There was in times of yore and in ages long gone before a learned man who had retired from the world secluding himself in an upper cell of a Cathedral-mosque, and this place he left not for many days save upon the most pressing needs. At last a beautiful boy whose charms were unrivalled in his time went in to him and salam'd to him. The Shaykh returned the salute and welcomed him with the fairest welcome and courteously entreated him seating him beside himself. Then he asked him of his case and whence he came and the boy answered, "O my lord, question me not of aught nor of my worldly matters, for verily I am as one who hath fallen from the heavens upon the earth[116] and my sole object is the honour of tending thee." The Sage again welcomed him and the boy served him assiduously for a length of time till he was twelve years old. Now on one day of the days[117] the lad heard certain of his fellows saying that the Sultan had a daughter endowed with beauty whose charms were unequalled by all the Princesses of the age. So he fell in love with her by hearsay.?And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night, an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night, and that was
The Three Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the lad who served the Sage fell in love with the Sultan's daughter by hearsay. Presently he went in to his master and told him thereof adding, "O my lord, verily the King hath a daughter beautiful and lovesome and my soul longeth to look upon her an it be only a single look." The Shaykh asked him saying, "Wherefore, O my son? What have the like of us to do with the daughters of Sovrans or others? We be an order of eremites and selfcontained and we fear the Kings for our own safety." And the Sage continued to warn the lad against the shifts of Time and to divert him from his intent; but the more words he uttered to warn him and to deter him, the more resolved he became to win his wish, so that he abode continually groaning and weeping. Now this was a grievous matter to the good Shaykh who loved him with an exceeding love passing all bounds; and when he saw him in this condition he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great." And his heart was softened and he had ruth upon the case of his scholar and pitied his condition, and at last said to him, "O my son, dost thou truly long to look but a single look at the Sultan's daughter?" Quoth he, "Yes, O my lord," and quoth the other, "Come hither to me." Accordingly he came up to him and the Shaykh produced a Kohl-pot and applied the powder to one of his scholar's eyes, who behold, forthright became such that all who saw him cried out, "This is a half-man."[118] Then the Sage bade him go about the city and the youth obeyed his commands and fared forth; but whenas the folk espied him they cried out, "A miracle! a miracle! this be a half-man!" And the more the youth walked about the streets the more the folk followed him and gazed upon him for diversion and marvelled at the spectacle; and as often as the great men of the city heard of him they sent to summon him and solaced themselves with the sight and said, "Laud to the Lord! Allah createth whatso He wisheth and commandeth whatso He willeth as we see in the fashioning of this half-man." The youth also looked freely upon the Harims of the Grandees, he being fairer than any of them; and this case continued till the report reached the Sultan who bade him be brought into the presence, and on seeing him marvelled at the works of the Almighty. Presently the whole court gathered together to gaze at him in wonderment and the tidings soon reached the Queen who sent an Eunuch to fetch him and introduce him into the Serraglio. The women all admired the prodigy and the Princess looked at him and he looked at her; so his fascination increased upon him and he said in his secret soul, "An I wed her not I will slay myself!" After this the youth was dismissed by the Sultan's Harim and he, whose heart burned with love for the King's daughter, returned home. The Shaykh asked him, "Hast thou, O my son, seen the Princess?" and he answered, "I have, O my master; but this one look sufficeth me not, nor can I rest until I sit by her side and fill myself with gazing upon her." Quoth he, "O my child, we be an ascetic folk that shun the world nor have we aught to do with enmeshing ourselves in the affairs of the Sultan, and we fear for thee, O my son." But the youth replied, "O my lord, except I sit by her side and stroke her neck and shoulders with these my hands, I will slay myself." Hereupon the Sage said in his mind, "I will do whatso I can for this good youth and perchance Allah may enable him to win his wish." He then arose and brought out the Kohl-pot and applied the powder to his scholar's either eye; and, when it had settled therein, it made him invisible to the ken of man. Then he said, "Go forth, O my son, and indulge thy desire; but return again soon and be not absent too long." Accordingly the youth hastened to the Palace and entering it looked right and left, none seeing him the while, and proceeded to the Harem where he seated himself beside the daughter of the Sultan. Still none perceived him until, after a time, he put forth his hand and softly stroked her neck. But as soon as the Princess felt the youth's touch, she shrieked a loud shriek heard by all ears in the Palace and cried "I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the stoned!" At this proceeding on the girl's part all asked her saying, "What is to do with thee?" Whereto she answered, "Verily some Satan hath this instant touched me on the neck." Upon this her mother was alarmed for her and sent for her nurse[119] and when informed of what had befallen the girl the old woman said, "If there be aught of Satans here naught is so sovereign a specific to drive them away and keep them off as the smoke of camel's dung."[120] Then she arose and brought thereof a quantity which was thrown into the fire and presently it scented and pervaded the whole apartment. All this and the Youth still sat there without being seen. But when the dung-smoke thickened, his eyes brimmed and he could not but shed tears, and the more smoke there was the more his eyes watered and big drops flowed till at last all the Kohl was washed off and trickled down with the tears. So he became visible a-middlemost the royal Harem; and, when the dames descried him, all shrieked one shriek, each at other, upon which the Eunuchry rushed in; then, finding the young man still seated there, they laid hands upon him and haled him before the Sultan to whom they reported his crime and how he had been caught lurking in the King's Serraglio a-sitting beside the Princess. Hearing this, the Sovran bade summon the Headsman and committed to him the criminal bidding him take the youth and robe him in a black habit bepatched with flamecolour;[121] then, to set him upon a camel and, after parading him through Cairo city and all the streets, to put him to death. Accordingly the executioner took the Youth.?And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was
The Three Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Linkman took the youth and fared forth with him from the palace: then he looked at him and found him fair of form and favour, a sans peer in loveliness, and he observed that he showed no fear nor shrinking from death. So he had pity upon him and his heart yearned to him and he said in his mind, "By Allah, attached to this young man is a rare history." Then he brought a leathern gown which he put upon him, and the flamey black habit which he passed over his arms: and setting him upon a camel as the Sultan had commanded, at last carried him in procession crying out the while, "This is the award and the least award of him who violateth the Harem of the King;" and he threaded the streets till they came to the square before the great Mosque wherein was the Shaykh. Now as all the folk were enjoying the spectacle, the Sage looked out from the window of his cell and beheld the condition of his scholar. He was moved to ruth and reciting a spell he summoned the Jánn and bade them snatch the young man off the camel's back with all care and kindness and bring him to his cell; and he also commanded an 'Aun of the 'Auns[122] to seize some oldster and set him upon the beast in lieu of the Youth. They did as he bid them for that he had taken fealty of the Jánn and because of his profound studies in the Notaricon[123] and every branch of the art magical. And when all the crowd saw the youth suddenly transformed into a grey-beard they were awe-stricken and cried, "Alhamdolillah?laud to the Lord?the young man hath become an old man!" They then looked again and behold, they saw a person well-known amongst the lieges, one who had long been wont to sell greens and colocasia at the hostelry gate near the Cathedral-mosque. Now the headsman noting this case was confounded with sore affright; so he returned to the palace with the oldster seated on the camel and went in to the Sultan followed by all the city-folk who were gazing at the spectacle. Then he stood before the King and the eunuchry and did homage and prayed for the Sovran and said, "O our lord the Sultan, verily the Youth hath vanished, and in lieu of him is this Shaykh well known to the whole city." Hearing these words the King was startled; sore fear entered his heart and he said to himself, "Whoso hath been able to do this deed can do e'en more: he can depose me from my kingship or he can devise my death." So his affright increased and he was at a loss how to contrive for such case. Presently he summoned his Minister and when he came into the presence said to him, "O Wazir, advise me how to act in the affair of this Youth and what measures should be taken." The Minister bowed his brow groundwards in thought for a while, then raising it he addressed the Sultan and said, "O King of the Age, this be a thing beyond experience, and the doer must be master of a might we comprehend not and haply he may work thee in the future some injury and we fear from him for thy daughter. Wherefore the right way is that thou issue a royal autograph and bid the Crier go round about the city and cry saying, 'Let him who hath wrought this work appear before the King under promise of safety and again safety?safety on the word of a Sultan which shall never be falsed.' Should the Youth then surrender himself, O King of the Age, marry him to thy daughter when perhaps his mind may be reconciled to thee by love of her. He hath already cast eyes upon her and he hath seen the inmates of thy Harem unrobed, so that naught can save their honour but his being united with the Princess." Hereupon the Sultan indited an autographic rescript and placed it in the Crier's hands even as the Wazir had counselled: and the man went about the streets proclaiming, "By Command of the just King! whoso hath done this deed let him discover himself and come to the Palace under promise of safety and again safety, the safety of sovereigns?safety on the word of a Sultan which shall never be falsed." And the Crier ceased not crying till in fine he reached the square fronting the great Mosque. The Youth who was standing there heard the proclamation and returning to his Shaykh said, "O my lord, the Crier hath a rescript from the Sultan and he crieth saying, 'Whoso hath done this deed let him discover himself and come to the Palace under promise of safety and again safety?safety on the word of a Sultan which shall never be falsed.' And, I must go to him perforce." Said the Sage, "O my son, why shouldst thou do on such wise? Hast thou not already suffered thy sufficiency?" But the young man exclaimed, "Nothing shall prevent my going;" and at this the Shaykh replied, "Go then, O my son, and be thy safeguarding with the Living, the Eternal." Accordingly, the Youth repaired to the Hammam and having bathed attired himself in the richest attire he owned, after which he went forth and discovered himself to the Crier who led him to the Palace and set him before the Sovran. He salamed to the Sultan and did him obeisance and prayed for his long life and prosperity in style the most eloquent, and proffered his petition in verse the most fluent. The Sultan looked at him (and he habited in his best and with all of beauty blest), and the royal mind was pleased and he enquired saying, "Who art thou, O Youth?" The other replied, "I am the Half-man whom thou sawest and I did the deed whereof thou wottest." As soon as the King heard this speech he entreated him with respect and bade him sit in the most honourable stead, and when he was seated the twain conversed together. The Sultan was astounded at his speech and they continued their discourse till they touched upon sundry disputed questions of learning, when the Youth proved himself as superior to the Sovran as a dinar is to a dirham: and to whatever niceties of knowledge the monarch asked, the young man returned an all-sufficient answer, speaking like a book. So the Sultan abode confounded at the eloquence of his tongue and the purity of his phrase and the readiness of his replies; and he said in his mind, "This Youth is as worthy to become my daughter's mate as she is meet to become his helpmate." Then he addressed him in these words, "O Youth, my wish is to unite thee with my daughter and after thou hast looked upon her and her mother none will marry her save thyself." The other replied, "O King of the Age, I am ready to obey thee, but first I must take counsel of my friends." The King rejoined, "No harm in that: hie thee home and ask their advice." The Youth then craved leave to retire and repairing to his Shaykh,?And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night, an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was