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their impiety and frowardness and in the error of their ways. One
day, they heard a voice from on high, proclaiming aloud, with a
noise like the resounding thunder, so that all heard it far and
near, and saying, O people of the city, turn from your worship
of the fire and serve God the Compassionate King! At this, fear
fell on the people of the city and they crowded to my father and
said to him; What is this awful voice that we have heard and
that has confounded us with the excess of its terror? But
he said, Let not a voice fright you nor turn you from your
faith. Their hearts inclined to his word and they ceased not to
worship the fire, but redoubled in their frowardness, till the
anniversary of the day on which they had heard the supernatural
voice. When they heard it anew, and so again a third time at the
end of the second year. Still they persisted in their evil ways,
till one day, at break of dawn, judgment descended on them and
wrath from heaven, and they were all turned into black stones,
they and their beasts and cattle; and none was spared, save
myself. From that day to this, I have remained as thou seest me,
occupying myself with prayer and fasting and reading the Koran
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aloud; and indeed I am grown weary of solitude, having none to
bear me company. Then said I to him (and indeed he had won my
heart), O youth, wilt thou go with me to the city of Baghdad and
foregather with men of learning and theologians and grow in
wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Law? If so, I will
be thy handmaid, albeit I am head of my family and mistress over
men and slaves and servants. I have here a ship laden with
merchandise; and indeed it was providence drove us to this city,
that I might come to the knowledge of these things, for it was
fated that we should meet. And I ceased not to speak him fair
and persuade him, till he consented to go with me, and I passed
the night at his feet, beside myself for joy. When it was day, we
repaired to the treasuries and took thence what was little of
weight and great of value; then went down into the town, where we
met the slaves and the captain seeking for me. When they saw me,
they rejoiced and I told them all I had seen and related to them
the story of the young man and of the curse that had fallen on
the people of the city. At this they wondered: but when my
sisters saw me with the prince, they envied me on his account and
were enraged and plotted mischief against me in their hearts.
Then we took ship again, beside ourselves for joy in the booty we
had gotten, though the most of my joy was in the prince, and
waited till the wind blew fair for us, when we set sail and
departed. As we sat talking, my sisters said to me, O sister,
what wilt thou do with this handsome young man? I purpose to
make him my husband, answered I; and I turned to the prince and
said, O my lord, I have that to propose to thee, in which I will
not have thee cross me: and it is that, when we reach Baghdad, I
will give myself to thee as a handmaid in the way of marriage,
and thou shalt be my husband and I thy wife. Quoth he, I hear
and obey; thou art my lady and my mistress, and whatever thou
dost, I will not cross thee. Then I turned to my sisters and
said to them, This young man suffices me; and those who have
gotten aught, it is theirs. Thou sayest well, replied they;
but in their hearts they purposed me evil. We sailed on with a
fair wind, till we left the sea of peril and came into safe
waters, and in a few days, we came in sight of the walls of
Bassora, even as night overtook us. My sisters waited till the
prince and I were asleep, when they took us up, bed and all, and
threw us into the sea. The prince, who could not swim, was
drowned and God wrote him of the company of the martyrs. As for
me, would I had been drowned with him! But God decreed that I
should be of the saved; so He threw in my way a piece of wood and
I got astride of it, and the waters tossed me about till they
cast me up on an island. I landed and walked about the island the
rest of the night, and when the day broke, I saw a footway,
leading to the mainland. By this time, the sun had risen; so I
dried my clothes in its rays and ate of the fruits of the island
and drank of its waters. Then I set out and fared on till I
reached the mainland and found myself but two hours distant from
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the city. So I sat down to rest and presently I saw a great
serpent, the bigness of a palm-tree, come fleeing towards me,
with all her might, whilst her tongue for weariness hung from her
mouth a span s length and swept the dust as she went. She was
pursued by a dragon, as long and thin as a spear, which presently
overtook her and seized her by the tail whereat the tears
streamed from her eyes and she wriggled from side to side. I took
pity on her and catching up a stone, threw it at the dragon s
head and killed him on the spot. Then the serpent spread a pair
of wings and flew away out of sight, leaving me wondering. Now I
was tired and drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for
awhile. When I awoke, I found a damsel sitting at my feet,
rubbing them, and with her, two black bitches, and I was ashamed
before her; so I sat up and said to her, O my sister, who art
thou? How quickly thou hast forgotten me! answered she. I am
the serpent, whom thou didst deliver from my enemy by killing
him, for I am a Jinniyeh[FN54] and the dragon was a genie; and I
was only saved from him by thy kindness. As soon as thou hadst
done me this service, I flew on the wind to your ship and
transported all that was therein to thy house. Then I sank the
vessel and changed thy sisters into two black bitches, for I know
all that has passed between thee and them: but as for the young
man, he is drowned. So saying, she flew up with me and the two
bitches and presently set us down on the roof of my house, where
I found all the goods that were in my ship, nor was aught
missing. Then she said to me, By that which is written on the
seal of our lord Solomon (on whom be peace!) except thou give
each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I will come
and make thee like unto them. I hear and obey, answered I; and
since then I have never failed to beat them thus, O Commander of
the Faithful, pitying them the while; and they know it is no
fault of mine that they are beaten and accept my excuse. And this
is my story. The Khalif marvelled at her story and said to the
portress, And thou, how camest thou by the weals on thy body?
O Commander of the Faithful, answered she:
Story of the Portress.
My father died and left me great wealth, and soon after his
death I married one of the richest men of Baghdad. At the end of
a year he too died and I inherited from him fourscore thousand
dinars, being my lawful share of his property; so that I became
passing rich and the report of my wealth spread abroad, for I got
me half a score suits of clothes, each worth a thousand dinars.
One day, as I was sitting alone, there came in to me an old woman
with sunken cheeks and worn eyebrows, bleared eyes and broken
teeth, blotched face and bald head, grizzled hair and bent and
mangy body, running nose and sallow complexion, even as says the
poet of the like of her:
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A right pernicious hag! Unshriven be her sins, Nor let her mercy
find what time she comes to die!
So full of wile she is, that with a single thread Of spider s
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