The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 06 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 06 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King
entered, Judar rose not to him, nor did him honour nor even said “Be
seated!”; but left him standing,[FN#305] so that fear entered into him
and he could neither sit nor go away and said to himself, “If he feared
me, he would not leave me thus unheeded peradventure he will do me a
mischief, because of that which I did with his brothers.” Then said
Judar, “O King of the age, it beseemeth not the like of thee to wrong
the folk and take away their good.” Replied the King, “O my lord, deign
excuse me, for greed impelled me to this and fate was thereby
fulfilled; and, were there no offending, there would be no forgiving.”
And he went on to excuse himself for the past and pray to him for
pardon and indulgence till he recited amongst other things this poetry,
“O thou of generous seed and true nobility, * Reproach me not for
that which came from me to thee
We pardon thee if thou have wrought us any wrong * And if I
wrought the wrong I pray thee pardon me!”
And he ceased not to humble himself before him, till he said, “Allah
pardon thee!” and bade him be seated. So he sat down and Judar invested
him with garments of pardon and immunity and ordered his brothers
spread the table. When they had eaten, he clad the whole of the King’s
company in robes of honour and gave them largesse; after which he bade
the King depart. So he went forth and thereafter came every day to
visit Judar and held not his Divan save in his house: wherefore
friendship and familiarity waxed great between them, and they abode
thus awhile, till one day the King, being alone with his Minister, said
to him, “O Wazir, I fear lest Judar slay me and take the kingdom away
from me.” Replied the Wazir, “O King of the age, as for his taking the
kingdom from thee, have no fear of that, for Judar’s present estate is
greater than that of the King, and to take the kingdom would be a
lowering of his dignity; but, if thou fear that he kill thee, thou hast
a daughter: give her to him to wife and thou and he will be of one
condition.” Quoth the King, “O Wazir, be thou intermediary between us
and him”; and quoth the Minister, “Do thou invite him to an
entertainment and pass the night with him in one of thy saloons. Then
bid thy daughter don her richest dress and ornaments and pass by the
door of the saloon. When he seeth her, he will assuredly fall in love
with her, and when we know this, I will turn to him and tell him that
she is thy daughter and engage him in converse and lead him on, so that
thou shalt seem to know nothing of the matter, till he ask her to thee
to wife. When thou hast married him to the Princess, thou and he will
be as one thing and thou wilt be safe from him; and if he die, thou
wilt inherit all he hath, both great and small.” Replied the King,
“Thou sayst sooth, O my Wazir,” and made a banquet and invited thereto
Judar who came to the Sultan’s palace and they sat in the saloon in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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