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
and said to him, 'Thou art my brother and my neighbour and wilt cover
my nakedness; what then dost thou advise me to do?' The man answered,
'What I counsel thee to do is to keep quiet and wait; for they who
entered thy house and took thy goods have murdered the best men of a
party from the palace of the Caliphate and have killed not a few of the
watchmen: the government officers and guards are now in quest of them
on every road and haply they will hit upon them, whereby thy wish will
come about without effort of thine.'" The jeweller hearing these words
returned to his other house, that wherein he dwelt,—and Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the jeweller
heard these words he returned to his other house wherein he dwelt, and
said to himself, "Indeed this that hath befallen me is what Abu
al-Hasan feared and from which he fled to Bassorah. And now I have
fallen into it." Presently the pillage of his pleasure-house was noised
abroad among the folk, and they came to him from all sides and places,
some exulting in his misfortune and others excusing him and condoling
with his sorrow; whilst he bewailed himself to them and for grief
neither ate meat nor drank drink. And as he sat, repenting him of what
he had done, behold one of his servants came in to him and said, "There
is a person at the door who asketh for thee; and I know him not." The
jeweller went forth to him and saluted him who was a stranger; and the
man whispered to him, "I have somewhat to say between our two selves."
Thereupon he brought him in and asked him, "What hast thou to tell me?"
Quoth the man, "Come with me to thine other house;" and the jeweller
enquired, "Dost thou then know my other house?" Replied the other, "I
know all about thee and I know that also whereby Allah will dispel thy
dolours." "So I said to myself" (continued the jeweller) "'I will go
with him whither he will;' and went out and walked on till we came to
my second house; and when the man saw it he said to me, 'It is without
door or doorkeeper, and we cannot possibly sit in it; so come thou with
me to another place.' Then the man continued passing from stead to
stead (and I with him) till night overtook us. Yet I put no question to
him of the matter in hand and we ceased not to walk on, till we reached
the open country. He kept saying, 'Follow me,' and quickened his pace
to a trot, whilst I trotted after him heartening my heart to go on,
until we reached the river, where he took boat with me, and the boatman
rowed us over to the other bank. Then he landed from the boat and I
landed after him: and he took my hand and led me to a street which I
had never entered in all my days, nor do I know in what quarter it was.
Presently the man stopped at the door of a house, and opening it
entered and made me enter with him; after which he locked the door with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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