THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD
The young man and the young lady spend passionate nights for a while until the young man is ruined.
Then, he is caught stealing and for his crime, his right hand is cut.
The Christian Broker's Narrative - Part 4
ON THE SIXTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It has come to me, O fortunate King, that the merchant thus continued his story to the Coptic broker in Cairo, who in turn told it to the sultan, in that city of China:
“I saw the young lady come to me, all adorned with pearls and precious stones, her face luminous and her eyes long with kohl. She smiled at me, she took me against her, and hugged me to her chest. Then she put her mouth on mine and began to suck my tongue. And me too. And she said to me: “Is it really you that I see here, or am I dreaming?" And I answered her: "I am your slave!" And she said: “Oh! what a blessed day! What happiness! By Allah! I no longer live, I no longer taste the pleasure of eating and drinking!" I replied: "And me too!" Then we sat down to talk, and I was really confused by this reception and I held my head down.
After a few moments, the tablecloth was stretched out and we were presented with sumptuous dishes: roast meats, stuffed chicken, and pasta of all kinds. And we both ate until satiety, and she put the morsels in my mouth herself and invited me each time with the most urgent terms. Then I was presented with the ewer and the copper basin, and I washed my hands, and she did too; then we perfumed ourselves with musk rose water; and we sat down to talk. And she recited these two stanzas to me:
“If I had been warned of your coming, as a carpet at your feet,
I would have spread the purple of my heart and the black of my eyes;
I would have stretched out the freshness of my cheeks for your bed!
And you, O traveler, I would have placed you, happy, on my eyelids."
Then she began to tell me of her intimate sorrows, and I did the same: and that made me fall even more in love. Then we started our antics and our games, and we began to kiss and caress each other until nightfall. Then the servants brought us food and drink in abundance. And we didn't stop drinking until midnight. So we went to lie down and embrace each other, and that until morning. And in my life, I never had a night like that night.
The next morning I got up, and gently slipped the purse containing the fifty gold coins under the bedside, I took my leave of the young lady and got ready to go out. But she began to cry and said to me: “O my master, when will I see your beautiful face again?" I said to her: "I will come back here this very evening."
When I left, I found at the door the donkey which had carried me the day before; and the donkey driver also was there waiting for me. I mounted the donkey and arrived at the khan Serur; I dismounted and gave half a gold dinar to the donkey driver and said to him: “Come back this evening towards sunset." He replied: "Your orders are on my head!" I then entered the khan and breakfasted there; then I went out to collect the price of my merchandise from the dealers; I took the money and came back; I had grilled mutton prepared and bought sweets; and I called a porter to whom I gave the address and description of the lady's house and paid him beforehand and told him to go and carry these things there. And I went on about my business until evening, and then the donkey driver came to fetch me and I took fifty gold dinars which I put in a handkerchief, and I left.
When I entered the house, I saw that everything had been cleaned, that the parquet had been washed, the kitchen utensils had been polished, the torches prepared, the lanterns lit, the dishes prepared and the drinks and wines decanted. And she, seeing me, threw herself into my arms, began to caress me, and said: “Oh! how I want you!" After which we began to eat until we were full. Then the servants removed the tablecloth and brought us the drinks. And we did not stop drinking and breaking almonds and hazelnuts and pistachios until midnight. So we lay down until morning; and I got up and handed her the fifty gold dinars, as was my custom, and went out. At the gate, I found the donkey, which I mounted, and went to the khan, where I fell asleep. And in the evening I got up and had dinner prepared; I prepared a dish of rice sautéed in butter and sprinkled with walnuts and almonds, then a dish of fried Jerusalem artichokes, and many other things too. Then I bought fruits, various kinds of almonds, and many flowers, and sent them there. And myself, I took with me fifty gold dinars in a handkerchief and I went out. I rode the same donkey and arrived at the house, where I entered. There we sat down to eat and drink, then to copulate until morning. When I got up, I slipped her the handkerchief and went back to my khan as usual.
This state of things never ceased, I ended up, from one day to the next, ruining myself completely, and I was master neither of a dinar nor even of a single drachma. So I didn't know what to say, and I thought in my soul that it was all the work of the devil. And I recited these verses:
“Whether fortune forsakes the rich man for a moment or impoverishes him,
And there he is extinguished, without glory, as towards sunset the sun turns yellow.
And now, if he disappears, his memory can only be erased from all memory.
And, if he ever returns, luck will never smile on him again.
Shame will seize him to show himself in the streets;
And, alone with himself, he will weep all the tears from his eyes.
Wow! I swear, the man has nothing to expect from his friends.
Let misery fall on him and he is denied even his parents."
"So I didn't know what to do and, all in my distressing thoughts, I left the khan to walk a little and I arrived at the public square of Baïn Al-Kasraïn, near the door of Zaouïlat. There I found a large gathering and a crowd that filled the whole square, for it was a day of celebration and fair. Then I mingled with the crowd and saw near me, by the effect of fate, a very well-dressed cavalier; and, because of the great press, I was pressed against him despite myself, and my hand came right up to his pocket and touched that pocket; and I felt that it contained a small rounded package; then I thrust my hand quickly into the pocket and deftly pulled the little packet out, but not so lightly that he did not feel or see my movement. Then this horseman, feeling that his pocket had diminished in weight, put his hand in his pocket and saw that it no longer contained anything. Then he turned on me in anger, brandished his mace, and struck me hard on the head; immediately I fell to the ground and was surrounded by a large circle of people, some of whom prevented the rider from passing by, stopping the horse by the bridle and saying to the rider: "It is shameful of you to take advantage like a gathering to strike a defenseless man!" But the horseman shouted to them: "Know, all of you, that this fellow is only a thief!" At these words, I came back from the faint I was in and I heard people saying: “No! He is too good a young man and too distinguished to steal anything!" And all the people there were wondering if I had stolen or hadn't, and the contrary explanations on both sides and the discussions went on, and I ended up being drawn into the current of the crowd and I was probably going to be able to escape the surveillance of the horseman, who did not want to let go of me, when, by the effect of fate, the wali and the guards came to pass by there, crossed the door of Zaouïlat, approached the gathering of which we were the center, and the wali asked: "So what is there around here?" And the horseman replied: “By Allah! O emir, here is a thief! I had in my pocket a blue purse containing twenty gold dinars; he found a way, in the middle of the gathering, to take it away from me." And the wali asked the rider: "Do you have anyone who saw him to testify?" And the horseman answered: “No!" So the wali called the chief of police, and said to him: "Grab this man and search him!" So the policeman took me, for Allah's protection was no longer over me, and stripped me of all my clothes and finally found the purse which, indeed, was made of blue silk. And the wali took the purse, counted the money, and found that indeed it contained exactly twenty dinars of gold, as the horseman had affirmed.
Then the wali, furious, called his guards and the men of his retinue: “Bring this man!" Then I was brought into his hands, and he said to me: "You must, young man, confess the truth to me." So tell me if you yourself admit having stolen this purse. So, quite ashamed, I lowered my head, reflected for a moment, thinking in my soul: "If I say: It's not me! no one will believe me, since they have just found the purse on me; and if I say: I stole it! I get caught right away." But I finally made up my mind and said: "Yes, I stole it!"
When the wali heard these words, he was very surprised and called the witnesses and made them hear my words by making me repeat them in front of them. And this whole scene took place at Bab-Zaouïlat.
Then the wali ordered the sword-bearer to cut off my hand. And the sword-bearer immediately cut off my right hand. At this sight, the horseman took pity on me and interceded with the wali so that they would not cut off my other hand. And the wali granted this grace and left. And the people who were there had compassion on me and gave me a glass of wine to comfort me, because of the amount of blood that I had lost and the state of weakness in which I was. As for the horseman, he approached me, handed me the purse, put it in my hand, and said: "You are a distinguished young man, and the profession of thief does not suit you, my friend." So I accepted the purse and recited these stanzas:
“Wow! know, you, O best of men, that I have never been a thief in my life, nor a brigand either;
But misfortune precipitated me from the top of my chariot, and fierce destiny!
And since then I have only sunk myself in sorrows, worries, and misery.
And it is certainly not me who put myself in this state.
*But the Lord, when I was king, with his hand threw the javelin at me; *
And immediately the crown flew from my head!"
Then the horseman left me and went away, having thus compelled me to accept the purse. And I, too, walked away, wrapped my handkerchief around my arm, and hid it in the sleeve of my dress. And I had turned so pale and was in such a sorry state, from everything that had happened.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night