Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 09 — Night 943 - 944

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-third Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King's wife sent to the King to say, "These are not my property;

nay, these gems are finer than those of my necklace.

So oppress not this man; but, if he will sell them, buy them for thy daughter Umm al-Su'úd,[FN#248] that we may set them in a necklace for her."

When the eunuch returned and told the King what the Queen said, he damned the Syndic of the jewellers, him and his company, with the damnation of Ád and Thamúd,[FN#249] and they said to him, "O King of the age, we knew this man for a poor fisherman and deemed such things too much for him,[FN#250] so we supposed that he had stolen them."

Cried the King, "O ye filthy villains, begrudge ye a True Believer good fortune?

Why did ye not make due enquiry of him?

Haply Allah Almighty hath vouchsafed him these things from a source whereupon he reckoned not.

Why did ye make him out a thief and disgrace him amongst the folk?

Begone, and may Allah never bless you!"

So they went out affrighted and the King said to Abdullah, "O man (Allah bless thee in all He hath bestowed on thee!

), no harm shall befal thee;

but tell me truly, whence gottest thou these jewels; for I am a King yet have I not the like of them."

The fisherman replied, "O King of the age, I have a fish-basket full of them at home and the case is thus and thus."

Then he told him of his friendship with the Merman, adding, "We have made a covenant together that I shall bring him every day a basket full of fruit and that he shall fill me the basket with these jewels."

Quoth the King, O man this is thy lucky lot; but wealth needeth rank,[FN#251] I will defend thee for the present against men's domineering; but haply I shall be deposed or die and another rule in my stead, and he shall slay thee because of his love of the goods of this world and his covetousness.

So I am minded to marry thee to my daughter and make thee my Wazir and bequeath thee the kingdom after me, so none may hanker for thy riches when I am gone.

Then said he, "Hie with this man to the Hammam."

So they bore him to the Baths and bathed his body and robed him in royal raiment, after which they brought him back to the King, and he made him his Wazir and sent to his house couriers and the soldiers of his guard and all the wives of the notables, who clad his wife and children in Kingly costume and mounting the woman in a horse- litter, with the little child in her lap, walked before her to the palace, escorted by the troops and couriers and officers.

They also brought her elder children in to the King who made much of them, taking them in his lap and seating them by his side; for they were nine children male and the King had no son and heir nor had he been blessed with any child save this one daughter, Umm al-Su'ud hight.

Meanwhile the Queen entreated Abdullah's wife with honour and bestowed favours on her and made her Waziress to her.

Then the King bade draw up the marriage contract between his daughter and Abdullah of the Land[FN#252] who assigned to her, as her dower, all the gems and precious stones in his possession, and they opened the gates of festival.

The King commanded by proclamation to decorate the city, in honour of his daughter's wedding.

Then Abdullah went in unto the Princess and abated her maidenhead.

Next morning the King looked out of the lattice and saw Abdullah carrying on his head a fish-crate full of fruit.

So he called to him, "What hast thou there, O my son- in-law, and whither wendest thou?"

The fisherman replied, "To my friend, Abdullah the Merman;" and the King said, "O my son-in- law, this is no time to go to thy comrade."

Quoth Abdullah, "Indeed, I fear to break tryst with him, lest he reckon me a liar and say, 'The things of the world have diverted thee from me,'" and quoth the King, "Thou speakest sooth: go to thy friend and God help thee!"

So he walked through the city on his way to his companion; and, as he went, he heard the folk who knew him say, "There goeth the King's son-in-law to exchange fruit for gems;"

whilst those who knew him not said, "Ho, fellow, how much a pound?

Come, sell to me."

And he answered, saying, "Wait till I come back to thee," for that he would not hurt the feelings of any man.

Then he fared on till he came to the sea-shore and foregathered with his friend Abdullah the Merman, to whom he delivered the fruit, receiving gems in return.

He ceased not doing thus till one day, as he passed by the baker's oven, he found it closed; and so he did ten days, during which time the oven remained shut and he saw nothing of the baker.

So he said to himself, "This is a strange thing!

Would I wot whither the baker went!"

Then he enquired of his neighbour, saying, "O my brother, where is thy neighbour the baker and what hath Allah done with him?"

; and the other responded, "O my lord, he is sick and cometh not forth of his house."

"Where is his house?"

asked Abdullah; and the other answered, "In such a quarter."

So he fared thither and enquired of him; but, when he knocked at the door, the baker looked out of window and seeing his friend the fisherman, full basket on head, came down and opened the door to him.

Abdullah entered and throwing himself on the baker embraced him and wept, saying, "How dost thou, O my friend?

Every day, I pass by thine oven and see it unopened; so I asked thy neighbour, who told me that thou wast sick; therefore I enquired for thy house, that I might see thee."

Answered the baker, "Allah requite thee for me with all good!

Nothing aileth me; but it reached me that the King had taken thee, for that certain of the folk had lied against thee and accused thee of being a robber wherefore I feared and shut shop and hid myself."

"True," said Abdullah and told him all that had befallen him with the King and the Shaykh of the jewellers' bazar, adding "Moreover, the King hath given me his daughter to wife and made me his Wazir;" and, after a pause, "So do thou take what is in this fish-basket to thy share and fear naught."

Then he left him, after having done away from him his affright, and returned with the empty crate to the King, who said to him, "O my son-in-law, 'twould seem thou hast not foregathered with thy friend the Merman to-day."

Replied Abdullah, "I went to him but that which he gave me I gave to my gossip the baker, to whom I owe kindness."

"Who may be this baker?"

asked the King; and the fisherman answered, "He is a benevolent man, who did with me thus and thus in the days of my poverty and never neglected me a single day nor hurt my feelings."

Quoth the King, "What is his name?"

; and quoth the fisherman "His name is Abdullah the Baker; and my name is Abdullah of the Land and that of my friend the Merman Abdullah of the Sea."

Rejoined the King, "And my name also is Abdullah; and the servants of Allah[FN#253] are all brethren.

So send and fetch thy friend the baker, that I may make him my Wazir of the left."

[FN#254] So he sent for the baker who speedily came to the presence, and the King invested him with the Wazirial uniform and made him Wazir of the left, making Abdullah of the Land his Wazir of the right.

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-fourth Night, She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King made his son-in-law, Abdullah of the Land, Wazir of the right and Abdullah the baker Wazir of the left.

In such condition the fisherman abode a whole year, every day carrying for the Merman the crate full of fruit and receiving it back, full of jewels; and when fruit failed from the gardens, he carried him raisins and almonds and filberts and walnuts and figs and so forth; and all that he brought for him the Merman accepted and returned him the fish-basket full of jewels according to his custom.

Now it chanced one day that he carried him the crate, full of dry[FN#255] fruits as was his wont, and his friend took them from him.

Then they sat down to converse, Abdullah the fisherman on the beach and Abdullah the Merman in the water near the shore, and discoursed; and the talk went round between them, till it fell upon the subject of sepulchres; whereat quoth the Merman, "O my brother, they say that the Prophet (whom Allah assain and save!

) is buried with you on the land.

Knowest thou his tomb?"

Abdullah replied, "Yes; it lieth in a city called Yathrib.

[FN#256]" Asked the Merman, "And do the people of the land visit it?"

"Yes," answered the fisherman, and the other said, "I give you joy, O people of the land, of visiting[FN#257] that noble Prophet and compassionate, which whoso visiteth meriteth his intercession!

Hast thou made such visitation, O my brother?"

Replied the fisherman, "No: for I was poor and had not the necessary sum[FN#258] to spend by the way, nor have I been in easy case but since I knew thee and thou bestowedst on me this good fortune.

But such visitation behoveth me after I have pilgrimed to the Holy House of Allah[FN#259] and naught withholdeth me therefrom but my love to thee, because I cannot leave thee for one day."

Rejoined the Merman, "And dost thou set the love of me before the visitation of the tomb of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!

), who shall intercede for thee on the Day of Review before Allah and shall save thee from the Fire and through whose intercession thou shalt enter Paradise?

And dost thou, for the love of the world, neglect to visit the tomb of thy Prophet[FN#260] Mohammed, whom God bless and preserve?"

Replied Abdullah, "No, by Allah, I set the visitation of the Prophet's tomb above all else, and I crave thy leave to pray before it this year."

The Merman rejoined, "I grant thee leave, on condition that when thou shalt stand by his sepulchre thou salute him for me with the Salam.

Furthermore I have a trust to give thee; so come thou with me into the sea, that I may carry thee to my city and entertain thee in my house and give thee a deposit; which when thou takest thy station by the Prophet's tomb, do thou lay thereon, saying, 'O apostle of Allah, Abdullah the Merman saluteth thee, and sendeth thee this present, imploring thine intercession to save him from the Fire.'

" Said the fisherman, "O my brother, thou wast created in the water and water is thy abiding-place and doth thee no hurt, but, if thou shouldst come forth to the land, would any harm betide thee?"

The Merman replied, "Yes; my body would dry up and the breezes of the land would blow upon me and I should die."

Rejoined the fisherman, "And I, in like manner, was created on the land and the land is my abiding-place; but, an I went down into the sea, the water would enter my belly and choke me and I should die."

Retorted the other, "Have no fear for that, for I will bring thee an ointment, wherewith when thou hast anointed thy body, the water will do thee no hurt, though thou shouldst pass the lave of thy life going about in the great deep: and thou shalt lie down and rise up in the sea and naught shall harm thee."

Quoth the fisherman, "An the case by thus, well and good; but bring me the ointment, so that I may make trial of it;" and quoth the Merman, "So be it;" then, taking the fish-basket disappeared in the depths.

He was absent awhile, and presently returned with an unguent as it were the fat of beef, yellow as gold and sweet of savour.

Asked the fisherman, "What is this, O my brother?"

; and answered the Merman, "'Tis the liver-fat of a kind of fish called the Dandán,[FN#261] which is the biggest of all fishes and the fiercest of our foes.

His bulk is greater than that of any beast of the land, and were he to meet a camel or an elephant, he would swallow it at a single mouthful."

Abdullah enquired, "O my brother, what doth this baleful beast?"

; and the Merman replied, "He eateth of the beasts of the sea.

Hast thou not heard the saying, 'Like the fishes of the sea: forcible eateth feeble?

[FN#262]'" "True; but have you many of these Dandans in the sea?"

"Yes, there be many of them with us.

None can tell their tale save Almighty Allah."

"Verily, I fear lest, if I go down with thee into the deep a creature of this kind fall in with me and devour me."

"Have no fear: when he seeth thee, he will know thee for a son of Adam and will fear thee and flee.

He dreadeth none in the sea as he dreadeth a son of Adam; for that an he eateth a man he dieth forthright, because human fat is a deadly poison to this kind of creature; nor do we collect its liver-speck save by means of a man, when he falleth into the sea and is drowned; for that his semblance becometh changed and ofttimes his flesh is torn; so the Dandan eateth him, deeming him the same of the denizens of the deep, and dieth.

Then we light upon our enemy dead and take the speck of his liver and grease ourselves so that we can over-wander the main in safety.

Also, wherever there is a son of Adam, though there be in that place an hundred or two hundred or a thousand or more of these beasts, all die forthright an they but hear him,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.