Latest / Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09 / 042 - Night 971 - 972

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042 - Night 971 - 972 · Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09

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  Speaker 1: Section forty 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 Mark Ernest The Book of the Thousand Knights and
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  Speaker 1: a Night, Volume nine by Anonymous, translated by Richard Francis Burton,
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  Speaker 1: Night nine hundred and seventy one. When it was the
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred and seventy first night, she said it hath
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  Speaker 1: reached me o auspicious king, that the slave girl went
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  Speaker 1: into the twain and gave each of them a cup
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  Speaker 1: of night drink, and they drank and fell asleep. Presently
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  Speaker 1: in came Halamah and said, oh, good for nothing, How
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  Speaker 1: canst thou sleep and call thyself a lover? A lover
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  Speaker 1: sleepeth not. Then she mounted on his breast and ceased
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  Speaker 1: not to come down upon him with kisses and caresses,
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  Speaker 1: by fighting and sucking his lips, and so forth till
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  Speaker 1: the morning, when she put in his pocket a knife
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  Speaker 1: and sent her handmaid to arouse them. And when the
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  Speaker 1: youth awoke, his cheeks were on fire for excess of redness,
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  Speaker 1: and his lips like coral, for dint of sucking and kissing,
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  Speaker 1: quoth the jeweler. Did the mosquitoes plague thee last night?
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  Speaker 1: And quoth the other nay, for he now knew the conceit,
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  Speaker 1: and left complaining. Then he felt the knife in his
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  Speaker 1: pocket and was silent. But when he had broken his
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  Speaker 1: fast and drunk coffee, he left the jeweler, and, going
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  Speaker 1: to the khan, took five hundred dinars of gold and
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  Speaker 1: carried them to the old woman, to whom he related
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  Speaker 1: what had passed, saying, I slept despite myself, and when
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  Speaker 1: I woke at dawn, I found nothing but a knife
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  Speaker 1: in my pocket, exclaimed the old trot. May Allah protect
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  Speaker 1: THEE from her this next night, for she saith to
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  Speaker 1: THEE by this sign. And thou sleep again, I will
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  Speaker 1: cut thy throat. Thou wilt once more be bidden to
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  Speaker 1: the jeweler's house to night, and if thou sleep, she
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  Speaker 1: will slay thee. Said he what is to be done?
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  Speaker 1: And said, she tell me what thou atest and drinkest
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  Speaker 1: before sleeping, quoth he. We supped, as was our wont
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  Speaker 1: and prayed the night prayer, after which there came in
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  Speaker 1: to us a maid who gave each of us a
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  Speaker 1: cup of night drink, which, when I had drunk, I
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  Speaker 1: fell asleep and awoke not till the morning. Quoth the
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  Speaker 1: old woman. The mischief is in the cup. So when
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  Speaker 1: the maid giveth it to thee, take it from her,
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  Speaker 1: but drink not, and wait till the master of the
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  Speaker 1: house hath drunken and fallen asleep. Then say to her,
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  Speaker 1: give me a draft of water, and she will go
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  Speaker 1: fetch thee the guglet. Then do thou empty the cup
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  Speaker 1: behind the pillow, and lie down and feign sleep. So
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  Speaker 1: when she cometh back with the guglet, she will deem
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  Speaker 1: that thou hast fallen asleep after having drunk off the cup,
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  Speaker 1: and will leave thee. And presently the case will appear
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  Speaker 1: to thee. But beware of disobeying my bidding, answered he,
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  Speaker 1: I hear, and I obey, and returned to the khan. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: the jeweler's wife said to her husband, a guest's due
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  Speaker 1: honor is three knights entertainment, So do thou invite him
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  Speaker 1: a third time? Whereupon he betook himself to the youth,
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  Speaker 1: and inviting him, carried him home and sat down with
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  Speaker 1: him in the saloon. When they had supped and prayed
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  Speaker 1: the night prayer, behold in came the handmaid and gave
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  Speaker 1: each of them a cup. Her master drank and fell asleep,
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  Speaker 1: but Kamar al Zaman forbore to drink. Whereupon quoth the maid,
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  Speaker 1: wilt thou not drink? O? My lord? Answered he, I
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  Speaker 1: am athirst bring me the guglet. Accordingly she went to
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  Speaker 1: fetch it, and he emptied the cup behind the pillow
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  Speaker 1: and lay down. When the slave girl returned, she saw
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  Speaker 1: him lying down, and going to her mistress said he
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  Speaker 1: hath drunk off the cup and fallen asleep. Whereupon quoth
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  Speaker 1: Halama to herself, verily, his death is better than his life.
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  Speaker 1: Then to making a sharp knife, she went in to him,
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  Speaker 1: saying three times an thou knowedest not the sign, O fool,
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  Speaker 1: So now I will rip up thy maul. When he
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  Speaker 1: saw her making for him knife in hand, he opened
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  Speaker 1: his eyes and rose laughing, whereupon said she twas not
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  Speaker 1: of thine own wit that thou camest at the meaning
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  Speaker 1: of the sign, but by the help of some wily cheat.
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  Speaker 1: So tell me whence thou hadst this knowledge from an
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  Speaker 1: old woman? Replied, He between whom and me befell such
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  Speaker 1: and such, And he told her all that had passed,
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  Speaker 1: quoth she tomorrow, go thou forth from us and seek her,
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  Speaker 1: and say, hast thou any further device in store? And
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  Speaker 1: if she answer, I have do thou rejoin? Then do
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  Speaker 1: thy best that I may enjoy her publicly. But if
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  Speaker 1: she say, I have no means of doing that, and
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  Speaker 1: this is the last of my devices, put her away
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  Speaker 1: from thy thought. And tomorrow night my husband will come
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  Speaker 1: to THEE and invite THEE. Do thou come with him
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  Speaker 1: and tell me, and I will consider what remaineth to
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  Speaker 1: be done, answered he, there is no harm in that.
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  Speaker 1: Then he spent the rest of the night with her
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  Speaker 1: in embracing and clipping, plying the particle of copulation in
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  Speaker 1: concert and joining the conjunctive with the conjoined, whilst her
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  Speaker 1: husband was a cast out in a nation of construction.
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  Speaker 1: And they ceased not to be thus till morning, when
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  Speaker 1: she said to him, tis not a knight of THEE
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  Speaker 1: that will content me nor a day, no nor yet
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  Speaker 1: a month, nor a year. But it's my intent to
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  Speaker 1: abide with THEE the rest of my life. Wait, however,
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  Speaker 1: till I play my husband a trick which would baffle
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  Speaker 1: the keenest witted and win for us our wishes. I
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  Speaker 1: will cause doubt to enter into him, so that he
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  Speaker 1: shall divorce me, whereupon I will marry THEE and go
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  Speaker 1: with THEE to thine own country. I will also transport
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  Speaker 1: all his moneies and hoards to thy lodging, and will
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  Speaker 1: contrive THEE to ruin of his dwelling place and the
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  Speaker 1: blotting out of his traces. But do thou heart to
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  Speaker 1: my speech and obey me in that I shall say
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  Speaker 1: to THEE, and gainsay me not, he replied, I hear,
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  Speaker 1: and I obey in me. There is none opposition, then,
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  Speaker 1: said she go to the Khan. And when my husband
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  Speaker 1: cometh to THEE and inviteth THEE, say to him, O,
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  Speaker 1: my brother, a son of Adam, is apt to be burdensome,
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  Speaker 1: and when his visits grow over frequent, both generous and
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  Speaker 1: nigger to loathe him. How then shall I go with
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  Speaker 1: THEE every night and lie I and THEE on the saloon,
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  Speaker 1: And thou wax not chagrined with me, Thy Harem will
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  Speaker 1: bear me grudge for that I hinder THEE from thine Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: if thou have a mind to my company, take me
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  Speaker 1: a house beside thine own, and we will abide. Thus.
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  Speaker 1: Now I sitting with THEE till the time of sleep,
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  Speaker 1: and now with me thou. Then I will go to
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  Speaker 1: my place and thou to thy harem. And this will
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  Speaker 1: be a better read than that I hinder THEE from
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  Speaker 1: thy harem. Every night. Then will he come to me
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  Speaker 1: and take counsel with me, and I will advise him
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  Speaker 1: to turn out our neighbor. For the the house wherein
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  Speaker 1: he liveth is our house, and he renteth it of us.
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  Speaker 1: And once thou art in the house, Allah will make
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  Speaker 1: easy to us the rest of our scheme. And presently
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  Speaker 1: she added, go now and do as I bid. THEE
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  Speaker 1: answered he, I hear and obey. Whereupon she left him
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  Speaker 1: and went away, whilst he lay down and fained to
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  Speaker 1: be asleep. Presently, the handmaid came and aroused them. And
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  Speaker 1: when the jeweler awoke, he said to his guest, O, merchant,
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  Speaker 1: have the mosquitoes worried thee? He replied no, and obeyed, said,
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  Speaker 1: belike thou art grown used to them. Then they broke
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  Speaker 1: their fast and drank coffee, after which they fared forth
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  Speaker 1: to their affairs, and Kamar al Zaman betook himself to
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  Speaker 1: the Old Crone and related to her what had passed.
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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: seventy one night nine hundred and seventy two, when it
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  Speaker 1: was the nine hundred and seventy se second night, she
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  Speaker 1: continued it hath reached me, o auspicious king, that when
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  Speaker 1: Kamar al Zaman betook himself to the old Crone, he
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  Speaker 1: related to her what had passed, saying, she spake to
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  Speaker 1: me this and that, And I answered her thus, And
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  Speaker 1: thus now say me, hast thou any farther device for
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  Speaker 1: bringing me to enjoy her publicly? Quoth she O, my son,
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  Speaker 1: here endeth my contrivance, and now I am at the
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  Speaker 1: term of my devices. Upon this, he left her and
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  Speaker 1: returned to the Khan, where as eventide evened, the jeweler
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  Speaker 1: came to him and invited him. He said, I cannot
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  Speaker 1: go with THEE. Asked the merchant, why so I love
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  Speaker 1: THEE and cannot brook separation from THEE. Allah upon THEE
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  Speaker 1: come with me the other replied, an, it be thy
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  Speaker 1: wish to continue our comradeship and keep up the friendship
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  Speaker 1: betwixt THEE and me. Take me a house by the
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  Speaker 1: side of thine own, and when thou wilt, thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: pass the evening with me, and I with THEE. But
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  Speaker 1: as soon as the time of sleep cometh, each of
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  Speaker 1: us shall hie him to his own home and lie there.
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  Speaker 1: Quoth obeyed, I have a house adjoining mine, which is
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  Speaker 1: my own property. So go thou with me tonight, and
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow I will have the house untenanted for thee. Accordingly
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  Speaker 1: he went with him, and they supped and prayed the
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  Speaker 1: night prayer, after which the jeweler drank the cup of
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  Speaker 1: drugged liquor and fell asleep. But in Kamar al Zaman's
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  Speaker 1: cup there was no trick, so he drank it and
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  Speaker 1: slept not. Then came the jeweler's wife and set chatting
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  Speaker 1: with him through the dark hours, whilst her husband lay
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  Speaker 1: like a corpse. When he awoke in the morning, as
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  Speaker 1: of wont he sent for his tenant and said to him, O, man,
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  Speaker 1: quit me the house, for I have need of it
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  Speaker 1: on my head and eyes, answered the other, and avoided
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  Speaker 1: the house to him, whereupon Kamar al Zaman took up
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  Speaker 1: his abode therein and transported thither all his baggage. The
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  Speaker 1: jeweler passed that evening with him, then went to his
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  Speaker 1: own house. On the next day, his wife sent for
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  Speaker 1: a cunning b and bribed him with money to make
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  Speaker 1: her an underground way from her chamber to Kamar al
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  Speaker 1: Zaman's house with a trap door under the earth. So
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  Speaker 1: before the youth was where she came in to him
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  Speaker 1: with two bags of money, and he said to her,
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  Speaker 1: whence comest thou. She showed him the tunnel and said
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  Speaker 1: to him take these two bags of his money. Then
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  Speaker 1: she set with him the twain toying and tumbling together
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  Speaker 1: till the morning, when she said, wait for me till
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  Speaker 1: I go to him and wake him, so he may
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  Speaker 1: go to his shop and I return to thee. He
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  Speaker 1: sat expecting her whilst she went away and awoke her husband,
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  Speaker 1: who made the wuzu ablution and prayed and went to
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  Speaker 1: his shop. As soon as he was gone, she took
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  Speaker 1: four bags, and, carrying them through the soudrain to Kamar
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  Speaker 1: al Zaman, said to him store these up. Then she
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  Speaker 1: set with him awhile, after which she retired to her home,
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  Speaker 1: and he betook himself to the bazaar. When he returned
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  Speaker 1: at sundown, he found in his house ten purses and jewels,
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  Speaker 1: and much besides. Presently, the jeweler came to him and
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  Speaker 1: carried him to his own house, where they passed the
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  Speaker 1: evening in the saloon till the hand maid came in
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  Speaker 1: according to custom and brought them the drink. Her master
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  Speaker 1: drank and fell asleep, whilst naught betided Kamar al Zaman
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  Speaker 1: for that his cup was wholesome and there was no
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  Speaker 1: trick Therein. Then came Hahlamah, who set down a toying
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  Speaker 1: with him, whilst the slave girl transported the jeweler's goods
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  Speaker 1: to Kamar al Zaman's house by the secret passage. Thus
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  Speaker 1: they did till morning, when the handmaid awoke her lord
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  Speaker 1: and gave them to drink coffee, after which they went
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  Speaker 1: each his own way. On the third day, the wife
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  Speaker 1: brought out to him a knife of her husband's, which
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  Speaker 1: had been chased and wrought with his own hand, and
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  Speaker 1: which he priced at five hundred dinars. But there was
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  Speaker 1: no knife like it, and because of the eagerness with
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  Speaker 1: which folk sought it of him. He had laid it
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  Speaker 1: up in a chest and could not bring himself to
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  Speaker 1: sell it to any one in creation. Quoth she take
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  Speaker 1: this knife and set it in thy waist shawl, and
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  Speaker 1: go to my husband and sit with him. Then pull
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  Speaker 1: out the knife and say to him, O, master, look
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  Speaker 1: at this knife I bought to day, and tell me
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  Speaker 1: if I have the worst or the best of the bargain.
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  Speaker 1: He will know it, but will be ashamed to say
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  Speaker 1: to THEE, this is my knife. So he will ask
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  Speaker 1: THEE whence didst thou buy it? And for how much?
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  Speaker 1: And do thou make answer? I saw two levenines disputing,
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  Speaker 1: and one said to the other, where hast thou been,
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  Speaker 1: quoth his companion. I have been with my mistress, And
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  Speaker 1: whenever I foregather with her, she giveth me ten derhams.
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  Speaker 1: But this day she said to me, my hand is
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  Speaker 1: empty of silver for thee to day, but take this
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  Speaker 1: knife of my husband's. So I took it and intend
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  Speaker 1: to sell it. The knife pleased me, and hearing his tail,
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  Speaker 1: I said to him, wilt thou sell it to me?
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  Speaker 1: When he replied by so I got it of him
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  Speaker 1: for three hundred gold pieces, and I wonder whether it
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  Speaker 1: was cheap or dear, And note what he will say
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  Speaker 1: to thee. Then talk with him. Awhile and rise and
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  Speaker 1: come back to me in haste. Thou wilt find me
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  Speaker 1: awaiting thee at the tunnel mouth, And do thou give
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  Speaker 1: me the knife? Replied Kamar al Zaman. I hear, and
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  Speaker 1: I obey, and taking the knife, set it in his
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  Speaker 1: waist shawl. Then he went to the shop of the jeweler,
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  Speaker 1: who saluted him with the salam and welcomed him and
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  Speaker 1: made him sit down. He spied the knife in his
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  Speaker 1: waist shawl, at which he wondered and said to himself,
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  Speaker 1: that is my knife. Who can have conveyed it to
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  Speaker 1: this merchant? And he fell amusing and saying in his mind,
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  Speaker 1: I wonder an it be my knife or a knife
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  Speaker 1: like it? Presently Kamar al Zaman pulled it out and
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  Speaker 1: said to him, hark ye, master, take this knife and
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  Speaker 1: look at it. Obeyed, took it and knew it right well,
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  Speaker 1: but was ashamed to say this is my knife. And
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  Speaker 1: Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased, saying her
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  Speaker 1: permitted say end of night nine hundred and seventy two
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  Speaker 1: recording by mark Ernest st