The Book of A Thousand And One Nights by Tales In Tranquillity

Tales In Tranquillity

3 months ago

Chapter 10 of The Book of The Thousand and One Nights

Stories:

Tale of the Envier and the Envied

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00:00the tale of the envier and the envied they relate o ifrit that in a certain city were two men who dwelt in adjoining houses having a common party-wall and one of them envied the other and looked on him with an evil eye and did his utmost endeavour to injure him

00:27and albeit at all times he was jealous of his neighbour his malice at last grew on him till he could hardly eat or enjoy the sweet pleasures of sleep but the envied did nothing save prosper and the more the other strove to injure him the more he got and gained and throve

00:46at last the malice of his neighbour and the man's constant endeavour to work him a harm came to his knowledge so he said by allah god's earth is wide enough for its people

00:58and leaving the neighbourhood he repaired to another city where he bought himself a piece of land in which was a dried-up draw-well old and in ruinous condition

01:09here he built him an oratory and furnishing it with a few necessaries took up his abode therein and devoted himself to prayer and worshipping allah almighty

01:20and fakirs and holy mendicants flocked to him from all quarters and his fame went abroad through the city and that countryside presently the news reached his envious neighbour

01:33of what good fortune had befallen him and how the city notables had become his disciples so he travelled to the place and presented himself at the holy man's hermitage and was met by the envied with welcome and greeting and all honour

01:48then quoth the envier i have a word to say to thee and this is the cause of my faring hither and i wish to give thee a piece of good news so come with me to thy cell

02:00thereupon the envied arose and took the envier by the hand and they went in to the inmost part of the hermitage but the envier said bid thy fakirs retire to their cells or i will not tell thee what i have to say save in secret where none may hear us

02:18accordingly the envied said to his fakirs retire to your private cells and when all had done as he bade them he set out with his visitor and walked a little way until the twain reached the ruinous old well

02:32and as they stood upon the brink the envier gave the envied a push which tumbled him headlong into it unseen of any whereupon he fared forth and went his ways thinking to have had slain him

02:45now this well happened to be haunted by the jan who seeing the case bore him up and let him down little by little till he reached the bottom when they seated him upon a large stone

02:58then one of them asked his fellows what ye who be this man and they answered nay this man continued the speaker is the envied hight who flying from the envier came to dwell in our city and here founded this holy house

03:14and he hath edified us by his litanies and his lections of the koran but the envier set out and journeyed till he rejoined him and cunningly contrived to deceive him and cast him into the well where we now are

03:28but the fame of this good man hath this very night come to the sultan of our city who designed to visit him on the morrow on account of his daughter what aileth his daughter

03:39asked one and another answered she is possessed of a spirit for maemun son of dam dam is madly in love with her but if this pious man knew the remedy her cure would be as easy as could be

03:55hereupon one of them inquired and what is the medicine and he replied the black tom cat which is with him in the oratory hath on the end of his tail a white spot the size of a dirham

04:07let him pluck seven white hairs from the spot then let him fumigate her therewith and the morit will flee from her and not return so she shall be sane for the rest of her life

04:20all this took place o ifrit within earshot of the envied who listened readily when dawn broke and morn arose in sheen and shone the fakirs went to seek the sheik and found him climbing up the wall of the well whereby he was magnified in their eyes

04:38then knowing that naught save the black tom cat could supply him with the remedy required he plucked the seven tail hairs from the white spot and laid them by him

04:48and hardly had the sun risen ere the sultan entered the hermitage with the great lords of his estate bidding the rest of his retinue to remain standing outside

04:59the envied gave him a hearty welcome and seating him by his side asked him shall i tell thee the cause of thy coming

05:07the king answered yes he continued thou hast come upon pretext of a visitation but it is in thy heart to question me of thy daughter replied the king tis even so o thou holy sheik and the envied continued send and fetch her and i trust to heal her forthright and such be the will of allah

05:31the king in great joy sent for his daughter and they brought her pinioned and fettered the envied made her sit down behind the curtain and taking out the hairs fumigated her therewith

05:43whereupon that which was in her head cried out and departed from her the girl was at once restored to her right mind and veiling her face said what hath happened and who brought me hither

05:57the sultan rejoiced with the joy that nothing could exceed and kissed his daughter's eyes and the holy man's hand then turning to his great lords he asked how say ye what fee deserveth he who hath made my daughter whole

06:14and all answered he deserveth her to wife and the king said ye speak sooth so he married him to her and the envied thus became son-in-law to the king

06:27and after a little the wazir died and the king said whom can i make minister in his stead thy son-in-law replied the courtiers so the envied became a wazir and after a while the sultan also died and the lieges said whom shall we make king

06:46and all cried the wazir so the wazir was forthright made sultan and he became king regnant a true ruler of men one day as he had mounted his horse and in the eminence of his kinglyhood was riding amidst his emirs and wazirs and the grandees of his realm

07:05his eye fell upon his old neighbour the envier who stood afoot on his path so he turned to one of his ministers and said bring hither that man and cause him no affright

07:18the wazir brought him and the king said give him a thousand miscles of gold from the treasury and load him ten camels with goods for trade and send him under escort to his own town

07:30then he bade his enemy farewell and sent him away and forbore to punish him for the many and great evils he had done see o ifrit the mercy of the envied to the envier who had hated him from the beginning and had borne him such bitter malice and never met him without causing him trouble

07:48and had driven him from house and home and then had journeyed for the sole purpose of taking his life by throwing him into the well yet he did not requite his injurious dealing but forgave him and was bountiful to him

08:02then i wept before him o my lady with sore weeping never was there sorer and i recited pardon my fault for tis the wise man's want all faults to pardon and revenge forego

08:16in sooth all manner faults in me contain than deign of goodness mercy grace to show whoso imploreth pardon from on high should hold his hand from sinners here below

08:29said the ifrit lengthen not thy words as to my slaying thee fear it not and as to my pardoning thee hope it not but for my bewitching thee there is no escape

08:43then he tore me from the ground which closed under my feet and hew with me into the firmament till i saw the earth as a large white cloud or a saucer in the midst of the waters

08:54presently he set me down on a mountain and taking a little dust over which he muttered some magical words sprinkled me therewith saying quit that shape and take thou the shape of an ape

09:06and on the instant i became an ape a tailess baboon the son of a century now when it left me and i saw myself in this ugly and hateful shape i wept for myself but resigned my soul to the tyranny of time and circumstance

09:23well wepting that fortune is fair and constant to no man i descended the mountain and found at the foot a desert plain long and broad over which i travelled for the space of a month till my course brought me to the brink of the briny sea

09:41after standing there a while i wasware of a ship in the offing which ran before a fair wind making for the shore i hid myself behind a rock on the beach and waited till the ship drew near when i leapt on board

09:55i found her full of merchants and passengers and one of them cried o captain this ill-omened bruth will bring us ill-luck and another said turn this ill-omened beast out from among us the captain said let us kill it another said slay it with the sword

10:14a third drown it and a fourth shoot it with an arrow but i sprang up and laid hold of the razor's skirt and shed tears which poured down my chops

10:26the captain took pity on me and said o merchants this ape hath appealed to me for protection and i will protect him henceforth he is under my charge so let none do him aught hurt or arm otherwise there will be bad blood between us

10:43then he entreated me kindly and whatsoever he said i understood and ministered to his every want and served him as a servant albeit my tongue would not obey my wishes so that he came to love me

10:57the vessel sailed on the wind being fair for the space of fifty days at the end of which we cast anchor under the walls of a great city wherein was a world of people especially learned men

11:10none could tell their number save allah no sooner had we arrived than we were visited by certain mameluke officials from the king of that city who after boarding us greeted the merchants and giving them joy of safe arrival said

11:25our king welcometh you and sendeth you this roll of paper whereupon each and every of you must write a line for ye shall know that the king's minister a calligrapher of renown is dead

11:38and the king hath sworn a solemn oath that he will make none wazir in his stead who cannot write as well as he could he then gave us the scroll which measured ten cubits long by a breadth of one and each of the merchants who knew how to write wrote a line thereon even to the last of them

11:57after which i stood up still in the shape of an ape and snatched the roll out of their hands they feared lest i should tear it or throw it overboard so they tried to stay me and scare me but i signed to them that i could write whereat all marvelled saying we never yet saw an ape write

12:16and the captain cried let him write and if he scribble and scrabble we will kick him out and kill him but if he write fair and scholarly i will adopt him as my son for surely i never yet saw a more intelligent and well-mannered monkey than he

12:32would heaven my real son were his match in morals and manners i took the reed and stretching out my pall dipped it in ink and wrote in the hand used for letters these two couplets

12:45time hath recorded gifts she gave the great but none recorded thine which be far higher

12:52allah ne'er orphaned men by loss of thee who be of goodness mother bounty sire and i wrote in rehanai or larger letters elegantly curved

13:05thou hast a reed of reed to every land whose driving causeth all the world to thrive nil is the nile of misraim by thy boons who makest misery smile with fingers five

13:18then i wrote in the soul's character there be no writer who from death shall fleet but what his hand hath writ man shall repeat write therefore naught save what shall serve thee when thou cease on judgment day and so thou cease

13:35then i wrote in the character nusk when to sore parting fate our love shall doom to distant life by destiny decreed we cause the inkhorn's lips to plane our pains and tongue our utterance with the talking reed

13:51and i wrote in the tumar character kingdom with none endures if thou deny this truth where be the kings of earlier earth set trees of goodliness while rule endures and when thou art fallen they shall tell thy worth

14:07and i wrote in the character muhakkak when ope the inkhorn of thy wealth and fame take ink of generous heart and gracious hand write brave and noble deeds while right thou can and win thee praise from point of pen and brand

14:25then i gave the scroll to the officials and after we all had written our line they carried it before the king when he saw the paper no writer pleased him save my writing and he said to the assembled courtiers go seek the writer of these lines and dress him in a splendid rope of honour

14:44then mount him on a she-mule let a band of music precede him and bring him to the presence at these words they smiled and the king was wroth with them and cried o accursed i give you an order and you laugh at me

15:00o king replied they if we laugh tis not at thee and not without a cause and what is it asked he and they answered o king thou orderst us to bring to thy presence the man who wrote these lines

15:15now the truth is that he who wrote them is not of the sons of adam but an ape a tailless baboon belonging to the ship captain quoth he is this true that you say quoth they yea by the rights of thy munificence

15:31the king marvelled at their words and shook with mirth and said i am minded to buy this ape off the captain then he sent messengers to the ship with the mule the dress the guard and the state drums saying

15:45not the less do you clothe him in the robe of honour and mount him on the mule and let him be surrounded by the guards and preceded by the band of music they came to the ship and took me from the captain and roped me in the robe of honour and mounting me on the she-mule carried me in the state procession through the streets whilst the people were amazed and amused

16:07and folk said to one another halloo is our sultan about to make an ape his minister and came all agog crowding to gaze at me and the town was astir and turned topsy-turvy on my account

16:21when they brought me up to the king and set me in his presence i kissed the ground before him three times and once before the high chamberlain and great officers and he bade me be seated and i sat respectfully on shins and knees and all who were present marvelled at my fine manners and the king most of all

16:40thereupon he ordered the leeches to retire and when none remained save the king's majesty the eunuch on duty and a little white slave he bade them set before me the table of food containing all manner of birds whatever hoppeth and flieth and treadeth in nests such as quail and sand-grouse

16:59then he signed me to eat with him so i rose and kissed ground before him then sat me down and ate with him and when the table was removed i washed my hands in seven waters and took the reed case and reed and wrote instead of speaking these couplets

17:16wail for the little partridges on porringer and plate cry for the ruin of the fries and stews well marinate keen as i keen for loved lost daughters of the cata grouse and omelette round the fair and browned fowls agglomerate

17:31o fire and hard of me for fish those deux poisons i saw bedded on new-made scones and cakes in piles to leneate for thee o fermicelli aches my very maw i hold without thee every taste and joy our clean annillahate

17:50those eggs have rolled their yellow eyes in torturing panes of fire ere served with hash and fritters hot that delicatest cate praised be allah for his baked and roast and ah how good this pulse these pot-herbs steeped in oil with eisel

18:09when hunger sated was i elbow propped fell back upon mead pudding wherein gleamed the bangles that my wits amade then woke i sleeping appetite to eat as though in sport

18:22sweets from berseeded trays and kickshaws most elaborate be patient soul of me time is a haughty jealous wight to-day he seems dark lowering and to-morrow fared to sight

18:35then i rose and seated myself at a respectful distance while the king read what i had written and marvelled exclaiming o the miracle that an ape should be gifted with this graceful style and this power of penmanship by allah tis a wonder of wonders

18:51presently they set before the king choice wines and flagons of glass and he drank then he passed on the cup to me and i kissed the ground and drank and wrote on it

19:03with fire they boiled me to lose my tongue and pain and patience gave for fellowship hence comes it hands of men a-bear me high and honey-dew from lips of maid i sip

19:17and these also mourned set to-night withdraw and let me shine so drain we draughts that dull all pane and pine i doubt so fine the glass the wine so clear if tis the wine in glass or glass in twine

19:34the king read my verse and said with a sigh were these gifts in a man he would excel all the folk of his time and age then he called for the chess-board and said say wilt thou play with me and i signed with my head yes

19:51then i came forward and ordered the pieces and played with him two games both of which i won he was speechless with surprise so i took the pen-case and drawing forth the reed wrote on the board these two couplets

20:06two hosts fair fighting through the life-long day nor is their battling every finished until when darkness girth them about the twain goes sleeping in a single bed

20:19the king read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his eunuch o mukbil go to thy mistress sit al-husan and say to her come speak the king who bidded thee hither to take thy solace in seeing this right wondrous ape

20:34so the eunuch went out and presently returned with the lady who when she saw me veiled her face and said o my father hast thou lost all sense of honour how cometh it thou art pleased to send for me and show me to strange man

20:48o sit al-husan said he no man is here save this little foot-page and the eunuch who reared thee and i thy father from whom then cost thou veil thy face she answered tis whom thou deemst an ape is a young man a clever and polite a wise and learned and the son of a king

21:07but he is ensorcelled and the ifrit gerjarus who is of the seed of iblis cast a spell upon him after putting to death his own wife the daughter of king iphitamus lord of the islands of abnes

21:21the king marvelled at his daughter's words and turning to me said is this true that she saith of thee and i signed by a nod of my head the answer yea verily and wept sore

21:34then he asked his daughter whence knewest thou that he is ensorcelled and she answered o my dear papa there was with me in my childhood an old woman a wily one and a wise and a witch to boot

21:47and she taught me the theory of magic and its practice and i took notes in writing and therein waxed perfect and have committed to memory an hundred and seventy chapters of agromantic formulas by the least of which i could transport the stones of thy city behind the mountain kaf and the circumambient main

22:05or make its sight an abyss of the sea and its people fishes swimming in the midst of it o my daughter said her father i conjure thee by my life disenchant this young man that i may make him my wazir and marry thee to him for indeed he is an ingenious youth and a deeply learned

22:24with joy and goodly gree she replied and handing in hand an iron knife wherein was inscribed the name of allah in hubru characters she described a wide circle

22:38and shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say when it was the fourteenth night she said it hath reached me o auspicious king that the kalandar continued his tale thus

22:55o my lady the king's daughter hand in hand a knife whereon were inscribed in hebrew characters and described a wide circle in the midst of the palace hall and therein wrote in cufic letters mysterious names and talismans

23:10and she uttered words and muttered charms some of which we understood and others we understood not presently the world waxed dark before our sight till we thought that the sky was falling upon our heads and lo the ifrit presented himself in his own shape and aspect

23:29his hands were like many pronged pitchforks his legs like the masts of great ships and his eyes like cressets of gleaming fire we were in terrible fear of him but the king's daughter cried at him

23:43no welcome to thee and no greeting o dog whereupon he changed to the form of a lion and said o traitress how is it thou hast broken the oath we swear that neither should contrare other

23:57o accursed one answered she how could there be a compact between me and the like of thee then said he take what thou hast brought on thyself

24:08and the lion opened his jaws and rushed upon her but she was too quick for him and plucking a hair from her head waved it in the air muttering over it the while and the hair straightway became a trenchant sword-blade wherewith she smote the lion and cut him in twain

24:26then the two halves flew away in air and the head changed to a scorpion and the princess became a huge serpent and sat upon the accursed scorpion and the two fought coiling and uncoiling

24:40a stiff fight for an hour at least then the scorpion changed to a vulture and the serpent became an eagle which sat upon the vulture and hunted him for an hour's time till he became a black tom-cat which miauled and grinned and spat

24:57thereupon the eagle changed into a piebald wolf and these two battled in the palace for a long time when the cat seeing himself overcome changed into a worm and crept into a huge red pomegranate which lay beside the jetting fountain in the midst of the palace hall

25:13whereupon the pomegranate swelled to the size of a watermelon in air and falling upon the marble pavement of the palace broke to pieces and all the grains fell out and were scattered about till they covered the whole floor

25:28then the wolf shook himself and became a snow-white cock which fell to picking up the grains proposing not to leave one by doom of destiny one seed rolled to the fountain edge and there lay hid

25:41the cock fell to crowing and clapping his wings and signing to us with his beak as if to ask are any grains left but we understood not what he meant and he cried to us with so loud a cry that we thought the palace would fall upon us

25:55then he ran over all the floor till he saw the grain which had rolled to the fountain edge and rushed eagerly to pick it up when behold it sprang into the midst of the water and became a fish and dived to the bottom of the basin

26:09thereupon the cock changed to a big fish and plunged in after the other and the two disappeared for a while and lo we heard loud shrieks and cries of pain which made us tremble

26:22after this the ifrit rose out of the water and he was as a burning flame casting fire and smoke from his mouth and eyes and nostrils

26:32and immediately the princess likewise came forth from the basin and she was one life coal flaming low and these two she and he battled for the space of an hour until their fires entirely compassed them about and their thick smoke filled the palace

26:51as for us we panted for breath being well-nigh suffocated and we longed to plunge into the water fearing lest we be burned up and utterly destroyed and the king said

27:03there is no majesty and there is no might save in allah the glorious the great verily we are allahs and unto him are we returning would heaven i had not urged my daughter to attempt the disenchantment of this ape fellow

27:19whereby i have imposed upon her the terrible task of fighting yon accursed ifrit against whom all the ifrits in the world could not prevail and would heaven we had never seen this ape allah never assained nor blessed the day of his coming

27:34we thought to do a good deed by him before the face of allah and to release him from enchantment and now we have brought this trouble and travail upon our heart but i o my lady was tongue-tied and powerless to say a word to him

27:50suddenly ere we were aware of aught neifrit yelled out from under the flames and coming up to us as we stood on the estrade blew fire in our faces

28:01the damsel overtook him and breathed blasts of fire at his face and the sparks from her and from him rained down upon us and her sparks did us no harm but one of his sparks alighted upon my eye and destroyed it making me a monocular

28:17and another fell on the king's face scorching the lower half burning off his beard and moustaches and causing his under-teeth to fall out while a third alighted on the castrato's breast killing him on the spot

28:31so we despaired of life and made sure of death when lo a voice repeated the saying allah is most highest allah is most highest aidens and victory to all who the truth believe and disappointment and disgrace to all who the religion of mahmat the moon of faith unbelieve

28:51unbelieve the speaker was the princess who had burned the ifrit and he was become a heap of ashes then she came up to us and said reach me a cup of water

29:03they brought it to her and she spoke over it words we understood not and sprinkling me with it cried by virtue of the truth and by the most great name of allah i charge thee return to thy former shape

29:17and behold i shook and became a man as before save that i had utterly lost an eye then she cried out the fire the fire oh my dear papa an arrow from the accursed hath wounded me to the death for i am not used to fight with the jahn

29:35had he been a man i had slain him in the beginning i had no trouble till the time when the pomegranate burst and the grains scattered but i overlooked the seed wherein was the very life of the jinny

29:46had i picked it up he had died on the spot but as fate and fortune decreed i saw it not so he came upon me all unawares and there befell between him and me a sore struggle under the earth and high in air and in the water

30:01and as often as i opened on him a gate he opened on me another gate and a stronger till at last he opened on me the gate of fire and few are saved upon whom the door of fire opens

30:12but destiny willed that my cunning prevail over his cunning and i burned him to death after i vainly exhorted him to embrace the religion of allah

30:23as for me i am a dead woman allah supply my place to you then she called upon heaven for help and ceased not to implore relief from the fire

30:33when lo a black spark shot up from her roped feet to her thighs then it flew to her bosom and thence to her face when it reached her face she wept and said

30:44i testify that there is no god but the god and that muhammad is the apostle of god and we looked at her and saw naught but a heap of ashes by the side of the heap that had been the ifrit

30:57we mourned for her and i wished i had been in her place so had i not seen her lovely face who had worked me such weal become ashes but there is no gainsaying the will of allah

31:09when the king saw his daughter's terrible death he plucked out what was left of his beard and beat his face and rent his raiment and i did as he did and we both wept over her

31:22then came in the chamberlains and grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of ashes and the sultan in a fainting fit so they stood around him till he revived and told them what had befallen his daughter from the ifrit

31:36whereat their grief was right grievous and the women and the slave-girls shrieked and keened and they continued their lamentations for the space of seven days moreover the king bay build over his daughter's ashes a vast vaulted tomb

31:52and burned therein waxed tapers and sepulchral lamps but as for the ifrit's ashes they scattered them on the winds speeding them to the curse of allah then the sultan fell sick of a sickness that well nigh brought him to his death for a month's space

32:08and when health returned to him and his beard grew again and he had been converted by the mercy of allah to al islam he sent for me and said o youth fate had decreed for us the happiest of lives

32:21save from all the chances and changes of time till thou camest to us when troubles fell upon us would to heaven we had never seen thee and the foul face of thee for we took pity on thee and thereby we have lost our all

32:37i have on thy account first lost my daughter who to me was well worth a hundred men secondly i have suffered that which befell me by reason of the fire and the loss of my teeth and my eunuch also was slain

32:51i blame thee not for it was out of thy power to prevent this the doom of allah was on thee as well as on us and thanks be to the almighty for that my daughter delivered thee albeit thereby she lost her own life

33:04go forth now o my son from this my city and suffice thee what hath befallen us through thee even although twas decreed for us go forth in peace and if i ever see thee again i will surely slay thee and he cried out at me

33:20so i went forth from his presence o my lady weeping bitterly and hardly believing in my escape and knowing not whither i should wend and i recalled all that had befallen me my meeting the tailor my love for the damsel in the palace beneath the earth

33:36and my narrow escape from the ifrit even after he had determined to do me die and how i had entered the city as an ape and was now leaving it a man once more

33:47then i gave thanks to allah and said my eye and not my life and before leaving the place i entered the bath and shaved my pole and beard and moustachios and eyebrows

34:00and cast ashes on my head and donned the coarse black woollen rope of a calandar then i fared forth o my lady and every day i pondered all the calamities which had betided me and i wept and repeated these couplets

34:14i am distraught yet verily his ruth abides with me though round me gather hosts of ills whence come i cannot see

34:24patient i'll be till patient self with me impatient wax patient for ever till the lord fulfil my destiny patient i'll bide without complaint a wronged and vanquished man patient as sun-parched white that spans the desert sandy sea

34:42patient i'll be till aloe's self unwittingly allow i'm patient under bitterer things than bitterest aloe no bitterer things than aloe's or than patience for mankind yet bitterer than the twain to me were patience treachery

34:59my sear and seamed and seared brow would dragoman my sore if soul could surge my sprite and there unsecret secrecy

35:09were hills to bear the load i bear they'd crumble need the weight twould still the roaring wind twould quench the flame-tongue's flagrancy

35:19and whoso saith the world is sweet certes a day he'll see with more than aloe's bitterness and aloe's pungency then i journeyed through many regions and saw many a city intending for baghdad

35:34that i might seek audience in the house of peace with the commander of the faithful and tell him all that had befallen me i arrived here this very night and found my brother in allah this first kalander standing about as one perplexed

35:49so i saluted him with peace be upon thee and entered into discourse with him presently up came our brother this third kalander and said to us peace be with you i am a stranger

36:03whereto we replied and we too be strangers who have come hither this blessed night so we all three walked on together none of us knowing the other's history till destiny craved us to this door and we came in to you

36:18such then is my story and my reason for shaving my beard and moustachios and this is what caused the loss of my eye said the house-mistress

36:28thy tale is indeed a rare so rub thy head and wend thy ways but he replied i will not budge till i hear my companions stories

36:39then came forward the third kalander and said o illustrious lady my history is not like that of these my comrades but more wondrous and far more marvellous

36:51in their case fate and fortune came down on them unawares but i drew down destiny upon my own head and brought sorrow on mine own soul and shaved my own beard and lost my own eye

37:05hear then the third kalander's tale