Thousand & One Nights: 64th Night

The frame story is by Shahrazad, the queen of India. The stories help to  procrastinate her death at the hands of Shahriar the Indian king who went mad at the sight of his previous queen in compromising posture with a black slave. Consequent to this sight he became a misogynist and followed a one night marriage, where the partner was killed by the king, after their union. Ultimately the daughter of the vizier came forward, agreed to be married to the mad king, and challenged him with her stories.

The present story is an inner layer sandwiched between the frames. The story teller is the youngest daughter of a wealthy man. She is a merchant by profession and is on her business journey. She arrives in a land where she does not see any sign of life.

The story to continue:
I saw a palace, and it was deserted. But the queen was there. The queen wore a crown studded with many kinds of gems. The apartment was spread with silk tapestries embroidered with gold. In the middle of the hall I saw an ivory bed plated with burnished gold, set with two bosses of green emaralds, and draped with a canopy like net strung with pearls. I saw something glitter, sending rays through the net, and when I approached and put my head in, saw there, set on a pedestal, a gem as big as an ostrich egg, with an incandescent glow, and a brilliant light that dazzled the eyes. I also saw a silk bedding and silk coverlet, and bedside pillow, two lighted candles. There was nobody in the bed. I said to myself, "Someone must have lighted the candles." Nobody anywhere: kitchen, wine cellar, treasure house. Nobody anywhere. Night fell, and I decided to go outside. But I lost the gate of the castle. I have to wait till the morning.
Nothing to do, I rested in the canopied bed, covered myself with the coverlet and tried to sleep. Fear griped me. With thumping heart I crouched under the coverlet.

Midnight. A sweet voice chanting Quran. I rose and tried to walk in the direction of the voice. I saw a streak of light on the silk carpet guided me to a chamber, whose door stood ajar. I peered through and saw a place that looked like a niche for prayer and recitation. The light from the hanging lamps and two candles showed me a prayer carpet and the holy Quran on a stand, and a handsome young man. He must have been the one who escaped the curse of the city. I opened the door and greeted him, "Blessed be God who has granted you to me to the cause of deliverance and help our ship to our native land. O holy man, by the holy book you are reciting, answer my question."

He looked at me with a smile and said, "O good woman, tell me first, what caused you to come here and I shall relate to you what happened to me and to the people of this city, and why they were cursed while I was not." I told him how our ship had strayed for twenty days. He said, "O sister, I shall tell you what happened to our city and its people."

The End of Night 

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