ALI THE PERSIAN.
It is said that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, being restless one
night, sent for his Wazir and said to him, "O Ja'afar, I am sore
wakeful and heavy-hearted this night, and I desire of thee what
may solace my spirit and cause my breast to broaden with amuse
meet." Quoth Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, I have a
friend, by name Ali the Persian, who hath store of tales and plea
sent stories, such as lighten the heart and make care depart."
Quoth the Caliph, "Fetch him to me," and quoth Ja'afar,
"Hearkening and obedience;" and, going out from before him, sent
to seek Ali the Persian and when he came said to him, "Answer the
summons of the Commander of the Faithful." "To hear is to obey,"
answered Ali;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
replied, "To hear is to obey;" and at once followed the Wazir
into the presence of the Caliph who bade him be seated and said
to him, "O Ali, my heart is heavy within me this night and it
hath come to my ear that thou hast great store of tales and
anecdotes; so I desire of thee that thou let me hear what will
relieve my despondency and brighten my melancholy." Said he, "O
Commander of the Faithful, shall I tell thee what I have seen
with my eyes or what I have heard with my ears?" He replied, "An
thou have seen aught worth the telling, let me hear that."
Replied Ali: "Hearkening and obedience. Know thou, O Commander of
the Faithful, that some years ago I left this my native city of
Baghdad on a journey, having with me a lad who carried a light
leathern bag. Presently we came to a certain city, where, as I
was buying and selling, behold, a rascally Kurd fell on me and
seized my wallet perforce, saying, 'This is my bag, and all which
is in it is my property.' Thereupon, I cried aloud 'Ho
Moslems,[FN#211] one and all, deliver me from the hand of the
vilest of oppressors!' But the folk said, 'Come, both of you, to
the Kazi and abide ye by his judgment with joint consent.' So I
agreed to submit myself to such decision and we both presented
ourselves before the Kazi, who said, 'What bringeth you hither
and what is your case and your quarrel?' Quoth I, 'We are men at
difference, who appeal to thee and make complaint and submit
ourselves to thy judgment.' Asked the Kazi, 'Which of you is the
complainant?'; so the Kurd came forward[FN#212] and said, 'Allah
preserve our lord the Kazi! Verily, this bag is my bag and all
that is in it is my swag. It was lost from me and I found it with
this man mine enemy.' The Kazi asked, 'When didst thou lose it?';
and the Kurd answered, 'But yesterday, and I passed a sleepless
night by reason of its loss.' 'An it be thy bag,' quoth the Kazi,
'tell me what is in it.' Quoth the Kurd, 'There were in my bag
two silver styles for eye-powder and antimony for the eyes and a
kerchief for the hands, wherein I had laid two gilt cups and two
candlesticks. Moreover it contained two tents and two platters
and two spoons and a cushion and two leather rugs and two ewers
and a brass tray and two basins and a cooking-pot and two water-
jars and a ladle and a sacking-needle and a she-cat and two
bitches and a wooden trencher and two sacks and two saddles and a
gown and two fur pelisses and a cow and two calves and a she-goat
and two sheep and an ewe and two lambs and two green pavilions
and a camel and two she-camels and a lioness and two lions and a
she-bear and two jackals and a mattress and two sofas and an
upper chamber and two saloons and a portico and two sitting-rooms
and a kitchen with two doors and a company of Kurds who will bear
witness that the bag is my bag.' Then said the Kazi to me, 'And
thou, sirrah, what sayest thou?' So I came forward, O Commander
of the Faithful (and indeed the Kurd's speech had bewildered me)
and said, 'Allah advance our lord the Kazi! Verily, there was
naught in this my wallet, save a little ruined tenement and
another without a door and a dog house and a boys' school and
youths playing dice and tents and tent-ropes and the cities of
Bassorah and Baghdad and the palace of Shaddad bin Ad and an
ironsmith's forge and a fishing-net and cudgels and pickets and
girls and boys and a thousand pimps who will testify that the bag
is my bag.' Now when the Kurd heard my words, he wept and wailed
and said, 'O my lord the Kazi, this my bag is known and what is
in it is a matter of renown; for in this bag there be castles and
citadels and cranes and beasts of prey and men playing chess and
draughts. Furthermore, in this my bag is a brood-mare and two
colts and a stallion and two blood-steeds and two long lances;
and it containeth eke a lion and two hares and a city and two
villages and a whore and two sharking panders and an
hermaphrodite and two gallows birds and a blind man and two
wights with good sight and a limping cripple and two lameters and
a Christian ecclesiastic and two deacons and a patriarch and two
monks and a Kazi and two assessors, who will be evidence that the
bag is my bag.' Quoth the Kazi to me, 'And what sayst thou, O
Ali?' So, O Commander of the Faithful, being filled with rage, I
came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi!'"--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
When it was the Two Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
continued: "So being filled with rage, O Commander of the
Faithful, I came forward and said, 'Allah keep our lord the Kazi
I had in this my wallet a coat of mail and a broadsword and
armouries and a thousand fighting rams and a sheep-fold with its
pasturage and a thousand barking dogs and gardens and vines and
flowers and sweet smelling herbs and figs and apples and statues
and pictures and flagons and goblets and fair-faced slave-girls
and singing-women and marriage-feasts and tumult and clamour and
great tracts of land and brothers of success, which were robbers,
and a company of daybreak-raiders with swords and spears and bows
and arrows and true friends and dear ones and Intimates and
comrades and men imprisoned for punishment and cup-companions and
a drum and flutes and flags and banners and boys and girls and
brides (in all their wedding bravery), and singing-girls and five
Abyssinian women and three Hindi maidens and four damsels of
Al-Medinah and a score of Greek girls and eighty Kurdish dames
and seventy Georgian ladies and Tigris and Euphrates and a
fowling net and a flint and steel and Many-columned Iram and a
thousand rogues and pimps and horse-courses and stables and
mosques and baths and a builder and a carpenter and a plank and a
nail and a black slave with his flageolet and a captain and a
caravan leader and towns and cities and an hundred thousand
dinars and Cufa and Anbár[FN#213] and twenty chests full of
stuffs and twenty storehouses for victuals and Gaza and Askalon
and from Damietta to Al-Sawán[FN#214]; and the palace of Kisra
Anushirwan and the kingdom of Solomon and from Wadi Nu'umán to
the land of Khorasán and Balkh and Ispahán and from India to the
Sudán. Therein also (may Allah prolong the life of our lord the
Kazi!) are doublets and cloths and a thousand sharp razors to
shave off the Kazi's beard, except he fear my resentment and
adjudge the bag to be my bag.' Now when the Kazi heard what I and
the Kurd avouched, he was confounded and said, 'I see ye twain be
none other than two pestilent fellows, atheistical-villains who
make sport of Kazis and magistrates and stand not in fear of
reproach. Never did tongue tell nor ear hear aught more
extraordinary than that which ye pretend. By Allah, from China to
Shajarat Umm Ghaylán, nor from Fars to Sudan nor from Wadi
Nu'uman to Khorasan, was ever heard the like of what ye avouch or
credited the like of what ye affirm. Say, fellows, be this bag a
bottomless sea or the Day of Resurrection that shall gather
together the just and unjust?' Then the Kazi bade them open the
bag; so I opened it and behold, there was in it bread and a lemon
and cheese and olives. So I threw the bag down before the Kurd
and ganged my gait." Now when the Caliph heard this tale from Ali
the Persian, he laughed till he fell on his back and made him a
handsome present.[FN#215] And men also relate a
