Then he wept with sore weeping and, entering the tent, was absent awhile, after which he came forth, groaning and crying out. Then he gave one sob and departed this world. When I saw that he was indeed dead, it was grievous to me and so sore was my sorrow for him that I had well-nigh followed him for excess of mourning over him. Then I laid him out and did as he had enjoined me, shrouding his cousin’s remains with him in one robe and laying the twain in one grave. I abode by their tomb three days, after which I departed and continued to pay frequent pious visits[FN#140] to the place for two years. This then is their story, O Commander of the Faithful! Al-Rashid was pleased with Jamil’s story and rewarded him with a robe of honour and a handsome present. And men also tell a tale concerning
THE BADAWI AND HIS WIFE.[FN#141]
Caliph Mu’áwiyah was sitting one day in his palace[FN#142] at Damascus, in a room whose windows were open on all four sides, that the breeze might enter from every quarter. Now it was a day of excessive heat, with no breeze from the hills stirring, and the middle of the day, when the heat was at its height, and the Caliph saw a man coming along, scorched by the heat of the ground and limping, as he fared on barefoot. Mu’awiyah considered him awhile and said to his courtiers, “Hath Allah (may He be extolled and exalted!) created any miserabler than he who need must hie abroad at such an hour and in such sultry tide as this?” Quoth one of them, “Haply he seeketh the Commander of the Faithful;” and quoth the Caliph, “By Allah, if he seek me, I will assuredly give to him, and if he be wronged, I will certainly succour him. Ho, boy! Stand at the door, and if yonder wild Arab seek to come in to me, forbid him not therefrom.” So the page went out and presently the Arab came up to him and he said, “What dost thou want?” Answered the other, “I want the Commander of the Faithful,” and the page said, “Enter.” So he entered and saluted the Caliph,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Six Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the page allowed him to enter, the Badawi saluted the Caliph, who said to him, “Who art thou?” Replied the Arab, “I am a man of the Banú Tamím.”[FN#143] “And what bringeth thee here at this season?” asked Mu’awiyah; and the Arab answered, “I come to thee, complaining and thy protection imploring.” “Against whom?” “Against Marwan bin al-Hakam,[FN#144] thy deputy,” replied he, and began reciting,
“Mu’áwiyah,[FN#145] thou gen’rous lord, and best of men that be;
* And oh, thou lord of learning, grace and fair humanity,
Thee-wards I come because my way of life is strait to me: * O
help! and let me not despair thine equity to see.
Deign thou redress the wrong that dealt the tyrant whim of him *
Who better had my life destroyed than made such wrong to
dree.
He robbed me of my wife Su’ad and proved him worst of foes, *
Stealing mine honour ’mid my folk with foul iniquity;
And went about to take my life before th’ appointed day * Hath
dawned which Allah made my lot by destiny’s decree.”
Now when Mu’awiyah heard him recite these verses, with the fire flashing from his mouth, he said to him, “Welcome and fair welcome, O brother of the Arabs! Tell me thy tale and acquaint me with thy case.” Replied the Arab, “O Commander of the Faithful, I had a wife whom I loved passing dear with love none came near; and she was the coolth of mine eyes and the joy of my heart; and I had a herd of camels, whose produce enabled me to maintain my condition; but there came upon us a bad year which killed off hoof and horn and left me naught. When what was in my hand failed me and wealth fell from me and I lapsed into evil case, I at once became abject and a burden to those who erewhile wished to visit me; and when her father knew it, he took her from me and abjured me and drove me forth without ruth. So I repaired to thy deputy, Marwan bin al-Hakam, and asked his aid. He summoned her sire and questioned him of my case, when he denied any knowledge of me. Quoth I, ‘Allah assain the Emir! An it please him to send for the woman and question her of her father’s saying, the truth will appear.’ So he sent for her and brought her; but no sooner had he set eyes on her than he fell in love with her; so, becoming my rival, he denied me succour and was wroth with me, and sent me to prison, where I became as I had fallen from heaven and the wind had cast me down in a far land. Then said Marwan to her father, ‘Wilt thou give her to me to wife, on a present settlement of a thousand dinars and a contingent dowry of ten thousand dirhams,[FN#146] and I will engage to free her from yonder wild Arab!’ Her father was seduced by the bribe and agreed to the bargain; whereupon Marwan sent for me and looking at me like an angry lion, said to me, ‘O Arab, divorce Su’ad.’ I replied, ‘I will not put her away;’ but he set on me a company of his servants, who tortured me with all manner of tortures, till I found no help for it but to divorce her. I did so and he sent me back to prison, where I abode till the days of her purification were accomplished, when he married her and let me go. So now I come hither in thee hoping and thy succour imploring and myself on thy protection throwing.” And he spoke these couplets,
“Within my heart is fire * Whichever flameth higher;
Within my frame are pains * For skill of leach too dire.
Live coals in vitals burn * And sparks from coal up spire:
Tears flood mine eyes and down * Coursing my cheek ne’er tire:
Only God’s aid and thine * I crave for my desire!”
Then he was convulsed,[FN#147] and his teeth chattered and he fell down in a fit, squirming like a scotched snake. When Mu’awiyah heard his story and his verse, he said, “Marwan bin al-Hakam hath transgressed against the laws of the Faith and hath violated the Harim of True Believers!”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Six Hundred and Ninety-third Night,