The Story Told by the Sultan's Steward

I was last night with a party who celebrated a recitation
of the Kur'an, for which purpose they had assembled the
professors of religion and law; and when these reciters had
accomplished their task, the servants spread a repast, com-
prising among other dishes a zirbajeh. We approached,
therefore, to eat of the zirbajeh; but one of the company
drew back, and refused to partake of it: we conjured him;
yet he swore that he would not eat of it: and we pressed
him again; but he said, Press me not; for I have suffered
enough from eating of this dish. And when he had finished,
we said to him, By Allah, tell us the reason of thine abstain-
ing from eating of this zirbajeh. He replied, Because I
cannot eat of it imless I wash my hands forty times with
kali, and forty times with cyperus, and forty times with soap ;
altogether, a hundred and twenty times. And upon this,
the giver of the entertainment ordered his servants, and they
brought water and the other things which this man required:
so he washed his hands as he had described, and advanced,
though with disgust, and, having seated himself, stretched
forth his hand as one in fear, and put it into the zirbajeh,
and began to eat, while we regarded him with the utmost
wonder. His hand trembled, and when he put it forth, we
saw that his thumb was cut off, and that he ate with his four
fingers: we therefore said to him. We conjure thee, by Allah,
to tell us how was thy thumb maimed; was it thus created
by God, or hath some accident happened to it? — O my
brothers, he answered, not only have I lost this thumb,
but also the thumb of the other hand; and each of my feet
is in like manner deprived of the great toe : but see ye : —
and, so saying, he uncovered the stump of the thumb of
his other hand, and we found it hke the right; and so also
his feet, destitute of the great toes. At the sight of this,
our wonder increased, and we said to him, We are impatient
to hear thy story, and thine account of the cause of the
amputation of thy thumbs and great toes, and the reason
of thy washing thy hands a hundred and twenty times. So
he said, —

Know that my father was a great merchant, the chief of
the merchants of the city of Baghdad in the time of the
Khalifch Harun Er-Rashid ; but he was ardently addicted to
the drinking of wine, and hearing the lute; and when he
died, he left nothing. I buried him, and caused recitations
of the Kur'an to be performed for him, and, after I had
mourned for him days and nights, I opened his shop, and
found that he had left in it but few goods, and that his debts
were many : however, I induced his creditors to wait, and
calmed their minds, and betook myself to selling and buying
from week to week, and so paying the creditors.

Thus I continued to do for a considerable period, until
I had discharged all the debts and increased my capital ;
and as I was sitting one day, I beheld a young lady, than
whom my eye had never beheld any more beautiful, decked
with magnificent ornaments and apparel, riding on a mule,
with a slave before her and a slave behind her ; and she
stopped the mule at the entrance of the market-street, and
entered, followed by a eunuch, who said to her, O my mis-
tress, enter, but inform no one who thou art, lest thou open
the fire of indignation upon us. The eunuch then further
cautioned her; and when she looked at the shops of the
merchants, she found none more handsome than mine ; so,
when she arrived before me, with the eunuch following
her, she sat down upon the seat of my shop, and saluted me ;
and I never heard speech more charming than hers, or words
more sweet. She then drew aside the veil from her face,
and I directed at her a glance which drew from me a sigh ;
my heart was captivated by her love, and I continued re-
peatedly gazing at her face, and recited these two verses : —

Say to the beauty in the dove-coloured veil, Death would indeed
be welcome to relieve me from my torment.

Favour me with a visit, that so I may live. See, I stretch forth
my hand to accept thy liberality.

And when she had heard my recitation of them, she answered
thus : —

May I lose my heart if it cease to love you I For verily my heart

loveth none buf you.
If my eye regard any charms but yours, may the sight of you never

rejoice it after absence I

She then said to me, O youth, hast thou any handsome stuffs?
mistress, I answered, thy slave is a poor man; but
wait until the other merchants open their shops, and then
I will bring thee what thou desirest. So I conversed with
her, drowned in the sea of her love, and bewildered by my
passion for her, until the merchants had opened their shops,
when I arose, and procured all that she wanted, and the
price of these stuffs was five thousand pieces of silver: and
she handed them all to the ernuch, who took them; after
which, they both went out from the market-street, and the
slaves brought to her the mule, and she mounted, without
telling me whence she was, and I was ashamed to mention
the subject to her: consequently, I became answerable for the
price to the merchants, incurring a debt of five thousand
pieces of silver.

I went home, intoxicated with her love, and they placed
before me the supper, and I ate a morsel ; but reflections upon
her beauty and loveliness prevented my eating more. I
desired to sleep, but sleep came not to me; and in this con-
dition I remained for a week. The merchants demanded of
me their money; but I prevailed upon them to w-ait another
week; and after this week, the lady came again, riding upon
a mule, and attended by a eunuch and two other slaves ; and,
having saluted me, said, O my master, we have been tardy
in bringing to thee the price of the stuffs: bring now the
money-changer, and receive it. So the money-changer came,
and the eunuch gave him the money, and I took it. and sat
conversing with her until the market was replenished, and
the merchants opened their shops, when she said to me.
Procure for me such and such things. Accordingly, I pro-
cured for her what she desired of the merchants, and she
took the goods and departed without saying anything to me
respecting the price. When she had gone, therefore, I re-
pented of what I had done ; for I had procured for her what
she demanded for the price of a thousand pieces of gold ; and
as soon as she had disappeared from my sight, I said within
myself. What kind of love is this? She hath brought me
five thousand pieces of silver, and taken goods for a thousand
pieces of gold ! — I feared that the result would be my bank-
ruptcy and the loss of the property of others, and said, The
merchants know none but me, and this woman is no other
than a cheat, who hath imposed upon me by her beauty and
loveliness: seeing me to be young, she hath laughed at me,
and I asked her not where was her residence.

I remained in a state of perplexity, and her absence was
prolonged more than a month. Meanwhile the merchants
demanded of me their money, and so pressed me that I
offered my possessions for sale, and was on the brink of
ruin ; but as I was sitting absorbed in reflection, suddenly
she alighted at the gate of the market-street, and came in to
me. As soon as I beheld her, my solicitude ceased, and I
forgot the trouble which I had suffered. She approached,
and addressed me with her agreeable conversation, and
said. Produce the scales, and weigh thy money : — and she
gave me the price of the goods which she had taken, with a
surplus ; after which, she amused herself by talking with me,
and I almost died with joy and happiness. She then said
to me. Hast thou a wife? I answered, No: for I am not
acquainted with any woman : and wept. So she asked me,
What causeth thee to weep? And I answered, A thought
that hath come into my mind: — and, taking some pieces of
gold, gave them to the eunuch, requesting him to grant me
his mediation in the affair; upon which he laughed, and said.
She is in love with thee more than thou art with her, and
hath no want of the stuffs, but hath done this only from her
love of thee : propose to her, therefore, what thou wilt ; for
she will not oppose thee in that which thou wilt say. Now
she observed me giving the pieces of gold to the eunuch, and
returned, and resumed her seat; and I said to her, Shew
favour to thy slave, and pardon me for that which I am about
to say. I then acquainted her with the feelings of my heart,
and my declaration pleased her, and she consented to my
proposal, saying, This eunuch will come with my letter ;
and do thou what he shall tell thee; — and she arose, and
departed.

I went to the merchants, and delivered to them their
money, and all profited except myself; for when she left
me I mourned for the interruption of our intercourse, and I
slept not during the whole gf the next night : but a few
days after, her eunuch came to me, and I received him with
honour, and asked him respecting his mistress. He answered,
She is sick : — and I said to him, Disclose to me her history.
He replied, The lady Zubeydeh, the wife of Harun Er-Rashid,
brought up this damsel, and she is one of her slaves : she
had desired of her mistress to be allowed the liberty of
going out and returning at pleasure, and the latter gave
her permission : she continued, therefore, to do so until she
became a chief confident; after which, she spoke of thee
to her mistress, and begged that she would marry her to
thee : but her mistress said, I will not do it until I see this
young man, and if he have a desire for thee, I will marry
thee to him. We therefore wish to introduce thee imme-
diately into the palace ; and if thou enter without any one's
having knowledge of thy presence, thou wilt succeed in
accomplishing thy marriage with her ; but if thy plot be dis-
covered, thy head will be struck off. What, then, sayest thou?
— I answered. Good: I will go with thee, and await the event
that shall befall me there. — As soon, then, as this next night
shall have closed in, said the eunuch, repair to the mosque
which the lady Zubeydeh hath built on the banks of the
Tigris, and there say thy prayers, and pass the night. — Most
willingly. I replied.

Accordingly, when the time of nightfall arrived, I went
to the mosque, and said my prayers there, and passed the
night ; and as soon as the morning began to dawn I saw
two eunuchs approaching in a small boat, conveying some
empty chests, which they brought into the mosque. One
of them then departed, and the other remained; and I
looked attentively at him, and lo, it was he who had been
our intermediary : and soon after, the damsel, my companion,
came up to us. I rose to her when she approached, and
embraced her ; and she kissed me. and wept ; and after we
had conversed together for a little while, she took me and
placed me in a chest, and locked it upon me. The slaves
then brought a quantity of stuffs, and filled with them the
other chests, which they locked, and conveyed, together
with the chest in which I was enclosed, to the boat, accom-
panied by the damsel ; and having embarked them, they
plied the oars, and proceeded to the palace of the honoured
lady Zubeydeh. The intoxication of love now ceased in
me, and reflection came in its place : I repented of what I
had done, and prayed God to deliver me from my dangerous
predicament.

Meanwhile, they arrived at the gate of the Khalifeh,
where they landed, and took out all the chests, and con-
veyed them into the palace: but the chief of the door-
keepers, who had been asleep when they arrived, was awoke
by the sounds of their voices, and cried out to the damsel,
saying. The chests must be opened, that I may see what is
in them : — and he arose, and placed his hand upon the chest
in which I was hidden. My reason abandoned me, my heart
almost burst from my body, and my limbs trembled; but
the damsel said, These are the chests of the lady Zubeydeh,
and if thou open them and turn them over, she will be
incensed against thee, and we shall all perish. They con-
tain nothing but clothes dyed of various colours, except this
chest upon which thou hast put thy hand, in which there
are also some bottles filled with the water of Zemzem,^" and
if any of the water run out upon the clothes it will spoil their
colours. Now I have advised thee, and it is for thee to
decide : so do what thou wilt. — When he heard, therefore,
these words, he said to her, Take the chests, and pass on : —
and the eunuchs immediately took them up, and with the
damsel, conveyed them into the palace : but in an instant,
I heard a person crying out, and saving. The Khalifeh!
The Khalifeh!

I was bereft of my reason, and seized with a colic from
excessive fear; I almost died, and my limbs were affected
with a violent shaking. The Khalifeh cried out to the damsel,
saying to her, What are these chests? She answered, O my
lord (may God exalt thy dominion!), these chests contain
clothes of my mistress Zubeydeh. — Open them, said the
Khalifeh, that I may see the clothes. — When I heard this,
I felt sure of my destruction. The damsel could not dis-
obey his command; but she replied, O Prince of the Faithful,
there is nothing in these chests but clothes of the lady
Zubeydeh, and she hath commanded me not to open them
to any one. The Khalifeh, however, said. The chests must
be opened, all of them, that I may see their contents : —
and immediately he called out to the eunuchs to bring them
before him. I therefore felt certain that I was on the point
of destruction. They then brought before him chest after
chest, and opened each to him, and he examined the con-
tents; and when they brought forward the chest in which
I was enclosed, I bid adieu to life, and prepared myself
for death ; but as the eunuchs were about to open it, the
damsel, said, O Prince of the Faithful, verily this chest con-
taineth things especially appertaining to women ; and it is
proper, therefore, that it should be opened before the lady
Zubeydeh: — and when the Khalifeh heard her words, he
ordered the eunuchs to convey all the chests into the interior
of the palace. The damsel then hastened, and ordered two
eunuchs to carry away the chest in which I was hidden, and
they took it to an inner chamber, and went their way; where-
upon she quickly opened it, and made a sign to me to come
out : so I did as she desired, and entered a closet that was
before me, and she locked the door upon me, and closed the
chest: and when the eunuchs had brought in all the chests,
and had gone back, she opened the door of the closet, and
said. Thou hast nothing to fear! May God refresh thine
eye ! Come forth now, and go up with me, that thou mayest
have the happiness of kissing the ground before the lady
Zubeydeh.

I therefore went with her, and beheld twenty other female
slaves, high-bosomed virgins, and among them was the
lady Zubeydeh, who was scarcely able to walk from the
weight of the robes and ornaments with which she was
decked. As she approached, the female slaves dispersed
from around her, and I advanced to her, and kissed the
ground before her. She made a sign to me to sit down: so
I seated myself before her; and she began to ask me ques-
tions respecting my condition and Hneage; to all of which
I gave such answers that she was pleased, and said, By Allah,
the care which we have bestowed on the education of this
damsel hath not been in vain. She then said to me, Know
that this damsel is esteemed by us as though she were
really our child, and she is a trust committed to thy care
by God. Upon this, therefore, I again kissed the ground
before her, well pleased to marry the damsel; after which,
she commanded me to remain with them ten days. Accord-
ingly, I continued with them during this period; but I knew
nothing meanwhile of the damsel ; certain of the maids only
bringing me my dinner and supper, as my servants. After
this, however, the lady Zubeydeh asked permission of her
husband, the Prince of the Faithful, to marry her maid, and
he granted her request, and ordered that ten thousand pieces
of gold should be given to her.

The lady Zubeydeh, therefore, sent for the Kadi and
witnesses, and they wrote my contract of marriage to the
damsel ; and the maids then prepared sweetmeats and ex-
quisite dishes, and distributed them in all the apartments.
Thus they continued to do for a period of ten more days ;
and after the twenty days had passed, they conducted the
damsel into the bath, preparatively to my being introduced
to her as her husband. They then brought to me a repast
comprising a basin of zirbajeh sweetened with sugar, per-
fumed with rQse-water infused with musk, and containing
different kinds of fricandoed fowls and a variety of other
ingredients, such as astonished the mind ; and, by Allah,
when this repast was brought, I instantly commenced upon
the zirbajeh, and ate of it as much as satisfied me, and
wiped my hand, but forgot to wash it. I remained sitting
until it became dark; when the maids lighted the candles,
and the singing-girls approached with the tambourines, and
they continued to display the bride, and to give presents of
gold, until she had perambulated the whole of the palace;
after which they brought her to me, and disrobed her; and
as soon as I was left alone with her, I threw my arms around
her neck, scarcely believing in our union : but as I did so,
she perceived the smell of the zirbajeh from my hand, and
immediately uttered a loud cry : whereupon the female slaves
ran in to her from every quarter.

I was violently agitated, not knowing what was the
matter; and the slaves who had come in said to her. What
hath happened to thee, O our sister? — Take away from me,
she exclaimed to them, this madman, whom I imagined
to be a man of sense ! — What indication of my insanity
hath appeared to thee? I asked. Thou madman, said she,
wherefore hast thou eaten of the zirbajeh, and not washed
thy hand? By Allah, I will not accept thee for thy want of
sense, and thy disgusting conduct ! — And so saying, she took
from her side a whip, and beat me with it upon my back
until I became insensible from the number of the stripes.
She then said to the other maids, Take him to the magistrate
of the city police, that he may cut off his hand with which
he ate the zirbajeh without washing it afterwards. On hear-
ing this, I exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in
God! Wilt thou cut off my hand on account of my eating
a zirbajeh and neglecting to wash it? — And the maids who
were present entreated her, saying to her, O our sister, be
not angry with him for what he hath done this time. But
she replied. By Allah, I must cut off something from his
extremities ! And immediately she departed, and was absent
from me ten days : after which, she came again, and said
to me, O thou black-faced ! Am I not worthy of thee ? How
didst thou dare to eat the zirbajeh and not wash thy hand? —
And she called to the maids, who bound my hands behind
me, and she took a sharp razor, and cut off both my thumbs
and both my great toes, as ye see, O companions ; and I
swooned away. She then sprinkled upon my wounds some
powder, by means of which the blood was stanched ; and
I said, I will not eat of a zirbajeh as long as I live unless
I wash my hands forty times with kali and forty times with
cyperus and forty times with soap: — and she exacted of me
an oath that I would not eat of this dish unless I washed my
hands as I have described to you. Therefore, when this
zirbajeh was brought, my colour changed, and I said within
myself, This was the cause of the cutting off of my thumbs
and great toes : — so, when ye compelled me, I said, I must
fulfil the oath which I have sworn.

I then said to him (continued the Sultan's steward). And
what happened to thee after that? He answered, When I
had thus sworn to her, she was appeased, and I was admitted
into her favour and we lived happily together for a con-
siderable time: after which she said. The people of the
Khali fch's palace know not that thou hast resided here with
me, and no strange man beside thee hath entered it; nor
didst thou enter but through the assistance of the lady Zu-
beydeh. She then gave me fifty thousand pieces of gold,
and said to me. Take these pieces of gold, and go forth and
buy for us a spacious house. So I went forth, and purchased
a handsome and spacious house, and removed thither all the
riches that she possessed, and all that she had treasured up,
and her dresses and rarities. — This was the cause of the
amputation of my thumbs and great toes. — So we ate (said
the Sultan's steward), and departed; and after this, the
accident with the humpback happened to me: this is all my
story; and peace be on thee.

The King said, This is not more pleasant than the story
of the humpback: nay, the story of the humpback is more
pleasant than this ; and ye must all of you be crucified. — ¦
The Jew, however, then came forward, and, having kissed
the ground, said, O King of the age, I will relate to thee a
story more wonderful than that of the humpback : — and the
King said, Relate thy story. So he commenced thus "The Story Told by the Jewish Physician."