Arabian Nights: 268th Night: Jullanar of the Sea - 39

The following night Shahrazad said:

King Badr said to the queen of Magi, "As long as you love me, nothing will change me towards you, for I love even more than you love me.  Eat of my barley meal." She took a mouthful and ate it. No sooner had it settled down in her stomach than she began to convulse.  King Badr took water in his hand, and threw it in her face, and said, "Leave this form and turn into a dappled mule.  When she saw herself in this condition, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to rub her head against his feet. He tried to bridle her; but she would not let him, so he left her and went to the old man and gave an account of the happenings.  The old man took a bridle, saying, "Bridle her with this, for when she sees this, she will submit and let you bridle her.  

King Badr took the bridle and returned to the queen.  She came up to him.  He set the bit in her mouth, mounted her, and rode to the old man. 

The old man said to her, "May God shame you, O cursed woman!  Do you see what He has done to you?"  Then he said to king Badr, "Son, it is time for you to leave this place.  Ride her and go wherever you like, but beware of relinquishing the bridle to anyone."  King Badr thanked him and bade him farewell.

He rode on three days and came to a city, where he met a grey headed old man.  He asked Badr, "Where are you coming from?" 
"From the city of magicians," replied king Badr.

The old man said, "You are my guest," and they engaged in conversation. There came an old woman, who looked at the she-mule, and began to cry, saying, "This she-mule resembles my son's she-mule, which is dead, and my heart aches for her.  "O young man, sell her to me,"  said the old woman. 
"Mother, by God I cannot sell her," said Badr
"For God's sake, do not refuse me, for my son will surely die, if I do not buy him this she mule."

She continued to press him, and to escape her pestering, he said, "I will not sell her for less than a thousand dinars." He thought, 'How can she get thousand dinars. He really underestimated her.  She took out from her pocket a thousand dinars, but when he saw the money, he said to her, "Mother, I was only joking, for I cannot sell her."  But the old man looked at him and said, "Son, you should know that none lies in this city, for whoever lies is put to death."
King Badr dismounted from the she-mule. 

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

( 16 )CHARLES DICKENS: DAVID COPPERFIELD: CHAPTER 16: I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE

Next morning, after breakfast, I entered on school life again.  I went, accompanied by Mr Wickfield to the scene of my future studies- a grave building in a courtyard, with a learned air about it that suited very well to the stray rooks and jackdaws who came down from the Cathedral tower to walk with a clerkly bearing on the grass plot - and was introduced to my new master, Doctor Strong. Doctor Strong looked almost as rusty, to my thinking, as the tall iron rails and gates outside the house; and almost as stiff and heavy as the great stone urn that flanked them, and were set up, on the top of red brick wall, at regular distances all round the court, like sublimated skittles for Time to play at.  Doctor Strong was in his library, with his clothes not particularly well brushed, and his hair not particularly combed, his knee-small unbraced, his long black gaiters unbuttoned, and his shoes  yawning like two caverns on the hearth-rug.  Turning upon me a lustreless eye, t...
Read more

Marco Polo in Central Asia: 50: Province of Tendeu, Gog, Magog

Tendue [1] is a province towards east where there are cities and castles, and the chief one bears the same name.  The people belong to the great Khan, like all those formerly subject to Prester John. In this province there is a king named George, descended from that prince who indeed enjoys his power. He holds the land under the Khan, but only part of that was enjoyed by his ancestors.  Khans had often given their daughters and female relations to the reigning kings of this Tendue.  In this province are found stones from which azure [2] is made. They are plentiful and good.  There are camlets woven out of Camel's hair. The natives live on cattle and fruits. These include their merchandise, and they have some manufactures.  The Christians, as already mentioned are masters of land. There are also idolaters and followers of Mohammed. There is likewise people called Argon, meaning French Guasmul that is mixed of two races. They are handsome, prudent and commercial. ...
Read more

Margherita Datini - A Businessman's Wife of Medieval Europe.

Florence was a city state of Italy. It was here Margherita Datini was born in 1360. In the year 1370, Bandini family, to which Margherita belonged was exiled from Florence for political reasons, and were settled in Avignon. Scholars have turned their attention to the correspondence discovered in 1870, behind the staircase of an Italian merchant and his wife. There were about hundred and fifty thousand letters and five hundred account books. These records shed light on trade and life of fourteenth century Italy. Among these letters, 250 letters belonged to Margherita's personal collection. At the age of sixteen, she was married to Francesco Datini, a wealthy merchant from Prato, who was twenty five years senior to her. This age difference was not uncommon in those days. He had fiancees, and even fathered a son in 1374. But the compulsion of a stratified society and the question of inheritance must have influenced him to take Margherita as his wife. His neighbour Niccolozzo Binduchi ...
Read more