THE MAN OF UPPER EGYPT AND HIS FRANKISH
WIFE.
We lay one night in the house of a man of the Sa'íd or Upper
Egypt, and he entertained us and entreated us hospitably. Now he
was a very old man with exceeding swarthiness, and he had little
children, who were white, of a white dashed with red. So we said
to him, "Harkye, such an one, how cometh it that these thy
children are white, whilst thou thyself art passing swart?" and
he said, "Their mother was a Frankish woman, whom I took prisoner
in the days of Al-Malik al-Násir Saláh al-Dín,[FN#28] after the
battle of Hattín,[FN#29] when I was a young man." We asked, "And
how gottest thou her?" and he answered, "I had a rare adventure
with her." Quoth we, "Favour us with it;" and quoth he, "With all
my heart! You must know that I once sowed a crop of flax in these
parts and pulled it and scutched it and spent on it five hundred
gold pieces; after which I would have sold it, but could get no
more than this therefor, and the folk said to me, ‘Carry it to
Acre: for there thou wilt haply make good gain by it.' Now Acre
was then in the hands of the Franks; [FN#30] so I carried my flax
thither and sold part of it at six months' credit. One day, as I
was selling, behold, there came up a Frankish woman (now ‘tis the
custom of the women of the Franks to go about with market streets
with unveiled faces), to buy flax of me, and I saw of her beauty
what dazed my wits. So I sold her somewhat of flax and was easy
with her concerning the price; and she took it and went away.
Some days after, she returned and bought somewhat more flax of me
and I was yet easier with her about the price; and she repeated
her visits to me, seeing that I was in love with her. Now she was
used to walk in company of an old woman to whom I said, "I am
sore enamoured of thy mistress. Canst thou contrive for me to
enjoy her?" Quoth she, ‘I will contrive this for thee; but the
secret must not go beyond us three, me, thee and her; and there
is no help but that thou be lavish with money, to boot.' And I
answered, saying, ‘Though my life were the price of her favours
'twere no great matter.'" -- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Eight Hundred and Ninety-Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old
woman said to the man, "However the secret must not go beyond us
three, to wit me, thee and her; and there is no help but thou be
lavish of thy money to boot." He replied, "Though my life were
the price of her favours 'twere no great matter." "So it was
agreed" (continued the man of Upper Egypt), "that I should pay
her fifty dinars and that she should come to me; whereupon I
procured the money and gave it to the old woman. She took it and
said, ‘Make ready a place for her in thy house, and she will come
to thee this night.' Accordingly I went home and made ready what
I could of meat and drink and wax candles and sweetmeats. Now my
house overlooked the sea and 'twas the season of summer; so I
spread the bed on the terrace roof. Presently, the Frank woman
came and we ate and drank, and the night fell dark. We lay down
under the sky, with the moon shining on us, and fell to watching
the shimmering of the stars in the sea: and I said to myself,
‘Art not ashamed before Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!)
and thou a stranger, under the heavens and in presence of the
deep waters, to disobey Him with a Nazarene woman and merit the
torment of Fire?' Then said I, ‘O my God, I call Thee to witness
that I abstain from this Christian woman this night, of
shamefastness before Thee and fear of Thy vengeance!' So I slept
till the morning, and she arose at peep of day full of anger and
went away. I walked to my shop and sat there; and behold,
presently she passed, as she were the moon, accompanied by the
old woman who was also angry; whereat my heart sank within me and
I said to myself, ‘Who art thou that thou shouldst refrain from
yonder damsel? Art thou Sarí al-Sakatí or Bishr Barefoot or
Junayd of Baghdad or Fuzayl bin ‘Iyáz?'[FN#31] then I ran after
the old woman and coming up with her said to her, ‘Bring her to
me again;' and said she, ‘By the virtue of the Messiah, she will
not return to thee but for an hundred ducats!' Quoth I, ‘I will
give thee a hundred gold pieces.' So I paid her the money and the
damsel came to me a second time; but no sooner was she with me
than I returned to my whilome way of thinking and abstained from
her and forbore her for the sake of Allah Almighty. Presently she
went away and I walked to my shop, and shortly after the old
woman came up, in a rage. Quoth I to her, ‘Bring her to me
again;' and quoth she, ‘By the virtue of the Messiah, thou shalt
never again enjoy her presence with thee, except for five hundred
ducats, and thou shalt perish in thy pain!' At this I trembled
and resolved to spend the whole price of my flax and therewith
ransom my life. But, before I could think I heard the crier
proclaiming and saying, ‘Ho, all ye Moslems, the truce which was
between us and you is expired, and we give all of you Mahometans
who are here a week from this time to have done with your
business and depart to your own country.' Thus her visits were
cut off from me and I betook myself to getting in the price of
the flax which men had bought upon credit, and to bartering what
remained in my hands for other goods. Then I took with me fair
merchandise and departed Acre with a soul full of affection and
love-longing for the Frankish woman, who had taken my heart and
my coin. So I journeyed until I made Damascus, where I sold the
stock in trade I had brought from Acre, at the highest price,
because of the cutting off of communication by reason of the term
of truce having expired; and Allah (extolled and exalted be He!)
vouchsafed me good gain. Then I fell to trading in captive slave-
girls, thinking thus to ease my heart of its pining for the
Frankish woman, and in this traffic engaged I abode three years,
till there befel between Al-Malik al-Násir and the Franks what
befel of the action of Hattin and other encounters and Allah gave
him the victory over them, so that he took all their Kings
prisoners and he opened [FN#32] the coast [FN#33] cities by His
leave. Now it fortuned one day after this, that a man came to me
and sought of me a slave-girl for Al-Malik al-Nasir. Having a
handsome handmaid I showed her to him and he bought her of me for
an hundred dinars and gave me ninety thereof, leaving ten still
due me, for that there was no more found in the royal treasury
that day, because he had expended all his monies in waging war
against the Franks. Accordingly they took counsel with him and he
said, ‘Carry him to the treasury[FN#34] where are the captives'
lodging and give him his choice among the damsels of the Franks,
so he may take one of them for the ten dinars,'" -- And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Eight Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that whenas
Al-Malik al-Nasir said, " ‘Give him his choice to take one of the
girls for the ten dinars that are due to him;' they brought me to
the captives' lodging and showed me all who were therein, and I
saw amongst them the Frankish damsel with whom I had fallen in
love at Acre and knew her right well. Now she was the wife of one
of the cavaliers of the Franks. So I said, ‘Give me this one,'
and carrying her to my tent, asked her, ‘Dost thou know me?' She
answered, ‘No;' and I rejoined, ‘I am thy friend, the sometime
flax-merchant with whom thou hadst to do at Acre and there befel
between us what befel. Thou tookest money of me and saidest,
‘Thou shalt never again see me but for five hundred dinars.' And
now thou art become my property for ten ducats.' Quoth she, ‘This
is a mystery. Thy faith is the True Faith and I testify that
there is no god but the God and that Mohammed is the Messenger of
God!' And she made perfect profession of Al-Islam. Then said I to
myself, ‘By Allah, I will not go in unto her till I have set her
free and acquainted the Kazi.' So I betook myself to Ibn
Shaddád[FN#35] and told him what had passed and he married me to
her. Then I lay with her that night and she conceived; after
which the troops departed and we returned to Damascus. But within
a few days there came an envoy from the King of the Franks, to
seek the captives and the prisoners, according to the treaty
between the Kings. So Al-Malik al-Nasir restored all the men and
women captive, till there remained but the woman who was with me
and the Franks said, ‘The wife of such an one the Knight is not
here.' Then they asked after her and making strict search for
her, found that she was with me; whereupon they demanded her of
me and I went in to her sore concerned and with colour changed;
and she said to me, ‘What aileth thee and what evil assaileth
thee?' Quoth I, ‘A messenger is come from the King to take all
the captives, and they demand thee of me.' Quoth she, ‘Have no
fear, bring me to the King and I know what to say before and to
him.' I carried her into the presence of the Sultan Al-Malik al-
Nasir, who was seated, with the envoy of the King of the Franks
on his right hand, and I said to him, ‘This is the woman that is
with me.' Then quoth the King and the envoy to her, ‘Wilt thou go
to thy country or to[FN#36] thy husband? For Allah hath loosed
thy bonds and those of thy fellow captives.' Quoth she to the
Sultan, ‘I am become a Moslemah and am great with child, as by my
middle ye may see, and the Franks shall have no more profit of
me.' The envoy asked, ‘Whether is dearer to thee, this Moslem or
thy first husband and knight such an one?;' and she answered him
even as she had answered the Sultan. Then said the envoy to the
Franks with him, ‘Heard ye her words?' They replied, ‘Yes.' And
he said to me, ‘Take thy wife and depart with her.' So I took her
and went away; but the envoy sent after me in haste and cried,
‘Her mother gave me a charge for her, saying, ‘My daughter is a
captive and naked; and I would have thee carry her this chest.'
Take it thou and deliver it to her.' Accordingly I carried the
chest home and gave it to her. She opened it and found in it all
her raiment as she had left it and therein I saw the two purses
of fifty and an hundred dinars which I had given her, untouched
and tied up with my own tying, wherefore I praised Almighty
Allah. There are my children by her and she is alive to this day
and 'twas she dressed you this food." We marvelled at his story
and at that which had befallen him of good fortune, and Allah is
All-knowing. But men also tell a tale anent the
