Arabian Nights: 209th Night: Anis al Jalis, The Slave Girl -9

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, that Nur al-Din said to himself, "Though this fellow is a bastard who had turned me away, another may not be so." Then he went to the second door. He knocked the door.  The maid came out.  Nur al-Din repeated what he said to the first girl. She disappeared, then returned saying, "Sir, he ain't here."  Nur al-Din said to himself, "May be I find another who will help me."  So he went to the third door.  But, he too, turned him out.  Now he regretted coming and recited the following verses:

When affluent I was a tree, round 
Which people collected and picked 
Fruits.  When the fruit is gone, and 
The leaves are fallen, they turn away 
And leave tree to wither and perish.
Nur al-Din Ali returned to Anis al Jalis, feeling more depressed than before.

"My lord, Do you believe me now?" she said.
He replied, "Not one of them take any notice of me."
She said, "My lord, sell some of the furniture and utensils in the house."
Nur al-Din began to sell the furniture and utensils one by one, and live on the proceeds until there was nothing left. Then he turned to Anis al Jalis and asked, "What is left to sell now?"

"O my lord, it is my advice that you should rise at once and take me down to the market and sell me.  You know that your father bought me for ten thousand dinars; perhaps by God's help, you will get close to this amount for me; and if it is his will to reunite us, we will meet again."
Nur al-Din replied, "O Anis al Jalis, by God, I cannot endure to be seperate from you one single hour."
She said, "My lord, nor can I, but necessity compels, as the poet says:

Necessity compels us to ways
That decent men use to oppose. 
Then Nur al-Din took Anis al Jalis with him, with tears running down his cheeks.

Nur al-Din Ali with Anis al Jalis entered the market.  He delivered her to one of the brokers, saying, to him, "Haj Hasan, you should know the value of the girl you are going to auction."  The broker replied, "O my lord Nur al-Din, your interest is protected." Then he continued, "Isn't she Anis al Jalis, whom your father had bought some time ago for ten thousand dinars?"

Nur al-Din replied, "Yes, she is." The broker looked around, and seeing that many merchants were still absent, waited until the market get active and all kinds of girls were sold - Nubians, Europeans, Greeks, Circassians, Turks, Tartars and others.  When the broker saw that the market was very active, he rose and going upto merchants, cried out, "O merchants........."

Morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.



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