The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 03 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 03 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
through air; and the antelope fled into the desert, but the duck abode
paralyzed by fear. So they chased her till they caught her and she
cried out and said, "Caution availed me naught against Fate and Lot!';
and they bore her off to the ship. Now when the peahen saw what had
betided the duck, she removed from the island, saying, "I see that
misfortunes lie in ambush for all. But for yonder ship, parting had not
befallen between me and this duck, because she was one of the truest of
friends." Then she flew off and rejoined the antelope, who saluted her
and gave her joy of her safety and asked for the duck, to which she
replied, "The enemy hath taken her, and I loathe the sojourn of this
island after her." Then she wept for the loss of the duck and began
repeating,
"The day of parting cut my heart in twain:*
In twain may Allah cut the parting-day!
And she spake also this couplet,
"I pray some day that we reunion gain, *
So may I tell him Parting's ugly way."
The antelope sorrowed with great sorrow, but dissuaded the peahen from
her resolve to remove from the island. So they abode there together
with him, eating and drinking, in peace and safety, except that they
ceased not to mourn for the loss of the duck; and the antelope said to
the peahen, "O my sister, thou seest how the folk who came forth of the
ship were the cause of our severance from the duck and of her
destruction; so do thou beware of them and guard thyself from them and
from the wile of the son of Adam and his guile." But the peahen
replied, I am assured that nought caused her death save her neglecting
to say Subhan' Allah, glory to God; indeed I often said to her,
'Exclaim thou, 'Praised be Allah, and verily I fear for thee, because
thou neglectest to laud the Almighty; for all things created by Allah
glorify Him on this wise, and whoso neglecteth the formula of
praise[FN#144] him destruction waylays.'" When the antelope heard the
peahen's words he exclaimed, "Allah make fair thy face!" and betook
himself to repeating the formula of praise, and ceased not there from a
single hour. And it is said that his form of adoration was as follows,
"Praise be to the Requiter of every good and evil thing, the Lord of
Majesty and of Kings the King!" And a tale is also told on this wise of
The Hermits.
A certain hermit worshipped on a certain mountain, whither resorted a
pair of pigeons; and the worshipper was wont to make two parts of his
daily bread,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account