The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10 | Page 4

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THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT A Plain
and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments
Translated and Annotated by Richard F. Burton
VOLUME TEN

To His Excellency Yacoub Artin Pasha, Minister of Instruction, Etc.
Etc. Etc. Cairo.

My Dear Pasha, During the last dozen years, since we first met at Cairo,
you have done much for Egyptian folk-lore and you can do much more.
This volume is inscribed to you with a double purpose; first it is
intended as a public expression of gratitude for your friendly assistance;
and, secondly, as a memento that the samples which you have given us
imply a promise of further gift. With this lively sense of favours to
come I subscribe myself
Ever yours friend and fellow worker,

Richard F. Burton
London, July 12, 1886.

Contents of the Tenth Volume

169. Ma'aruf the Cobbler and His Wife Fatimah Conclusion Terminal
Essay Appendix I.-- 1. Index to the Tales and Proper Names 2.
Alphabetical Table of the Notes (Anthropological, &c.) 3. Alphabetical
Table of First lines-- a. English b. Arabic 4. Table of Contents of the
Various Arabic Texts-- a. The Unfinished Calcutta Edition (1814-1818)
b. The Breslau Text c. The Macnaghten Text and the Bulak Edition d.
The same with Mr. Lane's and my Version Appendix II-- Contributions
to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights and their
Imitations, By W. F. Kirby

The Book Of The THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT

MA'ARUF THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE

There dwelt once upon a time in the God-guarded city of Cairo a
cobbler who lived by patching old shoes.[FN#1] His name was
Ma'aruf[FN#2] and he had a wife called Fatimah, whom the folk had
nicknamed "The Dung;"[FN#3] for that she was a whorish, worthless
wretch, scanty of shame and mickle of mischief. She ruled her spouse
and abused him; and he feared her malice and dreaded her misdoings;
for that he was a sensible man but poor-conditioned. When he earned
much, he spent it on her, and when he gained little, she revenged
herself on his body that night, leaving him no peace and making his
night black as her book;[FN#4] for she was even as of one like her saith
the poet:--

How manifold nights have I passed with my wife * In the saddest
plight with all misery rife: Would Heaven when first I went in to her *
With a cup of cold poison I'd ta'en her life.
One day she said to him, "O Ma'aruf, I wish thee to bring me this night
a vermicelli-cake dressed with bees' honey."[FN#5] He replied, "So
Allah Almighty aid me to its price, I will bring it thee. By Allah, I have
no dirhams to-day, but our Lord will make things easy."[FN#6]
Rejoined she,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ma'aruf the
Cobbler said to his spouse, "By Allah, I have no dirhams to-day, but
our Lord will make things easy to me!" She rejoined, "I wot naught of
these words; look thou come not to me save with the vermicelli and
bees' honey; else will I make thy night black as thy fortune whenas
thou fellest into my hand." Quoth he, "Allah is bountiful!" and going
out with grief scattering itself from his body, prayed the dawn-prayer
and opened his shop. After which he sat till noon, but no work came to
him and his fear of his wife redoubled. Then he arose and went out
perplexed as to how he should do in the matter of the vermicelli-cake,
seeing he had not even the wherewithal to buy bread. Presently he came
to the shop of the Kunafah-seller and stood before it, whilst his eyes
brimmed with tears. The pastry-cook glanced at him and said, "O
Master Ma'aruf, why dost thou weep? Tell me what hath befallen thee."
So he acquainted him with his case, saying, "My wife would have me
bring her a Kunafah; but I have sat in my shop till past mid-day and
have not gained even the price of bread; wherefore I am in fear of her."
The cook laughed and said, "No harm shall come to thee. How many
pounds wilt thou have?" "Five pounds," answered Ma'aruf. So the man
weighed him out five pounds of vermicelli-cake and said to him, "I
have clarified butter, but no bees' honey. Here is drip-honey,[FN#7]
however, which is better than bees' honey; and what harm will there be,
if