Part 38

My brother was not cunning enough to perceive the craft of the old woman, who only refused the two pieces of gold, that she might catch more. He asked her if she could not procure him the honour of seeing that lady. With all my heart, replied she; she will be very glad to marry you, and to put you in possession of her fortune, by making you master of her person. Take up your money and follow me. My brother being ravished with his good luck of finding so great a sum of money, and almost at the same time a beautiful and rich wife, shut his eyes to all other considerations; so that he took his five hundred pieces of gold, and followed the old woman. She walked before him, and he followed at a distance, to the gate of a great house, where she knocked. He came up to her just as a young Greek slave opened the gate. The old woman made him enter first, crossed a well-paved court, and introduced him into a hall, the furniture of which confirmed him in the good opinion he had conceived of the mistress of the house. While the old woman went to acquaint the lady, he sat down, and the weather being hot, put off his turban, and laid it by him. He speedily saw the young lady come in, whose beauty and rich apparel perfectly surprised him; he got up as soon as he saw her. The lady, with a smiling countenance, prayed him to sit down again, and placed herself by him: she told him she was very glad to see him; and after having spoken some engaging words to him, said, We do not sit here at our ease. Come, give me your hand. At these words she presented him hers, and carried him into an inner chamber, where she conversed with him for some time: then she left him, bidding him stay, --she would be with him in a moment. He waited for her; but instead of a lady came in a great black slave, with a scimitar in his hand, and looking upon my brother, with a terrible aspect, said to him fiercely, What have you to do here? Alnaschar was so frightened at the sight of the slave, that he had no power to answer. The black stripped him, carried on his gold, and gave him several flesh wounds with his scimitar. My unhappy brother fell to the ground, where he lay without motion, though he had still the use of his senses. The black thinking him to be dead, asked for salt: the Greek slave brought him a basin full: they rubbed my brother’s wounds with it, who had so much command of himself, notwithstanding the intolerable pain it put him to, that he lay still, without giving any sign of life. The black and the Greek slave being retired, the old woman, who drew my brother into the snare, came and dragged him by the feet to a trap-door, which she opened, and threw him into a place under ground, among the corpses of several other people that had been murdered. He perceived this as soon as he came to himself, for the violence of the fall had taken away his senses. The salt rubbed into his wounds preserved his life, and he recovered strength by degrees, so as he was able to walk. After two days he opened the trap-door in the night, and finding in the court a place proper to hide himself in, continued there till break of day, when he saw the cursed old woman open the gate to the street, and go out to seek another prey. He staid in the place some time after she went out, that she might not see him, and then came to me for shelter, when he told me of his adventures.

In a month’s time he was perfectly cured of his wounds by medicines that I gave him; and resolved to avenge himself of the old woman, who had put such a barbarous cheat upon him. To this end he took a bag, large enough to contain five hundred pieces of gold, and filled it with pieces of glass.

My brother fastened the bag of glass about him, disguised himself like an old woman, and took a scimitar under his gown. One morning he met the old woman walking through the town to seek her prey; he came up to her, and counterfeiting a woman’s voice, said to her, Cannot you lend me a pair of scales? I am a woman newly come from Persia, have brought five hundred pieces of gold with me, and would know if they are weight. --Good woman, answered the old hag, you could not have applied to a properer person: follow me; I will bring you to my son, who changes money, and will weigh them himself, to save you the trouble. Let us make haste, for fear he go to his shop. My brother followed her to the house where she carried him the first time, and the Greek slave opened the door.

The old woman carried my brother to the hall, where she bid him stay a moment till she called her son. The pretended son came, and proved to be the villanous black slave. Come, old woman, said he to my brother, rise and follow me: having spoke thus, he went before to bring him to the place where he designed to murder him. Alnaschar got up, followed him, and drawing his scimitar, gave him such a dexterous blow behind on the neck, that he cut off his head, which he took in one hand, and, dragging the corpse with the other, threw them both into the place under ground before mentioned. The Greek slave, who was accustomed to the trade, came presently with a basin of salt; but when she saw Alnaschar with his scimitar in his hand, and without his veil, she laid down the basin, and fled. But my brother overtaking her, cut off her head also. The wicked old woman came running at the noise, and my brother seizing her, said to her, Treacherous wretch! do not you know me? Alas, sir! answered she, trembling, who are you? I do not remember that I ever saw you. --I am, said he, the person to whose house you came the other day to wash and say your prayers. Hypocritical hag! said he, do not you remember it? Then she fell on her knees to beg his pardon, but he cut her in four pieces.

There remained only the lady, who knew nothing of what had passed: he sought her out, and found her in a chamber, where she was ready to sink when she saw him: she begged her life, which he generously granted. Madam, said he, how could you live with such wicked people, as I have so justly revenged myself upon now? I was, said she, wife to an honest merchant; and the cursed old woman, whose wickedness I did not know, used sometimes to come to see me. Madam, said she to me one day, we have a very fine wedding at our house, which you will be pleased to see, if you give us the honour of your company: I was persuaded by her, put on my best apparel, and took with me a hundred pieces of gold. I followed her; she brought me to this house, where the black has since kept me by force, and I have been three years here, to my very great sorrow. By the trade which that cursed black followed, replied my brother, he must have gathered together a vast deal of riches. There is so much, said she, that you will be made for ever, if you carry them off: follow me, and you shall see them. Alnaschar followed her to a chamber, where she showed him several coffers full of gold, which he beheld with admiration. Go, said she, fetch people enough to carry it all off. My brother needed not be bid twice: he went out, and staid only till he got ten men together, and brought them with him, and was much surprised to find the gate open, but more when he found the lady and coffers all gone; for she being more diligent than he, carried them all off and disappeared. However, being resolved not to return empty-handed, he carried off all the furniture he could find in the house, which was a great deal more than enough to make up the five hundred pieces of gold he was robbed of; but when he went out of the house, he forgot to shut the gate. The neighbours, who saw my brother and the porters come and go, went and acquainted the magistrate with it, for they looked upon my brother’s conduct as suspicious. Alnaschar slept well enough all night; but the next morning, when he came out of his house, he found twenty of the magistrate’s men, who seized him. Come along with us, said they; our master would sneak with you. My brother prayed them to have patience for a moment, and offered them a sum of money to let him escape; but instead of listening to him, they bound him, and forced him to go along with them. They met in the street an old acquaintance of my brother’s, who stopped them awhile, and asked them why they siezed my brother, and offered them a considerable sum to let him escape, and tell the magistrate they could not find him. But this would not do; so he was carried before the magistrate.

When the officers brought him before the magistrate, he asked him where he had the goods which he carried home last night? Sir, replied Alnaschar, I am ready to tell you all the truth; but allow me first to have recourse to your clemency, and to beg your promise, that nothing shall be done to me. I give it you, said the magistrate. Then my brother told him the whole story without disguise, from the time the old woman came into the house to say her prayers, to the time the lady made her escape, after he had killed the black, the Greek slave, and the old woman: and as for what he had carried to his house, he prayed the judge to leave him part of it, for the five hundred pieces of gold that he was robbed of.

The judge, without promising any thing, sent his officers to bring off all, and having put the goods into his own wardrobe, commanded my brother to quit the town immediately, and never to return, for he was afraid, if my brother had staid in the city, he would have found some way to represent this injustice to the caliph. In the mean time, Alnaschar obeyed without murmuring, and left that town to go to another: by the way he met with highwaymen, who stript him naked; and when the ill news was brought to me, I carried him a suit, and brought him secretly again into the town, where I took the like care of him as I did of his other brothers.

The Story of the Barber’s sixth Brother.

I have now only to tell you the story of my sixth brother, called Schacabac, with the hare-lips. At first he was industrious enough to improve the hundred drachms of silver which fell to his share, and went on very well; but a reverse of fortune brought him to beg his bread, which he did with a great deal of dexterity. He studied chiefly to get into great men’s houses, by means of their servants and officers, that he might have access to their masters, and obtain their charity. One day, as he passed by a magnificent house, whose high gate showed him a very spacious court, where there was a multitude of servants, he went to one of them, and asked him to whom that house belonged. Good man, replied the servant, whence do you come, that you ask me such a question? Does not all that you see make you understand that it is the palace of a Barmecide? [77] My brother, who very well knew the liberality and generosity of the Barmecides, addressed himself to one of his porters, (for he had more than one,) and prayed him to give him an alms. Go in, said he, nobody hinders you, and address yourself to the master of the house; he will send you back satisfied.

My brother, who expected no such civility, thanked the porters, and with their permission entered the palace, which was so large, that it took him a considerable time to reach the Barmecide’s apartment; at last he came to a fine square building of an excellent architecture, and entered by a porch, through which he saw one of the finest gardens with gravel walks of several colours, extremely pleasant to the eye: the lower apartments round this square were most of them open, and were shut only with great curtains to keep out the sun, which were opened again when the heat was over, to let in the fresh air.

Such an agreeable place would have struck my brother with admiration, even if his mind had been more at ease than it was. He went on till he came into a hall richly furnished, and adorned with painting of gold and azure foliage, where he saw a venerable man with a long white beard, sitting at the upper end on a sofa, whence he concluded him to be the master of the house; and in fact it was the Barmecide himself, who said to my brother in a very civil manner, that he was welcome; and asked him what he wanted. My lord, answered my brother, in a begging tone, I am a poor man who stands in need of the help of such rich and generous persons as yourself. He could not have addressed himself to a fitter person than this lord, who had a thousand good qualities.

The Barmecide seemed to be astonished at my brother’s answer, and putting both his hands to his stomach, as if he would rend his clothes for grief, Is it possible, cried he, that I am at Bagdad, and that such a man as you is so poor as you say? This is what must never be. My brother, fancying that he was going to give him some singular mark of his bounty, blessed him a thousand times, and wished him all sorts of happiness. It shall not be said, replied the Barmecide, that I will abandon you, nor will I have you leave me. --Sir, replied my brother, I swear to you I have not eaten one bit to-day. --Is that true, replied the Barmecide, that you are fasting till now? Alas, poor man! he is ready to die for hunger: Ho, boy, cried he, with a loud voice, bring a basin and water presently, that we may wash our hands. Though no boy appeared, and my brother saw neither water nor basin, the Barmecide fell to rubbing his hands, as if one had poured water upon them, and bid my brother come and wash with him. Schacabac judged by that, that the Barmecide lord loved to be merry; and he himself understanding raillery, and knowing that the poor must be complaisant to the rich, if they would have any thing from them, he came forward, and did as he did.

Come on, said the Barmecide; bring us something to eat, and do not let us stay for it. When he had said so, though nothing was brought, he began to cut as if something had been brought him upon a plate, and putting his hand to his mouth began to chew, and said to my brother, Come, friend, eat as freely as if you were at home; come, eat; you said you were like to die of hunger, but you eat as if you had no stomach. --Pardon me, my lord, said Schacabac, who perfectly imitated what he did, you see I lose no time, and that I play my part well enough. --How like you this bread? said the Barmecide: do not you find it very good? --O! my lord, said my brother, who saw neither bread nor meat, I never ate any thing so white and so fine. --Eat your fill, said the Barmecide; I assure you, the woman who bakes me this good bread cost me five hundred pieces of gold to purchase her.

The Barmecide, after having boasted so much of his bread, which my brother eat only in idea, cried. Boy, bring us another dish: and though no boy appeared, Come, my good friend, said he to my brother, taste this new dish; and tell me if ever you eat better mutton and barley-broth than this. --It is admirably good, replied my brother, and therefore you see I eat heartily. --You oblige me highly, replied the Barmecide; I conjure you then, by the satisfaction I have to see you eat so heartily, that you eat all up, since you like it so well. A little while after he called for a goose, and sweet sauce, made up of vinegar, honey, dry raisins, gray peas, and dry figs, which were brought just in the same manner as the other was. The goose is very fat, said the Barmecide, eat only a leg and a wing; we must save our stomachs, for we have abundance of other dishes to come. He actually called for several other dishes, of which my brother, who was ready to die of hunger, pretended to eat; but what he boasted of more than all the rest was a lamb fed with pistachio nuts, which he ordered to be brought up in the same manner that the rest were. And here is a dish, said the Barmecide, that you will see at nobody’s table but my own; I would have you eat your belly-full of it. Having spoken thus, he stretched out his hand as if he had a piece of lamb in it, and putting it to my brother’s mouth, There, said he, swallow that, and you will judge whether I had not reason to boast of this dish. My brother thrust out his head, opened his mouth, and made as if he took the piece of lamb, and eat it with extreme pleasure. I knew you would like it, said the Barmecide. There is nothing in the world finer, replied my brother; your table is most delicious. --Come, bring the ragout presently; I fancy you will like that as well as you did the lamb. --Well, how do you relish it? said the Barmecide. O! it is wonderful, replied Schacabac; for here we taste all at once, amber, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and the most odoriferous herbs; and all these delicacies are so well mixed, that one does not prevent our tasting the other. How pleasant! --Honour this ragout, said the Barmecide, by eating heartily of it. Ho, boy, cried he, bring us a new ragout. --No, my lord, if it please you, replied my brother, for indeed I can eat no more.

Come, take away then, said the Barmecide, and bring the fruit. He staid a moment, as if it were to give time for his servants to carry away; after which, he said to my brother, Taste these almonds; they are good and fresh gathered. Both of them made as if they had peeled the almonds, and eaten them: after this, the Barmecide invited my brother to eat something else. Look you, said he, there are all sorts of fruits, cakes, dry sweetmeats, and conserves; take what you like; then stretching out his hand, as if he had reached my brother something, Look ye, said he, there is a lozenge, very good for digestion. Schacabac made as if he eat it, and said, My lord, there is no want of musk here. --These lozenges, said the Barmecide, are made at my own house, where there is nothing wanting to make every thing good. He still bid my brother eat, and said to him, Methinks you do not eat as if you had been so hungry, as you said when you came in. --My lord, replied Shacabac, whose jaws ached with moving and having nothing to eat, I assure you I am so full that I cannot eat one bit more.

Well then, friend, replied the Barmecide, we must drink now, after we have eat so well. [78] --You may drink wine, my lord, replied my brother; but I will drink none, if you please, because I am forbidden it. --You are too scrupulous, replied the Barmecide; do as I do. --I will drink then out of complaisance, said Shacabac, for I see you will have nothing wanting to make your treat complete: but since I am not accustomed to drink wine, I am afraid I shall commit some error in point of good breeding, and contrary to the respect that is due to you, and therefore I pray you, once more, to excuse me from drinking any wine; I will be content with water. --No, no, said the Barmecide, you shall drink wine: and at the same time he commanded some to be brought, in the same manner as the meat and fruit had been brought before. He made as if he poured out wine, and drank first himself, and then pouring out for my brother, presented him the glass: Drink my health, said he, and let us know if you think this wine good. My brother made as if he took the glass, and looked if the colour was good, and put it to his nose to try if it had a good flavour: then he made a low bow to the Barmecide, to signify that he took the liberty to drink his health; and, lastly, he appeared to drink with all the signs of a man that drinks with pleasure. --My lord, said he, this is very excellent wine, but I think it is not strong enough. --If you would have stronger, said the Barmecide, you need only speak, for I have several sorts in my cellar. --Try how you like this. Upon which he made as if he poured out another glass to himself, and then to my brother; and did this so often, that Schacabac, feigning to be intoxicated with the wine, and acting a drunken man, lifted up his hand, and gave the Barmecide such a box on the ear, as made him fall down: he was going to give him another blow, but the Barmecide holding up his hand to ward it off, cried out, Are you mad? Then my brother, making as if he had come to himself again, said, My lord, you have been so good as to admit your slave into your house, and give him a great treat; you should have been satisfied with making me eat, and not have obliged me to drink wine? for I told you beforehand, that it might occasion me to fail in my respect for you. I am very sorry for it, and beg you a thousand pardons.

Scarce had he finished these words, when the Barmecide, instead of being in a passion, fell a laughing with all his might. It is a long time, said he, that I have been seeking a man of your character.

The Barmecide caressed Schacabac mightily, and told him, I not only forgive the blow you have given me, but I desire henceforward we should be friends, and that you take my house for your home: you have had the complaisance to accommodate yourself to my humour, and the patience to keep the jest up to the last; we will now eat in good earnest. When he had finished these words, he clapped his hands, and commanded his servants, who then appeared, to cover the table; which was speedily done, and my brother was treated with all those dishes in reality, which he ate of before in fancy. At last they cleared the table, and brought in the wine, and at the same time a number of handsome slaves, richly apparelled, came in and sung some agreeable airs to their musical instruments. In a word, Schacabac had all the reason in the world to be satisfied with the Barmecide’s civility and bounty; for he treated him as his familiar friend, and ordered him a suit out of his wardrobe.

The Barmecide found my brother to be a man of so much wit and understanding, that in a few days after, he entrusted him with his household and all his affairs. My brother acquitted himself very well in that employment for twenty years; at the end of which the generous Barmecide died, and leaving no heirs, all his property was confiscated to the use of the prince, and my brother lost all he had acquired: and, being reduced to his first condition, he joined a caravan of pilgrims going to Mecca, designing to accomplish that pilgrimage by their charity: but unfortunately the caravan was attacked and plundered by a number of Bedouins, [79] superior to that of the pilgrims. My brother was then taken as a slave by one of the Bedouins, who put him under the bastinado for several days, to oblige him to ransom himself. Schacabac protested to him, that it was all in vain. I am your slave, said he; you may dispose of me as you please; but I declare to you, that I am extremely poor, and not able to redeem myself. In a word, my brother discovered to him all his misfortunes, and endeavoured to soften him with tears; but the Bedouin was not to be moved, and being vexed to find himself disappointed of a considerable sum which he reckoned himself sure of, he took his knife, and slit my brother’s lips, to avenge himself by this inhumanity for the loss that he thought he had sustained.