The Tale of the First Sheikh

THE FIRST SHEIKH SAID:
O GREAT Ifrit, know that this gazelle was my uncle’s daughter
and my own flesh and blood. I married her when she was quite
young and lived with her for nearly thirty years; but All&h granted me
no child by her. So I took a concubine who, by All&h’s favour, gave me
a man-child as beautiful as the rising moon, with fine eyes, meeting
brows, and perfect limbs. When he had grown to be a boy of fifteen, I
was obliged to journey to a far city on an important matter of business.
You must know that my uncle’s daughter, this gazelle, had been
initiated since childhood into sorcery and the lore of enchantment.
By the art of magic she changed my son into a calf and the slave his
mother into a cow, and put both of them under the care of our herd.
A long time afterwards I came back from my journey and asked
for my son and his mother. Then my wife said: ‘Your slave is dead and
your son has fled I know not whither!’
For a year I remained broken by my heart’s grief, with the tears
ever in my eyes.
Then, when the yearly feast of the Day of Sacrifice came round, I
sent to bid my herd choose a well-fattened cow for me, and he brought
me one, but she was my concubine bewitched by this gazelle. Then I
pulled up the sleeves and skirts of my garments and, knife in hand,
prepared to sacrifice the cow; but suddenly she began to moan and
weep abundant tears. So I stopped and ordered the herd to sacrifice
her. He did so; but when he had flayed her, we found neither fat nor
flesh on her but only skin and bone. Then I repented that I had
sacrificed her—though my repentance was of no avail—and gave her
to the herd, saying: ‘Bring me a well-fatted calf.’ So he brought me
my son in the likeness of a calf.
When the calf saw me, he broke the cord that held him and running
to me rolled at my feet with groans and tears. Then I had pity on him
and said to the herd: ‘Bring me another cow and let this be.’
At this point in her tale, Shahraz&d saw the approach of
morning and discreetly fell silent. Then her sister Dunyaz&d said:
‘Sister, your words are sweet and gentle and pleasant to the taste.’
And Shahraz&d answered: ‘Indeed they are nothing to that which
I would tell both of you tomorrow night if I were still alive and
the King thought good to spare me.’ On this, the King said to
himself: ‘By All&h, I will not kill her until I have heard the rest of
her tale!’
Then the King and Shahraz&d passed the rest of the night in each
other’s arms, till the King departed to sit in judgment. When he saw
the Waz(r approach, carrying under his arm the winding-sheet destined
for his daughter Shahraz&d whom he believed already dead, the King
said nothing to him but continued to administer justice, raising some
to office and debasing others, until the fall of day. So that the Waz(r
was plunged into perplexity and the extreme of astonishment.
When the d(w&n was over, King Shahry&r returned to his palace.

And when the second night had come
DUNYAZ-D SAID TO SHAHRAZ-D: ‘Sister, I pray you finish for us the tale of
the merchant and the Jinn(.’ To this Shahraz&d answered: ‘With all
my heart and as my duty is, if the King permits.’ Then the King said:
‘You may speak.’
AND SHE SAID:
It is related, O favoured King and lover of justice, that, when the
merchant saw the calf weeping, his heart was softened and he said to
the herd: ‘Leave this calf to graze among the cows.’
The Jinn( was mightily astonished at this strange tale and the
sheikh, master of the gazelle, continued:
O master of the Kings of the Jinn, my uncle’s daughter, this gazelle,
was looking on and said to me: ‘Certainly we must sacrifice this calf;
he is fattened to perfection.’ But for very pity I could not make up
my mind to sacrifice him and at my order the herd took him again
and went away with him.
On the next day, as I was sitting in my house, the herd came to
me, saying: ‘Master, I have a joyful thing to tell you, good news worthy
of recompense.’ ‘Surely,’ I answered. Then he said: ‘Great merchant,
my daughter is a sorceress and has learnt magic from an old woman
who lodges with us. Yesterday, when you gave me that calf, I brought
him with me into the presence of my daughter, and scarcely had she
set eyes on him when she covered her face with her veil, first weeping
and then laughing. Finally she said to me: “Has my worth so fallen in
your eyes that you let strange men like this come into my presence?”
“Where are these strange men?” I answered. “And why have you
wept and then laughed?” Then she said: “This calf with you is the
son of our master, the merchant, but he is bewitched; yes, both he
and his mother, bewitched by his step-mother; and it was the calf
expression of his face at which I laughed. And if I wept it was for the
mother of this poor calf, slain by his father.” I was greatly astonished
by these words of my daughter and waited with impatience for the
dawn that I might come to tell you.’
Then, mighty Jinn(, continued the sheikh, hearing the herd’s words,
I went out with him, drunken without wine for joy of seeing my son
again. When I came to the herd’s house, his young daughter welcomed
me, kissing my hand, and the calf came and rolled at my feet. Then I
asked the herd’s daughter: ‘Is what you say of this calf true?’ And she
answered: ‘Yes, master, indeed! He is your son, your heart’s delight.’
Then said I: ‘My gentle, helpful child, if you deliver my son I will
give you all the cattle and the goods your father holds for me.’ She
smiled at my words and said: ‘Master, I would only be willing to take
these riches on two conditions; the first that I marry your son, and
the second that I have your leave to bewitch and confine whomsoever
I wish. Without these things I cannot answer for the good of my
interference against the evil arts of your wife.’
Mighty Jinn(, when I heard the words of the herd’s daughter, I
answered: ‘Be it so! And further you shall have the riches which your
father holds for me. As for my uncle’s daughter, you may dispose of
her life as you wish.’
When she heard me say this, she took a small copper basin and
filled it with water, speaking magic incantations over it. Then she
sprinkled the calf with the water and conjured him in these words:
‘If All&h made thee a calf, remain a calf; but if thou art bewitched,
return to thy former shape, by the grace of All&h the Most High!’
Even as she spoke, the calf, beginning to tremble and dislimn,
returned to human form. I threw myself upon him in a long
embrace and then I asked him in the name of All&h to tell me
what my uncle’s daughter had done to him and to his mother. So
he told me all that had happened, and I said: ‘My son, All&h,
Master of Destinies, has raised up one to save you and restore your
rights.’
After this, good Jinn(, I married my son to the herd’s daughter;
and she by magic arts bewitched my wife, turning her into this gazelle
which you now see. Passing by here I saw this excellent merchant
and, asking him what he did and hearing what had happened, sat
down to watch the event. Such is my story.
Then the Jinn( cried: ‘Your tale is marvellous enough and I grant
you mercy for a third of this blood.’
After this the second sheikh, master of the two greyhounds, came
forward and said: ‘O mighty Ifr(t, if I tell you the adventure which
befell me from these two hounds, which are my brothers, and if you
find it more marvellous than the tale you have just heard, will you
grant me mercy for another third of this man’s blood?’ ‘Assuredly,
venerable sheikh,’ answered the Jinn(, ‘if your adventure be indeed
more marvellous.’