Thousand & One Nights: 47th Night: The Tale of Envious and Envied

This tale was narrated by Second dervish to Demon.

Two neighbours in a certain city dwelt in adjoining houses, separated by a common wall. One of them envied the other. His envy grew to such an extent that he could not eat or sleep. The envied did nothing, but he prospered. The more his neighbour envied him the more other prospered. But the malice and envy later exposed, and the envied left his neighbourhood and moved to another city.

There he bought a piece of land, that had an old irrigation well. There he built a hermitage. He furnished it with straw mats and other necessities. He devoted himself to the worship of God. Mendicants began to flock him from every quarter, and his fame spread throughout the city.

The news of his success reached the envious neighbour. So he journeyed to the city, and when he entered the hermitage the envied received him with cheerful greetings, warm welcome and great respect. Then the envious said, "I would like to acquaint you with something that has caused me to come to you. Let us walk aside in the hermitage so that I may tell you what it is." The envied got up, and as the envious held him by the hand they walked to the far end of the hermitage. Then the envious said, "Friend, bid your mendicants enter their cells, for I will not tell you except in private, so that none may hear us." 

Accordingly, the envied said to the mendicants, "Retire to your cells."
The mendicants entered their cells.

The envious said, "Now as I was telling you my tale...." and he walked with him slowly until they reached the edge of the old well. Suddenly the envious pushed the envied, and without being seen by anyone sent him tumbling into the well. Then he left the hermitage and went away.

                 ******************

The well was an abode of demons. Seeing the envied falling into the well and coming down, they stretched their hands, which like a scoop received the falling man, and seated him on a rock. They asked each other, "Don't you know who is this?" One of them answered, "He is Envied, who fled his neighbour Envious, came to live in our city, built the hermitage and delighted us with his litanies and recitals of the Quran. The Envious, heard of his fame journeyed in search of him, found him, tricked him to the vicinity of the well, pushed him into it and escaped. It so happened that the king of the city came to know of his fame, and is planning to visit him tomorrow morning on account of his daughter."

Someone among them asked, "What is the matter with her?"

"She is possessed. The demon Maimun ibn Damdam is madly in love with her. If Envied knows the remedy, her cure would be easy." One of the demons asked, "What is the remedy?"
"This man in the hermitage has a black cat with a white spot, the size of a Dirham at the end of its tail. If he plucks seven white hairs from the white spot, burns them, and fumigates her with the smoke, the demon will depart, and never to return, and she will be cured."
The Envied heard all these conversations. When the day broke, the mendicants came out and found the Envied climbing out of the well, and their appreciation of him grew. The Envied endeavoured to find out the black cat, and when he found it, plucked seven hairs from the white spot on its tail and kept them with him.

The king arrived with his troops. He dismounted with the lords, and entered the hermitage. The Envied welcomed him, and sat beside him, and asked, "May I tell you the cause of your visit?"
The king replied, "Yes."
The Envied continued, "You have come to consult me about your daughter."
The king said, "O man! You are right." 
The Envied said, "Send someone to fetch her, and God willing, she will recover presently."

The king gladly sent for his daughter, and they brought her in bound and fettered. The envied made her sit behind a curtain, and taking out the hair, burned them and fumigated her with the smoke. At that moment, he who was in her head, cried out and departed from her, and she instantly recovered sanity. She asked from behind the curtain, "What happened to me? Who has brought me here?"

The king was rejoiced, and kissed the holy man's hand. Then he asked his lords, "What do you say to this? What does he who cured my daughter deserve?

They answered, "He deserves her."
"You are right," said the king. The curtain was removed, and the king kissed her on her eyes. Married her to him. The Envied became the king's son-in-law.

Later, when the vizier died, the king asked to his lords, "Whom shall we make the vizier?" 
They answered, "Your son-in-law."
Some time later, the king also died. And the lords asked each other, "Whom shall we make the King?"
All of them said in one voice, "The vizier." 
The Envied has become a monarch.

The Break of the Dawn.



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