Thousand & One Nights: 85th Night

The story told by Shahrazad to her sister Dinarzad is the frame story.

This Night's story is by Ja'far the vizier to his Caliph Harun al Rashid.

The story is about the son of another vizier. Badr al-Din Hasan was the son of deceased vizier of Basra. He was later adopted by a  cook in Damascus.

Sit al-Husn was the daughter of Shams al Din Muhammad, the vizier of Cairo. The king of Cairo was attracted to the daughter of the vizier, and he demanded the vizier to give her to him in marriage. The vizier did not oblige. As a revenge the king decided to marry the daughter of vizier to a penniless hunchbacked. Two demons, feeling pity towards Badr al-Din Hasan, and finding that he was the best match to Sit al-Husn, interfere in the marriage, and it was solemnized between Sit al-Husn and Badr al-Din Hasan, by a clever scheme. Later, the demons took the bridegroom, who was in deep sleep after the consummation,  to Damascus.

Continue to read the story:
When Sit al-Husn heard her father say to her, "You seem mighty pleased with that abominable hunchbacked!" she smiled and said, "Stop, father! It was enough what I suffered yesterday at the hands of the women who taunted me and mocked me with that mean hunchbacked, who is not worthy even to bring my husband his mule or his shoes. By God, in all my life I have never had a better night than last night. Stop mocking me with the hunchbacked, whom you hired to ward off the evil eye from my young bridegroom!" Her father did not believe what she said. He glared at her, and said, "Damn you, what is this talk? Hasn't the hunchbacked slept with you?" The girl replied, "Stop mentioning the hunchbacked, that worthless creature! May God curse him. I slept in the lap of none, but my true husband." Her father yelled at her and said, "Damn you, shameless woman! Have you lost your senses?" 

She replied, "Ah, for God's sake, father, stop torturing me. I swear by God that my husband, who took my virginity and made me pregnant is a handsome man who is in the privy at this very moment."

Her father went to the privy and there he found the hunchbacked standing upside down, with his head stuck in the toilet and his feet in the air. The vizier was taken aback and called out, "You, hunchbacked!" The hunchbacked replied, "Yeah, yeah!" The vizier asked, "Why are you in this position, who did this to you?" The hunchbacked replied, "Couldn't you people have found anyone for me to marry except a girl who consorts with buffaloes and demons for lovers?"

It was dawn and Shahrazad put a pause to her story telling.



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