Thousand & One Nights: 116th Night

Frame story by Shahrazad. Those present at the occasion: Shahriar, and Dinarzad. These stories were popularized by Ashiks of the Middle East. They had their counterparts like Griots of West Africa, Bards of Celtic societies, Troubadours of Occitania (France) and Italy, Sutas of North India, and the Panans of South India.
Many of these stories were intermixed because of the artist merchants and the pastoral community helping a cultural fusion. Some of these stories are used by Shahrazad to enlighten Shahriar, who went berserk when he saw his principal wife in compromising posture with a black slave. Shahrazad wanted to prove that the idea of virginity and chastity were a myth followed by patriarchal society.

The present story originally told by an Egyptian trader to the king of China. The title of the story:  The Young man with Severed hand and the girl -6

The young man said the girl, "I have no lodging but the Caravanserai. Do me a favour and let me come to your place." 
"Very well, my lord. Tonight is Friday night, and nothing can be done, but tomorrow, after you perform the morning prayer, ride an ass and ask for the house of the syndic Barqut abu-Shamah, in the Habbaniya quarter, and do not delay, for I will be waiting for you." The young man said very well and bade her good bye.

He waited impatiently for the morning, and as soon as it was daylight, he arose, put on clothes, and perfumed himself. Then he took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and walked from Masrur Caravanserai to the Zuwalaya Gate, where he hired an ass, bidding the driver take him to the Habbaniya quarter. He set off with the young man and in no time brought him to a side street called al-Taqwa Lane. The young man bade him go in and inquire about the house of syndic Barqut, known as abu-Shamah, and he disappeared and soon returned and said, "very well, dismount." The young man dismounted and said to him, "Guide me to the house, so that you can find it when you return tomorrow to take me back to the Masrur Caravanserai." He took the young man to the house and the young man gave him a quarter dinar and bade him go. The young man knocked at the gate, and there came out two little white maides who said, "Please come in, for our mistress being overjoyed with you, was unable to sleep last night." The young man walked through the hallway and came to a hall, raised seven steps above the ground, and surrounded by windows, overlooking a garden that delighted the eye with running streams and all kinds of fruits and birds. In the middle of the hall there was a square fountain at whose corners stood four snakes made of red gold, spouting water, as if it were jewels and pearls.

The break of dawn and Shahrazad stopped the story.


Notes:-
1. Syndic: Representative of guild or corporation.



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