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
Said his wife, "Put thy trust in Allah, for no harm betideth him whom
He protecteth, and carry him with thee this very day to the shop." Then
she clad the boy in the costliest clothes and he became a seduction to
all who on him cast sight and an affliction to the heart of each lover
wight. His father took him and carried him to the market, whilst all
who saw him were ravished with him and accosted him, kissing his hand
and saluting him with the salam. Quoth one, "Indeed the sun hath risen
in such a place and blazeth in the bazar," and another, "The
rising-place of the full moon is in such a quarter;" and a third, "The
new moon of the Festival[FN#378] hath appeared to the creatures of
Allah." And they went on to allude to the boy in talk and call down
blessings upon him. But his father scolded the folk for following his
son to gaze upon him, because he was abashed at their talk, but he
could not hinder one of them from talking; so he fell to abusing the
boy's mother and cursing her because she had been the cause of his
bringing him out. And as he gazed about he still saw the folk crowding
upon him behind and before. Then he walked on till he reached his shop
and opening it, sat down and seated his son before him: after which he
again looked out and found the thoroughfare blocked with people for all
the passers-by, going and coming, stopped before the shop to stare at
that beautiful face and could not leave him; and all the men and women
crowded in knots about him, applying to themselves the words of him who
said,
"Thou madest Beauty to spoil man's sprite * And saidst, 'O my
servants, fear My reprove:'
But lovely Thou lovest all loveliness * How, then, shall thy
servants refrain from Love?"
When the merchant Abd al-Rahman saw the folk thus crowding about him
and standing in rows, both women and men, to fix eyes upon his son, he
was sore ashamed and confounded and knew not what to do; but presently
there came up from the end of the bazar a man of the wandering
Dervishes, clad in haircloth, the garb of the pious servants of Allah
and seeing Kamar al-Zaman sitting there as he were a branch of Bбn
springing from a mound of saffron, poured forth copious tears and
recited these two couplets,
"A wand uprising from a sandy knoll, * Like full moon shining
brightest sheen, I saw;
And said, 'What is thy name?' Replied he 'Lъlъ' * 'What' (asked
I) 'Lily?' and he answered 'Lб, lб!'"[FN#379]
Then the Dervish fell to walking, now drawing near and now moving
away,[FN#380] and wiping his gray hairs with his right hand, whilst the
heart of the crowd was cloven asunder for awe of him. When he looked
upon the boy, his eyes were dazzled and his wit confounded, and
exemplified in him was the saying of the poet,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account