Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 2
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 2
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
not, she was as one distraught. She feared to cry aloud for her grief,
lest haply the neighbours hearing her should come and learn the secret;
so she wept in silence and upbraiding herself fell to thinking,
“Wherefore did I disclose this secret to him and beget envy and jealousy
of Ali Baba? this be the fruit thereof and hence the disaster that hath
come down upon me.” She spent the rest of the night in bitter tears and
early on the morrow hied in hottest hurry to Ali Baba and prayed that he
would go forth in quest of his brother; so he strove to console her and
straightway set out with his asses for the forest. Presently, reaching
the rock he wondered to see stains of blood freshly shed and not finding
his brother or the ten mules he forefelt a calamity from so evil a sign.
He then went to the door and saving, “Open, O Simsim!” he pushed in and
saw the dead body of Kasim, two parts hanging to the right, and the rest
to the left of the entrance. Albeit he was affrighted beyond measure of
affright he wrapped the quarters in two cloths and laid them upon one of
his asses, hiding them carefully with sticks and fuel that none might
see them. Then he placed the bags of gold upon the two other animals and
likewise covered them most carefully; and, when all was made ready he
closed the cave-door with the magical words, and set him forth wending
homewards with all ward and watchfulness. The asses with the load of
Ashrafis he made over to his wife and bade her bury the bags with
diligence; but he told her not the condition in which he had come upon
his brother Kasim. Then he went with the other ass, to wit, the beast
whereon was laid the corpse to the widow’s house and knocked gently at
the door. Now Kasim had a slave-girl shrewd and sharp-witted,
Morgiana[45] hight. She as softly undid the bolt and admitted Ali Baba
and the ass into the courtyard of the house, when he let down the body
from the beast’s back and said, “O Morgiana, haste thee and make thee
ready to perform the rites for the burial of thy lord: I now go to tell
the tidings to thy mistress and I will quickly return to help thee in
this matter.” At that instant Kasim’s widow seeing her brother-in-law,
exclaimed, “O Ali Baba, what news bringest thou of my spouse? Alas, I
see grief tokens written upon thy countenance. Say quickly what hath
happened.” Then he recounted to her how it had fared with her husband
and how he had been slain by the robbers and in what wise he had brought
home the dead body.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her
peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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