Shahriyar exclaimed, O Shahrazad, verily this story is exceedingly wonderful!-O King, she replied, it is not more wonderful than the story of 'Ala-ed-Din Abu-shShamat. The King said, And what is that story? And she related it thus : CHAPTER XI [NIGHTS 249-269] THE STORY OF 'ALA-ED-DIN ABU-SH-SHAMAT IT hath been told me, O happy King, that there was, in ancient times, a merchant in Cairo,* named Shems-ed-Din. He was one of the best and the most veracious in speech of all the merchants, and was possessor of servants and other dependants, and male black slaves, and female slaves, and memluks, and of great wealth, and was Shah-Bandar † of the merchants in Cairo. And there resided with him a wife whom he loved, and who loved him: but he had lived with her forty years, and had not been blessed with a daughter nor with a son by her. And he sat one day in his shop, and saw the other merchants, every one of them having a son, or two sons, and the greater number of these sons were sitting in shops like their fathers. That day was Friday: so this merchant entered the bath, and performed the ablution of Friday; and when he came forth [from the inner apartment], he took the barber's looking-glass, and, looking at his face in it, said, I testify that there is no deity but God, and I testify that Mohammad is God's Apostle ! § He then looked at his beard, and saw that the white eclipsed the black; and he reflected that hoariness was the monitor of death. Now his wife knew the time of his coming, and she used to wash and prepare herself to receive him; and when he came home to her that day, she said to him, Good evening: —but he replied, I have seen no good. She had said to * Misr, as usual. + Syndic. A lustration of the whole person, obligatory before the congregational prayers. § In order to escape the risk of the evil eye. the slave-girl, Bring the supper-table. So she brought the repast; and the merchant's wife said to him, Sup, O my master. I will not eat anything, he replied. And he turned away his face from the table. She therefore said to him, What is the reason of this, and what hath grieved thee? He answered her, Thou art the cause of my grief.-Wherefore? she asked. And he answered her, When I opened my shop this day, I saw that every one of the merchants had a son, or two sons, and most of the sons were sitting in the shops like their fathers; whereupon I said within myself, Verily he who took thy father will not leave thee. And when I first visited thee (he continued), thou madest me swear that I would not take another wife in addition to thee, nor take an Abyssinian nor a Greek nor any other slavegirl as a concubine; and thou art barren.-But his wife reproved him in such a manner that he passed the night and arose in the morning repenting that he had reproached her, and she also repented that she had reproached him. And soon after this, his wife informed him that his wish was likely to be accomplished. * The son was born, and the midwife charmed him by repeating the names of Mohammad and 'Ali, and she pronounced in his ear the tekbir † and the adhan, and wrapped him up and gave him to his mother, who nursed him, and he took his nourishment until he was satiated, and slept. The midwife remained with them three days, until they had made the sweetmeat to distribute on the seventh day; and then they sprinkled the salt for the infant.‡ And the merchant went in and congratulated his wife on her safety, and said to her, Where is God's deposit? Whereupon she presented to him an infant of surprising loveliness, the work of the Ever-present Governor. He was an infant of seven days; but he who beheld him would say that he was a child a year old; and the merchant looked in his face, and saw that it was like a shining full moon, with moles upon the cheeks. He said to his wife, What hast thou named him? And she answered, Were it a girl, I had named her; but * Death. + "God is most Great"; the adhan is the call to prayer. Preservative from the evil eye. this is a boy; so no one shall name him but thyself. The people of that age used to name their children from an omen; and while they were consulting upon the name of the merchant's son, lo, one said to his companion, O my master 'Ala-ed-Din. So the merchant said to his wife, We will name him 'Ala-ed-Din Abu-sh-Shamat. He commissioned the nurses to rear him, and the child drank the milk for two years; after which they weaned him, and he grew up, and walked upon the floor. And when he had attained the age of seven years, they put him in a chamber beneath a trap-door, fearing the influence of the eye upon him, and his father said, This boy shall not come forth from beneath the trap-door until his beard groweth. The merchant appointed a slave-girl and a male black slave to attend upon him the slave-girl prepared the table for him, and the black slave carried it to him. Then his father circumcised him, and made for him a magnificent banquet; and after this, he brought to him a professor of religion and law to teach him; and the professor taught him writing and the Kur'an and science until he became skilful and learned. : But it happened that the black slave took to him the table one day, and inadvertently left the trap-door open; whereupon 'Ala-ed-Din came forth from it, and went in to his mother. There was with her a party of women of rank, and while they were conversing with her, lo, he came in to them, resembling an intoxicated memluk, in the excess of his beauty. So when the women saw him, they covered their faces, and said to his mother, Allah requite thee, O such-a-one! How dost thou cause this strange memluk to come in to us? Dost thou not know that modesty is one of the points of the faith ?—But she said to them, Pronounce the name of Allah!* Verily this is my son, and the darling of my heart, the son of the Shah-Bandar of the merchants, and the child of the nurse and the necklace and the crust and the crumb !—They replied, In our lives we never saw a son of thine. So she said, Verily his father feared for him from the influence of the eye, and therefore made as his nursery a subterranean chamber under a trap-door; and probably the eunuch hath inadvertently left the trap-door * [I.e., say "Bismillah " or "Mashallah to avert the evil eye.] open, and he hath in consequence come up from it; but it was not our desire that he should come out from it until his beard should grow. The women therefore congratulated her upon this. And the youth went forth from them into the court of the house, and then ascended into the mak'ad, and there seated himself; and while he was sitting there, the slaves entered the house with the mule of his father; whereupon 'Ala-ed-Din said to them, Where hath this mule been? They answered him, We have conducted thy father to the shop, mounted upon her, and brought her back. And he asked them, What is the trade of my father ?-Thy father, they answered him, is Shah-Bandar of the merchants in the land of Egypt, and he is Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. And upon this, 'Ala-ed-Din went in to his mother, and said to her, O my mother, what is the trade of my father? She answered him, O my son, thy father is a merchant, and he is Shah-Bandar of the merchants in the land of Egypt, and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His slaves consult him not respecting the sale of anything except that of which the smallest price is a thousand pieces of gold. As to the sale of a thing for nine hundred pieces of gold or less, they consult him not respecting it, but sell it of their own free will. And there cometh not merchandise from other parts, little or much, but it is submitted to him, and he disposeth of it as he willeth; and no merchandise is packed up and goeth to other parts, but it is under the disposal of thy father. God (whose name be exalted !) hath given to thy father, O my son, great wealth, that cannot be calculated.—So he said to her, O my mother, praise be to God that I am the son of the Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs, and that my father is Shah-Bandar of the merchants! But for what reason, O my mother, do ye put me in a chamber beneath a trap-door, and leave me there imprisoned?-She answered him, O my son, we put thee not in the chamber beneath the trap-door but in our fear for thee from the influence of the eyes of men; for the influence of the eye is true, and most of the inhabitants of the graves are victims of the [evil] eye. But he said to her, O my mother, and where is a place of refuge from destiny? Caution preventeth not fate, and from that which is written there is no escape. Verily he who took VOL. II. N |