and at daybreak we performed the morning-prayers, and sat down again; and lo, a man entered, and saluted us, and, after performing the prayers of two rek'ahs, looked towards us and said, O men, are ye strangers? We answered, Yes: robbers have intercepted us and stripped us, and we entered this town, but know not in it any one with whom to lodge. So the man said to us, Will ye arise and accompany me to my house. I said, therefore, to 'Ali the son of Bekkar, Arise and let us go with him, and save ourselves from two troubles the first is, that we fear some one may come in to us who knoweth us in this mosque, and so we may be disgraced; and the second, that we are strangers, and have no place in which to lodge. And 'Ali the son of Bekkar replied, Do what thou wilt. The man then said to us a second time, O poor men, comply with my desire, and come with me to my abode. I therefore replied, We hear and obey. And the man took off, and gave to us, part of his own clothing, and clad us, and spoke kindly to us; and we arose and went with him to his house; and he knocked at the door, and there came forth to us a young eunuch, who opened the door; and the man, the owner of the house, entered, and we entered after him. He then gave orders to bring a wrapper, containing clothes, and pieces of muslin for turbans, and clad us with two suits, and gave us two pieces of muslin, and we turbaned ourselves, and sat down; and lo, a slave-girl approached us with a table, and placed it before us, and we ate a little; after which, the table was removed, and we remained with him until night. And 'Ali the son of Bekkar sighed, and said to me, O my brother, know that I am inevitably perishing, and I desire to give thee a charge, which is this: that when thou seest me to have died, thou repair to my mother, and acquaint her, that she may come to this place for the sake of receiving the visits of condolence for me, and be present at the washing of my corpse; and exhort her to bear my loss with patience. He then fell down in a fit; and when he recovered, he heard a damsel singing at a distance, and reciting verses; and he listened to her and heard her voice; one moment becoming insensible; and another, recovering; and another, weeping in his anguish and grief at that which had befallen him: and he heard the damsel sing, with charming modulations, these verses : Separation hath quickly intervened between us, after intimate intercourse and friendship and concord. The vicissitudes of fortune have disunited us. Would that I knew when would be our meeting! How bitter is separation after union! Would that it never gave pain unto lovers! The strangulation of death is short, and ceaseth; but the disjunction of the beloved ever tortureth the heart. And as soon as 'Ali the son of Bekkar had heard her song, he uttered a groan, and his soul quitted his body. When I saw that he was dead, says the jeweller, I gave a charge respecting him to the master of the house, and said to him, Know that I am going to Baghdad to acquaint his mother and his other relations, that they may come to prepare his funeral. I then repaired to Baghdad, and entered my house, and changed my clothes; after which, I went to the house of 'Ali the son of Bekkar. And when his young men saw me, they came to me and inquired of me respecting him; and I asked them to beg permission for me to have an interview with his mother; and she gave me permission. So I entered and saluted her, and said, Verily, when God decreeth an event, there is no escaping from it; and a soul cannot depart but by the permission of God, according to the decree which prescribeth its term. And from these words, the mother of 'Ali the son of Bekkar inferred that her son had died; and she wept violently, and then said to me, By Allah, I conjure thee to tell me hath the soul of my son been taken? But I could not return her an answer, through the excess of my grief: and when she saw me in this state, she was suffocated with weeping, and fell upon the floor in a fit; and as soon as she recovered, she said, How did it happen to my son? I replied, May God abundantly compensate thee for his loss!-and then acquainted her with all that had happened to him, from beginning to end. She said, Did he give thee any charge? And I answered her, Yes :—and informed her of that with which he had charged me, and said to her, Hasten to perform his funeral. But on hearing my words, she fell down again in a swoon: and when she recovered, she resolved to do as I had charged her. I then returned to my house, thinking, on my way, upon the charms of his youth; and while I was thus proceeding, lo, a woman laid hold upon my hand, and, looking at her, I saw her to be the slave-girl who used to come from Shemsen-Nahar. Despondency had overcome her; and when we recognised each other, we wept together until we arrived at the house, when I said to her, Hast thou become acquainted with the case of 'Ali the son of Bekkar? She answered, No, by Allah. And I related to her what had happened to him, and then said to her, And in what state is thy mistress? -The Prince of the Faithful, she answered, would not listen to what any one said against her, in consequence of the violence of his love for her; but regarded all her actions in a favourable light, and said to her, O Shems-en-Nahar, thou art dear in my estimation, and I will endure with thee in spite of thine enemies. He then gave orders to furnish a gilded apartment, and an elegant closet; and she became in high favour with him in consequence of that event. And it happened that he was sitting to take his usual beverage, and the concubines were before him, and he ordered them to sit in their places, and seated Shems-en-Nahar by his side (but her patience had failed, and her disorder had increased); and he then commanded one of the female slaves to sing: so she took the lute and struck its chords and sang thus : Many a one hath invited me to love, and I have yielded; and my tears write the tale of my transport upon my cheek; As if the drops from the eye were acquainted with our case, and revealed what I hid, and hid what I revealed. Why, then, desire I secrecy, or the concealment of my love, when the violence of my passion for thee sheweth what I feel? Death hath become pleasant to me since the loss of those I love; but would that I knew what would please them after me! And when Shems-en-Nahar heard that slave-girl's song, she was unable to keep her seat, and fell down in a fit. The Khalifeh threw down the cup, and drew her towards him, and cried out, and the female slaves raised a clamour, and the Prince of the Faithful, turning her over, found that she was dead. He lamented for her death, and gave orders to break all the kanuns* and other instruments of music that were there, and removed her corpse to a closet, where he remained with it for the rest of the night; and when the day broke, he made preparations for her funeral, and commanded to wash and shroud and bury her, and mourned for her greatly, asking no questions respecting her condition, or her past conduct. The slave-girl then said, I conjure thee by Allah that thou acquaint me with the period when the funeral-procession of 'Ali the son of Bekkar is to set forth, and that thou let me be present at his burial. So I replied, As for myself, in whatsoever place thou desirest, thou shalt find me; but as for thee, who can obtain access to thee in the place where thou residest? She said, however, The Prince of the Faithful, when Shems-en-Nahar died, emancipated her female slaves, on the same day, and I am one of them, and we are staying at her tomb, in such a place. I therefore arose and went with her, and, arriving at the burial-ground, visited the tomb of Shems-en-Nahar, and then went my way, and remained waiting for the funeral-procession of 'Ali the son of Bekkar until it arrived, when the people of Baghdad went forth to join it, and I went with them; and I found the slave-girl among the women, and she was the most violent of them in lamentation; and I never witnessed in Baghdad a greater funeral-procession than this. We pursued our way, densely crowding together, until we came to his tomb, and buried him; and I have not discontinued my visits to his tomb, nor to that of Shems-en-Nahar. * A kind of dulcimer, tricord, played with a plectrum attached to the forefinger of each hand. CHAPTER X [NIGHTS 170-249] THE STORY OF THE PRINCE KAMAR-EZZEMAN AND THE PRINCESS BUDUR 8 THERE was, in ancient times, a King named Shah-Zeman, possessing numerous troops and attendants and guards. He dwelt in the Islands of Khalidan, which are adjacent to the country of the Persians; and had married four daughters of Kings, besides whom he had among his female slaves sixty concubines. His age, however, was advanced, and his bones were wasted, and he had not been blessed with a son: so he meditated in his mind, and mourned and was disquieted, and complained of this to one of his wezirs, saying, I fear that, when I die, my kingdom will be lost; for I have no son to succeed to it after me. But the Wezir replied, Perhaps God will yet bring to pass some event: therefore place thy reliance upon God, O King, and perform the ablution, and recite the prayers of two rek'ahs. It is also my advice that thou give a banquet, and invite to it the poor and the needy, and let them eat of it and pray to God (whose name be exalted!) that He may bless thee with a son: perchance there may be among them a pure soul, whose prayer, being righteous, will be answered." After that thou wilt probably obtain thy desire.-The King complied with his advice, and his wife conceived, and when she had completed her months she gave birth to a male child like the unclouded full moon in the dark night: so he named him Kamar-ez-Zeman. He rejoiced at his birth with the utmost joy, and they decorated the city for seven days; the drums were beaten, and the messengers imparted the glad tidings; the nurses and the midwives carried him, |