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
Then she wept again and said, "O my lord! speak to me, talk with me!"
The King lowered his voice and, twisting his tongue, spoke after the
fashion of the blackamoors and said "'lack! 'lack! there be no Ma'esty
and there be no Might save in Allauh, the Gloriose, the Great!" Now
when she heard these words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground
fainting; and when her senses returned she asked, "O my lord, can it be
true that thou hast power of speech?" and the King making his voice
small and faint answered, "O my cuss! dost thou deserve that I talk to
thee and speak with thee?" "Why and wherefore?" rejoined she; and he
replied "The why is that all the livelong day thou tormentest thy
hubby; and he keeps calling on 'eaven for aid until sleep is strange to
me even from evenin' till mawnin', and he prays and damns, cussing us
two, me and thee, causing me disquiet and much bother: were this not
so, I should long ago have got my health; and it is this which prevents
my answering thee." Quoth she, "With thy leave I will release him from
what spell is on him;"and quoth the King, "Release him and let's have
some rest!" She cried, "To hear is to obey;" and, going from the
cenotaph to the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water
and spake over it certain words which made the contents bubble and boil
as a cauldron seetheth over the fire. With this she sprinkled her
husband saying, "By virtue of the dread words I have spoken, if thou
becamest thus by my spells, come forth out of that form into thine own
former form." And lo and behold! the young man shook and trembled; then
he rose to his feet and, rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, "I
testify that there is no god but the God, and in very truth Mohammed is
His Apostle, whom Allah bless and keep!" Then she said to him, "Go
forth and return not hither, for if thou do I will surely slay thee;"
screaming these words in his face. So he went from between her hands;
and she returned to the dome and, going down to the sepulchre, she
said, "O my lord, come forth to me that I may look upon thee and thy
goodliness!" The King replied in faint low words, "What[FN#135] thing
hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the branch but not of the root."
She asked, "O my darling! O my negroling! what is the root?" And he
answered, "Fie on thee, O my cuss! The people of this city and of the
four islands every night when it's half passed lift their heads from
the tank in which thou hast turned them to fishes and cry to Heaven and
call down its anger on me and thee; and this is the reason why my
body's baulked from health. Go at once and set them free then come to
me and take my hand, and raise me up, for a little strength is already
back in me." When she heard the King's words (and she still supposed
him to be the slave) she cried joyously, “O my master, on my head and
on my eyes be thy command, Bismillah[FN#136]!” So she sprang to her
feet and, full of joy and gladness, ran down to the tarn and took a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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