THE DEVOTEE TO WHOM ALLAH GAVE A CLOUD
FOR SERVICE AND THE DEVOUT KING.
There was once, among the children of Israel, a man of the
devout, for piety acclaimed and for continence and asceticism
enfamed, whose prayers were ever granted and who by supplication
obtained whatso he wanted; and he was a wanderer in the mountains
and was used to pass the night in worship. Now Almighty Allah had
subjected to him a cloud which travelled with him wherever he
went, and poured on him its water-treasures in abundance that he
might make his ablutions and drink. After a long time when things
were thus, his fervour somewhat abated, whereupon Allah took the
cloud away from him and ceased to answer his prayers. On this
account, great was his grief and long was his woe, and he ceased
not to regret the time of grace and the miracle vouchsafed to him
and to lament and bewail and bemoan himself, till he saw in a
dream one who said to him, "An thou wouldest have Allah restore
to thee thy cloud, seek out a certain King, in such a town, and
beg him to pray for thee: so will Allah (be He extolled and
exalted!) give thee back thy cloud and bespread it over thee by
virtue of his pious prayers." And he began repeating these
couplets,
"Wend to that pious prayerful Emir, * Who can with gladness thy
condition cheer;
An he pray Allah, thou shalt win thy wish; * And heavy rain shall
drop from welkin clear.
He stands all Kings above in potent worth; * Nor to compare with
him doth aught appear:
Near him thou soon shalt hap upon thy want, * And see all joy and
gladness draw thee near:
Then cut the wolds and wilds unfounted till * The goal thou goest
for anigh shalt speer!"
So the hermit set out for the town named to him in the dream;
and, coming thither after long travel, enquired for the King's
palace which was duly shown to him. And behold, at the gate he
found a slave-officer sitting on a great chair and clad in
gorgeous gear; so he stood to him and saluted him; and he
returned his salam and asked him, "What is thy business?"
Answered the devotee, "I am a wronged man, and come to submit my
case to the King." Quoth the officer, "Thou hast no access to him
this day; for he hath appointed unto petitioners and enquirers
one day in every seven" (naming the day), "on which they may go
in to him; so wend thy ways in welfare till then." The hermit was
vexed with the King for thus veiling himself from the folk and
said in thought, "How shall this man be a saint of the saints of
Allah (to whom belong Majesty and Might!) and he on this wise?"
Then he went away and awaited the appointed day. "Now" (quoth
he)"when it came, I repaired to the palace, where I found a great
number of folk at the gate, expecting admission; and I stood with
them, till there came out a Wazir robed in gorgeous raiment and
attended by guards and slaves, who said, 'Let those, who have
petitions to present, enter.' So I entered with the rest and
found the King seated facing his officers and grandees who were
ranged according to their several ranks and degrees. The Wazir
took up his post and brought forward the petitioners, one by one,
till it came to my turn, when the King looked on me and said,
'Welcome to the 'Lord of the Cloud'! Sit thee down till I make
leisure for thee.' I was confounded at his words and confessed
his dignity and superiority; and, when the King had answered the
petitioners and had made an end with them, he rose and dismissed
his Wazirs and Grandees; then, taking my hand he led me to the
door of the private palace, where we found a black slave,
splendidly arrayed, with helm on head, and on his right hand and
his left, bows and coats of mail. He rose to the King; and,
hastening to obey his orders and forestall his wishes, opened the
door. We went in, hand in hand, till we came to a low wicket,
which the King himself opened and led me into a ruinous place of
frightful desolation and thence passed into a chamber, wherein
was naught but a prayer-carpet, an ewer for ablution and some
mats of palm-leaves. Here the King doffed his royal robes and
donned a coarse gown of white wool and a conical bonnet of felt.
Then he sat down and making me sit, called out to his wife, 'Ho,
such an one!' and she answered from within saying, 'Here am I.'
Quoth he, 'Knowest thou who is our guest to-day?' Replied she,
'Yes, it is the Lord of the Cloud.' The King said, 'Come forth:
it mattereth not for him.' And behold, there entered a woman, as
she were a vision, with a face that beamed like the new moon; and
she wore a gown and veil of wool."-And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that 'when the
King called to his wife, she came forth from the inner room; and
her face beamed like the new moon; and she wore a gown and a veil
of wool. Then said the King, 'O my brother, dost thou desire to
hear our story or that we should pray for thee and dismiss thee?'
Answered the hermit; 'Nay, I wish to hear the tale of you twain,
for that to me were preferable.' Said the King, 'My forefathers
handed down the throne, one to the other, and it descended from
great one to great one, in unbroken succession, till the last
died and it came to me. Now Allah had made this hateful to me,
for I would fain have gone awandering over earth and left the
folk to their own affairs; but I feared lest they should fall
into confusion and anarchy and misgovernment so as to swerve from
divine law, and the union of the Faith be broken up. Wherefore,
abandoning my own plans, I took the kingship and appointed to
every head of them a regular stipend; and donned the royal robes;
and posted slave-officers at the doors, as a terror to the
dishonest and for the defence of honest folk and the maintenance
of law and limitations. Now when free of this, I entered this
place and, doffing my royal habit, donned these clothes thou
seest; and this my cousin, the daughter of my father's brother,
hath agreed with me to renounce the world and helpeth me to serve
the Lord. So we are wont to weave these palm-leaves and earn,
during the day, a wherewithal to break our fast at nightfall; and
we have lived on this wise nigh upon forty years. Abide thou with
us (so Allah have mercy on thee!) till we sell our mats; and thou
shalt sup and sleep with us this night and on the morrow wend thy
ways with that thou wishest, Inshallah!' So he tarried with them
till the end of the day, when there came a boy five years old who
took the mats they had made and carrying them to the market, sold
them for a carat;[FN#484] and with this bought bread and beans
and returned with them to the King. The hermit broke his fast and
lay down to sleep with them; but in the middle of the night they
both arose and fell to praying and weeping. When daybreak was
near, the King said, "O my God, this Thy servant beseecheth Thee
to return him his cloud; and to do this Thou art able; so, O my
God, let him see his prayer granted and restore him his cloud."
The Queen amen'd to his orisons and behold, the cloud grew up in
the sky; whereupon the King gave the hermit joy and the man took
leave of them and went away, the cloud companying him as of old.
And whatsoever he required of Allah after this, in the names of
the pious King and Queen, He granted it without fail and the man
made thereon these couplets,
"My Lord hath servants fain of piety; * Hearts in the Wisdom-
garden ranging free:
Their bodies' lusts at peace, and motionless * For breasts that
bide in purest secresy.
Thou seest all silent, awesome of their Lord, * For hidden things
unseen and seen they see."
And they tell a tale of
