THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
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Suddenly seven strong black guys appear and tied the seven men together. But the young lady does not order them to kill the men. She gives them a reason to escape her wrath.
First, the porter is spared. Then she asks the three saâlouks to tell their stories. The first saâlouk starts to tell his story.
We can guess that Harun al-Rashid will not be killed, so probably all the men will be spared.
ON THE SIXTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
After she spoke angrily to the men, the mistress of the house rolled up her sleeves on her wrists, stamped the ground three times with her foot, and exclaimed: “Hey! Come quickly!" And immediately the door of one of the wardrobes opened, over which the curtains were drawn, and seven sturdy negroes came out, brandishing sharp swords in their hands. And she said to them: “Tie the arms of these people with too long tongues, and bind them one to another!" And the negroes carried out the order, and said: "O our mistress, O flower hidden far from the eyes of men, do you allow us to cut off their heads?" She replied, "Wait another hour on them! because I want, before cutting their necks, to question them to find out who they are!"
Then the porter exclaimed: “By Allah! O my mistress, do not kill me for the crime committed by others! All of them here have failed and committed a real crime, but not me! Oh, by Allah! what a happy and pleasant night we would have spent if we had been unscathed from the sight of these saâlouks of misfortune! for these ominous saâlouks would ruin, by their mere presence, the most flourishing city just by entering it!" And thereupon he recited a stanza:
How beautiful is forgiveness on the part of the strong, how beautiful it is,
Especially granted to a defenseless being!...
And you, I conjure you, by the inviolable friendship which is between us,
Do not kill the innocent because of the guilty!
When the porter had finished speaking, the young lady began to laugh. She approached the company and said, “Tell me everything you need to tell me because you only have an hour to live! Besides, if I am patient like this, it is because you are poor people; for if you were among the most respected or the greatest of your tribe, or if you were rulers, I would certainly have dispatched you still more quickly to punish you!"
Then the caliph said to Ja'far: “Woe to us, O Ja'far! Tell her who we are or she'll kill us!" And Ja'far replied: “We only have what we deserve!" But the caliph said to him: "You mustn't make jokes when you have to be serious, because everything has its time!"
Then the young lady approached the saâlouks and said to them: “Are you brothers?" They replied, “No, by Allah! We are only the poorest of the poor, and we make a living from our profession by placing suction cups and making scarifications!" So she addressed each of them and asked: “Were you born one-eyed? He replied, “No, by Allah! but the story of the loss of my eye is such an astonishing story that, if it were written, it would be a lesson to anyone who would read it with respect!" And the second and the third gave him the same answer. Then all together said to her: “Each of us is from a different country and our stories are amazing and our adventures prodigiously strange!" Then the young girl turned to them and said: “Let each of you tell your story and the cause of your coming to our house. And then each of you put your hand to your forehead to thank us and go to your destiny!"
Then the first to come forward was the porter, who said: “O my mistress, I, from my state of man, am a porter, nothing more! This provider made me carry a load and came here with me. And it happened to me with you what you know very well, and which I do not want to repeat here, you understand why. And such is my whole story, for I will not add another word. And I wish you peace!"
Then the young lady said to him: “Come on! bring your hand to your head a little to see if it is in its place, smooth your hair, and go away!" But the porter said, “No, by Allah! I will not go until I have heard the story of my companions here."
Then the first saâlouk came forward to tell his story and said:
HISTORY OF THE FIRST SAÂLOUK
“I am going, O my mistress, to tell you the reason which compelled me to shave my beard and lose my eye!
Know then that my father was king. He had a brother, and that brother was king in another city. As for my birth, there was this coincidence that my mother gave birth to me on the very day of the birth of my uncle's son.
Then the years passed, and then years and days, and me and my uncle's son were growing up. I must tell you that I used to go, every few years, to pay a visit to my uncle, and even to stay with him for many months. The last time I visited him, my uncle's son received me with the widest and most generous welcome; he had sheep slaughtered in my honor, and clarified numerous wines. Then we began to drink, and so much that the wine was stronger than us. Then my uncle's son said to me, "O son of my uncle! you whom I love in a very special way, I have to ask you an important thing, and I would like not to see you refuse me it or prevent me from doing what I have resolved!" I replied: "Certainly, and with all my friendly and generous heart!" So, to have complete confidence, he made me take the most sacred oath by making me swear on our holy religion. He got up immediately, went away for a few moments, then returned with, behind him, a woman all adorned, all deliciously perfumed, dressed in sumptuous clothes which must have cost a very considerable price. And he turned towards me, with the woman behind him, and said to me: “Take this woman and precede me towards the place which I am going to show you." (And he showed me the place, specifying it to me in such a way that I understood it well.) And there you will find such a tomb among the other tombs, and you will wait for me there!" And I could not refuse him this, nor recuse myself from this request, because of the oath I had sworn with my right hand! And I took the woman and went and went into the dome of the tomb with her, and we sat down to wait for my uncle's son whom we soon saw arrive bearing with him a cup full of water, a bag containing plaster and a hatchet. He laid it all down, kept only the hatchet with him, and went to the tombstone under the dome; he removed the stones one by one and put them aside; then, with this hatchet, he set about digging in the earth until he had uncovered a lid the size of a little door; he opened it and below appeared a vaulted staircase. Then he turned to the woman and said to her, waving to her: “Come on! you just have to choose!" And the woman immediately descended the stairs and disappeared. Then he turned to me and said: “O son of my uncle! I beg you to complete the service you have just rendered me. When I go down there, you will close the lid and cover it with soil as it was before. And thus you will complete the service rendered. As for this plaster which is in the bag, and as for this water which is in the cup, you will mix them well; then you will put the stones back as before, and with this mixture, you will plaster the stones at their joints as before, and you will make sure that no one can guess and say: "Here is a fresh pit whose plaster is new, but the old stones! For, O son of my uncle, I have been working there for a whole year, and only Allah knows! And that is my prayer!" Then he added: “And now may Allah not overwhelm me with sadness for your absence from me, O my uncle's son!" Then he descended the stairs and plunged into the grave. When he had disappeared from view, I got up, closed the lid, and did as he had ordered me to do, so that the tomb became again as it was.
— At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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