Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 1
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 1
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
Presently all the holy men thrice compassed the
Mausoleum, then standing on the highway the eldest cried with a loud
voice, “O Prince, could we by dint of orisons and devotions bring thee
back to life, these hearts and souls of ours would be devoted to
quickening thee, and on seeing thee arise once again we would wipe thy
feet with our own age-white beards.” And when they also retired came one
hundred maidens of wondrous beauty and loveliness, mounted on white
barbs whose saddles were richly embroidered and set with jewels: their
faces were bare and on their heads they bore golden canisters filled
with precious stones, rubies and diamonds. They also rode in circuit
round the cenotaph and, halting at the door, the youngest and fairest of
them, speaking in the name of her sisterhood, exclaimed, “O Prince,
could our youth and our charms avail thee aught, we would present
ourselves to thee and become thy handmaids; but alas! thou knowest full
well that our beauties are here all in vain nor can our love now warm
thy clay.” Then they also departed in the deepest grief. As soon as they
had disappeared the Sultan and all with him rose up and walked thrice
round the figure that had been set up under the dome; then standing at
its feet the father said, “O my beloved son, enlighten these eyes which
tears for the stress of separation have thus bedimmed.” He then wept
bitterly and all his Ministers and Courtiers and Grandees joined in his
mourning and lamentations; and, when they had made an end of the
obsequies, the Sultan and his suite returned palace-wards and the door
of the dome was locked.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held
her peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and Second Night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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