The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 1, Sir Richard Francis Burton [8 ebook reader TXT] 📗

is the owner of the stuff and I owe him a share of profit.” “Fie upon thee!” she cried, “Do I not use to take from thee entire rolls of costly stuff, and give thee a greater profit than thou expectest, and send thee the money?”

“Yes,” rejoined he; “but I stand in pressing need of the price this very day.” Hereupon she took up the piece and threw it back upon his lap, saying “Out on thee! Allah confound the tribe of you which estimates none at the right value;” and she turned to go. I felt my very soul going with her; so I stood up and stayed her, saying, “I conjure thee by the Lord, O my lady, favour me by retracing thy gracious steps.” She turned back with a smile and said, “For thy sake I return,” and took a seat opposite me in the shop. Then quoth I to Badr al-Din, “What is the price they asked thee for this piece?”; and quoth he, “Eleven hundred dirhams.” I rejoined, “The odd hundred shall be thy profit: bring me a sheet of paper and I will write thee a discharge for it.” Then I wrote him a receipt in my own handwriting and gave the piece to the lady, saying, “Take it away with thee and, if thou wilt, bring me its price next bazaar day; or better still, accept it as my guest gift to thee.” “Allah requite thee with good,” answered she, “and make thee my husband and lord and master of all I have!”[FN#523]

And Allah favoured her prayer. I saw the Gates of Paradise swing open before me and said, “O my lady, let this piece of stuff be now thine and another like it is ready for thee, only let me have one look at thy face.” So she raised her veil and I saw a face the sight of which bequeathed to me a thousand sighs, and my heart was so captivated by her love that I was no longer ruler of my reason. Then she let fall her face veil and taking up the piece of stuff said, “O my lord make me not desolate by thine absence!” and turned away and disappeared from my sight. I remained sitting on ‘Change till past the hour of after noon prayer, lost to the world by the love which had mastered me, and the violence of my passion compelled me to make enquiries concerning her of the merchant, who answered me, “This is a lady and a rich: she is the daughter of a certain Emir who lately died and left her a large fortune.” Then I took leave of him and returned home to the Khan where they set supper before me; but I could not eat for thinking of her and when I lay down to sleep, sleep came not near me. So I watched till morning, when I arose and donned a change of raiment and drank a cup of wine and, after breaking my fast on some slight matter, I went to the merchant’s shop where I saluted him and sat down by him. Presently up came the lady as usual, followed by a slave girl and wearing a dress more sumptuous than before; and she saluted me without noticing Badr al-Din and said in fluent graceful speech (never heard I voice softer or sweeter), “Send one with me to take the thousand and two hundred dirhams, the price of the piece.” “Why this hurry?” asked I and she answered, “May we never lose thee!”[FN#524] and handed me the money. Then I sat talking with her and presently I signed to her in dumb show, whereby she understood that I longed to enjoy her person,[FN#525] and she rose up in haste with a show of displeasure. My heart clung to her and I went forth from the bazaar and followed on her track.

As I was walking suddenly a black slave girl stopped me and said, “O my master, come speak with my mistress.”[FN#526] At this I was surprised and replied, “There is none who knows me here;” but she rejoined, “0 my lord, how soon hast thou forgotten her! My lady is the same who was this day at the shop of such a merchant.”

Then I went with her to the Shroff’s, where I found the lady who drew me to her side and said, “O my beloved, thine image is firmly stamped upon my fancy, and love of thee hath gotten hold of my heart: from the hour I first saw thee nor sleep nor food nor drink hath given me aught of pleasure.” I replied, “The double of that suffering is mine and my state dispenseth me from complaint.” Then said she, “O my beloved, at thy house, or at mine?” “I am a stranger here and have no place of reception save the Khan, so by thy favour it shall be at thy house.” “So be it; but this is Friday[FN#527] night and nothing can be done till tomorrow after public prayers; go to the Mosque and pray; then mount thine ass, and ask for the Habb�niyah[FN#528] quarter; and, when there, look out for the mansion of Al-Nakib[FN#529] Barak�t, popularly known as Abu Sh�mah the Syndic; for I live there: so do not delay as I shall be expecting thee.” I rejoiced with still greater joy at this; and took leave of her and returned to my Khan, where I passed a sleepless night. Hardly was I assured that morning had dawned when I rose, changed my dress, perfumed myself with essences and sweet scents and, taking fifty dinars in a kerchief, went from the Khan Masr�r to the Zuwaylah[FN#530] gate, where I mounted an ass and said to its owner, “Take me to the Habbaniyah.” So he set off with me and brought up in the twinkling of an eye at a street known as Darb al-Munkari, where I said to him, “Go in and ask for the Syndic’s mansion.” He was absent a while and then returned and said, “Alight.” “Go thou before me to the house,” quoth I, adding, “Come back with the earliest light and bring me home;” and he answered, “In Allah’s name;” whereupon I gave him a quarter dinar of gold, and he took it and went his ways. Then I knocked at the door and out came two white slave girls, both young; high-bosomed virgins, as they were moons, and said to me, “Enter, for our mistress is expecting thee and she hath not slept the night long for her delight in thee.” I passed through the vestibule into a saloon with seven doors, floored with parti-coloured marbles and furnished with curtains and hangings of coloured silks: the ceiling was cloisonn� with gold and corniced with inscriptions[FN#531] emblazoned in lapis lazuli; and the walls were stuccoed with Sult�n� gypsum[FN#532]

which mirrored the beholder’s face. Around the saloon were latticed windows overlooking a garden full of all manner of fruits; whose streams were railing and riffling and whose birds were trilling and shrilling; and in the heart of the hall was a jetting fountain at whose corners stood birds fashioned in red gold crusted with pearls and gems and spouting water crystal clear. When I entered and took a seat.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

 

When it was the Twenty-sixth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young merchant continued, When I entered and took a seat, the lady at once came in crowned with a diadem[FN#533] of pearls and jewels; her face dotted with artificial moles in indigo,[FN#534] her eyebrows pencilled with Kohl and her hands and feet reddened with Henna. When she saw me she smiled in my face and took me to her embrace and clasped me to her breast; then she put her mouth to my mouth and sucked my tongue[FN#535] (and I did likewise) and said, “Can it be true, O my little darkling, thou art come to me?” adding, “Welcome and good cheer to thee! By Allah, from the day I saw thee sleep hath not been sweet to me nor hath food been pleasant.” Quoth I, “Such hath also been my case: and I am thy slave, thy negro slave.” Then we sat down to converse and I hung my head earthwards in bashfulness, but she delayed not long ere she set before me a tray of the most exquisite viands, marinated meats, fritters soaked in bee’s[FN#536] honeys and chickens stuffed with sugar and pistachio nuts, whereof we ate till we were satisfied. Then they brought basin and ewer and I washed my hands and we scented ourselves with rose water musk’d and sat down again to converse. So she began repeating these couplets[FN#537]:

 

“Had we wist of thy coming, thy way had been strewn With the blood of our heart and the balls of our sight: Our cheek as a foot cloth to greet thee been thrown, That thy step on our eyelids should softly alight.”

 

And she kept plaining of what had befallen her and I of what had betided me; and love of her got so firm hold of my heart that all my wealth seemed a thing of naught in comparison with her. Then we fell to toying and groping and kissing till night fall, when the handmaidens set before us meats and a complete wine service, and we sat carousing till the noon of night, when we lay down and I lay with her; never in my life saw I a night like that night.

When morning morrowed I arose and took leave of her, throwing under the carpet bed the kerchief wherein were the dinars[FN#538]

and as I went out she wept and said, “O my lord, when shall I look upon that lovely face again?” “I will be with thee at sunset,” answered I, and going out found the donkey boy, who had brought me the day before, awaiting at the door. So I mounted ass and rode to the Khan of Masrur where I alighted and gave the man a half dinar, saying, “Return at sunset;” and he said “I will.”

Then I breakfasted and went out to seek the price of my stuffs; after which I returned, and taking a roast lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter and put the provision in his crate, and sent it to the lady paying the man his hire.[FN#539] I went back to my business till sunset, when the ass driver came to me and I took fifty dinars in a kerchief and rode to her house where I found the marble floor swept, the brasses burnisht, the branch lights burning, the wax candles ready lighted, the meat served up and the wine strained.[FN#540] When my lady saw me she threw her arms about my neck, and cried, “Thou hast desolated me by thine absence.” Then she set the tables before me and we ate till we were satisfied, when the slave girls carried off the trays and served up wine. We gave not over drinking till half the night was past; and, being well warmed with drink, we went to the sleeping chamber and lay there till morning. I then arose and fared forth from her leaving the fifty dinars with her as before; and, finding the donkey boy at the door, rode to the Khan and slept awhile. After that I went out to make ready the evening meal and took a brace of geese with gravy on two platters of dressed and peppered rice, and got ready colocasia[FN#541]-roots fried and soaked in honey, and wax candles and fruits and conserves and nuts and almonds and sweet scented cowers; and I sent them all to her. As soon as it was night I again tied up fifty dinars in a kerchief and, mounting the ass as