Thousand & One Nights: 62nd Night: Tale of 3rd Dervish - 10

This is the tenth part of 3rd Dervish's narrative. He had been trapped among forty beautiful girls of the palace. At the end of one year the girls were preparing to leave the palace to take a forty days' break and leave alone him and by the beginning of New year they left for their fathers' home. 

During the absence of girls the dervish had got opportunity to examine ninety nine rooms of the palace, leaving the hundredth room unexamined. The girls had forbidden the entry to it because it may separate him from them.

Tale of 3rd Dervish as told by him:

But my curiosity, like Satan, had been enticing me to open the room and examine it. The thought of the  coming of the forty girls and their demand on me every day was becoming more than I could endure. It had created in me an aversion  to life. I know very many Indian kings had embraced the death because of their boredom in the life of eating, drinking and hooking. I wanted an escape from this boredom.

I opened the door plated in gold. The scent of perfume into my nostrils sent me reeling to the floor, and made me swoon for a long time. When I came to myself, I summoned my courage and entered the chamber. The floor was strewn with saffron; lamps of gold and silver fed  with costly oil; fragrant candles burned with aloes and ambergris; two incense burners as large as kneading bowl, full of glowing embers in which burned the aloewood, ambergris, musk and frankincense. The smoke rose to blend with the odors the of candles and the saffron, filled the chambers.

A deep black horse, as dark as the darkest night, bridled and ready with a saddle of red gold stood before two clear crystal mangers. One of it contained husked sesame; the other was filled with rose water scented with musk. I was amazed at the horse, and said to myself, "Something of great importance." At that moment the devil took hold of me. I took the horse and led him out of the palace. I mounted on him. But he refused to move. I kicked him, but he did not stir. I took the whip and hit him. He neighed, and it was like a roar. Then he spread up his wings and began to fly with me in the sky. A while later he landed on the roof of another palace, and throwing me off his back, and lashed my face with his tail. It was a hard blow that gouged out my eye and made it roll on my cheek, leaving me one eyed.

I looked down from the terrace of the palace and saw the ten couches that belonged to ten one eyed young men who had admonished me, and whose advice I refused to account. From the roof I went down, and sat down on one of the couches. Hardly had I sat down, the young men and their companion approached. They saw me, and said, "You are not welcomed or wanted here. We will not let you stay. May you perish."

I replied, "All I wanted to know was why you smeared your faces with blue and black soot."

"Each of us suffered the misfortune as you did. We all lived the best lives in bliss, feeding on chicken, sipping wine from crystal cups, resting on silk brocade, and sleeping on the breasts of fair women. One more day to gain a year of pleasures. But because of our curiosity we lost our eyes." They said.

"Do not blame me for what I have done. Let me allow to observe the ritual with soot and ashes," said I. 

They said, "We will never harbour you or let you stay with us. Get out of here. Go to Baghdad, and find someone to help you there."

As I found that there was no use in lingering and hanging by them, I shaved my beard and eyebrows, renounced everything, and roamed the world. I reached Baghdad on the evening of this very night. Here I met these two young men who share the misfortune of lost eye, formed an extraordinary group, a group by coincidence. That is how I happened to be here.

When he finished his story, the beautiful and independent girls said to him, "Stroke your head and leave the house."

But they replied, "By God, we will not go until we hear the story of our companions."

Turning to Caliph, Ja'far and Masrur, the girls said, "Tell us your tales."

Ja'far stood forth, and said, "O my lady, we are citizens of Mosul who have come to your city for trade. When we arrived here, we took lodgings in the merchants' Inn, and we traded and sold our goods. Today a merchant of your city held a party, where we had a good time, with choice wine, entertainment and singing girls. Then there was an argument and yelling among some of the guests and the prefect of police raided the place. Some of us were arrested and some escaped. We were among those who escaped, and when we went to the inn, late at night, we found the door locked, not to be opened again till morning. We wandered helplessly, not knowing where to go, for fear that the police would catch up with us, arrest us, and humiliate us. God drove us to your house, and when we heard the beautiful singing and the sound of carousing, we knew that there was a company having party inside, and said to ourselves that we would enter at your service and spend the rest of our night with you and entertain you. It pleased you to offer us your hospitality and to be generous and kind. This was the cause of our coming to you."

The three dervishes said together, "Our lady and mistress, we wish you to grant us as a favour the lives of three men, and let us to depart with great."

The girls replied, "We grant you your lives as a favour to all."

When they were out of the house, the Caliph said to the dervishes, "Men, where are you going? It's already dark."

"By God, sir, we do not know where to go?"

"Come, and sleep at our place." Caliph said, and then turning to Ja'far, he said, "Take these men with you for the night and bring them before me early tomorrow morning, so that we may chronile each of their adventure accounted." 

Ja'far did as the Caliph bade him. Caliph was agitated and stayed awake, pondering over the misfortunes of the dervishes, and the flogged girl, and the black bitches. He could not sleep a wink, and waited impatiently for the morning.

No sooner had the day dwaned the Caliph sat on his throne, and Ja'far came and kissed the ground before him he said, "This is no time for dawdling, go and bring me the two ladies of the Baghdad house, so that I may hear the stories of two bitches, and bring the dervishes."

Ja'far withdrew, and came back with three girls and the three dervishes. Placing the dervishes next to him, and the three girls behind the curtain, he said, "Women, we forgive you, because of your generosity and kindness to us. If you do not know who is sitting before you, I shall introduce him. You are in the presence of seventh of the sons of 'Abbas al Rashid, son of al Mahdi son of al Hadi and brother of al Saffah son of Mansur. Take courage, be frank, and tell the truth. Explain to Caliph why you beat the two black bitches, and why you weep after you beat them?"

The End of the Night