Thousand & One Nights: 36th Night: A Porter & 3 Ladies

When the girl heard the third song, she cried out, "By God, this is good." Then she grabbed her dress, and tore it, and as she fell down in a swoon, she revealed on her chest marks like welts from a whip.

The dervishes muttered. "We wish that we had never entered this house. We gained a few dirhams, but we lost our peace."

The Caliph turned and asked, "How so?"

They replied, " O distinguished gentleman, we are troubled by these 

horrific scenes."

Caliph asked, "But you are the members of the household; perhaps you can expain to me the story of bitches, and this girl."

They replied, "We know nothing, and we have never laid eyes on this place until tonight."

Then the Caliph winked at the porter, and said, "Perhaps, you might know." 

But he replied, "In love all are alike, for even though I have been raised in Baghdad, never in my life have I entered this house until today. I did spend an amazing day with them. Still, I kept wondering that they were all women without men."

They all said to him, "By God, we took you to be one of them, but now we find that you are in the same predicament as we are"

Then the Caliph said, "adding Ja'far and Masrur, we are seven men, and they are only three women, without even a single man. Let us ask them for an explanation; if they don't answer by choice, they will answer by force." They agreed to proceed with this plan, but Ja'far said, "This is not right, let them be, for we are their guests and as you know, they made a condition that we promised to keep. It is better to keep silent about this matter, because little remains of night, and soon each of us will go his own way. Then he winked at caliph and whispered to him, "O, commander of the Faithful, be patient for this one last hour of the night, and tomorrow morning I will come back, and bring them back before you to tell us their story." But the Caliph yelled at him, "Damn it. I can no longer wait for an explanation. Let the dervishes question them."

Ja'far replied, "This is not a good idea." They talked at length and disputed as to who should first put the question, and last all agreed on the porter.

When the girls heard their clamour, one of them asked, "Men, what is the matter?" The porter approached her and said, "My lady, these men express the wish that you acquaint them with the story of the two black bitches and why you punish them and then weep over them, and they wish to know the story of your sister and how it was that she got flogged with the whip like a man. That's all; that is what they want to know."

Turning to them, the girl asked, "Is it true?"

They all, except Ja'far who remained silent, replied, "Yes."

"O guests," said the girl, "You have wronged us. Have we not told you of our condition? We took you in and fed you based on that condition. Now, you meddled and did us wrong. The fault is not so much yours as hers who let you in." She rolled up her sleeves and struck the floor three times, crying out, "Come at once."

A door opened, and out came seven black men, with drawn swords in their hands. Then with the palm of the sword each man dealt one of men a blow that threw him on his face to the ground and in no time they had the seven guests tied by hands and bound each to each. They led them in a single file to the centre of the hall, and each black man stood with his sword drawn above the head of his man. Then they said to the girl, "O most honourable and most virtuous lady, permit us to strike off their heads." 

She replied, "Wait a while, until I question them, before you strike off their heads." The porter cried, "God, protect me. Lady, slay me not for another's sin. All these men have sinned and offended, except me. By God, we had a delightful day. If only we could have escaped, these one eyed dervishes, whose entrance into any city blights it, destroys it, and lays it waste!" Then he began to weep and recite the following verses:

Fair is the forgiveness of mighty men

Fairest it is shown to a weakest man

Break off not the first friend for  last

By the bond that exists between us.

The girl, despite her anger, laughed and coming upto the group said, "Tell me, who you are, for you have only one hour to live. Were you not men of rank or eminent among your people or powerful rulers, you would not have dared to offend us." The Caliph said to Ja'far, "Damn, tell her who we are, lest we be slain by mistake."

Ja'far replied, "This is part of what we deserve." 

The Caliph yelled at him, "This is no time for your witticisms."  The lady approached the dervishes and asked, "Are you brothers? 

They replied, "By God, mistress, we are not, nor are we medicants.

"Were you born blind in one eye?" asked she.

"No, by God my lady. It was an amazing event and strange mischance, that caused me to lose my eye, shave off my beard, and become a dervish. If it were engraved with needle in the corner of my eye, it would be a warning to those who wish to consider." 

After that she questioned the second dervish, and he said the same. To the same question the third dervish gave me same reply. Then they added that they come from different cites, are princes or the son of kings.

The girl turned to the black men, and said, "Whoever tells us his tale and explains what has happened to him, and what brought him here, let him stroke his head and go, but whoever refuses, strike off his head."

It was Dawn and the story was paused.