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putting forth her hand, tore her clothes even to the skirt and
fell down in a swoon for the third time, and there appeared once
more on her body the marks of beat ing with rods. Then said the
three Calenders, Would God we had never entered this house, but
had slept on the rubbish-heaps! for verily our entertainment hath
been troubled by things that rend the heart. The Khalif turned
to them and said, How so? And they answered, Indeed, our minds
are troubled about this matter. Quoth he, Are you not then of
the household? No, replied they; nor did we ever see the
place till now. Said the Khalif, There is the man by you: he
will surely know the meaning of all this. And he winked at the
porter. So they questioned the latter and he replied, By the
Almighty, we are all in one boat! I was brought up at Baghdad,
but never in my life did I enter this house till to-day, and the
manner of my coming in company with them was curious. By
Allah, said they, we thought thee one of them, and now we see
thou art but as one of ourselves. Then said the Khalif, We are
here seven men, and they are but three women: so let us question
them of their case, and if they do not answer willingly, they
shall do so by force. They all agreed to this, except Jaafer,
who said, This is not well-advised: let them be, for we are
their guests, and as ye know, they imposed on us a condition, to
which we all agreed. Wherefore it is better that we keep silence
concerning this affair, for but a little remains of the night,
and each go about his business. And he winked to the Khalif and
whispered to him, There is but a little longer to wait, and
61
to-morrow I will bring them before thee and thou canst then
question them of their story. But the Khalif lifted his head
and cried out angrily, I have not patience to wait till then:
let the Calenders ask them. And Jaafer said, This is not
well-advised. Then they consulted together, and there was much
talk and dispute between them, who should put the question,
before they fixed upon the porter. The noise drew the notice of
the lady of the house, who said to them, O guests, what is the
matter and what are you talking about? Then the porter came
forward and said to her, O lady, the company desire that thou
acquaint them with the history of the two bitches and why thou
didst beat them and after fellest to kissing and weeping over
them and also concerning thy sister and why she has been beaten
with rods, like a man. This is what they charge me to ask thee,
and peace be on thee. When she heard this, she turned to the
others and said to them Is this true that he says of you? And
they all replied Yes; except Jaafer, who held his peace. Then
said she, By Allah! O guests, ye have done us a grievous wrong,
for we made it a previous condition with you that whoso spoke of
what concerned him not, should hear what should not please him.
Is it not enough that we have taken you into our house and fed
you with our victual! But the fault is not so much yours as that
of her who brought you in to us. Then she tucked up her sleeves
and smote three times on the floor, saying, Come quickly!
Whereupon the door of a closet opened and out came seven black
slaves, with drawn swords in their hands, to whom said the lady,
Bind these babblers hands behind them and tie them one with
another. The slaves did as she bade, and said, O noble lady, is
it thy will that we strike off their heads? Hold your hands
awhile, answered she, till I question them of their condition,
before ye strike off their heads. By Allah, O my lady,
exclaimed the porter do not slay me for another s fault, for all
have erred and offended save myself. And by Allah, our night
would have been a pleasant one, had we not been afflicted with
these Calenders, whose presence is enough to lay a flourishing
city in ruins. And he repeated the following verses:
How fair a thing is mercy to the great! And how much more to
those of low estate!
By all the love that has between us been, Doom not the guiltless
to the guilty s fate!
When the lady heard this, she laughed, in spite of her anger, and
coming up to the guests, said to them, Tell me who you are, for
ye have but a little while to live, and were you not men of rank
and consideration, you had never dared to act thus. Then the
Khalif said to Jaafer, Out on thee! Tell her who we are, or we
shall be slain in a mistake, and speak her fair, ere an
abomination befall us. It were only a part of thy deserts,
replied Jaafer. Whereupon the Khalif cried out at him in anger
62
and said, There is a time to jest and a time to be serious.
Then the lady said to the Calenders, Are ye brothers? Not so,
answered they; we are only poor men and strangers. And she said
to one of them, Wast thou born blind of one eye? No, by
Allah! replied he; but there hangs a rare story by the loss of
my eye, a story which, were it graven with needles on the corners
of the eye, would serve as a lesson to those that can profit by
example. She questioned the two other Calenders, and they made a
like reply, saying, By Allah! O our mistress, each one of us
comes from a different country and is the son of a king and a
sovereign prince ruling over lands and subjects. Then she turned
to the others and said to them, Let each of you come forward in
turn and tell us his history and the manner of his coming hither
and after go about his business; but whoso refuses, I will cut
off his head. The first to come forward was the porter, who
said, O my lady, I am a porter. This lady, the cateress, hired
me and took me first to the vintner s, then to the butcher s,
from the butcher s to the fruiterer s, from the fruiterer s to
the grocer s, from the grocer s to the greengrocer s, from the
greengrocer s to the confectioner s and the druggist s, and
thence to this place, where there happened to me with you what
happened. This is my story; and peace be on thee! At this the
lady laughed and said to him, Begone about thy business. But he
said, By Allah, I will not budge till I hear the others
stories. Then came forward the first Calender and said, Know, O
lady, that
The First Calender s Story.
My father was a king, and he had a brother, who was also a king
over another city. The latter had a son and a daughter, and it
chanced that I and the son of my uncle were both born on the same
day. In due time we grew up to man s estate and there was a great
affection between us. Now it was my wont every now and then to
visit my uncle and abide with him several months at a time.
One day, I went to visit him as usual and found him absent
a-hunting; but my cousin received me with the utmost courtesy and
slaughtered sheep and strained wine for me and we sat down to
drink. When the wine had got the mastery of us, my cousin said to
me, O son of my uncle I have a great service to ask of thee, and
I beg of thee not to baulk me in what I mean to do. With all my
heart, answered I; and he made me swear by the most solemn oaths
to do his will. Then he went away and returning in a little, with
a lady veiled and perfumed and very richly clad, said to me,
Take this lady and go before me to the burial-ground and enter
such and such a sepulchre, and he described it to me and I knew
it, and wait till I come. I could not gainsay him, by reason of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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