Arabian Nights: 219th Night: Anis al Jalis, The Slave Girl -19

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King that Anis al Jalis replied, "If you had some musical instruments our joy would be complete."
The old man said, "I do." And he rose to his feet.  The Caliph asked Ja'far, "what is he going to bring?"
Ja'far replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, I do not know." The old man went out and soon returned with a lute.  When the Caliph saw the lute, he recognised it as one belonging to Ishak al Nadim and said to vizier, "Ja'far, this girl is going to play lute.  By the tomb of my father and forefathers, if she sings well, I will pardon them and hang you, but if she sings badly, I will hang you all."  Ja'far replied, " O God, let her sing badly!"

The Caliph asked him, "Why so?"
Ja'far replied, "Because of you hang us together, we will entertain each other."  The Caliph laughed.  The girl tuned the lute and began to play a melancholy so well that it filled their hearts with yearning sadness.  Then she sang the following verses:

You rebuff us in love's misery, 
Whatever you do, we deserve it, 
Of you, for you, to you we appeal, 
You who listen to all those complain.
Torment us not, we who pity deserve
Fear the Almighty, restrain yourself.
We fear not, you'll glory in our death, 
We fear that you will wrong us again.

The Caliph said, "Ja'far, never in my life have I heard anything lovelier."
The Caliph was no longer angry, Ja'far realised, and replied, "O Commander of the day, you are absolutely right." Both of them descended from the tree.  The Caliph said, "I wish to join them, and hear the girl sing before me."
Ja'far said, if we go in we will spoil their pleasure and Shaikh Ibrahim will die of fright."
The Caliph said, "I will not let him recognise me."
He left Ja'far and walked to the side overlooking the Tigris River.

The Caliph saw a fisherman fishing below the palace wall.  The Caliph had already prohibited fishing below the palace wall.  This, he implemented through Shaik Ibrahim only. But on that night the fisherman Karim happened to pass by, and seeing the garden gate open, he thought that the keeper must have gone to sleep, and forgot to shut the garden gate.  He wanted to take advantage of this lapse, and brought his net, and began fishing.

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.






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