The Arabian Nights Entertainments | Page 7

felt himself so incommoded by the heat of the sun that he turned out of his road, in order to rest under some trees by which there was a fountain. He alighted, and tying his horse to a branch of the tree, sat down on its bank to eat some biscuits and dates from his little store. When he had satisfied his hunger he amused himself with throwing about the stones of the fruit with considerable velocity. When he had finished his frugal repast he washed his hands, his face, and his feet, and repeated a prayer, like a good Mussulman.[3]
He was still on his knees, when he saw a genie,[4] white with age and of an enormous stature, advancing toward him, with a scimitar in his hand. As soon as he was close to him he said in a most terrible tone: "Get up, that I may kill thee with this scimitar, as thou hast caused the death of my son." He accompanied these words with a dreadful yell.
[Footnote 3: Mussulman signifies resigned, or "conformed to the divine will." The Arabic word is Moslemuna, in the singular, Moslem; which the Mohammedans take as a title peculiar to themselves. The Europeans generally write and pronounce it Mussulman.--Sale's Koran, c. ii, p. 16. 4to, 1734.]
[Footnote 4: These tales are furnished throughout with a certain imaginary machinery. They have, as their foundation, the perpetual intervention of certain fantastic beings, in most cases superior to man, but yet subordinate to the authority of certain favored individuals. These beings may, for our purpose, be generally divided into genies, whose interference is generally for evil; peris, whose presence indicates favorable issues to those whom they befriend; and ghouls, monsters which have a less direct control over man's affairs, but represent any monster repugnant or loathsome to mankind.]
The merchant, alarmed by the horrible figure of this giant, as well as by the words he heard, replied in trembling accents: "How can I have slain him? I do not know him, nor have I ever seen him."
"Didst thou not," replied the giant, "on thine arrival here, sit down, and take some dates from thy wallet; and after eating them, didst thou not throw the stones about on all sides?"
"This is all true," replied the merchant; "I do not deny it."
"Well, then," said the other, "I tell thee thou hast killed my son; for while thou wast throwing about the stones, my son passed by; one of them struck him in the eye, and caused his death,[5] and thus hast thou slain my son."
[Footnote 5: "Now this, at first sight, seems a singular, if not a ridiculous thing; but even this has its foundation in an Eastern custom. It is in this manner that prisoners are sometimes put to death; a man sits down at a little distance from the object he intends to destroy, and then attacks him by repeatedly shooting at him with the stone of the date, thrown from his two forefingers, and in this way puts an end to his life."--Preface to Forster's edition of Arabian Nights.]
"Ah, sire, forgive me," cried the merchant.
"I have neither forgiveness nor mercy," replied the giant; "and is it not just that he who has inflicted death should suffer it?"
"I grant this; yet surely I have not done so: and even if I have, I have done so innocently, and therefore I entreat you to pardon me, and suffer me to live."
"No, no," cried the genie, still persisting in his resolution, "I must destroy thee, as thou hast killed my son."
At these words, he took the merchant in his arms, and having thrown him with his face on the ground, he lifted up his saber, in order to strike off his head.
* * * * *
Schehera-zade, at this instant perceiving it was day, and knowing that the sultan rose early to his prayers,[6] and then to hold a council, broke off.
[Footnote 6: "The Mohammedans divide their religion into two parts--Imana, faith; and Din, practice. The first is the confession, 'There is no God but the true God, and Mohammed is his prophet.' Under this are comprehended six distinct tenets,--1. Belief in God; 2. In His anger; 3. In His scriptures; 4. In His prophets; 5. In the resurrection and day of judgment; 6. God's absolute decree and predetermination of all events, good or evil. The points of practice are,--1. Prayer and purification; 2. Alms; 3. Fasting; 4. Pilgrimage to Mecca."--Sale's Preliminary Discourse, p. 171.]
"What a wonderful story," said Dinar-zade, "have you chosen!"
"The conclusion," observed Schehera-zade, "is still more surprising, as you would confess if the sultan would suffer me to live another day, and in the morning permit me to continue the relation."
Schah-riar, who had listened with much pleasure to the narration, determined to wait till to-morrow, intending to