Thousand & One Nights: 38th Night: A Porter & 3 Ladies: The First Dervish continues

The scene is the house of three beautiful girls. The porter, three dervishes and Harun Al Rashid and his men are present. Seven black men are ready to take on the seven guests. The tale of porter is over. First dervish had already begun on the previous day but was not complete. And now he continues:

After I followed his instructions, I returned, suffering from a hangover, and spent the night in one of my uncle's houses, which he had given me to use before he went on a hunting trip. When I woke up in the morning and recalled the events of the previous night, I thought that it was all a dream. Being in doubt, I inquired about my cousin, but no one could tell me anything. I went to the graveyard and searched for the Sepulchre, but I could not find it, or remember anything about it. I kept wandering from Sepulchre to Sepulchre, and from tomb to tomb, without food or drink, until night set in. I was getting worried about my cousin, and as I wondered where the vaulted staircase led to, I began to recall the events little by little, as one recalls what happens in a dream. Finally I went back to the house, ate a little, and spent a restless night. Having recalled everything he and I did that night, I returned the following morning to the graveyard, and wandered about, searching till nightfall, without finding the Sepulchre or figuring out a way that might lead me to it. I went back to the graveyard for a third day and a fourth and searched for the Sepulchre from early morning till nightfall without success, until I almost lost my sanity with frustration and worry. At last, realising that I had no other recourse, I resolve to go back to my father's city.

When I arrived there, and entered the city gate, I was immediately set upon, beaten and bound. When I inquired, "What's the cause?"

"The vizier had plotted against your father, and betrayed him. Being in league with the entire army, he has killed your father and usurped his power and ordered us to lie in wait for you." Then they carried me off in a swoon and brought me before him. It so happened that the vizier and I were bitter enemies, for I was the cause of tearing out one of his eyes. Being fond of shooting with crossbow, I stood one day on my palace roof, when a bird alighted at the palace of the vizier, who by coincidence also stood on his palace roof. When I shot at the bird, the missile missed him and instead hit the vizier and pierced the corner of his eye, and that was the cause of his grudge against me; therefore, when they brought me before him, he thrust his finger into my eye, gouged it out, and made it ooze, over my cheek. Then he bound me, placed me in a chest, and handed me over to my father's swordsman saying, "Ride your horse, draw your sword, and take this one with you into the wilderness. Then kill him and let the beasts and vultures devour his flesh." The executioner followed the vizier's order and led me into wilderness. Then he dismounted, taking me out of the chest, and looked at me, and was about to kill me. I wept bitterly over what had happened to me until I made him weep with me. Then looking at him I began to recite the following verses:

My shield I deemed you from the foe

But you did prove to be his dart

I counted on you in all my mishaps

Like the left hand  in the aid of right.

Stand away; get absolved from me

Let the foes aim their arrows at me

If your friendship cannot maintain 

No claim between yourself and me.

At these verses, the executioner felt pity for me, and set me free saying, "Run with your life, and never return."

I remember what the poet said:

If you suffer injustice, save yourself 

And leave the house to mourn itself 

Leave your country; accept another 

Yourself you will find no other self.

Not with a mission trust another 

None is so loyal as yourself. And did

The lion not struggle himself. He

Would not prowl with a mighty mane.

I journeyed slowly and reached my uncle's house. I told him about my father's death, and the loss of my eye. He said, "I too have many woes, my son is missing. I do not know what happened to him." He wept bitterly, reviving my old grief and pity.

Unable to remain silent I revealed to him what happened to his son. He was exceedingly happy, and said, "Come and show me the Sepulchre."

I replied, "By God, uncle, I have lost the way to it, and I am no longer no which one it is." 

He said, "Let us go together." Then he and I went secretly to the grave yard, and when I came to the centre, I suddenly recognised the Sepulchre and was exceedingly happy at the prospect of finding out what lay below the staircase and what happened to my cousin. We entered the sepulchre, opened the tomb, and removing the earth, found the iron plate. My uncle led the way, and we descended about fifty steps, and as we reached the bottom of the staircase, we met a great cloud of smoke that almost blinded our eyes. My uncle cried, "There is no power and no strength, save in God, the Almighty, the Magnificent." Then we saw a hallway, and as we advanced a little, we came to a hall resting on pillars and lighted by very high skylights. We wandered about and saw a cistern in the centre, saw large jars and sacks full of flour, grains, and the like, and at the end of the hall saw a bed covered with with a canopy. My uncle went upto the bed, and when he lifted the curtain, he found his son and the lady who had gone down with him, lying in each other's arms, but saw that they had turned to black charcoal. It was as if they had been cast into a raging fire, which burned them thoroughly until they were reduced to charcol. When my uncle saw this spectacle, he expressed satisfaction, and spat in his son's face, saying, "This is your punishment in this world, but there remains your punishment in the world to come." Then he took off his shoe and struck his son, hard on the face.

The End of the Night.