Thousand & One Nights: Four: The Merchant & Demon: The Story of A Young Bull

The first old man approached the demon, and kissing his hands and feet, said, "Friend and king of demon kings, if I tell you what happened to me and that deer, and if you find it more stranger and amazing than what had happened to you and the merchant, will you grant me a third of your claim for him for his crime and guilt?"
"Tell me, I will," said the demon.
The old man with the deer began to tell his story:

"Demon, you see this deer!  She is my cousin.  My flesh and blood.  I married her when I was very young, and she a girl of twelve, who reached womanhood only afterwards. For thirty years we lived together, but I was not blessed with children, for she bore neither boy nor girl. Yet I continued to be kind to her, take care of her, and treat her generously.  Then I took a mistress, and she bore me a son, who grew up to look like a slice of the moon.  Meanwhile, my wife grew jealous of my mistress and my son.  One day, when he was ten, I had to go a journey. I entrusted my wife, this one here, with my mistress and my son, and bade her to take care of them, and was gone for a whole year. In my absence my wife, this cousin of mine, learned soothsaying and magic, and cast a spell on my son, and turned him into a young bull.  Then she summoned my shepherd, and gave my son to him, and said, "Tend this bull with the rest of the cattle."  The shepherd took him and tended him for a while.  Then she cast a spell on the mother, turning her into a cow, and gave her also to the shepherd.

When I came back, and inquired about my mistress and son she said, "Your mistress died, and son ran away two months ago, and I have had no news from him ever since." I grieved for my mistress, and with anguished heart I mourned for my son for nearly a year.  When the Great Feast of Immolation drew near, I summoned the shepherd and ordered him to bring me a fat cow for the sacrifice. The cow he brought me was in reality my enchanted mistress.  When I bound her and pressed against her to cut her throat, she wept and cried as if saying, "my son, my son," and her tears coursed down her cheeks.  Astonished and seized with pity, I turned away and asked the shepherd to bring me different cow. But my wife shouted, "Go on, butcher her, for he has none better or fatter. Let us enjoy her meat at feast time." I approached the cow to cut her throat, and again she cried as if saying, "My son, my son." Then I turned away from her and said to the shepherd, "butcher her for me." The shepherd butchered her, and when he skinned her, he found neither meat or fat, but only skin and bone. I regretted having butchered her, and said to the shepherd, "Take her all for yourself, or give her as alms to whomever you wish, and get me a fat young bull from among the flock." The shepherd took her away and disappeared, and I never knew what he did with her. 

Then he bought my son, my heartblood, in the guise of a fat young bull. When my son saw me, he shook his head loose from the rope, ran towards me, and throwing himself at my feet, kept rubbing his head against me. I was astonished and touched with sympathy, pity, and mercy, for the blood hearkened to the blood and the divine bond, and my heart throbbed within me when I saw the tears coursing over the cheeks of my son, the young bull, as he dug the earth with his hoofs.  I turned away and said to the shepherd, "Let him go with the rest of the the flock, and be kind to him, for I have decided to spare him.  Bring me another one instead of him."  My wife, this very deer, shouted, "You shall sacrifice none but this bull." I got angry and replied, "I listened to you and butchered the cow uselessly.  I will not listen to you and kill the bull, for I have decided to spare him." But she pressed me saying, "You must butcher the bull," and I bound him and took the knife.....

Morning broke, and Shahrazad said, "Tomorrow night I shall hear you something more stranger."

End of the Section 

Notes:- 1. Demon represents the member or chief of an alien tribe. Such tribes were enough at the dawn of civilization.  Roman Empire witnessed attaks from such tribes like Goths, Vandals, and Franks. The Harappan people were attacked and their dams were destroyed by Aryan chief Indra. Gutians briefly overran Elam, a region in modern day Iran.

2. The portrayal of Shahrazad in bed with Shahriar and Dinarzad sitting around for hearing stories suggest that cultural norms around sexuality and privacy in those age were different from that of modern society. 
3. These stories have their roots in oral traditions, predating written records. They were crafted and refined by professional story tellers, who used various techniques to engage and captivate their audiences.  The format, strecture and techniques, like the use of cliffhangers and elaborations were suited to the interests of oral story tellers. Here we see the structure is elaborated, and a cliffhanger is provided at the end of each chapter.

3. Great Feast of Immolation: Also known as Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al- Adha.
4. "Blood hearkened to the blood" likely refers to the biblical concept that blood of Jesus, the blood of New Covenant speaks a more powerful and affective message than the blood of Abel, which cried out vengeance. Here it exposes the story teller's feelings towards his missing son.

5. Fiction has its roots in the social being of mankind. As such it reflects some historical facts. Here the story teller is the man with the deer. He is the cattle owner. He has a shepherd who is in charge of the cattle rearing. The ownership and management is getting seperated.  His prolonged journey can be inferred as his attempt to explore trading opportunities, because of the natural evolution of earliest cattle rearers into traders.  Evolution of consanguine sexual relationship (union between close relatives) is getting replaced by exogamy. There was nothing unusual in wife and mistress living under the same roof. Demon's interest in the story shows that he is a true homo sapien. Previous stories' subject matter was the lust of ladies and slaves. Now love of children replaces the lust; thereby the story telling generat more empathy and more audience.



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