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Story Of The Porter And The Ladies Of BaghdadStory Of The Porter And The Ladies Of Baghdad
Story Of The Porter And The Ladies Of Baghdad
There was a man of the city of Baghdad, who was unmarried, and he was a
porter; and one day, as he sat in the market, reclining against his crate,
there accosted him a female wrapped in an izar of the manufacture of
El-Mosil,^1 composed of gold-embroidered silk, with a border of gold lace at
each end, who raised her face-veil, and displayed beneath it a pair of black
eyes, with lids bordered by long lashes, exhibiting a tender expression, and
features of perfect beauty; and she said, with a sweet voice, Bring thy crate,
and follow me.
[Footnote 1: "Mosul," a city long famous for its fine stuffs.]
The porter had scarcely heard her words when he took up his crate, and he
followed her until she stopped at the door of a house, and knocked; whereupon
there came down to her a Christian, and she gave him a piece of gold, and
received for it a quantity of olives, and two large vessels of wine, which she
placed in the crate, saying to the porter, Take it up, and follow me. The
porter exclaimed, This is, indeed, a fortunate day! - and he took up the
crate, and followed her. She next stopped at the shop of a fruiterer, and
bought of him Syrian apples, and `Othmani quinces, and peaches of `Oman, and
jasmine of Aleppo, and water-lilies of Damascus, and cucumbers of the Nile,
and Egyptian limes, and Sultani citrons, and sweet-scented myrtle, and sprigs
of the henna-tree, and chamomile, and anemones, and violets, and
pomegranate-flowers, and eglantine: all these she put into the porter`s crate,
and said to him, Take it up. So he took it up, and followed her until she
stopped at the shop of a butcher, to whom she said, Cut off ten pounds of
meat; - and he cut it off for her, and she wrapped it in a leaf of a
banana-tree, and put it in the crate, and said again, Take it up, O porter: -
and he did so, and followed her. She next stopped at the shop of a seller of
dry fruits, and took some of every kind of these, and desired the porter to
take up his burden. Having obeyed, he followed her until she stopped at the
shop of a confectioner, where she bought a dish, and filled it with sweets of
every kind that he had, which she put into the crate; whereupon the porter
ventured to say, If thou hadst informed me beforehand, I had brought with me a
mule to carry all these things. The lady smiled at his remark, and next
stopped at the shop of a perfumer, of whom she bought ten kinds of scented
waters; rose-water, and orange-flower-water, and willow-flower-water, &c.;
together with some sugar, and a sprinkling-bottle of rose-water infused with
musk, and some frankincense, and aloeswood, and ambergris, and musk, and wax
candles; and, placing all these in the crate, she said, Take up thy crate, and
follow me. He, therefore, took it up, and followed her until she came to a
handsome house, before which was a spacious court. It was a lofty structure,
with a door of two leaves, composed of ebony, overlaid with plates of red
gold.
The young lady stopped at this door, and knocked gently: whereupon both
its leaves were opened, and the porter, looking to see who opened it, found it
to be a damsel of tall stature, high-bosomed, fair and beautiful, and of
elegant form, with a forehead like the bright new moon, eyes like those of
gazelles, eyebrows like the new moon of Ramadan, cheeks resembling anemones,
and a mouth like the seal of Suleyman: her countenance was like the full moon
in its splendour, and the forms of her bosom resembled two pomegranates of
equal size. When the porter beheld, her she captivated his reason, the crate
nearly fell from his head, and he exclaimed, Never in my life have I seen a
more fortunate day than this! The lady-portress, standing within the door,
said to the cateress and the porter, Ye are welcome: - and they entered, and
proceeded to a spacious saloon, decorated with various colours, and
beautifully constructed, with carved wood-work, and fountains, and benches
of different kinds, and closets with curtains hanging before them; there was
also in it, at the upper end, a couch of alabaster inlaid with large pearls
and jewels, with mosquito-curtain of red satin suspended over it, and within
this was a young lady with eyes possessing the enchantment of Babil,^2 and a
figure like the letter Alif, with a face that put to shame the shining sun:
she was like one of the brilliant planets, or rather, one of the most high-
born of the maidens of Arabia. This third lady, rising from the couch,
advanced with a slow and elegant gait to the middle of the saloon, where her
sisters were standing, and said to them, Why stand ye still? Lift down the
burden from the head of this poor porter: - whereupon the cateress placed
herself before him, and the portress behind him, and, the third lady assisting
them, they lifted it down from his head. They then took out the contents of
the crate, and, having put everything in its place, gave to the porter two
pieces of gold, saying to him Depart, O porter.
[Footnote 2: Babil, or Babel, is regarded by the Muslims as the fountain-head
of the science of magic, which was, and, as most think, still is, taught there
to mankind by two fallen angels, named Harut and Marut (Kur`an, ii. 96), who
are there suspended by the feet in a great pit closed by a mass of rock.]
The porter, however, stood looking at the ladies, and admiring their
beauty and their agreeable dispositions; for he had never seen any more
handsome; and when he observed that they had not a man among them, and gazed
upon the wine, and fruits, and sweet-scented flowers, which were there, he was
full of astonishment, and hesitated to go out; upon which one of the ladies
said to him, Why dost thou not go? dost thou deem thy hire too little? Then
turning to one of her sisters, she said to her, Give him another piece of
gold. - By Allah, O my mistress, exclaimed the porter, my hire is but two
half-dirhems, and I thought not what ye have given me too little; but my heart
and mind were occupied with reflections upon you and your state, ye being
alone, with no man among you, not one to amuse you with his company; for ye
know that the menareh^3 standeth not firmly but on four walls: now ye have not
a fourth, and the pleasure of women is not complete without men: ye are three
only, and have need of a fourth, who should be a man, a person of sense,
discreet, acute, and a concealer of secrets. - We are maidens, they replied;
and fear to impart our secret to him who will not keep it: for we have read,
in a certain history, this verse: -
[Footnote 3: Minaret.]
Guard thy secret from another: intrust it not: for he who intrusteth a secret
hath lost it.
- By your existence, said the porter, I am a man of sense, and trustworthy: I
have read various books, and perused histories: I make known what is fair, and
conceal what is foul, and act in accordance with the saying of the poet: -
None keepeth a secret but a faithful person: with the best of mankind it
remaineth concealed.
A secret is with me as in a house with a lock, whose key is lost, and whose
door is sealed.
When the ladies heard the verses which he quoted, and the words with which he
addressed them, they said to him, Thou knowest that we have expended here a
considerable sum of money: hast thou then wherewith to requite us? We will not
suffer thee to remain with us unless thou contribute a sum of money; for thou
desirest to sit with us, and to be our cup-companion, and to gaze upon our
beautiful faces. - If friendship is without money, said the mistress of the
house, it is not equivalent to the weight of a grain: - and the portress
added, If thou hast nothing, depart with nothing: - but the cateress said, O
sister, let us suffer him; for, verily, he hath not been deficient in his
services for us this day: another had not been so patient with us: whatever,
therefore, falls to his share of the expense, I will defray for him. - At this
the porter rejoiced, and exclaimed, By Allah, I obtained my first and only pay
this day from none but thee: - and the other ladies said to him, Sit down:
thou art welcome.
The cateress then arose, and, having tightened her girdle, arranged the
bottles, and strained the wine, and prepared the table by the pool of the
fountain. She made ready all that they required, brought the wine, and sat
down with her sisters; the porter also sitting with them, thinking he was in a
dream. And when they had seated themselves, the cateress took a jar of wine,
and filled the first cup, and drank it: she then filled another, and handed it
to one of her sisters; and in like manner she did to her other sister; after
which she filled again, and handed the cup to the porter, who, having taken it
from her hand, repeated this verse: -
I will drink the wine, and enjoy health; for, verily, this beverage is a
remedy for disease.
The wine continued to circulate among them, and the porter, taking his part in
the revels, dancing and singing with them, and enjoying the fragrant odours,
began to hug and kiss them, while one slapped him, and another pulled him, and
the third beat him with sweet-scented flowers, till, at length, the wine
made sport with their reason; and they threw off all restraint, indulging
their merriment with as much freedom as if no man had been present.
Thus they continued until the approach of night, when they said to the
porter, Depart, and shew us the breadth of thy shoulders; - but he replied,
Verily the departure of my soul from my body were more easy to me than my
departure from your company; therefore suffer us to join the night to the day,
and then each of us shall return to his own, or her own, affairs. The
cateress, also, again interceded for him, saying, By my life I conjure you
that ye suffer him to pass the night with us, that we may laugh at his
drolleries, for he is a witty rogue. So they said to him, Thou shalt pass the
night with us on this condition, that thou submit to our authority,and ask not
an explanation of anything that thou shalt see. He replied, Good. - Rise then,
said they, and read what is inscribed upon the door. Accordingly, he went to
the door, and found the following inscription upon it in letters of gold,
Speak not of that which doth not concern thee, lest thou hear that which will
not please thee: - and he said, Bear witness to my promise that I will not
speak of that which doth not concern me.
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