Richard Burton - A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 (of 17)

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ala-al-Din’s mother said to her lady-friends, “Verily his father feared for him the evil eye and reared him in an under-ground chamber; and haply the slave forgot to shut the door and he fared forth; but we did not mean that he should come out, before his beard was grown.” The women gave her joy of him, and the youth went out from them into the court yard where he seated himself in the open sitting-room; and behold, in came the slaves with his father’s she-mule, and he said to them, “Whence cometh this mule?” Quoth they, “We escorted thy father when riding her to the shop, and we have brought her back.” He asked, “What may be my father’s trade?”; and they answered, “Thy father is Consul of the merchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs.” Then he went in to his mother and said to her, “O my mother, what is my father’s trade?” Said she, “O my son, thy sire is a merchant and Consul of the merchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs. His slaves consult him not in selling aught whose price is less than one thousand gold pieces, but merchandise worth him an hundred and less they sell at their own discretion; nor doth any merchandise whatever, little or muchel, leave the country without passing through his hands and he disposeth of it as he pleaseth; nor is a bale packed and sent abroad amongst folk but what is under his disposal. And Almighty Allah, O my son, hath given thy father monies past compt.” He rejoined, “O my mother, praised be Allah, that I am son of the Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs and that my father is Consul of the merchants! But why, O my mother, do ye put me in the under-ground chamber and leave me prisoner there?” Quoth she, “O my son, we imprisoned thee not save for fear of folks’ eyes: ‘the evil eye is a truth,’ 34 34 A traditional saying of Mohammed. and most of those in their long homes are its victims.” Quoth he, “O my mother, and where is a refuge-place against Fate? Verily care never made Destiny forbear, nor is there flight from what is written for every wight. He who took my grandfather will not spare myself nor my father; for, though he live to-day he shall not live to-morrow. And when my father dieth and I come forth and say: – I am Ala al-Din, son of Shams al-Din the merchant, none of the people will believe me, but men of years and standing will say: – In our lives never saw we a son or a daughter of Shams al-Din. Then the public Treasury will come down and take my father’s estate, and Allah have mercy on him who said: – The noble dieth and his wealth passeth away, and the meanest of men take his women. Therefore, O my mother, speak thou to my father, that he carry me with him to the bazar and open for me a shop; so may I sit there with my merchandise and teach me to buy and sell and take and give.” Answered his mother, “O my son, as soon as thy sire returneth I will tell him this.” So when the merchant came home, he found his son Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat sitting with his mother and said to her, “Why hast thou brought him forth of the under-ground chamber?” She replied, “O son of my uncle, it was not I that brought him out; but the servants forgot to shut the door and left it open; so, as I sat with a company of women of rank, behold, he came forth and walked in to me.” Then she went on to repeat to him his son’s words; so he said, “O my son, to-morrow, Inshallah! I will take thee with me to the bazar; but, my boy, sitting in markets and shops demandeth good manners and courteous carriage in all conditions.” Ala al-Din passed the night rejoicing in his father’s promise and, when the morrow came, the merchant carried him to the Hammam and clad him in a suit worth a mint of money. As soon as they had broken their fast and drunk their sherbets, Shams al-Din mounted his she-mule and putting his son upon another, rode to the market, followed by his boy. But when the market-folk saw their Consul making towards them, foregoing a youth as he were a slice of the full moon on the fourteenth night, they said, one to other, “See thou yonder boy behind the Consul of the merchants; verily, we thought well of him, but he is, like the leek, gray of head and green at heart.” 35 35 So Boccaccio’s “Capo bianco” and “Coda verde.” (Day iv., Introduct.) And Shaykh Mohammed Samsam, Deputy Syndic of the market, the man before mentioned, said to the dealers, “O merchants, we will not keep the like of him for our Shaykh; no, never!” Now it was the custom anent the Consul when he came from his house of a morning and sat down in his shop, for the Deputy Syndic of the market to go and recite to him and to all the merchants assembled around him the Fátihah or opening chapter of the Koran, 36 36 The opening chapter is known as the “Mother of the Book,” (as opposed to Yá Sín, the “heart of the Koran”) the “Surat (chapter) of Praise,” and the “Surat of repetition,” (because twice revealed?) or thanksgiving, or laudation (Al-Masáni) and by a host of other names for which see Mr. Rodwell who, however, should not write “Fatthah” (p. xxv.) nor “Fathah” (xxvii.). The Fátihah, which is to Al-Islam much what the “Paternoster” is to Christendom, consists of seven verses, in the usual Saj’a or rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows: — In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! ✿ Praise be to Allah who all the Worlds made ✿ The Compassionating, the Compassionate ✿ King of the Day of Faith! ✿ Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do we crave aid ✿ Guide us to the path which is straight ✿ The path of those for whom Thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate ✿ Amen! O Lord of the World’s trine. My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim ) will supply instances of its application; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing from Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and other details. after which they accosted him one by one and wished him good morrow and went away, each to his business-place. But when Shams al-Din seated himself in his shop that day as usual, the traders came not to him as accustomed; so he called the Deputy and said to him, “Why come not the merchants together as usual?” Answered Mohammed Samsam, “I know not how to tell thee these troubles, for they have agreed to depose thee from the Shaykh-ship of the market and to recite the Fatihah to thee no more.” Asked Shams al-Din, “What may be their reason?”; and asked the Deputy, “What boy is this that sitteth by thy side and thou a man of years and chief of the merchants? Is this lad a Mameluke or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think thou lovest him and inclinest lewdly to the boy.” Thereupon the Consul cried out at him, saying, “Silence, Allah curse thee, genus and species! This is my son.” Rejoined the Deputy, “Never in our born days have we seen thee with a son,” and Shams al-Din answered, “When thou gavest me the seed-thickener, my wife conceived and bare this youth; but I reared him in a souterrain for fear of the evil eye, nor was it my purpose that he should come forth, till he could take his beard in his hand. 37 37 i. e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children. Strangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading by the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home will be changed to cloth of gold. However, his mother would not agree to this, and he on his part begged I would stock him a shop and teach him to sell and buy.” So the Deputy Syndic returned to the other traders and acquainted them with the truth of the case, whereupon they all arose to accompany him; and, going in a body to Shams al-Din’s shop, stood before him and recited the “Opener” of the Koran; after which they gave him joy of his son and said to him, “The Lord prosper root and branch! But even the poorest of us, when son or daughter is born to him, needs must cook a pan-full of custard 38 38 Arab. “Asídah” flour made consistent by boiling in water with the addition of “Samn” (clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than custard. and bid his friends and kith and kin; yet hast thou not done this.” Quoth he, “This I owe you; be our meeting in the garden.” – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.