Edward Steere

“ And it said to me, 'Mohammed, be not afraid, as for me, Almighty God has ordered for me to be an ape, but I am not an ape, I am a Jin of the the Marids. Almighty God has ordered for me to be a bringer of good fortune to you, to take you out of poverty, and on your part have no fear. I have a matter I wish to tell you. You used to be one of the poorest, with nothing before and nothing behind. Almighty God made me turn into an ape for your sake, to be the cause of your getting wealth. And now the wealth you have is not completed, for you have no wife. ”

“ She felt pity for it, for the trouble the gazelle had suffered; such are the ways of the world.
The Sultan's wife, when she heard those words her husband was saying to the old woman, her countenance lost its light, and she was still, and tears started from her eyes, so that her husband, when he saw her tears coming from her eyes, and the light of her countenance gone, he asked her, "What is the matter with you, Sultan's daughter?" And she said, "In the world he that has not much has little, and a man's madness that is his understanding." ”

“ I have been put here by myself—I, an old woman—and it is my work to cook food. You see the pots there? Well, when the great snake is coming, there blows a wind, and the dust flies as if a storm were coming. Well, when he comes, and arrives here in the courtyard, he eats till he has had enough, and goes inside there to drink water. When he has drunk water, he goes away; he only comes every other day, just when the sun is over head. ”

“ And the sultan's vizir there arose in the audience and said, "O our lord, I know the meaning of these words." And the sultan answered and said to him, "If you know the meaning of these words, except by asking Ali, to know them by your own understanding, I, the sultan, will give you my sultanship, and what speaks, and what speaks not of my possessions, I, the sultan, have given you as yours. And if you know not the meaning of these words by your own understanding, I shall take all your property, but you shall not ask Ali." ”

“ Now with you, ten things even to one, he has no good from you. If you do not love this gazelle for his beauty, love him for his speech; if you do not love him for his speech, love him because he is your man, whom you send hither and thither; if you do not love him for this, love him because he knows the honour due to different people; if you do not love him for these things, love him because he is your overlooker in the house. ”

“ Head-man, what news from the plantation?" And he said, "At the plantation it is beautiful, at the plantation it is good; and the news of the plantation, master, is that the date-tree has borne vastly, and then the dates are plump; if you see them there, while they are very young, a man would say they were full grown, and if he was told they were very young, he would not believe it. ”

“ The gazelle stood astonished. "This is property, this is a kingdom; but if I take it to my master he will be killed, for they would say to a poor man, 'Where did you get it?' If he says, 'I picked it up,' he will not be believed; if he says, 'I was given it,' he will not be believed; well then, why should I be the one to go and get my master into difficulties? I will look for people of power—they are the people to use it." ”

“ And he said to his friend on the road, "When I arrive I shall be killed, and my flesh will be cooked; the first skimming the Vizir will tell you to drink, but do not you drink it; put it in a bottle and set it on one side. The second you must drink, and you will become a great physician. It is the third that is your Sultan's medicine. And that first one, when he comes and asks you, 'Have you drunk the first?' tell him, 'I have, and this is your second one.' The Vizir will take it, and when he has drunk it he will die, and your soul will rest." ”

“ Well, he never called me even in sport, and asked me. But people say, it is not well to do people good like a mother; and the elders said, 'If you want to do any one good, don't do him good only, do him evil also, then there will be peace between you.'" And it said, "So, mother, I have done; I want to see the favours I have done to my master, that he may do me the like." And she said, "Very good, father." And they slept.
And in the morning when it dawned, the gazelle was sick in its stomach and feverish, and its legs all ached. ”

“ Buy them. 'I want a gazelle, I want a gazelle.' Here they are, you words and not deeds. 'M! you will long with your eyes and won't lay hold with your hands."
And he said to the Muhadim, "How much is one of your gazelles?" Those three men started. "Eh, you cheat you, you know every day gazelles are sold two for a quarter of a dollar." So he said, "I want one for an eighth." "Eh, you cheat, have you got an eighth? where did you get it?" And he gave him a push in the cheek.
"What do you give me a push in the cheek for nothing for, master? What have I done to you? ”

“ His wife said to him, "Ah! master, what has the gazelle done to you? What has the gazelle failed you in? Such words as these a man only uses to his enemy, whom he does not like to see. You and the gazelle, what enmity have you? ”

“ I love to gladden my father, that where he passes he may open his eyes, and he may laugh as is the custom, as the people of the world laugh, that he may speak as the custom, as the people of the world speak, that he may walk about as is the custom of the people of the world, as they walk about, and I do not like to bring grief to my father; I wish as other people live with their fathers so to live with mine. ”

“ And he said, "Yes, Vizir, certainly these words are true. And the Sultan said, "He that gives a wife a dowry does not get it again; when the husband has gone to ruin, the wife has no good spirit to give to him. Because you have become poor, she looks upon you as a simpleton, she does not know you as having been her husband. Because you have become destitute, you have become bad, too; and more, she looks upon you as a man without understanding, because you have lost your property. For when you had property you were a handsome man, you were a clever youth, you seemed like the son of a Sultan." ”

“ You, whom I called a fool, are the one who gave me a taste of the dates. As for them I want none of them."
And his mother arose and went to her husband, and said, "Do not reject them; he who rejects a son, rejects an unlawful son; and you, Sultan Majnún, if you reject these children, people will say they are not lawful children, and I, your wife, shall have no face before people. Whenever I go in the porches of people's houses, I shall not be able to lift up my face to look at anybody, women or men, free or slave, little or great ”

“ The Sultan returned with his sons, and came and buried them.
The seventh son, who was in the house, when he learnt the news of his brothers who were killed by the cat, said to his mother, "I too will go, that the cat may kill me as it has killed my brothers." And she said, "How will you go, son; by yourself?" And he said, "I shall go in anger for my brothers; for a man to lose out of the world three people in one day, should not such a one feel anger? So then I shall wander about and look for that cat who killed my brothers." ”

“ I have got you a wife then, I want to marry you, and if you get this wife you will yourself be at rest, and you will get an increase of wealth.'
"And I asked, 'Who is this wife?' And he said, 'To-morrow in the morning adorn yourself, and put on your best clothes, and let your mule be harnessed with its golden harness, and take with you slave lads of the best from among your slaves, and go to the grass market. Go on as far as the seat of such a one, you will see the Shereef wearing the garments of a devotee. ”

“ And it said, "Come, gentlefolks, open your mouths; and fellow-servants, fellow-servants, open your mouths, that we may escape from the sun." And the gentry arose and ate good food, and their souls rejoiced, and so did the slaves. And all the slaves that were there, and even the gentry, loved that gazelle more than they did Sultan Darai. ”

“ And they said, "The gazelle did you many benefits, and if there are benefits, they must be like these, and no greater; and if any one says there are greater benefits than these, contradict that man, he is a liar. So then, to us who have done you no good, what will you do? That gazelle who did every good thing, you took no notice of him for good or for evil, till the gazelle has died for indignation and bitterness within himself, and you have ordered people to throw him into the well. ”

“ And he went into the forest and wilderness, till he went and met with a rhinoceros, asleep under a great tree. And he said to his slaves, "To-day we have seen the nunda." "Where, master?" "That under the tree." "Eh! what are we to do, master?" And he said, "Now let us eat our fill, that we may go and smite it, we have found it well; if it kills us, so it must be." And they said, "Come on, master." And they took out their bumundas, and ate till they were satisfied. And he said, "Let every one take two guns; let one lie on the ground and one in his hand." ”

“ And he said, "Of the snake, and the lion, and the ape, they told me that no son of Adam is done good to; if you do a son of Adam good he does you wrong, and this is true and no lie. That man for the good I did him has done me harm; that sentence of the snake and the lion and the ape is true, and is no lie." ”

“ There were three men standing and they said to him, "You have got a job, you Muhadim." "How so, my masters?" "That poor fellow has nothing at all, not a thing." And he said to them, "Perhaps, master, he has." "He has not, you see him yourself on the dustheap, he does not get up, he scratches like a hen, every day he gets two grains of mtama and chews them. If he had anything, wouldn't he have bought mtama and eaten it? Would he want to buy a gazelle? He can't feed himself, will he be able to feed a gazelle?" ”

“ The people went and said to the Sultan, "How is this, master? It is you who are our Sultan, it is you who are our master, it is you who are our shield. You have left that cat, master, to itself; it is gone to live on Mnazimoja; if a man passes, it eats him, if a cow passes, it eats it, if a donkey passes, it eats it, if a goat passes, it eats it, whatever thing it is which passes by that road of Mnazimoja, it catches and eats it; and at night it comes down into the town: whatever it finds in the town, it catches and eats it. ”

“ Till one day he heard people conversing, "The Sultan's son has married a woman who has lost one hand." And her brother asked, "Where did he get the girl, this child of the Sultan?" And they told him, "He picked her up in the forest." And he knew she was his sister.
And he went to the king. And he went and said, "Your child has married a woman who has lost a hand. She was put out of their town because she was a witch; every husband who marries her, she kills." ”

“ Eh! eh! my wife, I forgot; it is inside the side piece of the little bedstead." "Ah! now you, you wanted to give me trouble, and you know where you put the tobacco. You wanted to give me trouble, me, the child of your equal." And taking the tobacco from under the side piece, she brought it to him. "Take hold of your tobacco; you are not in your senses, before one's food has got down into one's stomach, to begin to worry one." "Ah, wife, I am tired, and I had forgotten. Well, it is getting night-time; call the childreu to go to bed; get up and fasten the door." ”

“ Well, and I the wife am the one to answer you, 'Ah, master, the children have had food enough.' This is how people live with their wives in great houses, and this is exactly what people marry for; that when they go out they should not ask a slave, or ask a child; it is the wife who is in the house who is to be asked, she it is who manages the house ”

“ "And he said, 'Sit down then, that I may give you my story from the beginning until now.' And he said, 'Give it me, I am already set down.'
"And he said, 'My name is Jan Shah, and my father's name, Taighamus, a great Sultan. ”

“ When I go and tell my father, am I to tell him, 'The dates have been eaten by people?' am I to say, 'The dates have been eaten by birds?' or am I to say, 'A great rain fell yesterday in the night and a great storm blew?' am I to tell him, 'The dates have all fallen off?' He will say to me, 'Go and gather them up and bring me that I may see what have been beaten off by the storm and the rain,' and there on the ground there are none. ”

“ When it dawned, the gazelle went and said to the Sultan, and it said, "Master, the work a man comes for is what he attends to; so then, Master, we want you to marry us our wife, for the soul of Sultan Darai is eager." And he said, "The wife is ready, call the mualim, and let him come." ”

“ And Ali went and told his friend the beggar, "I have come to be called by the Sultan's Vizir; he who refuses to be called, refuses what he is called for."
And he said, "Go, my friend, perhaps there is good luck for you." And as he opened the door Ali saw the Vizir and his slave. And he said, "Master, Masalkhieri." And he said, "Thanks, Ali, let us be going and make our way to my house." And he said, "All right, master."
The Vizir and Ali went together to his house. As the Vizir went up-stairs, it struck one o'clock. And the Vizir called his slave woman, "Mrashi!" And she answered, "Here." ”

“ And he felt, "When I die, all these possessions will be lost, by reason of my having no son."
And a demon came and made himself like a man, and said to the Sultan, "If I give you a medicine, and you get a son, what will you give me?" ”