The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume V Part 9

He must smile and laugh and in pride must cry *

?The promise of Night is effaced by Day.'"

Last came Abu Nowas and recited the following couplets,

"As love waxt longer less met we tway *

And fell out, but ended the useless fray; One night in the palace I found her fou'; *

Yet of modesty still there was some display: The veil from her shoulders had slipt; and showed *

Her loosened trousers Love's seat and stay: And rattled the breezes her huge hind cheeks *

And the branch where two little pomegranates lay: Quoth I, ?Give me tryst;' whereto quoth she *

To-morrow the fane shall wear best array:'

Next day I asked her, ?Thy word?' Said she *

?The promise of Night is effaced by Day.'"

The Caliph bade give a myriad of money each to Al-Rakas.h.i.+ and Abu Mus'ab, but bade strike off the head of Abu Nowas, saying, "Thou wast with us yesternight in the palace." Said he, "By Allah, I slept not but in my own house! I was directed to what I said by thine own words as to the subject of the verse; and indeed quoth Almighty Allah (and He is the truest of all speakers): ?As for poets (devils pursue them!) dost thou not see that they rove as bereft of their senses through every valley and that they say that which they do not?'"[FN#110] So the Caliph forgave him and gave him two myriads of money. And another tale is that of

MUS'AB BIN AL-ZUBAYR AND AYISHAH HIS WIFE

It is told of Mus'ab bin al-Zubayr[FN#111] that he met in Al- Medinah Izzah, who was one of the shrewdest of women, and said to her, "I have a mind to marry Ayishah[FN#112] daughter of Talhah, and I should like thee to go herwards and spy out for me how she is made." So she went away and returning to Mus'ab, said, "I have seen her, and her face is fairer than health; she hath large and well-opened eyes and under them a nose straight and smooth as a cane; oval cheeks and a mouth like a cleft pomegranate, a neck as a silver ewer and below it a bosom with two b.r.e.a.s.t.s like twin- pomegranates and further down a slim waist and a slender stomach with a navel therein as it were a casket of ivory, and back parts like a hummock of sand; and plumply rounded thighs and calves like columns of alabaster; but I saw her feet to be large, and thou wilt fall short with her in time of need." Upon this report he married her,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-seventh Day

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Izzah this wise reported of Ayishah bint Talhah, Mus'ab married her and went in to her. And presently Izzah invited Ayishah and the women of the tribe Kuraysh to her house, when Ayishah sang these two couplets with Mus'ab standing by,

"And the lips of girls, that are perfume sweet; *

So nice to kiss when with smiles they greet: Yet ne'er tasted I them, but in thought of him; *

And by thought the Ruler rules worldly seat."

The night of Mus'ab's going in unto her, he departed not from her, till after seven bouts; and on the morrow, a freewoman of his met him and said to him, "May I be thy sacrifice! Thou art perfect, even in this." And a certain woman said, "I was with Ayishah, when her husband came in to her, and she l.u.s.ted for him; so he fell upon her and she snarked and snorted and made use of all wonder of movements and marvellous new inventions, and I the while within hearing. So, when he came out from her, I said to her, ?How canst thou do thus with thy rank and n.o.bility and condition, and I in thy house?' Quoth she, ?Verily a woman should bring her husband all of which she is mistress, by way of excitement and rare buckings and wrigglings and mot.i.tations.[FN#113] What dislikest thou of this?' And I answered ?I would have this by nights.' Rejoined she, ?Thus is it by day and by night I do more than this; for when he seeth me, desire stirreth him up and he falleth in heat; so he putteth it out to me and I obey him, and it is as thou seest.'" And there also hath reached me an account of

ABU AL-ASWAD AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL

Abu al-Aswad bought a native-born slave-girl, who was blind of an eye, and she pleased him; but his people decried her to him; whereat he wondered and, turning the palms of his hands upwards,[FN#114] recited these two couplets,

"They find me fault with her where I default ne'er find, *

Save haply that a speck in either eye may show: But if her eyes have fault, of fault her form hath none, *

Slim-built above the waist and heavily made below."

And this is also told of

HARUN AL-RAs.h.i.+D AND THE TWO SLAVE-GIRLS

The Caliph Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d lay one night between two slave-girls, one from Al-Medinah and the other from Cufa and the Cufite rubbed his hands, whilst the Medinite rubbed his feet and made his concern[FN#115] stand up. Quoth the Cufite, "I see thou wouldst keep the whole of the stock-in-trade to thyself; give me my share of it." And the other answered, "I have been told by Malik, on the authority of Hisham ibn Orwah,[FN#116] who had it of his (grand) father, that the Prophet said, ?Whoso quickeneth the dead, the dead belongeth to him and is his.' But the Cufite took her unawares and, pus.h.i.+ng her away, seized it all in her own hand and said, "Al-A'amash telleth us, on the authority of Khaysamah, who had it of Abdallah bin Mas'ud, that the Prophet declared, ?Game belongeth to him who taketh it, not to him who raiseth it.'" And this is also related of

THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RAs.h.i.+D AND THE THREE SLAVE-GIRLS

The Caliph Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d once slept with three slave-girls, a Meccan, a Medinite and an Irakite. The Medinah girl put her hand to his yard and handled it, whereupon it rose and the Meccan sprang up and drew it to herself. Quoth the other, "What is this unjust aggression? A tradition was related to me by Malik[FN#117] after Al-Zuhri, after Abdallah ibn Salim, after Sa'id bin Zayd, that the Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and keep!) said: ?Whoso enquickeneth a dead land, it is his.' And the Meccan answered, "It is related to us by Sufyan, from Abu Zanad, from Al-A'araj, from Abu Horayrah, that the Apostle of Allah said: ?The quarry is his who catcheth it, not his who starteth it.'" But the Irak girl pushed them both away and taking it to herself, said, "This is mine, till your contention be decided." And they tell a tale of

THE MILLER AND HIS WIFE

There was a miller, who had an a.s.s to turn his mill; and he was married to a wicked wife, whom he loved, while she hated him because she was sweet upon a neighbour, who misliked her and held aloof from her. One night, the miller saw, in his sleep, one who said to him, "Dig in such a spot of the a.s.s's round in the mill, and thou shalt find a h.o.a.rd." When he awoke, he told his wife the vision and bade her keep the secret; but she told her neighbour,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three hundred and Eighty-eighth Night

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the miller's wife told the secret to the neighbour whom she loved, thinking to win his favour; and he agreed with her to come to her by night. So he came and they dug in the mill and found the treasure and took it forth. Then he asked her, "How shall we do with this?" and she answered; "We will divide it into two halves and will share it equally between us, and do thou leave thy wife and I will cast about to rid me of my husband. Then shalt thou marry me and, when we are conjoined, we will join the two halves of the treasure one to other, and all will be in our hands."

Quoth he, "I fear lest Satan seduce thee and thou take some other man other than myself; for gold in the house is like the sun in the world. I reck, therefore, it were right that the money be all in my hands, so thou give thy whole mind to getting free of thy husband and coming to me." Quoth she, "I fear even as thou fearest, nor will I yield up my part to thee; for it was I directed thee to it." When he heard this, greed of gain prompted him to kill her; so he slew her and threw her body into the empty h.o.a.rd-hole; but day overtook him and hindered him from covering it up; he therefore took the money and went his way. Now after a while the miller awoke and, missing his wife, went into the mill, where he fastened the a.s.s to the beam and shouted to it. It went on a little, then stopped; whereupon he beat it grievously; but the more he bashed it, the more it drew back; for it was affrighted at the dead woman and could not go forward. Thereupon the Miller, unknowing what hindered the donkey, took out a knife and goaded it again and again, but still it would not budge.

Then he was wroth with it, knowing not the cause of its obstinacy, and drove the knife into its flanks, and it fell down dead. But when the sun rose, he saw his donkey lying dead and likewise his wife in the place of the treasure, and great was his rage and sore his wrath for the loss of his h.o.a.rd and the death of his wife and his a.s.s. All this came of his letting his wife into his secret and not keeping it to himself.[FN#118] And I have heard this tale of

THE SIMPLETON AND THE SHARPER

A certain simpleton was once walking along, haling his a.s.s after him by the halter, when a pair of sharpers saw him and one said to his fellow, "I will take that a.s.s from yonder wight." Asked the other, "How wilt thou do that?" "Follow me and I will show thee how," answered the first. So the cony-catcher went up to the a.s.s and, loosing it from the halter, gave the beast to his fellow; then he haltered his own head and followed Tom Fool till he knew the other had got clean off with the a.s.s, when he stood still. The oaf haled at the halter, but the rascal stirred not; so he turned and seeing the halter on a man's neck, said to him, "What art thou?" Quoth the sharper, "I am thine a.s.s and my story is a wonderous one and ?tis this. Know that I have a pious old mother and come in to her one day, drunk; and she said to me: ?O my son, repent to the Almighty of these thy transgressions.' But I took my staff and beat her, whereupon she cursed me and Allah changed me into an a.s.s and caused me fall into thy hands, where I have remained till this moment. However, to-day, my mother called me to mind and her heart yearned towards me; so she prayed for me and the Lord restored me to my former shape amongst the sons of Adam." Cried the silly one, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Allah upon thee, O my brother, acquit me of what I have done with thee in the way of riding and so forth." Then he let the cony-catcher go and returned home, drunken with chagrin and concern as with wine. His wife asked him, "What aileth thee and where is the donkey?"; and he answered, "Thou knowest not what was this a.s.s; but I will tell thee." So he told her the story, and she exclaimed, "Alack and alas for the punishment we shall receive from Almighty Allah! How could we have used a man as a beast of burden, all this while? And she gave alms by way of atonement and prayed pardon of Heaven.[FN#119] Then the man abode awhile at home, idle and f.e.c.kless, till she said to him, "How long wilt thou sit at home doing naught? Go to the market and buy us an a.s.s and ply thy work with it." Accordingly, he went to the market and stopped by the a.s.s-stand, where behold, he saw his own a.s.s for sale. So he went up to it and clapping his mouth to its ear, said to it, "Woe to thee, thou ne'er-do-well! Doubtless thou hast been getting drunk again and beating thy mother! But, by Allah, I will never buy thee more."[FN#120] and he left it and went away. And they tell a tale concerning