The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, vol 3 | Page 4

Crow a. The Flea and the Mouse b. The Saker and
the Birds c. The Sparrow and the Eagle 17. The Hedgehog and the
Wood Pigeons a. The Merchant and the Two Sharpers 18. The Thief
and His Monkey a. The Foolish Weaver 19. The Sparrow and the
Peacock 20. Ali Bin Bakkar and Shams Al-Nahar 21. Tale of Kamar
Al-Zaman

The Book Of The THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
When it was the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Night
Shahrazad continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aziz
pursued to Taj al-Muluk: Then I entered the flower garden and made
for the pavilion, where I found the daughter of Dalilah the Wily One,
sitting with head on knee and hand to cheek. Her colour was changed
and her eyes were sunken; but, when she saw me, she exclaimed,
"Praised be Allah for thy safety!" And she was minded to rise but fell
down for joy. I was abashed before her and hung my head; presently,
however, I went up to her and kissed her and asked, "How knewest
thou that I should come to thee this very night?" She answered, "I knew
it not! By Allah, this whole year past I have not tasted the taste of sleep,
but have watched through every night, expecting thee; and such hath
been my case since the day thou wentest out from me and I gave thee
the new suit of clothes, and thou promisedst me to go to the Hammam
and to come back! So I sat awaiting thee that night and a second night
and a third night; but thou camest not till after so great delay, and I ever
expecting thy coming; for this is lovers' way. And now I would have
thee tell me what hath been the cause of thine absence from me the past
year long?" So I told her. And when she knew that I was married, her

colour waxed yellow, and I added, "I have come to thee this night but I
must leave thee before day." Quoth she, "Doth it not suffice her that she
tricked thee into marrying her and kept thee prisoner with her a whole
year, but she must also make thee swear by the oath of divorce, that
thou wilt return to her on the same night before morning, and not allow
thee to divert thyself with thy mother or me, nor suffer thee to pass one
night with either of us, away from her? How then must it be with one
from whom thou hast been absent a full year, and I knew thee before
she did? But Allah have mercy on thy cousin Azizah, for there befel her
what never befel any and she bore what none other ever bore and she
died by thy ill usage; yet 'twas she who protected thee against me.
Indeed, I thought thou didst love me, so I let thee take thine own way;
else had I not suffered thee to go safe in a sound skin, when I had it in
my power to clap thee in jail and even to slay thee." Then she wept
with sore weeping and waxed wroth and shuddered in my face with
skin bristling[FN#1] and looked at me with furious eyes. When I saw
her in this case I was terrified at her and my side muscles trembled and
quivered, for she was like a dreadful she Ghul, an ogress in ire, and I
like a bean over the fire. Then said she, "Thou art of no use to me, now
thou art married and hast a child; nor art thou any longer fit for my
company; I care only for bachelors and not for married men:[FN#2]
these profit us nothing Thou hast sold me for yonder stinking armful;
but, by Allah, I will make the whore's heart ache for thee, and thou
shalt not live either for me or for her!" Then she cried a loud cry and,
ere I could think, up came the slave girls and threw me on the ground;
and when I was helpless under their hands she rose and, taking a knife,
said, "I will cut thy throat as they slaughter he goats; and that will be
less than thy desert, for thy doings to me and the daughter of thy uncle
before me." When I looked to my life and found myself at the mercy of
her slave women, with my cheeks dust soiled, and saw her sharpen the
knife, I made sure of death.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
thus continued his tale to Zau