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
Now when it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
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 when dinner was
done, Alaeddin rose and, farewelling the Sultan, took horse with his
Mamelukes and rode to his own pavilion that he might prepare to receive
therein his bride, the Lady Badr al-Budur. And as he passed, all the
folk shouted their good wishes with one voice and their words were,
“Allah gladden thee! Allah increase thy glory! Allah grant thee length
of life!” while immense crowds of people gathered to swell the marriage
procession and they conducted him to his new home, he showering gold
upon them during the whole time. When he reached his pavilion, he
dismounted and walked in and sat hint down on the divan, whilst his
Mamelukes stood before him with arms afolded; also after a short delay
they brought him sherbets and, when these were drunk, he ordered his
white slaves and handmaids and eunuchs and all who were in the pavilion
to make ready for meeting the Lady Badr al-Budur. Moreover, as soon as
mid-afternoon came and the air had cooled and the great heat of the sun
was abated, the Sultan bade his Army-officers and Emirs and Wazirs go
down into the Maydán-plain[178] whither he likewise rode. And Alaeddin
also took horse with his Mamelukes, he mounting a stallion whose like
was not among the steeds of the Arab al-Arbá,[179] and he showed his
horsemanship in the hippodrome and so played with the Jaríd[180] that
none could withstand him, while his bride sat gazing upon him from the
latticed balcony of her bower and, seeing in him such beauty and
cavalarice, she fell headlong in love of him and was like to fly for
joy. And after they had ringed their horses on the Maydan and each had
displayed whatso he could of horsemanship, Alaeddin proving himself the
best man of all, they rode in a body to the Sultan’s palace and the
youth also returned to his own pavilion. But when it was evening, the
Wazirs and Nobles took the bridegroom and, falling in, escorted him to
the royal Hammam (known as the Sultání), when he was bathed and
perfumed. As soon as he came out he donned a dress more magnificent than
the former and took horse with the Emirs and the soldier-officers riding
before him and forming a grand cortège, wherein four of the Wazirs bore
naked swords round about him.[181] All the citizens and the strangers
and the troops marched before him in ordered throng carrying wax-candles
and kettle drums and pipes and other instruments of mirth and merriment,
until they conducted him to his pavilion. Here he alighted and walking
in took his seat and seated the Wazirs and Emirs who had escorted him,
and the Mamelukes brought sherbets and sugared drinks, which they also
passed to the people who had followed in his train. It was a world of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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