Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6)
Science
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
Quoth Dunyazad, "O sister mine, an thou be other than sleepy, do
tell us some of thy pleasant tales," whereupon Shahrazad replied,
"With love and good will."--It hath reached me, O King of the
Age, that Alaeddin walked amongst the trees and gazed upon them
and other things which surprised the sight and bewildered the
wits; and, as he considered them, he saw that in lieu of common
fruits the produce was of mighty fine jewels and precious
stones,[FN#94] such as emeralds and diamonds; rubies, spinels
and balasses, pearls and similar gems astounding the mental
vision of man. And forasmuch as the lad had never beheld things
like these during his born days nor had reached those years of
discretion which would teach him the worth of such valuables (he
being still but a little lad), he fancied that all these jewels
were of glass or crystal. So he collected them until he had
filled his breast-pockets and began to certify himself if they
were or were not common fruits, such as grapes, figs and such
like edibles. But seeing them of glassy substance, he, in his
ignorance of precious stones and their prices, gathered into his
breast-pockets every kind of growth the trees afforded; and,
having failed of his purpose in finding them food, he said in his
mind, "I will collect a portion of these glass fruits for
playthings at home." So he fell to plucking them in quantities
and cramming them in his pokes and breast-pockets till these were
stuffed full; after which he picked others which he placed in his
waist-shawl and then, girding himself therewith, carried off all
he availed to, purposing to place them in the house by way of
ornaments and, as hath been mentioned, never imagining that they
were other than glass. Then he hurried his pace in fear of his
uncle, the Maghrabi, until he had passed through the four halls
and lastly on his return reached the souterrain where he cast not
a look at the jars of gold, albeit he was able and allowed to
take of the contents on his way back. But when he came to the
souterrain-stairs[FN#95] and clomb the steps till naught remained
but the last; and, finding this higher than all the others, he
was unable alone and unassisted, burthened moreover as he was, to
mount it. So he said to the Maghrabi, "O my uncle, lend me thy
hand and aid me to climb;" but the Moorman answered, "O my son,
give me the Lamp and lighten thy load; belike 'tis that weigheth
thee down." The lad rejoined, "O my uncle, 'tis not the Lamp
downweigheth me at all; but do thou lend me a hand and as soon as
I reach ground I will give it to thee." Hereat the Maroccan, the
Magician, whose only object was the Lamp and none other, began to
insist upon Alaeddin giving it to him at once; but the lad
(forasmuch as he had placed it at the bottom of his breast-pocket
and his other pouches being full of gems bulged outwards)[FN#96]
could not reach it with his fingers to hand it over, so the
wizard after much vain persistency in requiring what his nephew
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account