第63章

So he ceased not taking care of himself，and carrying food to his sovereign，who would eat what sufficed him and after feeding drink his water and dismiss the sparrow.Now one day as he was looking into matters，lo and behold！ he saw two sparrows fighting on the ground and said in his mind，'How can I，who am the King's Wazir，look on and see sparrows fighting in my neighbourhood？By Allah，I must make peace between them！'So he flew down to reconcile them；but the fowler cast the net over the whole number and the sparrow happened to be in their very midst.Then the fowler arose and took him and gave him to his comrade，saying，'Take care of him，'I never saw fatter or finer.'But the sparrow said to himself，'I have fallen into that which I feared and none but the peacock inspired me with false confidence.It availed me naught to beware of the stroke of fate and fortune，since even he who taketh precaution may never flee from destiny.

And how well said the poet in this poetry，'Whatso is not to be shall ne'er become；No wise！ and that to be must come to pass；Yea it shall come to pass at time ordained，And th'Ignoramus[173] aye shall cry'Alas！'

Whereupon quoth the King，'O Shahrazad，recount me other of these tales！'and quoth she，'I will do so during the coming night，if life be granted to by the King whom Allah bring to honour！'And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Fiftythird Night，She said：I will relate the TALE OF ALI BIN BAKKAR AND OF SHAMS ALNAHAR.

It hath reached me，O august King，that in days of yore and in times and ages long gone before，during the Caliphate of Harun alRashid，there was a merchant who named his son Abu alHasan[174] Ali bin Tahir；and the same was great of goods and grace，while his son was fair of form and face and held in favour by all folk. He used to enter the royal palace without asking leave，for all the Caliph's concubines and slavegirls loved him，and he was wont to be companion with AlRashid in his cups and recite verses to him and tell him curious tales and witty. Withal he sold and bought in the merchants'bazar，and there used to sit in his shop a youth named Ali bin Bakkar，of the sons of the Persian Kings[175] who was formous of form and symmetrical of shape and perfect of figure，with cheeks red as roses and joined eyebrows；sweet of speech，laughinglipped and delighting in mirth and gaiety. Now it chanced one day，as the two sat talking and laughing behold，there came up ten damsels like moons，every one of them complete in beauty and loveliness，and elegance and grace；and amongst them was a young lady riding on a shemule with a saddle of brocade and stirrups of gold. She wore an outer veil of fine stuff，and her waist was girt with a girdle of goldembroidered silk；and she was even as saith the poet，'Silky her skin and silk that zoned waist；Sweet voice；words not o'er many nor too few：

Two eyes quoth Allah'Be，'and they became；

And work like wine on hearts they make to rue：

O love I feel！ grow greater every night：

O solace！ Doomday bring our interview.'

And when the cortege reached Abu alHasan's shop，she alighted from her mule，and sitting down on the front board，[176]

saluted him，and he returned her salam. When Ali bin Bakkar saw her，she ravished his understanding and he rose to go away；but she said to him，'Sit in thy place. We came to thee and thou goest away： this is not fair！'Replied he，'O my lady，by Allah，I flee from what I see；for the tongue of the case saith，'She is a sun which towereth high asky；

So ease thy heart with cure by Patience lent：

Thou to her skyey height shalt fail to fly；Nor she from skyey height can make descent.

When she heard this，she smiled and asked Abu alHasan，'What is the name of this young man？'who answered，'He is a stranger；'and she enquired，'What countryman is he？'whereto the merchant replied，'He is a descendant of the Persian Kings；his name is Ali son of Bakkar and the stranger deserveth honour.'Rejoined she，'When my damsel comes to thee，come thou at once to us and bring him with thee，that we may entertain him in our abode，lest he blame us and say，'There is no hospitality in the people of Baghdad'；for niggardliness is the worst fault a man can have.

Thou hearest what I say to thee and，if thou disobey me，thou wilt incur my displeasure and I will never again visit thee or salute thee.'Quoth Abu alHasan，'On my head and my eyes： Allah preserve me from thy displeasure，fair lady！'Then she rose and went her way. Such was her case；but as regards Ali bin Bakkar he remained in a state of bewilderment. Now after an hour the damsel came to Abu alHasan and said to him，'Of a truth my lady Shams alNahar，the favourite of the Commander of the Faithful，Harun alRashid，biddeth thee to her，thee and thy friend，my lord Ali bin Bakkar.'So he rose and，taking Ali with him，followed the girl to the Caliph's palace，where she carried them into a chamber and made them sit down. They talked together awhile，when behold，trays of food were set before them，and they ate and washed their hands. Then she brought them wine，and they drank deep and made merry；after which she bade them rise and carried them into another chamber，vaulted upon four columns，furnished after the goodliest fashion with various kinds of furniture，and adorned with decorations as it were one of the pavilions of Paradise. They were amazed at the rarities they saw；and，as they were enjoying a review of these marvels，suddenly up came ten slavegirls，like moons，swaying and swimming in beauty's pride，dazzling the sight and confounding the sprite；and they ranged themselves in two ranks as if they were of the blackeyed Brides of Paradise. And after a while in came other ten damsels，bearing in their hands lutes and divers instruments of mirth and music；and these，having saluted the two guests，sat down and fell to tuning their lutestrings.