The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Religion
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Oriental literature -- Translations into English
"One day a fuller passed, bearing on his back a bundle of clothes and
a mallet. The guardians of the mausoleum ordered him to kneel down. He
refused. They threatened him with death. He persisted in his refusal.
They brought him before the King, whom they informed of the matter.
'Why did you refuse to bow down?' asked the King. 'I did bow down,'
answered the man; 'they are lying.' 'No; you are the liar!' said the
King. 'Express two wishes; they shall be granted, and then you will
die.' 'Nothing, then, can save me from death after those men have
accused me?' asked the fuller. 'Nothing.' 'Very well,' replied the
fuller, 'here is my wish: I wish to strike the King on the head with
this mallet.' 'Fool!' answered the King. 'It were better worth your
while to let me enrich those whom you leave behind you.' 'No,' said the
fuller; 'I only wish to strike the King on the back of his head.'
"The King then addressed his ministers: 'What do you think,' he said
to them, 'of the wish of this madman?' 'Your Majesty,' they answered,
'you yourself have instituted this law: your Majesty knows better than
any one that the violation of law is a shame, a calamity, a crime which
involves damnation. Besides, after having violated one law, you will
violate a second, then a third; your successors will do the same, and
all our laws will be profaned.' The King replied: 'Get this man to ask
anything he likes; provided he lets me off, I am ready to grant all his
requests, even to the half of my kingdom.'
"They laid these proposals before the fuller, but in vain; he declared
that he had no other wish but to strike the King. The latter, seeing
that the man was thoroughly resolved, convoked a public assembly. The
fuller was introduced. He took his mallet and struck the King on the
back of the head so violent a blow that he fell from his throne and lay
stretched on the ground unconscious. Subsequently he lay ill with fever
for six months, and was so severely injured that he could only drink a
drop at a time. At last he got well, recovered the use of his tongue
and could eat and drink. He asked for news of the fuller. On being told
that he was in prison, he summoned him and said: 'There is still a wish
remaining to you: express it, so that I may order your death according
to law.'
"'Since it is absolutely necessary that I must die,' replied the
fuller, 'I wish to strike you another blow on the head.' At these words
the King was seized with dismay and exclaimed that it was all over with
him. At last he said to the fuller: 'Wretch! renounce a claim which
is profitless to you. What advantage have you reaped from your first
wish? Ask for something else, and whatever it is, I will grant it.'
'No, said the man, 'I only demand my right—the right to strike you once
more.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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