Thousand & One Nights: 33rd Night: A Porter & Three Ladies

Palace like house of three girls in Baghdad. One of the girls went to market and bought various merchandise and got a young porter to carry it into their house. The porter was very clever and obtained the permission of the girls to stay with them in the house. Again another set of people, three one eyed dervishes came in the night and asked the permission of the girls to stay in the house.

The dervishes heated with wine called for musical instruments. One of the girls, the doorkeeper brought a tambourine, a Persian harp and a flute. They tuned their instruments and began to play and sing. The girls 
also joined them, and it became louder. There was a knock at the door and the doorkeeper went to see what was happening.

That very night, the Caliph Harun Al Rashid and his Ja'far came to the city, as they used to, now and then. As they passed through by the house of girls, they heard the flute and the song, and also talks and laugh of partying. 
Harun Al Rashid said, "Ja'far, I would like to enter this house and meet the people inside."

Ja'far replied, "O Prince of faithful, these are people who are intoxicated and do not know who we are, and I fear that they may insult us and abuse us."

The Caliph said, "Don't argue, I must go in, and I want you to find a pretext to get us in." 

Ja'far went towards the house and knocked at the door. When the doorkeeper came and opened the door, Ja'far stepped in and kissed the ground before the doorkeeper, and said, "Oh lady, we are merchants from Mosul, and we have been in Baghdad for ten days. We have brought with us our merchandise and have taken lodgings at an inn. Tonight a merchant of your city invited us to his home and offered us food and drink. We drank and enjoyed ourselves and sent for a troop of musicians and singing women and invited the rest of our companions to join us. They all came and we had a good time, listening to the girls blow on the flutes, beat tambourines, and sing, but while we were enjoying ourselves, the prefect of the police raided the place, and we tried to escape by jumping from walls. Some of us broke our limbs and were arrested, while some escaped safely. We have now come to seek refuge in your house, for being strangers in your city, we are afraid that if we continue to walk the streets the prefect of police will stop us, discover that we are intoxicated, and arrest us. If we go to the inn, we shall find the door locked for, as is the rule, it is not to be opened till sunrise. As we passed by your house, we hear the sounds of music and the noise of a lovely party and hoped that you would be kind enough to let us join you to enjoy the rest of the night, giving us the chance to pay for our share. If you refuse our company, let us sleep in the hallway till the morning, and the God will reward you. The matter is in your magnanimous hands and the decision is yours, but will not depart from your door."

The doorkeeper heard the full story by Ja'far, and felt that it is genuine, she went to her sisters, and repeated the story. They felt sorry for them, and said, "Let them in," the doorkeeper invited them to come in. 
When the Caliph, Masrur, together with Ja'far and the entire group entered the hall, the girls, the porter, and the dervishes rose to greet them, and then everyone sat down.

It was dawn, and the story was at a pause.








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