commencing with part of the ninth night, and ending with part of the eighteenth.

the story of the porter and the ladies of baghdád, and of the three royal mendicants, &c.

there was a man of the city of baghdád, who was unmarried, and he was a porter; and one day, as he sat in the market, reclining against his crate,1 there accosted him a female wrapped in an izár2 of the manufacture of el-mó?il,3 composed of gold-embroidered silk, with a border of gold lace at each end, who raised her face-veil, and displayed beneath it a pair of black eyes, with lids bordered by long lashes, exhibiting a tender expression, and features of perfect beauty; and she said, with a sweet voice, bring thy crate, and follow me.121

the porter had scarcely heard her words when he took up his crate, and he followed her until she stopped at the door of a house, and knocked; whereupon there came down to her a christian, and she gave him a piece of gold, and received for it a quantity of olives, and two large vessels of wine,4 which she placed in the crate, saying to the porter, take it up, and follow me. the porter exclaimed, this is, indeed, a fortunate day!—and he took up the crate, and followed her. she next stopped at the shop of a fruiterer, and bought of him syrian apples, and 'othmánee quinces,5 and peaches of 'omán, and jasmine of aleppo, and water-lilies of damascus, and cucumbers of the nile, and egyptian limes, and sul?ánee citrons, and sweet-scented myrtle, and sprigs of the ?ennà-tree, and chamomile, and anemones, and violets, and pomegranate flowers, and eglantine: all these she put into the porter's crate, and said to him, take it up. so he took it up, and followed her until she stopped at the shop of a butcher, to whom she said, cut off ten pounds of meat;—and he cut it off for her, and she wrapped it in a leaf of a banana-tree, and put it in the crate, and said again, take it up, o porter:—and he did so, and followed her. she next stopped at the shop of a seller of dry fruits, and took some of every kind of these, and desired the porter to take up his burden. having obeyed, he followed her until she stopped at the shop of a confectioner, where she bought a dish, and filled it with sweets of every kind that he had,6 which she put into the crate; whereupon the porter ventured to say, if thou hadst informed me beforehand, i had brought with me a mule to carry all these things. the lady smiled at his remark, and next stopped at the shop of a perfumer, of whom she bought ten kinds of scented waters; rose-water, and orange-flower-water, and willow-flower-water,7 &c.; together with some sugar, and a sprinkling-bottle8 of rose-water infused with musk, and some frankincense, and aloes-wood, and ambergris, and musk, and wax candles; and, placing all these in the crate, she said, take up thy crate, and follow me. he, therefore, took it up, and followed her until she came to a handsome house, before which was a spacious court. it was a lofty structure, with a door of two leaves, composed of ebony, overlaid with plates of red gold.9

the young lady stopped at this door, and knocked gently; whereupon both its leaves were opened, and the porter, looking to see who opened it, found it to be a damsel of tall stature, high-bosomed, fair and beautiful, and of elegant form, with a forehead like the bright new moon, eyes like those of gazelles, eyebrows like the new moon of122 rama?án,10 cheeks resembling anemones, and a mouth like the seal of suleymán:11 her countenance was like the full moon in its splendour, and the forms of her bosom resembled two pomegranates of equal size. when the porter beheld her, she captivated his reason, the crate nearly fell from his head, and he exclaimed, never in my life have i seen a more fortunate day than this! the lady-portress, standing within the door, said to the cateress and the porter, ye are welcome:—and they entered, and proceeded to a spacious saloon,12 decorated with various colours, and beautifully constructed, with carved wood-work, and fountains, and benches of different kinds, and closets with curtains hanging before them; there was also in it, at the upper end,13 a couch of alabaster inlaid with large pearls and jewels, with a musquito-curtain of red satin suspended over it, and within this was a young lady with eyes possessing the enchantment of bábil,14 and a figure like the letter alif,15 with a face that put to shame the shining sun: she was like one of the brilliant planets, or rather, one of the most high-born of the maidens of arabia. this third lady,16 rising from the couch, advanced with a slow and elegant gait to the middle of the saloon, where her sisters were standing, and said to them, why stand ye still? lift down the burden from the head of this poor porter:—whereupon the cateress placed herself before him, and the portress behind him, and, the third lady assisting them, they lifted it down from his head. they then took out the contents of the crate, and, having put every thing in its place, gave to the porter two pieces of gold, saying to him, depart, o porter.

the porter, however, stood looking at the ladies, and admiring their beauty and their agreeable dispositions; for he had never seen any more handsome; and when he observed that they had not a man among them, and gazed upon the wine, and fruits, and sweet-scented flowers, which were there, he was full of astonishment, and hesitated to go out; upon which one of the ladies said to him, why dost thou not go? dost thou deem thy hire too little? then turning to one of her sisters, she said to her, give him another piece of gold.—by allah, o my mistress, exclaimed the porter, my hire is but two half-dirhems,17 and i thought not what ye have given me too little; but my heart and mind were occupied with reflections upon you and your state, ye being alone, with no man among you, not one to amuse you with his company; for ye know that the menáreh18 standeth not firmly but on four walls: now ye have not a fourth, and the pleasure of women is not complete without men: ye are three only, and have need of a fourth,123 who should be a man, a person of sense, discreet, acute, and a concealer of secrets. we are maidens, they replied; and fear to impart our secret to him who will not keep it; for we have read, in a certain history, this verse:—

guard thy secret from another: intrust it not: for he who intrusteth a secret hath lost it.

the porter pleading with the three ladies

—by your existence, said the porter, i am a man of sense, and trustworthy: i have read various books, and perused histories: i make known what is fair, and conceal what is foul, and act in accordance with the saying of the poet:—

none keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of mankind it remaineth concealed.

a secret is with me as in a house with a lock, whose key is lost, and whose door is sealed.19

when the ladies heard the verses which he quoted, and the words with which he addressed them, they said to him, thou knowest that we have expended here a considerable sum of money: hast thou then wherewith to requite us? we will not suffer thee to remain with us124 unless thou contribute a sum of money; for thou desirest to sit with us, and to be our cup-companion, and to gaze upon our beautiful faces.—if friendship is without money, said the mistress of the house, it is not equivalent to the weight of a grain:—and the portress added, if thou hast nothing, depart with nothing:—but the cateress said, o sister, let us suffer him; for, verily, he hath not been deficient in his services for us this day: another had not been so patient with us: whatever, therefore, falls to his share of the expense, i will defray for him.—at this the porter rejoiced, and exclaimed, by allah, i obtained my first and only pay this day from none but thee:—and the other ladies said to him, sit down: thou art welcome.

the cateress then arose, and, having tightened her girdle, arranged the bottles, and strained the wine, and prepared the table by the pool of the fountain. she made ready all that they required, brought the wine, and sat down with her sisters; the porter also sitting with them, thinking he was in a dream. and when they had seated themselves, the cateress took a jar of wine, and filled the first cup, and drank it:20 she then filled another, and handed it to one of her sisters; and in like manner she did to her other sister; after which she filled again, and handed the cup to the porter, who, having taken it from her hand, repeated this verse:—

i will drink the wine, and enjoy health; for, verily, this beverage is a remedy for disease.

the porter and ladies carousing

the wine continued to circulate among them, and the porter, taking his part in the revels, dancing and singing with them, and enjoying125 the fragrant odours, began to hug and kiss them, while one slapped21 him, and another pulled him, and the third beat him with sweet-scented flowers, till, at length, the wine made sport with their reason; and they threw off all restraint, indulging their merriment with as much freedom as if no man had been present.22

thus they continued until the approach of night, when they said to the porter, depart, and shew us the breadth of thy shoulders;23—but he replied, verily the departure of my soul from my body were more easy to me than my departure from your company; therefore suffer us to join the night to the day, and then each of us shall return to his own, or her own, affairs. the cateress, also, again interceded for him, saying, by my life i conjure you that ye suffer him to pass the night with us, that we may laugh at his drolleries, for he is a witty rogue. so they said to him, thou shalt pass the night with us on this condition, that thou submit to our authority, and ask not an explanation of anything that thou shalt see. he replied, good.—rise then, said they, and read what is inscribed upon the door. accordingly, he went to the door, and found the following inscription upon it in letters of gold, speak not of that which doth not concern thee, lest thou hear that which will not please thee:—and he said, bear witness to my promise that i will not speak of that which doth not concern me.

the three royal mendicants

the cateress then rose, and prepared for them a repast; and, after they had eaten a little, they lighted the candles and burnt some aloes-wood. this done, they sat down again to the table; and, while they were eating and drinking, they heard a knocking at the door; whereupon, without causing any interruption to their meal, one of them went to the door, and, on her return, said, our pleasure this night is now complete, for i have found, at the door, three foreigners24 with shaven chins, and each of them is blind of the left eye: it is an extraordinary coincidence. they are strangers newly arrived,25 and each of them has a ridiculous appearance: if they come in, therefore, we shall be amused with laughing at them.—the lady ceased not with these words, but continued to persuade her sisters until they consented, and said, let them enter; but make it a condition with them that they speak not of that which doth not concern them, lest they hear that which will not please them. upon this she rejoiced, and, having gone again to the door, brought in the three men blind of one eye and with shaven chins, and they had thin and twisted mustaches. being mendicants, they saluted and drew back; but the ladies rose to them, and126 seated them; and when these three men looked at the porter, they saw that he was intoxicated; and, observing him narrowly, they thought that he was one of their own class, and said, he is a mendicant like ourselves, and will amuse us by his conversation:—but the porter, hearing what they said, arose, and rolled his eyes, and exclaimed to them, sit quiet, and abstain from impertinent remarks. have ye not read the inscription upon the door?—the ladies, laughing, said to each other, between the mendicants and the porter we shall find matter for amusement. they then placed before the former some food, and they ate, and then sat to drink. the portress handed to them the wine, and, as the cup was circulating among them, the porter said to them, brothers, have ye any tale or strange anecdote wherewith to amuse us? the mendicants, heated by the wine, asked for musical instruments; and the portress brought them a tambourine of the manufacture of el-mó?il, with a lute of el-'erá?, and a persian harp;26 whereupon they127 all arose; and one took the tambourine; another, the lute; and the third, the harp: and they played upon these instruments, the ladies accompanying them with loud songs; and while they were thus diverting themselves, a person knocked at the door. the portress, therefore, went to see who was there; and the cause of the knocking was this.

the concert of the mendicants

the khaleefeh27 hároon er-rasheed had gone forth this night to see and hear what news he could collect, accompanied by ja?far28 his wezeer, and mesroor29 his executioner. it was his custom to disguise himself in the attire of a merchant; and this night, as he went through the city, he happened to pass, with his attendants, by the house of these ladies, and hearing the sounds of the musical instruments, he said to ja?far, i have a desire to enter this house, and to see who is giving this concert.—they are a party who have become intoxicated, replied ja?far, and i fear that we may experience some ill usage from them;—but the khaleefeh said, we must enter, and i would that thou devise some stratagem by which we may obtain admission to the inmates. ja?far therefore answered, i hear and obey:—and he advanced, and knocked at the door; and when the portress came and opened the door, he said to her, my mistress, we are merchants from tabareeyeh,30 and have been in baghdád ten days; we have brought with us merchandise, and taken lodgings in a khán;31 and a merchant invited us to an entertainment this night: accordingly, we went to his house, and he placed food before us, and we ate, and sat awhile drinking together, after which he gave us leave to depart;32 and going out128 in the dark, and being strangers, we missed our way to the khán: we trust, therefore, in your generosity that you will admit us to pass the night in your house; by doing which you will obtain a reward in heaven.—the portress, looking at them, and observing that they were in the garb of merchants, and that they bore an appearance of respectability, returned, and consulted her two companions; and they said to her, admit them:—so she returned, and opened to them the door. they said to her, shall we enter with thy permission? she answered, come in. the khaleefeh, therefore, entered, with ja?far and mesroor; and when the ladies saw them, they rose to them, and served them, saying, welcome are our guests; but we have a condition to impose upon you, that ye speak not of that which doth not concern you, lest ye hear that which will not please you. they answered, good:—and when they had sat down to drink, the khaleefeh looked at the three mendicants, and was surprised at observing that each of them was blind of the left eye; and he gazed upon the ladies, and was perplexed and amazed at their fairness and beauty. and when the others proceeded to drink and converse, the ladies brought wine to the khaleefeh; but he said, i am a pilgrim;33—and drew back from them. whereupon the portress spread before him an embroidered cloth, and placed upon it a china bottle, into which she poured some willow-flower-water, adding to it a lump of ice, and sweetening it with sugar, while the khaleefeh thanked her, and said within himself, to-morrow i must reward her for this kind action.

the party continued their carousal, and, when the wine took effect upon them, the mistress of the house arose, and waited upon them; and afterwards, taking the hand of the cateress, said, arise, o my sister, that we may fulfil our debt. she replied, good. the portress then rose, and, after she had cleared the middle of the saloon, placed the mendicants at the further end, beyond the doors; after which, the ladies called to the porter, saying, how slight is thy friendship! thou art not a stranger, but one of the family. so the porter arose, and girded himself, and said, what would ye?—to which one of the ladies answered, stand where thou art:—and presently the cateress said to him, assist me:—and he saw two black bitches, with chains attached to their necks, and drew them to the middle of the saloon; whereupon the mistress of the house arose from her place, and tucked up her sleeve above her wrist, and, taking a whip, said to the porter, bring to me one of them. accordingly, he dragged one forward by the chain. the bitch whined, and shook her head at the lady; but the latter fell129 to beating her upon the head, notwithstanding her howling, until her arms were tired, when she threw the whip from her hand, and pressed the bitch to her bosom, and wiped away her tears, and kissed her head; after which she said to the porter, take her back, and bring the other;—and he brought her, and she did to her as she had done to the first. at the sight of this, the mind of the khaleefeh was troubled, and his heart was contracted, and he winked to ja?far that he should ask her the reason; but he replied by a sign, speak not.

the ladies preparing to whip the bitches

the mistress of the house then looked towards the portress, and said to her, arise to perform what thou hast to do. she replied, good:—and the mistress of the house seated herself upon a couch of alabaster, overlaid with gold and silver, and said to the portress and the cateress, now perform your parts. the portress then seated herself upon a couch by her; and the cateress, having entered a closet, brought out from it a bag of satin with green fringes, and, placing herself before the lady of the house, shook it, and took out from it a lute; and she tuned its strings, and sang to it these verses:—

restore to my eyelids the sleep which hath been ravished; and inform me of my reason, whither it hath fled.

i discovered, when i took up my abode with love, that slumber had become an enemy to my eyes.

they said, we saw thee to be one of the upright; what, then, hath seduced thee? i answered, seek the cause from his glance.

verily i excuse him for the shedding of my blood, admitting that i urged him to the deed by vexation.

he cast his sun-like image upon the mirror of my mind, and its reflection kindled a flame in my vitals.34

when the portress35 had heard this song, she exclaimed, allah approve thee!—and she rent her clothes, and fell upon the floor in a swoon; and when her bosom was thus uncovered, the khaleefeh saw upon her the marks of beating, as if from mi?ra'ahs36 and whips; at130 which he was greatly surprised. the cateress37 immediately arose, sprinkled water upon her face, and brought her another dress, which she put on. the khaleefeh then said to ja?far, seest thou not this woman, and the marks of beating upon her? i cannot keep silence respecting this affair, nor be at rest, until i know the truth of the history of this damsel, and that of these two bitches. but ja?far replied, o our lord, they have made a covenant with us that we shall not speak excepting of that which concerneth us, lest we hear that which will not please us.—the cateress then took the lute again, and, placing it against her bosom, touched the chords with the ends of her fingers, and thus sang to it:—

the portress fainting

131

if of love we complain, what shall we say? or consuming through desire, how can we escape?

or if we send a messenger to interpret for us, he cannot convey the lover's complaint.

or if we would be patient, short were our existence after the loss of those we love.

nought remaineth to us but grief and mourning, and tears streaming down our cheeks.

o you who are absent from my sight, but constantly dwelling within my heart!

have you kept your faith to an impassioned lover, who, while time endureth, will never change?

or, in absence, have you forgotten that lover who, on your account, is wasting away?

when the day of judgment shall bring us together, i will beg of our lord a protractive trial.38

on hearing these verses of the cateress, the portress again rent her clothes, and cried out, and fell upon the floor in a swoon; and the cateress, as before, put on her another dress, after she had sprinkled some water upon her face.39

the mendicants, when they witnessed this scene, said, would that we had never entered this house, but rather had passed the night upon the mounds;40 for our night hath been rendered foul by an event that breaketh the back! the khaleefeh, looking towards them, then said, wherefore is it so with you? they answered, our hearts are troubled by this occurrence.—are ye not, he asked, of this house?—no, they answered; nor did we imagine that this house belonged to any but the man who is sitting with you:—upon which the porter said, verily, i have never seen this place before this night; and i would that i had passed the night upon the mounds rather than here. they then observed, one to another, we are seven men, and they are but three women; we will, therefore, ask them of their history; and if they answer us not willingly they shall do it in spite of themselves:—and they all agreed to this, excepting ja?far, who said, this is not a right determination; leave them to themselves, for we are their guests, and they made a covenant with us which we should fulfil: there remaineth but little of the night, and each of us shall soon go his way. then, winking to the khaleefeh, he said, there remaineth but an hour; and to-morrow we will bring them before thee, and thou shalt ask them their story. but the khaleefeh refused to do so, and said, i have not patience to wait so long for their history.—words followed words, and at last they said, who shall put the question to them?—and one answered, the porter.

the porter seized

the ladies then said to them, o people, of what are ye talking?—whereupon the porter approached the mistress of the house, and said132 to her, o my mistress, i ask thee, and conjure thee by allah, to tell us the story of the two bitches, and for what reason thou didst beat them, and then didst weep, and kiss them, and that thou acquaint us with the cause of thy sister's having been beaten with mi?ra'ahs: that is our question, and peace be on you.—is this true that he saith of you? inquired the lady, of the other men; and they all answered, yes,—excepting ja?far, who was silent. when the lady heard their answer, she said, verily, o our guests, ye have wronged us excessively; for we made a covenant with you beforehand, that he who should speak of that which concerned him not should hear that which would not please him. is it not enough that we have admitted you into our house, and fed you with our provisions? but it is not so much your fault as the fault of her who introduced you to us.—she then tucked up her sleeve above her wrist, and struck the floor three times, saying, come ye quickly!—and immediately the door of a closet opened, and there came forth from it seven black slaves, each having in his hand a drawn sword. the lady said to them, tie behind them the hands of these men of many words, and bind each of them to another:—and they did so, and said, o virtuous lady, dost thou permit us to strike off133 their heads? she answered, give them a short respite, until i shall have inquired of them their histories, before ye behead them.—by allah, o my mistress, exclaimed the porter, kill me not for the offence of others: for they have all transgressed and committed an offence, excepting me. verily our night had been pleasant if we had been preserved from these mendicants, whose presence is enough to convert a well-peopled city into a heap of ruins!—he then repeated this couplet:—

how good is it to pardon one able to resist! and how much more so, one who is helpless!

for the sake of the friendship that subsisted between us, destroy not one for the crime of another!

on hearing these words of the porter, the lady laughed after her anger. then approaching the men, she said, acquaint me with your histories, for there remaineth of your lives no more than an hour. were ye not persons of honourable and high condition, or governors,41 i would hasten your recompense.—the khaleefeh said to ja?far, wo to thee, o ja?far! make known to her who we are; otherwise she will kill us.—it were what we deserve, replied he.—jesting, said the khaleefeh, is not befitting in a time for seriousness: each has its proper occasion.—the lady then approached the mendicants, and said to them, are ye brothers? they answered, no, indeed; we are only poor foreigners.42 she said then to one of them, wast thou born blind of one eye?—no, verily, he answered; but a wonderful event happened to me when my eye was destroyed, and the story of it, if engraved on the understanding, would serve as a lesson to him who would be admonished. she asked the second and the third also; and they answered her as the first; adding, each of us is from a different country, and our history is wonderful and extraordinary. the lady then looked towards them and said, each of you shall relate his story, and the cause of his coming to our abode, and then stroke his head,43 and go his way.

the first who advanced was the porter, who said, o my mistress, i am a porter; and this cateress loaded me, and brought me hither, and what hath happened to me here in your company ye know. this is my story; and peace be on you.—stroke thy head, then, said she, and go:—but he replied, by allah, i will not go until i shall have heard the story of my companions.—the first mendicant then advanced, and related as follows:—

134

the story of the first royal mendicant.

know, o my mistress, that the cause of my having shaved my beard, and of the loss of my eye was this:—my father was a king, and he had a brother who was also a king, and who resided in another capital. it happened that my mother gave birth to me on the same day on which the son of my uncle was born; and years and days passed away until we attained to manhood. now, it was my custom, some years, to visit my uncle, and to remain with him several months; and on one of these occasions my cousin paid me great honour; he slaughtered sheep for me, and strained the wine for me, and we sat down to drink; and when the wine had affected us, he said to me, o son of my uncle, i have need of thine assistance in an affair of interest to me, and i beg that thou wilt not oppose me in that which i desire to do. i replied, i am altogether at thy service:—and he made me swear to him by great oaths, and, rising immediately, absented himself for a little while, and then returned, followed by a woman decked with ornaments, and perfumed, and wearing a dress of extraordinary value. he looked towards me, while the woman stood behind him, and said, take this woman, and go before me to the burial-ground which is in such a place:—and he described it to me, and i knew it. he then added, enter the burial-ground, and there wait for me.

i could not oppose him, nor refuse to comply with his request, on account of the oaths which i had sworn to him; so i took the woman, and went with her to the burial-ground; and when we had sat there a short time, my cousin came, bearing a basin of water, and a bag containing some plaster, and a small adze. going to a tomb in the midst of the burial-ground, he took the adze, and disunited the stones, which he placed on one side; he then dug up the earth with the adze, and uncovered a flat stone, of the size of a small door, under which there appeared a vaulted staircase. having done this he made a sign to the woman, and said to her, do according to thy choice:—whereupon she descended the stairs. he then looked towards me, and said, o son of my uncle, complete thy kindness when i have descended into this place, by replacing the trap-door and the earth above it as they were before: then, this plaster which is in the bag, and this water which is in the basin, do thou knead together, and plaster the stones of the tomb as they were, so that no man may know it, and say, this hath been lately opened, but its interior is old:—for,135 during the space of a whole year i have been preparing this, and no one knew it but god: this is what i would have thee do. he then said to me, may god never deprive thy friends of thy presence, o son of my uncle!—and, having uttered these words, he descended the stairs.

first prince (afterwards a mendicant) leading the lady to the tomb

when he had disappeared from before my eyes, i replaced the trap-door, and busied myself with doing as he had ordered me, until the tomb was restored to the state in which it was at first; after which i returned to the palace of my uncle, who was then absent on a hunting excursion. i slept that night, and when the morning came, i reflected upon what had occurred between me and my cousin, and repented of what i had done for him, when repentance was of no avail. i then went out to the burial-ground, and searched for the tomb; but could not discover it. i ceased not in my search until the approach of night; and, not finding the way to it, returned again to the palace; and i neither ate nor drank: my heart was troubled respecting my cousin, since i knew not what had become of him; and i fell into136 excessive grief. i passed the night sorrowful until the morning, and went again to the burial-ground, reflecting upon the action of my cousin, and repenting of my compliance with his request; and i searched among all the tombs; but discovered not that for which i looked. thus i persevered in my search seven days without success.44

my trouble continued and increased until i was almost mad; and i found no relief but in departing, and returning to my father; but on my arrival at his capital, a party at the city-gate sprang upon me and bound me. i was struck with the utmost astonishment, considering that i was the son of the sul?án of the city, and that these were the servants of my father and of myself: excessive fear of them overcame me, and i said within myself, what hath happened to my father? i asked, of those who had bound me, the cause of this conduct; but they returned me no answer, till after a while, when one of them, who had been my servant, said to me, fortune hath betrayed thy father, the troops have been false to him, and the wezeer hath killed him; and we were lying in wait to take thee.—they took me, and i was as one dead, by reason of this news which i had heard respecting my father; and i stood before the wezeer who had killed my father.

now, there was an old enmity subsisting between me and him; and the cause of it was this:—i was fond of shooting with the cross-bow; and it happened, one day, that as i was standing on the roof of my palace, a bird alighted on the roof of the palace of the wezeer, who was standing there at the time, and i aimed at the bird; but the bullet missed it, and struck the eye of the wezeer, and knocked it out, in accordance with the appointment of fate and destiny, as the poet hath said:—

we trod the steps appointed for us: and the man whose steps are appointed must tread them.

he whose death is decreed to take place in one land will not die in any land but that.

when i had thus put out the eye of the wezeer, he could say nothing, because my father was king of the city. this was the cause of the enmity between him and me: and when i stood before him, with my hands bound behind me, he gave the order to strike off my head. i said to him, wouldst thou kill me for no offence?—what offence, he exclaimed, could be greater than this?—and he pointed to the place of the eye which was put out. i did that, said i, unintentionally.137 he replied, if thou didst it unintentionally, i will do the same to thee purposely:—and immediately he said, bring him forward to me:—and, when they had done so, he thrust his finger into my left eye, and pulled it out. thus i became deprived of one eye, as ye see me. he then bound me firmly, and placed me in a chest, and said to the executioner, take this fellow, and draw thy sword, and convey him without the city; then put him to death, and let the wild beasts devour him.

accordingly, he went forth with me from the city, and, having taken me out from the chest, bound hand and foot, was about to bandage my eye, and kill me; whereupon i wept, and exclaimed,—

how many brothers have i taken as armour! and such they were; but to guard my enemies.

i thought they would be as piercing arrows: and such they were; but to enter my heart!

the executioner, who had served my father in the same capacity, and to whom i had shewn kindnesses, said, on hearing these verses, o my master, what can i do, being a slave under command?—but presently he added, depart with thy life, and return not to this country, lest thou perish, and cause me to perish with thee. the poet saith,—

flee with thy life if thou fearest oppression, and leave the house to tell its builder's fate.

thou wilt find, for the land that thou quittest, another: but no soul wilt thou find to replace thine own.

as soon as he had thus said, i kissed his hands, and believed not in my safety until i had fled from his presence. the loss of my eye appeared light to me when i considered my escape from death; and i journeyed to my uncle's capital, and, presenting myself before him, informed him of what had befallen my father, and of the manner in which i had lost my eye: upon which he wept bitterly, and said, thou hast added to my trouble and my grief; for thy cousin hath been lost for some days, and i know not what hath happened to him, nor can any one give me information respecting him. then he wept again, until he became insensible; and when he recovered, he said, o my son, the loss of thine eye is better than the loss of thy life.

upon this i could no longer keep silence respecting his son, my cousin; so i informed him of all that happened to him; and on hearing this news he rejoiced exceedingly, and said, shew me the tomb.—by allah, o my uncle, i replied, i know not where it is; for138 i went afterwards several times to search for it, and could not recognise its place. we, however, went together to the burial-ground, and, looking to the right and left, i discovered it; and both i and my uncle rejoiced. i then entered the tomb with him, and when we had removed the earth, and lifted up the trap-door, we descended fifty steps, and, arriving at the bottom of the stairs, there issued forth upon us a smoke which blinded our eyes; whereupon my uncle pronounced those words which relieve from fear him who uttereth them,—there is no strength nor power but in god, the high, the great!—after this, we proceeded, and found ourselves in a saloon, filled with flour and grain, and various eatables; and we saw there a curtain suspended over a couch, upon which my uncle looked, and found there his son and the woman who had descended with him, lying side by side, and converted into black charcoal, as if they had been thrown into a pit of fire. and when he beheld this spectacle, he spat in his son's face, and exclaimed, this is what thou deservest, o thou wretch! this is the punishment of the present world, and there remaineth the punishment of the other world, which will be more severe and lasting!—and he struck him with his shoes. astonished at this action, and grieved for my cousin, seeing him and the damsel thus converted into charcoal, i said, by allah, o my uncle, moderate the trouble of thy heart, for my mind is perplexed by that which hath happened to thy son, and by thinking how it hath come to pass that he and the damsel are converted into black charcoal. dost thou not deem it enough for him to be in this state, that thou beatest him with thy shoes?

o son of my brother, he replied, this my son was, from his early years, inflamed with love for his foster-sister,45 and i used to forbid him from entertaining this passion for her, and to say within myself, they are now children, but when they grow older a base act will be committed by them:—and, indeed, i heard that such had been the case, but i believed it not. i, however, reprimanded him severely, and said to him, beware of so foul an action, which none before thee hath committed, nor will any commit after thee: otherwise we shall suffer disgrace and disparagement among the kings until we die, and our history will spread abroad with the caravans: have a care for thyself that such an action proceed not from thee; for i should be incensed against thee, and kill thee. i then separated him from her, and her from him: but the vile woman loved him excessively; the devil got possession of them both; and when my son saw that i had separated him, he secretly made this place beneath the earth, and, having con139veyed hither the provisions which thou seest, took advantage of my inadvertence when i had gone out to hunt, and came hither: but the truth46 (whose perfection be extolled, and whose name be exalted!) was jealously vigilant over them, and consumed them by fire; and the punishment of the world to come will be more severe and lasting.—he then wept, and i wept with him; and he said to me, thou art my son in his stead.—i remained a while reflecting upon the world and its vicissitudes, upon the murder of my father by the wezeer, and his usurping his throne, and the loss of my eye, and the strange events which had happened to my cousin, and i wept again.

we then ascended, and, having replaced the trap-door and the earth above it, and restored the tomb to its former state, returned to our abode; but scarcely had we seated ourselves when we heard the sounds of drums and trumpets, warriours galloped about, and the air was filled with dust raised by the horses' hoofs. our minds were perplexed, not knowing what had happened, and the king, asking the news, was answered, the wezeer of thy brother hath slain him and his soldiers and guards, and come with his army to assault the city unawares; and the inhabitants, being unable to withstand, have submitted to him:—whereupon i said within myself, if i fall into his hand, he will slay me.—griefs overwhelmed me, and i thought of the calamities which had befallen my father and my mother, and knew not what to do; for if i appeared, the people of the city would know me, and the troops of my father would hasten to kill and destroy me. i knew no way of escape but to shave off my beard:47 so i shaved it, and, having changed my clothes, departed from the city, and came hither, to this abode of peace, in the hope that some person would introduce me to the prince of the faithful, the khaleefeh of the lord of all creatures, that i might relate to him my story, and all that had befallen me. i arrived in this city this night; and as i stood perplexed, not knowing whither to direct my steps, i saw this mendicant, and saluted him, and said, i am a stranger. he replied, and i, too, am a stranger:—and while we were thus addressing each other, our companion, this third person, came up to us, and saluting us, said, i am a stranger. we replied, and we, also, are strangers. so we walked on together, and darkness overtook us, and destiny directed us unto your abode.—this was the cause of the shaving of my beard, and of the loss of my eye.

the lady then said to him, stroke my head, and depart:—but he replied, i will not depart until i have heard the stories of the others.140 and they wondered at his tale; and the khaleefeh said to ja?far, verily i have never known the like of that which hath happened to this mendicant.

the second mendicant then advanced, and, having kissed the ground, said,—

the story of the second royal mendicant.

o my mistress, i was not born with only one eye; but my story is wonderful, and, if written, would serve as a lesson to him who would be admonished. i am a king, and son of a king: i read the ?urán according to the seven readings,48 and perused various works under the tuition of different learned professors of their subjects: i studied the science of the stars,49 and the writings of the poets, and made myself a proficient in all the sciences; so that i surpassed the people of my age. my hand-writing50 was extolled among all the scribes, my fame spread among all countries, and my history among all kings; and the king of india, hearing of me, requested my father to allow me to visit him, sending him various gifts and curious presents, such as were suitable to kings. my father, therefore, prepared for me six ships, and we proceeded by sea for the space of a whole month, after which we came to land; and, having disembarked some horses which we had with us in the ship, we loaded ten camels with presents, and commenced our journey; but soon there appeared a cloud of dust, which rose and spread until it filled the air before us, and, after a while, cleared a little, and discovered to us, in the midst of it, sixty141 horseman like fierce lions whom we perceived to be arab highwaymen; and when they saw us, that we were a small company with ten loads of presents for the king of india, they galloped towards us, pointing their spears at us. we made signs to them with our fingers, and said, we are ambassadors to the honoured king of india; therefore do us no injury:—but they replied, we are not in his territories, nor under his government. they slew certain of the young men, and the rest fled. i also fled, after i had received a severe wound; the arabs being employed, without further regard to us, in taking possession of the treasure and presents which we had with us.

second prince (afterwards a mendicant) meeting the robbers

i proceeded without knowing whither to direct my course, reduced from a mighty to an abject state, and journeyed till i arrived at the summit of a mountain, where i took shelter in a cavern until the next morning. i then resumed my journey, and arrived at a flourishing city: the winter, with its cold, had passed away, and the spring had come, with its flowers; and i rejoiced at my arrival there, being wearied with my journey, anxious and pallid. my condition being thus changed, i knew not whither to bend my steps; and, turning to a tailor sitting in his shop, i saluted him, and he returned my salutation, and welcomed me, and wished me joy, asking me the reason of my having come thither. i acquainted him, therefore, with what had befallen me from first to last, and he was grieved for me, and said, o young man, reveal not thy case, for i fear what the king of this city might do to thee, since he is the greatest of thy father's enemies, and hath a debt of blood against him. he then placed some food and drink before me, and we ate together, and i conversed with him till night, when he lodged me in a place by his shop, and brought me a bed and coverlet; and, after i had remained with him three days, he said to me, dost thou not know any trade by which to make gain?51 i answered, i am acquainted with the law, a student of sciences, a writer, and an arithmetician.—thy occupation, he said, is profitless in our country: there is no one in our city acquainted with science or writing, but only with getting money. verily, i replied, i know nothing but what i have told thee.—gird thyself, then, said he, and take an axe and a rope, and cut firewood in the desert, and so obtain thy subsistence until god dispel thy affliction; but acquaint no one with thy history, else they will kill thee. he then bought for me an axe and a rope, and sent me with a party of wood-cutters, giving them a charge respecting me. accordingly, i went forth with them, and, cut some wood, and brought back a load upon my head, and sold it142 for half a piece of gold, part of which i expended in food, laying by the remainder.

second prince as a wood-cutter

second prince discovering the trap-door

thus i continued for the space of a year, after which i went one day into the desert, according to my custom, to cut firewood; and, finding there a tract with abundance of wood, i entered it, and came to a tree, around which i dug; and as i was removing the earth from its roots, the axe struck against a ring of brass; and i cleared away the earth from it, and found that it was affixed to a trap-door of wood, which i immediately removed. beneath it appeared a staircase, which i descended; and at the bottom of this i entered a door, and beheld a palace, strongly constructed, where i found a lady, like a pearl of high price, whose aspect banished from the heart all anxiety and grief and affliction. at the sight of her i prostrated myself in adoration of143 her creator for the fairness and beauty which he had displayed in her person; and she, looking towards me, said, art thou a man or a jinnee? i answered her, i am a man.—and who, she asked, hath brought thee to this place, in which i have lived five and twenty years without ever seeing a human being?—her words sounded sweetly to me, and i answered her, o my mistress, god hath brought me to thy abode, and i hope will put an end to my anxiety and grief:—and i related to her my story from beginning to end. she was grieved at my case, and wept, and said, i also will acquaint thee with my story. know that i am the daughter of the king of the further parts of india, the lord of the ebony island. my father had married me to the son of my uncle; but on the night of my bridal festivities, an 'efreet namad jarjarees, the son of rejmoos, the son of iblees, carried me off, and, soaring with me through the air, alighted in this place, to which he conveyed all things necessary for me, such as ornaments, and garments, and linen, and furniture, and food, and drink; and once in every ten days he cometh to me, and spendeth a night here;52 and he hath appointed with me, that, in case of my wanting any thing by144 night or day, i should touch with my hand these two lines which are inscribed upon the ?ubbeh,53 and as soon as i remove my hand i see him before me. four days have now passed since he was last with me, and there remain, therefore, six days before he will come again; wilt thou then remain with me five days, and depart one day before his visit?—i answered, yes; rejoicing at the proposal; and she arose, and taking me by the hand, conducted me through an arched door to a small and elegant bath, where i took off my clothes, while she seated herself upon a mattress. after this, she seated me by her side, and brought me some sherbet of sugar infused with musk,54 and handed it to me to drink: she then placed some food before me, and after we had eaten and conversed together, she said to me, sleep, and rest thyself; for thou art fatigued.

i slept, o my mistress, and forgot all that had befallen me; and when i awoke, i found her rubbing my feet;55 upon which i called to her, and we sat down again and conversed a while; and she said to me, by allah, i was straitened in my heart, living here alone, without any person to talk with me, five and twenty years. praise be to god who hath sent thee to me.—i thanked her for her kind expressions; and love of her took possession of my heart, and my anxiety and grief fled away. we then sat down to drink together; and i remained by her side all the night, delighted with her company, for i had never seen her like in my whole life; and in the morning, when we were both full of joy, i said to her, shall i take thee up from this subterranean place, and release thee from the jinnee? but she laughed, and replied, be content, and hold thy peace; for, of every ten days, one day shall be for the 'efreet, and nine for thee. i persisted, however, being overcome with passion: and said, i will this instant demolish this ?ubbeh upon which the inscription is engraved, and let the 'efreet come, that i may slay him: for i am predestined to kill 'efreets. she entreated me to refrain; but, paying no attention to her words, i kicked the ?ubbeh with violence; upon which she exclaimed, the 'efreet hath arrived! did i not caution thee against this? verily thou hast brought a calamity upon me; but save thyself, and ascend by the way that thou camest.

in the excess of my fear i forgot my sandals and my axe, and when i had ascended two steps, turning round to look for them, i saw that the ground had opened, and there rose from it an 'efreet of hideous aspect, who said, wherefore is this disturbance with which thou hast alarmed me, and what misfortune hath befallen thee? she145 answered, no misfortune hath happened to me, excepting that my heart was contracted, and i desired to drink some wine to dilate it, and, rising to perform my purpose, i fell against the ?ubbeh.—thou liest, vile woman, he exclaimed;—and, looking about the palace to the right and left, he saw the sandals and axe; and said to her, these are the property of none but a man. who hath visited thee?—i have not seen them, she answered, until this instant: probably they caught to thee.—this language, said he, is absurd, and will have no effect upon me, thou shameless woman!—and, so saying, he stripped her of her clothing, and tied her down, with her arms and legs extended, to four stakes, and began to beat her, urging her to confess what had happened.

second prince ascending the steps

for myself, being unable to endure her cries, i ascended the stairs, overpowered by fear, and, arriving at the top, replaced the trap-door as it was at first, and covered it over with earth. i repented bitterly of what i had done, and reflecting upon the lady and her beauty, and how this wretch was torturing her after she had lived with him five and twenty years, and that he tortured her only on my account, and reflecting also upon my father and his kingdom, and how i had been reduced to the condition of a wood-cutter, i repeated this verse:—

when fortune bringeth thee affliction, console thyself by remembering that one day thou must see prosperity, and another day, difficulty.

second prince carried off by the 'efreet

returning to my companion, the tailor, i found him awaiting my return as if he were placed in a pan upon burning coals. i past last146 night, said he, with anxious heart on thy account, fearing for thee from some wild beast or other calamity. praise be to god for thy safe return.—i thanked him for his tender concern for me, and entered my apartment; and as i sat meditating upon that which had befallen me, and blaming myself for having kicked the ?ubbeh, my friend the tailor came in to me, and said, in the shop is a foreigner, who asks for thee, and he has thy axe and sandals; he came with them to the wood-cutters,56 and said to them, i went out at the time of the call of the mu?ddin to morning-prayer, and stumbled upon these, and know not to whom they belong: can ye guide me to their owner?—the wood-cutters, therefore, directed him to thee: he is sitting in my shop; so go out to him and thank him, and take thy axe and thy sandals.—on hearing these words, my countenance turned pale, and my whole state became changed; and while i was in this condition, the floor of my chamber clove asunder, and there rose from it the stranger, and lo, he was the 'efreet; he had tortured the lady with147 the utmost cruelty; but she would confess nothing: so he took the axe and the sandals, and said to her, if i am jarjarees, of the descendants of iblees, i will bring the owner of this axe and these sandals. accordingly, he came, with the pretence before mentioned, to the wood-cutters, and, having entered my chamber, without granting me any delay, seized me, and soared with me through the air: he then descended, and dived into the earth, and brought me up into the palace where i was before.

here i beheld the lady stripped of her clothing, and with blood flowing from her sides; and tears trickled from my eyes. the 'efreet then took hold of her, and said, vile woman, this is thy lover:—whereupon she looked at me, and replied, i know him not, nor have i ever seen him until this instant. the 'efreet said to her, with all this torture wilt thou not confess? she answered, never in my life have i seen him before, and it is not lawful in the sight of god that i should speak falsely against him.57—then, said he, if thou know him not, take this sword and strike off his head. she took the sword, and came to me, and stood over my head: but i made a sign to her with my eyebrow, while tears ran down my cheeks. she replied in a similar manner, thou art he who hath done all this to me:—i made a sign to her, however, that this was a time for pardon, conveying my meaning in the manner thus described by the poet:—58

our signal in love is the glance of our eyes; and every intelligent person understandeth the sign.

our eyebrows carry on an intercourse between us: we are silent; but love speaketh.

and when she understood me, she threw the sword from her hand, o my mistress, and the 'efreet handed it to me, saying, strike off her head, and i will liberate thee, and do thee no harm. i replied, good:—and, quickly approaching her, raised my hand; but she made a sign as though she would say, i did no injury to thee:—whereupon my eyes poured with tears, and, throwing down the sword, i said, o mighty 'efreet, and valiant hero, if a woman, deficient in sense and religion,59 seeth it not lawful to strike off my head, how is it lawful for me to do so to her, and especially when i have never seen her before in my life? i will never do it, though i should drink the cup of death and destruction.—there is affection between you, said the 'efreet, and, taking the sword, he struck off one of the hands of the lady; then, the other; after this, her right foot; and then, her left foot: thus with four blows he cut off her four extremities, while i148 looked on, expecting my own death. she then made a sign to me with her eye; and the 'efreet, observing her, exclaimed, now thou hast been guilty of incontinence with thine eye!—and, with a blow of his sword, struck off her head; after which, he turned towards me, and said, o man, it is allowed us by our law, if a wife be guilty of incontinence, to put her to death. this woman i carried off on her wedding-night, when she was twelve years of age, and she was acquainted with no man but me; and i used to pass one night with her in the course of every ten days in the garb of a foreigner; and when i discovered of a certainty that she had been unfaithful to me, i killed her: but as for thee, i am not convinced that thou hast wronged me with respect to her; yet i must not leave thee unpunished: choose, therefore, what injury i shall do to thee.

second prince begging his life of the 'efreet

upon this, o my mistress, i rejoiced exceedingly, and, eager to obtain his pardon, i said to him, what shall i choose from thy hands?—choose, he answered, into what form i shall change thee; either the form of a dog, or that of an ass, or that of an ape. i replied, in my desire of forgiveness, verily, if thou wilt pardon me, god will pardon thee in recompense for thy shewing mercy to a muslim who hath done thee no injury:—and i humbled myself in the most abject manner, and said to him, pardon me as the envied man did the envier.—and how was that? said he. i answered as follows:—60

149

the story of the envier and the envied.

know, o my master, that there was a certain man who had a neighbour that envied him; and the more this person envied him, so much the more did god increase the prosperity of the former. thus it continued a long time; but when the envied man found that his neighbour persisted in troubling him, he removed to a place where there was a deserted well; and there he built for himself an oratory, and occupied himself in the worship of god. numerous fa?eers61 assembled around him, and he acquired great esteem, people repairing to him from every quarter, placing firm reliance upon his sanctity; and his fame reached the ears of his envious neighbour, who mounted his horse, and went to visit him; and when the envied man saw him, he saluted him, and payed him the utmost civility. the envier then said to him, i have come hither to inform thee of a matter in which thou wilt find advantage, and for which i shall obtain a recompense in heaven. the envied man replied, may god requite thee for me with every blessing. then, said the envier, order the fa?eers to retire to their cells, for the information that i am about to give thee i would have no one overhear. so he ordered them to enter their cells; and the envier said to him, arise, and let us walk together, and converse; and they walked on until they came to the deserted well before mentioned, when the envier pushed the envied man into this well, without the knowledge of any one, and went his way, imagining that he had killed him.

but this well was inhabited by jinn, who received him unhurt, and seated him upon a large stone; and when they had done this, one of them said to the others, do ye know this man? they answered, we know him not.—this, said he, is the envied man who fled from him who envied him, and took up his abode in this quarter, in the neighbouring oratory, and who entertaineth us by his zikr62 and his readings; and when his envier heard of him, he came hither to him, and, devising a stratagem against him, threw him down here. his fame hath this night reached the sul?án of this city, who hath purposed to visit him to-morrow, on account of the affliction which hath befallen his daughter.—and what, said they, hath happened to his daughter? he answered, madness; for meymoon, the son of demdem, hath become inflamed with love for her; and her cure is the easiest of things. they asked him, what is it?—and he answered,150 the black cat that is with him in the oratory hath at the end of her tail a white spot, of the size of a piece of silver; and from this white spot should be taken seven hairs, and with these the damsel should be fumigated, and the márid would depart from over her head, and not return to her; so she would be instantly cured. and now it is our duty to take him out.

the envied sheykh and the jinn in the well

when the morning came, the fa?eers saw the sheykh rising out of the well; and he became magnified in their eyes. and when he entered the oratory, he took from the white spot at the end of the cat's tail seven hairs, and placed them in a portfolio by him; and at sunrise the king came to him, and when the sheykh saw him, he said to him, o king, thou hast come to visit me in order that i may cure thy daughter. the king replied. yes, o virtuous sheykh.—then, said the sheykh, send some person to bring her hither; and i trust in god, whose name be exalted, that she may be instantly cured. and when the king had brought his daughter, the sheykh beheld her bound, and, seating her, suspended a curtain over her, and took out the hairs, and fumigated her with them; whereupon the márid cried151 out from over her head, and left her; and the damsel immediately recovered her reason, and, veiling her face, said to her father, what is this, and wherefore didst thou bring me to this place? he answered her, thou hast nothing to fear;—and rejoiced greatly. he kissed the hand of the envied sheykh, and said to the great men of his court who were with him, what shall be the recompense of this sheykh for that which he hath done? they answered, his recompense should be that thou marry him to her.—ye have spoken truly, said the king:—and he gave her in marriage to him, and thus the sheykh became a connection of the king; and after some days the king died, and he was made king in his place.

and it happened one day that this envied king was riding with his troops, and he saw his envier approaching; and when this man came before him he seated him upon a horse with high distinction and honour, and, taking him to his palace, gave him a thousand pieces of gold, and a costly dress; after which he sent him back from the city, with attendants to escort him to his house, and reproached him for nothing.—consider, then, o 'efreet, the pardon of the envied to the envier, and his kindness to him, notwithstanding the injuries he had done him.63

continuation of the story of the second royal mendicant.

the 'efreet, when he had heard this story, replied, lengthen not thy words to me: as to my killing thee, fear it not; and as to my pardoning thee, covet it not; but as to my enchanting thee, there is no escape from it;—and, so saying, he clove the earth asunder, and soared with me through the sky to such a height that i beheld the world beneath me as though it were a bowl of water: then, alighting upon a mountain, he took up a little dust, and, having muttered and pronounced certain words over it, sprinkled me with it, saying, quit this form, and take the form of an ape!—whereupon i became like an ape of a hundred years of age.

second prince transformed into an ape

when i saw myself changed into this ugly form, i wept for myself, but determined to be patient under the tyranny of fortune, knowing it to be constant to no one. i descended from the summit of the mountain, and, after having journeyed for the space of a month, arrived at the sea-shore; and, when i had stood there a short time, i saw a vessel in the midst of the sea, with a favourable wind approaching152 the land; i therefore hid myself behind a rock on the beach, and when the ship came close up, i sprang into the midst of it. but as soon as the persons on board saw me, one of them cried, turn out this unlucky brute from the ship:—another said, let us kill him:—and a third exclaimed, i will kill him with this sword. i, however, caught hold of the end of the sword, and tears flowed from my eyes; at the sight of which the captain took compassion on me, and said to the passengers, o merchants, this ape hath sought my aid, and i give it him; he is under my protection; let no one, therefore, oppose or trouble him. he then treated me with kindness, and whatever he said to me i understood, and all that he required to be done i performed as his servant.153

we continued our voyage for fifty days with a fair wind, and cast anchor under a large city containing a population which no one but god, whose name be exalted, could reckon; and when we had moored our vessel, there came to us some memlooks from the king of the city, who came on board the ship, and complimented the merchants on their safe arrival, saying, our king greeteth you, rejoicing in your safety, and hath sent to you this roll of paper, desiring that each of you shall write a line upon it; for the king had a wezeer who was an eminent caligraphist, and he is dead, and the king hath sworn that he will not appoint any person to his office who cannot write equally well.64 though in the form of an ape, i arose and snatched the paper from their hands; upon which, fearing that i would tear it and throw it into the sea, they cried out against me, and would have killed me; but i made signs to them that i would write, and the captain said to them, suffer him to write, and if he scribble we will turn him away; but if he write well i will adopt him as my son; for i have never seen a more intelligent ape. so i took the pen, and demanded the ink, and wrote in an epistolary hand this couplet:—

fame hath recorded the virtues of the noble; but no one hath been able to reckon thine.

may god not deprive mankind of such a father; for thou art the parent of every excellence.

then, in a more formal, large hand, i wrote the following verses:—

there is no writer that shall not perish; but what his hand hath written endureth ever.

write, therefore, nothing but what will please thee when thou shalt see it on the day of resurrection.

two other specimens i wrote, in two different and smaller hands, and returned the paper to the memlooks, who took it back to the king; and when he saw what was written upon it, the hand of no one pleased him excepting mine; and he said to his attendants, go to the author of this hand-writing, put upon him this dress, and mount him upon a mule, and conduct him, with the band of music before him, to my presence. on hearing this order, they smiled; and the king was angry with them, and said, how is it that i give you an order, and ye laugh at me? they answered, o king, we laugh not at thy words, but because he who wrote this is an ape, and not a son of adam: he is with the captain of the ship newly arrived.

the king was astonished at their words; he shook with delight, and said, i would purchase this ape. he then sent some messengers154 to the ship, with the mule and the dress of honour, saying to them, ye must clothe him with this dress, and mount him upon the mule, and bring him hither. so they came to the ship, and, taking me from the captain, clad me with the dress; and the people were astonished, and flocked to amuse themselves with the sight of me. and when they brought me to the king, and i beheld him, i kissed the ground before him three times, and he ordered me to sit down: so i sat down upon my knees;65 and the persons present were surprised at my polite manners, and especially the king, who presently ordered his people to retire. they, therefore, did so; none remaining but the king, and a eunuch, and a young memlook, and myself. the king then commanded that a repast should be brought; and they placed before him a service of viands, such as gratified the appetite and delighted the eye; and the king made a sign to me that i should eat; whereupon i arose, and, having kissed the ground before him seven times, sat down to eat with him; and when the table was removed, i washed my hands, and, taking the ink-case, and pen and paper, i wrote these two verses:—

great is my appetite for thee, o kunáfeh!66 i cannot be happy nor endure without thee.

be thou every day and night my food; and may drops of honey not be wanting to moisten thee.

having done this, i arose, and seated myself at a distance; and the king, looking at what i had written, read it with astonishment, and exclaimed, can an ape possess such fluency and such skill in caligraphy? this is, indeed, a wonder of wonders!—afterwards, a chess-table was brought to the king, and he said to me, wilt thou play? by a motion of my head i answered, yes:—and i advanced, and arranged the pieces.67 i played with him twice, and beat him; and the king was perplexed, and said, were this a man, he would surpass all the people of his age.

he then said to his eunuch, go to thy mistress, and say to her, answer the summons of the king:—that she may come and gratify her curiosity by the sight of this wonderful ape. the eunuch, therefore, went, and returned with his mistress, the king's daughter, who, as soon as she saw me, veiled her face, and said, o my father, how is it that thou art pleased to send for me, and suffer strange men to see me?—o my daughter, answered the king, there is no one here but the young memlook, and the eunuch who brought thee up, and this ape, with myself, thy father: from whom, then, dost thou veil thy155 face?—this ape, said she, is the son of a king, and the name of his father is eymár:68 he is enchanted, and it was the 'efreet jarjarees, a descendant of iblees, who transformed him, after having slain his own wife, the daughter of king a?námoos. this, whom thou supposedst to be an ape, is a learned and wise man.—the king was amazed at his daughter's words, and, looking towards me, said, is it true that she saith of thee? i answered, by a motion of my head, yes:—and wept. the king then said to his daughter, by what means didst thou discover that he was enchanted?—o my father, she answered, i had with me, in my younger years, an old woman who was a cunning enchantress, and she taught me the art of enchantment: i have committed its rules to memory, and know it thoroughly, being acquainted with a hundred and seventy modes of performing it, by the least of which i could transport the stones of thy city beyond mount ?áf, and make its site to be an abyss of the sea, and convert its inhabitants into fish in the midst of it.—i conjure thee, then, by the name of allah, said her father, to restore this young man, that i may make him my wezeer. is it possible that thou possessedst this excellence, and i knew it not? restore him, that i may make him my wezeer, for he is a polite and intelligent youth.

the ape recognised by the princess

she replied, with pleasure:—and, taking a knife upon which were engraved some hebrew names, marked with it a circle in the midst of the palace. within this she wrote certain names and talismans, and then she pronounced invocations, and uttered unintelligible words; and soon the palace around us became immersed in gloom to 156 the combat with the lion (head-piece) transformations such a degree, that we thought the whole world was overspread; and lo, the 'efreet appeared before us in a most hideous shape, with hands like winnowing-forks, and legs like masts, and eyes like burning torches; so that we were terrified at him. the king's daughter exclaimed, no welcome to thee!—to which the 'efreet, assuming the form of a lion, replied, thou traitress, how is it that thou hast broken thine oath? did we not swear that we would not oppose one another?—thou wretch, said she, when didst thou receive an oath?—the 'efreet, still in the form of a lion, then exclaimed, take what awaiteth thee!—and, opening his mouth, rushed upon the lady: but she instantly plucked a hair from her head and muttered with her lips, whereupon the hair became converted into a piercing sword, with which she struck the lion, and he was cleft in twain by the blow; but his head became changed into a scorpion. the lady immediately transformed herself into an enormous serpent, and crept after the execrable wretch in the shape of a scorpion, and a sharp contest ensued between them; after which, the scorpion became an eagle, and the serpent, changing to a vulture, pursued the eagle for a length of time. the latter then transformed himself into a black cat, and the king's daughter became a wolf, and they fought together long and fiercely, till the cat, seeing himself overcome, changed himself157 transformations into a large red pomegranate, which fell into a pool; but, the wolf pursuing it, it ascended into the air, and then fell upon the pavement of the palace, and broke in pieces, its grains becoming scattered, each apart from the others, and all spread about the whole space of ground enclosed by the palace. the wolf, upon this, transformed itself into a cock, in order to pick up the grains, and not leave one of them; but, according to the decree of fate, one grain remained hidden by the side of the pool of the fountain. the cock began to cry, and flapped its wings, and made a sign to us with its beak; but we understood not what it would say. it then uttered at us such a cry, that we thought the palace had fallen down upon us; and it ran about the whole of the ground, until it saw the grain that had lain hid by the side of the pool, when it pounced upon it, to pick it up; but it fell into the midst of the water, and became transformed into a fish, and sank into the water; upon which the cock became a fish of a larger size, and plunged in after the other. for a while it was absent from our sight; but, at length, we heard a loud cry, and trembled at the sound; after which, the 'efreet rose as a flame of fire, casting fire from his mouth, and fire and smoke from his eyes and nostrils: the king's daughter also became as a vast body of fire; and we would have plunged into the water from fear of our being burnt and destroyed; but suddenly the 'efreet cried out from within the fire, and came towards us upon the leewán,69 blowing fire at our faces. the lady, however, overtook him, and blew fire in like manner in his face; and some sparks struck us both from her and from him: her sparks did us no harm; but one from him struck me in my eye, and destroyed it, i being still in the158 form of an ape; and a spark from him reached the face of the king, and burned the lower half, with his beard and mouth, and struck out his lower teeth: another spark also fell upon the breast of the eunuch; who was burnt, and died immediately. we expected destruction, and gave up all hope of preserving our lives; but while we were in this state, a voice exclaimed, god is most great! god is most great! he hath conquered and aided, and abandoned the denier of the faith of mo?ammad, the chief of mankind!70—the person from whom this voice proceeded was the king's daughter: she had burnt the 'efreet; and when we looked towards him, we perceived that he had become a heap of ashes.

disenchantment of the ape

the lady then came to us, and said, bring me a cup of water:—and when it was brought to her, she pronounced over it some words which we understood not, and, sprinkling me with it, said, be restored,159 by virtue of the name of the truth, and by virtue of the most great name of god, to thy original form!—whereupon i became a man as i was at first, excepting that my eye was destroyed. after this, she cried out, the fire! the fire! o my father, i shall no longer live, for i am predestined to be killed. had he been a human being, i had killed him at the first of the encounter. i experienced no difficulty till the scattering of the grains of the pomegranate, when i picked them up excepting the one in which was the life of the jinnee: had i picked up that, he had instantly died; but i saw it not, as fate and destiny had appointed; and suddenly he came upon me, and a fierce contest ensued between us under the earth, and in the air, and in the water; and every time that he tried against me a new mode, i employed against him one more potent, until he tried against me the mode of fire; and rarely does one escape against whom the mode of fire is employed. destiny, however, aided me, so that i burned him first; but i exhorted him previously to embrace the faith of el-islám. now i die; and may god supply my place to you.—having thus said, she ceased not to pray for relief from the fire; and lo, a spark ascended to her breast, and thence to her face; and when it reached her face, she wept, and exclaimed, i testify that there is no deity but god, and i testify that mo?ammad is god's apostle!—we then looked towards her, and saw that she had become a heap of ashes by the side of the ashes of the 'efreet.

we were plunged into grief on her account, and i wished that i had been in her place rather than have seen that sweet-faced creature who had done me this kindness reduced to a heap of ashes: but the decree of god cannot be averted. the king, on beholding his daughter in this state, plucked out what remained of his beard, and slapped his face, and rent his clothes; and i also did the same, while we both wept for her. then came the chamberlains and other great officers of the court, who, finding the king in a state of insensibility, with two heaps of ashes before him, were astonished, and remained encompassing him until he recovered from his fit, when he informed them of what had befallen his daughter with the 'efreet; and great was their affliction. the women shrieked, with the female slaves, and continued their mourning seven days. after this, the king gave orders to build, over the ashes of his daughter, a great tomb with a dome, and illuminated it with candles and lamps: but the ashes of the 'efreet they scattered in the wind, exposing them to the curse of god. the king then fell sick, and was near unto death: his illness lasted a month;160 but after this he recovered his health, and, summoning me to his presence, said to me, o young man, we passed our days in the enjoyment of the utmost happiness, secure from the vicissitudes of fortune, until thou camest to us, when troubles overcame us. would that we had never seen thee, nor thy ugly form, on account of which we have been reduced to this state of privation: for, in the first place, i have lost my daughter, who was worth a hundred men; and, secondly, i have suffered this burning, and lost my teeth: my eunuch also is dead: but it was not in thy power to prevent these afflictions: the decree of god hath been fulfilled on us and on thee; and praise be to god that my daughter restored thee, though she destroyed herself. now, however, depart, o my son, from my city. it is enough that hath happened on thy account; but as it was decreed against us and thee, depart in peace.

so i departed, o my mistress, from his presence; but before i quitted the city, i entered a public bath, and shaved my beard. i traversed various regions, and passed through great cities, and bent my course to the abode of peace,71 baghdád, in the hope of obtaining an interview with the prince of the faithful, that i might relate to him all that had befallen me.

the third mendicant then advanced, and thus related his story:—

the story of the third royal mendicant.

o illustrious lady, my story is not like those of my two companions, but more wonderful: the course of fate and destiny brought upon them events against which they could not guard; but as to myself, the shaving of my beard and the loss of my eye were occasioned by my provoking fate and misfortune; and the cause was this:—

i was a king, and the son of a king; and when my father died, i succeeded to his throne, and governed my subjects with justice and beneficence. i took pleasure in sea-voyages; and my capital was on the shore of an extensive sea, interspersed with fortified and garrisoned islands, which i desired, for my amusement, to visit; i therefore embarked with a fleet of ten ships, and took with me provisions sufficient for a whole month. i proceeded twenty days, after which there arose against us a contrary wind; but at daybreak it ceased, and the sea became calm, and we arrived at an island, where we landed, and cooked some provisions and ate; after which we remained there161 two days. we then continued our voyage; and when twenty days more had passed, we found ourselves in strange waters, unknown to the captain, and desired the watch to look out from the mast-head: so he went aloft, and when he had come down he said to the captain, i saw, on my right hand, fish floating upon the surface of the water; and looking towards the midst of the sea, i perceived something looming in the distance, sometimes black, and sometimes white.

when the captain heard this report of the watch, he threw his turban on the deck, and plucked his beard, and said to those who were with him, receive warning of our destruction, which will befall all of us: not one will escape! so saying, he began to weep; and all of us in like manner bewailed our lot. i desired him to inform us of that which the watch had seen. o my lord, he replied, know that we have wandered from our course since the commencement of the contrary wind that was followed in the morning by a calm, in consequence of which we remained stationary two days: from that period we have deviated from our course for twenty-one days, and we have no wind to carry us back from the fate which awaits us after this day: to-morrow we shall arrive at a mountain of black stone, called loadstone: the current is now bearing us violently towards it, and the ships will fall in pieces, and every nail in them will fly to the mountain, and adhere to it; for god hath given to the loadstone a secret property by virtue of which everything of iron is attracted towards it. on that mountain is such a quantity of iron as no one knoweth but god, whose name be exalted; for from times of old great numbers of ships have been destroyed by the influence of that mountain.72 there is, upon the summit of the mountain, a cupola of brass supported by ten columns, and upon the top of this cupola is a horseman upon a horse of brass, having in his hand a brazen spear, and upon his breast suspended a tablet of lead, upon which are engraved mysterious names and talismans: and as long, o king, as this horseman remains upon the horse, so long will every ship that approaches be destroyed, with every person on board, and all the iron contained in it will cleave to the mountain: no one will be safe until the horseman shall have fallen from the horse.—the captain then wept bitterly; and we felt assured that our destruction was inevitable, and every one of us bade adieu to his friend.

the mountain of loadstone

on the following morning we drew near to the mountain; the current carried us towards it with violence, and when the ships were almost close to it, they fell asunder, and all the nails, and every thing162 else that was of iron, flew from them towards the loadstone. it was near the close of day when the ships fell in pieces. some of us were drowned, and some escaped; but the greater number were drowned, and of those who saved their lives none knew what became of the others, so stupefied were they by the waves and the boisterous wind. as for myself, o my mistress, god, whose name be exalted, spared me on account of the trouble and torment and affliction that he had predestined to befall me. i placed myself upon a plank, and the wind and waves cast it upon the mountain; and when i had landed, i found a practicable way to the summit, resembling steps cut in the rock: so i exclaimed, in the name of god!—and offered up a prayer, and attempted the ascent, holding fast by the notches; and presently god stilled the wind and assisted me in my endeavours, so that i arrived in safety at the summit. rejoicing greatly in my escape, i immediately entered the cupola, and performed the prayers of two rek'ahs73 in gratitude to god for my preservation; after which i slept beneath the cupola, and heard a voice saying to me, o son of kha?eeb,74 when thou awakest from thy sleep, dig beneath thy feet, and thou wilt find a bow of brass, and three arrows of lead, whereon are engraved talismans: then take the bow and arrows and shoot at the horseman that is upon the top of the cupola, and relieve mankind from this great affliction; for when thou hast shot at the horseman he will fall into the sea; the bow will also fall, and do thou bury it in its place; and as soon as thou hast done this, the sea will swell and rise until it163 attains the summit of the mountain; and there will appear upon it a boat bearing a man, different from him whom thou shalt have cast down, and he will come to thee, having an oar in his hand: then do thou embark with him; but utter not the name of god; and he will convey thee in ten days to a safe sea, where, on thy arrival, thou wilt find one who will take thee to thy city. all this shall be done if thou utter not the name of god.

awaking from my sleep, i sprang up, and did as the voice had directed. i shot at the horseman, and he fell into the sea; and the bow having fallen from my hand, i buried it: the sea then became troubled, and rose to the summit of the mountain, and when i had stood waiting there a little while, i beheld a boat in the midst of the sea, approaching me. i praised god, whose name be exalted, and when the boat came to me, i found in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead upon his breast, engraven with names and talismans. without uttering a word, i embarked in the boat, and the man rowed me ten successive days, after which i beheld the islands of security, whereupon, in the excess of my joy, i exclaimed, in the name of god! there is no deity but god! god is most great!—and as soon as i had done this, he cast me out of the boat, and sank in the sea.

the prince thrown ashore

being able to swim, i swam until night, when my arms and shoulders were tired, and, in this perilous situation, i repeated the164 profession of the faith, and gave myself up as lost; but the sea rose with the violence of the wind, and a wave like a vast castle threw me upon the land, in order to the accomplishment of the purpose of god. i ascended the shore, and after i had wrung out my clothes, and spread them upon the ground to dry, i slept; and in the morning i put on my clothes again, and, looking about to see which way i should go, i found a tract covered with trees, to which i advanced; and when i had walked round it, i found that i was upon a small island in the midst of the sea; upon which i said within myself, every time that i escape from one calamity i fall into another that is worse:—but while i was reflecting upon my unfortunate case, and wishing for death, i beheld a vessel bearing a number of men. i arose immediately, and climbed into a tree; and lo, the vessel came to the shore, and there landed from it ten black slaves bearing axes. they proceeded to the middle of the island, and, digging up the earth, uncovered and lifted up a trap-door, after which they returned to the vessel, and brought from it bread and flour and clarified butter and honey and sheep and everything that the wants of an inhabitant would require, continuing to pass backwards and forwards between the vessel and the trap-door, bringing loads from the former, and entering the latter, until they had removed all the stores from the ship. they then came out of the vessel with various clothes of the most beautiful description, and in the midst of them was an old sheykh, enfeebled and wasted by extreme age, leading by the hand a young man cast in the mould of graceful symmetry, and invested with such perfect beauty as deserved to be a subject for proverbs. he was like a fresh and slender twig, enchanting and captivating every heart by his elegant form. the party proceeded to the trap-door, and, entering it, became concealed from my eyes.75

they remained beneath about two hours, or more; after which, the sheykh and the slaves came out; but the youth came not with them; and they replaced the earth, and embarked and set sail. soon after, i descended from the tree, and went to the excavation. i removed the earth, and, entering the aperture, saw a flight of wooden steps, which i descended; and, at the bottom, i beheld a handsome dwelling-place, furnished with a variety of silken carpets; and there was the youth, sitting upon a high mattress, with sweet-smelling flowers and fruits placed before him. on seeing me, his countenance became pale; but i saluted him, and said, let thy mind be composed, o my master: thou hast nothing to fear, o delight of my eye; for i am a man, and the son of a king, like thyself: fate hath impelled me to165 thee, that i may cheer thee in thy solitude. the youth, when he heard me thus address him, and was convinced that i was one of his own species, rejoiced exceedingly at my arrival, his colour returned, and, desiring me to approach him, he said, o my brother, my story is wonderful: my father is a jeweller: he had slaves who made voyages by his orders, for the purposes of commerce, and he had dealings with kings; but he had never been blest with a son; and he dreamt that he was soon to have a son, but one whose life would be short; and he awoke sorrowful.76 shortly after, in accordance with the decrees of god, my mother conceived me, and when her time was complete, she gave birth to me; and my father was greatly rejoiced: the astrologers, however, came to him, and said, thy son will live fifteen years: his fate is intimated by the fact that there is, in the sea, a mountain called the mountain of loadstone, whereon is a horseman on a horse of brass, on the former of which is a tablet of lead suspended to his neck; and when the horseman shall be thrown down from his horse, thy son will be slain: the person who is to slay him is he who will throw down the horseman, and his name is king 'ajeeb,77 the son of king kha?eeb. my father was greatly afflicted at this announcement; and when he had reared me until i had nearly attained the age of fifteen years, the astrologers came again, and informed him that the horseman had fallen into the sea, and that it had been thrown down by king 'ajeeb, the son of king kha?eeb; on hearing which, he prepared for me this dwelling, and here left me to remain until the completion of the term, of which there now remain ten days. all this he did from fear lest king 'ajeeb should kill me.

when i heard this, i was filled with wonder, and said within myself, i am king 'ajeeb, the son of king kha?eeb, and it was i who threw down the horseman; but, by allah, i will neither kill him nor do him any injury. then said i to the youth, far from thee be both destruction and harm, if it be the will of god, whose name be exalted: thou hast nothing to fear: i will remain with thee to serve thee, and will go forth with thee to thy father, and beg of him to send me back to my country, for the which he will obtain a reward. the youth rejoiced at my words, and i sat and conversed with him until night, when i spread his bed for him, and covered him, and slept near to his side. and in the morning i brought him water, and he washed his face, and said to me, may god requite thee for me with every blessing. if i escape from king 'ajeeb, i will make my father reward thee with abundant favours.—never, i replied, may the day arrive that would166 bring thee misfortune. i then placed before him some refreshments, and after we had eaten together, we passed the day conversing with the utmost cheerfulness.

death of the youth in the cave

i continued to serve him for nine days; and on the tenth day the youth rejoiced at finding himself in safety, and said to me, o my brother, i wish that thou wouldst in thy kindness warm for me some water, that i may wash myself and change my clothes; for i have smelt the odour of escape from death, in consequence of thy assistance. —with pleasure, i replied;—and i arose, and warmed the water; after which, he entered a place concealed from my view, and, having washed himself and changed his clothes, laid himself upon the mattress to rest after his bath. he then said to me, cut up for me, o my brother, a water-melon, and mix its juice with some sugar:—so i arose, and, taking a melon, brought it upon a plate, and said to him, knowest thou, o my master, where is the knife?—see, here it is, he answered, upon the shelf over my head. i sprang up hastily, and167 took it from its sheath, and as i was drawing back, my foot slipped, as god had decreed, and i fell upon the youth, grasping in my hand the knife, which entered his body, and he died instantly. when i perceived that he was dead, and that i had killed him, i uttered a loud shriek, and beat my face, and rent my clothes, saying, this is, indeed, a calamity! o what a calamity! o my lord, i implore thy pardon, and declare to thee my innocence of his death! would that i had died before him! how long shall i devour trouble after trouble!

with these reflections i ascended the steps, and, having replaced the trap-door, returned to my first station, and looked over the sea, where i saw the vessel that had come before, approaching, and cleaving the waves in its rapid course. upon this i said within myself, now will the men come forth from the vessel, and find the youth slain, and they will slay me also:—so i climbed into a tree, and concealed myself among its leaves, and sat there till the vessel arrived and cast anchor, when the slaves landed with the old sheykh, the father of the youth, and went to the place, and removed the earth. they were surprised at finding it moist, and, when they had descended the steps, they discovered the youth lying on his back, exhibiting a face beaming with beauty, though dead, and clad in white and clean clothing, with the knife remaining in his body. they all wept at the sight, and the father fell down in a swoon, which lasted so long that the slaves thought he was dead. at length, however, he recovered, and came out with the slaves, who had wrapped the body of the youth in his clothes. they then took back all that was in the subterranean dwelling to the vessel, and departed.

i remained, o my mistress, by day hiding myself in a tree, and at night walking about the open part of the island. thus i continued for the space of two months; and i perceived that, on the western side of the island, the water of the sea every day retired, until, after three months, the land that had been beneath it became dry. rejoicing at this, and feeling confident now in my escape, i traversed this dry tract, and arrived at an expanse of sand; whereupon i emboldened myself, and crossed it. i then saw in the distance an appearance of fire, and, advancing towards it, found it to be a palace, overlaid with plates of copper, which, reflecting the rays of the sun, seemed from a distance to be fire: and when i drew near to it, reflecting upon this sight, there approached me an old sheykh, accompanied by ten young men who were all blind of one eye, at which i168 was extremely surprised. as soon as they saw me, they saluted me, and asked me my story, which i related to them from first to last; and they were filled with wonder. they then conducted me into the palace, where i saw ten benches, upon each of which was a mattress covered with a blue stuff;78 and each of the young men seated himself upon one of these benches, while the sheykh took his place upon a smaller one; after which they said to me, sit down, o young man, and ask no question respecting our condition, nor respecting our being blind of one eye. then the sheykh arose, and brought to each of them some food, and the same to me also; and next he brought to each of us some wine: and after we had eaten, we sat drinking together until the time for sleep, when the young men said to the sheykh, bring to us our accustomed supply:—upon which the sheykh arose, and entered a closet, from which he brought, upon his head, ten covered trays. placing these upon the floor, he lighted ten candles, and stuck one of them upon each tray; and, having done this, he removed the covers, and there appeared beneath them ashes mixed with pounded charcoal. the young men then tucked up their sleeves above the elbow, and blackened their faces, and slapped their cheeks,79 exclaiming, we were reposing at our ease, and our impertinent curiosity suffered us not to remain so! thus they did until the morning, when the sheykh brought them some hot water, and they washed their faces, and put on other clothes.

on witnessing this conduct, my reason was confounded, my heart was so troubled that i forgot my own misfortunes, and i asked them the cause of their strange behaviour; upon which they looked towards me, and said, o young man, ask not respecting that which doth not concern thee; but be silent; for in silence is security from error.—i remained with them a whole month, during which, every night they did the same; and at length i said to them, i conjure you by allah to remove this disquiet from my mind, and to inform me of the cause of your acting in this manner, and of your exclaiming, we were reposing at our ease, and our impertinent curiosity suffered us not to remain so!—if ye inform me not, i will leave you, and go my way; for the proverb saith, when the eye seeth not, the heart doth not grieve.—on hearing these words, they replied, we have not concealed this affair from thee but in our concern for thy welfare, lest thou shouldst become like us, and the same affliction that hath befallen us happen also to thee. i said, however, ye must positively inform me of this matter.—we give thee good advice, said they, and do thou169 receive it, and ask us not respecting our case; otherwise thou wilt become blind of one eye, like us:—but i still persisted in my request; whereupon they said, o young man, if this befall thee, know that thou wilt be banished from our company. they then all arose, and, taking a ram, slaughtered and skinned it, and said to me, take this knife with thee, and introduce thyself into the skin of the ram, and we will sew thee up in it, and go away; whereupon a bird called the rukh'80 will come to thee, and, taking thee up by its talons, will fly away with thee, and set thee down upon a mountain: then cut open the skin with this knife, and get out, and the bird will fly away. thou must arise, as soon as it hath gone, and journey for half a day, and thou wilt see before thee a lofty palace, encased with red gold, set with various precious stones, such as emeralds and rubies, &c.; and if thou enter it thy case will be as ours; for our entrance into that palace was the cause of our being blind of one eye; and if one of us would relate to thee all that hath befallen him, his story would be too long for thee to hear.

they then sewed me up in the skin, and entered their palace; and soon after, there came an enormous white bird, which seized me, and flew away with me, and set me down upon the mountain; whereupon i cut open the skin, and got out; and the bird, as soon as it saw me, flew away. i rose up quickly, and proceeded towards the palace, which i found to be as they had described it to me; and when i had entered it, i beheld, at the upper end of a saloon, forty young damsels, beautiful as so many moons, and magnificently attired, who, as soon as they saw me, exclaimed, welcome! welcome! o our master and our lord! we have been for a month expecting thee. praise be to god who hath blessed us with one who is worthy of us, and one of whom we are worthy!—after having thus greeted me, they seated me upon a mattress, and said, thou art from this day our master and prince, and we are thy handmaids, and entirely under thy authority. they then brought to me some refreshments, and, when i had eaten and drunk, they sat and conversed with me, full of joy and happiness. so lovely were these ladies, that even a devotee, if he saw them, would gladly consent to be their servant, and to comply with all that they would desire. at the approach of night they all assembled around me, and placed before me a table of fresh and dried fruits, with other delicacies that the tongue cannot describe, and wine; and one began to sing, while another played upon the lute. the wine-cups circulated among us, and joy overcame me to such a degree as to obliterate from170 my mind every earthly care, and make me exclaim, this is indeed a delightful life! i passed a night of such enjoyment as i had never before experienced; and on the morrow i entered the bath; and, after i had washed myself, they brought me a suit of the richest clothing, and we again sat down to a repast.

in this manner i lived with them a whole year; but on the first day of the new year, they seated themselves around me, and began to weep, and bade me farewell, clinging to my skirts.—what calamity hath befallen you? said i. ye have broken my heart.—they answered, would that we had never known thee; for we have associated with many men, but have seen none like thee. may god, therefore, not deprive us of thy company.—and they wept afresh. i said to them, i wish that you would acquaint me with the cause of this weeping.—thou, they replied, art the cause; yet now, if thou wilt attend to what we tell thee, we shall never be parted; but if thou act contrary to it, we are separated from this time; and our hearts whisper to us that thou wilt not regard our warning.—inform me, said i, and i will attend to your directions:—and they replied, if then thou wouldst inquire respecting our history, know that we are the daughters of kings: for many years it hath been our custom to assemble here, and every year we absent ourselves during a period of forty days; then returning, we indulge ourselves for a year in feasting and drinking. this is our usual practice; and now we fear that thou wilt disregard our directions when we are absent from thee. we deliver to thee the keys of the palace, which are a hundred in number, belonging to a hundred closets. open each of these, and amuse thyself, and eat and drink, and refresh thyself, excepting the closet that hath a door of red gold; for if thou open this, the consequence will be a separation between us and thee. we conjure thee, therefore, to observe our direction, and to be patient during this period.—upon hearing this, i swore to them that i would never open the closet to which they alluded; and they departed, urging me to be faithful to my promise.

garden

i remained alone in the palace, and at the approach of evening i opened the first closet, and, entering it, found a mansion like paradise, with a garden containing green trees loaded with ripe fruits, abounding with singing birds, and watered by copious streams. my heart was soothed by the sight, and i wandered among the trees, scenting the fragrance of the flowers, and listening to the warbling of the birds as they sang the praises of the one, the almighty.81 after admiring the mingled colours of the apple resembling the hue upon the cheek of a171 beloved mistress and the sallow countenance of the perplexed and timid lover, the sweet-smelling quince diffusing an odour like musk and ambergris, and the plum shining as the ruby, i retired from this place, and, having locked the door, opened that of the next closet, within which i beheld a spacious tract planted with numerous palm-trees, and watered by a river flowing among rose-trees, and jasmine, and marjoram, and eglantine, and narcissus, and gilliflower, the odours of which, diffused in every direction by the wind, inspired me with the utmost delight. i locked again the door of the second closet, and opened that of the third. within this i found a large saloon, paved with marbles of various colours, and with costly minerals and precious gems, and containing cages constructed of sandal and aloes-wood with singing birds within them, and others upon the branches of trees which were planted there. my heart was charmed, my trouble was dissipated, and i slept there until the morning. i then opened the door of the fourth closet, and within this door i found a great building in which172 were forty closets with open doors; and, entering these, i beheld pearls, and rubies, and chrysolites, and emeralds, and other precious jewels such as the tongue cannot describe. i was astonished at the sight, and said, such things as these, i imagine, are not found in the treasury of any king. i am now the king of my age, and all these treasures, through the goodness of god, are mine, together with forty damsels under my authority who have no man to share them with me.

thus i continued to amuse myself, passing from one place to another, until thirty-nine days had elapsed, and i had opened the doors of all the closets excepting that which they had forbidden me to open. my heart was then disturbed by curiosity respecting this hundredth closet, and the devil, in order to plunge me into misery, induced me to open it. i had not patience to abstain, though there remained of the appointed period only one day: so i approached the closet, and opened the door; and when i had entered, i perceived a fragrant odour, such as i had never before smelt, which intoxicated me so that i fell down insensible, and remained some time in this state: but at length recovering, i fortified my heart, and proceeded. i found the floor overspread with saffron, and the place illuminated by golden lamps and by candles, which diffused the odours of musk and ambergris; and two large perfuming-vessels filled with aloes-wood and ambergris, and a perfume compounded with honey, spread fragrance through the whole place. i saw also a black horse, of the hue of the darkest night, before which was a manger of white crystal filled with cleansed sesame, and another, similar to it, containing rose-water infused with musk: he was saddled and bridled, and his saddle was of red gold. wondering at the sight of him, i said within myself, this must be an animal of extraordinary qualities;—and, seduced by the devil, i led him out, and mounted him; but he moved not from his place: i kicked him with my heel; but still he moved not: so i took a mi?ra'ah and struck him with it; and as soon as he felt the blow he uttered a sound like thunder, and, expanding a pair of wings, soared with me to an immense height through the air, and then alighted upon the roof of another palace, where he threw me from his back, and, by a violent blow with his tail upon my face, as i sat on the roof, struck out my eye, and left me.82

in this state i descended from the roof, and below i found the one-eyed young men before mentioned, who, as soon as they beheld me, exclaimed, no welcome to thee!—receive me, said i, into your company:—but they replied, by allah, thou shalt not remain with173 us:—so i departed from them, with mournful heart and weeping eye, and, god having decreed me a safe journey hither, i arrived at baghdád, after i had shaved my beard, and become a mendicant.83

continuation of the story of the ladies of baghdád, &c.

the mistress of the house then looked towards the khaleefeh and ja?far and mesroor, and said to them, acquaint me with your histories:—upon which ja?far advanced towards her, and related to her the same story that he had told to the portress before they entered; and when she had heard it, she liberated them all. they accordingly departed, and when they had gone out into the street, the khaleefeh inquired of the mendicants whither they were going. they answered that they knew not whither to go: whereupon he desired them to accompany his party; and then said to ja?far, take them home with thee, and bring them before me to-morrow, and we will see the result. ja?far, therefore, did as he was commanded, and the khaleefeh returned to his palace; but he was unable to sleep during the remainder of the night.

on the following morning he sat upon his throne, and when his courtiers had presented themselves before him, and departed, excepting ja?far, he said to him, bring before me the three ladies and the two bitches and the mendicants. so ja?far arose, and brought them, and, placing the ladies behind the curtains, said to them, we have forgiven you on account of your previous kindness to us, and because ye knew us not; and now i acquaint you that ye are in the presence of the fifth of the sons of el-'abbás, hároon er-rasheed; therefore relate to him nothing but the truth. and when the ladies heard the words which ja?far addressed to them on the part of the khaleefeh, the eldest of them advanced, and thus related her story:—

the story of the first of the three ladies of baghdád.

o prince of the faithful, my story is wonderful; for these two bitches84 are my sisters, born to my father, but of another mother; and i am the youngest of the three. after the death of our father, who left us five thousand pieces of gold, these my two sisters married, and when they had resided some time with their husbands, each of the174 latter prepared a stock of merchandise, and received from his wife a thousand pieces of gold, and they all set forth on a journey together, leaving me here; but after they had been absent four years, my sisters' husbands lost all their property, and abandoned them in a strange land, and they returned to me in the garb of beggars. when i first saw them in this state, i knew them not; and, as soon as i recognised them, i exclaimed, how is it that ye are in this condition?—o our sister, they answered, thy inquiry now is of no use: the pen hath written what god hath decreed.85—i sent them, therefore, to the bath, and, having clad them in new apparel, said to them, o my sisters, ye are my elders, and i am young; so ye shall be to me in the places of my father and mother. the inheritance which i shared with you god hath blessed; partake then of its increase, for my affairs are prosperous; and i and ye shall fare alike.—i treated them with the utmost kindness, and during a whole year they remained with me, and enriched themselves by the money that i had given them; but after this period they said to me, it will be more agreeable to us to marry again, for we can no longer abstain from doing so.—o my sisters, i replied, ye have seen no happiness in marriage: a good husband in this age is rarely found, and ye have already had experience of the marriage-state. they, however, heeded not my words; but married against my consent: yet i gave them dowries from my own property, and continued to them my protection. they went to their husbands, and the latter, after they had resided with them a short time, defrauded them of all that they possessed, and, setting175 forth on a journey, left them destitute: so again they returned to me, and, in a state of nudity, implored my forgiveness, saying, be not angry with us; for though thou art younger than we, thou hast more mature sense; and we promise thee that we will never again mention the subject of marriage. i replied, ye are welcome, o my sisters; for i have no one dearer to me than yourselves:—and i received them, and treated them with every kindness, and we remained happily together for the space of a year.

first lady recognising her sisters

after this i resolved to fit out a vessel for a mercantile voyage:86 accordingly, i stocked a large ship with various goods and necessary provisions, and said to my sisters, will ye rather stay at home during my voyage, or will ye go with me?—to which they answered, we will accompany thee during the voyage, for we cannot endure to be separated from thee. i therefore took them with me, and we set sail; but first i divided my property into two equal portions; one of which i took with me, and the other i concealed, saying within myself, perhaps some evil accident may happen to the ship, and our lives may be prolonged; in which case, when we return we shall find that which will be of service to us.—we continued our voyage by day and night, till at length the vessel pursued a wrong course, and the captain knew not whither to steer. the ship had entered a different sea from that which we wished to cross, and for some time we knew it not; but for ten days we had a pleasant wind, and after this, a city loomed before us in the distance. we asked the captain what was the name of this city; and he answered, i know it not; i have never seen it till this day, nor have i ever before in the course of my life navigated this sea: but as we have come hither in safety, ye have nothing to do but to enter this city and land your goods, and, if ye find opportunity, sell or exchange there: if not, we will rest there two days, and take in fresh provisions. so we entered the port of the city, and the captain landed, and after a while returned to us, saying, arise, and go up into the city, and wonder at that which god hath done unto his creatures, and pray to be preserved from his anger. and when we had entered the city, we found all its inhabitants converted into black stones. we were amazed at the sight, and as we walked through the market-streets, finding the merchandise and the gold and silver remaining in their original state, we rejoiced, and said, this must have been occasioned by same wonderful circumstance. we then separated in the streets, each of us attracted from his companions by the wealth and stuffs in the shops.176

as for myself, i ascended to the citadel, which i found to be a building of admirable construction; and, entering the king's palace, i found all the vessels of gold and silver remaining in their places, and the king himself seated in the midst of his chamberlains and viceroys and wezeers, and clad in apparel of astonishing richness. drawing nearer to him, i perceived that he was sitting upon a throne adorned with pearls and jewels, every one of the pearls shining like a star: his dress was embroidered with gold, and around him stood fifty memlooks, attired in silks of various descriptions, and having in their hands drawn swords. stupefied at this spectacle, i proceeded, and entered the saloon of the ?areem, upon the walls of which were hung silken curtains; and here i beheld the queen, attired in a dress embroidered with fresh pearls, and having upon her head a diadem adorned with various jewels, and necklaces of different kinds on her neck. all her clothing and ornaments remained as they were at first, though she herself was converted into black stone. here also i found an open door, and, entering it, i saw a flight of seven steps, by which i ascended to an apartment paved with marble, furnished with gold-embroidered carpets, and containing a couch of alabaster, ornamented with pearls and jewels; but my eyes were first attracted by a gleam of light, and when i approached the spot whence it proceeded, i found a brilliant jewel, of the size of an ostrich's egg, placed upon a small stool, diffusing a light like that of a candle. the coverings of the couch above mentioned were of various kinds of silk, the richness of which would surprise every beholder; and i looked at them with wonder. in this apartment i likewise observed some lighted candles, and reflected that there must then have been some person there to light them. i passed thence to another part of the palace, and continued to explore the different apartments, forgetting myself in the amazement of my mind at all these strange circumstances, and immersed in thoughts respecting what i beheld, until the commencement of night, when i would have departed; but could not find the door: so i returned to the place in which were the lighted candles, and there i laid myself upon the couch, and, covering myself with a quilt, repeated some words of the ?ur-án, and endeavoured to compose myself to sleep; but i could not. i continued restless: and at midnight i heard a recitation of the ?ur-án, performed by a melodious and soft voice; upon which i arose, and, looking about, saw a closet with an open door, and i entered it, and found that it was an oratory: lighted lamps were suspended in it, and upon a prayer-carpet spread on the floor sat a177 young man of handsome aspect. wondering that he had escaped the fate of the other inhabitants of the city, i saluted him; and he raised his eyes, and returned my salutation: and i then said to him, i conjure thee by the truth of that which thou art reading in the book of god, that thou answer the question which i am about to ask thee:—whereupon he smiled, and replied, do thou first acquaint me with the cause of thine entrance into this place, and then i will answer thy question: so i told him my story, and inquired of him the history of this city. wait a little, said he;—and he closed the ?ur-án, and, having put it in a bag of satin, seated me by his side. as i now beheld him, his countenance appeared like the full moon, and his whole person exhibited such perfect elegance and loveliness, that a single glance at him drew from me a thousand sighs, and kindled a fire in my heart. i repeated my request that he would give me an account of the city; and, replying, i hear and obey, he thus addressed me:—

the prince in the oratory

know that this city belonged to my father and his family and subjects; and he is the king whom thou hast seen converted into178 stone; and the queen whom thou hast seen is my mother. they were all magians, worshipping fire in the place of the almighty king;87 and they swore by the fire and the light, and the shade and the heat, and the revolving orb. my father had no son, till, in his declining years, he was blest with me, whom he reared until i attained to manhood. but, happily for me, there was, in our family, an old woman, far advanced in age, who was a muslimeh, believing in god and his apostle in her heart, though she conformed with my family in outward observances; and my father confided in her, on account of the faithfulness and modesty that he had observed in her character, and shewed her great favour, firmly believing that she held the same faith as himself; therefore, when i had passed my infancy, he committed me to her care, saying, take him, and rear him, and instruct him in the ordinances of our faith, and educate him and serve him in the best manner. the old woman accordingly received me, but took care to instruct me in the faith of el-islám, teaching me the laws of purification, and the divine ordinances of ablution, together with the forms of prayer; after which she made me commit to memory the whole of the ?ur-án. she then charged me to keep my faith a secret from my father, lest he should kill me; and i did so; and a few days after, the old woman died. the inhabitants of the city had now increased in their impiety and arrogance, and in their dereliction of the truth; and while they were in this state, they heard a crier proclaim with a voice like thunder, so as to be audible to both the near and the distant, o inhabitants of this city, abstain from the worship of fire, and worship the almighty king!—the people were struck with consternation, and, flocking to my father, the king of the city, said to him, what is this alarming voice which hath astounded us by its terrible sound?—but he answered them, let not the voice terrify you, nor let it turn you from your faith:—and their hearts inclined to his words; so they persevered in the worship of fire, and remained obstinate in their impiety during another year, until the return of the period at which they had heard the voice the first time. it was then heard a second time; and again, in the next year, they heard it a third time; but still they persisted in their evil ways, until, drawing down upon themselves the abhorrence and indignation of heaven, one morning, shortly after daybreak, they were converted into black stones, together with their beasts and all their cattle. not one of the inhabitants of the city escaped, excepting me; and from the day on which this catastrophe happened, i have continued occupied as thou seest, in prayer, and179 fasting, and reading the ?ur-án: but i have become weary of this solitary state, having no one to cheer me with his company.

on hearing these words, i said to him, wilt thou go with me to the city of baghdád, and visit its learned men and lawyers, and increase thy knowledge? if so, i will be thy handmaid, though i am the mistress of my family, and have authority over a household of men. i have here a ship laden with merchandise, and destiny hath driven us to this city, in order that we might become acquainted with these events: our meeting was predestined.—in this manner i continued to persuade him until he gave his consent. i slept that night at his feet, unconscious of my state through excessive joy; and in the morning we rose, and, entering the treasuries, took away a quantity of the lighter and most valuable of the articles that they contained, and descended from the citadel into the city, where we met the slaves and the captain, who were searching for me. they were rejoiced at seeing me, and, to their questions respecting my absence, i replied by informing them of all that i had seen, and related to them the history of the young man, and the cause of the transmutation of the people of the city, and of all that had befallen them, which filled them with wonder. but when my two sisters saw me with the young man, they envied me on his account, and malevolently plotted against me.

we embarked again, and i experienced the utmost happiness, chiefly owing to the company of the young man; and after we had waited a while till the wind was favourable, we spread our sails, and departed. my sisters sat with me and the young man; and, in their conversation with me, said, o our sister, what dost thou purpose to do with this handsome youth? i answered, i desire to take him as my husband:—and, turning to him, and approaching him, i said, o my master, i wish to make a proposal to thee, and do not thou oppose it. he replied, i hear and obey:—and i then looked towards my sisters, and said to them, this young man is all that i desire, and all the wealth that is here is yours.—excellent, they replied, is thy determination:—yet still they designed evil against me.—we continued our voyage with a favourable wind, and, quitting the sea of peril, entered the sea of security, across which we proceeded for some days, until we drew near to the city of el-ba?rah, the buildings of which loomed before us at the approach of evening; but as soon as we had fallen asleep, my sisters took us up in our bed, both myself and the young man, and threw us into the sea. the youth, being unable to swim, was drowned: god recorded him among the company of the180 martyrs;88 while i was registered among those whose life was yet to be preserved; and, accordingly, as soon as i awoke and found myself in the sea, the providence of god supplied me with a piece of timber, upon which i placed myself, and the waves cast me upon the shore of an island.

first lady after killing the serpent

during the remainder of the night i walked along this island, and in the morning i saw a neck of land, bearing the marks of a man's feet, and uniting with the main land. the sun having now risen, i dried my clothes in its rays, and proceeded along the path that i had discovered until i drew near to the shore upon which stands the city, when i beheld a snake approaching me, and followed by a serpent which was endeavouring to destroy it; the tongue of the snake was181 hanging from its mouth in consequence of excessive fatigue, and it excited my compassion; so i took up a stone, and threw it at the head of the serpent, which instantly died: the snake then extended a pair of wings, and soared aloft into the sky, leaving me in wonder at the sight. at the time of this occurrence i had become so fatigued, that i now laid myself down and slept; but i awoke after a little while, and found a damsel seated at my feet, and gently rubbing them with her hands; upon which i immediately sat up, feeling ashamed that she should perform this service for me, and said to her, who art thou, and what dost thou want?—how soon has thou forgotten me! she exclaimed: i am she to whom thou hast just done a kindness, by killing my enemy: i am the snake whom thou savedst from the serpent; for i am a jinneeyeh, and the serpent was a jinnee at enmity with me; and none but thou delivered me from him: therefore, as soon as thou didst this, i flew to the ship from which thy sisters cast thee, and transported all that it contained to thy house: i then sunk it; but as to thy sisters, i transformed them by enchantment into two black bitches; for i knew all that they had done to thee: the young man, however, is drowned.—having thus said, she took me up, and placed me with the two black bitches on the roof of my house: and i found all the treasures that the ship had contained collected in the midst of my house: nothing was lost. she then said to me, i swear by that which was engraved upon the seal of suleymán, that, if thou do not inflict three hundred lashes upon each of these bitches every day, i will come and transform thee in the like manner:—so i replied, i hear and obey:—and have continued ever since to inflict upon them these stripes, though pitying them while i do so.

the khaleefeh heard this story with astonishment, and then said to the second lady, and what occasioned the stripes of which thou bearest the marks? she answered as follows:—

the story of the second of the three ladies of baghdád.

o prince of the faithful, my father, at his death, left considerable property; and soon after that event i married to one of the wealthiest men of the age, who, when i had lived with him a year, died, and i182 inherited from him eighty thousand pieces of gold, the portion that fell to me according to the law;89 with part of which i made for myself ten suits of clothing, each of the value of a thousand pieces of gold. and as i was sitting one day, there entered my apartment an old woman, disgustingly ugly, who saluted me, and said, i have an orphan daughter whose marriage i am to celebrate this night, and i would have thee obtain a reward and recompense in heaven by thy being present at her nuptial festivity; for she is broken-hearted, having none to befriend her but god, whose name be exalted. she then wept, and kissed my feet; and, being moved with pity and compassion, i assented, upon which she desired me to prepare myself, telling me that she would come at the hour of nightfall and take me; and so saying, she kissed my hand, and departed.

i arose immediately, and attired myself, and when i had completed my preparations, the old woman returned, saying, o my mistress, the ladies of the city have arrived, and i have informed them of thy coming, and they are waiting with joy to receive thee:—so i put on my outer garments, and, taking my female slaves with me, proceeded until we arrived at a street in which a soft wind was delightfully playing, where we saw a gateway over-arched with a marble vault, admirably constructed, forming the entrance to a palace which rose from the earth to the clouds.90 on our arrival there, the old woman knocked at the door, and, when it was opened, we entered a carpeted passage, illuminated by lamps and candles, and decorated with jewels and precious metals.91 through this passage we passed into a saloon of unequalled magnificence, furnished with mattresses covered with silk, lighted by hanging lamps and by candles, and having, at its upper end, a couch of alabaster decorated with pearls and jewels, and canopied by curtains of satin, from which there came forth a lady beautiful as the moon, who exclaimed to me, most welcome art thou, o my sister: thou delightest me by thy company, and refreshest my heart. she then sat down again, and said to me, o my sister, i have a brother who hath seen thee at a festivity: he is a young man, more handsome than myself, and, his heart being violently inflamed with love of thee, he hath bribed this old woman to go to thee, and to employ this artifice in order to obtain for me an interview with thee. he desireth to marry thee according to the ordinance of god and his apostle, and in that which is lawful there is no disgrace.—when i heard these words, and saw myself thus confined in the house so that i could not escape, i replied, i hear and obey:—and the lady, re183joicing at my consent, clapped her hands, and opened a door, upon which there came out from it a young man so surpassingly handsome, that my heart immediately inclined to him. no sooner had he sat down than the ?á?ee and four witnesses entered, and saluted us, and proceeded to perform the ceremony of the marriage-contract92 between me and the young man; which having done, they departed; and when they had retired, the young man looked towards me, and said, may our night be blessed. he then informed me that he desired to impose a covenant upon me, and, bringing a copy of the ?ur-án, said, swear that thou wilt not indulge a preference, nor at all incline, to any man but me:—and when i had sworn to this effect, he rejoiced exceedingly, and embraced me; and the love of him took entire possession of my heart.

we lived together in the utmost happiness for the space of a month, after which i begged that he would allow me to go to the bázár, in order to purchase some stuffs for dress, and, having obtained his permission, went thither in company with the old woman, and seated myself at the shop of a young merchant with whom she was acquainted, and whose father, as she informed me, had died and left him great wealth. she desired him to shew me his most costly stuffs; and while he was occupied in doing so, she began to utter various flattering expressions in praise of him; but i said to her, we have no concern with the praises that thou bestowest upon him; we desire only to make our purchase, and to return home. meanwhile he produced to us what we wanted, and we handed him the money: he refused, however, to take it, saying, it is an offering of hospitality to you for your visit this day:—whereupon i said to the old woman, if he will not take the money, return to him his stuff. but he would not receive it again, and exclaimed, by allah, i will take nothing from you: all this is a present from me for a single kiss, which i shall value more than the entire contents of my shop.—what will a kiss profit thee? asked the old woman. then, turning to me, she said, o my daughter, thou hast heard what the youth hath said: no harm will befall thee if he give thee a kiss, and thou shalt take what thou wantest.—dost thou not know, said i, that i have taken an oath? she answered, let him kiss thee then without thy speaking, and so it will be of no consequence to thee, and thou shalt take back thy money. thus she continued to palliate the matter until i put my head (as it were) into the bag, and consented: so i covered my eyes, and held the edge of my veil in such a manner as to prevent the pas184sengers from seeing me, whereupon he put his mouth to my cheek beneath the veil, but instead of merely kissing me, he lacerated my cheek by a violent bite. i fell into a swoon from the pain, and the old woman laid me on her lap till i recovered, when i found the shop closed, and the old woman uttering expressions of grief, and saying, what god hath averted would have been a greater calamity; let us return home, and do thou feign to be ill, and i will come to thee and apply a remedy that shall cure the wound, and thou wilt quickly be restored.

bázár, or market-street

after remaining there some time longer, i rose, and, in a state of great uneasiness and fear, returned to the house, and professed myself ill, upon which my husband came in to me, and said, what hath185 befallen thee, o my mistress, during this excursion? i answered, i am not well.—and what is this wound, said he, that is upon thy cheek, and in the soft part? i answered, when i asked thy permission, and went out to-day to purchase some stuff for dress, a camel loaded with firewood drove against me in the crowd, and tore my veil, and wounded my cheek as thou seest, for the streets of this city are narrow.93—to-morrow, then, he exclaimed, i will go to the governor, and make a complaint to him, and he shall hang every seller of firewood in the city.—by allah, said i, burden not thyself by an injury to any one; for the truth is, that i was riding upon an ass, which took fright with me, and i fell upon the ground, and a stick lacerated my cheek.—if it be so, then, he replied, i will go to-morrow to ja?far el-barmekee, and relate the matter to him, and he shall kill every ass-driver in this city.—wilt thou, said i, kill all those men on my account, when this which befell me was decreed by god?—undoubtedly, he answered; and, so saying, he seized me violently, and then sprang up, and uttered a loud cry, upon which the door opened, and there came forth from it seven black slaves, who dragged me from my bed, and threw me down in the middle of the apartment; whereupon he ordered one of them to hold me by my shoulders and to sit upon my head; and another, to sit upon my knees and to hold my feet. a third then came, with a sword in his hand, and said, o my lord, shall i strike her with the sword, and cleave her in twain, that each of these may take a half and throw it into the tigris for the fish to devour?94 for such is the punishment of her who is unfaithful to her oath and to the laws of love.—my husband answered, strike her, o sa?d:95—and the slave, with the drawn sword in his hand, said, repeat the profession of the faith, and reflect what thou wouldst have to be done, that thou mayest give thy testamentary directions, for this is the end of thy life.—good slave, i replied, release me for a while that i may do so:—and i raised my head, and, weeping as i spoke, addressed my husband with these verses:—

you render me lovelorn, and remain at ease. you make my wounded eyelid to be restless, and you sleep.

your abode is between my heart and my eyes; and my heart will not relinquish you, nor my tears conceal my passion.

you made a covenant with me that you would remain faithful; but when you had gained possession of my heart you deceived me.

will you not pity my love for you and my moaning? have you yourself been secure from misfortunes?

186

i conjure you, by allah, if i die, that you write upon my tombstone, this was a slave of love.

that, perchance, some mourner who hath felt the same flame may pass by the lover's grave, and pity her.96

but on hearing these verses, and witnessing my weeping, he became more incensed, and replied in the words of this couplet:—

i reject not the beloved of my heart from weariness: her own guilty conduct is the cause of her punishment.

she desired that another should share with me her love; but the faith of my heart inclineth not to partnership.97

old woman interceding for the second lady

i continued to weep, and to endeavour to excite his compassion, saying within myself, i will humble me before him, and address him with soft words, that he may at least refrain from killing me, though he take all that i possess;—but he cried out to the slave, cleave her in twain; for she is no longer of any value to us.—so the slave approached me, and i now felt assured of my death, and committed myself to god; but suddenly the old woman came and threw herself at my husband's feet, and, kissing them, exclaimed, o my son, by the187 care with which i nursed thee, i conjure thee to pardon this damsel, for she hath committed no offence that deserveth such a punishment: thou art young, and i fear the effect of the imprecations that she may utter against thee:—and after she had thus addressed him, she wept, and continued to importune him, until, at length, he said, i pardon her, but must cause her to bear upon her person such marks of her offence as shall last for the remainder of her life. so saying, he commanded the slaves to strip off my vest, and, taking a stick cut from a quince-tree, he beat me upon my back and my sides until i became insensible from the violence of the blows, and despaired of my life. he then ordered the slaves to take me away as soon as it was night, accompanied by the old woman, and to throw me into my house in which i formerly resided. they accordingly executed their lord's commands, and when they had deposited me in my house, i applied myself to the healing of my wounds; but, after i had cured myself, my sides still bore the appearance of having been beaten with mi?ra'ahs. i continued to apply remedies for four months before i was restored, and then repaired to view the house in which this event had happened; but i found it reduced to ruin, and the whole street pulled down; the site of the house i found occupied by mounds of rubbish, and i knew not the cause.

under these circumstances, i went to reside with this my sister, who is of the same father as myself, and i found with her these two bitches. having saluted her, i informed her of all that had befallen me; to which she replied, who is secure from the afflictions of fortune? praise be to god who terminated the affair with safety to thy life!—she then related to me her own story, and that of her two sisters, and i remained with her, and neither of us ever mentioned the subject of marriage. afterwards we were joined by this our other sister, the cateress, who every day goes out to purchase for us whatever we happen to want.

conclusion of the story of the ladies of baghdád, &c.

the kaleefeh was astonished at this story, and ordered it to be recorded in a book, as an authentic history, and deposited the book in his library. and he said to the first lady, knowest thou where the jinneeyeh98 who enchanted thy sisters is to be found? she answered, o prince of the faithful, she gave me a lock of her hair, and said, when thou desirest my presence, burn a few of these hairs, and i will188 be with thee quickly, though i should be beyond mount ?áf.—bring then the hair, said the khaleefeh. the lady, therefore, produced it; and the khaleefeh, taking it, burned a portion of it, and, when the odour had diffused itself, the palace shook, and they heard a sound of thunder, and lo, the jinneeyeh appeared before them. she was a muslimeh, and therefore greeted the khaleefeh by saying, peace be on thee, o khaleefeh of god!—to which he replied, on you be peace, and the mercy of god, and his blessings!99—she then said, know that this lady hath conferred on me a benefit for which i am unable to requite her; for she rescued me from death, by killing my enemy; and i, having seen what her sisters had done to her, determined to take vengeance upon them; therefore i transformed them by enchantment into two bitches; and, indeed, i had wished rather to kill them, fearing lest they should trouble her; but now, if thou desire their restoration, o prince of the faithful, i will restore them, as a favour to thee and to her; for i am one of the true believers.—do so, said the khaleefeh; and then we will enter upon the consideration of the affair of the lady who hath been beaten, and examine her case, and if her veracity be established, i will take vengeance for her upon him who hath oppressed her. the jinneeyeh replied, o prince of the faithful, i will guide thee to the discovery of him who acted thus to this lady, and oppressed her, and took her property: he is thy nearest relation. she then took a cup of water, and, having pronounced a spell over it, sprinkled the faces of the two bitches, saying, be restored to your original human forms!—whereupon they became again two young ladies.—extolled be the perfection of their creator!100 having done this, the jinneeyeh said, o prince of the faithful, he who beat the lady is thy son el-emeen, who had heard of her beauty and loveliness:—and she proceeded to relate what had happened. the khaleefeh was astonished, and exclaimed, praise be to god for the restoration of these two bitches which hath been effected through my means!—and immediately he summoned before him his son el-emeen, and inquired of him the history of the lady; and he related to him the truth. he then sent for ?á?ees and witnesses, and the first lady and her two sisters who had been transformed into bitches he married to the three mendicants who had related that they were the sons of kings; and these he made chamberlains of his court, appointing them all that they required, and allotting them apartments in the palace of baghdád. the lady who had been beaten he restored to his son el-emeen, giving her a large property, and ordering that the house should be189 rebuilt in a more handsome style. lastly, the lady-cateress he took as his own wife; he admitted her at once to his own apartment, and, on the following day, he appointed her a separate lodging for herself, with female slaves to wait upon her: he also allotted to her a regular income; and afterwards built for her a palace.

palace

190

head-piece to notes to chapter iii.--the porter

notes to chapter third.

note 1.—on the uses of palm-sticks in various manufactures. the kind of crate here mentioned is made of jereeds, or palm-sticks, which (being very soft, and easily cut and punched, in their fresh state, and very tough, difficult to break, and light, when dry,) are used in a great variety of manufactures. in making crates or baskets, and stools, bed-frames, coops, &c., a number of jereeds, being placed an inch or more apart, are fixed by two, three, or more, thicker ones, placed transversely. round holes are punched in the latter, through which the former are inserted; and the whole becomes light and strong as soon as it is dry. chests are made with thick jereeds placed close together, and others, pared thin, passing transversely through them.

note 2.—description of the veils of arab women. the modern izár or eezár (for the word is written in two different ways), of arab women, is a piece of drapery commonly worn by them when they appear in public. it is about two yards or more in width (according to the height of the wearer), and three yards in length: one edge of it being drawn from behind, over the upper part of the head and the forehead, and secured by a band sewed inside, the rest hangs down behind and on each side to the ground, or nearly so, and almost entirely envelops the person; the two ends being held so as nearly to meet in front. thus it conceals every other part of the dress excepting a small portion of a very loose gown (which is another of the articles of walking or riding apparel), and the face-veil. it is now generally made of white calico, but a similar covering of black silk for the married, and of white silk for the unmarried, is now worn by females of the higher and middle classes, and is called a "?abarah."

it appears that the kind of face-veil mentioned in the same passage (in arabic, "?iná?,") is a piece of muslin, about a yard or more in length, and somewhat less in width, a portion of which is placed over the head, beneath the izár, the rest hanging down in front, to the waist, or thereabout, and entirely concealing the face. i have often seen arab women, particularly those of the wahhábees, wearing veils of this kind composed of printed muslin, completely concealing their features, yet of sufficiently loose fabric to admit of their seeing their way. but the more common kind of arab face-veil is a long strip of white muslin, or of a kind of black crape, covering the whole of the face excepting the eyes, and reaching nearly to the feet. it is suspended at the top by a narrow band, which passes up the forehead, and which is sewed, as are also the two upper corners of the veil, to a band that is tied round the head. this veil is called "bur?o'." the black kind is often ornamented with gold coins, false pearls, &c., attached to the upper part. it is not so genteel as the white veil, unless for a lady in mourning.191

note 3. "el-mó?il" is the name of the city which europeans commonly call "mosul," "mosoul," &c.; a city long famous for its fine stuffs. hence our word "muslin," often termed, in arabic, "mó?ilee," signifying, "of the manufacture of el-mó?il."

note 4. the wine is mentioned in the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, but not in the edition of cairo. the lady went to a christian to purchase her wine because muslims are not allowed to sell it.

note 5. the "'othmánee quinces" i suppose to be a kind so called after some person named 'othmán who introduced it, or was famous for its culture. the term "sul?ánee," applied to the citrons afterwards mentioned, signifies "imperial."

note 6. a list of these sweets is given in my original, but i have thought it better to omit the names.

note 7. the "willow-flower-water" is prepared from the sweet-scented flowers of the oriental willow, called "bán" and "khiláf" or "khaláf;" a twig of which is, among the arabs, a favourite emblem of a graceful female.

note 8.—on the vessels used for sprinkling and perfuming. the sprinkling-bottle, here called "mirashsh," is more commonly called "?um?um," and has been alluded to in a former note, as having a spherical or wide body, and a long and narrow neck. it is generally about eight inches high, and of plain or gilt silver, or of fine brass, or china, or glass; and has a cover pierced with a small hole. this vessel is used in the houses of the rich to sprinkle a guest or visiter, before he rises to take his leave, with rose-water; after which ceremony, a page or servant presents to him a kind of censer, called "mibkharah," which is generally of one or other of the metals above mentioned, and about the same height as the ?um?um; and he wafts the smoke which rises from it towards his face, beard, &c., with the right hand. the body of the mibkharah, the form of which is nearly globular, surmounts a stem rising from the centre of a small circular tray; the upper half is a cover pierced with apertures for the escape of the smoke; and the lower half, in which some burning charcoal is placed, is lined, or half filled, with gypsum-plaster. aloes-wood, previously moistened, or some other odoriferous substance, is placed upon the burning coals; and sometimes, in the houses of very wealthy persons, ambergris is used.

note 9. this description of the outer door of a house in baghdád is an obvious absurdity; but none of the copies of the original to which i have access authorizes my substituting "gilt" for "plated with gold;" all here agreeing in the use of words which have the latter sense.

note 10. in their eagerness to obtain the earliest possible sight of the new moon which marks the period of the commencement of the rama?án, lest they should not begin their fast as soon as the law requires, the muslims often see the crescent one night earlier in this than in any other month. the comparison of an eyebrow to the new moon of rama?án expresses, therefore, its extreme thinness, as well as its arched form. to reduce its natural thickness, and to give it this form, scissors are often used.

note 11. "the seal of suleymán" is a name given by the arabs to a six-pointed star formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting each other, and to the flower which we, also, call "solomon's seal." i fear that the reader will not consider the comparison very apposite, unless the allusion be to a beautiful red berry which, i am informed, is borne by the flower here mentioned.

note 12.—description of apartments in arab houses. most of the descriptions of interior domestic architecture which occur in the present work, i may aptly illustrate by availing myself of observations made in cairo. in the houses of persons of the higher and middle classes in this city, the different apartments generally resemble each other in several respects, and are similarly furnished. the greater portion of the floor192 is elevated about half a foot, or somewhat more, above the rest. the higher portion is called "leewán" (a corruption of "el-eewán"), and the lower, "dur?á'ah," from the persian "dar-gáh." when there is but one leewán, the dur?á'ah occupies the lower end, extending from the door to the opposite wall. in a handsome house, it is usually paved with white and black marble, and little pieces of red tile, inlaid in tasteful and complicated patterns; and if the room is on the ground-floor, and sometimes in other cases, it has, in the centre, a fountain which plays into a small, shallow pool, lined with coloured marbles, &c., like the surrounding pavement. the shoes, or slippers, are left upon the dur?á'ah previously to stepping upon the leewán. the latter is generally paved with common stone, and covered with a mat in summer, and a carpet over this in winter; and a mattress and cushions are placed against each of its three walls, composing what is called a "deewán," or divan. the mattress, which is commonly about three feet wide, and three or four inches thick, is placed either on the floor or on a raised frame or a slightly-elevated pavement; and the cushions, which are usually of a length equal to the width of the mattress, and of a height equal to half that measure, lean against the wall. both mattresses and cushions are stuffed with cotton, and are covered with printed calico, cloth, or some more expensive stuff. the deewán which extends along the upper end of the leewán is called the "?adr," and is the most honourable: and the chief place on this seat is the corner which is to the right of a person facing this end of the room; the other corner is the next in point of honour; and the intermediate places on the same deewán are more honourable than those on the two side-deewáns. to a superior, and often to an equal, the master or mistress yields the chief place. the corners are often furnished with an additional mattress, of a square form, just large enough for one person, placed upon the other mattress, and with two additional (but smaller) cushions to recline against. the walls are, for the most part, plastered and white-washed, and generally have two or more shallow cupboards, the doors of which, as well as those of the apartments, are fancifully constructed with small panels. the windows, which are chiefly composed of curious wooden lattice-work, serving to screen the inhabitants from the view of persons without, as also to admit both light and air, commonly project outwards, and are furnished with mattresses and cushions. in many houses there are, above these, small windows of coloured glass, representing bunches of flowers, &c. the ceiling is of wood, and certain portions of it, which are carved, or otherwise ornamented by fanciful carpentry, are usually painted with bright colours, such as red, green, and blue, and sometimes varied with gilding; but the greater part of the wood-work is generally left unpainted.

the word in the original text which i translate "saloon," is "?á'ah." this term is applied to a large and lofty apartment, commonly having two leewáns, on opposite sides of the dur?á'ah. one of these is, in most instances, larger than the other, and is held to be the more honourable part. some ?á'ahs, containing three leewáns, one of these being opposite the entrance, or four leewáns composing the form of a cross with the dur?á'ah in the centre, communicate with small chambers or closets, or have elevated recesses which are furnished in the same manner as the leewáns. that part of the roof which is over the dur?á'ah rises above the rest, sometimes to nearly twice the height of the latter, and is generally surmounted by a lantern of wooden lattice-work to admit the air.

note 13. in the cairo edition, the couch is described as being in the midst of the saloon; but this is inconsistent with what follows.

note 14.—of bábil, and the angels hároot and mároot. bábil, or babel, is regarded by the muslims as the fountain-head of the science of magic, which was, and, as most think, still is, taught there to mankind by two fallen angels, named hároot and mároot,175 who are there suspended by the feet in a great pit closed by a mass of rock.

according to the account of them generally received as correct, these two angels, in consequence of their want of compassion for the frailties of mankind, were rendered, by god, susceptible of human passions, and sent down upon the earth to be tempted: they both sinned; and, being permitted to choose whether they would be punished in this life or in the other, chose the former; but they were sent down not merely to experience temptation, being also appointed to tempt others by means of their knowledge of magic; though it appears that they were commanded not to teach this art to any man "until they had said, verily we are a temptation; therefore, be not an unbeliever."176-–the celebrated traditionist mujáhid is related to have visited them, under the guidance of a jew. having removed the mass of rock from the mouth of the pit, or well, they entered. mujáhid had been previously charged by the jew not to mention the name of god in their presence; but when he beheld them, resembling in size two huge mountains, and suspended upside-down, with irons attached to their necks and knees, he could not refrain from uttering the forbidden name; whereupon the two angels became so violently agitated that they almost broke the irons which confined them, and mujáhid and his guide fled back in consternation.177

note 15. the meaning conveyed by this comparison is "tall and slender."

note 16. in the ms. from which the old translation was made, it appears that this lady is called zubeydeh (which was the name of the daughter of ja?far the son of el-man?oor, and wife of er-rasheed); the portress, ?áfiyeh; and the cateress, ámineh; but no names are given to them in any of the copies of the original to which i have access.

note 17. literally, "two nu?fs." "nu?f," vulgarly pronounced by the egyptians "nu??," and signifying "half," is the name of a small egyptian coin made of a mixture of silver and copper, and now equivalent to something less than a quarter of a farthing; but this name was originally given to the half-dirhems which were struck in the reign of the sul?án el-mu-eiyad, in the early part of the ninth century of the flight, or of the fifteenth of our era. in the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, and in the edition of breslau, we read here "two dirhems," instead of "two nu?fs." [the coin here mentioned still bears the name "mu-eiyadee," or, vulgarly, "meiyadee." in the latest coinage, copper has been substituted for the mixed metal. ed.]

note 18. the "menáreh" is the tower of a mosque, commonly called by english writers "minaret," which generally rises from a square base.

note 19. it is a common custom in the east to seal the doors of store-houses with a lump of clay, lest the lock should be picked.

note 20. i here deviate a little from the cairo edition, in which the cateress is described as having drunk three cups of wine successively before she handed any to her sisters. my reason for this will presently be seen.

note 21. thus in two editions. in the cairo edition, "tukellimuhu" is put for "telkumuhu."

note 22. on wine, fruits, flowers, and music, in illustration of arab carousals. i here pass over an extremely objectionable scene, which, it is to be hoped, would convey a very erroneous idea of the manners of arab ladies; though i have witnessed, at private festivities in cairo, abominable scenes, of which ladies, screened behind lattices, were spectators. can the same be said with respect to the previous carousal? this is a question which cannot be answered in a few words.

the prohibition of wine, or, rather, of fermented and intoxicating liquors, being one 194of the most remarkable and important points of the mohammadan religion, it might be imagined that the frequent stories in this work, describing parties of muslims as habitually indulging in the use of forbidden beverages, are scandalous misrepresentations of arab manners and customs. there are, however, many similar anecdotes interspersed in the works of arab historians, which (though many of them are probably untrue in their application to particular individuals) could not have been offered to the public by such writers if they were not of a nature consistent with the customs of a considerable class of the arab nation.

in investigating this subject, it is necessary, in the first place, to state, that there is a kind of wine which muslims are permitted to drink. it is properly called "nebeedh" (a name which is now given to prohibited kinds of wine), and is generally prepared by putting dry grapes, or dry dates, in water, to extract their sweetness, and suffering the liquor to ferment slightly, until it acquires a little sharpness or pungency. the prophet himself was in the habit of drinking wine of this kind, which was prepared for him in the first part of the night; he drank it on the first and second days following; but if any remained on the morning of the third day, he either gave it to his servants or ordered it to be poured out upon the ground.178 such beverages have, therefore, been drunk by the strictest of his followers; and ibn-khaldoon strongly argues that nebeedh thus prepared from dates was the kind of wine used by the khaleefehs hároon er-rasheed and el-ma-moon, and several other eminent men, who have been commonly accused of habitually and publicly indulging in debauches of wine properly so called; that is, of inebriating liquors.179

nebeedh, prepared from raisins, is commonly sold in arab towns, under the name of "zebeeb," which signifies "raisins." this i have often drunk in cairo; but never could perceive that it was in the slightest degree fermented. other beverages, to which the name of "nebeedh" has been applied (though, like zebeeb, no longer called by that name), are also sold in arab towns. the most common of these is an infusion of licorice, and called by the name of the root, "'er?-soos." the nebeedh of dates is sold in cairo with the dates themselves in the liquor; and in like manner is that of figs. under the same appellation of "nebeedh" have been classed the different kinds of beer now commonly called "boozeh," which have been mentioned in former pages. opium, hemp, &c., are now more frequently used by the muslims to induce intoxication or exhilaration. the young leaves of the hemp are generally used alone, or mixed with tobacco, for smoking; and the capsules, without the seeds, enter into the composition of several intoxicating conserves. some remarks upon this subject have been inserted in a former note.

by my own experience i am but little qualified to pronounce an opinion respecting the prevalence of drinking wine among the arabs; for, never drinking it myself, i had little opportunity of observing others do so during my residence among muslims. i judge, therefore, from the conversations and writings of arabs, which justify me in asserting that the practice of drinking wine in private, and by select parties, is far from being uncommon among modern muslims, though certainly more so than it was before the introduction of tobacco into the east, in the beginning of the seventeenth century of our era; for this herb, being in a slight degree exhilarating, and at the same time soothing, and unattended by the injurious effects that result from wine, is a sufficient luxury to many who, without it, would have recourse to intoxicating beverages merely to pass away hours of idleness. the use of coffee, too, which became common in egypt, syria, and other countries, besides arabia, a century earlier than tobacco, doubtless tended to render the habit of drinking wine less general. that it was adopted as a substitute for wine appears even from its name, "?ahweh," an old arabic term for wine; whence the turkish "?ahveh," the italian "caffe," and our "coffee."

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there is an arabic work of some celebrity, and not of small extent, entitled "?albet el-kumeyt,"180 apparently written shortly before the arabs were in possession of the first of the above-mentioned substitutes for wine, nearly the whole of which consists of anecdotes and verses relating to the pleasures resulting from, or attendant upon, the use of wine; a few pages at the end being devoted to the condemnation of this practice, or, in other words, to prove the worthlessness of all that precedes. of this work i possess a copy, a quarto volume of 464 pages. i have endeavoured to skim its cream; but found it impossible to do so without collecting, at the same time, a considerable quantity of most filthy scum; for it is characterised by wit and humour plentifully interlarded with the grossest and most revolting obscenity; yet it serves to confirm what has been above asserted. the mere existence of such a work (and it is not the only one of the kind), written by a man of learning, and i believe a ?á?ee, a judge, or one holding the honourable office of a guardian of religion and morality,181—written, too, evidently with pleasure, notwithstanding his assertion to the contrary,—is a strong argument in favour of the prevalence of the practice which it paints in the most fascinating colours, and then condemns. its author terminates a chapter (the ninth), in which many well-known persons are mentioned as having been addicted to wine, by saying, that the khaleefehs, emeers, and wezeers, so addicted, are too numerous to name in such a work; and by relating a story of a man who placed his own wife in pledge in the hands of a wine-merchant, after having expended in the purchase of the forbidden liquor all the property that he possessed. he excuses himself (in his preface) for writing this book, by saying that he had been ordered to do so by one whom he could not disobey; thus giving us a pretty strong proof that a great man in his time was not ashamed of avowing his fondness for the prohibited enjoyment. if, then, we admit the respectable authority of ibn-khaldoon, and acquit of the vice of drunkenness those illustrious individuals whose characters he vindicates, we must still regard most of the anecdotes relating to the carousals of other persons as being not without foundation.

one of my friends, who enjoys a high reputation, ranking among the most distinguished of the 'ulamà of cairo, is well known to his intimate acquaintances as frequently indulging in the use of forbidden beverages with a few select associates. i disturbed him and his companions by an evening visit on one of these occasions, and was kept waiting within the street-door while the guests quickly removed everything that would give me any indication of the manner in which they had been employed; for the announcement of my (assumed) name, and their knowledge of my abstemious character, completely disconcerted them. i found them, however, in the best humour. they had contrived, it appeared, to fill with wine a china bottle, of the kind used at that season (winter) for water; and when any one of them asked the servant for water, this bottle was brought to him; but when i made the same demand, my host told me that there was a bottle of water on the sill of the window behind that part of the deewán upon which i was seated. the evening passed away very pleasantly, and i should not have known how unwelcome was my intrusion had not one of the guests with whom i was intimately acquainted, in walking part of the way home with me, explained to me the whole occurrence. there was with us a third person, who, thinking that my antipathy to wine was feigned, asked me to stop at his house on my way, and take a cup of "white coffee," by which he meant brandy.

another of my muslim acquaintances in cairo i frequently met at the house of a mutual friend, where, though he was in most respects very bigoted, he was in the habit of indulging in wine. for some time he refrained from this gratification when i was 196 present; but at length my presence became so irksome to him, that he ventured to enter into an argument with me on the subject of the prohibition. the only answer i could give to his question, "why is wine forbidden?"—was in the words of the ?ur-án, "because it is the source of more evil than profit."182 this suited his purpose, as i intended it should; and he asked, "what evil results from it?" i answered, "intoxication and quarrels, &c."—"then," said he, "if a man take not enough to intoxicate him there is no harm;"—and finding that i acquiesced by silence, he added, "i am in the habit of taking a little; but never enough to intoxicate. boy, bring me a glass."—he was the only muslim, however, whom i have heard to argue against the absolute interdiction of inebriating liquors.

histories tell us that some of the early followers of the prophet indulged in wine, holding the text above referred to as indecisive; and that mo?ammad was at first doubtful upon this subject appears from another text, in which his followers were told not to come to prayer when they were drunk, until they should know what they would say;183 an injunction somewhat similar to one in the bible;184 but when frequent and severe contentions resulted from their use of wine, the following more decided condemnation of the practice was pronounced:—"o ye who have become believers, verily wine and lots and images and divining-arrows are an abomination of the work of the devil; therefore, avoid them, that ye may prosper."185 this law is absolute: its violation in the smallest degree is criminal. the punishment ordained by the law for drinking (or, according to most doctors, for even tasting) wine or spirits, or inducing intoxication by any other means, on ordinary occasions, is the infliction of eighty stripes in the case of a free man, and forty in that of a slave; but if the crime be openly committed in the course of any day of the month of rama?án, when others are fasting, the punishment prescribed is death!

the prohibition of wine hindered many of the prophet's contemporaries from embracing his religion. it is said that the famous poet el-a?shà, who was one of them, delayed to join his cause on this account, until death prevented him. a person passing by his tomb (at menfoo?áh, in el-yemámeh), and observing that it was moist, asked the reason, and was answered, that the young men of the place, considering him still as their cup-companion, drank wine over his grave, and poured his cup upon it.186 yet many of the most respectable of the pagan arabs, like certain of the jews and early christians, abstained totally from wine, from a feeling of its injurious effects upon morals, and, in their climate, upon health; or, more especially, from the fear of being led by it into the commission of foolish and degrading actions. thus, ?eys the son of 'á?im, being one night overcome with wine, attempted to grasp the moon, and swore that he would not quit the spot where he stood until he had laid hold of it: after leaping several times with the view of doing so, he fell flat upon his face; and when he recovered his senses, and was acquainted with the cause of his face being bruised, he made a solemn vow to abstain from wine ever after.187 a similar feeling operated upon many muslims more than religious principle. the khaleefeh 'abd-el-melik ibn-marwán took pleasure in the company of a slave named na?eeb, and one day desired him to drink with him. the slave replied, "o prince of the faithful, i am not related to thee, nor have i any authority over thee, and i am of no rank or lineage: i am a black slave, and my wit and politeness have drawn me into thy favour: how then shall i take that which will plunder me of these two qualities; and by what shall i then propitiate thee?" the khaleefeh admired and excused him.188

it was the custom of many muslim princes, as might be inferred from the above anecdote, to admit the meanest of their dependants to participate in their unlawful carousals when they could have no better companions; but poets and musicians were 197 their more common associates on these occasions; and these two classes, and especially the latter, are in the present day the most addicted to intoxicating liquors. few modern arab musicians are so well contented with extraordinary payment and mere sweet sherbet as with a moderate fee and plenty of wine and brandy; and many of them deem even wine but a sorry beverage.

it was usual with the host and guests at wine-parties to wear dresses of bright colours, red, yellow, and green;189 and to perfume their beards and mustaches with civet, or to have rose-water sprinkled upon them; and ambergris or aloes-wood, or some other odoriferous substance, placed upon burning coals in a censer, diffused a delicious fragrance throughout the saloon of the revels.

the wine, it appears, was rather thick; for it was necessary to strain it:190 it was probably sweet, and not strong; for it was drunk in large quantities. frequently, perhaps, it was nebeedh of dry raisins kept longer than the law allows. it was usually kept in a large earthen vessel, called "denn," high, and small at the bottom, which was partly imbedded in the earth to keep it upright. the name of this vessel is now given to a cask of wood; but the kind above mentioned was of earth; for it was easily broken.—a famous saint, abu-l-?oseyn en-nooree, seeing a vessel on the tigris containing thirty denns belonging to the khaleefeh el-mo?ta?id, and being told that they contained wine, took a boat-pole, and broke them all, excepting one. when brought before the khaleefeh to answer for this action, and asked by him, "who made thee mo?tesib?"191 he boldly answered, "he who made thee khaleefeh!"—and was pardoned.192—pitch was used by the arabs, as it was by the greeks and romans, for the purpose of curing their wine; the interior of the denn being coated with it. a smaller kind of earthen jar, or amphora,193 and a bottle of leather,194 or of glass,195 were also used. the wine was transferred for the table to glass jugs, or long-spouted ewers.196 these and the cups were placed upon a round embroidered cloth spread on the floor, or upon a round tray. the latter now is in general use, and is supported on a low stool, described in a former note, as being used at ordinary meals. the guests sat around, reclining against pillars; or they sat upon the deewán, and a page or slave handed the cup, having on his right arm a richly-embroidered napkin: the person after drinking took the end of this to wipe his lips. the cups are often described as holding a fluid pound, or little less than an english pint; and this is to be understood literally, or nearly so: they were commonly of cut glass; but some were of crystal, or silver, or gold.197 with these and the ewers or jugs were placed several saucers, or small dishes,198 of fresh and dried fruits;199 and fans and fly-whisks, of the kinds described on a former occasion, were used by the guests.

the most common and esteemed fruits in the countries inhabited by the arabs may here be mentioned.

the date200 deserves the first place. the prophet's favourite fruits were fresh dates201 and water-melons; and he ate them both together.202 "honour," said he, "your paternal aunt, the date-palm; for she was created of the earth of which adam was formed."203 it is said that god hath given this tree as a peculiar favour to the 198muslims; that he hath decreed all the date-palms in the world to them, and they have accordingly conquered every country in which these trees are found; and all are said to have derived their origin from the hejáz.204 the palm-tree has several well-known properties that render it an emblem of a human being; among which are these; that if the head be cut off, the tree dies; and if a branch be cut off, another does not grow in its place.205 dates are preserved in a moist state by being merely pressed together in a basket or skin, and thus prepared are called "'ajweh." there are many varieties of this fruit. the pith or heart of the palm206 is esteemed for its delicate flavour.

the water-melon,207 from what has been said of it above, ought to be ranked next; and it really merits this distinction. "whoso eateth," said the prophet, "a mouthful of water-melon, god writeth for him a thousand good works, and cancelleth a thousand evil works, and raiseth him a thousand degrees; for it came from paradise;"—and again, "the water-melon is food and drink, acid and alkali, and a support of life," &c.208 the varieties of this fruit are very numerous.

the banana209 is a delicious fruit. the prophet pronounced the banana-tree to be the only thing on earth that resembles a thing in paradise; because it bears fruit both in winter and summer.210

the pomegranate211 is another celebrated fruit. every pomegranate, according to the prophet, contains a fecundating seed from paradise.212

the other most common and esteemed fruits are the following:—the apple, pear, quince, apricot, peach, fig, sycamore-fig, grape, lote, jujube, plum, walnut, almond, hazel-nut, pistachio-nut, orange, seville-orange, lime and lemon, citron, mulberry, olive, and sugar-cane.213

of a selection of these fruits consists the dessert which accompanies the wine; but the table is not complete without a bunch or two of flowers placed in the midst.

though the arabs are far from being remarkable for exhibiting taste in the planning of their gardens, they are passionately fond of flowers, and especially of the rose.214—the khaleefeh el-mutawekkil monopolized roses for his own enjoyment; saying, "i am the king of sul?áns, and the rose is the king of sweet-scented flowers; therefore each of us is most worthy of the other for a companion." the rose, in his time, was seen nowhere but in his palace: during the season of this flower he wore rose-coloured clothes; and his carpets, &c., were sprinkled with rose-water.215 a similar passion for the rose is said to have distinguished a weaver, in the reign of el-ma-moon. he was constantly employed at his loom every day of the year, even during the congregational prayers of friday, excepting in the rose-season, when he abandoned his work, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of wine, early in the morning and late in the evening, loudly proclaiming his revels by singing,—

"the season has become pleasant! the time of the rose has come! take your morning potations, as long as the rose has blossoms and flowers!"

when he resumed his work, he made it known by singing aloud,—

"if my lord prolong my life until the rose-season, i will take again my morning potations: but if i die before it, alas! for the loss of the rose and wine!

"i implore the god of the supreme throne, whose glory be extolled, that my heart may continually enjoy the evening potations to the day of resurrection."

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—the khaleefeh was so amused with the humour of this man, that he granted him an annual pension of ten thousand dirhems to enable him to enjoy himself amply on these occasions.216—another anecdote may be added to shew the estimation of the rose in the mind of an arab. it is said that row? ibn-?átim, the governor of the province of northern africa, was sitting one day, with a female slave, in an apartment of his palace, when a eunuch brought him a jar full of red and white roses, which a man had offered as a present. he ordered the eunuch to fill the jar with silver in return; but his concubine said, "o my lord, thou hast not acted equitably towards the man; for his present to thee is of two colours, red and white." the emeer replied, "thou hast said truly;" and gave orders to fill the jar for him with silver and gold (dirhems and deenárs) intermixed.217—some persons preserve roses during the whole of the year, in the following manner. they take a number of rose-buds, and fill with them a new earthen jar, and, after closing its mouth with mud, so as to render it impervious to the air, bury it in the earth. whenever they want a few roses, they take out some of these buds, which they find unaltered, sprinkle a little water upon them, and leave them for a short time in the air, when they open, and appear as if just gathered.218—the rose is even a subject of miracles. it is related by ibn-?uteybeh, that there grows in india a kind of rose upon the leaves of which is inscribed, "there is no deity but god."219 but i find a more particular account of this miraculous rose. a person, who professed to have seen it, said, "i went into india, and i saw, at one of its towns, a large rose, sweet-scented, upon which was inscribed, in white characters, 'there is no deity but god; mo?ammad is god's apostle: aboo-bekr is the very veracious: 'omar is the discriminator;' and i doubted of this, whether it had been done by art; so i took one of the blossoms not yet opened, and in it was the same inscription; and there were many of the same kind there. the people of that place worshipped stones, and knew not god, to whom be ascribed might and glory."220—roses are announced for sale in the streets of cairo by the cry of "the rose was a thorn: from the sweat of the prophet it blossomed!" in allusion to a miracle recorded of mo?ammad. "when i was taken up into heaven," said the prophet, "some of my sweat fell upon the earth, and from it sprang the rose; and whoever would smell my scent, let him smell the rose." in another tradition it is said, "the white rose was created from my sweat on the night of the me?ráj;221 and the red rose, from the sweat of jebraeel;222 and the yellow rose, from the sweat of el-burá?."223—the persians take especial delight in roses; sometimes spreading them as carpets or beds on which to sit or recline in their revellings.

but there is a flower pronounced more excellent than the rose; that of the egyptian privet, or lawsonia inermis.224 mo?ammad said, "the chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next is the fághiyeh;" and this was his favourite flower.225 i approve of his taste; for this flower, which grows in clusters somewhat like those of the lilac, has a most delicious fragrance. but, on account of discrepancies in different traditions, a muslim may, with a clear conscience, prefer either of the two flowers next mentioned.

the prophet said of the violet,226 "the excellence of the extract of violets, above all other extracts, is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in summer and hot in winter:" and, in another tradition, "the excellence of the violet is as the excellence of el-islám above all other religions."227 a delicious sherbet is made of a conserve of sugar and violet-flowers.

200

the myrtle228 is the rival of the violet. "adam," said the prophet, "fell down from paradise with three things; the myrtle, which is the chief of sweet-scented flowers in this world; an ear of wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of food in this world; and pressed dates, which are the chief of the fruits of this world."229

the anemone230 was monopolized for his own enjoyment by no?mán ibn-el-mundhir (king of el-?eereh, and contemporary of mo?ammad), as the rose was afterwards by el-mutawekkil.231

another flower much admired and celebrated in the east is the gilliflower.232 there are three principal kinds; the most esteemed is the yellow, or golden-coloured, which has a delicious scent both by night and day; the next, the purple, and other dark kinds, which have a scent only in the night; the least esteemed, the white, which has no scent. the yellow gilliflower is an emblem of a neglected lover.233

the narcissus234 is very highly esteemed. galen says, "he who has two cakes of bread, let him dispose of one of them for some flowers of the narcissus; for bread is the food of the body, and the narcissus is the food of the soul." hippocrates, too, gave a similar opinion.235

the following flowers complete the list of those celebrated as most appropriate to add to the delights of wine:—the jasmine, eglantine, seville-orange-flower, lily, sweet-basil, wild thyme, buphthalmum, chamomile, nenuphar, lotus, pomegranate-flower, poppy, ketmia, crocus or saffron, safflower, flax, the blossoms of different kinds of bean, and those of the almond.236

a sprig of oriental willow237 adds much to the charms of a bunch of flowers, being the favourite symbol of a graceful female.

but i have not yet mentioned all that contributes to the pleasures of an eastern carousal. for the juice of the grape is not fully relished without melodious sounds. "wine is as the body; music, as the soul; and joy is their offspring."238 all the five senses should be gratified. for this reason, an arab toper, who had nothing, it appears, but wine to enjoy, exclaimed,—

"ho! give me wine to drink; and tell me, 'this is wine.'"

for, on drinking, his sight and smell and taste and touch would all be affected; but it was desirable that his hearing should also be pleased.239

music was condemned by the prophet almost as severely as wine. "singing and hearing songs," said he, "cause hypocrisy to grow in the heart, like as water promoteth the growth of corn:"240—and musical instruments he declared to be among the most powerful means by which the devil seduces man. an instrument of music is the devil's mu?ddin, serving to call men to his worship, as stated in a former note. of the hypocrisy of those attached to music, the following anecdote presents an instance:—a drunken young man with a lute in his hand was brought one night before the khaleefeh 'abd-el-melik the son of marwán, who, pointing to the instrument, asked what it was, and what was its use. the youth made no answer; so he asked those around him; but they also remained silent, till one, more bold than the rest, said, "o prince of the 201faithful, this is a lute: it is made by taking some wood of the pistachio-tree, and cutting it into thin pieces, and glueing these together, and then attaching over them these chords, which, when a beautiful girl touches them, send forth sounds more pleasant than those of rain falling upon a desert land; and my wife is separated from me by a triple divorce if every one in this council is not acquainted with it, and doth not know it as well as i do, and thou the first of them, o prince of the faithful." the khaleefeh laughed, and ordered that the young man should be discharged.241

the latter saying of the prophet, respecting the devil, suggests to me the insertion of another anecdote, related of himself by ibráheem el-mó?ilee, the father of is-?á?; both of whom were very celebrated musicians. i give a translation of it somewhat abridged.—"i asked er-rasheed," says ibráheem, "to grant me permission to spend a day at home with my female slaves and brothers; and he gave me two thousand deenárs, and appointed the next saturday for this purpose. i caused the meats and wine and other necessaries to be prepared, and ordered the chamberlain to close the door, and admit no one: but while i was sitting, with my attendants standing in the form of a curved line before me, there entered, and approached me, a sheykh, reverend and dignified and comely in appearance, wearing short khuffs,242 and two soft gowns, with a ?alensuweh243 upon his head, and in his hand a silver-headed staff; and sweet odours were diffused from his clothes. i was enraged with the chamberlain for admitting him; but on his saluting me in a very courteous manner, i returned his salutation, and desired him to sit down. he then began to repeat to me stories, tales of war, and poetry; so that my anger was appeased, and it appeared to me that my servants had not presumed to admit him until acquainted with his politeness and courteousness; i therefore said to him, 'hast thou any inclination for meat?' he answered, 'i have no want of it.'—'and the wine?' said i. he replied, 'yes.' so i drank a large cupful, and he did the same, and then said to me, 'o ibráheem, wilt thou let us hear some specimen of thy art in which thou hast excelled the people of thy profession?' i was angry at his words; but i made light of the matter, and, having taken the lute and tuned it, i played and sang; whereupon he said, 'thou hast performed well, o ibráheem.' i became more enraged, and said within myself, 'he is not content with coming hither without permission, and asking me to sing, but he calls me by my name, and proves himself unworthy of my conversation.' he then said, 'wilt thou let us hear more? if so, we will requite thee.' and i took the lute, and sang, using my utmost care, on account of his saying, 'we will requite thee.' he was moved with delight, and said, 'thou hast performed well, o my master ibráheem:'—adding, 'wilt thou permit thy slave to sing?' i answered, 'as thou pleasest:'—but thinking lightly of his sense to sing after me. he took the lute, and tuned it; and, by allah! i imagined that the lute spoke in his hands with an eloquent arab tongue. he proceeded to sing some verses commencing,—

'my heart is wounded! who will give me, for it, a heart without a wound?'

the narrator continues by saying, that he was struck dumb and motionless with ecstasy; and that the strange sheykh, after having played and sung again, and taught him an enchanting air (with which he afterwards enraptured his patron, the khaleefeh), vanished. ibráheem, in alarm, seized his sword; and was the more amazed when he found that the porter had not seen the stranger enter or leave the house; but he heard his voice again, outside, telling him that he was aboo-murrah (the devil).244—two other anecdotes of a similar kind are related in the work from which the above is taken.

ibráheem el-mó?ilee, his son is-?á?, and mukhári? (a pupil of the former), were 202especially celebrated among the arab musicians, and among the distinguished men of the reign of hároon er-rasheed. is-?á? el-mó?ilee relates, of his father ibráheem, that when er-rasheed took him into his service, he gave him a hundred and fifty thousand dirhems, and allotted him a monthly pension of ten thousand dirhems, besides occasional presents [one of which is mentioned as amounting to a hundred thousand dirhems for a single song], and the produce of his (ibráheem's) farms: he had food constantly prepared for him; three sheep every day for his kitchen, besides birds; three thousand dirhems were allowed him for fruits, perfumes, &c., every month, and a thousand dirhems for his clothing; "and with all this," says his son, "he died without leaving more than three thousand deenárs, a sum not equal to his debts, which i paid after his death."245—ibráheem was of persian origin, and of a high family. he was commonly called the nedeem (or cup-companion), being er-rasheed's favourite companion at the wine-table; and his son, who enjoyed the like distinction with el-ma-moon, received the same appellation, as well as that of "son of the nedeem." ibráheem was the most famous musician of his time, at least till his son attained celebrity.246

is-?á? el-mó?ilee was especially famous as a musician; but he was also a good poet, accomplished in general literature, and endowed with great wit. he was honoured above all other persons in the pay of el-ma-moon, and enjoyed a long life; but for many years before his death he was blind.247

mukhári? appears to have rivalled his master ibráheem. the latter, he relates, took him to perform before er-rasheed, who used to have a curtain suspended between him and the musicians. "others," he says, "sang, and he was unmoved; but when i sang, he came forth from behind the curtain, and exclaimed, 'young man, hither!' and he seated me upon the sereer [a kind of couch], and gave me thirty thousand dirhems."248 the following anecdote (which i abridge a little in translation) shews his excellence in the art which he professed, and the effect of melody on an arab:—"after drinking with the khaleefeh249 a whole night, i asked his permission," says he, "to take the air in the ru?áfeh,250 which he granted; and while i was walking there, i saw a damsel who appeared as if the rising sun beamed from her face. she had a basket, and i followed her. she stopped at a fruiterer's, and bought some fruit; and observing that i was following her, she looked back and abused me several times; but still i followed her until she arrived at a great door, after having filled her basket with fruits and flowers and similar things. when she had entered, and the door was closed behind her, i sat down opposite to it, deprived of my reason by her beauty; and knew that there must be in the house a wine-party. the sun went down upon me while i sat there; and at length there came two handsome young men on asses, and they knocked at the door, and when they were admitted i entered with them; the master of the house thinking that i was their companion, and they imagining that i was one of his friends. a repast was brought, and we ate, and washed our hands, and were perfumed. the master of the house then said to the two young men, 'have ye any desire that i should call such a one?' (mentioning a female name). they answered, 'if thou wilt grant us the favour, well:'—so he called for her, and she came, and lo, she was the maiden whom i had seen before, and who had abused me. a servant-maid preceded her, bearing her lute, which she placed in her lap. wine was then brought, and she sang while we drank, and shook with delight. 'whose air is that?' they asked. she answered, 'seedee251 mukhári?'s.' she then sang another air, which, also, 203she said was mine; while they drank by pints; she looking aside and doubtfully at me until i lost my patience, and called out to her to do her best: but in attempting to do so, singing a third air, she overstrained her voice, and i said, 'thou hast made a mistake:'—upon which she threw the lute from her lap, in anger, so that she nearly broke it; saying, 'take it thyself, and let us hear thee.' i answered, 'well;' and, having taken it and tuned it perfectly, sang the first of the airs which she had sung before me; whereupon all of them sprang upon their feet, and kissed my head. i then sang the second air, and the third; and their reason almost fled, from ecstasy. the master of the house, after asking his guests, and being told by them that they knew me not, came to me, and, kissing my hand, said, 'by allah, my master, who art thou?' i answered, 'by allah, i am the singer mukhári?.'—'and for what purpose,' said he, kissing both my hands, 'camest thou hither?' i replied, 'as a spunger;'—and related what had happened with respect to the maiden: whereupon he looked towards his two companions, and said to them, 'tell me, by allah, do ye not know that i gave for that girl thirty thousand dirhems, and have refused to sell her?' they answered, 'it is so.' then said he, 'i take you as witnesses that i have given her to him.'—'and we,' said the two friends, 'will pay thee two-thirds of her price.' so he put me in possession of the girl, and in the evening, when i departed, he presented me also with rich dresses and other gifts, with all of which i went away; and as i passed the places where the maiden had abused me, i said to her, 'repeat thy words to me;' but she could not, for shame. holding the girl's hand, i went with her immediately to the khaleefeh, whom i found in anger at my long absence; but when i related my story to him he was surprised, and laughed, and ordered that the master of the house and his two friends should be brought before him, that he might requite them: to the former he gave forty thousand dirhems; to each of his two friends, thirty thousand; and to me, a hundred thousand; and i kissed his feet, and departed."252

it is particularly necessary for the arab musician, that he have a retentive memory, well stocked with choice pieces of poetry, and with facetious or pleasant anecdotes, interspersed with songs; and that he have a ready wit, aided by dramatic talent, to employ these materials with good effect. if, to such qualifications, he adds fair attainments in the difficult rules of grammar, a degree of eloquence, comic humour, and good temper, and is not surpassed by many in his art, he is sure to be a general favourite. very few muslims of the higher classes have condescended to study music, because they would have been despised by their inferiors for doing so; or because they themselves have despised or condemned the art. ibráheem, the son of the khaleefeh el-mahdee, and competitor of el-ma-moon, was a remarkable exception: he is said to have been an excellent musician, and a good singer.

in the houses of the wealthy, the vocal and instrumental performers were usually (as is the case in many houses in the present age) domestic female slaves, well instructed in their art by hired male or female professors. in the work before us, these slaves are commonly described as standing or sitting unveiled in the presence of male guests; but, from several descriptions of musical entertainments that i have met with in arabic works, it appears that, according to the more approved custom in respectable society, they were concealed on such occasions behind a curtain, which generally closed the front of an elevated recess. in all the houses of wealthy arabs that i have entered, one or each of the larger saloons has an elevated closet, the front of which is closed by a screen of wooden lattice-work, to serve as an orchestra for the domestic or hired female singers and instrumental performers. of the hired performers, any further mention is not here required; but of the slaves and free ladies who supplied their place, a few words must be added, as very necessary to illustrate the preceding and many other tales in this work.

to a person acquainted with modern arabian manners, it must appear inconsistent 204with truth to describe such females as exposing their faces before strange men, unless he can discover in sober histories some evidence of their having been less strict in this respect than the generality of arab females at the present period. i find, however, a remarkable proof that such was the case in the latter part of the ninth century of the flight, and the beginning of the tenth: that is, about the end of the fifteenth century of our era. the famous historian es-suyoo?ee, who flourished at this period, in his preface to a curious work on wedlock, written to correct the corrupt manners of his age, says,—"seeing that the women of this time deck themselves with the attire of prostitutes, and walk in the soo?s (or market-streets), like female warriours against the religion, and uncover their faces and hands before men, to incline [men's] hearts to them by evil suggestions, and play at feasts with young men, thereby meriting the anger of the compassionate [i.e. god], and go forth to the public baths and assemblies, with various kinds of ornaments and perfumes, and with conceited gait; for the which they shall be congregated in hell-fire, for opposing the good, and on account of this their affected gait, while to their husbands they are disobedient, behaving to them in the reverse manner, excepting when they fear to abridge their liberty of going abroad by such conduct; for they are like swine and apes in their interior nature, though like daughters of adam in their exterior appearance; especially the women of this age; not advising their husbands in matters of religion, but the latter erring in permitting them to go out to every assembly; sisters of devils and demons, &c. &c.... i have undertaken the composition of this volume."253 a more convincing testimony than this, i think, cannot be required.

the lute (el-'ood) is the only instrument that is generally described as used at the entertainments which we have been considering. engravings of this and other musical instruments are given in my work on the modern egyptians. the arab viol (called rabáb) was commonly used by inferior performers. (see also note 26, below.)

the arab music is generally of a soft and plaintive character, and particularly that of the most refined description, which is distinguished by a remarkable peculiarity, the division of tones into thirds. the singer aims at distinct enunciation of the words, for this is justly admired; and delights in a trilling style. the airs of songs are commonly very short and simple, adapted to a single verse, or even to a single hemistich; but in the instrumental music there is more variety.

note 23. this is often said to a person whose presence is disagreeable to his companions.

note 24.—on the ?alenderees. in the old translation, these three strangers are called "calenders;" that is, "?alenderees:" but in the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, and the edition of breslau, they are designated as "?arendelees," "miserable or ridiculous beggars;" and in that of cairo, the term applied to them is "?a'áleek," or, simply, "paupers," or "mendicants." some may suppose the right reading to be "?alenderees;" for it was a custom of this order of darweeshes to shave their beards: they were forbidden to do so in the year of the flight 761,254 by the sul?án of egypt (el-melik en-ná?ir el-?asan); but whether they afterwards reverted to this habit, i do not know. the order of the ?alenderees, however, was not founded until about the commencement of the fifth century of the flight,255 a period long posterior to that to which the tale relates.

note 25. in the edition of cairo, they are said to have arrived from greece.

note 26.—on the persian harp. this instrument is called in arabic "junk," from the persian "chang." it has almost fallen into disuse, and i have never seen it: i am enabled, however, to give two sketches of its form through the kindness of the [late] right honourable sir gore ouseley, who has favoured me with drawings made from 205two of the most satisfactory representations of it in his rich collection of oriental mss.; the first, about 350 years old; the second 410. the number of strings, he informs me, vary from 20 to 27.

persian harps

note 27.—on the title and office of khaleefeh. as most of our best authors on oriental subjects have for some years past deviated from our old general mode of writing this title, substituting (for "caliph") "khalif," "khalífah," &c., i have taken the same liberty. it cannot be correctly written, at the same time congenially with our language and with its orthography in arabic characters, otherwise than "khaleefeh" or "khaleefah;" and of these two modes i adopt the one which agrees with the manner in which the title is most generally pronounced by the arabs. the meaning of this title is "successor," or "vicar;" and it was originally given to the universal sovereigns of the muslim arabs, as signifying "successor of the prophet;" but afterwards, in a more exalted sense, as "vicar of god:" the khaleefeh being the head of the religion as well as the supreme political governor, or at least arrogating to himself the right to possess such supremacy, throughout the whole muslim world. [the last of the khaleefehs died in egypt shortly after the turkish conquest of that country, or in the year of the flight, 950. after the overthrow of the house of el-'abbás by hulágù, certain of its members obtained an asylum at the court of the memlook sul?áns, and continued the line of the khaleefehs, with spiritual, but no temporal, authority until it ceased in the person of el-mutawekkil, who delegated his office to the sul?án seleem i.; it is consequently held by the sul?án of turkey. the emperors of morocco, being descendants of the prophet, also claim and receive from their subjects the title of khaleefeh.256—ed.]

note 28. the stories in which this justly-celebrated man is mentioned will, i think, be more agreeable to those readers who are unacquainted with his history, of which, therefore, i shall say nothing.

note 29. mesroor was a black eunuch, and a favourite servant of er-rasheed. the name signifies "happy."

note 30. "?abareeyeh" is the modern name for tiberias.

note 31.—description of kháns, or wekálehs. a khán is a building chiefly designed for the accommodation of merchants, and for the reception of their goods. in egypt, a building of this kind is generally called a wekáleh. i have described it, in a former work, as surrounding a square or oblong court, and having, on the ground-floor, vaulted magazines for merchandise, which face the court, and are sometimes used as shops. above these are generally lodgings, which are entered from a gallery extending along each of the four sides of the court; or, in the place of these lodgings, there are other magazines: and in many kháns or wekálehs which have apartments designed as lodgings, these apartments are used as magazines. in general, the building has only one common entrance; the door of which is closed at night, and kept by a porter.

206

note 32. it is customary for a guest or visiter to ask permission of the host, or master of the house, before taking his departure. a common form of speech used on this occasion is, "with your permission, i rise."

note 33. many muslims perform the pilgrimage with the view of expiating their offences, and, at the ka?beh, or at the tomb of the prophet, make a vow to abstain from any glaring infringement of the law of which they may before have been guilty.

note 34. i learn, from a marginal note in my copy of the original, by the sheykh mo?ammad e?-tan?áwee, that these verses are the composition of ibn-sahl el-ishbee-lee. three concluding verses of the same ode, and a second poetical quotation immediately following, i have passed over.

note 35. in the original there are some errors in this part of the story, which the sequel requires me to correct. the cateress is described as having sung three successive songs, accompanying them with her lute. after the first song, the mistress of the house is said to have been affected in the manner described in the translation, and to have exposed to view the marks of beating. the second lady (namely, the portress) is represented as similarly excited by the second song; and the third lady (the cateress herself), by the third song. the last also is said to have exhibited upon her person those marks which, as the sequel shews, were borne by the second.

note 36. the "mi?ra'ah," vulgarly called "ma?ra'ah," is a portion of the thicker end of a palm-branch stripped of the leaves. it is often used to beat a person in sport; but in this case, two or three splits are usually made in the thicker part of it, to increase the sound of the blows.

note 37. in the original, "the portress." see note 35, above.

note 38. perhaps it is needless to explain that the wish here expressed, for a protractive trial on the day of judgment, is occasioned by the longing for reunion, and the fear of separation after that day. the muslims usually pray for an easy (and, consequently, a short) reckoning.

note 39. i have omitted the third song of the cateress, and the description of its effects, mentioned in note 35.

note 40. see note 47 to chapter ii.

note 41. it seems to be implied that the lady discovered her guests, notwithstanding their disguise, to be persons of rank.

note 42. i read "fu?aráü a?jám" for "fu?aráü-l-hojjám:" the former, carelessly written (in arabic characters), might easily be mistaken for the latter.

note 43. this phrase is used to signify "recover thy senses;" alluding to a person's drawing his hand over his head or face after a sleep or fit.

note 44. the burial-grounds of eastern cities are generally so extensive, that, with the varied structures which they contain, they may aptly be called "cities of the dead." it was with difficulty that i recognised the tomb of the lamented burckhardt, in the great cemetery on the north of cairo, even after i had carefully noticed its place on a former visit.

note 45. i have ventured to make a slight alteration here; but it is one which does not in the least affect the consistency of the tale. marriage with a foster-sister is as expressly forbidden by the mohammadan law as that with a natural sister.

note 46. "the truth" is one of the ninety-nine names or epithets of god.

note 47. many an arab would rather risk the loss of his head than part with his beard; for the latter is regarded by almost all muslims with a superstitious respect; and to shave it off, at least after it has been suffered to grow for many days, they consider as sinful: this, however, is sometimes done by religious mendicants, as it is also by some of those persons who seek, or enjoy, the reputation of sanctity, and who are, or pretend to be, insane.207

note 48. by "the seven readings," we are to understand seven slightly different modes of reading the ?ur-án, seldom differing essentially as to the sense.

note 49. astrology (not astronomy) is here meant. though a forbidden science, it is studied by many muslims.

note 50. a misplaced diacritical point occasions a wrong reading here, in the original, which i have corrected.

note 51. the mohammadan law requires that every man be acquainted with some art or occupation by which he may, in case of necessity, at least be able to obtain the means of supporting himself and such of his family as are dependant upon him, and of fulfilling all his religious as well as moral duties. hence it has been a common custom of muslim princes, in every age, to learn some useful art; and many of them have distinguished themselves by displaying exquisite skill in the work of their hands, and especially in caligraphy, of which the orientals in general are great admirers.

note 52. the 'efreet (as we are told in some editions of the original) had taken this lady against the consent of his family, and therefore could not more frequently visit her.

note 53. the term "?ubbeh" is often applied to a closet or small chamber adjoining a saloon; and in this sense it appears to be here used.

note 54.—on sherbets. the arabs have various kinds of sherbets, or sweet drinks; the most common of which is merely sugar and water, made very sweet. the most esteemed kind is prepared from a hard conserve of violets, made by pounding violet-flowers, and then boiling them with sugar. other kinds are prepared from conserves of fruits, &c. the sherbet is served in covered glass cups, containing from two-thirds to three-quarters of an english pint; the same which i have described in a former note as used for wine. these are placed on a round tray, and covered with a round piece of embroidered silk, or cloth of gold; and on the right arm of the person who presents the sherbet, is hung a long napkin with a deep embroidered border of gold and coloured silks at each end, which is ostensibly offered for the purpose of wiping the lips after drinking, though the lips are scarcely touched with it.

note 55. the arabs are very fond of having their feet, and especially the soles, slowly rubbed with the hand; and this operation, which is one of the services commonly required of a wife or female slave, is a usual mode of waking a person.

note 56. here, and again in the same and a subsequent sentence, for "kheiyá?een," i read "?a??ábeen." in the breslau edition, "kha??ábeen" is put for the latter. the right reading is obvious.

note 57. falsehood was commended by the prophet when it tended to reconcile persons at enmity with each other, and when practised in order to please one's wife, or to obtain any advantage in a war with infidels, though strongly reprobated in other cases.

note 58. four verses here inserted in the original appear to me to be a corruption of a couplet which better expresses the same meaning, and which i have therefore translated in the place of the former. as the lines to which i allude are particularly pleasing, i may perhaps be excused if i here introduce the original words, which are as follow:—

"isháratunà fi-l-?obbi remzu 'oyooninà: wa-kullu lebeebin bi-l-ishárati yefhamu,

?awájibunà te??i-l-?awá?jà beynenà: fa-na?nu sukootun wa-l-hawà yetekellemu."

note 59. this is not meant to disparage the individual lady here mentioned, but is a saying of the prophet applied to the sex in general.

note 60. in the edition of cairo, this story is omitted. i translate it from the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights.

note 61. "fa?eer" (which signifies "poor," and is particularly used in the sense of "poor in the sight of god," or rather, "in need of the mercy of god") is an appella208tion commonly given to poor persons who especially occupy themselves in religious exercises.

note 62. the performances called "zikrs" will be briefly described towards the close of the next note.

note 63.—on muslin saints, or devotees. the tale of the envied sheykh, and several other stories in this work, require that the reader should be acquainted with the remarkable opinions which the arabs entertain with respect to the offices and supernatural powers of their saints. such matters form an important part of the mysteries of the darweeshes, and are but imperfectly known to the generality of muslims.

the distinguished individuals above mentioned are known by the common appellation of "welees," or particular favourites of god. the more eminent among them compose a mysterious hierarchical body, whose government respects the whole human race, infidels as well as believers; but whose power is often exercised in such a manner that the subjects influenced by it know not from what person or persons its effects proceed. the general governor or coryph?us of these holy beings is commonly called the "?u?b," which literally signifies a "pole," or an "axis," and is metaphorically used to signify a "chief," either in a civil or political, or in a spiritual sense. the ?u?b of the saints is distinguished by other appellations: he is called "?u?b el-ghós," or "—— el-ghóth" ("the ?u?b of invocation for help"), &c.; and simply "el-ghós."257 the orders under the rule of this chief are called "'omud (or owtád), akhyár, abdál, nujabà, and nu?abà: i name them according to their precedence.258 perhaps to these should be added an inferior order called "a?-?áb ed-darak," which is said to mean "watchmen," or "overseers." the members are not known as such to their inferior, unenlightened fellow-creatures; and are often invisible to them. this is more frequently the case with the ?u?b, who, though generally stationed at mekkeh, on the roof of the ka?beh, is never visible there, nor at any of his other favourite stations or places of resort; yet his voice is often heard at these places. whenever he and the saints under his authority mingle among ordinary men, they are not distinguished by a dignified appearance, but are always humbly clad. these, and even inferior saints, are said to perform astonishing miracles, such as flying in the air, passing unhurt through fire, swallowing fire, glass, &c., walking upon water, transporting themselves in a moment of time to immense distances, and supplying themselves and others with food in desert places. their supernatural power they are supposed to obtain by a life of the most exalted piety, and especially by constant self-denial, accompanied with the most implicit reliance upon god; by the services of good genii; and, as many believe, by the knowledge and utterance of "the most great name" of god. a miracle performed by a saint is distinguished by the term "karámeh" from one performed by a prophet, which is called "mo?jizeh."

el-khi?r and ilyás (or elias), of whom i have before had occasion to speak, are both believed to have been ?u?bs, and the latter is called in the ?ur-án an apostle; but it is disputed whether the former was a prophet or merely a welee. both are said to have drunk of the fountain of life, and to be in consequence still living; and ilyás is 209commonly believed to invest the successive ?u?bs. the similarity of the miracles ascribed to the ?u?bs and those performed by elias or elijah i have remarked in a former work. another miracle, reminding us of the mantle of elijah in the hands of his successor, may here be mentioned.—a saint who was the ?u?b of his time, dying at toonis (or tunis), left his clothes in trust to his attendant, mo?ammad el-ashwam, a native of the neighbouring regency of tripoli (now called ?arábulus), who desired to sell these relics, but was counselled to retain them, and accordingly, though high prices were bidden for them, made them his own by purchase. as soon as they became his property, he was affected, we are told, with a divine ecstasy, and endowed with miraculous powers.259

innumerable miracles are related to have been performed by muslim saints, and large volumes are filled with the histories of their wonderful lives. the author of the work from which the above story is taken, mentions, as a fact to be relied on, in an account of one of his ancestors, that, his lamp happening to go out one night while he was reading alone in the riwá? of the jabart (of which he was the sheykh), in the great mosque el-azhar, the forefinger of his right hand emitted a light which enabled him to continue his reading until his na?eeb had trimmed and lighted another lamp.260

from many stories of a similar kind that i have read, i select the following as a fair specimen: it is related by a very celebrated saint, ibráheem el-khowwá?.—"i entered the desert [on pilgrimage to mekkeh from el-'erá?], and there joined me a man having a belt round his waist, and i said, 'who art thou?'—he answered, 'a christian; and i desire thy company.' we walked together for seven days, eating nothing; after which he said to me, 'o monk of the muslims, produce what thou hast in the way of refreshment; for we are hungry:' so i said, 'o my god, disgrace me not before this infidel:' and lo, a tray, upon which were bread and broiled meat and fresh dates and a mug of water. we ate, and continued our journey seven days more; and i then said to him, 'o monk of the christians, produce what thou hast in the way of refreshment; for the turn is come to thee:' whereupon he leaned upon his staff; and prayed; and lo, two trays, containing double that which was on my tray. i was confounded, and refused to eat: he urged me, saying, 'eat;' but i did it not. then said he, 'be glad; for i give thee two pieces of good news: one of them is, that i testify that there is no deity but god, and that mo?ammad is god's apostle: the other, that i said, o god, if there be worth in this servant, supply me with two trays:—so this is through thy blessing.' we ate, and the man put on the dress of pilgrimage, and so entered mekkeh, where he remained with me a year as a student; after which he died, and i buried him in [the cemetery] el-ma?là." "and god," says the author from whom i take this story, "is all-knowing:" i.e. he alone knoweth whether it be strictly true: but this is often added to the narration of traditions resting upon high authority.261—the saint above mentioned was called "el-khowwá?" (or the maker of palm-leaf baskets, &c.) from the following circumstance, related by himself.—"i used," said he, "to go out of the town [er-rei] and sit by a river on the banks of which was abundance of palm-leaves; and it occurred to my mind to make every day five baskets [?uffehs], and to throw them into the river, for my amusement, as if i were obliged to do so. my time was so passed for many days: at length, one day, i thought i would walk after the baskets, and see whither they had gone: so i proceeded a while along the bank of the river, and found an old woman sitting sorrowful. on that day i had made nothing. i said to her, 'wherefore do i see thee sorrowful?' she answered, 'i am a 210widow: my husband died leaving five daughters, and nothing to maintain them; and it is my custom to repair every day to this river, and there come to me, upon the surface of the water, five baskets, which i sell, and by means of them i procure food; but to-day they have not come, and i know not what to do.' upon hearing this, i raised my head towards heaven, and said, 'o my god, had i known that i had more than five children to maintain, i had laboured more diligently!'" he then took the old woman to his house, and gave her money and flour, and said to her, "whenever thou wantest anything, come hither and take what may suffice you."262

an irresistible influence has often been exercised over the minds of princes and other great men by reputed saints. many a muslim monarch has thus been incited (as the kings of christendom were by peter the hermit) to undertake religious wars, or urged to acts of piety and charity; or restrained from tyranny by threats of divine vengeance to be called down upon his head by the imprecations of a welee. 'alee, the favourite son of the khaleefeh el-ma-moon, was induced, for the sake of religion, to flee from the splendour and luxuries of his father's court, and, after the example of a self-denying devotee, to follow the occupation of a porter, in a state of the most abject poverty, at el-ba?rah, fasting all the day, remaining without sleep at night in a mosque, and walking barefooted, until, under an accumulation of severe sufferings, he prematurely ended his days, dying on a mat. the honours which he refused to receive in life were paid to him after his death: his rank being discovered by a ring and paper which he left, his corpse was anointed with camphor and musk and aloes, wrapped in fine linen of egypt, and so conveyed to his distressed father at baghdád.263

self-denial i have before mentioned as one of the most important means by which to attain the dignity of a welee. a very famous saint, esh-shiblee, is said to have received from his father an inheritance of sixty millions of deenárs (a sum incredible, and probably a mistake for sixty thousand, or for sixty million dirhems), besides landed property, and to have expended it all in charity: also, to have thrown into the tigris seventy hundred-weight of books, written by his own hand during a period of twenty years.264

sháh el-karmánee, another celebrated saint, had a beautiful daughter, whom the sul?án of his country sought in marriage. the holy man required three days to consider his sovereign's proposal, and in the mean time visited several mosques, in one of which he saw a young man humbly occupied in prayer. having waited till he had finished, he accosted him, saying, "my son, hast thou a wife?" being answered, "no," he said, "i have a maiden, a virtuous devotee, who hath learned the whole of the ?ur-án, and is amply endowed with beauty. dost thou desire her?"—"who," said the young man, "will marry me to such a one as thou hast described, when i possess no more than three dirhems?"—"i will marry thee to her," answered the saint: "she is my daughter, and i am sháh the son of shujá? el-karmánee: give me the dirhems that thou hast, that i may buy a dirhem's worth of bread, and a dirhem's worth of something savoury, and a dirhem's worth of perfume." the marriage-contract was performed; but when the bride came to the young man, she saw a stale cake of bread placed upon the top of his mug; upon which she put on her izár, and went out. her husband said, "now i perceive that the daughter of sháh el-karmánee is displeased with my poverty." she answered, "i did not withdraw from fear of poverty, but on account of the weakness of thy faith, seeing how thou layest by a cake of bread for the morrow."265

one of my friends in cairo, abu-l-?ásim of geelán, mentioned in a former note, entertained me with a long relation of the mortifications and other means which he employed to attain the rank of a welee. these were chiefly self-denial and a perfect reliance upon providence. he left his home in a state of voluntary destitution and 211complete nudity, to travel through persia and the surrounding countries, and yet more distant regions if necessary, in search of a spiritual guide. for many days he avoided the habitations of men, fasting from daybreak till sunset, and then eating nothing but a little grass or a few leaves or wild fruits, till by degrees he habituated himself to almost total abstinence from every kind of nourishment. his feet, at first blistered, and cut by sharp stones, soon became callous; and in proportion to his reduction of food, his frame, contrary to the common course of nature, became (according to his own account) more stout and lusty. bronzed by the sun, and with his black hair hanging over his shoulders (for he had abjured the use of the razor), he presented, in his nudity, a wild and frightful appearance; and on his first approaching a town, was surrounded and pelted by a crowd of boys; he therefore retreated, and, after the example of our first parents, made himself a partial covering of leaves; and this he always after did on similar occasions; never remaining long enough in a town for his leafy apron to wither. the abodes of mankind he always passed at a distance, excepting when several days' fast, while traversing an arid desert, compelled him to obtain a morsel of bread or a cup of water from the hand of some charitable fellow-creature. one thing that he particularly dreaded was, to receive relief from a sinful man, or from a demon in the human form. in passing over a parched and desolate tract, where for three days he had found nothing to eat, not even a blade of grass, nor a spring from which to refresh his tongue, he became overpowered with thirst, and prayed that god would send him a messenger with a pitcher of water. "but," said he, "let the water be in a green baghdáhee pitcher, that i may know it be from thee, and not from the devil; and when i ask the bearer to give me to drink, let him pour it over my head, that i may not too much gratify my carnal desire."—"i looked behind me," he continued, "and saw a man bearing a green baghdáhee pitcher of water, and said to him, 'give me to drink;' and he came up to me, and poured the contents over my head, and departed! by allah it was so!"—rejoicing in this miracle, as a proof of his having attained to a degree of wiláyeh (or saintship), and refreshed by the water, he continued his way over the desert, more firm than ever in his course of self-denial, which, though imperfectly followed, had been the means of his being thus distinguished. but the burning thirst returned shortly after, and he felt himself at the point of sinking under it, when he beheld before him a high hill, with a rivulet running by its base. to the summit of this hill he determined to ascend, by way of mortification, before he would taste the water, and this point, with much difficulty, he reached at the close of the day. here standing, he saw approaching, below, a troop of horsemen, who paused at the foot of the hill, when their chief, who was foremost, called out to him by name, "o abu-l-?ásim! o geelánee! come down and drink!"—but, persuaded by this that he was iblees with a troop of his sons, the evil genii, he withstood the temptation, and remained stationary until the deceiver with his attendants had passed on, and were out of sight. the sun had then set; his thirst had somewhat abated; and he only drank a few drops. continuing his wanderings in the desert, he found, upon a pebbly plain, an old man with a long white beard, who accosted him, asking of what he was in search. "i am seeking," he answered, "a spiritual guide; and my heart tells me that thou art the guide i seek." "my son," said the old man, "thou seest yonder a saint's tomb: it is a place where prayer is answered: go thither, enter it, and seat thyself: neither eat nor drink nor sleep; but occupy thyself solely, day and night, in repeating silently, 'lá iláha illa-lláh' (there is no deity but god); and let not any living creature see thy lips move in doing so; for among the peculiar virtues of these words is this, that they may be uttered without any motion of the lips. go, and peace be on thee."—"accordingly," said my friend, "i went thither. it was a small square building, crowned by a cupola; and the door was open. i entered, and seated myself, facing the niche, and the oblong monument over the grave. it was evening, and i commenced my silent professions of the unity, as directed by my guide; and at dusk i saw a white figure seated beside me, as if assisting in my devotional task. i stretched forth my hand to touch it; but212 found that it was not a material substance; yet there it was: i saw it distinctly. encouraged by this vision, i continued my task for three nights and days without intermission, neither eating not drinking, yet increasing in strength both of body and of spirit; and on the third day, i saw written upon the whitewashed walls of the tomb, and on the ground, and in the air, wherever i turned my eyes, 'lá iláha illa-lláh;' and whenever a fly entered the tomb, it formed these words in its flight. by allah it was so! my object was now fully attained: i felt myself endowed with supernatural knowledge: thoughts of my friends and acquaintances troubled me not; but i knew where each of them was, in persia, india, arabia, and turkey, and what each was doing. i experienced an indescribable happiness. this state lasted several years; but at length i was insensibly enticed back to worldly objects: i came to this country; my fame as a caligraphist drew me into the service of the government; and now see what i am, decked with pelisses and shawls, and with this thing [a diamond order] on my breast; too old, i fear, to undergo again the self-denial necessary to restore me to true happiness, though i have almost resolved to make the attempt."—soon after this conversation, he was deprived of his office, and died of the plague. he was well known to have passed several years as a wandering devotee; and his sufferings, combined with enthusiasm, perhaps disordered his imagination, and made him believe that he really saw the strange sights which he described to me; for there was an appearance of earnestness and sincerity in his manner, such as i thought could hardly be assumed by a conscious impostor.

insanity, however, if not of a very violent and dangerous nature, is commonly regarded by muslims as a quality that entitles the subject of it to be esteemed as a saint; being supposed to be the abstraction of the mind from worldly affairs, and its total devotion to god. this popular superstition is a fertile source of imposture; for, a reputation for sanctity being so easily obtained and supported, there are numbers of persons who lay claim to it from motives of indolence and licentiousness, eager to receive alms merely for performing the tricks of madmen, and greedy of indulging in pleasures forbidden by the law; such indulgences not being considered in their case as transgressions by the common people, but rather as indications of holy frenzy. from my own observation i should say that lunatics or idiots, or impostors, constitute the majority of the persons reputed to be saints among the muslims of the present day; and most of those who are not more than slightly tinged with insanity are darweeshes.

a reputed saint of this description, in cairo, in whom persons of some education put great faith, affected to have a particular regard for me. he several times accosted me in an abrupt manner, acquainted me with the state of my family in england, and uttered incoherent predictions respecting me, all of which communications, excepting one which he qualified with an "in sháa-lláh" (or "if it be the will of god"), i must confess, proved to be true; but i must also state that he was acquainted with two of my friends who might have materially assisted him to frame these predictions, though they protested to me that they had not done so. the following extract from a journal which i kept in cairo during my second visit to egypt, will convey some idea of this person, who will serve as a picture of many of his fraternity.—to-day (nov. 6th, 1834), as i was sitting in the shop of the báshà's booksellers, a reputed saint, whom i have often seen here, came and seated himself by me, and began, in a series of abrupt sentences, to relate to me various matters respecting me, past, present, and to come. he is called the sheykh 'alee el-leysee. he is a poor man, supported by alms; tall and thin and very dark, about thirty years of age, and wears nothing at present but a blue shirt and a girdle, and a padded red cap. "o efendee," he said, "thou hast been very anxious for some days. there is a grain of anxiety remaining in thee yet. do not fear. there is a letter coming to thee by sea, that will bring thee good news." he then proceeded to tell me of the state of my family, and that all were well excepting one, whom he particularized by description, and who he stated to be then suffering from an intermittent fever. [this proved to be exactly true.] "this affliction," he continued, "may be213 removed by prayer; and the excellences of the next night, the night of [i. e. preceding] the first friday of the month of regeb, of regeb, the holy regeb, are very great. i wanted to ask thee for something to-day; but i feared: i feared greatly. thou must be invested with the wiláyeh [i. e. be made a welee]: the welees love thee; and the prophet loves thee. thou must go to the sheykh mu??afà el-munádee, and the sheykh el-baháee.266 thou must be a welee." he then took my right hand, in the manner commonly practised in the ceremony which admits a person a darweesh, and repeated the fáte?ah (commonly pronounced fát'?ah);267 after which he added, "i have admitted thee my darweesh." having next told me of several circumstances relating to my family—matters of an unusual nature—with singular minuteness and truth, he added, "to-night, if it be the will of god, thou shalt see the prophet in thy sleep, and el-khi?r and the seyyid el-bedawee. this is regeb, and i wanted to ask of thee—but i feared—i wanted to ask of thee four piastres, to buy meat and bread and oil and radishes. regeb! regeb! i have great offices to do for thee to-night."—less than a shilling for all he promised was little enough: i gave it him for the trouble he had taken; and he uttered many abrupt prayers for me.—in the following night, however, i saw in my sleep neither mo?ammad nor el-khi?r nor the seyyid el-bedawee, unless, like nebuchadnezzar, i was unable, on awaking, to remember my dreams.

some reputed saints of the more respectable class, to avoid public notice, wear the general dress and manners of their fellow-countrymen, and betray no love of ostentation in their acts of piety and self-denial; or live as hermits in desert places, depending solely upon providence for their support, and are objects of pious and charitable visits from the inhabitants of near and distant places, and from casual travellers. others distinguish themselves by the habit of a darweesh, or by other peculiarities, such as a long and loose coat (called dil?) composed of patches of cloth of various colours, long strings of beads hung upon the neck, a ragged turban, and a staff with shreds of cloth of different colours attached to the top; or obtain a reputation for miraculous powers by eating glass, fire, serpents, &c. some of those who are insane, and of those who feign to be so, go about, even in crowded cities, in a state of perfect nudity, and are allowed to commit, with impunity, acts of brutal sensuality which the law, when appealed to, should punish with death. such practices are forbidden by the religion and law even in the cases of saints; but common and deeply-rooted superstition prevents their punishment. during the occupation of egypt by the french, the commander-in-chief, menou, applied to the sheykhs (or 'ulamà) of the city for their opinion "respecting those persons who were accustomed to go about in the streets in a state of nudity, crying out and screaming, and arrogating to themselves the dignity of wiláyeh, relied upon as saints by the generality of the people, neither performing the prayers of the muslims nor fasting," asking whether such conduct was permitted by the religion, or contrary to the law. he was answered, "conduct of this description is forbidden, and repugnant to our religion and law and to our traditions." the french general thanked them for this answer, and gave orders to prevent such practices in future, and to seize every one seen thus offending; if insane, to confine him in the máristán (or hospital and lunatic asylum); and if not insane, to compel him either to relinquish his disgusting habits, or to leave the city.268—of reputed saints of this kind, thus writes an enlightened poet, el-bedree el-?ejázee:—

"would that i had not lived to see every fool esteemed among men as a ?u?b!

their learned men take him as a patron; nay, even as lord, in place of the possessor of heaven's throne.

forgetting god, they say, 'such a one from all mankind can remove affliction.'

when he dies, they make for him a place of visitation, and strangers and arabs hurry thither in crowds:

some of them kiss his tomb, and some kiss the threshold of the door, and the very dust.

thus do the idolaters act towards their images, hoping so to obtain their favour."

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these lines are quoted by el-jabartee, in his account of a very celebrated modern saint, the seyyid 'alee el-bekree (events of rabee? eth-thánee, 1214). a brief history of this person will not be here misplaced, as it will present a good illustration of the general character and actions of those insane individuals who are commonly regarded as saints.

the seyyid 'alee el-bekree was a mejzoob (or insane person) who was considered an eminent welee, and much trusted in: for several years he used to walk naked about the streets of cairo, with a shaven face, bearing a long nebboot (or staff), and uttering confused language, which the people attentively listened to, and interpreted according to their desires and the exigencies of their states. he was a tall, spare man, and sometimes wore a shirt and a cotton skull-cap; but he was generally barefooted and naked. the respect with which he was treated induced a woman, who was called the sheykhah ammooneh, to imitate his example further than decency allowed: she followed him whithersoever he went, covered at first with her izár (or large cotton veil thrown over the head and body), and muttering, like him, confused language. entering private houses with him, she used to ascend to the ?areems, and gained the faith of the women, who presented her with money and clothes, and spread abroad that the sheykh ('alee) had looked upon her, and affected her with religious frenzy, so that she had become a weleeyeh, or female saint. afterwards, becoming more insane and intoxicated, she uncovered her face, and put on the clothing of a man; and thus attired she still accompanied the sheykh, and the two wandered about, followed by numbers of children and common vagabonds; some of whom also stripped off their clothes in imitation of the sheykh, and followed, dancing; their mad actions being attributed (like those of the woman) to religious frenzy, induced by his look or touch, which converted them into saints. the vulgar and young, who daily followed them, consequently increased in numbers; and some of them, in passing through the market-streets, snatched away goods from the shops, thus exciting great commotion wherever they went. when the sheykh sat down in any place, the crowd stopped, and the people pressed to see him and his mad companions. on these occasions the woman used to mount upon the ma??abah of a shop, or ascend a hillock, and utter disgusting language, sometimes in arabic, and sometimes in turkish, while many persons among her audience would kiss her hands to derive a blessing. after having persevered for some time in this course, none preventing them, the party entered one day the lane leading from the principal street of the city to the house of the ?á?ee, and were seized by a turkish officer there residing, named ja?far káshif, who, having brought them into his house, gave the sheykh some food, and drove out the spectators, retaining the woman and the mejzoobs, whom he placed in confinement: he then liberated the sheykh 'alee, brought out the woman and the mejzoobs and beat them, sent the woman to the máristán, and there confined her, and set at large the rest, after they had prayed for mercy, and clothed themselves, and recovered from their intoxication. the woman remained a while confined in the máristán, and, when liberated, lived alone as a sheykhah, believed in by men and women, and honoured as a saint with visits and festivals.

the seyyid 'alee, after he had thus been deprived of his companions and imitators, was constrained to lead a different kind of life. he had a cunning brother, who, to turn the folly of this saint to a good account, and fill his own purse (seeing how great faith the people placed in him, as the egyptians are prone to do in such a case), confined him in his house, and clothed him, asserting that he had his permission to do so, and that he had been invested with the dignity of ?u?b. thus he contrived to attract crowds of persons, men and women, to visit him. he forbade him to shave his beard, which consequently grew to its full size; and his body became fat and stout from abundance of food and rest; for, while he went about naked, he was, as before mentioned, of a lean figure. during that period he used generally to pass the night wandering, without food, through the streets, in winter and summer. having now servants to wait upon him, whether sleeping or waking, he passed his time in idleness,215 uttering confused and incoherent words, and sometimes laughing and sometimes scolding; and in the course of his idle loquacity he could not but let fall some words applicable to the affairs of some of his listening visiters, who attributed such expressions to his supernatural knowledge of the thoughts of their hearts, and interpreted them as warnings or prophecies. men and women, and particularly the wives of the grandees, flocked to him with presents and votive offerings, which enriched the coffers of his brother; and the honours which he received ceased not with his death. his funeral was attended by multitudes from every quarter. his brother buried him in the mosque of esh-shará?bee, in the quarter of the ezbekeeyeh, made for him a ma??oorah (or railed enclosure) and an oblong monument over the grave, and frequently repaired thither with readers of the ?ur-án, munshids269 to sing odes in his honour, flag-bearers, and other persons, who wailed and screamed, rubbed their faces against the bars of the window before his grave, and caught the air of the place in their hands to thrust it into their bosoms and pockets. men and women came crowding together to visit his tomb, bringing votive offerings and wax candles, and eatables of various kinds to distribute for his sake to the poor.270—the oblong monument over his grave, resembling a large chest, was covered, when i was in cairo, with a black stuff ornamented by a line of words from the ?ur-án, in white characters, surrounding it. a servant who accompanied me during my rides and walks used often to stop as we passed this tomb, and touch the wooden bars of the window above mentioned with his right hand, which he then kissed to obtain a blessing.

in most cases greater honour is paid to a reputed saint after his death than he receives in his life. a small, square, whitewashed building, crowned with a dome, is generally erected as his tomb, surrounding an oblong monument of stone, brick, or wood, which is immediately over the sepulchral vault. at least one such building forms a conspicuous object close by, or within, almost every arab village; for the different villages, and different quarters of every town and city, have their respective patron saints, whose tombs are frequently visited, and are the scenes of periodical festivals, generally celebrated once in every year. the tombs of many very eminent saints are mosques; and some of these are large and handsome edifices, the monument being under a large and lofty dome, and surrounded by an enclosure of wooden railings, or of elegantly-worked bronze. in these buildings also, and in some others, the monument is covered with silk or cotton stuff ornamented with words from the ?ur-án, which form a band around it. many buildings of the more simple kind erected in honour of saints, and some of the larger description, are mere cenotaphs, or cover only some relic of the person to whom they are dedicated. the tombs and cenotaphs or shrines of saints are visited by numerous persons, and on frequent occasions; most commonly on a particular day of the week. the object of the visiter, in general, is to perform some meritorious act, such as taking bread, or other food, or money, for the poor, or distributing water to the thirsty, on account of the saint, to increase his rewards in heaven, and at the same time to draw down a blessing on himself; or to perform a sacrifice of a sheep, goat, calf, or other animal, which he has vowed to offer, if blessed with some specific object of desire, or to obtain general blessings; or to implore the saint's intercession in some case of need. the flesh of the devoted animal is given to the poor. the visiters also often take with them palm-branches, or sprigs of myrtle, or roses or other flowers, to lay upon the monument, as they do when they visit the tombs of their relations. the visiter walks round the monument, or its enclosure, from left to right, or with his left side towards it (as the pilgrims do round the ka?beh), sometimes pausing to touch its four angles or corners with his right hand, which he then kisses; and recites the opening chapter of the ?ur-án (the fát'?ah) standing before one or each of its four sides. some visiters repeat also the chapter of yá-seen (the 36th), or employ a person to recite this, or even the whole of the ?ur-án, for hire.

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the reciter afterwards declares that he transfers the merit of this work to the soul of the deceased saint. any private petition the visiter offers up on his own account, imploring a favourable answer for the sake of the saint, or through his intercession; holding his hands before his face like an open book, and then drawing them down his face. many a visiter, on entering the tomb, kisses the threshold, or touches it with his right hand, which he then kisses; and, on passing by it, persons often touch the window, and kiss the hand thus honoured.

the great periodical or annual festivals are observed with additional ceremonies, and by crowds of visiters. these are called moolids (more properly mólids); and are held on the anniversary of the birth of the saint, or in commemoration of that event. persons are then hired to recite the ?ur-án in and near the tomb, during the day; and others, chiefly darweeshes, employ themselves during the night in performing zikrs, which consist in repeating the name of god, or the profession of his unity, &c., in chorus, accompanying the words by certain motions of the head, hands, or whole body; munshids, at intervals, singing religious odes or love songs during these performances, to the accompaniment of a náy, which is a kind of flute, or the arghool, which is a double reed-pipe. these moolids are scenes of rejoicing and of traffic, which men and boys and girls attend, to eat sweatmeats, and drink coffee and sherbets, or to amuse themselves with swinging, or turning on a whirligig, or witnessing the feats of conjurers, or the performances of dancers; and to which tradesmen repair to sell or barter their goods. the visiters to the great moolids of the seyyid a?mad el-bedawee, at ?an?à, in the delta of egypt, which are great fairs as well as religious festivals, are almost as numerous as the pilgrims at mekkeh. during a moolid, the inhabitants of the houses in the neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their houses, and spend a great part of the night listening to the story-tellers at the coffee-shops, or attending the zikrs.

these latter performances, though so common among the arabs, are inconsistent with the spirit of the mohammadan religion, and especially with respect to music, which was not employed in religious ceremonies until after the second century of the flight. the imám aboo-bekr e?-?oosee, being asked whether it were lawful or not to be present with people who assembled in a certain place, and read a portion of the ?ur-án; and, after a munshid had recited some poetry, would dance, and become excited, and play upon tambourines and pipes,—answered, that such practices were vain, ignorant, and erroneous; not ordained by the ?ur-án or the traditions of the prophet, but invented by those israelites who worshipped the golden calf; that the prophet and his companions used to sit so quietly that a bird might alight upon the head of any one of them and not be disturbed; that it was incumbent on the sultán and his vicegerents to prevent such persons from entering the mosques and other places for these purposes; and that no one who believed in god and the last day should be present with them, or assist them in their vain performances: such, he asserted, was the opinion of the imáms of the muslims.271 some eminent doctors, however, have contended for the lawfulness of these practices.272

of the various orders of darweeshes, to which so many of the reputed saints belong, it is unnecessary here to say more than that they differ chiefly in unimportant regulations and rites, such as particular forms of prayer, and modes of zikr; that some distinguish themselves by peculiar dresses; and that a few pursue a wandering life, and subsist on alms.

note 64. the reason of this strange proceeding is not stated in the cairo edition, but it is in the two other editions which i have before me.

note 65. arab etiquette requires that a person should sit upon his knees and feet in the presence of one of much higher rank, or of one to whom he would pay especial honour. he should also, in these cases, cover his hands with his sleeves.

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note 66. kunáfeh is a kind of pastry resembling vermicelli, made of wheat-flour. it is moistened with clarified butter—then baked, and sweetened with honey or sugar.

note 67. chess is played somewhat differently in different parts of the east. the pieces are generally of very simple forms, as the muslim is forbidden by his religion to make an image of anything that has life.

note 68. in my original, and in the breslau edition, the ape is said to have been the son of the king of the ebony islands; but this is a mistake; for the latter, as before stated, was the father of the lady who was carried off by jarjarees.

note 69. the term "leewán" has been explained in no. 12 of the notes to this chapter.

note 70. this was, and i believe still is, a common battle-cry of the arabs, and more commonly used on the occasion of a victory.

note 71. "dár es-selám," "the abode of peace," or "of safety," is a name often given to baghdád, as it is also to one of the seven stories or stages of paradise.

note 72.—the mountain of loadstone. several arab writers describe this mountain of loadstone. el ?azweenee, in his account of minerals, says that the mine of loadstone is on the shore of the indian ocean, and that if the ships which navigate this sea approach the said mine, and contain anything of iron, it flies from them like a bird, and adheres to the mountain; for which reason, it is the general custom to make use of no iron in the construction of the vessels employed in this navigation.273 i think that i have met with a similar story in some latin author.

note 73. for an explanation of this term, see what i have said on the subject of prayer in the first of the notes to the introduction.

note 74. "kha?eeb" signifies "endowed with plenty."

note 75. the remainder of the story of the third royal mendicant is almost wholly omitted in the cairo edition. i translate it chiefly from the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights.

note 76.—on dreams. that dreams are regarded by the muslims as being often true warnings or indications of future events i have mentioned in a former note. this belief, sanctioned by the prophet, will be well illustrated by the following anecdote, which was related to me in cairo, shortly after the terrible plague of the year 1835, by the sheykh mo?ammad e?-?an?áwee, who had taken the trouble of investigating the fact, and had ascertained its truth.

a tradesman, living in the quarter of el-?anafee, in cairo, dreamt, during the plague above mentioned, that eleven persons were carried out from his house to be buried, victims of this disease. he awoke in a state of the greatest distress and alarm, reflecting that eleven was the total number of the inhabitants of his house, including himself, and that it would be vain in him to attempt, by adding one or more members to his household, to elude the decree of god, and give himself a chance of escape: so, calling together his neighbours, he informed them of his dream, and was counselled to submit with resignation to a fate so plainly foreshewn, and to be thankful to god for the timely notice with which he had been mercifully favoured. on the following day, one of his children died; a day or two after, a wife; and the pestilence continued its ravages among his family until he remained in his house alone. it was impossible for him now to entertain the slightest doubt of the entire accomplishment of the warning: immediately, therefore, after the last death that had taken place among his household, he repaired to a friend at a neighbouring shop, and, calling to him several other persons from the adjoining and opposite shops, he reminded them of his dream, acquainted them with its almost complete fulfilment, and expressed his conviction that he, the eleventh, should very soon die. "perhaps," said he, "i shall die this next 218night: i beg of you, therefore, for the sake of god, to come to my house early to-morrow morning, and the next morning and the next if necessary, and to see if i be dead, and, when dead, that i be properly buried; for i have no one with me to wash and shroud me. fail not to do me this service, which will procure you a recompense in heaven. i have bought my grave-linen: you will find it in a corner of the room in which i sleep. if you find the door of the house latched, and i do not answer to your knocking, break it open."

soon after sunset he laid himself in his lonely bed, though without any expectation of closing his eyes in sleep; for his mind was absorbed in reflections upon the awful entry into another world, and a review of his past life. as the shades of night gathered around him, he could almost fancy that he beheld, in one faint object or another in his gloomy chamber, the dreadful person of the angel of death: and at length he actually perceived a figure gliding in at the door, and approaching his bed. starting up in horror, he exclaimed, "who art thou?"—and a stern and solemn voice answered, "be silent! i am 'azraeel, the angel of death!"—"alas!" cried the terrified man; "i testify that there is no deity but god, and i testify that mo?ammad is god's apostle! there is no strength nor power but in god, the high! the great! to god we belong, and to him we must return!"—he then covered himself over with his quilt, as if for protection, and lay with throbbing heart, expecting every moment to have his soul torn from him by the inexorable messenger. but moments passed away, and minutes, and hours; yet without his experiencing any hope of escape; for he imagined that the angel was waiting for him to resign himself, or had left him for a while, and was occupied in receiving first the souls of the many hundred human beings who had attained their predestined term in that same night and in the same city, and the souls of the thousands who were doomed to employ him elsewhere. daybreak arrived before his sufferings terminated; and his neighbours, coming according to their promise, entered his chamber, and found him still in bed; but observing that he was covered up, and motionless as a corpse, they doubted whether he were still alive, and called to him. he answered, with a faint voice, "i am not yet dead; but the angel of death came to me in the dusk of the evening, and i expect every moment his return, to take my soul: therefore trouble me not; but see me washed and buried."—"but why," said his friends, "was the street-door left unlatched?"—"i latched it," he answered, "but the angel of death may have opened it."—"and who," they asked, "is the man in the court?"—he answered, "i know of no man in the court: perhaps the angel who is waiting for my soul has made himself visible to you, and been mistaken, in the twilight, for a man."—"he is a thief," they said, "who has gathered together everything in the house that he could carry away, and has been struck by the plague while doing so, and now lies dead in the court, at the foot of the stairs, grasping in his hand a silver candlestick."—the master of the house, after hearing this, paused for a moment, and then, throwing off his quilt, exclaimed, "praise be to god, the lord of all creatures! that is the eleventh, and i am safe! no doubt it was that rascal who came to me and said that he was the angel of death. praise be to god! praise be to god!"

this man survived the plague, and took pleasure in relating the above story. the thief had overheard his conversation with his neighbours, and, coming to his house in the dusk, had put his shoulder to the wooden lock, and so raised the door and displaced the latch within.—there is nothing wonderful in the dream, nor in its accomplishment; the plague of 1835 entirely desolated many houses, and was mostly fatal to the young; and all the inhabitants of the house in question were young excepting the master.

note 77. "'ajeeb" signifies "a wonder," or "anything strange or admirable."

note 78. blue is the colour of mourning, as before mentioned, in no. 52 of the notes to the second chapter.

note 79. smearing the face and slapping the cheeks are common practices of arab219 women, especially of the lower orders, on following to the grave the corpse of a near relation or a husband.

note 80.—on the rukh'. this fabulous bird is described by many arab writers, some of whom assert that it can carry a rhinoceros, while others ascribe to it powers still more extraordinary. i shall have occasion to speak of it again in my notes to this work.

note 81. this is explained by no. 30 of the notes to the introduction.

note 82. i here return to the cairo edition.

note 83. some of the incidents described in this story, as the shipwrecks caused by the image, and the opening of the forbidden closet, &c., appear to be taken from the romance of seyf zu-l-yezen, of which i possess a copy, purchased during my second visit to egypt. this romance, which has become extremely scarce, is filled with stories of genii and enchantments of the most extravagant kind. some of the public story-tellers in cairo used, a few years since, to amuse their audiences by recitations from it. i was not able to discover the period at which it was composed; but it is said to have been written long before the tales of a thousand and one nights. i saw once a portion of a copy of which it appeared, from the hand-writing and the paper, to be three or four centuries old.

note 84. so in the calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, and in the edition of breslau.

note 85. those decrees which are written with "the pen" on the "preserved tablet" are believed to be unchangeable. "the pen" is also the title of one of the chapters of the ?ur-án, the 68th.

note 86. in all the copies of the original which i have by me, el-ba?rah is said to have been the place to which the lady designed to voyage; but this is inconsistent with the sequel of the story.

note 87. in the old version, two strange errors occur in the passage corresponding with this: two words in the original, "nár" and "doon," having been mistaken for a proper name; and the word "jebbár," which, applied to god, signifies "almighty," or rather the "compeller of his creatures to do whatsoever he willeth," being taken in the sense of "giant," which it bears in many other cases.

note 88.—on martyrs. the mohammadan law distinguishes several different descriptions of martyrs. this honourable title is given to the soldier who dies in fighting for the faith, or on his way to do so, or who dies almost immediately after his having been wounded when so engaged; to a person who innocently meets with his death from the hand of another; to a victim of the plague, who does not flee from the disease, or of dysentery; to a person who is drowned; and to one who is killed by the falling of a wall or any building. it is said that the souls of martyrs, after quitting their bodies, reside, until the day of resurrection, in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits, and drink of the waters, of paradise. such we are to consider as the first and lowest state of felicity to which the young prince in this tale was introduced as the reward of his virtue.

note 89. the share inherited, according to the law, by the wife, or by the wives conjointly when there are more than one, is one-eighth of what remains of the property of the deceased after the discharge of his debts and legacies, if he have left issue; and one-fourth, if he have left no issue.

note 90. the arabs, fond of hyperbole, often thus describe a lofty building.

note 91.—on the magnificence of arab palaces, &c. after remarking upon the preceding sentence as presenting an instance of oriental hyperbole, it may be necessary to inform the reader that he needs not regard this in the same light. the magnificence of the palaces of baghdád in the times of the khaleefehs almost exceeds belief.220

in the beginning of the year of the flight 305 (june, a.d. 917), two ambassadors from the greek emperor (constantine ix., porphyrogenitus) arrived in baghdád on a mission to the khaleefeh el-mu?tedir, bringing an abundance of costly presents; and the scenes which they witnessed are thus described; apparently, however, not without some exaggeration. they were first received by the wezeer, who, at the audience which he granted to them in his garden-palace, displayed on this occasion a degree of magnificence that had never before been manifested by any of his rank; pages, memlooks, and soldiers, crowded the avenues and courts of his mansion, the apartments of which were hung with tapestry of the value of thirty thousand deenárs; and the wezeer himself was surrounded by generals and other officers on his right and left and behind his seat, when the two ambassadors approached him, dazzled by the splendour that surrounded them, to beg for an interview with the khaleefeh. el-mu?tedir, having appointed a day on which he would receive them, ordered that the courts and passages and avenues of his palace should be filled with armed men, and that all the apartments should be furnished with the utmost magnificence. a hundred and sixty thousand armed soldiers were arranged in ranks in the approach to the palace; next to these were the pages of the closets, and chief eunuchs, clad in silk and with belts set with jewels, in number seven thousand; four thousand white, and three thousand black: there were also seven hundred chamberlains; and beautifully ornamented boats of various kinds were seen floating upon the tigris, hard by. the two ambassadors passed first by the palace of the chief chamberlain, and, astonished at the splendid ornaments and pages and arms which they there beheld, imagined that this was the palace of the khaleefeh; but what they had seen here was eclipsed by what they beheld in the latter, where they were amazed by the sight of thirty-eight thousand pieces of tapestry of gold-embroidered silk brocade, and twenty-two thousand magnificent carpets. here also were two menageries of beasts by nature wild, but tamed by art, and eating from the hands of men: among them were a hundred lions; each lion with its keeper. they then entered the palace of the tree, enclosing a pond from which rose the tree: this had eighteen branches, with leaves of various colours (being artificial), and with birds of gold and silver (or gilt and silvered) of every variety of kind and size, perched upon its branches, so constructed that each of them sang. thence they passed into the garden, in which were furniture and utensils not to be enumerated: in the passages leading to it were suspended ten thousand gilt coats of mail. being at length conducted before el-mu?tedir, they found him seated on a couch of ebony inlaid with gold and silver, to the right of which were hung nine necklaces of jewels, and the like to the left, the jewels of which outshone the light of day. the two ambassadors paused at the distance of about a hundred cubits from the khaleefeh, with the interpreter. having left the presence, they were conducted through the palace, and were shewn splendidly-caparisoned elephants, a giraffe, lynxes, and other beasts. they were then clad with robes of honour, and to each of them was brought fifty thousand dirhems, together with dresses and other presents. it is added, that the ambassadors approached the palace through a street called "the street of the menárehs," in which were a thousand menárehs, or menarets. it was at the hour of noon; and as they passed, the mu?ddins from all these menárehs chanted the call to prayer at the same time, so that the earth almost quaked at the sound, and the ambassadors were struck with fear.274

the orientals well understand how to give the most striking effect to the jewels which they display on their dress, &c., on occasions of state. sir john malcolm, describing his reception by the late king of persia, says, "his dress baffled all description. the ground of his robes was white; but he was so covered with jewels of an extraordinary size, and their splendour, from his being seated where the rays of the sun played upon them, was so dazzling, that it was impossible to distinguish the minute parts which combined to give such amazing brilliancy to his whole figure."275

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note 92. as this marriage is described as conducted in an irregular manner, i need say nothing at present of the ceremonies usually practised on such an occasion.

note 93. every person who has visited eastern cities will bear testimony to the plausibility of this excuse. i have several times been thrown down by the wide load of a camel in the streets of cairo, and seen loads of firewood scraping the houses on both sides of a street at the same time.

note 94. women suspected of infidelity to their husbands have not unfrequently been thus punished in egypt in modern times, in violation of the law.

note 95. "sa?d" signifies "happiness," or "prosperity," and also "happy," or "prosperous."

note 96. pity is of more important service to the muslim after death than during life; for the prayers which it inspires increase his happiness in futurity, or diminish his misery.

note 97. this allusion to religious faith is peculiarly apt in the mouth of a muslim; for the chief dogma of his creed is the denial of any partnership in the divine essence. he calls persons of all other religions "mushriks," or those who attribute partners to god.

note 98. in the original, she is here called an 'efreeteh, which is an improper term.

note 99. this salutation and its reply are only to be given by and to muslims.

note 100. it is implied by this ejaculation that the two ladies were admirable beauties, evidences of the perfection of their creator.