The Arabian Nights, Volume II of IV

by Unknown

I was not mistaken in my conjecture, for a whole year passed before I heard any thing of the young man. At the end of this time he again appeared, and as richly dressed as he had been the last time he came; but there seemed to me to be something or other which affected his spirits. I entreated him so far to honour me, as to come into my house. “I agree to it for this once,” he replied, “but it is only on condition, that you put yourself to no additional trouble or expence on my account.”—“I will do exactly as you please,” I said, “if you will favor me by coming in.” He immediately alighted, and entered my house. I then gave orders for the refreshments I wished to be procured, and while they were getting ready, we entered into conversation; and when the repast was served, we sat down to table. The very first morsel he took, I observed it was with his left hand, and I continued all the time to be much astonished at never seeing him make use of his right. I knew not what to think of it. “From the very first moment,” I said to myself, “I have known this merchant, I have always seen him behave with the greatest politeness; and it is impossible that he can act thus out of contempt for me. What can be the reason of his making no use of his right hand?” This matter continued to puzzle me extremely.

When the repast was over, and my servants had cleared every thing away, and left the room, we went and sat down on a sofa. I then offered, as a sort of relish, a very excellent kind of lozenge. Still he took it with his left hand. “I entreat you, sir,” at last I cried, “to pardon the liberty I take in asking you, how it happens, that you always make use of your left hand, and never of the right: some accident surely has happened to it?” At this he gave a deep sigh, and instead of answering me, he drew out his right arm from his robe, under which he had till now quite concealed it; when I saw, to my utter astonishment, that his hand was cut off. “You were much shocked, without doubt,” he said, “at seeing me eat with my left hand; but you now see I could not do otherwise.”—“May I inquire,” I answered, “how you had the misfortune to lose your right hand?” At this request he began to shed tears; after some time, however, he told me his history, which I am now going to repeat.

“I must in the first place inform you,” said the young man, “that I am a native of Bagdad. My father was extremely rich, and one of the most eminent men, both as to rank and quality, in that city. I had hardly begun to enter into the society of the world, when I was struck with the accounts which many people, who had travelled in that country, gave of the wonderful and extraordinary things in Egypt, and particularly at Grand Cairo. Their conversation made a deep impression on my mind; and I became excessively anxious to make a journey there. But my father, who was still alive, would not give me permission. He at length died, and as his death left me master of my own actions, I resolved to go to Cairo. I directly employed a large sum of money in the purchase of different sorts of the fine stuffs and manufactures of Bagdad and Moussoul, and began my travels.

“When I arrived at Cairo, I stopped at a khan, which they call the khan of Mesrour. I took up my abode there, and also hired a warehouse, in which I placed the bales of merchandize that I had brought with me on camels. When I had arranged this business, I retired to my apartment, in order to rest myself, and recover from the fatigue of my journey. In the mean time my servants, to whom I had given some money for that purpose, went and bought some provisions, and began to dress them. After I had satisfied my hunger, I went to see the castle, mosques, the public places, and every thing else, that was worthy of notice.

“The next morning, I dressed myself very neatly, and after taking from my bales a few very beautiful and rich stuffs, for the purpose of carrying them to a bezestein, [3] to know what they would offer me for them, I gave them to some of my slaves, and we went to the bezestein of the Circassians. I was instantly surrounded by a multitude of brokers and criers, who were soon informed of my arrival. I gave a specimen of my different stuffs to several criers, who went and showed them all over the bezestein; but I was offered by no merchant not even so much as the original cost of the merchandize, and the expenses of the carriage. This vexed me very much, and the criers were witness to my resentment and vexation. “If you will depend upon us,” they said, “we will show you a way to lose nothing by your stuffs.” I asked them what mode I ought to follow, in order to sell my goods to advantage. “Distribute them,” said they, “among different merchants, who will sell them in small quantities, and you may come twice every week, namely, on Mondays and Thursdays, and receive the money, for which they have been sold. By this method you will make some profit, instead of losing any thing, and the merchants also will have an advantage in the business. In the mean time, you will have opportunity and leisure to walk about and view the town, and to go upon the Nile.”

“I followed their advice, and carried them with me to my warehouse, from which I took out all my goods; and returning to the bezestein, I distributed them among the several merchants whom they pointed out to me as the most trusty and creditable. The merchants gave me a receipt in due form, properly signed and witnessed, with the condition, that I should make no demand for the first month.

“Having thus arranged all my business, I gave myself up entirely to pleasure and gaiety. I contracted a friendship with several young men about my own age, who contributed very much to make my time pass agreeably. When the first month had elapsed, I began to call upon my merchants regularly twice every week, accompanied by a proper public officer, to examine their books, and a money-changer to ascertain the goodness and different value of the various sorts of money they paid me. In this manner I constantly brought away, on those days, a considerable sum of money, which I took with me to the khan of Mesrour, where I lodged. This, however, did not prevent me from going, on the intermediate days of the week, to pass the morning sometimes with one merchant, and sometimes with another; and I was thus much pleased with their conversation, and with seeing what passed in the bezestein.

“One Monday, while I was sitting in one of these merchant’s shops, whose name was Bedreddin, a lady of distinction, as I easily conjectured both by her air and dress, and also by a female slave neatly attired, who followed her, entered the same shop, and sat down close to me. Her external appearance, joined to a certain natural grace in every thing she did, prejudiced me very much in her favour, and excited a great desire in me to know more of her than I did. I know not whether she perceived that I took a pleasure in beholding her, or whether my attention pleased her or not; but she lifted up the thick crape that hung over the muslin, which concealed the lower part of her face, and thus gave me an opportunity of seeing her black eyes, that quite charmed me. She at last completed her conquest, and made me quite in love with her, by the pleasant tone of her voice, and by her obliging and modest manner, when she addressed herself to the merchant, and inquired after his health, since she had seen him last.

“After she had conversed some time upon indifferent subjects, she told him that she was in search of a particular sort of stuff, with a gold ground: and that she came to his shop, because it contained the best assortment of goods of any in the bezestein; and that if he had such a thing, he would much oblige her by shewing it to her. Bedreddin opened a good many different pieces, and having fixed upon one, she stopped and asked the price of it. He said, he could afford to sell it her for eleven hundred drachms of silver. ‘I will agree to give you that sum,’ she replied, ‘though I have not the money about me; but I hope you will give me credit for it till to-morrow, and suffer me to carry the stuff home, and I will not fail to send you eleven hundred drachms, for which we have agreed, in the course of to-morrow.’ ‘Madam,’ answered the merchant, ‘I would give you credit with the greatest pleasure, and you should have full permission to take the stuff home with you, if it belonged to me; but it is the property of this young man, whom you see there, and this is one of the days fixed upon to give an account of the money for which his goods are sold.’—‘How comes it,’ cried the lady, ‘that you treat me in this manner? Am I not in the habit of coming to your shop? And every time I have bought any stuffs, you have desired me to carry them home, without first paying for them; and have I ever failed sending you the money on the following day?’ The merchant agreed to it. ‘It is all very true, madam,’ he answered, ‘but to-day I have occasion for the money.’—‘Well then,’ she cried, throwing it down, ‘take your stuff, and may God confound you, and all of your fellow merchants, for you are all alike, and have no regard for any one but yourselves.’ Having said this, she rose up in a passion and went away extremely piqued against Bedreddin.

“When I saw that the lady was gone, I began to feel very much interested about her, and before she was too far off, I called her back, and said, ‘Do me, madam, the favour to return, and perhaps I shall find a way to accommodate and satisfy both yourself and the merchant.’ She came back, but made me understand it was entirely on my account. ‘Sir,’ said I, at this moment, to the merchant, ‘how much do you say it is that you wish to receive for this stuff, which belongs to me?’—‘Eleven hundred drachms of silver,’ he replied, ‘nor can I possibly let it go for less.’ ‘Give it then,’ said I, ‘to the lady, and permit her to carry it home. I will give you one hundred drachms for your profit, and give you an order to take this sum out of the account of the other merchandize which you have of mine.’ I immediately wrote the order, signed it, and put it into the hands of Bedreddin. Then presenting the stuff to the lady, I said, ‘You have now, madam, full power to take it away with you, and with respect to the money, you may send it to-morrow, or the next day, or if you will do me the honour to accept of the stuff, it is quite at your service.’—‘This,’ replied the lady, ‘is very far from my intention. You have behaved with so much politeness, and in so obliging a manner, that I should be unworthy of appearing in the society of men, if I did not prove my gratitude to you. May God increase your fortune, suffer you to live a long time after I am gone; open the gates of heaven at your death; and may all the city publish the report of your generosity!’