The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
After this the Sultan turned towards the young Prince and said, "O
youth, thou hast removed one grief only to add another grief; but now,
O my friend, where is she; and where is the mausoleum wherein lieth the
wounded slave?" "The slave lieth under yon dome," quoth the young man,
"and she sitteth in the chamber fronting yonder door. And every day at
sunrise she cometh forth, and first strippeth me, and whippeth me with
an hundred strokes of the leathern scourge, and I weep and shriek; but
there is no power of motion in my lower limbs to keep her off me. After
ending her tormenting me she visiteth the slave, bringing him wine and
boiled meats. And to morrow at an early hour she will be here." Quoth
the King, "By Allah, O youth, I will assuredly do thee a good deed
which the world shall not willingly let die, and an act of derring do
which shall be chronicled long after I am dead and gone by." Then the
King sat him by the side of the young Prince and talked till nightfall,
when he lay down and slept; but, as soon as the false dawn[FN#133]
showed, he arose and doffing his outer garments[FN#134] bared his blade
and hastened to the place wherein lay the slave. Then was he ware of
lighted candles and lamps, and the perfume of incenses and unguents,
and directed by these, he made for the slave and struck him one stroke
killing him on the spot: after which he lifted him on his back and
threw him into a well that was in the palace. Presentry he returned
and, donning the slave's gear, lay down at length within the mausoleum
with the drawn sword laid close to and along his side. After an hour or
so the accursed witch came; and, first going to her husband, she
stripped off his clothes and, taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while
he cried out, "Ah! enough for me the case I am in! take pity on me, O
my cousin!' But she replied, "Didst thou take pity on me and spare the
life of my true love on whom I coated?" Then she drew the cilice over
his raw and bleeding skin and threw the robe upon all and went down to
the slave with a goblet of wine and a bowl of meat broth in her hands.
She entered under the dome weeping and wailing, "Well-away!" and
crying, "O my lord! speak a word to me! O my master! talk awhile with
me!" and began to recite these couplets.—
How long this harshness, this unlove, shall bide? * Suffice thee not
tear floods thou hast espied?
Thou dost prolong our parting purposely * And if wouldst please my foe,
thou'rt satisfied!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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