Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
O you to whom I gave my soul, return; from you I wish'd to pluck it, but could
not succeed:
Then pity the rest of a life that I've sacrificed for thee, before the hour of
death my last look I will take:
If all of thee be lost astonished I'll not be; my astonishment would be that his
lot will be to another.
Presently the Wazir Ja'afar coming up to the Hodaj said to the young wife, O
mistress of the Hodaj, thou hast killed us. When she heard this address she
called to him with dejection and humility, We ought not to talk to thee for I am
the cousin-wife of thy friend and companion Attaf, prince of generosity and
devotion. If there be in thee any feeling of the self-denial of a man thou wilt
do for him that which, in his devotion, he hath done for thee. When Ja'afar
heard these words he became troubled and taking in the magnitude of the situation
he said to the young lady, O thou! thou art then his cousin-wife? and said she,
Yes! it is I whom thou sawest on such a day when this and that took place and thy
heart attached itself to me. Thou hast told him all that. He divorced me, and
while waiting for the expiration of my 'iddah diverted thee that such and such
was the cause of all my trouble. Now I have explained to thee my situation: do
thou the action of a man. When Ja'afar heard these words he uttered a loud cry
and said, We are from God and to Him we return. O thou! thou art now to me an
interdiction and hast become a sacred deposit until thy return to where it may
please thee. Then said Ja'afar to a servant, Take good care of thy mistress.
After which they set foward and travelled on day and night. Now Er-Rashid, after
the departure of Ja'afar, became uneasy and sorrowful at his absence. He lost
patience and was tormented with a great desire to see him again, while he
regretted the conditions he had imposed as impossible to be complied with and
obliging him to the extremity of tramping about the country like a vagabond, and
forcing him to abandon his native land. He had sent envoys after him to search
for him in every place, but he had never received any news of him, and was cast
into great embarrassment by reason of his absence. He was always waiting to hear
of him, and when Ja'afar had approached Baghdad and he, Er-Rashid, had received
the good tidings of his coming, he went forth to meet him, and as soon as they
came together they embraced each other, and the Caliph became content and joyful.
They entered together into the palace and the Prince of True Believers seating
Ja'afar at his side, said to him, Relate to me thy story where thou hast been
during thine absence and what thou hast come upon. So Ja'afar told him then all
that had happened from the time he left him until the moment of finding himself
between his hands. Er-Rashid was greatly astonished and said, Wallahy, thou hast
made me sorrowful for thine absence, and hast inspired me with great desire to
see thy friend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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