The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition) (11 page)

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what a strange and amazing story!” Shahrazad replied, “Tomorrow night I shall tell you something stranger and more amazing if I stay alive.”

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The following night, when Shahrazad was in bed with King Shahrayar, her sister Dinarzad said, “Please, sister, finish the story of the fisherman.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O happy King, that when the fisherman heard what the demon said, he asked, “Demon, what are you saying? It has been more than one thousand and eight hundred years since the prophet Solomon died, and we are now ages later. What is your story, and why were you in this jar?” When the demon heard the fisherman, he said, “Be glad!” The fisherman cried, “O happy day!” The demon added, “Be glad that you will soon be put to death.” The fisherman said, “You deserve to be put to shame for such tidings. Why do you wish to kill me, I who have released you and delivered you from the bottom of the sea and brought you back to this world?” The demon replied, “Make a wish!” The fisherman was happy and asked, “What shall I wish of you?” The demon replied, “Tell me how you wish to die, and what manner of death you wish me to choose.” The fisherman asked, “What is my crime? Is this my reward from you for having delivered you?” The demon replied, “Fisherman, listen to my story.” The fisherman said, “Make it short, for I am at my rope's end.”

The demon said, “You should know that I am one of the renegade, rebellious demons. I, together with the giant Sakhr, rebelled against the prophet Solomon, the son of David, who sent against me Asif ibn-Barkhiya, who took me by force and bade me be led in defeat and humiliation before the prophet Solomon. When the prophet Solomon saw me, he invoked God to protect him from me and my looks and asked me to submit to him, but I refused. So he called for this brass jar, confined me inside, and sealed it with a lead seal on which he imprinted God's Almighty name. Then he commanded his demons to carry me and throw me into the middle of the sea. I stayed there for two hundred years, saying to myself, ‘Whoever sets me free during these two hundred years, I will make him rich.' But the two hundred years went by and were followed by another two hundred, and no one set me free, Then I vowed to myself, ‘Whoever sets me free, I will open for him all the treasures of the earth,' but four hundred years went by, and no one set me free. When I entered the next hundred years, I vowed to myself, ‘Whoever delivers me, during these hundred years, I will make him king, make myself his servant, and fulfill every day three of his wishes,' but that hundred years too, plus all the intervening years, went by, and no one set me free. Then I raged and raved and growled and snorted and said to myself, ‘Whoever delivers me from now on, I will either put him to the worst of deaths or let him choose for himself the manner of death.' Soon you came by and set me free. Tell me how you wish to die.”

When the fisherman heard what the demon said, he replied, “To God we belong and to Him we return. After all these years, with my bad luck, I had to set you free now. Forgive me, and God will grant you forgiveness. Destroy me, and God will inflict on you one who will destroy you.” The demon replied, “It must be. Tell me how you wish to die.” When the fisherman was certain that he was going to die, he mourned and wept, saying, “O my children, may God not deprive us of each other.” Again he turned to the demon and said, “For God's sake, release me as a reward for releasing you and delivering you from this jar.” The demon replied, “Your death is your reward for releasing me and letting me escape.” The fisherman said, “I did you a good turn, and you are about to repay me with a bad one. How true is the sentiment of the following lines:

Our kindness they repaid with ugly deeds,

Upon my life, the deeds of men depraved.

He who the undeserving aids will meet

The fate of him who the hyena saved.”

The demon said, “Be brief, for as I have said, I must kill you.” Then the fisherman thought to himself, “He is only a demon, while I am a human being, whom God has endowed with reason and thereby made superior to him. He may use his demonic wiles on me, but I will use my reason to deal with him.” Then he asked the demon, “Must you kill me?” When the demon replied, “I must,” the fisherman said, “By the Almighty name that was engraved on the ring of Solomon the son of David, will you answer me truthfully if I ask you about something?” The demon was upset and said with a shudder, “Ask, and be brief!”

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “Sister, what an amazing and lovely story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live! It will be even more amazing.”

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The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Sister, if you are not sleepy, finish the story of the fisherman and the demon.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”:

I heard, O King, that the fisherman said, “By the Almighty name, tell me whether you really were inside this jar.” The demon replied, “By the Almighty name, I was imprisoned in this jar.” The fisherman said, “You are lying, for this jar is not large enough, not even for your hands and feet. How can it be large enough for your whole body?” The demon replied, “By God, I was inside. Don't you believe that I was inside it?” The fisherman said, “No, I don't.” Whereupon the demon shook himself and turned into smoke, which rose, stretched over the sea, spread over the land, then gathered, and, little by little, began to enter the jar. When the smoke disappeared completely, the demon shouted from within, “Fisherman, here I am in the jar. Do you believe me now?”

The fisherman at once took out the sealed lead stopper and hurriedly clamped it on the mouth of the jar. Then he cried out, “Demon, now tell me how you wish to die. For I will throw you into this sea, build a house right here, and sit here and stop any fisherman who comes to fish and warn him that there is a demon here, who will kill whoever pulls him out and who will let him choose how he wishes to die.” When the demon heard what the fisherman said and found himself imprisoned, he tried to get out but could not, for he was prevented by the seal of Solomon the son of David. Realizing that the fisherman had tricked him, the demon said, “Fisherman, don't do this to me. I was only joking with you.” The fisherman replied, “You are lying, you the dirtiest and meanest of demons,” and began to roll the jar toward the sea. The demon shouted, “Don't, don't!” But the fisherman replied, “Yes, yes.” Then in a soft and submissive voice the demon asked, “Fisherman, what do you intend to do?” The fisherman replied, “I intend to throw you into the sea. The first time you stayed there for eight hundred years. This time I will let you stay until Doomsday. Haven't I said to you, ‘Spare me, and God will spare you. Destroy me, and God will destroy you'? But you refused, and persisted in your resolve to do me in and kill me. Now it is my turn to do you in.” The demon said, “Fisherman, if you open the jar, I will reward you and make you rich.” The fisherman replied, “You are lying, you are lying. Your situation and mine is like that of King Yunan and the sage Duban.” The demon asked, “What is their story?” The fisherman said:

 

6.
Cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus

7.
When Moses and the Jews fled from Egypt, pursued by the pharaoh and his army, Moses struck the water of the Red Sea with his stick, and the sea parted, so that he and his people were able to cross safely into Sinai, while his pursuers were drowned. Moses is a prophet in Islam, as well.

8.
A ring that houses a precious or semiprecious stone (usually agate) engraved with the name of a person and used to imprint a signature, or in other instances engraved with talismanic words and used as a charm.

9.
The Old Testament king and son of David.

[The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban]

DEMON, THERE WAS
once a king called Yunan, who reigned in one of the cities of Persia, in the province of Zuman.
¹
This king was afflicted with leprosy, which had defied the physicians and the sages, who, for all the medicines they gave him to drink and all the ointments they applied, were unable to cure him. One day there came to the city of King Yunan a sage called Duban. This sage had read all sorts of books, Greek, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Byzantine, Syriac, and Hebrew, had studied the sciences, and had learned their groundwork, as well as their principles and basic benefits. Thus he was versed in all the sciences, from philosophy to the lore of plants and herbs, the harmful as well as the beneficial. A few days after he arrived in the city of King Yunan, the sage heard about the king and his leprosy and the fact that the physicians and the sages were unable to cure him. On the following day, when God's morning dawned and His sun rose, the sage Duban put on his best clothes, went to King Yunan and, introducing himself, said, “Your Majesty, I have heard of that which has afflicted your body and heard that many physicians have treated you without finding a way to cure you. Your Majesty, I can treat you without giving you any medicine to drink or ointment to apply.” When the king heard this, he said, “If you succeed, I will bestow on you riches that would be enough for you and your grandchildren. I will bestow favors on you, and I will make you my companion and friend.” The king bestowed robes of honor on the sage, treated him kindly, and then asked him, “Can you really cure me from my leprosy without any medicine to drink or ointment to apply?” The sage replied, “Yes, I will cure you externally.” The king was astonished, and he began to feel respect as well as great affection for the sage. He said, “Now, sage, do what you have promised.” The sage replied, “I hear and obey. I will do it tomorrow morning, the Almighty God willing.” Then the sage went to the city, rented a house, and there he distilled and extracted medicines and drugs. Then with his great knowledge and skill, he fashioned a mallet with a curved end, hollowed the mallet, as well as the handle, and filled the handle with his medicines and drugs. He likewise made a ball. When he had perfected and prepared everything, he went on the following day to King Yunan and kissed the ground before him.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister Dinarzad said, “What a lovely story!” Shahrazad replied, “You have heard nothing yet. Tomorrow night I shall tell you something stranger and more amazing if the king spares me and lets me live!”

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The following night Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “Please, sister, finish the rest of the story of the fisherman and the demon.” Shahrazad replied, “With the greatest pleasure”: