Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 4 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 4 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be
other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short
the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love
and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the
director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting
and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that quoth the
Kazi's wife, "By Allah, O King of the Age, the story of this Kazi
is a strange and of the wonders of the world and 'tis as follows.
My spouse is so niggardly of nature and greedy of gain that
whatso wife he weddeth he starveth her with hunger and, whenas
she loseth patience, he shreddeth her nostrils and putteth her
away, taking all her good and what not. Now this case continued
for a while of time. Also he had a black slave-wench and a fine
eating-cloth and when dinner-time came he would cry, O handmaid,
fetch the fringed table-cloth! whereupon she would bring it and
garnish it with three biscuits and three onions, one to each
mouth. Presently accounts of this conduct came to me at Mosul,
whereupon I removed me to Tarábulus, and there played him many a
prank amongst which was the dish of Baysar by me seasoned with an
over quantity of onions and garlic and such spices as gather wind
in the maw and distend it like a tom-tom and breed
borborygms.[FN#221] This I gave him to eat and then befel that
which befel. So I said to him, Thou art in the family way and
tricked him, privily bringing into the house a new-born babe.
When his belly began to drain off I set under him a large metal
basin and after pinching the little one I placed it in the
utensil and recited Names over it. Presently quoth he, Guard my
little stranger from the draught and bring hither a wet-nurse;
and I did accordingly. But he waxed ashamed of the birth and in
the morning he fared forth the city nor knew we what Allah had
done with him. But as he went I bespake him with the words which
the poet sang when the Ass of Umm Amr[FN#222] went off:?
Ass and Umm Amr bewent their way; * Nor Ass nor Umm Amr returned
for aye,
and then I cited the saying of another:?
When I forced him to fare I bade him hie, * Where Umm
Kash'am[FN#223] caused her selle to fly."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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