The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (10 page)

For a month my brothers, these very dogs, and I sailed the salty sea, until we came to a port city. We entered the city and sold our goods, earning ten dinars for every dinar. Then we bought other goods, and when we got to the seashore to embark, I met a girl who was dressed in tatters. She kissed my hands and said, “O my lord, be charitable and do me a favor, and I believe that I shall be able to reward you for it.” I replied, “I am willing to do you a favor regardless of any reward.” She said, “O my lord, marry me, clothe me, and take me home with you on this boat, as your wife, for I wish to give myself to you. I, in turn, will reward you for your kindness and charity, the Almighty God willing. Don't be misled by my poverty and present condition.” When I heard her words, I felt pity for her, and guided by what God the Most High had intended for me, I consented. I clothed her with an expensive dress and married her. Then I took her to the boat, spread the bed for her, and consummated our marriage. We sailed many days and nights, and I, feeling love for her, stayed with her day and night, neglecting my brothers. In the meantime they, these very dogs, grew jealous of me, envied me for my increasing merchandise and wealth, and coveted all our possessions. At last they decided to betray me and, tempted by the Devil, plotted to kill me. One night they waited until I was asleep beside my wife; then they carried the two of us and threw us into the sea.

When we awoke, my wife turned into a she-demon and carried me out of the sea to an island. When it was morning, she said, “Husband, I have rewarded you by saving you from drowning, for I am one of the demons who believe in God. When I saw you by the seashore, I felt love for you and came to you in the guise in which you saw me, and when I expressed my love for you, you accepted me. Now I must kill your brothers.” When I heard what she said, I was amazed and I thanked her and said, “As for destroying my brothers, this I do not wish, for I will not behave like them.” Then I related to her what had happened to me and them, from beginning to end. When she heard my story, she got very angry at them, and said, “I shall fly to them now, drown their boat, and let them all perish.” I entreated her, saying, “For God's sake, don't. The proverb advises ‘Be kind to those who hurt you.' No matter what, they are my brothers after all.” In this manner, I entreated her and pacified her. Afterward, she took me and flew away with me until she brought me home and put me down on the roof of my house. I climbed down, threw the doors open, and dug up the money I had buried. Then I went out and, greeting the people in the market, reopened my shop. When I came home in the evening, I found these two dogs tied up, and when they saw me, they came to me, wept, and rubbed themselves against me. I started, when I suddenly heard my wife say, “O my lord, these are your brothers.” I asked, “Who has done this to them?” She replied, “I sent to my sister and asked her to do it. They will stay in this condition for ten years, after which they may be delivered.” Then she told me where to find her and departed. The ten years have passed, and I was with my brothers on my way to her to have the spell lifted, when I met this man, together with this old man with the deer. When I asked him about himself, he told me about his encounter with you, and I resolved not to leave until I found out what would happen between you and him. This is my story. Isn't it amazing?

The demon replied, “By God, it is strange and amazing. I grant you one-third of my claim on him for his crime.”

Then the third old man said, “Demon, don't disappoint me. If I told you a story that is stranger and more amazing than the first two would you grant me one-third of your claim on him for his crime?” The demon replied, “I will.” Then the old man said, “Demon, listen”:

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister said, “What an amazing story!” Shahrazad replied, “The rest is even more amazing.” The king said to himself, “I will not have her put to death until I hear what happened to the old man and the demon; then I will have her put to death, as is my custom with the others.”

T
HE
E
IGHTH
N
IGHT

The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “For God's sake, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one of your lovely little tales to while away the night.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O happy King, that the third old man told the demon a story that was even stranger and more amazing than the first two. The demon was very much amazed and, swaying with delight, said, “I grant you one-third of my claim on him for his crime.” Then the demon released the merchant and departed. The merchant turned to the three old men and thanked them, and they congratulated him on his deliverance and bade him good-bye. Then they separated, and each of them went on his way. The merchant himself went back home to his family, his wife, and his children, and he lived with them until the day he died. But this story is not as strange or as amazing as the story of the fisherman.

Dinarzad asked, “Please, sister, what is the story of the fisherman?” Shahrazad said:

 

5.
Gold coins, the basic Muslim money units.

[The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon]

IT IS RELATED
that there was a very old fisherman who had a wife and three daughters and who was so poor that they did not have even enough food for the day. It was this fisherman's custom to cast his net four times a day. One day, while the moon was still up, he went out with his net at the call for the early morning prayer. He reached the outskirts of the city and came to the seashore. Then he set down his basket, rolled up his shirt, and waded to his waist in the water. He cast his net and waited for it to sink; then he gathered the rope and started to pull. As he pulled little by little, he felt that the net was getting heavier until he was unable to pull any further. He climbed ashore, drove a stake into the ground, and tied the end of the rope to the stake. Then he took off his clothes, dove into the water, and went around the net, shaking it and tugging at it until he managed to pull it ashore. Feeling extremely happy, he put on his clothes and went back to the net. But when he opened it, he found inside a dead donkey, which had torn it apart. The fisherman felt sad and depressed and said to himself, “There is no power and no strength save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent,” adding, “Indeed, this is a strange catch!” Then he began to recite the following verses:

O you who brave the danger in the dark,

Reduce your toil, for gain is not in work.

Look at the fisherman who labors at his trade,

As the stars in the night their orbits make,

And deeply wades into the raging sea,

Steadily gazing at the swelling net,

Till he returns, pleased with his nightly catch,

A fish whose mouth the hook of death has cut,

And sells it to a man who sleeps the night,

Safe from the cold and blessed with every wish.

Praised be the Lord who blesses and withholds:

This casts the net, but that one eats the fish.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister Dinarzad said, “Sister, what a lovely story!” Shahrazad replied, “Tomorrow night I shall tell you the rest, which is stranger and more wonderful, if the king spares me and lets me live!”

T
HE
N
INTH
N
IGHT

The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, finish the fisherman's story.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O happy King, that when the fisherman finished reciting his verses, he pushed the donkey out of the net and sat down to mend it. When he was done, he wrung it out and spread it to dry. Then he waded into the water and, invoking the Almighty God, cast the net and waited for it to sink. Then he pulled the rope little by little, but this time the net was even more firmly snagged. Thinking that it was heavy with fish, he was extremely happy. He took off his clothes and, diving into the water, freed the net and struggled with it until he reached the shore, but inside the net he found a large jar full of nothing but mud and sand. When he saw this, he felt sad and, with tears in his eyes, said to himself, “This is a strange day! God's we are and to God we return,” and he began to recite the following verses:

O my tormenting fate, forbear,

Or if you can't, at least be fair.

I went to seek, my daily bread,

But they said to me it was dead.

And neither luck nor industry

Brought back my daily bread to me.

The Pleiads
⁶
many fools attain,

While sages sit in dark disdain.

Then the fisherman threw the jar away, washed his net, and, wringing it out, spread it to dry. Then he begged the Almighty God for forgiveness and went back to the water. For the third time, he cast the net and waited for it to sink. But when he pulled it up, he found nothing inside but broken pots and bottles, stones, bones, refuse, and the like. He wept at this great injustice and ill luck and began to recite the following verses:

Your livelihood is not in your own hands;

Neither by writing nor by the pen you thrive.

Your luck and your wages are by lot;

Some lands are waste, and some are fertile lands.

The wheel of fortune lowers the man of worth,

Raising the base man who deserves to fall.

Come then, O death, and end this worthless life,

Where the ducks soar, while the falcons are bound to earth.

No wonder that you see the good man poor,

While the vicious exalts in his estate.

Our wages are alloted; 'tis our fate

To search like birds for gleanings everywhere.

One bird searches the earth from east to west,

Another gets the tidbits while at rest.

Then the fisherman raised his eyes to the heavens and, seeing that the sun had risen and that it was morning and full daylight, said, “O Lord, you know that I cast my net four times only. I have already cast it three times, and there is only one more try left. Lord, let the sea serve me, even as you let it serve Moses.”
⁷
Having mended the net, he cast it into the sea, and waited for it to sink. When he pulled, he found that it was so heavy that he was unable to haul it. He shook it and found that it was caught at the bottom. Saying “There is no power or strength save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent,” he took off his clothes and dove for the net. He worked at it until he managed to free it, and as he hauled it to the shore, he felt that there was something heavy inside. He struggled with the net, until he opened it and found a large long-necked brass jar, with a lead stopper bearing the mark of a seal ring.
⁸
When the fisherman saw the jar, he was happy and said to himself, “I will sell it in the copper market, for it must be worth at least two measures of wheat.” He tried to move the jar, but it was so full and so heavy that he was unable to budge it. Looking at the lead stopper, he said to himself, “I will open the jar, shake out the contents, then roll it before me until I reach the copper market.” Then he took out a knife from his belt and began to scrape and struggle with the lead stopper until he pried it loose. He held the stopper in his mouth, tilted the jar to the ground, and shook it, trying to pour out its contents, but when nothing came out, he was extremely surprised.

After a while, there began to emerge from the jar a great column of smoke, which rose and spread over the face of the earth, increasing so much that it covered the sea and rising so high that it reached the clouds and hid the daylight. For a long time, the smoke kept rising from the jar; then it gathered and took shape, and suddenly it shook and there stood a demon, with his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds. He had a head like a tomb, fangs like pincers, a mouth like a cave, teeth like stones, nostrils like trumpets, ears like shields, a throat like an alley, and eyes like lanterns. In short, all one can say is that he was a hideous monster. When the fisherman saw him, he shook with terror, his jaws locked together, and his mouth went dry. The demon cried, “O Solomon,
⁹
prophet of God, forgive me, forgive me. Never again will I disobey you or defy your command.”