Amiga CD32/Amiga CD32 1994 - Brilliant PD Games.iso/literature/thearabianknights.1

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                    The Arabian Nights Entertainments,
                    Selected and Edited by Andrew Lang

                           after the edition of
                    Longmans, Green and Co, 1918 (1898)






Preface


The stories in the Fairy Books have generally been such as old
women in country places tell to their grandchildren.  Nobody knows
how old they are, or who told them first.  The children of Ham,
Shem and Japhet may have listened to them in the Ark, on wet days.
Hector's little boy may have heard them in Troy Town, for it is
certain that Homer knew them, and that some of them were written
down in Egypt about the time of Moses.

People in different countries tell them differently, but they
are always the same stories, really, whether among little Zulus,
at the Cape, or little Eskimo, near the North Pole.  The changes
are only in matters of manners and customs; such as wearing clothes
or not, meeting lions who talk in the warm countries, or talking
bears in the cold countries.  There are plenty of kings and queens
in the fairy tales, just because long ago there were plenty of kings
in the country.  A gentleman who would be a squire now was a kind
of king in Scotland in very old times, and the same in other places.
These old stories, never forgotten, were taken down in writing in
different ages, but mostly in this century, in all sorts of languages.
These ancient stories are the contents of the Fairy books.

Now "The Arabian Nights," some of which, but not nearly all,
are given in this volume, are only fairy tales of the East.
The people of Asia, Arabia, and Persia told them in their own way,
not for children, but for grown-up people.  There were no novels then,
nor any printed books, of course; but there were people whose profession
it was to amuse men and women by telling tales.  They dressed
the fairy stories up, and made the characters good Mahommedans,
living in Bagdad or India.  The events were often supposed to
happen in the reign of the great Caliph, or ruler of the Faithful,
Haroun al Raschid, who lived in Bagdad in 786-808 A.D. The vizir
who accompanies the Caliph was also a real person of the great family
of the Barmecides.  He was put to death by the Caliph in a very
cruel way, nobody ever knew why.  The stories must have been told
in their present shape a good long while after the Caliph died,
when nobody knew very exactly what had really happened.  At last
some storyteller thought of writing down the tales, and fixing
them into a kind of framework, as if they had all been narrated
to a cruel Sultan by his wife.  Probably the tales were written
down about the time when Edward I. was fighting Robert Bruce.
But changes were made in them at different times, and a great deal
that is very dull and stupid was put in, and plenty of verses.
Neither the verses nor the dull pieces are given in this book.

People in France and England knew almost nothing about "The
Arabian Nights" till the reigns of Queen Anne and George I.,
when they were translated into French by Monsieur Galland.
Grown-up people were then very fond of fairy tales, and they thought
these Arab stories the best that they had ever read.  They were
delighted with Ghouls (who lived among the tombs) and Geni, who seemed
to be a kind of ogres, and with Princesses who work magic spells,
and with Peris, who are Arab fairies.  Sindbad had adventures which
perhaps came out of the Odyssey of Homer; in fact, all the East
had contributed its wonders, and sent them to Europe in one parcel.
Young men once made a noise at Monsieur Galland's windows in the dead
of night, and asked him to tell them one of his marvellous tales.
Nobody talked of anything but dervishes and vizirs, rocs and peris.
The stories were translated from French into all languages,
and only Bishop Atterbury complained that the tales were not likely
to be true, and had no moral.  The bishops was presently banished
for being on the side of Prince Charlie's father, and had leisure
to repent of being so solemn.

In this book "The Arabian Nights" are translated from the French version
of Monsieur Galland, who dropped out the poetry and a great deal of what
the Arabian authors thought funny, though it seems wearisome to us.
In this book the stories are shortened here and there, and omissions
are made of pieces only suitable for Arabs and old gentlemen.
The translations are by the writers of the tales in the Fairy Books,
and the pictures are by Mr. Ford.

I can remember reading "The Arabian Nights" when I was six years old,
in dirty yellow old volumes of small type with no pictures, and I
hope children who read them with Mr. Ford's pictures will be as happy
as I was then in the company of Aladdin and Sindbad the Sailor.



The Arabian Nights


In the chronicles of the ancient dynasty of the Sassanidae,
who reigned for about four hundred years, from Persia to the borders
of China, beyond the great river Ganges itself, we read the praises
of one of the kings of this race, who was said to be the best
monarch of his time.  His subjects loved him, and his neighbors
feared him, and when he died he left his kingdom in a more prosperous
and powerful condition than any king had done before him.

The two sons who survived him loved each other tenderly, and it was
a real grief to the elder, Schahriar, that the laws of the empire
forbade him to share his dominions with his brother Schahzeman.
Indeed, after ten years, during which this state of things had
not ceased to trouble him, Schahriar cut off the country of Great
Tartary from the Persian Empire and made his brother king.

Now the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world,
and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour,
and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels.
It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he
accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived
him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad,
that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land,
and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.  The blow was so
heavy that his mind almost gave way, and he declared that he was
quite sure that at bottom all women were as wicked as the sultana,
if you could only find them out, and that the fewer the world
contained the better.  So every evening he married a fresh wife
and had her strangled the following morning before the grand-vizir,
whose duty it was to provide these unhappy brides for the Sultan.
The poor man fulfilled his task with reluctance, but there was
no escape, and every day saw a girl married and a wife dead.

This behaviour caused the greatest horror in the town, where nothing
was heard but cries and lamentations.  In ne house was a father weeping
for the loss of his daughter, in another perhaps a mother trembling
for the fate of her child; and instead of the blessings that had
formerly been heaped on the Sultan's head, the air was now full of curses.

The grand-vizir himself was the father of two daughters, of whom
the elder was called Scheherazade, and the younger Dinarzade.
Dinarzade had no particular gifts to distinguish her from other girls,
but her sister was clever and courageous in the highest degree.
Her father had given her the best masters in philosophy, medicine,
history and the fine arts, and besides all this, her beauty excelled
that of any girl in the kingdom of Persia.

One day, when the grand-vizir was talking to his eldest daughter,
who was his delight and pride, Scheherazade said to him, "Father, I
have a favour to ask of you.  Will you grant it to me?"

"I can refuse you nothing," replied he, "that is just and reasonable."

"Then listen," said Scheherazade.  "I am determined to stop this
barbarous practice of the Sultan's, and to deliver the girls
and mothers from the awful fate that hangs over them."

"It would be an excellent thing to do," returned the grand-vizir,
"but how do you propose to accomplish it?"

"My father," answered Scheherazade, "it is you who have to provide
the Sultan daily with a fresh wife, and I implore you, by all
the affection you bear me, to allow the honour to fall upon me."

"Have you lost your senses?" cried the grand-vizir, starting back
in horror.  "What has put such a thing into your head?  You ought
to know by this time what it means to be the sultan's bride!"

"Yes, my father, I know it well," replied she, "and I am not afraid
to think of it.  If I fail, my death will be a glorious one,
and if I succeed I shall have done a great service to my country."

"It is of no use," said the grand-vizir, "I shall never consent.
If the Sultan was to order me to plunge a dagger in your heart,
I should have to obey.  What a task for a father!  Ah, if you do not
fear death, fear at any rate the anguish you would cause me."

"Once again, my father," said Scheherazade, "will you grant me
what I ask?"

"What, are you still so obstinate?" exclaimed the grand-vizir. "Why
are you so resolved upon your own ruin?"

But the maiden absolutely refused to attend to her father's words,
and at length, in despair, the grand-vizir was obliged to give way,
and went sadly to the palace to tell the Sultan that the following
evening he would bring him Scheherazade.

The Sultan received this news with the greatest astonishment.

"How have you made up your mind," he asked, "to sacrifice your own
daughter to me?"

"Sire," answered the grand-vizir, "it is her own wish.  Even the sad
fate that awaits her could not hold her back."

"Let there be no mistake, vizir," said the Sultan.  "Remember you
will have to take her life yourself.  If you refuse, I swear
that your head shall pay forfeit."

"Sire," returned the vizir.  "Whatever the cost, I will obey you.
Though a father, I am also your subject."  So the Sultan told the
grand-vizir he might bring his daughter as soon as he liked.

The vizir took back this news to Scheherazade, who received
it as if it had been the most pleasant thing in the world.
She thanked her father warmly for yielding to her wishes, and,
seeing him still bowed down with grief, told him that she hoped
he would never repent having allowed her to marry the Sultan.
Then she went to prepare herself for the marriage, and begged
that her sister Dinarzade should be sent for to speak to her.

When they were alone, Scheherazade addressed her thus:

"My dear sister; I want your help in a very important affair.
My father is going to take me to the palace to celebrate my marriage
with the Sultan.  When his Highness receives me, I shall beg him,
as a last favour, to let you sleep in our chamber, so that I may
have your company during the last night I am alive.  If, as I hope,
he grants me my wish, be sure that you wake me an hour before
the dawn, and speak to me in these words:  "My sister, if you are
not asleep, I beg you, before the sun rises, to tell me one of your
charming stories."  Then I shall begin, and I hope by this means
to deliver the people from the terror that reigns over them."
Dinarzade replied that she would do with pleasure what her
sister wished.

When the usual hour arrived the grand-vizir conducted Scheherazade
to the palace, and left her alone with the Sultan, who bade her raise
her veil and was amazed at her beauty.  But seeing her eyes full
of tears, he asked what was the matter.  "Sire," replied Scheherazade,
"I have a sister who loves me as tenderly as I love her.  Grant me
the favour of allowing her to sleep this night in the same room,
as it is the last we shall be together."  Schahriar consented
to Scheherazade's petition and Dinarzade was sent for.

An hour before daybreak Dinarzade awoke, and exclaimed, as she
had promised, "My dear sister, if you are not asleep, tell me I
pray you, before the sun rises, one of your charming stories.
It is the last time that I shall have the pleasure of hearing you."

Scheherazade did not answer her sister, but turned to the Sultan.
"Will your highness permit me to do as my sister asks?" said she.

"Willingly," he answered.  So Scheherazade began.



The Story of the Merchant and the Genius


Sire, there was once upon a time a merchant who possessed great wealth,
in land and merchandise, as well as in ready money.  He was obliged
from time to time to take journeys to arrange his affairs.
One day, having to go a long way from home, he mounted his horse,
taking with him a small wallet in which he had put a few biscuits
and dates, because he had to pass through the desert where no food
was to be got.  He arrived without any mishap, and, having finished
his business, set out on his return.  On the fourth day of his journey,
the heat of the sun being very great, he turned out of his road
to rest under some trees.  He found at the foot of a large
walnut-tree a fountain of clear and running water.  He dismounted,
fastened his horse to a branch of the tree, and sat by the fountain,
after having taken from his wallet some of his dates and biscuits.
When he had finished this frugal mean he washed his face and hands
in the fountain.

When he was thus employed he saw an enormous genius, white with rage,
coming towards him, with a scimitar in his hand.

"Arise," he cried in a terrible voice, "and let me kill you as you
have killed my son!"

As he uttered these words he gave a frightful yell.  The merchant,
quite as much terrified at the hideous face of the monster as at
his words, answered him tremblingly, "Alas, good sir, what can I
have done to you to deserve death?"

"I shall kill you," repeated the genius, "as you have killed my son."

"But," said the merchant, "How can I have killed your son?
I do not know him, and I have never even seen him."

"When you arrived here did you not sit down on the ground?"
asked the genius, "and did you not take some dates from your wallet,
and whilst eating them did not you throw the stones about?"

"Yes," said the merchant, "I certainly did so."

"Then," said the genius, "I tell you you have killed my son,
for whilst you were throwing about the stones, my son passed by,
and one of them struck him in the eye and killed him.  So I shall
kill you."

"Ah, sir, forgive me!" cried the merchant.

"I will have no mercy on you," answered the genius.

"But I killed your son quite unintentionally, so I implore you
to spare my life."

"No," said the genius, "I shall kill you as you killed my son,"
and so saying, he seized the merchant by the arm, threw him on
the ground, and lifted his sabre to cut off his head.

The merchant, protesting his innocence, bewailed his wife
and children, and tried pitifully to avert his fate.  The genius,
with his raised scimitar, waited till he had finished, bit was
not in the least touched.

Scheherazade, at this point, seeing that it was day, and knowing
that the Sultan always rose very early to attend the council,
stopped speaking.

"Indeed, sister," said Dinarzade, "this is a wonderful story."

"The rest is still more wonderful," replied Scheherazade, "and you
would say so, if the sultan would allow me to live another day,
and would give me leave to tell it to you the next night."

Schahriar, who had been listening to Scheherazade with pleasure,
said to himself, "I will wait till to-morrow; I can always have her
killed when I have heard the end of her story."

All this time the grand-vizir was in a terrible state of anxiety.
But he was much delighted when he saw the Sultan enter the council-chamber
without giving the terrible command that he was expecting.

The next morning, before the day broke, Dinarzade said to her sister,
"Dear sister, if you are awake I pray you to go on with your story."

The Sultan did not wait for Scheherazade to ask his leave.
"Finish," said he, "the story of the genius and the merchant.
I am curious to hear the end."

So Scheherazade went on with the story.  This happened every morning.
The Sultana told a story, and the Sultan let her live to finish it.

When the merchant saw that the genius was determined to cut off his head,
he said:  "One word more, I entreat you.  Grant me a little delay;
just a short time to go home and bid my wife and children farewell,
and to make my will.  When I have done this I will come back here,
and you shall kill me."

"But," said the genius, "if I grant you the delay you ask, I am
afraid that you will not come back."

"I give you my word of honour," answered the merchant, "that I
will come back without fail."

"How long do you require?" asked the genius.

"I ask you for a year's grace," replied the merchant.  "I promise
you that to-morrow twelvemonth, I shall be waiting under these trees
to give myself up to you."

On this the genius left him near the fountain and disappeared.

The merchant, having recovered from his fright, mounted his horse
and went on his road.

When he arrived home his wife and children received him with the
greatest joy.  But instead of embracing them he began to weep so
bitterly that they soon guessed that something terrible was the matter.

"Tell us, I pray you," said his wife, "what has happened."

"Alas!" answered her husband, "I have only a year to live."

Then he told them what had passed between him and the genius,
and how he had given his word to return at the end of a year
to be killed.  When they heard this sad news they were in despair,
and wept much.

The next day the merchant began to settle his affairs, and first
of all to pay his debts.  He gave presents to his friends,
and large alms to the poor.  He set his slaves at liberty,
and provided for his wife and children.  The year soon passed away,
and he was obliged to depart.  When he tried to say good-bye he was
quite overcome with grief, and with difficulty tore himself away.
At length he reached the place where he had first seen the genius,
on the very day that he had appointed.  He dismounted, and sat
down at the edge of the fountain, where he awaited the genius in
terrible suspense.

Whilst he was thus waiting an old man leading a hind came towards him.
They greeted one another, and then the old man said to him,
"May I ask, brother, what brought you to this desert place,
where there are so many evil genii about?  To see these beautiful
trees one would imagine it was inhabited, but it is a dangerous
place to stop long in."

The merchant told the old man why he was obliged to come there.
He listened in astonishment.

"This is a most marvellous affair.  I should like to be a witness of
your interview with the genius."  So saying he sat down by the merchant.

While they were talking another old man came up, followed by two black
dogs.  He greeted them, and asked what they were doing in this place.
The old man who was leading the hind told him the adventure of the
merchant and the genius.  The second old man had not sooner heard
the story than he, too, decided to stay there to see what would happen.
He sat down by the others, and was talking, when a third old
man arrived.  He asked why the merchant who was with them looked
so sad.  They told him the story, and he also resolved to see what
would pass between the genius and the merchant, so waited with the rest.

They soon saw in the distance a thick smoke, like a cloud of dust.
This smoke came nearer and nearer, and then, all at once,
it vanished, and they saw the genius, who, without speaking to them,
approached the merchant, sword in hand, and, taking him by the arm,
said, "Get up and let me kill you as you killed my son."

The merchant and the three old men began to weep and groan.

Then the old man leading the hind threw himself at the monster's
feet and said, "O Prince of the Genii, I beg of you to stay
your fury and to listen to me.  I am going to tell you my story
and that of the hind I have with me, and if you find it more
marvellous than that of the merchant whom you are about to kill,
I hope that you will do away with a third part of his punishment?"

The genius considered some time, and then he said, "Very well,
I agree to this."



The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind


I am now going to begin my story (said the old man), so please attend.

This hind that you see with me is my wife.  We have no children
of our own, therefore I adopted the son of a favorite slave,
and determined to make him my heir.

My wife, however, took a great dislike to both mother and child,
which she concealed from me till too late.  When my adopted
son was about ten years old I was obliged to go on a journey.
Before I went I entrusted to my wife's keeping both the mother
and child, and begged her to take care of them during my absence,
which lasted a whole year.  During this time she studied magic
in order to carry out her wicked scheme.  When she had learnt enough
she took my son into a distant place and changed him into a calf.
Then she gave him to my steward, and told him to look after a calf she
had bought.  She also changed the slave into a cow, which she sent
to my steward.

When I returned I inquired after my slave and the child.
"Your slave is dead," she said, "and as for your son, I have
not seen him for two months, and I do not know where he is."

I was grieved to hear of my slave's death, but as my son had only
disappeared, I thought I should soon find him.  Eight months, however,
passed, and still no tidings of him; then the feast of Bairam came.

To celebrate it I ordered my steward to bring me a very fat cow to
sacrifice.  He did so.  The cow that he brought was my unfortunate slave.
I bound her, but just as I was about to kill her she began to low
most piteously, and I saw that her eyes were streaming with tears.
It seemed to me most extraordinary, and, feeling a movement of pity,
I ordered the steward to lead her away and bring another.  My wife,
who was present, scoffed at my compassion, which made her malice
of no avail.  "What are you doing?" she cried.  "Kill this cow.
It is the best we have to sacrifice."

To please her, I tried again, but again the animal's lows and tears
disarmed me.

"Take her away," I said to the steward, "and kill her; I cannot."

The steward killed her, but on skinning her found that she was
nothing but bones, although she appeared so fat.  I was vexed.

"Keep her for yourself," I said to the steward, "and if you have
a fat calf, bring that in her stead."

In a short time he brought a very fat calf, which, although I did
not know it, was my son.  It tried hard to break its cord and come
to me.  It threw itself at my feet, with its head on the ground,
as if it wished to excite my pity, and to beg me not to take away
its life.

I was even more surprised and touched at this action than I had
been at the tears of the cow.

"Go," I said to the steward, "take back this calf, take great care
of it, and bring me another in its place instantly."

As soon as my wife heard me speak this she at once cried out,
"What are you doing, husband?  Do not sacrifice any calf but this."

"Wife," I answered, "I will not sacrifice this calf," and in spite
of all her remonstrances, I remained firm.

I had another calf killed; this one was led away.  The next day
the steward asked to speak to me in private.

"I have come," he said, "to tell you some news which I think you will
like to hear.  I have a daughter who knows magic.  Yesterday, when I
was leading back the calf which you refused to sacrifice, I noticed
that she smiled, and then directly afterwards began to cry.
I asked her why she did so."

"Father," she answered, "this calf is the son of our master.
I smile with joy at seeing him still alive, and I weep to think
of his mother, who was sacrificed yesterday as a cow.  These changes
have been wrought by our master's wife, who hated the mother
and son."

"At these words, of Genius," continued the old man, "I leave you
to imagine my astonishment.  I went immediately with the steward
to speak with his daughter myself.  First of all I went to the stable
to see my son, and he replied in his dumb way to all my caresses.
When the steward's daughter came I asked her if she could change my
son back to his proper shape."

"Yes, I can," she replied, "on two conditions.  One is that you
will give him to me for a husband, and the other is that you will let
me punish the woman who changed him into a calf."

"To the first condition," I answered, "I agree with all my heart,
and I will give you an ample dowry.  To the second I also agree,
I only beg you to spare her life."

"That I will do," she replied; "I will treat her as she treated
your son."

Then she took a vessel of water and pronounced over it some words
I did not understand; then, on throwing the water over him,
he became immediately a young man once more.

"My son, my dear son," I exclaimed, kissing him in a transport of joy.
"This kind maiden has rescued you from a terrible enchantment,
and I am sure that out of gratitude you will marry her."

He consented joyfully, but before they were married, the young girl
changed my wife into a hind, and it is she whom you see before you.
I wished her to have this form rather than a stranger one, so that we
could see her in the family without repugnance.

Since then my son has become a widower and has gone travelling.
I am now going in search of him, and not wishing to confide my wife
to the care of other people, I am taking her with me.  Is this not
a most marvellous tale?

"It is indeed," said the genius, "and because of it I grant to you
the third part of the punishment of this merchant."

When the first old man had finished his story, the second,
who was leading the two black dogs, said to the genius, "I am
going to tell you what happened to me, and I am sure that you
will find my story even more astonishing than the one to which you
have just been listening.  But when I have related it, will you
grant me also the third part of the merchant's punishment?"

"Yes," replied the genius, "provided that your story surpasses
that of the hind."

With this agreement the second old man began in this way.



The Story of the Second Old Man, and of the Two Black Dogs


Great prince of the genii, you must know that we are three brothers--
these two black dogs and myself.  Our father died, leaving us
each a thousand sequins.  With this sum we all three took up
the same profession, and became merchants.  A short time after we
had opened our shops, my eldest brother, one of these two dogs,
resolved to travel in foreign countries for the sake of merchandise.
With this intention he sold all he had and bought merchandise suitable
to the voyages he was about to make.  He set out, and was away
a whole year.  At the end of this time a beggar came to my shop.
"Good-day," I said.  "Good-day," he answered; "is it possible that
you do not recognise me?"  Then I looked at him closely and saw he
was my brother.  I made him come into my house, and asked him how he
had fared in his enterprise.

"Do not question me," he replied, "see me, you see all I have.
It would but renew my trouble to tell of all the misfortunes that
have befallen me in a year, and have brought me to this state."

I shut up my shop, paid him every attention, taking him to the bath,
giving him my most beautiful robes.  I examined my accounts, and found
that I had doubled my capital--that is, that I now possessed two
thousand sequins.  I gave my brother half, saying:  "Now, brother,
you can forget your losses."  He accepted them with joy, and we
lived together as we had before.

Some time afterwards my second brother wished also to sell his business
and travel.  My eldest brother and I did all we could to dissuade him,
but it was of no use.  He joined a caravan and set out.  He came
back at the end of a year in the same state as his elder brother.
I took care of him, and as I had a thousand sequins to spare I gave
them to him, and he re-opened his shop.

One day, my two brothers came to me to propose that we should make
a journey and trade.  At first I refused to go.  "You travelled,"
I said, "and what did you gain?"  But they came to me repeatedly,
and after having held out for five years I at last gave way.
But when they had made their preparation, and they began to buy
the merchandise we needed, they found they had spent every piece
of the thousand sequins I had given them.  I did not reproach them.
I divided my six thousand sequins with them, giving a thousand to each
and keeping one for myself, and the other three I buried in a corner
of my house.  We bought merchandise, loaded a vessel with it, and set
forth with a favorable wind.

After two months' sailing we arrived at a seaport, where we
disembarked and did a great trade.  Then we bought the merchandise
of the country, and were just going to sail once more, when I was
stopped on the shore by a beautiful though poorly dressed woman.
She came up to me, kissed my hand, and implored me to marry her,
and take her on board.  At first I refused, but she begged so hard
and promised to be such a good wife to me, that at last I consented.
I got her some beautiful dresses, and after having married her,
we embarked and set sail.  During the voyage, I discovered so many
good qualities in my wife that I began to lover her more and more.
But my brothers began to be jealous of my prosperity, and set to work
to plot against my life.  One night when we were sleeping they threw
my wife and myself into the sea.  My wife, however, was a fairy,
and so she did not let me drown, but transported me to an island.
When the day dawned, she said to me,

"When I saw you on the sea-shore I took a great fancy to you,
and wished to try your good nature, so I presented myself in the
disguise you saw.  Now I have rewarded you by saving your life.
But I am very angry with your brothers, and I shall not rest till I
have taken their lives."

I thanked the fairy for all that she had done for me, but I begged
her not to kill my brothers.

I appeased her wrath, and in a moment she transported me from
the island where we were to the roof of my house, and she
disappeared a moment afterwards.  I went down, and opened the doors,
and dug up the three thousand sequins which I had buried.  I went
to the place where my shop was, opened it, and received from my
fellow-merchants congratulations on my return.  When I went home,
I saw two black dogs who came to meet me with sorrowful faces.
I was much astonished, but the fairy who reappeared said to me,

"Do not be surprised to see these dogs; they are your two brothers.
I have condemned them to remain for ten years in these shapes."
Then having told me where I could hear news of her, she vanished.

The ten years are nearly passed, and I am on the road to find her.
As in passing I met this merchant and the old man with the hind,
I stayed with them.

This is my history, O prince of genii!  Do you not think it
is a most marvellous one?

"Yes, indeed," replied the genius, "and I will give up to you
the third of the merchant's punishment."

Then the third old man made the genius the same request as the
other two had done, and the genius promised him the last third
of the merchant's punishment if his story surpassed both the others.

So he told his story to the genius, but I cannot tell you what it was,
as I do not know.

But I do know that it was even more marvellous than either of the others,
so that the genius was astonished, and said to the third old man,
"I will give up to you the third part of the merchant's punishment.
He ought to thank all three of you for having interested yourselves
in his favour.  But for you, he would be here no longer."

So saying, he disappeared, to the great joy of the company.
The merchant did not fail to thank his friends, and then each went
on his way.  The merchant returned to his wife and children,
and passed the rest of his days happily with them.

"But, sire," added Scheherazade, "however beautiful are the stories I
have just told you, they cannot compare with the story of the Fisherman."



The Story of the Fisherman


Sire, there was once upon a time a fisherman so old and so poor that
he could scarcely manage to support his wife and three children.
He went every day to fish very early, and each day he made a rule not
to throw his nets more than four times.  He started out one morning
by moonlight and came to the sea-shore. He undressed and threw his nets,
and as he was drawing them towards the bank he felt a great weight.
He though he had caught a large fish, and he felt very pleased.
But a moment afterwards, seeing that instead of a fish he only had in
his nets the carcase of an ass, he was much disappointed.

Vexed with having such a bad haul, when he had mended his nets,
which the carcase of the ass had broken in several places, he threw
them a second time.  In drawing them in he again felt a great weight,
so that he thought they were full of fish.  But he only found a large
basket full of rubbish.  He was much annoyed.

"O Fortune," he cried, "do not trifle thus with me, a poor fisherman,
who can hardly support his family!"

So saying, he threw away the rubbish, and after having washed his
nets clean of the dirt, he threw them for the third time.  But he
only drew in stones, shells, and mud.  He was almost in despair.

Then he threw his nets for the fourth time.  When he thought he had
a fish he drew them in with a great deal of trouble.  There was no
fish however, but he found a yellow pot, which by its weight seemed
full of something, and he noticed that it was fastened and sealed
with lead, with the impression of a seal.  He was delighted.
"I will sell it to the founder," he said; "with the money I shall
get for it I shall buy a measure of wheat."

He examined the jar on all sides; he shook it to see if it would rattle.
But he heard nothing, and so, judging from the impression of the seal
and the lid, he thought there must be something precious inside.
To find out, he took his knife, and with a little trouble he opened it.
He turned it upside down, but nothing came out, which surprised
him very much.  He set it in front of him, and whilst he was
looking at it attentively, such a thick smoke came out that he
had to step back a pace or two.  This smoke rose up to the clouds,
and stretching over the sea and the shore, formed a thick mist,
which caused the fisherman much astonishment.  When all the smoke
was out of the jar it gathered itself together, and became a thick
mass in which appeared a genius, twice as large as the largest giant.
When he saw such a terrible-looking monster, the fisherman would
like to have run away, but he trembled so with fright that he could
not move a step.

"Great king of the genii," cried the monster, "I will never again
disobey you!"

At these words the fisherman took courage.

"What is this you are saying, great genius?  Tell me your history
and how you came to be shut up in that vase."

At this, the genius looked at the fisherman haughtily.  "Speak to me
more civilly," he said, "before I kill you."

"Alas! why should you kill me?" cried the fisherman.  "I have just
freed you; have you already forgotten that?"

"No," answered the genius; "but that will not prevent me from
killing you; and I am only going to grant you one favour,
and that is to choose the manner of your death."

"But what have I done to you?" asked the fisherman.

"I cannot treat you in any other way," said the genius, "and if you
would know why, listen to my story.

"I rebelled against the king of the genii.  To punish me, he shut
me up in this vase of copper, and he put on the leaden cover
his seal, which is enchantment enough to prevent my coming out.
Then he had the vase thrown into the sea.  During the first period
of my captivity I vowed that if anyone should free me before a hundred
years were passed, I would make him rich even after his death.
But that century passed, and no one freed me.  In the second century I
vowed that I would give all the treasures in the world to my deliverer;
but he never came.

"In the third, I promised to make him a king, to be always near him,
and to grant him three wishes every day; but that century passed
away as the other two had done, and I remained in the same plight.
At last I grew angry at being captive for so long, and I vowed
that if anyone would release me I would kill him at once,
and would only allow him to choose in what manner he should die.
So you see, as you have freed me to-day, choose in what way you
will die."

The fisherman was very unhappy.  "What an unlucky man I am to have
freed you!  I implore you to spare my life."

"I have told you," said the genius, "that it is impossible.
Choose quickly; you are wasting time."

The fisherman began to devise a plot.

"Since I must die," he said, "before I choose the manner of my death,
I conjure you on your honour to tell me if you really were in
that vase?"

"Yes, I was" answered the genius.

"I really cannot believe it," said the fisherman.  "That vase could
not contain one of your feet even, and how could your whole body
go in?  I cannot believe it unless I see you do the thing."

Then the genius began to change himself into smoke, which, as before,
spread over the sea and the shore, and which, then collecting
itself together, began to go back into the vase slowly and evenly
till there was nothing left outside.  Then a voice came from the
vase which said to the fisherman, "Well, unbelieving fisherman,
here I am in the vase; do you believe me now?"

The fisherman instead of answering took the lid of lead and shut
it down quickly on the vase.

"Now, O genius," he cried, "ask pardon of me, and choose by what death
you will die!  But no, it will be better if I throw you into the sea
whence I drew you out, and I will build a house on the shore to warn
fishermen who come to cast their nets here, against fishing up such
a wicked genius as you are, who vows to kill the man who frees you."

At these words the genius did all he could to get out, but he
could not, because of the enchantment of the lid.

Then he tried to get out by cunning.

"If you will take off the cover," he said, "I will repay you."

"No," answered the fisherman, "if I trust myself to you I
am afraid you will treat me as a certain Greek king treated
the physician Douban.  Listen, and I will tell you."



The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban


In the country of Zouman, in Persia, there lived a Greek king.
This king was a leper, and all his doctors had been unable to cure him,
when a very clever physician came to his court.

He was very learned in all languages, and knew a great deal about
herbs and medicines.

As soon as he was told of the king's illness he put on his best
robe and presented himself before the king.  "Sire," said he,
"I know that no physician has been able to cure your majesty,
but if you will follow my instructions, I will promise to cure you
without any medicines or outward application."

The king listened to this proposal.

"If you are clever enough to do this," he said, "I promise to make
you and your descendants rich for ever."

The physician went to his house and made a polo club, the handle
of which he hollowed out, and put in it the drug he wished to use.
Then he made a ball, and with these things he went the next day to
the king.

He told him that he wished him to play at polo.  Accordingly the
king mounted his horse and went into the place where he played.
There the physician approached him with the bat he had made, saying,
"Take this, sire, and strike the ball till you feel your hand and whole
body in a glow.  When the remedy that is in the handle of the club
is warmed by your hand it will penetrate throughout your body.
The you must return to your palace, bathe, and go to sleep,
and when you awake to-morrow morning you will be cured."

The king took the club and urged his horse after the ball which he
had thrown.  He struck it, and then it was hit back by the courtiers
who were playing with him.  When he felt very hot he stopped playing,
and went back to the palace, went into the bath, and did all that
the physician had said.  The next day when he arose he found,
to his great joy and astonishment, that he was completely cured.
When he entered his audience-chamber all his courtiers, who were
eager to see if the wonderful cure had been effected, were overwhelmed
with joy.

The physician Douban entered the hall and bowed low to the ground.
The king, seeing him, called him, made him sit by his side, and showed
him every mark of honour.

That evening he gave him a long and rich robe of state, and presented
him with two thousand sequins.  The following day he continued
to load him with favours.

Now the king had a grand-vizir who was avaricious, and envious,
and a very bad man.  He grew extremely jealous of the physician,
and determined to bring about his ruin.

In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king,
saying that he had a most important communication to make.

"What is it?" asked the king.

"Sire," answered the grand-vizir, "it is most dangerous for a monarch
to confide in a man whose faithfulness is not proved, You do not know
that this physician is not a traitor come here to assassinate you."

"I am sure," said the king, "that this man is the most faithful and
virtuous of men.  If he wished to take my life, why did he cure me?
Cease to speak against him.  I see what it is, you are jealous of him;
but do not think that I can be turned against him.  I remember well
what a vizir said to King Sindbad, his master, to prevent him from
putting the prince, his son, to death."

What the Greek king said excited the vizir's curiousity, and he
said to him, "Sire, I beg your majesty to have the condescension
to tell me what the vizir said to King Sindbad."

"This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one ought not
believe everything that a mother-in-law says, and told him this story."



The Story of the Husband and the Parrot


A good man had a beautiful wife, whom he loved passionately, and never
left if possible.  One day, when he was obliged by important business
to go away from her, he went to a place where all kinds of birds
are sold and bought a parrot.  This parrot not only spoke well,
but it had the gift of telling all that had been done before it.
He brought it home in a cage, and asked his wife to put it in her room,
and take great care of it while he was away.  Then he departed.
On his return he asked the parrot what had happened during his absence,
and the parrot told him some things which made him scold his wife.

She thought that one of her slaves must have been telling tales of her,
but they told her it was the parrot, and she resolved to revenge
herself on him.

When her husband next went away for one day, she told on slave
to turn under the bird's cage a hand-mill; another to throw water
down from above the cage, and a third to take a mirror and turn it
in front of its eyes, from left to right by the light of a candle.
The slaves did this for part of the night, and did it very well.

The next day when the husband came back he asked the parrot what
he had seen.  The bird replied, "My good master, the lightning,
thunder and rain disturbed me so much all night long, that I cannot
tell you what I have suffered."

The husband, who knew that it had neither rained nor thundered in
the night, was convinced that the parrot was not speaking the truth,
so he took him out of the cage and threw him so roughly on the
ground that he killed him.  Nevertheless he was sorry afterwards,
for he found that the parrot had spoken the truth.

"When the Greek king," said the fisherman to the genius,
"had finished the story of the parrot, he added to the vizir,
"And so, vizir, I shall not listen to you, and I shall take
care of the physician, in case I repent as the husband did
when he had killed the parrot."  But the vizir was determined.
"Sire," he replied, "the death of the parrot was nothing.
But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to
sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty.  It is no uncertain
thing, however.  The physician, Douban, wishes to assassinate you.
My zeal prompts me to disclose this to your Majesty.  If I am wrong,
I deserve to be punished as a vizir was once punished."  "What had
the vizir done," said the Greek king, "to merit the punishment?"
"I will tell your Majesty, if you will do me the honour to listen,"
answered the vizir."



The Story of the Vizir Who Was Punished


There was once upon a time a king who had a son who was very fond
of hunting.  He often allowed him to indulge in this pastime,
but he had ordered his grand-vizir always to go with him,
and never to lose sight of him.  One day the huntsman roused a stag,
and the prince, thinking that the vizir was behind, gave chase,
and rode so hard that he found himself alone.  He stopped,
and having lost sight of it, he turned to rejoin the vizir,
who had not been careful enough to follow him.  But he lost his way.
Whilst he was trying to find it, he saw on the side of the road
a beautiful lady who was crying bitterly.  He drew his horse's rein,
and asked her who she was and what she was doing in this place,
and if she needed help.  "I am the daughter of an Indian king,"
she answered, "and whilst riding in the country I fell asleep and
tumbled off.  My horse has run away, and I do not know what has become
of him."

The young prince had pity on her, and offered to take her behind him,
which he did.  As they passed by a ruined building the lady dismounted
and went in.  The prince also dismounted and followed her.
To his great surprise, he heard her saying to some one inside,
"Rejoice my children; I am bringing you a nice fat youth."  And other
voices replied, "Where is he, mamma, that we may eat him at once,
as we are very hungry?"

The prince at once saw the danger he was in.  He now knew that the
lady who said she was the daughter of an Indian king was an ogress,
who lived in desolate places, and who by a thousand wiles surprised
and devoured passers-by. He was terrified, and threw himself on
his horse.  The pretended princess appeared at this moment, and seeing
that she had lost her prey, she said to him, "Do not be afraid.
What do you want?"

"I am lost," he answered, "and I am looking for the road."

"Keep straight on," said the ogress, "and you will find it."

The prince could hardly believe his ears, and rode off as hard
as he could.  He found his way, and arrived safe and sound at
his father's house, where he told him of the danger he had run
because of the grand-vizir's carelessness.  The king was very angry,
and had him strangled immediately.

"Sire," went on the vizir to the Greek king, "to return to
the physician, Douban.  If you do not take care, you will repent
of having trusted him.  Who knows what this remedy, with which
he has cured you, may not in time have a bad effect on you?"

The Greek king was naturally very weak, and did not perceive
the wicked intention of his vizir, nor was he firm enough to keep
to his first resolution.

"Well, vizir," he said, "you are right.  Perhaps he did come to take
my life.  He might do it by the mere smell of one of his drugs.
I must see what can be done."

"The best means, sire, to put your life in security, is to send
for him at once, and to cut off his head directly he comes,"
said the vizir.

"I really think," replied the king, "that will be the best way."

He then ordered one of his ministers to fetch the physician,
who came at once.

"I have had you sent for," said the king, "in order to free myself
from you by taking your life."

The physician was beyond measure astonished when he heard he was
to die.

"What crimes have I committed, your majesty?"

"I have learnt," replied the king, "that you are a spy, and intend
to kill me.  But I will be first, and kill you.  Strike," he added
to an executioner who was by, "and rid me of this assassin."

At this cruel order the physician threw himself on his knees.
"Spare my life," he cried, "and yours will be spared."

The fisherman stopped here to say to the genius:  "You see what
passed between the Greek king and the physician has just passed
between us two.  The Greek king," he went on, "had no mercy on him,
and the executioner bound his eyes."

All those present begged for his life, but in vain.

The physician on his knees, and bound, said to the king:
"At least let me put my affairs in order, and leave my books
to persons who will make good use of them.  There is one which I
should like to present to your majesty.  It is very precious,
and ought to be kept carefully in your treasury.  It contains
many curious things the chief being that when you cut off my head,
if your majesty will turn to the sixth leaf, and read the third
line of the left-hand page, my head will answer all the questions
you like to ask it."

The king, eager to see such a wonderful thing, put off his execution
to the next day, and sent him under a strong guard to his house.
There the physician put his affairs in order, and the next day
there was a great crowd assembled in the hall to see his death,
and the doings after it.  The physician went up to the foot
of the throne with a large book in his hand.  He carried a basin,
on which he spread the covering of the book, and presenting it to
the king, said:  "Sire, take this book, and when my head is cut off,
let it be placed in the basin on the covering of this book; as soon
as it is there, the blood will cease to flow.  Then open the book,
and my head will answer your questions.  But, sire, I implore your mercy,
for I am innocent."

"Your prayers are useless, and if it were only to hear your head
speak when you are dead, you should die."

So saying, he took the book from the physician's hands, and ordered
the executioner to do his duty.

The head was so cleverly cut off that it fell into the basin,
and directly the blood ceased to flow.  Then, to the great astonishment
of the king, the eyes opened, and the head said, "Your majesty,
open the book."  The king did so, and finding that the first leaf
stuck against the second, he put his finger in his mouth, to turn it
more easily.  He did the same thing till he reached the sixth page,
and not seeing any writing on it, "Physician," he said, "there is
no writing."

"Turn over a few more pages," answered the head.  The king went
on turning, still putting his finger in his mouth, till the poison
in which each page was dipped took effect.  His sight failed him,
and he fell at the foot of his throne.

When the physician's head saw that the poison had taken effect,
and that the king had only a few more minutes to live,
"Tyrant," it cried, "see how cruelty and injustice are punished."

Scarcely had it uttered these words than the king died, and the head
lost also the little life that had remained in it.

That is the end of the story of the Greek king, and now let us
return to the fisherman and the genius.

"If the Greek king," said the fisherman, "had spared the physician,
he would not have thus died.  The same thing applies to you.
Now I am going to throw you into the sea."

"My friend," said the genius, "do not do such a cruel thing.
Do not treat me as Imma treated Ateca."

"What did Imma do to Ateca?" asked the fisherman.

"Do you think I can tell you while I am shut up in here?"
replied the genius.  "Let me out, and I will make you rich."

The hope of being no longer poor made the fisherman give way.

"If you will give me your promise to do this, I will open the lid.
I do not think you will dare to break your word."

The genius promised, and the fisherman lifted the lid.  He came
out at once in smoke, and then, having resumed his proper form,
the first thing he did was to kick the vase into the sea.
This frightened the fisherman, but the genius laughed and said,
"Do not be afraid; I only did it to frighten you, and to show you
that I intend to keep my word; take your nets and follow me."

He began to walk in front of the fisherman, who followed him
with some misgivings.  They passed in front of the town, and went
up a mountain and then down into a great plain, where there
was a large lake lying between four hills.

When they reached the lake the genius said to the fisherman,
"Throw your nets and catch fish."

The fisherman did as he was told, hoping for a good catch,
as he saw plenty of fish.  What was his astonishment at seeing
that there were four quite different kinds, some white, some red,
some blue, and some yellow.  He caught four, one of each colour.
As he had never seen any like them he admired them very much,
and he was very pleased to think how much money he would get
for them.

"Take these fish and carry them to the Sultan, who will give you more
money for them than you have ever had in your life.  You can come
every day to fish in this lake, but be careful not to throw your nets
more than once every day, otherwise some harm will happen to you.
If you follow my advice carefully you will find it good."

Saying these words, he struck his foot against the ground,
which opened, and when he had disappeared, it closed immediately.

The fisherman resolved to obey the genius exactly, so he did
not cast his nets a second time, but walked into the town to sell
his fish at the palace.

When the Sultan saw the fish he was much astonished.  He looked at
them one after the other, and when he had admired them long enough,
"Take these fish," he said to his first vizir, "and given them
to the clever cook the Emperor of the Greeks sent me.  I think they
must be as good as they are beautiful."

The vizir took them himself to the cook, saying, "Here are four fish
that have been brought to the Sultan.  He wants you to cook them."

Then he went back to the Sultan, who told him to give the fisherman
four hundred gold pieces.  The fisherman, who had never before
possessed such a large sum of money at once, could hardly believe
his good fortune.  He at once relieved the needs of his family,
and made good use of it.

But now we must return to the kitchen, which we shall find
in great confusion.  The cook, when she had cleaned the fish,
put them in a pan with some oil to fry them.  When she thought
them cooked enough on one side she turned them on the other.
But scarcely had she done so when the walls of the kitchen opened,
and there came out a young and beautiful damsel.  She was dressed
in an Egyptian dress of flowered satin, and she wore earrings,
and a necklace of white pearls, and bracelets of gold set with rubies,
and she held a wand of myrtle in her hand.

She went up to the pan, to the great astonishment of the cook,
who stood motionless at the sight of her.  She struck one of the fish
with her rod, "Fish, fish," said she, "are you doing your duty?"
The fish answered nothing, and then she repeated her question,
whereupon they all raised their heads together and answered
very distinctly, "Yes, yes.  If you reckon, we reckon.  If you
pay your debts, we pay ours.  If you fly, we conquer, and we
are content."

When they had spoken the girl upset the pan, and entered the opening
in the wall, which at once closed, and appeared the same as before.

When the cook had recovered from her fright she lifted up the fish
which had fallen into the ashes, but she found them as black as cinders,
and not fit to serve up to the Sultan.  She began to cry.

"Alas! what shall I say to the Sultan?  He will be so angry with me,
and I know he will not believe me!"

Whilst she was crying the grand-vizir came in and asked
if the fish were ready.  She told him all that had happened,
and he was much surprised.  He sent at once for the fisherman,
and when he came said to him, "Fisherman, bring me four
more fish like you have brought already, for an accident
has happened to them so that they cannot be served up to the Sultan."

The fisherman did not say what the genius had told him, but he
excused himself from bringing them that day on account of the length
of the way, and he promised to bring them next day.

In the night he went to the lake, cast his nets, and on drawing
them in found four fish, which were like the others, each of
a different colour.

He went back at once and carried them to the grand-vizir as he
had promised.

He then took them to the kitchen and shut himself up with the cook,
who began to cook them as she had done the four others on the
previous day.  When she was about to turn them on the other side,
the wall opened, the damsel appeared, addressed the same words
to the fish, received the same answer, and then overturned the pan
and disappeared.

The grand-vizir was filled with astonishment.  "I shall tell
the Sultan all that has happened," said he.  And he did so.

The Sultan was very much astounded, and wished to see this marvel
for himself.  So he sent for the fisherman, and asked him to procure
four more fish.  The fisherman asked for three days, which were granted,
and he then cast his nets in the lake, and again caught four different
coloured fish.  The sultan was delighted to see he had got them,
and gave him again four hundred gold pieces.

As soon as the Sultan had the fish he had them carried to his room
with all that was needed to cook them.

Then he shut himself up with the grand-vizir, who began to prepare
them and cook them.  When they were done on one side he turned them
over on the other.  Then the wall of the room opened, but instead
of the maiden a black slave came out.  He was enormously tall,
and carried a large green stick with which he touched the fish,
saying in a terrible voice, "Fish, fish, are you doing your duty?"
To these words the fish lifting up their heads replied, "Yes, yes.
If you reckon, we reckon.  If you pay your debts, we pay ours.
If you fly, we conquer, and are content."

The black slave overturned the pan in the middle of the room,
and the fish were turned to cinders.  Then he stepped proudly back
into the wall, which closed round him.

"After having seen this," said the Sultan, "I cannot rest.
These fish signify some mystery I must clear up."

He sent for the fisherman.  "Fisherman," he said, "the fish you
have brought us have caused me some anxiety.  Where did you get
them from?"

"Sire," he answered, "I got them from a lake which lies in the
middle of four hills beyond yonder mountains."

"Do you know this lake?" asked the Sultan of the grand-vizir.

"No; though I have hunted many times round that mountain, I have
never heard of it," said the vizir.

As the fisherman said it was only three hours' journey away,
the sultan ordered his whole court to mount and ride thither,
and the fisherman led them.

They climbed the mountain, and then, on the other side, saw the
lake as the fisherman had described.  The water was so clear
that they could see the four kinds of fish swimming about in it.
They looked at them for some time, and then the Sultan ordered them
to make a camp by the edge of the water.

When night came the Sultan called his vizir, and said to him,
"I have resolved to clear up this mystery.  I am going out alone,
and do you stay here in my tent, and when my ministers come to-morrow,
say I am not well, and cannot see them.  Do this each day till
I return."

The grand-vizir tried to persuade the Sultan not to go, but in vain.
The Sultan took off his state robe and put on his sword, and when he
saw all was quiet in the camp he set forth alone.

He climbed one of the hills, and then crossed the great plain, till,
just as the sun rose, he beheld far in front of him a large building.
When he came near to it he saw it was a splendid palace of beautiful
black polished marble, covered with steel as smooth as a mirror.

He went to the gate, which stood half open, and went in, as nobody
came when he knocked.  He passed through a magnificent courtyard
and still saw no one, though he called aloud several times.

He entered large halls where the carpets were of silk, the lounges
and sofas covered with tapestry from Mecca, and the hangings of the most
beautiful Indian stuffs of gold and silver.  Then he found himself
in a splendid room, with a fountain supported by golden lions.
The water out of the lions' mouths turned into diamonds and pearls,
and the leaping water almost touched a most beautifully-painted dome.
The palace was surrounded on three sides by magnificent gardens,
little lakes, and woods.  Birds sang in the trees, which were netted
over to keep them always there.

Still the Sultan saw no one, till he heard a plaintive cry,
and a voice which said, "Oh that I could die, for I am too unhappy
to wish to live any longer!"

The Sultan looked round to discover who it was who thus bemoaned
his fate, and at last saw a handsome young man, richly clothed,
who was sitting on a throne raised slightly from the ground.
His face was very sad.

The sultan approached him and bowed to him.  The young man bent
his head very low, but did not rise.

"Sire," he said to the Sultan, "I cannot rise and do you
the reverence that I am sure should be paid to your rank."

"Sir," answered the Sultan, "I am sure you have a good reason
for not doing so, and having heard your cry of distress, I am come
to offer you my help.  Whose is this palace, and why is it thus empty?"

Instead of answering the young man lifted up his robe, and showed
the Sultan that, from the waist downwards, he was a block of black marble.

The Sultan was horrified, and begged the young man to tell him
his story.

"Willingly I will tell you my sad history," said the young man.



The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles


You must know, sire, that my father was Mahmoud, the king of this
country, the Black Isles, so called from the four little mountains
which were once islands, while the capital was the place where now
the great lake lies.  My story will tell you how these changes came about.

My father died when he was sixty-six, and I succeeded him.
I married my cousin, whom I loved tenderly, and I thought she loved
me too.

But one afternoon, when I was half asleep, and was being fanned
by two of her maids, I heard one say to the other, "What a pity it
is that our mistress no longer loves our master!  I believe she
would like to kill him if she could, for she is an enchantress."

I soon found by watching that they were right, and when I
mortally wounded a favourite slave of hers for a great crime,
she begged that she might build a palace in the garden, where she
wept and bewailed him for two years.

At last I begged her to cease grieving for him, for although he could
not speak or move, by her enchantments she just kept him alive.
She turned upon me in a rage, and said over me some magic words,
and I instantly became as you see me now, half man and half marble.

Then this wicked enchantress changed the capital, which was
a very populous and flourishing city, into the lake and desert
plain you saw.  The fish of four colours which are in it are
the different races who lived in the town; the four hills are
the four islands which give the name to my kingdom.  All this the
enchantress told me to add to my troubles.  And this is not all.
Every day she comes and beats me with a whip of buffalo hide.

When the young king had finished his sad story he burst once more
into tears, and the Sultan was much moved.

"Tell me," he cried, "where is this wicked woman, and where is
the miserable object of her affection, whom she just manages
to keep alive?"

"Where she lives I do not know," answered the unhappy prince,
"but she goes every day at sunrise to see if the slave can yet speak
to her, after she has beaten me."

"Unfortunate king," said the Sultan, "I will do what I can
to avenge you."

So he consulted with the young king over the best way to bring
this about, and they agreed their plan should be put in effect
the next day.  The Sultan then rested, and the young king gave
himself up to happy hopes of release.  The next day the Sultan arose,
and then went to the palace in the garden where the black slave was.
He drew his sword and destroyed the little life that remained in him,
and then threw the body down a well.  He then lay down on the couch
where the slave had been, and waited for the enchantress.

She went first to the young king, whom she beat with a hundred blows.

Then she came to the room where she thought her wounded slave was,
but where the Sultan really lay.

She came near his couch and said, "Are you better to-day,
my dear slave?  Speak but one word to me."

"How can I be better," answered the Sultan, imitating the language
of the Ethiopians, "when I can never sleep for the cries and groans
of your husband?"

"What joy to hear you speak!" answered the queen.  "Do you wish
him to regain his proper shape?"

"Yes," said the Sultan; "hasten to set him at liberty, so that I
may no longer hear his cries."

The queen at once went out and took a cup of water, and said
over it some words that made it boil as if it were on the fire.
Then she threw it over the prince, who at once regained his own form.
He was filled with joy, but the enchantress said, "Hasten away from
this place and never come back, lest I kill you."

So he hid himself to see the end of the Sultan's plan.

The enchantress went back to the Palace of Tears and said,
"Now I have done what you wished."

"What you have done," said the Sultan, "is not enough to cure me.
Every day at midnight all the people whom you have changed into fish
lift their heads out of the lake and cry for vengeance.  Go quickly,
and give them their proper shape."

The enchantress hurried away and said some words over the lake.

The fish then became men, women, and children, and the houses
and shops were once more filled.  The Sultan's suite, who had
encamped by the lake, were not a little astonished to see themselves
in the middle of a large and beautiful town.

As soon as she had disenchanted it the queen went back to the palace.

"Are you quite well now?" she said.

"Come near," said the Sultan.  "Nearer still."

She obeyed.  Then he sprang up, and with one blow of his sword he
cut her in two.

Then he went and found the prince.

"Rejoice," he said, "your cruel enemy is dead."

The prince thanked him again and again.

"And now," said the Sultan.  "I will go back to my capital,
which I am glad to find is so near yours."

"So near mine!" said the King of the Black Isles.

"Do you know it is a whole year's journey from here?  You came
here in a few hours because it was enchanted.  But I will accompany
you on your journey."

"It will give me much pleasure if you will escort me," said the Sultan,
"and as I have no children, I will make you my heir."

The Sultan and the prince set out together, the Sultan laden
with rich presents from the King of the Black Isles.

The day after he reached his capital the Sultan assembled his court
and told them all that had befallen him, and told them how he
intended to adopt the young king as his heir.

Then he gave each man presents in proportion to his rank.

As for the fisherman, as he was the first cause of the deliverance
of the young prince, the Sultan gave him much money, and made him
and his family happy for the rest of their days.



Story of the Three Calenders, Sons of Kings, and of Five Ladies
of Bagdad


In the reign of the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, there lived at Bagdad
a porter who, in spite of his humble calling, was an intelligent
and sensible man.  One morning he was sitting in his usual place with
his basket before him, waiting to be hired, when a tall young lady,
covered with a long muslin veil, came up to him and said, "Pick up
your basket and follow me."  The porter, who was greatly pleased
by her appearance and voice, jumped up at once, poised his basket
on his head, and accompanied the lady, saying to himself as he went,
"Oh, happy day!  Oh, lucky meeting!"

The lady soon stopped before a closed door, at which she knocked.
It was opened by an old man with a long white beard, to whom
the lady held out money without speaking.  The old man, who seemed
to understand what she wanted, vanished into the house, and returned
bringing a large jar of wine, which the porter placed in his basket.
Then the lady signed to him to follow, and they went their way.

The next place she stopped at was a fruit and flower shop, and here she
bought a large quantity of apples, apricots, peaches, and other things,
with lilies, jasmine, and all sorts of sweet-smelling plants.
From this shop she went to a butcher's, a grocer's, and a poulterer's,
till at last the porter exclaimed in despair, "My good lady,
if you had only told me you were going to buy enough provisions
to stock a town, I would have brought a horse, or rather a camel."
The lady laughed, and told him she had not finished yet, but after
choosing various kinds of scents and spices from a druggist's store,
she halted before a magnificent palace, at the door of which
she knocked gently.  The porteress who opened it was of such
beauty that the eyes of the man were quite dazzled, and he was
the more astonished as he saw clearly that she was no slave.
The lady who had led him hither stood watching him with amusement,
till the porteress exclaimed, "Why don't you come in, my sister?
This poor man is so heavily weighed down that he is ready to drop."

When they were both inside the door was fastened, and they all
three entered a large court, surrounded by an open-work gallery.
At one end of the court was a platform, and on the platform stood
an amber throne supported by four ebony columns, garnished with
pearls and diamonds.  In the middle of the court stood a marble
basin filled with water from the mouth of a golden lion.

The porter looked about him, noticing and admiring everything;
but his attention was specially attracted by a third lady sitting
on the throne, who was even more beautiful than the other two.
By the respect shown to her by the others, he judged that she must be
the eldest, and in this he was right.  This lady's name was Zobeida,
the porteress was Sadie, and the housekeeper was Amina.  At a word
from Zobeida, Sadie and Amina took the basket from the porter,
who was glad enough to be relieved from its weight; and when it
was emptied, paid him handsomely for its use.  But instead of taking
up his basket and going away, the man still lingered, till Zobeida
inquired what he was waiting for, and if he expected more money.
"Oh, madam," returned he, "you have already given me too much,
and I fear I may have been guilty of rudeness in not taking my
departure at once.  But, if you will pardon my saying so, I was lost
in astonishment at seeing such beautiful ladies by themselves. A
company of women without men is, however, as dull as a company of men
without women."  And after telling some stories to prove his point,
he ended by entreating them to let him stay and make a fourth at
their dinner.

The ladies were rather amused at the man's assurances and after
some discussion it was agreed that he should be allowed to stay,
as his society might prove entertaining.  "But listen, friend,"
said Zobeida, "if we grant your request, it is only on condition
that you behave with the utmost politeness, and that you keep the
secret of our way of living, which chance has revealed to you."
Then they all sat down to table, which had been covered by Amina
with the dishes she had bought.

After the first few mouthfuls Amina poured some wine into a golden cup.
She first drank herself, according to the Arab custom, and then
filled it for her sisters.  When it came to the porter's turn he
kissed Amina's hand, and sang a song, which he composed at the moment
in praise of the wine.  The three ladies were pleased with the song,
and then sang themselves, so that the repast was a merry one,
and lasted much longer than usual.

At length, seeing that the sun was about to set, Sadia said
to the porter, "Rise and go; it is now time for us to separate."

"Oh, madam," replied he, "how can you desire me to quit you in
the state in which I am?  Between the wine I have drunk, and the
pleasure of seeing you, I should never find the way to my house.
Let me remain here till morning, and when I have recovered my senses
I will go when you like."

"Let him stay," said Amina, who had before proved herself his friend.
"It is only just, as he has given us so much amusement."

"If you wish it, my sister," replied Zobeida; "but if he does,
I must make a new condition.  Porter," she continued, turning to him,
"if you remain, you must promise to ask no questions about anything
you may see.  If you do, you may perhaps hear what you don't like."

This being settled, Amina brought in supper, and lit up the hall with a
number of sweet smelling tapers.  They then sat down again at the table,
and began with fresh appetites to eat, drink, sing, and recite verses.
In fact, they were all enjoying themselves mightily when they heard
a knock at the outer door, which Sadie rose to open.  She soon
returned saying that three Calenders, all blind in the right eye,
and all with their heads, faces, and eyebrows clean shaved,
begged for admittance, as they were newly arrived in Bagdad,
and night had already fallen.  "They seem to have pleasant manners,"
she added, "but you have no idea how funny they look.  I am sure
we should find their company diverting."

Zobeida and Amina made some difficulty about admitting the new comers,
and Sadie knew the reason of their hesitation.  But she urged
the matter so strongly that Zobeida was at last forced to consent.
"Bring them in, then," said she, "but make them understand that
they are not to make remarks about what does not concern them,
and be sure to make them read the inscription over the door."
For on the door was written in letters of gold, "Whoso meddles in
affairs that are no business of his, will hear truths that will not
please him."

The three Calenders bowed low on entering, and thanked the ladies
for their kindness and hospitality.  The ladies replied with words
of welcome, and they were all about to seat themselves when the eyes
of the Calenders fell on the porter, whose dress was not so very unlike
their own, though he still wore all the hair that nature had given him.
"This," said one of them, "is apparently one of our Arab brothers,
who has rebelled against our ruler."

The porter, although half asleep from the wine he had drunk,
heard the words, and without moving cried angrily to the Calender,
"Sit down and mind your own business.  Did you not read the inscription
over the door?  Everybody is not obliged to live in the same way."

"Do not be so angry, my good man," replied the Calender; "we should
be very sorry to displease you;" so the quarrel was smoothed over,
and supper began in good earnest.  When the Calenders had satisfied
their hunger, they offered to play to their hostesses, if there were
any instruments in the house.  The ladies were delighted at the idea,
and Sadie went to see what she could find, returning in a few
moments laden with two different kinds of flutes and a tambourine.
Each Calender took the one he preferred, and began to play
a well-known air, while the ladies sang the words of the song.
These words were the gayest and liveliest possible, and every now
and then the singers had to stop to indulge the laughter which almost
choked them.  In the midst of all their noise, a knock was heard
at the door.

Now early that evening the Caliph secretly left the palace,
accompanied by his grand-vizir, Giafar, and Mesrour, chief of the eunuchs,
all three wearing the dresses of merchants.  Passing down the street,
the Caliph had been attracted by the music of instruments and the sound
of laughter, and had ordered his vizir to go and knock at the door
of the house, as he wished to enter.  The vizir replied that the ladies
who lived there seemed to be entertaining their friends, and he thought
his master would do well not to intrude on them; but the Caliph had
taken it into his head to see for himself, and insisted on being obeyed.

The knock was answered by Sadie, with a taper in her hand,
and the vizir, who was surprised at her beauty, bowed low before her,
and said respectfully, "Madam, we are three merchants who have
lately arrived from Moussoul, and, owing to a misadventure which
befel us this very night, only reached our inn to find that the
doors were closed to us till to-morrow morning.  Not knowing
what to do, we wandered in the streets till we happened to pass
your house, when, seeing lights and hearing the sound of voices,
we resolved to ask you to give us shelter till the dawn.
If you will grant us this favour, we will, with your permission,
do all in our power to help you spend the time pleasantly."

Sadie answered the merchant that she must first consult her sisters;
and after having talked over the matter with them, she returned to tell
him that he and his two friends would be welcome to join their company.
They entered and bowed politely to the ladies and their guests.
Then Zobeida, as the mistress, came forward and said gravely,
"You are welcome here, but I hope you will allow me to beg one thing
of you--have as many eyes as you like, but no tongues; and ask
no questions about anything you see, however strange it may appear
to you."

"Madam," returned the vizir, "you shall be obeyed.  We have quite
enough to please and interest us without troubling ourselves about
that with which we have no concern."  Then they all sat down,
and drank to the health of the new comers.

While the vizir, Giafar, was talking to the ladies the Caliph
was occupied in wondering who they could be, and why the three
Calenders had each lost his right eye.  He was burning to inquire
the reason of it all, but was silenced by Zobeida's request, so he
tried to rouse himself and to take his part in the conversation,
which was very lively, the subject of discussion being the many
different sorts of pleasures that there were in the world.
After some time the Calenders got up and performed some curious dances,
which delighted the rest of the company.

When they had finished Zobeida rose from her seat, and, taking Amina
by the hand, she said to her, "My sister, our friends will excuse us
if we seem to forget their presence and fulfil our nightly task."
Amina understood her sister's meaning, and collecting the dishes,
glasses, and musical instruments, she carried them away, while Sadie
swept the hall and put everything in order.  Having done this she
begged the Calenders to sit on a sofa on one side of the room,
and the Caliph and his friends to place themselves opposite.
As to the porter, she requested him to come and help her and
her sister.

Shortly after Amina entered carrying a seat, which she put down
in the middle of the empty space.  She next went over to the door
of a closet and signed to the porter to follow her.  He did so,
and soon reappeared leading two black dogs by a chain, which he
brought into the centre of the hall.  Zobeida then got up from her
seat between the Calenders and the Caliph and walked slowly across
to where the porter stood with the dogs.  "We must do our duty,"
she said with a deep sigh, pushing back her sleeves, and, taking a
whip from Sadie, she said to the man, "Take one of those dogs to my
sister Amina and give me the other."

The porter did as he was bid, but as he led the dog to Zobeida it
uttered piercing howls, and gazed up at her with looks of entreaty.
But Zobeida took no notice, and whipped the dog till she was
out of breath.  She then took the chain from the porter, and,
raising the dog on its hind legs, they looked into each other's eyes
sorrowfully till tears began to fall from both.  Then Zobeida took
her handkerchief and wiped the dog's eyes tenderly, after which she
kissed it, then, putting the chain into the porter's hand she said,
"Take it back to the closet and bring me the other."

The same ceremony was gone through with the second dog,
and all the while the whole company looked on with astonishment.
The Caliph in particular could hardly contain himself, and made
signs to the vizir to ask what it all meant.  But the vizir
pretended not to see, and turned his head away.

Zobeida remained for some time in the middle of the room, till at
last Sadie went up to her and begged her to sit down, as she
also had her part to play.  At these words Amina fetched a lute
from a case of yellow satin and gave it to Sadie, who sang several
songs to its accompaniment.  When she was tired she said to Amina,
"My sister, I can do no more; come, I pray you, and take my place."

Amina struck a few chords and then broke into a song, which she
sang with so much ardour that she was quite overcome, and sank
gasping on a pile of cushions, tearing open her dress as she did
so to give herself some air.  To the amazement of all present,
her neck, instead of being as smooth and white as her face,
was a mass of scars.

The Calenders and the Caliph looked at each other, and whispered together,
unheard by Zobeida and Sadie, who were tending their fainting sister.

"What does it all mean? ' asked the Caliph.

"We know no more than you," said the Calender to whom he had spoken.

"What!  You do not belong to the house?"

"My lord," answered all the Calenders together, "we came here
for the first time an hour before you."

They then turned to the porter to see if he could explain
the mystery, but the porter was no wiser than they were themselves.
At length the Caliph could contain his curiosity no longer,
and declared that he would compel the ladies to tell them the meaning
of their strange conduct.  The vizir, foreseeing what would happen,
implored him to remember the condition their hostesses had imposed,
and added in a whisper that if his Highness would only wait till
morning he could as Caliph summon the ladies to appear before him.
But the Caliph, who was not accustomed to be contradicted,
rejected this advice, and it was resolved after a little more talking
that the question should be put by the porter.  Suddenly Zobeida
turned round, and seeing their excitement she said, "What is the matter--
what are you all discussing so earnestly?"

"Madam," answered the porter, "these gentlemen entreat you to explain
to them why you should first whip the dogs and then cry over them,
and also how it happens that the fainting lady is covered with scars.
They have requested me, Madam, to be their mouthpiece."


"Is it true, gentlemen," asked Zobeida, drawing herself up,
"that you have charged this man to put me that question?"

"It is," they all replied, except Giafar, who was silent.

"Is this," continued Zobeida, growing more angry every moment,
"is this the return you make for the hospitality I have shown you?
Have you forgotten the one condition on which you were allowed
to enter the house?  Come quickly," she added, clapping her hands
three times, and the words were hardly uttered when seven black slaves,
each armed with a sabre, burst in and stood over the seven men,
throwing them on the ground, and preparing themselves, on a sign from
their mistress, to cut off their heads.

The seven culprits all thought their last hour had come, and the
Caliph repented bitterly that he had not taken the vizir's advice.
But they made up their minds to die bravely, all except the porter,
who loudly inquired of Zobeida why he was to suffer for other
people's faults, and declared that these misfortunes would never
have happened if it had not been for the Calenders, who always
brought ill-luck. He ended by imploring Zobeida not to confound
the innocent with the guilty and to spare his life.

In spite of her anger, there was something so comic in the groans
of the porter that Zobeida could not refrain from laughing.
But putting him aside she addressed the others a second time,
saying, "Answer me; who are you?  Unless you tell me truly you
have not another moment to live.  I can hardly think you are men
of any position, whatever country you belong to.  If you were,
you would have had more consideration for us."

The Caliph, who was naturally very impatient, suffered far more
than either of the others at feeling that his life was at the
mercy of a justly offended lady, but when he heard her question
he began to breathe more freely, for he was convinced that she
had only to learn his name and rank for all danger to be over.
So he whispered hastily to the vizir, who was next to him,
to reveal their secret.  But the vizir, wiser than his master,
wished to conceal from the public the affront they had received,
and merely answered, "After all, we have only got what we deserved."

Meanwhile Zobeida had turned to the three Calenders and inquired if,
as they were all blind, they were brothers.

"No, madam," replied one, "we are no blood relations at all,
only brothers by our mode of life."

"And you," she asked, addressing another, "were you born blind
of one eye?"

"No, madam," returned he, "I became blind through a most surprising
adventure, such as probably has never happened to anybody.
After that I shaved my head and eyebrows and put on the dress
in which you see me now."

Zobeida put the same question to the other two Calenders,
and received the same answer.

"But," added the third, "it may interest you, madam, to know
that we are not men of low birth, but are all three sons of kings,
and of kings, too, whom the world holds in high esteem."

At these words Zobeida's anger cooled down, and she turned to
her slaves and said, "You can give them a little more liberty,
but do not leave the hall.  Those that will tell us their histories
and their reasons for coming here shall be allowed to leave unhurt;
those who refuse--" And she paused, but in a moment the porter,
who understood that he had only to relate his story to set himself
free from this terrible danger, immediately broke in,

"Madam, you know already how I came here, and what I have to say
will soon be told.  Your sister found me this morning in the place
where I always stand waiting to be hired.  She bade me follow her
to various shops, and when my basket was quite full we returned
to this house, when you had the goodness to permit me to remain,
for which I shall be eternally grateful.  That is my story."

He looked anxiously to Zobeida, who nodded her head and said,
"You can go; and take care we never meet again."

"Oh, madam," cried the porter, "let me stay yet a little while.
It is not just that the others should have heard my story and that I
should not hear theirs," and without waiting for permission he
seated himself on the end of the sofa occupied by the ladies,
whilst the rest crouched on the carpet, and the slaves stood against
the wall.

Then one of the Calenders, addressing himself to Zobeida as the
principal lady, began his story.



The Story of the First Calender, Son of a King


In order, madam, to explain how I came to lose my right eye,
and to wear the dress of a Calender, you must first know that I
am the son of a king.  My father's only brother reigned over the
neighbouring country, and had two children, a daughter and a son,
who were of the same age as myself.

As I grew up, and was allowed more liberty, I went every year to pay
a visit to my uncle's court, and usually stayed there about two months.
In this way my cousin and I became very intimate, and were much
attached to each other.  The very last time I saw him he seemed more
delighted to see me than ever, and gave a great feast in my honour.
When we had finished eating, he said to me, "My cousin, you would
never guess what I have been doing since your last visit to us!
Directly after your departure I set a number of men to work on a building
after my own design.  It is now completed, and ready to be lived in.
I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things:
to be faithful to me, and to keep my secret."

Of course I did not dream of refusing him anything he asked, and gave
the promise without the least hesitation.  He then bade me wait
an instant, and vanished, returning in a few moments with a richly
dressed lady of great beauty, but as he did not tell me her name,
I thought it was better not to inquire.  We all three sat down to table
and amused ourselves with talking of all sorts of indifferent things,
and with drinking each other's health.  Suddenly the prince said to me,
"Cousin, we have no time to lose; be so kind as to conduct this lady
to a certain spot, where you will find a dome-like tomb, newly built.
You cannot mistake it.  Go in, both of you, and wait till I come.
I shall not be long."

As I had promised I prepared to do as I was told, and giving my hand
to the lady, I escorted her, by the light of the moon, to the place
of which the prince had spoken.  We had barely reached it when he
joined us himself, carrying a small vessel of water, a pickaxe,
and a little bag containing plaster.

With the pickaxe he at once began to destroy the empty sepulchre
in the middle of the tomb.  One by one he took the stones and piled
them up in a corner.  When he had knocked down the whole sepulchre
he proceeded to dig at the earth, and beneath where the sepulchre
had been I saw a trap-door. He raised the door and I caught sight
of the top of a spiral staircase; then he said, turning to the lady,
"Madam, this is the way that will lead you down to the spot which I
told you of."

The lady did not answer, but silently descended the staircase,
the prince following her.  At the top, however, he looked at me.
"My cousin," he exclaimed, "I do not know how to thank you for
your kindness.  Farewell."

"What do you mean?"  I cried.  "I don't understand."

"No matter," he replied, "go back by the path that you came."

He would say no more, and, greatly puzzled, I returned to my room
in the palace and went to bed.  When I woke, and considered
my adventure, I thought that I must have been dreaming, and sent
a servant to ask if the prince was dressed and could see me.
But on hearing that he had not slept at home I was much alarmed,
and hastened to the cemetery, where, unluckily, the tombs were all so
alike that I could not discover which was the one I was in search of,
though I spent four days in looking for it.

You must know that all this time the king, my uncle, was absent
on a hunting expedition, and as no one knew when he would be back,
I at last decided to return home, leaving the ministers to make
my excuses.  I longed to tell them what had become of the prince,
about whose fate they felt the most dreadful anxiety, but the oath I
had sworn kept me silent.

On my arrival at my father's capital, I was astonished to find
a large detachment of guards drawn up before the gate of the palace;
they surrounded me directly I entered.  I asked the officers in command
the reason of this strange behaviour, and was horrified to learn
that the army had mutinied and put to death the king, my father,
and had placed the grand-vizir on the throne.  Further, that by his
orders I was placed under arrest.

Now this rebel vizir had hated me from my boy-hood, because once,
when shooting at a bird with a bow, I had shot out his eye by accident.
Of course I not only sent a servant at once to offer him my regrets
and apologies, but I made them in person.  It was all of no use.
He cherished an undying hatred towards me, and lost no occasion
of showing it.  Having once got me in his power I felt he could
show no mercy, and I was right.  Mad with triumph and fury he
came to me in my prison and tore out my right eye.  That is how I
lost it.

My persecutor, however, did not stop here.  He shut me up in a large
case and ordered his executioner to carry me into a desert place,
to cut off my head, and then to abandon my body to the birds of prey.
The case, with me inside it, was accordingly placed on a horse,
and the executioner, accompanied by another man, rode into the country
until they found a spot suitable for the purpose.  But their hearts
were not so hard as they seemed, and my tears and prayers made
them waver.

"Forsake the kingdom instantly," said the executioner at last,
"and take care never to come back, for you will not only lose
your head, but make us lose ours."  I thanked him gratefully,
and tried to console myself for the loss of my eye by thinking
of the other misfortunes I had escaped.


After all I had gone through, and my fear of being recognised
by some enemy, I could only travel very slowly and cautiously,
generally resting in some out-of-the-way place by day, and walking
as far as I was able by night, but at length I arrived in the kingdom
of my uncle, of whose protection I was sure.

I found him in great trouble about the disappearance of his son,
who had, he said, vanished without leaving a trace; but his own grief
did not prevent him sharing mine.  We mingled our tears, for the loss
of one was the loss of the other, and then I made up my mind that it
was my duty to break the solemn oath I had sworn to the prince.
I therefore lost no time in telling my uncle everything I knew,
and I observed that even before I had ended his sorrow appeared to be
lightened a little.

"My dear nephew," he said, "your story gives me some hope.
I was aware that my son was building a tomb, and I think I can find
the spot.  But as he wished to keep the matter secret, let us go
alone and seek the place ourselves."

He then bade me disguise myself, and we both slipped out of a
garden door which opened on to the cemetery.  It did not take
long for us to arrive at the scene of the prince's disappearance,
or to discover the tomb I had sought so vainly before.
We entered it, and found the trap-door which led to the staircase,
but we had great difficulty in raising it, because the prince had
fastened it down underneath with the plaster he had brought with him.

My uncle went first, and I followed him.  When we reached the bottom
of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with
such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything.
However, we passed through the smoke into a large chamber,
which at first seemed quite empty.  The room was brilliantly lighted,
and in another moment we perceived a sort of platform at one end,
on which were the bodies of the prince and a lady, both half-burned,
as if they had been dragged out of a fire before it had quite
consumed them.

This horrible sight turned me faint, but, to my surprise, my uncle
did not show so much surprise as anger.

"I knew," he said, "that my son was tenderly attached to this lady,
whom it was impossible he should ever marry.  I tried to turn
his thoughts, and presented to him the most beautiful princesses,
but he cared for none of them, and, as you see, they have now been
united by a horrible death in an underground tomb."  But, as he spoke,
his anger melted into tears, and again I wept with him.

When he recovered himself he drew me to him.  "My dear nephew,"
he said, embracing me, "you have come to me to take his place,
and I will do my best to forget that I ever had a son who could act
in so wicked a manner."  Then he turned and went up the stairs.

We reached the palace without anyone having noticed our absence,
when, shortly after, a clashing of drums, and cymbals, and the blare
of trumpets burst upon our astonished ears.  At the same time a thick
cloud of dust on the horizon told of the approach of a great army.
My heart sank when I perceived that the commander was the vizir
who had dethroned my father, and was come to seize the kingdom
of my uncle.

The capital was utterly unprepared to stand a siege, and seeing
that resistance was useless, at once opened its gates.  My uncle
fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he
fell I managed to escape through a secret passage, and took refuge
with an officer whom I knew I could trust.

Persecuted by ill-fortune, and stricken with grief, there seemed
to be only one means of safety left to me.  I shaved my beard
and my eyebrows, and put on the dress of a calender, in which it
was easy for me to travel without being known.  I avoided the towns
till I reached the kingdom of the famous and powerful Caliph,
Haroun-al-Raschid, when I had no further reason to fear my enemies.
It was my intention to come to Bagdad and to throw myself at the feet
of his Highness, who would, I felt certain, be touched by my sad story,
and would grant me, besides, his help and protection.

After a journey which lasted some months I arrived at length at the
gates of this city.  It was sunset, and I paused for a little to look
about me, and to decide which way to turn my steps.  I was still
debating on this subject when I was joined by this other calender,
who stopped to greet me.  "You, like me, appear to be a stranger,"
I said.  He replied that I was right, and before he could say more
the third calender came up.  He, also, was newly arrived in Bagdad,
and being brothers in misfortune, we resolved to cast in our
lots together, and to share whatever fate might have in store.

By this time it had grown late, and we did not know where to spend
the night.  But our lucky star having guided us to this door,
we took the liberty of knocking and of asking for shelter,
which was given to us at once with the best grace in the world.

This, madam, is my story.

"I am satisfied," replied Zobeida; "you can go when you like."

The calender, however, begged leave to stay and to hear the histories
of his two friends and of the three other persons of the company,
which he was allowed to do.



The Story of the Second Calendar, Son of a King


"Madam," said the young man, addressing Zobeida, "if you wish
to know how I lost my right eye, I shall have to tell you the story
of my whole life."

I was scarcely more than a baby, when the king my father,
finding me unusually quick and clever for my age, turned his
thoughts to my education.  I was taught first to read and write,
and then to learn the Koran, which is the basis of our holy religion,
and the better to understand it, I read with my tutors the ablest
commentators on its teaching, and committed to memory all the
traditions respecting the Prophet, which have been gathered from
the mouth of those who were his friends.  I also learnt history,
and was instructed in poetry, versification, geography, chronology,
and in all the outdoor exercises in which every prince should excel.
But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters,
and in this I soon surpassed my masters, and gained a reputation
in this branch of knowledge that reached as far as India itself.

Now the Sultan of the Indies, curious to see a young prince
with such strange tastes, sent an ambassador to my father,
laden with rich presents, and a warm invitation to visit his court.
My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so
powerful a monarch, and held besides that a little travel would
greatly improve my manners and open my mind, accepted gladly,
and in a short time I had set out for India with the ambassador,
attended only by a small suite on account of the length of the journey,
and the badness of the roads.  However, as was my duty, I took
with me ten camels, laden with rich presents for the Sultan.

We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a cloud
of dust moving swiftly towards us; and as soon as it came near,
we found that the dust concealed a band of fifty robbers.
Our men barely numbered half, and as we were also hampered by
the camels, there was no use in fighting, so we tried to overawe
them by informing them who we were, and whither we were going.
The robbers, however, only laughed, and declared that was none
of their business, and, without more words, attacked us brutally.
I defended myself to the last, wounded though I was, but at length,
seeing that resistance was hopeless, and that the ambassador
and all our followers were made prisoners, I put spurs to my horse
and rode away as fast as I could, till the poor beast fell dead
from a wound in his side.  I managed to jump off without any injury,
and looked about to see if I was pursued.  But for the moment I
was safe, for, as I imagined, the robbers were all engaged in
quarrelling over their booty.

I found myself in a country that was quite new to me, and dared
not return to the main road lest I should again fall into the
hands of the robbers.  Luckily my wound was only a slight one,
and after binding it up as well as I could, I walked on for the
rest of the day, till I reached a cave at the foot of a mountain,
where I passed the night in peace, making my supper off some fruits
I had gathered on the way.

I wandered about for a whole month without knowing where I was going,
till at length I found myself on the outskirts of a beautiful city,
watered by winding streams, which enjoyed an eternal spring.
My delight at the prospect of mixing once more with human beings was
somewhat damped at the thought of the miserable object I must seem.
My face and hands had been burned nearly black; my clothes were all
in rags, and my shoes were in such a state that I had been forced to
abandon them altogether.

I entered the town, and stopped at a tailor s shop to inquire
where I was.  The man saw I was better than my condition,
and begged me to sit down, and in return I told him my whole story.
The tailor listened with attention, but his reply, instead of giving
me consolation, only increased my trouble.

"Beware," he said, "of telling any one what you have told me,
for the prince who governs the kingdom is your father's greatest enemy,
and he will be rejoiced to find you in his power."

I thanked the tailor for his counsel, and said I would do whatever
he advised; then, being very hungry, I gladly ate of the food he
put before me, and accepted his offer of a lodging in his house.

In a few days I had quite recovered from the hardships I had undergone,
and then the tailor, knowing that it was the custom for the princes
of our religion to learn a trade or profession so as to provide for
themselves in times of ill-fortune, inquired if there was anything
I could do for my living.  I replied that I had been educated
as a grammarian and a poet, but that my great gift was writing.

"All that is of no use here," said the tailor.  "Take my advice,
put on a short coat, and as you seem hardy and strong, go into
the woods and cut firewood, which you will sell in the streets.
By this means you will earn your living, and be able to wait till
better times come.  The hatchet and the cord shall be my present."

This counsel was very distasteful to me, but I thought I could not
do otherwise than adopt it.  So the next morning I set out with a
company of poor wood-cutters, to whom the tailor had introduced me.
Even on the first day I cut enough wood to sell for a tolerable sum,
and very soon I became more expert, and had made enough money
to repay the tailor all he had lent me.

I had been a wood-cutter for more than a year, when one day I
wandered further into the forest than I had ever done before,
and reached a delicious green glade, where I began to cut wood.
I was hacking at the root of a tree, when I beheld an iron ring fastened
to a trapdoor of the same metal.  I soon cleared away the earth,
and pulling up the door, found a staircase, which I hastily made up
my mind to go down, carrying my hatchet with me by way of protection.
When I reached the bottom I discovered that I was in a huge palace,
as brilliantly lighted as any palace above ground that I had ever seen,
with a long gallery supported by pillars of jasper, ornamented with
capitals of gold.  Down this gallery a lady came to meet me,
of such beauty that I forgot everything else, and thought only
of her.

To save her all the trouble possible, I hastened towards her,
and bowed low.

"Who are you?  Who are you?" she said.  "A man or a genius?"

"A man, madam," I replied; "I have nothing to do with genii."

"By what accident do you come here?" she asked again with a sigh.
"I have been in this place now for five and twenty years, and you are
the first man who has visited me."

Emboldened by her beauty and gentleness, I ventured to reply,
"Before, madam, I answer your question, allow me to say how grateful I
am for this meeting, which is not only a consolation to me in my own
heavy sorrow, but may perhaps enable me to render your lot happier,"
and then I told her who I was, and how I had come there.

"Alas, prince," she said, with a deeper sigh than before, "you have
guessed rightly in supposing me an unwilling prisoner in this
gorgeous place.  I am the daughter of the king of the Ebony Isle,
of whose fame you surely must have heard.  At my father's desire I was
married to a prince who was my own cousin; but on my very wedding day,
I was snatched up by a genius, and brought here in a faint.
For a long while I did nothing but weep, and would not suffer
the genius to come near me; but time teaches us submission,
and I have now got accustomed to his presence, and if clothes and
jewels could content me, I have them in plenty.  Every tenth day,
for five and twenty years, I have received a visit from him,
but in case I should need his help at any other time, I have only
to touch a talisman that stands at the entrance of my chamber.
It wants still five days to his next visit, and I hope that during
that time you will do me the honour to be my guest."

I was too much dazzled by her beauty to dream of refusing her offer,
and accordingly the princess had me conducted to the bath,
and a rich dress befitting my rank was provided for me.
Then a feast of the most delicate dishes was served in a room
hung with embroidered Indian fabrics.

Next day, when we were at dinner, I could maintain my patience
no longer, and implored the princess to break her bonds, and return
with me to the world which was lighted by the sun.

"What you ask is impossible," she answered; "but stay here with
me instead, and we can be happy, and all you will have to do
is to betake yourself to the forest every tenth day, when I am
expecting my master the genius.  He is very jealous, as you know,
and will not suffer a man to come near me."

"Princess," I replied, "I see it is only fear of the genius that
makes you act like this.  For myself, I dread him so little that I
mean to break his talisman in pieces!  Awful though you think him,
he shall feel the weight of my arm, and I herewith take a solemn
vow to stamp out the whole race."

The princess, who realized the consequences of such audacity,
entreated me not to touch the talisman.  "If you do, it will be the
ruin of both of us," said she; "I know genii much better than you."
But the wine I had drunk had confused my brain; I gave one kick
to the talisman, and it fell into a thousand pieces.

Hardly had my foot touched the talisman when the air became as dark
as night, a fearful noise was heard, and the palace shook to its
very foundations.  In an instant I was sobered, and understood
what I had done.  "Princess!"  I cried, "what is happening?"

"Alas!" she exclaimed, forgetting all her own terrors in anxiety
for me, "fly, or you are lost."

I followed her advice and dashed up the staircase, leaving my
hatchet behind me.  But I was too late.  The palace opened and the
genius appeared, who, turning angrily to the princess, asked indignantly,

"What is the matter, that you have sent for me like this?"

"A pain in my heart," she replied hastily, "obliged me to seek
the aid of this little bottle.  Feeling faint, I slipped and fell
against the talisman, which broke.  That is really all."

"You are an impudent liar!" cried the genius.  "How did this hatchet
and those shoes get here?"

"I never saw them before," she answered, "and you came in such
a hurry that you may have picked them up on the road without
knowing it."  To this the genius only replied by insults and blows.
I could hear the shrieks and groans of the princess, and having
by this time taken off my rich garments and put on those in which I
had arrived the previous day, I lifted the trap, found myself
once more in the forest, and returned to my friend the tailor,
with a light load of wood and a heart full of shame and sorrow.

The tailor, who had been uneasy at my long absence, was, delighted to
see me; but I kept silence about my adventure, and as soon as
possible retired to my room to lament in secret over my folly.
While I was thus indulging my grief my host entered, and said,
"There is an old man downstairs who has brought your hatchet
and slippers, which he picked up on the road, and now restores
to you, as he found out from one of your comrades where you lived.
You had better come down and speak to him yourself."  At this
speech I changed colour, and my legs trembled under me.  The tailor
noticed my confusion, and was just going to inquire the reason
when the door of the room opened, and the old man appeared,
carrying with him my hatchet and shoes.

"I am a genius," he said, "the son of the daughter of Eblis,
prince of the genii.  Is not this hatchet yours, and these shoes?"
Without waiting for an answer--which, indeed, I could hardly
have given him, so great was my fright--he seized hold of me,
and darted up into the air with the quickness of lightning,
and then, with equal swiftness, dropped down towards the earth.
When he touched the ground, he rapped it with his foot; it opened,
and we found ourselves in the enchanted palace, in the presence
of the beautiful princess of the Ebony Isle.  But how different she
looked from what she was when I had last seen her, for she was lying
stretched on the ground covered with blood, and weeping bitterly.

"Traitress!" cried the genius, "is not this man your lover?"

She lifted up her eyes slowly, and looked sadly at me.  "I never
saw him before," she answered slowly.  "I do not know who he is."

"What!" exclaimed the genius, "you owe all your sufferings to him,
and yet you dare to say he is a stranger to you!"

"But if he really is a stranger to me," she replied, "why should I
tell a lie and cause his death?"

"Very well," said the genius, drawing his sword, "take this,
and cut off his head."

"Alas," answered the princess, "I am too weak even to hold the sabre.
And supposing that I had the strength, why should I put an innocent
man to death?"

"You condemn yourself by your refusal," said the genius; then turning
to me, he added, "and you, do you not know her?"

"How should I?"  I replied, resolved to imitate the princess
in her fidelity.  "How should I, when I never saw her before?"

"Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall
believe you are speaking the truth, and will set you at liberty."

"Certainly," I answered, taking the sabre in my hands, and making
a sign to the princess to fear nothing, as it was my own life that I
was about to sacrifice, and not hers.  But the look of gratitude
she gave me shook my courage, and I flung the sabre to the earth.

"I should not deserve to live," I said to the genius, "if I were
such a coward as to slay a lady who is not only unknown to me,
but who is at this moment half dead herself.  Do with me as you will--
I am in your power--but I refuse to obey your cruel command."

"I see," said the genius, "that you have both made up your minds
to brave me, but I will give you a sample of what you may expect."
So saying, with one sweep of his sabre he cut off a hand of the princess,
who was just able to lift the other to wave me an eternal farewell.
Then I lost consciousness for several minutes.

When I came to myself I implored the genius to keep me no longer
in this state of suspense, but to lose no time in putting an end to
my sufferings.  The genius, however, paid no attention to my prayers,
but said sternly, "That is the way in which a genius treats the woman
who has betrayed him.  If I chose, I could kill you also; but I
will be merciful, and content myself with changing you into a dog,
an ass, a lion, or a bird--whichever you prefer."

I caught eagerly at these words, as giving me a faint hope
of softening his wrath.  "O genius!"  I cried, "as you wish
to spare my life, be generous, and spare it altogether.
Grant my prayer, and pardon my crime, as the best man in the whole
world forgave his neighbour who was eaten up with envy of him."
Contrary to my hopes, the genius seemed interested in my words,
and said he would like to hear the story of the two neighbours;
and as I think, madam, it may please you, I will tell it to you also.



The Story of the Envious Man and of Him Who Was Envied


In a town of moderate size, two men lived in neighbouring houses;
but they had not been there very long before one man took such a
hatred of the other, and envied him so bitterly, that the poor man
determined to find another home, hoping that when they no longer
met every day his enemy would forget all about him.  So he sold
his house and the little furniture it contained, and moved into
the capital of the country, which was luckily at no great distance.
About half a mile from this city he bought a nice little place,
with a large garden and a fair-sized court, in the centre of which
stood an old well.

In order to live a quieter life, the good man put on the robe
of a dervish, and divided his house into a quantity of small cells,
where he soon established a number of other dervishes.
The fame of his virtue gradually spread abroad, and many people,
including several of the highest quality, came to visit him and ask
his prayers.

Of course it was not long before his reputation reached the ears of
the man who envied him, and this wicked wretch resolved never to rest
till he had in some way worked ill to the dervish whom he hated.
So he left his house and his business to look after themselves,
and betook himself to the new dervish monastery, where he was
welcomed by the founder with all the warmth imaginable.  The excuse
he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consult the
chief of the dervishes on a private matter of great importance.
"What I have to say must not be overheard," he whispered;
"command, I beg of you, that your dervishes retire into their cells,
as night is approaching, and meet me in the court."

The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they
were alone together the envious man began to tell a long story,
edging, as they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when
they were quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in.
He then ran off triumphantly, without having been seen by anyone,
and congratulating himself that the object of his hatred was dead,
and would trouble him no more.

But in this he was mistaken!  The old well had long been inhabited
(unknown to mere human beings) by a set of fairies and genii,
who caught the dervish as he fell, so that he received no hurt.
The dervish himself could see nothing, but he took for granted that
something strange had happened, or he must certainly have been dashed
against the side of the well and been killed.  He lay quite still,
and in a moment he heard a voice saying, "Can you guess whom this man
is that we have saved from death?"

"No," replied several other voices.

And the first speaker answered, "I will tell you.  This man,
from pure goodness of heart, forsook the town where he lived and
came to dwell here, in the hope of curing one of his neighbours
of the envy he felt towards him.  But his character soon won him
the esteem of all, and the envious man's hatred grew, till he
came here with the deliberate intention of causing his death.
And this he would have done, without our help, the very day before
the Sultan has arranged to visit this holy dervish, and to entreat
his prayers for the princess, his daughter."

"But what is the matter with the princess that she needs
the dervish's prayers?" asked another voice.

"She has fallen into the power of the genius Maimoum, the son of Dimdim,"
replied the first voice.  "But it would be quite simple for this
holy chief of the dervishes to cure her if he only knew!  In his
convent there is a black cat which has a tiny white tip to its tail.
Now to cure the princess the dervish must pull out seven of these
white hairs, burn three, and with their smoke perfume the head
of the princess.  This will deliver her so completely that Maimoum,
the son of Dimdim, will never dare to approach her again."

The fairies and genii ceased talking, but the dervish did not forget
a word of all they had said; and when morning came he perceived
a place in the side of the well which was broken, and where he
could easily climb out.

The dervishes, who could not imagine what had become of him,
were enchanted at his reappearance.  He told them of the attempt on
his life made by his guest of the previous day, and then retired into
his cell.  He was soon joined here by the black cat of which the voice
had spoken, who came as usual to say good-morning to his master.
He took him on his knee and seized the opportunity to pull seven
white hairs out of his tail, and put them on one side till they
were needed.

The sun had not long risen before the Sultan, who was anxious
to leave nothing undone that might deliver the princess,
arrived with a large suite at the gate of the monastery,
and was received by the dervishes with profound respect.
The Sultan lost no time in declaring the object of his visit,
and leading the chief of the dervishes aside, he said to him,
"Noble scheik, you have guessed perhaps what I have come to ask you?"

"Yes, sire," answered the dervish; "if I am not mistaken, it is
the illness of the princess which has procured me this honour."

"You are right," returned the Sultan, "and you will give me fresh
life if you can by your prayers deliver my daughter from the strange
malady that has taken possession of her."

"Let your highness command her to come here, and I will see what I
can do."

The Sultan, full of hope, sent orders at once that the princess
was to set out as soon as possible, accompanied by her usual staff
of attendants.  When she arrived, she was so thickly veiled that
the dervish could not see her face, but he desired a brazier to be
held over her head, and laid the seven hairs on the burning coals.
The instant they were consumed, terrific cries were heard,
but no one could tell from whom they proceeded.  Only the dervish
guessed that they were uttered by Maimoum the son of Dimdim,
who felt the princess escaping him.

All this time she had seemed unconscious of what she was doing,
but now she raised her hand to her veil and uncovered her face.
"Where am I?" she said in a bewildered manner; "and how did I
get here?"

The Sultan was so delighted to hear these words that he not only
embraced his daughter, but kissed the hand of the dervish.
Then, turning to his attendants who stood round, he said to them,
"What reward shall I give to the man who has restored me my daughter?"

They all replied with one accord that he deserved the hand
of the princess.

"That is my own opinion," said he, "and from this moment I declare
him to be my son-in-law."

Shortly after these events, the grand-vizir died, and his post
was given to the dervish.  But he did not hold it for long, for the
Sultan fell a victim to an attack of illness, and as he had no sons,
the soldiers and priests declared the dervish heir to the throne,
to the great joy of all the people.

One day, when the dervish, who had now become Sultan, was making
a royal progress with his court, he perceived the envious man standing
in the crowd.  He made a sign to one of his vizirs, and whispered in
his ear, "Fetch me that man who is standing out there, but take great
care not to frighten him."  The vizir obeyed, and when the envious man
was brought before the Sultan, the monarch said to him, "My friend,
I am delighted to see you again."  Then turning to an officer,
he added, "Give him a thousand pieces of gold out of my treasury,
and twenty waggon-loads of merchandise out of my private stores,
and let an escort of soldiers accompany him home."  He then took
leave of the envious man, and went on his way.

Now when I had ended my story, I proceeded to show the genius
how to apply it to himself.  "O genius," I said, "you see that this
Sultan was not content with merely forgiving the envious man
for the attempt on his life; he heaped rewards and riches upon him."

But the genius had made up his mind, and could not be softened.
"Do not imagine that you are going to escape so easily," he said.
"All I can do is to give you bare life; you will have to learn what
happens to people who interfere with me."

As he spoke he seized me violently by the arm; the roof of the palace
opened to make way for us, and we mounted up so high into the air
that the earth looked like a little cloud.  Then, as before,
he came down with the swiftness of lightning, and we touched
the ground on a mountain top.

Then he stooped and gathered a handful of earth, and murmured some
words over it, after which he threw the earth in my face, saying as
he did so, "Quit the form of a man, and assume that of a monkey."
This done, he vanished, and I was in the likeness of an ape,
and in a country I had never seen before.

However there was no use in stopping where I was, so I came down
the mountain and found myself in a flat plain which was bounded
by the sea.  I travelled towards it, and was pleased to see a
vessel moored about half a mile from shore.  There were no waves,
so I broke off the branch of a tree, and dragging it down to the
waters edge, sat across it, while, using two sticks for oars,
I rowed myself towards the ship.

The deck was full of people, who watched my progress with interest,
but when I seized a rope and swung myself on board, I found that I
had only escaped death at the hands of the genius to perish
by those of the sailors, lest I should bring ill-luck to the
vessel and the merchants.  "Throw him into the sea!" cried one.
"Knock him on the head with a hammer," exclaimed another.  "Let me
shoot him with an arrow," said a third; and certainly somebody
would have had his way if I had not flung myself at the captain's
feet and grasped tight hold of his dress.  He appeared touched
by my action and patted my head, and declared that he would take
me under his protection, and that no one should do me any harm.

At the end of about fifty days we cast anchor before a large town,
and the ship was immediately surrounded by a multitude of small
boats filled with people, who had come either to meet their friends
or from simple curiosity.  Among others, one boat contained several
officials, who asked to see the merchants on board, and informed
them that they had been sent by the Sultan in token of welcome,
and to beg them each to write a few lines on a roll of paper.
"In order to explain this strange request," continued the officers,
"it is necessary that you should know that the grand-vizir,
lately dead, was celebrated for his beautiful handwriting,
and the Sultan is anxious to find a similar talent in his successor.
Hitherto the search has been a failure, but his Highness has not yet
given up hope."

One after another the merchants set down a few lines upon the roll,
and when they had all finished, I came forward, and snatched
the paper from the man who held it.  At first they all thought I
was going to throw it into the sea, but they were quieted when they
saw I held it with great care, and great was their surprise when I
made signs that I too wished to write something.

"Let him do it if he wants to," said the captain.  "If he only makes
a mess of the paper, you may be sure I will punish him for it.
But if, as I hope, he really can write, for he is the cleverest
monkey I ever saw, I will adopt him as my son.  The one I lost had
not nearly so much sense!"

No more was said, and I took the pen and wrote the six sorts
of writing in use among the Arabs, and each sort contained
an original verse or couplet, in praise of the Sultan.  And not
only did my handwriting completely eclipse that of the merchants,
but it is hardly too much to say that none so beautiful had ever
before been seen in that country.  When I had ended the officials
took the roll and returned to the Sultan.

As soon as the monarch saw my writing he did not so much as look
at the samples of the merchants, but desired his officials to take
the finest and most richly caparisoned horse in his stables,
together with the most magnificent dress they could procure,
and to put it on the person who had written those lines, and bring
him to court.

The officials began to laugh when they heard the Sultan's command,
but as soon as they could speak they said, "Deign, your highness,
to excuse our mirth, but those lines were not written by a man
but by a monkey."

"A monkey!" exclaimed the Sultan.

"Yes, sire," answered the officials.  "They were written by a monkey
in our presence."

"Then bring me the monkey," he replied, "as fast as you can."

The Sultan's officials returned to the ship and showed the royal
order to the captain.

"He is the master," said the good man, and desired that I should
be sent for.

Then they put on me the gorgeous robe and rowed me to land, where I
was placed on the horse and led to the palace.  Here the Sultan
was awaiting me in great state surrounded by his court.

All the way along the streets I had been the object of curiosity
to a vast crowd, which had filled every doorway and every window,
and it was amidst their shouts and cheers that I was ushered into
the presence of the Sultan.

I approached the throne on which he was seated and made him three
low bows, then prostrated myself at his feet to the surprise of everyone,
who could not understand how it was possible that a monkey should
be able to distinguish a Sultan from other people, and to pay him
the respect due to his rank.  However, excepting the usual speech,
I omitted none of the common forms attending a royal audience.

When it was over the Sultan dismissed all the court, keeping with him
only the chief of the eunuchs and a little slave.  He then passed
into another room and ordered food to be brought, making signs
to me to sit at table with him and eat.  I rose from my seat,
kissed the ground, and took my place at the table, eating, as you
may suppose, with care and in moderation.

Before the dishes were removed I made signs that writing materials,
which stood in one corner of the room, should be laid in front of me.
I then took a peach and wrote on it some verses in praise of the Sultan,
who was speechless with astonishment; but when I did the same
thing on a glass from which I had drunk he murmured to himself,
"Why, a man who could do as much would be cleverer than any other man,
and this is only a monkey!"

Supper being over chessmen were brought, and the Sultan signed to me
to know if I would play with him.  I kissed the ground and laid my hand
on my head to show that I was ready to show myself worthy of the honour.
He beat me the first game, but I won the second and third, and seeing
that this did not quite please I dashed off a verse by way of consolation.

The Sultan was so enchanted with all the talents of which I had given
proof that he wished me to exhibit some of them to other people.
So turning to the chief of the eunuchs he said, "Go and beg my daughter,
Queen of Beauty, to come here.  I will show her something she has
never seen before."

The chief of the eunuchs bowed and left the room, ushering in a few
moments later the princess, Queen of Beauty.  Her face was uncovered,
but the moment she set foot in the room she threw her veil over
her head.  "Sire," she said to her father, "what can you be thinking
of to summon me like this into the presence of a man?"

"I do not understand you," replied the Sultan.  "There is nobody
here but the eunuch, who is your own servant, the little slave,
and myself, yet you cover yourself with your veil and reproach me
for having sent for you, as if I had committed a crime."

"Sire," answered the princess, "I am right and you are wrong.
This monkey is really no monkey at all, but a young prince who has
been turned into a monkey by the wicked spells of a genius, son of
the daughter of Eblis."

As will be imagined, these words took the Sultan by surprise, and he
looked at me to see how I should take the statement of the princess.
As I was unable to speak, I placed my hand on my head to show that it
was true.

"But how do you know this, my daughter?" asked he.

"Sire," replied Queen of Beauty, "the old lady who took care of me
in my childhood was an accomplished magician, and she taught me
seventy rules of her art, by means of which I could, in the twinkling
of an eye, transplant your capital into the middle of the ocean.
Her art likewise teaches me to recognise at first sight all persons
who are enchanted, and tells me by whom the spell was wrought."

"My daughter," said the Sultan, "I really had no idea you were
so clever."

"Sire," replied the princess, "there are many out-of-the-way things
it is as well to know, but one should never boast of them."

"Well," asked the Sultan, "can you tell me what must be done
to disenchant the young prince?"

"Certainly; and I can do it."

"Then restore him to his former shape," cried the Sultan.
"You could give me no greater pleasure, for I wish to make him
my grand-vizir, and to give him to you for your husband."

"As your Highness pleases," replied the princess.

Queen of Beauty rose and went to her chamber, from which she
fetched a knife with some Hebrew words engraven on the blade.
She then desired the Sultan, the chief of the eunuchs, the little
slave, and myself to descend into a secret court of the palace,
and placed us beneath a gallery which ran all round, she herself
standing in the centre of the court.  Here she traced a large
circle and in it wrote several words in Arab characters.

When the circle and the writing were finished she stood in the middle
of it and repeated some verses from the Koran.  Slowly the air
grew dark, and we felt as if the earth was about to crumble away,
and our fright was by no means diminished at seeing the genius,
son of the daughter of Eblis, suddenly appear under the form of a
colossal lion.

"Dog," cried the princess when she first caught sight of him,
"you think to strike terror into me by daring to present yourself
before me in this hideous shape."

"And you," retorted the lion, "have not feared to break our treaty
that engaged solemnly we should never interfere with each other."

"Accursed genius!" exclaimed the princess, "it is you by whom
that treaty was first broken."

"I will teach you how to give me so much trouble," said the lion,
and opening his huge mouth he advanced to swallow her.  But the
princess expected something of the sort and was on her guard.
She bounded on one side, and seizing one of the hairs of his mane
repeated two or three words over it.  In an instant it became a sword,
and with a sharp blow she cut the lion's body into two pieces.
These pieces vanished no one knew where, and only the lion's
head remained, which was at once changed into a scorpion.
Quick as thought the princess assumed the form of a serpent
and gave battle to the scorpion, who, finding he was getting
the worst of it, turned himself into an eagle and took flight.
But in a moment the serpent had become an eagle more powerful still,
who soared up in the air and after him, and then we lost sight of
them both.

We all remained where we were quaking with anxiety, when the ground
opened in front of us and a black and white cat leapt out, its hair
standing on end, and miauing frightfully.  At its heels was a wolf,
who had almost seized it, when the cat changed itself into a worm,
and, piercing the skin of a pomegranate which had tumbled from a tree,
hid itself in the fruit.  The pomegranate swelled till it grew as
large as a pumpkin, and raised itself on to the roof of the gallery,
from which it fell into the court and was broken into bits.
While this was taking place the wolf, who had transformed himself
into a cock, began to swallow the seed of the pomegranate as fast
as he could.  When all were gone he flew towards us, flapping his
wings as if to ask if we saw any more, when suddenly his eye fell
on one which lay on the bank of the little canal that flowed
through the court; he hastened towards it, but before he could touch
it the seed rolled into the canal and became a fish.  The cock
flung himself in after the fish and took the shape of a pike,
and for two hours they chased each other up and down under the water,
uttering horrible cries, but we could see nothing.  At length they
rose from the water in their proper forms, but darting such flames
of fire from their mouths that we dreaded lest the palace should
catch fire.  Soon, however, we had much greater cause for alarm,
as the genius, having shaken off the princess, flew towards us.
Our fate would have been sealed if the princess, seeing our danger,
had not attracted the attention of the genius to herself.  As it was,
the Sultan's beard was singed and his face scorched, the chief
of the eunuchs was burned to a cinder, while a spark deprived me
of the sight of one eye.  Both I and the Sultan had given up all
hope of a rescue, when there was a shout of "Victory, victory!"
from the princess, and the genius lay at her feet a great heap
of ashes.

Exhausted though she was, the princess at once ordered the little slave,
who alone was uninjured, to bring her a cup of water, which she
took in her hand.  First repeating some magic words over it,
she dashed it into my face saying, "If you are only a monkey
by enchantment, resume the form of the man you were before."
In an instant I stood before her the same man I had formerly been,
though having lost the sight of one eye.

I was about to fall on my knees and thank the princess but she did
not give me time.  Turning to the Sultan, her father, she said,
"Sire, I have gained the battle, but it has cost me dear.  The fire
has penetrated to my heart, and I have only a few moments to live.
This would not have happened if I had only noticed the last
pomegranate seed and eaten it like the rest.  It was the last
struggle of the genius, and up to that time I was quite safe.
But having let this chance slip I was forced to resort to fire,
and in spite of all his experience I showed the genius that I
knew more than he did.  He is dead and in ashes, but my own
death is approaching fast."  "My daughter," cried the Sultan,
"how sad is my condition!  I am only surprised I am alive at all!
The eunuch is consumed by the flames, and the prince whom you have
delivered has lost the sight of one eye."  He could say no more,
for sobs choked his voice, and we all wept together.

Suddenly the princess shrieked, "I burn, I burn!" and death came
to free her from her torments.

I have no words, madam, to tell you of my feelings at this
terrible sight.  I would rather have remained a monkey all my
life than let my benefactress perish in this shocking manner.
As for the Sultan, he was quite inconsolable, and his subjects,
who had dearly loved the princess, shared his grief.  For seven
days the whole nation mourned, and then the ashes of the princess
were buried with great pomp, and a superb tomb was raised over her.

As soon as the Sultan recovered from the severe illness which
had seized him after the death of the princess he sent for me
and plainly, though politely, informed me that my presence would
always remind him of his loss, and he begged that I would instantly
quit his kingdom, and on pain of death never return to it.  I was,
of course, bound to obey, and not knowing what was to become of me
I shaved my beard and eyebrows and put on the dress of a calender.
After wandering aimlessly through several countries, I resolved to come
to Bagdad and request an audience of the Commander of the Faithful.

And that, madam, is my story.

The other Calender then told his story.



Story of the Third Calendar, Son of a King


My story, said the Third Calender, is quite different from those
of my two friends.  It was fate that deprived them of the sight
of their right eyes, but mine was lost by my own folly.

My name is Agib, and I am the son of a king called Cassib,
who reigned over a large kingdom, which had for its capital
one of the finest seaport towns in the world.

When I succeeded to my father's throne my first care was to visit
the provinces on the mainland, and then to sail to the numerous
islands which lay off the shore, in order to gain the hearts
of my subjects.  These voyages gave me such a taste for sailing
that I soon determined to explore more distant seas, and commanded
a fleet of large ships to be got ready without delay.  When they
were properly fitted out I embarked on my expedition.

For forty days wind and weather were all in our favour, but the
next night a terrific storm arose, which blew us hither and thither
for ten days, till the pilot confessed that he had quite lost
his bearings.  Accordingly a sailor was sent up to the masthead to try
to catch a sight of land, and reported that nothing was to be seen
but the sea and sky, except a huge mass of blackness that lay astern.

On hearing this the pilot grew white, and, beating his breast,
he cried, "Oh, sir, we are lost, lost!" till the ship's crew trembled
at they knew not what.  When he had recovered himself a little,
and was able to explain the cause of his terror, he replied,
in answer to my question, that we had drifted far out of our course,
and that the following day about noon we should come near that mass
of darkness, which, said he, is nothing but the famous Black Mountain.
This mountain is composed of adamant, which attracts to itself
all the iron and nails in your ship; and as we are helplessly
drawn nearer, the force of attraction will become so great that the
iron and nails will fall out of the ships and cling to the mountain,
and the ships will sink to the bottom with all that are in them.
This it is that causes the side of the mountain towards the sea to
appear of such a dense blackness.

As may be supposed--continued the pilot--the mountain sides
are very rugged, but on the summit stands a brass dome supported
on pillars, and bearing on top the figure of a brass horse,
with a rider on his back.  This rider wears a breastplate of lead,
on which strange signs and figures are engraved, and it is said
that as long as this statue remains on the dome, vessels will
never cease to perish at the foot of the mountain.

So saying, the pilot began to weep afresh, and the crew, fearing their
last hour had come, made their wills, each one in favour of his fellow.

At noon next day, as the pilot had foretold, we were so near to the
Black Mountain that we saw all the nails and iron fly out of the ships
and dash themselves against the mountain with a horrible noise.
A moment after the vessels fell asunder and sank, the crews with them.
I alone managed to grasp a floating plank, and was driven ashore
by the wind, without even a scratch.  What was my joy on finding
myself at the bottom of some steps which led straight up the mountain,
for there was not another inch to the right or the left where a man
could set his foot.  And, indeed, even the steps themselves were
so narrow and so steep that, if the lightest breeze had arisen,
I should certainly have been blown into the sea.

When I reached the top I found the brass dome and the statue exactly
as the pilot had described, but was too wearied with all I had
gone through to do more than glance at them, and, flinging myself
under the dome, was asleep in an instant.  In my dreams an old man
appeared to me and said, "Hearken, Agib!  As soon as thou art awake
dig up the ground underfoot, and thou shalt find a bow of brass and
three arrows of lead.  Shoot the arrows at the statue, and the rider
shall tumble into the sea, but the horse will fall down by thy side,
and thou shalt bury him in the place from which thou tookest the bow
and arrows.  This being done the sea will rise and cover the mountain,
and on it thou wilt perceive the figure of a metal man seated
in a boat, having an oar in each hand.  Step on board and let
him conduct thee; but if thou wouldest behold thy kingdom again,
see that thou takest not the name of Allah into thy mouth."

Having uttered these words the vision left me, and I woke,
much comforted.  I sprang up and drew the bow and arrows out of
the ground, and with the third shot the horseman fell with a great
crash into the sea, which instantly began to rise, so rapidly, that I
had hardly time to bury the horse before the boat approached me.
I stepped silently in and sat down, and the metal man pushed off,
and rowed without stopping for nine days, after which land appeared
on the horizon.  I was so overcome with joy at this sight that I
forgot all the old man had told me, and cried out, "Allah be praised!
Allah be praised!"

The words were scarcely out of my mouth when the boat and man
sank from beneath me, and left me floating on the surface.
All that day and the next night I swam and floated alternately,
making as well as I could for the land which was nearest to me.
At last my strength began to fail, and I gave myself up for lost,
when the wind suddenly rose, and a huge wave cast me on a flat shore.
Then, placing myself in safety, I hastily spread my clothes out to dry
in the sun, and flung myself on the warm ground to rest.

Next morning I dressed myself and began to look about me.
There seemed to be no one but myself on the island, which was covered
with fruit trees and watered with streams, but seemed a long distance
from the mainland which I hoped to reach.  Before, however, I had
time to feel cast down, I saw a ship making directly for the island,
and not knowing whether it would contain friends or foes, I hid
myself in the thick branches of a tree.

The sailors ran the ship into a creek, where ten slaves landed,
carrying spades and pickaxes.  In the middle of the island they stopped,
and after digging some time, lifted up what seemed to be a trapdoor.
They then returned to the vessel two or three times for furniture
and provisions, and finally were accompanied by an old man,
leading a handsome boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age.
They all disappeared down the trapdoor, and after remaining below
for a few minutes came up again, but without the boy, and let
down the trapdoor, covering it with earth as before.  This done,
they entered the ship and set sail.

As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from my tree,
and went to the place where the boy had been buried.  I dug up
the earth till I reached a large stone with a ring in the centre.
This, when removed, disclosed a flight of stone steps which led
to a large room richly furnished and lighted by tapers.  On a pile
of cushions, covered with tapestry, sat the boy.  He looked up,
startled and frightened at the sight of a stranger in such a place,
and to soothe his fears, I at once spoke:  "Be not alarmed, sir,
whoever you may be.  I am a king, and the son of a king, and will
do you no hurt.  On the contrary, perhaps I have been sent here
to deliver you out of this tomb, where you have been buried alive."

Hearing my words, the young man recovered himself, and when I had ended,
he said, "The reasons, Prince, that have caused me to be buried
in this place are so strange that they cannot but surprise you.
My father is a rich merchant, owning much land and many ships,
and has great dealings in precious stones, but he never ceased
mourning that he had no child to inherit his wealth.

"At length one day he dreamed that the following year a son would
be born to him, and when this actually happened, he consulted
all the wise men in the kingdom as to the future of the infant.
One and all they said the same thing.  I was to live happily
till I was fifteen, when a terrible danger awaited me, which I
should hardly escape.  If, however, I should succeed in doing so,
I should live to a great old age.  And, they added, when the statue
of the brass horse on the top of the mountain of adamant is thrown
into the sea by Agib, the son of Cassib, then beware, for fifty days
later your son shall fall by his hand!

"This prophecy struck the heart of my father with such woe, that he
never got over it, but that did not prevent him from attending
carefully to my education till I attained, a short time ago,
my fifteenth birthday.  It was only yesterday that the news
reached him that ten days previously the statue of brass had been
thrown into the sea, and he at once set about hiding me in this
underground chamber, which was built for the purpose, promising to
fetch me out when the forty days have passed.  For myself, I have
no fears, as Prince Agib is not likely to come here to look for me."

I listened to his story with an inward laugh as to the absurdity of my
ever wishing to cause the death of this harmless boy, whom I hastened
to assure of my friendship and even of my protection; begging him,
in return, to convey me in his father's ship to my own country.
I need hardly say that I took special care not to inform him that I
was the Agib whom he dreaded.

The day passed in conversation on various subjects, and I found him
a youth of ready wit and of some learning.  I took on myself the
duties of a servant, held the basin and water for him when he washed,
prepared the dinner and set it on the table.  He soon grew to love me,
and for thirty-nine days we spent as pleasant an existence as could
be expected underground.

The morning of the fortieth dawned, and the young man when he woke
gave thanks in an outburst of joy that the danger was passed.
"My father may be here at any moment," said he, "so make me, I pray you,
a bath of hot water, that I may bathe, and change my clothes,
and be ready to receive him."

So I fetched the water as he asked, and washed and rubbed him,
after which he lay down again and slept a little.  When he opened
his eyes for the second time, he begged me to bring him a melon
and some sugar, that he might eat and refresh himself.

I soon chose a fine melon out of those which remained, but could
find no knife to cut it with.  "Look in the cornice over my head,"
said he, "and I think you will see one."  It was so high above me,
that I had some difficulty in reaching it, and catching my foot in the
covering of the bed, I slipped, and fell right upon the young man,
the knife going straight into his heart.

At this awful sight I shrieked aloud in my grief and pain.
I threw myself on the ground and rent my clothes and tore my hair
with sorrow.  Then, fearing to be punished as his murderer by the
unhappy father, I raised the great stone which blocked the staircase,
and quitting the underground chamber, made everything fast as before.

Scarcely had I finished when, looking out to sea, I saw the vessel
heading for the island, and, feeling that it would be useless
for me to protest my innocence, I again concealed myself among
the branches of a tree that grew near by.

The old man and his slaves pushed off in a boat directly the ship
touched land, and walked quickly towards the entrance to the
underground chamber; but when they were near enough to see that
the earth had been disturbed, they paused and changed colour.
In silence they all went down and called to the youth by name;
then for a moment I heard no more.  Suddenly a fearful scream
rent the air, and the next instant the slaves came up the steps,
carrying with them the body of the old man, who had fainted from sorrow!
Laying him down at the foot of the tree in which I had taken shelter,
they did their best to recover him, but it took a long while.
When at last he revived, they left him to dig a grave, and then laying
the young man's body in it, they threw in the earth.

This ended, the slaves brought up all the furniture that remained below,
and put it on the vessel, and breaking some boughs to weave
a litter, they laid the old man on it, and carried him to the ship,
which spread its sails and stood out to sea.

So once more I was quite alone, and for a whole month I walked daily
over the island, seeking for some chance of escape.  At length
one day it struck me that my prison had grown much larger, and that
the mainland seemed to be nearer.  My heart beat at this thought,
which was almost too good to be true.  I watched a little longer:
there was no doubt about it, and soon there was only a tiny stream
for me to cross.

Even when I was safe on the other side I had a long distance to go
on the mud and sand before I reached dry ground, and very tired I was,
when far in front of me I caught sight of a castle of red copper,
which, at first sight, I took to be a fire.  I made all the haste
I could, and after some miles of hard walking stood before it,
and gazed at it in astonishment, for it seemed to me the most wonderful
building I had ever beheld.  While I was still staring at it,
there came towards me a tall old man, accompanied by ten young men,
all handsome, and all blind of the right eye.

Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind
of the right eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper castle, and I was
turning over in my mind what could be the meaning of this strange fact,
when they greeted me warmly, and inquired what had brought me there.
I replied that my story was somewhat long, but that if they would
take the trouble to sit down, I should be happy to tell it them.
When I had finished, the young men begged that I would go
with them to the castle, and I joyfully accepted their offer.
We passed through what seemed to me an endless number of rooms,
and came at length into a large hall, furnished with ten small
blue sofas for the ten young men, which served as beds as well
as chairs, and with another sofa in the middle for the old man.
As none of the sofas could hold more than one person, they bade me
place myself on the carpet, and to ask no questions about anything I
should see.

After a little while the old man rose and brought in supper, which I
ate heartily, for I was very hungry.  Then one of the young men begged
me to repeat my story, which had struck them all with astonishment,
and when I had ended, the old man was bidden to "do his duty,"
as it was late, and they wished to go to bed.  At these words
he rose, and went to a closet, from which he brought out ten basins,
all covered with blue stuff.  He set one before each of the young men,
together with a lighted taper.

When the covers were taken off the basins, I saw they were filled
with ashes, coal-dust, and lamp-black. The young men mixed these
all together, and smeared the whole over their heads and faces.
They then wept and beat their breasts, crying, "This is the fruit
of idleness, and of our wicked lives."

This ceremony lasted nearly the whole night, and when it stopped
they washed themselves carefully, and put on fresh clothes,
and lay down to sleep.

All this while I had refrained from questions, though my curiosity
almost seemed to burn a hole in me, but the following day, when we went
out to walk, I said to them, "Gentlemen, I must disobey your wishes,
for I can keep silence no more.  You do not appear to lack wit,
yet you do such actions as none but madmen could be capable of.
Whatever befalls me I cannot forbear asking, `Why you daub your
faces with black, and how it is you are all blind of one eye?'"
But they only answered that such questions were none of my business,
and that I should do well to hold my peace.

During that day we spoke of other things, but when night came,
and the same ceremony was repeated, I implored them most earnestly
to let me know the meaning of it all.

"It is for your own sake," replied one of the young men, "that we have
not granted your request, and to preserve you from our unfortunate fate.
If, however, you wish to share our destiny we will delay no longer."

I answered that whatever might be the consequence I wished to have
my curiosity satisfied, and that I would take the result on my
own head.  He then assured me that, even when I had lost my eye,
I should be unable to remain with them, as their number was complete,
and could not be added to.  But to this I replied that, though I
should be grieved to part company with such honest gentlemen,
I would not be turned from my resolution on that account.

On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and
killed it, and handed me a knife, which they said I should by-and-by
find useful.  "We must sew you into this sheep-skin," said they,
"and then leave you.  A fowl of monstrous size, called a roc,
will appear in the air, taking you to be a sheep.  He will snatch
you up and carry you into the sky, but be not alarmed, for he
will bring you safely down and lay you on the top of a mountain.
When you are on the ground cut the skin with the knife and throw
it off.  As soon as the roc sees you he will fly away from fear,
but you must walk on till you come to a castle covered with
plates of gold, studded with jewels.  Enter boldly at the gate,
which always stands open, but do not ask us to tell you what we
saw or what befel us there, for that you will learn for yourself.
This only we may say, that it cost us each our right eye, and has
imposed upon us our nightly penance."

After the young gentlemen had been at the trouble of sewing
the sheep-skin on me they left me, and retired to the hall.
In a few minutes the roc appeared, and bore me off to the
top of the mountain in his huge claws as lightly as if I
had been a feather, for this great white bird is so strong
that he has been known to carry even an elephant to his nest in the hills.

The moment my feet touched the ground I took out my knife and cut
the threads that bound me, and the sight of me in my proper clothes
so alarmed the roc that he spread his wings and flew away.
Then I set out to seek the castle.

I found it after wandering about for half a day, and never could I
have imagined anything so glorious.  The gate led into a square court,
into which opened a hundred doors, ninety-nine of them being
of rare woods and one of gold.  Through each of these doors
I caught glimpses of splendid gardens or of rich storehouses.

Entering one of the doors which was standing open I found myself
in a vast hall where forty young ladies, magnificently dressed,
and of perfect beauty, were reclining.  As soon as they saw
me they rose and uttered words of welcome, and even forced me
to take possession of a seat that was higher than their own,
though my proper place was at their feet.  Not content with this,
one brought me splendid garments, while another filled a basin
with scented water and poured it over my hands, and the rest
busied themselves with preparing refreshments.  After I had eaten
and drunk of the most delicate food and rarest wines, the ladies
crowded round me and begged me to tell them all my adventures.

By the time I had finished night had fallen, and the ladies lighted
up the castle with such a prodigious quantity of tapers that even day
could hardly have been brighter.  We then sat down to a supper of dried
fruits and sweetmeats, after which some sang and others danced.
I was so well amused that I did not notice how the time was passing,
but at length one of the ladies approached and informed me it
was midnight, and that, as I must be tired, she would conduct
me to the room that had been prepared for me.  Then, bidding me
good-night, I was left to sleep.

I spent the next thirty-nine days in much the same way as the first,
but at the close of that time the ladies appeared (as was their custom)
in my room one morning to inquire how I had slept, and instead
of looking cheerful and smiling they were in floods of tears.
"Prince," said they, "we must leave you, and never was it so hard
to part from any of our friends.  Most likely we shall never see
you again, but if you have sufficient self-command perhaps we may yet
look forward to a meeting."

"Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words--
I pray you to tell me?"

"Know then," answered one of them, "that we are all princesses--
each a king's daughter.  We live in this castle together, in the way
that you have seen, but at the end of every year secret duties
call us away for the space of forty days.  The time has now come;
but before we depart, we will leave you our keys, so that you
may not lack entertainment during our absence.  But one thing
we would ask of you.  The Golden Door, alone, forbear to open,
as you value your own peace, and the happiness of your life.
That door once unlocked, we must bid you farewell for ever."

Weeping, I assured them of my prudence, and after embracing
me tenderly, they went their ways.

Every day I opened two or three fresh doors, each of which
contained behind it so many curious things that I had no chance
of feeling dull, much as I regretted the absence of the ladies.
Sometimes it was an orchard, whose fruit far exceeded in bigness
any that grew in my father's garden.  Sometimes it was a court
planted with roses, jessamine, dafeodils, hyacinths and anemones,
and a thousand other flowers of which I did not know the names.
Or again, it would be an aviary, fitted with all kinds of singing birds,
or a treasury heaped up with precious stones; but whatever I might see,
all was perfect of its own sort.

Thirty-nine days passed away more rapidly than I could have
conceived possible, and the following morning the princesses were
to return to the castle.  But alas!  I had explored every corner,
save only the room that was shut in by the Golden Door, and I
had no longer anything to amuse myself with.  I stood before the
forbidden place for some time, gazing at its beauty; then a happy
inspiration struck me, that because I unlocked the door it was not
necessary that I should enter the chamber.  It would be enough
for me to stand outside and view whatever hidden wonders might be therein.

Thus arguing against my own conscience, I turned the key, when a smell
rushed out that, pleasant though it was, overcame me completely,
and I fell fainting across the threshold.  Instead of being warned
by this accident, directly I came to myself I went for a few
moments into the air to shake of the effects of the perfume,
and then entered boldly.  I found myself in a large, vaulted room,
lighted by tapers, scented with aloes and ambergris, standing in golden
candle-sticks, whilst gold and silver lamps hung from the ceiling.

Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them
scant attention, so much was I struck by a great black horse which stood
in one corner, the handsomest and best-shaped animal I had ever seen.
His saddle and bridle were of massive gold, curiously wrought;
one side of his trough was filled with clean barley and sesame,
and the other with rose water.  I led the animal into the open air,
and then jumped on his back, shaking the reins as I did so, but as he
never stirred, I touched him lightly with a switch I had picked up
in his stable.  No sooner did he feel the stroke, than he spread
his wings (which I had not perceived before), and flew up with me
straight into the sky.  When he had reached a prodigious height,
he next darted back to earth, and alighted on the terrace belonging
to a castle, shaking me violently out of the saddle as he did so,
and giving me such a blow with his tail, that he knocked out my
right eye.

Half-stunned as I was with all that had happened to me, I rose
to my feet, thinking as I did so of what had befallen the ten
young men, and watching the horse which was soaring into the clouds.
I left the terrace and wandered on till I came to a hall,
which I knew to have been the one from which the roc had taken me,
by the ten blue sofas against the wall.

The ten young men were not present when I first entered, but came
in soon after, accompanied by the old man.  They greeted me kindly,
and bewailed my misfortune, though, indeed, they had expected
nothing less.  "All that has happened to you," they said, "we also
have undergone, and we should be enjoying the same happiness still,
had we not opened the Golden Door while the princesses were absent.
You have been no wiser than we, and have suffered the same punishment.
We would gladly receive you among us, to perform such penance
as we do, but we have already told you that this is impossible.
Depart, therefore, from hence and go to the Court of Bagdad,
where you shall meet with him that can decide your destiny."
They told me the way I was to travel, and I left them.

On the road I caused my beard and eyebrows to be shaved, and put
on a Calender's habit.  I have had a long journey, but arrived this
evening in the city, where I met my brother Calenders at the gate,
being strangers like myself.  We wondered much at one another,
to see we were all blind of the same eye, but we had no leisure
to discourse at length of our common calamities.  We had only so much
time as to come hither to implore those favours which you have been
generously pleased to grant us.

He finished, and it was Zobeida's turn to speak:  "Go wherever
you please," she said, addressing all three.  "I pardon you all,
but you must depart immediately out of this house."



The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor


IN the times of the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid there lived in Bagdad
a poor porter named Hindbad, who on a very hot day was sent
to carry a heavy load from one end of the city to the other.
Before he had accomplished half the distance he was so tired that,
finding himself in a quiet street where the pavement was sprinkled
with rose water, and a cool breeze was blowing, he set his burden
upon the ground, and sat down to rest in the shade of a grand house.
Very soon he decided that he could not have chosen a pleasanter place;
a delicious perfume of aloes wood and pastilles came from the open
windows and mingled with the scent of the rose water which steamed
up from the hot pavement.  Within the palace he heard some music,
as of many instruments cunningly played, and the melodious warble
of nightingales and other birds, and by this, and the appetising smell
of many dainty dishes of which he presently became aware, he judged
that feasting and merry making were going on.  He wondered who lived
in this magnificent house which he had never seen before, the street
in which it stood being one which he seldom had occasion to pass.
To satisfy his curiosity he went up to some splendidly dressed servants
who stood at the door, and asked one of them the name of the master
of the mansion.

"What," replied he, "do you live in Bagdad, and not know that here
lives the noble Sindbad the Sailor, that famous traveller who sailed
over every sea upon which the sun shines?"

The porter, who had often heard people speak of the immense wealth
of Sindbad, could not help feeling envious of one whose lot seemed
to be as happy as his own was miserable.  Casting his eyes up
to the sky he exclaimed aloud,

"Consider, Mighty Creator of all things, the differences between
Sindbad's life and mine.  Every day I suffer a thousand hardships
and misfortunes, and have hard work to get even enough bad barley
bread to keep myself and my family alive, while the lucky Sindbad
spends money right and left and lives upon the fat of the land!
What has he done that you should give him this pleasant life--
what have I done to deserve so hard a fate?"

So saying he stamped upon the ground like one beside himself with misery
and despair.  Just at this moment a servant came out of the palace,
and taking him by the arm said, "Come with me, the noble Sindbad,
my master, wishes to speak to you."

Hindbad was not a little surprised at this summons, and feared that his
unguarded words might have drawn upon him the displeasure of Sindbad,
so he tried to excuse himself upon the pretext that he could not
leave the burden which had been entrusted to him in the street.
However the lackey promised him that it should be taken care of,
and urged him to obey the call so pressingly that at last the porter
was obliged to yield.

He followed the servant into a vast room, where a great company
was seated round a table covered with all sorts of delicacies.
In the place of honour sat a tall, grave man whose long white
beard gave him a venerable air.  Behind his chair stood a crowd
of attendants eager to minister to his wants.  This was the famous
Sindbad himself.  The porter, more than ever alarmed at the sight
of so much magnificence, tremblingly saluted the noble company.
Sindbad, making a sign to him to approach, caused him to be seated
at his right hand, and himself heaped choice morsels upon his plate,
and poured out for him a draught of excellent wine, and presently,
when the banquet drew to a close, spoke to him familiarly, asking his
name and occupation.

"My lord," replied the porter, "I am called Hindbad."

"I am glad to see you here," continued Sindbad.  "And I will answer
for the rest of the company that they are equally pleased, but I wish
you to tell me what it was that you said just now in the street."
For Sindbad, passing by the open window before the feast began,
had heard his complaint and therefore had sent for him.

At this question Hindbad was covered with confusion, and hanging down
his head, replied, "My lord, I confess that, overcome by weariness and
ill-humour, I uttered indiscreet words, which I pray you to pardon me."

"Oh!" replied Sindbad, "do not imagine that I am so unjust as to blame
you.  On the contrary, I understand your situation and can pity you.
Only you appear to be mistaken about me, and I wish to set you right.
You doubtless imagine that I have acquired all the wealth and luxury
that you see me enjoy without difficulty or danger, but this is far
indeed from being the case.  I have only reached this happy state
after having for years suffered every possible kind of toil and danger.

"Yes, my noble friends," he continued, addressing the company,
"l assure you that my adventures have been strange enough to deter even
the most avaricious men from seeking wealth by traversing the seas.
Since you have, perhaps, heard but confused accounts of my seven voyages,
and the dangers and wonders that I have met with by sea and land,
I will now give you a full and true account of them, which I think
you will be well pleased to hear."

As Sindbad was relating his adventures chiefly on account of
the porter, he ordered, before beginning his tale, that the burden
which had been left in the street should be carried by some of his
own servants to the place for which Hindbad had set out at first,
while he remained to listen to the story.



First Voyage


I had inherited considerable wealth from my parents, and being
young and foolish I at first squandered it recklessly upon every
kind of pleasure, but presently, finding that riches speedily take
to themselves wings if managed as badly as I was managing mine,
and remembering also that to be old and poor is misery indeed,
I began to bethink me of how I could make the best of what still
remained to me.  I sold all my household goods by public auction,
and joined a company of merchants who traded by sea, embarking with
them at Balsora in a ship which we had fitted out between us.

We set sail and took our course towards the East Indies by the
Persian Gulf, having the coast of Persia upon our left hand and upon
our right the shores of Arabia Felix.  I was at first much troubled
by the uneasy motion of the vessel, but speedily recovered my health,
and since that hour have been no more plagued by sea-sickness.

From time to time we landed at various islands, where we sold or
exchanged our merchandise, and one day, when the wind dropped suddenly,
we found ourselves becalmed close to a small island like a green meadow,
which only rose slightly above the surface of the water.  Our sails
were furled, and the captain gave permission to all who wished
to land for a while and amuse themselves.  I was among the number,
but when after strolling about for some time we lighted a fire
and sat down to enjoy the repast which we had brought with us,
we were startled by a sudden and violent trembling of the island,
while at the same moment those left upon the ship set up an outcry
bidding us come on board for our lives, since what we had taken
for an island was nothing but the back of a sleeping whale.
Those who were nearest to the boat threw themselves into it,
others sprang into the sea, but before I could save myself the whale
plunged suddenly into the depths of the ocean, leaving me clinging
to a piece of the wood which we had brought to make our fire.
Meanwhile a breeze had sprung up, and in the confusion that ensued
on board our vessel in hoisting the sails and taking up those who were
in the boat and clinging to its sides, no one missed me and I was
left at the mercy of the waves.  All that day I floated up and down,
now beaten this way, now that, and when night fell I despaired for
my life; but, weary and spent as I was, I clung to my frail support,
and great was my joy when the morning light showed me that I had
drifted against an island.

The cliffs were high and steep, but luckily for me some tree-roots
protruded in places, and by their aid I climbed up at last,
and stretched myself upon the turf at the top, where I lay,
more dead than alive, till the sun was high in the heavens.
By that time I was very hungry, but after some searching I came
upon some eatable herbs, and a spring of clear water, and much
refreshed I set out to explore the island.  Presently I reached
a great plain where a grazing horse was tethered, and as I stood
looking at it I heard voices talking apparently underground, and in
a moment a man appeared who asked me how I came upon the island.
I told him my adventures, and heard in return that he was one
of the grooms of Mihrage, the king of the island, and that each
year they came to feed their master's horses in this plain.
He took me to a cave where his companions were assembled, and when I
had eaten of the food they set before me, they bade me think myself
fortunate to have come upon them when I did, since they were going
back to their master on the morrow, and without their aid I could
certainly never have found my way to the inhabited part of the island.

Early the next morning we accordingly set out, and when we reached
the capital I was graciously received by the king, to whom I related
my adventures, upon which he ordered that I should be well cared
for and provided with such things as I needed.  Being a merchant
I sought out men of my own profession, and particularly those
who came from foreign countries, as I hoped in this way to hear
news from Bagdad, and find out some means of returning thither,
for the capital was situated upon the sea-shore, and visited
by vessels from all parts of the world.  In the meantime I heard
many curious things, and answered many questions concerning my
own country, for I talked willingly with all who came to me.
Also to while away the time of waiting I explored a little island
named Cassel, which belonged to King Mihrage, and which was supposed
to be inhabited by a spirit named Deggial.  Indeed, the sailors
assured me that often at night the playing of timbals could be
heard upon it.  However, I saw nothing strange upon my voyage,
saving some fish that were full two hundred cubits long, but were
fortunately more in dread of us than even we were of them, and fled
from us if we did but strike upon a board to frighten them.
Other fishes there were only a cubit long which had heads like owls.

One day after my return, as I went down to the quay, I saw a ship
which had just cast anchor, and was discharging her cargo,
while the merchants to whom it belonged were busily directing
the removal of it to their warehouses.  Drawing nearer I presently
noticed that my own name was marked upon some of the packages,
and after having carefully examined them, I felt sure that they
were indeed those which I had put on board our ship at Balsora.
I then recognised the captain of the vessel, but as I was certain
that he believed me to be dead, I went up to him and asked who owned
the packages that I was looking at.

"There was on board my ship," he replied, "a merchant of Bagdad
named Sindbad.  One day he and several of my other passengers
landed upon what we supposed to be an island, but which was
really an enormous whale floating asleep upon the waves.
No sooner did it feel upon its back the heat of the fire which
had been kindled, than it plunged into the depths of the sea.
Several of the people who were upon it perished in the waters,
and among others this unlucky Sindbad.  This merchandise is his,
but I have resolved to dispose of it for the benefit of his family
if I should ever chance to meet with them."

"Captain," said I, "I am that Sindbad whom you believe to be dead,
and these are my possessions!"

When the captain heard these words he cried out in amazement,
"Lackaday! and what is the world coming to?  In these days there
is not an honest man to be met with.  Did I not with my own
eyes see Sindbad drown, and now you have the audacity to tell
me that you are he!  I should have taken you to be a just man,
and yet for the sake of obtaining that which does not belong to you,
you are ready to invent this horrible falsehood."

"Have patience, and do me the favour to hear my story," said I.

"Speak then," replied the captain, "I'm all attention."

So I told him of my escape and of my fortunate meeting with the
king's grooms, and how kindly I had been received at the palace.
Very soon I began to see that I had made some impression upon him,
and after the arrival of some of the other merchants, who showed
great joy at once more seeing me alive, he declared that he also
recognised me.

Throwing himself upon my neck he exclaimed, "Heaven be praised
that you have escaped from so great a danger.  As to your goods,
I pray you take them, and dispose of them as you please."
I thanked him, and praised his honesty, begging him to accept
several bales of merchandise in token of my gratitude, but he
would take nothing.  Of the choicest of my goods I prepared
a present for King Mihrage, who was at first amazed, having known
that I had lost my all.  However, when I had explained to him
how my bales had been miraculously restored to me, he graciously
accepted my gifts, and in return gave me many valuable things.
I then took leave of him, and exchanging my merchandise for sandal
and aloes wood, camphor, nutmegs, cloves, pepper, and ginger,
I embarked upon the same vessel and traded so successfully upon
our homeward voyage that I arrived in Balsora with about one
hundred thousand sequins.  My family received me with as much joy
as I felt upon seeing them once more.  I bought land and slaves,
and built a great house in which I resolved to live happily, and in
the enjoyment of all the pleasures of life to forget my past sufferings.

Here Sindbad paused, and commanded the musicians to play again,
while the feasting continued until evening.  When the time came
for the porter to depart, Sindbad gave him a purse containing
one hundred sequins, saying, "Take this, Hindbad, and go home,
but to-morrow come again and you shall hear more of my adventures."

The porter retired quite overcome by so much generosity, and you
may imagine that he was well received at home, where his wife and
children thanked their lucky stars that he had found such a benefactor.

The next day Hindbad, dressed in his best, returned to the
voyager's house, and was received with open arms.  As soon
as all the guests had arrived the banquet began as before,
and when they had feasted long and merrily, Sindbad addressed them thus:

"My friends, I beg that you will give me your attention while I
relate the adventures of my second voyage, which you will find
even more astonishing than the first."



Second Voyage


I had resolved, as you know, on my return from my first voyage,
to spend the rest of my days quietly in Bagdad, but very soon I grew
tired of such an idle life and longed once more to find myself upon
the sea.

I procured, therefore, such goods as were suitable for the places I
intended to visit, and embarked for the second time in a good ship
with other merchants whom I knew to be honourable men.  We went from
island to island, often making excellent bargains, until one day we
landed at a spot which, though covered with fruit trees and abounding
in springs of excellent water, appeared to possess neither houses
nor people.  While my companions wandered here and there gathering
flowers and fruit I sat down in a shady place, and, having heartily
enjoyed the provisions and the wine I had brought with me, I
fell asleep, lulled by the murmur of a clear brook which flowed close by.

How long I slept I know not, but when I opened my eyes and started
to my feet I perceived with horror that I was alone and that
the ship was gone.  I rushed to and fro like one distracted,
uttering cries of despair, and when from the shore I saw the vessel
under full sail just disappearing upon the horizon, I wished
bitterly enough that I had been content to stay at home in safety.
But since wishes could do me no good, I presently took courage
and looked about me for a means of escape.  When I had climbed
a tall tree I first of all directed my anxious glances towards
the sea; but, finding nothing hopeful there, I turned landward,
and my curiosity was excited by a huge dazzling white object,
so far off that I could not make out what it might be.

Descending from the tree I hastily collected what remained of my
provisions and set off as fast as I could go towards it.  As I drew
near it seemed to me to be a white ball of immense size and height,
and when I could touch it, I found it marvellously smooth and soft.
As it was impossible to climb it--for it presented no foot-hold--
I walked round about it seeking some opening, but there was none.
I counted, however, that it was at least fifty paces round.
By this time the sun was near setting, but quite suddenly it
fell dark, something like a huge black cloud came swiftly over me,
and I saw with amazement that it was a bird of extraordinary size
which was hovering near.  Then I remembered that I had often
heard the sailors speak of a wonderful bird called a roc, and it
occurred to me that the white object which had so puzzled me must be
its egg.

Sure enough the bird settled slowly down upon it, covering it
with its wings to keep it warm, and I cowered close beside the egg
in such a position that one of the bird's feet, which was as large
as the trunk of a tree, was just in front of me.  Taking off my turban
I bound myself securely to it with the linen in the hope that the roc,
when it took flight next morning, would bear me away with it from
the desolate island.  And this was precisely what did happen.
As soon as the dawn appeared the bird rose into the air carrying
me up and up till I could no longer see the earth, and then
suddenly it descended so swiftly that I almost lost consciousness.
When I became aware that the roc had settled and that I was once
again upon solid ground, I hastily unbound my turban from its foot
and freed myself, and that not a moment too soon; for the bird,
pouncing upon a huge snake, killed it with a few blows from its
powerful beak, and seizing it up rose into the air once more and
soon disappeared from my view.  When I had looked about me I began
to doubt if I had gained anything by quitting the desolate island.

The valley in which I found myself was deep and narrow, and surrounded
by mountains which towered into the clouds, and were so steep
and rocky that there was no way of climbing up their sides.
As I wandered about, seeking anxiously for some means of escaping
from this trap, I observed that the ground was strewed with diamonds,
some of them of an astonishing size.  This sight gave me great pleasure,
but my delight was speedily damped when I saw also numbers of horrible
snakes so long and so large that the smallest of them could have
swallowed an elephant with ease.  Fortunately for me they seemed
to hide in caverns of the rocks by day, and only came out by night,
probably because of their enemy the roc.

All day long I wandered up and down the valley, and when it grew dusk
I crept into a little cave, and having blocked up the entrance to it
with a stone, I ate part of my little store of food and lay down
to sleep, but all through the night the serpents crawled to and fro,
hissing horribly, so that I could scarcely close my eyes for terror.
I was thankful when the morning light appeared, and when I judged
by the silence that the serpents had retreated to their dens I came
tremblingly out of my cave and wandered up and down the valley
once more, kicking the diamonds contemptuously out of my path, for I
felt that they were indeed vain things to a man in my situation.
At last, overcome with weariness, I sat down upon a rock, but I had
hardly closed my eyes when I was startled by something which fell
to the ground with a thud close beside me.

It was a huge piece of fresh meat, and as I stared at it several
more pieces rolled over the cliffs in different places.  I had
always thought that the stories the sailors told of the famous
valley of diamonds, and of the cunning way which some merchants had
devised for getting at the precious stones, were mere travellers'
tales invented to give pleasure to the hearers, but now I perceived
that they were surely true.  These merchants came to the valley
at the time when the eagles, which keep their eyries in the rocks,
had hatched their young.  The merchants then threw great lumps
of meat into the valley.  These, falling with so much force upon
the diamonds, were sure to take up some of the precious stones
with them, when the eagles pounced upon the meat and carried it off
to their nests to feed their hungry broods.  Then the merchants,
scaring away the parent birds with shouts and outcries, would secure
their treasures.  Until this moment I had looked upon the valley
as my grave, for I had seen no possibility of getting out of it alive,
but now I took courage and began to devise a means of escape.
I began by picking up all the largest diamonds I could find and storing
them carefully in the leathern wallet which had held my provisions;
this I tied securely to my belt.  I then chose the piece of meat
which seemed most suited to my purpose, and with the aid of my turban
bound it firmly to my back; this done I laid down upon my face
and awaited the coming of the eagles.  I soon heard the flapping
of their mighty wings above me, and had the satisfaction of feeling
one of them seize upon my piece of meat, and me with it, and rise
slowly towards his nest, into which he presently dropped me.
Luckily for me the merchants were on the watch, and setting up their
usual outcries they rushed to the nest scaring away the eagle.
Their amazement was great when they discovered me, and also
their disappointment, and with one accord they fell to abusing me
for having robbed them of their usual profit.  Addressing myself
to the one who seemed most aggrieved, I said:  "I am sure, if you knew
all that I have suffered, you would show more kindness towards me,
and as for diamonds, I have enough here of the very best for you
and me and all your company."  So saying I showed them to him.
The others all crowded round me, wondering at my adventures
and admiring the device by which I had escaped from the valley,
and when they had led me to their camp and examined my diamonds,
they assured me that in all the years that they had carried on their
trade they had seen no stones to be compared with them for size
and beauty.

I found that each merchant chose a particular nest, and took his
chance of what he might find in it.  So I begged the one who owned
the nest to which I had been carried to take as much as he would
of my treasure, but he contented himself with one stone, and that by
no means the largest, assuring me that with such a gem his fortune
was made, and he need toil no more.  I stayed with the merchants
several days, and then as they were journeying homewards I gladly
accompanied them.  Our way lay across high mountains infested
with frightful serpents, but we had the good luck to escape them
and came at last to the seashore.  Thence we sailed to the isle
of Rohat where the camphor trees grow to such a size that a hundred
men could shelter under one of them with ease.  The sap flows
from an incision made high up in the tree into a vessel hung there
to receive it, and soon hardens into the substance called camphor,
but the tree itself withers up and dies when it has been so treated.

In this same island we saw the rhinoceros, an animal which is smaller
than the elephant and larger than the buffalo.  It has one horn
about a cubit long which is solid, but has a furrow from the base
to the tip.  Upon it is traced in white lines the figure of a man.
The rhinoceros fights with the elephant, and transfixing him
with his horn carries him off upon his head, but becoming blinded
with the blood of his enemy, he falls helpless to the ground,
and then comes the roc, and clutches them both up in his talons
and takes them to feed his young.  This doubtless astonishes you,
but if you do not believe my tale go to Rohat and see for yourself.
For fear of wearying you I pass over in silence many other wonderful
things which we saw in this island.  Before we left I exchanged
one of my diamonds for much goodly merchandise by which I profited
greatly on our homeward way.  At last we reached Balsora, whence I
hastened to Bagdad, where my first action was to bestow large sums
of money upon the poor, after which I settled down to enjoy tranquilly
the riches I had gained with so much toil and pain.

Having thus related the adventures of his second voyage, Sindbad again
bestowed a hundred sequins upon Hindbad, inviting him to come again
on the following day and hear how he fared upon his third voyage.
The other guests also departed to their homes, but all returned at
the same hour next day, including the porter, whose former life of hard
work and poverty had already begun to seem to him like a bad dream.
Again after the feast was over did Sindbad claim the attention
of his guests and began the account of his third voyage.



Third Voyage


After a very short time the pleasant easy life I led made me quite
forget the perils of my two voyages.  Moreover, as I was still
in the prime of life, it pleased me better to be up and doing.
So once more providing myself with the rarest and choicest
merchandise of Bagdad, I conveyed it to Balsora, and set sail
with other merchants of my acquaintance for distant lands.
We had touched at many ports and made much profit, when one day
upon the open sea we were caught by a terrible wind which blew
us completely out of our reckoning, and lasting for several days
finally drove us into harbour on a strange island.

"I would rather have come to anchor anywhere than here,"
quoth our captain.  "This island and all adjoining it are inhabited by
hairy savages, who are certain to attack us, and whatever these dwarfs may
do we dare not resist, since they swarm like locusts, and if one of them
is killed the rest will fall upon us, and speedily make an end of us."

These words caused great consternation among all the ship's company,
and only too soon we were to find out that the captain spoke truly.
There appeared a vast multitude of hideous savages, not more than
two feet high and covered with reddish fur.  Throwing themselves
into the waves they surrounded our vessel.  Chattering meanwhile
in a language we could not understand, and clutching at ropes
and gangways, they swarmed up the ship's side with such speed and
agility that they almost seemed to fly.

You may imagine the rage and terror that seized us as we watched them,
neither daring to hinder them nor able to speak a word to deter them
from their purpose, whatever it might be.  Of this we were not left long
in doubt.  Hoisting the sails, and cutting the cable of the anchor,
they sailed our vessel to an island which lay a little further off,
where they drove us ashore; then taking possession of her, they made
off to the place from which they had come, leaving us helpless upon
a shore avoided with horror by all mariners for a reason which you
will soon learn.

Turning away from the sea we wandered miserably inland, finding as we
went various herbs and fruits which we ate, feeling that we might
as well live as long as possible though we had no hope of escape.
Presently we saw in the far distance what seemed to us to be a
splendid palace, towards which we turned our weary steps, but when we
reached it we saw that it was a castle, lofty, and strongly built.
Pushing back the heavy ebony doors we entered the courtyard,
but upon the threshold of the great hall beyond it we paused,
frozen with horror, at the sight which greeted us.  On one
side lay a huge pile of bones--human bones, and on the other
numberless spits for roasting!  Overcome with despair we sank
trembling to the ground, and lay there without speech or motion.
The sun was setting when a loud noise aroused us, the door of
the hall was violently burst open and a horrible giant entered.
He was as tall as a palm tree, and perfectly black, and had one eye,
which flamed like a burning coal in the middle of his forehead.
His teeth were long and sharp and grinned horribly, while his lower
lip hung down upon his chest, and he had ears like elephant's ears,
which covered his shoulders, and nails like the claws of some
fierce bird.

At this terrible sight our senses left us and we lay like dead men.
When at last we came to ourselves the giant sat examining us attentively
with his fearful eye.  Presently when he had looked at us enough he
came towards us, and stretching out his hand took me by the back
of the neck, turning me this way and that, but feeling that I was
mere skin and bone he set me down again and went on to the next,
whom he treated in the same fashion; at last he came to the captain,
and finding him the fattest of us all, he took him up in one hand
and stuck him upon a spit and proceeded to kindle a huge fire
at which he presently roasted him.  After the giant had supped he
lay down to sleep, snoring like the loudest thunder, while we lay
shivering with horror the whole night through, and when day broke
he awoke and went out, leaving us in the castle.

When we believed him to be really gone we started up bemoaning our
horrible fate, until the hall echoed with our despairing cries.
Though we were many and our enemy was alone it did not occur to us to
kill him, and indeed we should have found that a hard task, even if we
had thought of it, and no plan could we devise to deliver ourselves.
So at last, submitting to our sad fate, we spent the day in wandering
up and down the island eating such fruits as we could find,
and when night came we returned to the castle, having sought in vain
for any other place of shelter.  At sunset the giant returned,
supped upon one of our unhappy comrades, slept and snored till dawn,
and then left us as before.  Our condition seemed to us so frightful
that several of my companions thought it would be better to leap
from the cliffs and perish in the waves at once, rather than await
so miserable an end; but I had a plan of escape which I now unfolded
to them, and which they at once agreed to attempt.

"Listen, my brothers," I added.  "You know that plenty of driftwood
lies along the shore.  Let us make several rafts, and carry them
to a suitable place.  If our plot succeeds, we can wait patiently
for the chance of some passing ship which would rescue us from this
fatal island.  If it fails, we must quickly take to our rafts;
frail as they are, we have more chance of saving our lives with them
than we have if we remain here."

All agreed with me, and we spent the day in building rafts,
each capable of carrying three persons.  At nightfall we returned
to the castle, and very soon in came the giant, and one more of our
number was sacrificed.  But the time of our vengeance was at hand!
As soon as he had finished his horrible repast he lay down to sleep
as before, and when we heard him begin to snore I, and nine of the
boldest of my comrades, rose softly, and took each a spit, which we
made red-hot in the fire, and then at a given signal we plunged it
with one accord into the giant's eye, completely blinding him.
Uttering a terrible cry, he sprang to his feet clutching in all
directions to try to seize one of us, but we had all fled different
ways as soon as the deed was done, and thrown ourselves flat upon
the ground in corners where he was not likely to touch us with
his feet.

After a vain search he fumbled about till he found the door, and fled
out of it howling frightfully.  As for us, when he was gone we made
haste to leave the fatal castle, and, stationing ourselves beside
our rafts, we waited to see what would happen.  Our idea was that if,
when the sun rose, we saw nothing of the giant, and no longer
heard his howls, which still came faintly through the darkness,
growing more and more distant, we should conclude that he was dead,
and that we might safely stay upon the island and need not risk
our lives upon the frail rafts.  But alas! morning light showed us
our enemy approaching us, supported on either hand by two giants
nearly as large and fearful as himself, while a crowd of others
followed close upon their heels.  Hesitating no longer we clambered
upon our rafts and rowed with all our might out to sea.  The giants,
seeing their prey escaping them, seized up huge pieces of rock,
and wading into the water hurled them after us with such good
aim that all the rafts except the one I was upon were swamped,
and their luckless crews drowned, without our being able to do
anything to help them.  Indeed I and my two companions had all we
could do to keep our own raft beyond the reach of the giants,
but by dint of hard rowing we at last gained the open sea.
Here we were at the mercy of the winds and waves, which tossed us
to and fro all that day and night, but the next morning we found
ourselves near an island, upon which we gladly landed.

There we found delicious fruits, and having satisfied our hunger we
presently lay down to rest upon the shore.  Suddenly we were aroused
by a loud rustling noise, and starting up, saw that it was caused
by an immense snake which was gliding towards us over the sand.
So swiftly it came that it had seized one of my comrades before he had
time to fly, and in spite of his cries and struggles speedily crushed
the life out of him in its mighty coils and proceeded to swallow him.
By this time my other companion and I were running for our lives
to some place where we might hope to be safe from this new horror,
and seeing a tall tree we climbed up into it, having first provided
ourselves with a store of fruit off the surrounding bushes.
When night came I fell asleep, but only to be awakened once more
by the terrible snake, which after hissing horribly round the tree
at last reared itself up against it, and finding my sleeping comrade
who was perched just below me, it swallowed him also, and crawled
away leaving me half dead with terror.

When the sun rose I crept down from the tree with hardly a hope
of escaping the dreadful fate which had over-taken my comrades;
but life is sweet, and I determined to do all I could to save myself.
All day long I toiled with frantic haste and collected quantities
of dry brushwood, reeds and thorns, which I bound with faggots,
and making a circle of them under my tree I piled them firmly one upon
another until I had a kind of tent in which I crouched like a mouse
in a hole when she sees the cat coming.  You may imagine what a
fearful night I passed, for the snake returned eager to devour me,
and glided round and round my frail shelter seeking an entrance.
Every moment I feared that it would succeed in pushing aside some
of the faggots, but happily for me they held together, and when it
grew light my enemy retired, baffled and hungry, to his den.
As for me I was more dead than alive!  Shaking with fright and half
suffocated by the poisonous breath of the monster, I came out of my
tent and crawled down to the sea, feeling that it would be better to
plunge from the cliffs and end my life at once than pass such another
night of horror.  But to my joy and relief I saw a ship sailing by,
and by shouting wildly and waving my turban I managed to attract the
attention of her crew.

A boat was sent to rescue me, and very soon I found myself on board
surrounded by a wondering crowd of sailors and merchants eager
to know by what chance I found myself in that desolate island.
After I had told my story they regaled me with the choicest food
the ship afforded, and the captain, seeing that I was in rags,
generously bestowed upon me one of his own coats.  After sailing
about for some time and touching at many ports we came at last to
the island of Salahat, where sandal wood grows in great abundance.
Here we anchored, and as I stood watching the merchants disembarking
their goods and preparing to sell or exchange them, the captain came up
to me and said,

"I have here, brother, some merchandise belonging to a passenger
of mine who is dead.  Will you do me the favour to trade with it,
and when I meet with his heirs I shall be able to give them the money,
though it will be only just that you shall have a portion for
your trouble."

I consented gladly, for I did not like standing by idle.  Whereupon he
pointed the bales out to me, and sent for the person whose duty it
was to keep a list of the goods that were upon the ship.  When this
man came he asked in what name the merchandise was to be registered.

"In the name of Sindbad the Sailor," replied the captain.

At this I was greatly surprised, but looking carefully at him I
recognised him to be the captain of the ship upon which I had made
my second voyage, though he had altered much since that time.
As for him, believing me to be dead it was no wonder that he had not
recognised me.

"So, captain," said I, "the merchant who owned those bales was
called Sindbad?"

"Yes," he replied.  "He was so named.  He belonged to Bagdad,
and joined my ship at Balsora, but by mischance he was left behind
upon a desert island where we had landed to fill up our water-casks,
and it was not until four hours later that he was missed.
By that time the wind had freshened, and it was impossible to put
back for him."

"You suppose him to have perished then?" said I.

"Alas! yes," he answered.

"Why, captain!"  I cried, "look well at me.  I am that Sindbad
who fell asleep upon the island and awoke to find himself abandoned!"

The captain stared at me in amazement, but was presently convinced
that I was indeed speaking the truth, and rejoiced greatly at my escape.

"I am glad to have that piece of carelessness off my conscience
at any rate," said he.  "Now take your goods, and the profit I
have made for you upon them, and may you prosper in future."

I took them gratefully, and as we went from one island to another I
laid in stores of cloves, cinnamon, and other spices.  In one place
I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as many broad,
also a fish that was like a cow and had skin so thick that it was
used to make shields.  Another I saw that was like a camel in shape
and colour.  So by degrees we came back to Balsora, and I returned
to Bagdad with so much money that I could not myself count it,
besides treasures without end.  I gave largely to the poor,
and bought much land to add to what I already possessed, and thus
ended my third voyage.

When Sindbad had finished his story he gave another hundred sequins
to Hindbad, who then departed with the other guests, but next day
when they had all reassembled, and the banquet was ended, their host
continued his adventures.



Fourth Voyage


Rich and happy as I was after my third voyage, I could not make
up my mind to stay at home altogether.  My love of trading,
and the pleasure I took in anything that was new and strange,
made me set my affairs in order, and begin my journey through some
of the Persian provinces, having first sent off stores of goods
to await my coming in the different places I intended to visit.
I took ship at a distant seaport, and for some time all went well,
but at last, being caught in a violent hurricane, our vessel became
a total wreck in spite of all our worthy captain could do to save her,
and many of our company perished in the waves.  I, with a few others,
had the good fortune to be washed ashore clinging to pieces of the wreck,
for the storm had driven us near an island, and scrambling up beyond
the reach of the waves we threw ourselves down quite exhausted,
to wait for morning.

At daylight we wandered inland, and soon saw some huts, to which we
directed our steps.  As we drew near their black inhabitants swarmed
out in great numbers and surrounded us, and we were led to their houses,
and as it were divided among our captors.  I with five others
was taken into a hut, where we were made to sit upon the ground,
and certain herbs were given to us, which the blacks made signs
to us to eat.  Observing that they themselves did not touch them,
I was careful only to pretend to taste my portion; but my companions,
being very hungry, rashly ate up all that was set before them,
and very soon I had the horror of seeing them become perfectly mad.
Though they chattered incessantly I could not understand a word
they said, nor did they heed when I spoke to them.  The savages
now produced large bowls full of rice prepared with cocoanut oil,
of which my crazy comrades ate eagerly, but I only tasted a few grains,
understanding clearly that the object of our captors was to fatten us
speedily for their own eating, and this was exactly what happened.
My unlucky companions having lost their reason, felt neither
anxiety nor fear, and ate greedily all that was offered them.
So they were soon fat and there was an end of them, but I grew
leaner day by day, for I ate but little, and even that little did me
no good by reason of my fear of what lay before me.  However, as I
was so far from being a tempting morsel, I was allowed to wander
about freely, and one day, when all the blacks had gone off upon
some expedition leaving only an old man to guard me, I managed
to escape from him and plunged into the forest, running faster
the more he cried to me to come back, until I had completely
distanced him.

For seven days I hurried on, resting only when the darkness stopped me,
and living chiefly upon cocoanuts, which afforded me both meat
and drink, and on the eighth day I reached the seashore and saw a party
of white men gathering pepper, which grew abundantly all about.
Reassured by the nature of their occupation, I advanced towards them
and they greeted me in Arabic, asking who I was and whence I came.
My delight was great on hearing this familiar speech, and I willingly
satisfied their curiosity, telling them how I had been shipwrecked,
and captured by the blacks.  "But these savages devour men!" said they.
"How did you escape?"  I repeated to them what I have just told you,
at which they were mightily astonished.  I stayed with them until
they had collected as much pepper as they wished, and then they
took me back to their own country and presented me to their king,
by whom I was hospitably received.  To him also I had to relate
my adventures, which surprised him much, and when I had finished he
ordered that I should be supplied with food and raiment and treated
with consideration.

The island on which I found myself was full of people, and abounded
in all sorts of desirable things, and a great deal of traffic
went on in the capital, where I soon began to feel at home
and contented.  Moreover, the king treated me with special favour,
and in consequence of this everyone, whether at the court or in
the town, sought to make life pleasant to me.  One thing I remarked
which I thought very strange; this was that, from the greatest
to the least, all men rode their horses without bridle or stirrups.
I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them,
to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never
before heard!"  This gave me an idea.  I found a clever workman,
and made him cut out under my direction the foundation of a saddle,
which I wadded and covered with choice leather, adorning it
with rich gold embroidery.  I then got a lock-smith to make me
a bit and a pair of spurs after a pattern that I drew for him,
and when all these things were completed I presented them to the king
and showed him how to use them.  When I had saddled one of his horses
he mounted it and rode about quite delighted with the novelty,
and to show his gratitude he rewarded me with large gifts.
After this I had to make saddles for all the principal officers
of the king's household, and as they all gave me rich presents I
soon became very wealthy and quite an important person in the city.

One day the king sent for me and said, "Sindbad, I am going to ask
a favour of you.  Both I and my subjects esteem you, and wish
you to end your days amongst us.  Therefore I desire that you
will marry a rich and beautiful lady whom I will find for you,
and think no more of your own country."

As the king's will was law I accepted the charming bride he presented
to me, and lived happily with her.  Nevertheless I had every intention
of escaping at the first opportunity, and going back to Bagdad.
Things were thus going prosperously with me when it happened that
the wife of one of my neighbours, with whom I had struck up quite
a friendship, fell ill, and presently died.  I went to his house
to offer my consolations, and found him in the depths of woe.

"Heaven preserve you," said I, "and send you a long life!"

"Alas!" he replied, "what is the good of saying that when I have
but an hour left to live!"

"Come, come!" said I, "surely it is not so bad as all that.
I trust that you may be spared to me for many years."

"I hope," answered he, "that your life may be long, but as for me,
all is finished.  I have set my house in order, and to-day I shall
be buried with my wife.  This has been the law upon our island
from the earliest ages--the living husband goes to the grave
with his dead wife, the living wife with her dead husband.
So did our fathers, and so must we do.  The law changes not,
and all must submit to it!"

As he spoke the friends and relations of the unhappy pair began
to assemble.  The body, decked in rich robes and sparkling
with jewels, was laid upon an open bier, and the procession started,
taking its way to a high mountain at some distance from the city,
the wretched husband, clothed from head to foot in a black mantle,
following mournfully.

When the place of interment was reached the corpse was lowered,
just as it was, into a deep pit.  Then the husband, bidding farewell
to all his friends, stretched himself upon another bier, upon which
were laid seven little loaves of bread and a pitcher of water, and he
also was let down-down-down to the depths of the horrible cavern,
and then a stone was laid over the opening, and the melancholy
company wended its way back to the city.

You may imagine that I was no unmoved spectator of these proceedings;
to all the others it was a thing to which they had been accustomed
from their youth up; but I was so horrified that I could not help
telling the king how it struck me.

"Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you
at the strange custom which exists in your dominions of burying
the living with the dead.  In all my travels I have never before
met with so cruel and horrible a law."

"What would you have, Sindbad?" he replied.  "It is the law
for everybody.  I myself should be buried with the Queen if she
were the first to die."

"But, your Majesty," said I, "dare I ask if this law applies
to foreigners also?"

"Why, yes," replied the king smiling, in what I could but consider
a very heartless manner, "they are no exception to the rule if they
have married in the country."

When I heard this I went home much cast down, and from that time
forward my mind was never easy.  If only my wife's little finger
ached I fancied she was going to die, and sure enough before very
long she fell really ill and in a few days breathed her last.
My dismay was great, for it seemed to me that to be buried
alive was even a worse fate than to be devoured by cannibals,
nevertheless there was no escape.  The body of my wife, arrayed in
her richest robes and decked with all her jewels, was laid upon
the bier.  I followed it, and after me came a great procession,
headed by the king and all his nobles, and in this order we reached
the fatal mountain, which was one of a lofty chain bordering the sea.

Here I made one more frantic effort to excite the pity of the king
and those who stood by, hoping to save myself even at this last moment,
but it was of no avail.  No one spoke to me, they even appeared
to hasten over their dreadful task, and I speedily found myself
descending into the gloomy pit, with my seven loaves and pitcher
of water beside me.  Almost before I reached the bottom the stone
was rolled into its place above my head, and I was left to my fate.
A feeble ray of light shone into the cavern through some chink,
and when I had the courage to look about me I could see that I
was in a vast vault, bestrewn with bones and bodies of the dead.
I even fancied that I heard the expiring sighs of those who,
like myself, had come into this dismal place alive.  All in vain
did I shriek aloud with rage and despair, reproaching myself for
the love of gain and adventure which had brought me to such a pass,
but at length, growing calmer, I took up my bread and water,
and wrapping my face in my mantle I groped my way towards the end
of the cavern, where the air was fresher.

Here I lived in darkness and misery until my provisions were exhausted,
but just as I was nearly dead from starvation the rock was rolled away
overhead and I saw that a bier was being lowered into the cavern,
and that the corpse upon it was a man.  In a moment my mind was made up,
the woman who followed had nothing to expect but a lingering death;
I should be doing her a service if I shortened her misery.
Therefore when she descended, already insensible from terror,
I was ready armed with a huge bone, one blow from which left her dead,
and I secured the bread and water which gave me a hope of life.
Several times did I have recourse to this desperate expedient,
and I know not how long I had been a prisoner when one day I fancied
that I heard something near me, which breathed loudly.  Turning to
the place from which the sound came I dimly saw a shadowy form which
fled at my movement, squeezing itself through a cranny in the wall.
I pursued it as fast as I could, and found myself in a narrow crack
among the rocks, along which I was just able to force my way.
I followed it for what seemed to me many miles, and at last saw
before me a glimmer of light which grew clearer every moment until
I emerged upon the sea shore with a joy which I cannot describe.
When I was sure that I was not dreaming, I realised that it was
doubtless some little animal which had found its way into the cavern
from the sea, and when disturbed had fled, showing me a means of escape
which I could never have discovered for myself.  I hastily surveyed
my surroundings, and saw that I was safe from all pursuit from
the town.

The mountains sloped sheer down to the sea, and there was no road
across them.  Being assured of this I returned to the cavern,
and amassed a rich treasure of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and jewels
of all kinds which strewed the ground.  These I made up into bales,
and stored them into a safe place upon the beach, and then waited
hopefully for the passing of a ship.  I had looked out for two days,
however, before a single sail appeared, so it was with much
delight that I at last saw a vessel not very far from the shore,
and by waving my arms and uttering loud cries succeeded in attracting
the attention of her crew.  A boat was sent off to me, and in answer
to the questions of the sailors as to how I came to be in such
a plight, I replied that I had been shipwrecked two days before,
but had managed to scramble ashore with the bales which I pointed
out to them.  Luckily for me they believed my story, and without
even looking at the place where they found me, took up my bundles,
and rowed me back to the ship.  Once on board, I soon saw that the
captain was too much occupied with the difficulties of navigation
to pay much heed to me, though he generously made me welcome,
and would not even accept the jewels with which I offered to pay
my passage.  Our voyage was prosperous, and after visiting many lands,
and collecting in each place great store of goodly merchandise,
I found myself at last in Bagdad once more with unheard of riches
of every description.  Again I gave large sums of money to the poor,
and enriched all the mosques in the city, after which I gave myself up
to my friends and relations, with whom I passed my time in feasting
and merriment.

Here Sindbad paused, and all his hearers declared that the adventures
of his fourth voyage had pleased them better than anything they
had heard before.  They then took their leave, followed by Hindbad,
who had once more received a hundred sequins, and with the rest had
been bidden to return next day for the story of the fifth voyage.

When the time came all were in their places, and when they had eaten
and drunk of all that was set before them Sindbad began his tale.



Fifth Voyage


Not even all that I had gone through could make me contented with a
quiet life.  I soon wearied of its pleasures, and longed for change
and adventure.  Therefore I set out once more, but this time in a ship
of my own, which I built and fitted out at the nearest seaport.
I wished to be able to call at whatever port I chose, taking my own time;
but as I did not intend carrying enough goods for a full cargo,
I invited several merchants of different nations to join me.
We set sail with the first favourable wind, and after a long
voyage upon the open seas we landed upon an unknown island which
proved to be uninhabited.  We determined, however, to explore it,
but had not gone far when we found a roc's egg, as large as the one
I had seen before and evidently very nearly hatched, for the beak
of the young bird had already pierced the shell.  In spite of all I
could say to deter them, the merchants who were with me fell upon it
with their hatchets, breaking the shell, and killing the young roc.
Then lighting a fire upon the ground they hacked morsels from the bird,
and proceeded to roast them while I stood by aghast.

Scarcely had they finished their ill-omened repast, when the air
above us was darkened by two mighty shadows.  The captain of my ship,
knowing by experience what this meant, cried out to us that the parent
birds were coming, and urged us to get on board with all speed.
This we did, and the sails were hoisted, but before we had made
any way the rocs reached their despoiled nest and hovered about it,
uttering frightful cries when they discovered the mangled remains
of their young one.  For a moment we lost sight of them, and were
flattering ourselves that we had escaped, when they reappeared
and soared into the air directly over our vessel, and we saw
that each held in its claws an immense rock ready to crush us.
There was a moment of breathless suspense, then one bird loosed
its hold and the huge block of stone hurtled through the air,
but thanks to the presence of mind of the helmsman, who turned
our ship violently in another direction, it fell into the sea close
beside us, cleaving it asunder till we could nearly see the bottom.
We had hardly time to draw a breath of relief before the other rock
fell with a mighty crash right in the midst of our luckless vessel,
smashing it into a thousand fragments, and crushing, or hurling into
the sea, passengers and crew.  I myself went down with the rest,
but had the good fortune to rise unhurt, and by holding on to a piece
of driftwood with one hand and swimming with the other I kept myself
afloat and was presently washed up by the tide on to an island.
Its shores were steep and rocky, but I scrambled up safely and threw
myself down to rest upon the green turf.

When I had somewhat recovered I began to examine the spot in which I
found myself, and truly it seemed to me that I had reached a garden
of delights.  There were trees everywhere, and they were laden
with flowers and fruit, while a crystal stream wandered in and out
under their shadow.  When night came I slept sweetly in a cosy nook,
though the remembrance that I was alone in a strange land made me
sometimes start up and look around me in alarm, and then I wished
heartily that I had stayed at home at ease.  However, the morning
sunlight restored my courage, and I once more wandered among
the trees, but always with some anxiety as to what I might see next.
I had penetrated some distance into the island when I saw an old
man bent and feeble sitting upon the river bank, and at first I
took him to be some ship-wrecked mariner like myself.  Going up
to him I greeted him in a friendly way, but he only nodded his head
at me in reply.  I then asked what he did there, and he made signs
to me that he wished to get across the river to gather some fruit,
and seemed to beg me to carry him on my back.  Pitying his age
and feebleness, I took him up, and wading across the stream I bent
down that he might more easily reach the bank, and bade him get down.
But instead of allowing himself to be set upon his feet (even now it
makes me laugh to think of it!), this creature who had seemed to me
so decrepit leaped nimbly upon my shoulders, and hooking his legs
round my neck gripped me so tightly that I was well-nigh choked,
and so overcome with terror that I fell insensible to the ground.
When I recovered my enemy was still in his place, though he had released
his hold enough to allow me breathing space, and seeing me revive
he prodded me adroitly first with one foot and then with the other,
until I was forced to get up and stagger about with him under the trees
while he gathered and ate the choicest fruits.  This went on all day,
and even at night, when I threw myself down half dead with weariness,
the terrible old man held on tight to my neck, nor did he fail
to greet the first glimmer of morning light by drumming upon me
with his heels, until I perforce awoke and resumed my dreary march
with rage and bitterness in my heart.

It happened one day that I passed a tree under which lay several
dry gourds, and catching one up I amused myself with scooping
out its contents and pressing into it the juice of several
bunches of grapes which hung from every bush.  When it was full
I left it propped in the fork of a tree, and a few days later,
carrying the hateful old man that way, I snatched at my gourd as I
passed it and had the satisfaction of a draught of excellent wine
so good and refreshing that I even forgot my detestable burden,
and began to sing and caper.

The old monster was not slow to perceive the effect which my draught
had produced and that I carried him more lightly than usual, so he
stretched out his skinny hand and seizing the gourd first tasted
its contents cautiously, then drained them to the very last drop.
The wine was strong and the gourd capacious, so he also began
to sing after a fashion, and soon I had the delight of feeling
the iron grip of his goblin legs unclasp, and with one vigorous
effort I threw him to the ground, from which he never moved again.
I was so rejoiced to have at last got rid of this uncanny old man
that I ran leaping and bounding down to the sea shore, where, by the
greatest good luck, I met with some mariners who had anchored off
the island to enjoy the delicious fruits, and to renew their supply
of water.

They heard the story of my escape with amazement, saying, "You fell
into the hands of the Old Man of the Sea, and it is a mercy that he
did not strangle you as he has everyone else upon whose shoulders
he has managed to perch himself.  This island is well known as
the scene of his evil deeds, and no merchant or sailor who lands
upon it cares to stray far away from his comrades."  After we had
talked for a while they took me back with them on board their ship,
where the captain received me kindly, and we soon set sail,
and after several days reached a large and prosperous-looking
town where all the houses were built of stone.  Here we anchored,
and one of the merchants, who had been very friendly to me on
the way, took me ashore with him and showed me a lodging set apart
for strange merchants.  He then provided me with a large sack,
and pointed out to me a party of others equipped in like manner.

"Go with them," said he, "and do as they do, but beware of losing
sight of them, for if you strayed your life would be in danger."

With that he supplied me with provisions, and bade me farewell,
and I set out with my new companions.  I soon learnt that the
object of our expedition was to fill our sacks with cocoanuts,
but when at length I saw the trees and noted their immense height
and the slippery smoothness of their slender trunks, I did not at
all understand how we were to do it.  The crowns of the cocoa-palms
were all alive with monkeys, big and little, which skipped from
one to the other with surprising agility, seeming to be curious
about us and disturbed at our appearance, and I was at first
surprised when my companions after collecting stones began to throw
them at the lively creatures, which seemed to me quite harmless.
But very soon I saw the reason of it and joined them heartily,
for the monkeys, annoyed and wishing to pay us back in our own coin,
began to tear the nuts from the trees and cast them at us with angry
and spiteful gestures, so that after very little labour our sacks
were filled with the fruit which we could not otherwise have obtained.

As soon as we had as many as we could carry we went back to the town,
where my friend bought my share and advised me to continue the same
occupation until I had earned money enough to carry me to my own country.
This I did, and before long had amassed a considerable sum.
Just then I heard that there was a trading ship ready to sail,
and taking leave of my friend I went on board, carrying with me
a goodly store of cocoanuts; and we sailed first to the islands
where pepper grows, then to Comari where the best aloes wood
is found, and where men drink no wine by an unalterable law.
Here I exchanged my nuts for pepper and good aloes wood, and went
a-fishing for pearls with some of the other merchants, and my divers
were so lucky that very soon I had an immense number, and those
very large and perfect.  With all these treasures I came joyfully
back to Bagdad, where I disposed of them for large sums of money,
of which I did not fail as before to give the tenth part to the poor,
and after that I rested from my labours and comforted myself with
all the pleasures that my riches could give me.

Having thus ended his story, Sindbad ordered that one hundred
sequins should be given to Hindbad, and the guests then withdrew;
but after the next day's feast he began the account of his sixth
voyage as follows.



Sixth Voyage


It must be a marvel to you how, after having five times met with
shipwreck and unheard of perils, I could again tempt fortune and
risk fresh trouble.  I am even surprised myself when I look back,
but evidently it was my fate to rove, and after a year of repose
I prepared to make a sixth voyage, regardless of the entreaties
of my friends and relations, who did all they could to keep me
at home.  Instead of going by the Persian Gulf, I travelled
a considerable way overland, and finally embarked from a distant
Indian port with a captain who meant to make a long voyage.
And truly he did so, for we fell in with stormy weather which drove
us completely out of our course, so that for many days neither
captain nor pilot knew where we were, nor where we were going.
When they did at last discover our position we had small ground
for rejoicing, for the captain, casting his turban upon the deck
and tearing his beard, declared that we were in the most dangerous
spot upon the whole wide sea, and had been caught by a current which
was at that minute sweeping us to destruction.  It was too true!
In spite of all the sailors could do we were driven with frightful
rapidity towards the foot of a mountain, which rose sheer out
of the sea, and our vessel was dashed to pieces upon the rocks at
its base, not, however, until we had managed to scramble on shore,
carrying with us the most precious of our possessions.  When we
had done this the captain said to us:

"Now we are here we may as well begin to dig our graves at once,
since from this fatal spot no shipwrecked mariner has ever returned."

This speech discouraged us much, and we began to lament over our
sad fate.

The mountain formed the seaward boundary of a large island,
and the narrow strip of rocky shore upon which we stood was strewn
with the wreckage of a thousand gallant ships, while the bones
of the luckless mariners shone white in the sunshine, and we
shuddered to think how soon our own would be added to the heap.
All around, too, lay vast quantities of the costliest merchandise,
and treasures were heaped in every cranny of the rocks, but all
these things only added to the desolation of the scene.  It struck
me as a very strange thing that a river of clear fresh water,
which gushed out from the mountain not far from where we stood,
instead of flowing into the sea as rivers generally do,
turned off sharply, and flowed out of sight under a natural archway
of rock, and when I went to examine it more closely I found that
inside the cave the walls were thick with diamonds, and rubies,
and masses of crystal, and the floor was strewn with ambergris.
Here, then, upon this desolate shore we abandoned ourselves to
our fate, for there was no possibility of scaling the mountain,
and if a ship had appeared it could only have shared our doom.
The first thing our captain did was to divide equally amongst us
all the food we possessed, and then the length of each man's life
depended on the time he could make his portion last.  I myself could
live upon very little.

Nevertheless, by the time I had buried the last of my companions
my stock of provisions was so small that I hardly thought I should
live long enough to dig my own grave, which I set about doing,
while I regretted bitterly the roving disposition which was always
bringing me into such straits, and thought longingly of all the comfort
and luxury that I had left.  But luckily for me the fancy took me
to stand once more beside the river where it plunged out of sight
in the depths of the cavern, and as I did so an idea struck me.
This river which hid itself underground doubtless emerged again
at some distant spot.  Why should I not build a raft and trust
myself to its swiftly flowing waters?  If I perished before I
could reach the light of day once more I should be no worse off
than I was now, for death stared me in the face, while there was
always the possibility that, as I was born under a lucky star,
I might find myself safe and sound in some desirable land.
I decided at any rate to risk it, and speedily built myself a stout
raft of drift-wood with strong cords, of which enough and to spare
lay strewn upon the beach.  I then made up many packages of rubies,
emeralds, rock crystal, ambergris, and precious stuffs, and bound
them upon my raft, being careful to preserve the balance, and then
I seated myself upon it, having two small oars that I had fashioned
laid ready to my hand, and loosed the cord which held it to the bank.
Once out in the current my raft flew swiftly under the gloomy archway,
and I found myself in total darkness, carried smoothly forward
by the rapid river.  On I went as it seemed to me for many nights
and days.  Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow
escape of being crushed against the rocky roof, and after that I
took the precaution of lying flat upon my precious bales.
Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive,
the inevitable moment came when, after swallowing my last morsel
of food, I began to wonder if I must after all die of hunger.
Then, worn out with anxiety and fatigue, I fell into a deep sleep,
and when I again opened my eyes I was once more in the light of day;
a beautiful country lay before me, and my raft, which was tied
to the river bank, was surrounded by friendly looking black men.
I rose and saluted them, and they spoke to me in return, but I could
not understand a word of their language.  Feeling perfectly bewildered
by my sudden return to life and light, I murmured to myself in Arabic,
"Close thine eyes, and while thou sleepest Heaven will change thy
fortune from evil to good."

One of the natives, who understood this tongue, then came forward saying:

"My brother, be not surprised to see us; this is our land, and as we
came to get water from the river we noticed your raft floating
down it, and one of us swam out and brought you to the shore.
We have waited for your awakening; tell us now whence you come
and where you were going by that dangerous way?"

I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them,
but that I was starving, and would fain eat something first.
I was soon supplied with all I needed, and having satisfied
my hunger I told them faithfully all that had befallen me.
They were lost in wonder at my tale when it was interpreted to them,
and said that adventures so surprising must be related to their king
only by the man to whom they had happened.  So, procuring a horse,
they mounted me upon it, and we set out, followed by several
strong men carrying my raft just as it was upon their shoulders.
In this order we marched into the city of Serendib, where the natives
presented me to their king, whom I saluted in the Indian fashion,
prostrating myself at his feet and kissing the ground; but the
monarch bade me rise and sit beside him, asking first what was
my name.

"I am Sindbad," I replied, "whom men call `the Sailor,' for I
have voyaged much upon many seas."

"And how come you here?" asked the king.

I told my story, concealing nothing, and his surprise and delight
were so great that he ordered my adventures to be written in letters
of gold and laid up in the archives of his kingdom.

Presently my raft was brought in and the bales opened in his presence,
and the king declared that in all his treasury there were no such
rubies and emeralds as those which lay in great heaps before him.
Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I
myself and all that I had were at his disposal, but he answered
me smiling:

"Nay, Sindbad.  Heaven forbid that I should covet your riches;
I will rather add to them, for I desire that you shall not leave
my kingdom without some tokens of my good will."  He then commanded
his officers to provide me with a suitable lodging at his expense,
and sent slaves to wait upon me and carry my raft and my bales to my
new dwelling place.  You may imagine that I praised his generosity
and gave him grateful thanks, nor did I fail to present myself
daily in his audience chamber, and for the rest of my time I amused
myself in seeing all that was most worthy of attention in the city.
The island of Serendib being situated on the equinoctial line,
the days and nights there are of equal length.  The chief city
is placed at the end of a beautiful valley, formed by the highest
mountain in the world, which is in the middle of the island.
I had the curiosity to ascend to its very summit, for this was the
place to which Adam was banished out of Paradise.  Here are found
rubies and many precious things, and rare plants grow abundantly,
with cedar trees and cocoa palms.  On the seashore and at the mouths
of the rivers the divers seek for pearls, and in some valleys
diamonds are plentiful.  After many days I petitioned the king that I
might return to my own country, to which he graciously consented.
Moreover, he loaded me with rich gifts, and when I went to take
leave of him he entrusted me with a royal present and a letter to
the Commander of the Faithful, our sovereign lord, saying, "I pray
you give these to the Caliph Haroun al Raschid, and assure him of
my friendship."

I accepted the charge respectfully, and soon embarked upon
the vessel which the king himself had chosen for me.  The king's
letter was written in blue characters upon a rare and precious
skin of yellowish colour, and these were the words of it:
"The King of the Indies, before whom walk a thousand elephants,
who lives in a palace, of which the roof blazes with a hundred
thousand rubies, and whose treasure house contains twenty thousand
diamond crowns, to the Caliph Haroun al Raschid sends greeting.
Though the offering we present to you is unworthy of your notice,
we pray you to accept it as a mark of the esteem and friendship
which we cherish for you, and of which we gladly send you this token,
and we ask of you a like regard if you deem us worthy of it.
Adieu, brother."

The present consisted of a vase carved from a single ruby,
six inches high and as thick as my finger; this was filled with
the choicest pearls, large, and of perfect shape and lustre;
secondly, a huge snake skin, with scales as large as a sequin,
which would preserve from sickness those who slept upon it.
Then quantities of aloes wood, camphor, and pistachio-nuts; and lastly,
a beautiful slave girl, whose robes glittered with precious stones.

After a long and prosperous voyage we landed at Balsora, and I made
haste to reach Bagdad, and taking the king's letter I presented
myself at the palace gate, followed by the beautiful slave,
and various members of my own family, bearing the treasure.

As soon as I had declared my errand I was conducted into the
presence of the Caliph, to whom, after I had made my obeisance,
I gave the letter and the king's gift, and when he had examined
them he demanded of me whether the Prince of Serendib was really
as rich and powerful as he claimed to be.

"Commander of the Faithful," I replied, again bowing humbly before him,
"I can assure your Majesty that he has in no way exaggerated his wealth
and grandeur.  Nothing can equal the magnificence of his palace.
When he goes abroad his throne is prepared upon the back of an elephant,
and on either side of him ride his ministers, his favourites,
and courtiers.  On his elephant's neck sits an officer, his golden lance
in his hand, and behind him stands another bearing a pillar of gold,
at the top of which is an emerald as long as my hand.  A thousand
men in cloth of gold, mounted upon richly caparisoned elephants,
go before him, and as the procession moves onward the officer
who guides his elephant cries aloud, `Behold the mighty monarch,
the powerful and valiant Sultan of the Indies, whose palace
is covered with a hundred thousand rubies, who possesses twenty
thousand diamond crowns.  Behold a monarch greater than Solomon
and Mihrage in all their glory!'"

"Then the one who stands behind the throne answers:  "This king,
so great and powerful, must die, must die, must die!"

"And the first takes up the chant again, `All praise to Him
who lives for evermore.'"

"Further, my lord, in Serendib no judge is needed, for to the king
himself his people come for justice."

The Caliph was well satisfied with my report.

"From the king's letter," said he, "I judged that he was a wise man.
It seems that he is worthy of his people, and his people of him."

So saying he dismissed me with rich presents, and I returned
in peace to my own house.

When Sindbad had done speaking his guests withdrew, Hindbad having
first received a hundred sequins, but all returned next day to hear
the story of the seventh voyage, Sindbad thus began.



Seventh and Last Voyage


After my sixth voyage I was quite determined that I would go
to sea no more.  I was now of an age to appreciate a quiet life,
and I had run risks enough.  I only wished to end my days in peace.
One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends,
I was told that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me,
and when he was admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of
Haroun al Raschid, which I accordingly did.  After I had saluted him,
the Caliph said:

"I have sent for you, Sindbad, because I need your services.
I have chosen you to bear a letter and a gift to the King of Serendib
in return for his message of friendship."

The Caliph's commandment fell upon me like a thunderbolt.

"Commander of the Faithful," I answered, "I am ready to do all that
your Majesty commands, but I humbly pray you to remember that I am
utterly disheartened by the unheard of sufferings I have undergone.
Indeed, I have made a vow never again to leave Bagdad."

With this I gave him a long account of some of my strangest adventures,
to which he listened patiently.

"I admit," said he, "that you have indeed had some extraordinary
experiences, but I do not see why they should hinder you from doing
as I wish.  You have only to go straight to Serendib and give
my message, then you are free to come back and do as you will.
But go you must; my honour and dignity demand it."

Seeing that there was no help for it, I declared myself willing
to obey; and the Caliph, delighted at having got his own way,
gave me a thousand sequins for the expenses of the voyage.
I was soon ready to start, and taking the letter and the present I
embarked at Balsora, and sailed quickly and safely to Serendib.
Here, when I had disclosed my errand, I was well received,
and brought into the presence of the king, who greeted me with joy.

"Welcome, Sindbad," he cried.  "I have thought of you often,
and rejoice to see you once more."

After thanking him for the honour that he did me, I displayed the
Caliph's gifts.  First a bed with complete hangings all cloth of gold,
which cost a thousand sequins, and another like to it of crimson stuff.
Fifty robes of rich embroidery, a hundred of the finest white
linen from Cairo, Suez, Cufa, and Alexandria.  Then more beds
of different fashion, and an agate vase carved with the figure
of a man aiming an arrow at a lion, and finally a costly table,
which had once belonged to King Solomon.  The King of Serendib
received with satisfaction the assurance of the Caliph's friendliness
toward him, and now my task being accomplished I was anxious to depart,
but it was some time before the king would think of letting me go.
At last, however, he dismissed me with many presents, and I lost
no time in going on board a ship, which sailed at once, and for four
days all went well.  On the fifth day we had the misfortune to fall
in with pirates, who seized our vessel, killing all who resisted,
and making prisoners of those who were prudent enough to submit at once,
of whom I was one.  When they had despoiled us of all we possessed,
they forced us to put on vile raiment, and sailing to a distant island
there sold us for slaves.  I fell into the hands of a rich merchant,
who took me home with him, and clothed and fed me well, and after
some days sent for me and questioned me as to what I could do.

I answered that I was a rich merchant who had been captured by pirates,
and therefore I knew no trade.

"Tell me," said he, "can you shoot with a bow?"

I replied that this had been one of the pastimes of my youth,
and that doubtless with practice my skill would come back to me.

Upon this he provided me with a bow and arrows, and mounting me with
him upon his own elephant took the way to a vast forest which lay far
from the town.  When we had reached the wildest part of it we stopped,
and my master said to me:  "This forest swarms with elephants.
Hide yourself in this great tree, and shoot at all that pass you.
When you have succeeded in killing one come and tell me."

So saying he gave me a supply of food, and returned to the town,
and I perched myself high up in the tree and kept watch.  That night
I saw nothing, but just after sunrise the next morning a large
herd of elephants came crashing and trampling by.  I lost no time
in letting fly several arrows, and at last one of the great animals
fell to the ground dead, and the others retreated, leaving me free
to come down from my hiding place and run back to tell my master
of my success, for which I was praised and regaled with good things.
Then we went back to the forest together and dug a mighty trench
in which we buried the elephant I had killed, in order that when it
became a skeleton my master might return and secure its tusks.

For two months I hunted thus, and no day passed without my securing,
an elephant.  Of course I did not always station myself in the
same tree, but sometimes in one place, sometimes in another.
One morning as I watched the coming of the elephants I was surprised
to see that, instead of passing the tree I was in, as they usually did,
they paused, and completely surrounded it, trumpeting horribly,
and shaking the very ground with their heavy tread, and when I
saw that their eyes were fixed upon me I was terrified, and my
arrows dropped from my trembling hand.  I had indeed good reason
for my terror when, an instant later, the largest of the animals
wound his trunk round the stem of my tree, and with one mighty
effort tore it up by the roots, bringing me to the ground entangled
in its branches.  I thought now that my last hour was surely come;
but the huge creature, picking me up gently enough, set me upon
its back, where I clung more dead than alive, and followed
by the whole herd turned and crashed off into the dense forest.
It seemed to me a long time before I was once more set upon my feet
by the elephant, and I stood as if in a dream watching the herd,
which turned and trampled off in another direction, and were soon
hidden in the dense underwood.  Then, recovering myself, I looked
about me, and found that I was standing upon the side of a great hill,
strewn as far as I could see on either hand with bones and tusks
of elephants.  "This then must be the elephants' burying place,"
I said to myself, "and they must have brought me here that I might
cease to persecute them, seeing that I want nothing but their tusks,
and here lie more than I could carry away in a lifetime."

Whereupon I turned and made for the city as fast as I could go,
not seeing a single elephant by the way, which convinced me that
they had retired deeper into the forest to leave the way open
to the Ivory Hill, and I did not know how sufficiently to admire
their sagacity.  After a day and a night I reached my master's house,
and was received by him with joyful surprise.

"Ah! poor Sindbad," he cried, "I was wondering what could have become
of you.  When I went to the forest I found the tree newly uprooted,
and the arrows lying beside it, and I feared I should never see
you again.  Pray tell me how you escaped death."

I soon satisfied his curiosity, and the next day we went together
to the Ivory Hill, and he was overjoyed to find that I had told him
nothing but the truth.  When we had loaded our elephant with as
many tusks as it could carry and were on our way back to the city,
he said:

"My brother--since I can no longer treat as a slave one who has
enriched me thus--take your liberty and may Heaven prosper you.
I will no longer conceal from you that these wild elephants have
killed numbers of our slaves every year.  No matter what good advice
we gave them, they were caught sooner or later.  You alone have
escaped the wiles of these animals, therefore you must be under the
special protection of Heaven.  Now through you the whole town will
be enriched without further loss of life, therefore you shall not
only receive your liberty, but I will also bestow a fortune upon you."

To which I replied, "Master, I thank you, and wish you all prosperity.
For myself I only ask liberty to return to my own country."

"It is well," he answered, "the monsoon will soon bring the ivory
ships hither, then I will send you on your way with somewhat to pay
your passage."

So I stayed with him till the time of the monsoon, and every
day we added to our store of ivory till all his ware-houses
were overflowing with it.  By this time the other merchants
knew the secret, but there was enough and to spare for all.
When the ships at last arrived my master himself chose the one
in which I was to sail, and put on board for me a great store of
choice provisions, also ivory in abundance, and all the costliest
curiosities of the country, for which I could not thank him enough,
and so we parted.  I left the ship at the first port we came to,
not feeling at ease upon the sea after all that had happened to me
by reason of it, and having disposed of my ivory for much gold,
and bought many rare and costly presents, I loaded my pack animals,
and joined a caravan of merchants.  Our journey was long and tedious,
but I bore it patiently, reflecting that at least I had not to
fear tempests, nor pirates, nor serpents, nor any of the other perils
from which I had suffered before, and at length we reached Bagdad.
My first care was to present myself before the Caliph, and give him
an account of my embassy.  He assured me that my long absence had
disquieted him much, but he had nevertheless hoped for the best.
As to my adventure among the elephants he heard it with amazement,
declaring that he could not have believed it had not my truthfulness
been well known to him.

By his orders this story and the others I had told him were written
by his scribes in letters of gold, and laid up among his treasures.
I took my leave of him, well satisfied with the honours and rewards he
bestowed upon me; and since that time I have rested from my labours,
and given myself up wholly to my family and my friends.

Thus Sindbad ended the story of his seventh and last voyage,
and turning to Hindbad he added:

"Well, my friend, and what do you think now?  Have you ever heard
of anyone who has suffered more, or had more narrow escapes than
I have?  Is it not just that I should now enjoy a life of ease
and tranquillity?"

Hindbad drew near, and kissing his hand respectfully, replied, "Sir, you
have indeed known fearful perils; my troubles have been nothing compared
to yours.  Moreover, the generous use you make of your wealth proves
that you deserve it.  May you live long and happily in the enjoyment
in it."

Sindbad then gave him a hundred sequins, and hence-forward counted
him among his friends; also he caused him to give up his profession
as a porter, and to eat daily at his table that he might all his
life remember Sindbad the Sailor.



The Little Hunchback


In the kingdom of Kashgar, which is, as everybody knows,
situated on the frontiers of Great Tartary, there lived long ago
a tailor and his wife who loved each other very much.  One day,
when the tailor was hard at work, a little hunchback came and sat at
the entrance of the shop, and began to sing and play his tambourine.
The tailor was amused with the antics of the fellow, and thought
he would take him home to divert his wife.  The hunchback having
agreed to his proposal, the tailor closed his shop and they set
off together.

When they reached the house they found the table ready laid for supper,
and in a very few minutes all three were sitting before a beautiful
fish which the tailor's wife had cooked with her own hands.
But unluckily, the hunchback happened to swallow a large bone,
and, in spite of all the tailor and his wife could do to help him,
died of suffocation in an instant.  Besides being very sorry for
the poor man, the tailor and his wife were very much frightened on
their own account, for if the police came to hear of it the worthy
couple ran the risk of being thrown into prison for wilful murder.
In order to prevent this dreadful calamity they both set about
inventing some plan which would throw suspicion on some one else,
and at last they made up their minds that they could do no better than
select a Jewish doctor who lived close by as the author of the crime.
So the tailor picked up the hunchback by his head while his wife
took his feet and carried him to the doctor's house.  Then they
knocked at the door, which opened straight on to a steep staircase.
A servant soon appeared, feeling her way down the dark staircase
and inquired what they wanted.

"Tell your master," said the tailor, "that we have brought a very sick
man for him to cure; and," he added, holding out some money, "give him
this in advance, so that he may not feel he is wasting his time."
The servant remounted the stairs to give the message to the doctor,
and the moment she was out of sight the tailor and his wife carried
the body swiftly after her, propped it up at the top of the staircase,
and ran home as fast as their legs could carry them.

Now the doctor was so delighted at the news of a patient (for he
was young, and had not many of them), that he was transported
with joy.

"Get a light," he called to the servant, "and follow me as fast as
you can!" and rushing out of his room he ran towards the staircase.
There he nearly fell over the body of the hunchback, and without knowing
what it was gave it such a kick that it rolled right to the bottom,
and very nearly dragged the doctor after it.  "A light! a light!"
he cried again, and when it was brought and he saw what he had done
he was almost beside himself with terror.

"Holy Moses!" he exclaimed, "why did I not wait for the light?
I have killed the sick man whom they brought me; and if the sacred
Ass of Esdras does not come to my aid I am lost!  It will not be long
before I am led to jail as a murderer."

Agitated though he was, and with reason, the doctor did not forget
to shut the house door, lest some passers-by might chance to see
what had happened.  He then took up the corpse and carried it
into his wife's room, nearly driving her crazy with fright.

"It is all over with us!" she wailed, "if we cannot find some
means of getting the body out of the house.  Once let the sun
rise and we can hide it no longer!  How were you driven to commit
such a terrible crime?"

"Never mind that," returned the doctor, "the thing is to find a way
out of it."

For a long while the doctor and his wife continued to turn over
in their minds a way of escape, but could not find any that seemed
good enough.  At last the doctor gave it up altogether and resigned
himself to bear the penalty of his misfortune.

But his wife, who had twice his brains, suddenly exclaimed, "I have
thought of something!  Let us carry the body on the roof of the house
and lower it down the chimney of our neighbour the Mussulman."
Now this Mussulman was employed by the Sultan, and furnished
his table with oil and butter.  Part of his house was occupied
by a great storeroom, where rats and mice held high revel.

The doctor jumped at his wife's plan, and they took up the hunchback,
and passing cords under his armpits they let him down into the
purveyor's bed-room so gently that he really seemed to be leaning
against the wall.  When they felt he was touching the ground they
drew up the cords and left him.

Scarcely had they got back to their own house when the purveyor
entered his room.  He had spent the evening at a wedding feast,
and had a lantern in his hand.  In the dim light it cast he was
astonished to see a man standing in his chimney, but being naturally
courageous he seized a stick and made straight for the supposed thief.
"Ah!" he cried, "so it is you, and not the rats and mice, who steal
my butter.  I'll take care that you don't want to come back!"

So saying he struck him several hard blows.  The corpse fell on
the floor, but the man only redoubled his blows, till at length it
occurred to him it was odd that the thief should lie so still and make
no resistance.  Then, finding he was quite dead, a cold fear took
possession of him.  "Wretch that I am," said he, "I have murdered
a man.  Ah, my revenge has gone too far.  Without tho help of Allah
I am undone!  Cursed be the goods which have led me to my ruin."
And already he felt the rope round his neck.

But when he had got over the first shock he began to think of some
way out of the difficulty, and seizing the hunchback in his arms he
carried him out into the street, and leaning him against the wall
of a shop he stole back to his own house, without once looking
behind him.

A few minutes before the sun rose, a rich Christian merchant,
who supplied the palace with all sorts of necessaries, left his house,
after a night of feasting, to go to the bath.  Though he was
very drunk, he was yet sober enough to know that the dawn was at hand,
and that all good Mussulmen would shortly be going to prayer.
So he hastened his steps lest he should meet some one on his way
to the mosque, who, seeing his condition, would send him to prison
as a drunkard.  In his haste he jostled against the hunchback,
who fell heavily upon him, and the merchant, thinking he was being
attacked by a thief, knocked him down with one blow of his fist.
He then called loudly for help, beating the fallen man all
the while.

The chief policeman of the quarter came running up, and found
a Christian ill-treating a Mussulman.  "What are you doing?"
he asked indignantly.

"He tried to rob me," replied the merchant, "and very nearly
choked me."

"Well, you have had your revenge," said the man, catching hold
of his arm.  "Come, be off with you!"

As he spoke he held out his hand to the hunchback to help him up,
but the hunchback never moved.  "Oho!" he went on, looking closer,
"so this is the way a Christian has the impudence to treat
a Mussulman!" and seizing the merchant in a firm grasp he took
him to the inspector of police, who threw him into prison till
the judge should be out of bed and ready to attend to his case.
All this brought the merchant to his senses, but the more he thought
of it the less he could understand how the hunchback could have died
merely from the blows he had received.

The merchant was still pondering on this subject when he was
summoned before the chief of police and questioned about his crime,
which he could not deny.  As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's
private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence
of death until he had consulted his master.  He went to the palace
to demand an audience, and told his story to the Sultan, who only answered,

"There is no pardon for a Christian who kills a Mussulman.
Do your duty."

So the chief of police ordered a gallows to be erected, and sent
criers to proclaim in every street in the city that a Christian
was to be hanged that day for having killed a Mussulman.

When all was ready the merchant was brought from prison and led
to the foot of the gallows.  The executioner knotted the cord firmly
round the unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him
into the air, when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd,
and cried, panting, to the hangman,

"Stop, stop, don't be in such a hurry.  It was not he who did
the murder, it was I."

The chief of police, who was present to see that everything was
in order, put several questions to the purveyor, who told him the
whole story of the death of the hunchback, and how he had carried
the body to the place where it had been found by the Christian merchant.

"You are going," he said to the chief of police, "to kill an
innocent man, for it is impossible that he should have murdered
a creature who was dead already.  It is bad enough for me
to have slain a Mussulman without having it on my conscience
that a Christian who is guiltless should suffer through my fault."

Now the purveyor's speech had been made in a loud voice, and was
heard by all the crowd, and even if he had wished it, the chief
of police could not have escaped setting the merchant free.

"Loose the cords from the Christian's neck," he commanded,
turning to the executioner, "and hang this man in his place,
seeing that by his own confession he is the murderer."

The hangman did as he was bid, and was tying the cord firmly,
when he was stopped by the voice of the Jewish doctor beseeching
him to pause, for he had something very important to say.
When he had fought his way through the crowd and reached the chief
of police,

"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Mussulman whom you desire
to hang is unworthy of death; I alone am guilty.  Last night
a man and a woman who were strangers to me knocked at my door,
bringing with them a patient for me to cure.  The servant opened it,
but having no light was hardly able to make out their faces,
though she readily agreed to wake me and to hand me the fee for
my services.  While she was telling me her story they seem to have
carried the sick man to the top of the staircase and then left
him there.  I jumped up in a hurry without waiting for a lantern,
and in the darkness I fell against something, which tumbled headlong
down the stairs and never stopped till it reached the bottom.
When I examined the body I found it was quite dead, and the corpse
was that of a hunchback Mussulman.  Terrified at what we had done,
my wife and I took the body on the roof and let it down the chimney
of our neighbour the purveyor, whom you were just about to hang.
The purveyor, finding him in his room, naturally thought he was a thief,
and struck him such a blow that the man fell down and lay motionless
on the floor.  Stooping to examine him, and finding him stone dead,
the purveyor supposed that the man had died from the blow he
had received; but of course this was a mistake, as you will see from
my account, and I only am the murderer; and although I am innocent
of any wish to commit a crime, I must suffer for it all the same,
or else have the blood of two Musselmans on my conscience.
Therefore send away this man, I pray you, and let me take his place,
as it is I who am guilty."

On hearing the declaration of the Jewish doctor, the chief of police
commanded that he should be led to the gallows, and the Sultan's
purveyor go free.  The cord was placed round the Jew's neck,
and his feet had already ceased to touch the ground when the voice
of the tailor was heard beseeching the executioner to pause one
moment and to listen to what he had to say.

"Oh, my lord," he cried, turning to the chief of police,
"how nearly have you caused the death of three innocent people!
But if you will only have the patience to listen to my tale,
you shall know who is the real culprit.  If some one has to suffer,
it must be me!  Yesterday, at dusk, I was working in my shop with a
light heart when the little hunchback, who was more than half drunk,
came and sat in the doorway.  He sang me several songs, and then
I invited him to finish the evening at my house.  He accepted
my invitation, and we went away together.  At supper I helped him
to a slice of fish, but in eating it a bone stuck in his throat,
and in spite of all we could do he died in a few minutes.  We felt deeply
sorry for his death, but fearing lest we should be held responsible,
we carried the corpse to the house of the Jewish doctor.  I knocked,
and desired the servant to beg her master to come down as fast
as possible and see a sick man whom we had brought for him to cure;
and in order to hasten his movements I placed a piece of money
in her hand as the doctor's fee.  Directly she had disappeared I
dragged the body to the top of the stairs, and then hurried away
with my wife back to our house.  In descending the stairs the doctor
accidentally knocked over the corpse, and finding him dead believed
that he himself was the murderer.  But now you know the truth set
him free, and let me die in his stead."

The chief of police and the crowd of spectators were lost in astonishment
at the strange events to which the death of the hunchback had given rise.

"Loosen the Jewish doctor," said he to the hangman, "and string up
the tailor instead, since he has made confession of his crime.
Really, one cannot deny that this is a very singular story,
and it deserves to be written in letters of gold."

The executioner speedily untied the knots which confined the doctor,
and was passing the cord round the neck of the tailor, when the
Sultan of Kashgar, who had missed his jester, happened to make
inquiry of his officers as to what had become of him.

"Sire," replied they, "the hunchback having drunk more than was
good for him, escaped from the palace and was seen wandering about
the town, where this morning he was found dead.  A man was arrested
for having caused his death, and held in custody till a gallows
was erected.  At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment,
first one man arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves
of the murder, and this went on for a long time, and at the
present instant the chief of police is engaged in questioning
a man who declares that he alone is the true assassin."

The Sultan of Kashgar no sooner heard these words than he ordered
an usher to go to the chief of police and to bring all the persons
concerned in the hunchback's death, together with the corpse,
that he wished to see once again.  The usher hastened on his errand,
but was only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging
in the air, when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd,
commanding the hangman to cut down the body.  The hangman,
recognising the usher as one of the king's servants, cut down
the tailor, and the usher, seeing the man was safe, sought the chief
of police and gave him the Sultan's message.  Accordingly, the chief
of police at once set out for the palace, taking with him the tailor,
the doctor, the purveyor, and the merchant, who bore the dead
hunchback on their shoulders.

When the procession reached the palace the chief of police prostrated
himself at the feet of the Sultan, and related all that he knew of
the matter.  The Sultan was so much struck by the circumstances that he
ordered his private historian to write down an exact account of what
had passed, so that in the years to come the miraculous escape of the
four men who had thought themselves murderers might never be forgotten.

The Sultan asked everybody concerned in the hunchback's affair
to tell him their stories.  Among others was a prating barber,
whose tale of one of his brothers follows.



Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother


As long as our father lived Alnaschar was very idle.  Instead of working
for his bread he was not ashamed to ask for it every evening, and to
support himself next day on what he had received the night before.
When our father died, worn out by age, he only left seven hundred
silver drachmas to be divided amongst us, which made one hundred
for each son.  Alnaschar, who had never possessed so much money
in his life, was quite puzzled to know what to do with it.
After reflecting upon the matter for some time he decided to lay it
out on glasses, bottles, and things of that sort, which he would
buy from a wholesale merchant.  Having bought his stock he next
proceeded to look out for a small shop in a good position, where he
sat down at the open door, his wares being piled up in an uncovered
basket in front of him, waiting for a customer among the passers-by.

In this attitude he remained seated, his eyes fixed on the basket,
but his thoughts far away.  Unknown to himself he began to talk
out loud, and a tailor, whose shop was next door to his, heard quite
plainly what he was saying.

"This basket," said Alnaschar to himself, "has cost me a hundred drachmas--
all that I possess in the world.  Now in selling the contents
piece by piece I shall turn two hundred, and these hundreds I
shall again lay out in glass, which will produce four hundred.
By this means I shall in course of time make four thousand drachmas,
which will easily double themselves.  When I have got ten thousand I
will give up the glass trade and become a jeweller, and devote all
my time to trading in pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones.
At last, having all the wealth that heart can desire, I will buy
a beautiful country house, with horses and slaves, and then I will
lead a merry life and entertain my friends.  At my feasts I will
send for musicians and dancers from the neighbouring town to amuse
my guests.  In spite of my riches I shall not, however, give up trade
till I have amassed a capital of a hundred thousand drachmas, when,
having become a man of much consideration, I shall request the hand
of the grand-vizir's daughter, taking care to inform the worthy
father that I have heard favourable reports of her beauty and wit,
and that I will pay down on our wedding day 3 thousand gold pieces.
Should the vizir refuse my proposal, which after all is hardly to
be expected, I will seize him by the beard and drag him to my house."

When I shall have married his daughter I will give her ten of the best
eunuchs that can be found for her service.  Then I shall put on my most
gorgeous robes, and mounted on a horse with a saddle of fine gold,
and its trappings blazing with diamonds, followed by a train
of slaves, I shall present myself at the house of the grand-vizir,
the people casting down their eyes and bowing low as I pass along.
At the foot of the grand-vizir's staircase I shall dismount,
and while my servants stand in a row to right and left I shall
ascend the stairs, at the head of which the grand-vizir will be
waiting to receive me.  He will then embrace me as his son-in-law,
and giving me his seat will place himself below me.  This being done
(as I have every reason to expect), two of my servants will enter,
each bearing a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold.
One of these I shall present to him saying, "Here are the thousand
gold pieces that I offered for your daughter's hand, and here,"
I shall continue, holding out the second purse, "are another
thousand to show you that I am a man who is better than his word."
After hearing of such generosity the world will talk of nothing else.

I shall return home with the same pomp as I set out, and my wife
will send an officer to compliment me on my visit to her father,
and I shall confer on the officer the honour of a rich dress and
a handsome gift.  Should she send one to me I shall refuse it and
dismiss the bearer.  I shall never allow my wife to leave her rooms
on any pretext whatever without my permission, and my visits to her
will be marked by all the ceremony calculated to inspire respect.
No establishment will be better ordered than mine, and I shall take
care always to be dressed in a manner suitable to my position.
In the evening, when we retire to our apartments, I shall sit
in the place of honour, where I shall assume a grand demeanour
and speak little, gazing straight before me, and when my wife,
lovely as the full moon, stands humbly in front of my chair I shall
pretend not to see her.  Then her women will say to me, "Respected lord
and master, your wife and slave is before you waiting to be noticed.
She is mortified that you never deign to look her way; she is
tired of standing so long.  Beg her, we pray you, to be seated."
Of course I shall give no signs of even hearing this speech,
which will vex them mightily.  They will throw themselves at my feet
with lamentations, and at length I will raise my head and throw a
careless glance at her, then I shall go back to my former attitude.
The women will think that I am displeased at my wife's dress and
will lead her away to put on a finer one, and I on my side shall
replace the one I am wearing with another yet more splendid.
They will then return to the charge, but this time it will take
much longer before they persuade me even to look at my wife.
It is as well to begin on my wedding-day as I mean to go on for the
rest of our lives.

The next day she will complain to her mother of the way she has
been treated, which will fill my heart with joy.  Her mother
will come to seek me, and, kissing my hands with respect,
will say, "My lord" (for she could not dare to risk my anger
by using the familiar title of "son-in-law"), "My lord, do not,
I implore you, refuse to look upon my daughter or to approach her.
She only lives to please you, and loves you with all her soul."
But I shall pay no more heed to my mother-in-law's words than I
did to those of the women.  Again she will beseech me to listen
to her entreaties, throwing herself this time at my feet, but all
to no purpose.  Then, putting a glass of wine into my wife's hand,
she will say to her, "There, present that to him yourself, he cannot
have the cruelty to reject anything offered by so beautiful a hand,"
and my wife will take it and offer it to me tremblingly with tears
in her eyes, but I shall look in the other direction.  This will
cause her to weep still more, and she will hold out the glass crying,
"Adorable husband, never shall I cease my prayers till you have done
me the favour to drink."  Sick of her importunities, these words
will goad me to fury.  I shall dart an angry look at her and give
her a sharp blow on the cheek, at the same time giving her a kick
so violent that she will stagger across the room and fall on to
the sofa.

"My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams
that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit
the basket of glass.  It fell into the street and was instantly
broken into a thousand pieces."

His neighbour the tailor, who had been listening to his visions,
broke into a loud fit of laughter as he saw this sight.

"Wretched man!" he cried, "you ought to die of shame at behaving
so to a young wife who has done nothing to you.  You must be
a brute for her tears and prayers not to touch your heart.
If I were the grand-vizir I would order you a hundred blows from
a bullock whip, and would have you led round the town accompanied
by a herald who should proclaim your crimes."

The accident, so fatal to all his profits, had restored my brother
to his senses, and seeing that the mischief had been caused by his
own insufferable pride, he rent his clothes and tore his hair,
and lamented himself so loudly that the passers-by stopped to listen.
It was a Friday, so these were more numerous than usual.
Some pitied Alnaschar, others only laughed at him, but the vanity
which had gone to his head had disappeared with his basket of glass,
and he was loudly bewailing his folly when a lady, evidently a person
of consideration, rode by on a mule.  She stopped and inquired
what was the matter, and why the man wept.  They told her that he
was a poor man who had laid out all his money on this basket
of glass, which was now broken.  On hearing the cause of these loud
wails the lady turned to her attendant and said to him, "Give him
whatever you have got with you."  The man obeyed, and placed in my
brother's hands a purse containing five hundred pieces of gold.
Alnaschar almost died of joy on receiving it.  He blessed the lady
a thousand times, and, shutting up his shop where he had no longer
anything to do, he returned home.

He was still absorbed in contemplating his good fortune, when a knock came
to his door, and on opening it he found an old woman standing outside.

"My son," she said, "I have a favour to ask of you.  It is the hour
of prayer and I have not yet washed myself.  Let me, I beg you,
enter your house, and give me water."

My brother, although the old woman was a stranger to him, did not
hesitate to do as she wished.  He gave her a vessel of water and then
went back to his place and his thoughts, and with his mind busy over
his last adventure, he put his gold into a long and narrow purse,
which he could easily carry in his belt.  During this time the old
woman was busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she
came and prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then
rising called down endless blessings on his head.  Observing her
shabby clothes, my brother thought that her gratitude was in reality
a hint that he should give her some money to buy some new ones,
so he held out two pieces of gold.  The old woman started back
in surprise as if she had received an insult.  "Good heavens!"
she exclaimed, "what is the meaning of this?  Is it possible that you
take me, my lord, for one of those miserable creatures who force
their way into houses to beg for alms?  Take back your money.
I am thankful to say I do not need it, for I belong to a beautiful
lady who is very rich and gives me everything I want."

My brother was not clever enough to detect that the old woman had
merely refused the two pieces of money he had offered her in order
to get more, but he inquired if she could procure him the pleasure
of seeing this lady.

"Willingly," she replied; "and she will be charmed to marry you,
and to make you the master of all her wealth.  So pick up your money
and follow me."

Delighted at the thought that he had found so easily both a
fortune and a beautiful wife, my brother asked no more questions,
but concealing his purse, with the money the lady had given him,
in the folds of his dress, he set out joyfully with his guide.

They walked for some distance till the old woman stopped at a
large house, where she knocked.  The door was opened by a young
Greek slave, and the old woman led my brother across a well-paved
court into a well-furnished hall.  Here she left him to inform
her mistress of his presence, and as the day was hot he flung
himself on a pile of cushions and took off his heavy turban.
In a few minutes there entered a lady, and my brother perceived at
the first glance that she was even more beautiful and more richly
dressed than he had expected.  He rose from his seat, but the lady
signed to him to sit down again and placed herself beside him.
After the usual compliments had passed between them she said,
"We are not comfortable here, let us go into another room,"
and passing into a smaller chamber, apparently communicating
with no other, she continued to talk to him for some time.
Then rising hastily she left him, saying, "Stay where you are,
I will come back in a moment."

He waited as he was told, but instead of the lady there entered a huge
black slave with a sword in his hand.  Approaching my brother with
an angry countenance he exclaimed, "What business have you here?"
His voice and manner were so terrific that Alnaschar had not strength
to reply, and allowed his gold to be taken from him, and even
sabre cuts to be inflicted on him without making any resistance.
As soon as he was let go, he sank on the ground powerless to move,
though he still had possession of his senses.  Thinking he was dead,
the black ordered the Greek slave to bring him some salt, and between
them they rubbed it into his wounds, thus giving him acute agony,
though he had the presence of mind to give no sign of life.
They then left him, and their place was taken by the old woman,
who dragged him to a trapdoor and threw him down into a vault filled
with the bodies of murdered men.

At first the violence of his fall caused him to lose consciousness,
but luckily the salt which had been rubbed into his wounds had by
its smarting preserved his life, and little by little he regained
his strength.  At the end of two days he lifted the trapdoor
during the night and hid himself in the courtyard till daybreak,
when he saw the old woman leave the house in search of more prey.
Luckily she did not observe him, and when she was out of sight he
stole from this nest of assassins and took refuge in my house.

I dressed his wounds and tended him carefully, and when a month
had passed he was as well as ever.  His one thought was how to
be revenged on that wicked old hag, and for this purpose he had
a purse made large enough to contain five hundred gold pieces,
but filled it instead with bits of glass.  This he tied round
him with his sash, and, disguising himself as an old woman,
he took a sabre, which he hid under his dress.

One morning as he was hobbling through the streets he met his
old enemy prowling to see if she could find anyone to decoy.
He went up to her and, imitating the voice of a woman, he said,
"Do you happen to have a pair of scales you could lend me?
I have just come from Persia and have brought with me five hundred
gold pieces, and I am anxious to see if they are the proper weight."

"Good woman," replied the old hag, "you could not have asked
anyone better.  My son is a money-changer, and if you will follow
me he will weigh them for you himself.  Only we must be quick or he
will have gone to his shop."  So saying she led the way to the same
house as before, and the door was opened by the same Greek slave.

Again my brother was left in the hall, and the pretended son
appeared under the form of the black slave.  "Miserable crone,"
he said to my brother, "get up and come with me," and turned
to lead the way to the place of murder.  Alnaschar rose too,
and drawing the sabre from under his dress dealt the black such
a blow on his neck that his head was severed from his body.
My brother picked up the head with one hand, and seizing the body
with the other dragged it to the vault, when he threw it in and sent
the head after it.  The Greek slave, supposing that all had passed
as usual, shortly arrived with the basin of salt, but when she
beheld Alnaschar with the sabre in his hand she let the basin fall
and turned to fly.  My brother, however, was too quick for her,
and in another instant her head was rolling from her shoulders.
The noise brought the old woman running to see what was the matter,
and he seized her before she had time to escape.  "Wretch!" he cried,
"do you know me?"

"Who are you, my lord?" she replied trembling all over.  "I have
never seen you before."

"I am he whose house you entered to offer your hypocritical prayers.
Don't you remember now?"

She flung herself on her knees to implore mercy, but he cut her
in four pieces.

There remained only the lady, who was quite ignorant of all that
was taking place around her.  He sought her through the house,
and when at last he found her, she nearly fainted with terror at
the sight of him.  She begged hard for life, which he was generous
enough to give her, but he bade her to tell him how she had got into
partnership with the abominable creatures he had just put to death.

"I was once," replied she, "the wife of an honest merchant, and that
old woman, whose wickedness I did not know, used occasionally to
visit me.  "Madam," she said to me one day, "we have a grand wedding
at our house to-day. If you would do us the honour to be present,
I am sure you would enjoy yourself."  I allowed myself to be persuaded,
put on my richest dress, and took a purse with a hundred pieces of gold.
Once inside the doors I was kept by force by that dreadful black,
and it is now three years that I have been here, to my great grief."

"That horrible black must have amassed great wealth, remarked my brother.

"Such wealth," returned she, "that if you succeed in carrying it
all away it will make you rich for ever.  Come and let us see
how much there is."

She led Alnaschar into a chamber filled with coffers packed with gold,
which he gazed at with an admiration he was powerless to conceal.  "Go,"
she said, "and bring men to carry them away."

My brother did not wait to be told twice, and hurried out into
the streets, where he soon collected ten men.  They all came back
to the house, but what was his surprise to find the door open,
and the room with the chests of gold quite empty.  The lady had been
cleverer than himself, and had made the best use of her time.  However,
he tried to console himself by removing all the beautiful furniture,
which more than made up for the five hundred gold pieces he had lost.

Unluckily, on leaving the house, he forgot to lock the door,
and the neighbours, finding the place empty, informed the police,
who next morning arrested Alnaschar as a thief.  My brother tried to bribe
them to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands,
and forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge.
When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint,
he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he
had taken to his house the day before.

"Sir," replied Alnaschar, "I am ready to tell you the whole story,
but give, I pray you, your word, that I shall run no risk of punishment."

"That I promise," said the judge.  So my brother began at the
beginning and related all his adventures, and how he had avenged
himself on those who had betrayed him.  As to the furniture,
he entreated the judge at least to allow him to keep part to make
up for the five hundred pieces of gold which had been stolen from him.

The judge, however, would say nothing about this, and lost no time
in sending men to fetch away all that Alnaschar had taken from
the house.  When everything had been moved and placed under his roof
he ordered my brother to leave the town and never more to enter it
on peril of his life, fearing that if he returned he might seek
justice from the Caliph.  Alnaschar obeyed, and was on his way
to a neighbouring city when he fell in with a band of robbers,
who stripped him of his clothes and left him naked by the roadside.
Hearing of his plight, I hurried after him to console him for
his misfortunes, and to dress him in my best robe.  I then brought
him back disguised, under cover of night, to my house, where I
have since given him all the care I bestow on my other brothers.



The Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother


There now remains for me to relate to you the story of my sixth brother,
whose name was Schacabac.  Like the rest of us, he inherited
a hundred silver drachmas from our father, which he thought
was a large fortune, but through ill-luck, he soon lost it all,
and was driven to beg.  As he had a smooth tongue and good manners,
he really did very well in his new profession, and he devoted
himself specially to making friends with the servants in big houses,
so as to gain access to their masters.

One day he was passing a splendid mansion, with a crowd of servants
lounging in the courtyard.  He thought that from the appearance
of the house it might yield him a rich harvest, so he entered
and inquired to whom it belonged.

"My good man, where do you come from?" replied the servant.  "Can't you
see for yourself that it can belong to nobody but a Barmecide?"
for the Barmecides were famed for their liberality and generosity.
My brother, hearing this, asked the porters, of whom there were several,
if they would give him alms.  They did not refuse, but told him
politely to go in, and speak to the master himself.

My brother thanked them for their courtesy and entered the building,
which was so large that it took him some time to reach the apartments
of the Barmecide.  At last, in a room richly decorated with paintings,
he saw an old man with a long white beard, sitting on a sofa,
who received him with such kindness that my brother was emboldened
to make his petition.

"My lord," he said, "you behold in me a poor man who only lives
by the help of persons as rich and as generous as you."

Before he could proceed further, he was stopped by the astonishment
shown by the Barmecide.  "Is it possible," he cried, "that while I
am in Bagdad, a man like you should be starving?  That is a state
of things that must at once be put an end to!  Never shall it be said
that I have abandoned you, and I am sure that you, on your part,
will never abandon me."

"My lord," answered my brother, "I swear that I have not broken
my fast this whole day."

"What, you are dying of hunger?" exclaimed the Barmecide.
"Here, slave; bring water, that we may wash our hands before meat!"
No slave appeared, but my brother remarked that the Barmecide did
not fail to rub his hands as if the water had been poured over them.

Then he said to my brother, "Why don't you wash your hands too?"
and Schacabac, supposing that it was a joke on the part of the
Barmecide (though he could see none himself), drew near, and imitated
his motion.

When the Barmecide had done rubbing his hands, he raised his voice,
and cried, "Set food before us at once, we are very hungry."
No food was brought, but the Barmecide pretended to help himself
from a dish, and carry a morsel to his mouth, saying as he did so,
"Eat, my friend, eat, I entreat.  Help yourself as freely as if
you were at home!  For a starving man, you seem to have a very
small appetite."

"Excuse me, my lord," replied Schacabac, imitating his gestures
as before, "I really am not losing time, and I do full justice
to the repast."

"How do you like this bread?" asked the Barmecide.  "I find it
particularly good myself."

"Oh, my lord," answered my brother, who beheld neither meat nor bread,
"never have I tasted anything so delicious."

"Eat as much as you want," said the Barmecide.  "I bought
the woman who makes it for five hundred pieces of gold,
so that I might never be without it."

After ordering a variety of dishes (which never came) to be placed on
the table, and discussing the merits of each one, the Barmecide declared
that having dined so well, they would now proceed to take their wine.
To this my brother at first objected, declaring that it was forbidden;
but on the Barmecide insisting that it was out of the question
that he should drink by himself, he consented to take a little.
The Barmecide, however, pretended to fill their glasses so often,
that my brother feigned that the wine had gone into his head,
and struck the Barmecide such a blow on the head, that he fell to
the ground.  Indeed, he raised his hand to strike him a second time,
when the Barmecide cried out that he was mad, upon which my brother
controlled himself, and apologised and protested that it was
all the fault of the wine he had drunk.  At this the Barmecide,
instead of being angry, began to laugh, and embraced him heartily.
"I have long been seeking," he exclaimed, "a man of your description,
and henceforth my house shall be yours.  You have had the good
grace to fall in with my humour, and to pretend to eat and to drink
when nothing was there.  Now you shall be rewarded by a really
good supper."

Then he clapped his hands, and all the dishes were brought that
they had tasted in imagination before and during the repast,
slaves sang and played on various instruments.  All the while
Schacabac was treated by the Barmecide as a familiar friend,
and dressed in a garment out of his own wardrobe.

Twenty years passed by, and my brother was still living with
the Barmecide, looking after his house, and managing his affairs.
At the end of that time his generous benefactor died without heirs,
so all his possessions went to the prince.  They even despoiled
my brother of those that rightly belonged to him, and he,
now as poor as he had ever been in his life, decided to cast
in his lot with a caravan of pilgrims who were on their way
to Mecca.  Unluckily, the caravan was attacked and pillaged by
the Bedouins, and the pilgrims were taken prisoners.  My brother
became the slave of a man who beat him daily, hoping to drive him
to offer a ransom, although, as Schacabac pointed out, it was
quite useless trouble, as his relations were as poor as himself.
At length the Bedouin grew tired of tormenting, and sent him on
a camel to the top of a high barren mountain, where he left him
to take his chance.  A passing caravan, on its way to Bagdad,
told me where he was to be found, and I hurried to his rescue,
and brought him in a deplorable condition back to the town.

"This,"--continued the barber,--"is the tale I related
to the Caliph, who, when I had finished, burst into fits of laughter.

"Well were you called `the Silent,'" said he; "no name was ever
better deserved.  But for reasons of my own, which it is not necessary
to mention, I desire you to leave the town, and never to come back."

"I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for several
years until I heard of the death of the Caliph, when I hastily
returned to Bagdad, only to find that all my brothers were dead.
It was at this time that I rendered to the young cripple the important
service of which you have heard, and for which, as you know,
he showed such profound ingratitude, that he preferred rather
to leave Bagdad than to run the risk of seeing me.  I sought him
long from place to place, but it was only to-day, when I expected
it least, that I came across him, as much irritated with me as ever"--
So saying the tailor went on to relate the story of the lame man
and the barber, which has already been told.

"When the barber," he continued, "had finished his tale, we came
to the conclusion that the young man had been right, when he
had accused him of being a great chatter-box. However, we wished
to keep him with us, and share our feast, and we remained at table
till the hour of afternoon prayer.  Then the company broke up,
and I went back to work in my shop.

"It was during this interval that the little hunchback, half drunk
already, presented himself before me, singing and playing on his drum.
I took him home, to amuse mg wife, and she invited him to supper.
While eating some fish, a bone got into his throat, and in spite
of all we could do, he died shortly.  It was all so sudden that we
lost our heads, and in order to divert suspicion from ourselves,
we carried the body to the house of a Jewish physician.  He placed
it in the chamber of the purveyor, and the purveyor propped it up in
the street, where it was thought to have been killed by the merchant.

"This, Sire, is the story which I was obliged to tell to satisfy
your highness.  It is now for you to say if we deserve mercy
or punishment; life or death?"

The Sultan of Kashgar listened with an air of pleasure which filled
the tailor and his friends with hope.  "I must confess," he exclaimed,
"that I am much more interested in the stories of the barber and
his brothers, and of the lame man, than in that of my own jester.
But before I allow you all four to return to your own homes, and have
the corpse of the hunchback properly buried, I should like to see
this barber who has earned your pardon.  And as he is in this town,
let an usher go with you at once in search of him."

The usher and the tailor soon returned, bringing with them an old man
who must have been at least ninety years of age.  "O Silent One,"
said the Sultan, "I am told that you know many strange stories.
Will you tell some of them to me?"

"Never mind my stories for the present," replied the barber,
"but will your Highness graciously be pleased to explain why this Jew,
this Christian, and this Mussulman, as well as this dead body,
are all here?"

"What business is that of yours?" asked the Sultan with a smile;
but seeing that the barber had some reasons for his question,
he commanded that the tale of the hunch-back should be told him.

"It is certainly most surprising," cried he, when he had heard it all,
"but I should like to examine the body."  He then knelt down, and took
the head on his knees, looking at it attentively.  Suddenly he burst
into such loud laughter that he fell right backwards, and when he
had recovered himself enough to speak, he turned to the Sultan.
"The man is no more dead than I am," he said; "watch me."  As he
spoke he drew a small case of medicines from his pocket and rubbed
the neck of the hunchback with some ointment made of balsam.  Next he
opened the dead man's mouth, and by the help of a pair of pincers
drew the bone from his throat.  At this the hunch-back sneezed,
stretched himself and opened his eyes.

The Sultan and all those who saw this operation did not know which
to admire most, the constitution of the hunchback who had apparently
been dead for a whole night and most of one day, or the skill of
the barber, whom everyone now began to look upon as a great man.
His Highness desired that the history of the hunchback should be
written down, and placed in the archives beside that of the barber,
so that they might be associated in people's minds to the end of time.
And he did not stop there; for in order to wipe out the memory of
what they had undergone, he commanded that the tailor, the doctor,
the purveyor and the merchant, should each be clothed in his presence
with a robe from his own wardrobe before they returned home.
As for the barber, he bestowed on him a large pension, and kept him
near his own person.