The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume VIII Part 16

I was a Kazi whom my Fate deigned aid with choicest aid * By writ and reed and raised me to wealth and high degree; Till I was shot by sharpest shaft that knows nor leach nor cure *

By Damsel's glance who came to spill my blood and murther me.

To me came she, a Moslemah and of her wrongs she 'plained * With lips that oped on Orient-pearls ranged fair and orderly: I looked beneath her veil and saw a wending moon at full * Rising below the wings of Night engloomed with blackest blee: A brightest favour and a mouth bedight with wondrous smiles; *

Beauty had brought the loveliest garb and robed her cap-a-pie.

By Allah, ne'er beheld my eyes a face so ferly fair * Amid mankind whoever are, Arab or Ajami.

My Fair! What promise didst thou make what time to me thou said'st * ?Whenas I promise I perform, O Kazi, faithfully.'

Such is my stead and such my case calamitous and dire * And ask me not, ye men of s.p.u.n.k, what dreadful teen I dree."

When he ended his verse he wept with sore weeping and sobbed one sob and his spirit departed his body, which seeing they washed him and shrouded him and prayed over him and buried him graving on his tomb these couplets,

"Perfect were lover's qualities in him was brought a-morn, *

Slain by his love and his beloved, to this untimely grave: Kazi was he amid the folk, and aye 'twas his delight * To foster all the folk and keep a-sheath the Justice-glaive: Love caused his doom and ne'er we saw among mankind before * The lord and master louting low before his thralled slave."

Then they committed him to the mercy of Allah and went away to the second Kazi, in company with the physician, but found in him nor injury nor ailment needing a leach. Accordingly they questioned him of his case and what preoccupied him; so he told them what ailed him, whereupon they blamed him and chid him for his predicament and he answered them with these couplets,

"Blighted by her yet am I not to blame; * Struck by the dart at me her fair hand threw.

Unto me came a woman called Hubub * Chiding the world from year to year anew: And brought a damsel showing face that shamed * Full moon that sails through Night-tide's blackest hue, She showed her beauties and she 'plained her plain * Which tears in torrents from her eyelids drew: I to her words gave ear and gazed on her * Whenas with smiling lips she made me rue.

Then with my heart she fared where'er she fared * And left me pledged to sorrows soul subdue.

Such is my tale! So pity ye my case * And this my page with Kazi's gear indue."

Then he sobbed one sob and his soul fled his flesh; whereupon they gat ready his funeral and buried him commending him to the mercy of Allah; after which they repaired to the third Kazi and the fourth, and there befel them the like of what befel their brethren.[FN#367] Furthermore, they found the a.s.sessors also sick for love of her, and indeed all who saw her died of her love or, an they died not, lived on tortured with the lowe of pa.s.sion.-- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the city folk found all the Kazis and the a.s.sessors sick for love of her, and all who saw her died lovesick or, an they died not, lived on tortured with the lowe of pa.s.sion for stress of pining to no purpose--Allah have mercy on them one and all! Meanwhile Zayn al- Mawasif and her women drave on with all diligence till they were far distant from the city and it so fortuned that they came to a convent by the way, wherein dwelt a Prior called Danis and forty monks.[FN#368] When the Prior saw her beauty, he went out to her and invited her to alight, saying, "Rest with us ten days and after wend your ways." So she and her damsels alighted and entered the convent; and when Danis saw her beauty and loveliness, she debauched his belief and he was seduced by her: wherefore he fell to sending the monks, one after other with love-messages; but each who saw her fell in love with her and sought her favours for himself, whilst she excused and denied herself to them. But Danis ceased not his importunities till he had dispatched all the forty, each one of whom fell love-sick at first sight and plied her with blandishments never even naming Danis; whilst she refused and rebuffed them with harsh replies.

At last when Danis's patience was at an end and his pa.s.sion was sore on him, he said in himself, "Verily, the sooth-sayer saith, ?Naught scratcheth my skin but my own nail and naught like my own feet for mine errand may avail.'" So up he rose and made ready rich meats, and it was the ninth day of her sojourn in the convent where she had purposed only to rest. Then he carried them in to her and set them before her, saying, "Bismillah, favour us by tasting the best of the food at our command." So she put forth her hand, saying, "For the name of Allah the Compa.s.sionating, the Compa.s.sionate!" and ate, she and her handmaidens. When she had made an end of eating, he said to her, "O my lady, I wish to recite to thee some verses." Quoth she, "Say on," and he recited these couplets,

"Thou hast won my heart by cheek and eye of thee, * I'll praise for love in prose and poesy.

Wilt fly a lover, love-sick, love-distraught * Who strives in dreams some cure of love to see?

Leave me not fallen, pa.s.sion-fooled, since I * For pine have left uncared the Monast'ry: O Fairest, 'tis thy right to shed my blood, * So rue my case and hear the cry of me!"

When Zayn al-Mawasif heard his verses, she answered him with these two couplets,

"O who suest Union, ne'er hope such delight * Nor solicit my favours, O hapless wight!

Cease to hanker for what thou canst never have: * Next door are the greedy to sore despight."

Hearing this he returned to his place, pondering in himself and knowing not how he should do in her affair, and pa.s.sed the night in the sorriest plight. But, as soon as the darkness was darkest Zayn al-Mawasif arose and said to her handmaids, "Come, let us away, for we cannot avail against forty men, monks, each of whom requireth me for himself." Quoth they, "Right willingly!" So they mounted their beasts and issued forth the convent gate,-- Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-second Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Zayn al-Mawasif and her handmaids issued forth the convent gate and, under favour of the night, rode on till they overtook a caravan, with which they mingled and found it came from the city of 'Adan wherein the lady had dwelt. Presently, Zayn al-Mawasif heard the people of the caravan discoursing of her own case and telling how the Kazis and a.s.sessors were dead of love for her and how the townsfolk had appointed in their stead others who released her husband from prison. Whereupon she turned to her maids and asked them, "Heard ye that?"; and Hubub answered, "If the monks were ravished with love of thee, whose belief it is that shunning women is worship, how should it be with the Kazis, who hold that there is no monkery in Al-Islam? But let us make our way to our own country, whilst our affair is yet hidden." So they drave on with all diligence. Such was their case; but as regards the monks, on the morrow, as soon as it was day they repaired to Zayn al-Mawasif's lodging, to salute her, but found the place empty, and their hearts sickened within them. So the first monk rent his raiment and improvised these couplets,

"Ho ye, my friends, draw near, for I forthright * From you depart, since parting is my lot: My vitals suffer pangs o' fiery love; * Flames of desire in heart burn high and hot, For sake of fairest girl who sought our land * Whose charms th'

horizon's full moon evens not.

She fared and left me victimed by her love * And slain by shaft those lids death-dealing shot."

Then another monk recited the following couplets,

"O ye who with my vitals fled, have ruth * On this unhappy: haste ye homeward-bound: They fared, and fared fair Peace on farthest track * Yet lingers in mine ear that sweetest sound: Fared far, and far their fane; would Heaven I saw Their shade in vision float my couch around: And when they went wi' them they bore my heart * And in my tear-floods all of me left drowned."

A third monk followed with these extempore lines,

"Throne you on highmost stead, heart, ears and sight * Your wone's my heart; mine all's your dwelling-site: Sweeter than honey is your name a-lip, * Running, as 'neath my ribs runs vital sprite: For Love hath made me as a tooth-pick[FN#368] lean * And drowned in tears of sorrow and despight: Let me but see you in my sleep, belike * Shall clear my cheeks of tears that lovely sight."

Then a fourth recited the following couplets,

"Dumb is my tongue and scant my speech for thee * And Love the direst torture gars me dree: O thou full Moon, whose place is highest Heaven, * For thee but double pine and pain in me."

And a fifth these,[FN#370]

"I love a moon of comely shapely form * Whose slender waist hath t.i.tle to complain: Whose lip-dews rival must and long-kept wine; * Whose heavy haunches haunt the minds of men: My heart each morning burns with pain and pine * And the night-talkers note I'm pa.s.sion-slain; While down my cheeks carnelian-like the tears * Of rosy red shower down like railing rain."

And a sixth the following,

"O thou who shunnest him thy love misled! * O Branch of Ban, O star of highmost stead!

To thee of pine and pa.s.sion I complain, * O thou who fired me with cheeks rosyred.

Did e'er such lover lose his soul for thee, * Or from prostration and from prayers fled?"

And a seventh these,

"He seized my heart and freed my tears to flow * Brought strength to Love and bade my Patience go.

His charms are sweet as bitter his disdain; * And shafts of love his suitors overthrow.

Stint blame, O blamer, and for past repent * None will believe thee who dost Love unknow!"

And on like wise all the rest of the monks shed tears and repeated verses. As for Danis, the Prior, weeping and wailing redoubled on him, for that he found no way to her enjoyment, and he chanted the following couplets[FN#371],

"My patience failed me when my lover went * And fled that day mine aim and best intent.

O Guide o' litters lead their camels fair, * Haply some day they'll deign with me to tent!

On parting-day Sleep parted from my lids * And grew my grieving and my joy was shent.

I moan to Allah what for Love I dree'd * My wasted body and my forces spent."

Then, despairing of her, they took counsel together and with one mind agreed to fashion her image and set it up with them, and applied themselves to this till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and Severer of societies. Meanwhile, Zayn al-Mawasif fared on, without ceasing, to find her lover Masrur, till she reached her own house. She opened the doors, and entered; then she sent to her sister Nasim, who rejoiced with exceeding joy at the news of her return and brought her the furniture and precious stuffs left in her charge. So she furnished the house and dressed it, hanging the curtains over the doors and burning aloes-wood and musk and ambergris and other essences till the whole place recked with the most delightful perfumes: after which the Adornment of Qualities donned her finest dress and decorations and sat talking with her maids, whom she had left behind when journeying, and related to them all that had befallen her first and last. Then she turned to Hubub and giving her dirhams, bade her fetch them something to eat. So she brought meat and drink and when they had made an end of eating and drinking,[FN#372]

Zayn al-Mawasif bade Hubub go and see where Masrur was and how it fared with him. Now he knew not of her return; but abode with concern overcast and sorrow might not be overpast;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zayn al-Mawasif entered her house she was met by her sister Nasim who brought her the furniture and stuffs wherewith she furnished the place; and then she donned her finest dress. But Masrur knew naught of her return and abode with concern overcast and sorrow might not be overpast; no peace prevailed with him nor was patience possible to him. Whenas pine and pa.s.sion, desire and distraction waxed on him, he would solace himself by reciting verse and go to the house and set him its walls to buss. It chanced that he went out that day to the place where he had parted from his mistress and repeated this rare song,

"My wrongs hide I, withal they show to sight; * And now mine eyes from sleep to wake are dight.

I cry when melancholy tries my sprite * Last not, O world nor work more despight; Lo hangs my soul 'twixt hardship and affright.

Were the Sultan hight Love but fair to me, * Slumber mine eyes'

companion were to me, My Lords, some little mercy spare to me, * Chief of my tribe: be debonnair to me, Whom Love cast down, erst rich now pauper-wight!

Censors may blame thee but I look beyond * Mine ears I stop and leave their lies unconned And keep my pact wi' those I love so fond: * They say, ?Thou lov'st a runaway!' I respond, ?Whist! whenas Fate descends she blinds the sight!'"

Then he returned to his lodging and sat there weeping, till sleep overcame him, when he saw in a dream as if Zayn al-Mawasif were come to the house, and awoke in tears. So he set off to go thither, improvising these couplets,

"Shall I be consoled when Love hath mastered the secret of me *

And my heart is aglow with more than the charcoal's ardency?

I love her whose absence I plain before Allah for parting-stower * And the shifts of the days and doom which allotted me Destiny: When shall our meeting be, O wish O' my heart and will? * O favour of fullest Moon, when shall we Re-union see?"