Tale Of King Omar Bin Al-Nu'uman And His Sons Sharrkan
And Zau Al-Makan,
And What Befel Them of Things Seld-Seen and Peregrine.[FN#138]
The King asked her, "And what was their story?" and she answered:
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was in the City
of Safety, Baghdad, before the Caliphate of Abd al-Malik bin
Marwán,[FN#139] a King, Omar bin al-Nu'umán highs, who was of the
mighty giants and had subjected the Chosroës of Persia and the
Kaysars of Eastern Rome; for none could warm himself at his
fire;[FN#140] nor could any avail to meet him in the field of
foray and fray; and, when he was angered, there came forth from
his nostrils sparks of flame. He had made himself King over all
quarters, and Allah had subjected to him all His creatures; his
word went forth to all great cities and his hosts had harried the
farthest lands. East and West had come under his command with
whatsoever regions lay interspersed between them, Hind and Sind
and Sin,[FN#141] the Holy Land, Al-Hijaz, the rich mountains of
Al-Yaman and the archipelagos of India and China. Moreover, he
reigned supreme over the north country and Diyár Bakr, or
Mesopotamia, and over Sudán, the Eastern Negro land and the
Islands of the Ocean, and all the far famed rivers of the earth,
Sayhún and Jayhún,[FN#142] Nile and Euphrates. He sent envoys
and ambassadors to capitals the most remote, to provide him with
true report; and they would bring back tidings of justice and
peace, with assurance of loyalty and obedience and of prayers in
the pulpits for King Omar bin al-Nu'uman; for he was, O Ruler of
the Age, a right noble King; and there came to him presents of
rarities and toll and tribute from all lands of his governing.
This mighty monarch had a son yclept Sharrkan,[FN#143] who was
likest of all men to his father and who proved himself one of the
prodigies of his time for subduing the brave and bringing his
contemporaries to bane and ban. For this his father loved him
with love so great none could be greater, and made him heir to
the kingdom after himself. This Prince grew up till he reached
man's estate and was twenty years old, and Allah subjected His
servants to him, by reason of his great might and prowess in
battle. Now his father, King Omar, had four wives legally
married, but Allah had vouchsafed him no son by them, save
Sharrkan, whom he had begotten upon one of them, and the rest
were barren. Moreover he had three hundred and sixty concubines,
after the number of days in the Coptic year, who were of all
nations; and he had furnished for each and every a private
chamber within his own palace. For he had built twelve
pavilions, after the number of the months, each containing thirty
private chambers, which thus numbered three hundred and three
score, wherein he lodged his handmaids: and he appointed
according to law for each one her night, when he lay with her and
came not again to her for a full year;[FN#144] and on this wise
he abode for a length of time. Meanwhile his son Sharrkan was
making himself renowned in all quarters of the world and his
father was proud of him and his might waxed and grew mightier; so
that he passed all bounds and bore himself masterfully and took
by storm castles and cities. Presently, by decree of the
Decreer, a handmaid among the handmaids of Omar bin Nu'uman
became pregnant; and, her pregnancy being announced to the Harim,
the King was informed thereof; whereupon he rejoiced with
exceeding joy and said, "Haply it will be a son, and so all my
offspring will be males!" Then he documented the date of her
conception and entreated her with all manner of kindness. But
when the tidings came to Sharrkan, he was troubled and the matter
seemed to him a sore one and a grievous; and he said, "Verily one
cometh who shall dispute with me the sovereignty:" so quoth he to
himself, "If this concubine bear a male child I will kill it:"
but he kept that intention hidden in his heart. Such was the
case with Sharrkan; but what happened in the matter of the damsel
was as follows. She was a Roumiyah, a Greek girl, by name
Sofiyah or Sophia,[FN#145] whom the King of Roum and Lord of
Cćsarea had sent to King Omar as a present, together with great
store of gifts and of rarities: she was the fairest of favour and
loveliest of all his handmaids and the most regardful of her
honour; and she was gifted with a wit as penetrating as her
presence was fascinating. Now she had served the King on the
night of his sleeping with her, saying to him, "O King! I desire
of the God of the Heavens that he bless thee this night with a
male child by me, so I may bring him up with the best of rearing,
and enable him to reach man's estate perfect in intelligence,
good manners and prudent bearing"[FN#146]--a speech which much
pleased the King. During her pregnancy she was instant in
prayer, fervently supplicating the Lord to bless her with a
goodly male child and make his birth easy to her; and Allah heard
her petition so that after her months were accomplished she sat
safely upon the birth stool.[FN#147] Now the King had deputed a
eunuch to let him know if the child she should bring forth were
male or female; and in like way his son Sharrkan had sent one to
bring him tidings of the same. In due time Sophia was delivered
of a child, which the midwives examined and found to be a girl
with a face sheenier than the moon. So they announced this to
all present in the room, whereupon the King's messenger carried
the news to him; and Sharrkan's eunuch did the like with his
master who rejoiced with exceeding joy. But, after the two had
departed, quoth Sophia to the midwives, "Wait with me awhile, for
I feel as if there were still somewhat in my womb." Then she
cried out and the pains of child bed again took her; and Allah
made it easy to her and she gave birth to a second child. The
wise women looked at it and found it a boy like the full moon,
with forehead flower white, and cheek ruddy bright with rosy
light; whereupon the mother rejoiced, as did the eunuchs and
attendants and all the company; and Sophia was delivered of the
after birth whilst all in the palace sent forth the trill of
joy.[FN#148] The rest of the concubines heard it and envied her
lot; and the tidings reached Omar son of Al- Nu'uman, who was
glad and rejoiced at the excellent news. Then he rose and went
to her and kissed her head, after which he looked at the boy;
and, bending over him, kissed him, whilst the damsels struck the
tabors and played on instruments of music; and the King gave
order that the boy should be named Zau al-Makán and his sister
Nuzhat al-Zamán.[FN#149] They answered "Hearing and obedience,"
and did his bidding; so he appointed wet nurses and dry nurses
and eunuchs and attendants to serve them; and assigned them
rations of sugar and diet drinks and unguents and else beside,
beyond the power of tongue to rehearse. Moreover the people of
Baghdad, hearing that Allah had blessed their King with issue,
decorated the city and made proclamation of the glad tidings with
drum and tom tom; and the Emirs and Wazirs and high dignitaries
came to the palace and wished King Omar bin al-Nu'uman joy of his
son, Zau al-Makan, and of his daughter Nuzhat al-Zaman, wherefore
he thanked them and bestowed on them dresses of honour and
further favoured them with gifts, and dealt largesse to all,
gentle and simple, who were present. After this fashion he did
for four days full told, and he lavished upon Sophia raiment and
ornaments and great store of wealth; and, every few days he would
send a messenger to ask after her and the new-borns. And when
four years had gone by, he provided her with the wherewithal to
rear the two children carefully and educate them with the best of
instructions. All this while his son Sharrkan knew not that a
male child had been born to his father, Omar son of Al-Nu'uman,
having news only that he had been blessed with the birth of
Nuzhat al-Zaman; and they hid the intelligence from him, until
days and years had sped by, whilst he was busied in battling with
the brave and fighting single handed against the knights. One
day, as King Omar was sitting in his palace, his Chamberlains
came in to him and, kissing the ground before him, said, "O King
there be come Ambassadors from the King of Roum, Lord of
Constantinople the Great, and they desire admission to thee and
submission to thy decree: if the King commend us to introduce
them we will so do; and, if not, there is no disputing his
behest." He bade them enter and, when they came in, he turned to
them and, courteously receiving them, asked them of their case,
and what was the cause of their coming. They kissed the ground
before him and said, "O King glorious and strong! O lord of the
arm that is long! know that he who despatched us to thee is King
Afrídún,[FN#150] Lord of Ionia land[FN#151] and of the Nazarene
armies, the sovereign who is firmly established in the empery of
Constantinople, to acquaint thee that he is now waging fierce war
and fell with a tyrant and a rebel, the Prince of Casarea; and
the cause of this war is as follows. One of the Kings of the
Arabs in past time, during certain of his conquests, chanced upon
a hoard of the time of Alexander,[FN#152] whence he removed
wealth past compute; and, amongst other things, three round
jewels, big as ostrich eggs, from a mine of pure white gems whose
like was never seen by man. Upon each were graven characts in
Ionian characters, and they have many virtues and properties,
amongst the rest that if one of these jewels be hung round the
neck of a new-born child, no evil shall befal him and he shall
neither wail, nor shall fever ail him as long as the jewel remain
without fail.[FN#153] When the Arab King laid hands upon them and
learned their secrets, he sent to King Afridun presents of
certain rarities and amongst them the three jewels afore
mentioned; and he equipped for the mission two ships, one bearing
the treasure and the other men of might to guard it from any who
might offer hindrance on the high seas, albeit well assured that
none would dare waylay his vessels, for that he was King of the
Arabs, and more by token that their course lay over waters
subject to the King of Constantinople and they were bound to his
port; nor were there on the shores of that sea any save the
subjects of the Great King, Afridun. The two ships set out and
voyaged till they drew near our city, when there sallied out on
them certain corsairs from that country and amongst them troops
from the Prince of Caesarea, who took all the treasures and
rarities in the ships, together with the three jewels, and slew
the crews. When our King heard of this, he sent an army against
them, but they routed it; then he marched a second and a stronger
but they put this also to flight,--whereupon the King waxed wroth
and swore that he would not go forth[FN#154] against them save in
his own person at the head of his whole army; nor would he turn
back from them till he had left Caesarea, of Armenia[FN#155] in
ruins and had laid waste all the lands and cities over which her
Prince held sway. So he sent us to the Lord of the age and the
time, Sultan Omar bin al-Nu'uman, King of Baghdad and of
Khorasan, desiring that he aid us with an army, so may honour and
glory accrue to him; and he hath also forwarded by us somewhat of
various kinds of presents, and of the King's grace he beggeth
their acceptance and the friendly boon of furtherance." Then the
Ambassadors kissed the ground before him,--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Forty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, after the
Ambassadors and retinue from the Constantinopolitan King had
kissed the ground before Omar and had delivered their embassage,
they brought out the presents, which were fifty damsels of the
choicest from Graecia-land, and fifty Mamelukes in tunics of
brocade, belted with girdles of gold and silver, each wearing in
his ears hoops of gold with pendants of fine pearls costing a
thousand ducats every one. The girls were adorned in like
fashion and were clad in stuffs worth a treasury of money. When
the King saw them, he rejoiced in them and accepted them; then he
bade the Ambassadors be honourably entreated and, summoning his
Wazirs, took counsel with them of what he should do. Herewith
rose up among them a Wazir, an ancient man, Dandan[FN#156] highs,
who kissed the ground before Omar and said, "O King, there is
nothing better to do in this matter than equip an army valiant
and victorious, and set over it thy son Sharrkan with us as his
lieutenants; and this rede commendeth itself to me on two counts;
first, because the King of Roum hath invoked thine assistance and
hath sent thee gifts which thou hast accepted; and, secondly,
because while no enemy dareth attack our country, thine army may
go forth safely and, should it succour the King of Graecia-land
and defeat his foe, the glory will be thine. Moreover, the news
of it will be noised abroad in all cities and countries and
especially, when the tidings shall reach the Islands of the Ocean
and the Kings of Mauritania shall hear it, they will send thee
offerings of rarities and pay thee tribute of money." The King
pleased by the Wazir's words and approving his rede, gave him a
dress of honour and said to him, "Of the like of thee should
Kings ask counsel, and it seemeth fit that thou shouldst conduct
the van of our army and our son Sharrkan command the main
battle." Then he sent for his son who came and kissed ground
before him and sat down; and he expounded to him the matter,
telling him what the Ambassadors and the Wazir Dandan had said,
and he charged him to take arms and equip himself for the
campaign, enjoining him not to gainsay Dandan in aught he should
do. Moreover, he ordered him to pick out of his army ten
thousand horsemen, armed cap-ŕ-pie and inured to onset and stress
of war. Accordingly, Sharrkan arose on the instant, and chose
out a myriad of horsemen, after which he entered his palace and
mustered his host and distributed largesse to them, saying, "Ye
have delay of three days." They kissed the earth before him in
obedience to his commands and began at once to lay in munitions,
and provide provisions for the occasion; whilst Sharrkan repaired
to the armouries and took therefrom whatsoever he required of
arms and armour, and thence to the stable where he chose horses
of choice blood and others. When the appointed three days were
ended, the army drew out to the suburbs of Baghdad city;[FN#157]
and King Omar came forth to take leave of his son who kissed the
ground before him and received from the King seven parcels of
money.[FN#158] Then he turned to Danden and commended to his care
the army of his son; and the Wazir kissed the ground before him
and answered, "I hear and I obey;" and lastly he charged Sharrkan
that he should consult the Wazir on all occasions, which he
promised to do. After this, the King returned to his city and
Sharrkan ordered the officers to muster their troops in battle
array. So they mustered them and their number was ten thousand
horsemen, besides footmen and camp followers. Then they loaded
their baggage on their beasts and the war drums beat and the
trumpets blared and the bannerols and standards were unfurled,
whilst Sharrkan mounted horse, with the Wazir Dandan by his side,
and the colours fluttering over their heads. So the host fared
forth and stinted not faring, with the ambassadors preceding
them, till day departed and night drew nigh, when they alighted
and encamped for the night. And as soon as Allah caused the morn
tomorrow, they mounted and tried on, guided by the Ambassadors,
for a space of twenty days; and by the night of the twenty first
they came to a fine and spacious Wady well grown with trees and
shrubbery. Here Sharrkan ordered them to alight and commanded a
three days' halt, so they dismounted and pitched their tents,
spreading their camp over the right and the left slopes of the
extensive valley, whilst the Wazir Dandan and the Ambassadors of
King Afridun pitched in the sole of the Wady.[FN#159] As for
Sharrkan, he tarried behind them for awhile till all had
dismounted and had dispersed themselves over the valley sides; he
then slacked the reins of his steed, being minded to explore the
Wady and to mount guard in his own person, because of his
father's charge and owing to the fact that they were on the
frontier of Graecia land and in the enemy's country. So he rode
out alone after ordering his armed slaves and his body guard to
camp near the Wazir Dandan, and he fared on along the side of the
valley till a fourth part of the night was passed, when he felt
tired and drowsiness overcame him, so that he could no longer
urge horse with heel. Now he was accustomed to take rest on
horseback; so when slumber overpowered him, he slept and the
steed ceased not going on with him till half the night was spent
and entered one of the thickets[FN#160] which was dense with
growth; but Sharrkan awoke not until his horse stumbled over
wooded ground. Then he started from sleep and found himself
among the trees, and the moon arose and shone brightly over the
two horizons, Eastern and Western. He was startled when he found
himself alone in this place and said the say which ne'er yet
shamed its sayer, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save
in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" But as he rode on, in fear of
wild beasts, behold, the moon spread her glad light over a meadow
as if it were of the meads of Paradise; and he heard pleasant
voices and a loud noise of talk and laughter captivating the
senses of men. So King Sharrkan alighted and, tying his steed to
one of the trees, went over a little way till he came upon a
stream and heard a woman talking in Arabic and saying, "Now by
the crush of the Messiah, this is not well of you! but whose
utters a word, I will throw her and truss her up with her own
girdle[FN#161]!" He kept walking in the direction of the sound
and when he reached the further side he looked and behold, a
stream was gushing and flowing, and antelopes at large were
frisking and roving, and wild cattle amid the pasture moving, and
birds expressed joy and gladness in their divers tongues, and
that place was purfled with all manner flowers and green herbs,
even as a poet described it in these couplets,
"Most beautiful is earth in budding bloom, * When lucid waters
course through plain and wood:
No work but His th' All great, th' All glorious, * Giver of all
gifts, Giver of all good!"
And as Sharrkan considered the place, he saw in it a Christian
Monastery within whose enceinte a castle towered high in air
catching the light of the moon.[FN#162] Through the midst of the
convent passed a stream, the water flowing amongst its gardens;
and upon the bank sat the woman whose voice he had heard, while
before her stood ten handmaids like moons and wearing various
sorts of raiment and ornaments that dazed and dazzled the
beholder, high bosomed virgins, as saith of them the poet in
these couplets,
"The mead is bright with what is on't * Of merry maidens
debonnair:
Double its beauty and its grace * Those trooping damsels slender-
fair:
Virgins of graceful swimming gait * Ready with eye and lip to
ensnare;
And like the tendril'd vine they loose * The rich profusion of
their hair:
Shooting their shafts and arrows from * Beautiful eyes beyond
compare;
Overpowering and transpiercing * Every froward adversaire."
Sharrkan gazed upon the ten girls and saw in their midst a lady
like the moon at fullest, with ringleted hair and forehead sheeny
white, and eyes wondrous wide and black and bright, and temple
locks like the scorpion's tail; and she was perfect in essence
and attributes, as the poet said of her in these couplets,
"She beamed on my sight with a wondrous glance, * And her
straight slender stature enshamed the lance:
She burst on my sight with cheeks rosy red, * Where all manner of
beauties have habitance:
And the locks on her forehead were lowering as night * Whence
issues a dawn tide of happiest chance."
Then Sharrkan heard her say to the handmaids, "Come ye on, that I
may wrestle with you and gravel you, ere the moon set and the
dawn break!" So each came up to her in turn and she grounded them
forthright, and pinioned them with their girdles, and ceased not
wrestling and pitching them until she had overthrown one and all.
Then there turned to her an old woman who was before her, and the
beldam said as in wrath, "O strumpet, cost thou glory in
grounding these girls? Behold I am an old woman, yet have I
thrown them forty times! So what hast thou to boast of? But if
thou have the strength to wrestle with me, stand up that I may
grip thee and set thy head between thy heels!" The young lady
smiled at her words, but she was filled with inward wrath, and
she jumped up and asked, "O my lady Zat al-Dawahi,[FN#163] by the
truth of the Messiah, wilt thou wrestle with me in very deed, or
dost thou jest with me?"; and she answered, "Yea,"--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Forty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
young lady asked Zat al-Dawahi, "By the truth of the Messiah,
wilt wrestle with me or dost jest?", and she answered, "Yea, I
will wrestle with thee in very deed" (Sharrkan looking on the
while), the damsel cried, "Rise up for the fall an thou have
spunk so to do." When the old woman heard this, she raged with
exceeding rage, and her body hair stood on end like the bristles
of a fretful hedgehog.[FN#164] Then she sprang to her feet,
whilst the damsel stood up to her, and said, "Now by the truth of
the Messiah, I will not wrestle with thee unless I be naked,
Mistress whore!"[FN#165] So she loosed her petticoat trousers
and, putting her hand under her clothes, tore them off her body;
then twisted up a silken kerchief into cord shape, girt it round
her middle and became as she were a scald head If ritah or a
spotted snake. With this she inclined towards the damsel and
said, "Do thou as I have done." All this time, Sharrkan was
gazing at the twain, and laughing at the beldam's loathly
semblance. So the damsel leisurely rose and, taking a sash of
Yamani stuff, passed it twice round her waist, then she tucked up
her trousers and displayed two calves of alabaster carrying a
mound of crystal, smooth and rounded, and a stomach which exhaled
musk from its dimples, as it were a bed of Nu'uman's anemones;
and breasts like double pomegranates. Then the old woman leant
towards her, and the two laid hold either of each, while Sharrkan
raised his head Heavenwards and prayed Allah that the belle might
beat the beldam. Presently the young woman get beneath the old
woman; and, gripping her waist cloth with the left and circling
her neck with the right hand, hoisted her off the ground with
both; whereupon the old woman strove to free herself and, in so
doing fell on her back arsiversy, with her legs high in air and
her hairy bush between them showed manifest in the moonshine;
furthermore she let fly two great farts[FN#166] one of which blew
up the dust from the earth's face and the other steamed up to the
gate of Heaven. Sharrkan laughed till he fell back upon the
ground. Then he arose and, baring his brand looked right and
left, but he saw no one save the old woman sprawling on her back,
and said to himself, "He lied not who named thee Lady of
Calamities! Verily thou knewest her prowess by her performance
upon the others." So he drew near them to hear what should pass
between them. Then the young lady went up to the old one and,
throwing a wrapper of thin silk upon her nakedness, helped her to
don her clothes and made excuses saying, "O my lady Zat al-
Dawahi, I intended only to throw thee and not all this, but thou
triedst to twist out of my hands; so laud to Allah for safety!"
She returned her no answer, but rose in her shame and walked away
till out of sight, leaving the handmaids prostrate and pinioned,
with the fair damsel standing amongst them. Quoth Sharrkan to
himself, "Every luck hath its cause. Sleep did not fall upon me
nor the war horse bear me hither save for my good fortune; for
doubtless this maid and what is with her shall become booty to
me." So he made towards his steed and mounted and heeled[FN#167]
him on, when he sped as the shaft speeds from the bow and in his
hand he still hent his brand bare of sheath, which he brandished
shouting the while his war cry, "Allah is All mighty[FN#168]!"
When the damsel saw him she sprang to her feet and, taking firm
stand on the bank of the stream, whose breadth was six ells, the
normal cubits, made one bound and landed clear on the farther
side,[FN#169] where she turned and cried out with a loud voice,
"Who art thou, O thou fellow, that breakest in upon our privacy
and pastime, and that too hanger in hand as if charging a host?
Whence camest thou and whither art thou going? Speak sooth, for
truth will stand thee in good stead, and lie not, for lies come
of villein breed Doubtless thou hast wandered this night from thy
way, that thou chancedst upon this place whence escape were the
greatest of mercies; for thou art now in an open plain and, did
we shout but a single shout, would come to our rescue four
thousand knights.[FN#170] So tell me what thou wantest; and if
thou wouldst only have us set thee on the right road, we will do
so." When Sharrkan heard her words he replied, "I am a stranger
of the Moslems, who fared forth this night single handed, seeking
for spoil; nor could this moonlight show me a fairer booty than
these ten maidens; so I shall seize them and rejoin my comrades
with them." Quoth she, "I would have thee know that as for the
booty thou hast not come at it; and, as for the handmaids, by
Allah, they shall never be thy spoil. Have I not told thee that
to lie is villein vile?" Quoth he, "The wise man is he who taketh
warning by others." Thereupon quoth she, "By the truth of the
Messiah, did I not fear that thy death would be on my hands, I
would shout a shout should fill the mead for thee with war steeds
and with men of might, but I take pity upon the stranger. So, if
thou seek booty, I require of thee that thou alight from thy
steed and swear to me, by thy faith, that thou wilt not advance
against me aught like arms in hand, and we will wrestle, I and
thou. If thou throw me, set me on thy steed and take all of us
to thy booty; but if I throw thee, thou shalt become under my
command. Swear this to me, for I fear thy treachery: indeed it
hath become a common saw, 'Where Perfidy is innate there Trust is
a weakly mate.' Now an thou wilt swear I will return and draw
near to thee and tackle thee." Answered Sharrkan (and indeed he
lusted to seize her and said in his soul, "Truly she knoweth not
that I am a champion of champions"); "Swear me by what oath thou
wilt and by what thou deemest most binding, and I will not
approach thee with aught till thou hast made thy preparation and
sayest, 'Draw near that I wrestle with thee.' If thou throw me, I
have money where withal to ransom myself; and if I throw thee,
'twill be booty and booty enough for me!" Rejoined the damsel, "I
am content herewith!" and Sharrkan was astounded at her words and
said, "And by the truth of the Apostle (whom Allah bless and
keep!) I too am content on the other part!" Then said she, "Swear
to me by Him who sprite in body dight and dealt laws to rule man
kind aright, that thou wilt not offer me aught of violence save
by way of wrestling; else mayst thou die without the pale of Al-
Islam." Sharrkan replied, "By Allah! were a Kazi to swear me,
even though he were a Kazi of the Kazis,[FN#171] he would not
impose upon me such an oath as this!" Then he sware to her by all
she named and tied his steed to a tree; but he was drowned in the
sea of thought, saying in himself, "Praise be to Him who
fashioned her from dirty water!"[FN#172] Then he girt himself and
made ready for wrestling, and said to her, "Cross the stream to
me;" but she replied, "It is not for me to come over to thee: if
thou wilt, pass thou over here to me." "I cannot do that," quoth
he, and quoth she, "O boy, I will come across to thee." So she
tucked up her skirts and, leaping, landed on the other side of
the stream by his side; whereupon he drew near to her and bent
him forwards and clapped palms.[FN#173] But he was confounded by
her beauty and loveliness; for he saw a shape which the Hand of
Power had tanned with the dye leaves of the Jann, which had been
fostered by the Hand of Beneficence and fanned by the Zephyrs of
fair fortune and whose birth a propitious ascendant had greeted.
Then she called out to him, "O Moslem, come on and let us wrestle
ere the break of morning," and tucked up her sleeves from a
forearm like fresh curd, which illumined the whole place with its
whiteness; and Sharrkan was dazzled by it. Then he bent forwards
and clapped his palms by way of challenge, she doing the like,
and caught hold of her, and the two grappled and gripped and
interlocked hands and arms. Presently he shifted his hands to
her slender waist, when his finger tips sank into the soft folds
of her middle, breeding languishment, and he fell a trembling
like the Persian reed in the roaring gale. So she lifted him up
and, throwing him to the ground, sat upon his breast with hips
and hinder cheeks like mounds of sand, for his soul had lost
mastery over his senses. Then she asked him, "O Moslem! the
slaying of Nazarenes is lawful to you folk; what then hast thou
to say about being slain thyself?"; and he answered, "O my lady,
thy speech as regards slaying me is not other than unlawful; for
our prophet Mohammed (whom Allah bless and preserve!) prohibited
the slaying of women and children, old men and monks!" "As it was
thus revealed to your Prophet," she replied, "it behoveth us to
render the equivalent of his mercy; so rise. I give thee thy
life, for generosity is never lost upon the generous." Then she
got off his breast and he rose and stood shaking the dust from
his head against the owners of the curved rib, even women; and
she said to him, "Be not ashamed; but verily one who entereth the
land of Roum in quest of booty, and cometh to assist Kings
against Kings, how happeneth it that he hath not strength enough
to defend himself from one made out of the curved rib?" "'Twas
not for lack of strength in me," he answered; "nor didst thou
throw me by thy force; it was thy loveliness overthrew me; so if
thou wilt grant me another bout, it will be of thy courtesy." She
laughed and said, "I grant thee thy request: but these handmaids
have long been pinioned and their arms and sides are weary, and
it were only right I should loose them, for haply this next
wrestling bout will be long." Then she went to the slave girls
and, unbinding them, said to them in the tongue of Greece, "Get
ye to some safe place, till I foil this Moslem's lust and longing
for you." So they went away, whilst Sharrkan kept gazing at them
and they kept turning to look at the two. Then each approached
the adversary and he set his breast against hers, but when he
felt waist touch waist, his strength failed him; and she, waxing
ware of this, lifted him with her hands swiftlier than the
blinding leven-flash, and threw him to the ground. He fell on
his back,[FN#174] and then she said to him, "Rise: I give thee
thy life a second time. I spared thee in the first count because
of thy Prophet, for that he made unlawful the slaying of women;
and I do so on the second count because of thy weakliness and the
greenness of thine years and thy strangerhood; but I charge thee,
if there be in the Moslem army sent by Omar bin al-Nu'uman to
succour the King of Constantinople, a stronger than thou, send
him hither and tell him of me: for in wrestling there are shifts
and trips, catches and holds, such as the feint or falsing and
the snap or first grip, the hug, the feet-catch, the thigh
Lite,[FN#175] the jostle and the leg-lock." "By Allah, O my
lady," quoth Sharrkan (and indeed he was highly incensed against
her), "had I been Master al-Safdí, Master Mohammed Kimál or Ibn
al-Saddí,[FN#176] as they were in their prime, I had kept no note
of these shifts thou mentionest; for O my mistress, by Allah,
thou hast not grassed me by thy strength, but by the
blandishments of thy back parts; for we men of Mesopotamia so
love a full formed thigh that nor sense was left me nor
foresight. But now, an thou wish, thou shalt try a third fall
with me while my wits are about me, and this last match is
allowed me by the laws of the game which sayeth the best of
three: moreover I have regained my presence of mind." When she
heard his words she said to him, "Hast thou not had a belly full
of this wrestling, O vanquished one? However come on, an thou
wilt; but know that this must be the last round." Then she bent
forward and challenged him and Sharrkan did likewise, setting to
it in real earnest and being right cautious about the throw: so
the two strove awhile and the damsel found in him a strength such
as she had not observed before and said to him, "O Moslem, thou
art now on thy mettle." "Yes," he replied, "thou knowest that
there remaineth to me but this one round, after which each of us
will wend a different way." She laughed and he laughed
too;[FN#177] then she overreached at his thigh and caught firm
hold of it unawares, which made him greet the ground and fall
full on his back. She laughed at him and said, "Art thou an
eater of bran? Thou are like a Badawi's bonnet which falleth off
with every touch or else the Father of Winds[FN#178] that
droppeth before a puff of air. Fie upon thee, O thou poor
thing!" adding, "Get thee back to the Moslem army and send us
other than thyself, for thou fairest of thews; and proclaim for
us, among the Arabs and Persians, the Turks and
Daylamites,[FN#179] whoso hath might in him, let him come to us."
Then she made a spring and landed on the other side of the stream
and said to Sharrkan, laughing, "Parting with thee is right
grievous to me, O my lord; but get thee to thy mates before dawn,
lest the Knights come upon thee and pick thee up on their lance
points. Thou hast no strength to defend thee against a woman, so
how couldst thou hold thine own amongst men of might and
Knights?" Sharrkan was confounded and called to her (as she
turned from him making towards the convent), "O my lady, wilt
thou go away and leave the miserable stranger, the broken hearted
slave of love?" So she turned to him laughing and said, "What is
thy want? I will grant thee thy prayer." "Have I set foot in thy
country and tasted the sweetness of thy courtesy," replied he,
"and shall I return without eating of thy victual and tasting thy
hospitality; I who have become one of thy servitors!" "None baulk
kindliness save the base," she rejoined, "honour us in Allah's
name, on my head and eyes be it! Mount thy steed and ride along
the brink of the stream over against me, for now thou art my
guest." At this Sharrkan was glad and, hastening back to his
horse, mounted and walked him abreast of her, and she kept faring
on till they came to a drawbridge[FN#180] built of beams of the
white poplar, hung by pullies and steel chains and made fast with
hooks and padlocks. When Sharrkan looked, he saw awaiting her
upon the bridge the same ten handmaids whom she had thrown in the
wrestling bouts; and, as she came up to them, she said to one in
the Greek tongue, "Arise and take the reins of his horse and
conduct him across into the convent." So she went up to Sharrkan
and led him over, much puzzled and perturbed with what he saw,
and saying to himself, "O would that the Wazir Dandan were here
with me that his eyes might look upon these fairest of favours."
Then he turned to the young lady and said to her, "O marvel of
loveliness, now I have two claims upon thee; first the claim of
good fellowship, and secondly for that thou hast carried me to
thy home and offered me thy hospitality. I am now under thy
commandance and thy guidance; so do me one last favour by
accompanying me to the lands of Al-Islam; where thou shalt look
upon many a lion hearted warrior and thou shalt learn who I am."
When she heard this she was angered and said to him, "By the
truth of the Messiah, thou hast proved thyself with me a man of
keen wit; but now I see what mischief there is in thy heart, and
how thou canst permit thyself a speech which proveth thy
traitorous intent. How should I do as thou sayest, when I wot
that if I came to that King of yours, Omar bin al- Nu'uman, I
should never get free from him? For truly he hath not the like
of me or behind his city walls or within his palace halls, Lord
of Baghdad and of Khorasan though he be, who hath built for
himself twelve pavilions, in number as the months of the year,
and in each a concubine after the number of the days; and if I
come to him he would not prove shy of me, for your folk believe I
am lawful to have and to hold as is said in your writ, 'Or those
women whom your right hand shall possess as slaves.'[FN#181] So
how canst thou speak thus to me? As for thy saying, 'Thou shalt
look upon the braves of the Moslems,' by the truth of the
Messiah, thou sayest that which is not true, for I saw your army
when it reached our land, these two days ago; and I did not see
that your ordinance was the ordinance of Kings, but I beheld only
a rabble of tribesmen gathered together. And as to thy words,
'Thou shalt know who I am,' I did not do thee kindness because of
thy dignity but out of pride in myself; and the like of thee
should not talk thus to the like of me, even wert thou Sharrkan,
Omar bin al- Nu'uman's son, the prowess name in these days!"
"Knowest thou Sharrkan?" asked he; and she answered Yes! and I
know of his coming with an army numbering ten thousand horsemen;
also that he was sent by his sire with this force to gain
prevalence for the King of Constantinople." "O my lady," said
Sharrkan, "I adjure thee by thy religion, tell me the cause of
all this, that sooth may appear to me clear of untruth, and with
whom the fault lies." "Now by the virtue of thy faith," she
replied, "did I not fear lest the news of me be bruited abroad
that I am of the daughters of Roum, I would adventure myself and
sally forth single handed against the ten thousand horsemen and
slay their leader, the Wazir Dandan and vanquish their champion
Sharrkan.[FN#182] Nor would aught of shame accrue to me thereby,
for I have read books and studied the rules of good breeding in
the language of the Arabs. But I have no need to vaunt my own
prowess to thee, more by token as thou hast proved in thy proper
person my skill and strength in wrestling; and thou hast learnt
my superiority over other women. Nor, indeed, had Sharrkan
himself been here this night and it were said to him, 'Clear this
stream,' could he have done it; and I only long and lust that the
Messiah would throw him into my hands in this very convent, that
I might go forth to him in the habit of a man and drag him from
his saddle seat and make him my captive and lay him in bilboes."-
-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When it was the Forty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Nazarene damsel said to Sharrkan (and he listening impatiently
enow), "Verily if Sharrkan fell into my hands, I would go forth
to him in the habit of a man and drag him from his saddle seat
and make him my captive and lay him in bilboes," pride and
passion and knightly jealousy took possession of him and he
desired to discover and declare himself and to lay on load; but
her loveliness restrained him and he began repeating,
"An faulty of one fault the Beauty prove, * Her charms a thousand
advocates shall move."
So she went up and Sharrkan after her; and, when he saw the
maiden's back and hinder cheeks that clashed against each other,
like rollers in the rolling sea, he extemporised these couplets:-
-
"For her sins is a pleader that brow, * And all hearts its fair
pleading must bow:
When I saw it I cried, "To night * The moon at its fullest doth
show;
Tho' Balkis' own Ifrit[FN#183] try a bout, * Spite his force she
would deal him a throw."
The two fared on till they reached a gate over which rose a
marble archway. This she opened and ushered Sharrkan into a long
vestibule, vaulted with ten connected arches, from each of which
hung a crystal lamp glistening like a spark of fire. The
handmaids met her at the further end bearing wax candles of
goodly perfume, and wearing on their heads golden fillets crusted
with all manner bezel gems,[FN#184] and went on before her
(Sharrkan still following), till they reached the inner convent.
There the Moslem saw couches and sofas ranged all around, one
opposite the other and all over hung with curtains flowered in
gold. The monastery floor was paved with every kind of vari
coloured marbles and mosaic work, and in the midst stood a basin
that held four and twenty jetting fountains of gold, whence the
water ran like molten silver; whilst at the upper end stood a
throne spread with silks fit only for Kings. Then said the
damsel, "Ascend, O my lord, this throne." So he went up to it and
sat down and she withdrew to remain absent for some time.
Sharrkan asked of her from one of the servants who answered him,
"She hath gone to her dormitory; but we will serve thee even as
she ordered." So they set before him viands of rare varieties,
and he ate his sufficiency, when they brought him a basin of gold
and an ewer of silver, and he washed his hands. Then his
thoughts reverted to his army, knowing not what had befallen it
in his absence and calling to mind also how he had forgotten his
father's injunctions: so he was troubled about his case,
repenting of what he had done till the dawn broke and the day
appeared; when he lamented and sighed and became drowned in sea
of sadness and repeated,
"I am not lost to prudence, but indeed * Here I'm bewildered,
what shall be my rede?
Would any aid me in mine ails of love, * By my own might and
sleight would I be free'd:
But ah! my heart is lost and passion-shent: * To none save Allah
can I trust my need!"
When he ended his verse behold, there came up to him a rare show
and a fair, more than twenty maidens like crescents encompassing
the young lady, who shone in their midst as the full moon among
the constellations guarding and girding her. She was clad in
brocades befitting Kings; her breasts were like twin
pomegranates, a woven zone set with all kinds of jewels tightly
clasped her waist which expanded below into jutting hips; and her
hinder cheeks stood out as a mound of crystal[FN#185] supporting
a silvern shaft. When Sharrkan looked at her his wits went nigh
to fly away from him with delight; and he forgot army and Wazir
as he gazed on her fair head decked and dight with a net work of
pearls set off by divers sorts of gems. Handmaids on her right
and handmaids on her left bore her train, as she paced with
dainty graceful gait in all the pride of seemlihead. He sprang
to his feet seeing such beauty and loveliness, and cried aloud,
"Beware and beware of that zone rarely fair!" and broke out into
these couplets,
"With heavy back parts, high breasts delicate, * And lissome form
that sways with swimming gait
She deftly hides love longing in her breast; * But I may never
hide its ban and bate
While hosts of followers her steps precede,[FN#186] * Like pearls
now necklaced and now separate."
She gazed upon him for a long time and considered him till she
was assured of him, when she came up to him and said, "In very
sooth the place is honoured and illumined by thee, O Sharrkan!
How sped thy night, O hero, after we went away and left thee?";
adding, "Verily lying is a vile thing and a shameful, especially
in great Kings! and thou art Crown Prince Sharrkan, son and heir
of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman; so henceforth make no secret of thy
rank and condition, nor let me hear aught from thee but the
truth; for leasing bequeatheth hate and despite. And as thou art
pierced by the shaft of Fate, be resignation thine and abide
content to wait." When he heard her words he saw that artifice
availed him naught and he acknowledged the truth, saying, "I am
Sharrkan, bin Omar bin al-Nu'uman, whom fortune hath afflicted
and cast into this place; so whatso thou willest, do it in my
case!" She hung her head groundwards a long while, then turned to
him and said, "Be of good cheer and let thine eyes be cool and
clear;[FN#187] for thou art the guest of my hospitality, and
bread and salt hath made a tie between me and thee; wherefore
thou art in my ward and under my safeguard. Have no fear for, by
the truth of the Messiah, if all on earth sought to do thee hurt
they should not come at thee, till life had left my body for thy
sake: indeed thou art now under the charge of the Messiah and of
me." Hereat she sat her down by his side and fell to playing with
him, till his alarm subsided and he knew that had she desired to
slay him, she would have done so during the past night.
Presently she bespoke in the Grecian tongue one of her slave
girls, who went away and soon came back bringing a beaker and a
tray of food; but Sharrkan abstained from eating and said to
himself, "Haply she hath put somewhat in this meat." She knew
what was in his thought; so she turned to him and said, "By the
truth of the Messiah, the case is not on such wise, nor is there
aught in this meat of what thou suspectest! Had my mind been set
on slaying thee, I had slain thee ere now." Then she walked up to
the tray and ate of every dish a mouthful; where upon Sharrkan
came forward and ate too. She was pleased at this and both ate
till they were satisfied. They washed their hands and after that
she rose and ordered a handmaid to bring perfumes and herbs of
sweet savour, wines of all colours and kinds and a wine-service
with vessels of gold, silver and crystal. She filled a first
goblet and drank it off before offering it to him, even as she
had done with the food: then she crowned a second and handed it
to him. He drank and she said to him, "O Moslem, see how thou
art here in all solace and delight of life!" And she ceased not
to drink and ply him with drink, till he took leave of his wits,-
-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Forty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel
ceased not to drink and ply Sharrkan with drink till he took
leave of his wits, for the wine and the intoxication of love he
bore her. Presently she said to the slave girl, "O
Marjanah[FN#188]! bring us some instruments of music!" "To hear
is to obey," said the hand maid and going out, returned in the
twinkling of an eye with a Damascus lute,[FN#189] a Persian harp,
a Tartar pipe, and an Egyptian dulcimer. The young lady took the
lute and, after tuning each several string, began in gentle
undersong to sing, softer than zephyr's wing and sweeter than
Tasmin[FN#190] spring, with heart safe and secure from everything
the couplets following,
"Allah assain those eyne! What streams of blood they shed! * How
many an arrowy glance those lids of thine have sped.
I love all lovers who to lovers show them cure; * 'Twere wrong to
rue the love in wrong head born and bred:
Haply fall hapless eye for thee no sleeping kens! * Heaven help
the hapless heart by force of thee misled!
Thou doomest me to death who art my king, and I * Ransom with
life the deemster who would doom me dead."
Thereupon each and every of the maidens rose up and taking an
instrument, played and recited couplets in the Roumi tongue; then
their mistress sang also and seeing Sharrkan in ecstasies asked
him, "O Moslem, dost thou understand what I say?"; and he
answered, "Nay, my ecstasy cometh from the beauty of thy finger
sips." She laughed and continued, "If I sing to thee in Arabic
what wouldst thou do?" "I should no longer," quoth he, "be master
of my senses." Then she took an instrument and, changing the
measure, began singing these verses,
"The smack of parting's myrrh to me, * How, then, bear patience'
aloë?
I'm girt by ills in trinity * Severance, distance,
cruelty!
My freedom stole that fairest she, * And parting irks me
bitterly."
When she ended her verse, she looked at Sharrkan and found him
lost to existence, and he lay for a while stretched at full
length and prone among the maidens.[FN#191] Then he revived and,
remembering the songs, again inclined to mirth and merriment; and
the twain returned to their wine and wassail, and continued their
playing and toying, their pastime and pleasure till day ceased
illuminating and night drooped her wing. Then the damsel went
off to her dormitory and when Sharrkan asked after her they
answered, "She is gone to her sleeping chamber," whereto he
rejoined, "Under Allah's ward and His good guard!" As soon as it
was morning, a handmaid came to him and said to him, "My mistress
biddeth thee to her." So he rose and followed her and, as he drew
near her lodging, the damsels welcomed him with smitten tabrets
and songs of greeting, and led him through a great door of ivory
studded with pearls and jewels. Thence they passed with him into
a tall and spacious hall, at the upper end of which was a wide
dais carpeted with all kinds of silks, and round it open lattices
commanding a view of trees and streams. About the saloon were
figures carved in human form, and fashioned on such wise that the
air passed through them and set in motion musical instruments
within, so that the beholder would fancy they spoke.[FN#192] Here
sat the young lady, looking at the figures; but when she saw
Sharrkan, she sprang to her feet and, taking him by the hand,
made him sit down by her side, and asked him how he had passed
the night. He blessed her and the two sat talking awhile till
she asked him, "Knowest thou aught touching lovers and slaves of
love?"; and he answered "Yes! I wot somewhat in verse on that
matter." "Let me hear it," quoth she, so he began quoting,
"Pleasure and health, good cheer, good appetite * To Azzah,
freest with our name and fame!
By Allah! would I near her off she flies * At tangent, granting
less the more I claim:
I dote on Azzah, but when clear I off * My rivals, clears me too
that dearest dame;
Like wandering wight that chose for shade a cloud * Which, ere
siesta done, thin air became."
When she heard this she said, "Verily Al-Kuthayyir[FN#193] was
conspicuous for sweet speech and chaste, and he was superlative
in his praise of Azzah when he sang" (and she began to recite),
"Did Azzah deal behest to Sun o' noon, * The judge had judged her
beauty's bestest boon;
And girls who come to me and carp at her, * God make their rosy
cheeks her sandal-shoon!
And indeed," quoth she, "'twas said that Azzah boasted exceeding
beauty and loveliness." Then she asked Sharrkan saying, "O
Prince, cost thou know aught of Jamil's[FN#194] verses to
Buthaynah? if so repeat to us somewhat of them;" and he
answered, "Yes, I know them better than any;" whereupon he began
repeating these couplets,
"Jamil, in Holy war go fight!" to me they say: * What war save
fight for fair ones would I e'er essay?
To me their every word and work are mere delight, * And martyrs
crepe I all they slay in fight and fray:
An ask I, 'O Buthaynah! what's this love, I pray, * Which eats
my heart?' quoth she ' 'Twill stay for ever and aye!'
And when I cry, 'Of wits return some small display * For daily
use,' quoth she, 'Far, far 'tis fled away!
Thou seekst my death; naught else thy will can satisfy * While I
no goal espy save thee and thee alway.'"
"Thou hast spoken right well," said she, "O King's son, and Jamil
also spoke excellently well. But what would Buthaynah have done
with him that he saith in his hemistich,
'Thou seekst my death; naught else thy will can satisfy?'"
"O my lady," quoth Sharrkan, "she willed to do him what thou
willest to do with me, and even that will not satisfy thee." She
laughed at his opportune reply and they ceased not carousing till
Day put out her light and Night came in darkness dight. Then she
rose and went to her dormitory and slept, while Sharrkan slept in
his place till morning dawned. As soon as he awoke, the hand
maids came to him with tabrets and other instruments of mirth and
merriment, as wont; and, kissing the ground between his hands,
said to him, "Bismillah! in Allah's name be so kind as to
come[FN#195]: our mistress biddeth thee to her presence!" So he
rose and accompanied the slave girls who surrounded him, playing
on tabrets and other instruments of music, till they passed from
that saloon into another and a yet more spacious hall, decorated
with pictured likenesses and figures of birds and beasts, passing
all description. Sharrkan marvelled at the art and artifice of
the place and began reciting,
"He plucks fruits of her necklace in rivalry, * And her breast-
pearls that bedded in gold mine lie.
Pure water on silvern bars is her brow, * And her cheeks show
roses with rubies vie:
Meseems in her eyne that the violet's hue * Lies purpling set in
the Ithmid's[FN#196] dye."
When the lady saw Sharrkan, she stood up to him in honour and,
taking his hand, seated him by her side and asked, "O son of King
Omar bin al-Nu'uman, hast thou any cunning in the game of chess?"
"Yes," he answered, "but do not thou with me as said the poet,
'I speak and longing love upties me and unties me; * Till with
her honey dew of inner lip she plies me:
I brought the chess board and my liefest lover plays me * With
white and black,[FN#197] but black cum white ne'er satisfies
me:
'Twas as if King for Castle I were fain to place me * Till wilful
loss of game atwixt two queens surprise me:
And if I seek to read intent in eyes that eye me * Oh man! that
glance askance with hint of wish defies me.'"
Then she brought the chessboard and played with him; but
Sharrkan, instead of looking at her moves, kept gazing at her
fair mouth, and putting knight in place of elephant and
elephant[FN#198] instead of knight. She laughed and said to him,
"If thy play be after this fashion, thou knowest naught of the
game." "This is only our first," replied he, "judge not by this
bout." When she beat him he replaced the pieces in position and
played again with her; but she beat him a second time, a third, a
fourth and a fifth. So she turned to him and said, "Thou art
beaten in everything;" and he replied, "O my lady, how should one
playing with the like of thee avoid being beaten?" Then she bade
bring food, and they ate and washed their hands; after which the
wine was set before them and they drank. Presently, she took the
dulcimer, for her hand was cunning in smiting it, and she began
repeating to an accompaniment these couplets,
"Twixt the close tied and open wide no medium Fortune knoweth, *
Now ebb and flow then flow and ebb this wise her likeness
showeth.
Then drink her wine the syne she's thine and smiling thou dost
find her * Anon she'll fall and fare away when all thy good
forth goeth."
They ceased not to carouse till nightfall and this day was
pleasanter even than the first. When darkness set in, the lady
betook her to her dormitory, leaving him alone with the hand
maids; so he threw himself on the ground and slept till dawn,
when the damsels came to him with tambourines and other
instruments according to custom. Seeing them he roused him
hastily and sat up; and they carried him to their mistress, who
came to meet him and, taking him by the hand, seated him by her
side. Then she asked him how he had passed his night, whereat he
prayed that her life be prolonged; and she took the lute and sang
to it these verses which she improvised,
"Ne'er incline thee to part * Which embitters the heart
E'en the sun when he sets * Shall in pallor depart."
While they were solacing themselves after this fashion, behold,
there arose a great and sudden clamour, and a confused crowd of
knights and men rushed in, holding drawn swords that glittered
and gleamed in their hands, and cried aloud in the Grecian tongue
"Thou hast fallen into our hands, O Sharrkan, so make thee sure
of death!" When he heard this, he said to himself, "By Allah, she
hath entrapped me and held me in play, till her men should come.
These are the Knights with whom she threatened me; but 'tis I who
have thrown myself into this strait." Then he turned towards the
young lady to reproach her, but saw that she had changed colour
and her face was pale; and she sprang to her feet and asked the
crowd, "Who are ye?" "O most gracious Princess and peerless onion
pearl," answered the leading Knight, "dost thou weet who is yon
man by thy side?" "Not I," she replied, "who may he be?" Quoth
the Patrician, "This is of towns the highwayman! This is he who
rideth in the horseman's van! This is Sharrkan, son of King Omar
bin al-Nu'uman! This is he that forceth fortalice and
penetrateth every impregnable place! The news of him reached
King Hardub, thy father, by report of the ancient dame Zat al-
Dawahi; and thy sire, our sovereign, hath made sure that thou
hast rendered good service to the army of the Greeks by taking
captive this ominous lion." When she heard this, she looked at
the Knight and asked him, "What be thy name?" and he answered, "I
am Másúrah, son of thy slave Mausúrah bin Káshardah, Knight of
Knights." "And how?" quoth she, "durst thou enter my presence
without leave?" Quoth he, "O my lady, when I came to the gate,
none forbade me, neither chamberlain nor porter, but all the door
keepers rose and forewent us as of wont; although, when others
come, they leave them standing at the gate while they ask
permission to admit them. But this is not a time for long
talking, when the King is expecting our return with this Prince,
the scorpion sting[FN#199] of the Islamitic host, that he may
kill him and drive back his men whither they came, without the
bane of battling with them." "These words be ill words," rejoined
the Princess, "and Dame Zat al-Dawahi lied, avouching an idle
thing and a vain, whereof she weeteth not the truth; for by the
virtue of the Messiah, this man who is with me is not Sharrkan,
nor is he a captive, but a stranger who came to us seeking our
hospitality, and I made him my guest. So even were we assured
that this be Sharrkan and were it proved to us that it is he
beyond a doubt, I say it would ill befit mine honour that I
should deliver into your hands one who hath entered under my
protection. So make me not a traitor to my guest and a disgrace
among men; but return to the King, my father, and kiss the ground
before him, and inform him that the case is contrariwise to the
report of the Lady Zat al-Dawahi." "O Abrízah," replied Masurah,
the Knight, "I cannot return to the King's majesty without his
debtor and enemy." Quoth she (and indeed she had waxed very
wroth). "Out on thee! Return to him with my answer, and no
blame shall befal thee!" Quoth Masurah, "I will not return
without him." Thereupon her colour changed and she exclaimed,
"Exceed not in talk and vain words; for verily this man had not
come in to us, were he not assured that he could of himself and
single handed make head against an hundred riders; and if I said
to him, 'Thou art Sharrkan, son of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman,' he
would answer, 'Yes.' But 'tis not of your competence to let or
hinder him; for if you do so, he will not turn back from you till
he hath slain all that are in this place. Behold, here he is by
my side, and I will bring him before you sword and targe in
hand." "Albeit I were safe from thy wrath," answered Masurah the
Knight, "I am not safe from that of thy father, and when I see
him, I shall sign to the Knights to take him captive, and we will
carry him to the King bound and in abject sort." When she heard
this, she said, "The matter shall not pass thus, for 'twould be
blazoning mere folly. This man is but one and ye are an hundred
Knights: so if you would attack him come out against him, one
after one, that it may appear to the King which is the valiant
amongst you."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
When it was the Fiftieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princess
Abrizah said to the Knight, "This man is but one, and ye are an
hundred: so if ye would attack him, come out against him, one
after one, that it may appear to the King which is the valiant."
Quoth Masurah, the Knight, "By the truth of the Messiah, thou
sayest sooth, and none but I shall sally out against him first."
Quoth she, "Wait till I go to him and acquaint him with the case
and hear what answer he will make. If he consent, 'tis well; but
if he refuse, ye shall on no wise come to him, for I and my hand
maids and whosoever is in the convent will be his ransom." So she
went to Sharrkan and told him the news, whereat he smiled and
knew that she had not informed any of the Emirs; but that tidings
of him had been bruited and blazed abroad, till the report
reached the King, against her wish and intent. So he again began
reproaching himself and said, "How came I to adventure and play
with my life by coming to the country of the Greeks?" But hearing
the young lady's proposal he said to her, "Indeed their onset,
one after one, would be overburdensome to them. Will they not
come out against me, ten by ten?" "That would be villainy," said
she; "Let one have at one." When he heard this, he sprang to his
feet and made for them with his sword and battle gear; and
Masurah, the Knight, also sprang up and bore down upon him.
Sharrkan met him like a lion and delivered a shoulder cut[FN#200]
which clove him to the middle, and the blade came out gleaming
and glittering from his back and bowels. When the lady beheld
that swashingblow, Sharrkan's might was magnified in her sight
and she knew that when she overthrew him in the wrestle it was
not by her strength but by her beauty and loveliness. So she
turned to the Knights and said, "Take wreak for your chief!"
Thereupon out came the slain man's brother, a fierce and furious
Knight, and rushed upon Sharrkan, who delayed not, but smote him
also with the shoulder cut and the sword came out glittering from
his vitals. Then cried the Princess, "O ye servants of the
Messiah, avenge your comrade!" So they ceased not charging down
upon him, one after one; and Sharrkan also ceased not playing
upon them with the blade, till he had slain fifty Knights, the
lady looking on the while. And Allah cast a panic into the
hearts of the survivors, so that they held back and dared not
meet him in the duello, but fell upon him in a body; and he laid
on load with heart firmer than a rock, and smote them and trod
them down like straw under the threshing sled,[FN#201] till he
had driven sense and soul out of them. Then the Princess called
aloud to her damsels, saying, "Who is left in the convent?"; and
they replied, "None but the gate keepers;" whereupon she went up
to Sharrkan and took him to her bosom, he doing the same, and
they returned to the palace, after he had made an end of the
melee. Now there remained a few of the Knights hiding from him
in the cells of the monastery, and when the Princess saw this she
rose from Sharrkan's side and left him for a while, but presently
came back clad in closely meshed coat of ring mail and holding in
her hand a fine Indian scymitar. And she said, "Now by the truth
of the Messiah, I will not be a niggard of myself for my guest;
nor will I abandon him though for this I abide a reproach and a
by word in the land of the Greeks." Then she took reckoning of
the dead and found that he had slain fourscore of the Knights,
and other twenty had taken to flight.[FN#202] When she saw what
work he had made with them she said to him, "Allah bless thee, O
Sharrkan! The Cavaliers may well glory in the like of thee."
Then he rose and wiping his blade clean of the blood of the slain
began reciting these couplets,
"How oft in the mellay I've cleft the array, * And given their
bravest to lions a prey:
Ask of me and of them when I proved me prow * O'er creation, on
days of the foray and fray:
When I left in the onslaught their lions to lie * On the sands of
the low lands[FN#203] in fieriest day."
When he ended his verse, the Princess came up to him with smiles
and kissed his hand; then she doffed her hauberk and he said to
her, "O lady mine, wherefore didst thou don that coat of mail and
bare thy brand?" "To guard thee against these caitiffs,"[FN#204]
she replied. Then she summoned the gate keepers and asked them,
"How came ye to admit the King's Knights into my dwelling without
leave of me?"; and they answered, "O Princess, it is not our
custom to ask leave of thee for the King's messengers, and
especially for the chief of his Knights." Quoth she, "I think ye
were minded only to disgrace me and murder my guest;" and bade
Sharrkan smite their necks. He did so and she cried to the rest
of her servants, "Of a truth, they deserved even more than that!"
Then turning to Sharrkan, she said to him, "Now that there hath
become manifest to thee what was concealed, thou shalt be made
acquainted with my history. Know, then, that I am the daughter
of King Hardub of Roum; my name is Abrizah and the ancient dame,
yclept Zat al-Dawahi, is my grandmother by the sword side. She
it certainly is who told my father of thee, and as surely she
will compass a sleight to slay me, more by token as thou hast
slain my father's chivalry and it is noised abroad that I have
separated myself from the Nazarenes and have become no better
than I should be with the Moslems. Wherefore it were wiser that
I leave this dwelling while Zat al-Dawahi is on my track; but I
require of thee the like kindness and courtesy I have shown thee,
for enmity will presently befal between me and my father on thine
account. So do not thou neglect to do aught that I shall say to
thee, remembering all this betided me not save by reason of
thee." Hearing her words, Sharrkan joyed greatly; his breast
broadened and his wits flew from him for delight, and he said,
"By Allah, none shall come at thee, while life is in my bosom!
But hast thou patience to bear parting from thy parents and thy
people?" "Even so," she answered; and Sharrkan swore to her and
the two plighted their troth. Then said she, "Now is my heart at
ease; but there remaineth one other condition for thee." "What is
it?" asked he and she answered, "It is that thou return with thy
host to thine own country." Quoth he, "O lady mine, my father,
King Omar bin al- Nu'uman, sent me to wage war upon thy sire, on
account of the treasure he plundered from the King of
Constantinople, and amongst the rest three great jewels, noted
givers of good fortune." Quoth she, "Cheer thy heart and clear
thine eyes: I will tell thee the whole of the tale and the cause
of our feud with the King of Constantinople. Know that we have a
yearly festival, highs the Convent Feast, whereat Kings from all
quarters and the noblest women are wont to congregate; thither
also come merchants and traders with their wives and families,
and the visitors abide there seven days. I was wont to be one of
them; but, when there befel enmity between us, my father forbade
me to be present at the festival for the space of seven years.
One year, it chanced that amongst the daughters of the great who
resorted to the patron, as was their custom, came a daughter of
the King of Constantinople, a beautiful girl called Sophia. They
tarried at the monastery six days and on the seventh the folk
went their ways;[FN#205] but Sophia said, 'I will not return to
Constantinople save by water.' So they equipped for her a ship in
which she embarked with her suite; and making sail they put out
to sea; but as they were voyaging behold, a contrary wind caught
them and drove the vessel from her course till, as Fate and
Fortune would have it, she fell in with a Nazarene craft from the
Camphor Island[FN#206] carrying a crew of five hundred armed
Franks, who had been cruising about a long time. When they
sighted the sails of the ship, wherein Sophia and her women were,
they gave chase in all haste and in less than an hour they came
up with her, then they laid the grappling irons aboard her and
captured her. Then taking her in tow they made all sail for
their own island and were but a little distant from it when the
wind veered round and, splitting their sails, drove them on to a
shoal which lies off our coast. Thereupon we sallied forth and,
looking on them as spoil driven to us by Fate,[FN#207] boarded
and took them; and, slaying the men, made prize of the wreck,
wherein we found the treasures and rarities in question and forty
maidens, amongst whom was the King's daughter, Sophia. After the
capture we carried the Princess and her women to my father, not
knowing her to be a daughter of King Afridun of Constantinople;
and he chose out for himself ten including her; and divided the
rest among his dependents. Presently he set apart five damsels,
amongst whom was the King s daughter, and sent them to thy
father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, together with other gifts, such
as broadcloth[FN#208] and woollen stuffs and Grecian silks. Thy
father accepted them and chose out from amongst the five girls
Sophia, daughter of King Afridun; nor did we hear more of her
till the beginning of this year, when her father wrote to my
father in words unfitting for me to repeat, rebuking him with
menaces and saying to him: Two years ago, you plundered a ship of
ours which had been seized by a band of Frankish pirates in which
was my daughter, Sophia, attended by her maidens numbering some
threescore. Yet ye informed me not thereof by messenger or
otherwise; nor could I make the matter public, lest reproach
befal me amongst the Kings, by reason of my daughter's honour.
So I concealed my case till this year, when I wrote to certain
Frankish corsairs and sought news of my daughter from the Kings
of the Isles. They replied, 'By Allah we carried her not forth
of thy realm; but we have heard that King Hardub rescued her from
certain pirates. And they told me the whole tale.' Then he added
in the writing which he writ to my father: 'Except you wish to be
at feud with me and design to disgrace me and dishonour my
daughter, you will, the instant my letter reacheth you, send my
daughter back to me. But if you slight my letter and disobey my
commandment, I will assuredly make you full return for your foul
dealing and the baseness of your practices.'[FN#209] When my
father read this letter and understood the contents,[FN#210] it
vexed him and he regretted not having known that Sophia, King
Afridun's daughter, was among the captured damsels, that he might
have sent her back to her sire; and he was perplexed about the
case because, after so long a time, he could not send to King
Omar bin al-Nu'uman and demand her back from him, especially as
he had lately heard that Heaven had granted him boon of babe by
this Sophia. So when we pondered that truth, we knew that this
letter was none other than a grievous calamity; and my father
found nothing for it but to write an answer to King Afridun,
making his excuses and swearing to him by strong oaths that he
knew not his daughter to be among the bevy of damsels in the ship
and setting forth how he had sent her to King Omar bin al
Nu'uman, who had gotten the blessing of issue by her. When my
father's reply reached King Afridun he rose up and sat
down,[FN#211] and roared and foamed at the mouth crying:--'What!
shall he take captive my daughter and even her with slave girls
and pass her on from hand to hand sending her for a gift to
Kings, and they lie with her without marriage contract? By the
Messiah and the true Faith,' said he, 'I will not desist till I
have taken my blood vengeance for this and have wiped out my
shame; and indeed I will do a deed which the chroniclers shall
chronicle after me!' So he bided his time till he devised a
device and laid notable toils and snares, when he sent an embassy
to thy father, King Omar, to tell him that which thou hast heard:
accordingly thy father equipped thee and an army with thee and
sent thee to King Afridun, whose object is to seize thee and
thine army to boot. As for the three jewels whereof he told thy
father when asking his aid, there was not one soothfast word in
that matter, for they were with Sophia, his daughter; and my
father took them from her, when he got possession of her and of
her maidens, and gave them to me in free gift, and they are now
with me. So go thou to thy host and turn them back ere they be
led deep into, and shut in by, the land of the bevy of damsels in
the ship and setting forth the Franks and the country of the
Greeks; for as soon as you have come far enough into their
interior, they will stop the roads upon you and there will be no
escape for you till the Day of retribution and retaliation. I
know that thy troops are still halting where thou leftest them,
because thou didst order a three days' rest; withal they have
missed thee all this time and they wot not what to do." When
Sharrkan heard her words, he was absent awhile in thought; then
he kissed Princess Abrizah's hand and said, "Praise be to Allah
who hath bestowed thee on me and appointed thee to be the cause
of my salvation and the salvation of whoso is with me! But 'tis
grievous to me to part from thee and I know not what will become
of thee after my departure." "Go now to thine army," she replied,
"and turn them back, while ye are yet near your own country. If
the envoys be still with them, lay hands on them and keep them,
that the case may be made manifest to you; and, after three days,
I will be with you all and we will enter Baghdad together." As he
turned to depart she said, "Forget not the compact which is
between me and thee," then she rose to bid[FN#212] him farewell
and embrace him and quench the fire of desire, so she took leave
of him and, throwing her arms round his neck, wept with exceeding
weeping, and repeated these verses,
"I bade adieu, my right hand wiped my tears away, * The while my
left hand held her in a close embrace:
'Fearest thou naught,' quoth she, 'of shame?' I answered 'Nay, *
The lover's parting day is lover's worst disgrace.'"
Then Sharrkan left her and walked down from the convent. They
brought his steed, so he mounted and rode down stream to the
drawbridge which he crossed and presently threaded the woodland
paths and passed into the open meadow. As soon as he was clear
of the trees he was aware of horsemen which made him stand on the
alert, and he bared his brand and rode cautiously, but as they
drew near and exchanged curious looks he recognized them and
behold, it was the Wazir Dandan and two of his Emirs. When they
saw him and knew him, they dismounted and saluting him, asked the
reason of his absence; whereupon he told them all that had passed
between him and Princess Abrizah from first to last. The Wazir
returned thanks to Almighty Allah for his safety and
said,[FN#213] "Let us at once leave these lands; for the envoys
who came with us are gone to inform the King of our approach, and
haply he will hasten to fall on us and take us prisoners." So
Sharrkan cried to his men to saddle and mount, which they did
and, setting out at once, they stinted not faring till they
reached the sole of the valley wherein the host lay. The
Ambassadors meanwhile had reported Sharrkan's approach to their
King, who forthright equipped a host to lay hold of him and those
with him. But Sharrkan, escorted by the Wazir Dandan and the two
Emirs, had no sooner sighted the army, than he raised the cry
"March! March!" They took horse on the instant and fared through
the first day and second and third day, nor did they cease faring
for five days; at the end of which time they alighted in a well
wooded valley, where they rested awhile. Then they again set out
and stayed not riding for five and twenty days which placed them
on the frontiers of their own country. Here, deeming themselves
safe, they halted to rest; and the country people came out to
them with guest gifts for the men and provender and forage for
the beasts. They tarried there two days after which, as all
would be making for their homes, Sharrkan put the Wazir Dandan in
command, bidding him lead the host back to Baghdad. But he
himself remained behind with an hundred riders, till the rest of
the army had made one day's march: then he called "To horse!" and
mounted with his hundred men. They rode on two
parasangs'[FN#214] space till they arrived at a gorge between two
mountains and lo! there arose before them a dark cloud of sand
and dust. So they checked their steeds awhile till the dust
opened and lifted, discovering beneath it an hundred cavaliers,
lion faced and in mail coats cased. As soon as they drew within
earshot of Sharrkan and his meiny they cried out to them, saying,
"By the virtue of John and Mary, we have won to our wish! We
have been following you by forced marches, night and day, till we
forewent you to this place. So dismount and lay down your arms
and yield yourselves, that we may grant you your lives." When
Sharrkan heard this, his eyes stood out from his head and his
cheeks flushed red and he said 'How is it, O. Nazarene dogs, ye
dare enter our country and overmatch our land? And doth not this
suffice you, but ye must adventure yourselves and address us in
such unseemly speech? Do you think to escape out of our hands
and return to your country?" Then he shouted to his hundred
horsemen, "Up and at these hounds, for they even you in number!"
So saying, he bared his sabre and bore down on them, he and his,
but the Franks met them with hearts firmer than rocks, and wight
dashed against wight, and knight dashed upon knight, and hot
waxed the fight, and sore was the affright, and nor parley nor
cries of quarter helped their plight; and they stinted not to
charge and to smite, right hand meeting right, nor to hack and
hew with blades bright white, till day turned to night and gloom
oppressed the sight. Then they drew apart and Sharrkan mustered
his men and found none wounded save four only, who showed hurts
but not death hurts. Said he to them, "By Allah, my life long
have I waded in the clashing sea of fight and I have met many a
gallant sprite, but none so unfrightened of the sword that smites
and the shock of men that affrights like these valiant Knights!"
"Know, O King," said they, that there is among them a Frankish
cavalier who is their leader and, indeed, he is a man of valour
and fatal is his spear thrust: but, by Allah, he spares us great
and small; for whoso falls into his hands he lets him go and
forbears to slay him. By Allah, had he willed he had killed us
all." Sharrkan was astounded when he heard what the Knight had
done and such high report of him, so he said, "When the morn
shall morrow, we will draw out and defy them, for we are an
hundred to their hundred; and we will seek aid against them from
the Lord of the Heavens." So they rested that night in such
intent; whilst the Franks gathered round their Captain and said,
"Verily this day we did not win our will of these;" and he
replied, "At early dawn when the morrow shall morn, we will draw
out and challenge them, one after one." They also rested in that
mind, and both camps kept guard until Almighty Allah sent the
light of day dawn. Thereupon King Sharrkan and his hundred
riders took horse and rode forth to the plain, where they found
the Franks ranged in line of battle; and Sharrkan said to his
followers, "Our foes have determined like ourselves to do their
devoir; so up and at them and lay on load." Then came forth an
Herald of the Franks and cried out, saying, "Let there be no
general engagement betwixt us this day, save by the duello, a
champion of yours against a champion of ours." Whereupon one of
Sharrkan's riders dashed out from the ranks and crave between the
two lines crying, "Ho! who is for smiting? Let no dastard
engage me this day nor niderling!" Hardly had he made an end of
his vaunt, when there sallied forth to him a Frankish cavalier,
armed cap-ŕ-pie and clad in a surcoat of gold stuff, riding on a
grey white steed,[FN#215] and he had no hair on his cheeks. He
urged his charger on to the midst of the battle plain and the two
fell to derring do of cut and thrust, but it was not long before
the Frank foined the Moslem with the lance point; and, toppling
him from his steed, took him prisoner and led him off
crestfallen. His folk rejoiced in their comrade and, forbidding
him to go out again to the field, sent forth another, to whom
sallied out another Moslem, brother to the captive, and offered
him battle. The two fell to, either against other, and fought
for a little while, till the Frank bore down upon the Moslem and,
falsing him with a feint, tumbled him by a thrust of the lance
heel from his destrier and took him prisoner. After this fashion
the Moslems ceased not dashing forwards, one after one, and the
Franks to unhorse them and take them captive, till day departed
and the night with darkness upstarted. Now they had captured of
the Moslems twenty cavaliers, and when Sharrken saw this, it was
grievous to him and he mustered his men and said to them, "What
is this thing that hath befallen us? To- morrow, I myself will
go forth to the field and offer singular combat to their chief
and learn what is the cause of his entering our land and warn him
against doing battle with our band. If he persist, we will
punish him with death, and if he prove peaceable we will make
peace with him." They righted on this wise till Allah Almighty
caused the morn to dawn, when mounted the twain and drew up for
battle fain; and Sharrkan was going forth to the plain, but
behold, more than one half of the Franks dismounted and remained
on foot before one of them who was mounted, till they reached the
midst of the battle plain. Sharrken looked at that horseman and
lo! he was their chief. He was clad in a surcoat of blue satin
and a close ringed mail shirt; his face was as the moon when it
rises and no hair was upon his cheeks. He hent in hand an Indian
scymitar and he rode a sable steed with a white blaze on brow,
like a dirham; and he smote the horse with heel till he stood
almost in the midst of the field when, signing to the Moslems, he
cried out in fluent Arab speech "Ho, Sharrkan! Ho, son of Omar
bin al- Nu'uman! Ho, thou who forcest fortalice and overthrowest
cities and countries! up and out to battle bout, and blade
single handed wield with one who halves with thee the field!
Thou art Prince of thy people and I am Prince of mine; and whoso
overcometh his adversary, him let the other's men obey and come
under his sway." Hardly had he ended his speech, when out came
Sharrkan with a heart full of fury, and urging his steed into the
midst of the field, closed like a raging lion with the Frank who
encountered him with wariness and steadfastness and met him with
the meeting of warriors. Then they fell to foining and hewing,
and they stinted not of onset and offset, and give and take, as
they were two mountains clashing together or two seas together
dashing; nor did they cease fighting until day darkened and night
starkened. Then they drew apart and each returned to his own
party; but as soon as Sharrkan foregathered with his comrades, he
said, "Never looked I on the like of this cavalier: he hath one
quality I have not yet seen in any and this it is that, when his
foemen uncovereth a place for the death blow, he reverseth his
weapon and smiteth with the lance-heel! In very deed I know not
what will be the issue 'twixt him and me; but 'tis my wish that
we had in our host his like and the like of his men." Then he
went to his rest for the night and, when morning dawned, the
Frank came forth and rode down to the mid field, where Sharrkan
met him; and they fell to fighting and to wheeling, left and
right; and necks were stretched out to see the sight, nor did
they stint from strife and sword play and lunge of lance with
main and might, till the day turned to night and darkness
overwhelmed the light. Then the twain drew asunder and returned
each to his own camp, where both related to their comrades what
had befallen them in the duello; and at last the Frank said to
his men, "Tomorrow shall decide the matter!" So they both passed
that night restfully till dawn; and, as soon as it was day, they
mounted and each bore down on other and ceased not to fight till
half the day was done. Then the Frank bethought him of a ruse;
first urging his steed with heel and then checking him with the
rein, so that he stumbled and fell with his rider; thereupon
Sharrkan threw himself on the foe, and would have smitten him
with the sword fearing lest the strife be prolonged, when the
Frank cried out to him, "O Sharrkan, champions are not wont to do
thus! This is the act of a man accustomed to be beaten by a
woman."[FN#216] When Sharrkan heard this, he raised his eyes to
the Frank's face and gazing steadfastly at him, recognized in him
Princess Abrizah with whom that pleasant adventure had befallen
him in the convent; whereupon he cast brand from hand and,
kissing the earth before her, asked her, "What moved thee to a
deed like this?"; and she answered, "I desired to prove thy
prowess afield and test thy doughtiness in tilting and jousting.
These that are with me are my handmaids, and they are all clean
maids; yet they have vanquished thy horsemen in fair press and
stress of plain; and had not my steed stumbled with me, thou
shouldst have seen my might and prowess in combat." Sharrkan
smiled at her speech and said, "Praise be to Allah for safety and
for my reunion with thee, O Queen of the age!" Then she cried out
to her damsels to loose the twenty captives of Sharrkan's troop
and dismount. They did as she bade and came and kissed the earth
before her and Sharrkan who said to them, "It is the like of you
that Kings keep in store for the need hour." Then he signed to
his comrades to salute the Princess; so all alighted and kissed
the earth before her, for they knew the story. After this, the
whole two hundred took horse, and fared on night and day for six
days' space, till they drew near to Baghdad, when they halted and
Sharrkan bade Abrizah and her handmaids doff the Frankish garb
that was on them,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Fifty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sharrkan
bade Princess Abrizah and her damsels doff the garb that was on
them and don the garments of daughters of Greece; and thus did
they. Then he despatched a company of his companions to Baghdad
to acquaint his father Omar bin al-Nu'uman, with his arrival and
report that he was accompanied by Princess Abrizah, daughter of
King Hardub, Lord of Graecia-land. They halted forthright in the
place they had reached, and Sharrkan also halted and all righted
there; and when Almighty Allah made morning dawn, Sharrkan and
his company and Abrizah and her company took horse and fared on
towards the city; when lo! on the way they met the Wazir Dandan,
who had come out amongst a thousand horse to honour Abrizah and
Sharrkan, by especial commandment of King Omar Son of Al-
Nu'uman. When the two drew near, they turned towards them and
kissed ground before them; then they mounted again and escorted
them into the city and went up with them to the palace. Sharrkan
walked in to his father, who rose and embraced him and questioned
him of his case. So he told him all that Abrizah had told him,
and what had passed between them and said, "She hath parted from
her sire and departed from her reign and hath chosen to take part
with us and make her abode with us; and indeed," he said to his
father, "the King of Constantinople hath plotted to do us a
mischief, because of his daughter Sophia, for that the King of
Greece had made known to him her story and the cause of her being
given to thee; and he (the Grecian King) not knowing her to be
daughter of King Afridun, Lord of Constantinople; and, had he
known that, he would not have bestowed her upon thee, but he
would have restored her to her parent. And of a verity," he
continued, "we were saved from these perils only by the Lady
Abrizah, and never saw we a more valiant than she." And he went
on to tell his father all that had passed from first to last of
the wrestling and the single fighting. When King Omar heard the
story of Sharrkan, Abrizah was exalted in his eyes, and he longed
to see her and question her. Thereupon Sharrkan went out to her
and said, "The King calleth for thee;" she replied, "I hear and I
obey;" and he took her and brought her in to his father, who was
seated on his throne and who, having dismissed his high officers,
was attended only by his eunuchs. The Princess entered and
kissing the ground between his hands, saluted him in choice
terms. He was amazed at her eloquent speech and thanked her for
her dealing with his son Sharrkan and bade her be seated. So she
sat down and unveiled her face;[FN#217] and, when the King saw
her beauty, his reason fled his head and he made her draw near
and showed her favour, appointing her an especial palace for
herself and her damsels, and assigning them solde and allowances.
Then began he to ask her of the three jewels aforesaid, and she
answered, "Here be they with me, O King of the age!" So saying,
she rose and going to her lodging, unpacked her baggage and from
it brought out a box and from the box a casket of gold. She
opened the casket and taking out those three jewels, kissed them
and gave them to the King. Then she went away bearing his heart
with her. After her going the King sent for his son Sharrkan and
gave him one jewel of the three, and when he enquired of the
other two replied, "O my son! I mean to give one to thy brother
Zau al-Makan, and the other to thy sister Nuzhat al- Zaman." But
when Sharrkan heard that he had a brother (for to that time he
knew only of his sister) he turned to his sire and said to him,
"O King, hast thou a son other than myself?" He answered, "Yes,
and he is now six years old;" adding that his name was Zau al-
Makan and that he and Nuzhat al-Zaman were twins, born at a
birth. This news was grievous to Sharrkan, but he kept his
secret and said, "The bless- ing of Allah Most High be upon
them!", and he cast the jewel from his hand and shook the dust
off his clothes. Quoth the King, "How do I see thee change thy
manner when hearing of this, considering that after me thou
becomes" heir of the kingdom. Of a truth the troops have sworn
to thee and the Emirs and Grandees have taken the oath of
succession to thee; and this one of the three jewels is thine."
Sharrkan bowed his head to the ground and was ashamed to bandy
words with his parent so he accepted the jewel and went away,
knowing not what to do for exceeding wrath, and stayed not
walking till he had entered Abrizah's palace. As he approached
she stood up to meet him and thanked him for what he had done and
prayed for blessings on him and his sire. Then she sat down and
seated him by her side; but when he had taken his place she saw
rage in his face and questioned him, whereupon he told her that
Allah had blessed his father with two children by Sophia, a boy
and a girl, and that he had named the boy Zau al-Makan and the
girl Nuzhat al-Zaman; adding, "He hath kept the other two jewels
for them and hath given me one of thine, so I left it behind; I
knew naught of Zau al-Makan's birth till this day, and the twain
are now six years old. So when I learnt this, wrath possessed
me; and I tell thee the reason of my rage and hide nothing from
thee. But now I fear lest my father take thee to wife, for he
loveth thee and I saw in him signs of desire for thee: so what
wilt thou say, if he wish this?" Quoth she, "Know, O Sharrkan,
that thy father hath no dominion over me, nor can he have me
without my consent; and if he prevail over me by force, I will
take my own life. As for the three jewels, it was not my intent
that he should give any of them to either of his children and I
had no thought but that he would lay them up in his treasury with
his things of price; but now I desire of thy favour that thou
make me a present of the jewel which he gave thee, if thou have
accepted it." "Hearkening and obedience," replied Sharrkan, and
gave it to her. Then said she, "Fear nothing," and talked with
him awhile and continued, "I fear lest my father hear that I am
with you and sit not patiently under my loss, but do his
endeavours to find me; and to that end he may ally himself with
King Afridun, on account of his daughter Sophia, and both come on
thee with armies and so there befal great turmoil." When Sharrken
heard these words, he said to her, "O my lady, if it please thee
to sojourn with us, take no thought of them; though there gather
together against us all that be on land and on sea." " 'Tis
well," rejoined she; "if ye entreat me fair, I will tarry with
you, and if ye deal evilly by me, I will depart from you." Then
she bade her slave maidens bring food; so they set the tables,
and Sharrkan ate a little and went away to his own house,
disturbed and perturbed. Such was his case; but regarding the
affairs of his father, Omar bin al-Nu'uman, after dismissing his
son Sharrkan he arose and, taking the other two jewels, betook
himself to the Lady Sophia, who stood up when she saw him and
remained standing till he was seated. Presently, his two
children, Zau al-Makan and Nuzhat al-Zaman, came to him and he
kissed them and hung a jewel round each one's neck, at which they
rejoiced and kissed his hands. Then went they to their mother,
who joyed in their joy and wished the King long life; so he asked
her, "Why hast thou not informed me all this time that thou art
the daughter of King Afridun, Lord of Constantinople, that I
might have honoured thee still more and enlarged thee in dignity
and raised thy rank?" "O King," answered Sophia, "and what could
I desire greater or higher than this my standing with thee,
overwhelmed as I am with thy favours and thy benefits? And,
furthermore, Allah hath blessed me with two children by thee, a
son and a daughter." Her reply pleased the King and after leaving
her, he set apart for her and her children a wondrous fine
palace. Moreover, he appointed for them eunuchs and attendants
and doctors of law and doctors of philosophy and astrologers and
physicians and surgeons to do them service; and in every way he
redoubled his favour and entreated them with the best of
treatment. And presently he returned to the palace of his
dominion and to his Court where he distributed justice among the
lieges. So far concerning him and Sophia and her children; but
in the matter of Abrizah the King was greatly occupied with love
of her and burnt with desire of her night and day; and every
night, he would go in to her and converse with her and pay his
court to her, but she gave him no answer, only saying, "O King of
the age! I have no desire for men at this present." When he saw
her withdraw from him, his passion waxed hotter and his longing
and pining increased until, when weary of this, he summoned his
Wazir Dandan and, opening his very heart to him, told him of his
love for Princess Abrizah, daughter of Hardub, and informed him
how she refused to yield to his wishes and how desire for her was
doing him to die, for that he could get no grace of her. The
Wazir, hearing these words, said to the King, "As soon as it is
dark night, take thou a piece of Bhang the measure of a miskal,
about an ounce, and go in to her and drink somewhat of wine with
her. When the hour of ending the carousel shall draw near, fill
her a last cup and dropping therein the Bhang, give it to her to
drink, and she will not reach her sleeping chamber ere the drug
take effect on her. Then do thou go in to her and take thy will
of her; and such is my advice."[FN#218] "Thy rede is aright,"
quoth the King, and seeking his treasury, he took thence a piece
of concentrated Bhang, if an elephant smelt it he would sleep
from year to year. This he put in his bosom pocket and waited
till some little of the night went by, when he betook himself to
the palace of Princess Abrizah, who seeing him stood up to
receive him; but he bade her sit down. So she sat down, and he
sat by her, and he began to talk with her of wine and wassail,
whereupon she furnished the carousing table[FN#219] and placed it
before him. Then she set on the drinking vessels and lighted the
candles and ordered to bring dried fruits and sweet meats and all
that pertaineth to drinking. So they fell to tippling and the
King ceased not to pledge her till drunkenness crept into her
head; and seeing this he took out the bit of Bhang from his
pocket and, holding it between his fingers, filled a cup with his
own hand and drank it off. Then filling a second he said, "To
thy companionship!"; and dropped the drug into her cup, she
knowing naught of it. She took it and drank it off; then she
rose and went to her sleeping chamber. He waited for less than
an hour till he was assured that the dose had taken effect on her
and had robbed her of her senses, when he went in to her and
found her thrown on her back: and she had doffed her petticoat
trousers and the air raised the skirt of her shift and discovered
what was between her thighs. When the King saw the state of
things and found a lighted candle at her head and another at her
feet, shining upon what her thighs enshrined he took leave of his
five senses for lust and Satan seduced him and he could not
master himself, but put off his trousers and fell upon her and
abated her maiden head. Then he rose off her and went to one of
her women, by name Marjánah, and said, "Go in to thy lady and
speak with her." So she went in to her mistress and found her
lying on her back insensible, with the blood running down to the
calves of her legs, whereupon she took a kerchief and wiped away
the blood and lay by her that night. As soon as Almighty Allah
brought the dawn, the handmaid Marjanah washed her mistress's
hands and feet and brought rose water and bathed her face and
mouth with it, where upon she sneezed and yawned and cast up from
her inside that bit of Bhang like a bolus.[FN#220] Then she
revived and washed her hands and mouth and said to Marjanah,
"Tell me what hath befallen me." So she told her what had passed
and how she had found her, lying on her back, with the blood
running down, wherefore she knew that King Omar bin al-Nu'uman
had lain with her and had undone her and taken his will of her.
At this she grieved with exceeding grief and retired into
privacy, saying to her damsels, "Deny me to whoso would come in
to me and say to him that I am ill, till I see what Allah will do
with me." Presently the news of her sickness came to the King; so
he sent her sherbets and sugar electuaries. Some months she thus
passed in solitude, during which time the King's flame cooled and
his desire for her was quenched, so that he abstained from her.
Now she had conceived by him, and when the months of child
breeding had gone by, her pregnancy appeared and her belly
swelled, and the world was straitened upon her, so she said to
her handmaid Marjanah, "Know that it is not the folk who have
wronged me, but I who sinned against my own self[FN#221] in that
I left my father and mother and country. Indeed, I abhor life,
for my spirit is broken and neither courage nor strength is left
me. I used, when I mounted my steed, to have the mastery of him,
but now I am unable to ride. If I be brought to bed among them I
shall be dishonoured before my hand women and every one in the
palace will know that he hath taken my maidenhead in the way of
shame; and if I return to my father, with what face shall I meet
him or with what face shall I have recourse to him? How well
quoth the poet,
'Say, what shall solace one who hath nor home nor stable stead *
Nor cup companion, nor a cup, nor place to house his head?'"
Marjanah answered her, "It is thine to command; I will obey;" and
Abrizah said, "I desire at once to leave this place secretly, so
that none shall know of me but thou; and return to my father and
my mother, for when flesh stinketh, there is naught for it but
its own folk and Allah shall do with me e'en as He will." "O
Princess," Marjanah replied, "what thou wouldest do is well."
Then she made matters ready and kept her secret and waited for
some days till the King went out to chase and hunt, and his son
Sharrkan betook himself to certain of the fortresses to sojourn
there awhile. Then said she to Marjanah, "I wish to set out this
night, but how shall I do against my destiny? For already I feel
the pangs of labour and child birth, and if I abide other four or
five days, I shall be brought to bed here, and I shall be unable
to travel to my country. But this is what was written on my
forehead." Then she considered awhile, and said to Marjanah,
"Look us out a man who will go with us and serve us by the way,
for I have no strength to bear arms." "By Allah, O my lady,"
replied Marjanah, "I know none but a black slave called Al-
Ghazbán,[FN#222] who is one of the slaves of King Omar bin al-
Nu'uman; he is a valiant wight, and he keepeth guard at our
palace gate. The King appointed him to attend us, and indeed we
have overwhelmed him with our favours; so, lookye, I will go out
and speak with him of this matter, and promise him some monies
and tell him that, if he have a mind to tarry with us, I will
marry him to whom he will. He told me before to day that he had
been a highwayman; so if he consent to us we shall win our wish
and reach to our own land." She rejoined, "Call him that I may
talk with him;" whereupon Marjanah fared forth and said to the
slave, 'O Ghazban, Allah prosper thee, so thou fall in with what
my lady saith to thee!" Then she took him by the hand and brought
him to the Princess, whose hands he kissed but as she beheld him,
her heart took fright at him. "How ever," she said to herself,
"of a truth, Need giveth the law;" and she approached to speak
with him, yet her heart started away from him. Presently she
said, "O Ghazban, say me, wilt thou help me against the perfidies
of Fortune and conceal my secret if I discover it to thee?" When
the slave saw her, his heart was taken by storm and he fell in
love with her forthright and could not but reply; "O my mistress,
whatsoever thou biddest me do, I will not depart therefrom."
Quoth she, "I would have thee take me at this hour and take this
my handmaid and saddle us two camels and two of the King's horses
and set on each horse a saddle bag of goods and somewhat of
provaunt, and go with us to our own country; where, if thou
desire to abide with us, I will marry thee to her thou shalt
choose of my handmaidens, or, if thou prefer return to thine own
land, we will marry thee and give thee whatso thou desires" after
thou hast taken of money what shall satisfy thee." When Al
Ghazban, heard this, he rejoiced with great joy and replied, "O
my lady, I will serve both of you with mine eyes and will go at
once and saddle the horses." Then he went away gladsome and
saying to himself, "I shall get my will of them and if they will
not yield to me, I will kill them both and take their riches."
But he kept this his intent to himself, and presently returned
with two camels and three head of horses, one of which he rode,
and Princess Abrizah made Marjanah mount the second she mounting
the third, albeit she was in labour pains and possessed not her
soul for anguish. And the slave ceased not travelling with them
night and day through the passes of the mountains, till there
remained but musingly march between them and their own country;
when the travail pangs came upon Abrizah and she could no longer
resist; so she said to Al-Ghazban, "Set me down, for the pains of
labour are upon me;" and cried to Marjanah, "Do thou alight and
sit by me and deliver me." Then Marjanah dismounted from her
horse, and Al-Ghazban did in like sort, and they made fast the
bridles and helped the Princess to dismount, for she was aswoon
from excess of anguish. When Al-Ghazban saw her on the ground,
Satan entered into him and he drew his falchion and brandishing
it in her face, said "O my lady, vouchsafe me thy favours."
Hearing these words she turned to him and said, "It remaineth for
me only that I yield me to negro slaves, after having refused
Kings and Braves!"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Fifty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princess
Abrizah said to the black slave Al Ghazban, "It remaineth for me
only that I yield me to negro slaves, after having refused Kings
and Braves!" And she was wroth with him and cried, "Woe to thee!
what words are these thou sayest? Out on thee, and talk not thus
in my presence and know that I will never consent to what thou
sayest, though I drink the cup of death. Wait till I have cast
my burden and am delivered of the after birth, and then, if thou
be able thereto, do with me as thou wilt; but, an thou leave not
lewd talk at this time assuredly I will slay myself with my own
hand and quit the world and be at peace from all this." And she
began reciting extempore,[FN#223]
"O spare me, thou Ghazban, indeed enow for me * Are heavy strokes
of time, mischance and misery!
Whoredom my Lord forfends to all humanity; * Quoth He, 'Who
breaks my bidding Hell for home shall see!'
And if thou leave not suing me to whoredom's way * Against th'
Almighty's choicest gift, my chastity,
Upon my tribesmen I with might and main will call * And gather
all, however far or near they be;
And with Yamáni blade were I in pieces hewn, * Ne'er shall he
sight my face who makes for villeiny,
The face of free born come of noble folk and brave; * What then
can be to me the seed of whoreson slave?"
When Ghazban heard these lines he was wroth exceedingly; his eyes
reddened with blood and his face became a dusty grey[FN#224]; his
nostrils swelled, his lips protruded and the repulsiveness of his
aspect redoubled. And he repeated these couplets,
"Ho thou, Abrizah, mercy! leave me not for I * Of thy love and
Yamáni[FN#225] glance the victim lie
My heart is cut to pieces by thy cruelty, * My body wasted and my
patience done to die:
From glances ravishing all hearts with witchery * Reason far
flies, the while desire to thee draws nigh;
Though at thy call should armies fill the face of earth * E'en
now I'd win my wish and worlds in arms defy!"
When Abrizah heard these words, she wept with sore weeping and
said to him, "Woe to thee, O Ghazban! How dareth the like of
thee to address me such demand, O base born and obscene bred?
Dost thou deem all folk are alike?" When the vile slave heard
this from her, he waxt more enraged and his eyes grew redder: and
he came up to her and smiting her with the sword on her neck
wounded her to the death. Then he drove her horse before him
with the treasure and made off with himself to the mountains.
Such was the case with Al-Ghazban; but as regards Abrizah, she
gave birth to a son, like the moon, and Marjanah took the babe
and did him the necessary offices and laid him by his mother's
side; and lo and behold! the child fastened to its mother's
breast and she dying.[FN#226] When Marjanah saw this, she cried
out with a grievous cry and rent her raiment and cast dust on her
head and buffeted her cheeks till blood flowed, saying, "Alas, my
mistress! Alas, the pity of it! Thou art dead by the hand of a
worthless black slave, after all thy knightly prowess!" And she
ceased not weeping when suddenly a great cloud of dust arose and
walled the horizon;[FN#227] but, after awhile, it lifted and
discovered a numerous conquering host. Now this was the army of
King Hardub, Princess Abrizah's father, and the cause of his
coming was that when he heard of his daughter and her handmaids
having fled to Baghdad, and that they were with King Omar bin al-
Nu'uman, he had come forth, leading those with him, to seek
tidings of her from travellers who might have seen her with the
King. When he had gone a single day's march from his capital, he
espied three horse men afar off and made towards them, intending
to ask whence they came and seek news of his daughter. Now these
three whom he saw at a distance were his daughter and Marjanah
and the slave Al- Ghazban; and he made for them to push inquiry.
Seeing this the villain blackamoor feared for himself; so he
killed Abrizah and fled for his life. When they came up, King
Hardub saw his daughter lying dead and Marjanah weeping over her,
and he threw himself from his steed and fell fainting to the
ground. All the riders of his company, the Emirs and Waxirs,
took foot and forth right pitched their tents on the mountain and
set up for the King a great pavilion, domed and circular, without
which stood the grandees of the realm. When Marjanah saw her
master, she at once recognized him and her tears redoubled; and,
when he came to himself, he questioned her and she told him all
that had passed and said, "Of a truth he that hath slain thy
daughter is a black slave belonging to King Omar bin al-Nu'uman,
and she informed him how Sharrkan's father had dealt with the
Princess. When King Hardub heard this, the world grew black in
his sight and he wept with sore weeping. Then he called for a
litter and, therein laying his dead daughter, returned to
Caesarea and carried her into the palace, where he went in to his
mother, Zat al-Dawahi, and said to that Lady of Calamities,
"Shall the Moslems deal thus with my girl? Verily King Omar bin
al-Nu'uman despoiled her of her honour by force, and after this,
one of his black slaves slew her. By the truth of the Messiah, I
will assuredly take blood revenge for my daughter and clear away
from mine honour the stain of shame; else will I kill myself with
mine own hand!" And he wept passing sore. Quoth his mother,
"None other than Marjanah killed thy daughter, for she hated her
in secret;" and she continued to her son, "Fret not for taking
the blood wit of thy daughter, for, by the truth of the Messiah,
I will not turn back from King Omar bin al-Nu'uman till I have
slain him and his sons; and of a very truth I will do with him a
deed, passing the power of Sage and Knight, whereof the
chroniclers shall tell chronicles in all countries and in every
place: but needs must thou do my bidding in all I shall direct,
for whoso be firmly set on the object of his desire shall surely
compass his desire." "By the virtue of the Messiah," replied he,
"I will not cross thee in aught thou shalt say." Then quoth she,
"Bring me a number of hand maids, high bosomed virgins, and
summon the wise men of the age and let them teach them philosophy
and the rules of behaviour before Kings, and the art of
conversation and making verses; and let them talk with them of
all manner science and edifying knowledge. And the sages must be
Moslems, that they may teach them the language and traditions of
the Arabs, together with the history of the Caliphs and the
ancient annals of the Kings of Al-Islam; and if we persevere in
this for four years' space, we shall gain our case. So possess
thy soul in patience and wait; for one of the Arabs saith, 'If we
take man bote after years forty the time were short to ye.' When
we have taught the girls these things, we shall be able to work
our will with our foe, for he doteth on women and he hath three
hundred and sixty concubines, whereto are now added an hundred of
the flowers of thy handmaidens who were with thy daughter, she
that hath found mercy.[FN#228] As soon as I have made an end of
their education, as described to thee, I will take them and set
out with them in person." When King Hardub heard his mother's
words, he rejoiced and arose and kissed her head; and at once
despatched messengers and couriers to lands sundry and manifold
to fetch him Moslem sages. They obeyed his commands and fared to
far countries and thence brought him the sages and the doctors he
sought. When these came into presence, he honoured them with
notable honorurs and bestowed dresses on them and appointed to
them stipends and allowances and promised them much money whenas
they should have taught the damsels. Then he committed the
handmaidens to their hands--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Fi
