THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD
The Jewish Doctor's Narrative, Part 3.
ON THE FOURTEENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
As I lifted the cushion to arrange it, I saw, under the cushion, a gold necklace with, from space to space, three rows of perfect noble pearls. It was precisely the necklace of the young woman, who had been put under the pillow the night of our antics. At this memory, I began to shed tears of regret and mourn the death of this adolescent girl. Then I carefully hid the necklace in the lining of my garment.
After three days of rest in my house, I thought of going to the souk to try to find an occupation and to see my acquaintances. Arrived at the souk, it was written by the order of Destiny that I must be tempted by the Sheitan and succumb to the temptation: because all destiny can only be fulfilled. And I was, indeed, tempted to get rid of the gold and pearl necklace by selling it. I, therefore, took it from the lining of my garment and showed it to the ablest broker in the souk. The broker invited me to sit in his shop, and himself, as soon as the souk was well underway, took the necklace, asked me to wait for his return, and went to submit it to the merchants. And, after an hour, he came back and said to me: “I thought at first that this necklace was made of real gold and real pearls and that it must be worth at least a thousand gold dinars. But I was wrong. This necklace is fake. It is shaped according to the artifices of the Franks, who knew how to imitate gold, pearls, and precious stones. So they only offered me, in the souk, a thousand drachmas instead of a thousand dinars. I replied: "Yes, really, you're right. This necklace is fake. I had it done simply to make fun of a woman I had given it to as a gift. And, by the greatest of luck, this woman has just died and left it as an inheritance to my wife. So we decided to sell it at any price. Take it then and sell it at that price, and bring me back the thousand drachmas in question!"
The broker understood that the young man did not know the value of the necklace and that he had either stolen it or found it, and that the matter had to be cleared up. So he took the necklace and went to see the main chief of the brokers of the souk, who immediately took it and went to find the wali of the city and said to him: “Here! This necklace was stolen from me! And we just found the thief. He is a young man who is dressed like the sons of merchants, and he is in such a place, with such a broker!"
The young man went on to tell me his story thus:
Immediately, and while I was waiting for the broker to return with the money, I saw myself surrounded and seized by the guards, who dragged me by force to the wali. And the wali questioned me about the necklace, and I told him the same story as the broker. Then the wali began to laugh and said to me: “I will tell you the exact price of this necklace! He signaled to his guards, who apprehended me, stripped me of my clothes, and felled me with rods and whips until my whole body was bleeding. So in pain, I cried out: “I will tell you the truth. This necklace, yes, I stole it from the chief broker!" And I thought in my soul that it was even better for me to say this than to confess the terrible truth of the murder of the young woman in my house. Because surely I would have been condemned to death and killed in the same way, in redemption for his murder.
But no sooner had I accused myself of this theft than they seized my arm, and they cut off my right hand, as a punishment for this theft; and they cooked my arm in boiling oil to heal the wound. And immediately I fell fainting from pain. And they gave me something to drink that made me recover my senses. So I picked up my severed hand and returned to my house.
When I arrived at my house, the landlord who had learned of this said to me: "Because you have been convicted of larceny and illicit things, I can no longer keep you in my house. So you're going to take back your belongings and go find a place to stay somewhere else!" I answered him: “My lord, please allow me only two or three days of delay so that I have time to find another lodging! And he said to me: “I am willing to give you this time." Then he left me and left.
As for me, I threw myself on the ground and began to cry and say to myself: 'How could I now return to Mosul, my country, and have the courage to see my parents again with my severed hand? And my parents won't believe me when I tell them I'm innocent! So now I have only to let myself go to the will of Allah, who alone can send me a means of salvation!"
The grief and sorrows that I continued to have made me sick, and I could not go to seek another home. Also, as I was in bed, on the third day, I suddenly saw my house invaded by the people of the governor-general of Damascus, and I saw the proprietor of the house and the chief broker approaching me. And the owner said to me: “I must tell you that the wali informed the governor-general of the theft of this necklace. And now it emerges from all this that this necklace actually belonged, not to this chief broker, but to the governor-general himself, or rather to one of his daughters, who also disappeared almost three years ago! And they come to seize you!"
At these words, all my joints began to tremble and all my limbs too, and I thought: “Now, without recourse from now on, they will surely put me to death. It is better that I tell the whole truth to the governor-general. And he alone will be the judge of my death or my life." But already I was seized, bound, and brought, the chain around my neck, before the governor in whose hands I was left, me and the chief broker. And the governor said to his people, looking at me: "This young man whom you are bringing to me is no thief, and his hand has been cut off unjustly, I am sure of it! As for this chief broker, he is a liar and a false accuser! Grab him then and throw him in the dungeon!" Then the governor said to this chief broker: “You will immediately compensate this young man for his severed hand, otherwise I will hang you and confiscate all your property and all your wealth, O broker of curse!" And he cried out, addressing the guards: “Take him away from before my face, and get out, all of you!” And then there remained in the room only the governor and myself. But I no longer had the yoke around my neck or my arms tied.
When we were thus alone, the governor looked at me with great pity and said to me: “My child, you are now going to speak to me frankly and tell me the whole truth without concealing anything from me. So tell me how this necklace got into your hands. I answered him: “O my master and suzerain, I will tell you the truth! And then I told him all that had happened to me with the first teenager, how she had procured for me and had brought the second teenager to my house, and how afterward, seized with jealousy, she had sacrificed her companion. And I told him the thing in all its details.
Hearing my words, the governor, with pain and affliction, bowed his head on his chest, covered his face with his handkerchief, and began to weep for a long time. Then he approached me and said:
Know then, O my child, that the first adolescent is my eldest daughter. From her childhood, she was full of perversity, and was, for this reason, held by me with great severity. But hardly had she reached puberty than I hastened to marry her, and for this purpose I sent her to Cairo to her uncle, my brother, to unite her to one of my nephews, her own cousin. So she married; but, shortly afterward, her husband died, and she returned to me and returned to my house. But she had not failed to take advantage of her stay in Egypt to learn from the Egyptian women all the vices, all the corruptions, and all kinds of licentiousness. And you know, since you have been in Egypt, how expert in debauchery are the women of this country. Men are not enough for them, and they love each other and mingle with each other, and get drunk. Also, barely back here, she met you and gave herself to you, and went to find you four times in a row. But that was not enough for her. As she had already had time to pervert my second daughter, her sister, and to make herself passionately loved by her, she had no difficulty in persuading her to come to your house, after having told her everything she did with you. My second daughter, therefore, asked permission to accompany her sister to the souk, and I allowed her. And it happened what happened! So when my eldest daughter came home without her sister, I asked her where her sister was. She answered me only with tears, and ended up saying to me, all in tears: “I completely lost her in the souk, and I have no idea what has become of her!" That's what she tells me. But soon she opened up to her mother and ended up telling her, in secret, the whole story and the death of her sister, killed by her own hands, in your house. And since then she has been in tears and keeps repeating day and night: “I must cry until I die! “As for your words, oh my child, they only confirmed what I already knew and showed me that they spoke the truth. So you see, my son, how unhappy I am! So I have a wish to make and a prayer to address to you, and you will not refuse. I ardently desire to make you a member of my family and to give you in marriage my third daughter, who is a wise, ingenuous, and virginal young girl, and who has none of the vices of her sisters. And I will not ask you for any dowry, for this marriage; on the contrary, I will reward you generously
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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