The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 4 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (robert munsch read aloud txt) 📗
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The Caliph marvelled with passing marvel at this and said to him, “How camest thou by all this, seeing that thou art known only as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and they tell me that thy father was a cupper serving in a public Hammam, who left thee nothing?”
Whereupon he answered, “Listen to my story” And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and First Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed Lazybones thus spake to the Caliph: “O Prince of True Believers, listen to my story, for it is a marvellous and its particulars are wondrous; were it graven with graver-needles upon the eye-corners it were a warner to whose would be warned.” Quoth Al-Rashid, “Let us hear all thou hast to say, O Abu Mohammed!”
So he began “Know then, O Commander of the Faithful (Allah prolong to thee glory and dominion!), the report of the folk; that I am known as the Lazybones and that my father left me nothing, is true; for he was, as thou hast said, nothing but a barber-cupper in a Hammam. And I throughout my youth was the idlest wight on the face of the earth; indeed, so great was my sluggishness that, if I lay at full length in the sultry season and the sun came round upon me, I was too lazy to rise and remove from the sun to the shade. And thus I abode till I reached my fifteenth year, when my father deceased in the mercy of Allah Almighty and left me nothing. However, my mother used to go out acharing and feed me and give me to drink, whilst I lay on my side. Now it came to pass that one day she came in to me with five silver dirhams, and said to me, ‘O my son, I hear that Shaykh Ab� al-Muzaffar[FN#231] is about to go a voyage to China.’
(Now this Shaykh was a good and charitable man who loved the poor.) ‘So come, my son, take these five silver bits; and let us both carry them to him and beg him to buy thee therewith somewhat from the land of China; so haply thou mayst make a profit of it by the bounty of Allah, whose name be exalted!’ I was too idle to move for her; but she swore by the Almighty that, except I rose and went with her, she would bring me neither meat nor drink nor come in to me, but would leave me to die of hunger and thirst.
Now when I heard her words, O Commander of the Faithful, I knew she would do as she threatened for her knowledge of my sluggishness; so I said to her, ‘Help me to sit up.’ She did so, and I wept the while and said to her, ‘Bring me my shoes.’
Accordingly, she brought them and I said, ‘Put them on my feet.’
She put them on my feet and I said, ‘Lift me up off the ground.’
So she lifted me up and I said, ‘Support me, that I may walk.’ So she supported me and I continued to fare a foot, at times stumbling over my skirts, till we came to the river bank, where we saluted the Shaykh and I said to him, ‘O my uncle, art thou Abu al-Muzaffar?’ ‘At thy service,’ answered he, and I, ‘Take these dirhams and with them buy me somewhat from the land of China: haply Allah may vouchsafe me a profit of it.’ Quoth the Shaykh to his companions, ‘Do ye know this youth?’ They answered, ‘Yes, he is known as Abu Mohammed Lazybones, and we never saw him stir from his house till this moment.’ Then said he to me, ‘O my son, give me the silver with the blessing of Almighty Allah!’ So he took the money, saying, ‘Bismillah in the name of Allah!’ and I returned home with my mother. Presently Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar set sail, with a company of merchants, and stayed not till they reached the land of China, where he and his bought and sold; and, having won what they wished, set out on their homeward voyage.
When they had been three days at sea, the Shaykh said to his company, ‘Stay the vessel!’ They asked, ‘What dost thou want?’
and he answered, ‘Know that I have forgotten the commission wherewith Abu Mohammed Lazybones charged me; so let us turn back that we may lay out his money on somewhat whereby he may profit.’
They cried, ‘We conjure thee, by Allah Almighty turn not back with us; for we have traversed a long distance and a sore, and while so doing we have endured sad hardship and many terrors.’
Quoth he, ‘There is no help for it but we return;’ and they said, ‘Take from us double the profit of the five dirhams, and turn us not back.’ He agreed to this and they collected for him an ample sum of money. Thereupon they sailed on, till they came to an island wherein was much people; when they moored thereto and the merchants went ashore, to buy thence a stock of precious metals and pearls and jewels and so forth. Presently Abu al-Muzaffar saw a man seated, with many apes before him, and amongst them one whose hair had been plucked off; and as often as their owner’s attention was diverted from them, the other apes fell upon the plucked one and beat him and threw him on their master; whereupon the man rose and bashed them and bound them and punished them for this; and all the apes were wroth with the plucked ape on this account and funded him the more. When Shaykh Abu al-Muzaffar saw this, he felt for and took compassion upon the plucked ape and said to his master, ‘Wilt thou sell me yonder monkey?’ Replied the man, ‘Buy,’ and Abu al-Muzaffar rejoined, ‘I have with me five dirhams, belonging to an orphan lad. Wilt thou sell it me for that sum?’ Answered the monkey-merchant, ‘It is a bargain; and Allah give thee a blessing of him!’ So he made over the beast and received his money; and the Shaykh’s slaves took the ape and tied him up in the ship. Then they loosed sail and made for another island, where they cast anchor; and there came down divers, who plunged for precious stones, pearls and other gems; so the merchants hired them to dive for money and they dived. Now when the ape saw them doing this, he loosed himself from his bonds and, jumping off the ship’s side, plunged with them, whereupon quoth Abu al-Muzaffar, ‘There is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! The monkey is lost to us with the luck of the poor fellow for whom we bought him.’ And they despaired of him; but, after a while, the company of divers rose to the surface, and behold, among them was the ape, with his hands full of jewels of price, which he threw down before Abu al-Muzaffar. The Shaykh marvelled at this and said, ‘There is much mystery in this monkey!’ Then they cast off and sailed till they came to a third island, called the Isle of the Zun�j,[FN#232] who are a people of the blacks, which eat the flesh of the sons of Adam. When the blacks saw them, they boarded them in dug-outs[FN#233] and, taking all in the vessel, pinioned them and carried them to their King, who bade slaughter certain of the merchants. So they slaughtered them by cutting their throats and ate their flesh; and the rest of the traders passed the night in bonds and were in sore concern. But when it was midnight, the ape arose and going up to Abu al-Muzaffar, loosed his bonds; and, as the others saw him free, they said, ‘Allah grant our deliverance may be at thy hands, O Abu al-Muzaffar!’
But he replied, ‘Know that he who delivered me, by leave of Allah Almighty, was none other than this monkey’”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Second Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Muzaffar declared, “None loosed me, by leave of Allah Almighty, save this monkey and I buy my release of him at a thousand dinars!” whereupon the merchants rejoined, ‘And we likewise, each and every, will pay
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