[174]. This story, a very old Joe Miller, was told to Lane as something new and he introduced it into his Modern Egyptians, end of chapt. ii.
THE KING AND THE VIRTUOUS WIFE.
A certain King once went forth in disguise, to look into the affairs of his lieges. Presently, he came to a great village which he entered unattended and being athirst, stopped at the door of a house and asked for water. There came out to him a fair woman with a gugglet, which she gave him, and he drank. When he looked at her, he was ravished with her and besought her favours. Now she knew him; so she led him into the house and, making him sit down, brought out a book and said to him, “Look therein whilst I order my affair and return to thee.” So he looked into the book, and behold, it treated of the Divine prohibition against advoutry and of the punishments which Allah hath prepared for those who commit adulterous sin. When he read this, his flesh quaked and his hair bristled and he repented to Almighty Allah: then he called the woman and, giving her the book, went away. Now her husband was absent and when he returned, she told him what had passed, whereat he was confounded and said in himself, “I fear lest the King’s desire have fallen upon her.” And he dared not have to do with her and know her carnally after this. When some time had past, the wife told her kinsfolk of her husband’s conduct, and they complained of him to the King, saying, “Allah advance the King! This man hired of us a piece of land for tillage, and tilled it awhile; then left it fallow and neither tilled it nor forsook it, that we might let it to one who would till it. Indeed, harm is come to the field, and we fear its corruption, for such land as that, if it be not sown, spoileth.” Quoth the King to the man, “What hindereth thee from sowing thy land?” Answered he, “Allah advance the King! It reached me that the lion entered the field, wherefor I stood in awe of him and dared not draw near it, since knowing that I cannot cope with the lion, I stand in fear of him.” The King understood the parable and rejoined, saying, “O man, the lion trod and trampled not thy land, and it is good for seed; so do thou till it and Allah prosper thee in it, for the lion hath done it no hurt.” Then he bade give the man and his wife a handsome present and sent them away.[[175]] And amongst the stories is that of
[175]. This tale is a mere abbreviation of “The King and his Wazir’s wife,” in the Book of Sindibad or the Malice of Women, Night dcxxviii., which see for annotations.
ABD AL-RAHMAN THE MAGHRIBI’S STORY OF THE RUKH.[[176]]
There was once a man of the people of West Africa who had journeyed far and wide and traversed many a desert and a tide. He was once cast upon an island, where he abode a long while and, returning thence to his native country, brought with him the quill of a wing-feather of a young Rukh, whilst yet in egg and unhatched; and this quill was big enough to hold a goat-skin’s of water, for it is said that the length of the Rukh-chick’s wing, when he cometh forth of the egg, is a thousand fathoms. The folk marvelled at this quill, when they saw it, and the man who was called Abd al-Rahman the Moor (and he was known, to boot, as the Chinaman, for his long sojourn in Cathay), related to them the following adventure, one of many of his traveller’s tales of marvel. He was on a voyage in the China seas,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abd al-Rahman, the Moorman, the Chinaman, was wont to tell wondrous tales amongst which was the following. He was on a voyage in the China seas with a company of merchants, when they sighted an island from afar; so they steered for it and, making fast thereto, saw that it was large and spacious. The ship’s crew went ashore to get wood and water, taking with them hatchets and ropes and waterskins (the travellers accompanying them), and presently espied a great dome, white and gleaming, an hundred cubits long. So they made towards it and drawing near, found that it was an egg of the Rukh and fell on it with axes and stones and sticks till they uncovered the young bird and found the chick as it were a firm-set hill. So they plucked out one of the wing-feathers, but could not do so, save by helping one another, for all the quills were not full grown; after which they took what they could carry of the young bird’s flesh and cutting the quill away from the vane, returned to the ship. Then they set sail and putting out to sea, voyaged with a fair wind all that night, till the sun rose; and while everything went well, they saw the Rukh come flying after them, as he were a vast cloud, with a rock in his talons, like a great heap bigger than the ship. As soon as he poised himself in air over the vessel, he let fall the rock upon it; but the craft, having great way on her, outwent the rock, which fell into the sea with a loud crash and a horrible. So Allah decreed their deliverance and saved them from doom; and they cooked the young bird’s flesh and ate it. Now there were amongst them old white-bearded men; and when they awoke on the morrow, they found that their beards had turned black, nor did any who had eaten of the young Rukh grow gray ever after. Some said the cause of the return of youth to them and the ceasing of hoariness from them was that they had heated the pot with arrow-wood, whilst others would have it that it came of eating the Rukh-chick’s flesh; and this is indeed a wonder of wonders.[[177]] And a story is related of