set down the chest and climbing over the
wall dropped inside and opened the gate, whilst the third slave
(he that was called Bukhayt) stood by them holding the adze, the
lanthorn and the hand basket containing the mortar. After this
they locked the gate and sat down; and presently one of them
said, "O my brethren, we are wearied with walking and with
lifting up and setting down the chest, and with unlocking and
locking the gate; and now 'tis midnight, and we have no breath
left to open a tomb and bury the box: so let us rest here two or
three hours, then rise and do the job. Meanwhile each of us shall
tell how he came to be castrated and all that befel him from
first to last, the better to pass away our time while we take our
rest." Thereupon the first, he of the lanthorn and whose name was
Bukhayt, said, "I'll tell you my tale." "Say on," replied they;
so he began as follows the
Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt.
Know, O my brothers, that when I was a little one, some five
years old, I was taken home from my native country by a slave
driver who sold me to a certain Apparitor.[FN#90] My purchaser
had a daughter three years old, with whom I was brought up; and
they used to make mock of me, letting me play with her and dance
for her[FN#91] and sing to her, till I reached the age of twelve
and she that of ten; and even then they did not forbid me seeing
her. One day I went in to her and found her sitting in an inner
room, and she looked as if she had just come out of the bath
which was in the house; for she was scented with essences and
reek of aromatic woods, and her face shone like a circle of the
moon on the fourteenth night. She began to sport with me, and I
with her. Now I had just reached the age of puberty; so my
prickle stood at point, as it were a huge key. Then she threw me
on my back and, mounting astraddle on my breast, fell a wriggling
and a bucking upon me till she had uncovered my yard. When she
saw it standing with head erect, she hent it in hand and began
rubbing it upon the lips of her little slit[FN#92] outside her
petticoat trousers. Thereat hot lust stirred in me and I threw my
arms round her, while she wound hers about my neck and hugged me
to her with all her might, till, before I knew what I did, my
pizzle split up her trousers and entered her slit and did away
her maiden head. When I saw this, I ran off and took refuge with
one of my comrades. Presently her mother came in to her; and,
seeing her in this case, fainted clean away. However she managed
the matter advisedly and hid it from the girl's father out of
good will to me; nor did they cease to call to me and coax me,
till they took me from where I was. After two months had passed
by, her mother married her to a young man, a barber who used to
shave her papa, and portioned and fitted her out of her own
monies; whilst the father knew nothing of what had passed. On the
night of consummation they cut the throat of a pigeon poult and
sprinkled the blood on her shift.[FN#93] After a while they
seized me unawares and gelded me; and, when they brought her to
her bridegroom, they made me her Agha,[FN#94] her eunuch, to walk
before her wheresoever she went, whether to the bath or to her
father's house. I abode with her a long time enjoying her beauty
and loveliness by way of kissing and clipping and coupling with
her,[FN#95] till she died, and her husband and mother and father
died also; when they seized me for the Royal Treasury as being
the property of an intestate, and I found my way hither, where I
became your comrade. This, then, O my brethren, is the cause of
my cullions being cut off; and peace be with you! He ceased and
his fellow began in these words the
Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur.
Know, O my brothers that, when beginning service as a boy of
eight, I used to tell the slave dealers regularly and exactly one
lie every year, so that they fell out with one another, till at
last my master lost patience with me and, carrying me down to the
market, ordered the brokers to cry, "Who will buy this slave,
knowing his blemish and making allowance for it?" He did so and
they asked him, "Pray, what may be his blemish?" and he answered,
"He telleth me one single lie every year." Now a man that was a
merchant came up and said to the broker, "How much do they allow
for him with his blemish?" "They allow six hundred dirhams," he
replied; and said the other, "Thou shalt have twenty dirhams for
thyself." So he arranged between him and the slave dealer who
took the coin from him and the broker carried me to the
merchant's house and departed, after receiving his brokerage. The
trader clothed me with suitable dress, and I stayed in his
service the rest of my twelvemonth, until the new year began
happily. It was a blessed season, plenteous in the produce of the
earth, and the merchants used to feast every day at the house of
some one among them, till it was my master's turn to entertain
them in a flower garden without the city. So he and the other
merchants went to the garden, taking with them all that they
required of provaunt and else beside, and sat eating and
carousing and drinking till mid day, when my master, having need
of some matter from his home, said to me, "O slave, mount the she
mule and hie thee to the house and bring from thy mistress such
and such a thing and return quickly." I obeyed his bidding and
started for the house but, as I drew near it, I began to cry out
and shed tears, whereupon all the people of the quarter
collected, great and small; and my master's wife and daughters,
hearing the noise I was making, opened the door and asked me what
was the matter. Said I, "My master was sitting with his friends
beneath an old wall, and it fell on one and all of them; and when
I saw what had happened to them, I mounted the mule and came
hither in haste to tell you." When my master's daughters and wife
heard this, they screamed and rent their raiment and beat their
faces, whilst the neighbours came around them. Then the wife over
turned the furniture of the house, one thing upon another, and
tore down the shelves and broke the windows and the lattices and
smeared the walls with mud and indigo, saying to me, "Woe to
thee, O Kafur! come help me to tear down these cupboards and
break up these vessels and this china ware,[FN#96] and the rest
of it." So I went to her and aided her to smash all the shelves
in the house with whatever stood upon them, after which I went
round about the terrace roofs and every part of the place,
spoiling all I could and leaving no china in the house unbroken
till I had laid waste the whole, crying out the while "Well away!
my master!" Then my mistress fared forth bare faced wearing a
head kerchief and naught else, and her daughters and the children
sallied out with her, and said to me, "O Kafur, go thou before us
and show us the place where thy master lieth dead, that we may
take him from under the fallen wall and lay him on a bier and
bear him to the house and give him a fine funeral." So I went
forth before them crying out, "Slack, my master!"; and they after
me with faces and heads bare and all shrieking, "Alas! Alas for
the man!" Now there remained none in the quarter, neither man nor
woman, nor epicene, nor youth nor maid, nor child nor old trot,
but went with us smiting their faces and weeping bitterly, and I
led them leisurely through the whole city. The folk asked them
what was the matter, whereupon they told them what they had heard
from me, and all exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah!" Then said one of them, "He was a personage
of consequence; so let us go to the Governor and tell him what
hath befallen him." When they told the Governor,--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Fortieth Night,[FN#97]
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when they
told the Governor, he rose and mounted and, taking with him
labourers, with spades and baskets, went on my track, with many
people behind him; and I ran on before them, howling and casting
dust on my head and beating my face, followed by my mistress and
her children keening for the dead. But I got ahead of them and
entered the garden before them, and when my master saw me in this
state, I smiting my face and saying, "Well away! my mistress!
Alas! Alas! Alas! who is left to take pity on me, now that my
mistress is gone? Would I had been a sacrifice for her!", he
stood aghast and his colour waxed yellow and he said to me, "What
aileth thee O Kafur! What is the matter?" "O my lord," I replied,
"when thou sentest me to the house, I found that the saloon wall
had given way and had fallen like a layer upon my mistress and
her children!" "And did not thy mistress escape?" "No, by Allah,
O my master; not one of them was saved; the first to die was my
mistress, thine elder daughter!" "And did not my younger daughter
escape?"; "No, she did not!" "And what became of the mare mule I
use to ride, is she safe?" "No, by Allah, O my master, the house
walls and the stable walls buried every living thing that was
within doors, even to the sheep and geese and poultry, so that
they all became a heap of flesh and the dogs and cats are eating
them and not one of them is left alive." "And hath not thy
master, my elder son, escaped?" "No, by Allah! not one of them
was saved, and now there is naught left of house or household,
nor even a sign of them: and, as for the sheep and geese and
hens, the cats and dogs have devoured them." When my master heard
this the light became night before his sight; his wits were dazed
and he so lost command of his senses that he could not stand firm
on his feet: he was as one struck with a sudden palsy and his
back was like to break. Then he rent his raiment and plucked out
his beard and, casting his turband from off his head, buffeted
his face till the blood ran down and he cried aloud, "Alas, my
children! Alas, my wife! Alas, my calamity! To whom ever befel
that which hath befallen me?" The merchants, his friends, also
cried aloud at his crying and wept for his weeping and tore their
clothes, being moved to pity of his case; and so my master went
out of the garden, smiting his face with such violence that from
excess of pain he staggered like one drunken with wine. As he and
the merchants came forth from the garden gate, behold, they saw a
great cloud of dust and heard a loud noise of crying and
lamentation; so they looked and lo! it was the Governor with his
attendants and the townsfolk, a world of people, who had come out
to look on, and my master's family following them, all screaming
and crying aloud and weeping exceeding sore weeping. The first to
address my owner were his wife and children; and when he saw them
he was confounded and laughed[FN#98] and said to them, "How is it
with all of you and what befel you in the house and what hath
come to pass to you?" When they saw him they exclaimed, "Praise
be to Allah for thy preservation!" and threw themselves upon him
and his children hung about him crying, "Slack, our father!
Thanks to Allah for thy safety, O our father!" And his wife said
to him, "Art thou indeed well! Laud to Allah who hath shown us
thy face in safety!" And indeed she was confounded and her reason
fled when she saw him, and she asked, "O, my lord, how didst thou
escape, thou and thy friends the merchants?"; and he answered
her, "And how fared it with thee in the house?" Quoth they, "We
were all well, whole and healthy, nor hath aught of evil befallen
us in the house, save that thy slave Kafur came to us, bareheaded
with torn garments and howling, 'Alas, the master! Alas the
master!' So we asked him, 'What tidings, O Kafur?' and he
answered 'A wall of the garden hath fallen on my master and his
friends the merchants, and they are all crushed and dead!''' "By
Allah," said my master, "he came to me but now howling, 'Alas, my
mistress! Alas, the children of the mistress!', and said, 'My
mistress and her children are all dead, every one of them!'" Then
he looked round and seeing me with my turband rent in rags round
my neck, howling and weeping with exceeding weeping and throwing
dust upon my head, he cried out at me. So I came to him and he
said, "Woe to thee, O ill omened slave! O whoreson knave! O thou
damned breed! What mischief thou hast wrought? By Allah! I will
flog thy skin from thy flesh and cut thy flesh from thy bones!" I
rejoined, "By Allah, thou canst do nothing of the kind with me, O
my lord, for thou boughtest me with my blemish; and there are
honest men to bear witness against thee that thou didst so
accepting the condition, and that thou knewest of my fault which
is to tell one lie every year. Now this is only a half lie, but
by the end of the year I will tell the other half, then will the
lie stand whole and complete." "O dog, son of a dog!", cried my
master, "O most accursed of slaves, is this all of it but a half
lie? Verily if it be a half lie 'tis a whole calamity! Get thee
from me, thou art free in the face of Allah!" "By Allah,"
rejoined I, if thou free me, I will not free thee till my year is
completed and I have told thee the half lie which is left. When
this is done, go down with me to the slave market and sell me as
thou boughtest me to whoso will buy me with my blemish; but thou
shalt not manumit me, for I have no handicraft whereby to gain my
living;[FN#99] and this my demand is a matter of law which the
doctors have laid down in the Chapter of Emancipation."[FN#100]
While we were at these words, up came the crowd of people, and
the neighbours of the quarter, men, women and children, together
with the Governor and his suite offering condolence. So my master
and the other merchants went up to him and informed him of the
adventure, and how this was but a half lie, at which all
wondered, deeming it a whole lie and a big one. And they cursed
me and reviled me, while I stood laughing and grinning at them,
till at last I asked, "How shall my master slay me when he bought
me with this my blemish?" Then my master returned home and found
his house in ruins, and it was I who had laid waste the greater
part of it,[FN#101] having broken things which were worth much
money, as also had done his wife, who said to him, "'Twas Kafur
who broke the vessels and chinaware." Thereupon his rage
redoubled and he struck hand upon hand exclaiming, "By Allah! in
my life never saw I a whoreson like this slave; and he saith this
is but a half lie! How, then, if he had told me a whole lie? He
would ruin a city, aye or even two." Then in his fury he went to
the Governor, and they gave me a neat thing in the bastinado-line
and made me eat stick till I was lost to the world and a fainting
fit came on me; and, whilst I was yet senseless, they brought the
barber who docked me and gelded me[FN#102] and cauterised the
wound. When I revived I found myself a clean eunuch with nothing
left, and my master said to me, "Even as thou hast burned my
heart for the things I held dearest, so have I burnt thy heart
for that of thy members whereby thou settest most store!" Then he
took me and sold me at a profit, for that I was become an eunuch.
And I ceased not bringing trouble upon all, wherever I was sold,
and was shifted from lord to lord and from notable to notable,
being sold and being bought, till I entered the palace of the
Commander of the Faithful. But now my spirit is broken and my
tricks are gone from me, so alas! are my ballocks. When the two
slaves heard his history, they laughed at him and chaffed him and
said, "Truly thou art skite[FN#103] and skite-son! Thou liedest
an odious lie." Then quoth they to the third slave, "Tell us thy
tale." "O sons of my uncle," quoth he, "all that ye have said is
idle: I will tell you the cause of my losing my testicles, and
indeed I deserved to lose even more, for I futtered both my
mistress and my master's eldest son and heir: but my story is a
long one and this is not the time to tell it; for the dawn, O my
cousins, draweth near and if morning come upon us with this chest
still unburied, we shall get into sore disgrace and our lives
will pay for it. So up with you and open the door and, when we
get back to the palace, I will tell you my story and the cause of
my losing my precious stones." Then he swarmed up and dropped
down from the wall inside and opened the door, so they entered
and, setting down the lantern, dug between four tombs a hole as
long as the chest and of the same breadth. Kafur plied the spade
and Sawab removed the earth by baskets full till they reached the
depth of the stature of a man;[FN#104] when they laid the chest
in the hole and threw back the earth over it: then they went
forth and shutting the door disappeared from Ghanim's eyes. When
all was quiet and he felt sure that he was left alone in the
place, his thought was busied about what the chest contained and
he said to himself, "Would that I knew the contents of that box!"
However, he waited till day broke, when morning shone and showed
her sheen: whereupon he came down from the date tree and scooped
away the earth with his hands, till the box was laid bare and
disengaged from the ground. Then he took a large stone and
hammered at the lock till he broke it and, opening the lid,
behold a young lady, a model of beauty and loveliness, clad in
the richest of garments and jewels of gold and such necklaces of
precious stones that, were the Sultan's country evened with them,
it would not pay their price. She had been drugged with Bhang,
but her bosom, rising and falling, showed that her breath had not
departed. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had played
her false and hocussed her; so he pulled her out of the chest and
laid her on the ground with her face upwards. As soon as she
smelt the breeze and the air entered her nostrils, mouth and
lungs, she sneezed and choked and coughed; when there fell from
out her throat a pill of Cretan Bhang, had an elephant smelt it
he would have slept from night to night. Then she opened her eyes
and glancing around said, in sweet voice and gracious words, "Woe
to thee O wind! there is naught in thee to satisfy the thirsty,
nor aught to gratify one whose thirst is satisfied! Where is Zhar
al-Bostan?" But no one answered her, so she turned her and cried
out, "Ho Sabíhah! Shajarat al-Durr! Núr al-Hudá! Najmat al-Subh!
be ye awake? Shahwah, Nuzhab, Halwá, Zarífah, out on you,
speak![FN#105]'' But no one answered; so she looked all around
and said, "Woe's me! have they entombed me in the tombs? O Thou
who knowest what man's thought enwombs and who givest
compensation on the Day of Doom, who can have brought me from
amid hanging screens and curtains veiling the Harim rooms and set
me down between four tombs?" All this while Ghanim was standing
by: then he said to her, "O my lady, here are neither screened
rooms nor palace Harims nor yet tombs; only the slave henceforth
devoted to thy love, Ghanim bin Ayyub, sent to thee by the
Omniscient One above, that all thy troubles He may remove and win
for thee every wish that cloth behove!" Then he held his peace.
She was reassured by his words and cried, "I testify that there
is no god but the God and I testify that Mohammed is the Apostle
of God!"; then she turned to Ghanim and, placing her hands before
her face, said to him in the sweetest speech, "O blessed youth,
who brought me hither? See, I am now come to myself." "O my
lady," he replied, "three slave eunuchs came here bearing this
chest;" and related to her the whole of what had befallen him,
and how evening having closed upon him had proved the cause of
her preservation, otherwise she had died smothered.[FN#106] Then
he asked her who she was and what was her story, and she
answered, "O youth, thanks be to Allah who hath cast me into the
hands of the like of thee! But now rise and put me back into the
box; then fare forth upon the road and hire the first camel
driver or muleteer thou findest to carry it to thy house. When I
am there, all will be well and I will tell thee my tale and
acquaint thee with my adventures, and great shall be thy gain by
means of me." At this he rejoiced and went outside the tomb. The
day was now dazzling bright and the firmament shone with light
and the folk had begun to circulate; so he hired a man with a
mule and, bringing him to the tomb, lifted the chest wherein he
had put the damsel and set it on the mule. Her love now engrossed
his heart and he fared homeward with her rejoicing, for that she
was a girl worth ten thousand gold pieces and her raiment and
ornaments would fetch a mint of money. As soon as he arrived at
his house he carried in the chest and opening it,--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Forty-first night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ghanim
son of Ayyub arrived with the chest at his house, he opened it
and took out the young lady, who looked about her and, seeing
that the place was handsome, spread with carpets and dight with
cheerful colours and other deckings; and noting the stuffs up
piled and packed bales and other else than that, knew that he was
a substantial merchant and a man of much money. There upon she
uncovered her face and looked at him, and lo! he was a fair
youth; so when she saw him she loved him and said, "O my lord,
bring us something to eat." "On my head and mine eyes!" replied
he; and, going down to the bazar, bought a roasted lamb and a
dish of sweetmeats and with these dry fruits and wax candles,
besides wine and whatsoever was required of drinking materials,
not forgetting perfumes. With all this gear he returned to the
house; and when the damsel saw him she laughed and kissed him and
clasped his neck. Then she began caressing him, which made his
love wax hotter till it got the mastery of his heart. They ate
and drank and each had conceived the fondest affection; for
indeed the two were one in age and one in loveliness; and when
night came on Ghanim bin Ayyub, the Distraught, the Thrall o'
Love, rose and lit the wax candles and lamps till the place
blazed with light;[FN#107] after which he produced the wine
service and spread the table. Then both sat down again, he and
she, and he kept filling and giving her to drink, and she kept
filling and giving him to drink, and they played and toyed and
laughed and recited verses; whilst their joy increased and they
dove in closer love each to each (glory be to the Uniter of
Hearts!). They ceased not to carouse after this fashion till near
upon dawn when drowsiness overcame them and they slept where they
were, apart each from other, till the morning.[FN#108] Then
Ghanim arose and going to the market, bought all they required of
meat and vegetables and wine and what not, and brought them to
the house; whereupon both sat down to eat and ate their
sufficiency, when he set on wine. They drank and each played with
each, till their cheeks flushed red and their eyes took a darker
hue and Ghanim's soul longed to kiss the girl and to lie with her
and he said, "O my lady, grant me one kiss of that dear mouth:
per chance 't will quench the fire of my heart." "O Ghanim,"
replied she, "wait till I am drunk and dead to the world; then
steal a kiss of me, secretly and on such wise that I may not know
thou hast kissed me." Then she rose and taking off her upper
dress sat; in a thin shift of fine linen and a silken head
kerchief.[FN#109] At this passion inflamed Ghanim and he said to
her, "O my lady, wilt thou not vouchsafe me what I asked of
thee?" "By Allah," she replied, "that may not be thine, for there
is written upon my trouser string[FN#110] a hard word!" Thereupon
Ghanim's heart sank and desire grew on him as its object offered
difficulties; and he improvised these verses,
"I asked the author of mine ills * To heal the wound with one
sweet kiss:
No! No! she cried,[FN#111] for ever no! * But I, soft whispering,
urged yes:
Quoth she, Then take it by my leave, * When smiles shall pardon
thine amiss:
By force, cried I? Nay, she replied * With love and gladness eke
I wis.
Now ask me not what next occurred * Seek grace of God and whist
of this!
Deem what thou wilt of us, for love * By calumnies the sweeter is
Nor after this care I one jot * Whether my foe be known or not."
Then his affection increased and love fires rose hotter in his
heart, while she refused herself to him saying, "Thou canst not
possess me." They ceased not to make love and enjoy their wine
and wassail, whilst Ghanim was drowned in the sea of love and
longing; but she redoubled in coyness and cruelty till the night
brought on the darkness and let fall on them the skirts of sleep.
Thereupon Ghanim rose and lit the lamps and wax candles and
refreshed the room and removed the table; then he took her feet
and kissed them and, finding them like fresh cream, pressed his
face[FN#112] on them and said to her, "O my lady, take pity on
one thy love hath ta'en and thine eyes hath slain; for indeed I
were heart whole but for thy bane!" And he wept somewhat. "O my
lord, and light of my eyes," quoth she, "by Allah, I love thee in
very sooth and I trust to thy truth, but I know that I may not be
thine." "And what is the obstacle?" asked he; when she answered,
"Tonight I will tell thee my tale, that thou mayst accept my
excuse." Then she threw herself upon him and winding her arms
like a necklace about his neck, kissed him and caressed him and
promised him her favours; and they ceased not playing and
laughing till love get the firmest hold upon both their hearts.
And so it continued a whole month, both passing the night on a
single carpet bed, but whenever he would enjoy her, she put him
off; whilst mutual love increased upon them and each could hardly
abstain from other. One night, as he lay by her side, and both
were warm with wine Ghanim passed his hand over her breasts and
stroked them; then he slipped it down to her waist as far as her
navel. She awoke and, sitting up, put her hand to her trousers
and finding them fast tied, once more fell asleep. Presently, he
again felt her and sliding his hand down to her trouser string,
began pulling at it, whereupon she awoke and sat upright. Ghanim
also sat up by her side and she asked him, "What dost thou want?"
"I want to lie with thee," he answered, "and that we may deal
openly and frankly with each other." Quoth she, "I must now
declare to thee my case, that thou mayst know my quality; then
will my secret be disclosed to thee and my excuse become manifest
to thee." Quoth he, "So be it!" Thereat she opened the skirt of
her shift and taking up her trouser string, said to him, "O my
lord, read what is worked on the flat of this string:" so he took
it in hand, and saw these words broidered on it in gold, "I AM
THINE, AND THOU ART MINE, O COUSIN OF THE APOSTLE!''[FN#113] When
he read this, he withdrew his hand and said to her, "Tell me who
thou art!" "So be it," answered she; "know that I am one of the
concubines of the Commander of the Faithful, and my name is Kút
al-Kulúb the Food of Hearts. I was brought up in his palace and,
when I grew to woman's estate, he looked on me and, noting what
share of beauty and loveliness the Creator had given me, loved me
with exceeding love, and assigned me a separate apartment, and
gave me ten slave girls to wait on me and all these ornaments
thou seest me wearing. On a certain day he set out for one of his
provinces, and the Lady Zubaydah came to one of the slave girls
in my service and said to her, 'I have something to require of
thee.' 'What is it, O my lady?' asked she and the Caliph's wife
answered, 'When thy mistress Kut al-Kulub is asleep, put this
piece of Bhang into her nostrils or drop it into her drink, and
thou shalt have of me as much money as will satisfy thee.' 'With
love and gladness;' replied the girl and took the Bhang from her,
being a glad woman because of the money and because aforetime she
had been one of Zubaydah's slaves. So she put the Bhang in my
drink, and when it was night drank, and the drug had no sooner
settled in my stomach than I fell to the ground, my head touching
my feet, and knew naught of my life but that I was in another
world. When her device succeeded, she bade put me in this chest,
and secretly brought in the slaves and the doorkeepers and bribed
them; and, on the night when thou wast perched upon the date
tree, she sent the blacks to do with me as thou sawest. So my
delivery was at thy hands, and thou broughtest me to this house
and hast entreated me honourably and with thy kindest. This is my
story, and I wot not what is become of the Caliph during my
absence. Know then my condition and divulge not my case." When
Ghanim heard her words and knew that she was a concubine of the
Caliph, he drew back, for awe of the Caliphate beset him, and sat
apart from her in one of the corners of the place, blaming
himself and brooding over his affair and patiencing his heart
bewildered for love of one he could not possess. Then he wept for
excess of longing, and plained him of Fortune and her injuries,
and the world and its enmities (and praise be to Him who causeth
generous hearts to be troubled with love and the beloved, and who
endoweth not the minds of the mean and miserly with so much of it
as eveneth a grain-weight!). So he began repeating,
"The lover's heart for his beloved must meet * Sad pain, and from
her charms bear sore defeat:
What is Love's taste? They asked and answered I, * Sweet is the
taste but ah! 'tis bitter sweet."
Thereupon Kut al-Kulub arose and took him to her bosom and kissed
him; for the love of him was firm fixed in her heart, so that she
disclosed to him her secret and all the affection she felt; and,
throwing her arms round Ghanim's neck like a collar of pearls,
kissed him again and yet again. But he held off from her in awe
of the Caliph. Then they talked together a long while (and indeed
both were drowned in the sea of their mutual love); and, as the
day broke, Ghanim rose and donned his clothes and going to the
bazar, as was his wont, took what the occasion required and
returned home. He found her weeping; but when she saw him she
checked herself and, smiling through her tears, said, "Thou hast
desolated me, O beloved of my heart. By Allah, this hour of
absence hath been to me like a year![FN#114] I have explained to
thee my condition in the excess of my eager love for thee; so
come now near me, and forget the past and have thy will of me."
But he interrupted her crying, "I seek refuge with Allah! This
thing may never be. How shall the dog sit in the lion's stead?
What is the lord's is unlawful to the slave!" So he with-drew
from her, and sat down on a corner of the mat. Her passion for
him increased with his forbearance; so she seated herself by his
side and caroused and played with him, till the two were flushed
with wine, and she was mad for her own dishonour. Then she sang
these verses,
"The lover's heart is like to break in twain: * Till when these
coy denials ah! till when?
O thou who fliest me sans fault of mine, * Gazelles are wont at
times prove tame to men:
Absence, aversion, distance and disdain, * How shall young lover
all these ills sustain?"
Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept at his weeping, and they
ceased not drinking till nightfall, when he rose and spread two
beds, each in its place. "For whom is this second bed?" asked
she, and he answered her, "One is for me and the other is for
thee: from this night forth we must not sleep save thus, for that
which is the lord's is unlawful to the thrall." "O my master!"
cried she, "let us have done with this, for all things come to
pass by Fate and Fortune." But he refused, and the fire was
lighted in her heart and, as her longing waxed fiercer, she clung
to him and cried, "By Allah, we will not sleep save side by
side!" "Allah forefend!" he replied and prevailed against her and
lay apart till the morning, when love and longing redoubled on
her and distraction and eager thirst of passion. They abode after
this fashion three full told months, which were long and longsome
indeed, and every time she made advances to him, he would refuse
himself and say, "Whatever belongeth to the master is unlawful to
the man." Now when time waxed tiresome and tedious to her and
anguish and distress grew on her, she burst out from her
oppressed heart with these verses,
"How long, rare beauty! wilt do wrong to me? * Who was it bade
thee not belong to me?
With outer charms thou weddest inner grace * Comprising every
point of piquancy:
Passion thou hast infused in every heart, * From eyelids driven
sleep by deputy:
Erst was (I wet) the spray made thin of leaf. * O Cassia spray!
Unlief thy sin I see:[FN#115]
The hart erst hunted I: how is 't I spy * The hunter hunted (fair
my hart!) by thee?
Wondrouser still I tell thee aye that I * Am trapped while never
up to trap thou be!
Ne'er grant my prayer! For if I grudge thyself * To thee, I
grudge my me more jealously
And cry so long as life belong to me, * Rare beauty how, how long
this wrong to me?"
They abode in this state a long time, and fear kept Ghanim aloof
from her. So far concerning these two; but as regards the Lady
Zubaydah, when, in the Caliph's absence she had done this deed by
Kut al-Kulub she became perplexed, saying to herself, "What shall
I tell my cousin when he comes back and asks for her? What
possible answer can I make to him?" Then she called an old woman,
who was about her and discovered her secret to her saying, "How
shall I act seeing that Kut al-Kulub died by such untimely
death?" "O my lady," quoth the old crone, "the time of the
Caliph's return is near; so do thou send for a carpenter and bid
him make thee a figure of wood in the form of a corpse. We will
dig a grave for it midmost the palace and there bury it: then do
thou build an oratory over it and set therein lighted candles and
lamps, and order each and every in the palace to be clad in
black.[FN#116] Furthermore command thy handmaids and eunuchs as
soon as they know of the Caliph's returning from his journey, to
spread straw over the vestibule floors and, when the Commander of
the Faithful enters and asks what is the matter, let them say:--
Kut al-Kulub is dead, and may Allah abundantly compensate thee
for the loss of her![FN#117]; and, for the high esteem in which
she was held of our mistress, she hath buried her in her own
palace. When he hears this he will weep and it shall be grievous
to him; then will he cause perfections of the Koran to be made
for her and he will watch by night at her tomb. Should he say to
himself, 'Verily Zubaydah, the daughter of my uncle, hath
compassed in her jealousy the death of Kut al-Kulub'; or, if love
longing overcome him and he bid her be taken out of her tomb,
fear thou not; for when they dig down and come to the image in
human shape he will see it shrouded in costly grave clothes; and,
if he wish to take off the winding sheet that he may look upon
her, do thou forbid him or let some other forbid him, saying,
'The sight of her nakedness is unlawful.' The fear of the world
to come will restrain him and he will believe that she is dead
and will restore the figure to its place and thank thee for thy
doings; and thus thou shalt escape, please Almighty Allah, from
this slough of despond." When the Lady Zubaydah heard her words,
she commended the counsel and gave her a dress of honour and a
large sum of money, ordering her to do all she had said. So the
old woman set about the business forthright and bade the
carpenter make her the afore said image; and, as soon as it was
finished, she brought it to the Lady Zubaydah, who shrouded it
and buried it and built a sepulchre over it, wherein they lighted
candles and lamps, and laid down carpets about the tomb. Moreover
she put on black and she spread abroad in the Harim that Kut
al-Kulub was dead. After a time the Caliph returned from his
journey and went up to the palace, thinking only of Kut al-Kulub.
He saw all the pages and eunuchs and handmaids habited in black,
at which his heart fluttered with extreme fear; and, when he went
in to the Lady Zubaydah, he found her also garbed in black. So he
asked the cause of this and they gave him tidings of the death of
Kut al-Kulub, whereon he fell a swooning. As soon as he came to
himself, he asked for her tomb, and the Lady Zubaydah said to
him, "Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that for especial honour I
have buried her in my own palace." Then he repaired in his
travelling garb[FN#118] to the tomb that he might wail over her,
and found the carpets spread and the candles and lamps lighted.
When he saw this, he thanked Zubaydah for her good deed and abode
perplexed, halting between belief and unbelief till at last
suspicion overcame him and he gave order to open the grave and
take out the body. When he saw the shroud and would have removed
it to look upon her, the fear of Allah Almighty restrained him,
and the old woman (taking advantage of the delay) said, "Restore
her to her place." Then he sent at once for Fakirs and Koran
readers, and caused perfections to be made over her tomb and sat
by the side of the grave, weeping till he fainted; and he
continued to frequent the tomb and sit there for a whole month,--
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Forty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
ceased not to frequent the tomb for the period of a whole month,
at the end of which time it so happened one day that he entered
the Serraglio, after dismissing the Emirs and Wazirs, and lay
down and slept awhile; and there sat at his head a slave girl
fanning him, and at his feet a second rubbing and shampooing
them. Presently he awoke and, opening his eyes, shut them again
and heard the handmaid at his head saying to her who was at his
feet, "A nice business this, O Khayzarán!" and the other answered
her "Well, O Kazíb al-Bán?"[FN#119] "Verily" said the first, "our
lord knoweth naught of what hath happened and sitteth waking and
watching by a tomb wherein is only a log of wood carved by the
carpenter's art." "And Kut al-Kulub," quoth the other, "what hath
befallen her?" She replied, "Know that the Lady Zubaydah sent a
pellet of Bhang by one of the slave women who was bribed to drug
her; and when sleep overpowered her she let put her in a chest,
and ordered Sawab and Kafur and Bukhayt to throw her amongst the
tombs." "What dost thou say, O Kazib al-Ban;" asked Khayzaran,
"is not the lady Kut al-Kulub dead?" "Nay, by Allah!" she
answered "and long may her youth be saved from death! but I have
heard the Lady Zubaydah say that she is in the house of a young
merchant named Ghanim bin Ayyub of Damascus, highs the
Distraught, the Thrall o' Love; and she hath been with him these
four months, whilst our lord is weeping and watching by night at
a tomb wherein is no corpse." They kept on talking this sort of
talk, and the Caliph gave ear to their words; and, by the time
they had ceased speaking, he knew right well that the tomb was a
feint and a fraud, and that Kut al-Kulub had been in Ghanim's
house for four months. Whereupon he was angered with exceeding
anger and rising up, he summoned the Emirs of his state; and his
Wazir Ja'afar the Barmaki came also and kissed the ground between
his hands. The Caliph said to him in fury, "Go down, O Ja'afar,
with a party of armed men and ask for the house of Ghanim son of
Ayyub: fall upon it and spoil it and bring him to me with my
slave girl, Kut al-Kulub, for there is no help but that I punish
him!" "To hear is to obey," said Ja'afar; and setting out with
the Governor and the guards and a world of people, repaired to
Ghanim's house. Now about that time the youth happened to have
brought back a pot of dressed meat and was about to put forth his
hand to eat of it, he and Kut al-Kulub, when the lady, happening
to look out saw calamity surrounding the house on every side; for
the Wazir and the Governor, the night guard and the Mamelukes
with swords drawn had girt it as the white of the eye girdeth the
black. At this she knew that tidings of her had reached the
Caliph, her lord; and she made sure of ruin, and her colour paled
and her fair features changed and her favour faded. Then she
turned to Ghanim and said to him, "O my love! fly for thy life!"
"What shall I do," asked he, "and whither shall I go, seeing that
my money and means of maintenance are all in this house?"; and
she answered, "Delay not lest thou be slain and lose life as well
as wealth." "O my loved one and light of mine eyes!" he cried,
"how shall I do to get away when they have surrounded the house?"
Quoth she, "Fear not;" and, stripping off his fine clothes,
dressed him in ragged old garments, after which she took the pot
and, putting in it bits of broken bread and a saucer of
meat,[FN#120] placed the whole in a basket and setting it upon
his head said, "Go out in this guise and fear not for me who
wotteth right well what thing is in my hand for the
Caliph."[FN#121] So he went out amongst them, bearing the basket
with its contents, and the Protector vouchsafed him His
protection and he escaped the snares and perils that beset him,
by the blessing of his good conscience and pure conduct.
Meanwhile Ja'afar dismounted and entering the house, saw Kut
al-Kulub who had dressed and decked herself in splendid raiments
and ornaments and filled a chest with gold and jewellery and
precious stones and rarities and what else was light to bear and
of value rare. When she saw Ja'afar come in, she rose and,
kissing the ground before him, said, "O my lord, the Reed hath
written of old the rede which Allah decreed!''[FN#122] "By Allah,
O my lady," answered Ja'afar, "he gave me an order to seize
Ghanim son of Ayyub;" and she rejoined, "O my lord, he made ready
his goods and set out therewith for Damascus and I know nothing
more of him; but I desire thee take charge of this chest and
deliver it to me in the Harim of the Prince of the Faithful."
"Hearing and obedience," said Ja'afar, and bade his men bear it
away to the head quarters of the Caliphate together with Kut
al-Kulub, commanding them to entreat her with honour as one in
high esteem. They did his bidding after they had wrecked and
plundered Ghanim's house. Then Ja'afar went in to the Caliph and
told him all that had happened, and he ordered Kut al-Kulub to be
lodged in a dark chamber and appointed an old women to serve her,
feeling convinced that Ghanim had debauched her and slept with
her. Then he wrote a mandate to the Emir Mohammed bin Sulayman
al-Zayni, his viceroy in Damascus, to this effect: "The instant
thou shalt receive this our letter, seize upon Ghanim bin Ayyub
and send him to us." When the missive came to the viceroy, he
kissed it and laid it on his head; then he let proclaim in the
bazars, "Whoso is desirous to plunder, away with him to the house
of Ghanim son of Ayyub."[FN#123] So they flocked thither, when
they found that Ghanim's mother and sister had built him a
tomb[FN#124] in the midst of the house and sat by it weeping for
him; whereupon they seized the two without telling them the cause
and, after spoiling the house, carried them before the viceroy.
He questioned them concerning Ghanim and both replied, "For a
year or more we have had no news of him." So they restored them
to their place. Thus far concerning them; but as regards Ghanim,
when he saw his wealth spoiled and his ruin utterest he wept over
himself till his heart well nigh brake. Then he fared on at
random till the last of the day, and hunger grew hard on him and
walking wearied him. So coming to a village he entered a
mosque[FN#125] where he sat down upon a mat and propped his back
against the wall; but presently he sank to the ground in his
extremity of famine and fatigue. There he lay till dawn, his
heart fluttering for want of food; and, owing to his sweating,
the lice[FN#126] coursed over his skin; his breath waxed fetid
and his whole condition was changed. When the villagers came to
pray the dawn prayer, they found him prostrate, ailing, hunger
lean, yet showing evident signs of former affluence. As soon as
prayers were over, they drew near him; and, understanding that he
was starved with hunger and cold, they gave him an old robe with
ragged sleeves and said to him, "O stranger, whence art thou and
what sickness is upon thee?" He opened his eyes and wept but
returned no answer; whereupon one of them, who saw that he was
starving, brought him a saucer of honey and two barley scones. He
ate a little and they sat with him till sun rise, when they went
to their work. He abode with them in this state for a month,
whilst sickness and weakliness grew upon him; and they wept for
him and, pitying his condition, took counsel with one another
upon his case and agreed to forward him to the hospital in
Baghdad.[FN#127] Meanwhile behold, two beggar women, who were
none other than Ghanim's mother and sister,[FN#128] came into the
mosque and, when he saw them, he gave them the bread that was at
his head; and they slept by his side that night but he knew them
not. Next day the villagers brought a camel and said to the
cameleer, "Set this sick man on thy beast and carry him to
Baghdad and put him down at the Spital door; so haply he may be
medicined and be healed and thou shalt have thy hire."[FN#129]
"To hear is to comply," said the man. So they brought Ghanim, who
was asleep, out of the mosque and set him, mat and all, on the
camel; and his mother and sister came out among the crowd to gaze
upon him, but they knew him not. However, after looking at him
and considering him carefully they said, "Of a truth he favours
our Ghanim, poor boy!; can this sick man be he?" Presently, he
woke and finding himself bound with ropes on a camel's back, he
began to weep and complain,[FN#130] and the village people saw
his mother and sister weeping over him, albeit they knew him not.
Then they fared forth for Baghdad, but the camel-man forewent
them and, setting Ghanim down at the Spital gate, went away with
his beast. The sick man lay there till dawn and, when the folk
began to go about the streets, they saw him and stood gazing on
him, for he had become as thin as a toothpick, till the Syndic of
the bazar came up and drove them away from him, saying, "I will
gain Paradise through this poor creature; for if they take him
into the Hospital, they will kill him in a single day."[FN#131]
Then he made his young men carry him to his house, where they
spread him a new bed with a new pillow,[FN#132] and he said to
his wife, "Tend him carefully;" and she replied, "Good! on my
head be it!" Thereupon she tucked up her sleeves and warming some
water, washed his hands, feet and body; after which she clothed
him in a robe belonging to one of her slave girls and made him
drink a cup of wine and sprinkled rose wafer over him. So he
revived and complained, and the thought of his beloved Kut
al-Kulub made his grief redouble. Thus far concerning him; but as
regards Kut al-Kulub, when the Caliph was angered against her,--
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Forty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Caliph was angered against Kut al-Kulub, he ordered her to a dark
chamber where she abode eighty days, at the end of which the
Caliph, happening to pass on a certain day the place where she
was, heard her repeating poetry, and after she ceased reciting
her verse, saying, "O my darling, O my Ghanim! how great is thy
goodness and how chaste is thy nature! thou didst well by one who
did ill by thee and thou guardedst his honour who garred thine
become dishonour, and his Harim thou didst protect who to enslave
thee and shine did elect! But thou shalt surely stand, thou and
the Commander of the Faithful, before the Just Judge, and thou
shalt be justified of him on the Day when the Lord (to whom be
honour and glory!) shall be Kazi and the Angels of Heaven shall
be witnesses!" When the Caliph heard her com plaint, he knew that
she had been wronged and, returning to the palace, sent Masrur
the Eunuch for her. She came before him with bowed head and eyes
tearful and heart sorrowful; and he said to her, "O Kut al-Kulub,
I find thou accuses me of tyranny and oppression, and thou
avouches that I have done ill by one who did well by me. Who is
this who hath guarded my honour while I garred his become
dishonour? Who protected my Harim and whose Harim I wrecked?" "He
is Ghanim son of Ayyub," replied she, "for he never approached me
in wantonness or with lewd intent, I swear by thy munificence, O
Commander of the Faithful!" Then said the Caliph, "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! Ask what thou wilt
of me, O Kut al-Kulub." "O Prince of the Faithful!", answered
she, "I require of thee only my beloved Ghanim son of Ayyub." He
did as she desired, whereupon she said, "O Lord of the Moslems,
if I bring him to thy presence, wilt thou bestow me on him?"; and
he replied, "If he come into my presence, I will give thee to him
as the gift of the generous who revoketh not his largesse." "O
Prince of True Believers," quoth she, "suffer me to go and seek
him; haply Allah may unite me with him:" and quoth he, "Do even
as thou wilt." So she rejoiced and, taking with her a thousand
diners in gold, went out and visited the elders of the various
faiths and gave alms in Ghanim's name.[FN#133] Next day she
walked to the merchants' bazar and disclosed her object to the
Syndic and gave him money, saying, "Bestow this in charity to the
stranger!" On the following Friday she fared to the bazar (with
other thousand diners) and, entering the goldsmiths' and
jewellers' market street, called the Chief and presented to him a
thousand diners with these words, "Bestow this in charity to the
stranger!" The Chief looked at her (and he was the Syndic who had
taken in Ghanim) and said, "O my lady, wilt thou come to my house
and look upon a youth, a stranger I have there and see how goodly
and graceful he is?" Now the stranger was Ghanim, son of Ayyub,
but the Chief had no knowledge of him and thought him to be some
wandering pauper, some debtor whose wealth had been taken from
him, or some lover parted from his beloved. When she heard his
words her heart fluttered[FN#134] and her vitals yearned, and she
said to him, "Send with me one who shall guide me to thy house."
So he sent a little lad who brought her to the house wherein was
the head man's stranger guest and she thanked him for this. When
she reached the house, she went in and saluted the Syndic's wife,
who rose and kissed the ground between her hands, for she knew
her. Then quoth Kut al-Kulub, "Where is the sick man who is with
thee?" She wept and replied, "Here is he, O my lady; by Allah, he
is come of good folk and he beareth the signs of gentle breeding:
you see him lying on yonder bed." So she turned and looked at
him: and she saw something like him, but he was worn and wasted
till he had become lean as a toothpick, so his identity was
doubtful to her and she could not be certain that it was he. Yet
pity for him possessed her and she wept saying, "Verily the
stranger is unhappy, even though he be a prince in his own
land!"; and his case was grievous to her and her heart ached for
him, yet she knew him not to be Ghanim. Then she furnished him
with wine and medicines and she sat awhile by his head, after
which she mounted and returned to her palace and continued to
visit every bazar in quest of her lover. Meanwhile Ghanim's
mother and sister Fitnah arrived at Baghdad and met the Syndic,
who carried them to Kut al-Kulub and said to her, "O Princess of
beneficent ladies, there came to our city this day a woman and
her daughter, who are fair of favour and signs of good breeding
and dignity are apparent in them, though they be dressed in hair
cloth and have each one a wallet hanging to her neck; and their
eyes are tearful and their hearts are sorrowful. So I have
brought them to thee that thou mayst give them refuge, and rescue
them from beggary, for they are not of asker folk and, if it
please Allah, we shall enter Paradise through them." "By Allah, O
my master," cried she, "thou makest me long to see them! Where
are they?", adding, "Here with them to me!" So he bade the eunuch
bring them in; and, when she looked on them and saw that they
were both of distinguished beauty, she wept for them and said,
"By Allah, these are people of condition and show plain signs of
former opulence." "O my lady," said the Syndic's wife, "we love
the poor and the destitute, more especially as reward in Heaven
will recompense our love; and, as for these persons, haply the
oppressor hath dealt hardly with them and hath plundered their
property and harried their houses." Then Ghanim's mother and
sister wept with sore weeping, remembering their former
prosperity and contrasting it with their present poverty and
miserable condition; and their thoughts dwelt upon son and
brother, whilst Kut al-Kulub wept for their weeping; and they
said, "We beseech Allah to reunite us with him whom we desire,
and he is none other but my son named Ghanim bin Ayyud!" When Kut
al-Kulub heard this, she knew them to be the mother and sister of
her lover and wept till a swoon came over her. When she revived
she turned to them and said, "Have no fear and sorrow not, for
this day is the first of your prosperity and the last of your
adversity!"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
When it was the Forty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kut
al-Kulub had consoled them she bade the Syndic lead them to his
house and let his wife carry them to the Hammam and dress them in
handsome clothes and take care of them and honour them with all
honour; and she gave him a sufficient sum of money. Next day, she
mounted and, riding to his house, went in to his wife who rose up
and kissed her hands and thanked her for her kindness. There she
saw Ghanim's mother and sister whom the Syndic's wife had taken
to the Hammam and clothed afresh, so that the traces of their
former condition became manifest upon them. She sat talking with
them awhile, after which she asked the wife about the sick youth
who was in her house and she replied, "He is in the same state."
Then said Kut al-Kulub, "Come, let us go and visit him." So she
arose, she and the Chief's wife and Ghanim's mother and sister,
and went in to the room where he lay and sat down near him.
Presently Ghanim bin Ayyub, the Distraught, the Thrall o' Love,
heard them mention the name of Kut al-Kulub; whereupon life
returned to him, emaciated and withered as he was and he raised
his head from the pillow and cried aloud, "O Kut al-Kulub!" She
looked at him and made certain it was he and shrieked rather than
said, "Yes, O my beloved!" "Draw near to me;" said he, and she
replied, "Surely thou art Ghanim bin Ayyub?"; and he rejoined "I
am indeed!" Hereupon a swoon came upon her; and, as soon as
Ghanim's mother and his sister Fitnah heard these words, both
cried out "O our joy'" and fainted clean away. When they all
recovered, Kut al-Kulub exclaimed "Praise be to Allah who hath
brought us together again and who hath reunited thee with thy
mother and thy sister!" And she related to him all that had
befallen her with the Caliph and said "I have made known the
truth to the Commander of the Faithful, who believed my words and
was pleased with thee; and now he desireth to see thee," adding,
"He hath given me to thee." Thereat he rejoiced with extreme joy,
when she said, "Quit not this place till I come back" and, rising
forthwith, betook herself to her palace. There she opened the
chest which she had brought from Ghanim's house and, taking out
some of the diners, gave them to the Syndic saying, "Buy with
this money for each of them four complete suits of the finest
stuffs and twenty kerchiefs, and else beside of whatsoever they
require;" after which she carried all three to the baths and had
them washed and bathed and made ready for them consommés, and
galangale-water and cider against their coming out. When they
left the Hammam, they put on the new clothes, and she abode with
them three days feeding them with chicken meats and bouillis, and
making them drink sherbert of sugar candy. After three days their
spirits returned; and she carried them again to the baths, and
when they came out and had changed their raiment, she led them
back to the Syndic's house and left them there, whilst she
returned to the palace and craved permission to see the Caliph.
When he ordered her to come in, she entered and, kissing the
ground between his hands, told him the whole story and how her
lord, Ghanim bin Ayyub, yclept the Distraught, the Thrall o'
Love, and his mother and sister were now in Baghdad. When the
Caliph heard this, he turned to the eunuchs and said, "Here with
Ghanim to me." So Ja'afar went to fetch him; but Kut al-Kulub
forewent him and told Ghanim, "The Caliph hath sent to fetch thee
before him," and charged him to show readiness of tongue and
firmness of heart and sweetness of speech. Then she robed him in
a sumptuous dress and gave him diners in plenty, saying, "Be
lavish of largesse to the Caliph's household as thou goest in to
him." Presently Ja'afar, mounted on his Nubian mule, came to
fetch him; and Ghanim advanced to welcome the Wazir and, wishing
him long life, kissed the ground before him. Now the star of his
good fortune had risen and shone brightly; and Ja'afar took him;
and they ceased not faring together, he and the Minister, till
they went in to the Commander of the Faithful. When he stood in
the presence, he looked at the Wazirs and Emirs and Chamberlains,
and Viceroys and Grandees and Captains, and then at the Caliph.
Hereupon he sweetened his speech and his eloquence and, bowing
his head to the ground, broke out in these extempore couplets,
"May that Monarch's life span a mighty span, * Whose lavish of
largesse all Empyrean! lieges scan:
None other but he shall be Kaysar highs, * Lord of lordly hall
and of haught Divan:
Kings lay their gems on his threshold-dust * As they bow and
salam to the mighty man;
And his glances foil them and all recoil, * Bowing beards aground
and with faces wan:
Yet they gain the profit of royal grace, * The rank and station
of high
Earth's plain is scant for thy world of men, * Camp there in Kay
wan's[FN#135] Empyrean!
May the King of Kings ever hold thee dear; * Be counsel shine and
right steadfast plan
Till thy justice spread o'er the wide spread earth * And the near
and the far be of equal worth."
When he ended his improvisation the Caliph was pleased by it and
marvelled at the eloquence of his tongue and the sweetness of his
speech,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Forty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph,
after marvelling at his eloquence of tongue and sweetness of
speech, said to him, "Draw near to me." So he drew near and quoth
the King, "Tell me thy tale and declare to me thy case." So
Ghanim sat down and related to him what had befallen him in
Baghdad, of his sleeping in the tomb and of his opening the chest
after the three slaves had departed, and informed him, in short,
of everything that had happened to him from commencement to
conclusion none of which we will repeat for interest fails in
twice told tales. The Caliph was convinced that he was a true
man; so he invested him with a dress of honour, and placed him
near himself in token of favour, and said to him, "Acquit me of
the responsibility I have incurred.''[FN#136] And Ghanim so did,
saying, "O our lord the Sultan, of a truth thy slave and all
things his two hands own are his master's." The Caliph was
pleased at this and gave orders to set apart a palace for him and
assigned to him pay and allowances, rations and donations, which
amounted to something immense. So he removed thither with sister
and mother; after which the Caliph, hearing that his sister
Fitnah was in beauty a very "fitnah,"[FN#137] a mere seduction,
demanded her in marriage of Ghanim who replied, "She is thy
handmaid as I am thy slave." The Caliph thanked him and gave him
an hundred thousand diners, then summoned the witnesses and the
Kazi, and on one and the same day they wrote out the two
contracts of marriage between the Caliph and Fitnah and between
Ghanim bin Ayyub and Kut al-Kulub; and the two marriages were
consummated on one and the same night. When it was morning, the
Caliph gave orders to record the history of what had befallen
Ghanim from first to last and to deposit it in the royal muniment
rooms, that those who came after him might read it and marvel at
the dealings of Destiny and put their trust in Him who created
the night and the day. Yet, O auspicious King, this story to
which thou hast deigned give ear is on no wise more wondrous than
the
