The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
And also these twain,
"Thou art the cause that castest men in ban and bane; * Sorrow
e'en so and sorrow's cause Thou canst assain:
Make me not covet aught that lies beyond my reach; * How many a
greedy wight his wish hath failed to gain!"
Now when Khalifah had made an end of his verse, he went down to the
river and casting his net, waited awhile; after which he drew it up and
found therein a fine young fish, [FN#194] with a big head, a tail like
a ladle and eyes like two gold pieces. When Khalifah saw this fish, he
rejoiced, for he had never in his life caught its like, so he took it,
marvelling, and carried it to the ape of Abu al-Sa'adat the Jew, as
'twere he had gotten possession of the universal world. Quoth the ape,
"O Khalifah, what wilt thou do with this and with thine ape?"; and
quoth the Fisherman, "I will tell thee, O monarch of monkeys all I am
about to do. Know then that first, I will cast about to make away with
yonder accursed, my ape, and take thee in his stead and give thee every
day to eat of whatso thou wilt." Rejoined the ape, "Since thou hast
made choice of me, I will tell thee how thou shalt do wherein, if it
please Allah Almighty, shall be the mending of thy fortune. Lend thy
mind, then, to what I say to thee and 'tis this!: Take another cord
and tie me also to a tree, where leave me and go to the midst of The
Dyke [FN#195] and cast thy net into the Tigris. [FN#196] Then after
waiting awhile, draw it up and thou shalt find therein a fish, than
which thou never sawest a finer in thy whole life. Bring it to me and
I will tell thee how thou shalt do after this." So Khalifah rose
forthright and casting his net into the Tigris, drew up a great
cat-fish [FN#197] the bigness of a lamb; never had he set eyes on its
like, for it was larger than the first fish. He carried it to the ape,
who said to him, "Gather thee some green grass and set half of it in a
basket; lay the fish therein and cover it with the other moiety. Then,
leaving us here tied, shoulder the basket and betake thee to Baghdad.
If any bespeak thee or question thee by the way, answer him not, but
fare on till thou comest to the market-street of the money-changers, at
the upper end whereof thou wilt find the shop of Master [FN#198] Abu
al- Sa'adat the Jew, Shaykh of the shroffs, and wilt see him sitting on
a mattress, with a cushion behind him and two coffers, one for gold and
one for silver, before him, while around him stand his Mamelukes and
negro-slaves and servant-lads. Go up to him and set the basket before
him, saying,: 'O Abu al-Sa'adat, verily I went out to-day to fish and
cast my net in thy name and Allah Almighty sent me this fish.' He will
ask, 'Hast thou shown it to any but me?;' and do thou answer, "No, by
Allah!' then will he take it of thee and give thee a dinar. Give it
him back and he will give thee two dinars; but do thou return them also
and so do with everything he may offer thee; and take naught from him,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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