Arabian Nights: 261st Night: Jullanar of the Sea - 32

The following night Shahrazad said:

The queen said to the old man, "Father, will you give him to me as a gift? I love him.  By the fire and light, by the hot wind and cool shade, I will make him my lot in life.  Do not fear for him, for I may harm everyone on the face of the earth, but I will not harm him.  You know the mutual esteem we hold for each other."

The old man replied, "O my queen, I can neither give him to you as a gift nor surrender him to you."

She said, "By the fire and the light, by the hot wind and the cool shade, and by my faith, I will not leave without him.  I will not betray him or enchant him, and I will do only what will please him."

The old man who did not dare cross her, fearing for himself and for young Badr, secured an oath from her that she would not harm the young man and that she would return him as she received him.  Then he said to her, "When you return from the square tomorrow, I will give him to you." She thanked him and returned to her palace.

When she disappeared, the old man turmed to Badr and said, "This is the woman I had feared and worried about but she swore by her Magian faith that she would not harm you or enchant you, and were it not that she respected me and liked me, she would have taken you by force, because it is the custom of this blasphemous witch Queen to do with strangers what I have already told you.  May God, shame her and curse her, and her great malice, wickedness, and depravity."  Young Badr replied, "My lord, By God I am terrified of her.  I tasted enchantment for an entire month, when princess Jauhara, the daughter of al-Shamandal cast a spell over me and made me a lesson for others, until the wife of one of the kings delivered me from the spell.  I have tasted the most bitter torments, and I know how the enchanted suffers." The young man wept bitterly.

The old man felt sorry for him and said to him, "Do not be afraid, for she may hurt even her relatives, but she will not dare hurt me."

But morning overtook the night. 
Shahrazad stopped and went out for the accomplishment of her royal duties, accompanied by her sister Dinarzad and the ailing king went to meet his royal Hakim.

Notes:-
Magian Faith: Magi is the plural of Magus, meaning priest. Some scholars connect it with Zoroastrianism.  I think they were originally a Median tribe which practised astrology, witchcraft, hand and mind reading as their living and acquired wealth and thus evolved into a priests.


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