A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Volume 6 (of 17)

THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN

(According to the version of the Calcutta Edition)

Know, O my brothers and friends and companions all, that when I left voyaging and commercing, I said in myself, “Sufficeth me that hath befallen me;” and I spent my time in solace and pleasure. One day as I sat at home there came a knock at the door, and when the porter opened a page entered and said, “The Caliph biddeth thee to him.” I went with him to the King’s majesty and kissed ground and saluted him; whereupon he welcomed me and entreated me with honour and said, “O Sindbad, I have an occasion for thee: wilt thou do it?” So I kissed his hand and asked him, saying, “O my lord, what occasion hath the master for the slave?”; whereto he answered me, “I am minded that thou travel to the King of Sarandib and carry to him our writ and our gift, for that he hath sent to us a present and a letter.” I trembled at these words and rejoined, “By Allah the Omnipotent, O my lord, I have taken a loathing to wayfare, and when I hear the words ‘Voyage’ or ‘Travel,’ my limbs tremble for what hath befallen me of hardships and horrors. Indeed I have no desire whatever for this; more by token as I have bound myself by oath not to quit Baghdad.” Then I informed the Caliph of all I had passed through from first to last, and he marvelled with exceeding marvel and said, “By the Almighty, O Sindbad, from ages of old such mishaps as happened to thee were never known to happen to any, and thou dost only right never even to talk of travel. For our sake, however, thou wilt go this time and carry our present and our letter to him of Sarandib; and Inshallah—by God’s leave!—thou shalt return quickly; and on this wise we shall be under no obligation to the said King.” I replied that I heard and obeyed, being unable to oppose his command, so he gave me the gifts and the missive with money to pay my way and I kissed hands and left the presence. Then I dropped down from Baghdad to the Gulf, and with other merchants embarked, and our ship sailed before a fair wind many days and nights till, by Allah’s aid, we reached the island of Sarandib. As soon as we had made fast we landed and I took the present and the letter; and, going in with them to the King, kissed ground before him. When he saw me, he said, “Well come, O Sindbad! By Allah Omnipotent we were longing to see thee, and glory be to God who hath again shown us thy face!” Then taking me by the hand he made me sit by his side, rejoicing, and he welcomed me with familiar kindness again and entreated me as a friend. After this he began to converse with me and courteously addressed me and asked, “What was the cause of thy coming to us, O Sindbad?” So after kissing his hand and thanking him I answered, “O my lord, I have brought thee a present from my master, the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid;” and offered him the present and the letter which he read and at which he rejoiced with passing joy. The present consisted of a mare worth ten thousand ducats, bearing a golden saddle set with jewels; a book; a sumptuous suit of clothes and an hundred different kinds of white Cairene cloths and silks of Suez,⁹⁸ Cufa and Alexandria; Greek carpets and an hundred maunds⁹⁹ weight of linen and raw silk. Moreover there was a wondrous rarety, a marvellous cup of crystal middlemost of which was the figure of a lion faced by a kneeling man grasping a bow with arrow drawn to the very head, together with the food-tray¹⁰⁰ of Sulayman the son of David (on whom be peace!). The missive ran as follows:—Peace from King Al-Rashid, the aided of Allah (who hath vouchsafed to him and his forefathers noble rank and wide-spread glory), be on the fortunate Sultan. But after. Thy letter came to our hands and we rejoiced thereat; and we have sent the book entituled “Delight of the Intelligent and for Friends the Rare Present,”¹⁰¹ together with sundry curiosities suitable for Kings; so do thou favour us by accepting them: and peace be with thee! Then the King lavished upon me much wealth and entreated me with all honour; so I prayed for him and thanked him for his munificence. Some days after I craved his leave to depart, but could not obtain it except by great pressing, whereupon I farewelled him and fared forth from his city, with merchants and other companions, homewards-bound without any desire for travel or trade. We continued voyaging and coasting along many islands; but, when we were half-way, we were surrounded by a number of canoes, wherein were men like devils armed with bows and arrows, swords and daggers; habited in mail-coats and other armoury. They fell upon us and wounded and slew all who opposed them; then, having captured the ship and her contents, carried us to an island, where they sold us at the meanest price. Now I was bought by a wealthy man who, taking me to his house, gave me meat and drink and clothing and treated me in the friendliest manner; so I was heartened and I rested a little. One day he asked me, “Dost thou know any art or craft?” and I answered him, “O my lord, I am a merchant and know nothing but trade and traffic.” “Dost thou know,” rejoined he, “how to use bow and arrow?” “Yes,” replied I, “I know that much.” Thereupon he brought me a bow and arrows and mounted me behind him upon an elephant: then he set out as night was well nigh over and, passing through a forest of huge growths, came to a tall and sturdy tree up which he made me climb. Then he gave me the bow and arrows, saying, “Sit here now, and when the elephants troop hither in early morning, shoot at them; belike thou wilt hit one; and, if he fall, come and tell me.” With this he left me. I hid myself in the tree being in sore terror and trembled till the sun arose; and, when the elephants appeared and wandered about among the trees, I shot my arrows at them and continued till I had shot down one of them. In the evening I reported my success to my master who was delighted in me and entreated me with high honour; and next morning he removed the slain elephant. In this wise I continued, every morning shooting an elephant which my master would remove till, one day, as I was perched in hiding on the tree there came on suddenly and unexpectedly an innumerable host of elephants whose screaming and trumpeting were such that I imagined the earth trembled under them. All surrounded my tree, whose circumference was some fifty cubits,¹⁰² and one enormous monster came up to it and winding his trunk round the bole haled it up by the roots, and dashed it to the ground. I fell down fainting amongst the beasts when the monster elephant wound his trunk about me and, setting me on his back, went off with me, the others accompanying us. He carried me still unconscious till he reached the place for which he was making, when he rolled me off his back and presently went his ways followed by the others. So I rested a little; and, when my terror had subsided, I looked about me and I found myself among the bones of elephants, whereby I concluded that this was their burial-place, and that the monster elephant had led me thither on account of the tusks.¹⁰³ So I arose and walked a whole day and night till I arrived at the house of my master, who saw my colour changed by stress of affright and famine. He rejoiced in my return and said to me, “By Allah, thou hast made my heart sore! I went when thou wast missing and found the tree torn up, and thought that the elephants had slain thee. Tell me how it was with thee.” I acquainted him with all that had betided me; whereat he wondered greatly, and rejoiced and at last asked me, “Dost thou know the place?”; whereto I answered, “Yes, O my master!” So we mounted an elephant and fared until we came to the spot; and, when my master beheld the heaps of tusks, he rejoiced greatly; then carrying away as many as he wanted he returned with me home. After this, he entreated me with increased favour and said, “O my son, thou hast shown us the way to great gain, wherefore Allah requite thee! Thou art freed for the Almighty’s sake and before His face! The elephants used to destroy many of us on account of our hunting them for their ivories and scrivellos; but Allah hath preserved thee from them, and thou hast profited us by the heaps to which thou hast led us.” “O my master,” replied I, “God free thy neck from the fire! And do thou grant me, O my master, thy gracious leave to return to my own country.” “Yes,” quoth he, “thou shalt have that permission. But we have a yearly fair, when merchants come to us from various quarters to buy up these ivories. The time is drawing near; and, when they shall have done their business, I will send thee under their charge and will give thee wherewithal to reach thy home.” So I blessed and thanked him and remained with him, treated with respect and honour, for some days, when the merchants came as he had foretold, and bought and sold and bartered; and when they had made their preparations to return, my master came to me and said, “Rise and get thee ready to travel with the traders en route to thy country.” They had bought a number of tusks which they had bound together in loads and were embarking them when my master sent me with them, paying for my passage and settling all my debts; besides which he gave me a large present in goods. We set out and voyaged from island to island till we had crossed the sea and landed on the shores of the Persian Gulf, when the merchants brought out and sold their stores: I also sold what I had at a high profit; and I bought some of the prettiest things in the place for presents and beautiful rareties and everything else I wanted. I likewise bought for myself a beast and we fared forth and crossed the deserts from country to country till I reached Baghdad. Here I went in to the Caliph and, after saluting him and kissing hands, informed him of all that had befallen me; whereupon he rejoiced in my safety and thanked Almighty Allah; and he bade my story be written in letters of gold. I then entered my house and met my family and brethren: and such is the end of the history that happened to me during my seven voyages. Praise be to Allah, the One, the Creator, the Maker of all things in Heaven and Earth!–Now when Shahrazad had ended her story of the two Sindbads, Dinarzad exclaimed, “O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale and how tasteful! How sweet and how grateful!” She replied, “And what is this compared with that I could tell thee to-morrow night?” Quoth the King, “What may it be?” And she said:—It is a tale touching

THE CITY OF BRASS. ¹⁰⁴

It is related that there was, in tide of yore and in times and years long gone before, at Damascus of Syria, a Caliph known as Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, the fifth of the Ommiade house. As this Commander of the Faithful was seated one day in his palace, conversing with his Sultans and Kings and the Grandees of his empire, the talk turned upon the legends of past peoples and the traditions of our Lord Solomon, David’s son (on the twain be peace!), and on that which Allah Almighty had bestowed on him of lordship and dominion over men and Jinn and birds and beasts and reptiles and the wind and other created things; and quoth the Caliph, “Of a truth we hear from those who forewent us that the Lord (extolled and exalted be He!) vouchsafed unto none the like of that which He vouchsafed unto our lord Solomon and that he attained unto that whereto never attained other than he, in that he was wont to imprison Jinns and Marids and Satans in cucurbites of copper and to stop them with lead and seal¹⁰⁵ them with his ring.”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan sat conversing with his Grandees concerning our lord Solomon, and these noted what Allah had bestowed upon him of lordship and dominion, quoth the Commander of the Faithful, “Indeed he attained unto that whereto never attained other than he, in that he was wont to imprison Jinns and Marids and Satans in cucurbites of copper and stop them with lead and seal them with his ring.” Then said Tálib bin Sahl (who was a seeker after treasures and had books that discovered to him hoards and wealth hidden under the earth), “O Commander of the Faithful,—Allah make thy dominion to endure and exalt thy dignity here and hereafter!—my father told me of my grandfather, that he once took ship with a company, intending for the island of Sikiliyah or Sicily, and sailed until there arose against them a contrary wind, which drove them from their course and brought them, after a month, to a great mountain in one of the lands of Allah the Most High, but where that land was they wot not.” Quoth my grandfather:—This was in the darkness of the night and as soon as it was day, there came forth to us, from the caves of the mountain, folk black of colour and naked of body, as they were wild beasts, understanding not one word of what was addressed to them; nor was there any of them who knew Arabic, save their King who was of their own kind. When he saw the ship, he came down to it with a company of his followers and saluting us, bade us welcome and questioned us of our case and our faith. We told him all concerning ourselves and he said, Be of good cheer for no harm shall befal you. And when we, in turn, asked them of their faith, we found that each was of one of the many creeds prevailing before the preaching of Al-Islam and the mission of Mohammed, whom may Allah bless and keep! So my shipmates remarked, We wot not what thou sayest. Then quoth the King, No Adam-son hath ever come to our land before you: but fear not, and rejoice in the assurance of safety and of return to your own country. Then he entertained us three days, feeding us on the flesh of birds and wild beasts and fishes, than which they had no other meat; and, on the fourth day, he carried us down to the beach, that we might divert ourselves by looking upon the fisher-folk. There we saw a man casting his net to catch fish, and presently he pulled them up and behold, in them was a cucurbite of copper, stopped with lead and sealed with the signet of Solomon, son of David, on whom be peace! He brought the vessel to land and broke it open, when there came forth a smoke, which rose a-twisting blue to the zenith, and we heard a horrible voice, saying, I repent! I repent! Pardon, O Prophet of Allah! I will never return to that which I did aforetime. Then the smoke became a terrible Giant frightful of form, whose head was level with the mountain-tops, and he vanished from our sight, whilst our hearts were well-nigh torn out for terror; but the blacks thought nothing of it. Then we returned to the King and questioned him of the matter; whereupon quoth he, Know that this was one of the Jinns whom Solomon, son of David, being wroth with them, shut up in these vessels and cast into the sea, after stopping the mouths with melted lead. Our fishermen ofttimes, in casting their nets, bring up such bottles, which being broken open, there come forth of them Jinnis who, deeming that Solomon is still alive and can pardon them, make their submission to him and say, “I repent, O Prophet of Allah!” The Caliph marvelled at Talib’s story and said, “Glory be to God! Verily, to Solomon was given a mighty dominion.” Now Al-Nábighah al-Zubyání¹⁰⁶ was present, and he said, “Talib hath spoken soothly as is proven by the saying of the All-wise, the Primæval One:—

 
And Solomon, when Allah to him said,
‘Rise, be thou Caliph, rule with righteous sway:
Honour obedience for obeying thee;
And who rebels imprison him for aye.’
 

Wherefore he used to put them in copper-bottles and cast them into the sea.” The poet’s words seemed good to the Caliph, and he said, “By Allah, I long to look upon some of these Solomonic vessels, which must be a warning to whoso will be warned.” “O Commander of the Faithful,” replied Talib, “it is in thy power to do so, without stirring abroad. Send to thy brother Abd al-Azíz bin Marwán, so he may write to Músá bin Nusayr,¹⁰⁷ governor of the Maghrib or Morocco, bidding him take horse thence to the mountains whereof I spoke and fetch thee therefrom as many of such cucurbites as thou hast a mind to; for those mountains adjoin the frontiers of his province.” The Caliph approved his counsel and said “Thou hast spoken sooth, O Talib, and I desire that, touching this matter, thou be my messenger to Musa bin Nusayr; wherefore thou shalt have the White Flag¹⁰⁸ and all thou hast a mind to of monies and honour and so forth; and I will care for thy family during thine absence.” “With love and gladness, O Commander of the Faithful!” answered Talib. “Go, with the blessing of Allah and His aid,” quoth the Caliph, and bade write a letter to his brother, Abd al-Aziz, his viceroy in Egypt, and another to Musa bin Nusayr, his viceroy in North-Western Africa, bidding him go himself in quest of the Solomonic bottles, leaving his son to govern in his stead. Moreover, he charged him to engage guides and to spare neither men nor money, nor to be remiss in the matter as he would take no excuse. Then he sealed the two letters and committed them to Talib bin Sahl, bidding him advance the royal ensigns before him and make his utmost speed, and he gave him treasure and horsemen and footmen, to further him on his way, and made provision for the wants of his household during his absence. So Talib set out and arrived in due course at Cairo.¹⁰⁹——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Five Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Talib bin Sahl set out with his escort and crossed the desert country between Syria and Egypt, where the Governor came out to meet him and entreated him and his company with high honour whilst they tarried with him. Then he gave them a guide to bring them to the Sa’íd or Upper Egypt, where the Emir Musa had his abiding-place; and when the son of Nusayr heard of Talib’s coming, he went forth to meet him and rejoiced in him. Talib gave him the Caliph’s letter, and he took it reverently and, laying it on his head, cried, “I hear and I obey the Prince of the Faithful.” Then he deemed it best to assemble his chief officers and when all were present he acquainted them with the contents of the Caliph’s letter and sought counsel of them how he should act. “O Emir,” answered they, “if thou seek one who shall guide thee to the place summon the Shaykh ‘Abd al-Samad, ibn ‘Abd al-Kuddús, al-Samúdí;¹¹⁰ for he is a man of varied knowledge, who hath travelled much and knoweth by experience all the seas and wastes and wolds and countries of the world and the inhabitants and wonders thereof; wherefore send thou for him and he will surely guide thee to thy desire.” So Musa sent for him, and behold, he was a very ancient man shot in years and broken down with lapse of days. The Emir saluted him and said, “O Shaykh Abd al-Samad, our lord the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, hath commanded me thus and thus. I have small knowledge of the land wherein is that which the Caliph desireth; but it is told me that thou knowest it well and the ways thither. Wilt thou, therefore, go with me and help me to accomplish the Caliph’s need? So it please Allah the Most High, thy trouble and travail shall not go waste.” Replied the Shaykh, “I hear and obey the bidding of the Commander of the Faithful; but know, O Emir, that the road thither is long and difficult and the ways few.” “How far is it?” asked Musa, and the Shaykh answered, “It is a journey of two years and some months going and the like returning; and the way is full of hardships and terrors and things wondrous and marvellous. Now thou art a champion of the Faith¹¹¹ and our country is hard by that of the enemy; and peradventure the Nazarenes may come out upon us in thine absence; wherefore it behoveth thee to leave one to rule thy government in thy stead.” “It is well,” answered the Emir and appointed his son Hárún Governor during his absence, requiring the troops to take the oath of fealty to him and bidding them obey him in all he should command. And they heard his words and promised obedience. Now this Harun was a man of great prowess and a renowned warrior and a doughty knight, and the Shaykh Abd al-Samad feigned to him that the place they sought was distant but four months’ journey along the shore of the sea, with camping-places all the way, adjoining one another, and grass and springs, adding, “Allah will assuredly make the matter easy to us through thy blessing, O Lieutenant of the Commander of the Faithful!” Quoth the Emir Musa, “Knowest thou if any of the Kings have trodden this land before us?”; and quoth the Shaykh, “Yes, it belonged aforetime to Darius the Greek, King of Alexandria.” But he said to Musa privily, “O Emir, take with thee a thousand camels laden with victual and store of gugglets.”¹¹² The Emir asked, “And what shall we do with these?”; and the Shaykh answered, “On our way is the desert of Kayrawán or Cyrene, the which is a vast wold four days’ journey long, and lacketh water; nor therein doth sound of voice ever sound nor is soul at any time to be seen. Moreover, there bloweth the Simoon¹¹³ and other hot winds called Al-Juwayb, which dry up the water-skins; but if the water be in gugglets, no harm can come to it.” “Right,” said Musa and sending to Alexandria, let bring thence great plenty of gugglets. Then he took with him his Wazir and two thousand cavalry, clad in mail cap-à-pie and set out, without other to guide them but Abd al-Samad who forewent them, riding on his hackney. The party fared on diligently, now passing through inhabited lands, then ruins and anon traversing frightful wolds and thirsty wastes and then mountains which spired high in air; nor did they leave journeying a whole year’s space till, one morning, when the day broke, after they had travelled all night, behold, the Shaykh found himself in a land he knew not and said, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!” Quoth the Emir, “What is to do, O Shaykh?”; and he answered, saying, “By the Lord of the Ka’abah, we have wandered from our road!” “How cometh that?” asked Musa, and Abd al-Samad replied, “The stars were overclouded and I could not guide myself by them.” “Where on God’s earth are we now?” asked the Emir, and the Shaykh answered, “I know not; for I never set eyes on this land till this moment.” Said Musa, “Guide us back to the place where we went astray”; but the other, “I know it no more.” Then Musa, “Let us push on; haply Allah will guide us to it or direct us aright of His power.” So they fared on till the hour of noon-prayer, when they came to a fair champaign, and wide and level and smooth as it were the sea when calm, and presently there appeared to them, on the horizon some great thing, high and black, in whose midst was as it were smoke rising to the confines of the sky. They made for this, and stayed not in their course till they drew near thereto, when, lo! it was a high castle, firm of foundations and great and gruesome, as it were a towering mountain, builded all of black stone, with frowning crenelles and a door of gleaming China steel, that dazzled the eyes and dazed the wits. Round about it were a thousand steps and that which appeared afar off as it were smoke was a central dome of lead an hundred cubits high. When the Emir saw this, he marvelled thereat with exceeding marvel and how this place was void of inhabitants; and the Shaykh, after he had certified himself thereof, said, “There is no god but the God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God!” Quoth Musa, “I hear thee praise the Lord and hallow Him, and meseemeth thou rejoicest.” “O Emir,” answered Abd al-Samad, “Rejoice, for Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) hath delivered us from the frightful wolds and thirsty wastes.” “How knowest thou that?” said Musa, and the other, “I know it for that my father told me of my grandfather that he said:—We were once journeying in this land and, straying from the road, we came to this palace and thence to the City of Brass; between which and the place thou seekest is two full months’ travel; but thou must take to the sea-shore and leave it not, for there be watering-places and wells and camping-grounds established by King Zú al-Karnayn Iskandar who, when he went to the conquest of Mauritania, found by the way thirsty deserts and wastes and wilds and dug therein water-pits and built cisterns.” Quoth Musa, “Allah rejoice thee with good news!” and quoth the Shaykh, “Come, let us go look upon yonder palace and its marvels, for it is an admonition to whoso will be admonished.” So the Emir went up to the palace, with the Shaykh and his officers, and coming to the gate, found it open. Now this gate was builded with lofty columns and porticoes whose walls and ceilings were inlaid with gold and silver and precious stones; and there led up to it flights of steps, among which were two wide stairs of coloured marble, never was seen their like; and over the doorway was a tablet whereon were graven letters of gold in the old ancient Ionian character. “O Emir,” asked the Shaykh, “shall I read?”; and Musa answered, “Read and God bless thee!; for all that betideth us in this journey dependeth upon thy blessing.” So the Shaykh, who was a very learned man and versed in all tongues and characters, went up to the tablet and read whatso was thereon and it was verse like this:—

 
The signs that here their mighty works portray
Warn us that all must tread the self-same way:
O thou who standest in this stead to hear
Tidings of folk, whose power hath passed for aye,
Enter this palace-gate and ask the news
Of greatness fallen into dust and clay:
Death has destroyed them and dispersed their might
And in the dust they lost their rich display;
As had they only set their burdens down
To rest awhile, and then had rode away.
 

When the Emir Musa heard these couplets, he wept till he lost his senses and said, “There is no god but the God, the Living, the Eternal, who ceaseth not!” Then he entered the palace and was confounded at its beauty and the goodliness of its construction. He diverted himself awhile by viewing the pictures and images therein, till he came to another door, over which also were written verses, and said to the Shaykh, “Come read me these!” So he advanced and read as follows:—

 
Under these domes how many a company
Halted of old and fared withouten stay:
See thou what might displays on other wights
Time with his shifts which could such lords waylay:
They shared together what they gatherèd
And left their joys and fared to Death-decay:
What joys they joyed! what food they ate! and now
In dust they’re eaten, for the worm a prey.
 

At this the Emir Musa wept bitter tears; and the world waxed yellow before his eyes and he said, “Verily, we were created for a mighty matter!”¹¹⁴ Then they proceeded to explore the palace and found it desert and void of living thing, its courts desolate and dwelling-places waste laid. In the midst stood a lofty pavilion with a dome rising high in air, and about it were four hundred tombs, builded of yellow marble. The Emir drew near unto these and behold, amongst them was a great tomb, wide and long; and at its head stood a tablet of white marble, whereon were graven these couplets:—

 
How oft have I fought! and how many have slain!
How much have I witnessed of blessing and bane!
How much have I eaten! how much have I drunk!
How oft have I hearkened to singing-girl’s strain!
How much have I bidden! how oft have forbid!
How many a castle and castellain
I have sieged and have searched, and the cloistered maids
In the depths of its walls for my captives were ta’en!
But of ignorance sinned I to win me the meeds
Which won provèd naught and brought nothing of gain:
Then reckon thy reck’ning, O man, and be wise
Ere the goblet of death and of doom thou shalt drain;
For yet but a little the dust on thy head
They shall strew, and thy life shall go down to the dead.
 

The Emir and his companions wept; then, drawing near unto the pavilion, they saw that it had eight doors of sandal-wood, studded with nails of gold and stars of silver and inlaid with all manner precious stones. On the first door were written these verses:—

 
What I left, I left it not for nobility of soul,
But through sentence and decree that to every man are dight.
What while I lived happy, with a temper haught and high,
My hoarding-place defending like a lion in the fight,
I took no rest, and greed of gain forbad me give a grain
Of mustard-seed to save from the fires of Hell my sprite,
Until stricken on a day, as with arrow, by decree
Of the Maker, the Fashioner, the Lord of Might and Right.
When my death was appointed, my life I could not keep
By the many of my stratagems, my cunning and my sleight:
My troops I had collected availed me not, and none
Of my friends and of my neighbours had power to mend my plight:
Through my life I was wearied in journeying to death
In stress or in solace, in joyance or despight:
So when money-bags are bloated, and dinar unto dinar
Thou addest, all may leave thee with fleeting of the night:
And the driver of a camel and the digger of a grave¹¹⁵
Are what thine heirs shall bring ere the morning dawneth bright:
And on Judgment Day alone shalt thou stand before thy Lord,
Overladen with thy sins and thy crimes and thine affright:
Let the world not seduce thee with lurings, but behold
What measure to thy family and neighbours it hath doled.
 

When Musa heard these verses, he wept with such weeping that he swooned away; then, coming to himself, he entered the pavilion and saw therein a long tomb, awesome to look upon, whereon was a tablet of China steel and Shaykh Abd al-Samad drew near it and read this inscription: “In the name of Everlasting Allah, the Never-beginning, the Never-ending; in the name of Allah who begetteth not nor is He begot and unto whom the like is not; in the name of Allah the Lord of Majesty and Might; in the name of the Living One who to death is never dight!”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.