Thousand & One Nights: 91st Night

On the ninety first night Shahrazad said: 

I heard, O happy King, Ja'far said to the Caliph:

Ajib and the servant stood before the shop of Badr al-Din Hasan al Basri. The latter gazed at his son, whose extraordinary beauty and grace attracted him. His heart began to throb and his stomach began to flutter, the blood harked to the blood, driven by instinctive sympathy and divine mistery - Glory be to Him who controls everything. Looking at his son's alien attire and at his wonderful face, Badr al-Din said to him, "O my lord and master of my life and heart, you for whom I would shed my blood, would you enter my shop to taste my food and make me happy? Taste my pomegranate seed dish cooked in sugar." At that moment he remembered his days as vizier's son, and his eyes filled with tears, and he recited the following verses:

O beloved, as I shed my tears
I acquaint you with my sorry plight
I yearn for you, and not avoid you
And feel a passion that burns 
Not that I hate or wish to forget 
But that such love beget wisdom!

Ajib felt tenderness for him, and his heart throbbed. He turned to the eunuch and said, "Tutor, I feel sympathy and pity for this cook, who seems to have lost a son or brother. Let us enter his shop and by accepting his hospitality, console him; perhaps God will reward this act by reuniting me with my father." When the eunuch heard these words, he was angry and said, "What a fine thing for a vizier's son to eat at a cook's shop! While I stand here to protect you with this club even from people's looks, how can I let you enter their shops?" When Badr al-Din heard what the eunuch said, he turned to his son and recited the following verses:

I marvel, they guard you with one
While many are enslaved by them
Basil of beard and jewels of mouth 
Mole of ambergris, rubies of face.  

Then he turned to the eunuch and said, "Noble lord, will you make me happy by entering my shop? You are like a chestnut, black without but white within, just like him of whom the poet said."

The eunuch laughed, and asked, "For God's sake, what did the poet say? Badr al-Din recited:

Were he not a fine and trusty man, 
He would not hold such a sway
Guard the harem with zeal and care
Even the angel pay him homage
Though black he excels in his deeds
Noble deeds that outshines day.

This pleased the eunuch, and he laughed, and took Ajib into the shop. Badr al-Din placed before them a sizzling bowl of pomegranate seeds
conserved with almonds and sugar. They ate it and found it extremely delicious. Ajib turned to his father and said, "Sit down and eat with us, and may the Almighty reunite with me the one for whom I long!" 

Badr al-Din said, "Have you too at your tender age suffered the loss of one you love?"

Ajib replied, "Yes uncle, my heart bleeds for the loss of one I love, and my grandfather and I have been roaming the land in search of him. Alas, how I long to be reunited with him!" Then he wept, and Badr al-Din wept at the sight of his son's tears and at the thought of his own seperation from his home and mother, in a distant land, and he recited the following verses:

If ever we meet each other again
For no letter can cure the ailing heart
Nor can another voice a lover's pain
Will the God bring bring me back 
My love? And let my sorrow go away.

The eunuch felt pity for Badr al-Din, and after they ate together, he took Ajib and departed. But when they left the shop, Badr al-Din felt as if his soul had left his body and had gone with them. He could not bear to be without them even for a single moment, so he closed his shop and followed them.

The advent of dawn, Shahrazad story her narrative.








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