The Arabian Nights Entertainments
my feet, but all to no purpose. Then, putting a glass of wine into my
wife's hand, she will say to her, "There, present that to him yourself,
he cannot have the cruelty to reject anything offered by so beautiful a
hand," and my wife will take it and offer it to me tremblingly with
tears in her eyes, but I shall look in the other direction. This will
cause her to weep still more, and she will hold out the glass crying,
"Adorable husband, never shall I cease my prayers till you have done me
the favour to drink." Sick of her importunities, these words will goad
me to fury. I shall dart an angry look at her and give her a sharp
blow on the cheek, at the same time giving her a kick so violent that
she will stagger across the room and fall on to the sofa.
"My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams
that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the
basket of glass. It fell into the street and was instantly broken into
a thousand pieces."
His neighbour the tailor, who had been listening to his visions, broke
into a loud fit of laughter as he saw this sight.
"Wretched man!" he cried, "you ought to die of shame at behaving so to
a young wife who has done nothing to you. You must be a brute for her
tears and prayers not to touch your heart. If I were the grand-vizir I
would order you a hundred blows from a bullock whip, and would have you
led round the town accompanied by a herald who should proclaim your
crimes."
The accident, so fatal to all his profits, had restored my brother to
his senses, and seeing that the mischief had been caused by his own
insufferable pride, he rent his clothes and tore his hair, and lamented
himself so loudly that the passers-by stopped to listen. It was a
Friday, so these were more numerous than usual. Some pitied Alnaschar,
others only laughed at him, but the vanity which had gone to his head
had disappeared with his basket of glass, and he was loudly bewailing
his folly when a lady, evidently a person of consideration, rode by on
a mule. She stopped and inquired what was the matter, and why the man
wept. They told her that he was a poor man who had laid out all his
money on this basket of glass, which was now broken. On hearing the
cause of these loud wails the lady turned to her attendant and said to
him, "Give him whatever you have got with you." The man obeyed, and
placed in my brother's hands a purse containing five hundred pieces of
gold. Alnaschar almost died of joy on receiving it. He blessed the
lady a thousand times, and, shutting up his shop where he had no longer
anything to do, he returned home.
He was still absorbed in contemplating his good fortune, when a knock
came to his door, and on opening it he found an old woman standing
outside.
"My son," she said, "I have a favour to ask of you. It is the hour of
prayer and I have not yet washed myself. Let me, I beg you, enter your
house, and give me water."
My brother, although the old woman was a stranger to him, did not
hesitate to do as she wished. He gave her a vessel of water and then
went back to his place and his thoughts, and with his mind busy over
his last adventure, he put his gold into a long and narrow purse, which
he could easily carry in his belt. During this time the old woman was
busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she came and
prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down
endless blessings on his head. Observing her shabby clothes, my
brother thought that her gratitude was in reality a hint that he should
give her some money to buy some new ones, so he held out two pieces of
gold. The old woman started back in surprise as if she had received an
insult. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed, "what is the meaning of this?
Is it possible that you take me, my lord, for one of those miserable
creatures who force their way into houses to beg for alms? Take back
your money. I am thankful to say I do not need it, for I belong to a
beautiful lady who is very rich and gives me everything I want."
My brother was not clever enough to detect that the old woman had
merely refused the two pieces of money he had offered her in order to
get more, but he inquired if she could procure him the pleasure of
seeing this lady.
"Willingly," she replied; "and she will be charmed to marry you, and to
make you the master of all her wealth. So pick up your money and
follow me."
Delighted at the thought that he had found so easily both a fortune and
a beautiful wife, my brother asked no more questions, but concealing
his purse, with the money the lady had given him, in the folds of his
dress, he set out joyfully with his guide.
They walked for some distance till the old woman stopped at a large
house, where she knocked. The door was opened by a young Greek slave,
and the old woman led my brother across a well-paved court into a
well-furnished hall. Here she left him to inform her mistress of his
presence, and as the day was hot he flung himself on a pile of cushions
and took off his heavy turban. In a few minutes there entered a lady,
and my brother perceived at the first glance that she was even more
beautiful and more richly dressed than he had expected. He rose from
his seat, but the lady signed to him to sit down again and placed
herself beside him. After the usual compliments had passed between
them she said, "We are not comfortable here, let us go into another
room," and passing into a smaller chamber, apparently communicating
with no other, she continued to talk to him for some time. Then rising
hastily she left him, saying, "Stay where you are, I will come back in
a moment."
He waited as he was told, but instead of the lady there entered a huge
black slave with a sword in his hand. Approaching my brother with an
angry countenance he exclaimed, "What business have you here?" His
voice and manner were so terrific that Alnaschar had not strength to
reply, and allowed his gold to be taken from him, and even sabre cuts
to be inflicted on him without making any resistance. As soon as he
was let go, he sank on the ground powerless to move, though he still
had possession of his senses. Thinking he was dead, the black ordered
the Greek slave to bring him some salt, and between them they rubbed it
into his wounds, thus giving him acute agony, though he had the
presence of mind to give no sign of life. They then left him, and
their place was taken by the old woman, who dragged him to a trapdoor
and threw him down into a vault filled with the bodies of murdered men.
At first the violence of his fall caused him to lose consciousness, but
luckily the salt which had been rubbed into his wounds had by its
smarting preserved his life, and little by little he regained his
strength. At the end of two days he lifted the trapdoor during the
night and hid himself in the courtyard till daybreak, when he saw the
old woman leave the house in search of more prey. Luckily she did not
observe him, and when she was out of sight he stole from this nest of
assassins and took refuge in my house.
I dressed his wounds and tended him carefully, and when a month had
passed he was as well as ever. His one thought was how to be revenged
on that wicked old hag, and for this purpose he had a purse made large
enough to contain five hundred gold pieces, but filled it instead with
bits of glass. This he tied round him with his sash, and, disguising
himself as an old woman, he took a sabre, which he hid under his dress.
One morning as he was hobbling through the streets he met his old enemy
prowling to see if she could find anyone to decoy. He went up to her
and, imitating the voice of a woman, he said, "Do you happen to have a
pair of scales you could lend me? I have just come from Persia and
have brought with me five hundred gold pieces, and I am anxious to see
if they are the proper weight."
"Good woman," replied the old hag, "you could not have asked anyone
better. My son is a money-changer, and if you will follow me he will
weigh them for you himself. Only we must be quick or he will have gone
to his shop." So saying she led the way to the same house as before,
and the door was opened by the same Greek slave.
Again my brother was left in the hall, and the pretended son appeared
under the form of the black slave. "Miserable crone," he said to my
brother, "get up and come with me," and turned to lead the way to the
place of murder. Alnaschar rose too, and drawing the sabre from under
his dress dealt the black such a blow on his neck that his head was
severed from his body. My brother picked up the head with one hand,
and seizing the body with the other dragged it to the vault, when he
threw it in and sent the head after it. The Greek slave, supposing
that all had passed as usual, shortly arrived with the basin of salt,
but when she beheld Alnaschar with the sabre in his hand she let the
basin fall and turned to fly. My brother, however, was too quick for
her, and in another instant her head was rolling from her shoulders.
The noise brought the old woman running to see what was the matter, and
he seized her before she had time to escape. "Wretch!" he cried, "do
you know me?"
"Who are you, my lord?" she replied trembling all over. "I have never
seen you before."
"I am he whose house you entered to offer your hypocritical prayers.
Don't you remember now?"
She flung herself on her knees to implore mercy, but he cut her in four
pieces.
There remained only the lady, who was quite ignorant of all that was
taking place around her. He sought her through the house, and when at
last he found her, she nearly fainted with terror at the sight of him.
She begged hard for life, which he was generous enough to give her, but
he bade her to tell him how she had got into partnership with the
abominable creatures he had just put to death.
"I was once," replied she, "the wife of an honest merchant, and that
old woman, whose wickedness I did not know, used occasionally to visit
me. 'Madam,' she said to me one day, 'we have a grand wedding at our
house to-day. If you would do us the honour to be present, I am sure
you would enjoy yourself.' I allowed myself to be persuaded, put on my
richest dress, and took a purse with a hundred pieces of gold. Once
inside the doors I was kept by force by that dreadful black, and it is
now three years that I have been here, to my great grief."
"That horrible black must have amassed great wealth," remarked my
brother.
"Such wealth," returned she, "that if you succeed in carrying it all
away it will make you rich for ever. Come and let us see how much
there is."
She led Alnaschar into a chamber filled with coffers packed with gold,
which he gazed at with an admiration he was powerless to conceal.
"Go," she said, "and bring men to carry them away."
My brother did not wait to be told twice, and hurried out into the
streets, where he soon collected ten men. They all came back to the
house, but what was his surprise to find the door open, and the room
with the chests of gold quite empty. The lady had been cleverer than
himself, and had made the best use of her time. However, he tried to
console himself by removing all the beautiful furniture, which more
than made up for the five hundred gold pieces he had lost.
Unluckily, on leaving the house, he forgot to lock the door, and the
neighbours, finding the place empty, informed the police, who next
morning arrested Alnaschar as a thief. My brother tried to bribe them
to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and
forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge. When
they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked