[227]. Meaning of course that the King signed towards the sack in which he supposed the victim to be, but the ring fell off before it could take effect. The Eastern story-teller often balances his multiplicity of words and needless details by a conciseness and an elliptical style which make his meaning a matter of divination.
[228]. See vol. v. iii.
[229]. This couplet was quoted to me by my friend the Rev. Dr. Badger when he heard that I was translating “The Nights”: needless to say that it is utterly inappropriate.
[230]. For a similar figure see vol. i. [25].
[231]. Arab. “Hanzal”: see vol. v. [19].
ABDULLAH[[232]] THE FISHERMAN AND ABDULLAH THE MERMAN.
There was once a Fisherman named Abdullah, who had a large family, to wit, nine children and their mother, so was he poor, very poor, owning naught save his net. Every day he used to go to the sea a-fishing, and if he caught little, he sold it and spent the price on his children, after the measure of that which Allah vouchsafed him of provision; but, if he caught much, he would cook a good mess of meat and buy fruit and spend without stint till nothing was left him, saying to himself, “The daily bread of to-morrow will come to-morrow.” Presently, his wife gave birth to another child, making a total of ten, and it chanced that day that he had nothing at all; so she said to him, “O my master, see and get me somewhat wherewithal I may sustain myself.” Quoth he, “I am going (under favour of Almighty Allah) this day seawards to fish on the luck of this new-born child, that we may see its fair fortune;” and quoth she, “Put thy trust in Allah!” So he took his net and went down to the sea-shore, where he cast it on the luck of the little one, saying, “O my God, make his living of ease not of unease, and abundant, not scant!” Then he waited awhile and drew in the net, which came up full of rubbish and sand and pebbles and weeds, and he saw therein no sign of fish neither muchel nor little. He cast it again and waited, then drew it in, but found no catch in it, and threw it a third and a fourth and a fifth time; still not a single fish came up. So he removed to another place beseeching his daily bread of Allah Almighty and thus he kept working till the end of the day, but caught not so much as a minnow;[[233]] whereat he fell a-marvelling in himself and said self-communing, “Hath Allah then created this new-born child without lot of provision? This may never, never be. He who slitteth the corners of the lips hath pledged Himself for its provision, because Almighty Allah is the Bountiful, the Provider!”[[234]] So saying, he shouldered his net and turned him homewards, broken-spirited and heavy at heart about his family, for that he had left them without food, more by token that his wife was in the straw. And as he continued trudging along and saying in himself, “How shall I do and what shall I say to the children to-night?” he came to a baker’s oven and saw a crowd about it; for the season was one of dearth and in those days food was scant with the folk; so people were proffering the baker money, but he paid no heed to any of them, by reason of the dense crowd. The fisherman stood looking and snuffing the smell of the hot bread (and indeed his soul longed for it, by reason of his hunger), till the baker caught sight of him and cried out to him, “Come hither, O fisherman!” So he went up to him, and the baker said, “Dost thou want bread?” But he was silent. Quoth the baker, “Speak out and be not ashamed, for Allah is bountiful. An thou have no silver, I will give thee bread and have patience with thee till weal betide thee.” And quoth the fisherman, “By Allah, O master, I have indeed no money! But give me bread enough for my family, and I will leave thee this net in pawn till the morrow.” Rejoined the baker, “Nay, my poor fellow, this net is thy shop and the door of thy daily subsistence; so an thou pawn it, wherewithal wilt thou fish? Tell me how much will suffice thee?”; and replied the fisherman, “Ten half-dirhams’ worth.”[[235]] So he gave him ten Nusfs’ worth of bread and ten in silver saying, “Take these ten Nusfs and cook thyself a mess of meat therewith; so wilt thou owe me twenty, for which bring me fish to-morrow; but, an thou catch nothing again, come and take thy bread and thy ten Nusfs, and I will have patience with thee till better luck betide thee,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-first Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the baker said to the fisherman, “Take whatso thou needest and I will have patience with thee till better luck betide thee, after the which thou shalt bring me fish for all thou owest me.” Said the fisherman, “Almighty Allah reward thee, and requite thee for me with all good!” Then he took the bread and the coins and went away, glad at heart, and buying what he could returned to his wife whom he found sitting up, soothing the children, who were weeping for hunger, and saying to them, “At once your father will be here with what ye may eat.” So he set the bread before them and they ate, whilst he told his wife what had befallen him, and she said, “Allah is bountiful.”[[236]] On the morrow, he shouldered his net and went forth of his house, saying, “I beseech thee, O Lord, to vouchsafe me this day that which shall whiten my face with the baker!”[[237]] When he came to the sea-shore, he proceeded to cast his net and pull it in; but there came up no fish therein; and he ceased not to toil thus till ended day but he caught nothing. Then he set out homewards, in great concern, and the way to his house lay past the baker’s oven; so he said in himself, “How shall I go home? But I will hasten my pace that the baker may not see me.” When he reached the shop, he saw a crowd about it and walked the faster, being ashamed to face his creditor; but the baker raised his eyes to him and cried out to him, saying, “Ho, fisherman! Come and take thy bread and spending-money. Meseems thou forgettest.” Quoth Abdullah, “By Allah, I had not forgotten; but I was ashamed to face thee, because I have caught no fish this day;” and quoth the baker, “Be not ashamed. Said I not to thee, At thy leisure,[[238]] till better luck betide thee?” Then he gave him the bread and the ten Nusfs and he returned and told his wife, who said, “Allah is bountiful. Better luck shall yet betide thee and thou shalt give the baker his due, Inshallah.” He ceased not doing on this wise forty days, betaking himself daily to the sea, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, and returning home without fish; and still he took bread and spending-money of the baker, who never once named the fish to him nor neglected him nor kept him waiting like the folk,[[239]] but gave him the bread and the ten half-dirhams without delay. Whenever the fisherman said to him, “O my brother, reckon with me,” he would say, “Be off:[[240]] this is no time for reckoning. Wait till better luck betide thee, and then I will reckon with thee.” And the fisherman would bless him and go away thanking him. On the one-and-fortieth day, he said to his wife, “I have a mind to tear up the net and be quit of this life.” She asked, “Why wilt thou do this?”; and he answered, “Meseems there is an end of my getting my daily bread from the waters. How long shall this last? By Allah, I burn with shame before the baker and I will go no more to the sea, so I may not pass by his oven, for I have none other way home; and every time I pass he calleth me and giveth me the bread and the ten silvers. How much longer shall I run in debt to him?” The wife replied, “Alhamdolillah—lauded be the Lord, the Most High, who hath inclined his heart to thee, so that he giveth thee our daily bread! What dislikest thou in this?”; and the husband rejoined, “I owe him now a mighty great sum of dirhams, and there is no doubt but that he will demand his due.” “Hath he vexed thee with words?” “No, on the contrary, he still refuseth to reckon with me, saying:—Wait till better luck betide thee.” “If he press thee, say to him:—Wait till there come the good luck for which we hope, thou and I.” “And when will the good luck come that we hope for?” “Allah is bountiful.” “Sooth thou speakest!” So saying he shouldered his net and went down to the sea-side, praying, “O Lord provide thou me, though but with one fish, that I may give it to the baker!” And he cast his net into the sea and pulling it in, found it heavy; so he tugged at it till he was tired with sore travail. But when he got it ashore, he found in it a dead donkey swollen and stinking; whereat his senses sickened and he freed it from the net, saying, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Indeed, I can no more! I say to that wife of mine:—There is no more provision for me in the waters; let me leave this craft. And she still answereth me:—Allah is bountiful: good will presently betide thee. Is this dead ass the good whereof she speaketh?” And he grieved with the sorest grief. Then he turned to another place, so he might remove from the stench of the dead donkey, and cast his net there and waited a full hour: then he drew it in and found it heavy. Thereupon quoth he, “Good; we are hauling up all the dead donkeys in the sea and ridding it of its rubbish.[[241]]” However he gave not over tugging at the net, till blood came from the palms of his hands, and when he got it ashore, he saw a man[[242]] in it and took him for one of the Ifrits of the lord Solomon, whom he was wont to imprison in cucurbits of brass and cast him into the main, believing that the vessel had burst for length of years and that the Ifrit had come forth and fallen into the net; wherefore he fled from him, crying out and saying, “Mercy, mercy, O Ifrit of Solomon!” But the Adamite called out to him from within the net and said, “Come hither, O fisherman, and flee not from me; for I am human like thyself. Release me, so thou mayst get a recompense for me of Allah.” Whenas he heard these words, the fisherman took heart and coming up to him, said to him, “Art thou not an Ifrit of the Jinn?”; and replied the other, “No: I am a mortal and a believer in Allah and His Apostle.” Asked the fisherman, “Who threw thee into the sea?”; and the other answered, “I am of the children of the sea, and was going about therein, when thou castest the net over me. We are people who obey Allah’s commandments and show loving-kindness unto the creatures of the Almighty, and but that I fear and dread to be of the disobedient, I had torn thy net; but I accept that which the Lord hath decreed unto me; wherefore by setting me free thou becomest my owner and I thy captive. Wilt thou then set me free for the love[[243]] of Almighty Allah and make a covenant with me and become my comrade? I will come to thee every day in this place, and do thou come to me and bring me a gift of the fruits of the land. For with you are grapes and figs and water-melons and peaches and pomegranates and so forth, and all thou bringest me will be acceptable unto me. Moreover, with us are coral and pearls and chrysolites and emeralds and rubies and other gems, and I will fill thee the basket, wherein thou bringest me the fruit, with precious stones of the jewels of the sea.[[244]] What sayst thou to this, O my brother?” Quoth the fisherman, “Be the Opening Chapter of the Koran between thee and me upon this!” So they recited together the Fátihah, and the fisherman loosed the Merman from the net and asked him, “What is thy name?” He replied, “My name is Abdullah of the sea; and if thou come hither and see me not, call out and say, “Where art thou, O Abdullah, O Merman?”; and I will be with thee.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
