The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress
noble beast and take her!’ So the prince rode after the animal until it disappeared from view somewhere in the desert; and the prince was at a loss, not knowing which way to go, until he saw a young girl weeping above the track which he followed. He asked her who she was and she answered: ‘I am the daughter of one of the Kings of Hind. While I journeyed over the desert with a caravan, sleep overcame HINDI-BOOKS
me and I fell from my beast without any noticing. Now I am lost and alone and very sorrowful.’ When the prince heard this, he pitied her and, setting her on his saddle-bow, rode away with 30 her. As they were passing a little deserted ruin, the girl said: ‘Master, I must obey a call of nature.’ She went down into the ruin and the prince, after waiting and noticing that she was taking longer than was natural, went in after her without attracting her notice and behold! she had become an ogress and was saying to her brood: To-day, my dears, I have brought you a fine fat youth!’ On this they shouted: ‘Bring him in,HINDI-BOOKS
mother, bring him in, that we may eat our bellyful!’ When the prince heard these terrifying words, he gave himself up for lost. His muscles relaxed for very terror and he crawled from the ruin. When the ogress came out in her turn, she noticed his fear and trembling and said: ‘Why are you afraid?’ He answered that he had an enemy and the ogress asked: ‘Did you not tell me that you were a prince?’ ‘That is true,’ he replied, and she continued: ‘If you are a prince, why do you not give money to your enemy and satisfy him?’ ‘He would never be satisfied with money,’ answered the prince, ‘never, I fear, with anything but my death. Thus it is I go in fear of my life and am the victim of an evil chance.’ To
this she said: ‘If that is so, you have only to ask the help of All&h against your enemy and He will save you and deliver you from the malice of those you fear.’ Then the prince lifted up his head and prayed, saying: ‘O Thou, who answerest the oppressed when they call upon Thee, give me to triumph over my enemy and in Thy might remove him from about my way!’ When the ogress heard this prayer, she disappeared; and the prince, returning to his father the King, told him of the evil counsel of his waz(r, and the King put the waz(r to death. After this tale the waz(r of King Y*n&n continued in these subtle terms: ‘But I fear, O King, that if you put your trust in this doctor, he will make you die the worst of deaths. Even while you cover him with favours and make him your friend he is plotting your death. Do
you not see why he has cured your illness from the outside of your body by means of a thing to hold in the hand? Do you not see that it is simply that he may later cause your death with another thing held in the hand?’ ‘Indeed what you say is true,’ agreed Y*n&n. ‘Let all be done as you advise, O waz(r of good counsel! It is more than likely that this doctor has come in secret as a spy, to cause my death. Since he cured me with a thing held in the hand, what is to prevent him killing me with some other thing, perhaps some scent that he will give me to smell? What should I do, O waz(r?’ ‘Send someone to fetch him at once,’ answered THE TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE OGRESS 31 the waz(r, ‘and, when he comes, have his head cut off at the neck; only thus can you put a stop to his evil plans and be carefree as you were before. Strike before he strikes, that is my advice!’ ‘You have spoken well, O
waz(r!’ said King Y*n&n, and he sent to fetch the doctor, who came quickly and cheerfully, not knowing what the Compassionate had in store for him. A poet has written these verses: Go on your way and be comforted, Child of the Faithful; He who has moulded the world in His hands Holds it and us in His hands forever. What He has written you cannot alter, What He has not written never shall be, So go on your way and be comforted, Child of the Faithful. I keep the sweetness of my voice to sing to Him, I make my fairest verses in His praise. Rare and more rare fall His gifts about me, Granted before I have the wit to ask them, His kindness to me is greater than I can bear; My voice is not sweet enough to sing of Him And my verses are too little to hold His praise. Walk on light-hearted, caring and carrying
nothing Leaving all to Him; Fear not what man may do, grieve not at sorrow, Especially plan not, for He has planned all things; Walk on light-hearted, caring and carrying nothing, Leaving all to Him. When Rayy&n, the physician, presented himself before the King, the latter asked him: ‘Do you know why I have sent for you?’ And the physician answered: ‘None knows the unknown save All&h!’ Then said the King: ‘I have sent for you that you may die.’ At these words Rayy&n was struck as by thunder and exclaimed: ‘Why should you kill me, O King? What harm have I done?’ ‘They say you are a spy and have come here to kill me,’ answered the King. ‘Therefore will I strike the blow first!’ Then raising his voice he cried to his executioner: ‘Strike through the neck of this traitor and rid me of his wiles!’
‘Spare me, and so shall All&h spare you!’ cried the unfortunate doctor. ‘Kill me not, lest He also rise up and slay!’ 33 THE TALE OF THE WAZ/R CONTINUED He cried this prayer again and again, O Ifr(t, just as I did with you. And you had no mercy upon me but continued hot for my death. King Y*n&n said to the doctor: ‘Never will I have trust or peace again until I have killed you; for if you cured me with a thing held in the hand, doubtless you would kill me with a thing to smell, or in some other way.’ ‘Is this how you reward me?’ asked the doctor. ‘Is this how you return me evil for my good?’ But the King said: ‘You must die, there are no two ways about it.’ When the physician saw that the King was resolute for his death, he wept and repented bitterly of all the services he had done to those not worthy to receive them. Bearing on this subject, the poet said: Although Maimunah was a fool
Her father kept the golden rule; He had a torch to guide his feet Through all the perils of the street. After this the executioner advanced, bandaged the doctor’s eyes, and, freeing his blade, asked leave of the King. But the doctor continued to weep and to reiterate: ‘Spare me, and so shall All&h spare you!
Kill me not, lest He also rise up and slay!’ Also he intoned these lines of the poet: Fools take the prize And cruelty lives on, While wisdom dies And kindness is undone. If I come free I’ll swear to change my ways, And practise ignorance and cruelty Through all my days. Then he said to the King: ‘Is this my reward? You are treating me after the manner of a certain crocodile.’ Then the King asked: ‘What is this tale of the crocodile?’ And the doctor answered: ‘Indeed, indeed, I cannot tell you tales while I am
in this sorry state. I conjure you, by All&h, save me and so shall All&h preserve you at the last.’ Then he began to weep again, very sorrowfully. At this point some of the King’s favourites rose and said to him: ‘Spare, we beseech you, O King, the life of this great and good physician, for we have seen no fault in him against you; but rather4 have we seen him cure you of an evil which neither doctors nor sages were able to touch.’ But the King answered them: ‘You know not the reason of this doctor’s death; if I spared him I should myself be lost, for he who has cured me by a thing held in the hand
might well kill me by giving me something to smell. Also I fear that he would kill me for some reward set upon my life, for he is probably a spy come here for no other reason but to kill me. His death is necessary. I shall have peace again.’ Then the doctor called out again: ‘Spare me, and so shall All&h
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spare you! Kill me not, lest He also rise up and slay!’ Now know, O Ifr(t, that when the physician was finally certain that the King would kill him, he said: ‘King, if my death is really necessary, at least allow me a delay for going down to my house. I must put my affairs in order, instruct my family and my neighbours to arrange my funeral, and, above all, I must give away my books of medicine. Also, now that I think of it, I have indeed a book that is the extract of extracts, the rarity of rarities in science, and I would offer it to you that you may keep it carefully for ever among your chests of books.’ So the King asked him what this book might be, and he made answer: ‘It holds devices that are above price, the least of its secrets being this: if, when my head is off, you turn three pages of the book, then read three lines upon the left-hand page, my severed head will speak and answer any manner of question!’ The King trembled with joyful amazement at these words, and said: ‘Doctor, is this true? Even if I cut your head off will you speak?’ ‘Indeed it is true, my King,’ he answered. ‘It is one of the prodigies of my science.’ After this, the King let him go down to his house between guards; and on that day and the next he wound up his affairs. When he came back to the d(w&n, it was like a garden full of flowers with the coloured clothes of the am(rs, the waz(rs, the chamberlains, the naww&bs and all the chief persons of the kingdom. First the physician stood before the King, holding a very old book and a little kohl box in which there was a powder. Then he sat down and said: ‘Let someone bring me a plate!’ A plate was brought to him, and he poured the powder on to it, smoothing it over the surface with his fingers. Finally he said: ‘Take this book, my King, but do not use it until you have cut off my head. When my head is off, set it upon this plate and have it pressed down firm upon the powder to stop the bleeding.
After that open the book.’ But the King in his haste hardly listened to him. He took the 35 THE TALE OF THE WAZ/R CONTINUED book and, opening it, found that the pages were stuck together; so he put his finger to his mouth, wetted it with his spittle, and succeeded in opening the first leaf. He did the same with the second and the third, experiencing great difficulty each time. When six single sheets had been opened in this way, he tried to read but could find no manner of writing in the book. ‘There is nothing written here,’ he cried, and the doctor answered: ‘Go on turning.’ So the King went on turning
the leaves but hardly had a minute passed when the venom (for the leaves of the book were indeed poisoned) began to work in the blood and body of the King. He fell back in terrible convulsions, crying: ‘Poisoned! Poisoned!’ And Rayy&n, the physician, addressed him, extemporising these lines: When the unjust judge Without justice judges, Horrible, horrible things are done; But more horrible things are done When justice judges The unjust judge. As Rayy&n made an end of his verses, the King fell back dead. Learn from this, O you Ifr(t, that if King Y*n&n had preserved Rayy&n, the physician, All&h would have preserved him in his turn. But he refused and brought about his own death. And you, if you had wished to preserve me, All&h would have preserved you. At this point Shahraz&d saw the coming
of morning and discreetly fell silent. Then her sister Dunyaz&d said: ‘How pleasant are your words!’ ‘They are nothing,’ she answered, ‘to that which I would tell you to-morrow night if I were still alive and the King wished to spare me.’ After this, they spent the night in complete joy and happiness until the morning. Finally the King went up to his d(w&n; also, when the d(w&n had risen, he returned to his own palace and his people. And when the sixth night had come SHAHRAZ-D SAID: It is related, O
auspicious King, that the fisherman said to the Ifr(t: ‘If you had preserved me I would now preserve you, but, as you wished my death, I shall throw you into the sea and leave you to die imprisoned in this jar.’ Then the Ifr(t cried: For the love of All&h, do not do this thing! Release me, out of your generosity, not blaming me too much for what I did. If I was evil, be thou good. Does not the proverb
say: “He who requites a fault with kindness at the same time pardons the evil”? Do not to me as Uman did to At(kah.’ ‘What was their story?’ asked the fisherman. This jar is no place for telling tales in,’ answered the Ifr(t. ‘When you let me out I will tell you what happened between them.’ ‘No, no,’ said
the fisherman, ‘I must cast you into the sea, so that you shall never come up out of it again. For, by your way of treating me, I know that you come of an evil race.’ But the Ifr(t cried: ‘Release me, and I will not only tell you the story, but I will promise never to do you hurt and, moreover, I will bring you into the way of great riches.’ Then the fisherman trusted him and, being assured of his good faith, after
making him swear in the name of All&h, opened the jar. Out rose the smoke from the jar and again became an Ifr(t of immortal ugliness, who with a mighty kick sent the jar flying out to sea. When he saw the jar disappearing in the water, the fisherman piddled his garments in an ecstasy of fear, saying: ‘This is no good sign!’ Then to reassure himself he thus addressed the Jinn(: ‘All&h the Most-High has said, O Ifr(t: “Stand by your oaths or I will call you to account!” You both promised and swore that yo
u would not harm me. Be certain, then, that if you do harm me, All&h will punish you; for He is a jealous God and if He bides His time yet does He not forget. Remember I said to you, as Rayy&n the physician said to King Y*n&n: “Spare me, and All&h shall spare you!”’ At these words the Ifr(t burst out laughing and walked away, telling the fisherman to follow him. Still in uncertainty the fisherman walked behind, and in this order they left the city behind till it was out of sight and, climbing a
mountain, came down over the other side into a great deserted valley, in the middle of which was a lake. Here the Ifr(t stopped and ordered the fisherman to cast his net, and the latter, looking down into the water, saw fish, white, red, blue, and yellow, swimming about in it. Marvelling at this sight, he cast his net and caught four fish, each of a different colour. As he was rejoicing at his good fortune, the Ifr(t said: Take these fish to the Sult&n’s palace and he will make you a rich man. In the meantime, I must ask you to excuse me; I fear I have forgotten my manners during my long sojourn below the sea, never looking upon the land for eighteen hundred 37 TALE OF THE FISHERMAN AND JINN/ CONTINUED years. I advise you to come and fish here every day, but only once a day. Finally, All&h
be good to you, and farewell!’ With this the Ifr(t stamped both his feet against the earth, which opened and swallowed him up. Marvelling at all that had befallen him, the fisherman returned towards the city and, coming to his house with the fish, filled an earthen pot with water and placed them in it. When they began to swim about in the water, he put the pot upon his head and walked with it to the palace, as the Ifr(t had told him. When the fisherman came into the presence of the King and offered him the fish,
the King, who had never seen the like either in size or colour, marvelled exceedingly and commanded that they should be given to the black cook-maid. You must know that this slave had been given him as a present three days before by the King of R*m and that so far he had had no occasion to sample her cookery. So the waz(r took the fish to the cook-maid and told her to fry them, adding: ‘Excellent negress, the King my master sent you this message: “I have reserved you specially, O tear of mine, for some great day. Give us proof, now, of your excellence with the cookpots and the luxury of your dishes, for to-day the Sult&n entertains one who brings gifts to him.”’ Then the waz(r returned to the King, who ordered him to give the fisherman four hundred d(n&rs. Having received this sum, the fisherman
placed it in the tail of his robe and returned contentedly to his wife at home. We will leave him buying all manner of necessities for his children. In the meanwhile the cook-maid cleaned the fishes, put them in the pan and, when they were well cooked on one side, turned them over. But suddenly the wall of the
kitchen opened and through it entered a young and slender girl with full smooth cheeks and delightful features. Her eyelids were darkened with black kohl and her body bent daintily with the weight of her breasts. On her head she wore a kerchief of blue silk from which her hair escaped about her ears; she had gold bracelets round her wrists, and on her fingers rich and coloured stones sparkled from rings. She came forward to the fire and, thrusting a bamboo wand she carried in her hand into the pan, said: ‘Fish, fish, are you faithful?’ Seeing this the cookmaid fainted away, and the young girl repeated her
question a second and third time. Then all the fish lifted their heads from inside the pan and cried: ‘Yes, yes, we are!’ Then in chorus they intoned these lines: 38 Come back and so will we, Keep faith and we’ll keep faith, But if you show us treachery It shall be to your scathe. At these words the young girl upset the pan and passed out by the way she had come, the wall of the kitchen coming together again after her. When the cook-maid came out of her swoon, she saw that the four fishes had fallen into the fire and been burnt to black cinders. And calling out: ‘Oh, even at the first assault his vigour ebbed away!’ she continued to lament until the waz(r came back and told her to carry the fishes to the Sult&n. At this the cook-maid burst into tears, and told the waz(r all that had happened. The waz(r, utterly amazed at the strangeness of the thing, sent for the fisherman and commanded him to bring four other fishes of the same kind. So the fisherman made his way to the mountain lake and, casting his net, brought four more fish to land. These he took to the waz(r who, in his turn, took them to the cook-maid
and said: ‘Stir yourself now and fry these in my presence, that I may see what there is in this story of yours.’ The negress cleaned the fish and set them in a pan on the fire, but hardly had she done so when the wall opened and the young girl appeared a second time, dressed as before and still holding the wand in her hand. She thrust the wand into the pan, saying: ‘Fish, fish, are you faithful?’ whereupon the
fishes lifted their heads and intoned these lines in chorus: Come back and so will we, Keep faith and we’ll keep faith, But if you show us treachery It shall be to your scathe. At this point Shahraz&d saw the approach of morning and discreetly fell silent. And when the seventh night had come SHE SAID: It is related, O auspicious King, that when the fishes spoke in this manner the young girl upset the pan with her wand and departed by the fissure in the wall, which closed after her. ‘This is a thing that we can in no wise keep from the King!’ exclaimed the waz(r, so he 39 TALE OF THE FISHERMAN AND JINN/ CONTINUED sought out the King and told him the whole circumstances. ‘This is a thing that I must see for myself!’ cried the King and, sending for the fisherman, he commanded him to fetch four other fish of the like kind, allowing him three days in which to complete the matter. But the fisherman hurried to the lake and came back immediately with four more fish, for which he was given four hundred d(n&rs at the King’s command. Then the King ordered his waz(r to prepare the fish himself in
the royal presence. ‘I hear and I obey,’ answered the waz(r and, conducting the King to the kitchen, he carefully cleaned the fish and, in the King’s sight, set them in the pan to fry. When they were cooked on one side, he turned them; immediately the kitchen wall opened and through it entered a negro, as ugly as a great buffalo or one of the giants of the tribe of H&d. He carried a green branch in his hand and
said in a distinct and terrible voice: Fish, fish, are you faithful?’ Then all the fish lifted their heads from inside the pan and cried: ‘Yes, yes, we are!’ and in chorus they intoned these lines: Come back and so will we, Keep faith and we’ll keep faith, But if you show us treachery It shall be to your scathe. Then the negro came up to the pan and upset it with his branch, so that the fish fell out and were burnt to black cinders. Finally he departed by the way he had come, and the King said: ‘Here is a matter on which it is impossible to keep silent. Surely there is some strange tale connected with these fishes!’ So
he sent for the fisherman and asked him where the fishes came from. ‘From a lake between four hills,’ he answered, ‘behind the mountain which looks down upon your city.’ ‘How many days’ journey is it?’ asked the King. ‘My lord, it is not more than half an hour away,’ the other answered. So the Sult&n set out forthwith, taking his soldiers with him, and also the fisherman, who went along in a confused state
of mind, secretly cursing the Ifr(t. At length the King’s party passed over the mountain and came down into a desert valley, such as they had never seen before. They marvelled at it, and at the lake, and at the fish of different colours, red, white, yellow and blue, which swam within it. Halting his men, the King asked if anyone there had ever seen a lake in that place and, when all answered that they had not, he said: ‘As All&h lives, I will never more go back to my city or sit upon my throne until I have found out the truth about this lake and these strange fishes!’ Then, sending out his men to inspect the mountains round about, he called his waz(r to him, who was a scholar and a sage, an eloquent man of great learning. To him the King said: ‘There is a thing that I mean to do and I must tell you of it. I have determined to go forth alone to-night and seek out unaided the answer to the mystery of this lake. Your part will be to stand guard at the door of my tent and tell any waz(rs, am(rs or chamberlains who may seek audience, that I am ill and have given order that none may be admitted. Above all tell no one of my plan.’ The waz(r promised to obey and the King, having disguised himself and girt on his sword, slipped out unperceived from among his bodyguard. All that night and through the next morning he journeyed on, stopping only to sleep through the noonday heat. Then he continued his quest throughout the rest of that day and the following night. On the second morning he saw a black object far off andHINDI-BOOKS
joyfully exclaimed: ‘Surely yonder I shall find someone to tell me the story of the lake!’ Coming nearer, he saw that the thing was a palace, built all of black stones fastened together with great clamps of steel. Stopping at the mighty double door, one half of which was open, he knocked softly, once, twice, and again, without receiving any answer. The fourth time, he knocked with great violence and still no one came. So, supposing the palace to be deserted, he plucked up his courage and entered. ‘O masters of this palace, I am a stranger, a wayfarer, and I come to ask a little refreshment in my journey!’ He repeated this twice more and, getting no reply, became emboldened to go along the corridor as far as the very centre of the palace. Here he found no one, though all the place was splendid with star-wrought tapestries and, in the middle of the inner court, four lions of red gold held up a fountain, spraying so fair
a water that it had the appearance of diamonds and white pearls. About the court were many birds, which could not fly away because of a great golden net stretched above the palace. The King marvelled at all these things and yet he grieved in his heart to find no one there who could explain the riddle of the lake, the mountain, the fish, and the palace. Soon he sat down between two of the doors in a profound reverie, which was suddenly cut short by a feeble voice of complaint, rising it seemed from a
surcharged heart. He heard these lines sung in a sweet whisper: 41 TALE OF THE FISHERMAN AND JINN/ CONTINUED I could not keep love down: He rose and pinned my sleepy eyes awake, He crept into my voice and made it break, My heart, and made it ache. I could not keep love down: He rose and lighted fires within my brain, And all the waters of the world are vain To put them out again. Moving towards the sound of this low plaining, the King found a door covered by a curtain. Lifting the curtain, he saw a young man lying upon his elbow on a great bed in a mighty hall. He was fair and supple, dowered with the very voice of music; his brow was like a flower, and his cheeks like the flowers ofHINDI-BOOKS
roses. Also, on one of these cheeks there lay a mole like a fragment of black amber. The poet has said: Sweet and slim is the boy With hair of shadows paling the night And a brow of light Making the stars seem grey. My eyes have turned his way And found a joy Of which I dare not speak In a nut-brown beauty spot Which he has got Below his dark eye on his rose-leaf cheek. The King rejoiced at the sight of the young man and said to him: ‘Peace be with you!’ But the youth, who wore a robe of
goldenembroidered silk, did not move from his position on the bed and it was with great sorrow both of voice and feature that he greeted the King, saying: ‘Excuse me, my lord, for not rising.’ Thereupon the King said: ‘Tell me, O fair young man, the story of the lake and the coloured fishes, and also the reason of this palace and of your solitude and your tears.’ At these words the youth wept even more sorely and answered: ‘What is there in the evil fate that has come upon me that I should not weep?’ So
saying, he moved his thin hand towards the skirts of his garment and lifted them away from his body. Then the King saw that the lower half of this youth was all of marble, while the THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT 42 upper half of his body, from his navel to the hair upon his head, remained that of a man. As he stood there astonished, the young man said to him: ‘You must know, my lord, that the tale of the fishes is indeed a strange tale. Were it written with a bodkin on the inner corner of an eye, yet would it be a lesson for a man of mind.’ And the youth told this story
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