The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume IV Part 10

'If a sharp-witted wight e'er tried mankind, * I've eaten that which only tasted he:[FN#257]

Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, * Their faith I found was but hypocrisy.'"

Quoth Ali, "O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee what more shall I do?" Quoth he, "Do good whereas thou art able; be ever kind and courteous to men and regard as riches every occasion of doing a good turn; for a design is not always easily carried out; and how well saith the poet,

"Tis not at every time and tide unstable, * We can do kindly acts and charitable: When thou art able hasten thee to act, * Lest thine endeavour prove anon unable!'"

Said Ali, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth replied, "I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?" And his sire continued, "Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be mindful of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou wilt come to want the least of mankind. Know that the measure of a man's worth is according to that which his right hand hendeth: and how well saith the poet,[FN#258]

'When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, * And when it waxeth all men friendship show: How many a foe for wealth became my friend, * Wealth lost, how many a friend became a foe!'"

Asked Ali, "What more?" And Majd al-Din answered, "O my son, take counsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy heart's desire. Have compa.s.sion on those who are below thee, so shall those who are above thee have compa.s.sion on thee; and oppress none, lest Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How well saith the poet,

'Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, * For man's true course hides not from minds of two Man is a mirror which but shows his face, * And by two mirrors he his back shall view.'

And as saith another,[FN#259]

'Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast, To gain the purpose that thou hast And be thou kindly to all men So kindly thou'lt be called again; For not a deed the hand can try, Save 'neath the hand of G.o.d on high, Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny, Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.'

And as saith yet another,[FN#260]

'Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the tyrannical-is in danger of revenges.

Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down curses on thee, and G.o.d's eye sleepeth not.'

Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth away the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well saith the poet,

'By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul * Join body, nor while speech the words of me explain: No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze[FN#261] *

Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfair.'

This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah stand to thee in my stead." Then he swooned away and kept silent awhile; and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and p.r.o.nounced the profession of the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy of the Almighty. So his son wept and lamented for him and presently made proper preparation for his burial; great and small walked in his funeral-procession and Koran readers recited Holy Writ about his bier; nor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they prayed over him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two couplets upon his tomb,

'Thou west create of dust and cam'st to life, * And learned'st in eloquence to place thy trust; Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest * A corpse, as though ne'er taken from the dust."

Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards, when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah's creatures, in accordance with his father's injunction. This wise he continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to him by craft certain wh.o.r.eson fellows and consorted with him, till he turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair women night and day; for he said to himself, "Of a truth my father ama.s.sed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet,

'An through the whole of life * Thou gett'st and gain'st for self; Say, when shalt thou enjoy * Thy gains and gotten pelf?'"

And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day, when he had sat from day-break to mid-afternoon without breaking his fast, he said in his mind, "I will go round to those on whom I spent my monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day." So he went the round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one's door of them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants' bazar where he found a crowd of people a.s.sembled in ring, and said to himself, "I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By Allah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!" So he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for sale who was five feet tall,[FN#262] beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and high of breast; and who surpa.s.sed all the people of her time in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one, describing her,

"As she willed she was made, and in such a way that when * She was cast in Nature's mould neither short nor long was she: Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, *

Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency: The full moon is her face[FN#263]and the branchlet is her shape, * And the musk-pod is her scent--what like her can there be?

'Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, * And in every lovely limblet another moon we see!"

And her name was Zumurrud--the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, "By Allah, I will not stir hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!" So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker stood at the damsel's head and said, "Ho, merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open the biddings' door and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach for evermore." Thereupon quoth one merchant, "Mine for five hundred dinars;" "And ten," quoth another. "Six hundred," cried an old man named Rashid al-Din, blue of eye[FN#264] and foul of face. "And ten," cried another. "I bid a thousand," rejoined Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace and the broker took counsel with the girl's owner, who said, "I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her." Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, "O mistress of moons this merchant hath a mind to buy thee." She looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, "I will not be sold to a gray-beard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah inspired his saying who saith,

'I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld * My h.o.a.ry hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display'd; She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud:-- * 'No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath made For h.o.a.ry head and grizzled chin I've no especial-love: * What!

stuff my mouth with cotton[FN#265] ere in sepulchre I'm laid?'"

Now when the broker heard her words he said, "By Allah, thou art excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!" So he told her owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said, "Consult her concerning another." Thereupon a second man came forward and said, "Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she would have none of;" but she looked at him and seeing that his beard was dyed, said "What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening of the h.o.a.ry face?" And she made a great show of wonderment and repeated these couplets,

"Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! *

A neck by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite[FN#266]

A beard the meetest racing ground where gnats and lice contend, *

A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and bite.[FN#267]

O thou enravish" by my cheek and beauties of my form, * Why so translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?

Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, * And hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!

Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, *

Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by night.[FN#268]

And how well saith another'

Quoth she, 'I see thee dye thy h.o.a.riness:'[FN#269] * 'To hide, O ears and eyes! from thee,' quoth I: She roared with laugh and said, 'Right funny this; * Thou art so lying e'en

Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, "By Allah thou hast spoken sooth!" The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said, "Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;" but, when he did so, she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, "This man is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith,[FN#270]

'Consort not with the Cyclops e'en a day; * Beware his falsehood and his mischief fly: Had this monocular a jot of good, * Allah had ne'er brought blindness to his eye!'"

Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, "Wilt thou be sold to this man?" She looked at him and seeing that he was short of stature[FN#271] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, "This is he of whom the poet speaketh,

'I have a friend who hath a beard * Allah to useless length unroll'd: 'Tis like a certain[FN#272] winter night, * Longsome and darksome, drear and cold.'"

Said the broker, "O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him." So she looked round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies, till her glance fell on Ali Shar,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl's glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he was of favour pa.s.sing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, "O broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet thus describeth,

'Displaying that fair face * The tempted they a.s.sailed Who, had they wished me safe * That lovely face had veiled!'

For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[FN#273] his spittle is a cure for the sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of him,

'His honey dew of lips is wine; his breath * Musk and those teeth, smile shown, are camphor's hue: Rizwan[FN#274] hath turned him out o' doors, for fear * The Houris lapse from virtue at the view Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when * In pride the full moon sails, excuse is due.'

Lord of the curling locks and rose red cheeks and ravishing look of whom saith the poet,

'The fawn-like one a meeting promised me * And eye expectant waxed and heart unstirred: His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; * But, in their languish,[FN#275] can he keep his word?'

And as saith another,

'Quoth they, 'Black letters on his cheek are writ! * How canst thou love him and a side-beard see?'

Quoth I, 'Cease blame and cut your chiding short; * If those be letters 'tis a forgery:'