“I had no sooner received the glass than my tears flowed afresh, and my sighs increased.—‘Why do you lament and sigh so bitterly?’ said the lady to me. ‘Why do you take the glass in your left hand rather than your right?’—‘Alas, madam,’ I replied, ‘excuse me, I entreat you; for I have a swelling on my right hand.’—‘Show me this tumour,’ said she, ‘and I will open it for you.’ I still excused myself by saying it was not yet in a state proper for that operation; I then drank all the contents of the glass, which was a very large one. The strength of the wine, joined to my fatigue, and the low state in which I was, soon made me very drowsy, and I fell into a profound sleep, that lasted till the next morning.
“While I was in this state, the lady wishing to know what accident had happened to my right hand, lifted up my robe, which concealed it, and saw, as you may conjecture, with the greatest astonishment, that it was cut off, and that I had got it with me, wrapped up in a linen cloth. She had now no difficulty in comprehending why I so strongly resisted all the entreaties she made me; and she passed the night in thinking of the disgrace that had happened to me; not doubting but that my love for her had been the cause of it.
“When I awoke the next morning, I perceived by her countenance that she was very much afflicted. She did not, however, utter a word to me on the subject, that she might not give me any pain. She desired some thick jelly made from chickens, that she had ordered on purpose for me, to be served up. She obliged me both to eat and drink, in order, as she said, to recruit my strength, of which I had so much need. I then wished to take my leave of her, but she took hold of my robe and detained me.—‘I will not suffer you,’ she said, ‘to go from hence; for although you will not tell me so, I am persuaded that I am the cause of the misfortune which has happened to you. The poignant grief which I feel will not suffer me to live long; but before I die, I must execute a design which I meditate in your favour.’ Having said this, she ordered some of her people to go for an officer of justice, and some witnesses, and made him draw up a bequest of all her fortune to me. Having then dismissed them, after paying them handsomely for their trouble, she opened a large chest, where all the purses that I had ever brought her since the commencement of our connection had been placed. ‘There they all are,’ said she to me, ‘just as you left them; I have not touched one of them. Here is the key, take it, for they belong to you.’ I thanked her for her kindness and generosity.—‘I do not,’ added she, ‘reckon this as any thing in comparison with what I intend to do for you. Nor shall I be satisfied till I die, to prove to you how much I love you.’ I conjured her, by every tie of love, to give up so dreadful a resolution; but I was unable to divert her thoughts from it; the sorrow and chagrin she felt at seeing me so maimed, brought on a serious illness, which at the end of five or six weeks terminated in her death.
“After mourning for her loss as much as became me, I took possession of all her fortune, and every thing, which, as she had informed me, belonged to her; and the sesamè, which you sold for me, was part of her property.”
When the young man of Bagdad had finished his relation, he added, “What you have now heard ought to be a sufficient excuse for my having eaten in your company with my left hand. I am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken on my account. I cannot enough applaud your fidelity and probity; and as I have, thank God, a very plentiful fortune, although I have expended a great deal, I must beg, that you will accept as a present the small sum for which you sold the sesamè, and which you now are in my debt for. I have besides another proposal to make to you. Being unable to remain with any comfort or satisfaction to myself at Cairo, after the melancholy accident I have mentioned, I am resolved to leave it, and never to return again. If you like to accompany me, we will trade in common together, and we will divide the profits we make into equal shares.”
When the young man of Bagdad (said the Christian merchant) had concluded his history, I said to him, “I return you, sir, my most grateful thanks for the present you have done me the favour to make me; and with respect to the proposal of travelling with you, I accept it with all my heart; and assure you, that your interest will be always as much my concern as my own.”
We fixed a day for our departure, and when it came we began our journey. We passed through Syria and Mesopotamia; we travelled over Persia, and after visiting for some time many cities, we at length came, Sire, to your capital. After some little time, the young man informed me, that he was very desirous, and, in fact, had taken the resolution of going back into Persia, and of settling there. We then made up our accounts, and separated, perfectly satisfied with each other. He departed, and I remained in this city, where I have the honour of being employed in the service of your majesty. This is the history which I had to recount to you, and does it not seem to your majesty much more surprising than that of the little hunchback?
The sultan of Casgar was very angry with the Christian merchant. “Thou art very bold and impudent,” said he to the merchant, “to dare to make a comparison between the recital of a history so trifling and unworthy my attention with that of my hunchback. Dost thou flatter thyself, that thou canst persuade me that the stale adventures of a young debauchee are more wonderful than those of my buffoon? I will in truth hang all four of you to revenge his death.”
At these words the terrified purveyor threw himself at the sultan’s feet: “Sire,” he cried, “I entreat your majesty to suspend your just wrath, and to listen to me; and if the narrative I shall have the honour to lay before your majesty, shall seem to you more interesting than that of little hunchback, that you will do us the favour to extend your pardon to us all.”—“Speak,” said the sultan, “I grant thy request.” The purveyor then began as follows: