The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 8 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (great books for teens TXT) 📕

And he answered her with these,

“Joy of boughs, bright branch of Myrobalan! * Have ruth on the heart all thy charms unman:

Death-cup to the dregs thou garrest me drain * And don weed of Love with its bane and ban:

How can soothe I a heart which for stress of pine * Burns with living coals which my longings fan?”

Hearing these lines she exclaimed, “Away from me! Quoth the saw �Whoso looseth his sight wearieth his sprite.’ By Allah, I am tired of discourse with thee and chiding, and indeed thy soul coveteth that shall never become thine; nay, though thou gave me my weight in gold, thou shouldst not get thy wicked will of me; for, I know naught of the things of the world, save pleasant life, by the boon of Allah Almighty!” He answered, “O my lady Zayn alMawasif, ask of me what thou wilt of the goods of the world.” Quoth she, “What shall I ask of thee? For sure thou wilt fare forth and prate of me in the highway and I shall become a laughing-stock among the folk and they will make a byword of me in verse, me who am the daughter of the chief of the merchants and whose father is known of the notables of the tribe. I have no need of money or raiment and such love will not be hidden from the people and I shall be brought to shame, I and my kith and kin.” With this Masrur was confounded and could make her no answer; but presently she said, “Indeed, the master-thief, if he steal, stealeth not but what is worth his neck, and every woman who doth lewdness with other than her husband is styled a thief; so, if it must be thus and no help[FN#320], thou shalt give me whatsoever my heart desireth of money and raiment and ornaments and what not.” Quoth he, “An thou sought of me the world and all its regions contain from its East to its West, ‘twere but a little thing, compared with thy favour;” and quoth she, “I will have of thee three suits, each worth a thousand Egyptian dinars, and adorned with gold and fairly purfled with pearls and jewels and jacinths, the best of their kind. Furthermore I require that thou swear to me thou wilt keep my secret nor discover it to any and that thou wilt company with none but me; and I in turn will swear to thee a true oath that I will never false thee in love.”

So he sware to her the oath she required and she sware to him, and they agreed upon this; after which she said to her nurse Hubub, “Tomorrow go thou with Masrur to his lodging and seek somewhat of musk and ambergris and Nadd and rosewater and see what he hath. If he be a man of condition, we will take him into favour; but an he be otherwise we will leave him.” Then said she to him, “O Masrur, I desire somewhat of musk and ambergris and aloes-wood and Nadd; so do thou send it me by Hubub;” and he answered, “With love and gladness; my shop is at thy disposal!”

Then the wine went round between them and their s�ance was sweet: but Masrur’s heart was troubled for the passion and pining which possessed him; and when Zayn alMawasif saw him in this plight, she said to her slavegirl Sukub, “Arouse Masrur from his stupor; mayhap he will recover.” Answered Sukub, “Hearkening and obedience,” and sang these couplets,

“Bring gold and gear an a lover thou, * And hymn thy love so success shalt row;

Joy the smiling fawn with the black-edged eyne * And the bending lines of the Cassiabough:

On her look, and a marvel therein shalt sight, * And pour out thy life ere thy life-term show:

Love’s affect be this, an thou weet the same; * But, an gold deceive thee, leave gold and go!”

Hereupon Masrur understood her and said, “I hear and apprehend.

Never was grief but after came relief, and after affliction dealing He will order the healing.” Then Zayn alMawasif recited these couplets,

“From Love-stupor awake, O Masrur, ‘twere best; * For this day I dread my love rend thy breast;

And tomorrow I fear me folks’ marvel-tale * Shall make us a byword from East to West:

Leave love of my like or thou’lt gain thee blame; * Why turn thee uswards? Such love’s unblest!

For one strange of lineage whose kin repel * Thou shalt wake ill-famed, of friends dispossest:

I’m a Zealot’s child and affright the folk: * Would my life were ended and I at rest!”

Then Masrur answered her improvisation and began to say these lines,

“To grief leave a heart that to love ne’er ceased; Nor blame, for your blame ever love increased: You misrule my vitals in tyrant-guise; Morn and Eve I wend not or West or East;

Love’s law forbids me to do me die; * They say Love’s victim is ne’er released:

Well-away! Could I find in Love’s Court a judge * I’d ‘plain and win to my rights at least.”

They ceased not from mutual chiding till morning morrowed, when Zayn alMawasif said, “O Masrur ‘tis time for thee to depart, lest one of the folk see thee and foul befal us twain.” So he arose and accompanied by nurse Hubub fared on, till they came to his lodging, where he talked with her and said to her, “All thou seekest of me is ready for thee, so but thou wilt bring me to enjoy her.” Hubub replied, “Hearten thy heart;” whereupon he rose and gave her an hundred dinars, saying “O Hubub, I have by me a dress worth an hundred gold pieces.” Answered she, “O Masrur, make haste with the trinkets and other things promised her, ere she change her mind, for we may not take her, save with wile and guile, and she loveth the saying of verse.” Quoth he, “Hearing and obeying,” and bringing her the musk and ambergris and lign-aloes and rosewater, returned with her to Zayn alMawasif and saluted her. She returned his salam with the sweetest speech, and he was dazed by her beauty and improvised these lines, “O thou sheeniest Sun who in night dost shine! * O who stole my soul with those large black eyne!

O slim-shaped fair with the graceful neck! * O who shamest Rose wi’ those checks o’ thine!

Blind not our sight wi’ thy fell disdain, * Disdain, that shall load us with pain and pine;

Passion homes in our inmost, nor will be quenched * The fire of yearning in vitals li’en:

Your love has hous�d in heart of me * And of issue but you see I ne’er a sign:

Then haply you’ll pity this hapless wight * Thy sad lover and then—O the Morn divine!”

When Zayn alMawasif heard his verses, she cast at him a glance of eyes, that bequeathed him a thousand regrets and sighs and his wits and soul were ravished in such wise, and answered him with these couplets[FN#321],

“Think not from her, of whom thou art enamoured aye * To win delight; so put desire from thee away.

Leave that thou hop’st, for ‘gainst her rigours whom thou lov’st * Among the fair, in vain is all thou canst essay.

My looks to lovers bring discomfiture and woe: Indeed, * I make no count of that which thou dost say.”

When Masrur heard this, he hardened his heart and took patience, concealing his case and saying in himself, “There is nothing for it against calamity save longsuffering;” and after this fashion they abode till nightfall when Zayn alMawasif called for food and they set before her a tray wherein were all manner of dishes, quails and pigeons and mutton and so forth, whereof they ate their sufficiency. Then she bade take away the tables and they did so and fetched the lavatory gear; and they washed their hands, after which she ordered her women to bring the candlesticks, and they set on candelabra and candles therein of camphorated wax. Thereupon quoth Zayn alMawasif, “By Allah, my breast is straitened this night and I am afevered;” and quoth Masrur, “Allah broaden thy breast and banish thy bane!” Then she said, “O Masrur, I am used to play at chess: say me, knowest aught of the game?” He replied, “Yes; I am skilled therein;”

whereupon she commanded her handmaid Hubub fetch her the chessboard. So she went away and presently returning with the board, set it before her, and behold, it was of ivory-marquetried ebony with squares marked in glittering gold, and its pieces of pearl and ruby.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Forty-seventh Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zayn alMawasif bade the chessboard be brought, they set it between her hands; and Masrur was amazed at this, when she turned to him and said, “Wilt have red or white?” He replied, “O Princess of the fair and adornment of morning air, do thou take the red for they formous are and fitter for the like of thee to bear and leave the white to my care.” Answered she, “So be it;” and, taking the red pieces, ranged them opposite the white, then put out her hand to a piece purposing the first pass into the battle-plain. Masrur considered her fingers, which were white as paste, and was confounded at their beauty and shapely shape; whereupon she turned to him and said, “O Masrur, be not bedazed, but take patience and calm thyself.” He rejoined, “O thou whose beauty shameth the moon, how shall a lover look on thee and have patience-boon?” And while this was doing she cried, “Checkmate[FN#322]!” and beat him; wherefore she knew that he was Jinn-mad for love of her and said to him, “O Masrur, I will not play with thee save for a set stake.” He replied, “I hear and obey,” and she rejoined, “Swear to me and I will swear to thee that neither of us will cheat[FN#323] the adversary.” So both sware this and she said, “O Masrur, an I beat thee, I will have ten dinars of thee, but an thou beat me, I will give thee a mere nothing.” He expected to win, so he said, “O my lady, be not false to thine oath, for I see thou art an overmatch for me at this game!” “Agreed,” said she and they ranged their men and fell again to playing and pushing on their pawns and catching them up with the queens and aligning and matching them with the castles and solacing them with the onslaught of the knights. Now the “Adornment of Qualities” wore on head a kerchief of blue brocade so she loosed it off and tucking up her sleeve, showed a wrist like a shaft of light and passed her palm over the red pieces, saying to him, “Look to thyself.” But he was dazzled at her beauty, and the sight of her graces bereft him of reason, so that he became dazed and amazed and put out his hand to the white men, but it alit upon the red. Said she, “O Masrur, where be thy wits?

The red are mine and the white thine;” and he replied, “Whoso looketh at thee perforce loseth all his senses.” Then, seeing how it was with him, she took the white from him and gave him the red, and they played and she beat him. He ceased not to play with her and she to beat