The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 9 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (best authors to read .TXT) 📖

Wazir;” and, after a pause, “So do thou take what is in this fish-basket to thy share and fear naught.” Then he left him, after having done away from his affright, and returned with the empty crate to the King, who said to him, “O my son-in-law, ‘twould seem thou hast not foregathered with thy friend the Merman to-day.” Replied Abdullah, “I went to him but that which he gave me I gave to my gossip the baker, to whom I owe kindness.” “Who may be this baker?” asked the King; and the fisherman answered, “He is a benevolent man, who did with me thus and thus in the days of my poverty and never neglected me a single day nor hurt my feelings.” Quoth the King, “What is his name?”; and quoth the fisherman “His name is Abdullah the Baker; and my name is Abdullah of the Land and that of my friend the Merman Abdullah of the Sea.” Rejoined the King, “And my name also is Abdullah; and the servants of Allah[FN#253] are all brethren. So send and fetch thy friend the baker, that I may make him my Wazir of the left.”[FN#254] So he sent for the baker who speedily came to the presence, and the King invested him with the Wazirial uniform and made him Wazir of the left, making Abdullah of the Land his Wazir of the right.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

 

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-fourth Night, She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King made his son-in-law, Abdullah of the Land, Wazir of the right and Abdullah the baker Wazir of the left. In such condition the fisherman abode a whole year, every day carrying for the Merman the crate full of fruit and receiving it back, full of jewels; and when fruit failed from the gardens, he carried him raisins and almonds and filberts and walnuts and figs and so forth; and all that he brought for him the Merman accepted and returned him the fish-basket full of jewels according to his custom. Now it chanced one day that he carried him the crate, full of dry[FN#255] fruits as was his wont, and his friend took them from him. Then they sat down to converse, Abdullah the fisherman on the beach and Abdullah the Merman in the water near the shore, and discoursed; and the talk went round between them, till it fell upon the subject of sepulchres; whereat quoth the Merman, “O my brother, they say that the Prophet (whom Allah assain and save!) is buried with you on the land. Knowest thou his tomb?” Abdullah replied, “Yes; it lieth in a city called Yathrib.[FN#256]” Asked the Merman, “And do the people of the land visit it?” “Yes,” answered the fisherman, and the other said, “I give you joy, O people of the land, of visiting[FN#257]

that noble Prophet and compassionate, which whoso visiteth meriteth his intercession! Hast thou made such visitation, O my brother?” Replied the fisherman, “No: for I was poor and had not the necessary sum[FN#258] to spend by the way, nor have I been in easy case but since I knew thee and thou bestowedst on me this good fortune. But such visitation behoveth me after I have pilgrimed to the Holy House of Allah[FN#259] and naught withholdeth ,me therefrom but my love to thee, because I cannot leave thee for one day.” Rejoined the Merman, “And dost thou set the love of me before the visitation of the tomb of Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!), who shall intercede for thee on the Day of Review before Allah and shall save thee from the Fire and through whose intercession thou shalt enter Paradise? And dost thou, for the love of the world, neglect to visit the tomb of thy Prophet[FN#260] Mohammed, whom God bless and preserve?”

Replied Abdullah, “No, by Allah, I set the visitation of the Prophet’s tomb above all else, and I crave thy leave to pray before it this year.” The Merman rejoined, “I grant thee leave, on condition that when thou shalt stand by his sepulchre thou salute him for me with the Salam. Furthermore I have a trust to give thee; so come thou with me into the sea, that I may carry thee to my city and entertain thee in my house and give thee a deposit; which when thou takest thy station by the Prophet’s tomb, do thou lay thereon, saying, ‘O apostle of Allah, Abdullah the Merman saluteth thee, and sendeth thee this present, imploring thine intercession to save him from the Fire.’” Said the fisherman, “O my brother, thou wast created in the water and water is thy abiding-place and doth thee no hurt, but, if thou shouldst come forth to the land, would any harm betide thee?”

The Merman replied, “Yes; my body would dry up and the breezes of the land would blow upon me and I should die.” Rejoined the fisherman, “And I, in like manner, was created on the land and the land is my abiding-place; but, an I went down into the sea, the water would enter my belly and choke me and I should die.”

Retorted the other, “Have no fear for that, for I will bring thee an ointment, wherewith when thou hast anointed thy body, the water will do thee no hurt, though thou shouldst pass the lave of thy life going about in the great deep: and thou shalt lie down and rise up in the sea and naught shall harm thee.” Quoth the fisherman, “An the case by thus, well and good; but bring me the ointment, so that I may make trial of it;” and quoth the Merman, “So be it;” then, taking the fish-basket disappeared in the depths. He was absent awhile, and presently returned with an unguent as it were the fat of beef, yellow as gold and sweet of savour. Asked the fisherman, “What is this, O my brother?”; and answered the Merman, “‘Tis the liver-fat of a kind of fish called the Dandan,[FN#261] which is the biggest of all fishes and the fiercest of our foes. His bulk is greater than that of any beast of the land, and were he to meet a camel or an elephant, he would swallow it at a single mouthful.” Abdullah enquired, “O my brother, what doth this baleful beast?”; and the Merman replied, “He eateth of the beasts of the sea. Hast thou not heard the saying, ‘Like the fishes of the sea: forcible eateth feeble?[FN#262]’” “True; but have you many of these Dandans in the sea?” “Yes, there be many of them with us. None can tell their tale save Almighty Allah.” “Verily, I fear lest, if I go down with thee into the deep a creature of this kind fall in with me and devour me.” “Have no fear: when he seeth thee, he will know thee for a son of Adam and will fear thee and flee. He dreadeth none in the sea as he dreadeth a son of Adam; for that an he eateth a man he dieth forthright, because human fat is a deadly poison to this kind of creature; nor do we collect its liver-speck save by means of a man, when he falleth into the sea and is drowned; for that his semblance becometh changed and ofttimes his flesh is torn; so the Dandan eateth him, deeming him the same of the denizens of the deep, and dieth. Then we light upon our enemy dead and take the speck of his liver and grease ourselves so that we can over-wander the main in safety. Also, wherever there is a son of Adam, though there be in that place an hundred or two hundred or a thousand or more of these beasts, all die forthright an they but hear him,—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

 

When it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-fifth Night, She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah of the sea said to Abdullah of the Land, “And if a thousand or more of this kind hear an Adamite cry a single cry, forthright all die nor hath one of them power to remove from his place; so, whenever a son of Adam falleth into the sea, we take him and anoint him with this fat and go round about the depths with him, and whenever we see a Dandan or two or three or more, we bid him cry out and they all die forthright for his once crying.” Quoth the fisherman, “I put my trust in Allah;” and, doffing his clothes, buried them in a hole which he dug in the beach; after which he rubbed his body from head to heels which that ointment.

Then he descended into the water and diving, opened his eyes and the brine did him no hurt. So he walked right and left, and if he would, he rose to the sea-face, and if he would, he sank to the base. And he beheld the water as it were a tent over his head; yet it wrought him no hurt. Then said the Merman to him, “What seest thou, O my brother?”; and said he, “O my brother, I see naught save weal[FN#263]; and indeed thou spakest truth in that which thou saidst to me; for the water doth me no hurt.”

Quoth the Merman, “Follow me.” So he followed him and they ceased not faring on from place to place, whilst Abdullah discovered before him and on his right and left mountains of water and solaced himself by gazing thereon and on the various sorts of fish, some great and some small, which disported themselves in the main. Some of them favoured buffaloes[FN#264]

others oxen and others dogs and yet others human beings; but all to which they drew near fled, whenas they saw the fisherman, who said to the Merman, “O my brother, how is it that I see all the fish, to which we draw near, flee from us afar?” Said the other, “Because they fear thee, for all things that Allah hath made fear the son of Adam.[FN#265]” The fisherman ceased not to divert himself with the marvels of the deep, till they came to a high mountain and fared on beside it. Suddenly, he heard a mighty loud cry and turning, saw some black thing, the bigness of a camel or bigger, coming down upon him from the liquid mountain and crying out. So he asked his friend, “What is this, O my brother?”; and the Merman answered, “This is the Dandan. He cometh in search of me, seeking to devour me; so cry out at him, O my brother, ere he reach us; else he will snatch me up and devour me.” Accordingly Abdullah cried out at the beast and behold, it fell down dead; which when he saw, he said, “Glorified be the perfection of God and His praise! I smote it not with the sword nor knife; how cometh it that, for all the vastness of the creature’s bulk, it could not bear my cry, but died?” Replied the Merman, “Marvel not, for, by Allah, O my brother, were there a thousand or two thousand of these creatures, yet could they not endure the cry of a son of Adam.” Then they walked on, till they made a city, whose inhabitants the fisherman saw to be all women, there being no male among them; so he said to his companion, “O

my brother, what city is this and what are these women?” “This is the city of women; for its inhabitants are of the women of the sea.” “Are there any males among them?” “No!” “Then how do they conceive and bear young, without males?[FN#266]” “The King of the sea banisheth