ABDALLAH BIN MA’AMAR WITH THE MAN OF BASSORAH AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL.

A certain man of Bassorah once bought a slave-girl and reared and educated her right well. Moreover, he loved her very dearly and spent all his substance in pleasuring and merry-making with her, till he had naught left and extreme poverty was sore upon him. So she said to him, “O my master, sell me; for thou needest my price and it maketh my heart ache to see thy sorry and want-full plight. If thou vend me and make use of my value, ‘twill be better for thee than keeping me by thee, and haply Almighty Allah will ample thee and amend thy fortune.” He agreed to this for the straitness of his case, and carried her to the bazar, where the broker offered her for sale to the Governor of Bassorah, by name Abdallah bin Ma’amar al-Taymi, and she pleased him. So he bought her, for five hundred dinars and paid the sum to her master; but when he took the money and was about to go away, the girl burst into tears and repeated these two couplets:—

May coins thou gainest joy in heart instil; ✿ For me remaineth naught save saddest ill:

I say unto my soul which sorely grieves, ✿ “Thy friend departeth an thou will or nill.”

And when her master heard this, he groaned and replied in these couplets:—

Albeit this thy case lack all resource, ✿ Nor findest aught but death’s doom, pardon still:

Evening and morning, thoughts of thee will dole ✿ Comfort to heart all woes and griefs full fill:

Peace be upon thee! meet we now no more ✿ Nor pair except at Ibn Ma’amar’s will.

Now when Abdullah bin Ma’amar heard these verses and saw their affection, he exclaimed, “By Allah, I will not assist fate in separating you; for it is evident to me that ye two indeed love each other. So take the money and the damsel, O man, and Allah bless thee in both; for verily parting be grievous to lovers.” So they kissed his hand and going away, ceased not to dwell together, till death did them part; and glory be to Him whom death over-taketh not! And amongst stories is that of

THE LOVERS OF THE BANU[[99]] OZRAH.

There was once, among the Banu ‘Ozrah, a handsome and accomplished man, who was never a single day out of love, and it chanced that he became enamoured of a beauty of his own tribe and sent her many messages; but she ceased not to entreat him with cruelty and disdain; till, for stress of love and longing and desire and distraction, he fell sick of a sore sickness and took to his pillow and murdered sleep. His malady redoubled on him and his torments increased and he was well nigh dead when his case became known among the folk and his passion notorious——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took to his pillow and murdered sleep. So his case became known among the folk and his passion notorious; and his infirmity grew upon him and his pains redoubled till he was well nigh dead. His family and hers were urgent with her to visit him, but she refused, till he was at the point of death when, being told of this, she relented towards him and vouchsafed him a visit. As soon as he saw her, his eyes ran over with tears and he repeated from a broken heart:—

An, by thy life, pass thee my funeral train, ✿ A bier upborne upon the necks of four,

Wilt thou not follow it, and greet the grave ✿ Where shall my corpse be graved for evermore?

Hearing this, she wept with sore weeping and said to him, “By Allah, I suspected not that passion had come to such a pass with thee, as to cast thee into the arms of death! Had I wist of this, I had been favourable to thy wish, and thou shouldst have had thy will.” At this his tears streamed down even as the clouds rail rain, and he repeated this verse:—

She drew near whenas death was departing us, ✿ And deigned union grant when ‘twas useless all.

Then he groaned one groan and died. So she fell on him, kissing him and weeping and ceased not weeping till she swooned away; and when she came to herself, she charged her people to bury her in his grave and with streaming eyes recited these two couplets:-

We lived on earth a life of fair content; ✿ And tribe and house and home of us were proud;

But Time in whirling flight departed us, ✿ To join us now in womb of earth and shroud.[[100]]

Then she fell again to weeping, nor gave over shedding tears and lamenting till she fainted away; and she lay three days, senseless. Then she died and was buried in his grave. This is one of the strange chances of love.[[101]] And I have heard related a tale of the

[99]. Europeans usually write “Beni” for “Banu;” the oblique for the nominative. I prefer “Odhrah” or “Ozrah” to Udhrah; because the Ayn before the Zál takes in pronunciation the more open sound.

[100]. Possibly meaning that they were shrouded together; this would be opposed to Moslem sense of decorum in modern days, but the ancient were not so squeamish. See Night cccxi.

[101]. This phase of passion in the “varium et mutabile” is often treated of by Oriental story-tellers, and not unoften seen in real Eastern life.