Kitabı oku: «A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 (of 17)», sayfa 14

CALIPH AL-MAAMUN AND THE STRANGE SCHOLAR

It is said of Al-Maamun that, among the Caliphs of the house of Abbas, there was none more accomplished in all branches of knowledge than he. Now on two days in each week, he was wont to preside at conferences of the learned, when the lawyers and theologians disputed in his presence, each sitting in his several rank and room. One day as he sat thus, there came into the assembly a stranger, clad in ragged white clothes, who took seat in an obscure place behind the doctors of the law. Then the assembly began to speak and debate difficult questions, it being the custom that the various propositions should be submitted to each in turn, and that whoso bethought him of some subtle addition or rare conceit, should make mention of it. So the question went round till it came to the strange man, who spake in his turn and made a goodlier answer than any of the doctors’ replies; and the Caliph approved his speech. – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph Al-Maamun approved his speech and ordered him to come up from his low place to a high stead. Now when the second question came to him, he made a still more notable answer, and Al-Maamun ordered him to be preferred to a yet higher seat; and when the third question reached him, he made answer more justly and appropriately than on the two previous occasions, and Al-Maamun bade him come up and sit near himself. Presently the discussion ended when water was brought and they washed their hands; after which food was set on and they ate; and the doctors arose and withdrew; but Al-Maamun forbade the stranger to depart with them and, calling him to himself, treated him with especial favour and promised him honour and profit. Thereupon they made ready the séance of wassail; the fair-faced cup-companions came and the pure wine²⁵² went round amongst them, till the cup came to the stranger, who rose to his feet and spake thus, “If the Commander of the Faithful permit me, I will say one word.” Answered the Caliph, “Say what thou wilt.” Quoth the man, “Verily the Exalted Intelligence (whose eminence Allah increase!) knoweth that his slave was this day, in the august assembly, one of the unknown folk and of the meanest of the company; and the Commander of the Faithful raised his rank and brought him near to himself, little as were the wit and wisdom he displayed, preferring him above the rest and advancing him to a station and a degree whereto his thought aspired not. But now he is minded to part him from that small portion of intellect which raised him high from his lowness and made him great after his littleness. Heaven forfend and forbid that the Commander of the Faithful should envy his slave what little he hath of understanding and worth and renown! Now, if his slave should drink wine, his reason would depart far from him and ignorance draw near to him and steal away his good breeding; so would he revert to that low and contemptible degree, whence he sprang, and become ridiculous and despicable in the eyes of the folk. I hope, therefore, that the August Intelligence, of his power and bounty and royal generosity and magnanimity, will not despoil his slave of this jewel.” When the Caliph Al-Maamun heard his speech, he praised him and thanked him and making him sit down again in his place, showed him high honour and ordered him a present of an hundred thousand silver pieces. Moreover he mounted him upon a horse and gave him rich apparel; and in every assembly he was wont to exalt him and show him favour over all the other doctors of law and religion till he became the highest of them all in rank. And Allah is All-knowing.²⁵³ Men also tell a tale of

ALI SHAR ²⁵⁴ AND ZUMURRUD

There lived once in the days of yore and the good old times long gone before, in the land of Khorasan, a merchant called Majd al-Dín, who had great wealth and many slaves and servants, white and black, young and old; but he had not been blessed with a child until he reached the age of threescore, when Almighty Allah vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Alí Shár. The boy grew up like the moon on the night of fulness; and when he came to man’s estate and was endowed with all kinds of perfections, his father fell sick of a death-malady and, calling his son to him, said, “O my son, the fated hour of my decease is at hand, and I desire to give thee my last injunctions.” He asked, “And what are they, O my father?”; and he answered, “O my son, I charge thee, be not over-familiar with any²⁵⁵ and eschew what leadeth to evil and mischief. Beware lest thou sit in company with the wicked; for he is like the blacksmith; if his fire burn thee not, his smoke shall bother thee: and how excellent is the saying of the poet:²⁵⁶—

 
In thy whole world there is not one,
Whose friendship thou may’st count upon,
Nor plighted faith that will stand true,
When times go hard, and hopes are few.
Then live apart and dwell alone,
Nor make a prop of any one,
I’ve given a gift in that I’ve said,
Will stand thy friend in every stead.”
 

And what another saith: —

 
Men are a hidden malady; ✿ Rely not on the sham in them:
For perfidy and treachery ✿ Thou’lt find, if thou examine them.
 

And yet a third saith: —

 
Cònverse with men hath scanty weal, except ✿ To while away the time in chat and prate:
Then shun their intimacy, save it be ✿ To win thee lore, or better thine estate.
 

And a fourth saith: —

 
If a sharp-witted wight e’er tried mankind, ✿ I’ve eaten that which only tasted he:²⁵⁷
Their amity proved naught but wile and guile, ✿ Their faith I found was but hypocrisy.
 

Quoth Ali, “O my father, I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more shall I do?” Quoth he, “Do good whenas thou art able; be ever kind and courteous to men and regard as riches every occasion of doing a good turn; for a design is not always easily carried out”; and how well saith the poet: —

 
‘Tis not at every time and tide unstable, ✿ We can do kindly acts and charitable:
When thou art able hasten thee to act, ✿ Lest thine endeavour prove anon unable!
 

Said Ali, “I have heard thee and I will obey thee.” – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth replied, “I have heard thee and I will obey thee; what more?” And his sire continued, “Be thou, O my son, mindful of Allah, so shall He be mindful of thee. Ward thy wealth and waste it not; for an thou do, thou wilt come to want the least of mankind. Know that the measure of a man’s worth is according to that which his right hand hendeth”: and how well saith the poet:²⁵⁸—

 
When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend, ✿ And when it waxeth all men friendship show:
How many a foe for wealth became my friend, ✿ Wealth lost, how many a friend became a foe!
 

Asked Ali, “What more?” And Majd al-Din answered, “O my son, take counsel of those who are older than thou and hasten not to do thy heart’s desire. Have compassion on those who are below thee, so shall those who are above thee have compassion on thee; and oppress none, lest Allah empower one who shall oppress thee. How well saith the poet: —

 
Add other wit to thy wit, counsel craving, ✿ For man’s true course hides not from minds of two:
Man is a mirror which but shows his face, ✿ And by two mirrors he his back shall view.
 

And as saith another:²⁵⁹—

 
Act on sure grounds, nor hurry fast,
To gain the purpose that thou hast
And be thou kindly to all men
So kindly thou’lt be called again;
For not a deed the hand can try,
Save ‘neath the hand of God on high,
Nor tyrant harsh work tyranny,
Uncrushed by tyrant harsh as he.
 

And as saith yet another:²⁶⁰—

 
Tyrannize not, if thou hast the power to do so; for the tyrannical is in danger of revenges.
Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call down curses on thee, and God’s eye sleepeth not.
 

Beware of wine-bibbing, for drink is the root of all evil: it doeth away the reason and bringeth to contempt whoso useth it; and how well saith the poet: —

 
By Allah, wine shall not disturb me, while my soul ✿ Join body, nor while speech the words of me explain:
No day will I be thralled to wine-skin cooled by breeze²⁶¹ ✿ Nor choose a friend save those who are of cups unfain.
 

This, then, is my charge to thee; bear it before thine eyes, and Allah stand to thee in my stead.” Then he swooned away and kept silent awhile; and, when he came to himself, he besought pardon of Allah and pronounced the profession of the Faith, and was admitted to the mercy of the Almighty. So his son wept and lamented for him and presently made proper preparation for his burial; great and small walked in his funeral procession and Koran-readers recited Holy Writ about his bier; nor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they prayed over him and committed him to the dust and wrote these two couplets upon his tomb: —

 
Thou wast create of dust and cam’st to life, ✿ And learned’st in eloquence to place thy trust;
Anon, to dust returning, thou becamest ✿ A corpse, as though ne’er taken from the dust.
 

Now his son Ali Shar grieved for him with sore grief and mourned him with the ceremonies usual among men of note; nor did he cease to weep the loss of his father till his mother died also, not long afterwards, when he did with her as he had done with his sire. Then he sat in the shop, selling and buying and consorting with none of Almighty Allah’s creatures, in accordance with his father’s injunction. This wise he continued to do for a year, at the end of which time there came in to him by craft certain whoreson fellows and consorted with him, till he turned after their example to lewdness and swerved from the way of righteousness, drinking wine in flowing bowls and frequenting fair women night and day; for he said to himself, “Of a truth my father amassed this wealth for me, and if I spend it not, to whom shall I leave it? By Allah, I will not do save as saith the poet: —

 
An through the whole of life ✿ Thou gett’st and gain’st for self;
Say, when shalt thou enjoy ✿ Thy gains and gotten pelf?”
 

And Ali Shar ceased not to waste his wealth all whiles of the day and all watches of the night, till he had made away with the whole of his riches and abode in pauper case and troubled at heart. So he sold his shop and lands and so forth, and after this he sold the clothes off his body, leaving himself but one suit; and, as drunkenness quitted him and thoughtfulness came to him, he fell into grief and sore care. One day, when he had sat from daybreak to mid-afternoon without breaking his fast, he said in his mind, “I will go round to those on whom I spent my monies: perchance one of them will feed me this day.” So he went the round of them all; but, as often as he knocked at any one’s door of them, the man denied himself and hid from him, till his stomach ached with hunger. Then he betook himself to the bazar of the merchants – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Tenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ali Shar feeling his stomach ache with hunger, betook himself to the merchants’ bazar where he found a crowd of people assembled in ring, and said to himself, “I wonder what causeth these folk to crowd together thus? By Allah, I will not budge hence till I see what is within yonder ring!” So he made his way into the ring and found therein a damsel exposed for sale who was five feet tall,²⁶² beautifully proportioned, rosy of cheek and high of breast; and who surpassed all the people of her time in beauty and loveliness and elegance and grace; even as saith one, describing her: —

 
As she willèd she was made, and in such a way that when ✿ She was cast in Nature’s mould neither short nor long was she:
Beauty woke to fall in love with the beauties of her form, ✿ Where combine with all her coyness her pride and pudency:
The full moon is her face²⁶³ and the branchlet is her shape, ✿ And the musk-pod is her scent – what like her can there be?
‘Tis as though she were moulded from water of the pearl, ✿ And in every lovely limblet another moon we see!
 

And her name was Zumurrud – the Smaragdine. So when Ali Shar saw her, he marvelled at her beauty and grace and said, “By Allah, I will not stir hence till I see how much this girl fetcheth, and know who buyeth her!” So he took standing-place amongst the merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy her, knowing the wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker stood at the damsel’s head and said, “Ho, merchants! Ho, ye men of money! Who will open the gate of biddings for this damsel, the mistress of moons, the union pearl, Zumurrud the curtain-maker, the sought of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open the biddings’ door and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach for evermore.” Thereupon quoth one merchant, “Mine for five hundred dinars;” “and ten,” quoth another. “Six hundred,” cried an old man named Rashíd al-Din, blue of eye²⁶⁴ and foul of face. “And ten,” cried another. “I bid a thousand,” rejoined Rashid al-Din; whereupon the rival merchants were tongue-tied, and held their peace and the broker took counsel with the girl’s owner, who said, “I have sworn not to sell her save to whom she shall choose: so consult her.” Thereupon the broker went up to Zumurrud and said to her, “O mistress of moons, this merchant hath a mind to buy thee.” She looked at Rashid al-Din and finding him as we have said, replied, “I will not be sold to a greybeard, whom decrepitude hath brought to such evil plight. Allah inspired his saying who saith: —

 
I craved of her a kiss one day; but soon as she beheld ✿ My hoary
hairs, though I my luxuries and wealth display’d;
She proudly turned away from me, showed shoulders, cried aloud: – ✿ ‘No! no! by Him, whose hest mankind from nothingness hath made,
For hoary head and grizzled chin I’ve no especial love: ✿ What! stuff my mouth with cotton²⁶⁵ ere in sepulchre I’m laid?’”
 

Now when the broker heard her words he said, “By Allah, thou art excusable, and thy price is ten thousand gold pieces!” So he told her owner that she would not accept of old man Rashid al-Din, and he said, “Consult her concerning another.” Thereupon a second man came forward and said, “Be she mine for what price was offered by the oldster she would have none of;” but she looked at him and seeing that his beard was dyed, said “What be this fashion lewd and base and the blackening of the hoary face?” And she made a great show of wonderment and repeated these couplets: —

 
Showed me Sir Such-an-one a sight and what a frightful sight! ✿ A neck, by Allah, only made for slipper-sole to smite:²⁶⁶
A beard the meetest racing-ground where gnats and lice contend, ✿ A brow fit only for the ropes thy temples chafe and bite.²⁶⁷
O thou enravisht by my cheek and beauties of my form, ✿ Why so translate thyself to youth and think I deem it right?
Dyeing disgracefully that white of reverend aged hairs, ✿ And hiding for foul purposes their venerable white!
Thou goest with one beard and comest back with quite another, ✿ Like Punch-and-Judy man who works the Chinese shades by night.²⁶⁸
 

And how well saith another: —

 
Quoth she, “I see thee dye thy hoariness:”²⁶⁹ ✿ “To hide, O ears and eyes! from thee,” quoth I:
She roared with laugh and said, “Right funny this; ✿ Thou art so lying e’en thy hair’s a lie!”
 

Now when the broker heard her verse he exclaimed, “By Allah thou hast spoken sooth!” The merchant asked what she said: so the broker repeated the verses to him; and he knew that she was in the right while he was wrong and desisted from buying her. Then another came forward and said, “Ask her if she will be mine at the same price;” but, when he did so, she looked at him and seeing that he had but one eye, said, “This man is one-eyed; and it is of such as he that the poet saith:²⁷⁰—

 
Consort not with the Cyclops e’en a day; ✿ Beware his falsehood and his mischief fly:
Had this monocular a jot of good, ✿ Allah had ne’er brought blindness to his eye!”
 

Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, “Wilt thou be sold to this man?” She looked at him and seeing that he was short of stature²⁷¹ and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, “This is he of whom the poet speaketh: —

 
I have a friend who hath a beard ✿ Allah to useless length unroll’d:
‘Tis like a certain²⁷² winter night, ✿ Longsome and darksome, drear and cold.”
 

Said the broker, “O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.” So she looked round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies, till her glance fell on Ali Shar, – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl’s glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, “O broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet thus describeth: —

 
Displaying that fair face ✿ The tempted they assailed;
Who, had they wished me safe ✿ That lovely face had veiled!”
 

For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;²⁷³ his spittle is a cure for the sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of him: —

 
His honey-dew of lips is wine; his breath ✿ Musk and those teeth, smile shown, are camphor’s hue:
Rizwán²⁷⁴ hath turned him out o’ doors, for fear ✿ The Houris lapse from virtue at the view;
Men blame his bearing for its pride, but when ✿ In pride the full moon sails, excuse is due.
 

Lord of the curling locks and rose-red cheeks and ravishing look of whom saith the poet: —

 
The fawn-like one a meeting promised me ✿ And eye expectant waxed and heart upstirred:
His eyelids bade me hold his word as true; ✿ But, in their languish,²⁷⁵ can he keep his word?
 

And as saith another: —

 
Quoth they, “Black letters on his cheek are writ! ✿ How canst thou love him and a side-beard see?”
Quoth I, “Cease blame and cut your chiding short; ✿ If those be letters ‘tis a forgery:”
Gather his charms all growths of Eden-garth ✿ Whereto those Kausar²⁷⁶-lips bear testimony.
 

When the broker heard the verses she repeated on the charms of Ali Shar, he marvelled at her eloquence, no less than at the brightness of her beauty; but her owner said to him, “Marvel not at her splendour which shameth the noonday sun, nor that her memory is stored with the choicest verses of the poets; for, besides this, she can repeat the glorious Koran, according to the seven readings,²⁷⁷ and the august Traditions, after ascription and authentic transmission; and she writeth the seven modes of handwriting²⁷⁸ and she knoweth more learning and knowledge than the most learned. Moreover, her hands are better than gold and silver; for she maketh silken curtains and selleth them for fifty gold pieces each; and it taketh her but eight days to make a curtain.” Exclaimed the broker, “O happy the man who hath her in his house and maketh her of his choicest treasures!”; and her owner said to him, “Sell her to whom she will.” So the broker went up to Ali Shar and, kissing his hands, said to him, “O my lord, buy thou this damsel, for she hath made choice of thee.”²⁷⁹ Then he set forth to him all her charms and accomplishments, and added, “I give thee joy if thou buy her, for this be a gift from Him who is no niggard of His giving.” Whereupon Ali bowed his head groundwards awhile, laughing at himself and secretly saying, “Up to this hour I have not broken my fast; yet I am ashamed before the merchants to own that I have no money wherewith to buy her.” The damsel, seeing him hang down his head, said to the broker, “Take my hand and lead me to him, that I may show my beauty to him and tempt him to buy me; for I will not be sold to any but to him.” So the broker took her hand and stationed her before Ali Shar, saying, “What is thy good pleasure, O my lord?” But he made him no answer, and the girl said to him, “O my lord and darling of my heart, what aileth thee that thou wilt not bid for me? Buy me for what thou wilt and I will bring thee good fortune.” So he raised his eyes to her and said, “Is buying perforce? Thou art dear at a thousand dinars.” Said she, “Then buy me, O my lord, for nine hundred.” He cried, “No,” and she rejoined, “Then for eight hundred;” and though he again said, “Nay,” she ceased not to abate the price, till she came to an hundred dinars. Quoth he, “I have not by me a full hundred.” So she laughed and asked, “How much dost thou lack of an hundred?” He answered, “By Allah, I have neither an hundred dinars, nor any other sum; for I own neither white coin nor red cash, neither dinar nor dirham. So look out thou for another and a better customer.” And when she knew that he had nothing, she said to him, “Take me by the hand and carry me aside into a by-lane, as if thou wouldst examine me privily.” He did so and she drew from her bosom a purse containing a thousand dinars, which she gave him, saying, “Pay down nine hundred to my price and let the hundred remain with thee by way of provision.” He did as she bid him and, buying her for nine hundred dinars, paid down the price from her own purse and carried her to his house. When she entered it, she found a dreary desolate saloon without carpets or vessels; so she gave him other thousand dinars, saying, “Go to the bazar and buy three hundred dinars’ worth of furniture and vessels for the house and three dinars’ worth of meat and drink.” – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Twelfth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the slave-girl, “Bring us meat and drink for three dinars; furthermore a piece of silk, the size of a curtain, and bring golden and silvern thread and sewing-silk of seven colours.” Thus he did, and she furnished the house and they sat down to eat and drink; after which they went to bed and took their pleasure one of the other. And they lay the night embraced behind the curtain and were even as saith the poet:²⁸⁰—

 
Cleave fast to her thou lovest and let the envious rail amain; For calumny and envy ne’er to favour love were fain.
Lo, whilst I slept, in dreams I saw thee lying by my side And, from thy lips the sweetest, sure, of limpid springs did drain.
Yea, true and certain all I saw is, as I will avouch, And ‘spite the envier, thereto I surely will attain.
There is no goodlier sight, indeed, for eyes to look upon. Than when one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain.
Each to the other’s bosom clasped, clad in their twinned delight. Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks enchain,
Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But on cold iron smite the folk who chide at them in vain.
Thou, that for loving censurest the votaries of love, canst thou assain a heart diseased or heal a cankered brain?
If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede thee cast the world away and with that one remain.
 

So they lay together till the morning and love for the other waxed firmly fixed in the heart of each. And on rising, Zumurrud took the curtain and embroidered it with coloured silks and purfled it with silver and gold thread and she added thereto a border depicting round about it all manner birds and beasts; nor is there in the world a feral but she wrought his semblance. This she worked in eight days, till she had made an end of it, when she trimmed it and glazed and ironed it and gave it to her lord, saying, “Carry it to the bazar and sell it to one of the merchants at fifty dinars; but beware lest thou sell it to a passer-by, as this would cause a separation between me and thee, for we have foes who are not unthoughtful of us.” “I hear and I obey,” answered he and, repairing to the bazar, sold the curtain to a merchant, as she bade him; after which he bought a piece of silk for another curtain and gold and silver and silken thread as before and what they needed of food, and brought all this to her, giving her the rest of the money. Now every eight days she made a curtain, which he sold for fifty dinars, and on this wise passed a whole year. At the end of that time, he went as usual to the bazar with a curtain, which he gave to the broker; and there came up to him a Nazarene who bid him sixty dinars for it; but he refused, and the Christian continued bidding higher and higher, till he came to an hundred dinars and bribed the broker with ten ducats. So the man returned to Ali Shar and told him of the proffered price and urged him to accept the offer and sell the article at the Nazarene’s valuation, saying, “O my lord, be not afraid of this Christian for that he can do thee no hurt.” The merchants also were urgent with him; so he sold the curtain to the Christian, albeit his heart misgave him; and, taking the money, set off to return home. Presently, as he walked, he found the Christian walking behind him; so he said to him, “O Nazarene,²⁸¹ why dost thou follow in my footsteps?” Answered the other “O my lord, I want a something at the end of the street, Allah never bring thee to want!”; but Ali Shar had barely reached his place before the Christian overtook him; so he said to him, “O accursed, what aileth thee to follow me wherever I go?” Replied the other, “O my lord, give me a draught of water, for I am athirst; and with Allah be thy reward!”²⁸² Quoth Ali Shar to himself, “Verily, this man is an Infidel who payeth tribute and claimeth our protection²⁸³ and he asketh me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!” – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Ali Shar to himself, “This man is a tributary Unbeliever and he asked me for a draught of water; by Allah, I will not baulk him!” So he entered the house and took a gugglet of water; but the slave-girl Zumurrud saw him and said to him, “O my love, hast thou sold the curtain?” He replied, “Yes;” and she asked, “To a merchant or to a passer-by? for my heart presageth a parting.” And he answered, “To whom but to a merchant?” Thereupon she rejoined, “Tell me the truth of the case, that I may order my affair; and why take the gugglet of water?” And he, “To give the broker to drink,” upon which she exclaimed, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!”; and she repeated these two couplets:²⁸⁴—

 
O thou who seekest separation, act leisurely, and let not the embrace of the beloved deceive thee!
Act leisurely; for the nature of fortune is treacherous, and the end of every union is disjunction.
 

Then he took the gugglet and, going out, found the Christian within the vestibule and said to him, “How comest thou here and how darest thou, O dog, enter my house without my leave?” Answered he, “O my lord, there is no difference between the door and the vestibule, and I never intended to stir hence, save to go out; and my thanks are due to thee for thy kindness and favour, thy bounty and generosity.” Then he took the mug and emptying it, returned it to Ali Shar, who received it and waited for him to rise up and to go; but he did not move. So Ali said to him, “Why dost thou not rise and wend thy way?”; and he answered, “O my lord, be not of those who do a kindness and then make it a reproach, nor of those of whom saith the poet:²⁸⁵—

 
They’re gone who when thou stoodest at their door ✿ Would for thy wants so generously cater:
But stand at door of churls who followed them, ✿ They’d make high favour of a draught of water!”
 

And he continued, “O my lord, I have drunk, and now I would have thee give me to eat of whatever is in the house, though it be but a bit of bread or a biscuit with an onion.” Replied Ali Shar, “Begone, without more chaffer and chatter; there is nothing in the house.” He persisted, “O my lord, if there be nothing in the house, take these hundred dinars and bring us something from the market, if but a single scone, that bread and salt may pass between us.”²⁸⁶ With this, quoth Ali Shar to himself, “This Christian is surely mad; I will take his hundred dinars and bring him somewhat worth a couple of dirhams and laugh at him.” And the Nazarene added, “O my lord, I want but a small matter to stay my hunger, were it but a dry scone and an onion; for the best food is that which doeth away appetite, not rich viands”; and how well saith the poet: —

 
Hunger is sated with a bone-dry scone, ✿ How is it then²⁸⁷ in woes of want I wone?
Death is all-justest, lacking aught regard ✿ For Caliph-king and beggar woebegone.
 

Then quoth Ali Shar, “Wait here, while I lock the saloon and fetch thee somewhat from the market;” and quoth the Christian, “To hear is to obey.” So Ali Shar shut up the saloon and, locking the door with a padlock, put the key in his pocket: after which he went to market and bought fried cheese and virgin honey and bananas²⁸⁸ and bread, with which he returned to the house. Now when the Christian saw the provision, he said, “O my lord, this is overmuch; ‘tis enough for half a score of men and I am alone; but belike thou wilt eat with me.” Replied Ali, “Eat by thyself, I am full;” and the Christian rejoined, “O my lord, the wise say, Whoso eateth not with his guest is a son of a whore.” Now when Ali Shar heard these words from the Nazarene, he sat down and ate a little with him, after which he would have held his hand; – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.