Latest / Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09 / 032 - Night 951 - 952

Transcript

032 - Night 951 - 952 · Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty two of the Book of the Thousand Knights
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  Speaker 1: and a Night, Volume nine. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Andre Levy andre Levy dot Net, Lisbon, Portugal. The
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  Speaker 1: Book of the Thousand Knights and a Night, Volume nine
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  Speaker 1: by anonymous, translated by Richard Francis Burton, Night nine hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty one. When it was the nine hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty first night, she said it hath reached me O
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  Speaker 1: auspicious king, that the young merchant, after recounting to the caliph,
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  Speaker 1: the matter of the bag and its containing jewels of
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  Speaker 1: all sorts, continued presently, O commander of the faith, said
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  Speaker 1: one of the men on their chairs, O company of merchants,
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  Speaker 1: we will sell, but this to day by way of
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  Speaker 1: spending money for that we are weary. So the merchants
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  Speaker 1: fell to bidding one against other for the jewels, and
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  Speaker 1: bid till the price reached four hundred dinars. Then said
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  Speaker 1: to me the owner of the bag, for he was
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  Speaker 1: an old acquaintance of mine, And when he saw me,
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  Speaker 1: he came down to me and saluted me. Why dost
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  Speaker 1: thou not speak and bid like the rest of the merchants,
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  Speaker 1: I said, O, my Lord, by Allah, the shifts of
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  Speaker 1: fortune have run against me, and I have lost my
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  Speaker 1: wealth and have only a hundred dinars left in the world,
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  Speaker 1: quoth he oh Amani, After this vast wealth, can only
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  Speaker 1: a hundred dinars remain to thee. And I was abashed
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  Speaker 1: before him, and my eyes filled with tears. Whereupon he
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  Speaker 1: looked at me, and indeed my case was grievous to him.
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  Speaker 1: So he said to the merchants bear witness against me,
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  Speaker 1: that I have sold all that is in this bag
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  Speaker 1: of various gems and precious stones to this man for
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  Speaker 1: a hundred gold pieces, albeit I know them to be
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  Speaker 1: worth so many thousand dinars, And this is a present
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  Speaker 1: from me to him. Then he gave me the saddle
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  Speaker 1: bag and the carpet with all the jewels that were thereon,
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  Speaker 1: for which I thanked him, and each and every of
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  Speaker 1: the merchants present praised him. Presently, I carried all this
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  Speaker 1: to the jewel market and sat there to sell and buy. Now,
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  Speaker 1: among the precious stones was a round amulet of the
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  Speaker 1: handiwork of the masters. Weighing half a pound. It was
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  Speaker 1: red of the brightest, a Carnelian on both whose sides
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  Speaker 1: were graven karak and characters like the tracts of ants.
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  Speaker 1: But I knew not it's worth. I sold and bought
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  Speaker 1: a whole year, at the end of which I took
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  Speaker 1: the amulet and said, this hath been with me some while,
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  Speaker 1: and I know not what it is, nor what may
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  Speaker 1: be its value. So I gave it to the broker,
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  Speaker 1: who took it and went round with it, and returned saying,
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  Speaker 1: none of the merchants will give me more than ten
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  Speaker 1: de rams for it. Quoth I, I will not sell
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  Speaker 1: it at that price, And he threw it in my
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  Speaker 1: face and went away. Another day I again offered it
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  Speaker 1: for sale, and its price reached fifteen dirams, whereupon I
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  Speaker 1: took it from the broker in anger and threw it
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  Speaker 1: back into the tray. But a few days after, as
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  Speaker 1: I sat in my shop, there came up to me
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  Speaker 1: a man who bore the traces of travel, and, saluting me, said,
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  Speaker 1: by the leave, I will turn over what thou hast
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  Speaker 1: of wares. Said I tis well, And indeed, o commander
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  Speaker 1: of the faithful, I was still wroth by reason of
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  Speaker 1: the lack of demand for the talisman. So the man
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  Speaker 1: fell to turning over my wares, but took naught thereofs
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  Speaker 1: save the amulet, which, when he saw he kissed his
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  Speaker 1: hand and cried, praise be Allah. Then said he to me, O,
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  Speaker 1: my lord, wilt thou sell this? And I replied yes,
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  Speaker 1: being still angry. Quoth he what is its price? And
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  Speaker 1: I asked how much wilt thou give? He answered twenty dinars.
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  Speaker 1: So I thought he was making mark of me, and
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed wen thy ways, but he resumed, I will give
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  Speaker 1: thee fifty dinars for it. I made him no answer,
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  Speaker 1: and he continued a thousand dinars, but I was silent,
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  Speaker 1: declining to reply, whilst he laughed at my silence and said,
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  Speaker 1: why dost thou not return me in answer? Hie thee home,
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  Speaker 1: repeated I, and was like to quarrel with him. But
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  Speaker 1: he bid thousand after thousand, and I still made him
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  Speaker 1: no reply till he said, wilt thou sell it for
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  Speaker 1: twenty thousand dinars. I still thought he was mocking me,
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  Speaker 1: But the people gathered about me, and all of them said,
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  Speaker 1: sell to him, and if he buy not, we will
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  Speaker 1: all up and at him, and drop him and thrust
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  Speaker 1: him forth the city. So quoth I to him, wilt
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  Speaker 1: thou buy, or dost thou jest? And quoth he wilt
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  Speaker 1: thou sell or dost thou joke? I said, I will sell,
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  Speaker 1: if thou wilt buy. Then he said, I will buy
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  Speaker 1: it for thirty thousand and dinars. Take them and make
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  Speaker 1: the bargain. So I cried to the bystanders, bear witness
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  Speaker 1: against him, adding to him, but on condition that thou
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  Speaker 1: acquaint me with the virtues and profit of this amulet,
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  Speaker 1: for which thou payest all this money. He answered, close
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  Speaker 1: the bargain, and I will tell thee this. I rejoined,
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  Speaker 1: I sell it to thee. And he retorted, allah, be
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  Speaker 1: witness of that which thou sayest, and testimony. Then he
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  Speaker 1: brought out the gold, and giving it to me, took
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  Speaker 1: the amulet and set it in his bosom, after which
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  Speaker 1: he turned to me and asked art thou content? Answered
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  Speaker 1: I yes, And he said to the people bear witness
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  Speaker 1: against him, that he hath closed the bargain and touched
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  Speaker 1: the price thirty thousand dinars. Then he turned to me
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  Speaker 1: and said, harkye, my poor fellow, hadst thou held back
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  Speaker 1: from selling by Allah, I would have bidden thee up
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  Speaker 1: to a hundred thousand dinars, nay even to a thousand thousand.
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  Speaker 1: When I heard these words, O, Commander of the Faithful,
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  Speaker 1: the blood fled my face, and from that day there
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  Speaker 1: overcame it this pallor thou seest. Then said I to him,
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  Speaker 1: tell me the reason of this, and what is the
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  Speaker 1: use of this amulet? And he answered, saying, know that
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  Speaker 1: the King of hind hath a daughter. Never was seen
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  Speaker 1: a thing fairer than she, and she is possessed with
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  Speaker 1: a falling sickness. So the king summoned the scribes and
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  Speaker 1: men of science and divines, but none of them could
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  Speaker 1: relieve her of this. Now I was present in the assembly,
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  Speaker 1: so I said to him, O King, I know a
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  Speaker 1: man called sa'ad Ullah, the Babylonian, than whom there is
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  Speaker 1: not on the face of the earth, one more masterly
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  Speaker 1: in these matters. And if thou see fit to send
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  Speaker 1: me to him, do so. Said he Go to him,
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  Speaker 1: and quoth I bring me a piece of Carnelian. Accordingly
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  Speaker 1: he gave me a great piece of Carnelian and a
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  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dinars and the present, which I took and
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  Speaker 1: with which I betook myself to the land of Babel.
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  Speaker 1: Then I sought out the Shaikh, and when he was
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  Speaker 1: shown to me, I delivered to him the money and
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  Speaker 1: the present, which he accepted, and, sending for a lapidary,
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  Speaker 1: bade him fashion the Carnelian into this amulet. Then he
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  Speaker 1: abode seven months in observation of the stars till he
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  Speaker 1: chose out an auspicious time for engraving it. When he
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  Speaker 1: engraved upon it these talismanic characters which thou seest, and
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  Speaker 1: I took it and returned with it to the king.
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  Speaker 1: And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
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  Speaker 1: say her permitted say end of night nine hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty one night nine hundred and fifty two. When it
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  Speaker 1: was the nine hundred and fifty second night, she continued
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  Speaker 1: it hath reached me o auspicious king, that the young
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  Speaker 1: man said to the commander of the faithful. So after
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  Speaker 1: the Sheikh had spoken, I took this talisman and returned
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  Speaker 1: with it to the king. Now the princess was bound
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  Speaker 1: with four chains, and every night a slave girl lay
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  Speaker 1: with her, and was found in the morning, with her
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  Speaker 1: throat cut, the king took the amulet and laid it
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  Speaker 1: upon his daughter, who was straightway made whole. At this
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  Speaker 1: he rejoiced with exceeding joy, and invested me with a
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  Speaker 1: vest of honor, and gave alms of much money. And
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  Speaker 1: he cast set the amulet in the princess's necklace. It
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  Speaker 1: chanced one day that she embarked with her women in
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  Speaker 1: a ship and went for a sail on the sea.
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  Speaker 1: Presently one of her maids put out her hand to
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  Speaker 1: her to sport with her, and the necklace brake asunder
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  Speaker 1: and fell into the waves. From that hour the possessor
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  Speaker 1: of the princess returned to her. Wherefore great grief betided
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  Speaker 1: the king, and he gave me much money, saying, go
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  Speaker 1: thou to shaikhsa du Nallah, and let him make her
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  Speaker 1: another amulet in lieure of that which is lost. I
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  Speaker 1: journeyed to Babel, but found the old man dead. Whereupon
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  Speaker 1: I returned and told the king, who sent me and
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  Speaker 1: ten others to go round about in all country, so
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  Speaker 1: haply we might find a remedy for her. And now
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  Speaker 1: Allah hath caused me happen on it with thee saying
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  Speaker 1: these words, he took from me the amulet o commander
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  Speaker 1: of the faithful, and went his ways. Such then, is
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  Speaker 1: the cause of the waneness of my complexion. As for me,
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  Speaker 1: I repaired to Baghdad, carrying all my wealth with me,
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  Speaker 1: and took up my abode in the lodgings where I
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  Speaker 1: lived with Ulm. On the morrow, as soon as it
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  Speaker 1: was light, I donned my dress and betook myself to
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  Speaker 1: the house of Ta'id ibn al Allah, that haply I
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  Speaker 1: might see her, whom I loved, for the love of
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  Speaker 1: her had never ceased to increase upon my heart. But
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  Speaker 1: when I came to his home, I saw the balcony
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  Speaker 1: broken down and the lattice build it up. So I
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  Speaker 1: stood awhile pondering my case and the shifts of time,
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  Speaker 1: till there came up a serving man, and I questioned him, saying,
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  Speaker 1: what hath God done with Tayid ibn all Allah? He answered, O,
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  Speaker 1: my brother, he hath repented to Almighty Allah. Quoth I
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  Speaker 1: what was the cause of his repentance? And quoth he, O,
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  Speaker 1: my brother. In such a year there came to him
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  Speaker 1: a merchant by name Abu Ala San, the Omani who
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  Speaker 1: abode with his daughter awhile till his wealth was all spent,
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  Speaker 1: when the old man turned him out broken hearted. Now
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  Speaker 1: the girl loved him with exceeding love, and when she
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  Speaker 1: was parted from him, she sickened of a sore sickness
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  Speaker 1: and came nigh upon death. As soon as her father
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  Speaker 1: knew how it was with her, he sent after and
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  Speaker 1: sought for Abu al A San through the lands, pledging
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  Speaker 1: himself to bestow upon whoso should produce him a hundred
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  Speaker 1: thousand dinars. But none could find him, nor come on
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  Speaker 1: any trace of him. And she is now hard upon death,
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  Speaker 1: quoth I, and how is it with her? Sire? And
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  Speaker 1: quoth the servant. He hath sold all his girls for
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  Speaker 1: grief of that which hath befallen him, and hath repented
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  Speaker 1: to Almighty. Allah then asked I, what wouldst Thou say
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  Speaker 1: to him? Who should direct thee to Abu Ala San
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  Speaker 1: thee Omani. And he answered, Allah, upon thee, O, my brother,
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  Speaker 1: that thou do this and quicken my poverty in the
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  Speaker 1: poverty of my parents, I rejoiced, go to her father
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  Speaker 1: and say to him, thou owest me the reward for
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  Speaker 1: good news. For that Abu al Asan thee Omani standeth
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  Speaker 1: at the door. With this, he set off as he
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  Speaker 1: were a mule loosed from the mill, and presently came back,
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by Shaik Tayid himself, who no sooner saw me
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  Speaker 1: than he returned to his house and gave the man
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  Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dinars, which he took and went away,
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  Speaker 1: blessing me. Then the old man came up and embraced me,
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  Speaker 1: and wept, saying, O, my Lord, where hast thou been
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  Speaker 1: absent all this? While indeed my daughter hath been killed
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  Speaker 1: by reason of her separation from THEE. But come with
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  Speaker 1: me into the house. So we entered, and he prostrated
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  Speaker 1: himself in gratitude to the Almighty, saying, praised be Allah,
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  Speaker 1: who hath reunited us with THEE. Then he went in
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  Speaker 1: to his daughter and said to her, the Lord hath
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  Speaker 1: healed THEE of the sickness, And said she, Oh, Papa,
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  Speaker 1: I shall never be whole of my sickness, save I
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  Speaker 1: look upon the face of Abu Alla son quoth he,
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  Speaker 1: and thou wilt eat a morsel and go to the Hammam,
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  Speaker 1: I will bring THEE in company with him, asked she,
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  Speaker 1: is it true? That thou sayest, And he answered, by
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  Speaker 1: the great God tis true. She rejoined, by allah, if
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  Speaker 1: I look upon his face, I shall have no need
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  Speaker 1: of eating. Then said he to his page, bring in
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  Speaker 1: thy lord. Thereupon I entered, and when she saw me, O,
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  Speaker 1: Prince of true believers, she fell down in a swoon, and, presently,
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  Speaker 1: coming to herself, recited this couplet yea allah hath joined
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  Speaker 1: the parted twain. When no thought they thought e'er to
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  Speaker 1: meet again. Then she sat upright and said, by Allah,
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  Speaker 1: O my lord, I had not deemed to see thy
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  Speaker 1: face evermore, save it were in a dream. So she
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  Speaker 1: embraced me and wept, and said, O abu ala san,
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  Speaker 1: Now I will eat and drink. The old man her sire,
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  Speaker 1: rejoiced to hear these words, and they brought her meat
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  Speaker 1: and drink, and we ate and drank, all commander of
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  Speaker 1: the faithful. After this I abode with them awhile till
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  Speaker 1: she was restored to her former beauty. When her father
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  Speaker 1: sent for the Kazi and the witnesses, and bade write
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  Speaker 1: out the marriage contract between her and me, and made
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  Speaker 1: a mighty great bride feast. And she is my wife
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  Speaker 1: to this day and this is my son by her,
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  Speaker 1: so saying, he went away and returned with a boy
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  Speaker 1: of rare beauty and symmetry of form and favor, to
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  Speaker 1: whom said he kissed the ground before the commander of
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  Speaker 1: the faithful. He kissed ground before the Caliph, who marveled
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  Speaker 1: at his beauty and glorified his creator, after which Al
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  Speaker 1: Rashid departed, he and his company, saying, oh jahfar verily,
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  Speaker 1: this is none other than a marvelous thing. Never saw
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  Speaker 1: I nor heard I aught more wondrous. When he was
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  Speaker 1: seated in the palace of the Caliphate, he cried, O Masrur,
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  Speaker 1: who replied, here I am O my lord. Then said
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  Speaker 1: he bring the year's tribute of Bassorah and Baghdad and
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  Speaker 1: Khorasan and set it in this recess. Accordingly, he laid
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  Speaker 1: the three tributes together, and they were a vast sum
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  Speaker 1: of money whose tale none might tell save Allah. Then
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  Speaker 1: the Caliph bade draw a curtain before the recess and
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  Speaker 1: said to Ja'far fetch me. Abu Alasan replied, Ja'far, I
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  Speaker 1: hear and obey, and going forth, returned presently with the Omani,
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  Speaker 1: who kissed ground before the Caliph, fearing lest he had
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  Speaker 1: sent for him because of some fault that he had
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  Speaker 1: committed when he was with him in his house. Then
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  Speaker 1: said al Rashid Harki o Omani, and he replied, atsum o,
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  Speaker 1: prince of true believers, May Allah ever bestow his favors
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  Speaker 1: upon thee quoth the Caliph draw back yonder curtain. Thereupon
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  Speaker 1: Abu Alasan drew back the curtain from the recess and
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  Speaker 1: was confounded and perplexed at the mass of money he saw.
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  Speaker 1: There said al Rashid o Abu ala San, whether is
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  Speaker 1: the more this money or that thou didst lose by
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  Speaker 1: the amulet? And he answered, this is many times the
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  Speaker 1: greater o commander of the faithful, quoth the Caliph. Bear
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  Speaker 1: witness all ye who are present, that I give this
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  Speaker 1: money to this young man. So Abu Alasan kissed ground
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  Speaker 1: and was abashed and wept before the Caliph for excessive joy. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when he wept, the tears ran down from his eyelids
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  Speaker 1: upon his cheeks, and the blood returned to its place,
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  Speaker 1: and his face became like the moon on the night
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  Speaker 1: of its fullness. Whereupon quoth the Caliph, there is no
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  Speaker 1: god but the God Glory be to him who decreeth
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  Speaker 1: change upon change, and is himself the everlasting who changeth. Not.
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  Speaker 1: Saying these words, he bade fetchha mirror and showed Abu
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  Speaker 1: Alasan his face therein which when he saw, he prostrated
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: himself in gratitude to the most high Lord. Then the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Caliph bade transport the money to Abu Alasan's house, and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: charge the young man not to absent himself from him,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: so he might enjoy his company as a cup companion. Accordingly,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: he paid him frequent visits till al Rashid departed to
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the mercy of Almighty Allah, and glory be to him
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: who dieth not, the Lord of the scene and the unseen.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: And among many tales they tell is one touching Ibrahim.
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  Speaker 1: And Jemilah al Kashib Wazir of Egypt had a son
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  Speaker 1: named Ibrahim, than whom there was none goodlier, And of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: his fear for him, he suffered him not to go
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: forth save to the Friday prayers. One day, as the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: youth was returning from the mosque, he came upon an
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: old man with whom were many books. So he lighted
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: down from his horse, and seating himself beside him, began
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: to turn over the tomes and examine them. In one
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of them he spy the semblance of a woman, which,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: all but spoke, never was seen on the earth's face,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: one more beautiful. And as this captivated it his reason
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and confounded his wit, he said to the old man, Oh,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: shakeh sell me this picture. The bookseller kissed ground between
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: his hands, and said, O, my lord, tis thine without price.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Ibraim gave him a hundred dinars, and, taking the book
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  Speaker 1: in which was the picture, fell to gazing upon it
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and weeping night and day, abstaining from meat and drink
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and sleep. Then said he in his mind, and I
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: ask the bookseller of the painter of this picture. Haply
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: he will tell me. And if the original be living,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I will seek access to her. But if it be
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: only a picture, I will leave doting upon it, and
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: plague myself no more for a thing which hath no
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: real existence. And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: saying her permitted say and of night night one hundred
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and fifty two. Recording by Andre Levy andreleiv dot Net, Lisbon, Portugal,