THE STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK WITH THE TAILOR, THE JEW, THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD
The Jewish Doctor's Narrative, Part 2.
ON THE THIRTEENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
My uncles left me alone in Damascus and made their way to Egypt.
As for me, I continued to live in Damascus, where I rented a marvelous house whose beauties the human language would be powerless to enumerate. It cost me two gold dinars a month. But that's not all. I began to incur large expenses and live by satisfying all my desires, and not depriving myself of any food or any kind of drink. And it went on like this until I had spent all the money I had.
Meanwhile, as I was one day sitting in the doorway of my house, I saw approaching me a lavishly dressed young girl, surpassing in elegance anything I had seen in my life. I rose quickly and invited her to grace my house with her presence. She made no fuss about it and gently crossed the threshold and entered the interior. I then closed the door behind us and, all joyful, I picked her up in my arms and carried her into the great hall. There she uncovered herself, took off her large veil, and appeared to me in all her beauty. I found her so lovely that I fell completely in love.
So I did not fail to run immediately to fetch the tablecloth, which I covered with succulent dishes, the most select fruits, and all that my duty entailed in such circumstances. And we began to eat and frolic, then to drink, so much that we got completely tipsy. I took her then. And the night I spent with her until morning will certainly be among the best of my life, that's obvious. So I thought I was doing the right thing by offering her, in the morning, ten gold dinars. But she refused and swore that she would never be able to accept anything from me. Then she said to me: “Besides, my darling, I will come back to see you in three days, at dusk. So wait for me without fail. And since I'm the one who invites me to your house, I don't want to be a source of expense for you. It is therefore I who will give you the money to prepare a feast like the one today. At these words she handed me ten gold dinars which she forced me to accept; then she bade me farewell and left me, taking all my reason with her. But, as she had promised me, at the end of three days she came back to see me; and she was dressed still more richly than the first time, and so beautifully that the tongue would try in vain to describe the gold-embroidered fabrics and the silks that adorned her. For my part, I had prepared everything necessary, and really I had spared nothing. So we began to eat and drink as before, and we certainly did not fail to sleep together, and that until morning. She promised me that she would be back in three days. And, in fact, she came as agreed, and, for my part, I received her with all the honors that were due to her. It was then that she said to me: “My beloved master, do you really find me beautiful?" I replied: “Heh! Surely, by Allah!" She said to me: “Then I can ask your permission to bring here with me another girl even more beautiful than me and younger, so that she can have fun with us and that we can laugh and play together; for it was she who begged me to take her out with me so that we could amuse ourselves together and do silly things the three of us." So I accepted wholeheartedly. She gave me, this time, twenty gold dinars and recommended I leave no stone unturned to prepare everything necessary and receive them with dignity on their arrival, her and the other girl, her companion. Then she bade me farewell and left.
So, on the fourth day, I did not fail, as usual, to do everything generously, especially given that it was necessary to receive the newcomer with dignity. And, as soon as the sun set, I saw my friend arrive accompanied by another girl who was wrapped in a large veil. They came in and sat down. And I, all joyful, got up, lit the torches, and placed myself entirely at their orders. They then get rid of their veils and I could contemplate the new young lady. God! God! She was like the full moon, and I thought to myself that she was even more beautiful than anything our eyes had seen before! So I hastened to serve them and bring them the trays filled with food and drink, and they began to eat and drink. And I, meanwhile, kissed the new young girl and filled her cup and drank with her. But this did not fail to make the first teenager jealous, who however did not show it and even said to me: “By Allah! this young woman is delicious! And besides, don't you think she's much better than me?" I replied naively: “You are right, indeed!" She said to me: "Take her then and go to sleep with her, that will make me happy!" I answered: "Your orders, I respect them and put them on my head and in my eyes!" She then got up and prepared the bed for us herself and led us there. And immediately I lay down against my new friend and possessed her until morning.
But behold, when I awoke I found my hand covered with blood; I thought I saw the thing in a dream and rubbed my eyes to really realize, and I saw that it was very real. As it was already broad daylight, I wanted to wake the still-sleeping girl, and I lightly touched her head. And immediately the head separated from the body and rolled on the ground.
The jealousy of the other had done its work.
Not knowing what to do, I spent an hour thinking, then I decided to get up, undress, and dig a pit in the very room where we were. I, therefore, removed the marble slabs and began to dig and made a hole large enough to contain the body, which I immediately buried; then I filled in the pit and put the marble slabs back in the same state as before.
"That done, I dressed, I took all that I still had of money, I went out and went to find the owner of the house and paid him in advance the price of a new year's lease and said to him: "I I have to leave for Egypt, join my uncles who are waiting for me there." And I left.
When I arrived in Cairo, I found my uncles there, who were very happy when they saw me and asked me why I had decided to come to Egypt. I answered them: “Simply the great desire to see you again, and the fear of spending in Damascus what money I have left." So they invited me to stay with them; I accepted. And so I stayed with them for a whole year, enjoying myself, drinking, eating, seeing the interesting things in the city, admiring the Nile, and rejoicing in every way. Unfortunately, at the end of this time, my uncles, who had made their profit by selling their goods, thought of returning to Mosul; but, as I did not wish to accompany them there, I disappeared to avoid them, and they left alone, saying to themselves: "It is probable that he has left for Damascus to precede us there to prepare the accommodation since he knows this city."
After their departure, I resumed spending and eating my money, and so I remained in Cairo for another three years; and every year I regularly sent the price of the rent of my house to my landlord in Damascus. At the end of these three years, as I barely had enough left to make the trip, I decided, also because of the boredom and idleness in which I was, to return to Damascus.
So I left and arrived in Damascus and immediately went to my house where, barely on the threshold, I was received with great joy by my landlord, who welcomed me and gave me the keys to my house and showed me that the lock was still intact and still sealed with my seal. And, indeed, I went in and saw that everything was exactly the same as I had put it.
The first thing I did was to immediately wash the floor to remove all traces of the blood of the young woman killed by her jealous friend; and only then, reassured, did I go to bed to rest from the fatigues of the journey. And 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.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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