Classics Retold

My brother put the glass in a bag and tied it to his waist.  He disguised himself as a Persian, and hid a sword under his clothes.  When he saw the old woman, he told her with a Persian accent, "Old lady, I am a stranger here.  Do you have a pair of scales, large enough to weigh five hundred dinars?  I will give you some of it for your troubles." The old woman replied, "O Persian, my son is a money changer, and he has all kinds of scales.  Come with me before he goes out to his shop, and he will weigh your gold." She led him until she came to the house, and when she knocked at the door, the young lady herself came out and opened the door.  The old woman smiled in her face and said, "I have brought you a fat piece of meat today."  The young lady taking my brother by hand, led him into the house and sat with him for a while.  Then she said to him, "Wait until I come back." She rose and went away. As soon as she left, the black slave came in, with a...

The old woman finished her prayer, and blessed my brother.  He thanked her and pulled out two dinars from his purse, and gave them to her, and said, "This is an offering from me." "How strange!" She exclaimed, "Why do you look at me as if I was a beggar? Keep it for yourself.  I don't need it. However, I do have for you in this city a wealthy woman. She is charming." My brother asked, "How could I get such a woman?" "She replied, "Take all your money, and follow me, and when you are with her, spare neither fair words nor amiability, and you will enjoy her beauty and her wealth to your hearts content."  My brother took all his money and went with the old woman. They came to the door of a mansion.  She knocked the door.  It was opened by a Greek slave girl.  She entered, and my  brother followed.  They were in a spacious hall spread with carpets and hung with curtains.  My brother sat down, placed the money before him, and, takin...

All these were the daydreams of my brother. The dreams did not stop, but continued: I will continue enjoy looking at the bride, until they finish presenting her to me.  Then I will order my servant to fetch a purse of five hundred dinars, and giving it to the attendants of the bride, command them to lead me to the bride chamber.  When they lead her in and leave her alone with me, I will look at her and lie by her side, but I will ignore her and will not speak to her, so that she may say that I am a proud man.  Then her mother will come in and kiss my hand and say, 'My lord look at your servant, and comfort her, for she craves your favour.'  But I will not answer.  When she sees this, she will kiss my feet many times, and say, 'My daughter is a young lady, who has never seen a man before, and if you disdain her, you will break her heart.  Turn to her, speak to her, and comfort her.'  Her mother will give her a cup of wine and say to he, 'Entreat your lo...

My fifth brother, cropped ears was a poor man who used to beg by night and live by day.  When our father fell sick and died in his old age, he left seven hundred dinars, which we divided equally among ourselves. My fifth brother had no idea as to what he would do with the legacy. Later he entered in the buying and selling of glass.  He bought hundred dirhams worth glass and put them in a large  basket, and sat before a tailor's shop, which had a balustrade at the entrance. My brother leaned against the balustrade and sat, thinking to himself, "I have a capital of a hundred dirhams' worth of glass, which I will sell for two hundred dirhams, with which I will buy more glass which I will sell for four hundred dirhams.  I will continue to buy and sell until I have four thousand dirhams, then ten thousand, with which I will buy all kinds of jewels and perfumes and make a great profit.  Then I will buy a  fine house, together with slaves and horses, and I will ea...

My brother decided to run away from that city, and go to a place where no one would recognise him. He came and settled down in another city, and began to thrive until one day he went out to divert himself, when he heard the tramping of horses behind him.  He exclaimed, "the judgement of God is upon me," and looking for a place to hide, found  nothing but a closed door.  When he pushed it, the door opened, and he fell forward, finding himself in a long hallway.  But hardly had he advanced, when two men seized him and said, "Praise be to God, who has delivered you to our hands, O enemy of God.  For three nights you have robbed us of peace and sleep, and made us test the agonies of death." My brother said, "Fellows, what is your problem?" They said, "You have been tormenting us and plotting to kill the master of the house.  Is it not enough that you and your friends have made him a beggar?  Give us the knife with which you have been threatening us every ...

My fourth brother was a butcher in Baghdad. He was one eyed. He was a successful butcher; prominent and wealthy persons bought meat from him.  He bought houses and property and amassed great wealth.  One day, an old man with long beard came to his shop.  He gave the owner some money and asked for meat.  My brother cut for him his money's worth and the old man went away. The silver coins that the old man gave were very brilliant and my brother put them separately. The old man continued to come for five more months.  My brother purchased a separate chest and kept the silver coins in it. He was in dire need of money to purchase a new flock of sheep and he decided to use the money he separately kept in the chest. But when he opened the chest to take out the money he found nothing in it except some papers cut round.  He beat his head and cried out, and when people gathered around him, he told them his story.  Then he rose, and slaughtering a ram as usual an...

The police gave the intruder four hundred blows on the buttocks, and when he began to smart, he opened one eye, and as the pain increased with the blows he opened the other eye. The chief asked, "What is this, you devil?" The intruder replied, "Give me you seal ring of pardon and I will tell you what is going on."  The chief gave him the ring.  He said, "My lord, we are four fellows who pretend to be blind.  We enter houses, look at women and corrupt them. In this way we have made ten thousand dirhams. I said to my comrades to give me my share of two thousand five hundred dirhams.  They refused to pay, and took away my money. I appeal to God, and to you for protection, and it is better you keep my share than they.  If you wish to verify what I have said, beat each of them twice as much as you have beaten me, and they will surely open their eyes."  The chief ordered the three to be beaten, starting with my brother.  My brother was tied to a ladder....