Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 2 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 2 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
Commander of the Faithful and of what had betided him after her. Then
she described to him the flower-gardens, wherein she had taken her
pleasure, and the Hammam-baths inlaid with pearls and jewels and told
him that which had befallen Maymun the Sworder, when he bore her off,
and how he had slain himself; in fine, she related to him everything she
had seen of wonders and marvels and that which she had beheld of all
kinds and colours among the Jinn. Then she told him the story of
Al-Anka, daughter of Bahram Jur, with Al-Anka, daughter of the wind, and
described to him her dwelling-place and her island, whereupon quoth
Al-Rashid, “O Tohfat al-Sadr,[257] tell me of Al-Anka, daughter of
Bahram Jur; is she of the Jinn-kind or of mankind or of the bird-kind?
For this long time have I desired to find one who should tell me of
her.” Tohfah replied, “’Tis well, O Commander of the Faithful. I asked
the queen of this and she acquainted me with her case and told me who
built her the palace.” Quoth Al-Rashid, “Allah upon thee, tell it me;”
and quoth Tohfah, “I will well,” and proceeded to tell him. And he was
amazed at that which he heard from her and what she reported to him and
at that which she had brought back of jewels and jacinths of various
hues and precious stones of many sorts, such as amazed the beholder and
confounded thought and mind. As for this, Tohfah was the means of the
enrichment of the Barmecides and the Abbasides, and they had endurance
in their delight. Then the Caliph went forth and bade decorate the city:
so they decorated it and the drums of glad tidings were beaten; and they
made banquets to the people for whom the tables were spread seven days.
And Tohfah and the Commander of the Faithful ceased not to enjoy the
most delightsome of life and the most prosperous till there came to them
the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies; and this is all
that hath come down to us of their story.
WOMEN’S WILES.[258]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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