89-3-2 -
The Story of the Hunchback:
The Story
Told by the Sultaan's Steward
On
the 27th Night contd ...
Thus I
passed the night in the mosque. In the morning I saw two eunuchs
approaching me in a small boat carrying some small chests. One of them
departed and the other one remained. He was the one who came with that lady.
In a little while the lady also came to us. She talked to me for a while
and then she kept me in a chest and locked it. The eunuch brought some
other stuff which he kept in other chests and they took me to the Lady Zubaidaa's palace. I repented again for what I had done.
We
arrived at the door of the palace and the guard cried out to the girl,
"The chests must be opened." and he put his hand on the chest in which I
was hidden. I was almost dead, but the girl said - "These chests are
for the Lady Zubaidaa and if you will open them, she will be very angry
with you. These chests contain nothing except the colorful clothes, except
this chest on which you put your hand. In this chest are some bottles
filled with the water of Zamzam; and if any of the water run upon the
clothes, it will spoil their colors. I have advised you, now it is up to
you what do you decide." When he heard his he let the chests pass on.
And the eunuchs immediately took them up to the palace.
But at
the same instance I heard a person crying out - "Caliph,
Caliph." I almost died again. The Caliph cried out to the girl -
"What are these chests?" The girl said - "O my Lord, These
chests contain some clothes of my mistress Zubaidaa." The Caliph said
- "Open them, so that I may see the clothes." Now I was sure of
my death.
On
the 28th Night
The girl could not disobey his command, still she took a chance
- "O Caliph, There is nothing in these chests except the clothes of
the Lady Zubaidaa, and she has commanded me not to open them to
anyone." But the Caliph did not agree to this and he ordered the
eunuchs to bring them to him.
So
they took the chests to the Caliph and he examined all the chests one by
one. When it was my turn and the eunuchs were about to open that chest,
the girl said - "O Prince, Certainly in this chest are things related
to women, and it is not proper to open this chest before men." So the
Caliph ordered to take all the chests in. The girl took all the chests in
but took my chest in the Lady Zubaidaa's inner apartments. All the people
went away, then the girl opened the chest, and signed me to come out and
to go to a closet. When I had entered the closet, she said - "You
need not to worry now."
She
took me to the Lady Zubaidaa where I saw 20 other female slaves. I
advanced to her and kissed the ground before her. She talked to me for a
while showing her satisfaction. She said to me - "This girl is like
our daughter and she is committed to your care." She commanded me to
stay there for 10 days, but during this period I didn't see the girl. Then
the Lady Zubaidaa asked the Caliph's permission to marry her girl to me,
and he ordered her
to marry her to me and give her 10,000 pieces of gold.
The
Lady Zubaidaa called the Qaazee for the marriage, and prepared exquisite
dishes and sweets for the marriage. This celebration continued for 10
days. Then they brought me a dish of Zeerbaajaah sweetened with sugar. By
Allaah, I instantly commended upon this dish and ate to my satisfaction. I
wiped my hands but did not wash them. I sat there till dark, till the
girls lighted the candles, the bride was displayed, singing started, and
the presents were given to the bride. After that they left her with me and
left us alone. And as soon as I was left alone with her, I threw my arms
around her neck; and as I did so, she smelled Zeerbaajaah from my hand and
immediately uttered a loud cry. So the female slaves ran to her.
I did
not know what had happened to her. She said to them - "Take me away
from him. I thought he was a civilized man but ..." Then she asked me
- "You ate Zeerbaajaah and did not wash your hands? By Allaah, I will
not accept you for this indecent behavior." She took out a whip and
beat me. Then she asked her girls to take me to the Magistrate so that he
can cut my hands. I cried - "You will cut my hands just because I ate
Zeerbaajaah and did not wash my hands?" Her maids also tried to calm
her, but she replied, "I must cut off something from his
extremities." She said to me - "How did you dare to eat
Zeerbaajaah and not wash your hands?"
Then
she ordered her maids to tie my hands at my back. She herself took a sharp
razor and cut my two thumbs and the two big toes. I got fainted. She
sprinkled some powder on my wounds, and I said - "I will never eat
Zeerbaajaah till I live unless I wash my hands 40 times with potash, and 40
times with galangale and 40 times with soap." Therefore when this Zeerbaajaah
dish was brought to me, my color changed, I remembered that this was the
reason of cutting my thumbs and big toes and when you compelled me to eat,
I said, that I must fulfill my oath."
Then
people present there asked the Sultaan's steward Reeve - "What happened to you
then?" He said - "As I took oath, she got pleased with me and we
lived together happily for a considerable time. Then one day she said to
me - "The people of the Caliph do not know that you are living with
me." She gave me 50,000 gold pieces and asked me to buy a spacious
house. So I purchased a handsome spacious house and moved all that she had
to that house. So this was the cause of my amputation of
extremities."
The
Steward continued - "Then we ate and departed. As I reached home,
this humpback incident happened. This is all my story." The Caliph
said - "This is not more pleasant than the story of the hunchback; no,
the story of the hunchback is more pleasant than this; so you all must be
crucified." At this the Jewish physician said - "O King, I will tell you a
story more wonderful than that of the hunchback, if you permit me."
The King said - "You are permitted." So the Jew started his
story like this ......
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