Thousand & One Nights: 106th Night

One hundred and sixth night. The hunchback tambourine player and singer was choked to death when the tailor pushed a piece of fish to the former's mouth and shut it with his hands. Tailor's wife worked up to cover up the crime, and brought the dead body to a Jewish physician's house; where she asked the physician's maid to attend a sick boy and gave her a quarter dinar. When the physician's maid went to call the physician, the tailor propped up the dead body on the staircase. The physician was pleased with the quarter dinar handed over by the maid to him went downstairs to see the patient, and stumbled upon the propped up body, and it rolled down. Thinking that the sick boy was dead because of his stumbling on him the physician took him upstairs. His wife advised him to throw it to the compound of bachelor steward. The physician and his wife propped up the dead body at the foot of the wind shaft of the steward's compound. When the steward saw a man reclining on the wind shaft, he thought that he was the man who used to steal his cooking butter and provisions. Taking a heavy club he gave a big blow to the hunchback. 

Continue to read:

When the steward saw that the man was hunchback, he said, "O hunchback, O cursed man! Wasn't it enough for you to be a hunchback, but you had to turn a thief too? What shall I do? O protector, protect me!" As it was getting towards the end of the night, he carried the hunchback on his back and went out with him until he reached the entrance of the market, where he set him on his feet against a shop, at the corner of a dark alley, and went away.

There came a prominent Christian trader, who had a workshop, and he was the king's broker. He was drunk and in his drunkenness he had left left home, heading for bath, thinking that morning prayers were near. He came struggling along until he drew near the hunchback and squatted in front of him to urinate. When he looked around he saw a man standing before him. It so happened that early that night someone had snatched off his turban. When he saw the hunchback he thought that he was going to snatch off his turban. He clenched his fist and boxed the hunchback on the neck, knocking him down. Then crying out for the watchman, he fell in his drunkenness on the hunchback, pummelling him and choking him. When the watchman came upto the lamppost and saw a Christian kneeling a Muslim and beating him, he asked, "What is the matter?" The Christian replied, "This man tried to snatch off my turban." The watchman said, "Get up from him," and when the Christian got up, the watchman drew close to the hunchback and, finding that he was dead, said, "By God, this is fine thing, a Christian killing a Muslim!" He seized the Christian trader, bound him and brought him in the night to the house of the chief of the police. The Christian was bewildered, wondering how he could have killed the fellow so quickly with one blow of fist, as drunkenness left him and reflection returned. He and the hunchback passed the night in the chief's house.

In the morning the chief went up to the king and informed him that the trader be hanged, and the chief went down and bade the executioner proclaim the sentence. The hangman set up a gallows, under which he made the Christian stand, put the rope around his neck, and was about to hang him, when the steward of the king's kitchen made his way through the crowd and said to the executioner, "Stop! This man did not kill the fellow; I am the one who killed him." Then he related to him his story, how he hit the hunchback with the club, and how he carried him, and propped him up in the market, adding, "Is it not enough for me to have killed a Muslim without burdening my conscience with the death of a Christian too? On my own confession, hang no one but me."

But the morning came, and Shahrazad stopped the story telling.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

( 16 )CHARLES DICKENS: DAVID COPPERFIELD: CHAPTER 16: I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE

Next morning, after breakfast, I entered on school life again.  I went, accompanied by Mr Wickfield to the scene of my future studies- a grave building in a courtyard, with a learned air about it that suited very well to the stray rooks and jackdaws who came down from the Cathedral tower to walk with a clerkly bearing on the grass plot - and was introduced to my new master, Doctor Strong. Doctor Strong looked almost as rusty, to my thinking, as the tall iron rails and gates outside the house; and almost as stiff and heavy as the great stone urn that flanked them, and were set up, on the top of red brick wall, at regular distances all round the court, like sublimated skittles for Time to play at.  Doctor Strong was in his library, with his clothes not particularly well brushed, and his hair not particularly combed, his knee-small unbraced, his long black gaiters unbuttoned, and his shoes  yawning like two caverns on the hearth-rug.  Turning upon me a lustreless eye, t...
Read more

Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Five

Updated 30/11/2024 In the last Section, last point was Debealuwa/Dhalak (Alalaei )island in the Red Sea, The island is northeast of Gulf of Zula, and the mountain island is in Northern Red Sea Region. And about eight hundred stadia beyond there is another very deep bay, with a great mound of sand piled up at the right of the entrance; at the bottom of which the opsian stone is found, and this is the only place where it is produced. These places, from the Calf-Eaters to the other Berber country, are governed by Zoscales , who is miserly in his ways and always striving for more, but otherwise upright, and acquainted.    My Search:- 1. Opsian stones: Also known as obsidian stones. They are volcanic glass artefacts used for various purposes like making of tools, in jewellery, mirrors and ritual objects. They were widely used in Asian, African and Mediterranean cultures  2. Berber countries: Berbers are the indigenous peoples of Africa, like that of Morocco, Algeria, Libya e...
Read more

Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Seven

In Section six the unknown sailor was at Zula (ancient Adulis). He had been giving an account of imports and exports to Zula and other ports he covered earlier. From this place the Arabian Gulf trends toward the east and become narrow just before the Gulf of Avalites.  After about four thousand stadia [about four hundred miles or six hundred and forty kilometres] for those sailing eastward along the same coast there are other Berber market-towns, known as the "far-side ports; lying at intervals one after the other without harbours but having roadsteads where ships can anchor and lie in good weather. The first is called Avalites; to this place the voyage from Arabia to far-side coast is shortest. Here there is a small market-town called Avalites, which must be reached by boats and rafts. There are imported into this place, flint glass assorted, juice of sour grapes from Diospolis,  dressed cloth assorted, made for the Berbers; wheat, wine and a little tin. There are exported f...
Read more