Thousand & One Nights 83rd Night
On 83rd night Shahrazad said: This is the story that vizier of Harun al Rashid told the latter. Stories never end. It is like links in a chain, each one is connected to another.
Now vizier says that Badr al-Din Hasan is married to Sit al-Husn, the daughter of King of Cairo.
The vizier continued his story:
Badr al-Din Hasan and Sit al-Husn embraced each other, and he took her virginity, and consummated the marriage. She placed her one arm under his neck, and cheek on cheek they went to sleep. Bosom to bosom in each other's arms they lay in bliss.
When they were sleep the demon said to the she-demon, "Take up the young man, and let us return him to the palace where he was asleep, before morning overtakes us." The she-demon took up Badr al-Din Hasan as he lay asleep, without his trousers, clad only in his thin sequin shirt with its Morocan gold embroidery and in his blue skullcap, and flew away with him, while the demon flew by her side. But no sooner the day dawned, the angels shot the demons with shooting stars. The demon was consumed by fire, while the she-demon was saved, and was able to come down safely with Badr al-Din Hasan, and she had reached Damascus, and there she left him with one of the city gates and departed.
In the morning the doors of the city gate were opened. The people coming out of the city saw a young man clad in nothing but a light shirt and a skullcap, and snoring as he lay in deep sleep from the exhaustion of
the previous night. One of the city dwellers said, "Lucky is she who spent the night with him. She should have waited until the boy put on his clothes." Another said, "What a pity! Look at him! Perhaps he came out of a tavern, seeking some pleasure. But being drunk fell asleep here."
A light wind blew and raised his light shirt, revealing his beautiful legs, and thighs and belly and naval. The bystanders cried out, "O lovely, lovely!" and their cries woke up Badr al-Din Hasan. He found himself lying at the gate surrounded by a huge crowd." He asked in astonishment, "Good friends, where am I? And why do you crowd around me?"
They replied, "We found you lying here at the time of morning call to prayer. That's all we know about you. Where did you sleep last night?"
"By God, friends, I slept in Cairo."
One of them said, "Listen to him!"
Another said, 'Give him a hard kick."
The third man said, "Son, you are mad. How can you sleep in Cairo and wake up in Damascus?"
The first man said, "By God, he is a good one."
Second man, "Well, well."
The third man, "He is mad." Everybody began to shout, "He is mad."
Thus, making him a mad man in spite of his assertions, they said to him, "Son, return to your senses. Who could be in Basra yesterday, in Cairo yesternight, and in Damascus this morning?"
Badr al-Din Hasan replied, "I was truly a bridegroom in Cairo last night."
The crowd replied, "Yes, in your dreams."
Badr al-Din Hasan was no longer sure of himself, and began to wonder, but finally replied to the crowd, "By God, brothers, it was not a dream. I went to Cairo and they unveiled a bride to me, and the hunchbacked. If it were a dream, then where are my gold purse, my dagger, my turban, and my robe?"
He was utterly confused.
As the day broke out, Shahrazad stopped, and promised her sister Dinarzad that they will continue the story next day.
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