THE TALE OF THE ENSORCELED PRINCE

KNOW then, O my lord, that whilom my sire was King of this city, and
his name was Mahmud, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner

of what are now these four mountains. He ruled threescore and ten
years, after which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as

Sultan in his stead. I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my
paternal uncle, and she loved me with such abounding love that

whenever I was absent she ate not and she drank not until she saw me
again. She cohabited with me for five years till a certain day when

she went forth to the hammam bath, and I bade the cook hasten to get
ready all requisites for our supper. And I entered this palace and lay

down on the bed where I was wont to sleep and bade two damsels to
fan my face, one sitting by my head and the other at my feet.

But I was troubled and made restless by my wife's absence and
could not sleep, for although my eyes were closed, my mind and

thoughts were wide-awake. Presently I heard the slave girl at my
head say to her at my feet: "O Mas'udah, how miserable is our master

and how wasted in his youth, and oh! the pity of his being so betrayed
by our mistress, the accursed whore!" The other replied: "Yes

indeed. Allah curse all faithless women and adulterous! But the like
of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth something better than

this harlot who lieth abroad every night." Then quoth she who sat by
my head, "Is our lord dumb or fit only for bubbling that he

questioneth her not!" and quoth the other: "Fie on thee! Doth our lord
know her ways, or doth she allow him his choice? Nay, more, doth she

not drug every night the cup she giveth him to drink before sleeptime,
and put bhang into it? So he sleepeth and wotteth not whither she

goeth, nor what she doeth, but we know that after giving him the
drugged wine, she donneth her richest raiment and perfumeth herself

and then she fareth out from him to be away till break of day. Then
she cometh to him and burneth a pastille under his nose and he awaketh

from his death-like sleep." When I heard the slave girls' words, the
light became black before my sight and I thought night would never

fall.
Presently the daughter of my uncle came from the baths, and they set

the table for us and we ate and sat together a fair half-hour quaffing
our wine, as was ever our wont. Then she called for the particular

wine I used to drink before sleeping and reached me the cup, but,
seeming to drink it according to my wont, I poured the contents into

my bosom and, lying down, let her hear that I was asleep. Then,
behold, she cried: "Sleep out the night, and never wake again! By

Allah, I loathe thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my soul
turneth in disgust from cohabiting with thee, and I see not the moment

when Allah shall snatch away thy life!" Then she rose and donned her
fairest dress and perfumed her person and slung my sword over her

shoulder, and opening the gates of the palace, went her ill way.
I rose and followed her as she left the palace and she threaded

the streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I
understood not and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if broken and

the gate leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without her
noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying mounds and a

reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud bricks. As she
entered the door, I climbed upon the roof, which commanded a view of

the interior, And lo! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous Negro
slave with his upper lip like the cover of a pot and his lower like an

open pot, lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel floor of
the cot. He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of

sugar-cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the foulest rags
and tatters.

She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so as to see
her and said: "Woe to thee! What call hadst thou to stay away all this

time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who drank
their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to drink

because of thine absence." Then she: "O my lord, my heart's love and
coolth of my eyes, knowest thou not that I am married to my cousin,

whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company? And did
not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise before

making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and howlet
hoot, and jackal and wolf harbor and loot- nay, I had removed its

very stones to the back side of Mount Kaf." Rejoined the slave:
"Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valor and honor

of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be the poor manliness
of white men), from today forth if thou stay away till this hour, I

will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with thy body.
Dost play fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may

satisfy thy dirty lusts, O vilest of the vile whites?"
When I heard his words, and saw with my own eyes what passed between

these two wretches, the world waxed dark before my face and my soul
knew not in what place it was. But my wife humbly stood up weeping

before and wheedling the slave, and saying: "O my beloved, and very
fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me but thy dear self,

and, if thou cast me off, who shall take me in, O my beloved, O
light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing herself to

him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right glad
and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat trousers,

and said, "O my master, what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to
eat?" "Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the

bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on. Pick at them, and
then go to that slop pot, where thou shalt find some leavings of

beer which thou mayest drink." So she ate and drank and washed her
hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave upon the cane

trash and crept in with him under his foul coverlet and his rags and
tatters.

When I saw my wife, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this
deed, I clean lost my wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered

and took the sword which she had with her and drew it, determined to
cut down the twain. I first struck at the slave's neck and thought

that the death decree had fallen on him, for he groaned a loud hissing
groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of the gullet and the two

arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so I sheathed the sword
and fared forth for the city, and entering the palace, lay upon my bed

and slept till morning, when my wife aroused me and I saw that she had
cut off her hair and had donned mourning garments. Quoth she: "O son

of my uncle, blame me not for what I do. It hath just reached me
that my mother is dead and my father hath been killed in holy war, and

of my brothers one hath lost his life by a snake sting and the other
by falling down some precipice, and I can and should do naught save

weep and lament."
When I heard her words I refrained from all reproach and said

only: "Do as thou list. I certainly will not thwart thee." She
continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one whole year from the

beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was finished she
said to me: "I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a cupola,

which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House of
Lamentations." Quoth I again: "Do as thou list!" Then she builded

for herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its center a
dome under which showed a tomb like a santon's sepulcher. Thither

she carried the slave and lodged him, but he was exceeding weak by
reason of his wound, and unable to do her love service. He could

only drink wine, and from the day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet
he lived on because his appointed hour was not come. Every day,

morning and evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over
him and gave him wine and strong soups, and left not off doing after

this manner a second year. And I bore with her patiently and paid no
heed to her.

One day, however, I went in to her unawares, and I found her weeping