THE STORY OF THE PORTER WITH THE YOUNG LADIES
Harun al-Rashid
Source
Zobeida and her two elder sisters arrive in a city where all the inhabitants have been petrified into black stones.
Zobeida visits the local palace, finds the king and the queen also petrified, and finally finds a living man that starts to tell her what happened to the city and its inhabitants.
ON THE TWENTY-THIRD NIGHT
Sheherazade continued the story of Zobeida:
Unfortunately, the captain lost his way. The current carried us towards the outer sea, and we entered a sea quite different from that towards which we were heading. And a very strong wind pushed us, which did not stop for ten days. Then, in the distance, we vaguely saw a town, and we asked the captain: "What is the name of this town we are heading for?" He replied: “By Allah! I do not know. I have never seen it, and in my life, I have never entered this sea. But anyway, the important thing is that we are fortunately out of danger. So all you have to do is enter this city and display your goods. And if you can sell them, I advise you to sell them."
An hour later, he came back to us and said: “Hurry out to the city, and see the wonders of Allah in his creation! And invoke his holy name, so that he keeps you from misfortunes!"
Then we went towards the city, and, hardly had we arrived there, we were in the greatest amazement: we saw that all the inhabitants of this city were metamorphosed into black stones. But only the inhabitants were petrified; for, in all the souks and all the streets of the merchants, we found the goods as they were, and all things in gold and silver as they were. At this sight, we were very happy and said to ourselves: “It is certain that the cause of all this must be an astonishing thing. So we separated, and each went his own way through the streets of the city, and each set to work and collected for himself all that he could carry in gold, silver, and precious pieces of material.
As for me, I went up to the citadel and found that it contained the king's palace. I entered the palace through a large gate made of solid gold, and I lifted the large velvet curtain, and I saw that all the furniture inside and all the objects were made of gold and silver. And in the courtyard and all the halls, the guards and the chamberlains were standing or sitting, but, all petrified and as if alive. And in the last room, filled with chamberlains, lieutenants, and viziers, I saw the king seated on his throne, petrified, dressed in clothes so sumptuous and so rich that it was insane, and he was surrounded by fifty mamelukes dressed in robes, silks and holding their drawn swords in their hands. The king's throne was encrusted with pearls and jewels, and each pearl shone like a star. And, in truth, I almost went crazy.
But I continued walking, and came to the hall of the harem, and found it still more marvelous, and everything, even the lattices of the windows, was of gold; the walls were covered with silk hangings; on the doors and windows there were velvet and satin curtains. And I finally saw, amid the petrified women, the queen herself, dressed in a dress strewn with noble pearls, and having on her head a crown enriched with all kinds of fine stones, and around her neck necklaces and beautifully chiseled gold networks; but she too was petrified in black stone.
From there I continued to walk and found an open door, the two leaves of which were of virgin silver, and within I saw a staircase of porphyry, consisting of seven steps; I climbed this staircase, and, on arriving at the top, I found a large hall entirely of white marble, covered with carpets woven in gold; and in the middle of this room, between great golden candlesticks, I saw a dais of gold sprinkled with emeralds and turquoises, and on this dais was a bed of alabaster encrusted with pearls and jewels and stuffed precious fabrics and embroidery. And I saw, in the background, a light shining; I approached and I found that this light was a brilliant as big as an ostrich egg, placed on a stool, and whose facets threw this light: this brilliant was perfection itself and its light alone lit up the whole room.
Yet there were also the torches lit, but they were ashamed before this diamond. And I say to myself: "If these torches are lit, it is because someone lit them."
So I continued to walk and I entered other rooms, and everywhere I marveled, and everywhere I tried to discover a living being. And I was so busy that I forgot myself, my journey, my ship, and my sisters. And I was still in that wonder when night came; then I wanted to leave the palace, but I lost my way, I could not find the way, and I ended up arriving in the room where there was the alabaster bed and the brilliant and the lit golden candlesticks. So I sat down on the bed, I half-covered myself with the blue satin coverlet embroidered with silver and pearls, I took the holy book, our Koran, and, in this book, which was written in a beautiful in gold types with red and illuminations of all colors, I began to read a few verses to sanctify myself and thank Allah and rebuke myself, and I meditated on the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him! then I lay down to sleep and tried to sleep, but I could not. And insomnia kept me awake until the middle of the night.
At that moment, I heard a voice reciting the Koran, a pleasant, soft, and sympathetic voice. So, I got up in haste, and I went towards the side of the voice which recited. And I ended up arriving at a room whose door was open: I entered gently through the door, placing outside the torch that enlightened me in my research, and I looked at the place and saw that it was a sanctuary; it was lit by hanging green glass lamps; and in the middle there was a prayer rug spread out on the eastern side, and on this rug sat a very handsome-looking young man who was reading the Koran attentively and aloud, with great rhythm. And I was in the greatest astonishment, and I wondered how this young man could, alone, have escaped the fate of the whole city. So I stepped forward and turned to him and made him my wish for peace, and he turned his eyes towards me and returned the wish for peace. So I told him: “I beseech you, by the holy truth of the verses that you recite from the Book of Allah, to answer my question!"
Then he smiled calmly and gently and said to me: "Tell me first, O woman, the cause of your entry into this oratory, and, in my turn, I will answer the question you have." So I told him my story, which astonished him very much, and I then asked him what this extraordinary situation in the city was. And he said to me: “Wait a minute!" Then he closed the sacred book and placed it in a satin bag, and he told me to sit next to him. I sat down and then looked at him attentively, and I saw that he was like the full moon, perfect in qualities, full of sympathy, admirable in appearance, fine and proportionate in stature; his cheeks were like crystal, his face the color of fresh dates, as if the poet was aiming at him in these stanzas:
The reader of the stars observed in the night! And suddenly,
Before his eyes appeared the slenderness of the charming boy! And he thought:
“It was Saturn itself who gave this star that spreading black hair, which one would take for a comet!
And as for the rosiness of her cheeks, it was Mars who took care to extend it!
And as for the piercing rays of his eyes, they are the very arrows of the Seven-Star Archer!
But it was Mercure who gave him this marvelous sagacity,
While it was Abylssouha who gave him this golden value!"
Also, the observer of the stars did not know what to think and was perplexed.
It was then that the star bowed towards him and smiled!
To look at him thus, the sight of him threw me into the most violent disturbance of the senses, into the most ardent regrets at not having known him up to this day; and red embers ignited in my heart. And I told him: “O my master and suzerain, tell me now what I have asked you!" And he answered me: “I listen and I obey!” And he told me:
“Know, O lady of honor, that this city was my father's city. And it was inhabited by all her relatives and her subjects. My father is that king whom you saw seated on the throne and transformed into stone. As for the queen you saw, she is my mother. My father and my mother were mages, worshipers of the terrible Nardoun. They swore and took an oath on fire and light, on shadow and heat, and the spinning stars!
“For a long time, my father had no children, and it was not until the end of his life that I was born as the son of his old age. And my father raised me with great care; however, I was growing up: it was then that I was chosen for true bliss.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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