The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah of
the sea said to Abdullah of the Land, "And if a thousand or more of
this kind hear an Adamite cry a single cry, forthright all die nor hath
one of them power to remove from his place; so, whenever a son of Adam
falleth into the sea, we take him and anoint him with this fat and go
round about the depths with him, and whenever we see a Dandan or two or
three or more, we bid him cry out and they all die forthright for his
once crying." Quoth the fisherman, "I put my trust in Allah;" and,
doffing his clothes, buried them in a hole which he dug in the beach;
after which he rubbed his body from head to heels with that ointment.
Then he descended into the water and diving, opened his eyes and the
brine did him no hurt. So he walked right and left, and if he would,
he rose to the sea-face, and if he would, he sank to the base. And he
beheld the water as it were a tent over his head; yet it wrought him no
hurt. Then said the Merman to him, "What seest thou, O my brother?";
and said he, "O my brother, I see naught save weal[FN#263]; and indeed
thou spakest truth in that which thou saidst to me; for the water doth
me no hurt." Quoth the Merman, "Follow me." So he followed him and
they ceased not faring on from place to place, whilst Abdullah
discovered before him and on his right and left mountains of water and
solaced himself by gazing thereon and on the various sorts of fish,
some great and some small, which disported themselves in the main. Some
of them favoured buffaloes[FN#264] others oxen and others dogs and yet
others human beings; but all to which they drew near fled, whenas they
saw the fisherman, who said to the Merman, "O my brother, how is it
that I see all the fish, to which we draw near, flee from us afar?"
Said the other, "Because they fear thee, for all things that Allah hath
made fear the son of Adam.[FN#265]" The fisherman ceased not to divert
himself with the marvels of the deep, till they came to a high mountain
and fared on beside it. Suddenly, he heard a mighty loud cry and
turning, saw some black thing, the bigness of a camel or bigger, coming
down upon him from the liquid mountain and crying out. So he asked his
friend, "What is this, O my brother?"; and the Merman answered, "This
is the Dandan. He cometh in search of me, seeking to devour me; so cry
out at him, O my brother, ere he reach us; else he will snatch me up
and devour me." Accordingly Abdullah cried out at the beast and behold,
it fell down dead; which when he saw, he said, "Glorified be the
perfection of God and His praise! I smote it not with the sword nor
knife; how cometh it that, for all the vastness of the creature's bulk,
it could not bear my cry, but died?" Replied the Merman, "Marvel not,
for, by Allah, O my brother, were there a thousand or two thousand of
these creatures, yet could they not endure the cry of a son of Adam."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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