Chapter 13

Now this was what the accursed sorcerer aimed at; however, the better to accomplish his perfidious intent, [647] he [dissembled and] said to her, "O my lady, I am a poor woman sitting in the desert and it beseemeth not that the like of me should abide in kings' palaces." Quoth the Lady Bedrulbudour, "Have no manner of care, O my lady Fatimeh; I will give thee a place in my house, where thou shalt do thy devotions, and none shall ever go in to thee; nay, here shalt thou serve God better than in thy cavern." And the Maugrabin said to her, "Hearkening and obedience, O my lady; I will not gainsay thy commandment, for that the speech of princes may not be crossed neither disputed; but I beg of thee that my eating and drinking and sitting may be in my closet alone [and] that none may come in upon me. Moreover, I need no rich viands, but every day do thou favour me and send me by thy handmaid a piece of bread and a draught of water to my closet; and when I am minded to eat, I will eat in my closet alone." (Now this the accursed did, of his fear lest his chin veil should be raised, when he ate, and so his case be exposed and they know him for a man by his beard and moustaches.) "O my lady Fatimeh," rejoined the princess, "be easy; nothing shall betide save that which thou wiliest; so rise now [and come] with me, that I may show thee the pavilion [648] which I purpose to order for thine inhabitance with us." So [649] saying, she arose and carrying the sorcerer to the place which she had appointed him wherein to abide, said to him, "O my lady Fatimeh, here shalt thou dwell; this pavilion is in thy name and thou shalt abide therein in all quiet and ease of privacy." And the Maugrabin thanked her for her bounty and prayed for her.

Then the Lady Bedrulbudour took him and showed him the belvedere [650] and the kiosk of jewels, with the four-and-twenty oriels, [651] and said to him, "How deemest thou, O my Lady Fatimeh, of this wonderful pavilion?" [652] "By Allah, O my daughter," replied he, "it is indeed marvellous in the extreme, [653] nor methinketh is its like found in the world; nay, it is magnificent exceedingly; but oh, for one thing which would far increase it in beauty and adornment!" And the princess said to him, "O my Lady Fatimeh, what is lacking to it and what is this thing which would adorn it? Tell me of it; I had thought that it was altogether perfect." "O my lady," answered the sorcerer, "that which lacketh to it is the egg of the bird Roc, which being hung in its dome, there were no like unto this pavilion in all the world." "What is this bird." asked the princess, "and where shall we find its egg?" And the Moor said to her, "O my lady, this is a great bird that taketh up camels and elephants in its talons and flieth with them, of its bigness and greatness; it is mostly to be found in the mountain Caf and the craftsman who builded this palace [654] is able to bring its egg." Then they left that talk and it was the time of the morning-meal. So the slave-girls laid the table and the Lady Bedrulbudour sat down and sought of the accursed sorcerer that he should eat with her; but he refused and rising, entered the pavilion which she had given him, whither the slave-girls carried him the morning-meal.

When it was eventide and Alaeddin returned from the chase, the Lady Bedrulbudour met him and saluted him: whereupon he embraced her and kissed her and looking in her face, saw that she was somewhat troubled and smiled not, against her wont. So he said to her, "What aileth thee, O my beloved? Tell me, hath there befallen thee aught to trouble thee?" And she answered him, saying, "There aileth me nothing; but, O my beloved, I had thought that our palace [655] lacked of nought; however, O my eyes [656] Alaeddin, were there hung in the dome of the upper pavilion [657] an egg of the bird Roc, there were not its like in the world." "And wast thou concerned anent this?" rejoined Alaeddin. "This is to me the easiest of all things; so be easy, for it is enough that thou tell me of that which thou wishest and I will fetch it thee from the abysses of the world on the speediest wise." Then [658] after he had comforted the princess and promised her all she sought, he went straight to his closet and taking the lamp rubbed it; whereupon the Marid at once appeared and said to him, "Seek what thou wilt;" and Alaeddin, "I will have thee bring me a Roc's egg and hang it in the dome of the [upper] pavilion." [659]

When the Marid heard Alaeddin's words, his face frowned and he was wroth and cried out with a terrible great voice, saying, "O denier of benefits, doth it not suffice thee that I and all the slaves of the Lamp are at thy service and wouldst thou eke have me bring thee our liege lady, for thy pleasure, and hang her in the dome of thy pavilion, to divert thee and thy wife? By Allah, ye deserve that I should forthright reduce you both to ashes and scatter you to the winds! But, inasmuch as ye are ignorant, thou and she, concerning this matter and know not its inward from its outward, [660] I excuse you, for that ye are innocent. As for the guilt, it lieth with the accursed one, the surviving [661] brother of the Maugrabin enchanter, who feigneth himself to be Fatimeh the Recluse; for lo, he hath slain Fatimeh in her cavern and hath donned her dress and disguised himself after her favour and fashion and is come hither, seeking thy destruction, so he may take vengeance on thee for his brother; and he it is who taught thy wife to seek this of thee." [662] Therewith he disappeared, and as for Alaeddin, when he heard this, his wit fled from his head and his joints trembled at the cry wherewith the Marid cried out at him; but he took heart and leaving his closet, went in straightway to his wife and feigned to her that his head irked him, of his knowledge that Fatimeh was renowned for the secret of healing [663] all aches and pains. When the Lady Bedrulbudour saw him put his hand to his head and complain of its aching, [664] she asked him what was the cause and he said, "I know not, except that my head irketh me sore." Accordingly she sent forthwith to fetch Fatimeh, so she might lay her hand on his head; whereupon quoth Alaeddin, "Who is this Fatimeh?" And the princess told him how she had lodged Fatimeh the recluse with her in the palace. [665]

Meanwhile the slave-girls went and fetched the accursed Maugrabin, and Alaeddin arose to him, feigning ignorance of his case, and saluted him, as he had been the true Fatimeh. Moreover he kissed the hem of his sleeve and welcomed him, [666] saying, "O my Lady Fatimeh, I beseech thee do me a kindness, since I know thy usances in the matter of the healing of pains, for that there hath betided me a sore pain in my head." The Maugrabin could scarce believe his ears of this speech, [667] for that this was what he sought; so he went up to Alaeddin, as he would lay his hand on his head, after the fashion of Fatimeh the recluse, and heal him of his pain. When he drew near-him, he laid one hand on his head and putting the other under his clothes, drew a dagger, so [668] he might slay him withal. But Alaeddin was watching him and waited till he had all to-drawn the dagger, when he gripped him by the hand and taking the knife from him, planted [669] it in his heart.

When the Lady Bedrulbudour saw this, she cried out and said to him, "What hath this holy anchoress done, that thou burthenest thyself with the sore burden of her blood? Hast thou no fear of God, that thou dost this and hast slain Fatimeh, who was a holy woman and whose divine gifts were renowned?" Quoth he to her, "I have not slain Fatimeh; nay, I have slain him who slew her; for that this is the brother of the accursed Maugrabin enchanter, who took thee and by his sorcery transported the palace with thee to the land of Africa. Yea, this accursed one was his brother and came to this country and wrought these frauds, slaying Fatimeh and donning her clothes and coming hither, so he might take vengeance on me for his brother. Moreover, it was he who taught thee to seek of me a Roc's egg, so my destruction should ensue thereof; and if thou misdoubt of my word, come and see whom I have slain." So saying, he did off the Maugrabin's chin veil and the Lady Bedrulbudour looked and saw a man whose beard covered his face; whereupon she at once knew the truth and said to Alaeddin, "O my beloved, twice have I cast thee into danger of death;" and he said to her, "O Lady Bedrulbudour, thanks to thine eyes, [670] no harm [hath betided me thereof; nay,] I accept with all joy everything that cometh to me through thee." When the princess heard this, she hastened to embrace him and kissed him, saying, "O my beloved, all this was of my love for thee and I knew not what I did; [671] nor indeed am I negligent of thy love." [672] Whereupon Alaeddin kissed her and strained her to his breast and love redoubled between them.

Presently, in came the Sultan; so they told him of all that had passed with the Maugrabin enchanter's brother and showed him the latter, as he lay dead; whereupon he bade burn him and scatter his ashes to the winds. Thenceforward Alaeddin abode with his wife the Lady Bedrulbudour in all peace and pleasure and was delivered from all perils. Then, after a while, the Sultan died and Alaeddin sat down on the throne of the kingdom and ruled and did justice among the people; and all the folk loved him and he lived with his wife, the Lady Bedrulbudour, in all cheer and solace and contentment till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Societies.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 1: i.e. (1) Zeyn Alasnam, (2) Codadad. (3) The Sleeper Awakened. (4) Aladdin. (5) Baba Abdallah. (6) Sidi Nouman. (7) Cogia Hassan Alhabbah (8) Ali Baba. (9) Ali Cogia. (10) Prince Ahmed and Pari-Banou. (11) The Sisters who envied their younger Sister.]

[Footnote 2: "M. Galland was aware of the imperfection of the MS. used by him and (unable to obtain a more perfect copy) he seems to have endeavoured to supply the place of the missing portions by incorporating in his translation a number of Persian, Turkish and Arabic Tales, which had no connection with his original and for which it is generally supposed that he probably had recourse to Oriental MSS. (as yet unidentified) contained in the Royal Libraries of Paris." Vol. IX. p. 263. "Of these the Story of the Sleeper Awakened is the only one which has been traced to an Arabic original and is found in the Breslau edition of the complete work, printed by Dr. Habicht from a MS. of Tunisian origin, apparently of much later date than the other known copies.....Galland himself cautions us that the Stories of Zeyn Alasnam and Codadad do not belong to the Thousand and One Nights and were published (how he does not explain) without his authority." p. 264. "It is possible that an exhaustive examination of the various MS. copies of the Thousand and One Nights known to exist in the public libraries of Europe Might yet cast some light upon the origin of the interpolated tales; but, in view of the strong presumption afforded by internal evidence that they are of modern composition and form no part of the authentic text, it can hardly be expected, where the result and the value of that result are alike so doubtful, that any competent person will be found to undertake so heavy a task, except as incidental to some more general enquiry. The only one of the eleven which seems to me to bear any trace of possible connection with the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night is Aladdin, and it may be that an examination of the MS. copies of the original work within my reach will yet enable me to trace the origin of that favourite story." pp. 268-9.]

[Footnote 3: Histoire d' 'Ala Al-Din ou la Lampe Merveilleuse. Texte Arabe, Publie avec une notice de quelques Manuscrits des Mille et Une Nuits et la traduction de Galland. Par H. Zotenberg. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1888.]

[Footnote 4: For the sake of uniformity and convenience of reference, I use, throughout this Introduction, Galland's spelling of the names which occur in his translation, returning to my own system of transliteration in my rendering of the stories themselves.]

[Footnote 5: i.e. God's.]

[Footnote 6: "La suite des Mille et une Nuits, Contes Arabes trafluits par Dom Chavis et M. Cazotte. Paris 1788." The Edinburgh Review (July, 1886) gives the date of the first edition as 1785; but this is an error, probably founded upon the antedating of a copy of the Cabinet des Fees, certain sets of which (though not actually completed till 1793) are dated, for some publisher's reason, 1785. See also following note.]

[Footnote 7: These four (supplemental) vols. of the Cabinet des Fees (printed in 1793, though antedated 1788 and 1789) do not form the first edition of Chavis and Cazotte's so-called Sequel, which was in 1793 added, by way of supplement, to the Cabinet des Fees, having been first published in 1788 (two years after the completion-in thirty-seven volumes-of that great storehouse of supernatural fiction) under the title of "Les Veillees Persanes" or "Les Veillees du Sultan Schahriar avec la Sultane Scheherazade, histoires incroyables, amusantes et morales, traduites par M. Cazotte et D. Chavis, faisant suite aux Mille et Une Nuits."]

[Footnote 8: I cannot agree with my friend Sir R. F. Burton in his estimate of these tales, which seem to me, even in Caussin de Perceval's corrector rendering and in his own brilliant and masterly version, very inferior, in style, conduct and diction, to those of "the old Arabian Nights," whilst I think "Chavis and Cazotte's Continuation" utterly unworthy of republication, whether in part or "in its entirety." Indeed, I confess the latter version seems to me so curiously and perversely and unutterably bad that I cannot conceive how Cazotte can have perpetrated it and can only regard it as a bad joke on his part. As Caussin de Perceval remarks, it is evident that Shawish (whether from ignorance or carelessness) must, in many instances, have utterly misled his French coadjutor (who had no knowledge of Arabic) as to the meaning of the original, whilst it is much to be regretted that a writer of exquisite genius and one of the first stylists of the 18th century, such as the author of the Diable Amoureux, (a masterpiece to be ranked with Manon Lescaut and Le Neveu de Rameau,) should have stooped to the commission of the flagrant offences against good taste and artistic morality which disfigure well nigh every line of the so-called "Sequel to the 1001 Nights." "Far be it" (as the Arabs say) that we should do so cruel a wrong to so well and justly beloved a memory as that of Jacques Cazotte as to attempt to perpetuate the remembrance of a literary crime which one can hardly believe him to have committed in sober earnest! Rather let us seek to bury in oblivion this his one offence and suffer kind Lethe with its beneficent waters to wash this "adulterous blot" from his else unsullied name.]

[Footnote 9: Lit. "Servants" (ibad) i.e. of God.]

[Footnote 10: i.e. he who most stands in need of God's mercy.]

[Footnote 11: Kebikej is the name of the genie set over the insect kingdom. Scribes occasionally invoke him to preserve their manuscripts from worms.-Note by M. Zotenberg.]

[Footnote 12: Galland calls him "Hanna, c'est... dire Jean Baptiste," the Arabic Christian equivalent of which is Youhenna and the Muslim Yehya, "surnomme Diab." Diary, October 25, 1709.]

[Footnote 13: At this date Galland had already published the first six (of twelve) volumes of his translation (1704-5) and as far as I can ascertain, in the absence of a reference copy (the British Museum possessing no copy of the original edition), the 7th and 8th volumes were either published or in the press. Vol. viii. was certainly published before the end of the year 1709, by which time the whole of vol. ix. was ready for printing.]

[Footnote 14: i.e. Aladdin.]

[Footnote 15: Galland died in 1715, leaving the last two volumes of his translation (which appear by the Diary to have been ready for the prep on the 8th June, 1713) to be published in 1717.]

[Footnote 16: Aleppo.]

[Footnote 17: i.e. Yonhenna Diab.]

[Footnote 18: For "Persian." Galland evidently supposed, in error, that Petis de la Croix's forthcoming work was a continuation of his "Contes Turcs" published in 1707, a partial translation (never completed) of the Turkish version of "The Forty Viziers," otherwise "The Malice of Women," for which see Le Cabinet des Fees, vol. xvi. where the work is, curiously enough, attributed (by the Table of Contents) to Galland himself.]

[Footnote 19: See my terminal essay. My conclusions there stated as to the probable date of the original work have since been completely confirmed by the fact that experts assign Galland's original (imperfect) copy of the Arabic text to the latter part of the fourteenth century, on the evidence of the handwriting, etc.]

[Footnote 20: In M. Zotenberg's notes to Aladdin.]

[Footnote 21: Night CCCCXCVII.]

[Footnote 22: Khelifeh.]

[Footnote 23: Or "favourites" (auliya), i.e. holy men, devotees, saints.]

[Footnote 24: i.e. the geomancers. For a detailed description of this magical process, (which is known as "sand-tracing," Kharu 'r reml,) see posl, p. 199, note 2.{see FN#548}]

[Footnote 25: i.e. "What it will do in the course of its life"]

[Footnote 26: Or "ascendants" (tewali).]

[Footnote 27: i.e. "Adornment of the Images." This is an evident mistake (due to some ignorant copyist or reciter of the story) of the same kind as that to be found at the commencement of the story of Ghanim ben Eyoub, (see my Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol I. p. 363 et seq.), where the hero is absurdly stated to have been surnamed at birth the "Slave of Love," a sobriquet which could only have attached itself to him in after-life and as a consequence of his passion for Fitoeh. Sir R. F. Burton suggests, with great probability, that the name, as it stands in the text, is a contraction, by a common elliptical process, of the more acceptable, form Zein-ud-din ul Asnam, i.e. Zein-ud-din (Adornment of the Faith) [he] of the Images, Zein (adornment) not being a name used by the Arabic-speaking races, unless with some such addition as ud-Din ("of the Faith"), and the affix ul Asnam ( "[He] of the Images") being a sobriquet arising from the circumstances of the hero's after-life, unless its addition, as recommended by the astrologers, is meant as an indication of the latter's fore-knowledge of what was to befall him thereafter. This noted, I leave the name as I find it in the Arabic MS.]

[Footnote 28: Sheji nebih. Burton, "Valiant and intelligent."]

[Footnote 29: Syn. "his describers" (wasifihi).]

[Footnote 30: Wa huwa hema caiou fihi bads wasifihi shiran. Burton (apparently from a different text), "and presently he became even as the poets sang of one of his fellows in semblance."]

[Footnote 31: Milah, plural of melih, a fair one.]

[Footnote 32: Khemseh senin. Burton, "fifteen."]

[Footnote 33: Shabb, adult, man between sixteen and thirty.]

[Footnote 34: Femu ghefir min el aalem. Burton, "All the defenders of the realm."]

[Footnote 35: Night CCCCXCVIII.]

[Footnote 36: Syn. "depose."]

[Footnote 37: Lit. "that which proceeded from him."]

[Footnote 38: See ante, p. 3, note.{see FN#23}]

[Footnote 39: Night CCCCXCIX.]

[Footnote 40: i.e. imposed on me the toil, caused me undertake the weariness, of coming to Cairo for nothing.]

[Footnote 41: Forgetting his mother.]

[Footnote 42: i.e. no mortal.]

[Footnote 43: Keszr abouka 'l fulani (vulg. for abika'l fulan). Burton, "Such a palace of thy sire."]

[Footnote 44: i.e. it is not like the journey to Cairo and back.]

[Footnote 45: i.e. in God grant thou mayst.]

[Footnote 46: Or "jade" (yeshm).]

[Footnote 47: Night D.]

[Footnote 48: "Edh dheheb el atic." Burton, "antique golden pieces"; but there is nothing to show that the gold was coined.]

[Footnote 49: The "also" in this clause seems to refer to the old man of the dream.]

[Footnote 50: Keszr, lit. palace, but commonly meaning, in modern Arabic, an upper story or detached corps de logis (pavilion in the French sense, an evident misnomer in the present case).]

[Footnote 51: Lit. "put the key in the lock and opened it and behold, the door of a palace (hall) opened."]

[Footnote 52: Takeli, sing. form of tac, a window. Burton, "recess for lamps."]

[Footnote 53: Lit. "till he join thee with."]

[Footnote 54: Or "Cairo," the name Misr being common to the country and its capital.]

[Footnote 55: Badki tecouli[na]. Badki (lit. after thee) is here used in the modern sense of "still" or "yet." The interrogative prefix A appears to have dropped out, as is not uncommon in manuscripts of this kind. Burton, "After thou assuredst me, saying, &c."]

[Footnote 56: Here she adopts her son's previous idea that the old man of the dream was the Prophet in person.]

[Footnote 57: Night DI.]

[Footnote 58: Cudoum. The common form of welcome to a guest.]

[Footnote 59: Or "upper room" (keszr).]

[Footnote 60: Eight; see ante, p. 14. {see FN#46}]

[Footnote 61: Edh dheheb el kedim.]

[Footnote 62: Edh dhelieb er yemli, lit. sand. (i.e. alluvial) gold, gold in its native state, needing no smelting to extract it. This, by the way, is the first mention of the thrones or pedestals of the images.]

[Footnote 63: Lit. "[With] love and honour" (hubban wa kerametan). a familar phrase implying complete assent to any request. It is by some lexicologists supposed to have arisen from the circumstance of a man answering another, who begged of him a wine-jar (hubb), with the words, "Ay, I will give thee a jar and a cover (kerameh) also," and to have thus become a tropical expression of ready compliance with a petition, as who should say, "I will give thee what thou askest and more."]

[Footnote 64: The slave's attitude before his master.]

[Footnote 65: The like.]

[Footnote 66: Night DII.]

[Footnote 67: i.e. invoked blessings upon him in the manner familiar to readers of the Nights.]

[Footnote 68: Lit. thou [art] indulged therein (ent musamih fiha).]

[Footnote 69: Mehmy (vulg. for mehma, whatsoever) telebtaha minni min en miam. Burton, "whatso of importance thou wouldst have of me."]

[Footnote 70: Lit. "in a seeking (request) ever or at all" (fi tilbeti abdan). Burton, "in thy requiring it."]

[Footnote 71: "Tal aleyya" wect, i.e. I am weary of waiting. Burton, "My tarrying with thee hath been long."]

[Footnote 72: Or "difficult" (aziz); Burton, "singular-fare."]

[Footnote 73: Lit. "If the achievement thereof (or attainment thereunto) will be possible unto thee [by or by dint of] fortitude,"]

[Footnote 74: Lit. "Wealth [is] in (or by) blood."]

[Footnote 75: El berr el atfer. Burton translates, "the wildest of wolds," apparently supposing atfer to be a mistranscription for aefer, which is very possible.]

[Footnote 76: Kewaribji, a word formed by adding the Turkish affix ji to the Arabic kewarib, plural of carib, a small boat. The common form of the word is caribji. Burton reads it, "Kewariji, one who uses the paddle."]

[Footnote 77: Lit "inverted" (mecloubeh). Burton, "the reverse of man's."]

[Footnote 78: Night DIII.]

[Footnote 79: Wehsh. Burton, "a lion."]

[Footnote 80: Lit. "then they passed on till" (thumma fatou ila [an]).]