The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8 by Richard F. Burton

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When it was the Seven Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Hasan the goldsmith saw the Magian, his heart fluttered, his hue
changed and he smote hand upon hand. Then he said to the
Princesses, "O my sisters, help me to the slaughter of this
accursed, for here he is come back and in your grasp, and he
leadeth with him captive a young Moslem of the sons of the
notables, whom he is torturing with all manner grievous torments.
Lief would I kill him and console my heart of him; and, by
delivering the young Moslem from his mischief and restoring him
to his country and kith and kin and friends, fain would I lay up
merit for the world to come, by taking my wreak of him.[FN#45]
This will be an almsdeed from you and ye will reap the reward
thereof from Almighty Allah." "We hear and we obey Allah and
thee, O our brother, O Hasan," replied they and binding
chin-veils, armed themselves and slung on their swords: after
which they brought Hasan a steed of the best and equipped him in
panoply and weaponed him with goodly weapons. Then they all
sallied out and found the Magian who had slaughtered and skinned
a camel, ill-using the young Moslem, and saying to him, "Sit thee
in this hide." So Hasan came behind him, without his knowledge,
and cried out at him till he was dazed and amazed. Then he came
up to him, saying, "Hold thy hand, O accursed! O enemy of Allah
and foe of the Moslems! O dog! O traitor! O thou that flame dost
obey! O thou that walkest in the wicked ones' ways, worshipping
the fire and the light and swearing by the shade and the heat!"
Herewith the Magian turned and seeing Hasan, thought to wheedle
him and said to him, "O my son, how diddest thou escape and who
brought thee down to earth?" Hasan replied, "He delivered me, who
hath appointed the taking of thy life to be at my hand, and I
will torture thee even as thou torturedst me the whole way long.
O miscreant, O atheist,[FN#46] thou hast fallen into the twist
and the way thou hast missed; and neither mother shall avail thee
nor brother, nor friend nor solemn covenant shall assist thee;
for thou saidst, O accursed, Whoso betrayeth bread and salt, may
Allah do vengeance upon him! And thou hast broken the bond of
bread and salt; wherefore the Almighty hath thrown thee into my
grasp, and far is thy chance of escape from me." Rejoined
Bahram, "By Allah, O my son, O Hasan, thou art dearer to me than
my sprite and the light of mine eyes!" But Hasan stepped up to
him and hastily smote him between the shoulders, that the sword
issued gleaming from his throat-tendons and Allah hurried his
soul to the fire, and abiding-place dire. Then Hasan took the
Magian's bag and opened it, then having taken out the kettle-drum
he struck it with the strap, whereupon up came the dromedaries
like lightning. So he unbound the youth from his bonds and
setting him on one of the camels, loaded him another with victual
and water,[FN#47] saying, "Wend whither thou wilt." So he
departed, after Almighty Allah had thus delivered him from his
strait at the hands of Hasan. When the damsels saw their brother
slay the Magian they joyed in him with exceeding joy and gat
round him, marvelling at his valour and prowess,[FN#48] and
thanked him for his deed and gave him joy of his safety, saying,
"O Hasan thou hast done a deed, whereby thou hast healed the
burning of him that thirsteth for vengeance and pleased the King
of Omnipotence!" Then they returned to the palace, and he abode
with them, eating and drinking and laughing and making merry; and
indeed his sojourn with them was joyous to him and he forgot his
mother;[FN#49] but while he led with them this goodly life one
day, behold, there arose from the further side of the desert a
great cloud of dust that darkened the welkin and made towards
them. When the Princess saw this, they said to him, "Rise, O
Hasan, run to thy chamber and conceal thyself; or an thou wilt,
go down into the garden and hide thyself among the trees and
vines; but fear not, for no harm shall befal thee." So he arose
and entering his chamber, locked the door upon himself, and lay
lurking in the palace. Presently the dust opened out and showed
beneath it a great conquering host, as it were a surging sea,
coming from the King, the father of the damsels. Now when the
troops reached the castle, the Princesses received them with all
honour and hospitably entertained them three days; after which
they questioned them of their case and tidings and they replied
saying, "We come from the King in quest of you." They asked,
"And what would the King with us?"; and the officers answered,
"One of the Kings maketh a marriage festival, and your father
would have you be present thereat and take your pleasure
therewith." The damsels enquired, "And how long shall we be
absent from our place?"; and they rejoined, "The time to come and
go, and to sojourn may be two months." So the Princesses arose
and going in to the palace sought Hasan, acquainted him with the
case and said to him, "Verily this place is thy place and our
house is thy house; so be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool
and clear and feel nor grief nor fear, for none can come at thee
here; but keep a good heart and a glad mind, till we return to
thee. The keys of our chambers we leave with thee; but, O our
brother, we beseech thee, by the bond of brotherhood, in very
deed not to open such a door, for thou hast no need thereto."
Then they farewelled him and fared forth with the troops, leaving
Hasan alone in the palace. It was not long before his breast
grew straitened and his patience shortened: solitude and sadness
were heavy on him and he sorrowed for his severance from them
with passing chagrin. The palace for all its vastness, waxed
small to him and finding himself sad and solitary, he bethought
him of the damsels and their pleasant converse and recited these
couplets,

"The wide plain is narrowed before these eyes * And the landscape
troubles this heart of mine.
Since my friends went forth, by the loss of them * Joy fled and
these eyelids rail floods of brine:
Sleep shunned these eyeballs for parting woe * And my mind is
worn with sore pain and pine:
Would I wot an Time shall rejoin our lots * And the joys of love
with night-talk combine."

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the Seven Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,

She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after the
departure of the damsels, Hasan sat in the palace sad and
solitary and his breast was straitened by severance. He used to
ride forth a-hunting by himself in the wold and bring back the
game and slaughter it and eat thereof alone: but melancholy and
disquiet redoubled on him, by reason of his loneliness. So he
arose and went round about the palace and explored its every
part; he opened the Princesses' apartments and found therein
riches and treasures fit to ravish the beholder's reason; but he
delighted not in aught thereof, by reason of their absence. His
heart was fired by thinking of the door they had charged him not
to approach or open on any account and he said in himself, "My
sister had never enjoined me not to open this door, except there
were behind it somewhat whereof she would have none to know; but,
by Allah, I will arise and open it and see what is within, though
within it were sudden death!" Then he took the key and, opening
the door,[FN#50] saw therein no treasure but he espied a vaulted
and winding staircase of Yamani onyx at the upper end of the
chamber. So he mounted the stair, which brought him out upon the
terrace- roof of the palace, whence he looked down upon the
gardens and vergiers, full of trees and fruits and beasts and
birds warbling praises of Allah, the One, the All-powerful; and
said in himself "This is that they forbade to me." He gazed
upon these pleasaunces and saw beyond a surging sea, dashing with
clashing billows, and he ceased not to explore the palace right
and left, till he ended at a pavilion builded with alternate
courses, two bricks of gold and one of silver and jacinth and
emerald and supported by four columns. And in the centre he saw
a sitting- room paved and lined with a mosaic of all manner
precious stones such as rubies and emeralds and balasses and
other jewels of sorts; and in its midst stood a basin[FN#51]
brimful of water, over which was a trellis-work of sandalwood and
aloes-wood reticulated with rods of red gold and wands of emerald
and set with various kinds of jewels and fine pearls, each sized
as a pigeon's egg. The trellis was covered with a climbing vine,
bearing grapes like rubies, and beside the basin stood a throne
of lign-aloes latticed with red gold, inlaid with great pearls
and comprising vari-coloured gems of every sort and precious
minerals each kind fronting each and symmetrically disposed.
About it the birds warbled with sweet tongues and various voices
celebrating the praises of Allah the Most High: brief, it was a
palace such as nor C‘sar nor Chosro‰s ever owned; but Hasan saw
therein none of the creatures of Allah, whereat he marvelled and
said in himself, "I wonder to which of the Kings this place
pertaineth, or is it Many-Columned Iram whereof they tell, for
who among mortals can avail to the like of this?" And indeed he
was amazed at the spectacle and sat down in the pavilion and cast
glances around him marvelling at the beauty of its ordinance and
at the lustre of the pearls and jewels and the curious works
which therein were, no less than at the gardens and orchards
aforesaid and at the birds that hymned the praises of Allah, the
One, the Almighty; and he abode pondering the traces of him whom
the Most High had enabled to rear that structure, for indeed He
is muchel of might.[FN#52] And presently, behold, he espied ten
birds[FN#53] flying towards the pavilion from the heart of the
desert and knew that they were making the palace and bound for
the basin, to drink of its waters: so he hid himself, for fear
they should see him and take flight. They lighted on a great
tree and a goodly and circled round about it; and he saw amongst
them a bird of marvel-beauty, the goodliest of them all, and the
nine stood around it and did it service; and Hasan marvelled to
see it peck them with its bill and lord it over them while they
fled from it. He stood gazing at them from afar as they entered
the pavilion and perched on the couch; after which each bird rent
open its neck-skin with its claws and issued out of it; and lo!
it was but a garment of feathers, and there came forth therefrom
ten virgins, maids whose beauty shamed the brilliancy of the
moon. They all doffed their clothes and plunging into the basin,
washed and fell to playing and sporting one with other; whilst
the chief bird of them lifted up the rest and ducked them down
and they fled from her and dared not put forth their hands to
her. When Hasan beheld her thus he took leave of his right
reason and his sense was enslaved, so he knew that the Princesses
had not forbidden him to open the door save because of this; for
he fell passionately in love with her, for what he saw of her
beauty and loveliness, symmetry and perfect grace, as she played
and sported and splashed the others with the water. He stood
looking upon them whilst they saw him not, with eye gazing and
heart burning and soul[FN#54] to evil prompting; and he sighed to
be with them and wept for longing, because of the beauty and
loveliness of the chief damsel. His mind was amazed at her
charms and his heart taken in the net of her love; lowe was
loosed in his heart for her sake and there waxed on him a flame,
whose sparks might not be quenched, and desire, whose signs might
not be hidden. Presently, they came up out of that basin, whilst
Hasan marvelled at their beauty and loveliness and the tokens of
inner gifts in the elegance of their movements. Then he cast a
glance at the chief damsel who stood mother- naked and there was
manifest to him what was between her thighs a goodly rounded dome
on pillars borne, like a bowl of silver or crystal, which
recalled to him the saying of the poet,[FN#55]

"When I took up her shift and discovered the terrace-roof of her
kaze, I found it as strait as my humour or eke my worldly
ways:
So I thrust it, incontinent, in, halfway, and she heaved a sigh.
'For what dost thou sigh?' quoth I. 'For the rest of it
sure,' she says."

Then coming out of the water they all put on their dresses and
ornaments, and the chief maiden donned a green dress,[FN#56]
wherein she surpassed for loveliness all the fair ones of the
world and the lustre of her face outshone the resplendent full
moons: she excelled the branches with the grace of her bending
gait and confounded the wit with apprehension of disdain; and
indeed she was as saith the poet,[FN#57]

"A maiden 'twas, the dresser's art had decked with cunning
sleight;
The sun thou 'd'st say had robbed her cheek and shone with
borrowed light.
She came to us apparelled fair in under vest of green,
Like as the ripe pomegranate hides beneath its leafy screen;
And when we asked her what might be the name of what she wore,
She answered in a quaint reply that double meaning bore:
The desert's heart we penetrate in such apparel dressed,
And Pierce-heart therefore is the name by which we call the
vest."

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

When it was the Seven Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Hasan saw the damsels issue forth the basin, the chief maiden
robbed his reason with her beauty and loveliness compelling him
to recite the couplets forequoted. And after dressing they sat
talking and laughing, whilst he stood gazing on them, drowned in
the sea of his love, burning in the flames of passion and
wandering in the Wady of his melancholy thought. And he said to
himself, "By Allah, my sister forbade me not to open the door,
but for cause of these maidens and for fear lest I should fall in
love with one of them! How, O Hasan shalt thou woo and win them?
How bring down a bird flying in the vasty firmament? By Allah
thou hast cast thyself into a bottomless sea and snared thyself
in a net whence there is no escape! I shall die desolate and
none shall wot of my death." And he continued to gaze on the
charms of the chief damsel, who was the loveliest creature Allah
had made in her day, and indeed she outdid in beauty all human
beings. She had a mouth magical as Solomon's seal and hair
blacker than the night of estrangement to the love-despairing
man; her brow was bright as the crescent moon of the Feast of
Ramaz n[FN#58] and her eyes were like eyes wherewith gazelles
scan; she had a polished nose straight as a cane and cheeks like
blood-red anemones of Nu'uman, lips like coralline and teeth like
strung pearls in carcanets of gold virgin to man, and a neck like
an ingot of silver, above a shape like a wand of B n: her middle
was full of folds, a dimpled plain such as enforceth the
distracted lover to magnify Allah and extol His might and main,
and her navel[FN#59] an ounce of musk, sweetest of savour could
contain: she had thighs great and plump, like marble columns
twain or bolsters stuffed with down from ostrich ta'en, and
between them a somewhat, as it were a hummock great of span or a
hare with ears back lain while terrace-roof and pilasters
completed the plan; and indeed she surpassed the bough of the
myrobalan with her beauty and symmetry, and the Indian rattan,
for she was even as saith of them the poet whom love did
unman,[FN#60]

"Her lip-dews rival honey-sweets, that sweet virginity; *
Keener than Hindi scymitar the glance she casts at thee:
She shames the bending bough of B n with graceful movement slow *
And as she smiles her teeth appear with leven's brilliancy:
When I compared with rose a-bloom the tintage of her cheeks, *
She laughed in scorn and cried, 'Whoso compares with rosery
My hue and breasts, granados terms, is there no shame in him? *
How should pomegranates bear on bough such fruit in form or
blee?
Now by my beauty and mine eyes and heart and eke by Heaven *
Of favours mine and by the Hell of my unclemency,
They say 'She is a garden-rose in very pride of bloom'; *
And yet no rose can ape my cheek nor branch my symmetry!
If any garden own a thing which unto me is like, *
What then is that he comes to crave of me and only me?"'

They ceased not to laugh and play, whilst Hasan stood still
a-watching them, forgetting meat and drink, till near the hour of
mid-afternoon prayer, when the beauty, the chief damsel, said to
her mates, "O Kings' daughters, it waxeth late and our land is
afar and we are weary of this stead. Come, therefore, let us
depart to our own place." So they all arose and donned their
feather vests, and becoming birds as they were before, flew away
all together, with the chief lady in their midst. Then, Hasan,
despairing of their return, would have arisen and gone down into
the palace but could not move or even stand; wherefore the tears
ran down his cheeks and passion was sore on him and he recited
these couplets,

"May God deny me boon of troth if I * After your absence sweets
of slumber know:
Yea; since that sev'rance never close mine eyes, * Nor rest
repose me since departed you!
'Twould seem as though you saw me in your sleep; * Would Heaven
the dreams of sleep were real-true!
Indeed I dote on sleep though needed not, * For sleep may bring
me that dear form to view."

Then Hasan walked on, little by little, heeding not the way he
went, till he reached the foot of the stairs, whence he dragged
himself to his own chamber; then he entered and shutting the
door, lay sick eating not nor drinking and drowned in the sea of
his solitude. He spent the night thus, weeping and bemoaning
himself, till the morning, and when it morrowed he repeated these
couplets,

"The birds took flight at eve and winged their way; * And sinless
he who died of Love's death-blow.
I'll keep my love-tale secret while I can * But, an desire
prevail, its needs must show:
Night brought me nightly vision, bright as dawn; * While nights
of my desire lack morning-glow.
I mourn for them[FN#61] while they heart-freest sleep * And winds
of love on me their plaything blow:
Free I bestow my tears, my wealth, my heart * My wit, my sprite:
most gain who most bestow!
The worst of woes and banes is enmity * Beautiful maidens deal us
to our woe.
Favour they say's forbidden to the fair * And shedding lovers'
blood their laws allow;
That naught can love-sicks do but lavish soul, * And stake in
love-play life on single throw:[FN#62]
I cry in longing ardour for my love: * Lover can only weep and
wail Love-lowe."

When the sun rose he opened the door, went forth of the chamber
and mounted to the stead where he was before: then he sat down
facing the pavilion and awaited the return of the birds till
nightfall; but they returned not; wherefore he wept till he fell
to the ground in a fainting-fit. When he came to after his swoon,
he dragged himself down the stairs to his chamber; and indeed,
the darkness was come and straitened upon him was the whole world
and he ceased not to weep and wail himself through the livelong
night, till the day broke and the sun rained over hill and dale
its rays serene. He ate not nor drank nor slept, nor was there
any rest for him; but by day he was distracted and by night
distressed, with sleeplessness delirious and drunken with
melancholy thought and excess of love-longing. And he repeated
the verses of the love-distraught poet,

"O thou who shamest sun in morning sheen * The branch
confounding, yet with nescience blest;
Would Heaven I wot an Time shall bring return * And quench the
fires which flame unmanifest,--
Bring us together in a close embrace, * Thy cheek upon my cheek,
thy breast abreast!
Who saith, In Love dwells sweetness? when in Love * Are bitterer
days than Alo‰s[FN#63] bitterest."

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the Seven Hundred and Eighty-eighty Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
Hasan the goldsmith felt love redouble upon him, he recited those
lines; and, as he abode thus in the stress of his
love-distraction, alone and finding none to cheer him with
company, behold, there arose a dust-cloud from the desert,
wherefore he ran down and hid himself knowing that the Princesses
who owned the castle had returned. Before long, the troops
halted and dismounted round the palace and the seven damsels
alighted and entering, put off their arms and armour of war. As
for the youngest, she stayed not to doff her weapons and gear,
but went straight to Hasan's chamber, where finding him not, she
sought for him, till she lighted on him in one of the sleeping
closets hidden, feeble and thin, with shrunken body and wasted
bones and indeed his colour was changed and his eyes sunken in
his face for lack of food and drink and for much weeping, by
reason of his love and longing for the young lady. When she saw
him in this plight, she was confounded and lost her wits; but
presently she questioned him of his case and what had befallen
him, saying, "Tell me what aileth thee, O my brother, that I may
contrive to do away thine affliction, and I will be thy
ransom!"[FN#64] Whereupon he wept with sore weeping and by way of
reply he began reciting,

"Lover, when parted from the thing he loves, * Has naught save
weary woe and bane to bear.
Inside is sickness, outside living lowe, * His first is fancy and
his last despair."

When his sister heard this, she marvelled at his eloquence and
loquent speech and his readiness at answering her in verse and
said to him, "O my brother, when didst thou fall into this thy
case and what hath betided thee, that I find thee speaking in
song and shedding tears that throng? Allah upon thee, O my
brother, and by the honest love which is between us, tell me what
aileth thee and discover to me thy secret, nor conceal from me
aught of that which hath befallen thee in our absence; for my
breast is straitened and my life is troubled because of thee."
He sighed and railed tears like rain, after which he said, "I
fear, O my sister, if I tell thee, that thou wilt not aid me to
win my wish but wilt leave me to die wretchedly in mine anguish."
She replied, "No, by Allah, O my brother, I will not abandon
thee, though it cost me my life!" So he told her all that had
befallen him, and that the cause of his distress and affliction
was the passion he had conceived for the young lady whom he had
seen when he opened the forbidden door; and how he had not tasted
meat nor drink for ten days past. Then he wept with sore weeping
and recited these couplets,

"Restore my heart as 'twas within my breast, * Let mine eyes
sleep again, then fly fro' me.
Deem ye the nights have had the might to change * Love's vow?
Who changeth may he never be!"

His sister wept for his weeping and was moved to ruth for his
case and pitied his strangerhood; so she said to him, "O my
brother, be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear, for
I will venture being and risk existence to content thee and
devise thee a device wherewith, though it cost me my dear life
and all I hold dear, thou mayst get possession of her and
accomplish thy desire, if such be the will of Allah Almighty.
But I charge thee, O my brother, keep the matter secret from my
sisterhood and discover not thy case to any one of them, lest my
life be lost with thy life. An they question thee of opening the
forbidden door, reply to them, 'I opened it not; no, never; but I
was troubled at heart for your absence and by my loneliness here
and yearning for you.'"[FN#65] And he answered, "Yes: this is the
right rede." So he kissed her head and his heart was comforted
and his bosom broadened. He had been nigh upon death for excess
of affright, for he had gone in fear of her by reason of his
having opened the door; but now his life and soul returned to
him. Then he sought of her somewhat of food and after serving it
she left him, and went in to her sisters, weeping and mourning
for him. They questioned her of her case and she told them how
she was heavy at heart for her brother, because he was sick and
for ten days no food had found way into his stomach. So they
asked the cause of his sickness and she answered, "The reason was
our severance from him and our leaving him desolate; for these
days we have been absent from him were longer to him than a
thousand years and scant blame to him, seeing he is a stranger,
and solitary and we left him alone, with none to company with him
or hearten his heart; more by token that he is but a youth and
may be he called to mind his family and his mother, who is a
woman in years, and bethought him that she weepeth for him all
whiles of the day and watches of the night, ever mourning his
loss; and we used to solace him with our society and divert him
from thinking of her." When her sisters heard these words they
wept in the stress of their distress for him and said,
"Wa'll hi--'fore Allah, he is not to blame!" Then they went out
to the army and dismissed it, after which they went into Hasan
and saluted him with the salam. When they saw his charms changed
with yellow colour and shrunken body, they wept for very pity and
sat by his side and comforted him and cheered him with converse,
relating to him all they had seen by the way of wonders and
rarities and what had befallen the bridegroom with the bride.
They abode with him thus a whole month, tendering him and
caressing him with words sweeter than syrup; but every day
sickness was added to his sickness, which when they saw, they
bewept him with sore weeping, and the youngest wept even more
than the rest. At the end of this time, the Princesses having
made up their minds to ride forth a-hunting and a-birding invited
their sister to accompany them, but she said, "By Allah, O my
sisters, I cannot go forth with you whilst my brother is in this
plight, nor indeed till he be restored to health and there cease
from him that which is with him of affliction. Rather will I sit
with him and comfort him." They thanked her for her kindness and
said to her, "Allah will requite thee all thou dost with this
stranger." Then they left her with him in the palace and rode
forth taking with them twenty days' victual;--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

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