Thousand & One Nights: 180th Night: The Wealthy Man & The Slave Girl - 10

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, when Abu al-Hasan rose to take his leave, Ali ibn Bakkar said to him, "Brother, perhaps you will get some news from my beloved, for I saw how she was, and we must find out what happened to her afterwards."

Abu al-Hasan replied, "Her maid is bound to come and tell us about her."

Then he left Ali ibn Bakkar and went to his shop, and there he waited for the maid, but she did not come.  He spent the night in his own house, and next morning, after he performed his ablutions and prayers, he went to Ali ibn Bakkar's house.  When he went in, he found him lying in bed, surrounded by all sorts of people and by physicians, each of whom was examining him and prescribing something or other.  Abu al-Hasan related later:

When he saw me he hearkened to me with a glad look and a faint smile.  After I made the proper salutation, I told him how much I had missed him, inquired about his health and how he had passed the night, and sat with him until everyone left.  Then I turned to him and asked, "Why this congregation?"

He replied, "The servants spread the word that I was sick, and the people came to see me, and being weak, I lay in bed and was powerless to turn them back. But have you seen the maid?"

I replied, "No, I have not seen her, but she will come today."  Ali ibn Bakkar wept bitterly, until Abu al-Hasan finally said to him, "Stop weeping, conceal your secret from everyone, and avoid scandal."  But he continued to weep and recited the following verses:

I hid my love, but it grew stronger 

And made me weak, revealing to all

What I hid.  My tears betrayed me.

The more I wept, the more I exposed.

He added "Life has dealt me a blow I did not need, and now there is nothing easier for me than death, for it will bring me relief from my sufferings and release me from my affliction."

I replied, "May God protect you and grant you a remedy.  You are not the first one to undergo such an ordeal or the only one to suffer such a wrong."  I conversed with him some more time, and then went to market and opened my shop.

Hardly had I sat down, came up the maid.  She looked withered and dejected.  She greeted me.  "You are very welcome," I said to her, "I have been waiting for you; how is your lady?  As for us, here is what happened to us." I told her all that had passed.  She marveled. "My lady fared much worse when you left," she said with a sigh.  "When you left," she continued, "I kept worrying about you, hardly believing that you had escaped.  When I went back, I found my mistress lying postrate in the alcove, unable to speak or to respond, while the Commander of the Faithful sat by her head, not knowing what ailed her, and finding none who could explain.  She remained in this condition surrounded by her maids, some of whom rejoiced and some of whom wept.  When she came to herself al Rashid asked her, "O Shams al-Nahar, what ails you?" She was influenced by these words, and she kissed his feet and said, "May God make me your ransom, O Commander of the Faithful. I had an attack on the bile, which set my body on fire and made me faint."

The Caliph asked, "What have you eaten today?"

She replied by investing something and pretending to have recovered, called for wine, drank it, and begged the Commander of the Faithful to resume his merry making.  Caliph returned to his palace and bade her sit with him and be at ease, and she did as he bade.Then I went up to her, 

and she asked me  about two of you, I told her what had happened to you, and when I repeated the verses of Ali ibn Bakkar, she wept. Then a girl called Lover's Eyes sang the following verses:

Life has not been soft after you;

I wonder how you fared after me!

If my loss you don't mourn with 

Bitter tears, over your cruel loss, 

My tears should blood be.

At these verses Shams al-Nahar swooned again, and I tried to revive her.

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.