“As soon as the consort of the caliph was seated, the slaves, who came in first, made a sign for me to approach. I advanced in the midst of two ranks, which they formed for that purpose, and prostrated myself, till my head touched the carpet which was under the feet of the princess. She ordered me to rise, and honoured me so far as to ask my name, my family, and the state of my fortune; in my answers to all of which I gave her perfect satisfaction. I was confident of this, not only from her manner, but she herself gave evident proofs of it, by a thousand kind things she had the condescension to say to me, ‘I have great satisfaction,’ said she, ‘in finding that my daughter, (this was the title by which she distinguished her Favourite), for as such I shall ever regard her, after the care I have taken of her education, has made such a choice. I entirely approve of it, and agree to your marriage. I will myself give orders for the preparations necessary in this affair. But before the ceremony takes place, I have occasion for my daughter for the next ten days, and during this time, I will take an opportunity of speaking to the caliph, and obtain his consent; till this period has passed, you shall remain here, and shall be well taken care of.’
“I spent these ten days in the female apartments, and during the whole of this time, I was deprived of the pleasure of seeing the Favourite, even for one moment: but I was so well treated through her orders, that I had great reason to be satisfied in every other respect.
“Zobeidè in the mean time informed the caliph of the determination she had taken to marry her Favourite; and this prince not only left her at liberty to act as she pleased in this matter, but even gave a large sum of money to the Favourite, as his share towards the formation of her establishment. The intermediate time at length elapsed, and Zobeidè had got a proper contract of marriage prepared, with all the necessary forms. Preparations for the nuptials were made; musicians and dancers of both sexes were ordered to hold themselves in readiness, and even nine days were spent, in which the greatest joy and festivity reigned through the palace. The tenth was the day appointed for the concluding ceremony of the marriage; the Favourite was conducted to a bath on one side, and I to one on the other. In the evening I sat down to table, and they served me with all sorts of dishes and ragouts; and among other things, there was a ragout made with garlic, similar to that you have now forced me to eat of. I found it so excellent, that I hardly touched any other dish. But, unfortunately for me, when I rose from table, I satisfied myself with only wiping my hands, instead of well washing them; this was a negligence that I believe I had never been before guilty of.
“As it was now night, they supplied the place of day-light by a grand illumination in all the ladies’ apartments. Instruments of music resounded through the building; they danced, they played a thousand sports, and all the palace re-echoed with exclamations of joy and pleasure. They introduced my bride and myself into a large hall, where we were seated upon two thrones. The females, who attended on her, changed her dress several times, as was the general practice on these occasions; and they also painted her face in different ways, according to a custom, peculiar to the day of marriage. Every time they thus changed her dress, they presented her to me.
“When all these ceremonies were finished, they conducted us into the bridal chamber, where we were no sooner left by ourselves than I approached my bride to embrace her. But instead of returning my transports, she forcibly repulsed me, and called out in the most lamentable and violent manner; so much so, that the women all rushed into the apartment, desirous of learning the reason of her screams. As for myself, my astonishment was so great, that I stood quite motionless, without having even power to ask the cause of all this. ‘What can possibly have happened to you,’ they said to my bride, ‘in the short time since we left you? inform us pray, that we may help you.’—‘Take away,’ she cried, ‘instantly take from my sight that infamous man.’—‘Alas, madam,’ I exclaimed, ‘how can I possibly have deservedly incurred your anger?’—‘You are a villain,’ said she, in the greatest rage. ‘You have eaten of garlic, and have not washed your hands. Do you think I will suffer a man, who can be guilty of so dirty and so filthy a negligence, to approach and stifle me with his embraces. Lay him on the ground,’ she added, speaking to the women, ‘and bring me a whip.’—They immediately threw me down; and while some held me by the arms, and others by the feet, my wife, who had been very diligently attended to, beat me without the least mercy, as long as she had any strength remaining. She then said to the females, ‘Take him to an officer of the police, and order him to cut off that hand with which he fed himself with the garlic ragout.’
“At these words I exclaimed, ‘Merciful God! I have been beaten and whipped, and, to complete my misfortune, I am still farther punished by having my hand cut off; and all for what? Because, truly, I have eaten of a ragout made with garlic, and have forgotten to wash my hands! What a trifling cause for such anger and revenge. Plague on the garlic ragout; I wish that the cook that made it, and the slave that served it up, were all at the bottom of the sea.’
“Every one of the women, however, who were present, and had seen me already so severely punished, pitied me very much, when they heard the Favourite talk of having my hand cut off. ‘My dear sister, and my good lady,’ said they to her, ‘do not carry your resentment so far. It is true, that he is a man who does not understand how to conduct himself, and who seems ignorant of your rank, and the respect that is due to you. We entreat you, however, not to take any farther notice of the fault he has committed, but to pardon him.’—‘I am not yet satisfied,’ she cried, ‘I wish to teach him how to live; and that he should bear such powerful marks of his ill-breeding, that he will never forget, as long as he lives, the having eaten garlic without remembering to wash his hands after it.’ They were not discouraged by this refusal; they threw themselves at her feet, and kissing her hand, ‘My good lady,’ they cried, ‘in the name of God, moderate your anger, and grant us the favour we ask of you.’ She did not answer them a single word; but got up, and after abusing me again, went out of the apartment. All the women followed her, and left me quite alone, in the greatest affliction imaginable.
“I remained here ten days, without ever seeing a soul except an old slave, who brought me something by way of food. I asked her for some information about the Favourite. ‘She is very ill,’ she said, ‘on account of the poisonous odour you made her breathe. Why did you not take care to wash your hands after eating of that diabolical ragout?’—‘Is it possible then,’ I answered, ‘that the delicacy and sensibility of these ladies is so great; and that they can be so vindictive for so slight a fault.’ I nevertheless still loved my wife in spite of her cruelty: and could not help pitying her.
“One day the old slave said to me, ‘Your bride is cured, she is gone to the bath, and she told me, that she intended to come and visit you to-morrow. Have therefore a little patience; and endeavour to accommodate yourself to her humour. She is very wise, and, indeed, very reasonable: and is moreover very much beloved by all the females that are in the service of Zobeidè, our respectable mistress.’
“My wife, in fact, came to see me the next day: and she immediately said to me, ‘You must necessarily think me very good to come and see you again, after the offence you have given me; but I cannot bring myself to be reconciled to you, till I have punished you as you deserve, for not washing your hands after having eaten of the ragout with garlic.’ She had no sooner said this, than she called to the women, who instantly entered, and laid me down upon the ground, according to her orders; and after they had bound me, she took a razor, and had the barbarity to cut off my two thumbs, and two great toes, with her own hands. One of the women immediately applied a certain root to stop the blood; but this did not prevent me from fainting, in consequence of both the quantity I lost, before the remedy took effect, and the great pain I suffered.