The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
‘I may not grant thee this except thou become a Moslem.’ He refused and
I said to him, ‘Now for the Sultan’s market.’[FN#255] So he sold me to
thee and I taught my young mistress, making it a condition with her
that she should do naught without my counsel, and that whoso might wed
her should wed me also, one night for me and one night for her.” Then
she took a cup of water and conjuring over it, sprinkled the dog
therewith; saying, “Return thou to form of man.” And he straightway
was restored to his former shape; whereupon the broker saluted him with
the salam and asked him the reason of his enchantment. So Ali told him
all that had passed——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the broker,
having saluted Ali of Cairo with the salam, asked him the reason of
his enchantment and what had befallen him; and he answered by telling
him all that had passed, when the broker said to him, “Will not my
daughter and the handmaid suffice thee?” but he answered, “Needs must
I have Zaynab also.” Now suddenly there came a rap at the door and the
maid said, “Who is at the door?” The knocker replied, “Kamar, daughter
of Azariah the Jew; say me, is Ali of Cairo with you?” Replied the
broker’s daughter, “O thou daughter of a dog! If he be with us, what
wilt thou with him? Go down, O maid, and open to her.” So the maid
let her in, and when she looked upon Ali and he upon her, he said,
“What bringeth thee hither O dog’s daughter?” Quoth she, “I testify
that there is no god but _the_ God and I testify that Mohammed is the
Apostle of God.” And, having thus Islamised, she asked him, “Do men
in the Faith of Al-Islam give marriage portions to women or do women
dower men?” Quoth he, “Men endow women.” “Then,” said she, “I come
and dower myself for thee, bringing thee, as my marriage-portion, my
dress together with the rod and charger and chains and the head of
my father, the enemy of thee and the foeman of Allah.” And she threw
down the Jew’s head before him. Now the cause of her slaying her sire
was as follows. On the night of his turning Ali into a dog, she saw,
in a dream, a speaker who said to her, “Become a Moslemah.” She did
so; and as soon as she awoke next morning she expounded Al-Islam to
her father who refused to embrace the Faith; so she drugged him with
Bhang and killed him. As for Ali, he took the gear and said to the
broker, “Meet we to-morrow at the Caliph’s Divan, that I may take
thy daughter and the handmaid to wife.” Then he set out rejoicing,
to return to the barrack of the Forty. On his way he met a sweetmeat
seller, who was beating hand upon hand and saying, “There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Folk’s
labour hath waxed sinful and man is active only in fraud!” Then said
he to Ali, “I conjure thee, by Allah, taste of this confection!” So
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