Thousand & One Nights: 45th Night: The Story of Second Dervish contd.

Three beautiful girls lived independently in a splendid house in Baghdad. A Porter in the market was commissioned by one girl to carry her merchandise to the house. Later three dervishes arrived there seeking shelter for a night. After that Harun Al Rashid and his vizier and his executioner (all in disguise) came there seeking shelter for a night. The girls gave them shelter with the condition that they should not interfere in the affairs of the house. However they broke their vows, and seven black men were brought to punish seven guests. Terrified, the guests sought a reprieve. The girls wanted these guests to narrate how they happened to come to the Baghdad house. This narrative is a part presented by Second dervish.

Now the narrative by the second dervish:
As soon as the demon arrived he snatched me up from my recess, soared high in the sky, and flew away with me. After a while he landed, kicked the ground with his foot, split it apart, carried me in a swoon, plunged under the earth, and emerged with me in the middle of the palace, where I had spent the night. There I saw the girl stripped naked, her limbs tied, her sides bleeding, and my eyes filled with tears.

The demon untied her, covering her said, "You slut, isn't it true that this man is your lover?"

Looking at me, she replied, "I don't know this man at all, and I have never laid eyes on him till this very moment."

He said, "Damn you, all this torture and you refuse to confess!"

She said, "I don't know this man, and I cannot tell lies about him and let you kill him."

He replied, "If you don't know him, take this sword and strike off his head."

She took the sword and coming upto me, stood facing me. I signaled her with my eyes, and she understood and winked back, meaning, "Aren't you the one who has brought all this upon us?"

I signaled again, "This is the time for forgiveness," and she replied with words written with tears on her cheeks:
My eyes spoke for my tongue 
To let him know. 
And Love betrayed What I tried to conceal. 
When we last met and shed our thoughts in tears 
Tongue-tied, I let my eyes my heart 
Reveal.
He signed with his eyes, and I understood; 
I winked, and he knew what my eyes 
did say.
Our eyebrows carried out our task so well
As mute we stood and let love have
Its way.

Then the girl threw the sword away and stepped back, saying, "How can I struck the neck of one I do not know and be guilty of his blood?"

The demon said, "You cannot bear to kill him because he has slept with you. You have suffered all this torture, yet you have not confessed. It is clear that only like feels for and pities like." Then he turned to me and said, "You human being, do you too not know this woman?"

I replied, "Who may be she, for I have never laid eyes on her till this very moment."

He said, "Then take this sword and strike her head off, and I will believe that you do not know her and let you 
go free."

I replied, "I will do it," and I took the sword and sprang towards her.

The dawn signaled to stop.




 

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