Book: Supplemental Nights, Volume 1

R >> Richard F. Burton >> Supplemental Nights, Volume 1




The Twenty-first Night of the Month.

Whenas nighted the night, the Wazir presented himself before the
King, who bade him relate the promised story. So he said,
"Hearkening and obedience. Give ear, O king, to




The Tale of the Two Sharpers who each Cozened his
Compeer.



There was once, in the city of Baghdad, a man hight
Al-Marwazi,[FN#452] who was a sharper and ruined the folk with
his rogueries and he was renowned in all quarters for knavery. He
went out one day, carrying a load of sheep's droppings, and sware
to himself that he would not return to his lodging till he had
sold it at the price of raisins. Now there was in another city a
second sharper, hight Al-Razi,[FN#453] one of its worst, who went
out the same day, bearing a load of goat's droppings,[FN#454]
anent which he had sworn to himself that he would not sell it but
at the price of sundried figs. So the twain fared on with that
which was by them and ceased not going till they met in one of
the khans[FN#455] and one complained to other of what he had
suffered on travel in quest of gain and of the little demand for
his wares. Now each of them had it in mind to cheat his fellow;
so the man of Marw said to the man of Rayy, "Wilt thou sell me
that?" He said, "Yes," and the other continued, "And wilt thou
buy that which is with me?" The man of Rayy consented; so they
agreed upon this and each of them sold to his mate that which was
with him in exchange for the other's; after which they bade
farewell and both fared forth. As soon as the twain were out of
sight, they examined their loads, to see what was therein, and
one of them found that he had a load of sheep's droppings and the
other that he had a load of goat's droppings; whereupon each of
them turned back in quest of his fellow. They met again in the
khan and laughing at each other cancelled their bargain; then
they agreed to enter into partnership and that all they had of
money and other good should be in common, share and share alike.
Then quoth Al-Razi to Al-Marwazi, "Come with me to my city, for
that 'tis nearer than thine." So he went with him, and when he
arrived at his quarters, he said to his wife and household and
neighbours, "This is my brother, who hath been absent in the land
of Khorasan and is come back." And he abode with him in all
honour for a space of three days. On the fourth day, Al-Razi said
to him, "Know, O my brother, that I purpose to do something." The
other asked, "What is it?" and the first answered, "I mean to
feign myself dead and do thou go to the bazar and hire two
porters and a bier. Then take me up and go about the streets and
markets with my body and collect alms on my account."[FN#456]
Accordingly the Marw man repaired to the market and, fetching
that which he sought, returned to the Rayy man's house, where he
found his fellow cast down in the entrancepassage, with his beard
tied and his eyes shut, and his complexion was paled and his
belly was blown and his limbs were loose. So he deemed him really
dead and shook him but he spoke not; then he took a knife and
pricked his feet, but he budged not. Presently said Al-Razi,
"What is this, O fool?" and said Al-Marwazi, "I deemed thou wast
dead in very deed." Al-Razi cried, "Get thee to business, and
leave funning." So he took him up and went with him to the market
and collected alms for him that day till eventide, when he bore
him back to his abode and waited till the morrow. Next morning,
he again took up the bier and walked round with it as before, in
quest of charity. Presently, the Chief of Police, who was of
those who had given him alms on the previous day, met him; so he
was angered and fell on the porters and beat them and took the
dead body, saying, "I will bury him and win reward in
Heaven."[FN#457] So his followers took him up and carrying him to
the Police-officer, fetched gravediggers, who dug him a grave.
Then they brought him a shroud and perfumes[FN#458] and fetched
an old man of the quarter, to wash him: so the Shaykh recited
over him the appointed prayers[FN#459] and laying him on the
bench, washed him and shrouded him. After he had been shrouded he
skited;[FN#460] so the grey-beard renewed the washing and went
away to make the Wuzu-ablution, whilst all the folk departed to
do likewise, before the orisons of the funeral. When the dead man
found himself alone, he sprang up, as he were a Satan; and,
donning the corpse-washer's dress,[FN#461] took the cups and
water-can[FN#462] and wrapped them up in the napkins; then he
clapped his shroud under his armpit and went out. The doorkeepers
thought that he was the washer and asked him, "Hast thou made an
end of the washing, so we may acquaint the Emir?" The sharper
answered "Yes," and made off to his abode, where he found the
Marw man a-wooing his wife and saying to her, "By thy life, thou
wilt never again look upon his face for the best reason that by
this time he is buried: I myself escaped not from them but after
toil and trouble, and if he speak, they will do him to death."
Quoth she, "And what wouldst thou have of me?" and quoth he,
"Satisfy my desire and heal my disorder, for I am better than thy
husband." And he began toying with her as a prelude to
possession. Now when the Rayy man heard this, he said, "Yonder
wittol-pimp lusteth after my wife; but I will at once do him a
damage." Then he rushed in upon them, and when Al-Marwazi saw
him, he wondered at him and said to him, "How didst thou make
thine escape?" Accordingly he told him the trick he had played
and they abode talking of that which they had collected from the
folk, and indeed they had gotten great store of money. Then said
the man of Marw, "In very sooth, mine absence hath been prolonged
and lief would I return to my own land." Al-Razi said, "As thou
willest;" and the other rejoined, "Let us divide the monies we
have made and do thou go with me to my home, so I may show thee
my tricks and my works." Replied the man of Rayy, "Come
to-morrow, and we will divide the coin." So the Marw man went
away and the other turned to his wife and said to her, "We have
collected us great plenty of money, and the dog would fain take
the half of it; but such thing shall never be, for my mind hath
been changed against him, since I heard him making love to thee;
now, therefore, I propose to play him a trick and enjoy all the
money; and do thou not oppose me." She replied, "'Tis well;" and
he said to her, "To-morrow, at peep o' day I will feign myself
dead, and do thou cry aloud and tear thy hair, whereupon the folk
will flock to me. Then lay me out and bury me; and, when the folk
are gone away from the grave, dig down to me and take me; and
fear not for me, as I can abide without harm two days in the
tomb-niche."[FN#463] Whereto she made answer, "Do e'en whatso
thou wilt." Accordingly, when it was the dawn-hour, she bound his
beard and spreading a veil over him, shrieked aloud, whereupon
the people of the quarter flocked to her, men and women.
Presently, up came AlMarwazi, for the division of the money, and
hearing the keening asked, "What may be the news?" Quoth they,
"Thy brother is dead;" and quoth he in himself, "The accursed
fellow cozeneth me, so he may get all the coin for himself, but I
will presently do with him what shall soon requicken him." Then
he tare the bosom of his robe and bared his head, weeping and
saying, "Alas, my brother, ah! Alas, my chief, ah! Alas, my lord,
ah!" Then he went in to the men, who rose and condoled with him.
Then he accosted the Rayy man's wife and said to her, "How came
his death to occur?" Said she, "I know nothing except that, when
I arose in the morning, I found him dead." Moreover, he
questioned her of the money which was with her, but she cried, "I
have no knowledge of this and no tidings." So he sat down at his
fellow-sharper's head, and said to him, "Know, O Razi, that I
will not leave thee till after ten days with their nights,
wherein I will wake and sleep by thy grave. So rise and don't be
a fool." But he answered him not, and the man of Marw drew his
knife and fell to sticking it into the other's hands and feet,
purposing to make him move; but he stirred not and he presently
grew weary of this and determined that the sharper was really
dead. However, he still had his suspicions and said to himself,
"This fellow is falsing me, so he may enjoy all the money."
Therewith he began to prepare the body for burial and bought for
it perfumes and whatso was needed. Then they brought him to the
washing-place and Al-Marwazi came to him; and, heating water till
it boiled and bubbled and a third of it was evaporated, fell to
pouring it on his skin, so that it turned bright red and lively
blue and was blistered; but he abode still on one case.[FN#464]
Presently they wrapped him in the shroud and set him on the bier,
which they took up and bearing him to the burial-place, placed
him in the grave-niche and filled in the earth; after which the
folk dispersed. But the Marw man and the widow abode by the tomb,
weeping, and ceased not sitting till sundown, when the woman said
to him, "Come, let us hie us home, for this weeping will not
profit us, nor will it restore the dead." He replied to her, "By
Allah, I will not budge hence till I have slept and waked by this
tomb ten days with their nights!" When she heard this his speech,
she feared lest he should keep his word and his oath, and so her
husband perish; but she said in her mind, "This one dissembleth:
an I leave him and return to my house, he will tarry by him a
little while and go away." And Al-Marwazi said to her, "Arise,
thou, and hie thee home." So she arose and repaired to her house,
whilst the man of Marw abode in his place till the night was half
spent, when he said to himself, "How long? Yet how can I let this
knavish dog die and lose the money? Better I open the tomb on him
and bring him forth and take my due of him by dint of grievous
beating and torment." Accordingly, he dug him up and pulled him
forth of the grave; after which he betook himself to a garden
hard by the burial-ground and cut thence staves and
palmfronds.[FN#465] Then he tied the dead man's legs and laid on
to him with the staff and beat him a grievous beating; but the
body never budged. When the time grew longsome on him, his
shoulders became a-weary and he feared lest some one of the watch
passing on his round should surprise and seize him. So he took up
Al-Razi and carrying him forth of the cemetery, stayed not till
he came to the Magians' mortuary place and casting him down in a
Tower of Silence,[FN#466] rained heavy blows upon him till his
shoulders failed him, but the other stirred not. Then he seated
him by his side and rested; after which he rose and renewed the
beating upon him; and thus he did till the end of the night, but
without making him move. Now, as Destiny decreed, a band of
robbers whose wont it was, when they had stolen any, thing, to
resort to that place and there divide their loot, came thither in
early-dawn, according to their custom; they numbered ten and they
had with them much wealth which they were carrying. When they
approached the Tower of Silence, they heard a noise of blows
within it and their captain cried, "This is a Magian whom the
Angels[FN#467] are tormenting." So they entered the cemetery and
as soon as they arrived over against him, the man of Marw feared
lest they should be the watchmen come upon him, therefore he fled
and stood among the tombs.[FN#468] The robbers advanced to the
place and finding a man of Rayy bound by the feet and by him some
seventy sticks, wondered at this with exceeding wonder and said,
"Allah confound thee! This was a miscreant, a man of many crimes;
for earth hath rejected him from her womb, and by my life, he is
yet fresh! This is his first night in the tomb and the Angels
were tormenting him but now; so whoso of you hath a sin upon his
soul, let him beat him, by way of offering to Almighty Allah."
The robbers said, "We be sinners one and all;" so each of them
went up to the corpse and dealt it about an hundred blows, one
saying the while, "This is for my father!"[FN#469] and another
laid on to him crying, "This is for my grandfather!" whilst a
third muttered, "This is for my brother!" and a fourth exclaimed,
"This is for my mother!" And they gave not over taking turns at
him and beating him till they were weary, whilst Al-Marwazi stood
laughing and saying in self, "'Tis not I alone who have entered
into default against him. There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"[FN#470] Then the
robbers applied themselves to sharing their loot wherein was a
sword which caused them to fall out anent the man who should take
it. Quoth the Captain, "'Tis my rede that we make proof of it;
so, an it be a fine blade, we shall know its worth, and if it be
worthless we shall know that;" whereto they said, "Try it on this
corpse, for it is fresh." So the Captain took the sword, and
drawing it, brandished and made a false cut with it; but, when
the man of Rayy saw this, he felt sure of death and said in his
mind, "I have borne the washing-slab and the boiling water and
the pricking with the knife-point and the grave-niche and its
straitness and all this, trusting in Allah that I might be
delivered from death, and indeed I have been delivered; but the
sword I may not suffer seeing that one stroke of it will make me
a dead man." So saying, he sprang to his feet and seizing a
thigh-bone of one departed, shouted at the top of his voice, "O
ye dead ones, take them to yourselves!" And he smote one of them,
whilst his mate of Marw smote another and they cried out at them
and buffeted them on their neck-napes: whereupon the robbers left
that which was with them of loot and ran away; and indeed their
wits took flight for terror and they ceased not running till they
came forth of the Magians' mortuary-ground and left it a
parasang's length behind them, when they halted, trembling and
affrighted for the muchness of that which had befallen them of
fear and awe of the dead.[FN#471] As for Al-Razi and AlMarwazi,
they made peace each with other and sat down to share the spoil.
Quoth the man of Marw, "I will not give thee a dirham of this
money, till thou pay me my due of the monies that be in thy
house." And quoth the man of Rayy, "I will do naught of the
kind,[FN#472] nor will I withdraw this from aught of my due." So
they fell out thereupon and disputed each with other and either
of the twain went saying to his fellow, "I will not give thee a
dirham!" Wherefore words ran high between them and the brawl was
prolonged. Meanwhile, when the robbers halted, one of them said
to the others, "Let us go back and see;" and the Captain said,
"This thing is impossible of the dead: never heard we that they
came to life in such way. Return we and take our monies, for that
the dead have no need of money." And they were divided in opinion
as to returning: but presently one said, "Indeed, our weapons are
gone and we may not prevail against them and will not draw near
the place: only let one of us go look at it, and if he hear no
sound of them, let him suggest to us what we shall do." At this
they agreed that they should send a man of them and assigned him
for such mission two parts of the plunder. Accordingly he
returned to the burial-ground and gave not over going till he
stood at the door of the Tower of Silence, when he heard the
words of Al-Marwazi to his fellow, "I will not give thee a single
dirham of the money!" The other said the same and they were
occupied with brawling and abuse and talk. So the robber returned
in haste to his mates, who said, "What is behind thee?"[FN#473]
Quoth he, "Get you gone and run for your lives, O fools, and save
yourselves: much people of the dead are come to life and between
them are words and brawls." Hereat the robbers fled, whilst the
two sharpers returned to the man of Rayy's house and made peace
and added the robbers' spoil to the monies they had gained and
lived a length of time. "Nor, O king of the age" (continued the
Wazir), "is this stranger or rarer than the story of the Four
Sharpers with the Shroff and the Ass." When the king heard this
story, he smiled and it pleased him and he bade the Minister to
his own house.

The Twenty-second Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, King Shah Bakht summoned the Wazir and
required of him the hearing of the story. So Al-Rahwan said,
"Hearkening and obedience. Give ear, O King, to




The Tale of the Sharpers with the Shroff[FN#474] and the Ass.



Four sharpers once plotted against a Shroff, a man of much
wealth, and agreed upon a sleight for securing some of his coins.
So one of them took an ass and laying on it a bag, wherein were
dirhams, lighted down at the shop of the Shroff and sought of him
small change. The man of monies brought out to him the silver
bits and bartered them with him, whilst the sharper was easy with
him in the matter of exchange, so he might gar him long for more
gain. As they were thus, up came the other three sharpers and
surrounded the donkey; and one of them said, "'Tis he," and
another said, "Wait till I look at him." Then he took to
considering the ass and stroking him from crest[FN#475] to tail;
whilst the third went up to him and handled him and felt him from
head to rump, saying, "Yes, 'tis in him." Said another, "No, 'tis
not in him;" and they left not doing the like of this for some
time. Then they accosted the donkey's owner and chaffered with
him and he said, "I will not sell him but for ten thousand
dirhams." They offered him a thousand dirhams; but he refused and
swore that he would not vend the ass but for that which he had
said. They ceased not adding to their offer till the price
reached five thousand dirhams, whilst their mate still said,
"I'll not vend him save for ten thousand silver pieces." The
Shroff advised him to sell, but he would not do this and said to
him, "Ho, shaykh! Thou wottest not the case of this donkey. Stick
to silver and gold and what pertaineth thereto of exchange and
small change; because indeed the virtue of this ass is a mystery
to thee. For every craft its crafty men and for every means of
livelihood its peculiar people." When the affair was prolonged
upon the three sharpers, they went away and sat down aside; then
they came up privily to the money-changer and said to him, "An
thou can buy him for us, do so, and we will give thee twenty
dirhams." Quoth he, "Go away and sit down at a distance from
him." So they did as he bade and the Shroff went up to the owner
of the ass and ceased not luring him with lucre and saying,
"Leave these wights and sell me the donkey, and I will reckon him
a present from thee," till he sold him the animal for five
thousand and five hundred dirhams. Accordingly the ,money-changer
weighed out to him that sum of his own monies, and the owner of
the ass took the price and delivered the beast to him, saying,
"Whatso shall betide, though he abide a deposit upon thy
neck,[FN#476] sell him not to yonder cheats for less than ten
thousand dirhams, for that they would fain buy him because of a
hidden hoard they know, whereto naught can guide them save this
donkey. So close thy hand on him and cross me not, or thou shalt
repent." With these words he left him and went away, whereupon up
came the three other sharpers, the comrades of him of the ass,
and said to the Shroff, "God requite thee for us with good, in
that thou hast bought him! How can we reward thee?" Quoth he, "I
will not sell him but for ten thousand dirhams." When they heard
that they returned to the ass and fell again to examining him
like buyers and handling him. Then said they to the
money-changer, "Indeed we were deceived in him. This is not the
ass we sought and he is not worth to us more than ten
nusfs."[FN#477] Then they left him and offered to go away,
whereat the Shroff was sore chagrined and cried out at their
speech, saying, "O folk, ye asked me to buy him for you and now I
have bought him, ye say, we were deceived in him, and he is not
worth to us more than ten nusfs." They replied, "We thought that
in him was whatso we wanted; but, behold, in him is the contrary
of that which we wish; and indeed he hath a blemish, for that he
is short of back." Then they made long noses[FN#478] at him and
went away from him and dispersed. The money-changer deemed they
did but play him off, that they might get the donkey at their own
price; but, when they walked away from him and he had long
awaited their return, he cried out saying, "Well-away!" and
"Ruin!" and "Sorry case I am in!" and shrieked aloud and rent his
raiment. So the market-people assembled to him and questioned him
of his case; whereupon he acquainted them with his condition and
told them what the knaves had said and how they had cozened him
and how they had cajoled him into buying an ass worth fifty
dirhams[FN#479] for five thousand and five hundred.[FN#480] His
friends blamed him and a gathering of the folk laughed at him and
admired his folly and over-faith in believing the talk of the
sharpers without suspicion, and meddling with that which he
understood not and thrusting himself into that whereof he had no
sure knowledge. "On this wise, O King Shah Bakht" (continued the
Wazir), "is the issue of greed for the goods of the world and
indeed coveting that which our knowledge containeth not shall
lead to ruin and repentance. Nor, O King of the age" (added he),
"is this story stranger than that of the Cheat and the
Merchants." When the King heard these words, he said in himself,
"Indeed, had I given ear to the sayings of my courtiers and
inclined to their idle prate in the matter of my Minister, I had
repented to the utterest of penitence, but Alhamdolillah--laud be
to the Lord--who hath disposed me to endurance and long-suffering
and hath vouchsafed to me patience!" Then he turned to the Wazir
and dismissed him to his dwelling and gave conge to those who
were present, according to his custom.

The Twenty-third Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the King summoned the Minister and when
he presented himself before him, he required of him the hearing
of the story. So he said, "Hearing and obeying. Give ear, O
illustrious lord, to




The Tale of the Cheat and the Merchants.



There was once in olden time a certain Cheat, who could turn the
ear inside out by his talk, and he was a model of cleverness and
quick wit and skill and mischief. It was his wont to enter a town
and make a show of being a trader and engage in intimacy with
people of worth and sit in session with the merchants, for his
name was noted as a man of virtue and piety. Then he would put a
sleight on them and take of them what he might spend and fare
forth to another stead; and he ceased not to do thus for a while
of time. It chanced one day that he entered a certain city and
sold somewhat that was with him of merchandise and made friends
of the merchants of the place and took to sitting with them and
entertaining them and inviting them to his quarters and his
assembly, whilst they also invited him to their houses. He abode
after such fashion a long time until he was minded to quit the
city; and this was bruited among his intimates, who grieved for
parting from him. Then he betook himself to one of them who was
the richest in substance and the most conspicuous for generosity,
and sat with him and borrowed his goods; and when rising to
depart, he bade him return the deposit that he had left with him.
Quoth the merchant, "And what is the deposit?" and quoth the
Cheat, "'Tis such a purse, with the thousand dinars therein." The
merchant asked, "And when didst thou give me that same?" and the
Cheat answered, "Extolled be Allah of All Might! Was it not on
such a day, by such a token which is thus and thus?" The man
rejoined, "I know naught of this," and words were bandied about
between them, whilst the folk who heard them disputed together
concerning their sayings and doings, till their voices rose high
and the neighbours had knowledge of that which passed between
them.[FN#481] Then said the Cheat, "O people, this is my friend
and I deposited with him a deposit which he denieth having
received: so in whom shall men put trust after this?" And they
said, "This person is a man of worth and we have known in him
naught but trustiness and good faith and the best of breeding,
and he is endowed with sense and manliness.[FN#482] Indeed, he
affirmeth no false claim, for that we have consorted and
associated with him and he with us and we know the sincerity of
his religion." Then quoth one of them to the merchant, "Ho,
Such-an-one! Bethink thee of the past and refresh thy memory. It
cannot be that thou hast forgotten." But quoth he, "O people, I
wot nothing of what he saith, for indeed he deposited naught with
me:" and the matter was prolonged between them. Then said the
Cheat to the merchant, "I am about to travel and I have, praised
be Allah Almighty, much wealth, and this money shall not escape
me; but do thou make oath to me." And the folk said, "Indeed,
this man doth justice upon himself."[FN#483] Whereupon the
merchant fell into that which he disliked[FN#484] and came nigh
upon loss and ill fame. Now he had a friend, who pretended to
sharpness and intelligence; so he came up to him secretly and
said to him, "Let me do so I may cheat this Cheat, for I know him
to be a liar and thou art near upon having to weigh out the gold;
but I will parry off suspicion from thee and say to him, The
deposit is with me and thou erredst in suspecting that it was
with other than myself; and so I will divert him from thee." The
other replied, "Do so, and rid the people of such pretended
debts." Accordingly the friend turned to the Cheat and said to
him, "O my lord, I am Such-an-one, and thou goest under a
delusion. The purse is with me, for it was with me that thou
depositedst it, and this Shaykh is innocent of it." But the Cheat
answered him with impatience and impetuosity, saying, "Extolled
be Allah! As for the purse that is with thee, O noble and
faithful man, I know 'tis under Allah's charge and my heart is
easy anent it, because 'tis with thee as it were with me; but I
began by demanding the purse which I deposited with this man, of
my knowledge that he coveteth the goods of folk." At this the
friend was confounded and put to silence and returned not a
reply; and the only result of his meddling was that each of them-
-merchant and friend--had to pay a thousand gold pieces. So the
Cheat took the two thousand dinars and made off; and when he was
gone, the merchant said to his friend, the man of pretended
sharpness and intelligence, "Ho, Such-an-one! Thou and I are like
the Falcon and the Locust." The friend asked, "What was their
case?" and the merchant answered with

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