Supplemental Nights to The Book of the Thousand and One Nights - Sir Richard Francis Burton (great books of all time .TXT) 📗

So I became his boon-companion and entertained him by night with tales and talk; and this pleased him with the utmost pleasure and he took me into favour and bestowed on me robes of honour and set apart for me a lodging; indeed he was bountiful exceedingly to me and could not brook to be parted from me a single hour. So I sojourned with him a while of time and every night I caroused and conversed with him till the most part of the dark hours was past; and when drowsiness overcame him, he would rise and betake himself to his sleeping-place, saying to me, Forsake not my service and forego not my presence.’ And I made answer with ‘Hearing and obeying.’ Now the king had a son, a nice child, called the Emir Mohammed, who was winsome of youth and sweet of speech: he had read books and had perused histories and he loved above all things in the world the telling and hearing of verses and tales and anecdotes. He was dear to his father King Jamhur, for that he owned no other son than he on life, and indeed he had reared him in the lap of love and he was gifted with exceeding beauty and loveliness, brilliancy and perfect grace: he had also learnt to play upon the lute and upon all manner instruments and he was used to converse and company with friends and brethren.

Now it was his wont when the king arose seeking his sleeping-chamber, to sit in his place and require me to entertain him with tales and verses and pleasant anecdotes; and on this wise I abode with them both a great while in all joyance and delight, and the Prince still loved me with mighty great love and treated me with the utmost tenderness. It fortuned one day that the king’s son came to me, after his sire had withdrawn, and cried, ‘O Ibn Nafi’!’ ‘At thy service, O my lord;’ ‘I would have thee tell me a wondrous story and a marvellous matter, which thou hast never related either to me or to my father Jamhur.’ ‘O my lord, what story is this that thou desires” of me and what kind shall it be of the kinds?’ ‘It mattereth little, so it be a goodly story, whether it befel of olden tide or in these times.’

‘O my lord, I know by rote many stories of various kinds; so which of the kinds preferrest thou, and wilt thou have a story of mankind or of Jinn kind?’ ‘ ‘Tis well! An thou have espied aught with shine eyes and heard it with thine ears, tell it me.’ Then he bethought himself and said to me, ‘I conjure thee by my life, tell me a tale of the tales of the Jinn and that which thou hast heard of them and seen of them!’ I replied, ‘O my son, indeed thou conjures” me by a mighty conjuration; so lend an ear to the goodliest of stories, ay, and the strangest of them and the pleasantest and rarest.’ Quoth the Prince, ‘Say on, for I am attentive to thy speech;’ and quoth I, ‘Hear then, O my son,

The Tale of the Damsel Tohfat al-Kulub and the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.

 

The Viceregent of the Lord of the three Worlds, Harun al-Rashid, had a boon companion of the number of his boon-companions, by name Ishak bin Ibrahim al-Nadim al-Mausili,[FN#135] who was the most accomplished of the folk of his time in smiting upon the lute; and of the Commander of the Faithful’s love for him, he set apart for him a palace of the choicest of his palaces, wherein he was wont to instruct hand-maidens in the arts of singing and of lute playing. If any slavegirl became, by his instruction, clever in the craft, he carried her before the Caliph, who bade her perform upon the lute; and if she pleased him, he would order her to the Harim; else would he restore her to Ishak’s palace.

One day, the Commander of the Faithful’s breast was straitened; so he sent after his Wazir Ja’afar the Barmecide and Ishak the cup-companion and Masrur the eunuch, the Sworder of his vengeance; and when they came, he changed his habit and disguised himself, whilst Ja’afar and Ishak and Masrur and al-Fazl[FN#136]

and Y�nus[FN#137] (who were also present) did the like. Then he went out, he and they, by the postern, to the Tigris and taking boat fared on till they came to near Al T�f,[FN#138] when they landed and walked till they came to the gate of the high street.

Here there met them an old man, handsome in his hoariness and of a venerable bearing and a dignified, agreeable of aspect and apparel. He kissed the earth before Ishak al-Mausili (for that he knew only him of the company, the Caliph being disguised, and deemed the others certain of his friends), and said to him, “O my lord, there is presently with me a handmaid, a lutanist, never saw eyes the like of her nor the like of her grace, and indeed I was on my way to pay my respects to thee and give thee to know of her, but Allah, of His favour, hath spared me the trouble. So now I desire to show her to thee, and if she take thy fancy, well and good; otherwise I will sell her.” Quoth Ishak, “Go before me to thy quarters,[FN#139] till I come to thee and see her.” The old man kissed his hand and went away; whereupon quoth Al-Rashid to him, “O Ishak, who is yonder man and what is his want?” The other replied, “O my lord, this is a man Sa’�d the Slave-dealer hight, and ‘tis he that buyeth us maidens and Mamelukes. He declareth that with him is a fair slave, a lutanist, whom he hath withheld from sale, for that he could not fairly sell her till he had passed her before me in review.” Quoth the Caliph, “Let us go to him so we may see her, by way of solace, and sight what is in the slave-dealer’s quarters of slavegirls;” and quoth Ishak, “Command belongeth to Allah and to the Commander of the Faithful”

Then he forewent them and they followed in his track till they came to the slave-dealer’s quarters and found a building tall of wall and large of lodgment, with sleeping cells and chambers therein, after the number of the slavegirls, and folk sitting upon the wooden benches. So Ishak entered, he and his company and seating themselves in the place of honour, amused themselves by looking at the handmaids and Mamelukes and watching how they were bought and sold, till the vending came to an end, when some of the folk went away and some remained seated. Then cried the slave-dealer, “Let none sit with us except whoso purchaseth by the thousand diners and upwards.” Accordingly those present withdrew and there remained none but Al-Rashid and his suite; whereupon the slave-dealer called the damsel, after he had caused set her a chair of Faww�k,[FN#140] lined with Grecian brocade, and she was like the sun shining high in the shimmering sky. When she entered, she saluted and sitting down, took the lute and smote upon it, after she had touched its strings and tuned it, so that all present were amazed. Then she sang thereto these couplets:

 

“Breeze o’ Morn, an thou breathe o’er the loved one’s land, *

Deliver my greeting to all the dear band!

And declare to them still I am pledged to their love And my long~ng excels all that lover unmanned: O ye who have blighted my heart, ears and eyes, My passion and ecstasy grow out of hand;

And torn is my sprite every night with desire, * And nothing of sleep can my eyelids command.”

 

Ishak exclaimed, “Brave, O damsel! By Allah, this is a fair hour!” Whereupon she sprang up and kissed his hand, saying, ‘O my lord, in very sooth the hands stand still before thy presence and the tongues at thy sight, and the eloquent when confronting thee wax dumb; but thou art the looser of the veil.”[FN#141] Then she clung to him and cried, “Stand;” so he stood and said to her, “Who art thou and what is thy need?” She raised a corner of the veil, and behold she was a damsel as she were the full moon rising or the levee glancing, with two side-locks of hair which fell down to her anklets. She kissed his hand and said to him, “O

my lord, know that I have been in these quarters some five months, during which I have withheld myself from sale till thou shouldst be present and see me; and yonder slave-dealer also made thy coming a pretext for not vending me, and forbade me for all I sought of him night and day that he should cause thee come hither and vouchsafe me thy company and gar me and thee forgather.”

Quoth Ishak, “Tell me what thou wouldst have;” and quoth she, “I beseech thee, by Allah Almighty, that thou buy me, so I may be with thee by way of service.” He asked, “Is that thy desire?” and she answered, “Yes.” So Ishak returned to the slave-dealer and said to him, “Ho thou, Shaykh Sa’�d!” Said the old man, “At thy service, O my lord,” and Ishak continued, “In the corridor is a chamber and therein wones a damsel pale and wan. What is her price in dirhams and how much cost thou ask for her?” Quoth the slave-dealer, “She whom thou mentionest, O my lord, is called Tohfat al-Humak�?”[FN#142] Ishak asked, “What is the meaning of Al-Humaka?” and the old man answered, “Her price hath been weighed and paid an hundred times and she still saith, Show me him who would buy me; and when I show her to him she saith, This one I mislike; he hath in him such and such a default. And in every one who would fain buy her she noteth some defect or other, so that none careth now to purchase her and none seeketh her, for fear lest she find some fault in him.” Quoth Ishak, “She seeketh at this present to sell herself; so go thou to her and inquire of her and see her price and send her to the palace.” Quoth Sa’id!”

“O my lord, her price is an hundred diners, though, were she free of this paleness that is upon her face, she would be worth a thousand gold pieces; but wanton folly and wanness have diminished her value; and behold I will go to her and consult her of this.” So he betook himself to her and enquired of her, “Wilt thou be sold to Ishak bin Ibrahim al-Mausili?” She replied, “Yes,” and he said, “Leave folly, for to whom cloth it happen to be in the house of Ishak the cup-companion?”[FN#143] Thereupon Ishak went forth the slave-dealer’s quarters and overtook Al-Rashid who had preceded him; and they ceased not walking till they came to their landing-place, where they embarked in the boat and fared on to Thaghr al-Kh�nakah.[FN#144] As for the slave-dealer, he sent the damsel to the house of Ishak al-Nadim, whose slavegirls took her and carried her to the Hammam. Then each damsel gave her somewhat of her gear and they decked her with earrings and bracelets, so that she redoubled in beauty and became as she were the moon on the night of its full. When Ishak returned home from the Caliph’s palace, Tohfah rose to him and kissed his hand; and he saw that which the handmaids had done with her and thanked them for so doing and said to them, “Let her home in the house of instruction and bring her instruments of music, and if she be apt