the Arabian Nights | # 01

The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 

Volume 01

RETOLD

The Sultan and his Vow

In the chronicles of the ancient dynasty of the Sassanidae, who reigned for about four hundred years, from Persia to the borders of China, beyond the great river Ganges itself, we read the praises of one of the kings of this race, who was said to be the best monarch of his time. His subjects loved him, and his neighbors feared him, and when he died he left his kingdom in a more prosperous and powerful condition than any king had done before him. 

The two sons who survived him loved each other tenderly, and it was a real grief to the elder, Schahriar, that the laws of the empire forbade him to share his dominions with his brother Schahzeman. Indeed, after ten years, during which this state of things had not ceased to trouble him, Schahriar cut off the country of Great Tartary from the Persian Empire and made his brother king. 

Now the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world, and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour, and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels. It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death. The blow was so heavy that his mind almost gave way, and he declared that he was quite sure that at bottom all women were as wicked as the sultana, if you could only find them out, and that the fewer the world contained the better. So every evening he married a fresh wife and had her strangled the following morning before the grand-vizir, whose duty it was to provide these unhappy brides for the Sultan. The poor man fulfilled his task with reluctance, but there was no escape, and every day saw a girl married and a wife dead. 

This behaviour caused the greatest horror in the town, where nothing was heard but cries and lamentations. In one house was a father weeping for the loss of his daughter, in another perhaps a mother trembling for the fate of her child; and instead of the blessings that had formerly been heaped on the Sultan's head, the air was now full of curses. 

The grand-vizir himself was the father of two daughters, of whom the elder was called Scheherazade, and the younger Dinarzade. Dinarzade had no particular gifts to distinguish her from other girls, but her sister was clever and courageous in the highest degree. Her father had given her the best masters in philosophy, medicine, history and the fine arts, and besides all this, her beauty excelled that of any girl in the kingdom of Persia. 

One day, when the grand-vizir was talking to his eldest daughter, who was his delight and pride, Scheherazade said to him, 

"Father, I have a favour to ask of you. Will you grant it to me?" 

"I can refuse you nothing," replied he, "that is just and reasonable." 

"Then listen," said Scheherazade. "I am determined to stop this barbarous practice of the Sultan's, and to deliver the girls and mothers from the awful fate that hangs over them." 

"It would be an excellent thing to do," returned the grand-vizir, "but how do you propose to accomplish it?" 

"My father," answered Scheherazade, "it is you who have to provide the Sultan daily with a fresh wife, and I implore you, by all the affection you bear me, to allow the honour to fall upon me." 

"Have you lost your senses?" cried the grand-vizir, starting back in horror. "What has put such a thing into your head? You ought to know by this time what it means to be the sultan's bride!" 

"Yes, my father, I know it well," replied she, "and I am not afraid to think of it. If I fail, my death will be a glorious one, and if I succeed I shall have done a great service to my country." 

"It is of no use," said the grand-vizir, "I shall never consent. If the Sultan was to order me to plunge a dagger in your heart, I should have to obey. What a task for a father! Ah, if you do not fear death, fear at any rate the anguish you would cause me." 

"Once again, my father," said Scheherazade, "will you grant me what I ask?" 

"What, are you still so obstinate?" exclaimed the grand-vizir. "Why are you so resolved upon your own ruin?" 

But the maiden absolutely refused to attend to her father's words, and at length, in despair, the grand-vizir was obliged to give way, and went sadly to the palace to tell the Sultan that the following evening he would bring him Scheherazade. 

The Sultan received this news with the greatest astonishment. 

"How have you made up your mind," he asked, "to sacrifice your own daughter to me?" 

"Sire," answered the grand-vizir, "it is her own wish. Even the sad fate that awaits her could not hold her back." 

"Let there be no mistake, vizir," said the Sultan. "Remember you will have to take her life yourself. If you refuse, I swear that your head shall pay forfeit." 

"Sire," returned the vizir. "Whatever the cost, I will obey you. Though a father, I am also your subject." So the Sultan told the grand-vizir he might bring his daughter as soon as he liked. 

The vizir took back this news to Scheherazade, who received it as if it had been the most pleasant thing in the world. She thanked her father warmly for yielding to her wishes, and, seeing him still bowed down with grief, told him that she hoped he would never repent having allowed her to marry the Sultan. Then she went to prepare herself for the marriage, and begged that her sister Dinarzade should be sent for to speak to her. 

When they were alone, Scheherazade addressed her thus: 

"My dear sister; I want your help in a very important affair. My father is going to take me to the palace to celebrate my marriage with the Sultan. When his Highness receives me, I shall beg him, as a last favour, to let you sleep in our chamber, so that I may have your company during the last night I am alive. If, as I hope, he grants me my wish, be sure that you wake me an hour before the dawn, and speak to me in these words: 'My sister, if you are not asleep, I beg you, before the sun rises, to tell me one of your charming stories.' Then I shall begin, and I hope by this means to deliver the people from the terror that reigns over them." 

Dinarzade replied that she would do with pleasure what her sister wished. 

So when it was night their father the Wazir carried Scheherazade to the King who was gladdened at the sight and asked, 

"Hast thou brought me my need?" 

And he answered, "I have." 

But when the King took her to his bed and fell to toying with her and wished to go in to her she wept; which made him ask, 

"What aileth thee?" 

She replied, "O King of the age, I have a younger sister and lief would I take leave of her this night before I see the dawn." 

So he sent at once for Dinarzade and she came and kissed the ground between his hands, when he permitted her to take her seat near the foot of the couch. Then the King arose and did away with his bride's maidenhead and the three fell asleep. But when it was midnight Scheherazade awoke and signalled to her sister Dinarzade who sat up and said, 

"Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite to us some new story, delightsome and delectable, wherewith to while away the waking hours of our latter night." 

"With joy and goodly gree," answered Scheherazade, "if this pious and auspicious King permit me." 

"Tell on," quoth the King who chanced to be sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased with the prospect of hearing her story. 

So Scheherazade rejoiced; and thus, on the first night of the Thousand Nights and a Night, she began with the:

TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI. 

It is related, O auspicious King, that there was a merchant of the merchants who had much wealth, and business in various cities. Now on a day he mounted horse and went forth to recover monies in certain towns, and the heat sore oppressed him; so he sat beneath a tree and, putting his hand into his saddle bags, took thence some broken bread and dry dates and began to break his fast. 

When he had ended eating the dates he threw away the stones with force and lo! an Ifrit appeared, huge of stature and brandishing a drawn sword, wherewith he approached the merchant and said, 

"Stand up that I may slay thee, even as thou slewest my son!" 

Asked the merchant, "How have I slain thy son?" 

and he answered, "When thou atest dates and threwest away the stones they struck my son full in the breast as he was walking by, so that he died forthwith." 

Quoth the merchant, "Verily from Allah we proceeded and unto Allah are we returning. There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I slew thy son, I slew him by chance medley. I pray thee now pardon me." 

Rejoined the Jinni, "There is no help but I must slay thee." 

Then he seized him and dragged him along and, casting him to the earth, raised the sword to strike him; whereupon the merchant wept, and said, 

"I commit my case to Allah," and began repeating these couplets:— 

Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing that of bane * 

And holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure that of pain.

See'st not when blows the hurricane, sweeping stark and striking strong * 

None save the forest giant feels the suffering of the strain?

How many trees earth nourisheth of the dry and of the green * 

Yet none but those which bear the fruits for cast of stone complain.

See'st not how corpses rise and float on the surface of the tide * 

While pearls o'price lie hidden in the deepest of the main!

In Heaven are unnumbered the many of the stars * 

Yet ne'er a star but Sun and Moon by eclipse is overta'en.

Well judgedst thou the days that saw thy faring sound and well * 

And countedst not the pangs and pain whereof Fate is ever fain.

The nights have kept thee safe and the safety brought thee pride * 

But bliss and blessings of the night are 'genderers of bane! 

When the merchant ceased repeating his verses the Jinni said to him, 

"Cut thy words short, by Allah! needs must I slay thee." 

But the merchant spake him thus, 

"Know, O thou Ifrit, that I have debts due to me and much wealth and children and a wife and many pledges in hand; so permit me to go home and discharge to every claimant his claim; and I will come back to thee at the head of the new year. Allah be my testimony and surety that I will return to thee; and then thou mayest do with me as thou wilt and Allah is witness to what I say." 

The Jinni took sure promise of him and let him go; so he returned to his own city and transacted his business and rendered to all men their dues and after informing his wife and children of what had betided him, he appointed a guardian and dwelt with them for a full year. 

Then he arose, and made the Wuzu ablution to purify himself before death and took his shroud under his arm and bade farewell to his people, his neighbours and all his kith and kin, and went forth despite his own nose. 

They then began weeping and wailing and beating their breasts over him; but he travelled until he arrived at the same garden, and the day of his arrival was the head of the New Year. 

As he sat weeping over what had befallen him, behold, a Shaykh, a very ancient man, drew near leading a chained gazelle; and he saluted that merchant and wishing him long life said, 

"What is the cause of thy sitting in this place and thou alone and this be a resort of evil spirits?" 

The merchant related to him what had come to pass with the Ifrit, and the old man, the owner of the gazelle, wondered and said, 

"By Allah, O brother, thy faith is none other than exceeding faith and thy story right strange; were it graven with gravers on the eye corners, it were a warner to whoso would be warned." 

Then seating himself near the merchant he said, 

"By Allah, O my brother, I will not leave thee until I see what may come to pass with thee and this Ifrit." 

And presently as he sat and the two were at talk the merchant began to feel fear and terror and exceeding grief and sorrow beyond relief and ever growing care and extreme despair. And the owner of the gazelle was hard by his side; when behold, a second Shaykh approached them, and with him were two dogs both of greyhound breed and both black. 

The second old man after saluting them with the salam, also asked them of their tidings and said 

"What causeth you to sit in this place, a dwelling of the Jann?" 

So they told him the tale from beginning to end, and their stay there had not lasted long before there came up a third Shaykh, and with him a she mule of bright bay coat; and he saluted them and asked them why they were seated in that place. 

So they told him the story from first to last: and of no avail, O my master, is a twice told tale! There he sat down with them, and lo! a dust cloud advanced and a mighty sand-devil appeared amidmost of the waste. 

Presently the cloud opened and behold, within it was that Jinni hending in hand a drawn sword, while his eyes were shooting fire sparks of rage. He came up to them and, haling away the merchant from among them, cried to him, 

"Arise that I may slay thee, as thou slewest my son, the life stuff of my liver." 

The merchant wailed and wept, and the three old men began sighing and crying and weeping and wailing with their companion. Presently the first old man (the owner of the gazelle) came out from among them and kissed the hand of the Ifrit and said, 

"O Jinni, thou Crown of the Kings of the Jann! were I to tell thee the story of me and this gazelle and thou shouldst consider it wondrous wouldst thou give me a third part of this merchant's blood?" 

Then quoth the Jinni "Even so, O Shaykh ! if thou tell me this tale, and I hold it a marvellous, then will I give thee a third of his blood." 

Thereupon the old man began to tell:

The First Shaykh’s Story.

Know O Jinni! that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle, my own flesh and blood, and I married her when she was a young maid, and I lived with her well nigh thirty years, yet was I not blessed with issue by her. So I took me a concubine who brought to me the boon of a male child fair as the full moon, with eyes of lovely shine and eyebrows which formed one line, and limbs of perfect design. Little by little he grew in stature and waxed tall; and when he was a lad fifteen years old, it became needful I should journey to certain cities and I travelled with great store of goods. 

But the daughter of my uncle (this gazelle) had learned gramarye and egromancy and clerkly craft from her childhood; so she bewitched that son of mine to a calf, and my handmaid (his mother) to a heifer, and made them over to the herdsman's care. 

Now when I returned after a long time from my journey and asked for my son and his mother, she answered me, saying 

"Thy slave girl is dead, and thy son hath fled and I know not whither he is sped." 

So I remained for a whole year with grieving heart, and streaming eyes until the time came for the Great Festival of Allah. Then sent I to my herdsman bidding him choose for me a fat heifer; and he brought me one which was the damsel, my handmaid, whom this gazelle had ensorcelled. I tucked up my sleeves and skirt and, taking a knife, proceeded to cut her throat, but she lowed aloud and wept bitter tears. 

Thereat I marvelled and pity seized me and I held my hand, saying to the herd, 

"Bring me other than this." 

Then cried my cousin, "Slay her, for I have not a fatter nor a fairer!" 

Once more I went forward to sacrifice her, but she again lowed aloud upon which in ruth I refrained and commanded the herdsman to slay her and flay her. He killed her and skinned her but found in her neither fat nor flesh, only hide and bone; and I repented when penitence availed me naught. I gave her to the herdsman and said to him, 

"Fetch me a fat calf;" so he brought my son ensorcelled. When the calf saw me, he brake his tether and ran to me, and fawned upon me and wailed and shed tears; so that I took pity on him and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a heifer and let this calf go!" 

Thereupon my cousin (this gazelle) called aloud at me, saying, 

"Needs must thou kill this calf; this is a holy day and a blessed, whereon naught is slain save what be perfect pure; and we have not amongst our calves any fatter or fairer than this!" 

Quoth I, "Look thou upon the condition of the heifer which I slaughtered at thy bidding and how we turn from her in disappointment and she profited us on no wise; and I repent with an exceeding repentance of having killed her: so this time I will not obey thy bidding for the sacrifice of this calf." 

Quoth she, "By Allah the Most Great, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! there is no help for it; thou must kill him on this holy day, and if thou kill him not to me thou art no man and I to thee am no wife." 

Now when I heard those hard words, not knowing her object I went up to the calf, knife in hand

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. 

Then quoth her sister to her, 

"How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" 

And Scheherazade answered her, 

"What is this to that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." 

So they slept the rest of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake. 

Then the King went forth to his audience hall and the Wazir went up with his daughter's shroud under his arm. The King issued his orders, and promoted this and deposed that, until the end of the day; and he told the Wazir no whit of what had happened. But the Minister wondered thereat with exceeding wonder; and when the Court broke up King Schahriar entered his palace. 

 When it was the Second Night

said Dinarzade to her sister Scheherazade, 

"O my sister, finish for us that story of the Merchant and the Jinni;" and she answered 

"With joy and goodly gree, if the King permit me." 

Then quoth the King, 

"Tell thy tale;" and Scheherazade began in these words: — It hath reached me, O auspicious King and Heaven directed Ruler! that when the merchant purposed the sacrifice of the calf but saw it weeping, his heart relented and he said to the herdsman, 

"Keep the calf among my cattle." 

All this the old Shaykh told the Jinni who marvelled much at these strange words. 

Then the owner of the gazelle continued:—O Lord of the Kings of the Jann, this much took place and my uncle's daughter, this gazelle, looked on and saw it, and said, 

"Butcher me this calf, for surely it is a fat one;" but I bade the herdsman take it away and he took it and turned his face homewards. On the next day as I was sitting in my own house, lo! the herdsman came and, standing before me said, 

"O my master, I will tell thee a thing which shall gladden thy soul, and shall gain me the gift of good tidings." 

I answered, "Even so." 

Then said he, "O merchant, I have a daughter, and she learned magic in her childhood from an old woman who lived with us. Yesterday when thou gavest me the calf, I went into the house to her, and she looked upon it and veiled her face; then she wept and laughed alternately and at last she said:—O my father, hath mine honour become so cheap to thee that thou bringest in to me strange men? I asked her:—Where be these strange men and why wast thou laughing, and crying?; and she answered, Of a truth this calf which is with thee is the son of our master, the merchant; but he is ensorcelled by his stepdame who bewitched both him and his mother: such is the cause of my laughing; now the reason of his weeping is his mother, for that his father slew her unawares. Then I marvelled at this with exceeding marvel and hardly made sure that day had dawned before I came to tell thee." 

When I heard, O Jinni, my herdsman's words, I went out with him, and I was drunken without wine, from the excess of joy and gladness which came upon me, until I reached his house. There his daughter welcomed me and kissed my hand, and forthwith the calf came and fawned upon me as before. 

Quoth I to the herdsman's daughter, "Is this true that thou sayest of this calf?" 

Quoth she, "Yea, O my master, he is thy son, the very core of thy heart." 

I rejoiced and said to her, "O maiden, if thou wilt release him thine shall be whatever cattle and property of mine are under thy father's hand." 

She smiled and answered, "O my master, I have no greed for the goods nor will I take them save on two conditions; the first that thou marry me to thy son and the second that I may bewitch her who bewitched him and imprison her, otherwise I cannot be safe from her malice and malpractices." 

Now when I heard, O Jinni, these, the words of the herdsman's daughter, I replied, 

"Beside what thou askest all the cattle and the household stuff in thy father's charge are thine and, as for the daughter of my uncle, her blood is lawful to thee." 

When I had spoken, she took a cup and filled it with water: then she recited a spell over it and sprinkled it upon the calf, saying, 

"If Almighty Allah created thee a calf, remain so shaped, and change not; but if thou be enchanted, return to thy whilom form, by command of Allah Most Highest!" and lo! he trembled and became a man. 

Then I fell on his neck and said, "Allah upon thee, tell me all that the daughter of my uncle did by thee and by thy mother." 

And when he told me what had come to pass between them I said, 

"O my son, Allah favoured thee with one to restore thee, and thy right hath returned to thee." 

Then, O Jinni, I married the herdsman's daughter to him, and she transformed my wife into this gazelle, saying:—Her shape is a comely and by no means loathsome. After this she abode with us night and day, day and night, till the Almighty took her to Himself. When she deceased, my son fared forth to the cities of Hind, even to the city of this man who hath done to thee what hath been done; and I also took this gazelle (my cousin) and wandered with her from town to town seeking tidings of my son, till Destiny drove me to this place where I saw the merchant sitting in tears. Such is my tale! 

Quoth the Jinni, "This story is indeed strange, and therefore I grant thee the third part of his blood." 

Thereupon the second old man, who owned the two greyhounds, came up and said, 

"O Jinni, if I recount to thee what befel me from my brothers, these two hounds, and thou see that it is a tale even more wondrous and marvellous than what thou hast heard, wilt thou grant to me also the third of this man's blood?" 

Replied the Jinni, "Thou hast my word for it, if thine adventures be more marvellous and wondrous." 

Thereupon he thus began:

The Second Shaykh’s Story.

Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jann! that these two dogs are my brothers and I am the third. Now when our father died and left us a capital of three thousand gold pieces, I opened a shop with my share, and bought and sold therein, and in like guise did my two brothers, each setting up a shop. But I had been in business no long while before the elder sold his stock for a thousand dinars, and after buying outfit and merchandise, went his ways to foreign parts. He was absent one whole year with the caravan; but one day as I sat in my shop, behold, a beggar stood before me asking alms, and I said to him, 

"Allah open thee another door!" 

Whereupon he answered, weeping the while, 

"Am I so changed that thou knowest me not?" 

Then I looked at him narrowly, and lo! it was my brother, so I rose to him and welcomed him; then I seated him in my shop and put questions concerning his case. 

"Ask me not," answered he; "my wealth is awaste and my state hath waxed unstated!" 

So I took him to the Hammam bath and clad him in a suit of my own and gave him lodging in my house. Moreover, after looking over the accounts of my stock in trade and the profits of my business, I found that industry had gained me one thousand dinars, while my principal, the head of my wealth, amounted to two thousand. So I shared the whole with him saying, 

"Assume that thou hast made no journey abroad but hast remained at home; and be not cast down by thine ill luck." 

He took the share in great glee and opened for himself a shop; and matters went on quietly for a few nights and days. But presently my second brother (yon other dog), also setting his heart upon travel, sold off what goods and stock in trade he had, and albeit we tried to stay him he would not be stayed: he laid in an outfit for the journey and fared forth with certain wayfarers. 

After an absence of a whole year he came back to me, even as my elder brother had come back; and when I said to him, 

"O my brother, did I not dissuade thee from travel?" he shed tears and cried, 

"O my brother, this be destiny's decree: here I am a mere beggar, penniless and without a shirt to my back." 

So I led him to the bath, O Jinni, and clothing him in new clothes of my own wear, I went with him to my shop and served him with meat and drink. Furthermore I said to him, 

"O my brother, I am wont to cast up my shop accounts at the head of every year, and whatso I shall find of surplusage is between me and thee." 

So I proceeded, O Ifrit, to strike a balance and, finding two thousand dinars of profit, I returned praises to the Creator (be He extolled and exalted!) and made over one half to my brother, keeping the other to myself. Thereupon he busied himself with opening a shop and on this wise we abode many days. 

After a time my brothers began pressing me to travel with them; but I refused saying, 

"What gained ye by travel voyage that I should gain thereby?" 

As I would not give ear to them we went back each to his own shop where we bought and sold as before. They kept urging me to travel for a whole twelvemonth, but I refused to do so till full six years were past and gone when I consented with these words, 

"O my brothers, here am I, your companion of travel: now let me see what monies you have by you." 

I found, however, that they had not a doit, having squandered their substance in high diet and drinking and carnal delights. Yet I spoke not a word of reproach; so far from it I looked over my shop accounts once more, and sold what goods and stock in trade were mine; and, finding myself the owner of six thousand ducats, I gladly proceeded to divide that sum in halves, saying to my brothers, 

"These three thousand gold pieces are for me and for you to trade withal," adding, "Let us bury the other moiety underground that it may be of service in case any harm befal us, in which case each shall take a thousand wherewith to open shops." 

Both replied, "Right is thy recking;" and I gave to each one his thousand gold pieces, keeping the same sum for myself, to wit, a thousand dinars. 

We then got ready suitable goods and hired a ship and, having embarked our merchandise, proceeded on our voyage, day following day, a full month, after which we arrived at a city, where we sold our venture; and for every piece of gold we gained ten. And as we turned again to our voyage we found on the shore of the sea a maiden clad in worn and ragged gear, and she kissed my hand and said, 

"O master, is there kindness in thee and charity? I can make thee a fitting return for them." 

I answered, "Even so; truly in me are benevolence and good works, even though thou render me no return." 

Then she said, "Take me to wife, O my master, and carry me to thy city, for I have given myself to thee; so do me a kindness and I am of those who be meet for good works and charity: I will make thee a fitting return for these and be thou not shamed by my condition." 

When I heard her words, my heart yearned towards her, in such sort as willed it Allah (be He extolled and exalted!); and took her and clothed her and made ready for her a fair resting place in the vessel, and honourably entreated her. So we voyaged on, and my heart became attached to her with exceeding attachment, and I was separated from her neither night nor day, and I paid more regard to her than to my brothers. 

Then they were estranged from me, and waxed jealous of my wealth and the quantity of merchandise I had, and their eyes were opened covetously upon all my property. So they took counsel to murder me and seize my wealth, saying, 

"Let us slay our brother and all his monies will be ours;" and Satan made this deed seem fair in their sight; so when they found me in privacy (and I sleeping by my wife's side) they took us both up and cast us into the sea. 

My wife awoke startled from her sleep and, forthright becoming an Ifritah, she bore me up and carried me to an island and disappeared for a short time; but she returned in the morning and said, 

"Here am I, thy faithful slave, who hath made thee due recompense; for I bore thee up in the waters and saved thee from death by command of the Almighty. Know—that I am a Jinniyah, and as I saw thee my heart loved thee by will of the Lord, for I am a believer in Allah and in His Apostle (whom Heaven bless and preserve!). Thereupon I came to thee conditioned as thou sawest me and thou didst marry me, and see now I have saved thee from sinking. But I am angered against thy brothers and assuredly I must slay them." 

When I heard her story I was surprised and, thanking her for all she had done, I said, 

"But as to slaying my brothers this must not be." 

Then I told her the tale of what had come to pass with them from the beginning of our lives to the end, and on hearing it quoth she, 

"This night will I fly as a bird over them and will sink their ship and slay them." 

Quoth I, "Allah upon thee, do not thus, for the proverb saith, O thou who doest good to him that doth evil, leave the evil doer to his evil deeds. Moreover they are still my brothers." 

But she rejoined, "By Allah, there is no help for it but I slay them." 

I humbled myself before her for their pardon, whereupon she bore me up and flew away with me till at last she set me down on the terrace roof of my own house. 

I opened the doors and took up what I had hidden in the ground; and after I had saluted the folk I opened my shop and bought me merchandise. Now when night came on I went home, and there I saw these two hounds tied up; and, when they sighted me, they arose and whined and fawned upon me; but ere I knew what happened my wife said, 

"These two dogs be thy brothers!" 

I answered, "And who hath done this thing by them?" and she rejoined, 

"I sent a message to my sister and she entreated them on this wise, nor shall these two be released from their present shape till ten years shall have passed." 

And now I have arrived at this place on my way to my wife's sister that she may deliver them from this condition, after their having endured it for half a score of years. As I was wending onwards I saw this young man, who acquainted me with what had befallen him, and I determined not to fare hence until I should see what might occur between thee and him. Such is my tale! 

Then said the Jinni, "Surely this is a strange story and therefor I give thee the third portion of his blood and his crime." 

Thereupon quoth the third Shaykh, the master of the mare mule, to the Jinni, 

"I can tell thee a tale more wondrous than these two, so thou grant me the remainder of his blood and of his offense," and the Jinni answered, 

"So be it!" 

Then the old man began:

The Third Shaykh’s Story.

Know, O Sultan and head of the Jann, that this mule was my wife. Now it so happened that I went forth and was absent one whole year; and when I returned from my journey I came to her by night, and saw a black slave lying with her on the carpet bed and they were talking, and dallying, and laughing, and kissing and playing the close buttock game. When she saw me, she rose and came hurriedly at me with a gugglet of water; and, muttering spells over it, she besprinkled me and said, 

"Come forth from this thy shape into the shape of a dog;" and I became on the instant a dog. 

She drove me out of the house, and I ran through the doorway nor ceased running until I came to a butcher's stall, where I stopped and began to eat what bones were there. 

When the stall owner saw me, he took me and led me into his house, but as soon as his daughter had sight of me she veiled her face from me, crying out, 

"Dost thou bring men to me and dost thou come in with them to me?" 

Her father asked, "Where is the man?" 

and she answered, "This dog is a man whom his wife hath ensorcelled and I am able to release him." 

When her father heard her words, he said, "Allah upon thee, O my daughter, release him." 

So she took a gugglet of water and, after uttering words over it, sprinkled upon me a few drops, saying, "Come forth from that form into thy former form." 

And I returned to my natural shape. Then I kissed her hand and said, "I wish thou wouldest transform my wife even as she transformed me." 

Thereupon she gave me some water, saying, "As soon as thou see her asleep, sprinkle this liquid upon her and speak what words thou heardest me utter, so shall she become whatsoever thou desirest." 

I went to my wife and found her fast asleep; and, while sprinkling the water upon her, I said, "Come forth from that form into the form of a mare mule." 

So she became on the instant a she mule, and she it is whom thou seest with thine eyes, O Sultan and head of the Kings of the Jann! 

Then the Jinni turned towards her and said, "Is this sooth?" 

And she nodded her head and replied by signs, "Indeed, 'tis the truth: for such is my tale and this is what hath befallen me." 

Now when the old man had ceased speaking the Jinni shook with pleasure and gave him the third of the merchant's blood.

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. 

Then quoth Dinarzade, 

"O. my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful; how sweet and how grateful!" 

She replied, 

"And what is this compared with that I could tell thee, the night to come, if I live and the King spare me?"

Then thought the King, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." 

So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. 

After this the King went forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan broke up, and King Schahriar entered his palace.

When it was the Third Night, 

And the King had had his will of the Wazir's daughter, Dinarzade, her sister, said to her, 

"Finish for us that tale of thine;" and she replied, 

"With joy and goodly gree! It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the third old man told a tale to the Jinni more wondrous than the two preceding, the Jinni marvelled with exceeding marvel, and, shaking with delight, cried, Lo! I have given thee the remainder of the merchant's punishment and for thy sake have I released him.

Thereupon the merchant embraced the old men and thanked them, and these Shaykhs wished him joy on being saved and fared forth each one for his own city. 

… Yet this tale is not more wondrous than the fisherman's story." 

Asked the King, "What is the fisherman's story?" 

And she answered by relating the tale of:

THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI. 

It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was a Fisher man well stricken in years who had a wife and three children, and withal was of poor condition. Now it was his custom to cast his net every day four times, and no more. 

On a day he went forth about noontide to the sea shore, where he laid down his basket; and, tucking up his shirt and plunging into the water, made a cast with his net and waited till it settled to the bottom. Then he gathered the cords together and haled away at it, but found it weighty; and however much he drew it landwards, he could not pull it up; so he carried the ends ashore and drove a stake into the ground and made the net fast to it. Then he stripped and dived into the water all about the net, and left not off working hard until he had brought it up. 

He rejoiced thereat and, donning his clothes, went to the net, when he found in it a dead jackass which had torn the meshes. Now when he saw it, he exclaimed in his grief, 

"There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great!" 

Then quoth he, "This is a strange manner of daily bread;" 

and he began re citing in extempore verse:— 

O toiler through the glooms of night in peril and in pain * 

Thy toiling stint for daily bread comes not by might and main!

Seest thou not the fisher seek afloat upon the sea * 

His bread, while glimmer stars of night as set in tangled skein.

Anon he plungeth in despite the buffet of the waves * 

The while to sight the bellying net his eager glances strain;

Till joying at the night's success, a fish he bringeth home * 

Whose gullet by the hook of Fate was caught and cut in twain.

When buys that fish of him a man who spent the hours of night * 

Reckless of cold and wet and gloom in ease and comfort fain,

Laud to the Lord who gives to this, to that denies his wishes * 

And dooms one toil and catch the prey and other eat the fishes. 

Then quoth he, "Up and to it; I am sure of His beneficence, Inshallah!" 

So he continued:— 

When thou art seized of Evil Fate, assume * 

The noble soul's long suffering: 'tis thy best:

Complain not to the creature; this be plaint * 

From one most Ruthful to the ruthlessest. 

The Fisherman, when he had looked at the dead ass, got it free of the toils and wrung out and spread his net; then he plunged into the sea, saying, 

"In Allah's name!" and made a cast and pulled at it, but it grew heavy and settled down more firmly than the first time. Now he thought that there were fish in it, and he made it fast, and doffing his clothes went into the water, and dived and haled until he drew it up upon dry land. Then found he in it a large earthen pitcher which was full of sand and mud; and seeing this he was greatly troubled and began repeating these verses:— 

Forbear, O troubles of the world, * 

And pardon an ye nill forbear:

I went to seek my daily bread * 

I find that breadless I must fare:

For neither handcraft brings me aught * 

Nor Fate allots to me a share:

How many fools the Pleiads reach * 

While darkness whelms the wise and ware. 

So he prayed pardon of Allah and, throwing away the jar, wrung his net and cleansed it and returned to the sea the third time to cast his net and waited till it had sunk. Then he pulled at it and found therein potsherds and broken glass; whereupon he began to speak these verses:— 

He is to thee that daily bread thou canst nor loose nor bind * 

Nor pen nor writ avail thee aught thy daily bread to find:

For joy and daily bread are what Fate deigneth to allow; * 

This soil is sad and sterile ground, while that makes glad the hind.

The shafts of Time and Life bear down full many a man of worth * 

While bearing up to high degree wights of ignoble mind.

So come thou, Death! for verily life is not worth a straw * 

When low the falcon falls withal the mallard wings the wind:

No wonder 'tis thou seest how the great of soul and mind * 

Are poor, and many a losel carle to height of luck designed.

This bird shall overfly the world from east to furthest west * 

And that shall win her every wish though ne'er she leave the nest. 

Then raising his eyes heavenwards he said, 

"O my God! verily Thou wottest that I cast not my net each day save four times; the third is done and as yet Thou hast vouchsafed me nothing. So this time, O my God, deign give me my daily bread." 

Then, having called on Allah's name, he again threw his net and waited its sinking and settling; whereupon he haled at it but could not draw it in for that it was entangled at the bottom. 

He cried out in his vexation 

"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah!" and he began reciting:— 

Fie on this wretched world, an so it be * 

I must be whelmed by grief and misery:

Tho' gladsome be man's lot when dawns the morn * 

He drains the cup of woe ere eve he see:

Yet was I one of whom the world when asked * 

"Whose lot is happiest?" oft would say "'Tis he!" 

Thereupon he stripped and, diving down to the net, busied himself with it till it came to land. Then he opened the meshes and found therein a cucumber shaped jar of yellow copper, evidently full of something, whose mouth was made fast with a leaden cap, stamped with the seal ring of our Lord Sulayman son of David (Allah accept the twain!). 

Seeing this the Fisherman rejoiced and said, 

"If I sell it in the brass bazar 'tis worth ten golden dinars." 

He shook it and finding it heavy continued, 

"Would to Heaven I knew what is herein. But I must and will open it and look to its contents and store it in my bag and sell it in the brass market." 

And taking out a knife he worked at the lead till he had loosened it from the jar; then he laid the cup on the ground and shook the vase to pour out whatever might be inside. He found nothing in it; whereat he marvelled with an exceeding marvel. 

But presently there came forth from the jar a smoke which spired heavenwards into aether (whereat he again marvelled with mighty marvel), and which trailed along earth's surface till presently, having reached its full height, the thick vapour condensed, and became an Ifrit, huge of bulk, whose crest touched the clouds while his feet were on the ground. His head was as a dome, his hands like pitchforks, his legs long as masts and his mouth big as a cave; his teeth were like large stones, his nostrils ewers, his eyes two lamps and his look was fierce and lowering. 

Now when the Fisherman saw the Ifrit his side muscles quivered, his teeth chattered, his spittle dried up and he became blind about what to do. Upon this the Ifrit looked at him and cried, 

"There is no god but the God, and Sulayman is the prophet of God;" presently adding, "O Apostle of Allah, slay me not; never again will I gainsay thee in word nor sin against thee in deed." 

Quoth the Fisherman, "O Marid, diddest thou say, Sulayman the Apostle of Allah; and Sulayman is dead some thousand and eight hundred years ago, and we are now in the last days of the world! What is thy story, and what is thy account of thyself, and what is the cause of thy entering into this cucurbit?" 

Now when the Evil Spirit heard the words of the Fisher man, quoth he; 

"There is no god but the God: be of good cheer, O Fisherman!" 

Quoth the Fisherman, "Why biddest thou me to be of good cheer?" 

and he replied, "Because of thy having to die an ill death in this very hour." 

Said the Fisherman, "Thou deservest for thy good tidings the withdrawal of Heaven's protection, O thou distant one! Wherefore shouldest thou kill me and what thing have I done to deserve death, I who freed thee from the jar, and saved thee from the depths of the sea, and brought thee up on the dry land?" 

Replied the Ifrit, "Ask of me only what mode of death thou wilt die, and by what manner of slaughter shall I slay thee." 

Rejoined the Fisherman, "What is my crime and wherefore such retribution?" 

Quoth the Ifrit, "Hear my story, O Fisherman!" 

and he answered, "Say on, and be brief in thy saying, for of very sooth my life breath is in my nostrils." 

Thereupon quoth the Jinni, 

"Know, that I am one among the heretical Jann and I sinned against Sulayman, David son (on the twain be peace!) I together with the famous Sakhr al Jinni;" 

whereupon the Prophet sent his minister, Asaf son of Barkhiya, to seize me; and this Wazir brought me against my will and led me in bonds to him (I being downcast despite my nose) and he placed me standing before him like a suppliant. 

When Sulayman saw me, he took refuge with Allah and bade me embrace the True Faith and obey his behests; but I refused, so sending for this cucurbit he shut me up therein, and stopped it over with lead whereon he impressed the Most High Name, and gave his orders to the Jann who carried me off, and cast me into the midmost of the ocean. 

There I abode an hundred years, during which I said in my heart, 

"Whoso shall release me, him will I enrich for ever and ever." 

But the full century went by and, when no one set me free, I entered upon the second five score saying, "Whoso shall release me, for him I will open the hoards of the earth." 

Still no one set me free and thus four hundred years passed away. 

Then quoth I, "Whoso shall release me, for him will I fulfil three wishes." 

Yet no one set me free. Thereupon I waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and said to myself, 

"Whoso shall release me from this time forth, him will I slay and I will give him choice of what death he will die; and now, as thou hast released me, I give thee full choice of deaths." 

The Fisherman, hearing the words of the Ifrit, said, 

"O Allah! the wonder of it that I have not come to free thee save in these days!" adding, "Spare my life, so Allah spare thine; and slay me not, lest Allah set one to slay thee." 

Replied the Contumacious One, 

"There is no help for it; die thou must; so ask me by way of boon what manner of death thou wilt die." 

Albeit thus certified the Fisherman again addressed the Ifrit saying, 

"Forgive me this my death as a generous reward for having freed thee;" 

and the Ifrit, 

"Surely I would not slay thee save on account of that same release." 

"O Chief of the Ifrits," 

said the Fisherman, 

"I do thee good and thou requitest me with evil! in very sooth the old saw lieth not when it saith:— 

 We wrought them weal, they met our weal with ill; * 

Such, by my life! is every bad man's labour:

 To him who benefits unworthy wights * 

Shall hap what inapt to Ummi Amir's neighbor." 

Now when the Ifrit heard these words he answered, 

"No more of this talk, needs must I kill thee." 

Upon this the Fisherman said to himself, 

"This is a Jinni; and I am a man to whom Allah hath given a passably cunning wit, so I will now cast about to compass his destruction by my contrivance and by mine intelligence; even as he took counsel only of his malice and his frowardness." 

He began by asking the Ifrit, "Hast thou indeed resolved to kill me?" and, receiving for all answer, 

"Even so," he cried, "Now in the Most Great Name, graven on the seal ring of Sulayman the Son of David (peace be with the holy twain!), an I question thee on a certain matter wilt thou give me a true answer?" 

The Ifrit replied "Yea;" 

but, hearing mention of the Most Great Name, his wits were troubled and he said with trembling, "Ask and be brief." 

Quoth the Fisherman, "How didst thou fit into this bottle which would not hold thy hand; no, nor even thy foot, and how came it to be large enough to contain the whole of thee?" 

Replied the Ifrit, "What! dost not believe that I was all there?" 

and the Fisherman rejoined, 

"Nay! I will never believe it until I see thee inside with my own eyes."

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. 

Then quoth her sister to her, 

"How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" 

And Scheherazade answered her, 

"What is this to that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." 

So they slept the rest of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake. 

Then the King went forth to his audience hall and the Wazir went up with his daughter's shroud under his arm. The King issued his orders, and promoted this and deposed that, until the end of the day; and he told the Wazir no whit of what had happened. But the Minister wondered thereat with exceeding wonder; and when the Court broke up King Schahriar entered his palace.

When it was the Fourth Night, 

Her sister said to her, 

"Please finish us this tale, an thou be not sleepy!" 

so she resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, 

"I will never and nowise believe thee until I see thee inside it with mine own eyes;" 

the Evil Spirit on the instant shook and became a vapour, which condensed, and entered the jar little and little, till all was well inside when lo! the Fisherman in hot haste took the leaden cap with the seal and stoppered therewith the mouth of the jar and called out to the Ifrit, saying, 

"Ask me by way of boon what death thou wilt die! By Allah, I will throw thee into the sea before us and here will I build me a lodge; and whoso cometh hither I will warn him against fishing and will say:—In these waters abideth an Ifrit who giveth as a last favour a choice of deaths and fashion of slaughter to the man who saveth him!" 

Now when the Ifrit heard this from the Fisherman and saw him self in limbo, he was minded to escape, but this was prevented by Solomon's seal; so he knew that the Fisherman had cozened and outwitted him, and he waxed lowly and submissive 

and began humbly to say, "I did but jest with thee." 

But the other answered, "Thou liest, O vilest of the Ifrits, and meanest and filthiest!" and he set off with the bottle for the sea side; 

the Ifrit calling out "Nay! Nay!" 

and he calling out "Aye! Aye !" 

There upon the Evil Spirit softened his voice and smoothed his speech and abased himself, saying, 

"What wouldest thou do with me, O Fisherman?" 

"I will throw thee back into the sea," he answered; 

"where thou hast been housed and homed for a thousand and eight hundred years; and now I will leave thee therein till Judgment day: did I not say to thee:—Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and slay me not lest Allah slay thee? yet thou spurnedst my supplication and hadst no intention save to deal ungraciously by me, and Allah hath now thrown thee into my hands and I am cunninger than thou." 

Quoth the Ifrit, "Open for me and I may bring thee weal." 

Quoth the Fisherman, "Thou liest, thou accursed! my case with thee is that of the Wazir of King Yunan with the sage Duban." 

"And who was the Wazir of King Yunan and who was the sage Duban; and what was the story about them?" quoth the Ifrit, 

whereupon the Fisherman began to tell:

The Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban.

Know, O thou Ifrit, that in days of yore and in ages long gone before, a King called Yunan reigned over the city of Fars of the land of the Roum. He was a powerful ruler and a wealthy, who had armies and guards and allies of all nations of men; but his body was afflicted with a leprosy which leaches and men of science failed to heal. He drank potions and he swallowed pow ders and he used unguents, but naught did him good and none among the host of physicians availed to procure him a cure. 

At last there came to his city a mighty healer of men and one well stricken in years, the sage Duban hight. This man was a reader of books, Greek, Persian, Roman, Arabian, and Syrian; and he was skilled in astronomy and in leechcraft, the theorick as well as the practick; he was experienced in all that healeth and that hurteth the body; conversant with the virtues of every plant, grass and herb, and their benefit and bane; and he understood philosophy and had compassed the whole range of medical science and other branches of the knowledge tree. 

Now this physician passed but few days in the city, ere he heard of the King's malady and all his bodily sufferings through the leprosy with which Allah had smitten him; and how all the doctors and wise men had failed to heal him. Upon this he sat up through the night in deep thought and, when broke the dawn and appeared the morn and light was again born, and the Sun greeted the Good whose beauties the world adorn, he donned his handsomest dress and going in to King Yunan, he kissed the ground before him: then he prayed for the endurance of his honour and prosperity in fairest language and made himself known saying, 

"O King, tidings have reached I me of what befel thee through that which is in thy person; and how the host of physicians have proved themselves unavailing to abate it; and lo! I can cure thee, O King; and yet will I not make thee drink of draught or anoint thee with ointment." 

Now when King Yunan heard his words he said in huge surprise, 

"How wilt thou do this? By Allah, if thou make me whole I will enrich thee even to thy son's son and I will give thee sumptuous gifts; and whatso thou wishest shall be thine and thou shalt be to me a cup companion and a friend." 

The King then robed him with a dress of honour and entreated him graciously and asked him, 

"Canst thou indeed cure me of this complaint without drug and unguent?" 

and he answered, "Yes! I will heal I thee without the pains and penalties of medicine." 

The King marvelled with exceeding marvel and said, 

"O physician, when shall be this whereof thou speakest, and in how many days shall it take place? Haste thee, O my son!" 

He replied, "I hear and I obey; the cure shall begin tomorrow." 

So saying he went forth from the presence, and hired himself a house in the city for the better storage of his books and scrolls, his medicines and his aromatic roots. Then he set to work at choosing the fittest drugs and simples and he fashioned a bat hollow within, and furnished with a handle without, for which he made a ball; the two being prepared with consummate art. 

On the next day when both were ready for use and wanted nothing more, he went up to the King; and, kissing the ground between his hands bade him ride forth on the parade ground there to play at pall and mall. He was accompanied by his suite, Emirs and Chamberlains, Wazirs and Lords of the realm and, ere he was seated, the sage Duban came up to him, and handing him the bat said, 

"Take this mall and grip it as I do; so! and now push for the plain and leaning well over thy horse drive the ball with all thy might until thy palm be moist and thy body perspire: then the medicine will penetrate through thy palm and will permeate thy person. When thou hast done with playing and thou feelest the effects of the medicine, return to thy palace, and make the Ghusl-ablution in the Hammam bath, and lay thee down to sleep; so shalt thou become whole; and now peace be with thee!" 

Thereupon King Yunan took the bat from the Sage and grasped it firmly; then, mounting steed, he drove the ball before him and gallopped after it till he reached it, when he struck it with all his might, his palm gripping the bat handle the while; and he ceased not malling the ball till his hand waxed moist and his skin, perspiring, imbibed the medicine from the wood. 

Then the sage Duban knew that the drugs had penetrated his person and bade him return to the palace and enter the Hammam without stay or delay; so King Yunan forthright returned and ordered them to clear for him the bath. They did so, the carpet spreaders making all haste, and the slaves all hurry and got ready a change of raiment for the King. 

He entered the bath and made the total ablution long and thoroughly; then donned his clothes within the Hammam and rode therefrom to his palace where he lay him down and slept. 

Such was the case with King Yunan, but as regards the sage Duban, he returned home and slept as usual and when morning dawned he repaired to the palace and craved audience. The King ordered him to be admitted; then, having kissed the ground between his hands, in allusion to the King he recited these couplets with solemn intonation:— 

Happy is Eloquence when thou art named her sire * 

But mourns she whenas other man the title claimed.

O Lord of fairest presence, whose illuming rays * 

Clear off the fogs of doubt aye veiling deeds high famed,

Ne'er cease thy face to shine like Dawn and rise of Morn * 

And never show Time's face with heat of ire inflamed!

Thy grace hath favoured us with gifts that worked such wise * 

As rain clouds raining on the hills by wolds enframed:

Freely thou lavishedst thy wealth to rise on high * 

Till won from Time the heights whereat thy grandeur aimed. 

Now when the Sage ceased reciting, the King rose quickly to his feet and fell on his neck; then, seating him by his side he bade dress him in a sumptuous dress; for it had so happened that when the King left the Hammam he looked on his body and saw no trace of leprosy: the skin was all clean as virgin silver. 

He joyed thereat with exceeding joy, his breast broadened with delight and he felt thoroughly happy. Presently, when it was full day he entered his audience hall and sat upon the throne of his kingship whereupon his Chamberlains and Grandees flocked to the presence and with them the Sage Duban. 

Seeing the leach the King rose to him in honour and seated him by his side; then the food trays furnished with the daintiest viands were brought and the physician ate with the King, nor did he cease companying him all that day. 

Moreover, at nightfall he gave the physician Duban two thousand gold pieces, besides the usual dress of honour and other gifts galore, and sent him home on his own steed. 

After the Sage had fared forth King Yunan again expressed his amazement at the leach's art, saying, 

"This man medicined my body from without nor anointed me with aught of ointments: by Allah, surely this is none other than consummate skill! I am bound to honour such a man with rewards and distinction, and take him to my companion and my friend during the remainder of my days." 

So King Yunan passed the night in joy and gladness for that his body had been made whole and had thrown off so pernicious a malady. 

On the morrow the King went forth from his Serraglio and sat upon his throne, and the Lords of Estate stood about him, and the Emirs and Wazirs sat as was their wont on his right hand and on his left. 

Then he asked for the Sage Duban, who came in and kissed the ground before him, when the King rose to greet him and, seating him by his side, ate with him and wished him long life. Moreover he robed him and gave him gifts, and ceased not conversing with him until night approached. 

Then the King ordered him, by way of salary, five dresses of honour and a thousand dinars. 

The physician returned to his own house full of gratitude to the King. 

Now when next morning dawned the King repaired to his audience hall, and his Lords and Nobles surrounded him and his Chamberlains and his Ministers, as the white encloseth the black of the eye. 

Now the King had a Wazir among his Wazirs, unsightly to look upon, an ill omened spectacle; sordid, ungenerous, full of envy and evil will. When this Minister saw the King place the physician near him and give him all these gifts, he jaloused him and planned to do him a harm, as in the saying on such subject, 

"Envy lurks in every body;" and the saying, "Oppression hideth in every heart: power revealeth it and weakness concealeth it." 

Then the Minister came before the King and, kissing the ground between his hands, said, 

"O King of the age and of all time, thou in whose benefits I have grown to manhood, I have weighty advice to offer thee, and if I withhold it I were a son of adultery and no true born man; wherefore an thou order me to disclose it I will so do forthwith." 

Quoth the King (and he was troubled at the words of the Minister), 

"And what is this counsel of thine?" 

Quoth he, "O glorious monarch, the wise of old have said:—Whoso regardeth not the end, hath not Fortune to friend; and indeed I have lately seen the King on far other than the right way; for he lavisheth largesse on his enemy, on one whose object is the decline and fall of his kingship: to this man he hath shown favour, honouring him with over honour and making of him an intimate. Wherefore I fear for the King's life." 

The King, who was much troubled and changed colour, asked, 

"Whom dost thou suspect and anent whom doest thou hint?" 

and the Minister answered, "O King, an thou be asleep, wake up! I point to the physician Duban." 

Rejoined the King, "Fie upon thee! This is a true friend who is favoured by me above all men, because he cured me with something which I held in my hand, and he healed my leprosy which had baffled all physicians; indeed he is one whose like may not be found in these days—no, not in the whole world from furthest east to utmost west! And it is of such a man thou sayest such hard sayings. Now from this day forward I allot him a settled solde and allowances, every month a thousand gold pieces; and, were I to share with him my realm 'twere but a little matter. Perforce I must suspect that thou speakest on this wise from mere envy and jealousy as they relate of the King Sindibad."

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her permitted say. 

Then quoth Dinarzade, 

"O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful, how sweet, and how grateful!" 

She replied, 

"And where is this compared with what I could tell thee on the coming night if the King deign spare my life?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." 

So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. 

Then the King went forth to his Hall of Rule, and the Wazir and the troops came in, and the audience chamber was thronged and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade during the rest of that day till the Court broke up, and King Schahriar returned to his palace.

 When It Was The Fifth Night,

Her sister said, "Do you finish for us thy story if thou be not sleepy," and she resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King and mighty Monarch, that King Yunan said to his Minister, "O Wazir, thou art one whom the evil spirit of envy hath possessed because of this physician, and thou plottest for my putting him to death, after which I should repent me full sorely, even as repented King Sindibad for killing his falcon." Quoth the Wazir, Pardon me, O King of the age, how was that?" So the King began the story of:

King Sindibad and his Falcon.

It is said (but Allah is All knowing!) that there was a King of the Kings of Fars, who was fond of pleasuring and diversion, especially coursing end hunting. He had reared a falcon which he carried all night on his fist, and whenever he went a chasing he took with him this bird; and he bade make for her a golden cuplet hung around her neck to give her drink therefrom. 

One day as the King was sitting quietly in his palace, behold, the high falconer of the household suddenly addressed him, 

"O King of the age, this is indeed a day fit for birding." 

The King gave orders accordingly and set out taking the hawk on fist; and they fared merrily forwards till they made a Wady where they planted a circle of nets for the chase; when lo! a gazelle came within the toils and the King cried, 

"Whoso alloweth yon gazelle to spring over his head and loseth her, that man will I surely slay." 

They narrowed the nets about the gazelle when she drew near the King's station; and, planting herself on her hind quarter, crossed her forehand over her breast, as if about to kiss the earth before the King. He bowed his brow low in acknowledgment to the beast; when she bounded high over his head and took the way of the waste. 

Thereupon the King turned towards his troops and seeing them winking and pointing at him, he asked, 

"O Wazir, what are my men saying?" 

and the Minister answered, "They say thou didst proclaim that whoso alloweth the gazelle to spring over his head, that man shall be put to death." 

Quoth the King, "Now, by the life of my head! I will follow her up till I bring her back." 

So he set off gallopping on the gazelle's trail and gave not over tracking till he reached the foot hills of a mountain chain where the quarry made for a cave. 

Then the King cast off at it the falcon which presently caught it up and, swooping down, drove her talons into its eyes, bewildering and blinding it; and the King drew his mace and struck a blow which rolled the game over. He then dismounted; and, after cutting the antelope's throat and flaying the body, hung it to the pommel of his saddle. Now the time was that of the siesta and the wold was parched and dry, nor was any water to be found anywhere; and the King thirsted and his horse also; so he went about searching till he saw a tree dropping water, as it were melted butter, from its boughs. 

Thereupon the King who wore gauntlets of skin to guard him against poisons took the cup from the hawk's neck, and filling it with the water set it before the bird, and lo! the falcon struck it with her pounces and upset the liquid. The King filled it a second time with the dripping drops, thinking his hawk was thirsty; but the bird again struck at the cup with her talons and overturned it. 

Then the King waxed wroth with the hawk and filling the cup a third time offered it to his horse: but the hawk upset it with a flirt of wings. 

Quoth the King, "Allah confound thee, thou unluckiest of flying things! thou keepest me from drinking, and thou deprivest thyself also, and the horse." 

So he struck the falcon with his sword and cut off her wing; but the bird raised her head and said by signs, "Look at that which hangeth on the tree!" 

The King lifted up his eyes accordingly and caught sight of a brood of vipers, whose poison drops he mistook for water; thereupon he repented him of having struck off his falcon's wing, and mounting horse, fared on with the dead gazelle, till he arrived at the camp, his starting place. 

He threw the quarry to the cook saying, 

“Take and broil it,” and sat down on his chair, the falcon being still on his fist when suddenly the bird gasped and died; whereupon the King cried out in sorrow and remorse for having slain that falcon which had saved his life. 

Now this is what occurred in the case of King Sindibad; and I am assured that were I to do as thou desirest I should repent even as the man who killed his parrot.

Quoth the Wazir, "And how was that?" 

And the King began to tell:

The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot.

A certain man and a merchant to boot had married a fair wife, a woman of perfect beauty and grace, symmetry and loveliness, of whom he was mad-jealous, and who contrived successfully to keep him from travel. At last an occasion compelling him to leave her, he went to the bird market and bought him for one hundred gold pieces a she parrot which he set in his house to act as duenna, expecting her to acquaint him on his return with what had passed during the whole time of his absence; for the bird was kenning and cunning and never forgot what she had seen and heard. 

Now his fair wife had fallen in love with a young Turk,  who used to visit her, and she feasted him by day and lay with him by night. When the man had made his journey and won his wish he came home; and, at once causing the Parrot be brought to him, questioned her concerning the conduct of his consort whilst he was in foreign parts. 

Quoth she, "Thy wife hath a man friend who passed every night with her during thine absence." 

Thereupon the husband went to his wife in a violent rage and bashed her with a bashing severe enough to satisfy any body. The woman, suspecting that one of the slave girls had been tattling to the master, called them together and questioned them upon their oaths, when all swore that they had kept the secret, but that the Parrot had not, adding, 

"And we heard her with our own ears." 

Upon this the woman bade one of the girls to set a hand mill under the cage and grind therewith and a second to sprinkle water through the cage roof and a third to run about, right and left, flashing a mirror of bright steel through the livelong night. 

Next morning when the husband returned home after being entertained by one of his friends, he bade bring the Parrot before him and asked what had taken place whilst he was away. 

"Pardon me, O my master," 

quoth the bird, "I could neither hear nor see aught by reason of the exceeding murk and the thunder and lightning which lasted throughout the night." 

As it happened to be the summer tide the master was astounded and cried, 

"But we are now in mid Tammuz, and this is not the time for rains and storms." 

"Ay, by Allah," rejoined the bird, "I saw with these eyes what my tongue hath told thee." 

Upon this the man, not knowing the case nor smoking the plot, waxed exceeding wroth; and, holding that his wife had been wrongously accused, put forth his hand and pulling the Parrot from her cage dashed her upon the ground with such force that he killed her on the spot. 

Some days afterwards one of his slave girls confessed to him the whole truth, yet would he not believe it till he saw the young Turk, his wife's lover, coming out of her chamber, when he bared his blade  and slew him by a blow on the back of the neck; and he did the same by the adulteress; and thus the twain, laden with mortal sin, went straightways to Eternal Fire. 

Then the merchant knew that the Parrot had told him the truth anent all she had seen and he mourned grievously for her loss, when mourning availed him not. The Minister, hearing the words of King Yunan, rejoined, 'O Monarch, high in dignity, and what harm have I done him, or what evil have I seen from him that I should compass his death? I would not do this thing, save to serve thee, and soon shalt thou sight that it is right; and if thou accept my advice thou shalt be saved, otherwise thou shalt be destroyed even as a certain Wazir who acted treacherously by the young Prince." 

Asked the King, "How was that?" 

and the Minister thus began:

The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress.

A certain King, who had a son over much given to hunting and coursing, ordered one of his Wazirs to be in attendance upon him whithersoever he might wend. One day the youth set out for the chase accompanied by his father's Minister; and, as they jogged on together, a big wild beast came in sight. 

Cried the Wazir to the King's son, "Up and at yon noble quarry!" 

So the Prince followed it until he was lost to every eye and the chase got away from him in the waste; whereby he was confused and he knew not which way to turn, when lo! a damsel appeared ahead and she was in tears. 

The King's son asked, "Who art thou?" 

and she answered, "I am daughter to a King among the Kings of Hind, and I was travelling with a caravan in the desert when drowsiness overcame me, and I fell from my beast unwittingly whereby I am cut off from my people and sore bewildered." 

The Prince, hearing these words, pitied her case and, mounting her on his horse's crupper, travelled until he passed by an old ruin , when the damsel said to him, 

"O my master, I wish to obey a call of nature": he therefore set her down at the ruin where she delayed so long that the King's son thought that she was only wasting time; so he followed her without her knowledge and behold, she was a Ghulah, a wicked Ogress, who was saying to her brood, 

"O my children, this day I bring you a fine fat youth,  for dinner;" 

whereto they answered, "Bring him quick to us, O our mother, that we may browse upon him our bellies full." 

The Prince hearing their talk, made sure of death and his side muscles quivered in fear for his life, so he turned away and was about to fly. The Ghulah came out and seeing him in sore affright (for he was trembling in every limb? cried, "Wherefore art thou afraid?" 

and he replied, "I have hit upon an enemy whom I greatly fear." 

Asked the Ghulah, "Diddest thou not say:—I am a King's son?" 

and he answered, "Even so." 

Then quoth she, "Why dost not give thine enemy something of money and so satisfy him?" 

Quoth he, "He will not be satisfied with my purse but only with my life, and I mortally fear him and am a man under oppression." 

She replied, "If thou be so distressed, as thou deemest, ask aid against him from Allah, who will surely protect thee from his ill doing and from the evil whereof thou art afraid." 

Then the Prince raised his eyes heavenwards and cried, "O Thou who answerest the necessitous when he calleth upon Thee and dispellest his distress; O my God ! grant me victory over my foe and turn him from me, for Thou over all things art Almighty." 

The Ghulah, hearing his prayer, turned away from him, and the Prince returned to his father, and told him the tale of the Wazir; whereupon the King summoned the Minister to his presence and then and there slew him. Thou likewise, O King, if thou continue to trust this leach, shalt be made to die the worst of deaths. 

He verily thou madest much of and whom thou entreatedest as an intimate, will work thy destruction. Seest thou not how he healed the disease from outside thy body by something grasped in thy hand? Be not assured that he will not destroy thee by something held in like manner! Replied King Yunan, 

"Thou hast spoken sooth, O Wazir, it may well be as thou hintest O my well advising Minister; and belike this Sage hath come as a spy searching to put me to death; for assuredly if he cured me by a something held in my hand, he can kill me by a something given me to smell." 

Then asked King Yunan, "O Minister, what must be done with him?" and the Wazir answered, 

"Send after him this very instant and summon him to thy presence; and when he shall come strike him across the neck; and thus shalt thou rid thyself of him and his wickedness, and deceive him ere he can deceive thee." 'Thou hast again spoken sooth, O Wazir," 

said the King and sent one to call the Sage who came in joyful mood for he knew not what had appointed for him the Compassionate; as a certain poet saith by way of illustration:— 

O Thou who fearest Fate, confiding fare * 

Trust all to Him who built the world and wait:

What Fate saith "Be" perforce must be, my lord! * 

And safe art thou from th’ undecreed of Fate. 

As Duban the physician entered he addressed the King in these lines:— 

An fail I of my thanks to thee nor thank thee day by day * 

For whom composed I prose and verse, for whom my say and lay?

Thou lavishedst thy generous gifts ere they were craved by me * 

Thou lavishedst thy boons unsought sans pretext or delay:

How shall I stint my praise of thee, how shall I cease to laud * 

The grace of thee in secresy and patentest display?

Nay; I will thank thy benefits, for aye thy favours lie * 

Light on my thought and tongue, though heavy on my back they weigh. 

And he said further on the same theme:— 

Turn thee from grief nor care a jot! * 

Commit thy needs to Fate and Lot!

 Enjoy the Present passing well * 

And let the Past be clean forgot

 For whatso haply seemeth worse * 

Shall work thy weal as Allah wot

 Allah shall do whate'er He wills * 

And in His will oppose Him not. 

 And further still.— 

 To th' All wise Subtle One trust worldly things * 

Rest thee from all whereto the worldling clings:

 Learn wisely well naught cometh by thy will * 

But e'en as willeth Allah, King of Kings. 

 And lastly.— 

 Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief * 

Full often grief the wisest hearts outwore:

 Thought is but folly in the feeble slave * 

Shun it and so be saved evermore. 

Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?" 

and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!" 

But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and utterly to destroy thee." 

Duban the Wise wondered at this strange address with exceeding wonder and asked, 

"O King, and wherefore wouldest thou slay me, and what ill have I done thee?" 

and the King answered, "Men tell me thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I be killed by thee;" then he called to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off the head of this traitor and deliver us from his evil practices." 

Quoth the Sage, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." 

And he repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit, and yet thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan only rejoined, 

"I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou healedst me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy killing me by something given me to smell or otherwise." 

Said the physician, "This then, O King, is thy requital and reward; thou returnest only evil for good." 

The King replied, "There is no help for it; die thou must and without delay." 

Now when the physician was certified that the King would slay him without waiting, he wept and regretted the good he had done to other than the good. As one hath said on this subject:— 

Of wit and wisdom is Maymunah bare * 

Whose sire in wisdom all the wits outstrippeth:

Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay * 

Save by good sense, else trippeth he and slippeth. 

 Hereupon the Sworder stepped forward and bound the Sage Duban's eyes and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By thy leave;" 

while the physician wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee, and slay me not or Allah shall slay thee," and began repeating:— 

I was kind and 'scaped not, they were cruel and escaped; * 

And my kindness only led me to Ruination Hall,

If I live I'll ne'er be kind; if I die, then all be damned * 

Who follow me, and curses their kindliness befal. 

"Is this," continued Duban, "the return I meet from thee? Thou givest me, meseems, but crocodile boon." 

Quoth the King,"What is the tale of the crocodile?", 

and quoth the physician, "Impossible for me to tell it in this my state; Allah upon thee, spare me, as thou hopest Allah shall spare thee." 

And he wept with exceeding weeping. Then one of the King's favourites stood up and said, 

"O King! grant me the blood of this physician; we have never seen him sin against thee, or doing aught save healing thee from a disease which baffled every leach and man of science." 

Said the King, "Ye wot not the cause of my putting to death this physician, and this it is. If I spare him, I doom myself to certain death; for one who healed me of such a malady by something held in my hand, surely can slay me by something held to my nose; and I fear lest he kill me for a price, since haply he is some spy whose sole purpose in coming hither was to compass my destruction. So there is no help for it; die he must, and then only shall I be sure of my own life." 

Again cried Duban, "Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." 

But it was in vain. Now when the physician, O Ifrit, knew for certain that the King would kill him, he said, "O King, if there be no help but I must die, grant me some little delay that I may go down to my house and release myself from mine obligations and direct my folk and my neighbours where to bury me and distribute my books of medicine. Amongst these I have one, the rarest of rarities, which I would present to thee as an offering: keep it as a treasure in thy treasury." 

"And what is in the book?" asked the King and the Sage answered, 

"Things beyond compt; and the least of secrets is that if, directly after thou hast cut off my head, thou open three leaves and read three lines of the page to thy left hand, my head shall speak and answer every question thou deignest ask of it." 

The King wondered with exceeding wonder and shaking with delight at the novelty, said, 

"O physician, dost thou really tell me that when I cut off thy head it will speak to me?" 

He replied, "Yes, O King!" 

Quoth the King, "This is indeed a strange matter!" and forthwith sent him closely guarded to his house, and Duban then and there settled all his obligations. 

Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where Emirs and Wazirs, Chamberlains and Nabobs, Grandees and Lords of Estate were gathered together, making the presence chamber gay as a garden of flower beds. 

And lo! the physician came up and stood before the King, bearing a worn old volume and a little etui of metal full of powder, like that used for the eyes. Then he sat down and said, "Give me a tray." 

So they brought him one and he poured the powder upon it and levelled it and lastly spake as follows: 

"O King, take this book but do not open it till my head falls; then set it upon this tray, and bid press it down upon the powder, when forthright the blood will cease flowing. That is the time to open the book." 

The King thereupon took the book and made a sign to the Sworder, who arose and struck off the physician's head, and placing it on the middle of the tray, pressed it down upon the powder. The blood stopped flowing, and the Sage Duban unclosed his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King!" 

The King opened the book, and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the first leaf, and in like way the second, and the third, each leaf opening with much trouble; and when he had unstuck six leaves he looked over them and, finding nothing written thereon, said, 

"O physician, there is no writing here!" 

Duban replied, "Turn over yet more;" and he turned over three others in the same way. 

Now the book was poisoned; and before long the venom penetrated his system, and he fell into strong convulsions and he cried out, 

"The poison hath done its work!" 

Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began to improvise:— 

There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway * 

But they soon became as though they had never, never been:

Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were opprest * 

By Fortune, who requited them with ban and bane and teen:

So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats * 

"Take this for that, nor vent upon Fortune's ways thy spleen." 

No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over dead. Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him, but he refused so to do and decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O Ifrit, if thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say: then quoth Dinarzade, 

"O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful; how sweet, and how grateful!" 

She replied, "And where is this compared with what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live and the King spare me?" 

Said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest of her story, for truly it is wondrous." 

They rested that night in mutual embrace until dawn: then the King went forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and troops came in and the audience hall was crowded; so the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that day, when the court broke up, and King Schahriar entered his palace,

When it was the Sixth Night

Her sister, Dinarzade, said to her, "Pray finish for us thy story;" 

and she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." 

"Say on," quoth the King. 

And she continued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, 

"If thou hadst spared me I would have spared thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now I will do thee die by jailing thee in this jar and I will hurl thee into this sea." 

Then the Marid roared aloud and cried, 

"Allah upon thee, O Fisherman, don't! Spare me, and pardon my past doings; and, as I have been tyrannous, so be thou generous, for it is said among sayings that go current:—O thou who doest good to him who hath done thee evil, suffice for the ill doer his ill deeds, and do not deal with me as did Umamah to 'Atikah." 

Asked the Fisherman, "And what was their case?" 

and the Ifrit answered, "This is not the time for story telling and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell thee the tale." 

Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no help but that thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for thy getting out of it for ever and ever. Vainly I placed myself under thy protection, and I humbled myself to thee with weeping, while thou soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury deserving this at thy hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil act, I worked thee nought but weal in releasing thee from that jail of thine. Now I knew thee to be an evil doer when thou diddest to me what thou didst, and know, that when I have cast thee back into the sea, I will warn whomsoever may fish thee up of what hath befallen me with thee, and I will advise him to toss thee back again; so shalt thou abide here under these waters till the End of Time shall make an end of thee." 

But the Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble occasion for generosity and I make covenant with thee and vow never to do thee hurt and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out of want." 

The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not to trouble him as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and, after making firm the plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most Highest he opened the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose up till all of it was fully out; then it thickened and once more became an Ifrit of hideous presence, who forthright administered a kick to the bottle and sent it flying into the sea. 

The Fisherman, seeing how the cucurbit was treated and making sure of his own death, piddled in his clothes and said to himself, "This promiseth badly;" 

but he fortified his heart, and cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said:—Perform your covenant; for the performance of your covenant shall be inquired into hereafter. 

Thou hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath not to play me false lest Allah play thee false, for verily he is a jealous God who respiteth the sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee as said the Sage Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare thee!" 

The Ifrit burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the Fisherman, "Follow me;" 

and the man paced after him at a safe distance (for he was not assured of escape) till they had passed round the suburbs of the city. Thence they struck into the uncultivated grounds, and crossing them descended into a broad wilderness, and lo! in the midst of it stood a mountain tarn. 

The Ifrit waded in to the middle and again cried, "Follow me;" 

and when this was done he took his stand in the centre and bade the man cast his net and catch his fish. 

The Fisherman looked into the water and was much astonished to see therein vari coloured fishes, white and red, blue and yellow; however he cast his net and, hauling it in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of each colour. 

Thereat he rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said to him, 

"Carry these to the Sultan and set them in his presence; then he will give thee what shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my excuse, for by Allah at this time I wot none other way of benefiting thee, inasmuch I have lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have not seen the face of the world save within this hour. But I would not have thee fish here save once a day." 

The Ifrit then gave him Godspeed, saying, 

“Allah grant we meet again;” 

and struck the earth with one foot, whereupon the ground clove asunder and swallowed him up. 

The Fisherman, much marvelling at what had happened to him with the Ifrit, took the fish and made for the city; and as soon as he reached home he filled an earthen bowl with water and therein threw the fish which began to struggle and wriggle about. Then he bore off the bowl upon his head and repairing to the King's palace (even as the Ifrit had bidden him) laid the fish before the presence; and the King wondered with exceeding wonder at the sight, for never in his lifetime had' he seen fishes like these in quality or in conformation. 

So he said, "Give those fish to the stranger slave girl who now cooketh for us," 

meaning the bond maiden whom the King of Roum had sent to him only three days before, so that he had not yet made trial of her talents in the dressing of meat. 

Thereupon the Wazir carried the fish to the cook and bade her fry them saying, 

"O damsel, the King sendeth this say to thee:—I have not treasured thee, O tear o' me! save for stress time of me; approve, then, to us this day thy delicate handiwork and thy savoury cooking; for this dish of fish is a present sent to the Sultan and evidently a rarity." 

The Wazir, after he had carefully charged her, returned to the King, who commanded him to give the Fisherman four hundred dinars: he gave them accordingly, and the man took them to his bosom and ran off home stumbling and falling and rising again and deeming the whole thing to be a dream. However, he bought for his family all they wanted and lastly he went to his wife in huge joy and gladness. So far concerning him; but as regards the cookmaid, she took the fish and cleansed them and set them in the frying pan, basting them with oil till one side was dressed. 

Then she turned them over and, behold, the kitchen wall crave asunder, and therefrom came a young lady, fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which Kohl lines enchase. Her dress was a silken head kerchief fringed and tasseled with blue: a large ring hung from either ear; a pair of bracelets adorned her wrists; rings with bezels of priceless gems were on her fingers; and she hent in hand a long rod of rattan cane which she thrust into the frying pan, saying, 

"O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your covenant?" When the cookmaiden saw this apparition she swooned away. The young lady repeated her words a second time and a third time, and at last the fishes raised their heads from the pan, and saying in articulate speech "Yes! Yes!" began with one voice to recite:— 

Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * And if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry! 

After this the young lady upset the frying pan and went forth by the way she came in and the kitchen wall closed upon her. When the cook maiden recovered from her fainting fit, she saw the four fishes charred black as charcoal, and crying out, 

"His staff brake in his first bout," 

she again fell swooning to the ground. Whilst she was in this case the Wazir came for the fish and looking upon her as insensible she lay, not knowing Sunday from Thursday, shoved her with his foot and said, 

"Bring the fish for the Sultan!" 

Thereupon recovering from her fainting fit she wept and informed him of her case and all that had befallen her. The Wazir marvelled greatly and exclaiming, 

"This is none other than a right strange matter!", he sent after the Fisherman and said to him,

"Thou, O Fisherman, must needs fetch us four fishes like those thou broughtest before." 

Thereupon the man repaired to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, lo! four fishes were therein exactly like the first. These he at once carried to the Wazir, who went in with them to the cook maiden and said, "Up with thee and fry these in my presence, that I may see this business." 

The damsel arose and cleansed the fish, and set them in the frying pan over the fire; however they remained there but a little while ere the wall clave asunder and the young lady appeared, clad as before and holding in hand the wand which she again thrust into the frying pan, saying, 

"O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your olden covenant?" 

And behold, the fish lifted their heads, and repeated 

"Yes! Yes!" and recited this couplet: 

Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * 

But if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. 

Then quoth her sister to her, 

"How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" 

And Scheherazade answered her, 

"What is this to that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." 

So they slept the rest of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake.

After this the King went forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan broke up, and King Schahriar entered his palace.

When it was the Seventh Night,

Her sister, Dinarzade, said to her, "Pray finish for us thy story;" 

and she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." 

"Say on," quoth the King.

She continued:- It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the fishes spoke, and the young lady upset the frying pan with her rod, and went forth by the way she came and the wall closed up, the Wazir cried out, 

"This is a thing not to be hidden from the King." 

So he went and told him what had happened, where upon quoth the King, 

"There is no help for it but that I see this with mine own eyes." 

Then he sent for the Fisherman and commanded him to bring four other fish like the first and to take with him three men as witnesses. 

The Fisherman at once brought the fish: and the King, after ordering them to give him four hundred gold pieces, turned to the Wazir and said, 

"Up and fry me the fishes here before me!" 

The Minister, replying "To hear is to obey," 

bade bring the frying pan, threw therein the cleansed fish and set it over the fire; when lo! the wall clave asunder, and out burst a black slave like a huge rock or a remnant of the tribe Ad bearing in hand a branch of a green tree; and he cried in loud and terrible tones, 

"O fish! O fish! be ye all constant to your antique covenant?" 

whereupon the fishes lifted their heads from the frying pan and said, 

"Yes! Yes ! we be true to our vow;" and they again recited the couplet: 

Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! * But if ye fain forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry! 

Then the huge blackamoor approached the frying pan and upset it with the branch and went forth by the way he came in. When he vanished from their sight the King inspected the fish; and finding them all charred black as charcoal, was utterly bewildered and said to the Wazir, 

"Verily this is a matter whereanent silence cannot be kept, and as for the fishes, assuredly some marvellous adventure connects with them." 

So he bade bring the Fisherman and asked him, saying 

"Fie on thee, fellow! whence came these fishes?" and he answered, 

"From a tarn between four heights lying behind this mountain which is in sight of thy city." 

Quoth the King, "How many days' march?" 

Quoth he, "O our lord the Sultan, a walk of half hour." 

The King wondered and, straight way ordering his men to march and horsemen to mount, led off the Fisherman who went before as guide, privily damning the Ifrit. They fared on till they had climbed the mountain and descended unto a great desert which they had never seen during all their lives; and the Sultan and his merry men marvelled much at the wold set in the midst of four mountains, and the tarn and its fishes of four colours, red and white, yellow and blue. 

The King stood fixed to the spot in wonderment and asked his troops and all present, 

"Hath any one among you ever seen this piece of water before now?" 

and all made answer, 

"O King of the age never did we set eyes upon it during all our days." 

They also questioned the oldest inhabitants they met, men well stricken in years, but they replied, each and every, 

"A lakelet like this we never saw in this place." 

Thereupon quoth the King, 

"By Allah I will neither return to my capital nor sit upon the throne of my forbears till I learn the truth about this tarn and the fish therein." 

He then ordered his men to dismount and bivouac all around the mountain; which they did; and summoning his Wazir, a Minister of much experience, sagacious, of penetrating wit and well versed in affairs, said to him, 

"'Tis in my mind to do a certain thing whereof I will inform thee; my heart telleth me to fare forth alone this night and root out the mystery of this tarn and its fishes. Do thou take thy seat at my tent door, and say to the Emirs and Wazirs, the Nabobs and the Chamberlains, in fine to all who ask thee:—The Sultan is ill at ease, and he hath ordered me to refuse all admittance; and be careful thou let none know my design." 

And the Wazir could not oppose him. Then the King changed his dress and ornaments and, slinging his sword over his shoulder, took a path which led up one of the mountains and marched for the rest of the night till morning dawned; nor did he cease wayfaring till the heat was too much for him. 

After his long walk he rested for a while, and then resumed his march and fared on through the second night till dawn, when suddenly there appeared a black point in the far distance. Hereat he rejoiced and said to himself, 

"Haply some one here shall acquaint me with the mystery of the tarn and its fishes." 

Presently drawing near the dark object he found it a palace built of swart stone plated with iron; and, while one leaf of the gate stood wide open, the other was shut, The King's spirits rose high as he stood before the gate and rapped a light rap; but hearing no answer he knocked a second knock and a third; yet there came no sign. 

Then he knocked his loudest but still no answer, so he said, 

"Doubtless 'tis empty." 

Thereupon he mustered up resolution and boldly walked through the main gate into the great hall and there cried out aloud, 

"Holla, ye people of the palace! I am a stranger and a wayfarer; have you aught here of victual?" 

He repeated his cry a second time and a third but still there came no reply; so strengthening his heart and making up his mind he stalked through the vestibule into the very middle of the palace and found no man in it. Yet it was furnished with silken stuffs gold starred; and the hangings were let down over the door ways. 

In the midst was a spacious court off which set four open saloons each with its raised dais, saloon facing saloon; a canopy shaded the court and in the centre was a jetting fount with four figures of lions made of red gold, spouting from their mouths water clear as pearls and diaphanous gems. 

Round about the palace birds were let loose and over it stretched a net of golden wire, hindering them from flying off; in brief there was everything but human beings. 

The King marvelled mightily thereat, yet felt he sad at heart for that he saw no one to give him account of the waste and its tarn, the fishes, the mountains and the palace itself. 

Presently as he sat between the doors in deep thought behold, there came a voice of lament, as from a heart grief spent and he heard the voice chanting these verses:— 

I hid what I endured of him and yet it came to light, * 

And nightly sleep mine eyelids fled and changed to sleepless night:

Oh world! Oh Fate! withhold thy hand and cease thy hurt and harm * 

Look and behold my hapless sprite in colour and affright:

Wilt ne'er show ruth to highborn youth who lost him on the way * 

Of Love, and fell from wealth and fame to lowest basest wight.

Jealous of Zephyr's breath was I as on your form he breathed * 

But whenas Destiny descends she blindeth human sight

What shall the hapless archer do who when he fronts his foe * 

And bends his bow to shoot the shaft shall find his string undight?

When cark and care so heavy bear on youth of generous soul * 

How shall he 'scape his lot and where from Fate his place of flight? 

Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet; and, following the sound, found a curtain let down over a chamber door. He raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting upon a couch about a cubit above the ground; and he fair to the sight, a well shaped wight, with eloquence dight; his forehead was flower white, his cheek rosy bright, and a mole on his cheek breadth like an ambergris mite; even as the poet doth indite:— 

A youth slim waisted from whose locks and brow * 

The world in blackness and in light is set.

Throughout Creation's round no fairer show * 

No rarer sight thine eye hath ever met:

A nut brown mole sits throned upon a cheek * 

Of rosiest red beneath an eye of jet. 

The King rejoiced and saluted him, but he remained sitting in his caftan of silken stuff purfled with Egyptian gold and his crown studded with gems of sorts; but his face was sad with the traces of sorrow. 

He returned the royal salute in most courteous wise adding, 

"O my lord, thy dignity demandeth my rising to thee; and my sole excuse is to crave thy pardon." 

Quoth the King, 

"Thou art excused, O youth; so look upon me as thy guest come hither on an especial object. I would thou acquaint me with the secrets of this tarn and its fishes and of this palace and thy loneliness therein and the cause of thy groaning and wailing." 

When the young man heard these words he wept with sore weeping; till his bosom was drenched with tears and began reciting— 

Say him who careless sleeps what while the shaft of Fortune flies * 

How many cloth this shifting world lay low and raise to rise?

Although thine eye be sealed in sleep, sleep not th' Almighty's eyes * 

And who hath found Time ever fair, or Fate in constant guise? 

Then he sighed a long fetched sigh and recited:— 

Confide thy case to Him, the Lord who made mankind; * 

Quit cark and care and cultivate content of mind;

Ask not the Past or how or why it came to pass: * 

All human things by Fate and Destiny were designed! 

The King marvelled and asked him, "What maketh thee weep, O young man?" 

and he answered, "How should I not weep, when this is my case!" 

Thereupon he put out his hand and raised the skirt of his garment, when lo! the lower half of him appeared stone down to his feet while from his navel to the hair of his head he was man. 

The King, seeing this his plight, grieved with sore grief and of his compassion cried, 

"Alack and well away! in very sooth, O youth, thou heapest sorrow upon my sorrow. I was minded to ask thee the mystery of the fishes only: whereas now I am concerned to learn thy story as well as theirs. But there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Lose no time, O youth, but tell me forthright thy whole tale." 

Quoth he, "Lend me thine ears, thy sight and thine insight;" 

and quoth the King, "All are at thy service!" 

Thereupon the youth began, "Right wondrous and marvellous is my case and that of these fishes; and were it graven with gravers upon the eye corners it were a warner to whoso would be warned." 

"How is that?" asked the King, 

and the young man began to tell:

The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince.

Know then, O my lord, that whilome my sire was King of this city, and his name was Mahmud, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of what are now these four mountains. 

He ruled three score and ten years, after which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as Sultan in his stead. 

I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my paternal uncle, and she loved me with such abounding love that whenever I was absent she ate not and she drank not until she saw me again. 

She cohabited with me for five years till a certain day when she went forth to the Hammam bath; and I bade the cook hasten to get ready all requisites for our supper. 

And I entered this palace and lay down on the bed where I was wont to sleep and bade two damsels to fan my face, one sitting by my head and the other at my feet. But I was troubled and made restless by my wife's absence and could not sleep; for although my eyes were closed my mind and thoughts were wide awake. Presently I heard the slave girl at my head say to her at my feet, 

"O Mas'udah, how miserable is our master and how wasted in his youth and oh! the pity of his being so betrayed by our mistress, the accursed whore!" The other replied, 

"Yes indeed: Allah curse all faithless women and adulterous; but the like of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth something better than this harlot who lieth abroad every night." 

Then quoth she who sat by my head, 

"Is our lord dumb or fit only for bubbling that he questioneth her not!" and quoth the other, 

"Fie on thee! doth our lord know her ways or doth she allow him his choice? Nay, more, doth she not drug every night the cup she giveth him to drink before sleep time, and put Bhang into it? So he sleepeth and wotteth not whither she goeth, nor what she doeth; but we know that after giving him the drugged wine, she donneth her richest raiment and perfumeth herself and then she fareth out from him to be away till break of day; then she cometh to him, and burneth a pastile under his nose and he awaketh from his deathlike sleep." 

When I heard the slave girl's words, the light became black before my sight and I thought night would never-fall. Presently the daughter of my uncle came from the baths; and they set the table for us and we ate and sat together a fair half hour quaffing our wine as was ever our wont. 

Then she called for the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping and reached me the cup; but, seeming to drink it according to my wont, I poured the contents into my bosom; and, lying down, let her hear that I was asleep. Then, behold, she cried, 

"Sleep out the night, and never wake again: by Allah, I loathe thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my soul turneth in disgust from cohabiting with thee; and I see not the moment when Allah shall snatch away thy life!" 

Then she rose and donned her fairest dress and perfumed her person and slung my sword over her shoulder; and, opening the gates of the palace, went her ill way. I rose and followed her as she left the palace and she threaded the streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I understood not, and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if broken and the gate leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without her noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying mounds and a reed fence built about a round roofed hut of mud bricks. 

As she entered the door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the interior, and lo! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous negro slave with his upper lip like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open pot; lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot. He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of sugar cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the foulest rags and tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so as to see her and said, 

"Woe to thee! what call hadst thou to stay away all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to drink because of thine absence." 

Then she, “O my lord, my heart's love and coolth of my eyes, knowest thou not that I am married to my cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company? And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise before making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and howlet hoot, and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed its very stones to the back side of Mount Kaf.”

Rejoined the slave, Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valour and honour of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be ; the poor manliness of white men), from today forth if thou stay away till this hour, I will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with thy body and strum and belly bump Dost play fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts? stinkard! bitch! vilest of the vile whites!”

When I heard his words, and saw with my own eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world waxed dark before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. 

But, my wife humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and saying, 

“O my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O my beloved, O light of my eyes?”

And she ceased not weeping and abasing herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat trousers, and said, 

"0 my master what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to eat? Uncover the basin," 

he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on, pick at them, and then go to that slop pot where thou shalt find some leavings of beer  which thou mayest drink." 

So she ate and drank and washed her hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave, upon the cane trash and, stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him under his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters. When I saw my wife, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed I clean lost my wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered and took the sword which she had with her and drew it, determined to cut down the twain. I first struck at the slave's neck and thought that the death decree had fallen on him:

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her permitted say. 

Then quoth Dinarzade, 

"O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful, how sweet, and how grateful!" 

She replied, 

"And where is this compared with what I could tell thee on the coming night if the King deign spare my life?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." 

So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. 

Then the King went forth to his Hall of Rule, and the Wazir and the troops came in, and the audience chamber was thronged and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade during the rest of that day till the Court broke up, and King Schahriar returned to his palace. 

When it was the Eighth Night

Her sister, Dinarzade, said to her, "Pray finish for us thy story;" 

and she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." 

"Say on," quoth the King.

She continued:- It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young ensorcelled Prince said to the King, 

"When I smote the slave with intent to strike off his head, I thought that I had slain him; for he groaned a loud hissing groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of the gullet and the two arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so I sheathed the sword and fared forth for the city; and, entering the palace, lay upon my bed and slept till morning when my wife aroused me and I saw that she had cut off her hair and had donned mourning garments. 

Quoth she:—O son of my uncle, blame me not for what I do; it hath just reached me that my mother is dead, and my father hath been killed in holy war, and of my brothers one hath lost his life by a snake sting and the other by falling down some precipice; and I can and should do naught save weep and lament. When I heard her words I refrained from all reproach 

and said only:—Do as thou list; I certainly will not thwart thee. She continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one whole year from the beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was finished she said to me.—I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a cupola, which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House of Lamentations. 

Quoth I again:—Do as thou list! Then she builded for herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its centre a dome under which showed a tomb like a Santon's sepulchre. 

Thither she carried the slave and lodged him; but he was exceeding weak by reason of his wound, and unable to do her love service; he could only drink wine and from the day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet he lived on because his appointed hour was not come. Every day, morning and evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over him and gave him wine and strong soups, and left not off doing after this manner a second year; and I bore with her patiently and paid no heed to her. 

One day, however, I went in to her unawares; and I found her weeping and beating her face and crying:—Why art thou absent from my sight, O my heart's delight? Speak to me, O my life; talk with me, O my love? 

Then she recited these verses:— 

 For your love my patience fails and albeit you forget * 

I may not, nor to other love my heart can make reply:

 Bear my body, bear my soul wheresoever you may fare * 

And where you pitch the camp let my body buried lie:

 Cry my name above my grave, and an answer shall return * 

The moaning of my bones responsive to your cry. 

 Then she recited, weeping bitterly the while:— 

 The day of my delight is the day when draw you near * 

And the day of mine affright is the day you turn away:

 Though I tremble through the night in my bitter dread of death * 

When I hold you in my arms I am free from all affray 

 Once more she began reciting:— 

 Though a morn I may awake with all happiness in hand * 

Though the world all be mine and like Kisra-kings I reign;

 To me they had the worth of the winglet of the gnat * 

When I fail to see thy form, when I look for thee in vain 

 When she had ended for a time her words and her weeping 

I said to her—O my cousin, let this thy mourning suffice, for in pouring forth tears there is little profit! Thwart me not, answered she, in aught I do, or I will lay violent hands on myself! 

So I held my peace and left her to go her own way; and she ceased not to cry and keen and indulge her affliction for yet another year. 

At the end of the third year I waxed aweary of this longsome mourning, and one day I happened to enter the cenotaph when vexed and angry with some matter which had thwarted me, and suddenly 

I heard her say:—O my lord, I never hear thee vouch safe a single word to me! Why dost thou not answer me, O my master? 

and she began reciting:— 

O thou tomb! O, thou tomb! be his beauty set in shade? * 

Hast thou darkened that countenance all sheeny as the noon?

O thou tomb! neither earth nor yet heaven art to me * 

Then how cometh it in thee are conjoined my sun and moon? 

When I heard such verses as these rage was heaped upon my rage I cried out:—Well away! how long is this sorrow to last? 

and I began repeating:— 

O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his horrors set in blight? * 

Hast thou darkenèd his countenance that sickeneth the soul?

O thou tomb! neither cess pool nor pipkin art to me * 

Then how cometh it in thee are conjoined soil and coal? 

 When she heard my words she sprang to her feet crying.—Fie upon thee, thou cur! all this is of thy doings; thou hast wounded my heart s darling and thereby worked me sore woe and thou hast wasted his youth so that these three years he hath lain abed more dead than alive! 

In my wrath I cried:—O thou foulest of harlots and filthiest of whores ever futtered by negro slaves who are hired to have at thee! Yes indeed it was I who did this good deed; and snatching up my sword I drew it and made at her to cut her down. 

But she laughed my words and mine intent to scorn crying: To heel, hound that thou art! Alas for the past which shall no more come to pass nor shall any one avail the dead to raise. Allah hath indeed now given into my hand him who did to me this thing, a deed that hath burned my heart with a fire which died not and a flame which might not be quenched! 

Then she stood up; and, pronouncing some words to me unintelligible, 

she said:— By virtue of my egromancy become thou half stone and half man; whereupon I became what thou seest, unable to rise or to sit, and neither dead nor alive. 

Moreover she ensorcelled the city with all its streets and garths, and she turned by her gramarye the four islands into four mountains around the tarn whereof thou questionest me; and the citizens, who were of four different faiths, Moslem, Nazarene, Jew and Magian, she transformed by her enchantments into fishes; the Moslems are the white, the Magians red, the Christians blue and the Jews yellow. 

And every day she tortureth me and scourgeth me with an hundred stripes, each of which draweth floods of blood and cutteth the skin of my shoulders to strips; and lastly she clotheth my upper half with a hair cloth and then throweth over them these robes." 

Hereupon the young man again shed tears and began reciting:— 

In patience, O my God, I endure my lot and fate; * 

I will bear at will of Thee whatsoever be my state:

They oppress me; they torture me; they make my life a woe * 

Yet haply Heaven's happiness shall compensate my strait:

Yea, straitened is my life by the bane and hate o' foes * 

But Mustafa and Murtaza shall ope me Heaven's gate. 

After this the Sultan turned towards the young Prince and said, 

"O youth, thou hast removed one grief only to add another grief; but now, O my friend, where is she; and where is the mausoleum wherein lieth the wounded slave?" 

"The slave lieth under yon dome," 

quoth the young man, "and she sitteth in the chamber fronting yonder door. And every day at sunrise she cometh forth, and first strippeth me, and whippeth me with an hundred strokes of the leathern scourge, and I weep and shriek; but there is no power of motion in my lower limbs to keep her off me. After ending her tormenting me she visiteth the slave, bringing him wine and boiled meats. And to morrow at an early hour she will be here." 

Quoth the King, "By Allah, O youth, I will assuredly do thee a good deed which the world shall not willingly let die, and an act of derring do which shall be chronicled long after I am dead and gone by." 

Then the King sat him by the side of the young Prince and talked till nightfall, when he lay down and slept; but, as soon as the false dawn showed, he arose and doffing his outer garments bared his blade and hastened to the place wherein lay the slave. 

Then was he ware of lighted candles and lamps, and the perfume of incenses and unguents, and directed by these, he made for the slave and struck him one stroke killing him on the spot: after which he lifted him on his back and threw him into a well that was in the palace. Presentry he returned and, donning the slave's gear, lay down at length within the mausoleum with the drawn sword laid close to and along his side. 

After an hour or so the accursed witch came; and, first going to her husband, she stripped off his clothes and, taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while he cried out, 

"Ah! enough for me the case I am in! take pity on me, O my cousin!' But she replied, 

"Didst thou take pity on me and spare the life of my true love on whom I coated?" 

Then she drew the cilice over his raw and bleeding skin and threw the robe upon all and went down to the slave with a goblet of wine and a bowl of meat broth in her hands. 

She entered under the dome weeping and wailing, "Well-away!" and crying, "O my lord! speak a word to me! O my master! talk awhile with me!" 

and began to recite these couplets.— 

How long this harshness, this unlove, shall bide? * 

Suffice thee not tear floods thou hast espied?

Thou dost prolong our parting purposely * 

And if wouldst please my foe, thou'rt satisfied! 

Then she wept again and said, 

"O my lord! speak to me, talk with me!" 

The King lowered his voice and, twisting his tongue, spoke after the fashion of the blackamoors and said "'lack! 'lack! there be no Ma'esty and there be no Might save in Allauh, the Gloriose, the Great!" 

Now when she heard these words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground fainting; 

and when her senses returned she asked, "O my lord, can it be true that thou hast power of speech?" 

and the King making his voice small and faint answered, 

"O my cuss! dost thou deserve that I talk to thee and speak with thee?" 

"Why and wherefore?" rejoined she; 

and he replied "The why is that all the livelong day thou tormentest thy hubby; and he keeps calling on 'eaven for aid until sleep is strange to me even from evenin' till mawnin', and he prays and damns, cussing us two, me and thee, causing me disquiet and much bother: were this not so, I should long ago have got my health; and it is this which prevents my answering thee." 

Quoth she, "With thy leave I will release him from what spell is on him;"

and quoth the King, "Release him and let's have some rest!" 

She cried, "To hear is to obey;" 

and, going from the cenotaph to the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water and spake over it certain words which made the contents bubble and boil as a cauldron seetheth over the fire. With this she sprinkled her husband saying, 

"By virtue of the dread words I have spoken, if thou becamest thus by my spells, come forth out of that form into thine own former form." 

And lo and behold! the young man shook and trembled; then he rose to his feet and, rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, 

"I testify that there is no god but the God, and in very truth Mohammed is His Apostle, whom Allah bless and keep!" 

Then she said to him, 

"Go forth and return not hither, for if thou do I will surely slay thee;" 

screaming these words in his face. 

So he went from between her hands; and she returned to the dome and, going down to the sepulchre, 

she said, "O my lord, come forth to me that I may look upon thee and thy goodliness!" 

The King replied in faint low words, "What thing hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the branch but not of the root." 

She asked, "O my darling! O my negroling! what is the root?" 

And he answered, "Fie on thee, O my cuss! The people of this city and of the four islands every night when it's half passed lift their heads from the tank in which thou hast turned them to fishes and cry to Heaven and call down its anger on me and thee; and this is the reason why my body's baulked from health. Go at once and set them free then come to me and take my hand, and raise me up, for a little strength is already back in me." 

When she heard the King's words (and she still supposed him to be the slave) she cried joyously, 

“O my master, on my head and on my eyes be thy command, Bismillah!” 

So she sprang to her feet and, full of joy and gladness, ran down to the tarn and took a little of its water in the palm of her hand

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. 

Then quoth her sister to her, "How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" 

And Scheherazade answered her, "What is this to that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." 

So they slept the rest of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake.

After this the King went forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan broke up, and King Schahriar entered his palace.

When it Was the Ninth Night

Her sister, Dinarzade, said to her, "Pray finish for us thy story;" 

and she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." 

"Say on," quoth the King.

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the young woman, the sorceress, took in hand some of the tarn water and spake over it words not to be understood, the fishes lifted their heads and stood up on the instant like men, the spell on the people of the city having been removed. 

What was the lake again became a crowded capital; the bazars were thronged with folk who bought and sold; each citizen was occupied with his own calling and the four hills became islands as they were whilome. Then the young woman, that wicked sorceress, returned to the King and (still thinking he was the negro) said to him, “O my love! stretch forth thy honoured hand that I may assist thee to rise.”

"Nearer to me," quoth the King in a faint and feigned tone. 

She came close as to embrace him when he took up the sword lying hid by his side and smote her across the breast, so that the point showed gleaming behind her back. Then he smote her a second time and cut her in twain and cast her to the ground in two halves. After which he fared forth and found the young man, now freed from the spell, awaiting him and gave him joy of his happy release while the Prince kissed his hand with abundant thanks. 

Quoth the King, "Wilt thou abide in this city or go with me to my capital?" 

Quoth the youth, "O King of the age, wottest thou not what journey is between thee and thy city?" 

"Two days and a half," answered he, whereupon said the other, 

"An thou be sleeping, O King, awake! Between thee and thy city is a year's march for a well girt walker, and thou haddest not come hither in two days and a half save that the city was under enchantment. And I, O King, will never part from thee; no, not even for the twinkling of an eye." 

The King rejoiced at his words and said, 

"Thanks be to Allah who hath bestowed thee upon me! From this hour thou art my son and my only son, for that in all my life I have never been blessed with issue." 

Thereupon they embraced and joyed with exceeding great joy; and, reaching the palace, the Prince who had been spell bound informed his lords and his grandees that he was about to visit the Holy Places as a pilgrim, and bade them get ready all things necessary for the occasion. 

The preparations lasted ten days, after which he set out with the Sultan, whose heart burned in yearning for his city whence he had been absent a whole twelvemonth. They journeyed with an escort of Mamelukes carrying all manners of precious gifts and rarities, nor stinted they wayfaring day and night for a full year until they approached the Sultan's capital, and sent on messengers to announce their coming. Then the Wazir and the whole army came out to meet him in joy and gladness, for they had given up all hope of ever seeing their King; and the troops kissed the ground before him and wished him joy of his safety. 

He entered and took seat upon his throne and the Minister came before him and, when acquainted with all that had befallen the young Prince, he congratulated him on his narrow escape. When order was restored throughout the land the King gave largesse to many of his people, 

and said to the Wazir, "Hither the Fisherman who brought us the fishes!" 

So he sent for the man who had been the first cause of the city and the citizens being delivered from enchantment and, when he came into the presence, the Sultan bestowed upon him a dress of honour, and questioned him of his condition and whether he had children. 

The Fisherman gave him to know that he had two daughters and a son, so the King sent for them and, taking one daughter to wife, gave the other to the young Prince and made the son his head treasurer. 

Furthermore he invested his Wazir with the Sultanate of the City in the Black Islands whilome belonging to the young Prince, and dispatched with him the escort of fifty armed slaves together with dresses of honour for all the Emirs and Grandees. 

The Wazir kissed hands and fared forth on his way; while the Sultan and the Prince abode at home in all the solace and the delight of life; and the Fisherman became the richest man of his age, and his daughters wived with the Kings, until death came to them. 

And yet, O King! this is not more wondrous than the story of:

The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad.

Once upon a time there was a Porter in Baghdad, who was a bachelor and who would remain unmarried. It came to pass on a certain day, as he stood about the street leaning idly upon his crate, behold, there stood before him an honourable woman in a mantilla of Mosul silk, broidered with gold and bordered with brocade; her walking shoes were also purfled with gold and her hair floated in long plaits. 

She raised her face veil and, showing two black eyes fringed with jetty lashes, whose glances were soft and languishing and whose perfect beauty was ever blandishing, she accosted the Porter and said in the suavest tones and choicest language, 

"Take up thy crate and follow me." 

The Porter was so dazzled he could hardly believe that he heard her aright, but he shouldered his basket in hot haste saying in himself, 

"O day of good luck! O day of Allah's grace!" 

and walked after her till she stopped at the door of a house. There she rapped, and presently came out to her an old man, a Nazarene, to whom she gave a gold piece, receiving from him in return what she required of strained wine clear as olive oil; and she set it safely in the hamper, saying "Lift and follow." 

Quoth the Porter, "This, by Allah, is indeed an auspicious day, a day propitious for the granting of all a man wisheth." 

He again hoisted up the crate and followed her; till she stopped at a fruiterer's shop and bought from him Shami apples and Osmani quinces and Omani peaches, and cucumbers of Nile growth, and Egyptian limes and Sultani oranges and citrons; besides Aleppine jasmine, scented myrtle berries, Damascene nenuphars, flower of privet and camomile, blood red anemones, violets, and pomegranate bloom, eglantine and narcissus, and set the whole in the Porter's crate, 

saying, "Up with it." 

So he lifted and followed her till she stopped at a butcher's booth 

and said, "Cut me off ten pounds of mutton." 

She paid him his price and he wrapped it in a banana leaf, whereupon she laid it in the crate and said 

"Hoist, O Porter." 

He hoisted accordingly, and followed her as she walked on till she stopped at a grocer's, where she bought dry fruits and pistachio kernels, Tihamah raisins, shelled almonds and all wanted for dessert, 

and said to the Porter, "Lift and follow me." 

So he up with his hamper and after her till she stayed at the confectioner's, and she bought an earthen platter, and piled it with all kinds of sweetmeats in his shop, open worked tarts and fritters scented with musk and "soap cakes," and lemon loaves and melon preserves, and "Zaynab's combs," and "ladies' fingers," and "Kazi's tit-bits" and goodies of every description; and placed the platter in the Porter's crate. 

Thereupon quoth he (being a merry man), 

"Thou shouldest have told me, and I would have brought with me a pony or a she camel to carry all this market stuff." 

She smiled and gave him a little cuff on the nape saying, 

"Step out and exceed not in words for (Allah willing!) thy wage will not be wanting." 

Then she stopped at a perfumer's and took from him ten sorts of waters, rose scented with musk, orange-flower, water-lily, willow-flower, violet and five others; and she also bought two loaves of sugar, a bottle for perfume spraying, a lump of male incense, aloe-wood, ambergris and musk, with candles of Alexandria wax; and she put the whole into the basket, saying, 

"Up with thy crate and after me." 

He did so and followed until she stood before the greengrocer's, of whom she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and in oil; with tarragon and cream cheese and hard Syrian cheese; and she stowed them away in the crate saying to the Porter, 

"Take up thy basket and follow me." 

He did so and went after her till she came to a fair mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall, fine place to which columns gave strength and grace: and the gate thereof had two leaves of ebony inlaid with plates of red gold. 

The lady stopped at the door and, turning her face veil sideways, knocked softly with her knuckles whilst the Porter stood behind her, thinking of naught save her beauty and loveliness. 

Presently the door swung back and both leaves were opened, whereupon he looked to see who had opened it; and behold, it was a lady of tall figure, some five feet high; a model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and symmetry and perfect grace. Her forehead was flower white; her cheeks like the anemone ruddy bright; her eyes were those of the wild heifer or the gazelle, with eyebrows like the crescent moon which ends Sha'aban and begins Ramazan; her mouth was the ring of Sulayman, her lips coral red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile petals. 

Her throat recalled the antelope's, and her breasts, like two pomegranates of even size, stood at bay as it were, her body rose and fell in waves below her dress like the rolls of a piece of brocade, and her navel would hold an ounce of benzoin ointment. In fine she was like her of whom the poet said:— 

On Sun and Moon of palace cast thy sight * 

Enjoy her flower like face, her fragrant light:

Thine eyes shall never see in hair so black * 

Beauty encase a brow so purely white:

The ruddy rosy cheek proclaims her claim * 

Though fail her name whose beauties we indite:

As sways her gait I smile at hips so big * 

And weep to see the waist they bear so slight. 

When the Porter looked upon her his wits were waylaid, and his senses were stormed so that his crate went nigh to fall from his head, and he said to himself, 

"Never have I in my life seen a day more blessed than this day!" 

Then quoth the lady portress to the lady cateress, 

"Come in from the gate and relieve this poor man of his load." 

So the provisioner went in followed by the portress and the Porter and went on till they reached a spacious ground floor hall, built with admirable skill and beautified with all manner colours and carvings; with upper balconies and groined arches and galleries and cupboards and recesses whose curtains hung before them. 

In the midst stood a great basin full of water surrounding a fine fountain, and at the upper end on the raised dais was a couch of juniper wood set with gems and pearls, with a canopy like mosquito curtains of red satin silk looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger. 

Thereupon sat a lady bright of blee, with brow beaming brilliancy, the dream of philosophy, whose eyes were fraught with Babel's gramarye and her eye brows were arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery and her lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see. Her stature was straight as the letter I and her face shamed the noon sun's radiancy; and she was even as a galaxy, or a dome with golden marquetry or a bride displayed in choicest finery or a noble maid of Araby. 

Right well of her sang the bard when he said:— 

Her smiles twin rows of pearls display * 

Chamomile-buds or rimey spray

Her tresses stray as night let down * 

And shames her light the dawn o' day. 

The third lady rising from the couch stepped forward with grace ful swaying gait till she reached the middle of the saloon, when she said to her sisters, 

"Why stand ye here? take it down from this poor man's head!" 

Then the cateress went and stood before him, and the portress behind him while the third helped them, and they lifted the load from the Porter's head; and, emptying it of all that was therein, set everything in its place. 

Lastly they gave him two gold pieces, saying, 

"Wend thy ways, O Porter." 

But he went not, for he stood looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty was theirs, and their pleasant manners and kindly dispositions (never had he seen goodlier); and he gazed wistfully at that good store of wines and sweet scented flowers and fruits and other matters. 

Also he marvelled with exceeding marvel, especially to see no man in the place and delayed his going; whereupon quoth the eldest lady, 

"What aileth thee that goest not; haply thy wage be too little?" 

And, turning to her sister the cateress, she said, 

"Give him another diner!" 

But the Porter answered, 

"By Allah, my lady, it is not for the wage; my hire is never more than two dirhams; but in very sooth my heart and my soul are taken up with you and your condition. I wonder to see you single with ne'er a man about you and not a soul to bear you company; and well you wot that the minaret toppleth o'er unless it stand upon four, and you want this same fourth; and women's pleasure without man is short of measure, even as the poet said:— 

Seest not we want for joy four things all told * 

The harp and lute, the flute and flageolet;

And be they companied with scents four fold * 

Rose, myrtle, anemone and violet

Nor please all eight an four thou wouldst withhold * 

Good wine and youth and gold and pretty pet. 

You be three and want a fourth who shall be a person of good sense and prudence; smart witted, and one apt to keep careful counsel." 

His words pleased and amused them much; and they laughed at him and said, 

"And who is to assure us of that? We are maidens and we fear to entrust our secret where it may not be kept, for we have read in a certain chronicle the lines of one Ibn al-Sumam:— 

Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold * 

Lost is a secret when that secret's told

An fail thy breast thy secret to conceal * 

How canst thou hope another's breast shall hold? 

And Abu Nowás said well on the same subject:— 

Who trusteth secret to another's hand * 

Upon his brow deserveth burn of brand!" 

When the Porter heard their words he rejoined, 

"By your lives! I am a man of sense and a discreet, who hath read books and perused chronicles; I reveal the fair and conceal the foul and I act as the poet adviseth:— 

None but the good a secret keep * 

And good men keep it unrevealed:

It is to me a well shut house * 

With keyless locks and door ensealed" 

When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application addressed to them they said, 

"Thou knowest that we have laid out all our monies on this place. Now say, hast thou aught to offer us in return for entertainment? For surely we will not suffer thee to sit in our company and be our cup companion, and gaze upon our faces so fair and so rare without paying a round sum. 

Wottest thou not the saying:— 

Sans hope of gain

Love's not worth a grain?" 

Whereto the lady portress added, 

"If thou bring anything thou art a something; if no thing, be off with thee, thou art a nothing;" 

but the procuratrix interposed, saying, 

"Nay, O my sisters, leave teasing him for by Allah he hath not failed us this day, and had he been other he never had kept patience with me, so whatever be his shot and scot I will take it upon myself." 

The Porter, over joyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked her saying, 

"By Allah, these monies are the first fruits this day hath given me." 

Hearing this they said, "Sit thee down and welcome to thee," 

and the eldest lady added, 

"By Allah, we may not suffer thee to join us save on one condition, and this it is, that no questions be asked as to what concerneth thee not, and frowardness shall be soundly flogged." 

Answered the Porter, 

"I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and my eyes be it! Lookye, I am dumb, I have no tongue. Then arose the provisioneress and tightening her girdle set the table by the fountain and put the flowers and sweet herbs in their jars, and strained the wine and ranged the flasks in row and made ready every requisite. Then sat she down, she and her sisters, placing amidst them the Porter who kept deeming himself in a dream; and she took up the wine flagon, and poured out the first cup and drank it off, and likewise a second and a third. After this she filled a fourth cup which she handed to one of her sisters; and, lastly, she crowned a goblet and passed it to the Porter, saying:— 

"Drink the dear draught, drink free and fain * 

What healeth every grief and pain." 

He took the cup in his hand and, louting low, returned his best thanks and improvised:— 

“Drain not the bowl save with a trusty friend * 

A man of worth whose good old blood all know:

For wine, like wind, sucks sweetness from the sweet * 

And stinks when over stench it haply blow:” 

Adding:— 

Drain not the bowl; save from dear hand like thine * 

The cup recall thy gifts; thou, gifts of wine." 

After repeating this couplet he kissed their hands and drank and was drunk and sat swaying from side to side and pursued:— 

"All drinks wherein is blood the Law unclean * 

Doth hold save one, the blood shed of the vine:

Fill! fill! take all my wealth bequeathed or won * 

Thou fawn! a willing ransom for those eyne." 

Then the cateress crowned a cup and gave it to the portress, who took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Thereupon she poured again and passed to the eldest lady who sat on the couch, and filled yet another and handed it to the Porter. 

He kissed the ground before them; and, after drinking and thanking them, he again began to recite : 

"Here! Here! by Allah, here! * 

Cups of the sweet, the dear'

Fill me a brimming bowl * 

The Fount o' Life I speer 

Then the Porter stood up before the mistress of the house and said, 

"O lady, I am thy slave, thy Mameluke, thy white thrall, thy very bondsman;" 

and he began reciting:— 

"A slave of slaves there standeth at thy door * 

Lauding thy generous boons and gifts galore

Beauty! may he come in awhile to 'joy * 

Thy charms? for Love and I part nevermore!" 

She said to him, "Drink; and health and happiness attend thy drink." 

So he took the cup and kissed her hand and recited these lines in sing song: 

"I gave her brave old wine that like her cheeks * 

Blushed red or flame from furnace flaring up:

She bussed the brim and said with many a smile * 

How durst thou deal folk's cheek for folk to sup?

"Drink!" (said I) "these are tears of mine whose tinct * 

Is heart blood sighs have boiled in the cup." 

She answered him in the following couplet:— 

"An tears of blood for me, friend, thou hast shed * 

Suffer me sup them, by thy head and eyes!" 

Then the lady took the cup, and drank it off to her sisters' health, and they ceased not drinking (the Porter being in the midst of them), and dancing and laughing and reciting verses and singing ballads and ritornellos. 

All this time the Porter was carrying on with them, kissing, toying, biting, handling, groping, fingering; whilst one thrust a dainty morsel in his mouth, and another slapped him; and this cuffed his cheeks, and that threw sweet flowers at him; and he was in the very paradise of pleasure, as though he were sitting in the seventh sphere among the Houris of Heaven. They ceased not doing after this fashion until the wine played tricks in their heads and worsted their wits; and, when the drink got the better of them, the portress stood up and doffed her clothes till she was mother naked. 

However, she let down her hair about her body by way of shift, and throwing herself into the basin disported herself and dived like a duck and swam up and down, and took water in her mouth, and spurted it all over the Porter, and washed her limbs, and between her breasts, and inside her thighs and all around her navel. 

Then she came up out of the cistern and throwing herself on the Porter's lap said, 

"O my lord, O my love, what callest thou this article?" 

pointing to her slit, her solution of continuity. 

"I call that thy cleft," 

quoth the Porter, and she rejoined, 

“Wah! wah, art thou not ashamed to use such a word?" 

and she caught him by the collar and soundly cuffed him. Said he again, 

“Thy womb, thy vulva;" and she struck him a second slap crying, 

"O fie, O fie, this is another ugly word; is there no shame in thee?" 

Quoth he, "Thy coynte;" 

and she cried, O thou! art wholly destitute of modesty?" 

and thumped him and bashed him. Then cried the Porter, 

"Thy clitoris," whereat the eldest lady came down upon him with a yet sorer beating, 

and said, "No;" 

and he said, " 'Tis so," 

and the Porter went on calling the same commodity by sundry other names, but whatever he said they beat him more and more till his neck ached and swelled with the blows he had gotten; and on this wise they made him a butt and a laughing stock. At last he turned upon them asking, And what do you women call this article?" 

Whereto the damsel made answer, 

"The basil of the bridges." 

Cried the Porter, 

"Thank Allah for my safety: aid me and be thou propitious, O basil of the bridges!" 

They passed round the cup and tossed off the bowl again, when the second lady stood up; and, stripping off all her clothes, cast herself into the cistern and did as the first had done; then she came out of the water and throwing her naked form on the Porter's lap pointed to her machine and said, "O light of mine eyes, do tell me what is the name of this concern?" 

He replied as before, "Thy slit;" 

and she rejoined, "Hath such term no shame for thee?" 

and cuffed him and buffeted him till the saloon rang with the blows. 

Then quoth she, "O fie! O fie! how canst thou say this without blushing?" 

He suggested, "The basil of the bridges;" 

but she would not have it and she said, "No! no!" 

and struck him and slapped him on the back of the neck. 

Then he began calling out all the names he knew, 

"Thy slit, thy womb, thy coynte, thy clitoris;" 

and the girls kept on saying, "No! no!" 

So he said, "I stick to the basil of the bridges;" 

and all the three laughed till they fell on their backs and laid slaps on his neck 

and said, "No! no! that's not its proper name." 

Thereupon he cried, "O my sisters, what is its name?" 

and they replied, "What sayest thou to the husked sesame seed?" 

Then the cateress donned her clothes and they fell again to carousing, 

but the Porter kept moaning, 

"Oh! and Oh!" for his neck and shoulders, and the cup passed merrily round and round again for a full hour. After that time the eldest and handsomest lady stood up and stripped off her garments, whereupon the Porter took his neck in hand, and rubbed and shampoo'd it, 

saying, "My neck and shoulders are on the way of Allah!" 

Then she threw herself into the basin, and swam and dived, sported and washed; and the Porter looked at her naked figure as though she had been a slice of the moon and at her face with the sheen of Luna when at full, or like the dawn when it brighteneth, and he noted her noble stature and shape, and those glorious forms that quivered as she went; for she was naked as the Lord made her. 

Then he cried "Alack! Alack!" and began to address her, versifying in these couplets:— 

"If I liken thy shape to the bough when green * 

My likeness errs and I sore mistake it;

For the bough is fairest when clad the most * 

And thou art fairest when mother naked." 

When the lady heard his verses she came up out of the basin and, seating herself upon his lap and knees, pointed to her genitory and said, 

"O my lordling, what be the name of this?" 

Quoth he, "The basil of the bridges;" 

but she said, "Bah, bah!" 

Quoth he, "The husked sesame;" 

quoth she, "Pooh, pooh!" 

Then said he, "Thy womb;" 

and she cried, "Fie, Fie! art thou not ashamed of thyself?" 

and cuffed him on the nape of the neck. And whatever name he gave declaring " 'Tis so," 

she beat him and cried "No! no!" 

till at last he said, "O my sisters, and what is its name?" 

She replied, "It is entitled the Khan of Abu Mansur;" 

whereupon the Porter replied, "Ha! ha! O Allah be praised for safe deliverance! O Khan of Abu Mansur!" 

Then she came forth and dressed and the cup went round a full hour. At last the Porter rose up, and stripping off all his clothes, jumped into the tank and swam about and washed under his bearded chin and armpits, even as they had done. Then he came out and threw himself into the first lady's lap and rested his arms upon the lap of the portress, and reposed his legs in the lap of the cateress and pointed to his prickle and said, 

"O my mistresses, what is the name of this article?" 

All laughed at his words till they fell on their backs, and one said, 

"Thy pintle!" 

But he replied, "No!" 

and gave each one of them a bite by way of forfeit. 

Then said they, "Thy pizzle!" 

but he cried "No," 

and gave each of them a hug;

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her permitted say. 

Then quoth Dinarzade, 

"O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful, how sweet, and how grateful!" 

She replied, 

"And where is this compared with what I could tell thee on the coming night if the King deign spare my life?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." 

So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. 

Then the King went forth to his Hall of Rule, and the Wazir and the troops came in, and the audience chamber was thronged and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade during the rest of that day till the Court broke up, and King Schahriar returned to his palace. 

When it was the Tenth Night, 

Quoth her sister Dinarzade, "Finish for us thy story;" 

and she answered, "With joy and goodly gree.

"Say on," quoth the King.

and she answered:- It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsels stinted not saying to the Porter "Thy prickle, thy pintle, thy pizzle," 

and he ceased not kissing and biting and hugging until his heart was satisfied, and they laughed on till they could no more. 

At last one said, "O our brother, what, then, is it called?" 

Quoth he, "Know ye not?" 

Quoth they, "No!" 

"Its veritable name," said he, "is mule Burst all, which browseth on the basil of the bridges, and muncheth the husked sesame, and nighteth in the Khan of Abu Mansur." 

Then laughed they till they fell on their backs, and returned to their carousel, and ceased not to be after this fashion till night began to fall. 

Thereupon said they to the Porter, 

“Bismillah, O our master, up and on with those sorry old shoes of thine and turn thy face and show us the breadth of thy shoulders!” 

Said he, "By Allah, to part with my soul would be easier for me than departing from you: come let us join night to day, and tomorrow morning we will each wend our own way." 

"My life on you," said the procuratrix, 

"suffer him to tarry with us, that we may laugh at him: we may live out our lives and never meet with his like, for surely he is a right merry rogue and a witty." 

So they said, "Thou must not remain with us this night save on condition that thou submit to our commands, and that whatso thou seest, thou ask no questions there anent, nor enquire of its cause." 

"All right," rejoined he, 

and they said, "Go read the writing over the door." 

So he rose and went to the entrance and there found written in letters of gold wash; WHOSO SPEAKETH OF WHAT CONCERNETH HIM NOT, SHALL HEAR WHAT PLEASETH HIM NOT! 

The Porter said, “Be ye witnesses against me that I will not speak on whatso concerneth me not.”

Then the cateress arose, and set food before them and they ate; after which they changed their drinking-place for another, and she lighted the lamps and candles and burned ambergris and aloes wood, and set on fresh fruit and the wine service, when they fell to carousing and talking of their lovers. 

And they ceased not to eat and drink and chat, nibbling dry fruits and laughing and playing tricks for the space of a full hour when lo! a knock was heard at the gate. The knocking in no wise disturbed the seance, but one of them rose and went to see what it was and presently returned, saying, 

"Truly our pleasure for this night is to be perfect." 

"How is that?" asked they; 

and she answered, "At the gate be three Persian Kalandars with their beards and heads and eyebrows shaven; and all three blind of the left eye—which is surely a strange chance. They are foreigners from Roum-land with the mark of travel plain upon them; they have just entered Baghdad, this being their first visit to our city; and the cause of their knocking at our door is simply because they cannot find a lodging. Indeed one of them said to me:—Haply the owner of this mansion will let us have the key of his stable or some old out house wherein we may pass this night; for evening had surprised them and, being strangers in the land, they knew none who would give them shelter. And, O my sisters, each of them is a figure o' fun after his own fashion; and if we let them in we shall have matter to make sport of." 

She gave not over persuading them till they said to her, 

"Let them in, and make thou the usual condition with them that they speak not of what concerneth them not, lest they hear what pleaseth them not." 

So she rejoiced and going to the door presently returned with the three monoculars whose beards and mustachios were clean shaven. They salam'd and stood afar off by way of respect; but the three ladies rose up to them and welcomed them and wished them joy of their safe arrival and made them sit down. 

The Kalandars looked at the room and saw that it was a pleasant place, clean swept and garnished with flowers; and the lamps were burning and the smoke of perfumes was spireing in air; and beside the dessert and fruits and wine, there were three fair girls who might be maidens; so they exclaimed with one voice, 

"By Allah, 'tis good!" 

Then they turned to the Porter and saw that he was a merry faced wight, albeit he was by no means sober and was sore after his slappings. So they thought that he was one of themselves and said, 

"A mendicant like us! whether Arab or foreigner." 

But when the Porter heard these words, he rose up, and fixing his eyes fiercely upon them, said, 

"Sit ye here without exceeding in talk! Have you not read what is writ over the door? surely it befitteth not fellows who come to us like paupers to wag your tongues at us." 

"We crave thy pardon, O Fakír," rejoined they, "and our heads are between thy hands." 

The ladies laughed consumedly at the squabble; and, making peace between the Kalandars and the Porter, seated the new guests before meat and they ate. 

Then they sat together, and the portress served them with drink; and, as the cup went round merrily, quoth the Porter to the askers, 

"And you, O brothers mine, have ye no story or rare adventure to amuse us withal?" 

Now the warmth of wine having mounted to their heads they called for musical instruments; and the portress brought them a tambourine of Mosul, and a lute of Irák, and a Persian harp; and each mendicant took one and tuned it; this the tambourine and those the lute and the harp, and struck up a merry tune while the ladies sang so lustily that there was a great noise. 

And whilst they were carrying on, behold, some one knocked at the gate, and the portress went to see what was the matter there. Now the cause of that knocking, O King (quoth Scheherazade) was this, the Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, had gone forth from the palace, as was his wont now and then, to solace himself in the city that night, and to see and hear what new thing was stirring; he was in merchant's gear, and he was attended by Ja'afar, his Wazir, and by Masrur his Sworder of Vengeance. 

As they walked about the city, their way led them towards the house of the three ladies; where they heard the loud noise of musical instruments and singing and merriment; so quoth the Caliph to Ja'afar, 

"I long to enter this house and hear those songs and see who sing them." 

Quoth Ja'afar, "O Prince of the Faithful; these folk are surely drunken with wine, and I fear some mischief betide us if we get amongst them." 

"There is no help but that I go in there," replied the Caliph, "and I desire thee to contrive some pretext for our appearing among them." 

Ja'afar replied, "I hear and I obey;" 

and knocked at the door, whereupon the portress came out and opened. Then Ja'afar came forward and kissing the ground before her said, 

"O my lady, we be merchants from Tiberias town: we arrived at Baghdad ten days ago; and, alighting at the merchants' caravanserai, we sold all our merchandise. Now a certain trader invited us to an entertainment this night; so we went to his house and he set food before us and we ate: then we sat at wine and wassail with him for an hour or so when he gave us leave to depart; and we went out from him in the shadow of the night and, being strangers, we could not find our way back to our Khan. So haply of your kindness and courtesy you will suffer us to tarry with you this night, and Heaven will reward you!" 

The portress looked upon them and seeing them dressed like merchants and men of grave looks and solid, she returned to her sisters and repeated to them Ja'afar's story; and they took compassion upon the strangers and said to her, 

"Let them enter." 

She opened the door to them, when said they to her, 

"Have we thy leave to come in?" 

"Come in," quoth she; and the Caliph entered followed by Ja'afar and Masrur; and when the girls saw them they stood up to them in respect and made them sit down and looked to their wants, saying, 

"Welcome, and well come and good cheer to the guests, but with one condition!" 

"What is that?" asked they, and one of the ladies answered, 

"Speak not of what concerneth you not, lest ye hear what pleaseth you not." 

"Even so," said they; and sat down to their wine and drank deep. 

Presently the Caliph looked on the three Kalandars and, seeing them each and every blind of the left eye, wondered at the sight; then he gazed upon the girls and he was startled and he marvelled with exceeding marvel at their beauty and loveliness. 

They continued to carouse and to converse and said to the Caliph, "Drink!" 

but he replied, "I am vowed to Pilgrimage;" 

and drew back from the wine. 

Thereupon the portress rose and spreading before him a table cloth worked with gold, set thereon a porcelain bowl into which she poured willow flower water with a lump of snow and a spoonful of sugar candy. 

The Caliph thanked her and said in himself,

"By Allah, I will recompense her tomorrow for the kind deed she hath done." 

The others again addressed themselves to conversing and carousing; and, when the wine gat the better of them, the eldest lady who ruled the house rose and making obeisance to them took the cateress by the hand, and said, 

"Rise, O my sister and let us do what is our devoir." 

Both answered "Even so!" 

Then the portress stood up and proceeded to remove the table service and the remnants of the banquet; and renewed the pastiles and cleared the middle of the saloon. Then she made the Kalandars sit upon a sofa at the side of the estrade, and seated the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur on the other side of the saloon; after which she called the Porter, and said, 

"How scanty is thy courtesy! now thou art no stranger; nay, thou art one of the household." 

So he stood up and, tightening his waist cloth, asked, "What would ye I do?" 

and she answered, "Stand in thy place." 

Then the procuratrix rose and set in the midst of the saloon a low chair and, opening a closet, 

cried to the Porter, "Come help me." 

So he went to help her and saw two black bitches with chains round their necks; and she said to him, 

"Take hold of them;" and he took them and led them into the middle of the saloon. 

Then the lady of the house arose and tucked up her sleeves above her wrists and, seizing a scourge, 

said to the Porter, "Bring forward one of the bitches." 

He brought her forward, dragging her by the chain, while the bitch wept, and shook her head at the lady who, however, came down upon her with blows on the sconce; and the bitch howled and the lady ceased not beating her till her forearm failed her. Then, casting the scourge from her hand, she pressed the bitch to her bosom and, wiping away her tears with her hands, kissed her head. 

Then she said to the Porter, "Take her away and bring the second;" 

and, when he brought her, she did with her as she had done with the first. Now the heart of the Caliph, was touched at these cruel doings; his chest straitened and he lost all patience in his desire to know why the two bitches were so beaten. He threw a wink at Ja'afar wishing him to ask, but; the Minister turning towards him said by signs, "Be silent!" 

Then quoth the portress to the mistress of the house, "O my lady, arise and go to thy place that I in turn may do my devoir." 

She answered, "Even so"; 

and, taking her seat upon the couch of juniper wood, pargetted with gold and silver, said to the portress and cateress, "Now do ye what ye have to do." 

Thereupon the portress sat upon a low seat by the couch side; but the procuratrix, entering a closet, brought out of it a bag of satin with green fringes and two tassels of gold. 

She stood up before the lady of the house and shaking the bag drew out from it a lute which she tuned by tightening its pegs; and when it was in perfect order, she began to sing these quatrains:—  

"Ye are the wish, the aim of me *And when, 

O Love, thy sight I see

The heavenly mansion openeth; * 

But Hell I see when lost thy sight.

From thee comes madness; nor the less * 

Comes highest joy, comes ecstasy:

Nor in my love for thee I fear * 

Or shame and blame, or hate and spite.

When Love was throned within my heart * 

I rent the veil of modesty;

And stints not Love to rend that veil * 

Garring disgrace on grace to alight;

The robe of sickness then I donned * 

But rent to rags was secrecy:

Wherefore my love and longing heart * 

Proclaim your high supremest might;

The tear drop railing adown my cheek * 

Telleth my tale of ignomy:

And all the hid was seen by all * 

And all my riddle ree'd aright. 

Heal then my malady, for thou * 

Art malady and remedy!

But she whose cure is in thy hand * 

Shall ne'er be free of bane and blight;

Burn me those eyne that radiance rain * 

Slay me the swords of phantasy;

How many hath the sword of Love * 

Laid low, their high degree despite?

Yet will I never cease to pine * 

Nor to oblivion will I flee.

Love is my health, my faith, my joy * 

Public and private, wrong or right.

O happy eyes that sight thy charms * 

That gaze upon thee at their gree!

Yea, of my purest wish and will * 

The slave of Love I'll aye be hight." 

When the damsel heard this elegy in quatrains she cried out 

"Alas! Alas!" 

and rent her raiment, and fell to the ground fainting; and the Caliph saw scars of the palm rod on her back and welts of the whip; and marvelled with exceeding wonder. 

Then the portress arose and sprinkled water on her and brought her a fresh and very fine dress and put it on her. But when the company beheld these doings their minds were troubled, for they had no inkling of the case nor knew the story thereof; so the Caliph said to Ja'afar, 

"Didst thou not see the scars upon the damsel's body? I cannot keep silence or be at rest till I learn the truth of her condition and the story of this other maiden and the secret of the two black bitches." 

But Ja'afar answered, 

"O our lord, they made it a condition with us that we speak not of what concerneth us not, lest we come to hear what pleaseth us not." 

Then said the portress 

"By Allah, O my sister, come to me and complete this service for me." 

Replied the procuratrix, 

"With joy and goodly gree;" so she took the lute; and leaned it against her breasts and swept the strings with her finger tips, and began singing:— 

"Give back mine eyes their sleep long ravished * 

And say me whither be my reason fled:

I learnt that lending to thy love a place * 

Sleep to mine eyelids mortal foe was made.

They said, "We held thee righteous, who waylaid * Thy soul?" 

"Go ask his glorious eyes," I said.

I pardon all my blood he pleased to spill * 

Owning his troubles drove him blood to shed.

On my mind's mirror sun like sheen he cast * 

Whose keen reflection fire in vitals bred

Waters of Life let Allah waste at will * 

Suffice my wage those lips of dewy red:

An thou address my love thou'lt find a cause * 

For plaint and tears or ruth or lustihed.

In water pure his form shall greet your eyne * 

When fails the bowl nor need ye drink of wine." 

Then she quoted from the same ode:— 

"I drank, but the draught of his glance, not wine, * 

And his swaying gait swayed to sleep these eyne:

'Twas not grape juice grips me but grasp of Past * 

'Twas not bowl o'erbowled me but gifts divine:

His coiling curl-lets my soul ennetted * 

And his cruel will all my wits outwitted." 

After a pause she resumed:— 

"If we 'plain of absence what shall we say? * 

Or if pain afflict us where wend our way?

An I hire a truchman to tell my tale * 

The lover's plaint is not told for pay:

If I put on patience, a lover's life * 

After loss of love will not last a day:

Naught is left me now but regret, repine * 

And tears flooding cheeks for ever and aye:

O thou who the babes of these eyes hast fled * 

Thou art homed in heart that shall never stray

Would heaven I wot hast thou kept our pact * 

Long as stream shall flow, to have firmest fay?

Or hast forgotten the weeping slave * 

Whom groans afflict and whom griefs waylay?

Ah, when severance ends and we side by side * 

Couch, I'll blame thy rigours and chide thy pride!" 

Now when the portress heard her second ode she shrieked aloud and said, 

"By Allah! 'tis right good!"; and laying hands on her garments tore them, as she did the first time, and fell to the ground fainting. 

Thereupon the procuratrix rose end brought her a second change of clothes after she had sprinkled water on her. She recovered and sat upright and said to her sister the cateress, 

"Onwards, and help me in my duty, for there remains but this one song." 

So the provisioneress again brought out the lute and began to sing these verses:— 

"How long shall last, how long this rigour rife of woe * 

May not suffice thee all these tears thou seest flow?

Our parting thus with purpose fell thou dost prolong * 

Is't not enough to glad the heart of envious foe?

Were but this lying world once true to lover heart * 

He had not watched the weary night in tears of woe:

Oh pity me whom overwhelmed thy cruel will * 

My lord, my king, 'tis time some ruth to me thou show:

To whom reveal my wrongs, O thou who murdered me? * 

Sad, who of broken troth the pangs must undergo!

 Increase wild love for thee and phrenzy hour by hour * 

And days of exile minute by so long, so slow;

 O Moslems, claim vendetta for this slave of Love * 

Whose sleep Love ever wastes, whose patience Love lays low:

 Doth law of Love allow thee, O my wish! to lie * 

Lapt in another's arms and unto me cry Go!?

 Yet in thy presence, say, what joys shall I enjoy * 

When he I love but works my love to overthrow?" 

When the portress heard the third song she cried aloud; and, laying hands on her garments, rent them down to the very skirt and fell to the ground fainting a third time, again showing the scars of the scourge. Then said the three Kalandars, 

"Would Heaven we had never entered this house, but had rather nighted on the mounds and heaps outside the city! for verily our visit hath been troubled by sights which cut to the heart." 

The Caliph turned to them and asked, "Why so?" 

and they made answer, "Our minds are sore troubled by this matter." 

Quoth the Caliph, "Are ye not of the household?" 

and quoth they, "No; nor indeed did we ever set eyes on the place till within this hour." 

Hereat the Caliph marvelled and rejoined, 

"This man who sitteth by you, would he not know the secret of the matter?" 

and so saying he winked and made signs at the Porter. So they questioned the man but he replied, 

"By the All might of Allah, in love all are alike! I am the growth of Baghdad, yet never in my born days did I darken these doors till to day and my companying with them was a curious matter." 

"By Allah," they rejoined, "we took thee for one of them and now we see thou art one like ourselves." 

Then said the Caliph, 

"We be seven men, and they only three women without even a fourth to help them; so let us question them of their case; and, if they answer us not, fain we will be answered by force." 

All of them agreed to this except Ja'afar who said, 

"This is not my recking; let them be; for we are their guests and, as ye know, they made a compact and condition with us which we accepted and promised to keep: wherefore it is better that we be silent concerning this matter; and, as but little of the night remaineth, let each and every of us gang his own gait." 

Then he winked at the Caliph and whispered to him, 

"There is but one hour of darkness left and I can bring them before thee to morrow, when thou canst freely question them all concerning their story." 

But the Caliph raised his head haughtily and cried out at him in wrath, saying, 

"I have no patience left for my longing to hear of them: let the Kalandars question them forthright." 

Quoth Ja'afar, "This is not my rede." 

Then words ran high and talk answered talk, and they disputed as to who should first put the question, but at last all fixed upon the Porter. And as the jingle increased the house mistress could not but notice it and asked them, 

"O ye folk! on what matter are ye talking so loudly?" 

Then the Porter stood up respectfully before her and said, 

"O my lady, this company earnestly desire that thou acquaint them with the story of the two bitches and what maketh thee punish them so cruelly; and then thou fallest to weeping over them and kissing them; and lastly they want to hear the tale of thy sister and why she hath been bastinado'd with palm sticks like a man. These are the questions they charge me to put, and peace be with thee." 

Thereupon quoth she who was the lady of the house to the guests, 

"Is this true that he saith on your part?" 

and all replied, "Yes!" 

save Ja'afar who kept silence. When she heard these words she cried, 

"By Allah, ye have wronged us, O our guests. with grievous wronging; for when you came before us we made compact and condition with you, that whoso should speak of what concerneth him not should hear what pleaseth him not. Sufficeth ye not that we took you into our house and fed you with our best food? But the fault is not so much yours as hers who let you in." 

Then she tucked up her sleeves from her wrists and struck the floor thrice with her hand crying, 

"Come ye quickly;" and lo! a closet door opened and out of it came seven negro slaves with drawn swords in hand to whom she said, 

"Pinion me those praters' elbows and bind them each to each." 

They did her bidding and asked her, 

"O veiled and virtuous! is it thy high command that we strike off their heads?"; 

but she answered, 

"Leave them awhile that I question them of their condition, before their necks feel the sword." 

"By Allah, O my lady!" cried the Porter, "slay me not for other's sin; all these men offended and deserve the penalty of crime save myself. Now by Allah, our night had been charming had we escaped the mortification of those monocular Kalandars whose entrance into a populous city would convert it into a howling wilderness." 

Then he repeated these verses: 

 "How fair is ruth the strong man deigns not smother! * 

And fairest fair when shown to weakest brother:

 By Love's own holy tie between us twain, * 

Let one not suffer for the sin of other." 

 When the Porter ended his verse the lady laughed

— And Scheherazade perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. 

Then quoth her sister to her, 

"How fair is thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" 

And Scheherazade answered her, 

"What is this to that I could tell thee on the coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" 

Then said the King in himself, 

"By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have heard the rest of her tale." 

So they slept the rest of that night in mutual embrace till day fully brake.

After this the King went forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and the court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the day. Then the Divan broke up, and King Schahriar entered his palace.

End of Vol. 1.

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