Supplemental Nights to The Book of the Thousand and One Nights by Sir Richard Francis Burton (acx book reading txt) 📕

Verily, the Shaykh whom I bought affirmed that he knew the quintessence of jewels and that he was skilled in cookery. We have tried him in his cuisine, and have found him the most knowing of men; and now, if we send after him and prove him on jewels, his second claim will be made manifest to us, whether true or false.” So the king bade fetch the Shaykh and he came and stood before the Sultan, who showed him the two pearls. Quoth he, “Now for this one, ‘tis worth a thousand dinars;” and quoth the king, “So saith its owner.” “But for this other,” continued the old man, “‘tis worth only five hundred.” The people laughed and admired his saying, and the merchant who owned the second pearl asked him, “How can this, which is bigger of bulk and worthier for water and righter of rondure, be less of value than that?”

and the old man answered, “I have said what is with me.”[FN#340]

Then quoth the king to him, “Indeed, the outer semblance thereof is like that of the other pearl; why then is it worth but the half of its price?” and quoth the old man, “Yes, but its inward is corrupt.” Asked the merchant, “Hath a pearl then an inward and an outward?” and the Shaykh answered, “Yea! In its interior is a teredo, a boring worm; but the other pearl is sound and secure against breakage.” The merchant continued, “Give us approof of this thy knowledge and confirm to us the truth of thy saying;”

and the old man rejoined, “We will break it: an I prove a liar, here is my head, and if I speak sooth, thou wilt have lost thy pearl;” and the merchant said, “I agree to that.” So they brake the pearl and it was even as the old man had declared, to wit, in the heart of it was a boring worm. The king marvelled at what he saw and questioned him of how he came by the knowledge of this.

The Shaykh replied, “O king, this kind of jewel is engendered in the belly of a creature called the oyster[FN#341] and its origin is a drop of rain and it resisteth the touch and groweth not warm whilst hent in hand:[FN#342] so, when its outer coat became tepid to my touch, I knew that it harboured some living thing, for that things of life thrive not save in heat.” Therefore the king said to the cook, “Increase his allowance;” and the Chef appointed to him fresh rations. Now some time after this, two merchants presented themselves to the king with two horses, and one said, “I ask a thousand ducats for my horse,” and the other, “I seek five thousand ducats for mine.” Quoth the cook, “We are now familiar with the old man’s just judgment; what deemeth the king of fetching him?” So the king bade fetch him, and when he saw the two horses[FN#343] he said, “This is worth a thousand and that two thousand ducats.” Quoth the folk, “This horse thou misjudgest is evidently a thoroughbred and he is younger and faster and compacter of limb and finer of head and clearer of colour and skin than the other;” presently adding, “What assurance hast thou of the sooth of thy saying?” And the old man said, “This ye state is true, all true; but his sire is old and this other is the son of a young horse. Now, when the son of an old horse standeth still a-breathing, his breath returneth not to him and his rider falleth into the hand of him who followeth after him; but the son of a young horse, an thou put him to speed and after making him run, alight from him, thou wilt find him, by reason of his robustness, untired.” Quoth the merchant, “‘Tis even as the Shaykh avoucheth and he is an excellent judge.” And the king said, “Increase his allowance.” But the Shaykh stood still and did not go away; so the king asked him, “Why dost thou not go about thy business?” and he answered, “My business is with the king.” Said the king, “Name what thou wouldest have,” and the other replied, “I would have thee question me of the quintessence of men, even as thou has questioned me of the quintessence of horses.” Quoth the king, “We have no occasion to question thee thereof;” but quoth the old man, “I have occasion to acquaint thee.” “Say what thou wilt,” rejoined the king, and the Shaykh said, “Verily, the king is the son of a baker.” Cried the king, “How and whereby kennest thou that?” and the Shaykh replied, “Know, O king, that I have examined into degrees and dignities[FN#344] and have learned this.” Thereupon the king went in to his mother and asked her anent his sire, and she told him that the king her husband was impotent;[FN#345] “So,” quoth she, “I feared for the kingdom, lest it pass away, after his death; wherefore I yielded my person to a young man, a baker, and conceived by him and bare a man-child;[FN#346] and the kingship came into the hand of my son, that is, thyself.” So the king returned to the Shaykh and said to him, “I am indeed the son of a baker; so do thou expound to me the means whereby thou knewest me for this.” Quoth the other, “I knew that, hadst thou been the son of a king, thou wouldst have gifted me with things of price, such as rubies and the like; and wert thou the son of a Kazi, thou hadst given largesse of a dirham or two dirhams, and wert thou the son of any of the merchants, thou hadst given me muchel of money. But I saw that thou bestowedst upon me naught save two bannocks of bread and other rations, wherefore I knew thee to be the son of a baker;” and quoth the king, “Thou hast hit the mark.” Then he gave him wealth galore and advanced him to high estate. The tale aforesaid pleased King Shah Bakht and he marvelled thereat; but the Wazir said to him, “This story is not stranger than that of the Richard who married his beautiful daughter to the poor Shaykh.” The king’s mind was occupied with the promised tale and he bade the Wazir withdraw to his lodging; so he went and abode there the rest of the night and the whole of the following day.

The Fourth Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the king sat private in his sitting-chamber and bade fetch the Wazir. When he presented himself before him, he said to him, “Tell me the tale of the Richard.” The Minister replied, “I will. Hear, O puissant king,

The Tale of the Richard who Married his Beautiful Daughter to the Poor Old Man.

A certain rich merchant had a beautiful daughter, who was as the full moon, and when she attained the age of fifteen, her father betook himself to an old man and spreading him a carpet in his sitting-chamber, gave him to eat and conversed and caroused with him. Then said he to him, “I desire to marry thee to my daughter.” The other drew back, because of his poverty, and said to him, “I am no husband for her nor am I a match for thee.” The merchant was urgent with him, but he repeated his answer to him, saying, “I will not consent to this till thou acquaint me with the cause of thy desire for me. An I find it reasonable, I will fall in with thy wish; and if not, I will not do this ever.”

Quoth the merchant, “Thou must know that I am a man from the land of China and was in my youth well-favoured and well-to-do. Now I made no account of womankind, one and all, but followed after youths,[FN#347] and one night I saw, in a dream, as it were a balance set up, and hard by it a voice said, ‘This is the portion of Such-an-one.’ I listened and presently I heard my own name; so I looked and behold, there stood a woman loathly to the uttermost; whereupon I awoke in fear and cried, ‘I will never marry, lest haply this fulsome female fall to my lot.’ Then I set out for this city with merchandise and the journey was pleasant to me and the sojourn here, so that I took up my abode in the place for a length of time and gat me friends and factors. At last I sold all my stockin-trade and collected its price and there was left me nothing to occupy me till the folk[FN#348]

should depart and I depart with them. One day, I changed my clothes and putting gold into my sleeve, sallied forth to inspect the holes and corners of this city, and as I was wandering about, I saw a handsome house: its seemliness pleased me; so I stood looking on it and beheld a lovely woman at the window. When she saw me, she made haste and descended, whilst I abode confounded.

Then I betook myself to a tailor there and questioned him of the house and anent whose it was. Quoth he, ‘It belongeth to Such-an-one the Notary,[FN#349] God damn him!’ I asked, ‘Is he her sire?’ and he answered, ‘Yes.’ So I repaired in great hurry to a man, with whom I had been wont to deposit my goods for sale, and told him I desired to gain access to Such-an-one the Notary.

Accordingly he assembled his friends and we betook ourselves to the Notary’s house. When we came in to him, we saluted him and sat with him, and I said to him, ‘I come to thee as a suitor, desiring in marriage the hand of thy daughter.’ He replied, ‘I have no daughter befitting this man;’ and I rejoined, ‘Allah aid thee! My desire is for thee and not for her.’[FN#350] But he still refused and his friends said to him, ‘This is an honourable match and a man thine equal, nor is it lawful to thee that thou hinder the young lady of her good luck.’ Quoth he to them, ‘She will not suit him!’ nevertheless they were instant with him till at last he said, ‘Verily, my daughter whom ye seek is passing illfavoured and in her are all blamed qualities of person.’ And I said, ‘I accept her, though she be as thou sayest.’ Then said the folk, ‘Extolled be Allah! Cease we to talk of a thing settled; so say the word, how much wilt thou have to her marriagesettlement?’

Quoth he, ‘I must have four thousand sequins;’ and I said, ‘To hear is to obey!’ Accordingly the affair was concluded and we drew up the contract of marriage and I made the bride-feast; but on the wedding-night I beheld a thing[FN#351] than which never made Allah Almighty aught more fulsome. Methought her folk had devised this freak by way of fun; so I laughed and looked for my mistress, whom I had seen at the window, to make her appearance; but saw her not. When the affair was prolonged and I found none but her, I was like to lose my wits for vexation and fell to beseeching my Lord and humbling myself in supplication before Him that He would deliver me from her. When I arose in the morning, there came the chamberwoman and said to me, ‘Hast thou need of the bath?’[FN#352] I replied, ‘No;’ and she asked, ‘Art thou for breakfast?’ But I still answered ‘No;’ and on this wise I abode three days, tasting neither meat nor drink.