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CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Chapter 1 In the Name of Allah the Compassionating the Compassionate!

Chapter 2 The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince

Chapter 3 The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad

Chapter 4 The Hunchback’s Tale

Chapter 5 The Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali and His Son Badr Al-Din Hasan

Chapter 6 The Sweep and the Noble Lady

Chapter 7 The Man of Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls

Chapter 8 Two Stories of Harun Al-Rashid

THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID AND QUEEN ZUBAYDAH IN THE BATH

HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE POETS

Chapter 9 The Foolish Dominie

Chapter 10 The Butcher’s Adventure with the Lady and the Bear

Chapter 11 The Goldsmith and the Cashmere Singing-Girl

Chapter 12 The Lady and Her Five Suitors

Chapter 13 The Lovers of Bassorah

Chapter 14 The Man and His Wife

Chapter 15 Tale of the Singer and the Druggist

Chapter 16 The Tale of the Richard Who Married His Beautiful Daughter to the Poor Old Man

Chapter 17 The Tale of the Simpleton Husband

Chapter 18 The Tale of the Robber and the Woman

Chapter 19 The Tale of the Two Sharpers Who Each Cozened His Compeer

Chapter 20 Women’s Wiles

Chapter 21 The Concubine of Al-Maamun

Chapter 22 The Story of the Three Sharpers

Chapter 23 The Cairene Youth, the Barber, and the Captain

Chapter 24 The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants

THE TAILOR AND THE LADY AND THE CAPTAIN

Chapter 25 The Syrian and the Three Women of Cairo

Chapter 26 The Whorish Wife Who Vaunted Her Virtue

Chapter 27 Coelebs the Droll and His Wife and Her Four Lovers

Chapter 28 Mohammed the Shalabi and His Mistress and His Wife

Chapter 29 The Fellah and his Wicked Wife

Chapter 30 The Woman Who Humoured her Lover at Her Husband’s Expense

Chapter 31 Story of the Two Lack-Tacts of Cairo and Damascus

Chapter 32 Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur

Chapter 33 Nur Al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis Al-Jalis

Chapter 34 The Barber’s Tale of His Third Brother

THE BARBER’S TALE OF HIS FOURTH BROTHER

THE BARBER’S TALE OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER

THE BARBER’S TALE OF HIS SIXTH BROTHER

Classic Literature: Words and Phrases Adapted from the Collins English Dictionary

About the Author

History of Collins

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER 1 In the Name of Allah the Compassionating the Compassionate!

Praise be to Allah

The Beneficent King

The Creator of the Universe

Lord of the Three Worlds

Who set up the firmament without pillars in its stead

And who stretched out the earth even as a bed

And grace, and prayer – blessing be upon our Lord Mohammed

Lord of Apostolic men

And upon his family and companion-train

Prayer and blessings enduring and grace which

Unto the day of doom shall remain Amen!

O Thou of the Three Worlds Sovereign!

And afterwards. Verily the works and words of those gone before us have become instances and examples to men of our modern day, that folk may view what admonishing chances befell other folk and may therefrom take warning; and that they may peruse the annals of antique peoples and all that hath betided them, and be thereby ruled and restrained. Praise, therefore, be to Him who hath made the histories of the Past and admonition unto the Present!

Now of such instances are the tales called A Thousand Nights and a Night, together with their far-famed legends and wonders. Therein it is related (but Allah is All-knowing of His hidden things and All-ruling and All-honoured and All-giving and All-gracious and All-merciful!) that, in time of yore and in time long gone before, there was a King of the Kings of the Banu Sasan in the Islands of India and China a Lord of armies and guards and servants and dependents. He left only two sons, one in the prime of manhood and the other yet a youth, while both were Knights and Braves, albeit the elder was a doughtier horseman than the younger. So he succeeded to the empire: when he ruled the land and lorded it over his lieges with justice so exemplary that he was beloved by all the peoples of his capital and of his kingdom.

His name was King Shahryar, and he made his younger brother, Shah Zaman hight, King of Samarcand in Barbarianland. These two ceased not to abide in their several realms and the law was ever carried out in their dominions; and each ruled his own kingdom, with equity and fair-dealing to his subjects, in extreme solace and enjoyment; and this condition continually endured for a score of years. But at the end of the twentieth twelvemonth the elder King yearned for a sight of his younger brother and felt that he must look upon him once more. So he took counsel with his Wazir about visiting him, but the Minister, finding the project unadvisable, recommended that a letter be written and a present be sent under his charge to the younger brother with an invitation to visit the elder. Having accepted this advice the King forthwith bade prepare handsome gifts, such as horses with saddles of gem encrusted gold; Mamelukes, or white slaves; beautiful handmaids, high-breasted virgins, and splendid stuffs and costly.

He then wrote a letter to Shah Zaman expressing his warm love and great wish to see him, ending with these words, ‘We therefore hope of the favour and affection of the beloved brother that he will condescend to bestir himself and turn his face us-wards. Furthermore we have sent our Wazir to make all ordinance for the march, and our one and only desire is to see thee ere we die; but if thou delay or disappoint us we shall not survive the blow. Wherewith peace be upon thee!’ Then King Shahryar, having sealed the missive and given it to the Wazir with the offerings aforementioned, commanded him to shorten his skirts and strain his strength and make all expedition in going and returning. ‘Harkening and obedience!’ quoth the Minister, who fell to making ready without stay and packed up his loads and prepared all his requisites without delay. This occupied him three days, and on the dawn of the fourth he took leave of his King and marched right away, over desert and hillway, stony waste and pleasant lea without halting by night or by day.

But whenever he entered a realm whose ruler was subject to his Suzerain, where he was greeted with magnificent gifts of gold and silver and all manner of presents fair and rare, he would tarry there three days, the term of the guest-rite; and, when he left on the fourth, he would be honourably escorted for a whole day’s march. As soon as the Wazir drew near Shah Zaman’s court in Samarcand he dispatched to report his arrival one of his high officials, who presented himself before the King; and, kissing ground between his hands, delivered his message. Hereupon the King commanded sundry of his Grandees and Lords of his realm to fare forth and meet his brother’s Wazir at the distance of a full day’s journey; which they did, greeting him respectfully and wishing him all prosperity and forming an escort and a procession.

When he entered the city he proceeded straightway to the palace, where he presented himself in the royal presence; and, after kissing ground and praying for the King’s health and happiness and for victory over all his enemies, he informed him that his brother was yearning to see him, and prayed for the pleasure of a visit. He then delivered the letter which Shah Zaman took from his hand and read: it contained sundry hints and allusions which required thought; but, when the King had fully comprehended its import, he said, ‘I hear and I obey the commands of the beloved brother!’ Adding to the Wazir, ‘But we will not march till after the third day’s hospitality.’ He appointed for the Minister fitting quarters of the palace; and, pitching tents for the troops, rationed them with whatever they might require of meat and drink and other necessaries. On the fourth day he made ready for wayfare and got together sumptuous presents befitting his elder brother’s majesty, and stablished his chief Wazir viceroy of the land during his absence. Then he caused his tents and camels and mules to be brought forth and encamped with their bales, and loads, attendants and guards, within sight of the city, in readiness to set out next morning for his brother’s capital.

But when the night was half spent he bethought him that he had forgotten in his palace somewhat which he should have brought with him, so he returned privily and entered his apartments, where he found the Queen, his wife, asleep on his own carpet-bed, embracing with both arms a black cook of loathsome aspect and foul with kitchen grease and grime. When he saw this the world waxed black before his sight and he said, ‘If such case happen while I am yet within sight of the city what will be the doings of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother’s court?’ So he drew his scymitar, and cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, left them on the carpet and returned presently to his camp without letting anyone know of what had happened. Then he gave orders for immediate departure and set out at once and began his travel; but he could not help thinking over his wife’s treason and he kept ever saying to himself, ‘How could she do this deed by me? How could she work her own death?’ till excessive grief seized him, his colour changed to yellow, his body waxed weak and he was threatened with a dangerous malady, such an one as bringeth men to die. So the Wazir shortened his stages and tarried long at the watering-stations and did his best to solace the King.

Now when Shah Zaman drew near the capital of his brother he dispatched vaunt-couriers and messengers of glad tidings to announce his arrival, and Shahryar came forth to meet him with his Wazirs and Emirs and Lords and Grandees of his realm; and saluted him and joyed with exceeding joy and caused the city to be decorated in his honour. When, however, the brothers met, the elder could not but see the change of complexion in the younger and questioned him of his case whereto he replied, ‘’Tis caused by the travails of wayfare and my case needs care, for I have suffered from the change of water and air! But Allah be praised for reuniting me with a brother so dear and so rare!’

On this wise he dissembled and kept his secret, adding ‘O King of the time and Caliph of the tide, only toil and moil have tinged my face yellow with bile and hath made my eyes sink deep in my head.’ Then the two entered the capital in all honour; and the elder brother lodged the younger in a palace overhanging the pleasure garden; and, after a time, seeing his condition still unchanged, he attributed it to his separation from his country and kingdom. So let him wend his own ways and asked no questions of him till one day when he again said, ‘O my brother I see that art grown weaker of body and yellower of colour.’ ‘O my brother,’ replied Shah Zaman, ‘I have an internal wound,’ still he would not tell him what he had witnessed in his wife.

Thereupon Shahryar summoned doctors and surgeons and bade them treat his brother according to the rules of art, which they did for a whole month; but their sherbets and potions naught availed, for he would dwell upon the deed of his wife, and despondency, instead of diminishing, prevailed, and leach-craft treatment utterly failed. One day his elder brother said to him, ‘I am going forth to hunt and course and to take my pleasure and pastime; maybe this would lighten thy heart.’ Shah Zaman however, refused, saying, ‘O my brother, my soul yearneth for naught of this sort and I entreat thy favour to suffer me tarry quietly in this place, being wholly taken up with my malady.’

So King Shah Zaman passed his night in the palace and, next morning, when his brother had fared forth, he removed from his room and sat him down at one of the lattice-windows overlooking the pleasure grounds: and there he abode thinking with saddest thought over his wife’s betrayal and burning sighs issued from his tortured breast. And as he continued in this case lo! a postern of the palace, which was carefully kept private, swung open and out of it came twenty slave girls surrounding his brother’s wife who was wondrous fair, a model of beauty and comeliness and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced with the grace of a gazelle which panteth for the cooling stream.

Thereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, ‘Here to me, O my lord Saeed!’ and then sprang with a drop-leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms around her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button-loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her.

On like wise did the other slaves with the girls till all had satisfied their passions, and they ceased not from kissing and clipping, coupling and carousing till day began to wane; when the Mamelukes rose from the damsels’ bosoms and the blackamoor slave dismounted from the Queen’s breast; the men resumed their disguises and all, except the negro who swarmed up the tree, entered the palace and closed the postern-door as before. Now, when Shah Zaman saw this conduct of his sister-in-law he said in himself, ‘By Allah, my calamity is lighter than this! My brother is a greater King among the kings than I am, yet this infamy goeth on in his very palace, and his wife is in love with that filthiest of filthy slaves. But this only showeth that they all do it and that there is no woman but who cuckoldeth her husband; then the curse of Allah upon one and all and upon the fools who lean against them for support or who place the reins of conduct in their hands.’ So he put away his melancholy and despondency, regret and repine, and allayed his sorrow by constantly repeating those words, adding ‘’Tis my conviction that no man in this world is safe from their malice!’ When supper-time came they brought him the trays and he ate with voracious appetite, for he had long refrained from meat, feeling unable to touch any dish however dainty.

Then he returned grateful thanks to Almighty Allah, praising Him and blessing Him, and he spent a most restful night, it having been long since he had savoured the sweet food of sleep. Next day be broke his fast heartily and began to recover health and strength, and presently regained excellent condition. His brother came back from the chase ten days after, when he rode out to meet him and they saluted each other; and when King Shahryar looked at King Zaman he saw how the hue of health had returned to him, how his face had waxed ruddy and how he ate with an appetite after his late scanty diet. He wondered much and said, ‘O my brother, I was so anxious that thou wouldst join me in hunting and chasing, and wouldst take thy pleasure and pastime in my dominion!’

He thanked him and excused himself; then the two took horse and rode into the city and, when they were seated at their ease in the palace, the food-trays were set before them and they ate their sufficiency. After the meats were removed and they had washed their hands, King Shahryar turned to his brother and said, ‘My mind is overcome with wonderment at thy condition. I was desirous to carry thee with me to the chase but I saw thee changed in hue, pale and wan to view, and in sore trouble of mind too. But now Alhamdolillah – glory be to God! – I see thy natural colour hath returned to thy face and that thou art again in the best of case. It was my belief that thy sickness came of severance from thy family and friends, and absence from capital and country, so I refrained from troubling thee with further questions. But now I beseech thee to expound to me the cause of thy complaint and thy change of colour, and to explain the reason of thy recovery and the return to the ruddy hue of health which I am wont to view. So speak out and hide naught!’

When Shah Zaman heard this he bowed groundwards awhile his head, then raised it and said, ‘I will tell thee what caused my complaint and my loss of colour; but excuse my acquainting thee with the cause of its return to me and the reason of my complete recovery: indeed I pray thee not to press me for a reply.’ Said Shahryar, who was much surprised by these words, ‘Let me hear first what produced thy pallor and thy poor condition.’ ‘Know, then, O my brother,’ rejoined Shah Zaman, ‘that when thou sentest thy Wazir with the invitation to place myself between thy hands, I made ready and marched out of my city; but presently I minded me having left behind me in the palace a string of jewels intended as a gift to thee. I returned for it alone and found my wife on my carpet-bed and in the arms of a hideous black cook. So I slew the twain and came to thee, yet my thoughts brooded over this business and I lost my bloom and became weak. But excuse me if I still refuse to tell thee what was the reason of my complexion returning.’

Shahryar shook his head, marvelling with extreme marvel, and with the fire of wrath flaming up from his heart, he cried, ‘Indeed, the malice of woman is mighty!’ Then he took refuge from them with Allah and said, ‘In very sooth, O my brother, thou hast escaped many an evil by putting thy wife to death, and right excusable were thy wrath and grief for such mishap which never yet befell crowned King like thee. By Allah, had the case been mine, I would not have been satisfied without slaying a thousand women and that way madness lies! But now praise be to Allah who hath tempered to thee thy tribulation, and needs must thou acquaint me with that which so suddenly restored to thee complexion and health, and explain to me what causeth this concealment.’ ‘O King of the Age, again I pray thee excuse my so doing!’ ‘Nay, but thou must.’ ‘I fear, O my brother, lest the recital cause thee more anger and sorrow than afflicted me the whole history, and I conjure thee by Allah now to keep back naught from me.’

Thereupon Shah Zaman told him all he had seen, from commencement to conclusion, ending with these words, ‘When I beheld thy calamity and the treason of thy wife, O my brother, and I reflected that thou art in years my senior and in sovereignty my superior, mine own sorrow was belittled by the comparison, and my mind recovered tone and temper: so throwing off melancholy and despondency, I was able to eat and drink and sleep, and thus I speedily regained health and strength. Such is the truth and the whole truth.’ When King Shahryar heard this he waxed wroth with exceeding wrath, and rage was like to strangle him; but presently he recovered himself and said, ‘O my brother, I would not give thee the lie in this matter, but I cannot credit it till I see it with mine own eyes.’ ‘An thou wouldst look upon thy calamity,’ quoth Shah Zaman, ‘rise at once and make ready again for hunting and coursing, and then hide thyself with me, so shalt thou witness it and thine eyes shall verify it.’ ‘True,’ quoth the King; whereupon he let make proclamation of his intent to travel, and the troops and tents fared forth without the city, camping within sight, and Shahryar sallied out with them and took seat amidmost his host, bidding the slaves admit no man to him. When night came on he summoned his Wazir and said to him, ‘Sit thou in my stead and let none wot of my absence till the term of three days.’

Then the brothers disguised themselves and returned by night with all secrecy to the palace, where they passed the dark hours: and at dawn they seated themselves at the lattice overlooking the pleasure grounds, when presently the Queen and her handmaids came out as before, and passing under the windows made for the fountain. Here they stripped, ten of them being men to ten women, and the King’s wife cried out, ‘Where art thou, O Saeed?’ The hideous blackamoor dropped from the tree straightway; and, rushing into her arms without stay or delay, cried out, ‘I am Sa’ad al-Din Saood!’ The lady laughed heartily, and all fell to satisfying their lusts, and remained so occupied for a couple of hours, when the white slaves rose up from the handmaidens’ breasts and the blackamoor dismounted from the Queen’s bosom: then they went into the basin and, after performing the Ghusl, or complete ablution, donned their dresses and retired as they had done before.

When King Shahryar saw this infamy of his wife and concubines he became as one distraught and he cried out, ‘Only in utter solitude can man be safe from the doings of this vile world! By Allah, life is naught but one great wrong.’ Presently he added, ‘Do not thwart me, O my brother, in what I propose;’ and the other answered, ‘I will not.’ So he said, ‘Let us up as we are and depart forthright hence, for we have no concern with Kingship, and let us overwander Allah’s earth, worshipping the Almighty till we find some one to whom the like calamity hath happened; and if we find none then will death will be more welcome to us than life.’

So the two brothers issued from a second private postern of the palace; and they never stinted wayfaring by day and by night, until they reached a tree amiddle of a meadow hard by a spring of sweet water on the shore of the salt sea. Both drank of it and sat down to take their rest; and when an hour of the day had gone by, lo! they heard a mighty roar and uproar in the middle of the main as though the heavens were falling upon the earth; and the sea brake with waves before them, and from it towered a black pillar, which grew and grew till it rose sky-wards and began making for that meadow.

Seeing it, they waxed fearful exceedingly and climbed to the top of the tree, which was a lofty; whence they gazed to see what might be the matter. And behold, it was a Jinni, huge of height and burly of breast and bulk, broad of brow and black of blee, bearing on his head a coffer of crystal. He strode to land, wading through the deep, and coming to the tree whereupon were the two Kings seated himself beneath it. He then set down the coffer on its bottom and out of it drew a casket, with seven padlocks of steel, which he unlocked with seven keys of steel he took from beside his thigh, and out of it a young lady to come was seen, white-skinned and on windomest mien, of stature fine and thin, and bright as though a moon of the fourteenth night she had been, or the sun raining lively sheen. Even so the poet Utayyah hath excellently said:

She rose like the morn as she shone through the night.

And she gilded the grove with her gracious sight.

From her radiance the sun taketh increase when.

She unveileth and shameth the moonshine bright.

Bow down all beings between her hands,

As she showeth charms with her veil undight.

And she floodeth cities with torrent tears

When she flasheth her look of leven-light.

The Jinni seated her under the tree by his side and looking at her said, ‘O choicest love of this heart of mine! O dame of noblest line, whom I snatched away on thy bride-night that none might prevent me taking thy maidenhead or tumble thee before I did, and whom none save myself hath loved or hath enjoyed: O my sweetheart! I would lief sleep a little while.’ He then laid his head upon the lady’s thighs; and, stretching out his legs which extended down to the sea, slept and snored and snarked like the roll of thunder.

Presently she raised her head towards the tree-top and saw the two Kings perched near the summit; then she softly lifted off her lap the Jinni’s pate which she was tired of supporting and placed it upon the ground; then standing upright under the tree signed to the Kings, ‘Come ye down; ye two, and fear naught from this Ifrit.’ They were in a terrible fright when they found that she had seen them and answered her in the same manner, ‘Allah upon thee and by thy modesty, O lady, excuse us from coming down!’ But she rejoined by saying, ‘Allah upon you both that ye come down forthright, and if ye come not, I will rouse upon you my husband, this Ifrit, and he shall do you to die by the illest of deaths’; and she continued making signals to them.

So, being afraid, they came down to her and she rose before them and said, ‘Stroke me a strong stroke, without stay or delay, otherwise will I arouse and set upon you this Ifrit who shall slay you straightway.’ They said to her, ‘O our lady, we conjure thee by Allah, let us off this work, for we are fugitives from such and in extreme dread and terror of this thy husband. How then can we do it in such a way as thou desirest?’ ‘Leave this talk: it needs must be so;’ quoth she, and she swore them by Him who raised the skies on high, without prop or pillar, that, if they worked not her will, she would cause them to be slain and cast into the sea.

Whereupon out of fear King Shahryar said to King Shah Zaman, ‘O my brother, do thou what she biddeth thee do;’ but he replied, ‘I will not do it till thou do it before I do. And they began disputing about knowing her. Then quoth she to the twain, ‘How is it I see you disputing and demurring; if ye do not come forward like men and do the deed of kind ye two, I will arouse upon you the Ifrit.’ At this, by reason of their sore dread of the Jinni, both did by her what she bade them do; and, when they had dismounted from her, she said, ‘Well done!’

She then took from her pocket a purse and drew out a knotted string, whereon were strung five hundred and seventy seal rings, and asked. ‘Know ye what be these?’ They answered her saying, ‘We know not!’ Then quoth she; ‘These be the signets of five hundred and seventy men who have all futtered me upon the horns of this foul, this foolish, this filthy Ifrit; so give me also your two seal rings, ye pair of brothers.’ When they had drawn their two rings from their hands and given them to her, she said to them, ‘Of a truth this Ifrit bore me off on my bride-night, and put me into a casket and set the casket in a coffer and to the coffer he affixed seven strong padlocks of steel and deposited me on the deep bottom of the sea that raves, dashing and clashing with waves; and guarded me so that I might remain chaste and honest, quotha! that none save himself might have connexion with me. But I have lain under as many of my kind as I please, and this wretched Jinni wotteth not that Destiny may not be averted nor hindered by aught, and that whatso woman willeth the same she fulfilleth however man nilleth. Even so saith one of them:

‘Rely not on women;

Trust not to their hearts,

Whose joys and whose sorrows

Are hung to their parts!

Lying love they will swear thee

Whence guile ne’er departs:

Take Yusuf for sample

’Ware sleights and ’ware smarts!

Iblis ousted Adam

(See ye not?) thro’ their arts.

‘And another saith:

‘Stint thy blame, man!

’Twill drive to a passion without bound;

My fault is not so heavy as fault in it hast found.

If true lover I become, then to me there cometh not

Save what happened unto many in

the by-gone stound.

For wonderful is he and right

worthy of our praise

Who from wiles of female wits

kept him safe and kept him sound.’

Hearing these words they marvelled with exceeding marvel, and she went from them to the Ifrit and, taking up his head on her thigh as before, said to them softly, ‘Now wend your ways and bear yourselves beyond the bounds of his malice.’ So they fared forth saying either to other, ‘Allah! Allah!’ and, ‘There be no Majesty and there be no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great; and with Him we seek refuge from women’s malice and sleight, for a truth it hath no mate in might. Consider, O my brother, the ways of this marvellous lady with an Ifrit who is so much more powerful than we are. Now since there hath happened to him a greater mishap than that which befell us and which should bear us abundant consolation, so return we to our countries and capitals, and let us decide never to intermarry with womankind and presently we will show them what will be our action.’

Thereupon they rode back to the tents of King Shahryar, which they reached on the morning of the third day; and, having mustered the Wazirs and Emirs, the Chamberlains and high officials, he gave a robe of honour to his Viceroy and issued orders for an immediate return to the city. There he sat him upon his throne and sending for the Chief Minister, the father of the two damsels who (Insh-allah!) will presently be mentioned, he said, ‘I command thee to take my wife and smite her to death; for she hath broken her plight and her faith.’ So he carried her to the place of execution and did her die. Then King Shahryar took brand in hand and repairing to the Serraglio slew all the concubines and their Mamelukes. He also sware himself by a binding oath that whatever wife he married he would abate her maidenhead at night and slay her next morning to make sure of his honour; ‘For,’ said he, ‘there never was nor is there one chaste woman upon the face of earth.’

CHAPTER 2 The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince

Know then, O my lord, that whilome my sire was King of this city, and his name was Mahmud, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of what are now these four mountains. He ruled threescore and ten years, after which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as Sultan in his stead. I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my paternal uncle.¹ and she loved me with such abounding love that whenever I was absent she ate not and she drank not until she saw me again. She cohabited with me for five years till a certain day when she went forth to the Hammam bath; and I bade the cook hasten to get ready all requisites for our supper. And I entered this palace and lay down on my bed where I was wont to sleep and bade two damsels to fan my face, one sitting by my head and the other at my feet.

But I was troubled and made restless by my wife’s absence and could not sleep; for although my eyes were closed my mind and thoughts were wide awake. Presently I heard the slave-girl at my head say to her at my feet, ‘O Masudah, how miserable is our master and how wasted in his youth and oh! the pity of his being so betrayed by our mistress, the accursed whore!’ The other replied, ‘Yes indeed: Allah curse all faithless women and adulterous; but the like of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth something better than this harlot who lieth abroad every night.’ Then quoth she who sat by my head, ‘Is our lord dumb or fit only for bubbling that he questioneth her not!’ and quoth the other, ‘Fie on thee! doth our Lord know her ways or doth she allow him his choice? Nay, more, doth she not drug every night the cup she giveth him to drink before sleep-time, and put Bhang¹ into it? So he sleepeth and wotteth not whither she goeth, nor what she doeth; but we know that, after giving him the drugged wine, she donneth her richest raiment and perfumeth herself and then she fareth out from him to be away till break of day; then she cometh to him, and burneth a pastille under his nose and he awaketh from his deathlike sleep.’

When I heard the slave-girl’s words, the light became black before my sight and I thought night would never fall. Presently the daughter of my uncle came from the baths; and they set the table for us and we ate and sat together a fair half-hour quaffing our wine as was ever our wont. Then she called for the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping and reached me the cup; but, seeming to drink it according to my wont, I poured the contents into my bosom; and, lying down, let her hear that I was asleep. Then, behold, she cried, ‘Sleep out the night, and never wake again: by Allah I loathe thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my soul turneth in disgust from cohabiting with thee; and I see not the moment when Allah shall snatch away thy life!’

Then she rose and donned her fairest dress and perfumed her person and slung my sword over her shoulder; and, opening the gates of the palace went her ill way. I rose and followed her as she left the palace and she threaded the streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I understood not, and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if broken and the gate-leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without her noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying monds¹ and a reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud-bricks.

As she entered the door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the interior, and Io! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous negro slave with his upper lip like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open pot; lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot. He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of sugar-cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the foulest rags and tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so as to see her and said, ‘Woe to thee! what call hadst thou to stay away all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to drink because of thine absence.’ Then she, ‘O my lord, my heart’s love and coolth of my eyes, knowest thou not that I am married to my cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company? And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise before making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and howlet hoot, and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed its very stones to the back side of Mount Kaf.’

Rejoined the slave, ‘Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valour and honour of blackamoor men (and deem not out manliness to be the poor manliness of white men), from today forth if thou stay away till this hour, I will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with thy body and strum and belly-pump. Dost play fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts? Stinkard! Bitch! Vilest of the vile whites!’ When I heard his words, and saw with my own eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world waxed dark before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. But my wife humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and saying, ‘O my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O my beloved, O light of my eyes?’

And she ceased not weeping and abasing herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat-trousers, and said, ‘O my master what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to eat?’ ‘Uncover the basin,’ he grumbled, ‘and thou shalt find at the bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on; pick at them, and then go to that slop-pot where thou shalt find some leavings of beer which thou mayest drink.’ So she ate and drank and washed her hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave, upon the cane-trash, and stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him under his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters.

When I saw my wife, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed I clean lost my wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered and took the sword which she had with her and drew it, determined to cut down the twain. I first struck at the slave’s neck and thought that the death decree had fallen on him for the groaned a loud hissing groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of the gullet and the two arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so I sheathed the sword and fared forth for the city; and, entering the palace, lay upon my bed and slept till morning when my wife aroused me and I saw that she had cut off her hair and had donned mourning garments. Quoth she: ‘O son of my uncle, blame me not for what I do; it hath just reached me that my mother is dead, and my father hath been killed in holy war, and of my brothers one hath lost his life by a snake-sting and the other by falling down some precipice; and I can and should do naught save weep and lament.’

When I heard her words I refrained from all reproach and said only: ‘Do as thou list; I certainly will not thwart thee.’ She continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one whole year from the beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was finished she said to me: ‘I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a cupola, which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House of Lamenations.’ Quoth I again: ‘Do as thou list!’

Then she builded for herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its centre a dome under which showed a tomb like a Santon’s sepulchre. Thither she carried the slave and lodged him; but he was exceeding weak by reason of his wound, and unable to do her love-service; he could only drink wine and from the day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet he lived on because his appointed hour was not come. Every day, morning and evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over him and gave him wine and strong soups, and left not off doing after this manner a second year; and I bore with her patiently and paid no heed to her. One day, however, I went in to her unawares; and I found her weeping and beating her face and crying: ‘Why art thou absent from my sight, O my heart’s delight? Speak to me, O my life; talk with me, O my love?’ Then she recited these verses:

‘For your love my patience fails and albeit you forget

I may not; nor to other love my heart can make reply:

Bear my body, bear my soul wheresoever you may fare

And where you pitch the camp let my body buried lie:

Cry my name above my grave, and an answer shall return

The moaning of my bones responsive to your cry.’

Then she recited, weeping bitterly the while:

‘The day of my delight is the day when draw you near

And the day of mine affright is the day you turn away:

Though I tremble through the night in my bitter dread of death

When I hold you in my arms I am free from all affray.’

Once more she began reciting:

‘Though a-mourn I may awake with all happiness in hand

Though the world all be mine and like Kisra-kings I reign;

To me they had the worth of the winglet of the gnat

When I fail to see thy form, when I look for thee in vain.’

When she had ended for a time her words and her weeping I said to her: ‘O my cousin, let this thy mourning suffice, for in pouring forth tears there is little profit!’ ‘Thwart me not,’ answered she, ‘in aught I do, or I will lay violent hands on myself!’ So I held my peace and left her to go her own way; and she ceased not to cry and keen and indulge her affliction for yet another year. At the end of the third year I waxed weary of this longsome mourning, and one day I happened to enter the cenotaph when vexed and angry with some matter which had thwarted me, and suddenly I heard her say: ‘O lord, I never hear thee vouchsafe a single word to me! Why dost thou not answer me, O my master?’ and she began reciting:

‘O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his beauty set in shade?

Hast thou darkened that countenance all sheeny as the noon?

O thou tomb! neither earth nor yet heaven art to me

Then how cometh it in thee are conjoined my sun and moon?’

When I heard such verses as these rage was heaped upon my rage; I cried out: ‘Well-away! how long is this sorrow to last?’ and I began repeating:

‘O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his horrors set in blight?

Hast thou darkened his countenance that sickeneth the soul?

O thou tomb! neither cess-pool nor pipkin art to me

Then how cometh it in thee are conjoined soil and coal?’

When she heard my words she sprang to her feet crying: ‘Fie upon thee, thou cur! all this is of thy doings; thou hast wounded my heart’s darling and thereby worked me sore woe and thou hast wasted his youth so that these three years he hath lain abed more dead than alive!’ In my wrath I cried: ‘O thou foulest of harlots and filthiest of whores ever known by negro slaves who are hired to have at thee! Yes indeed it was I who did this good deed:’ and snatching up my sword I drew it and made at her to cut her down. But she laughed my words and mine intent to scorn crying: ‘To heel, hound that thou art! Alas for the past which shall no more come to pass nor shall any one avail the dead to raise. Allah hath indeed now given into my hand him who did to me this thing, a deed that hath burned my heart with a fire which died not and a flame which might not be quenched!’

Then she stood up; and pronouncing some words to me unintelligible, she said: ‘By virtue of my egromancy become thou half stone and half man;’ whereupon I became what thou seest, unable to rise or to sit, and neither dead nor alive. Moreover she ensorcelled the city with all its streets and garths, and she turned by her gramarye the four islands into four mountains around the tarn whereof thou questionest me; and the citizens, who were of four different faiths, Moslem, Nazarene, Jew and Magian, she transformed by her enchantments into fishes; the Moslems are the white, the Magians red, the Christians blue and the Jews yellow. And every day she tortureth me and scourgeth me with an hundred stripes, each of which draweth floods of blood and cutteth the skin of my trousers to strips; and lastly she clotheth my upper half with a hair-cloth and then throweth over them these robes.

Hereupon the young man again shed tears and began reciting:

‘In patience, O my God, I endure my lot and fate;

I will bear at will of Thee whatsoever be my state:

They oppress me; they torture me; they make my life a woe

Yet haply Heaven’s happiness shall compensate my strait:

Yea, straitened is my life by the bane and hate o’ foes

But Mustafa and Murtaza shall ope me Heaven’s gate.’

After this the Sultan turned towards the young Prince and said, ‘O youth, thou hast removed one grief only to add another grief; but now, O my friend, where is she; and where is the mausoleum wherein lieth the wounded slave?’ ‘The slave lieth under yon dome,’ quoth the young man, ‘and she sitteth in the chamber fronting yonder door. And every day at sunrise she cometh forth, and first strippeth me, and whippeth me with an hundred strokes of the leathern scourge, and I weep and shriek; but there is no power of motion in my lower limbs to keep her off me. After ending her tormenting me she visiteth the slave, bringing him wine and boiled meats. And tomorrow at an early hour she will be here.’

Quoth the King, ‘By Allah, O youth I will assuredly do thee a good deed which the world shall not willingly let die, and an act of derring-do which shall be chronicled long after I am dead and gone by.’ Then the King sat him by the side of the young Prince and talked till nightfall, when he lay down and slept; but, as soon as the false dawn showed, he arose and doffing his outer garments bared his blade and hastened to the place wherein lay the slave. Then was he ware of lighted candles and lamps, and perfume of incenses and unguents; and, directed by these, he made for the slave and struck him one stroke killing him on the spot: after which he lifted him on his back and threw him into a well that was in the palace.

Presently he returned and, donning the slave’s gear, lay down at length within the mausoleum with the drawn sword laid close to and along his side. After an hour or so the accursed witch came; and, first going to her husband, she stripped off his clothes and, taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while he cried out, ‘Ah! enough for me the case I am in! take pity on me, O my cousin!’ But she replied, ‘Didst thou take pity on me and spare the life of my true love on whom I doated?’ Then she drew the cilice over his raw and bleeding skin and threw the robe upon all and went down to the slave with a goblet of wine and a bowl of meat-broth in her hands. She entered under the dome weeping and wailing, ‘Well-away!’ and crying, ‘O my lord! speak a word to me! O my master! talk awhile with me!’ and began to recite these couplets:

‘How long this harshness, this unlove, shall bide?

Suffice thee not tear-floods thou hast espied?

Thou dost prolong our parting purposely

And if wouldst please my foe, thou’rt satisfied!’

Then she wept again and said, ‘O my lord! speak to me, talk with me!’ The King lowered his voice and, twisting his tongue, spoke after the fashion of the blackamoors and said, ‘’Lack! ’lack! there be no Ma’esty and there be no Might save in Allauh, the Gloriose, the Great!’ Now when she heard these words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground fainting; and when her senses returned she asked, ‘O my lord, can it be true that thou hast power of speech?’ and the King making his voice small and faint answered, ‘O my cuss! dost thou deserve that I talk to thee and speak with thee?’ ‘Why and wherefore?’ rejoined she; and he replied, ‘The why is that all the livelong day thou tormentest thy hubby; and he keeps calling on ’eaven for aid until sleep is strange to me even from evenin’ till mawnin’, and he prays and damns, cussing us two, me and thee, causing me disquiet and much bother: were this not so, I should long ago have got my health; and it is this which prevents my answering thee.’ Quoth she, ‘With thy leave I will release him from what spell is on him;’ and quoth the King, ‘Release him and let’s have some rest!’

She cried, ‘To hear is to obey;’ and, going from the cenotaph to the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water and spake over it certain words which made the contents bubble and boil as a cauldron seetheth over the fire. With this she sprinkled her husband saying, ‘By virtue of the dread words I have spoken, if thou became thus by my spells, come forth out of that form into thine own former form.’ And lo and behold! the young man shook and trembled; then he rose to his feet and, rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, ‘I testify that there is no god but the God, and in very truth Mohammed is His Apostle, whom Allah bless and keep!’ Then she said to him, ‘Go forth and return not hither, for if thou do I will surely slay thee;’ screaming these words in his face. So he went from between her hands.

¹An Arab holds that he has a right to marry his first cousin, the daughter of his father’s brother.

¹A preparation of hemp.

¹The rubbish heaps outside Eastern cities, some of which are over a hundred feet high.

CHAPTER 3 The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad

Once upon a time there was a Porter in Baghdad, who was a bachelor and who would remain unmarried. It came to pass on a certain day, as he stood about the street leaning idly upon his crate, behold, there stood before him an honourable woman in a mantilla of Mosul silk, broidered with gold and bordered with brocade; her walking-shoes were also purfled with gold and her hair floated in long plaits. She raised her face-veil and, showing two black eyes fringed with jetty lashes, whose glances were soft and languishing and whose perfect beauty was ever blandishing, she accosted the Porter and said in the suavest tones and choicest language, ‘Take up thy crate and follow me.’ The Porter was so dazzled he could hardly believe that he heard her aright, but he shouldered his basket in hot haste saying in himself, ‘O day of good luck! O day of Allah’s grace!’ and walked after her till she stopped at the door of a house.

There she rapped, and presently came out to her an old man, a Nazarene, to whom she gave a gold piece, receiving from him in return what she required of strained wine clear as olive oil; and she set it safely in the hamper, saying, ‘Lift and follow.’ Quoth the Porter, ‘This, by Allah, is indeed an auspicious day, a day propitious for the granting of all a man wisheth.’ He again hoisted up the crate and followed her till she stopped at a fruiter’s shop and bought from him Shami apples and Osmani quinces and Omani peaches, and cucumbers of Nile growth, and Egyptian limes and Sultani oranges and citrons; besides Aleppine jasmine, scented myrtle berries, Damascene nenuphars, flower of privet and camomile, blood-red anemones, violets, and pomegranate-bloom, eglantine and narcissus, and set the whole in the Porter’s crate, saying, ‘Up with it.’ So he lifted and followed her till she stopped at a butcher’s booth and said, ‘Cut me off ten pounds of mutton.’

She paid him his price and he wrapped it in a banana-leaf, whereupon she laid it in the crate and said, ‘Hoist, O Porter.’ He hoisted accordingly, and followed her as she walked on till she stopped at a grocer’s, where she bought dry fruits and pistachio-kernels, Tihamah raisins, shelled almonds and all wanted for dessert, and said to the Porter, ‘Lift and follow me.’

So he up with his hamper and after her till she stayed at the confectioner’s, and she bought an earthen platter, and piled it with all kinds of sweetmeats in his shop, open-worked tarts and fritters scented with musk and ‘soap-cakes’, and lemon leaves and melon-preserves, and ‘Zaynab’s combs’, and ‘ladies’ fingers’, and ‘Kazi’s tit-bits’ and goodies of every description; and placed the platter in the Porter’s crate. Thereupon quoth he (being a merry man), ‘Thou shouldest have told me, and I would have brought with me a pony or a she-camel to carry all this market-stuff.’ She smiled and gave him a little cuff on the nape saying, ‘Step out and exceed not in words, for (Allah willing!) thy wage will not be wanting.’

Then she stopped at a perfumer’s and took from him ten sorts of waters, rose scented with musk, orange-flower, water-lily, willow-flower, violet and five others; and she also bought two loaves of sugar, a bottle for perfume-spraying, a lump of male incense, aloe-wood, ambergris and musk, with candles of Alexandria wax; and she put the whole into the basket, saying, ‘Up with they crate and after me.’ He did so and followed until she stood before the greengrocer’s, of whom she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and in oil; with tarragon and cream-cheese and hard Syrian cheese; and she stowed them away in the crate saying to the Porter, ‘Take up thy basket and follow me.’

He did so and went after her till she came to a fair mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall, fine place to which columns gave strength and grace: and the gate thereof had two leaves of ebony inlaid with plates of red gold. The lady stopped at the door and, turning her face-veil sideways, knocked softly with her knuckles whilst the Porter stood behind her, thinking of naught save her beauty and loveliness. Presently the door swung back and both leaves were opened, whereupon he looked to see who had opened it; and behold, it was a lady of tall figure, some five feet high; a model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and symmetry and perfect grace.

Her forehead was flower-white; her cheeks like the anemone ruddy bright; her eyes were those of the wild heifer or the gazelle, with eyebrows like the crescent-moon which ends Sha’aban and begins Ramazan, her mouth was the ring of Sulayman, her lips coral-red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile petals. Her throat recalled the antelope’s, and her breasts, like two pomegranates of even size, stood at bay as it were, her body rose and fell in waves below her dress like the rolls of a piece of brocade, and her navel would hold an ounce of benezoin ointment. In fine she was like her of whom the poet said:

On Sun and Moon of palace cast thy sight

Enjoy her flower-like face, her fragrant light:

Thine eyes shall never see in hair so black

Beauty encase a brow so purely white:

The ruddy rosy cheek proclaims her claim

Though fail her name whose beauties we indite:

As sways her gait I smile at hips so big

And weep to see the waist they bear so slight.

When the Porter looked upon her his wits were waylaid, and his senses were stormed so that his crate went nigh to fall from his head, and he said to himself, ‘Never have I in my life seen a day more blessed than this day!’ Then quoth the lady-portress to the lady-cateress, ‘Come in from the gate and relieve this poor man of his load.’ So the provisioner went in followed by the Portress and the Porter and went on till they reached a spacious ground-floor hall, built with admirable skill and beautified with all manner of colours and carvings; with upper balconies and groined arches and galleries and cupboards and recesses whose curtains hung before them. In the midst stood a great basin of water surrounding a fine fountain, and at the upper end of the raised dais was a couch of juniper-wood set with gems and pearls, with a canopy like mosquito-curtains of red satin-silk looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger. Thereupon sat a lady bright of blee, with brow beaming brilliancy, the dream of philosophy, whose eyes were fraught with Babel’s gramarye and her eyebrows were arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery and her lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see.

Her stature was straight as the letter I, and her face shamed the noon-sun’s radiancy; and she was even as a galaxy, or a dome with golden marquetry or a bride displayed in choicest finery or a noble maid of Araby. Right well of her sang the bard when he said:

Her smiles twin rows of pearls display

Chamomile-buds or rimey spray

Her tresses stray as night let down

And shames her light the dawn o’ day.

The third lady rising from the couch stepped forward with graceful swaying gait till she reached the middle of the saloon, when she said to her sisters, ‘Why stand ye here? take it down from this poor man’s head!’ Then the Cateress went and stood before him, and the Portress behind him while the third helped them, and they lifted the load from the Porter’s head; and, emptying it of all that was therein, set everything in its place. Lastly they gave him two gold pieces, saying, ‘Wend thy ways, O Porter.’

But he went not, for he stood looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty was theirs, and their pleasant manners and kindly dispositions (never had he seen goodlier); and he gazed wistfully at that good store of wines and sweet-scented flowers and fruits and other matters. Also he marvelled with exceeding marvel, especially to see no man in the place and delayed his going; whereupon quoth the eldest lady, ‘What aileth thee that goest not; haply thy wage be too little?’ And, turning to her sister the Cateress, she said, ‘Give him another dinar!’

But the Porter answered, ‘By Allah, my lady, it is not for the wage; my hire is never more than two dirhams; but in very sooth my heart and my soul are taken up with you and your condition. I wonder to see you single with ne’er a man about you and not a soul to bear you company; and well you wot that the minaret toppleth o’er unless it stand upon four, and you want this same fourth; and women’s pleasure without man is short of measure, even as the poet said:

‘Seest not we want for joy four things all told

The harp and lute, the flute and flageolet;

And be they companied with scents four-fold

Rose, myrtle, anemone and violet;

Nor please all eight an four thou wouldst withold

Good wine and youth and gold and pretty pet.

‘You be three and want a fourth who shall be a person of good sense and prudence; smart-witted, and one apt to keep careful counsel.’ His words pleased and amused them much; and they laughed at him and said, ‘And who is to assure us of that? We are maidens and we fear to entrust our secret where it may not be kept for we have read in a certain chronicle the lines of one Ibn al-Sumam:

‘Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold

Lost is a secret when that secret’s told:

An fail thy breast the secret to conceal

How canst thou hope another’s breast shall hold?

‘And Abu Nowas said well on the same subject:

‘Who trusteth secret to another’s hand

Upon his brow deserveth burn of brand!’

When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application addressed to them they said, ‘Thou knowest that we have laid out all our moneys on this place. Now say, hast thou aught to offer us in return for entertainment? For surely we will not suffer thee to sit in our company and be our cup-companion, and gaze upon our faces so fair and so rare without paying a round sum. Wottest thou not the saying:

‘Sans hope of gain

Love’s not worth a grain?’

Whereto the lady-Portress added, ‘If thou bring anything thou art a something; if no thing, be off with thee thou art a nothing;’ but the Procuratrix interposed, saying, ‘Nay, O my sisters, leave teasing him, for by Allah he hath not failed us this day, and had he been other he never had kept patience with me, so whatever be his shot and scot I will take it upon myself.’ The Porter, overjoyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked her saying, ‘By Allah, these moneys are the first fruits this day hath given me.’ Hearing this they said, ‘Sit thee down and welcome to thee,’ and the eldest lady added, ‘By Allah, we may not suffer thee to join us save on one condition, and this it is, that no questions be asked as to what concerneth thee not, and frowardness shall be soundly flogged.’ Answered the Porter, ‘I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and my eyes be it! Look ye, I am dumb, I have no tongue.’ Then arose the Provisioneress and tightening her girdle set the table by the fountain and put the flowers and sweet herbs in their jars and strained the wine and ranged the flasks in row and made ready every requisite.

Then she sat down, she and her sisters, placing amidst them the Porter who kept deeming himself in a dream; and she took up the wine flagon, and poured out the first cup and drank it off, and likewise a second and a third. After this she filled a fourth cup which she handed to one of her sisters; and, lastly, she crowned a goblet and passed it to the Porter, saying:

‘Drink the dear draught, drink free and fain

What healeth every grief and pain.’

He took the cup in his hand and, louting low, returned his best thanks and improvised:

‘Drain not the bowl save with a trusty friend

A man of worth whose good old blood all know:

For wine, like wind, sucks sweetness from the sweet